NB:  Today was my first day as a "paralegal."   What that looked like was me sitting in a chair next to my sister all day... watching her do my work, while neither of our normal jobs were getting done.  There are two of us, trying to do the job that three of us were barely completing before, and meanwhile she is trying to train me in a completely new position.  This is going to be a very tough transition for both of us, and right now the weight is definitely falling on her.  I'm not blind to the fact that she's doing it at her expense, and with a smile, for my sake... and I'm definitely humbled, grateful, and a little bit teary-eyed.

That's just like her.

I've been thinking today... I'd truly be lost without my sisters.  And I never want to have to find out what it would be like without them.

And now, to bed, because this week I certainly need it.

You can pray grace over us both, if you don't mind - for her to get her work done, and help show me mine... and for me to learn quickly and remember, and have extra grace to get my other job done too, in record time. ;)

PS.  I am excited and incredibly grateful for the new position.  :)

Happy Halloween.

(FYI: We're "Sisterheroes")

Sunday.  I love Saturday night service!  Sleeping in on Sundays feels so... incredible.  It's better than sleeping in on any other day.  I'm not sure why, but it might be because it is so foreign.  It's like your first bite of candy, or sip of bourbon (was that just me?). 

So, after sleeping in rather late, and then spending an hour or so 'sloaking' in prayer... I crawled out of bed, started the coffee and got immersed into some fun crafts.  By 1pm, my dear friend and weekend guest, Meg, gently prodded "Hey Kati, want to eat something?"  To which I replied from the other room, "yeah."  "Maybe want to eat it before you get into another project?"  "Yeah."  I shut off the sewing machine and realized I'd been starving my sweet friend.  From there, we began plotting our delicious day.  A quick trip to the grocery store and we were set for our kitchen adventures.  Meg's has begun a foodie blog... which I am very grateful for, since I think it will require both of us to become more adventurous and confident.... changing, amending and owning recipes.  Yesterday, we began with our very own, Bourbon-Bacon-Pecan Sticky Buns.  And they were delicious.  I'm not bragging (okay, yes I am), but I've had several from Specialty's (it's a weakness... and there is one RIGHT by my building! Some mornings, they just scream at me!)... anyways, ours were better.  That was probably just because they were smothered with butter, brown sugar and bourbon and sprinkled with bacon.  Hard to go wrong there.. especially when you begin with a nice warm piece of carb (aka bread). 

A few hours later and I was back in the kitchen making the ceremonious first butternut squash soup of the year. :) MMmm.

Saturday, Our little Miss Finleigh MacKenna's 

1st Birthday Party!

A glimpse of Kristin's incredible party decorations!

 

Fin's Tutu. :)

Digging in to the birthday cake.

How adorable is she?!!

Last weekend, I got to play a little role in one of my dear friend's engagement day.  My L.B., the leading lady, Miss Rose Ruiz, soon to be Mrs. Kline. So glad we'd planned breakfast, I felt soo lucky getting to be part of that day, just as I continue to feel so lucky to be part of your life. 

Congratulations Jeff & Rose!

I've made some bad decisions in my life.  Choosing to watch The Time Traveller's Wife, today, I count among them.  Four red teary eyes and two sniffling noses and I remember why I've owned it well over a year and have never watched it.  Oh goodness that book tore me apart a couple summers ago.  And today, the movie just ripped those healed seems right on open again.

"Do Kristin and I have matching tutus?"   Who said that?  ;)

Spent the evening sewing with mom.

And enjoyed (almost) every minute of it.

Re-sewing and unsewing tests my patience a bit and gives me terrible flash-backs to when we sewed our Handmaidens vests (some of you know what I'm talking about) inside out and had to entirely undo and redo them. :(

And I think (rather, I know) sewing with me tests my mom's patience.   She did all the sewing of the first layer on the machine, while I leaned over her sholder and "helped" by keeping it all straight.  It turns out she didn't exactly find it helpful, and she let me just take over soon into the top layers. ;) lol.  Sometimes, I'm a bit too much like my dad it turns out.  And 'dad,' helping mom sew, is an interesting concept.  But one I think that turned out rather nicely in the end.  See, mom keeps me having to move faster, and I slow her down a bit and try to strategize and foresee future errors and ensure perfect straight lines.   In the end, I learned some new tricks, and we have this.  A costume skirt that will someday be a favorite item in a dress-up box no doubt.  Mine was always our big fluffy skirts.

Hey Megs, if we got a puppy one day.  I could knit him one of these. :)

***

One day, I am going to write a truly epic tale about a young girl who wants to write colorful, magical tales, but tragically can't spel.

***

My mom is "redecorating" our living room. And as it stands now, I'm thinking it deserves a little dancing before the new furniture arrives. I love this room, always have. And I'm sure with mom's changes, I'll love it even more. But I'm happy to see two of my favorite things about the room bair for the time being: the old hardwood floors, and the giant picture window. (Note the lovely new lighting my mom insisted on too. She was right, and I was wrong. I thought it was an unneccesary expense, but it has made a world of difference, and it makes the floors glow.)

Love this! The Thankful Tree.

Mom, how hard would these be to make? Meaning, that trimming...can your sewing machine even do that? :/

Love them. My favorite is the flower one. :)

I haven't finished yet telling about my fun weekend.  Sunday, Brade, Megs and I went to the old Uptown Theatre for a showing of Monty Python & The Holy Grail.  After being shut down last year, they received new funding and this was the opening weekend.  They'd taken requests from the Queen Anne neighborhood on their favorite films and then ran them all weekend.  All you needed to get in was a receipt from a local restaurant/company.  So we grabbed lunch at Dicks and walked across the street.  Watching this movie in a theatre full of viewers sounded so exciting.  Unfortunately, people didn't laugh nearly as much as I'd expected.  It was altogether almost quiet in there.  Except the two seats to my right.  First off, opening cans (of energy drinks) in a theatre during quiet moments....? People weren't thinking they were drink energy drinks.  Not to mention both of those two can have quite a loud spontaneous laugh.  I was sure people already hated us a few minutes in.  But that's what this film is for, so hey.  We enjoyed it fully. 

It was a beautiful day and we wandered the neighborhoods with coffee (Braden attempting to block book shops from our view).   It was pretty perfect.   And I count myself very blessed to have friends like these.  (We took a ton of pictures with the beautiful palette of falling leaves and old brick buildings - which are up on Meg's blog.)

MOST everyone reading this blog knows Braden. But what most of you don't know, is he has a strange attachment to certain critters. While his favorite is raccoons, I saw the odd enticement of squirrels on him firsthand.   I'd seen it before at UW where the squirrels are terrifying little minions.  Sunday, one was wandering up rather boldly into our path. Meg started to get nervous, and Braden thrilled. She must have heard us getting close or somehow read Braden's thoughts, because The Great Squirrel Charmer of Queen Anne (see picture to right) strode up to us and began explaining how friendly they are. She's been feeding them for 6 years. When she asked if we'd like to feed them, guess who took the opportunity immediately? Yep. "I patted it on the head! Did you see that?" 

While I got a video, I don't know how to upload it here. :/ If I can figure out how to work that magic, I'll be sure to share the quality footage.

 MY Messy Bun.

         MEG's Messy Bun





I get quite a kick out of our differences. I've especially been enjoying discovering just how different our worries and concerns are.  Her hair looking "too big" in pictures - that's a problem I've never had, nor known.   I guess that's partly my little "country heart" that wonders, "Can hair really be too big?" and partly just the girl who's always had straight, fine hair.   : / 

Somedays, you just need to be wearing all your favorites.

Favorites.

Trendy as they may be, they're mine and each holds their memories.  :)

Funny the little things that bring us comfort and make us feel peculiarly ourselves.

"This weather sucks, he says. / I know, she says. / Then why are you smiling? he says. / I’m a writer, she says."

-The novel doctor via Frequency of Words

.

Someone couldn't sleep the other morning.  So they got up and baked these little treats.  Homemade, delicious pumpkin scones, delivered to me in parchment wrappings and beautiful blue ribbons.  Loved much?  I certainly feel so. :)  I enjoyed my last one this groggy Monday morning with my second cup of coffee.

 My mind might be a lump of stone, but my hearts more a puddle.

(I get silly happy when I see that one of my friends has posted a new blog.)

This weekend was unbelievable.  I'm exhausted, but I mostly blame my dad for that, whe decided to get me out of bed last night to come see "one picture" of him in a fighter plane in Vietnam.  One picture turned into Kim's well-documented childhood and much more.  But for the rest of the weekend:

Saturday's concert was unbelievable.  I love The Head and The Heart.  So when Death Cab's concert was announced and that TH&TH were opening for them, I got a prompt text from Theresa, "Should I buy tickets?"  My answer was, "of course," of course.  It blew my mind.  I've never been to a concert where I was going more for the opener than the headliner, it was a bit odd.  (Granted, I was also really excited about Death Cab.)  And they both lived up to everything I could have hoped for and a dozen times more.  The Head & The Heart were all that we love about folk, they poured out EVERYTHING into their music before our eyes.  I love the power of folk music, how it's stripped down and yet overcoming.  You could understand every word as it tore through the air at you, and then ripped you apart.  Each song was my favorite, until the last. 

Charity Rose (who'd already made me pledge to start practicing my violin better), absolutely stole the night as screamed out "rivers and roads, rivers and roads, rivers 'til I meet you" in something I could only call desperation and hope. Truly, if hope had a sound, it would have been that. It was rough and cutting and lovely all at the same time. I watched them and I think began to grasp why musicians are so in love with what they do and how they could become addicted to performing. For an hour, two hours, or a 15 minute set musicians get to live life with everything in them, spending themselves on a stage of passion, dedication, talent and the culmination of hundreds of unseen hours of practice. It's dedication. It's a clearer example than we usually see, and a simpler one. The question I walked away with was, how could I live my life like that? And I don't really know, but there is certainly a greater passion we could all be living with, a way to spend ourselves that we rarely consider. 

Death Cab for Cutie was next up, and they were UNBELIEVABLE.  You could see why they'd brought on TH&TH, their personalities on stage and their strong lyrical work melded nicely, but then, it was rock, it was amps and thrown guitars and drum duos and long sweaty hair, light shows and smoke.  It was brilliant.  Ben Gibbard showed off unbelievable talent, ranging from one instrument to another.  When he finally unleashed on the drums, the arena was in awe.  And of course for his versatility to be displayed, other band members had to move from instrument to instrument as well, the other guitarist often swinging over to piano and back. The four band members put on a high-energy 2+ hour set, making sure we all got more than a good return on our ticket price.  

It was an unbelievable evening, and if we weren't both so tired, we'd probably have kept it going. Instead, we sat in the traffic and talked about "next time" and how we'd live it up. Love you T, thank you so much for thinking of me, for grabbing the tickets, and for sharing the evening with me. Oh, yes, and for always putting up with my shananigans and photo-taking. ;)

23/25

This guy. :)

I want to know,

How did David become so convinced in the goodness of God?  What event or experience convinced him so deeply at his core that while being attacked verbally, physically and hiding in a cave, betrayed by those he loved and served he was convinced that God loved him.  That God would fight for him.  Furthermore, this is old testament when most knew the Justice and Power of God, but few knew of His unending love and kindness, His mercy.  David believed that God would judge others, but save him.  How did he get that conviction?

I want it.

(Psalm 69)

I ended up with a sort of surprise morning, where I was able to spend a couple hours reading and enjoying breakfast and a latte at Presse on Capitol Hill. The rain poured outside and all seemed perfectly still and quiet. A wonderful morning.

Then I got a surprise visit from this little muffin and her amazing parents, Jeff and LouLou.


And now, this evening, it's dinner and a concert with T!! I've been looking forward to this day for months!!

A few of my new treats from the candy shop last weekend. Megs and I both found probably a few too many beautiful books. Two of my favorite new finds though: this lovely hardbound copy of At The Back of the North Wind and perfect Gulliver's Travels. I haven't read the entire adventure by Swift and being that it is on the Guardian's List, it's on my list. Getting a book that fits nicely into my purse is always a big plus, but getting one that will also charm my bookshelves later? Double win.

-----
Decisions, decisions, decisions! I already have a lot of plans for this weekend.  And with the little remaining time I have (a few hours after work tonight, a few hours tomorrow, maybe) I'm trying to decide: finish craft, read my book, go to a fabric store - costume shop, or simply nap.   Decisions, you know how great I am at them.  Happy almost weekend. : )
-----

call me mine

Dear Family,

I've found what I would like for my 25th Birthday.  And it is kind of a big thing.  But then again, 25 is a big year.  Right?  Right.


Pretty, pretty, pretty please...

“If the Beast was ugly on the exterior and had a heart of gold, Gaston was wonderful and beautiful and handsome on the exterior and had the heart of a pig.” - Don Hahn, producer of Beauty and the Beast

This quote reminds me why we love fairy tales (and especially Beauty & the Beast), they remind us to look past appearances.  It's not just that 'dreams do come true', but it's that beauty can be found where least expected and social classes and stigmas aren't to be trusted.  Don't cross people off on a first glance, or first meeting.   They might surprise you yet.  Diamonds don't grow on tree tops and usually the apples that fall into your lap are already rotten.  Train yourself to see, and begin by learning where to look.  That's why we love fairy tales, especially as girls.  It feeds our hope that the right guy will see, he'll no where to look, and he won't be scared away no matter how many witches, dwarfs or crazy backwoods boys he has to overcome, be it even our own apparent sleep.

Where love lives, death can't be the end.


.

Our Creepy K Photo.  I don't even remember what I messed with, I think I increased the saturation.  Regardless, I accidentally made one of our photos from last year's Christmas party resemble a Cullens family photo.  Naturally, I printed it and stuck it on Kristin's bulletin board.  I suppose it's appropriate for the 'season.'   (I actually think it looks kind of cool.)

I sent this picture to Brade a while back, I could have sworn someone snagged a picture of his bag. Only, wrong shades, and he assures me he now keeps a couple extra business journals in there as well.

While I'm at it, I might as well give a little praise for one of my good friends.   After years of high school and NOT being friends (his fault), I finally got to enjoy the benefit of knowing this cool guy in college.  It's wild how much we've both changed in a matter of a few years - I guess that's what the 20's are about.  He genuinely sees the best in people, and that's a priceless gift in a friend as we all muck our ways through who we are to who we're called to be, often falling short of our intentions.  He's become gracious.  He's passionate, and honest and wise.  And he's embarrassed me pretty bad more than once.  He cares about the Word, his family, people, and the nations with a reality that leads to action.  Sometimes I think he might be more passionate about me fulfilling my calling and living an un-ordinary life than I am.  Then I realize, he probably just doesn't want me living on that park bench outside his house in New York after all.

I love that I was able to enjoy UW with the friends who started there during my four years.   Two of the best being Brade & Mad.   I love these people, for their passion, truth, and crazy personalities. I look forward to their futures, and I enjoy living out the present with them, even if I often feel a bit lost in the conversation about which North African tribe speaks which languages and so forth.   Their two smiles have been present in many of my memories, Mad's beginning in high school and Brade just a few years later.   So grateful for them, and for MacKenna who was the first to introduce me to the Unger greatness. ;) 

Friendship, sometimes it feels it costs us all, other moments we realize how much we've gained. 

One of my favorite parts of the day (*sarcasm*) is when my sister walks into work
and says,

"What are you wearing?"

Happy Friday.

:/

Classy. ;)

(I like it.)