Sunday, December 21, 2008

loveactually

love this movie...especially this part.



Wednesday, December 17, 2008

party on, Garth

OHMIGOSH!

i'm so excited for tonight! why, you ask? because tonight i get to combine 5 of my favorite things of ALL TIME:

1. wrapping presents
2. spending time with friends
3. eating comfort food admit it, you like it just as much as i do.
4. watching christmas movies

and.....

5. drinking embarrassing amounts of wine

YAY! it's going to be catie's first annual holiday wrapping party...aka that's a wrap. get it...movies...wrapping...that's a wrap...shut up, i know i'm lame.

i cleaned last night while watching biggest loser ps - loved the results... and running to walgreens for a last minute christmas present and set out my turkey loin.

just a few things to cook and we're all good to go!

pictures to come later...

Monday, December 15, 2008

catie needs...

i saw this on Wonder Woman's blog and thought it looked fun!

google your name with "needs" at the end, then copy the first ten things that pop up.

Catie needs to be compressed, but not in a glorious emerald future where irenes populate the land and kittens are for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

Catie needs surgery!

Catie needs to diminish her penguin.

The message was that CATIE needs to continue.

An organization like CATIE needs to be a learning organization… …with the willingness and capacity to change and adapt.

Catie needs to work on school this week.

CATIE needs the assistance of those who wish to foster a legacy of regional peace and enhanced human dignity, through the conservation and wise use of the natural heritage of this wonderful Region.

okay...just so you know, i could only find seven that were even close to Catie needs...

what can i say, i tried...it's not my fault that my mom named me a weird name!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

WARNING...WARNING...WARNING...

Dear Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson, M.D., M.P.H.,

As the acting Surgeon General, I believe that you need to put a warning label on these treats. They are sold at World Market, and they are my new favorite snack. Unfortunately.

I mean, I don't even really like chocolate all that much (yes, I AM a woman, but honestly, I'm not a huge fan). But combine chocolate, heath AND macadamia nuts? No one can resist these. Seriously, they must contain some level of crack cocaine or something.

Therefore, I have made you a new label for the back. Please consider this:

Sincerely,

Catie Joy Carpenter

Monday, December 8, 2008

Dear Santa,

Here's a list of what I REALLY want for Christmas, even though I know better than to ask for it from any of my loved ones...

1. a dyson pet hair eraser. supposedly the best vacuum ever.
2. an eames chair. i love them all, but the lounge chair is number one on the list!
3. an imac G5...drool...and i'd have my brother get me the adobe CS4, too.
4. a 1920s bungalow style home. don't get me wrong, i love kyle's house, but if we could find one of these puppies, i'd be set for life.5. a mastercraft boat.6. a voyager phone. i'm hoping to get one in march when i switch to verizon, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed!7. now you know i'm wishing! if i were to get engaged, i would wish it would be this ring...a tiffany's novo. not going to happen (the ring...) i might get a copy cat though, so we'll see.8. this coach purse. i'm not a huge fan of the ones with the letters all over it, but this is very classic.Love,

Catie Joy Carpenter

PS - Don't forget I moved this year...

perfect timing!

thanks to wonder woman, i have something to post today! i was all out of ideas and i thought i would take a break from the christmas decorations so everyone can have a breather...

egg nog or hot chocolate?
sick. i hate egg nog. i usually love hot chocolate, but we have a machine of it at work now and i'm kind of getting tired of it! i do love tea though, and it's the perfect weather for tea and coffee!

does santa wrap presents or set them under the tree?
well, no kiddos yet, but i will FOR SURE wrap them. for one because i love to wrap and for two because i really, really, really love to wrap. in fact, i think it would be so awesome to start designing my own wrapping paper and gift cards. seriously.

colored lights on tree or white?
up until this year i've always had white, but i put red and green on there this year!

when do you put your decorations up?
usually i put them up right after thanksgiving. this year i put my up at kyle's house the weekend before, and i put mine up right afterwards!

what is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
uh...we didn't really ever have a set christmas dinner, it was whatever mom felt like making that night. probably the best we had was apple cider and popcorn, one of my fav meals ever!

favorite holiday memory as a child:
hmm...well, i think it would probably be the only christmas i've spent with my whole family. we were at my grandparents house and all my cousins were there (i have 11 first cousins...) i remember we all had a chair with our stocking on it and our parents put our gifts under them that night. i couldn't imagine how santa knew i was there...

when and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
my best friend from when i was little, amber loney, told me. that wasn't too bad. i didn't believe her, but when i got home and asked my mom, she told me it was true. i think i was 10.

do you open a gift on christmas eve?
yes, we've always opened the family gifts to each other the night before and then the santa ones in the morning.

how do you decorate your christmas tree?
i guess you'll just have to read my post!

snow! love it or dread it?
i love it for a while, then it gets all dirty and gross and then i hate it. and i hate driving in it. gross.

can you ice skate?
heck yes! good times were always had at the ice sports center!

do you remember your favorite gift?
as a kid, my favorite gift was a panda exactly like my cousin sue's...it's name: panda. i'm so creative! if i had to choose a favorite overall, it would be the journey necklace kyle got me two christmases ago.

what's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
family, tradition and food!

what is your favorite holiday dessert?
great-grandma sylvie's orange cookies! i'm making them for our cookie swap at work, too! delish.

what is your favorite tradition?
wrapping the presents. my mom hates to wrap, so i get to do it for everyone except mine! and i LOVE wrapping!!

which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
uhhh...wrapping! just kidding! i love to give. and, i have to say, i'm a pretty good gift giver. what can i say...it's a gift (pun intended)!

what is your favorite christmas song?
carol of the bells! i played it at my christmas piano recital ages ago and will forever love it!

candy canes! yuck or yum?
not a fan of the peppermint candy canes, wouldn't say i HATE them, just don't love them. mom always gets me the starburst ones.

ever recycled a christmas present?
uhh...i don't think so!

Don't Be A Scrooge! Tag 7 friends to Deck the Halls... if you read this and haven't done it, consider yourself tagged!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

ranting and raving

ok, i have to do a rant and rave post about this IDIOT guy that works at my office. i can't stand this guy, he annoys the living crap out of me. i would even venture to say that i hate this guy. at that's a strong word for me. i usually don't say i hate people. in fact, the only other person i hate is my ex-boyfriend, but that's a story for another day and another post...maybe.

anyway, in order to keep this guy's privacy, i'm going to call him NG. actually, i don't give a flying poop about his privacy, but he's totally the kind of guy that would google himself, and i just know if i post it, he'll find it and sue me for harassment. yes, he would do that. not. kidding.

he sits one cubicle quad over...here's a picture to illustrate.

1. is where NG sits. by himself, no one else in his quad.

2. this is part of my quad, the desk in between us is empty.

3. this is where i sit.

mind you my office does not have near this cool of systems furniture. ours is grey. and plastic laminate, but you get the point. he's not close enough i should be able to hear all these things.

you guys should realize by now that i love to make lists, so i'm listing the reasons why NG annoys the living poop outta me.

1. he crunches ice. all day. there is no end to the ice crunching. OH, AND when he takes a drink of this "iced latte" that he makes himself, he slurps it with his mouth open and then proceeds to crunch the ice. sick.

2. this "latte" he makes...and tells everyone is worth 4 dollars...is a mixture of coffee, hot chocolate, a butt load of sugar and creamer. poured over ice. sick. it looks like chocolate milk and makes me want to vomit when i smell it. no thanks, i'll stick to my tea and diet coke.

3. he uses phrases such as "i got blowed up in iraq" and "the core (of engineers) side of things is they way i know it" and "i just don't know about the private sector, it's all different" and "i'm a military man myself!" and "you're only an old dog if you stop learning new tricks!" i hear all of these at least twice a day.

4. he has no volume control. at all. everything is said at a loud volume. now, my dad has hearing problems, he's deaf in one ear and has very poor hearing in the other. he speaks loudly and this guy puts him to shame. in fact, i should put all of his quotes IN CAPS LIKE THIS to illustrate him yelling on the phone.

5. he's creepy. like really creepy. looks, tone of voice, eye contact, sitting too close to me (and other women), etc...i'll just chalk it up to women's intuition, but i guarantee this guy has sexually harassed or molested someone. i just know it.

6. his last name starts with a G followed by an N, but the G is silent...like his name would normally sound like NN initials. so every time he meets or talks to someone on the phone for the first time, he has to tell him this, "now that's N*** Gn******, THE G IS SILENT." okay...i realize that name spelling is important, and that as someone with a strange spelling for a name, i should be sensitive to that, but he tells people this when it is unnecessary. and i just say it's catie with a c. and my boss who sits next to me says it's krystil with a k. NOT HARD.

7. everytime someone comes to ask him a question, he gives them a friggin' lecture. like they are stupid and didn't go through 5 or 6 years of school to get a degree. so he has to explain everything about the whole process of how something is made or how to document something or some other crap like that when really he could just go, "yeah, i want it to look like that." just because the army paid for your degree, doesn't make you smarter than everyone else.

8. his cell phone has an annoying ringer and it rings all the time. everyone else in the office leaves their phone on vibrate during the day. and i would say he's on his cell phone 4 hours out of the day. and he yells at his wife on the phone and talks about personal things. AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS. in fact, just today i have learned that the contractor that is repainting his house is not getting paid until he finishes, he's drafting a contract for someone to fix his roof and that he has lost $60K in the stock market. in one day. that's twice as much as i make in a year.

9. he will hang up on clients and coworkers to answer his cell phone to talk about stocks or to talk to his contractor. WTF?

10. at our pumpkin carving contest for work, he called the interior design group decorators. there is nothing more horrific to call a designer than a decorator. and everyone in the architecture world knows that...except for NG, i guess. anyway, he comes up to the pumpkin and says, "so is this the interior decorator's pumpkin?" and like out of a movie, the whole room goes silent. and we have 60 employees. they all turn and look at us (there are three of us) and this architect standing next to me goes, "i don't see any decorators around here, it's the ID girls pumpkin." and then there was an uncomfortable silence and he walked out of the room and everyone started talking again. it seriously was like in a movie. weird.

well, i could go on, but i'll stop for now, i'm feeling much better already!

does anyone else have someone like this in their lives? it doesn't have to be at work, could be anywhere.

Monday, December 1, 2008

TADA!

i got the christmas tree up! well, it was up, and lit, but it didn't have the bulbs on it. i went EVERYWHERE trying to find lime green ornaments and ended up at hobby lobby (hell for an interior designer...i'm not kidding) with my friend jules (ironically, also an interior designer, but i really do like that place sometimes, just everyone ASSUMES i'll like it because i'm a designer. annoying.) anyway, we were there and looking at the ornaments and jules found the LAST box of lime green ornaments in the WHOLE STORE! and they are adorable. and perfect, because they are plastic, which sound gross, but when you have a dog and a cat, you need plastic ornaments. pets and ornaments don't mix. especially mine. anyway, i got a 24 pack of lime green and a 24 pack of black (sounds ugly, but don't judge just yet, i love them) and a pack of red that i wasn't crazy about, but got in case i couldn't find any others.

then we went to target and i found some super cute red ones! including polka dotted ones! i LOVE THEM!!! so i went home and decorated (with my best friend from high school over to visit) and i adore it! all i have left to do is make the tree skirt (my mom is going to help me with this tomorrow i think) and i'm planning on making stockings, but if i don't end up doing that, i have a back up plan of some really cute ones i found at world market during our outing tonight!

oh...and those red ones i wasn't crazy about? i replaced the white bulbs in the enamelware bowl with those and put the white ones on the tree! so i have lime green, red, black and white ornaments. fun!

here's my tree all did up with a naked bottom...poor tree, no skirt!


without the lights on. you can see the detail of the bulbs better in this one than the next one. can you see the polka dots!?! there is one on the bottom. i also LOVE the black ones. and the green ones are fun, too, two different kinds of stripes.


here's one with the lights on, not a very good one because the camera was a little shaky...i mixed the red and green lights (the tree is not prelit) because i didn't want it to look "stripy", you know like green lights, red lights, green lights or whatever.

now on to the perfect tree skirt!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

just couldn't resist...

so, i have to admit something...i'm a bit of a christmas freak. and this year, i went a little overboard. i mean, not like WAY overboard, because let's face it, interior designers don't make as much as people think they do. i can pretty much barely live on what i make with student loans, bills, etc.

anyway, i digress. i actually went a little overboard this year b
ecause i FINALLY HAD AN EXCUSE! :)

i debated for about two days over where to put my christmas decorations up, kyle's apartment or mine. we were going to be there more often leading up to christmas, but the week of, we'll be at mine. so i thought on it and finally came to the decision that i would put them all up at kyle's. i love my decorations up there, they are purple and white (of course...go to www.ksu.edu and you'll see why...) and they are mostly my mom's old stuff. and then some other stuff i had from when i was younger including an angel cheeks nativity scene like this one.



SO CUTE! and from my mom's store (an ace hardware.)

and then his mom called. and gave me the BEST NEWS! she replaced her old christmas tree and wanted to know if kyle wanted it! but i had already put mine up at his house...so I GOT IT! YAY! so i'm working on getting the decorations for it, i'm looking for lime green and red ornaments, so everyone let me know where i can get them (preferably inexpensively) and i'd love you forever! i have green and red lights up already, with a star topper that i got at target tonight on sale ($11 instead of $12.99!)

so anyway, while i'm working on the tree and getting pictures up of it, here's some other small things i've done around my tiny apartment...

my middle name is joy, so i collect christmas items that are joy. (i'll just warn you now...there are a lot that say joy!)


this one is above my bedroom door. i actually made these out of left over tiles (like bathroom tiles) from a project at work. we had them as samples from an elementary school project, but didn't need them anymore. i already had the puffy paint, so these puppies were free! best part is, the paint peels off and i can reuse them another way!

my kitchen is already red, and i found these little gems at kmart (i went in for chapstick...came out with twenty dollars in christmas decorations...) the striped one i already had, the polka dot one says cheer, noel, merry and joy. the other one is what caught my eye, it's got a joy dot in the middle!

i couldn't get pictures of the outside decorations because it was dark outside, but i got cute vinyl polka dot placemats with joy, cheer and jingle written on them, but i stuck them up with water to my windows and they are backlight with my snowflake lights (also from the ace store.)


i had both of these already, too. the santa hat is a hand-me-down from mom and the believe iron piece is something i always have up (i got it at a dillon's marketplace for $10). it reminds me to believe in myself every day, but here, it's to remind me of the big RED guy!

on to the table! as you can see here, my dining room is 50s, so i already had the enamelware bowl, but i filled it with christmas bulbs (again, from my mom's ace). the plates and the little pails are from the dollar tree (just picked them up today!) so are the plastic cranberries in the noel tin, the joy tin is filled with andes mints, another fav of mine! (a trick if you are cheap like me...i didn't get enough cranberries or mines to fill the whole bucket, so i put tissue paper in them to look full...) [excuse the cat mess in the background.]


love this one, it's also from my mom's ace, the other side says nice! i love the polka dots.

more of the tiles i got from work with a spring of the fake cranberries! this greets you when you walk in the door. the little snowman i already had, he's from my mom's store from ages ago.


these adorable tea light candle holders are also from mom's store. i got tea light candles at dollar tree...20 for a buck! the green box is from the origin's face products i got, i just loved the color. and i put the christmas ribbon on it. the vase i made in ceramics forever ago and it's always in that spot, but i put some of the cranberries in it to add to the holiday decor!


and finally my favorite! i saw something really similar to this five years ago in hobby lobby and my mom has been looking forever for some for me, but we could never find any. she saw them at the ace show and ordered these just for me! i LOVE them and have a feeling that they will be up all year! the cranberries helped pop the letters from the books.

hope you enjoyed my little christmas tour!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

so i was reading postsecret this morning at work (lay off, i'm not busy at ALL and now that i'm doing studying the LEED exam, i have nothing to do.) and i thought this one:




...really hit home. i didn't even realize that i felt this way, in fact, i could really care less if i was engaged at this point. but, my grandmother has been getting progressively more ill over the past couple of years (she has alzheimer's and dementia) and she barely even recognizes anyone in the family anymore. but i adore her and my grandfather, and they really are getting up there in age...he's 95, she's 92... i think i didn't realize until i read this secret how much i want them BOTH to be a part of my wedding.

kudos to postsecret readers around the world on this one!

Monday, November 17, 2008

I PASSED!

...whew...

got a 176, so not bad, but not really anything worth bragging about.

at least i can go to work in the morning and put LEED AP after my name in my email signature! ;)

Saturday, November 15, 2008

LEED

wonder woman's comment reminded me that i never got around to my post about LEED and what it is! sheesh. since it's pretty much my life right now, you would think i could remember to at least do that! well, here goes, a crash course in LEED...

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. it's basically an exam that i will take that kind of "proves" to the architectural world that i am "capable" of designing green [environmentally friendly] buildings. it's not required, but highly regarded in the architecture and design field and i feel morally responsible to take and pass the test, so i'm working on it! i'm not sure i even posted that i failed the test the first time i took it. by ONE POINT!

but i'm over it and that's that. i'm retaking it soon [and, no, sorry, i'm not going to tell you when i'm retaking it. when i pass, i'll let you know... :)] and i'm once again studying my butt off!

back to the exam. the exam currently has a pass rate of 35%, but it's getting a revamp and in 2009 it will have a pass rate of 22%, so i'm trying to get it done before the new version comes out. it's expensive [$300] and i don't really have the money to retake it a whole lot, but i will finally get reimbursed by my firm once i finally pass.

once i pass, i will be considered a LEED Accredited Professional, aka, a LEED AP. according to www.gbci.org, a LEED AP is:

LEED Accredited Professionals (LEED APs) are building industry professionals who have demonstrated a thorough understanding of green building and the LEED® Green Building Rating System™. The LEED AP credential indicates that the professional has the knowledge and skills to facilitate the LEED certification process.

LEED Professional Accreditation is a voluntary designation achieved by over 60,000 individuals who have passed the LEED Professional Accreditation exam. The Green Building Certification Institute recommends that LEED AP candidates have building industry knowledge, as well as experience working with green building professionals from multiple disciplines.

hopefully this clears things up a bit, it's kind of a weird process and it's fairly new, so all the kinks are still getting worked out.

hope everyone's weekend is going great!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

confessions

wonder woman did a blog on confessions and i just couldn't resist! i'm not going to tag anybody, but feel free to steal the idea as well...

- the real reason i changed my major from journalism to interior design was because of trading spaces. whoa, was i wrong.

- i haven't told anyone except for my boyfriend when i'm retaking the LEED exam. i tell everyone it's because i don't want pressure, but really it's because i'm afraid i'll fail. again.

- my favorite holiday is new year's eve. which is totally selfish, because it's my birthday. and it. is. the. best. birthday. ever.

- sometimes, i start fights. just because. not, like, fist fights, but verbal arguments. especially with kyle.

- i hate cleaning.

- i pay $100/month for digital cable and internet because i thought kyle would come and visit me more in wichita. it worked.

- with college loans and credit cards combined, it equals more than a year and a half of my annual salary. and i'm in no hurry to pay it off. i have my whole life to do that.

- i am very certian that i will get laid off soon due to the economy. don't ask why, because i can't tell you. i just have a feeling. and it sucks.

what are your secrets? tell me!

ps - this post reminds me of postsecret.com....which i LOVE!

Monday, November 10, 2008

i love my job.

i haven't posted in a while, sorry guys! but i thought i'd blog tonight about the one thing that i REALLY hate to take home with me...but sometimes i just can't help it! work.

as much as i complain about my job (and i do, you guys just don't hear about most of it. but that's for another blog on another day...), there are parts of it that i absolutely LOVE!! and i think that the main thing that i love about it is how jealous kyle is of my perks.

which is what i'm going to blog-brag about right now...the perks of being an interior designer, all of which revolve around product reps.

1. product reps (representatives) come and see us all the time. we have short little 30 minute meetings and they show us the latest in their lines...fabric, furniture, tile, wallcovering, whatever it is that they rep. this gives me a nice little break during the day and is just another 30 minutes that i don't have to stare at a computer screen. bonus. we usually have at least two reps in one week, unless we are super busy. this week we have five!

2. some reps (you get to know which ones after a while) will bring us goodies! usually it is muffins from places like panera (sugar sisters is my favorite, but you have to be a wichitan to know that one...and it's new, so you ex-wichitans probably won't know about it either...) another fav: connie's cookies! or they will bring us store bought goodies. this one rep, matt, always brings us starbucks. and he's addicted to coffee....i'm not kidding, he told me he drinks 6 cups a day and usually a couple of those are espresso....so yeah, he's one of THOSE guys...

3. the reps (who are mostly based out of kansas city) come down about 4-6 times a year, and usually at least one time they come down out of the year, they will take us out for lunch, or bring us lunch, whatever they feel like doing. that's always awesome, because then you don't have to mutli-task with watching their presentation and eating at the same time.

4. the companies that they rep always have the coolest, newest marketing ideas. today, i got a maharam memory game. now that's pretty cool. another one i got that was cool was a christmas ornament made out of 3form.

5. sometimes (this is a pretty rare occasion...) they will take us out for drinks after work! this happened tonight!! perfect timing, because some of us younger designers were planning on going out anyway, and so we got some free ones instead...and we got appetizers, which is even better, because i didn't even need to eat anything when i got home. yum, yum, yum. we went to oeno which is a fun little wine bar in the old towne square area in wichita. which is where the young professionals all hang out.

so this post was slightly disjointed, but i think i got my point across! basically, i love to be spoiled, and reps spoil us on a regular basis! :)

Monday, November 3, 2008

wow...sorry, it's been a super long time since i've posted! i really don't have much to update, i've been studying like crazy and felt the need to update you all on the fact that nothing exciting is happening right now. getting ready to take the LEED test for the second time. let's see...what else? oh, kyle and i went on vacation, i'll do a post on that soon, for now just see my pictures on facebook! :) we also went to the KU K-State game this weekend, but that's a bit of a sore subject....

happy first day of time change!

Monday, October 13, 2008

such a slacker

so i haven't blogged in like a week. sheesh. i'm horrible at this stuff. but i'm really trying to get better, i'm just super busy right now.

i went to my last wedding of the year this last weekend! hooray i'm done! for a while anyway. i think the first one we have next year is in april. sheesh, you graduate college and everyone and their damn brother gets married. i added it up, you know. i went to ten weddings this year. TEN! i was invited to 13, but couldn't go to three of them. on two different weekends i was suppos
ed to go to two weddings in one day. i mean, REALLY people. there's only so much time i have to spend at these things! :)

really though, i love weddings. and my friends erin and kyle got married this weekend. i LOVED it! erin was beautiful and everything was perfect. i served cake (or was a cake server/cutter person) and her cake was decorated to look like lace. i kept looking at it like, "that looks familiar." it was the same lace design as her dress! how cool is that?


i know, super cool.

anyway...kyle told me i should start keeping a book or something of what i liked and didn't like about all the stinkin' weddings we went to this year. i was like, "that's dumb."

and instead i planned out pretty much everything i want! :)

type A catie meets type B kyle. trust me, we are complete opposites.


anyway, what do you think about this? i'm thinking light grey tux for kyle, dark grey for the groomsmen. dark purple for the ladies with silver shoes and silver dresses for the candlelighters/little girls. then i'm going to have burnt orange, amethyst and white cala lilies for my flowers. her
e's some images for your reflection....(note that the brides' dress is the one i blogged about forever ago. i'm still obessed.)

oh, and that the engagement ring is tiffany's novo. i told kyle once that it's tiffany's or the answer is no. not true, but maybe it will scare him into it!



i also was thinking that because halloween is on a saturday next year that it would be SO COOL to get married on that day (our anniversary is nov. 1st). and then i had the brilliant idea to do little treat bags for the favor, only there is a candy bar and everyone goes and "trick or treats" for their candies. or an ice cream sundae bar would be awesome. with some pumpkin bowls or something. anyway...i'm getting a might carried away considering i'm not even engaged. but kyle thought it was a cool idea, too, so at least i'm getting somewhere!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

aren't you lucky?

two blogs in ONE DAY from me! now that's luck. :)

just kidding.

i did want to post the pictures of my new car up here though. i put them on fb as well, so if you are a fb-er, you can view them either place!

hope your tuesday was amazing!



what adorable little town are these taken in?


well i'm glad you asked!


see my parents peeking at you?


i was at their house.


in goddard, ks.

and yes, it really IS that cute. :)


I got an "I Love Your Blog!" Award from Wonder Woman. I get to answer these questions in one word. And then you do!

1. Where is your cell phone? here
2. Where is your significant other? onaga
3. Your hair color? reddish
4. Your mother? kind
5. Your father? dork
6. Your favorite thing? love
7. Your dream last night? don't
8. Your dream/goal? love
9. The room you're in? living
10. Your hobby? everything
11. Your fear? death
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? marriedwithkids
13. Where were you last night? asleep
14. What you're not? skinny
15. One of your wish-list items? jeans
16. Where you grew up? goddard
17. The last thing you ate? leftovers
18. What are you wearing? clothes
19. Your TV? news
20. Your pet? cuties
21. Your computer? awesome
22. Your mood? tired
23. Missing someone? yup
24. Your car? new!!
25. Something you're not wearing? socks
26. Favorite store? target
27. Your summer? lazy
28. Love someone? forever
29. Your favorite color? red
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? sunday

if you're reading this i'm sure i love your blog, so YOU get the award, too!

Monday, October 6, 2008

introducing the newest member of the shaffer/carpenter family

HOLLA! i finally got my new car! no more begging for rides, working late because i have to wait for julie to pick me up, etc., etc. i'm just glad i have a car actually.

and i didn't have to get a loan. because i have an amazing boyfriend that spoils me rotten [HA...right] and since he has money...that i never get to see, trust me, he wrote a personal check for it and i'm going to pay him back. he says he's going to charge me interest, but his mom won't let him. lol. (side note: sometimes it's nice to date a guy with a brother who's not married [anymore, but that's for another blog] and no sisters!)

but, of course, since i got it saturday, it's been dirty from kyle's dirt road, then i finally washed and and as luck would have it [or just becaue i live in kansas...] it rained today. so i don't have pictures of MY car, but to hold you guys over until i have time to take pics of mine, here's one that is almost exactly like mine!

catie's car stats
make: lincoln
model: ls
year: 2000
engine: v8 [!!]
exterior color: black
interior color: black [...and leather. YES!!]


i would go on and on about how loaded it is and how much i adore it, but i'll save it for when i have pics of my "real" car up here instead. :)



exterior of car. duh.


better view of the front.


this interior is pretty much the exact same as mine. black leather seats and a really dark grey carpet. wood trimmings...i wanted the metal ones, but we this car was too much of a good deal to pass up just because i didn't want the wood. :) i don't think it looks TOO old lady, but the wood adds a bit of old lady touch to it. :)


yeah, this is pretty much exactly like mine. i promise, it really does have a cd player, just for some reason the 2000 has it in the glove box. it's a 6 disc changer, so you have to take it out to load it. better for a passenger to do that i guess. :)

more pics/descriptions to come!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

TAG, i'm it!

YAY! i got tagged by wonder woman. and since it's been forever since i posted, i'll do it now. :)




1. i drove last night to test drive a car...not a little bit either. i drove all the way to OKLAHOMA CITY (TWO HOURS....ONE WAY.) to test drive this awesome lincoln ls. guess what. they sold it four days ago. and i called four times to make sure they had it before i drove down. including about five minutes before i left. if you live in the midwest, don't ever buy a car from bob howard auto group in OKC. jerks.

2. i'm actually a non-partisain voter (if you can believe me). i just cannot stand george w. bush. or sarah palin. i really, really, really don't like her.

3. my favorite cd ever is still green day's nimrod.

4. i graduated college with 80 extra credit hours. that means i paid almost 10K more than i needed to in order to graduate. ouch.

5. i love sushi. like LOVE LOVE LOVE it. i once drove an hour out of my way to go to my favorite sushi place (oriental express in topeka).

6. my dog's name is nelson. as in admiral nelson. don't know who that is? go to your local liquor store. :)

7. as much as i like to talk all big and crap, i'm really quite non-confrontational. i always start to stutter (horrible speech impediment from my childhood) and can't complete a sentance. then i get really mad when an hour later i think of the perfect comeback.

and i tag...chelsea, junnae, leah...and that's it because wonder woman sent it to me. :)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

so i told wonder woman that i would be blogging about wichita again. this was on monday. so, sorry guys, i'm a little late.

CATIE'S ADVENTURES IN RIDING HER BIKE TO WORK: DAY 1

for those of you that don't know this already, my car broke down on sunday. not all the way, mind you, just enough to where i didn't feel comfortable taking it to work. WELLLLL, normally i would just call my friend jules and make her take me (we carpool most days) BUT her birthday was sunday and i knew she was taking a few hours off in the morning so that she could spend a little more time with her boyfriend before he went back to manhattan (where he lives).

so, yeah, i decided that i would actually (FINALLY) ride my bike to work. i've been thinking/talking/blogging about doing this for a while and kyle just went ahead and talked me into it.

so sunday night i google the walking path to get from my house to my work. and here's what it told me to do.

Walking directions to 420 S Emporia St, Wichita, KS 67202
6.1 mi – about 1 hour 57 mins

8406 E Harry St
Wichita, KS 67207
1.Head west on E Harry St toward S Eastmoor St
3.4 mi
2.Turn right at George Washington Blvd
0.6 mi
3.Turn left at E Lincoln St
1.4 mi
4.Turn right at S Emporia St
0.7 mi
420 S Emporia St
Wichita, KS 67202

NOW...for those of you NOT from wichita. trust me, you do NOT want to be at the intersection of george washington and lincoln. like ever. not even in the middle of the day with a knife in one hand and a revolver in the other (do they even make revolvers anymore? i should look into it if they do.)

anyway...i digress. so, obviously, there is no way that i'm going to go to work that way. i'm not driving, excuse me, RIDING through the ghetto on my awesome schwinn bike in my work clothes so i can get robbed.

so of course, i think i know a way better way to get to work. so i go to bed nice and early and wake up on time and do my hair and make up and take off for my trek to work.

one thing - my front tire was flat. remember now, i had no other means of getting to work. none. whatsoever. so i hop on anyway and start riding down harry towards webb (NOTE: this is the opposite direction from my work, but the dillon's gas station is way less threatening than the philips 66 at harry and rock.)

i fill up with air (the dillon's lady gave the air to me for free, so i was in a good mood.) i had decided at this point to take my bike up webb to douglas. surely douglas will be a good one to ride town, RIGHT?!?

wrong. i get there. guess what? there are no freaking sidewalks on douglas until you get past EASTBOUROUGH!! what. the. heck. what kind of town does that? i realize that most towns do have a town inside of them (eastbourough is a town in the middle of wichita full of dumb rich people who think they are better than everyone else. sorry if anyone is from eastbourough, but you should just be part of wichita, it's really stupid that you aren't. and i hate your cops.) anyway.

i've decided that wichita is the worst bikeable city in the entire united states. it really wasn't that bad of a bike ride once i got to where there are sidewalks but SHEESH! throw me a bone here. i'm trying to make the world a better place and you people make it hard for us to do that.

so yeah, the next time i ride my bike to work, i'm packing heat and going through the ghetto.

fo shiz.