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! :)

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!

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 supposed 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. here'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!

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!

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!

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. :)