Happy Things

My BFFWB and I drove a Uhaul from Louisiana to TN yesterday and it was glorious. Glorious I tell you. Not only am I pretty sure I could scoop poop all day with him and still have the best day of my life but we spent a good 5 hours coming up with and discussing a brilliant plan. I can't say much (actually I could but it feels very important to pretend its some sort of secret- heather, call me) but I will tell you it involves music, a video camera, and Europe.
So, as far as music goes, that is what I am working towards. It doesn't change much of what I was already focusing on with Trudy Chase. We are still working on getting a good set solidified and getting our musicians together, booking some shows and getting merch. Now we just add to that saving for a trip to Europe.

Other happy things from this past week include spending the weekend in New Orleans (hence the driving back from New Orleans) and some delicious developments with the job situation.

First of all- New Orleans was an amazing time.

What a cool city. It certainly has a dark side though. You can feel it. It's like that hot guy with the bad boy image, only he ain't no James Dean, he's the real deal, he's real trouble. That's N'awlins. But hey, one night can't do any harm huh? We went down to Bourbon Street on Saturday night. We had some absolutely sinful Cajun food and daiquiris and sang karaoke.. it was delightful. Then, Sunday, we spent by the pool until it got too hot and we went out for [veggie] burgers and chocolate shakes. When we got back, Aaron and I watched the sun fade, reducing the color palate of our world to blue and gold. Then at the exact right moment, we were showered with one of those perfect southern summer storms. We watched the rain and then went and got some beer. Perfect little mini-vacation.

On the job front, I put together my portfolio and showed my boss and she loved it! LOVED it! So what started as an "internship" and then turned into my training for a position as "art consultant" has now become "Katie, I'm going to try and use your art in every one of my jobs. And if I need something that you don't have, I'll just have you paint it. Let's see, this one we'll price at $600.. this one $800.. this one, hm, about $1200.." HA! yessssss!!!! So, now it's time to paint paint paint paint paint cause I gots some money to make!

I can't remember what all I've put up here but here's one I've recently finished:

That is one of the ones for sale (anyone?? ha) It's actually a pretty difficult thing to start selling these peices.. I love them all! I decided to keep one though. I'm keeping my favorite one. But it will still be hard to see the ones of my sister and my grandma go.. I really honestly can't think about it too much. In fact I'm going to stop talking about it right now.


So, in conclusion, happy freakin times up in here.







Oh and one last thing...



:)

The Cat Days of Summer

Well good Monday morning to you people. I hope your weekend was as great as mine. I'm sorry to say though that I'm fairly positive it wasn't- because mine was pretty untouchable. It's ok though, don't feel bad, i just got lucky.. I think I won the weekend lottery. It could happen to you someday! If you keep yourself open.. Weekend jackpot, however, means shitty Monday. So you can at least be happy if you are wide awake without bruises, sunburned skin and yawns that make it difficult to function normally. No such luck for me. But I'll take it; it's a small price to pay. Here's the story- I'll start with Friday morning...


I wake up at 8 to be at an interview at 10:15. My normal get-ready time is about 15 minutes but once I open my eyes this morning, my mind begins racing and I struggle to keep my nerves at bay. I need to get dressed, eat, and put together my portfolio. I arrive at the Icon building just in time and meet with the girls from JL Design. Barely into the interview, I am asked if I am aware that the first three months of the internship is unpaid. I try to hide my surprise, shock and horror but I'm fairly positive I'm unsuccessful.

"Are you ok with that?" She asks.

Huh? What?? No!

"Uh.. ok, yeah, yes.."

Damn it.

We proceed. I am very honest with them. They love my portfolio. After we're done, she gives me a hug and asks if I want to lay out by the pool with them. I have a good feeling about the interview.

I go transfer phone calls for four hours and I'm out at 4:59. Ha. Take that, man.

It's happy hour. It's made an even happier hour with the phone call offering me the internship. I join some co-workers at Chili's and celebrate with two-for-one wine. This is a very pleasant start to an unsuspecting weekend. I convince one of them to join me for a friend's birthday party and we're off in his car, leaving mine to camp out in the parking lot for the next 2 days. We grab some booze, a sister and our swimsuits and make our way.

We arrive at a house that is entirely too nice to be any of ours (my friend is house-sitting - don't worry she got permission to have a party). We enter the gate and I swear I hear an angelic "ahhhh" as I gaze upon the glittery pool and its amenities. We crank the music and begin to fill the hot tub with bodies, Sesame Street Count style- 5 pretty party people, 6 pretty party people, 7...8... 15! 15 pretty party people! ah ah ah... And thus begins the debauchery. You can imagine how the evening played out.. Not too many different outcomes for the hot tub + half naked people + booze equation. It was indeed a magical mess. At who knows what hour, when we're all pruney and drunk, we slowly disperse in search of beds, sofas, corners and crevices to claim.


9am. Good morning! Though I'm sure I've only had a few hours of sleep, the thought of the sun beating down on those lonely pool chairs is one I can't bear. Armed with a redhead-sized bottle of SPF 30, I make my way out to keep one company. One by one, I see sleepyheads squinting in the sun as they emerge. We spend the rest of the day like cats- napping in the sun, eating, playing, eating and napping some more.

In the evening, we take the baby blue convertible VW bug (she's car-sitting too) out to Arrington Vineyards and continue our cat-like behavior on a blanket on a hill looking out over the beautiful Tennessee country-side and listening to jazz. This makes the 2 hour wait for the wine tasting bearable, if not preferable. Now, when it comes to wine, I love the good stuff, but I settle for the cheap stuff. So, I'm swirling and I'm smelling and I'm tasting and it's all very lovely and they pour my last choice- a raspberry wine.

"Take a sip," he says, "then wait a minute and I'll give you a chocolate truffle to taste with it." I take a sip; I bite the truffle; I take another sip. Oh. My. Goodness. Are. You. Serious. Am I blushing? This actually feels inappropriate to be doing in public. Wow. I think I need a cigarette...

We're back on the blanket and the heat is finally being replaced by the kind of soothing breeze that only a clear summer night can produce. Our sun-burned skin is thankful as we watch the culprit sink behind trees and the blue sky darken.

When it reaches navy, we haul ourselves back the world of concrete and neon for, you guessed it, more drinking. We fill ourselves with too much beer and unidentifiable fried things before making it back to our weekend home we've named "the commune".

Into the hot tub we fall once again. Even less clothed than the night before, we channel middle school days and MTV Real World for a game of truth or--

CENSORED

--white light coming through the blinds. I feel like I've been sleeping in a cloud and I never want to move. I check my phone. It's broken. I close my eyes.


I hear laughing, dogs barking, techno music. I remember where I am and stretch my legs in my cloud. I blink my eyes open and see the beautiful smiling faces of friends. I check my phone. It's broken.

"What time is it?" Oh my, I sound like a man..

"11:30! get your ass up!" You don't have to tell me twice! I spring from my cloud, rub my eyes and throw my swimsuit on. The hardwood of the deck is warm on my bare feet as I venture outside to a scene that is becoming remarkably familiar. I yawn and smile at my friends. It's day two of eating, napping, swimming, sunning, grilling, singing, dancing, loving... oh heavenly day. Today, we grill. Publix, here we come. I grab the first shirt, shorts and shoes I can find and jump into the bug without opening the door (as far as I'm concerned that's the only way to get into a convertible).

I'm squeezing a delicious-looking mango in the produce section when I become painfully aware of the ridiculousness of my attire- a wife beater, my high school gym shorts- with my bathing suit strings sticking out of the top, and black shiny high tops. This is all complete with a hastily pulled up ballerina bun directly on top of my head. I catch a stare from a cardigan-clad soccer mom and smile.

We get back to the commune with 5 bags of deliciousness and fire up the grill, though we could probably just set everything in the sun for a bit it's so hot. We make kabobs with peppers and pineapple and mushrooms and zucchini (and several varieties of dead animals for the meat-eaters) We dip blue tortilla chips in salsa and hummus. There is macaroni salad and some kind of really awesome banana bread and watermelon and pie.. mm mm mm.. it's an exquisite spread. Soon we are full to the brim and leave the flies to the tiny leftover bits as we drape ourselves over the lawn furniture and drift into food comas. We are in and out of cat naps as the end is drawing near.

Eventually, the dreaded is here. It is inevitable. I pack up my stuff and wave goodbye to the commune.

I'm still groggy when I get back to my real home. My short evening plays out like this- I do a little cleaning, a little mental-sorting, throw a movie on and am asleep by 10. I dream of flying on the backs of butterflies. Not really. That was the only made up part of this story. The rest was real. Real and really glorious.

Glorious, glorious weekend.

Goin crazy crazy crazy..

...just a-thinkin about you babbaaaayyyy

um, anyway.

I feel very stressed right now but I can't figure out what to do about it. I was supposed to leave for Texas the day after tomorrow but now I am leaving tomorrow morning.. I feel like I have a bunch of stuff to do but can't figure out what it is or how to use my time at work to get anything done! I'm not even sure what it is that i feel like I have to get done before I leave.. I think it's a bunch of stuff that I was planning on doing but that doesn't necessarily have to be done before I leave.. The only thing that really has to be done is that I have to pack.. The other things that I was wanting to do are: 1) get my lip pierced, which I have been waiting to go with Tawni and she has been waiting on the tattoo artist to draw up her tattoo and it was possibly gonna be done today but maybe not til tomorrow, but now tomorrow will be too late. 2) Get my hair done. The story on this is that I really wanted to get it colored before the trip but my friend who does my hair wasn't getting back to me so I got impatient last night and picked up a box and did it myself.. bad idea. it doesn't look bad but it's just not the color I wanted AT ALL. way darker than i was going for. So I talked to her yesterday and she's gonna let me know when she can fit me in to fix it.. but it pretty much has to be today BUT i don't get off til 5.. yeah. 3) I need to go to the store and buy some things for the trip but I don't get paid til tomorrow- oh that's another thing in this whole situation- I have zero dollars til tomorrow so I was planning on doing ALL OF THIS tomorrow! Sooo... It's really not a big deal, I can shop when we get into town or wednesday morning as we head out.. 4) I wanted to get one painting done or at least started before I left. thats not gonna happen.
How is one day making such a big difference?? Somehow it is. What will probably end up happening is this- Courtney (hair girl) won't have time today (and even if she does, remember? no money! i'd have to write her a check..), Tawni's tattoo artist won't be done by today, I'll go home and pack and then leave for my trip tomorrow with ugly hair, wondering what I was stressing out about. :) just like that. but for now, it just feels very out of control.

I'm Tired/Skiing Pics

I don't get it. Monday i woke up at 7am after having gone to bed at 2:30am and was fine at work all day. Mostly. I mean, I was tired of course but it was bearable. Then I get plenty of sleep that night and was great all day yesterday. Last night I didn't make it to bed til about midnight and woke up at 7am and I'm completely exhausted. It's 10 in the morning and I feel like i'm still not awake. My eyes are puffy and watery and I can't stop yawning. That doesn't make much sense to me. Apparently I do better on 4 and a half hours of sleep than 7. That's awesome. I don't get it. Moving on.

Speaking of moving.. My brother is moving today. His bff bought a house and they are gonna live in it together. I think it'll be really cool for them but it's a little sad and here's why. Right now they both live with 2 other guys that are really good friends, who I also used to live with. They live about 30 minutes away though so I don't get to see them much. I get to see them when I go see Brian though and now I won't see them as often. I'm sure I'll see them though. No need to worry.

(sorry, i don't have the energy to try and write interestingly today)

Wanna see some pics from skiing??

Here's the girls after a long day of skiing/snowboarding.

I was actually the only skier. I would have tried snowboarding with the rest of them but I actually wasn't really supposed to go at all because i just had a minor surgery and still had stitches in. But i'm a good enough skier that i knew i wouldn't fall and mess anything up. On a snowboard though, i definitely would have been on the ground more than upright so i figured i'd save my snowboarding debut for next time.

That's Kates and Ryan above. And below is the beautiful Perfect North Slopes. Only 4 and a half hours away. I promise it's more exciting than it appears in this picture. It kept us very well occupied for 2 full days.

That's right after we got there. can't you see the excitement?!?

The lone skier :)

And the cool kids.

How We Do

I forget how amazing it is to sleep at a hotel. They have those black-out curtains. Last night was probably the best sleep I've had in a while. Could also have something to do with the fact that I was awake for almost 24 hours before I finally laid my poor worn-out body down. But you know, I think I'm actually pretty recovered from all of it.. and ready to go again!!

ok, let's Tarantino here for a minute.

Friday, 12:04 am:

I'm sitting in the living room with a good-sized handful of my favorite people in Nashville, if not the world. We're... well, um, pretty much doing nothing.. just "hanging out". A couple people don't live here and are leaving tomorrow so I'm spending time with them before they go. On TV some red-headed guy is maneuvering on a snowboard in a way i didn't know was possible. He captures the attention of the group and diverts conversation to "holy shit man!" and "daaaang!"

"Man, I wanna go snowboarding so bad! I'd stop drinking and leave right now.." Stephen's words are met with similar desire and then,

"let's go."

[pause]

Collective "Okay".

Okay then. We're all looking around to gauge each other's serious-ness and after a few, "wait, really? are we really gonna do this?" it becomes clear that we're not messing around. We're going snowboarding. tomorrow. There's only one thing to do in a moment when you've decided something like this.

Go to Wal-Mart.

Don't ask me why but that's the first thing that we did It was about 1 am by that time, and we had things to buy! gloves, a car-top carrier, food.. We couldn't really remember these things when we got there though and just felt a little confused about why that was our first reaction. It was like a damn commercial.

"Let's go skiing!"

"yay! now what?"

unison: "Wal-Mart!"

voice-over: "for all your winter-sport needs..."

Fast-forward a bit. Saturday 12:35pm.

See the bustling lodge, hear the pounding of heavy boots against wood-floor and feel the crisp air challenge your layers of long johns, turtle-neck, sweatshirt, jacket. Yeah, i think we know who's gonna win this one. But then, out of nowhere the sun takes the game as you shed your coat and fan your sweaty face.

Sunday 11:23 am.
I'm sitting in the lobby using the kindly provided computer (i think this marks the second time I've written from somewhere other than work). I'm wondering if I should wake everyone up.. I'm not sure what time we need to check out. My body doesn't feel quite as much like it's been hit by a train as i expected. Maybe just a bus. I think this was the best idea that we've ever had and feel pretty damn proud of us for making it happen. I'm out of coffee so I need to go grab some more. Then I think I'll wake everyone up and see if we can get this show on the road. We have more skiing/snowboarding to do. I'm the only skier in the group- but I'm injured.. That's another story... Dr. says, "ok so no physical activity for at LEAST a week, preferably 2".. and 5 days later, "does skiing count?" Anyway.. I need to use the restroom, get more coffee and get these people up.