mockingbird

the time has come. the new blog i've been talking about is officially LIVE and i'm so excited. i won't be posting on this blog anymore, but it will stay right here! head on over to my new blog and make sure you follow me on bloglovin'! 

themockingbirdblog.blogspot.com

Katie, Lately

 

< from a few weeks ago | love seeing this smiley boy. he does the cutest little scrunchy face when he smiles sometimes. i just melt!

> dev's first day of school! he's not one week in and totally rocking it. 

i can't even. he's just so cute. so cuddly and sleepy

 

< the best way to start out your day? not with your favorite drink, but with your TWO favorite drinks. mcdonald's diet coke and a carmel creme brulee crio bru (remember this stuff??? brewed cocoa! soooo good)

> dates during the week are sort of the best. especially when they involve ikea. we brought home this rug, and cooper loves it. he always lays on it.

  

< a thursday. test driving the shirt i bought for the wedding 

> friday night sushi date. except i don't like sushi so i just ordered chicken. but this guy was pretty happy with his samurai and vegas rolls.

 

sometimes on my lunch break, i come home. and we sleep.

< coop's spot. he looooves to stand on the edge of the porch right here and watch the kids play.

> vanilla bean frappuccino for breakfast on saturday on our way to the grocery store. it's been the best weekend.

5 Things

1 | the sweetest baby boy, who is so, so ticklish these days

2 | leftover bridal shower flowers make for great nightstand additions. also, i resolve to have fresh flowers in the house more often, because i love this.

3 | this little dog knows exactly what sundays are all about 

4 | he spent the weekend climbing in the uinta's. i spent the weekend at my parents house. even though it was only one night, our reunion was sweet. although, he reminded me of the 5 day trip he is taking in october for his wilderness skills class and i about cried.

5 | wanted the kate spade version of this ring. until i saw this one for $3 at forever 21. problem solved.

if it didn't feel like fall before...

i wore a jacket to work this morning, because it was colder than usual when i walked out to my car. (granted, it was 6:30am, but still. work meetings. oh, pshaw).

devin's first day of school was yesterday. don't worry, we documented it. on the front porch. backpack and all. (i saw a similar picture later that day of my 3 year old niece for her first day of preschool, so...)

we have started christmas shopping (in an effort to avoid dumping a lump sum of money on presents all at once come december)

our 3 year anniversary is coming up (at what point in marriage does [should] the dating anniversary lose significance? i'm thinking now-ish. at least, it's public acknowledgement can be put to rest, and i will just remember it quietly to myself from now on.)

i work a pretty fast paced job. and we have been very steadily busy, when we thought our summer would slow down significantly. and now, as i was still waiting for that summer lull, we have begun to gear up for a busy winter season.

... it does now.

zac and mckayla: the bridal shower

kelli and i threw mckayla a bridal shower over the weekend! it was fantastic! the guest list was mainly family. aunts, a few cousins and mckayla's bosses came. it went exactly how i had planned, and i am so glad its over, haha. we had a tea party brunch and it was so much fun. i had all kinds of surprises for mckayla and we really enjoyed the afternoon! i had created place cards for all of the guests, which was a little bit of a hassle to get RSVP's and last minute additions and cancellations, but about 10 minutes into the shower, i looked around and every seat was filled and i was so happy. the food was all amazing, the decorations came out just as i had planned, and i think everyone really enjoyed themselves! i surprised kayla by editing some video footage i had taken while devin took their engagement photos, and the video turned out really sweet. i'm so glad she liked it! devin and i had also secretly interviewed zac a few weeks ago. we asked him a lot of questions about himself, mckayla, their relationship and the wedding. mckayla was so surprised and she got almost all of the answers right! i think it also helped everyone get to know zac better. i am so glad it went well! my friends did the same thing for me, and i was so surprised that they had interviewed devin, and i cherish that video, and i know kayla will, too. i'm so sad i didn't get any pictures of my sisters and i, or even just kayla! she wore the prettiest lace dress to the shower, she was absolutely gorgeous. it was a great afternoon!

< i'm usually not a fan of daisies, but these peachy pink ones were too cute to pass up
> place settings for all the guests. turned out so cute!


i absolutely loved assembling all these vases with fresh flowers. i think i'll be a florist some day.


all the decorations i made hung above the table and looked great!


< more of the table. my aunt kristin was so nice to let us take over her house for the shower!
> part of the food table - so many delicious things to eat!


< macarons and muffins - they turned out so, so great!
> i did a few repeat foods from devin's birthday party, including these bacon-wrapped lil' smokies. such a hit, but the whole house smelled like bacon and maple syrup.


the food table. i loved being able to incorporate the crates devin has been building lately, and kelli hung the backdrop which turned out just perfect!

i just about cried tears of joy when all four batches of macarons came out this perfectly. i squealed for a few minutes and kept making devin look at them.

a sad story from the weekend: on friday, my poor sweet mom shattered her elbow! she is getting surgery on wednesday (they have to replace the bone that shattered), but it happened the day before the shower, so she was unable to help, and was in too much pain to come :( i spent friday night at my parent's, and my older sister came down and spent the night, too, and we took care of her and got everything done for the shower, and still managed to get in a lot of cheech time (i love spending time with my sisters). her surgery is a same day surgery and the doctor is confident she will be out of a cast in time for the wedding, but dang it! it was a pretty long weekend to say the least! i'm just praying she can make it to wednesday, when the surgery is, without too much pain and discomfort. she is just in a splint with a few painkillers until then! is there anything worse than seeing someone you love in so much pain, and feeling so helpless? it is truly the worst feeling ever. i was glad to be able to spend the weekend at home with my family and do what i could to help out!

thought list

+ famous people i want to be best friends with: kate middleton, carrie underwood, john krasinski or kristen wiig. i would also take jeff daniels or tina fey.

+ the top 5 reasons why i'm ready for it to be fall:

1. i didn't get any color on my skin this summer, and my paleness is more excusable in autumn
2. i want comfort food. soups, breads, wassail, etc
3. it's been in the 90s all week
4. last fall was one of the best seasons of my life. i want a repeat.
5. i am tired of making rosette baby sandals and mint green everything (this is referring to my second job at addison renee boutique)

+ top 5 things i miss about cable tv: 

1. Friends
2. Seinfeld
3. DVR
4. movie premiers
5. nevermind, that's it. not having cable has been pretty nice.

+ i hate that "sweater weather" song, but devin loves it, so every time hear it, i smile, and listen the whole way through.

+ two words: beatles radio

+ patterns that all look the same: off-brand tissue boxes, hotel curtains, out-dated couches, art hanging in doctor's offices.

+ some confessions: sometimes, on my lunch break, i will eat in my car. in the back of a kohl's parking lot. i am so vain about my wedding ring still - i think it's the prettiest, and i stare at it all the time. i am obsessive about the way my hands feel, and always have to have lotion on.

+ am i "asking for it" when, at 8:00am, a coworker asks me how i'm doing and I respond by saying i'm ready for the day to be over? (it's only that I haven't had an evening, at home, with my husband, in about 3 weeks. and tonight, i finally get to cook him actual dinner.)

zucchini bread

 

I have long since made a promise to myself that I will never plant zucchini. I love squash, in all it's forms, but the stuff grows like a weed. During the summer, I never buy zucchini. There is no need! Between our neighbors, families and friends, we've always got someone begging us to take their overgrown vegetables off their hands, and I have a problem saying no, so we usually end up with more than we can eat. 

Which leads me to this: zucchini bread. Why it took me so long to try making some? Mostly because I'm afraid of baking breads. I've never done it before. Until this afternoon. I found this incredibly simple recipe, and now I might have at least one loaf of this stuff on hand at all times, because it's that good. I love this recipe because all of the ingredients are always in my pantry, so I don't need to make any special trips. This recipe is one step closer to homemaker than a "just add water" box mix, so anyone can do it!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

3 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon (to taste)

2 cups fresh grated zucchini (I used one huge overgrown zucchini from my mom's garden and it was exactly enough. it was probably 16 inches long)

2 teaspoons vanilla 

other things you can add:

nuts

flax seed

granola

anything you can imagine

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees

2. In a large (very large) bowl, mix all ingredients together, in order (I started with the sugar, oil, eggs and flour and mixed, then added the soda, salt, cinnamon, zucchini and vanilla and mixed again, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula as I went)

3. Spray bread loaf pan (spray it really good, but evenly)

4. Pour bread mixture into the bread loaf pan, bake for 50 minutes (you can bake longer if you need to. I went 10 extra minutes because the middle raised really high on mine).

5. Eat while warm! Store in an air tight container.