Why My Family is A-1 Sauce Awesome

So last Summer, 3rd big brother Zach and his wife Jamie went on an RV adventure. They kept us up-to-date on their adventures via postcards. It was a way fun way to hear/see what they were doing.I am a total fan of the postcard paper trail idea (Incidentally, I've found they make fabulous bookmarks - a great picture and note to open a good book up to).

They got back from their RV adventure sometime in August last year. The postcard adventure I was riding had come to an end.

Fast forward 6 months, to last Tuesday. To set the scene, I'm in DC, just arriving home from work, later than anticipated. 3rd big brother Zach is in town for work, and he's coming over to my house to go to dinner. Luckily, he's running a little late as well, he tells me over the phone as I walk through my door. I've got an extra 15 minutes or so to get myself ready.

I check my mail slot on my way to my room and lo, behold - a fresh postcard sits waiting for me. Postcards generally bring large smiles to my face, I really like getting them. This one is extra cute:

I giggle a little because the picture is SO CUTE!!!!! It's a little mountain lion cub, oh how CUTE!

I'm pretty sure I know who it's from, and I think, "what good timing that this postcard came when it did - 20 minutes before I see Zach. That would've been unfortunate if I hadn't seen it until after dinner..."

Then I finally turn it over and read the message (it was such an adorable picture, it took me some time to tear my eyes from it and wipe the sappy smile off my mouth):

And then I read it again...and once more, just to make sure I got it.

WHAT?!

Z&J are having a baby!

And I found out by a postcard - how AWESOME and completely fitting to find out this way!

And THANK GOODNESS I got this 20 minutes before 3rd big brother Zach came over! How awkward would that dinner have been if I hadn't seen it yet? Yikes.

Props to Z&J for having the most original way of telling me I'm going to be fun Aunt Kate for another little one so far. I love happy news and I LOVE mail, and I LOVE LOVE having mail telling me good news, followed by the mailer following up in person! Needless to say, that was a pretty good night.

I have complete confidence that Baby Barlow the 12th will be even cuter than that mountain lion cub - though sometimes I pull out that postcard and look at the picture when I need a little pick-me-up during the day. It's just so freaking cute!

P.S. CONGRATULATIONS Z&J!!!! I'm beyond super stoked for you both! You both are A-1 to me!


p.p.s. the irony is not lost to me that I'm using A-1 steak/bbq sauce to explain how great these two particular people are, when these two particular people are the only vegetarians I currently know...and yet I stand by my ranking.

Of Presidents and Holidays

Thanks to a generous government job, I get to enjoy a lot of holidays that the private sector doesn't seem to respect enough to close for. I had grand plans of how I was going to take advantage of this Presidents Day - go for a run, read a book, maybe go shopping or explore some more of DC, check out Mt. Vernon (free entry on Presidents Day, apparently), or do whatever fun escapades I could think of.

Instead, I hid in my room and played Minesweeper and Solitaire all day.

It was like I was 10 again and was pretending my floor was hot lava, so I couldn't get off my bed for fear of getting burned. And since I had no pillows on the floor playing the role of rocks and boulders to step on, I stayed sitting/laying on my bed for a good 3 hours or so (give or take - probably give is closer).

Our kitchen - aka the Neverending Story - was getting worked on again today (all weekend, actually), and I find that when the Guy is over working on the Kitchen, I try to avoid the whole main floor as much as possible. And since it was cold and drizzling/gross outside ALL DAY, the idea of leaving the house for an extended walk/run didn't sound like a fun way of staying away from the construction (where did you go, uncharacteristically warm weather for February??) 

So instead, I hibernated in my room. To be fair, I did spend some time doing useful things. I vacuumed my room and did some laundry. I made my bed. I considered cleaning my bathroom. Then I considered showering.

Then I threw on a hat, a sweatshirt, and my slippers, and I returned to my lovely afternoon of doing nothing.

When I finally decided I should act like I live here and go upstairs, I came up to a kitchen full of furniture, a newly-running dishwasher (yay!!), and a final coat of improved paint color on the walls (the silly putty yellow was pleasing no one). Then I walked into our front room and saw our furniture moved to the middle of the room and covered. I didn't realize we were getting that room painted this weekend as well.

Of course, I never really know what's going to happen next.

All I do really know is that I WANT IT ALL TO BE DONE! I don't have much patience for renovations.

On the plus side, I did finally leave the house this evening, to go grocery shopping. And I went out in my hat, sweatshirt, sweatpants (capris, to be exact), and moccasin shoes. So that was a win.

And, after some research, I found out that I have awesome and completely random/coincidental connections to 2 boys my roommate wouldn't mind going out with. Incidentally, she was more freaked out than excited about the fact that these completely random boys could lose their "random" status if I worked my magic. Apparently, she's not ready to actually know them just yet. Oh well.

So the day ended on a high note. And, if I'm honest, the whole day was quite nice. Just not particularly exciting. Unless you consider some rather impressive times for solving Minesweeper levels exciting...which of course, I TOTALLY do!

Luckily, my Saturday was fun, what with a BYU basketball game and trying to find Ray's Hellburger - they make a good burger - and then eating said good burger from Ray's. Their sweet potato fries got totally Jimmered by all of us at my table.

So if anyone asks about my holiday, I'm totally swapping my Saturday and Monday - don't tell!

My Post-Valentine's Day Gift (from myself...)

Tonight might have been the highlight of my year - and it's only February!

Tonight I was perma-smiling, and rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet all night.

Tonight I was in my happy place.

Tonight I felt complete.

Tonight I saw my boyfriend, musician Joshua Radin, perform at an intimate concert at the 9:30 club in DC. I swooned, I screamed, I screeched like an Ewok when its speeder bike takes off faster than it expected (yeah, you know what scene I'm talking about in Return of the Jedi), and I squealed like the little girl I still am.

It was bliss.

Joshua Radin might be my favorite person I've never met. He exceeds all other musicians, famous actors, interesting historical figures, and any other secularly interesting person (I thought that deserved a good qualification). This still relatively unknown musician is, unbenownst to him, the love of my life, and he proved why tonight. Even my friends who didn't really know him were in love with him by the end of the night - really, by about 20 minutes into the show; he's just that appealing.

I'm listening to his music as I write. His songs are great and his voice on his albums is so lovely to my ears. But in concert? That voice is just sexy (sorry brothers, but I said it. I won't apologize for speaking truth).

Long story short, I really enjoyed the concert.

Turns out, Joshua (we're on a first-name basis, also unbenownst to him) is also a pretty good storyteller; it was fun to hear the stories and emotions that brought about such beloved songs as "Free of Me," "Brand New Day," "The Fear That You Won't Fall," and "You Got What I Need" (that was a particularly funny story...), and he just seemed genuinely happy to be there performing and talking to us.

He also kept talking about how early the show was - he came on at 7pm. He couldn't get over it, he was still waking up, he said. My group laughed at his silliness, since we all felt really good about going to a concert at 7pm on a Tuesday night - we stopped and got milkshakes and chili cheese fries from the Ben's Chili Bowl, and I still got home and in my pjs by 10:30pm, which pretty much rocks my world.

The only thing that would've made this better would be if Joshua had come to Ben's with us and shared my milkshake with me. Now that would've been the perfect night.

Honestly, I'm gushing like crazy, but I love this man, and I really love him live, so I couldn't hold back. And when you meet him at our wedding in October, you'll completely understand why.

I'll send you an announcement just as soon as he can take a break from touring to do our engagement photos :).

Hurray, It's Valentine's Day!

It's Valentine's Day - happy heart day, friends!

I got the best Valentine's gift today. Sunshine piercing through my window when I woke up and an outside temperature that reached 63 degrees. That's one big post-winter hibernation stretch that the weather enjoyed.

I didn't really get to go out and enjoy the warmth, but just knowing it was there was enough for me. Work was fine enough - I'm no longer there, so that's a good gift to me, from me. Then I came home in time to catch Part 1 of the Jeopardy Challenge, with Watson the IBM computer facing off against the only 2 guys to ever legitimately claim any actual fame from playing on that show. I'm rooting for Man over Machine, but I also have little expectation for my species.

And now I'm all cozied up in my comfies, blanket wrapped around me while I sit on my bed, listening to lovey-dovey romantic songs - because that's just what you do on V-day (plus it's my general playlist anyway, so it's not much of a change from any other day). And when I'm done writing here, I'm going to go wash my face so I have an excuse to not leave my bedroom anymore tonight, and then my imagination is going to curl up in the warm arms of The Scarlet Pimpernel, a literary love of my life.

All in all, I'd say this Valentine's day didn't turn out too shabby. What can I say, I like to treat myself well.

I hope you all had a wonderful heart day, as well! Any non-traditional ways of celebrating the day? Or did the traditional flowers and/or chocolate still get your heart thumping a little more romantically, even if you expected them?

Since I'm pretty sure only my sweet family and friends even know about this place, and even fewer of you actually read it, please know I genuinely wish each of you individually a happy and heartfelt Valentine's day! Thanks for letting me know what love feels like every day of my life. This day would be a lot more pathetic in my estimation every year without each of you to make it mean something to me!

xoxo,

katydid, kate-o, piglet (of Winnie the Pooh fame, thanks mom), little barlow, and however else I'm known by those I love.

TITLETOWN, USA, BABY!

I feel really good about tonight - my team triumphed!

The Pack took it all - SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS! The G really does stand for Greatness!

I've lost my voice, and my hands were actually shaking at the end of the game (I think due partially to too many peanut butter m&ms and a lot of jumping up and down in happiness and nervousness and excitement, respectively), but it was all WORTH IT!

I'm considering going around to the Pennsylvania offices at work and covering their Terrible Towels with giant Gs - is that too smug? :)

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y...NIGHT!

It's 11:15pm on Saturday night, and I'm in my room, listening to Spice Girls while I get ready for bed.

Because I'm cool like that.

I wish I had something awesome to say I did today, thereby justifying my early tuck-in time for a weekend night. But all I can say is that I have an early(ish) meeting tomorrow, so I need my rest.

Though I don't have anything exciting or fun to talk about regarding my day, I still feel good about the way it went. I slept in (it was lovely), got up and enjoyed some apple cinnamon oatmeal while I watched the last 10 minutes of VH1's Top 20 Countdown (I always get a little excited when I can catch this - I've been a casual Top 20 watcher since I was 12. Ah nostalgia). A new song made it to #1 this week, apparently; I liked it, so I allowed the video to play on.

Then I went and washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. This is particularly enjoyable to me these days because we actually HAVE a kitchen to clean. It's not fully done yet, but the renovation is nearing an end - we're missing the backsplash behind the sink, the dishwasher needs to get hooked up, some holes need to be filled, and a few other small things are waiting to be finished. Oh, and the walls will be getting repainted, because the goldenrod yellow they intended the kitchen to be turned out to be a homely, dirty sticky putty yellow. Not too warm and inviting. It's not super bad, but it's not good by any means, so it will be nice to have a better color.

I spent the next 10 minutes roaming the kitchen, singing to the songs that came up on my ipod (speaking of, my playlist has moved on from Spice Girls - and I'm loving me some Collective Soul), and stared into the shiny black surfaces of our new appliances, occasionally taking my paper towel and re-rubbing a spot that seemed smudged. I find myself basking in the kitchen a lot these days. I like to just hang out in there; it's still the warmest room in the house, and now it looks pretty, too, so I've been enjoying it like a second bedroom.

After a while of wandering between the kitchen and the living room, wondering what I could clean next (the desire to clean doesn't come to me too often, so I try to take advantage of it when I can), roommate Melissa came down from her room and checked in on me. I asked if she wanted to move some furniture around.

She put her bowl in the sink and said sure, and I raced into the living room to start working.

I was really excited about this because I've been wanting to change up our living room for awhile - nothing was centered to anything else, and we had a giant recliner right next to the front door, slightly hindering our ability to get in and out of the house. It was a BOTHER, to say the least.

So we moved the chair to the other side of the wall it was against, centered the couch with the window (my equilibrium hasn't felt so good in a long time!), and pushed the tv to be a little more centered on it's wall. Then we placed our rocking chair on the other side of the room, next to the tv, in front of the stairs.

As with all change, it felt odd at first, but it looks SO MUCH BETTER! I feel so much better because of it.

Now there's space by the door to get in and out, and the far side of the room that seemed like a black hole of space now has something filling it. And things are centered! Yay! There's a bit of empty space where the big recliner was that we need to fill, probably with a plant or something, so the room's still a little "incomplete" (listening to Backstreet Boys now, great song!), but it's still substantially better-looking now than it was before.

So that was a pretty big win today.

And I got my room and bathroom all cleaned up and sparkly, which always feels good. My favorite part about cleaning my bathroom is the well-deserved 30-minute shower that follows - it may be the biggest reason why I'll suffer through cleaning my bathroom.

I also went grocery shopping without a list tonight, which is rarely a good idea, but always feels so much more liberating. I hate grocery shopping, but it seems a little less atrocious if I go into it like I'm just shopping for a shirt - I know I've got something kind of specific I'm looking for, but if I find lots of other things that I like a lot, too, that'd be cool. So tonight's shopping wasn't too bad.

I felt particularly good about going grocery shopping after I poured the rest of my apple cinnamon cheerios in a bowl for lunch earlier, and then I found out my milk had gone bad when it came out clumpy, onto my precious remaining cheerios.

That was probably the low point of the day.

I got new milk tonight.

So all in all, it seemed rather productive. It wasn't glamorous, but I felt glamorous once or twice during the day, so that's got to count for something. I also felt like I was in a Mr. Clean or Swiffer ad a few times, but I shrugged that off and moved on to some other activity.

I'm not really sure what the point of all of this was, other than that I am all ready for bed, but not quite tired enough to follow through. And I haven't been around for a while. So I thought I'd give you an update on my life. And then I almost changed my mind about writing, because all of this - what you just read - might've been the most exciting part of my week...and I just wasn't sure if you needed to know that.

I need to keep up the charade of living the high life in DC - it's my goal to be more enviable in my pursuits and activities this coming week.

But for now, I'll end with some trash talk - GO PACK! The G is for GREATNESS! Steelers fan, you better keep those terrible towels close to you...to wipe your tears from your eyes after we send you PACKing!

GO TEAM!

P.S. I hope you're as excited as I am for the pre-game game - the Puppy Bowl! I'm pretty stoked about it. I'll be particularly watching the play of CB, the shih-tzu/beagle mix - any pup that likes the Sunday crossword puzzle as much as I do gets my vote for MVP (most valuable pup) any day.