RIP and a GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!

The Hubs and I are house sitting my Parents house for the weekend (see, I told you we were going pro!). Once again the assignment is fairly easy:

bring in the mail

turn on/out the lights

lock doors

feed fish

FEED FISH!

this one might be a problem on account of Brandon's and my gold fish dying just days ago. My mother and I were at Walmart, grocery shopping and looking at yarn (for fun projects to come) when we decided we wanted to buy some fish. 2 each. So we picked out the cutest pot-belly gold fish we could find. She named hers "Boys" and "Girls". We named ours "Jesse James" and "Robert Ford". Sadly our ours fit their names all too well and one killed the other while fixing a picture frame (one would only understand this if they knew the history of these two, read about it here). And then the other fish died for reasons unknown. probably old age. Turns out one of my mother's fish died before we even got to the house. So we only have one left and we are trying our hardest to keep him/her alive (how can you tell with goldfish?).

Anyway, to the giveaway!

To randomly pick who'd win the bouquet of newly sharpened pencils we had everyone's name (twice/3 times if you had more entries) and held them high above the fish bowl. Who's ever name landed in the fish bowl would be the winner!!

Congrats Jesslyn Ann! email me @ cathorley.gmail.com your mailing address so I can send you the bouquet of newly sharpened pencils (and then some...)!

And have a lovely Saturday!

xoxox

Kitty

P.S. I'm thinking giveaways are THE BEST. And so there will be more! The next one may involve hank and myself....

P.P.S. hank is my camera :)

images from morning

& last day to enter this giveaway

Give-Away Update

So I've been working on this little give-away and thought I'd give you a sneak peak of how it's coming along!

So far it includes:

-10 newly sharpened pencils

-2 blue pens

-1 red pen

-yellow sticky note pad

-post it page tabs

-assorted paperclips

-orbit gum (for the first impressions)

-soft lips chapstick (for the chapped fall lips)

-3 of my mother's homemade caramels (for snacks to sneak during class)

-a penny for your thoughts (for thinking...hehe)

If you are interested in winning this little school starter kit go here!

(it's rare we thorley girls find ourselves in the same room, so I had to take a pic! Is it not sooo obvious we are related?! The chins, the cheeks, the thin upper lip! We bare it all proudly :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

School decided to give my new little sis a big present on her birthday and

start.

Dear Joleigh,

I hope your birthday is perfectly wonderful (even if you do have to go to school).

Brandon and I can't wait to celebrate with you!!

(Mandy-Moo, JoJo (the birthday girl), Carm-alarm, the bride, Kaity-poo, British)

xoxoxo

Kitty

P.S. this lovely photo from my wedding was taken by the lovely Elise Capener

P.P.S. I promise I'll post wedding photos soon!

give away!

Last night I lay awake in bed.

I was tired (always am these days) but I was waiting for a good idea, you see.

They always come to me in the middle of the night.

So I had to wait.

I was thinking of school.

I had this excited feeling growing inside of me.

Excited because this is likely to be the best school year EVER!

I'm almost done jumping though hoops (aka: GEs)

And finally get to take the classes I want!

My schedule consists of 3 art classes, a sewing class, and a religion class.

I'm a happy girl :)

My mom gave me a new box of crayons the other day.

She does this every year because she knows how much I like a crisp new crayon. It's the same way with all my school supplies.

NEW!

hah maybe it seems a bit silly but it's the "newness" of the school year that gets me all antsy with excitement!

New classes, new teachers, new challenges, new first impressions, new goals, new school clothes (maybe not this year...), new new new. I love it!

Kathleen Kelly (likely the best fictional character ever concocted) said it like this:

"Don't you just love...fall?

It makes me want to shop for back to school supplies.

I would send you a

bouquet of newly sharpened pencils

if I knew your name and address."

Thats when it hit me (my good idea that is). I'm going to do just that! Send one of you lovelies a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils along with some other essentials for school survival! This is my first ever give-away! And I'm all sorts of excited!

Here's how to enter to win a lovely bouquet of newly sharpened pencils and other such back to school essentials...

1. leave a comment for 1 entry

2. get another entry for being a follower! or become a new follower and get 1 entry! (please indicate in comment)

3. blog about this give-away on your blog and get 2 entries! (please link in comment)

The husband and I will randomly choose a winner on Saturday.

Won't this be fun?!!

Xoxox

Kitty

Mr. and Mrs. Kimball:

congrats to my sweet carrot cake

Going to see Mr. Dylan

Bob Dylan concert

tomorrow at Deer Valley!

We're going with Brandon's aunt Judy and uncle Carl.

{They're two of the most amazing people on the planet,

in case you didn't know.}

Bob has always been one of Brandon's favorites,

and I've developed quite an appreciation for the

man and his music since meeting Brandon.

Perhaps there will be a future post with written

and photographed documentation of our excursion...

.

.

.

.

.

Maybe you thought this post seemed a bit strange...

That's because this is Brandon speaking.

I tried to sound like her, but really, there's just not enough sunshine and sweet girly character in my prose.

Claire had only begun making this post when she suddenly realized she had to run out the door.

...So she left it up to me to finish it for her.

I hope that I've kept all you readers (at least somewhat) pacified for one day.

I'm at the in-laws' house right now. We're still working on getting internet in our own place...

Hopefully it all gets fixed soon so Claire can get this blog going again.

I do miss seeing it in all its usual glory...

The Best Thing

The best thing you can do in this life is find that person that

makes you better

makes you happy

gives you butterfly kisses

& rubs your feet.

then make that person yours.

(this part is key)

I found that person a year ago next week.

I made him mine June 25, 2010

My big brother found that person last summer as well, and this past saturday, he made her his.

Congrats Dane & Brittany! I couldn't be happier for you!

(and for us: more married friends!)

*photo of Dane & Brittany engagements by yours truly.

**to family and friends: no I didn't take my camera to the wedding (I wanted to be the guest, not the photographer). Naturally I semi regret this. We will all have to wait for the photos of that glorious day...

the time we honeymooned

like most my posts these days, this one is WAY past due. Seems like everything in my life got bigger (and better) once I got married. Better is always good. Things getting bigger, though, means more struggle with time management (my life's battle). I'm working a lot lately. Which, I'm extremely grateful for. I have two great jobs + photography hooplah on the side. I like being productive. BUT i'm dying to make my husband a home cooked meal. A real-mature-adult like one (meaning avoiding microwave and pre-packaged goods at all costs). He deserves it too.

I tell ya....

He makes me so happy that sometimes I cry just thinking about him.

(dramatic...yup)

Everyone says the honeymoon doesn't last. Well DUH. I'm pretty sure we realized we couldn't spend the rest of our lives in Cabo on the beach with no care for money. But the best part of the honeymoon is still going strong: I wake up to his dashing smile each morning, and he kisses my face off every night. What could be better?

The Honeymoon

4 days and 5 pints of haagen dazs ice-cream later we finally pulled out the camera...

We honeymooned in Cabo Mexico (THANK YOU ATKINS).

The highlights include:

*Taco stand tacos

*Full moons on the beach (ha...that sounds funny)

*getting eaten by waves

*searching for sea glass

*buying fabric at the local fabric store

*chit-chatting with the locals

*breakfast in bed EVERY morning

*room service

*love