To the faithful...

Dear faithful few readers,

I have not died, though you might not know it given the sad, neglected state of the blog. Though I have plenty of material to write about, I'm afraid the great "Seattle Magazine Moves to SODO 2009" project (short explanation: my office is moving and somehow, since God has a sense of humor, I have been put in charge of the whole thing and having to learn to be patient and cling to God for support. It's good for me, but boy, is it painful at times) has taken over most of my waking hours and the precious few left are reserved for the hubby and trying to escape for the holidays to see family. So, I am taking a short, self-imposed break but will be back in the New Year with lots of updates and being my usual, smart-assy (is that a word? I like it, so whatever)self. Many happy wishes and have a lovely holiday season with your loved ones, catch you in 2009.

A Bed For One

It's funny how quickly you can get used to certain things. For 23 years of my life, I slept alone except on those rare family vacations where Kelsey and I would keep each other up all night kicking one another in the hotel bed we had to share. I like having my own space to sleep, to stretch out as much as I like and have the covers just as I liked. I slept well, I dare say great even.

After just 8 weeks of marriage, I've found out I can't sleep without Casey in the bed with me. He's been gone for 2 nights on business and I have slept like crap. Last night, I read until my eyes were about ready to fall out of my head, but as soon as I turned out the light, I tossed and turned for what felt like an eternity, all alone in my big bed.

The ironic part is that we don't even touch when we're sleeping normally. He has his side and I have mine but I know he's there. And of course, even though he's gone I can't enjoy the luxury of sleeping in the middle of the bed, I have to sleep on my side so when I look over there is a big gapping hole in his spot where he should be, cuddled up with the covers thrown over his head when he's trying to pretend his still asleep in the morning, and usually a leg hanging off the side.

I would understand it if we had been married and sharing a bed for decades but its been 8 weeks- its pretty amazing how quickly the little habits of marriage seem right and natural and anything resembling your single life is completely foreign, and for me at least, non too pleasant anymore. Come back hubby so I can get some sleep!!

The word of the day: CHEF

I am such a culinary goober. While other people might get excited and drool over themselves when they run into movie stars and sports legends, I get completely tongue-tied and dorky when I see celebrity chefs. Maybe its because, lord knows, I love food, or maybe because I'm envious of their talent, or maybe because there has always been a part of me that wanted to go to culinary school. The day I met Tom Douglas still ranks among my best days ever (don't worry not above my wedding day or anything but definitely better than my rain soaked college graduation) and if I ever saw a Top Chef contestant I would demand an autograph.

So, as you can imagine I just about peed my pants last night when I met two of Seattle's best chefs: Scott Staples and Matt Dillon. I was playing bouncer to one of our uber-swanky work parties and as soon as I saw their names on the door list, I started to cross my fingers, just hoping they would actually show up. And oh my gosh, I may have mentioned this before, but I was such a goober when they did. When Matt Dillon walked in, I didn't even wait for him to say his name before I thrust out my hand and said, "Hi! I'm Kate and I love your food." No joke. Word for word, like I was teenage girl you just saw the cast of High School Musical. I had to repress a girlish giggle even. I'm not sure whether he was flattered or thought I was like a stalker but he laughed so oh well. Scott Staples and I had a less embarrassing moment but at the end of the party I marched up to him and told him point blankly that we loved Quinn's and had a great time and managed not to be quite so well, gooberish in doing so. I think. Possibly. Actually probably not. Oh well.

But seriously, people you would thought have I'd died and gone to heaven- I was that excited. My co-worker looked at me with this look like, "Seriously? That wasn't Justin Timberlake you just met or anything" And then, to make it all this even better, I am still on Cloud 9 today because tonight, TOP CHEF premieres. OH yeh, baby.

It's official...and in other news....

... I am now a Calamusa! Well, at least as far as Washington state is concerned. Saturday morning we drug ourselves out of bed to get to the Greenwood DMV before it opened and managed to get out of there with a name change and a brand-new Washington state license for Casey in less than 30 minutes. (Non-Seattle folks, this is an amazing feat, I have never, never gotten in and out of a DMV so fast nor actually had a friendly person help me who actually managed to stay cheery when I asked dumb questions like, "So do I sign with my new or old name?") Now I just have to find the Social Security office that is supposedly downtown somewhere so I can change the name there. I can't imagine I would get lucky enough to get through THERE in under an hour with cheery help so I suppose there will be an entire post soon on that fun adventure....

..... I worked in the children's department at church yesterday which I do every couple of weeks and we had an odd collection of just little girls and no little boys. We were asking them what they wanted to be when they grow up and all three piped up, "A MOM!" I had kind of forgotten that at 3 years old outside of being a princess or a ballerina that is pretty much what all little girls- including myself- want to do and I started to wonder at what point in our lives do we start to get it hammered in to us that we have to do MORE than that, that we can't be just moms, we have to have a career as well.

They asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up (which I love the idea that I am actually not grown-up yet but as we discuss car insurance and perhaps buying a house, it seems less and less likely we are still kids.) I told them I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I got a whole bunch of blank stares. One little girl named Ella crinkled up her nose and said, "But is that any fun?" in a tone that clearly stated she didn't think it would be. I told them that it was a lot of fun and that I got to write stories about people and sometimes I even made up stories for the book I was writing (oh gosh, confession time, see below). This seemed to appease them a little bit and after that Ella decided she too would like to be a writer but only if she could still be just like her mom as well. Sounds good to me kid.


..... And following up on the aforementioned book, yes I am writing a book or least trying to. I hate to even post it up here because I am really embarrassed that I have the audacity to think I am even capable of writing one, but I have to try. It is something I have always wanted to, in fact, the life dream would be to stay at home, drink coffee and write and ACTUALLY HAVE SOMEONE WANT TO BUY THE MANUSCRIPT. I have been working on an idea for several years actually and unfortunately haven't written a thing in months, but as part of my "official" post, I am official vowing to start working on it again. Really. Someone ask me every once and a while how its going just to keep me accountable. This means you Mom. This is your "Mom Job"- nag your daughter and make sure she actually gets something down on paper instead of randomly blogging about trips to the DMV.

Hypocrite

I find it ironic that I by no means update my blog everyday, heck I'm lucky if I get one post up a week, but that I get miffed if my favorite blogs don't update like several times of day for my reading enjoyment. Huh. I'm going to hang my head in shame now while I think up at least a few good posts.

Kate's discovery of the day....

I know this will make me sound like an old-timer, but is Christmas coming earlier this year? I swear I usually have to wait at least a few more weeks for this one. Usually I would argue about Christmas starting way too early (its November 4th for crying out loud, but happy election day and thanks for the advice on voting gals, I appreciate your wise thoughts and as Holly suggested maybe I'll just run myself next time ;) but I love this one so much I don't even care:


Peppermint mocha time has arrived at Starbucks! Wooppee! Sneaking out of work right now to snag one....

Voting Conundrum

I usually keep this blog to more light-hearted subject matter, but like most Americans I would imagine, its hard sometimes to be optimistic in the times we are facing with our economic crisis and the upcoming election tomorrow. I like to keep myself pretty well informed and ever since I turned 18 I have voted in every election and primary I could. But this year, I find myself dragging my feet because well frankly, I have been extremely disillusioned with the entire election process. Don't even get me started on the fact that I have had to watch more Darcy Burner v. Dave Reicher mud-slinging than I thought was humanly possible and I can't even vote on them because we're not in their district or that if I have to watch one more Gregoire or Rossi informercial I am going to pull my hair out, but here's my big question:

Do I vote for someone if I don't think they are the right man for the job just for the sake of voting?

Let me put it this way, both Obama and McCain pretty much terrify me when I think of them leading our nation, both for very different reasons. I won't go into my entire inner debate, but while I like aspects of both of their plans, I don't think either of them will really be able to do all they promise. It feels very apathetic and unpatriotic to me to not vote, but at the same time I really don't feel comfortable checking either box. The ballot is sitting on my desk and I would need to mail it in today, but I'm not sure I will.

I'm more than willing to have someone to convince me otherwise but to be honest people, its awfully discouraging to even myself that I just don't even care anymore and want the whole thing to be over with, with my vote or not. I just know that putting that thing in the mail won't make me feel any better, in fact it may make me feel like even more of a sell-out to vote for someone I don't even believe in.

Wedding Recap #2 Is Up!

Again, same place as last time:

http://www.seattlebridemag.com
http://www.orbridemag.com


And yes, I promise to come up with some original blogging material for this blog soon!

The wedding recap has commenced...

....over on the Bride sites and since I am way too lazy to post in both places, I'll just send you there. They're under the Blog sections per usual.

http://www.seattlebridemag.com
http://www.orbridemag.com

SWOON: The wedding pics are here!

Wow! James McCormick, you are one talented man! That's all I can say!!!

http://www.studiocoburg.com/wedding%20galleries/calamusa/index.html

In case anyone was wonderning...

The neighbor is still hocking up giant loogies every morning for my enjoyment. Blech.

Reasons why I looooooove being married, #1

I suppose it won't always be like this but the thing I love most about marriage at the moment is the fact that it feels like you are at a giant slumber party at your best friend's house ALL THE TIME, full of movies, popcorn, pjs, giggling in bed but with the added benefit of cuddling with your cute sleepy hubby as well (who is extra-special cute when he's sleepy.... and extra-special grumpy cute when you try to get him out of bed in time for work in the morning.)

Things we learned on the teeny, tiny island of Rarotonga

It's here, it's here! The long-awaited tale of the honeymoon! Okay, so maybe you haven't been anticipating it, but I have been meaning to sit down and write it for weeks, so at least I have been excited to relay to you the following thoughts: what we learned in the Cook Islands:

1. SHOES ARE ALWAYS OPTIONAL. Seriously, while driving, in restaurants, on scooters, everyone was barefoot- as a long flip flop worshipper, I was instantly enthralled.

2. IF THERE IS A MUD PUDDLE, CASEY WILL FIND IT. We spend a morning ATVing through the jungle (words cannot even describe how amazingly beautiful it was) and we came back a little sunburned and very muddy because the driver who shall not be named made it his/her special mission to plow through every mud hole on the island. Note: there is ONE paved main road on the island, hence lots of dirt roads, hence after the pouring tropical rain of the day before, LOTS of mud.

3. HONOR THY WELL-ENDOWED GODS. The first time we walk into the hotel, in the middle of the lobby, we notice something, something well odd and to our childish brains, quite funny. On either side of the big double doors are huge wooden statues that look like some sort of local legend, god...and our eyes travel from the massive size of the statue to the massive, well, ahem, ding-a-ding-ding he's a sportin'. And we saw him (who turned out to be a fertility god) everywhere, in gift shops in small form, as a decorative embellishment at the hotel, ON THE BACK OF THE $3 BILL. And every time, IT WAS HUGE. (Check out the assets in the picture).

4. HONOR THY FAMILY AND NEIGHBORS. On a more serious note but no less interesting, we learned a lot about the local Cook Island culture. There is no such thing as buying and selling land on Raro (yep, that's what locals call it, we're in the know)- every family is given a plot of land and it is always theirs. They can lease out the land for 60 years but everything is passed down generation to generation. As a result, they bury their family members on the land to keep them nearby, even in death. The cemeteries are where foreigners are buried, locals are buried on the land. They also will tell you there are no homeless people, and there doesn't seem to be, everyone takes care of their family and of each other.

5. PAW PAW (AKA PAPAYA) GIVES KATE GAS. Casey thought there was a sulfur leak in our room until I finally 'fessed up, aww the romance. Aaaaand, moving on....

6. WE ARE EITHER INSANE.... OR JUST FROM SEATTLE. On Wednesday we took this amazing mountain tour in and around the island, looking at sacred sites and getting into the mountain interior. We sat in the back of a pickup truck (no seatbelts, no helmets, no insurance waiver, some US lawyer would have had a heart attack) and climbed up a muddy narrow trail into the interior in the pouring rain- and we were loving it. When we got to the top of the summit, Casey and I were the ONLY people to climb out of the truck to enjoy the view and take pictures--the other 20 people we were with stayed inside just because it was torrentially downpouring. Bunch of pansies.

7. CROISSANTS ARE AMAZING. Apparently, I went halfway around the world to decide I love croissants. In fact, I love them so much I had one (cough, cough, "Two!" Casey says) every morning at breakfast. After about the fifth day of this, my new husband asks me as I am jamming up my little slice of buttery heaven, "You do know they have those in America don't you?"

8. IF YOU HAVE WONDERED IF JURASSIC PARK IS REAL, WONDER NO MORE. On our tour around the island, we see up ahead of us around the bend a massive hotel complex. Only, as we get a little closer, we see that there aren't any people around, and there is an old sign out front saying "Hilton Rarotongan Resort" and then underneath " Investment opportunity." There are vines overgrowing the sign, all over the buildings, over the half-completed entrance. And then we get the story. Construction was started in 1985, something went south right before they were finished with construction and the hotel has sat there for the last 20 YEARS completed vacant and unused. There have been many owners but everyone has run out of funds or the government hasn't let them finish so it has just sat there, in prime beachfront location. The locals joke about it, calling it Jurassic Park because it seriously looks just like Jurassic Park in the second movie when they come back and its all grown over. I honestly expected a T-Rex to coming pouncing out at us at any second.

9. DON'T PUT YOUR CAMERA IN YOUR BACK POCKET. Because then you sit on it and break the LCD screen on the second day of your honeymoon and don't know what you are taking pictures of the entire time. Smart.

10. RARO IS A FISH AND SNORKELING PARADISE. The entire island is surrounded by a natural reef, which means the waves break about 300 yards off the beach. You can walk out those 300 yards in about chest deep water, completely surrounded by tropical fish of all colors, shapes and sizes- absolutely amazing. The area is also home to a different type of dark oyster that produces a greenish black pearl instead of a white one, and they are everywhere for the buying- you can buy handfuls of pearls at the Saturday market.

11. THE RARO CHICKEN POPULATION MAY SOON OUTNUMBER THE HUMANS. Literally everywhere. On the road, in yards, in houses, in restaurants at your feet while you are eating. And they don't seem to belong to anyone, just a bunch of chickens making more little baby chickens all over the island. And by the way, some sort of strange strain of rooster that doesn't understand you are only supposed to crow in the MORNING.

12. NEW ZEALAND ACCENTS ARE EVEN MORE BRILLIANT ON KIDS. Little kids from Zealand, running around saying things like, "The weather has been rubbish every since we got her Mummy." Freaking adorable.

13. WE DO NOT LIKE MARAMITE. We tried, we really did, but whooo, boy that must be an acquired taste. Hand me another croissant please.

As the Aussies and Kiwis would say,

Cheers!

We're BAAAAAACK....

... as Mr and Mrs Calamusa! My head is still spinning from the last couple of weeks, from the wedding to the blissful week in the Cook Islands to back at the apartment as husband and wife! I'll go into more details about the wedding in coming posts, but in short, it was an all together amazing day, incredibly stress free (seriously people I surprised even myself with how calm I was pre-wedding) and the best moment of my entire life was hearing the pastor say, " I now pronounce you husband and wife" and looking into the tear-filled eyes (he got a little weepy folks, it was so adorable!) of my brand-new husband! I'll post links to pics ASAP and then fill you on on all the new customs we learned about in Raro! I am so excited to get caught up with y'all!!

That must be one GIANT loogie....

Moving into a new place is always interesting. There are new smells to get used to, new creaks and groans in the floor and of course, new noises. The first time you hear these things, it sends you into a bit of a panic until you figure out what it is- especially if you are there by yourself- I've had a few moments since moving in, including one last night trying to figure out the gurgling noise coming from the bathroom and why water was coming UP the bathtub drain instead down like a normal tub.

But one new noise either has me giggling or gagging every morning but more importantly it happens EVERY morning, which sort of fascinates me. Apparently our bathroom/shower window faces the adjacent apartment building's bathroom windows as well. Mind you that they are across the parking lot from each other like 40 feet away, but by some odd twist of sound mechanics, I can hear everything that is going on in the other building's bathrooms. Showers going on and off, sink faucets turning, talking.

Well, one of my new neighbors has a bit of a morning routine. Before getting into the shower, he apparently has to stand in front of his sink and hock the biggest loogie known to mankind. Multiple times. Every gosh-darned morning. At first, I just thought maybe he had a cold or something, but without fail at 7 a.m. as I am stepping out of the shower, wait for it, here's comes the looooooogie! On mornings when I'm somehwhat coherent, this gives me the giggles, but when I'm a little tired and groggy, nothing says "Good morning! You're about to call in sick!" like listening to all that hocking. And the funniest part is the guy is like 40 feet away from me but I can literally hear him spitting phelgm (gosh guys, I probably should have warned you not to be eating while reading this, sorry!) like he is a yard away. He is either the loudest human being ever or I have moved into some sort of bizarre sonic portal, which makes me worry about making ANY noises in my own bathroom.

Aww, Morning- Loogie- Man, part of my new morning routine...

One Address

Welp, we did it folks. All of my stuff; all of Casey's stuff- all at the same address!! We spent our long weekend corralling my stuff into our (our!) apartment, and Casey's parents brought us a truckload of furniture from Oregon and it has been a lot of packing and moving for the past 48 hours- all capped off by a trip to Costco Home today to buy a mattress.

And of course, though I am still sitting her amongst boxes (hey, I have my priorities straight- must connect Internet so I can blog before unloading freezer food), the place already looks like a completely different than it did a few days ago. I don't know if it is the new furniture (we have a new leather easy chair that I talked my parents out of, it is my new favorite thing EVER. I plan on living in that chair) or the "big-person" bed, but my gosh, it looks like grown-ups live here. Though I am not sure who those grownups are since we spent our evening flopping on the new bed (not the same as jumping, much more mature!) and eating ice cream straight out of the carton.

But I live here now, this is my home. And it is a home I will share with Casey, my husband and I can't wait, because in three (what seem like very long) weeks, we will truly be here, together. Finally five years after spying each other in HIstory of Baseball class and three and half years after a dinner at the Spaghetti Factory, we will be living here as husband and wife- at one address.

Again?

Our office got broken into. For the second time this MONTH. Which means for the second time in a month I am doing major damage control at the office and setting up equipment I do not know how to set up. Which means I have been at the office since 6:45 a.m. this morning which leaves no extra brain function for creative posts about nesting and unpacking our kitchen this week. But I shall return.....

Proud Parents....

.... of a brand new, 4-slice ultra premium Cuisinart toaster.


Yes, last night we broke out and started putting away the first of the wedding gifts! I have steadily been throwing things into the apartment, basically just piling them into the bedroom. When I got the house last night after my last dress fitting (yippee skippy! Oh except for the fact that I probably should stop eating like horse for the next month so it still fits!) I found the darling fiance organizing and cleaning the place- taking apart his bed frame and oh my gosh, there is a God in heaven, one of the foliage trees was gone as well! Well, the organizing became contagious and we started looking around it is was obvious that the toaster had seen better days so off it went and out came the brand-new toaster. After spending about twenty minutes just trying to get it out of the box.... seriously.... out it came and there we sat there staring at the first brand-new appliance either of us ever owned.

Casey: " Whoa."
Kate: " Wow, it has like five different settings. There is even a specific one for bagels!!"
Casey: " Ahhhhhhh," pushes down a clean and shiny lever.
Kate: "Oooh," pushes down other lever.
Casey: "Oh sweet, it has pull-out crumb cleaning trays!"

After this rather noise-heavy conversation (seriously reminiscent of cave people when discovering fire I should think...) we put it in a place of honor on top of the fridge to live for a few days and to get used to its new surroundings. Of course, then I got too excited and starting pulling more things out of boxes, becoming seriously entertaining by the most high-tech salad spinner known to mankind. Casey got excited too and yelled, "I'm so 'cited!!" and hopefully he means about moving in with me and not just about getting to use such a spiffy new toaster. Though I can't really blame him if its true, did I mention it can toast 4 slices at the same time on 4 different settings??? How can a girl compete with that?

Not A Good Sign

You know that perhaps your job isn't the greatest and that just perhaps it is time to start considering a career move when your first reaction to the thought of getting fired is not of sheer horror or panic but this instead:

" That would sure save me the trouble of quitting. Plus I could go home early- AWESOME!"

Yeesh.

Olympic Fever!

So you know how in your wedding vows you promise to love someone in good times and bad, for better for worse, in sickness and in health? Well, yesterday Casey found out my sickness. That's right, I have Olympic Fever.

I'm sorry but I am obsessed people. I don't know what it is but I could spend ALLLLL day watching road cycling or fencing or any type of sport if it has little 5-ring emblem at the bottom of the screen. I spent the entire 3 hours I spent at the trendy W Hotel this weekend tucked into the covers watching beach volleyball. Watching what would become the most depressing Mariner game ever I soon found out that I could see Michael Phelps win gold in the 200m on the TV in the owner's box if I craned my neck, bent over at a 90-degree angle and then sat on my hands to make a booster seat- so I did. I made Casey watch like 6 straight hours yesterday and drove him home at a lightning pace so I didn't miss any women's gymnastics (to be fair at last I was a good enough wifey to make him dinner during all that). I have so much national pride right now and I did a little victory dance when our good ol' boys just flat out beat the trash-talking French to win gold in 400m relay. And now, sitting her mid-day, I wish I could go home and do it all over again tonight or even better call in sick tomorrow, and watch all day as well. I've got it bad.


If we were already married I'd say, "Too bad, you promised to love me in sickness and in health so you'll just have to accept it" but he hasn't actually made that promise yet so I am sincerely hoping that he decides he can deal with my current malady. Hey, at least it only lasts for two weeks right?.... Every two years that is.... for the next 50-some odd years.... for a grand total of 25 more Olympic games..... Gulp....Please still marry me baby ;).

Merge!

I officially dropped off the first box of stuff at Casey's- err, I mean OUR- apartment last night. Nothing grand or big but at the end of the night I LEFT IT THERE and I don't intend on taking it back. I'm going to start shuffling small loads here and there and pretty soon, my presence will be felt all over the place-ha ha ha evil laugh cackle cackle. The bachelor pad (and I mean bachelor people, with movie posters, hand me down couches, an N64 and leftovers from the 3 boys that have lived there this year) is about to get a surprise: a woman.

I admit it feels a little weird to be moving in to the apartment where the boys have roamed the last year. I felt kind of awkward leaving the stuff there last night mostly because I have always tried to be respectful of his space in the way he is of mine. But now (almost officially, we won't actually both be living there until after the 'moon) it is OUR space and well, I certainly doesn't feel like my space at all yet. It will, but not right now. Casey, bless his heart realizes this and bought cleaning supplies to spruce up the place (I'm sorry I'm neat and tidy and I realize its a sickness but I don't like dirty dishes piling up in the sink! Ahh, the horror!) and has promised to clean and move out stuff before I come in.

Which brings me to the real purpose of the post: the merging of the stuff. The question has become what do we throw out? What do we keep? What of his can't I stand and which of my stuff does he want to pitch before it ever even crosses the threshhold? How do we make two separate people's stuff into our stuff for our home? I can tell its going to take some negotiating. For example: the foliage.

I have been told that the plastic trees that have graced the apartment for the last couple of years must stay. Last night, I tried to gently ask whether or not the plastic foliage might be negotiable, in other words, honey can we maybe get rid of these? I might not have come across as subtly as I have hoped (though I am not sure what about "so do we HAVE to keep the foliage? I mean, really do we have to???" isn't subtle) and Casey was crestfallen at the idea of life without his trees. "But I like living things in the apartment. When I come home on gray Seattle ideas I like green things, it brightens my day." Great, so now if I take them away I am the mean lady who won't let him have the ONE thing that brightens his day. So the trees stay, although perhaps not in their current location.

In similar fashion, I have a few things the Musanator could do without as well. Case in point, last year I bought what I thought was a fantastic mirror for us. He took one look at it and said " It looks like the batman signal" which I would have thought was a good thing, but apparently not because the other day he looked at it and said with his nose crinkled up, "So is the Batman mirror making the trip?" in a tone that clearly stated he hoped not. I don't think my obsession with throw pillows is going to go over well either....

It all reminds me of the Friends episode where Chandler and Monica are moving in together and can't decide where to put anything or what to do with their stuff. But, hopefully, just like us, they work out with laughter (oh there'll be lots of that, I was laughing so hard I was crying last night when Casey explained how important the plastic was to him) and figure out how to make two lives into one, a merging of sorts:

Chandler: You know what I was thinking for the bedroom?
Monica: What?
Chandler: You know how they have those signs on the highway that say MERGE? Well I was thinking thats kinda like us, merging our stuff and our lives together. So we could one of those signs and put it over the bed, like MERGE. Get it?
Monica: Oh yeh, that's a great idea.
Chandler: Really?
Monica: No.

Don't get any ideas Musanator- I'll let you keep your trees but you can forget the MERGE sign.

Next Month

Sorry guys, I have been a little obsessed with blogging over at orbridemag.com (and now, seattlebridemag.com as well, ha ha. I'm taking over the Northwest!) so I have been a little slow to post here. But the beauty of having my own personal blog is that I am allowed to post all the inappropriate/non-bridey things here (believe it or not there are things going on in life that have nothing to do with the wedding or lots of wedding going ons that I would rather not have complete strangers read). That being said, regardless, this will be very bridey anyways.

Tomorrow is August 1st, which means starting tomorrow when someone says, "So, when is the wedding?" the correct response is "Next month." WHAT??? Holy Gee Willickers! When did that happen? I feel like I just posted at the 100 day mark on the bride site and now we are looking at like 51 days (not that I'm counting or anything!). Wowzers. On the one hand it feels like it has been a very long time since we got engaged, but I can't believe that the wedding is just around the corner.

It's also starting to hit me- my life is going to change. Dana and I won't be living together anymore, the bank accounts will merge, life decisions will become a joint effort as opposed to a singular one, going to the grocery store even will be different with different tastes in food (we are both fiercely loyal to our margarine brands-seriously), there will be a boy sleeping next to me in bed. I was correcting a proof at work yesterday with my contact information and changed everything to my new last name and email- there in front of me, was physical evidence that is getting close and getting real- kate.calamusa@tigeroak.com!

A part of me thinks I should be freaked out about it, but I'm really not. I know its going to be different and be an adjustment, that it will probably be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. There will be things we will both have to get used to as we live together and set up house and where to even set up that house is completely up in the air (the housing search is on a bit of a hiatus, I just couldn't take on another thing in the next 6 weeks). Whether we will stay at these jobs that we are both less than thrilled about at the moment is completely up in the air, maybe we'll be in Latin America by next summer, maybe not. If you know me AT ALL, you know that usually the "not knowing" would drive me up the wall. But, somehow, with Casey that just seems to be part of the adventure- we are a team now. I like not knowing where is life is going to take us, it doesn't really matter to me, because I have safety and security, respect and love in him and in God, and that is all I need. I'm sure there will be unforeseen difficulties and I'll shed a little tear about not being Kate Palmen anymore when the time comes. But the promises I have in being Kate Calamusa, in being a helpmate and teammate, the wife of a man whom I dearly love, the mother of his children, are amazing and I cannot wait until.... next month when the wedding ends and the real journey begins.

The difference between men and women...

Last week, I spent like a half an hour in Fred Meyer picking out birthday cards for my mom and mom-in-law. Now that Case and I are (almost) a married couple, I figure we can now get away with those brithday cards "from both of us." Now, I don't believe in sappy birthday cards, no no they have to be funny, so after an exhaustive search through a lot of fluffy cards, I found a couple of acceptable cards as follows:

Card #1:
Little stick woman: "We hope your birthday is full of rainbows and ponies and sparkles!"
Little stick man: "I am not saying that."
Little stick woman: "Then what would you suggest?
Little stick man: "We hope your birthday is full of monster trucks, beer and babes on trampolines!"
Little stick woman: "That is so juvenile."
Inside card: "We'll just settle on happy birthday! What? It keeps the peace."


Card #2:
Picture of beaver on the front of the card that is both holding a flower and farting at the same time.
Inside card: She wanted to get you a sweet card, and I wanted to give you a funny one. So we settled on one that was both. Happy birthday."

The Moms loved their respective cards and they were quite funny, but I couldn't help but think they were a bit stereotypical of both men and women. I mean its a card so not's a big deal, but as a woman I enjoy a god fart joke sometimes and Case is not exactly the monster truck and beer type. When you watch sitcoms, it seems as these prototypical gender roles are larger than life: the wife yelling at the husband for watching tv, the husband always wanting sex but never getting any. And really, I doubt that these stereotypes have much truth to them. I mean, really.

Cut to this week and I am writing a thank you note to mom-in-law for the lovely duvet comforter and cover she gave us for my shower. Inside of that card:

Kate:
Dear Mike & Sharon,
Thank you so much for the duvet comforter and cover you gave us for the shower! It was so thoughtful of you and I so appreciate you coming all the way to Oregon for the shower. The comforter will look great in our bedroom and I can't wait to find matching throw pillows to go with it. We love you, thank you so much!

Casey:
Mom & Dad,
Way to buy us a present that will help ensure you have lots of grandkids. Thanks!


Oh.

An "In" With The Big Guy Upstairs

God emailed me this week.

No joke.

I logged into my gmail account and in my inbox was an email from god@gmail.com (I guess God likes gmail just like us humans) telling me of a job for an assistant editor in Oregon posted on Craigslist (apparently, God also cruises Craigslist for his followers in his spare time. I wonder if he could find me a good deal on a couch) Ironically, I also got an email from youshoulddothis@gmail.com for another job posting the same day, but I'm not really sure who that guy is. Maybe God has an executive assistant, although that sounds like a good email for Jesus too.

I am really glad that God takes me the time to shoot me an email about job listings, I had been getting emails from myself about them which always kind of freaked me out because I didn't remember doing any job hunting on the internet. Normally, I would blame Mr. Calamusa, in fact I know he gets a kick out of confusing me by making me think I've lost my marbles because I DON"T remember emailing myself. But well, an email from God doesn't sound like something Casey would make up.... or would he? Oooh, I don't think you should impersonate God, that's a smoting offense. Like fire right out of the sky type stuff. Good thing it wasn't Casey then.

The Oh-My-Gosh-We're-Getting-Married Moment of the Day

I obviously know we are getting married. I've got a fiance, a wedding ring and a dress to prove it. But every once and a while it just hits me like a ton of bricks that we are getting married and Casey and I will soon be living together as husband and wife! And its funny when these moments come because they are usually really small little things, like the moment last night.

One of Casey's buddies asked him to be, as he put it, a groomsdude in his wedding in December. When Case called last night, he called to check and make sure it was okay for him to commit to going to their wedding right before Christmas.

Case: " I just thought I should probably check with you first because its right before Christmas and well, I realized it may affect OUR plans. I guess we can figure out with work and such how we can see our families the next week. Maybe we can go to my parent's and then yours or something."

Kate's Thought: Sure, December is fine. Wait a minute, we will be married in December. We will be living together and spending Chrsitmas together for the first time, I'll be his wife then. Wow, we are getting married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kate, out loud: "Sure, sounds good to me."

What a wonderful realization!

Too Busy To Blog?

I realize it certainly looks that way from my lack of posting. And we are busy, busy beavers trying to get the invitations out the door by the end of the month (a LOT of people moved in between the time we sent out our STDs and now and who knew that it takes so long to stamp, stuff and address neatly??), house hunting ( I think we are up to 12 condos visited now? Sincerely enjoying the dreaming and scheming there) and working (the office got broken into this weekend, computers stolen and I'm picking up the pieces)-- so I sincerely apologize for my absence of late BUT I admit, I am starting to drag a little bit.

Life is going at a breakneck pace at the moment and there are so many exciting moments (bridal shower next weekend!) that I am trying to savor, but I am soooooo exhausted too. With so many different things going on I sometimes have to fight the urge to take a great, big GIANT nap. I also realize that life will slow down again after the wedding and am really looking forward to cuddling up with my husband (did I just say husband? yes, yes I did!) in our own place. So, suffice it to say, I have been feeling a little less than inspired and don't really feel like coming up with new ideas. So my poor Oregon Bride blog is suffering (I threw up some post about not working out today just to get one up there) which isn't good since that one is for work and they actually expect me to work on it. Sigh..... do they make energy bars for life? Cause I think I need a big fat one right about now.

I've been keeping a secret....

So, I am amazed that I have actually managed to keep my mouth shut about this, but since it is official I can now tell you: Casey and I are in this month's issue of Seattle Bride! A couple of people at work caught wind of our cake tasting party this spring and next thing I know, we are on page 41 with a delightful little story about it all! And as many stories as I have written about other people, I have never been in a story myself, and let me tell ya: its kinda weird and kinda wonderful.

Jamaica, Bahama, ain't got nothing on.....

Rarotonga. Ra-ro-ton-ga. Yep, that's a real (albeit small) place located smack dab in the middle of an ocean and where we are officially headed for the honeymoon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I am just a tad excited, can you tell?)

As some of you may know, September is hurricane season (something someone who works in Disaster Relief knows all too well...hmm, who might that be? The future hubby perhaps?) which immediately cut out some desired Caribbean spots for the 'moon, so we started looking in Mexico and almost booked something there. But then, as I was dinking around on Costco Travel I saw a link for the Cook Islands and (she sheepishly admits here) I didn't know where they were, so I clicked.

Uh, hello? Like paradise on earth right next to New Zealand and miles and miles and miles away from everyone. With snorkeling, hiking, beaches, rainforests and beach bungalows all on a 25-mile wide island that has one road that goes around the coastline and one flight in from L.A. a week, I got way too excited about spending some time n the Cook Islands and it didn't take long to convince the Musa to ditch Mexico for Rarotonga. ("Night snorkeling???")

So, as excited as I am about the wedding, I am gloriously and deliriously excited about the week afterwards spent as a Mr and Mrs in a far away tropical land.

The Maiden Voyage

... of my glorious Kitchen Aid mixer.

I have looked forward to owning my own Kitchen Aid since I was a little girl. Kelsey and I used to mix batter in my mom's when she would let us help make cupcake and cookies and I have, in a very odd way, perhaps equated owning one with adulthood- I always looked forward to being a grown-up so I could have one. (Okay, there were other reasons I wanted to grow up, but the Kitchen Aid has always been on the list). I promise I am not alone in this either, in college I distinctly remember joking with the girls about wanting to get married so we could register for a Kitchen Aid and then we all discussed what color we wanted- oh so many choices, they have special spring colors! I have no idea why, but a Kitchen Aid is one of those things every woman wants, no man understands, but in many of our minds, having one on the counter is just domestic and culinary bliss.

So bless my mother's heart, she didn't even make me wait to register for my mixer after we got in engaged, I found it underneath the Christmas tree in December. It is a perfect butter yellow and is the BIG one- awww. It was an early wedding present so I promised not to use until we got married, plus Dana and I really have no where to put it so for the last 6 months it has been sitting in my closet staring at me, just begging to be used. When I go to throw something in the laundry bin, there's my Kitchen Aid. When I go to grab a belt, there's my mixer, when I put on my shoes, there's my mixer suffocating in the box. And. I. Can't. Take. It. Any. More.

So today I pulled out the box and whipped up a batch of perfectly whipped lemon cooler cookies, then cleaned every piece, stuck it back in the box and shoved it back in closet. And I feel so much better that I don't even care that I probably broke a serious bit of etiquette by using one our wedding presents 5 months before the wedding. Sorry Dear Abby, I couldn't help it.

Wedding Bee Addict

I am so pathetic.

A couple of months ago, Holly introduced me to the ultimate wedding blog, The WeddingBee, which is essentially like 40 wedding blogs in one as different brides from all over the United States write about their weddings. I started reading it like once a week, but then there were so many posts to get through, I started to check more frequently, upping it to every couple of days and I would check whether Miss Shortcake (everyone has foodie/flowery/girlie pseudonyms) had bought a dress or how Miss Lovebug's centerpieces were turning out. And then I got sucked in. I read it every day and then multiple times a day, and now I check more often than my email and I JUST CAN'T MISS A POST. We went out of town for the weekend and the first thing I checked when we got home was- of course- what had been happening at The Bee. And of course, I would give anything to be a Bee!

I have valiantly tried to justify my addiction to myself. "Look at all the great wedding ideas I have gotten from the Bee," which is true but hardly justification for checking it 3 times a day. But I can't give it up because in an odd way, I feel like I know these girls and as a bride I love knowing that someone else UNDERSTANDS how fun (and hard) wedding planning can be.

So for the next months, I fully intend to bask in my short-lived addiction to the Wedding Bee while I still can because I really can't justify it once I am a married lady who no longer needs ideas for place cards. But all this has got me wondering: what DID I used to do on the Internet? I must have looked at SOMETHING, but for the life of me I don't remember much before Bee Land. I hear a rumor that there are newspapers online but I think thats just hogwash.

I think I need a hobby. Does blogging count?

A New Beginning...

Okay, perhaps I have jumped the gun a little bit by naming the new blog "The Newlywed Game," but my reasons are good, I promise.

1. Wedding planning stories are way too funny for you to miss out on, plus if I wait until we are married then I have no place to insert my sarcastic comments for the next 5 months and that my friends, would be tragic.

2. Although I am blogging for Oregon Bride magazine (shameless plug: check out my blog at http://www.orbridemag.com), there are things I cannot get away with mentioning on the blog because they are either inappropriate or have nothing to do with being a quote-unquote Oregon bride, like the delightful little story of the poor Parties To Go people being traumatized on their visit out to the wedding site after they saw an 80-year-old-man. Mowing the lawn. Buck naked. I mean buck naked people. Welcome to our classy Oregon wedding!

3. The college blog, in all its glory, no longer really applies to this new phase in our lives and its time to retire it to the green pastures of Collegeland. I started it my sophomore year when I didn't know what to do with my life, was still adjusting to life on my own, had just started to date Casey and was just a little bit awkward. I mean now its completely different: I don't know what to do with my life, I'm adjusting to life on my own, I am MARRYING Casey and man, I'm just so awkward. Oh wait. Never mind....

4. The freelancing gigs, for the time being, have dried up like the Sahara Desert due to some seriously fun corporate issues at work, so I desperately need an outlet to write- so sorry, you guys are stuck listening to me chat about new things including trying not to become a Bridezilla while trying to become a super crafty, do-it-yourself bride, trying to decide whether to buy or rent a place and in a very short amount of time living with a boy for the first time.

5. Oh, because blogger is free and because I can.