Author Archives: Kara

Seven Quick Takes

Posted in Seven Quick Takes by

–1–

Sometimes, I wonder where my husband gets all his smarts and great ideas. Remember how he totally surprised me for Valentines Day with a massage gift certificate? Well, he suggested I make it for a Friday after work so it makes a great kick-off to my weekend. Such a great idea!! I love how he’s always two steps ahead of me in every situation.

–2–

I’m thinking it’s about time that I go and buy paint for Baby I’s room. I picked out the colours a couple weeks ago, and now that I’ve let it stew in the back of my mind for a little bit, I decided that’s what I’m painting the walls. What colours are we going with? Why, I thought you’d never ask!

The Internet does NOTHING for the colours – they’re much prettier in person! “Sun Glint” is a light, creamy, yellow-white which will be the main colour of the walls. Purple Cream looks more pinkish-purple (but more purple than pink, if you understand what I mean), and it will be the colour of the stripe in the room, as well as the border on the ceiling that’s currently brown. I’m seriously in love with these colours! And? THEY’RE NOT PINK! I wanted to avoid pink walls at all costs, since the bedding and accessories we’ll get will probably have some pink in them anyway.

–3–

Allow me to get all “awkward moment conversation” on you and talk about the weather. Recently in Kamloops, it’s been pretty f-in gorgeous. Like, I haven’t had to bundle up in a sweater 24/7 gorgeous. (Although that may just be pregnancy hormones making me sweat to death.) Yesterday we had blue skies, clear roads and it was wonderful. Yesterday morning, I woke up to this:

I actually first witnessed the snow around 5:30 a.m. when Kyle was heading to work, but that’s beside the point. I guess good ol’ Punxsutawney Phil wasn’t lying about there being more winter ahead. As of 4:30 p.m. yesterday it was still snowing. FML.

 –4–

I should probably explain the trampoline in the photo too, although it doesn’t need much explanation. We/Kyle bought one last weekend to use for exercise. As childish as it may sound, he’ll jump on it for at least an hour at a time, which is a great cardio and leg workout. We actually had a trampoline before we bought our townhouse in 2010, but sold it due to the obvious lack of space our townhouse had yard-wise. One of the main reasons why we bought our full-size house was the amazing yard, which we could probably fit two more trampolines into! I’m sure our neighbours think we’re a little strange, but trampolines seem to be in every backyard in our neighbourhood! We’ll just have to have our friend’s kids over to jump on it so we don’t seem so silly.

–5–

I am a little miserable that everyone and their dog seems to be on Pinterest now. All I see one Facebook is people asking for invites and what they’re pinning. Ugh. I figured it was only a matter of time before the rest of the social media world caught onto it. But, maybe since they did, someone out there will buy me this amazing infinity scarf that I keep drooling over:

It would look seriously amazing against my black wool coat! I may just have to cave and buy it for myself. Believe it or not, I’ve never actually bought myself a scarf; I’ve always had them gifted to me!!

–6–

Sometimes I wonder why/how people find my blog by searching the weirdest things. Some search terms that have led people to my blog include “joy strap-on”, “dog mermaid”, “what are some crazy shit that happens when your pregnant”, “pregnant wetting”, and “if you don’t poo for a whole year facts”. Those are just some of the gems I found in my site stats. Hilarious? I think so! And really, mentioning them in this post is only encouraging them. Oh well. I think some of them are too funny not to share!

–7–

I’m still in search of a delicious-yet-easy vanilla cake recipe! If you have one you’d like to share with me, please email it my way! I’m planning on making Kyle a cake for his birthday, but I have never made a vanilla cake before (only chocolate).

How’s the weather in your neck of the woods?
What search terms (bizarre or not) have brought visitors to your blog?

V-Day Cynic

Posted in Holidays, Kara and Kyle, Love by

I will have to say, I’m not really all for Valentine’s Day. I’m not against it, but I didn’t get all upset or depressed when Kyle and I decided not to do anything special.

So, when “V-Day” rolled around yesterday, I was happy just to wake up next to my husband, have him kiss me on the cheek and wish me a Happy Valentine’s Day. I was happy with the two of us going to my doctor’s appointment together and hearing Baby I’s heartbeat. (Which is good and strong, btw!)

I don’t know if it’s because I spent 5 years working in customer service where I watched frantic men buying over-priced cards, flowers ($30 for a dozen roses!), and chocolates for their loved ones, but I’ve always thought it was hilarious and marginally pathetic when they came into the store right before closing time only to find a beaten-up bunch of carnations.

I’m not one for public displays of affection, mostly because I embarrass easily, sweat and turn an awful shade of red when all eyes are on me. Flowers delivered to work are my biggest fear.

I think I got nauseous every time I seen someone write “I have the best husband/boyfriend/fiance in the world!” on Facebook/Twitter yesterday. Yeah, you and 1,000,000 other women in the world!

Yes, you can safely say that I was quite the Valentine’s Day cynic yesterday. I was 100% okay with Kyle and I just enjoying our evening together making dinner and cookies. I was looking forward to it!

And then? Then I came home from work and Kyle told me to go look in a drawer because he said he bought cool new headphones for his iPod. Because it’s ridiculously easy for him to fool me, I believed him, only to find this:

His excuse? He couldn’t go through our first Valentine’s Day married together and not do something nice for me. I cried.

So I guess that makes me a cynical hypocrite, because I can’t wait to go for my massage.

It still doesn’t make me a sucker for Valentine’s Day though ;)

How did you celebrate, if you did?

Ten on Tuesday

Posted in Ten on Tuesday by

1. How do you feel about Valentine’s Day?
I’m pretty neutral about it. It’s really not a big deal for Kyle and I. I find everything to be stupidly overpriced and gimmicky.

2. Are you in love?
That I am – I love my husband very much!

3. What is your favorite love song?
Probably “Marry Me” by Train. I walked down the aisle to it for my wedding, and it still makes me all teary-eyed.

4. Did your parents do anything for you on Valentine’s Day when you were a child?
We’d get a little goody bag with chocolates and candy.

5. What is your love language? (Click here if you want to take the quiz.)
My scores were Words of Affirmation: 6, Quality Time: 9,  Receiving Gifts: 2, Acts of Service: 9, and Physical Touch: 4. So, according to the quiz, my love language is quality time. I’m not sure how much I agree with it, but oh well.

6. How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Gifts? Dinner?
We usually don’t celebrate. (See my answer for question #1!) We’ll do something like go to a movie a few days before or after the actual “holiday” and say that’s how we’re celebrating.

7. What is your favourite flower?
Gerbera daisies for sure!

8. What is your favourite love story? (Book and/or movie.)
Movie-wise I think I’d have to say The Notebook. I haven’t read too many romance novels, so I don’t really know what my favourite book would be. I’m leaning towards Marley and Me. Rather unconventional, but it’s an amazing story of a man’s love for his dog. As a dog lover, I totally get it.

9. What is the most romantic thing someone has ever done for you? Or you have done for someone?
Kyle and I aren’t really all that romantic, but I would say when he proposed to me it was the  most romantic thing he’s done. He bought a 1/2 dozen of my favourite cupcakes and when I told him he was the best boyfriend ever while eating one, he made me close my eyes because he had a surprise for me. I did, and then when he told me to open them he was down on one knee with the ring. With a mouth full of chocolate cupcake, I immediately started sobbing. I didn’t expect it at all!

10. How did you meet your spouse/significant other?
We originally met in Grade 2! Kyle had a huge crush on me ever since, and we used to have play dates when we were little. As we got older I never gave him the time of day, until one summer in high school when we hung out one evening and got drunk. (Classy, I know!) I’ll admit that I still didn’t have feeling towards him then, until a couple months into the school year when we were in cooking class together. We hung out again one night, and after he dropped me off, I regretted not kissing him goodnight. I told him that when I logged onto MSN Chat when I got home (because that’s how we got shit done back in the day), so he came back to meet me, I told me dad I dropped my keys and had to go find them, and we finally kissed. Almost 10 years later, we’re still together today!