artetas in the park!

marlene is a friend from work - she worked with me at gemini (which is when i lived in nyc). on monday, i got to go to play time with the boys. we met at dunkin donuts... stuffed all of our faces (pink with sprinkles, please!) and then went to this park for a class and some play time. while it isn't warm here exactly yet, the sun is out and it's a pretty day. the snow has melted from the ground and hey, it's in the 40s... and therefore, clearly warm enough to be outside after being couped up all winter!


in class, we listened (sort off... as well as any 4 and 2 year old will listen!) to a book and then it was arts and crafts time. since the book was about a bunny, we made rabbits. well, attempted to anyways! the boys weren't so interested in making bunnies... fires, trains, helicopters and other disasters in which they could save people were the project du jour!

my hats off to marlene b/c honestly, i have no idea how she does it! she ran off to grab a sandwich from a place she'd been wanting to try while i played with the boys on the playground. we had a blast! and the boys totally tested the limits... as in, i didn't realize that taking off shoes was a no no and less than two mins after mom is gone, both boys have their shoes off and are slipping and sliding all over the slides! way more fun when you can go faster without shoes, right?! three boys is definitely a handful! i think i did ok for the 10 mins she was gone... but all day everyday!? i'm so impressed. check out these cuties below!



this was art project time. there are two rows of tables...we took over an entire row... we were supposed to make bunnies, but we were more making fires and putting them out!


nelson was cracking up here... and my camera was too slow to catch his adorable smile!


look at the big smile elliott has!!



nelson makes fast work of this chain ladder!


the slides were a big hit! graham shows off his abilities! please note the shoes are off!


check out these big guys!


firetruck racing down the slide!


watch nelson go (with a little help from mom)!! btw, when i was pushing nelson in the swing, he told me he has the best mom! how cute is that?!
that's elliott in the background and graham too.


and here comes graham all by himself!! he can do a few rungs - i'll bet he'll make it all the way across sooner rather than later!

a wreck.

my parents' house is a wreck. literally. last fall, my mom realized that she really hated our house and that it was dark and old feeling. um, hello, it was built in the 30s so it definitely didn't have that new feeling like the lakehouse. the closets are small, the bathrooms are small, and even though there are just two of them, the house was just small. and my mom thought it felt 'dark'.

they started contemplating a move, a renovation, or a complete new build. so, they looked at a lot of houses and i got to go along for some of them (fun!!), but none were exactly what they were looking for. they were either way too big, not the right floor plan, the street wasn't good, the house didn't feel like home or for some other reason they just didn't think it was 'them'. they thought about building something, but lots are super expensive and then to build the house on top of it... well, my mom just couldn't envision what she considered her 'dream' house and therefore couldn't figure out what the heck she would build if she could even find the perfect lot. and they just finished building the lake house so she wasn't sure she wanted to do that again. plus, she loves our neighborhood and just felt safe there. and she raised us kids there... they moved in in june of 1980! so then they consulted an architect and a remodeler and decided to put them to the test.

the remodeler came up with some novel ideas and my mom thought wow, yep, this just feels right. this is home... but upgraded! so, now my parents are living in an apt down the road while the house gets a two story addition, a new bedroom/bathroom, a ball jar gallery (what's that!? oh, just a place to show off my dad's jar collection), a brand new kitchen and about 1000 more sf. they are knocking down walls, putting in new doors & floors, and pretty much changing the entire place!

this is what they came up with:


this will be the new first floor.



the new second floor.



the new kitchen


same living room, but new family room... the dining room stays in the same place off to the right.

i realize you have nothing to compare to, but eh... oh well!

once my parents decided this is what they wanted to do, they had 2 weeks to move everything out of the house! omg, 30 years worth of STUFF. and i mean STUFF!!! so glad i didn't have to undertake that project!!!!


the former back of the house...


this used to be mom's bathroom and the open wall used to be where dad's closet was...


this was my old closet... i shared this b/c that purple was the color of my walls growing up! it was kinda a depressing shade of lavender. i had a matching bedspread and curtains... lavender with white small flowers.


this took me a while to figure out: it's a view from my parents' bedroom in to my dad's old office. the big hole on the left was my mom's closet, the hole on the right was the door to the office. that door will be gone and there will be a big walk in closet there.


this... this is... ummmm, actually i have no idea what the heck this was... i'll have to think about this...


this is looking out from our old dining room in to the old backyard. this is where the two story addition with the gallery is going! the thing in the middle is an aquarium. mom and the cats very much appreciate that aquarium!


this is the framing of the new jar gallery. it used to be yard. you can see the aquarium behind one of the wood poles.


more framing. in the new addition. looking towards the back door/kitchen area.


framing of the new area




this used to be my bedroom... it will now be my dad's new office and a laundry room. and off to the left is a hallway that will access the new bedroom/bathroom (which will be mine) and dad's old office which will be mom's new exercise room.


mom's standing in my brother's old bedroom which had been used as her office since he moved out years ago... it will stay her office.


and here is the addition from the outside... from the backyard.

did you guys get all that?!?!?!?! if you did, you're rockstars b/c you must have some serious spacial abilities!! impressive :) if not, no worries... i grew up there and still get confused by some of the pics! don't worry, i'll post more pics as the work progresses... at some point you'll see the finished product! they say they'll be done in june!

imerman angels

imerman angels is an amazing organization that i've supported for awhile. i found out about them originally through my old boss at landamerica who is good friends with the guy that started this foundation (johnny imerman). on thurs, march 18th their spring fling fundraising event happened at enclave.

what is Imerman Angels? glad you asked! they carefully match and individually pair a person touched by cancer (a cancer fighter or survivor) with someone who has fought and survived the same type of cancer (a Mentor Angel). Cancer caregivers (spouses, parents, children and other family and friends of fighters) also receive 1-on-1 connections with other caregivers and survivors. These 1-on-1 relationships inspire hope and offer the chance to ask personal questions and receive support from someone who is uniquely familiar with the experience. The service is absolutely free and helps anyone touched by any type of cancer, at any cancer stage level, at any age, living anywhere in the world.

kyle is also a big supporter of the charity - when i did the marathon with team in training, she ran it with imerman angels. so we decided that we wanted to go and support them at their spring fling. they had loads of people supporting the cause, drinks (duh), food catered by a couple of companies, and cupcakes...and a photobooth that was free! and if anyone knows anything, they know that i LOVE a photobooth!!!!!



here are the photobooth pics... the website i grabbed them from didn't allow me to copy or grab the whole photo so i had to take screenshots of two at a time... and i was going to try and match them all up for you, but that proved to use too much of my brain and i just gave up! they were in strips of 4 with the imerman logo on the bottom. we ended up going in to the booth twice and taking two strips each time... all in black and white... and we had a ridiculous amount of fun while we were at it!

the preggo set up.

why must they hide their bellies behind me and yena?! and further, neither have bellies to hide!!

i love to play matchmaker. and dangit, i think i'm good at it!! so, when i realized that both devs and my friend, elizabeth (she's married to my buddy matt who i used to work with) were due within a few days of eachother, i thought we all had to get together! elizabeth invited another friend, yena who i also know so that it wouldn't be too much preggo talk for me (i wouldn't have minded!). it took us awhile to find a time we could all go out, so finally we picked friday, march 5th (gosh, i get so behind!) and we went to mercat a la planxa for tapas and it was delicious... so much food!!! it was such a fun night. and btw, devs, as we know, is having a girl and elizabeth is having a boy... hmmmmm... future bf/gf?!?!!? can you set up a fetus?!



they wouldn't stop laughing!!


see?! it must be a pregnant thing... cause i couldn't get a normal non laughing pic of the moms to be!!

lindsay's birthday celebration.

lindsay's bday was back on march 10th, but we weren't able to celebrate until the 20th. but, boy, did we ever celebrate! we started the night at japonais for some yummy dinner and of course cocktails... after japonais, we headed over to rockit where we somehow tend to end up b/c none of us can get creative and think of any other better place to go! once there, we made it a point to order drinks, get drunk, and do some shots! once we were good and toasty there and ready to move on, we headed to a bar called stanleys. stanley's is where we met up with her brother, andy, and some of his friends. after i'm sure what was making a colossal fool of myself talking to one guy that looked just like this guy i'd gone to high school with only taller, b/c well... that's what happens when you are drunk... a couple of the girls left to go home and so that left me, lindsey and kyle who had met up with us after dinner.



one of the shots we did... linds couldn't wait for the pic to be taken!


the group of us: tina, brittany (in red), abby, stef, me, and linds


stef and me at rockit...

here's where the night just keeps getting better... one of andy's friends came in to the bar and was all i know you! you're katherine! or something along those lines... again, i was drunk... don't quite fully remember other than... me going something like hunh?! how do you know that?! as i racked my brain trying to figure out how the heck i might know this guy... then he blurts, i've seen you on facebook! you make comments on christina and lindsey's pages! and i'm thinking... holy shit! i have a fb stalker!! how cool! god knows what else we talked about at the bar, cause it gets fuzzy, but i do know that we were kissing... a lot... in the bar. and that lindsey was giving him the thumbs up behind my back (he told me that later!). well, me, kyle, and erik (my fb stalker) decide to go to burton place where i need to have cheese fries and cheese sticks...and more to drink. i ran in to my old buddy, miller, there... and kyle freaked out when i said hi. i mean truly freaked out! whatever, the guy was standing right next to me, what, was i going to ignore him?! anyways... next thing i know kyle's gone and erik and i decide to leave. i don't really remember deciding this, but we headed back to my house... where we decided to drink some wine. and turn on my twisty dial fireplace. not for the ambiance, but he asked if it was real or fake, i said fake and then of course i had to demonstrate it.


really?! that face?! what is up with that!?

meanwhile we're just kissing on the couch and talking (god knows about what).... when the next thing i know, i wake up and it's morning! whoops!! the fireplace was still on... and my door was ajar! what?! ummmm... yes, friends i am a drunk and somehow i guess we were too busy smooching to shut the door when we got home and somehow neither of us noticed. shit!!! good thing there's another door to the building at the bottom of the stairs...but still!! must. be. more. careful!!!

so, then erik and i are just lying on the couch talking about everything and then some... all of this i remember!! and then tina calls and tells me she and lindsey are coming over soon to get me for sunday funday... and we are going to dmk burger which is a joint around the corner from me where we've gotten to know the bartender... ummmmm, ok... and then erik is all... gimme the phone! ummmmm, ok... b/c remember no one knows we went home together or that he was at my house! so, the girls were super surprised, we all laughed... they got to my house... i got dressed and all of us including erik went to dmk for what was supposed to be a burger and a beer... and turned in to about a thousand beers and two burgers, mac and cheese and a shit ton of fries! whoops!!! we made many friends at the bar... drewski, our bartender, was happy to see us (yes, we've been there a few times!), and we stayed a ridiculous amount of time. i'm embarrassed to admit i was there with erik from about 1230 until about 11ish. that's right. 11pm ish. yikes. i think the girls left around 7ish... i should have left too b/c monday, i'll admit was heinously hungover! but, it was a really fun sunday funday!!!!



at dmk, erik, linds, me and tina... way way too many beers!


a shot?!?! seriously?! whose idea was that!?! tina!!!!

so where does this leave erik?! i have no idea. but i can tell you that he's now my fb friend!

kandy kane ball.

ummmmm, ok, this post is super duper beyond late... it's still christmas on this blog!!! a bunch of us girls got together, bought some toys and went to a charity event called the kandy kane ball that raises money for kids that wouldn't otherwise have a christmas. this particular ball happens every year and is beyond well attended. prior to the event, we had a pre-party at abby's house and enjoyed delicious cocktails and some apps. and then we kinda went off the chain at joe's on weed street where the kandy kane ball was held!


linds, tina, abby, and me... woah! check out how short that dress gets when i'm sitting! that's some serious thigh...


see? christmas tree! never too late to post about something... i actually just got these pics so it wasn't my fault... abby had them and never sent them til about a month or so ago! man, now my boobs are popping out! i swear the dress wasn't that slutty as these two pics make it seem!! anyways, that's lindsey, stefanie (a scrippsie), me, bertie, and tina.


oooooooooh, we got to take a red carpet pic!! this was at the entrance to the ball and we all felt so so cool! :)


they had an ice luge there... for the champagne!! but not like in the backyard party sense... no one put their mouths under the luge... it was high class all the way with champagne flutes to catch the bubbly at the bottom.


yep, we danced on the stage... for quite awhile... brilliant!!