simply kellie

Update your bookmarks, folks. It’s time …

Kellie — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 06:20:36 +0000

Update your bookmarks, folks. It’s time for a new blog address.

It’s a new school year, I have a new place to live and after this summer I just feel like a new person.

And on WordPress you can blog some extremely huge images. Which is mostly why I blog at all these days. Exhibit A.

I apologize for any inconvenience. But get excited. There are big things coming in the next year… and not just pictures.

This apartment is good for birthdays, too.

Kellie — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:22:00 +0000

Birthday Toast

BJs cake = Delicious

21 things to do on your 21st. She didn’t get through them all last night, but we’ll give her until the end of August.

Mary is allergic to nuts.

Well the yum BJs cake was made where things that have nuts are made, so being a great friend I was (after buying the nut cake….yeah) I made nut-free funfetti cupcakes.

myspace

birthday toast at midnight!

we love continuous shot

One of Mary’s 21 things was to perform the Knight Fever choreography for an audience. Since we rocked out Knight Sounds together in high school (showchoir, woop woop) I helped her out.

Happy Birthday Mary, we love you!

The Oaks

Kellie — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:34:00 +0000

fresh organic produce from the garden on campus

welcome first ever apartment residents!

100% off

Kellie — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:02:00 +0000

Yesterday was Move-In day at The Oaks. It was a lot of fun, but boy was it long. The artwork that I usually hang on my walls was distributed through our apartment and a giant hole above my bed was begging for a new painting so I looked up A.C. Moore coupons, found this gem and headed over there! To my surprise 18 x 24 canvases were on sale in a 2-pack for $6.99 and I used my coupon on the smaller one bringing my grand total to something around $11 for three canvases. That is a steal at A.C. Moore. Literally.

Allison, the girl who was working the register was super sweet and told me about their new Rewards program (get a card!) where you swipe every time you go and get 1 point for each $1 you spend, and eventually you’ll get a gift card. She then told me about a teacher discount card I can apply for once I graduate and I’ll always get a certain percentage off any purchase. Y-a-y. After all her suggestive selling, she asked if I wanted my purchases in a bag and I declined and wished her a good day, and she did the same and I left. It wasn’t until I got to Target that I began wondering if I used cash or a card to pay…and then when I couldn’t remember I realized that I had no receipt and I had walked out of the store without paying! I called them once I left Target and arranged to come back and pay, and when I did I found out that it had been Allison’s first day on a register by herself. Poor girl. I probably made her want to quit her job.

Moral of the story: use coupons. And when you use them, pay.

living roomdesk viewpotty reading toothb…

Kellie — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:18:00 +0000

living room

desk view

potty reading

toothbrush holder

heirlooms

where I get 2 bars (3 if you include the counter)

ah, honey honey

freshman year my mom bought me this giant box of pots and pans

pretttttty impressive.

those + my christmas cheese grater will come in handy as i attempt to cook spaghetti tomorrow night for the first time ever by myself.

a lil’ apartment love

Kellie — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:04:00 +0000

I’ve only taken 3 pictures so far..it’s been a long day.

A major thanks to my padre, my madre, my Marshall for helping me move all my junk in and Rachel McElwain for banging strawberry jam, pickles and champagne glasses. I am greatly looking forward to my toast tomorrow morning a la strawberry….

So far, I love this little apartment.

However, it will be better once all my roomies and friends are here on Saturday!

I still have some clothes to put away and once my pals get here we’ll organize the kitchen, but overall its shaping up to be a cute little place. I went grocery shopping tonight… those things are expensive! I got the essentials (or what seemed like essential at the time)…it shall be interesting to see how I survive without BDH’s help. Oh Belk Dining Hall, I may miss you after all….

Happy Thursday!

32

Kellie — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Last week sometime I decided to make a list:

“Things I’d like to do before I turn 32 [but if it doesn't happen, that's okay too] ”

The thing is, I have to make lists, or else I’ll forget. Like when I go to the grocery store with three things to buy, I will most definitely always forget one of the things I need and come out with five things that I didn’t need. Unless, I make a list.

On this list are various items, but number one was “to live in the same place as my sister”.

Well guess what? That one is coming true before I even turn 22! Yesterday I found out that she and Dan will be moving to Charlotte as of NEXT MONTH. Do you know what this means? Craft parties, all the time. And she’ll be here for my birthday. And Cornhuskin’. And Thanksgiving. And all other familial things that you might like your big sister and brother in law to be at (like college graduations…). So I’m pretty much the most excited person in the world. I found this out after scoring a pair of Banana Republic pants for $19.99 (originally: 98) so I was already pretty excited, but this sent me over the top. Yesterday was just the best day ever.

Next thing to focus on for the list: a new camera lens.

I’m looking at some macro-zoom action, but I think I’m gonna talk to the people at Peace Camera and see what they recommend. It will be a while, because after taking care of all my credit cards post-Costa Rica I think I just want to buy things with money I have, from now on.

Good days.

Kellie — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:38:00 +0000

Our FuHsing friends left on Thursday morning. It wasn’t nearly as tearful as the night before had been (referred to as ‘The Trail of Tears’ by one of our history-buff campers), but it was still sad to see them go! It’s so crazy how attached you can get to kids in such a short period of time.

Friday night I went home to spend some time with my parents and get ta’ packing for my apartment (move in: Wednesday 8am). We had such a great time. We went to dinner at Noodles and Company off Erwin Road (there is a whole new magical shopping area there) and then afterwards I went buy a friends house to visit and to drop of gifts from Costa Rica.

Saturday we woke up early and hit up the Farmer’s Market. That place is seriously my favorite. My current plan is to do my Famer’s Marketing on Friday mornings after Pilates, so if anyone else wants to go, let me know! It seriously makes shopping so fun with all the people and they had $1 dwarf sunflowers. I want some. If you go, I seriously recommend a glass bottled Cheerwine ($1) or a fresh squeezed limeade with cherries ($3.50) as a little reward for buying local.

Farmer’s Market with my parents + babysitting for my favorite family + cooking dinner with some of my favorite Meredith girls = a wonderful Saturday. While I do miss the entirety of Costa Rica, you really can’t trade summer at home for anything.

Crash…..

Kellie — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:34:00 +0000

Since May 11, I have slept in like 20 different beds. I’m ready to sleep in the same one for the next 12 months.

Today was the last day of FuHsing and they leave tomorrow. iPhone awards were a huge hit…but unfortunately sent all the youngins into sobbing fits for like an hour. They’re sleeping now, but hopefully tomorrow will be tear free on the way to the airport. You know you’re a good counselor when your middle school boys tell you in between sobs that they never want to leave you, right?

I just noticed that one of those middle schoolers squashed a peanut butter m&m on my floor.

This has been such a great experience. My kids were a hoot, and I am SO thankful that I had the opportunity to get to know them. Today during our farewell luncheon, they plotted to say “gracias” instead of “thankyou” when they got their certificates. I loved it and they loved that I loved it. I can’t wait to be a teacher. Or a mom? Sometimes the line between the two was a little unclear at times…

Today they were all dressed up for their farewell lunch, and I took them outside individually and took “stud” pictures. Then I made them take a million jumping pictures. I never could have done that with my group last year, I think I maybe got 1 group picture the whole time. I have SO many of these guys and they are hilarious… they were always up for a themed photoshoot.

So I’m crashing. I think my body is starting to realize that it has been going, going, going for like three months and is ready for a break. Good thing I have like 6 days before I move into my apartment… to sleep. Student loans are finally taken care of (thanks mom and dad….no thanks to you, President Obama) so pretty much all I have to do before I move in is pack. Today as I packed up my room in Brewer, I came face-to-face with a weird dilemma. Costa Rica really inspired me to live simply, with the things I need and nothing more. It also inspired me to re-use things instead of buying new things. So here I am wanting to throw away everything as to only have the things I need, but then I don’t want to throw anything away for fear I will need it and will have to buy it when I want to reuse it. This is such a random post. My brain is mush.
Here’s a random set of photos.

Lovely gerber daisy decorations at our farewell lunch and the beginnings of iPhone awards.
The boys immediately pointed out that they lacked the circle button at the bottom. I figured they’d point out that they weren’t real iPhones, but whatever.

God, thank you for letting me be around cool people, like all the time. It’s pretty great.

F-Word

Kellie — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:49:00 +0000

Today we took a glorious trip to the Farmer’s (nope, not that f-word) Market. I do not have any conscious memories of going there before today, except for seafood and breakfast one time. I feel like I probably went as a young child and screeched with boredom so my parents probably never took me back. Sorry mom, if I squashed your dreams of buying local produce. However, today I loved it. Spending time in Costa Rica really made me want to buy local produce and it was cool to see how easy it is to do just that here in Raleigh. Hopefully (money and convenience willing) I’ll be able to frequent the market.
And if anyone was wondering, the bananas they sell there are from Guatemala.

While I waited for my boys to explore, I grabbed a Skirt! magazine to read. Meghan always has them and I love the graphics on the front always, but I had never taken the time to read one until today! There was this awesome article about feminism (actually the whole issue was) and going to a women’s college. Ha HA! The writer, Kristin Hall of Agnes Scott College in Atlanta shared some completely hilarious thoughts about common misconceptions about going to an all-girl’s school…err….women’s college. Personally, I wasn’t really attracted to the feminist piece of the articles, but her commentary was freaking hilarious. Enjoy.

“…But here’s the thing… at a women’s college, I suddenly found myself surrounded by strong, intelligent females who could easiely conquer the world but still made time for weekly gatherings to watch old Disney movies. I discussed matters of great importance with them during class. I ate lunch with them every day. I went out on the town with them at night. And amazingly enough, we never sat around plotting the violent demise of the patriarchy. We actually rather liked men. “

You should check out the rest of the article… it’s hilarious. I’m sure my fellow Meredith gals will get a kick out of it. She has some great points about bra-burnings:

“I didn’t burn any bras during my time at Agnes Scott, nor did anyone else–
bras are expensive for one thing, and an Atlanta city ordinance restrics open fires.”

I think with all the trouble we go through for a Big Sis/Lil Sis bonfire, a bra-burning would be pretty unlikely. Well, now we have the new fire pit that doesn’t require a permit…hmmm…

Anywho, the f-word was feminism.
Happy almost Monday.