what i'm lovin' friday and Touch a Life

i love today.

if you live in west money, just look outside. ain't it grand?

an absolutely perfect spring day. seriously the temp is great too!

today i am thankful and loving these things

1. spending the day at my highschools regional track meet yesterday

this was the 4x400m relay.

i love to hate that race. i ran it in my days at OCS and let me tell you... it's brutally awesome.

i had knots in my stomach before the race. and i don't even know these girls.

does anyone else know that feeling with an old sport?

i also got burnt to a crispy

2. the weather, duh

mom and dads yard

3. having my cousins walk over to our house anytime, then driving them to another cousins ballgame.
or being with them at all and in a split second because they live across the yard.

they are my faves.

here are a bunch of 'em on easter sunday. some are friends, too.


4. I get to see this dude in 1 week!!!!

he will also be 1 year old next Saturday...what? what?
how in the world has it been 1 year since he was born?
I love this little Beauman so, so, so much and can't wait to spend a whole week with him!


5. Big news
planning the trip to head to Ghana in July...
...to spend some time with these guys!

click on the picture above for more information about Touch a Life

We will be holding the first Health fair at the Village of Hope.
I am so thrilled to be working with those that organize this effort and can't wait to meet all of these kids!

watch this video. please! watch this video.
(you might recognize the guy behind the camera)
These are the children we will be working with. My heart is already so heavy for them, I can't wait to meet each of them individually.



so, i'm a happy gal on this great friday!
hope you are too.

kate

Cali-bound baby!

My brother...

...this brother...

moved to LA.

Los Angeles, that is. Not to be confused with the "real" LA (louisiana).

Yep, he loaded up his vehicle on Thursday and drove til the map turned blue.

yep. i just threw that in there. name that song.

wait, i don't even know what song that is.

anywhoo...

We had a send-off party/Birthday party for him.

We love being together. He is quite the hoot.

See how hard Mamaw Jo is laughing???

Just a Wednesday gathering at mom and dads.

of course, we had a great performance from these 2 little snook-ems.

and stories from my uncle Jeremy.

these two are rather fond of eachother.

I am fond of both. It makes for a nice time.

Back to Josh.

He'll be attending Pepperdine in the fall for his Masters in Psychology!

Crazy brilliant, right? He's very impressive.

Meanwhile, he'll be working as a recruiter for the MBA program at Peppy (can I call it that?).

He already has his MBA.

Did I mention how impressive he is?

p.s. makes for a pretty legit vacay spot, huh?

Congrats to Joshy on his big move, job and school.

I'm so proud of my brosif and can't wait to see him dominate as a Sports Psychologist!

proud lil sis,

Kate

Sweet Carolina part 1 & part 2

I love the Carolinas. Inland and coastal.

We landed in South Carolina late Friday night(not our original plan, see how we spent the day here), then drove to Wrightsville Beach, NC and spent Saturday there. Oh, remind me to tell you about how we got from Myrtle Beach to Wrightsville Beach. It involves hitch-hiking.

My cousin, Memory, got married Saturday evening at a gorgeous church with the reception following on the Inter coastal waterway in a huge tent.

It was amazing. Seriously, gorgeous and an awesome party.

Here are a jagillion pics to sum it up.

Part 1. NC and family

super cute welcome bag

we stayed in a beach house next to my cousin Debbies' beach house.

Isn't our room the cutest??? It's exactly what I think of when I think of beach house/cottage.

my dad and his aunt Celeste.

This is what we did most of the day and it was absolutely perfect.

Try to focus on the beach. I woke us up early, not wanting to miss anything.

Front door to my cousins house. It's a nice day for a wedding, y'all!

I'd sit here alot if I lived nearby.

family time with my dad's side.

Memory is my dads first cousins daughter. get it? (i don't know where to put apostraphes')

We don't get to see his side of the family often, but they are sooooo awesome. I truly wish we could be together more often, because I adore them. The trip was way too short.

Debbies house. To the right is the sound, to the left is the beach. Perfect? Probably

Part 2. The Wedding

told ya it was gorgeous. Definitely not a CofC building. ha

all gussied up.

Memorys brothers. Cousins Will and David. aren't they so handsome?

looking back at the reception from the water. I know, right?

Dad, his cousins' wife Chryssa and their daughters. Love them!

My dads first cousin, Terry Kay. I wish so badly we lived closer. She's pretty awesome.

my handsome dates

everyone seated for dinner in the hugemongous tent.

ok, time out.

nevermind. the food will have to be another post. it was stupid. (in case you're not aware, stupid is good)

Mem and Richard! I just love her.

Mamaw Lou cuttin' a rug. She was one of the best dancers there, seriously. Did I mention that she'll be 80 in May?

We use to share rooms on family trips. No longer. I kinda miss that.

but, i'm pretty fond of my new roomie.

We didn't plan those faces. Scary or awesome?

party time grandma! (not mine)

some of the younger cousins. aren't they so cute??? and they have super fun personalities to boot.

Memory and Will dancing it up.

Ok, this little kid was hilarious. His moves were excellent.

Debbie and David. She was a stunning mother-of-the-bride!

partying.

thundershow

ok, are you tired of pictures yet?

2 parts=long blog.

the end. period.

I love North Carolina and I love the Milholland side of our family.
Hope you enjoyed it too

Happy weekend eve,

Kate



The day that changed our lives forever

I almost forgot.

Yesterday, April 18th, marks the date that I met my boyfran.

ain't he cute. that double plaid thing is hard to resist.

such a refreshing style.

one of our first photos together. pretty accurate prediction of our relationship.

our witnesses to our new love

the match making group.

 actually just the cute girl on the end and her hubsters(he's the one with a pink lei). The Cones

can't you just see it in our eyes? (please ignore my awkward britches)

this is when GT asked me to marry him

j/k. but i did really like him by this point. it was probably the killer dance moves he was pulling off.

a perfect first date, i'd say.

I'm thankful for that Saturday in Frisco, Tx at Pizza Hut Park.

I'm thankful for Jimmy Buffett and his music and the ridiculous crowd it gathers.

I'm thankful for the Cones, Lauren and Patrick. They knew a match when they saw it and made it happen.

I'm thankful for the past 2 years with my man. We've been together since the minute we met.

He's a keeper and my favorite person in the whole world.

I'm thankful that he liked me back.

Here's some JB to send you on your way.

If you want to hear more about how much I love my boo, you can ask. I'll spare everyone else.

Fins up!

Kate

our house is a very, very, very fine house

We stopped by our house in LR this weekend on our way to North Carolina.

Yeah, it's on the way. Rather, I made it on the way.

The point is...we haven't seen our house in 2 months. It looked pretty good.

Why isn't anyone buying this house???

So, I got kind of emotional. I wasn't crying or anything, but just feeling a bit nostalgic. It was our first home together, you know? That's pretty important. It was my first house to decorate without the help of a female roomie. GT and I worked hard on that house. The man built a deck, added on a laundry room, painted every room, fixed just about everything and layed sod in the yard. We brought Woodrow home to that house.

It was OUR little love nest. I love that house.

But, no one else does.

Anywhoo.

Of course, I went through the house taking pics.

(thank goodness for my shake-it app on my iphone...my real camera is done for. so it's iphone or bust)

mamaw jo made these curtains. old school appliances (=many burnt-bottomed cookies)

home-made china cabinent(hand-me-down from GTs uncle) that i refinished

messy desk. mom bought it for me in nursing school

my sewing desk in the sunroom bought at a thrift store for 25 bones. old golf bag from a garage sale.

guest room photos of my mamaw lou and aunt janie. probably 2 of my favorite things

husband. fave thing in the house

guest room. i love quilts so very much. all guest rooms should have a quilt.

hallway decor that i made in college.

our nest.

guest room again. i will always love this pier one purchase. applique was made for me.

i spy a deer head that i tried to hide in the study.

i liked these words. so i bought it at the hospital gift shop.

my man built this. by himself. boo-yeah.

that picture hung in my papaw shacks nursing home room. it makes me think of him.

not really decorated right now. usually there are flowers in those urns.

i love my table. world market rocks my face off.

nerd alert. i like the "t" door mat. it makes our house feel like a family house.

i realize that everything i love about that house will come with me.

nothing about the actual house is valuable to me...emotionally. it's the little things in it.

mostly, the things that make me think of people. the pictures, mainly.

so i'll do it again, i'm sure with another house.

well, i'm over it.

thanks for looking.

and tell everyone to move to North Little Rock and buy our house!!!

happy mondee,

kate