What a year!!

Linking up today with Erika and Andrea for Friday Favorites!!  Sharing with you today my very favorite place...MY HOME!!!!!!!!!!!


One year ago, on August 29th, 2013 (on the very first day back at school, mind you) I closed on my house and moved in!!  After waiting for what seemed like FOREVER!!!  It was a new build in a new development, and closing kept getting pushed back...but it was definitely worth the wait!!!

What a year it's been...

1 Christmas Eve dinner hosted

1 Papered Chef party hosted

4 attempts at trying to use the dishwasher before I realized that the water had to be turned on!
Actually, the Optimum guy figured that out!!

3 FedEx packages sent to the wrong address

2 small plants killed...I've managed to keep one alive though!!  And he looks FAB!!!!

150 visits from the UPS man...maybe more!

11 Peapod deliveries

5  blizzards endured

6 weeks with roomies

1 trip to Costco...the bulk stuff is lasting me! LOL

2 Grey's Nights (Sad, Girls!!  Just Sad!!)

I've probably used the oven only 2 dozen times in a year!!

One too many Saturday nights spent alone on my couch watching Hallmark movies
but way more spent out in town, which led to way too much money being spent!!

A month's worth of Sunday papers piled up on more then a few occasions (but I still can't bring myself to cancel it)

Countless bottles of wine consumed...and only one spill on the carpet!!  WOO HOO!!

Lots of family gatherings and a million laughs!!

Many projects completed with the help of my dad, who after doing project number 15 told me I
needed a boyfriend so HE could do this stuff for me! HA!  Many thanks to my brother-in-laws for helping along the way too!!

This...

Has turned into this....

I can't wait to spend many more years (39 to be exact!) in this home of my own, making lots more memories and millions more laughs!

Read the very first blog from my new address HERE!  And see more of how I've decorated HERE!


Have a great weekend!!
Katie


Follow the Mishaps and Mayhem of Solitary Life on Facebook HERE!

An August Favorite Things Party!

Love linking up with Erika and Andrea for their Favorite Things Party each month!  Seeing everybody's steals for $10 dollars is so much fun!  Mine this time around are so random!  Both can be found at the grocery store!  HA!

A little background...
I never go to the grocery store.  The grocery store comes to me.  If you've been following the blog you know, I love me my Peapod! (I've blogged about it here and here) So because of this, I never go and just browse the aisles to see what's out there.  And truth be told, in my Peapod orders, I tend to always get the same things.  I guess I'm just a creature of habit (and really not a fan of change...).  But the other day at my friend's house I discovered I might be missing out!  While I was there I had two of the most yummy things ever!

The first was this....

Now I realize I might be getting on this train a little late.  I had  seen this around here and there but never tried it.  I had the Pomegranate Berry and the grapefruit, both sooooo good!  It's flavored water and ZERO calories.  My friend told me they get the huge packs at Costco, which might be more than $10 but each bottle turns out to be less than $1 so it works!!

Another thing I had for the first time that day was these...

Clearly, I do live under a rock!!!  These were awesome!!!!  I love Ritz!  How did I not know that these existed???  Maybe it's because I have only ever gotten the original (or on occasion, the whole wheat). SO yummy, buttery and vegetable-y.  After these I actually broke out my iPhone and started making my shopping list.  Bad form? Probably!!  

 My friend kept apologizing that she couldn't offer me more in the way of food and drink that day, but I'd have to say it went well. The only thing that could've made it better was if I brought the big purse with me....that way I could've stashed a sleeve of these ritz and a bottle of sparkling ice in my bag on the way out the door!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  lololololol....totally kidding!!!!!!

Have a great week everyone!!!

Katie

It's Friday!!!!!

Woo Hoo!!  Even though I've been on Summer Vacation I still get excited when Friday rolls around.  Friday's just a happy day!!!

My ramblings from the week that was....

This is my 100th Blog Post!!!  YAY!!!  I started this blog back in 2012 but 2014 has really been the year of the blog!!  I've posted more, been participating in link-ups to gain more blog exposure and have made friends out there in blogland!!  Thanks to EVERYONE who takes time out of their day to read, comment and follow along we me on this crazy blog!!  It means the WORLD to me!!!

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge  I have not been nominated (thank you Jesus!...and really I couldn't do it.  This solitary life has me alone 95% of the time.  How am I to navigate a camera and all that ice??  AND I have a TERRIBLE voice on videos!!) but I have donated and probably watched almost every challenge video there is to see, from my family to celebrities and complete strangers! Even my mother, who I haven't seen get her hair wet since 1986, completed the Ice Bucket Challenge!! I really still can't believe that before this, funding and donations toward ALS were minuscule!! As of now, almost 40 MILLION DOLLARS has been donated!!  GO US!! Support the fight against ALS here!

Jesus Loves this Hot Mess!!  Went to Sunday Brunch this week in my new Be Still Clothing Co. Shirt!  I love it!  I first saw this graphic here on The Pleated Poppy Blog and thought it was super cute.  The shirt she linked to was this v-neck (tank no longer available!) But it was sold out.  When it was restocked, I jumped at the chance to get one and am so glad I did. Sometimes a girl just needs a little reminder!!

How is it that I've only just discovered the Timehop App?  And I'm obsessed!!  I can spend hours upon hours looking back at old photos and have boxes and boxes of old keepsakes.  This app is basically that online. Everyday you're notified with a picture, status update, etc. from that exact day years ago!  It's like a time capsule and it's super cool!!

HAHAHA

So THIS is really scary and eye-opening!!  EEEKKK...


Have a great weekend everyone!!!  Look forward to seeing all your favorites from the week that was....


Katie
Find me on Facebook HERE!!

Linking up this Friday with:
Lauren Elizabeth for High Five on Friday
Erika, Andrea, and Narci for Friday Favorites 
September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday!
Lauren at Style Elixir and her co-hosts

Robin Willaims' Faves

Linking up for another edition of Friday Favorites!  The death of Robin Williams came as such a shock this week!  It's always hard to believe someone who made us all laugh so hard  and for so long, was so sad in his own life!  So today I am going to highlight some of my favorite Robin Williams movies...in no particular order!  (These might show my age!!)


Mrs. Doubtfire: Who didn't love this one?  And with Sally Field and everything.  It was a comedy, but I'll admit I shed a tear or too!

Aladdin: That voice was unmistakable and nobody could have played the genie better!  Indeed, "Genie...you're free" now!

Dead Poets Society: This is a great one!  When I was in eighth grade I had an English teacher who made us re-create the scene where we all had to get up on the desk and look at the room in a whole new perspective.  I didn't remember that until I watched the movie again earlier this week!!

JACK: I feel like this movie never got the credit it deserved.  But this week as I scoped out my Facebook news feed and saw all the trends and tributes to Robin Williams, I found that I wasn't the only one who thought this movie was a good one!  I used to watch this movie all the time with the kids I baby-sat for.  We would all sit there and laugh and cry!  And now looking back at that final graduation speech that Jack gave, the words ring so true, because Robin Williams is really gone now!

Good Will Hunting...this one is really my favorite actually.  I saw it in the movies the weekend (maybe even the day) it came out.  I know that this movie made stars of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, but THE STAR of the movie was Robin Williams.  With all of his soliloquies and dialogue that meant something and spoke to so many.

And because it's my favorite I thought I'd include this...you might have seen it this week! (*WARNING: Explicit language in the clip! The film is rated R)


I know there are a dozen more great Robin Willaims' movies!  Share YOUR favorites with me in the comments below!  Have a great weekend!!
Katie

Linking up with Lauren Elizabeth for High Five for Friday, The Farmer's Wife  and September Farm for Oh Hey! Friday and Erika, Andrea and Narci for Friday Favorites!

My week was made...

Usually I'm linking up for all the Friday 5 fun! But today I'm just joining Friday Favorites with Erika, Andrea, and Narci.  LOVE THESE LADIES!!  You can share one favorite or 100.  Since I did pretty much NOTHING AT ALL this week except boring house stuff which was no fun, I only have ONE FABULOUS FRIDAY FAVORITE!!!

Let me introduce you to the item that 

MADE.
MY.

WEEK.

I finally got a pair of Hunter Wellies!!  

YAY!!  I scored them on Super Sale at the Hunter website for less than $100 bucks.  I LOVE THEM and can't wait to style them.  I've already been pinning away.  Speaking of pinning, I didn't exactly do nothing this week.  I linked up for Pinspired!  Check it out here!  (Oh!!  And I also linked up with Andrea this week for What's On...here!)
I might have worn my Wellies around the house all day...just because! And I really hope my neighbors don't mind when they see me spinning around gloriously and splashing in puddles the next time it rains.   I've never looked forward to rain before!!!!!!!!! LOL

Have a great weekend everybody...I'm off to the beach!!!!  I can't wait to see what everyone else has linked up when I get home tonight!!

Katie

What's on...My Wishlist!

Linking up with Andrea @ Momfessionals for another edition of her WHAT'S ON... Series

What's not on my wishlist!  HAHAHAHA!!  Just kidding!!  It's kinda a short list actually!

I got a pretty good life going here!  But who couldn't use some more money to live a bit more comfortably and have a little bit more FUN?
I wish I had more money to travel...both the world and here in the U.S. Goodness gracious, why are plane tickets so bloody expensive?? Ideally, I want to visit each state!  I've never even been to Texas ya'll!!!!  Home to some of my favorite bloggers!  I'd also like to visit Seattle, Utah, see a concert at the Red Rocks in Colorado and visit all those fly over state Jason Aldean sings about!! And of course, Hawaii and Alaska are on the Bucket List as well :)

And I've been on many a cruise but would like to visit other tropical places like Tahiti, Bora Bora, Costa Rica, and the Maldives, for more then a few hours at a time.  I would love to go there and relax in the sun, sand, and clear blue water!  Clearly, I've been watching the Bachelor too long!  New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland are high on the list too. I had the chance to go to Ireland in college and it ended up falling through...sad I haven't made it there yet! London would be awesome too!!

Unfortunately, I know I'll never make it EVERYWHERE, but it sure is fun to WISH!!

And just for fun, I've included this....


Can't wait to read everyone else's wishes!!

Katie

Linking up for Pin-spired today too!  Check out how I used Pinterest to recreate an outfit I wore to a concert recently HERE!

August Pin-spired!

Linking up with Shay, Sheaffer and Mel for Pin-spired!  

How is it August already?!?!?! GROSS!!!!!  Contrary to what I might've have said here, I am really not looking forward to the end of summer. I don't wanna go back to real life anytime soon!  But I do love me some Pin-spired!!

 Last weekend I spent the weekend at concerts.  It was so, so much fun!   (I really should have done a weekend recap blog but I gotta tell ya, two shows in two days...actually three in a week, has really thrown me for a loop!!  Since this summer has totally turned out to be "The Summer of Concerts" I am going to recap it all later this month!!!  

But back to Pin-spired...for Sunday's show, instead of wearing my cowboy boots, which need to be repaired, I decided to wear my riding boots.  I went on Pinterest (of course) for a little inspiration and found that this is totally a thing and ok to do!  

But I really got the idea for my outfit from this pic/movie/pin:

The Lucky One is a favorite movie of mine (the book is always better than the movie but the movie WAS really great too)!! And let's be honest, Zac Efron isn't hard to look at. (I kinda feel like a cougar saying that, but it's the truth! HA!) And I know you can't really see the boots in this pic, but they look super cute!

Here's my pin-spired take on the look:

Easy enough and it looked pretty cute!!  All of the pieces I pulled right outta my closet and threw together in about five minutes. (My bestie can attest!)   This is also a look I can wear into early fall which is great. I'll be wearing this again for sure. 

Find all my pinspired looks {here}.

I can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with!  Have a great week...and fabulous August!!

Katie