a beautiful summer afternoon

Yesterday afternoon I spent my time at Chris' parent's house. We ate, laughed, and watched movies, which is generally the usual at that house. The sun decided to come out a little later and since we haven't seen it in god knows how long, we all decided to bask in its glory while it was out.

Chris got me a new lens for my camera (50mm f/1.8) that I was dying to try out and since his mother had about 100 bouquets of flowers in the house and trees blossoming in the backyard, I wanted to test out my new piece of equipment on them. Here's the outcome....


This was the blossoms out of focus. I loved the different colors that appeared. 









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Just Pictures

 I recently just added to my social media addiction and got myself an instagram. Now I'm even more of a junkie. I also just made myself a Vine, has anyone heard of this social media? I am so terribly addicted to it. Today's post is going to short and sweet and I'm going to show you my grams for my first few weeks of use. Enjoy, and follow me!!


cat//first selfie//the perfect grilled cheese//morning walk view//another selfie//cat//Chris' old and new golf clubs//Saturday night dinner//love//waterfront walk//morning sunrise//pretty flower

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Birfday Time




I wanted to dedicate today to the greatest girl I know and also my best friend, really my only friend. Today she turns the big 21 and you know what that mean....

crunk.
crunk.
crunk.

Just kidding, she's probably celebrating with her cats and eating cake. That's exactly what I would be doing. Bria's been my greatest friend since 7th grade and she's my other half. She's one of those friends that you don't have to see every day and when you finally do see each other, it's like no time has gone by at all. We're idiots together and I love her.

Happy birthday Bria!!

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the things school doesn't teach you.

Senior Year 2010
Sex Ed didn't teach me about how to spot a douche nozzle- This is something I feel should actually be a main topic in the class. Everyone needs to know this and if I did, I would have saved so much of my time in high school.

How to pay my taxes- I still don't understand what the hell I'm doing with that.

It's okay to be different- I remember being very self conscious about myself in high school, caring about what everyone thought. Nowadays.....NOPE!

Gym class didn't teach me shit about self defense- All we did is run around in a circle on a track. How is that suppose to help me from a predator? You can't just run forever!

Parking on a college campus- This may just go for my school, but everyone parks like an idiot. 3 way parking is not okay people, don't park me in, I will key your shit.

Making friends-I'm really good friends with some of the people that I never spoke to in high school because I thought they were really intimating. If I could back (which I never would) I would definitely had wanted to be friends with these people because they're pretty awesome.

Sit in the front row and participate- I'm one of those people who doesn't learn anything unless your shoving it down my throat. Since I started college, I've always sat in the front row. You learn so much!


Favorites of the Past


An Old Friend- This was one of my first posts on the blog and I wrote about my bestie who is living over seas in Japan with her Air Force hubby. I think I was just missing her a ton that day and she was coming home soon after I wrote that so I was also very excited to finally see her. And my hair is so freaking long in those pictures, it's redick.

Crappy Portrait- A crappy picture that has become one of my favorite pictures. 

Hippos- This post explains how I've always wanted a hippo to call my own. Don't take it seriously, I'll never own a hippo...

Peninsula State Park // Part 1 // Part 2- One of my favorite past times is camping, specifically at Peninsula State Park. 

Chris' grumpy face- makes me laugh every time. 

Patches- A very sad post about the best cat I will ever know. 

Caramel Apples- 3 awesome caramel apple recipes. My mouth is watering already. 

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Garden with Kelly // Transplanting and my first sprouts


WOOHOO, another day of Garden with Kelly (that's moi). My veggie garden has been coming along wonderfully and a couple of days ago WI finally warmed up enough for me to transplant those cherry tomatoes outside. Thank you weather.

What I did first with my tomatoes to get them ready for transplanting was taking them outside for a few hours everyday. I first started on the porch and just sat them next to the window. Then after about a week I would set them outside in the morning and take them in at night. This just gets them ready for the outside weather and you don't have to deal with them wilting or transplant shock when you finally do transplant them. 

I did the transplanting in the morning when the sun was low to reduce the shock factor. However it was still really windy, but they didn't seem to mind much. I then dug holes in the ground around my cages where I wanted them to start growing. I did about 3-4 plants for each cage. I then just plopped my bio-degradable pots with the plants into the holes and covered them up with dirt. The second link I posted at the bottom of this post had a really neat fact. I guess when transplanting your tomatoes, bury them deep, about 2/3 of the stem. This will help it grow bigger. I read the post after planting mine and didn't do, but I think they'll be okay. 

I also planted my green beans and sugar snap peas. I did the same thing I did with my tomatoes and planted about 2-3 for each cage. they haven't come up yet, but I expect them to in the next week or two. 





About two weeks ago I planted my spinach and lettuce and they started sprouting the other day. I have some major weeding to do thanks to the huge ass tree that hangs over the bed, but I'll get to that tonight. It was really cool to see them come up and super exciting to know that soon I can eat them. I'll have to do some thinning out soon to, once they hit about 3-4 inches, I'll start the plucking and we'll see who makes the cut.



Helpful links for this topic-

How to transplant tomatoes-Garden Betty // Love Apple Farms

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a favorite of mine.


I think it's obvious why this is a favorite photo of mine. That little bugger was the love of my life and even though he's gone, he still is. He also happened to be one of the most photogenic cats out there, if I don't say so myself. You can say for yourself here and here. I miss my little man dearly and wish I still had him around.

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little creations

It's the end of the school year. That feels so good to say. This school year I took a photoshop class where I learned to use several different programs. Adobe Illustrator happened to be one of them and I fell in love with that program. I had so much fun with it and it was really the only one I didn't get a massive headache trying to use.

I wanted to show you guys a couple of the pictures I created while using the program because I just love them so much and must show someone. For these pictures I simply took pictures I had and drew over them to make them look like painted pictures. The one of Chris and I kind of looks like a comic. Well enjoy!!



I'm planning on printing these out and framing them for my walls. I really love how they turned out. 

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My Happy List


10 things that make me happy....

1. Cats. Any cat could cheer me up.
2. Waking up early and having a super long day.
3. Cuddling. It's makes everyone happy and I'm included.


4. Rainy Days. I love having an excuse for staying inside and watching movies. and cuddling :)
5. Coupon shopping trips. When I get to use a coupon at every store I go to and save butt loads of cash, I'm a happy gal.
6. True Blood or really any vampire show. I would be good at being a vampire.
10. Fresh Flowers. There's nothing like a good bunch of flowers to brighten my day.


7. Giving gifts. Ask Chris, I love giving gifts. I love seeing someone smile because I gave them something.
8. New perfume. there just something about getting a new perfume and actually being able to smell what you smell like for a while.
9. Camping. I love being woodsy and living in a tent for a week.


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I'm Le Sorry

I've missed a couple days of blogging every day in May, but I have a good excuse. Since Thursday (the last post) I have been working every day all day. I worked a 13 hour day Saturday and came home pretty much dead. My feet were black and blue from walking on concrete for that long straight and if I didn't work at 8 am the next morning, I would probably still be sleeping. I've also been slowly writing a 8-12 page paper for Tuesday that I still have a very long way to go on.

It is finals week my friends and that means I might be a little MIA. However I do plan on waking up at the crack of dawn Tuesday morning to schedule the rest of the week's posts and finish writing my paper. It'll probably be super sunny and beautiful out that day which will make me hate WI that much more, because I'll be stuck inside instead.


Anywho, today's topic is an apology. Instead of just doing one apology, I decided to just hit multiple apologies. After reading them, most all deal with rudeness. I guess that's just a theme in my life at the moment...

Here it goes.

I'm sorry I lied when I returned a shirt and said "no" when asked if I had worn and washed it.
I'm sorry that I've missed a few days of Blog Every Day in May.
I'm sorry I'm not sorry when I talk about rude customers behind their back.
I'm sorry I'm extra rude to certain customers because they are just as nasty, every. single. time.
I'm sorry for saying rude things to people's faces when they're being annoying.
I'm sorry, Snicker,s for poking you in the eye while trying to get your eye booger.
I'm sorry, Mom, that I forgot to say Happy Mother's Day yesterday before leaving for work.
I'm sorry I drive a little too fast up my hill and piss off all my neighbors.
I'm sorry that I've been watching True Blood instead of studying for finals.

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One Moment


Here's a picture from a few days ago from our guest bedroom. It was the first sunny day in Wisconsin and I was stuck inside studying. I kept the window open to let the sun shine through and loved how it looked through the white curtains. 

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Garden with Kelly // My Adventure into Organic Gardening

So this past winter I was getting a huge itch to start my own veggie garden. I loved the idea of growing your own food and the rewarding outcome of being able to eat it! I've never gardened before and had no idea where I was going to start. I knew I wanted to go all organic and not use chemicals for fertilizers and keeping the critters away. I read countless sites and articles about the dos and don'ts of organic vegetable gardening. I have a whole notebook full of notes, no joke. And a board on Pinterest to go with it. 

I thought it would be a fun idea to take you along with me on my venture into gardening. I'm going to share with you all the things I do to prepare my garden and the things I come across in my garden. You'll get to see my veggies grow and everything I do to keep them from dying a horrible death. I'll share with you all the tips and tricks I figure out while growing a vegetable garden (and doing it organically) for the time! Maybe by the end of the summer, I'll be a pro.....

By no means am I a professional and I don't know what I'm talking about half the time. Like I said, this is my first time gardening and most of the time I'm completely lost. But I'm doing this little mini series for fun and so that all those other beginners out there can have someone else who is completely overwhelmed with them!


( I bought all my products from Home Depot. I'm using links from the Burpee site so you can easily see what I used. You can still have all these products at Home Depot.) 

I started all my seeds inside with this seed starting kit and these bio degrable pots. I did one row of tomatoes, lettuce and spinach in the tray and two sets of peas and beans in the pots. I started in the middle of March (not taking into consideration that we'd still be in winter in May here in WI) and after about a week all my seedlings started to sprout. After a few weeks my lettuce and spinach didn't make it. I think they grew to fast and they got really long and just fell over. I tossed those. My beans didn't grow well either so I tossed those. I'm hoping they do better when planted directly in the garden. I should also mention that all the seeds I used were also organic. 

My tomatoes and peas are still growing right now in front of a nice big window that gets lots of sunlight. In the past 2 weeks I've been moving them out onto the porch to get use to the being outside. Next week I'll start putting them outside right before I plant them. This helps the plant acclimate to the weather and temperature outside so they don't get shocked when you transplant them. 

 I wanted to feed my dirt with all natural compost so I stopped over at Chris' parents house where they keep a compost pile and filled up these three buckets. I read that compost is really great for using in your vegetable garden. It provides your veggies with great nutrients so you don't have to add extra fertilizers or chemicals. I mixed up the dirt with a shovel in the bed before adding the compost then I threw the buckets on top and gave it another good mixing. I then leveled the soil out so I didn't have random mountains of dirt.



I stuck my tomato/bean/pea cages into where I wanted to plant them. I'm still waiting another week to plant them just in case WI decides to freeze over one last time. So right now it looks like I'm just growing metal cages. I did however plant my spinach and lettuce seeds. I did one row of spinach and two rows of romaine lettuce. I plan on planting another set of each in a few weeks so I have another crop ready to go later.

All I did for the lettuce and spinach seeds is create a shallow trench about 2 1/2 feet long and I tossed the seeds in. The directions on the seed package will tell you how deep. My romaine lettuce and spinach was 1/4 -1/2 inch deep. I then covered those babies up and gave them a good watering. I used plastic tags to identify where all veggies were. We'll see if they hold up through the weather or not.




That's about it for today. In about a week or two I'll post about transplanting my tomatoes and planting my beans and other peas. Hope you enjoyed this first installment of my gardening series. If you have any tips I would love to hear them! Thank you so much!

Here are a few helpful links I used when first getting started.

Smart Gardener- this site helps you plan out your garden. It virtually maps out your gardens and where to plants things with how much space you have available. 

Organic Gardening- a perfect site for any question you may have about organic gardening. I literally found out so much by reading some of the things on here. 

Southern Living- This was a nice article about the how tos of lettuce planting. However it says you shouldn't plant lettuce for summer. I say lies, I think mine will do just fine. It gets enough shade that it should stay cool enough to not bolt right away. 

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what I'm most afraid of.

This will probably come to no surprise to those who know me, but my biggest fear is kinda random. It's not spiders or losing someone I love most (though that is a close contender). It's not getting stuck in an elevator or even clowns. 


It's whales. 

I hate them. 

More so the bigger whales. Blue whales, Grey whales, Humpback whales, Sperm whales, pretty much anything bigger than 3 buses. It gives me the heeby geebies just thinking about them. I believe this fear for whales started when I simply saw a comparison picture of a human to a whale. It freaked the hell out of me to know that there is something that is 100x larger than I am. It's just not cool.

I won't swim in the ocean. I won't even ride a boat in the ocean. People ooooo and ahhhh when they go whale watching, I would probably cry. And perhaps have a panic attack. If I happened to ever be in a situation where there is a whale on one side of me and a shark on the other, I'd choose shark. 

I was had a nightmare I was swallowed by a whale like Dory and Marlin. I was stuck inside this whale and had no where to get out. It was the worst thing ever. 

What are you most afraid of?

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The Home of the Depot and the critters that come with it

Today, I wanted to take you on a little trip to where I work. It's bring your blog to work day!


So I work at the wondrous place called Home Depot. Orange may not be my most flattering color, but I deal with it because I love working there much. In the winter I cashier, but come summer I am let free and venture out into the garden center.  I wake up at the wee hours in the morning and water the plants. You may be thinking, that's the most boring thing I've ever heard. WRONG! I love it. To be able to start my day at 4am (yeah that early) and just water plants all morning and not have to deal with customers, it's the best thing ever.

There is one downside. The critters I come across that early in the morning as monstrous. I'm not kidding, they're like something you would find back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

One time there was this moth, same size of my head (and I have a big head!) and he kept flying around me and it was freakin the crap out of me. So I shot the poor bugger down with my watering hose, trying to drown it. Sorry Peta... The dino moth wouldn't die!!! It just kept fluttering there in the water. I let him go and I never saw him again. I think I taught him a lesson that day.

it might have been this big.
Another time I found a dragonfly sitting on a plant that just totally popped out of no where. He literally had a wingspan of like a foot. Where the hell did he come from!?

I once got to watch a bird hunt down a different dragonfly, catch it, and then eat it like some kind of caveman. This tiny little bird just swallowed the dragonfly whole. It was a little frightening.

Alright one more. One time I was watering the flower baskets and I saw something move in the leaves. I usually always inspect the plants when I find a bug. I don't know why because I always end up flipping out after I figure out what it is and that is exactly what happened this time. So this albino spider comes crawling out and it is so huge! I spray it with my hose (this happens to be my only weapon, so I use it a lot) and the damn bugger won't die. This spider is really freaky looking too, so I took a picture of it and tried to google what type it might be. Never found a match.

I'm telling you, these creatures either only exist at Home Depot or early in the morning.

And it's weird.

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the past can hurt

Let's take a little life lesson from the smartest monkey I know....

came from tumblr, which of course means no source 
This is in the top 5 of my favorite quotes. Why? Because it's the smartest line anyone has ever said. Who hasn't made a terrible mistake in their past? I know every mistake that I've made I've chose to learn from it and I believe it's made me a very strong person because I chose to learn from it and not run from it. The funny thing is I had no idea what this quote meant when I was a kid and watched this movie daily. The things you learn from Disney movies when you grow up....

Thanks Rafiki.

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The Guy in the Flower Cap


Let's talk about uncomfortable situations today. We've all had them and I somehow get in the middle of them every day of my life. I've worked in customer service jobs since I was about 16 and I've dealt with a whole crop of nasty and weird ass people. but it wasn't until I started working where I work now that I've had to deal with the pervyiest men ever, more so pervy old men. Enjoy :)

So the story begins one night while I was working and this older gentleman comes walking into the store. I thought, oh how cute, he's wearing a hat covered in flowers. I was wrong, he was not cute, he was disgusting, rude, and vial. But we will get to that. This was the first time meeting this old man and I guess he was a regular because everyone knew him (thanks for the warning guys, not).

I was standing behind the counter and he comes walking around and sits right in front of him. I politely ask is he needs anything or if I could get someone to help him out. I don't really remember how the conversation went exactly but it quickly turned to him hitting on me and asking me out for drinks. I was 18 at the time and he was way beyond 60 years old. I don't know about you, but that's not really my thing. I blankly starred at him like I thought he was kidding and gave one of those fake laughs that we all do in uncomfortable situations. But he was down right serious.

He continued to tell me how pretty I was and how much he would love to take me out and the situation was getting pretty damn creepy. I was down there all by myself with this old dude hitting on me. I couldn't leave the register so I was stuck there trying to be as nice as possible to this freak when in reality I wanted to flip him the finger and stomp on his stupid flower cap.

The creepiest part is when he put his hands on mine (I had them sitting on top of the counter) and he then started to rub them with his thumb. Are you freaking kidding me!? I had enough at the moment and quickly took my hands away and asked him very sternly if I can get anyone to help him. I think he finally got the drift and just walked away. I soon found out that he went up front and started to do the same damn thing to another girl I worked with. Just gross.

I've worked retail for quite a few years but have never been in a more uncomfortable situation as that one. I can handle creepy old men saying weird shit to me but don't touch me. Just don't. If only I could have said what  I wanted to say, but if I had, I probably would've been fired.

lets talk about cats

You may have realized that I'm a crazy cat lady and have the biggest obsession with cats. I believe this obsession developed throughout high school and got to be quite serious during my college years and is still now ongoing. My room is adorned with cat related things and while typing this I even have a cat staring at me wondering why I'm not petting her. 

Today, I'm going to teach you a thing or two about cats and what makes them so hatefully wonderful. 

1. They may intentionally be always plotting against you. This will help you understand more on the subject. 

2. They make for the best memes ever.

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3. They only want to petted on their own time. A cat will stare and bug the crap out of you during the times you're most occupied until you pet them. However, when you're watching a movie and cuddling, beware. They'll probably flip out on you. 

4. They do weird shit. Have you ever had a cat laying peacefully on the floor then out of no where run like a bat out of hell into the other room? Why the ef' do they do that? 

5. Boxes are their best friends. A cat can never turn down a box, never. 

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6. They don't think it's awkward that you pee in front of them. They'll just sit there and stare at you until you're done and follow you into the next room like nothing ever happened. 

7. They are able to sleep in the most awkwardest positions. I don't know how that can be comfortable. 

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8. They will inspect everything. They don't give a shit if it's just a plastic bag, they will sniff, rub, walk on, sit on, lick that bag until you finally take it away from. That bag must be cat approved before it is able to live in their house. 

9. The more you talk to your cat, the more it will speak to you. I found this to be very true with my cats. They never shut up.

10. Ultimately, they will love you unconditionally as long as you love them. 


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My Life Story

So I pop out of my mom on the living room floor one day and have my name written on the ambulance that helped her out. Or so that's the story my dad tells me. I grew up looking like Pebbles from the Flintstones because my hair only grew on top of my head. I was also tortured by my older brother by having toy tractors dropped on my head and being pushed off tables. It was a very loving relationship...

The rents divorced and we lived with the momsy the majority of the time. We attended several schools and moved before we finally settled into our home. I met a tiny girl named Nikki and we became best friends. Middle School quickly rolled around and the awkward stages of growing up began. I stole my best friend's (not Nikki) boyfriend and I met another blonde girl, Bria and she was pretty much my double and we became instant besties. Also this was the time of Myspace and duck faces (see pictures below).



High School starts and my days of heavy black eyeliner and skull shirts starts. Why? I don't know, don't ask. I go through several boys, stole the same girl's guy again my senior year (woops!) and pretty much live the ultimate life with my two greatest friends. After graduation I took a once in a lifetime trip to the beautiful country of Peru with my step mom. It was an amazing experience.

SIL farthest left, bestest friend farthest left, oh yeah!

two boys I dated pictured in the same picture. can someone say awkward!?


 College starts!! I gained the freshman 15, possibly 20 and meet some pretty awesome people. However, it sucked and I missed home and I was doing very poorly in school because of it. The brother leaves for the Air Force (sad :( ) but gets married to an amazingly wonderful girl who I get to call my sister in law. Sophomore year I moved back home and went to the college five minutes away. So much better. I also met this super hot guy named Chris who happens to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. The greatest cat of all time passed away and I lost my best friend that day (double sad). I also started blogging and Kelly Elizabeth was created one boring weekend! 

Christmas card 2010
 
 


Today, I got a handsome fella in my life and the same two best friends (even though one lives in Japan) and I couldn't ask for anything else. I'm a happy girl.



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