Life is for Livin'

One month from today, I will either be in Nashville because the Kings of Leon just couldn't say goodbye to me OR I will be heading back to Vegas, hopefully with a signed copy of my open letter with lots of x and o's.

What can I say, the people have spoken (sorry X and Pep) and I do think it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Dawn and I are ready to party and ready for whatever this trip brings us which hopefully includes backstage passes and a sound check before the show (fingers crossed!).

I was really struggling with this decision because I know that it certainly is not the smartest thing for me to be spending my limited funds on. HOWEVER I have not done anything irresponsible and reckless since I flew to Chicago after meeting a guy at Body English one night. I knew this guy via text and email and one hazy night in a nightclub and FLEW TO CHICAGO to spend 4 days with him. That is crazy. I love you, bub, but that was crazy. My point is, look how that turned out. Nearly three years later, Cory is now one of my favorite people and that trip is definitely on the top 10 list of my life experiences. I met GREAT people (Chad!), saw the Chicago river GREEN, saw the city from an insider's perspective, experienced St. Patty's Day in one of the best cities to celebrate that glorious holiday, got my Easter Adidas and oh I could just go on and on...but I digress, the point IS, I threw caution to the wind and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.

So here I am again, throwing caution to the wind. Just maybe, maybe I'll get a kiss out of it this time. But I would certainly settle for more life experiences and friends along the way.

SK+G Homecoming Queen

On Friday afternoon, I was crowned SK+G's Homecoming Queen, 2009.

This was an 80's themed dance which I have plenty of experience in and was happy to, once again, pull out the crimper and powder blue eyeshadow. And for those of you who know me, know that any excuse for a tutu and pearls will do.

I was so proud that I wore my sash downtown Friday night where I got a lot of responses like "Um what is that?" "Oh! I won Homecoming Queen today at work!!" "Of course you did, Katie."
No one really seemed that surprised that I was still rocking the crimped hair and sash. What does it take to surprise people these days?

And yes, tonight I will be sitting on my couch, tuning into the season 3 premiere of GOSSIP GIRL while wearing my crown and tiara.

Dilemma

Ok HSCOOC readers...I need your input.

My dear friend Dawn's husband was recently selected to be the new Sound Engineer for the Kings of Leon for the remainder of their tour.

I know...you can imagine how much I FREAKED OUT when I heard this news. Would my Open Letter get in the hands of one of the Followills?? Would they accept my marriage proposal? Could this exact moment change my life (for the better) FOREVER??

And totally stoked for Sean, too. Touring with THE HOTTEST ROCKBAND IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. He is with them now and things are going well. Dawn has decided to go to the Birmingham, Alabama show to visit her man on the road.

I have been invited along and I don't know if Dawn really knows what she is signing up for here. When it comes to KOL (and a few other things), I can get pretty freakin' GIDDY.

Sean can (more than likely) score us tickets to the show. I would have to buy a plane ticket and although I'd love to think that I'd be up all night with the band, I'll probably have to get a hotel room, too. Tickets are around $235.

Now I can TOTALLY JUSTIFY this price if this means I'd get to actually meet them (and have Caleb fall in love with me) but we can't exactly guarantee that (I mean the meeting part, if I met him, OBV, he would fall in love with me). So is it worth the gamble? I mean, I would win either way because I would get to see the show again. But $235 ++ other misc. expenses is a hefty price tag for a girl who has got bills, tuition and animals to take care of.

The concert is October 15th.

Here is where you come in...see my new fancy poll over to the left? Yeah, I need you to cast your vote.

To go or not to go...that is the question.

S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D O-U-T

I love clip art. I love even more to communicate through clip art. Take this photo for example, is this woman sleepy? Maybe but I can tell you what she is IS. She is STRESSED OUT. Head in the hands?? DEAD GIVEAWAY. And that is exactly how I am feeling and since I'm too stressed out to take a photo of myself being stressed out, she will have to do.

I'm hoping that by taking a moment from my hectic schedule to blog about being stressed, that it will actually reduce my stress. Either that or by seeing all the things listed here together is going to make my head explode. Let's give it a shot, shall we?

Things that I am stressed about:

School. Ha! Who would've thunk that by going to Graduate School while in a full-time career would cause STRESS in someones life? Tuesday's class was GREAT. Super stoked, definitely going to be the class I get the most out of (basically, it's Effective Teaching Strategies, aka Teaching 101). So I'm thinking I have the whole thing under control, excited to LEARN and be back in the classroom and then came Wednesday. Oh Wednesday and your evil Multiculturalism. I get to class and so far, digging the professor, even with her purple denim. Then she handed out the syllabus. 10 pages, single spaced, front and back. We have FIVE group projects and two individual projects, one which requires 20 hours of research and me talking to a state representative in person FOUR times. You know, because I have so much time to talk to people in power. This is on top of weekly readings and reports. Everyone had told me "Oh, Multicultural is a walk in the park. No worries!" But, OH NOES, I had to go and get THIS PERSON AS A PROFESSOR. The VP for Diversity and Inclusion?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Somehow, I don't think she takes this subject lightly.

Burning fires' SMOKE takes over the Vegas valley. Yeah, so you know that whole California is burning thing (you ok, LISA G??) Well we are lucky enough to have all of that blowing thisaway. Yesterday, I had my patio door open so Gordon could go out and I had to close it because my whole place smelt like smoke. Then this morning, when I woke up, I could hardly breathe and have been hacking stuff up all day (I know, so attractive) and then I walked outside and my car was COVERED IN ASHES which blew inside the minute I opened the car door. Awesome. Note to self: Avoid breathing outdoors for the next OH I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG. Here is a photo my friend Effie took of today:

It doesn't usually look like that.

I am stuck in town Labor Day weekend. Ok, fair enough, not really a stress causer but could've been a stress RELIEVER. However, mine and Lobo's trip to California has been postponed until later in September.

Adult acne. I don't know if this is REALLY happening to me right now but over the past week, I have been breaking out like a 15-year-old boy. Panda thinks it may have to do with a new hair product, X thinks that it has to do with stress. But breaking out is stressing me out and IT IS A NEVER ENDING CIRCLE.

The dentist. I don't know if you know this about me, but I have been CURSED with two things in my life. The first, bad eye sight which I found out last week, just got worse. And the other, bad teeth. Not in a British kinda way but in a doesn't matter how many times a day I brush and floss (ok on the flossing, who are we kidding here??), I'm still going to get a cavity. And no, this has nothing to do with my love of candy. I went to the dentist today to find out I have several infections in my bridge area. I heard the words root canal and extraction way too many times for my taste. I go back for a full consultation next week.

Gordon. Won't stop licking his right foot and I don't know why. Which is just a cherry on top of my shit pie.

Pardon my language, I'm just a little stressed, remember?

P.S...Turns out, it was the latter and my head just exploded.

Back-to-School

The above photo of me is from my first day of first grade. Are you wondering why there is a panda pinned to the middle of my chest area? I was, too, so I asked Pep and she said that she pinned it on me that morning and told me that if I got nervous while I was away at school, that I could rub the panda to know that she was thinking of me. She then watched as I got on the bus and never turned back.

I found this panda pin the other day while going through an old jewelry box. I'm going to wear it tomorrow. Do you know why?

BECAUSE I AM GOING BACK-TO-SCHOOL.

That's right, HSCOOC, I'm heading back to UNLV to pursue (another) degree in teaching. If we're friends, this makes sense. Especially if we were friends when I was using my mom's grade book while writing A + with 5 stickers on your assignments.

For those of you that are like "Say wha??? I thought you did AWESOME PR WORK??" I would say, first off, I do. I do do (that ain't gonna fly in the classroom) awesome PR work but I am not sure I want to be doing awesome PR work in my 50's. And I love my job. I love the people I work for and the clients I have but would I love my job if I didn't work where I work for who I work for? IDK. And what happens when I want to blow this neon stand? It's not easy to land a PR job these days anywhere. Plus, I LOVE kids. Always have. I wanted to be a teacher when I was little but my mom told me if I wanted to make money, that wasn't the profession for me (she is a teacher). But, at 26 I've learned that I just plan on marrying rich so what does it matter (kidding) (kind of). No but srsly money isn't the most important thing. I want to shape young minds. I want every day to be different and unexpected. I want to have an impact on someones life and I don't know if grand openings at restaurants are going to do that for me. Now, I know teaching isn't a walk in the park but I do feel that it will be worth it.

Justified enough?

So tomorrow starts my first day back at school. I'm joining the Graduate Licensure Program - I know, sounds so official, doesn't it? I'm taking two classes this semester and at this rate, looks like two years from now, I'll be in the classroom as MS. KNOCH teaching first graders, all rubbing little pandas pinned to their chests.

An Open Letter to the Kings of Leon

So, since my Open Letters have worked 50% of the time (see SBC even though that is RIP now), I figured my track record is pretty good. So when the Kings of Leon concert came to an end the other night and I felt so cold, it came to me that Hey! I could just write them an Open Letter and hope for a marriage proposal out of it, so here goes....

Dear KOL,

It was an October afternoon in Denver when I first heard your sounds. I was driving the Wiz's car with Lobo in the front seat, cruising to the LoDo district. Lauren was picking out a c.d. and put in a little something called Because of the Times. As 'Knocked Up' started, Lauren said, "Ha! I bet this is Lindsay and Josh's favorite song." Then it kicked in..."I don't care what nobody says, we're gonna have a baby...." and then you started singing about coup de villes and being renegades and how your girl was always mad and usually drunk but you loved her like no other...AND I WAS IN LOVE. Every time we got in the car to go somewhere, I was in the backseat like a child saying "Can you play the baby song again, please?" We must've listened to that track 15 times in two days and I just couldn't get enough.

Lauren and I both got home and immediately purchased your album on iTunes. It was all we listened to. And let me just tell you, this was a pretty big deal because prior to that album, it had been only pop and hip-hop in my ears for a loooonnggg time. This was like being reconnected with my roots, my rock was BORN AGAIN! Then, I was watching an episode of Gossip Girl and I heard SEX ON FIRE which set ME ON FIRE. Before you could say Only By The Night, it was in my cd player and didn't come out until I started to miss Because of the Times and it has been on that same rotation for months now.

In June, while in Florida for Bookie's wedding, I got wind that you were coming to the Joint in LAS VEGAS WHERE I LIVE. As soon as I got back, I was at the Hard Rock, buying tickets and as soon as they were in my hands, I was jumping up and down with joy. It was going to happen, for sure, I was going to go to the show, you would spot me in the crowd, realize I was the one who moves you, the only one you seeeeeee and we would live happily ever after on the road, traveling the world, poppin' out some babies in between tours.

I set my Google countdown to your concert. 56 days until KOL, 37 days, 15 days....AND THEN IT WAS HERE. This was just on Wednesday. Miss Jones met me at my place at 6 p.m. and we toasted tall cans and shots of SoCo and Lime to the big night ahead of us. Stopped at In N Out, Lobo in tow and we were on our way. We arrived just in time (sorry Whigs!) for your set, found a perfect spot on the floor to dance with a clear view of you all and then the night came and took me away. For the next HOUR AND FORTY FIVE MINUTES, I was in heaven. Every song made me scream and throw my hands in the air and sing along like the obnoxious girl you all make me feel like. Love makes us do crazy, crazy things. Sure, there were songs that I would've loved to have heard you perform ('True Love Way' and 'I Want You' in case you're taking notes) but next time, KOL, next time. And for some reason, you didn't recognize me, pull me on stage and put a ring on it (yes, all four of you) but again, next time, KOL, next time.

Thursday, the day after the show, was like the worst day ever. In fact, I said it was worse than June 8th and December 26th PUT TOGETHER. Because I know the next time June 7th and Christmas come again, I do not know the next time I will get to see you perform again live. At this very moment, I am kicking myself for not buying tickets to your LA show before they sold out months ago.

So, if you read this, KOL...CALL ME NOW BABY, I'LL COME A RUNNIN'.

I love you hard,

Katie

3 Generations : A Trip to Pittsburgh

Two weeks ago, Pep and I packed our bags and headed to her homeland. It had been about three years since I had visited Beppee in Pittsburgh and I'm never one to turn down a trip back east.

Beppee is my grandmother. You see, she didn't want to be called Grandma (would make sense if you knew her) and I couldn't say Betty when I was little so it came out more like Beppee. And it stuck. 26 years going strong. I always tease my mom that I'm going to have her grand kids call her Peppee. She would kill me. And luckily, she looks forward to do the day that she will be called Grandma. Not, of course, until someone puts a ring on it though, as she reminds me every time I pick up a onesie in Target and start cooing.

3 generations under one roof can get very interesting, especially when you have two that are as close as my mom and I are. But I have to say, thanks to some heavy drinking - I kid, I kid (kind of) - we all got along pretty well for those four days. We spent a lot of time going through Beppee's old photos and I was fascinated by her scrapbooks and the history...so many telegrams! I think she really enjoyed getting to show me a glimpse of her life at my age and I certainly appreciated taking the stroll down memory lane with her. She also gifted me with her sterling silver rose plated set which I will treasure until the day I die. As soon as Pep and I get it polished up, I'll have to post some pictures on here for you to see. And just in case THAT wasn't enough family history, dad got wind of my new obsession with antique items and brought me down two quilts that my great grandmother had made. They are so beautiful and the work behind them, I can't even imagine! I can barely get a button sewn back on!

My goal for the trip, other than catching up with Beppee and grabbing a beer and playing some pool with my dad, was to really document Beppee's house. My grandparents on my dad's side passed away a few years back and their house....ohhhh their house....I wish HOW I WISH I had more photographs of it. It was magnificent with sooooo much history (and ghosts, I'm not kidding, ask Andy). The best (well, depending on who you ask) thing about Beppee's house is that she keeps everything, there was enough canned goods in the basement to feed a family through the next millennium. And the can opener! OH MY. So when I wasn't drinking and playing games with family, I was taking photographs.

So here we go, Beppee's house and my Pittsburgh trip as told through pictures.

Yes, that is a caricature of yours truly at age....9 or 10 probably. Stop laughing.