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Ballin'


A silly blog title for a beautiful night!!! So, I've been talking about this debutante ball for ages now, and it finally happened! And what a night it was! Let's start at the beginning:

6:00 pm: My friend Adam picked me up to go to the Mayflower in D.C.
6:30 pm: We jam out to Disney, Beyonce and the like
6:45 pm: We make UNBELIEVABLE time and get to D.C. before 7:00. We look for the Mayflower and drive in a few confused gps-hazed circles.
6:50 pm: Adam and I get all of our stuff out of Adam's car and make it into the Lobby where we run into our Deb's mom. I get the keys to the girls' rooms.
7:00 pm: Adam and I shove our stuff into our room and check the place out. We call the rest of the "party" and tell them that our room is finally open.
7:30 pm: The rest of the group settles into our rooms and we watch Jeopardy, where I get the final answer question correct with a response of "Who are the Kurds?". We veg out until 8.
8:00 pm: Vegging is over for the girls at least and we all start to get ready. Since we're girls, we're naturally indecisive on what we want to wear, how to do our hair and what earrings match.
9:30 pm: The girls who got ready on the 10th floor come down for pictures.
9:55 pm: Everyone hops on the elevators and we all make our way down to the lobby of the Mayflower, which is now beginning to fill up with Debs from years past (who are wearing red and green dresses) and the rest of the people who didn't eat the 800 course meal. Also at this time, we run into our "friend" (codenamed Mistletoe) who tends to follow us around.
10:00 pm: We turn in our admittance cards and get cards that say "10:00 presentation: Upper Balcony" for our viewing spot. All 10 of us find a spot right above our Deb's table where she will be presented later.
11:00 pm: After a few more rounds of pictures, the real procession and presentation finally starts (almost an hour off of schedule) with a live band. The 7 debutantes, their dads, and their 2 escorts, are all a part of the presentation. The first was a parade of the debs around this ballroom by their dads, followed by a traditional Waltz. Then the first escort cut in, and for Caroline, this was her brother. After an ADORABLE Waltz with him, the second escort cut in, which was Caroline's dance class partner, Johannes. He can speak 5 languages, and later that night became "YO-HANNIS from YER-MANY". Then, the emcee of the night, which I use that term loosely, called everyone down to the dancefloor for some more Waltz-ing.
12:30 am: A fabulous breakfast room is opened because they know we're kids and we need food, mainly sweets, and lots of it. We all trek into the room to snack and get back out on the dancefloor.
12:35 am: Adam and I "creeper-cam" on Caroline and one of the boys to get a few candid shots of the pair dancing. (Let's just say, mission accomplished, pictured below.)
2:00 am: Yes, it is 2 in the morning on Christmas Eve. We all head back upstairs to get "ready" for bed. We all get into our PJ's and decide we're hungry. A few of the boys head back down to the concierge to see where/if we can get anything to eat. They return with a number of a pizza place, that to our happiness, stays open until 4 am. SCORE!
3:20 am: After eating 3 large pizzas, the girls retire to 2 rooms while the boys head back to their own. We sleep. And sleep. And sleep. Of course, after talking about the whole night in copious amounts of detail. We sleep.
9:00 am: It's an early morning. We all pack up our things finding all the hair devices, makeup and dress bags. Adam, Caitlin, and I all go to the valet parking to get the car and drive home. Again, we rock out to Beyonce, Legally Blonde The Musical, and others.

What a fun night. Seriously, I haven't had this much fun in SO long! If anyone gets the chance to attend (and yes, I mean attend as a guest, not a debutante- too much stress) definitely say yes. It was SO much fun and I know I will remember this night for the rest of my life!!

xxKatie

Top 10 of 2009!

It may be a little early for this post, but I don't know how much time I'll have within the next few days since I'm working a bunch! Here mine go:

Katie's Top 10 of 2009
In no particular order:

1.         Biggest Overall Moment of 2009: Going to college: In this year, I’ve managed to graduate high school, apply and choose a college, attend said college, and go through the up’s and down’s always associated with first semester. Plus, I can sit here and say that although the beginning may have been rough, I’m sticking around to be a proud Carolina Gamecock!



           Internet Moment of 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0. On many blog lists of the “Top ___ of 2009” people seem to always include a youtube video. This one takes the cake in my opinion. You know you’re doing something right when The Office copies your wedding.

3.          TV Moment of 2009: Debut of Glee: This show crushes my TV quota for the year. I don’t download TV shoes from iTunes ever, and yet, I found myself downloading “Sectionals” (the episode) in order that it might hold me over until next season. Sorry Degrassi, Glee is just too good—I’m sure my dad would never think I’d like a show more than Degrassi since it’s on literally 24/7 in my house if I’m home!



4.          School Moment of 2009: Becoming an Ambassador: At school I’m now one of the tour guides who work at the Visitor Center. It is a pretty big deal at USC and so I’m super proud. This organization has played a major role in my decision to stay at school.

5.          Most Type-A Moment of 2009: H4H trip: I singlehandedly organized and carried out a Habitat for Humanity trip to Cary, NC. I was so proud of the 20 other classmates that joined me on the trip. It has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done, and I would love to do one again. I can say on behalf of every member of the group that we had a great time and would go back in a heartbeat!

6.          Sports Moment of 2009: USC over Ole’ Miss: What a game it was! Ole’ Miss was ranked 4th when USC played and beat them. It was the highest ranked team that USC ever beat. (Meeting Eric Norwood in person takes a close second place as far as best sports moments go in 2009)



7.          Personal Moment of 2009: Au Natural: I’ve taken my hair from bleach blonde “highlighted” to basically my natural color. And as my aunt Jeanne said, “Welcome back to the club”. It feels good, I must say!

8.          Occupational Moment of 2009: Working at the Naval Academy: This summer I worked at the Naval Academy during the first few days of Plebe Summer and I couldn’t be more thankful. Aside from working for Lilly, this has been the best job I ever had. Those new plebes were some of the most anxious, nervous, apprehensive, excited people I’ve ever met, and I cannot wait to go back next summer to be a friendly, smiling face to try to make them a little happier and their day a little brighter!

9.           Family Moment of 2009: Getting to know my sister: During the two years my sister and I overlapped in high school, we really got to know one another. I am so thankful that we did because I realize that it’s getting tougher and tougher now that I’m in college. The first night that I came home for Thanksgiving break she sat in my room for 2 hours and we talked about everything. I’m so proud of her and I’m so happy that she’s my sister. (My mom’s probably awww-ing right now, but I needed a family moment of 2009!)



10      Funniest Moment of 2009: The infamous Skype video: My roommate Kathleen was skypeing with a mutual friend of ours silently while I just happened to be dancing—just like nobody’s watching—to “Sexy B---h” thinking she would expect it. Well the joke was on me when I turned around to see the friend and his roommate watching. And laughing. A lot. Needless to say I turned PURPLE, and the friend and I never addressed it. (Kathleen, I hope you enjoy being included in this.)

         What were your top 2009 moments?! My 2009 was great, and I can't wait to see what the new year has to bring along with its arrival!

          xxKatie

Merry Post Christmas!


After a whirlwind Christmas adventure, I am finally back and a-posting! My sister, my parents, and I all drove up North for a few family visits on Christmas day. After finishing gift opening, we hurriedly packed and drove up to Brooklyn, NY and spent just over an hour in a Nursing home visiting one of my great aunts who has recently had a stroke. We then headed up to Rockville Center, NY for a family Christmas get together for my Mom's side. The next morning we headed further north to Sudbury, MA to get a quick visit in with my Dad's side. In all, we saw every relative on both sides minus 1 very elusive uncle on my mom's side. It was great to see (almost) everyone on both sides for a chance, despite how fast we had to travel.

As Christmas goes, it was very fun and for my "wow gift" as my parents have begun calling them, I got a GPS. I am pretty excited, but I have made a promise to myself that I will not become dependent upon it. My parents/Santa got me a TomTom, and just tonight I have downloaded a few new color schemes, my current one being a 4.5 star-rated "Girly Pink" scheme. What else can I do? It's kinda tough to see from my MacBook, but its a good glimpse! I love it and on our trip I found myself watching it like TV. My mom said it was the perfect chance to "get to know it" so that it's not s gadget-y while I'm driving with it. I got a bunch of other stuff too that I'm really excited about, mainly Lilly stuff from the store and a couple other pieces that I can't wait to blog about.

Tomorrow will be all about the Debutante Ball. Let me just preview it by saying that I haven't had such a fun time in a LONG time!! It was great, and fun enough to make the background picture on my computer! Lots of pictures to follow!

xxKatie

A Cook-Book Christmas

Santa was so good to me this year.. he added to my ever-growing cookbook collection! I really am becoming a collector. Don't get me wrong, I totally use them! But, I think I have the cookbook collector gene, passed down to me proudly by my paternal grandmother! The next time I visit, I will take photos of her thirty-plus shelves of COOKBOOKS! Its amazing, really. If you want to take a culinary trip around the world, you can just visit Grandma & Grandpa!

Here are my Christmas additions...









You can bet that both L and I cannot wait to try lots of new recipes from these! The gift that keeps on giving! :-)

Update: Forgot about this one.. compliments of my wonderful God-parents!


Moving On From Christmas to a New Year..




So our Christmas flew by.. yours?
Sorry for the lack of posts but today is our first day with no festive plans!
The kids had a blast on Christmas morning, of course...

The hit of the day was the plastic slinky!



He wants to be an engineer and build solar powered cars, so lego comes naturally :)




She has discovered the joy of reading, and neon hair :)




The eldest darling wore her new ski jacket and pandora bracelet
 the entire time she was magnifying everything in the house... 
"eww, Mum, come see what my hair/tissue paper/dog treats look like"




Days filled with skiing, skating, walks in the snowy woods and travel to see the families..
it was full of laughs and hugs, just as it should be, 
and I'm thankful for all of our blessings.
(and my new Kate Spade bag! 
A complete surprise, from my honey, who knows what I would love before I do :)





Now comes the next part, packing up and moving on.



I don't know if any of you experience this,
 but removing all the excess and then giving the house a good clean
 leaves me feeling ready for the New Year.




Maybe it's trying to find space for the new "things" that have entered the home over the holidays,
 but this is usually when my organizational side kicks in and the need to start cleaning out closets..




Over the next few weeks I am going to tackle some of our bigger storage and organization problems,
hopefully you'll come by and share your tips with us!

Today I'm packing Christmas decorations.
I wrap them in tissue and place into labelled (glass balls, etc)
 red plastic storage containers in the basement.
I guess it's not a surprise that I like color coding everything :)
How do you store your decorations?
Are you still in Christmas mode or have you packed up already?

til next time..


Turquoise!

The Pantone Color of 2010 has been named, and the winner is...

turquoise!



I really think this should be called "Lagoon". I can smell salty air already...
I suppose, after 2009, people are enjoying color as a way to enhance moods, and this one does it.

Turquoise and brown have been big for a while - here is a Master Bedroom I consulted on four years ago, the walls are painted in Ralph Laurens Ionic Sky (discontinued, not sure why).  It was meant as an escape from a hectic life, and the owners LOVED this color I chose.



I really think Turquoise needs to be used with another bold hue if it is to look current.

My favorite is Green:


a tween bedroom by Sarah Richardson:



Another Kids Room (can't remember where I got this one - sorry):



Anthropologie has some amazing Textiles to get a hit of Turquoise and Green:




How about Hot Pink? 



Or with Yellow a la Johnathon Alder?



Turquoise and White are Cool and Clean:





Bring in some natural texture/color for warmth:







Turqouise and red boho from Anthropologie.  Imagine these in a white walled room with old wood floors:




Add these lights from Design within Reach:




Prefer more Glamour?  A Dining Room and Office from Muriel Brandolini:



Another Dining Room from Sarah Richardson:




Turquoise and gold wallpaper! How great would this be on a feature wall?  Again, Anthropologie - I admit it, I would like to move into their store...




Want more?  Get your turquoise fix from your wardrobe...
The classic, Tiffany, of course - loving Turquoise with gold:



Or just have some fun at the salon - let the blacks and greys go and look towards spring...



till next time...