According to Kasi: 2013

Year In Review

So Facebook posts this "Year in Review" thing

Which I thought I would find silly

But its actually pretty cool.

I didn't realize how many important things happened in 2013.

My year in review according to Facebook:

1. I outshot the boys while they were trying to teach me to shoot.

That bullseye shot is mine. HA!

2. I celebrated "6 months until we are married" countdown on Facebook to Roberts dismay.

3. Robert and I celebrated 6 years of dating.

4. My brother got into NCSU!

Holding my diploma and wearing my gown must have been good luck.

5. My mom told me my dress looked hideous then called me the wrong name.

6. My dad got his year scans back from Duke and they were clean. He got to go off of chemo.

7. My cat mortimor showed the facebook world his trick. Which involves me asking him "Where do you want to go" and him touching the door knob of the door he wants to go through. love.

8. Robert and I celebrated a year of being engaged on May 19.

9. Our friends Chelsea and Justin got married.

10. We took engagement photos downtown.

11. The baby kittens celebrated 4 years of being adopted.

12. I noted that I was excited that there was only 2 weeks until I was Mrs. Barker.

13. On July 13th I married my best friend!

14. On July 14th I thanked everyone for making our wedding awesome.

15. Apparently my friend Kristi and her boyfriend dancing is a significant moment in my life, according to facebook.

16. And so are my (now engaged) cousin Jaime and her bf Rob.

17. Our one month of marriage post.

18. The bridesmaids dresses I should have picked. Missed opportunities, I tell ya.

19. The cat leggings I bought from target.

20. Finally my announcement that I am and aunt again (for the third time) thanks to the birth of Januaree Quinn.

I would go as far as to say that starting graduate school maybe should be on the list.

And maybe pictures of other couples from my wedding may not quite count as my year in review

But other than that this was pretty cool.

What does Facebook tell you about your year in review?

Monday, December 09, 2013
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Boring

I knew marriage wouldn't be different just because of a sheet of paper

But sometimes I just want to be dated, treated like we are still just dating.

Like theres still something to lose.

As in, planned dates (not by me)

Surprising me with flowers, jewelry, anything?

Offering to massage my back without me asking

etc.

I'll admit I got caught up in the "romanticized relationship"

That probably doesn't exist in real life

Which is why it was perfect timing for me to find this article:

"The Real Truth About Boring Men"

I cried.

The ENTIRE time.

How selfish of me to think that every time Robert took out the trash

And every time he cleaned up the dishes from dinner

or made me dinner

Or rubbed my feet

Or went to a store he didn't want to

wasn't romance.

My favorite quote was:

"There are Fridays. And the quiet romantics who will take out the garbage without fanfare. There will be the unimaginative calendar by the fridge, with all it’s scribbled squares of two lives being made one. The toilet seat will be left predictably up. The sink will be resigned to its load of last night’s dishes."

The toilet seat will always be left up

That doesn't mean my husband doesn't love me

Or that he's doing it to be spiteful.

It means he's a man.

And it happens.

Love isn't youtube proposal videos with a million likes

Its the day to day "boring" life

And still being in love

And still wanting to be there to carry them from the tub and pull up their depends.

Cheers to that.

Thursday, November 21, 2013
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That Time of Year

It's that time of year again... engagement season.

I am super excited because some of my friends are getting engaged soon

(She does not know it but I do)

And I couldn't be more excited.

Then we jump into wedding season.

Two of my friends are getting married between Dec -April.

Weddings make me so happy

Although I will enjoy weddings much more when I get my date back

(So far we've been to 1 wedding TOGETHER since 2011)

Although by the time he is not in any more weddings

I will probably start being in more.

#storyofmylife

I love weddings and engagements enough that I've still been pinning to my wedding board

(over 4 months later... embarrassing)

Here are some of my post wedding pins:

I found these engagement shots from DISNEY!

I would have died.

So even though I can't obviously do this now

I couldn't help but pin it.

I am obsessed with Kelly Clarkson's dress.

I would not have done sleeves in July

But if I were to renew my vows I may have to do it in October

So I can wear this dress.

I love this shot.

I still think I can make Robert do this for our "anniversary shots"

(that he doesn't know yet that we are doing that).

This is one of the only shots that I wanted from my wedding that I didn't get

Because Robert was belligerent

And when I tried to get him to dip me he tried to dip in my arms.

Damn it, Bobby!

Finally, I have a secret wish.

I love my engagement ring and I'm more than happy with it

But I kind of have a secret wish that one day he will re-propose

And we can renew our vows.

I just think its so romantic.

And considering I knew pretty much every step of the engagement

(my fault mostly- I was there when he bought the ring and I knew he had it for a month)

It would be nice to be surprised.

I would like the ring above but I want the center stone to be set in gold

with a yellow diamond.

Okay okay wishful thinking.

I'll be sure to post about that ~~when it happens~~ never.

Let's be honest, I married some one who thinks that getting out of bed

To fart in another room instead of on me is romantic...

What can you do?

Wednesday, November 20, 2013
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October Recap

Once the days are 20 and above I consider the month over.

October has flown by

Obviously, I haven't written in almost a month.

I have this one class that was the first half of the semester

And it kicked my butt

And basically I didn't want to get on the computer if I had down time so:

At the very end of September I did the Color Run with my friend Meagan.

Actually ran 2.5 miles straight and only stopped at the water stand.

Then had a hard time getting in the groove again but still, proud of myself.

I finally got to try LaFarm Bakery.

It was amazing.

Pumpkin Spice Lattes and creme brûlée french toast. Nomz.

For fall break we went to Orlando

I know everyone is shocked

Since I go so often I will just share the NEW stuff I did:

It was Food and Wine Festival in Epcot

Below are a few of my favorite stops

Everything was amazing of course:

Theres a Starbucks in Epcot now

And also in the Magic Kingdom

It's glorious.

Its been almost 2 decades since I've seen Disney in the fall and it was beautiful

And I finally got to eat in Be Our Guest restaurant

We took one last pit stop at the Krystal Burger for lunch

Only after retrieving these pants from target:

Can you believe that these have been sold out in Raleigh, Cary, and New Bern?

And now the baby kittens have been visiting me

This is where Optimus has been napping.

He adopts the philosophy that if he can't see you, you can't see him.

Then we got pre-approved for a mortgage.

And we've been looking for houses.

It's been a pretty busy October all things considered.

Hoping I can get back to blogging!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013
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Slacking In September

I have been the biggest slacker in the world

I haven't written a post since Labor Day Weekend

And I have no good excuse.

Life has just gotten in the way,

School has gotten super busy,

And I'm learning how to balance work, school, and marriage.

The budget

we are trying to implement for the sake of our savings account

means that we don't always have a LOT of groceries

Meaning that when I rely on the fact that I have a whole box of Eggo waffles

only to discover my husband has eaten them all

I get irritated.

Insert any word into "eggo waffle" and this is my life now.

I guess going on a budget makes him think he will starve to death

So he eats EVERYTHING IN SIGHT.

So when I woke up this morning and had no waffles for breakfast

Or much of anything else

I decided to make a recipe I found on Pinterest.
I already had all the ingredients so it worked out.

Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Mix together the muffin ingredients.

The recipe recommends using a kitchen aid mixer.

It also recommends mixing in a specific way...

I plopped it all into my kitchen aid and mixed it all at once.

Turned out fine.

I used a regular muffin tin and split the muffin mix into 12 cups.

I did not line the muffin tin.

Then I mixed together the filling ingredients (minus the nuts).

And plopped it on top.

The recipe suggests you swirl it or something

But I liked the ones at Starbucks with the big glob of filling on top

So I just plopped it on top and put it in the oven (350 for 25-30 minutes).

Ta-Da!

They were really delicious!
I recommend this recipe to anyone who loves pumpkin.
You could easily make it skinner by reducing the sugar, using reduced fat cream cheese, and using less sugar or a sugar substitute in the muffins and the filling.
But they're delicious in the "chunky" version too.

Happy Fall Ya'll

Thursday, September 26, 2013
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Labor Day Weekend

It's been a while since I've blogged

Getting back into the swing of school

And my Monday's and Tuesday's are veryyyy bussyyy

So I haven't had anything to blog about but boring

"Went to lab today" "went to class today" "went to lab today".

FINALLY I can write something other than that!

So about my labor day weekend...

Friday:

The Hubs got a day off work for some fitness thing he entered

So we left Raleighwood Thursday night and headed East.

We woke up early and headed to my favorite spot- Atlantic Beach.

We spent the day reading and sunbathing and swimming in the ocean.

And there were only two other groups there.

And it was quiet and nice.

Besides the yellow flies.

It's okay we just lit cigarettes (that we don't smoke) and put them around us.

Flies- 0 The Barkers - 1.

That night we had dinner with Robert's mom and step dad

And then went back to my house to snuggle with these:

Saturday:

I spent the morning with my dad.

We changed my name at one of my banks (really need to get on that)

Then went downtown for some beautiful outdoor time.

We ate at Persimmons- a beautiful restaurant on the Neuse River

Then took a stroll around our lovely town

It really is a gorgeous place to live.

Next we headed a little bit west to go to

The annual "Mexican Pig Picking".

My step-dad is a farmer and he hires Mexicans to help with his fields

Some of them have been coming for 20 years. That's loyalty.

So anyways, every year he throws them a Pig Pickin' at the end of the season.

I have never been to one before but let me tell you...

1- It's a really fun time

2- I think they come more to watch the crazy white people than anything.

There were jello shots and tequila shots

and the hottest guacamole I've ever tasted.

And this:

Mom, being typical mom.

Dancing all over everyone.

We ended the night with a late night pool party at mom's house.

Sunday:

We ate breakfast with my mom

Which if you think just consumes the hours of breakfast you are wrong.

Got out of there around 11.

We visited with our Best Man's parents for a bit that afternoon

And met Robert's dad and step-mom for dinner.

Monday:

We packed up.

Said goodbye to as many parents as we could see

And headed back to Raleigh!

In one last celebration event for the weekend

We had dinner with some of our friends.

Some of the best baked ziti I have ever had

Along with some Margaritas.

Didn't take me long to fall asleep last night!

All in all a successful Labor Day Weekend!

Can't wait until its the weekend again!

Tuesday, September 03, 2013
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Throwback Thursday: First Kiss

Is it really already thursday?

This, my last week of summer, has flown by.

What better way to mark my last free thursday

Than talking about my first kiss on:

So head over to The Life of Bon and link up!

It was the summer of... 2003?

Maybe 2002.

The summer between 7th and 8th grade.

I was staying at my favorite camp, camp caroline, a church camp.

"A church camp, you slut?!?"

Well I didn't really plan it.

I met my new friend Leigh, known to most as Goose, at camp this summer.

I always loved hanging out with him and his group of friends.

Well it came out that there was going to be a dance.

I thought, "cool, we will all go as friends"

Wrong.

Supposedly two boys from my new group of friends wanted to ask me

But Leigh beat them to it.

And I guess we decided to hang out at the pool afterwards.

And I guess he decided to start kissing me in the pool.

In front of everyone.

And all the staff loved him so they pretended they didn't see.

And we carried on the rest of the week kind of friends

That would occasionally kiss

But with no real romantic bond.

So not really a bad first kiss.

Not one of those OMG we're getting married situations.

But we actually became friends and still keep in touch, even 10 years later.

The part I didn't know about this summer was that his mother had recently died

And he was still coping with this.

In another retreat to Camp Caroline in 2005/2006-ish (picture above)

He made this speech about a friend who never knew the impact she had on helping him through that summer.

THAT was me!

I had no idea how much my first kiss could impact some one else.

Well, not just the kiss, but a wonderful friendship that sprang from it!

And Robert enjoys joking me that my first kiss was with some one named "Goose".

Thanks for your support, babe.

Thursday, August 15, 2013
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OHP: Pinned It, Did It Edition!

It's that time of the week again

"Hump Day" for some...

"Oh, How Pinteresting" days for others

Link up with The Vintage Apple if you want to join!

I don't have any pictures of the food, yet...
But it was super yummy!
And I do have pictures of everything else I made or got.

The Monogrammed Pillow:

It sat on our bench during our wedding
It now lives on our bed!

The Arch:

I wanted an arch so bad!
Wasn't sure it was going to happen
(after it got shoved to the bottom of the list over and over)
But my mom came to the rescue
and her and a family friend made it to look like the one I pinned!

The Window:

We were able to buy some "posters" of our pictures online for ~$5
The old frames came out of Robert's grandmothers kitchen
There were about 10 more but we don't have pictures of the rest.

The Jewelry Tray:

For the gifts for the mothers of the flower girls
I did a little twist on my original pin
I made the trays with pony beads of various colors
And melted them on a cookie sheet with an edge
Then laid the flat sheet of melted and hardened again pony beads on a 9x13 casserole dish
And viola! It ends up like this!
Then I bought a monogram on etsy.
Fancy, huh?

The Bouquet:

I've already talked about this bad boy

But I made it.

Wired every single brooch

until my fingers bleed, literally.

It was a pain but I love the sentimental touch

And that I didn't pay anywhere near $600 for a comparable one on etsy.

The Programs:

I saw these on Pinterest which led me to Etsy and fell in love.
But they were ~$5 a program
My guest list was at 345 come wedding day
Aint nobody got money for that.
So we made them
All 250.
The mothers may or may not have accidentally gotten high off glue as a result
I may or may not have ruined a pair of flip flops with burlap dust/glue
But it was worth it to have so many people tell me they appreciated the fans.

The Fingerprint Tree:

I loved this idea.
We got a family friend to paint the tree from our venue.
Only down-side:
We forgot to put our own prints in the swing first
And some turds put theirs there instead.
I'm pretending they didn't know any better...

Well I didn't intend for that to be a wedding edition either but such is life
When a wedding was your life for 13 months.
But in the process of looking for stuff I did I found some stuff I wanted to do!
Yay... stay tuned.