happy birthday to my favorite lady.

Wishing my sweet Grams a very, very happy birthday today. Miss you and love you, Grams!

xoxo.

25 [happy birthday landon!]

Today is Landon's 25th birthday. Quarter of a century. Halfway to 50. Can rent a car without extra charges. TWO-FIVE.

I'd love to put into words why I love Landon. Why he's the best thing for me. But words aren't really capable of summing up something like wanting to spend the rest of your life with someone. That falls more in the "inexplicable" category. But here are some things that make him great.

Because he's humble about his strengths.

Because he gets ticked when he sees our neighbors littering.

Because he knows that Baby Swiss Cheez-its are the best way to remedy any stressful situation.

Because he washes the dishes 98.6% of the time, without me asking.

Because he lets me talk and talk and talk and talk even when he's tired. 

Because he has direction, focus, drive and goals.

Because he's even-keeled (except when our neighbors litter, of course).

Because he always offers to eat the burnt grilled cheese, quesadilla, etc.

Because he can't do a thing in the morning til he's had his juice.

Because he fills me in on things like Jeremy Lin, the weather in Oregon and the state of the NCAA.

Because when I say "I look like trash," he doesn't say something syrupy-sweet like "No, Katie, you look gorgeous," he says, "Hey, I like trash."

Love you Landon. Let's grow old together. Then we'll really look like trash.

xoxo.

a birthday celebration + a pretty cake.

Today is my 24th birthday, and I was able to celebrate with family last week while we were home. My mom made the most gorgeous (and delicious) chocolate raspberry forest cake (recipe here, but we added a fourth layer of cake to ours!)

 I could have eaten that cake for days, and I don't usually don't even like cake! (that's why we had strawberry shortcakes at our wedding)

 We also had an amazing dinner with panko crusted salmon, risotto cakes and spinach salad, with raspberry royales to drink! Yum, yum, yum!

I also gave my brother his overdue birthday present at our dinner: a marshmallow roasting tree from Terrain!

My niece and I at the birthday dinner! It was a wonderful night, filled with family and good food! Landon's family joined us, as well as my dear friend, former co-worker and cousin Jolleen, who drove all the way up from Corvallis for the evening! The best part of the night was my Dad's toast, wishing us more growth this year. And because growth comes through trials, he wished us more trials. As backwards as that may sound, he's right, and I welcome growth, wherever it comes from. Landon followed him with some of the sweetest, most heartfelt words I've ever heard...brought me straight to tears! It was a great night, and a reminder of how blessed I am. 

Here's to another year!

xoxo.

i get by with a little help from my friends [and family].

well dearies, it was a lovely birthday. [did you see landon's post? it definitely made me tear up, he's the sweetest!] landon and i had breakfast for dinner, watched a few things on hulu, talked about our dreams, and had a great, kick-back night. birthdays are great because each one is different. this year, low-key was definitely welcomed. now i'm sitting on the couch in the coziest of leggings and a big sweatshirt [it's the night before this posts FYI, a working girl's gotta work ahead!] listening to the weepies. ahh, sing to me deb and steve...

i also received some lovely gifts:

the 12-month notebook set in the photo above [from my parents]

a cozy sweater and two ceramic egg trays [from my brother and sister-in-law]

a gorgeous white ceramic platter and the cooking for two cookbook [from my sister]

a pair of those adorable itty-bitty scissors for crafts and sewing [from landon's family]

a gorgeous little pot of flowers on my desk at work this morning [from landon's grandparents, via his cousin, who i work with]

a yoga/pilates mat [from landon]

thanks to all of you for your sweet comments on landon's post yesterday.

here's to 23...

xoxo.