Ciao for now.

With my hot chocolate in hand I walked to work this morning. There was a nice cool breeze and Fall leaves everywhere. It gave me a chance to think. With this move I have been pretty busy and frantic trying to get everything in order. I realized I need a chance to recharge my battery. So I am taking a break this week. A break from everything. (Which includes blogging.) Hope you all have a lovely end of October. I'll be back in November with Halloween stories, pictures of the new place and hopefully some fun anecdotes.

The Item

My palms were sweaty, my eyes shifty. I quickly snatched the item before anyone had a chance to notice. Power walked to the front of the store, head down, shifting the item into the crook of my arm, trying to be discreet I made my way to the check out stands. Mind racing.. "Do I know her?" "What are they looking at?"

Aimed for just the right cashier who would understand. "Don't make eye contact, argh.. accidentally made eye contact". Awkwardness while waiting for it to be scanned, and shuffled into the bag.

"Not the plastic bag!" Took the see through bag and wrapped the handles around it, so the contents weren't quite as visible. Dashed to my car. Shifted the item to the hood of the car, while fumbling for my keys. "Dang this enormous purse!". Opened the door. Ah, safe, snug inside the car, breathed a sigh of relief. I did it.

What item am I referring to? Perhaps a female product? A naughty video tape? A Donny Osmond cassette? No, far worse.

The Snuggie. (ie: blanket with sleeves)

I ventured into the store and spotted a Snuggie on sale. Knowing that my cousin's birthday was fast approaching, and realizing that it would not only be funny, but probably functional. I grabbed it. But then I felt the eyes on me. In fact at one point a random stranger came up to me, gave me the "thumbs up", and said "The snuuuhgie" in his best surfer boy tone. And walked off smirking.

What had I done? Should I put it back? No, I've come this far, I'm finishing this. Luckily the recipients were amused and entertained. What they should realize, is that the true gift was loving them enough to go through the Snuggie Gauntlet. Not everyone is prepared for that kind of trauma.

Our first night in the new apt.

Last night Bob and I moved all of the big stuff to the new place. (ie: bed, armoire, couches, etc..) We just have a bit more before we're all moved in. But it was our first night sleeping in the new place. So to celebrate we ordered a pizza, and in the midst of boxes we ate and watched Arrested Development. (our latest box set addiction)

It was a delightful night. We scuttled to and fro between the two apartments, lugging furniture, listening to Nirvana, talking and laughing.

I even enjoyed a bath in the new apartment. I went from an elf bathtub, to one designed for a regular sized person. I could stretch out and do cartwheels in there. Okay, maybe not cartwheels per se, but you get the idea. I kept prancing around and singing "I love our new place" in a little sing song voice. Bob just rolled his eyes and lovingly called me a nerd. It was a pretty fun night in the new BobCat apartment.

Oh and have you seen Arrested Development? It's pretty hilarious.

My dream..

..has always been to have my very own walk in closet. And now I do. A place for all of my shoes. A place to store all of my secret treasures and to hide in a good game of hide and seek.. okay it's official.. I'm five years old.

Pillow Talk

My bed is one smooth talker. When the alarm clock starts yelling at me to get out of bed. You can hear an ever so soft murmur from my bed.. "But it's cold outside.. don't you want to turn over and go back to sleep for just a couple more minutes?"

Suddenly the sheets get just a smidge softer, and the blanket is just the right amount of cozy. The pillow is formed to my head just so. The whole bed is the perfect temperature.

Then the bed starts talking again.. "Do you really need to go to work at all? I mean we could stay here all day, all snug and warm. You deserve it."

This is what I have to deal with every morning before I go to work. I should get a medal for resisting the bewitching ways of my bed.

I just wish my boss would be satisfied with that excuse when I come in late to work.

I don't have a high tolerance for cold medicine.

What started out as allergies, slowly morphed into a little head cold on Friday. And quickly became a nasty cold Friday night. Just before we went to hang out with my cousin Ami and her husband Jon I decided to take a little Robitussin. Well I think I may have taken a little too much, because the whole night was a blur.

I don't remember much, but from what I do remember I think it's safe to say I wasn't exactly with it. I think at one point I told everyone that Robin Williams was in Schindler's List, and was convinced my cousins dogs bark sounded exactly like it was barking "No, no, no" at me.

In fact this whole weekend was pretty hazy. All I remember was taking a lot of cold medicine, coughing a lot, drinking Sprite, and watching almost the entire first season of Felicity. But I woke up this morning feeling better and feeling like I'm on the mend. I think I am going to lay off the cold meds for a while. While in the haze of the Robitussin, I'm pretty sure I was singing about Mickey Mouse being in my bathtub.

My life is one step away from Friday night Bingo.

You know in Friends when Joey's in Vegas and he meets his identical hand twin? Well good news. I found Liam Neesons identical voice twin.

He came into my work, and I was blown away. I could have closed my eyes and pictured Liam Neeson talking to me.

I relayed this to Eric in an email yesterday, and as I was typing, I realized..

This is the most interesting thing that's happened all week. I lead a pretty boring life. So here's to an interesting and exciting weekend! Maybe I'll try my hand at skydiving or swimming with sharks... or sleeping in and getting rid of this head cold. Hey nothing says exciting like NyQuil and cough drops.

The tallest stalker I have ever met (cont.)

(Continuing this previous story..)

Later that night I was getting ready for bed. It was about 2 a.m. and I get a text from who else, but Mr. Tall. It read "How was working at the "snack bar" today?"

I was put off by the fact that he thought it was okay to send me a text at 2 a.m. and also confused that he was contacting me at all. I thought I had been pretty clear about not being interested. I ignored the text and went to bed.

The next night I was hanging out with my friend from the party, and he called again. She convinced me to answer the phone and talk to him. He was pretending like nothing was weird, and asked me again when we could hang out. Apparently he thought I was playing hard to get or something.

Keep in mind I had contacted him once, and he had called and texted me in just a three day time period about six times. Now, I'm not someone who likes confrontation, but I definitely didn't think I was sending him mixed signals. I politely declined his offer to hang out.

He wouldn't take no for an answer. He then texted me again that night around 1 a.m. The text simply said "Call me tomorrow, I just want to talk to you." The next day I was still deciding if I was going to call him, when he called AGAIN.

I quickly picked up the phone, and said. "Hey, listen. I am really flattered you are going to all this work, but I am just not interested. I didn't want to mince words for fear he would interpret it as "Please keep calling and texting me."

He then said, he just wanted to see me again. To prove how good of a guy he was, and to show me how much I would like him. (Let me just reiterate, he was one of those jock good looking guys. Who seemed (SEEMED) totally normal.)

I told him I was just heading into work and I had to go. He said "Fine, I'll talk to you later." (Not a real bright guy.) I went to work and told all of my co-workers about the whole situation. They all agreed it was weird, and told me not to answer if he called, and hopefully he would get the picture.

Well about halfway through my shift, my co-worker from the downstairs office called to tell me that a tall guy was looking for me, and had sent him up to see me. I was floored. How did he know which hospital I worked at? Why was he there!?

When he got to the snack bar, he finds a very frustrated and not so happy Caitlin. I see him and say "Do you believe I work at a snack bar now?" We sit down at a table and talk for a total of 2 awkward minutes, where I am mainly just staring at him in annoyance. Then he leaves. I never hear from him again and am relieved.

Well about 2 months later my friend spots him at a party, and strikes up a conversation with him. She asks if he remembers her, and she was the friend of mine from that party. He says "Oh yeah, that didn't work out." My friend laughs and says "Well from what I heard you were pretty into her." To which he replies with "No way, I would never date a deli girl."

When she told me later, I burst out laughing, and from there on out whenever anyone asked me what I did for a living I replied with. "I'm a deli girl." (Hey not everyone can have the ever so glamorous job of working for a trucking company.) Seriously just thinking about it now, cracks me up. It's still to this day one of my favorite "dating" stories.

Love

I had someone ask me what was so great about Utah. What did I love about it? Where do I begin? I love the mountains, the Great Salt Lake, all of the gorgeous national parks, the outdoor activities, the beautiful city I get to live in, and of course a lot of my family live here. I love that I get to have four distinct seasons. Yes, sometimes winter lasts too long, but it's nice during the holidays and makes you appreciate the other seasons more. Spring and Fall in Utah are divine.

I took this picture right outside my kitchen door yesterday. Yep, this is the place.

The tallest stalker I have ever met.

(Took this picture while antiquing in Colorado with Bon.)

When I was about 21, I went to a college bbq with some friends. There were tons of people and we were having fun mingling and chatting with people. Well my friend spots this guy that she thinks is incredibly attractive. He was 6'6 so he was hard to miss.

I told her to go and talk to him, but she was nervous, so she asked me if I could go start up a conversation with them and introduce us to him and his friends to get the ball rolling for her. So I agreed and headed over to talk to the group.

After chatting for a while we all talked about hanging out later in the week. That's when "Mr. Tall" asked me for my number. I politely told him he should ask for my friends number, and then he could call her and we could all hang out. My friend pulled me aside and said to just give him my number and then we could all hang out later and maybe she could get to know him better, but it's no big deal if we hit it off. (Which was incredibly cool of her, but I wasn't interested. It wasn't that he wasn't attractive, it was how he treated my friend and me so differently. I didn't love his attitude. It was like he knew he was good looking, and acted in suit.)

But I decided to give him my number thinking he would probably never call, and if he did I would make sure my friend was there. We said our goodbyes and hung out a while longer at the party. Occasionally Mr. Tall would catch my eye and wink at me. Which I found even more of a turn off, because it didn't seem genuine. By the end of the night we had met a few other guys and I had forgotten about Big Foot. (Seriously I had to crane my neck just to look at him.)

Well I had left my phone in my car, and when I got in, I realized I had a message from Mr. Tall. Surprised, since I figured he had asked for a lot of girls numbers. I listened to the message, which seemed really nice and genuine. He had said I was the prettiest girl he had met all night, and wanted to get to know me better. So I thought, hmm, maybe I'll give him a chance.

I decided it was late and I would just call him the next day to set up a group date. Well about two hours later I got a text from him saying "Why haven't you called me back yet?" Which I thought was weird, but I was already in bed, and decided I would figure it out the next day.

I had to work the following day early in the morning, so I was going to call him on my lunch break. When I got out to call him, he had called again. When I listened to the message it was kind of rude.

I quickly called him and he answered. I was a little put off, but thought maybe it had been a misunderstanding. So we talked and I told him I was at work. He asked where I worked and I told him.

{Let's break for a second. I used to work at a hospital in the snack bar.}

Well when I told him, he laughed out loud and said "Where do you really work?" I told him again, and he said "If you work at a hospital snack bar, I'm the manager at McDonald's."

I told him he was going to feel really stupid when he realized that I did indeed work where I said I did. Then asked him how it was working at McDonald's. Scoffing, he said.. "I work at a trucking company." (Like that was some amazing job.)

At this point in the conversation I realized I just wasn't interested. He seemed uppity and disrespectful. So when he asked when we were going to hang out, I told him that I just wasn't feeling it and I was very flattered, but just didn't think it would work out. (I know that seems kind of harsh, but I felt like he was acting like a jerk, he seemed a bit clingy, and I wanted to be honest and not lead him on.)

He huffed something like "Fine, whatever." and we said our goodbyes. I felt kind of bad about it, but figured that would be the end.

Um no, it wasn't the end, little did I know it hadn't even begun. This post is already pretty long, so I will post the rest of the story later this week.

To be continued..

October Weekend

(I made these place cards for the brunch.)

Friday night Bob and I had a date. We saw this movie (which was over the top gory, but seriously funny) And then on Saturday, my sister hosted a brunch. We ate really yummy food. We laughed, talked and relaxed. And followed it all up with this movie. (p.s. don't waste your time seeing it, it was lame.)

The rest of the weekend we moved. I have almost put the kitchen away. Pictures soon I promise.

P.S. The move can't come quickly enough. Our upstairs neighbors are always keeping us up. It's usually Opera singing at the crack of dawn. But this morning around four a.m it sounded more like river dance while screaming at the top of their lungs at each other. Which begs the question.. "What person in their right mind is awake at that hour? At four in the morning I have a hard enough time opening my eyes, let alone getting worked up enough to scream. I imagine one of them stole the blanket and it escalated into a dramatic Broadway musical.

The hippo fiasco

Last night Bob and I moved some stuff out of my parents basement, that they have so kindly let me store for a while.

Well when I was younger I would collect Hippopotamuses. Not the giant 4500 pound creatures, but the stuffed, wooden, and even occasional magnet variety. They're my favorite animal, and for a while there, for every birthday I would get Hippo's from everyone. I eventually grew out of that, and realized I have no where to put everything, but I wanted to keep them for my kids to play with.

Well when I asked Bob to take the enormous box of hippo paraphernalia to the car. He told me I was trying to take away his manhood by having those in the house.

"But what about when we have kids?!"

"We'll give them a Metallica shirt to play with. And further more, what person in their right mind saw a ferocious wild animal like the hippo, and decided to make it into a plush toy with a tutu? I'm telling you right now it was a woman."

Bob may have a little surprise when he gets in his car today. I might have innocently propped a stuffed hippo on his steering wheel.

I have a zombie sleeping in my bed.

Well school has started, Bob's fully entrenched in it. So much that we say a quick goodbye in the morning while I'm half asleep, and usually don't see each other until right before bed, where Bob is so tired he mumbles something about ilovegoodnightsleeptoyou.

It's okay, we're making it work. Luckily we see each other on weekends, and sometimes get to have dinner together during the week. Since we're on such different schedules we have been pretty wiped out and tired lately. For instance, I have noticed something strange with us when we first wake up.. I think we're turning into zombies. (cue lightning crash and distant shriek)

The alarm goes off and Michael Jackson's Thriller, comes on. We stumble around clumsily in the darkness, we groan and have a hard time waking up enough to really say anything coherent. Then we try to get ready for the day, but my hair usually ends up looking like I just crawled out of a grave.

Don't worry, we're not to that flesh eating phase yet. At least I don't think we are. (insert ghoulish laughter.) Man I wish this blog had sound effects sometimes.

Souvenir

If I were going to send a treat that's native to Utah to an out of towner. I think I would choose salt water taffy. I had forgotten it was a local item, until Bonnie's post. What's not to like? Yummy, chewy, stretchy goodness. Do you think they just grab some taffy and toss it in the Great Salt Lake and voila..you get that colorful little treat?

I would find a little square tin, place a small cellophane bag filled with these tasty treats, and tie it all up with a bit of twine. I would wrap it in brown paper and with a black magic marker write "Greetings from Utah" on it.

I would probably fill it with my favorite..strawberry swirl. (And give instructions to give it a big stretch and twirl it around your finger before you devour it.) I also like the spearmint swirl.. I think it's the swirl I like.. I have a sneaking suspicion that the swirl makes it taste better.

You say potato, I say shut up.

Bob: "What else do we need to move?"

Cat: "The chest of drawers and my cedar chest."

Bob: "Oh you mean your hope chest with all of your girly keepsakes in it?"

Cat: "It's a cedar chest."

Bob: "Maybe we should just refer to it as your unicorn princess chest from now on."

Cat: "Maybe we should just plan on you sleeping on the couch tonight."

Those circuit training classes are really paying off.

This weekend was spent moving. We lugged boxes, we wielded three small air conditioners, and one very large one. A lot of you don't know this, but.. well maybe I should just show you. I'm pretty strong..

I don't talk about it a lot. I mean I don't like to brag. But yeah, I mean I have muscles. After lugging that huge air conditioner down from the attic. Down some very steep stairs, I felt pretty good about myself. Bob didn't think I could do it. But I showed him, afterwards he was pretty impressed. I just flexed my muscles and told him I was pretty much like the Hulk.

We still have a lot to do, but we did get a chunk out of the way. On a side note, I found some childhood items.. a slap bracelet, Cabbage Patch Kids, those circle loop things you would slide onto your shirts to make them come up a little on the side, and every single one of my trolls. (yeah the 80's were calling)

It was a productive weekend. I am loving this weather today. The sun is shining, and there is a brisk breeze. Hello Monday, it's lovely to see you.

Cheater's never prosper.

A little while ago Bob and I were playing a game and I caught him cheating. When I called him on it, he started laughing and said that was part of the game. "Oh really? I don't remember seeing that in the instructions." Bob informed me that if you can get away with cheating in a game, it's just strategy. He also said it's his way of making the game more fun. Then he said "Come on.. you have never cheated?" I told him no, it wasn't as fun for me, and I wanted to know that I was winning because I played well, not because I was cheating.. then I remembered something..

Way back before I met Bob, I was dating a guy. Well one of his friends met my friend Alana, and asked her out. So we decided to double and do dinner and games. We had dinner and throughout the evening it became more and more obvious that Alana and this guy were not exactly a love connection. Then we pulled out Cranium. (If you have never played it, it's a game that encompasses drawing, acting, trivia, and multiple choice questions.. kind of like a game of charades + pictionary + trivial pursuit)

We decided to play boys against girls. I should tell you that Alana and I were about 19 or 20 at the time and they were both about ten years older than us. So they sort of had an upper hand on the trivia questions. Well before we could even start playing, Alana's date had to pull out the instructions.. he had to read them aloud before we could begin. Then if we did anything differently from the instructions he would stop the game and refer back to the rules and read them out loud again. He was so incredibly rigid on these rules that it got kind of ridiculous, and I think at one point Alana even teased him by yelling "You're sucking all the fun out of the game!"

Thus his nickname was born.. "Fun-sucker" {We lovingly referred to him for months after. "Alana, you remember that guy you went out with once?" "Oh you mean Fun-sucker?" } So in a way to keep the game fun Alana and I decided we were going to cheat and when they answered a question.. no matter what they said, it was wrong, and we would hurry and put the card back in the middle of the stack. This got to be hysterical for us, because they were both so sure that they were getting every single question right, and were so confused at the fact that we told them they were getting them wrong.

We thought we would win for sure until it came down to an obscure question about a soccer player that was apparently "Fun-sucker's" hero, and we couldn't tell him he was wrong because he would know. We actually ended up still losing even after cheating.. so I guess they're right.. cheater's never prosper.

When I relayed this story to Bob, he rolled his eyes, and said.. well you should have cheated better. Or hid the rules from him.

I give up.

(So if you ever play games with the BobCat, and you see me smack Bob.. you'll know he's cheating.)

The details life offers. {Kind of like the samples Costco hands out on weekends.}

(Taken on my way home from circuit training. The one nice thing about waking up early.. you get to catch those heavenly sunrises.)

Today I'm thankful for the little things. I'm thankful for the radiant sun that streams through our tree lined street. I'm thankful for the brisk air in the mornings.

Thankful for the little "me time" I got last night. Which included staying up late, curled up on the sofa in a cozy fleece blanket watching So You Think You Can Dance and Modern Family. The house wasn't hot, there weren't any air conditioners on, it was that perfect snuggly blanket weather. (Don't you wish that was a term the weather man used?.. "And on Wednesday, a little snuggly blanket weather, with a touch of a comfy oversized sweater front.")

I'm thankful that I get to organize. (I'm a bit obsessed with organizing. You know that saying.. Everything in it's place? That is kind of like my motto.) This weekend I intend to get up early and start the move to the new apartment. I get to find places for all of our belongings. I get to unpack all of my winter stuff and pack away all of those swimsuits. (I never did look as good in those swimsuits as I do in my puffy vest and scarf anyway.)

I'm thankful I get to sprinkle the little touches of Fall into my new apartment. Light those candles and let the smell of pumpkin and spices wander into each room. Put the festive wreath on the door, and maybe even lug a couple of gourds out to the balcony.

I'm obviously thankful for the big stuff. My husband, family, friends.. but today I can't help but feel thankful for the extras that give my life more of a richness and luxury.

I am soaking this short fall season up. I'm drinking it in. Loving the vibrant yellow leaves, the chilly blue sky, the slight dusting of snow on the very tippy tops of the mountains. Yep, today it's all about the details. Happy October!