5 Fantastic Things | May

Every month that passes means we are one month closer to meeting Denning Beta and in the words of my midwife, “it’s starting to get real”. I didn’t post very much this last month, but that was because we were so busy living life and getting our ducks in row before everything changes. We’ve been working hard, spending time with friends, tackling projects around the house and enjoying the start to a long, hot summer. May was a pretty great month.

5 FANTASTIC THINGS I want to remember:

1. The perfect weather we had for the entire Memorial Day weekend. We took full advantage of it by walking through the neighborhood, catching a Reds game, attending a baby-wearing class, and strolling through Washington Park and we wrapped it up with a neighborhood cook-out under the stars. Perfection.
2. Splurging on a delicious meal to mark the occasion of our friend’s visit home.
3. Enjoying the view in Great American Ballpark for not one, but two impromptu Reds games this month to kick off the season.
4. Sitting on the porch with my sister, drinking Izze and catching up like old times.
5. Experiencing a sense of accomplishment when we figured out a not-so-basic DIY project for our office shelving. Even though it was hard work, it was worth it.

5 FANTASTIC THINGS I’m looking forward to:

1. Seeing friends and family and celebrating Denning Beta at a our baby shower.
2. Making good use of our first grill (just purchased this weekend)!
3. Learning together about childbirth as we attend a series of classes to prepare (as much as one can for something like this).
4. Visiting with my dad and step-mom who will be here for the first time since Christmas!
5. Spending lots of time at the pool cooling off.

Past “5 Fantastic Things” posts:
April // March // February // January // December // November // October //
September // August // July // June // May

Yes Man

Did you ever see that Jim Carrey movie several years ago where he was under a curse and he had to say yes to everything? There were some scenarios of course where saying yes got him into some pretty awkward and undesirable situations, but overall I think the moral was that it’s good to branch out, try new things and say yes to different experiences.

I’d like to think that’s what my friend and I did the other weekend when we said “why not?” to an invitation to attend one of those painting parties. Neither of us had done anything like it before, and while we had our own ideas about what it would be like, we went into it with an open mind and figured if nothing else it was an excuse for a girls night out. Wouldn’t you know we had fun! And whether or not our Starry Starry Night paintings become the new focal point of our living areas, that wasn’t the point. The point was to get outside our comfort zones and outside of our routines and say yes.

Typical Katelyn style would be to turn this into a new goal or challenge for myself where I commit to trying something new each month. I honestly don’t know if I can add anymore goals to my life right now without starting to fail at some, but I am definitely going to keep this in mind the next time I see an interesting event happening around town or the next time I receive an invitation to do something that might be outside of my normal routine. Why not say yes? Regardless of whether it turns out to be the experience of a lifetime, you’ll probably learn something new and have a great story to tell.

What new experiences have you said yes to lately? Isn’t it refreshing to do something different for a change?

Happy Weekend!

This weekend, I plan on:

• Napping (with the kitties)
• Logging some miles on the new bike
• Finishing my book 
• Adding to our growing goodwill pile during spring cleaning.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Follow me on instagram for updates @katelyndenning.

A rainy weekend

When it starts raining on a Friday afternoon, I find myself daydreaming about and making plans for a warm and cozy weekend inside where it’s dry.  It would probably look something like this…

sitting | drinking | reading | wearing

Hopefully I can get some blogging time in too!  What would your cozy weekend look like?

Cats and Coffee

If you look closely you can see that the pattern on my top is actually made up of kittens, so it seemed only fitting that Ramona join me for at least one picture.  She was more interested in whatever was going on down than the street than in looking at the camera, but I still think she’s a great accessory.   I first saw this top over on Quiet Like Horses and since I’m mildly obsessed with all things kittens, had to have it.  It’s since become a favorite!

This was an afternoon of guilty pleasures – a frappuccino with whipped cream and a little window shopping at Anthropologie.  A Sunday afternoon doesn’t get much better.

Mint & Mod

I will say that the 30×30 project has made my mornings a little easier, and for someone who is always running late in the morning, that’s a very good thing!  I spent Sunday afternoon putting together 5 complete outfits from my 30 pieces.  So each morning all I’ve had to do is grab the hanger labeled Monday (yes, I labeled each outfit) and I’m ready to go – right down to my shoes and jewelry.

I love this short-sleeved spring sweater in mint green.  I’m excited to see how it will mix with other brights in my closet.

I never would have paired this dress and top together had they not both been in the challenge.  The striped top has always been a “weekend” top for me and I always struggle to mix work and weekend wear, but this just proves me wrong!

5 down, 25 more to go!  Stay tuned.

Polka dots, stripes and bikes

This is my first official 30×30 Remix style post.  I want to start off by saying that when I decided to embark on this challenge, my poor husband, by default, became a part of the challenge as well…as my photographer.  So thank you to him for following me around the neighborhood carrying our camera, dealing with my complete inexperience in posing for a good style shot, and in general supporting my pet projects with a smile on his face, or rather a look of concentration.

Now to the outfits from this weekend:

We spent Sunday afternoon at the Audubon Aquarium courtesy of two discount tickets from Living Social.  Here we were winding our way through the “Amazon” after learning about piranhas and other water creatures.  All in all it was a fun weekend and I’m already 3 outfits into my challenge.

A Beautiful Lei

Last weekend my husband brought me a gift from his recent trip to Hawaii (how sweet) – my very own lei!  I’ve never smelled anything so wonderful and the delicate flowers were beautiful.  It was perfect timing with Easter being that Sunday.

All weekend I was either wearing it around the house or carrying it with me from room to room so I could continue smelling the flowers!  I wish it could last forever, but I think today is its last day.  What a perfectly beautiful gift!

A Productive Weekend In

I spent almost the entire weekend at home working on various projects, the biggest being adding some design to the kitchen.  I also managed to make it to the halfway point in my current knitting project, start a new book and watch some basketball – proud to be from Ohio!  At one point on Saturday I decided it was time to venture out of the house, so I set out to pick up a few items needed for a project and of course, ended up bringing home a few extras.

I know this is not fun or DIY project related, but I’m glad I remembered it as I passed by Office Depot because it is a necessity.  I am embarrassed to say that we haven’t started on our taxes yet!  I’m hoping that seeing this box everyday on the desk will make me feel guilty enough to finally sit down and get it done!

While I was there  for the tax software, I couldn’t help but pick up a few new pens for my journaling.  I am always in search of a pen that I will fall in love with.  Maybe these will do it.

I was side-tracked on my mission and ended up with some new shoes…oops.  I think they will be staple in my wardrobe this spring AND they were a steal!

And last but not least – what I actually set out for!  (supplies for several DIY kitchen projects)

I hope I didn’t use up all my energy for the week!  One of these weekends I’m going to do absolutely nothing.  But who am I kidding, I’ve never been very good at that!  Have a wonderfully productive week.

Weekend Highlights

I had a wonderfully uneventful weekend full of projects, fun and a little relaxing.  Here are a few pics from the iPhone…

The weekend started early when my yarn order arrived (the project shall remain nameless for now) and continued with a “Fun Friday” out for pizza and cocktails.  Saturday consisted of too many loads of laundry (and yes I almost washed my cat when I didn’t realize she was napping in the washer) and some crafty projects that will show up later this week.  That night we took a break for some coffee at the Orange Couch, and Sunday was much of the same but with a little cooking added in.

Glad to have accomplished so much this weekend because the week is going to be crazy!  Already looking forward to Friday.