My Weekend in Photos

Finally!

It finally happened and I got my Canon 7D!!!!!!! Yesterday it arrived in the mail and once the battery was charged, I started taking pictures. I have to thank my amazing future husband for this gift because instead of spending the money on himself, he made my dream a reality. I love him so much!

^Above photos were taken using the 7D and the 50mm lens. Below pictures are used with my phone.

My camera came with an extra battery and a 16gb memory card. I had already ordered my 50mm lens and a 32gb memory card from amazon but it’s always good to have a back up. I’m beyond excited to start getting back into photography. I’m planning on purchasing a 85mm lens by the beginning of Fall.

Here are a couple photos I took yesterday with the camera.

Aeros & Autos Car Show – Houston, TX

Saturday morning at 8:20am, the clouds are covering the sky and the humidity is on the rise. Car show participants line up awaiting photo shoots and registration knowing that a long (hot) day is ahead.

Chellsie cleaning up her husbands Subaru

As soon as everyone gets in rows for the show; towels, detail spray and tire shine come out in full force! Everyone wants to have their rides looking extra sparkly and clean for the judges and spectators to view.

A wide variety of cars participated in the car show. Everything from classics to lifted trucks attended. There were exotic cars, hot rods, lifted trucks, lowered trucks and fast cars. A good selection to please almost any car enthusiasts taste.

The event lasted from 9am-4pm. Along with the car show there was the half mile race, music, food and freebies.

Each car show participant received a 4×6 photo of their car with an old war plane, a bag of goodies and an event t-shirt. Enjoy the photos!

Edited Version 1 ^

Edited Version 2 ^ I could decide which one I liked better.

Best of all!! My handsome man and our friend took home Best Import awards!!

Wedding Planning

Wedding planning has been keeping me somewhat busy these days. When there’s nothing to do at work, I find myself browsing Pinterest looking for ideas. We have yet to pick a date but I love planning ahead, figuring out prices and looking at cute ideas. I like to be way prepared ahead of time. Once I figure out how much everything that I want is going to cost, we’ll be picking a date. I’m guessing my budget (reception) will probably be around $5,000 give or take. I’m still not sure yet. I know the reception location is around $1,000 but that includes tables, linens and a few other things. I’d have to rent chairs and figure out the food part but I think $5,000 is a good budget.

The things I’m sure about for my wedding are:

1. Candy Bar – Tons of my favorites and Steven’s favorites to be taken home in a small box as a wedding favor.
   
2. My dress – I already know the one I want, just have to go into the store, try it on and save money for it.
3. Who all I’d invite – probably 70+ people
4. Small cake for us, cupcakes for guests – Saves money and cake doesn’t go to waste. I’m planning on having about 4-5 different flavors.
5. Shoes – Girl has to have awesome shoes and mine will be custom chucks! No heels for this girl!
6. Photobooth – Yes! I want to have an awesome photobooth with tons of props for many funny moments!
7. Beverages – Tea (sweet and unsweet), lemonade (2 flavors), Margaritas (maybe) and different types of beer.

Here are just some cute ideas I found on Pinterest that were super cute!

Really feeling the grey, simple and classic

Photobooths are definitely trendy these days!

Lemon creme cupcakes

I know it’s kind of silly to be planning everything when I don’t have any money or a time frame but I love planning stuff in advance and not waiting till the last minute. Gives me enough time to make everything perfect and the way we would like it to be.

Let me know if you have any awesome wedding ideas to share with me!

-Katie

Fort Riley, Kansas – Army Base

Thanksgiving in Kansas

As many of you know, I took a few days (5) to head up to Kansas to spend Thanksgiving with my honey. We had an absolute blast, granted Thanksgiving dinner was a bust but oh well. I won’t go into a ton of details of everything that went on. I will say that while I was there I got engaged!! It happened Friday night after we had an amazing dinner at Little Apple in Manhattan. We got into the subie and were sitting there trying to warm up and he pulls out this little blue box and hands it to me. While he’s still holding it, I told him “I can’t open the box, you open the box” (something along those lines). So he opened it and there sat this beautiful solitaire ring and wedding band. I had the biggest smile on my face and then I asked him, ” Is there a question that comes with the box?” and that’s when he said those lovely words that any girl wants to hear:

Will you marry me?

I wanted to pee my pants!! I said yes of course 🙂 Everyday since then, I have worn my ring and have continued to wear his dog tags till the day he is officially out of the Army and home with me. I’m beyond blessed to have met my soul mate. He’s the apple of my eye!

Moving on…Kansas was lovely this time around. It did get down to about 14 degrees one morning but we kept warm. We were able to work on the cars, do a photo shoot, hang out with friends and go take tons of photos at Kstate University. I know you guys are probably ready for the pictures. I will do a post later showing my ring and going into more detail on our engagement. Enjoy!!

Kansas or Bust! Part 2

We continue my journey with me waking up bright and early Monday morning. I did my normal routine of talking to my future husband and then straightening my hair. I got all of my laundry done and made a trip to Save Mart to get some ice and some mountain dew for the road. I made sure the volvo had a full tank of gas and got all of my stuff packed up and ready to go. I didn’t leave the house until 3:30pm because I was waiting to see if I would get to say bye to my dad but he told me to just leave because he wasn’t going to be home for another hour or so.

I headed on up to Sparks, Nevada to visit my best friend Kim and her family. The drive up there was nice. I’ve been on that drive before but have never actually driven by myself up there. It was an easy drive with minimal traffic.

I arrived in Sparks around 6:30pm or so. I was able to capture the beautiful sunset while I stopped to put gas in the car. I didn’t feel like having to put gas in it in the morning. It was great getting to see Kim and her family. I haven’t been able to spend time with them since 2009! I even got to meet my niece Leah who is now 1 year old! She’s such a cutie. The last time I saw Audrey, she wasn’t talking and now she just talks up a storm. We ended up chatting for a bit and then headed out to Safeway to get some ice cream. I did not have any but that was fine by me. I ended up falling asleep on the couch around 10pm, waking up at midnight, turning the tv down and then going back to sleep. My alarm clock was set for 2am. I had planned on waking up and making sure I was awake enough by 3am to start my drive. Well, I guess I shut my alarm off and didn’t get up till 2:45! So I jumped up, got ready, gave Kim a hug goodbye and started my journey to Kansas.

The drive was long and boring. I made one quick stop in Lovelock, Nevada to use the restroom and stretch, then was back on the road. I made it till about 6am before I couldn’t drive anymore. I ended up pulling into a rest area and sleeping for about an hour and half till Steven texted me and then my dad called. Managed to get a decent shot of the sunrise coming up over the mountains.
The rest of the drive was the same as before, boring. I did however, have to fight the 35+ mph winds that kept trying to blow me off the road. My only stops along the journey were to get gas and use the restroom. I only had my beef jerky and fruit snacks to eat and that was fine with me. I kept trucking until I finally hit Laramie, Wyoming. By this point, I was very exhausted and had not had much to eat all day. It was hard for me to concentrate on the drive, so I made sure to stay behind this truck and trailer. My goal that day had been to at least get to Denver, Colorado and spend the night but that wasn’t going to happen.

I made it into Laramie and pulled off into a Pilot gas station to sleep. Well, the winds were probably about 40mph and were shaking the volvo so bad that my motion sickness acted up and made me lightheaded. I couldn’t take it so I headed across the freeway to the Holiday Inn Express and got a room. One of the nicest hotels I’ve been in. It was definitely a new experience for me; being on a road trip across country by myself and staying in a hotel room by myself. It was really good that I got a hotel room because I was able to eat something, take a nice hot shower and sleep on a comfy king sized bed all to myself. I ended up getting about 9 hours of sleep that night. I had planned on getting up at 5 or 6am and getting on the road but I wanted to wait till it was lighter outside. I left the hotel around 7:30 am and made my way toward Kansas.

The drive to Kansas was the same as the drive to Wyoming, long and boring. I did have my phone and music to keep my entertained. I ended up entering Kansas around noon. Of course, had to stop off and get lunch which I hardly touched. I can’t tell you how many state troopers I saw entering Kansas! There were tons! I did not see many highway patrol along the entire trip except for when I got into Kansas. I got into Junction City, Kansas around 5:30-6pm sometime and called my honey and had him meet me at Handy’s. You don’t understand how excited I was when I saw him pull up. I was pretty much screaming on the phone to my grandma and she knew just how excited I was because she went through the same thing with my grandpa.

The drive onto base was fun. “Duty First”. My whole perception of the army base was totally off. I didn’t know that it was like a small town. You have gas stations, a grocery store, movie theater, bowling alley and fast food. I guess I should have realized it would be this way but what can I say, I’m a n00b when it comes to military stuff. To this day, I am still asking Steven what certain abbreviations mean. I was in total shock the entire drive up to his barracks. I had never seen so many hummers and tanks in my life! It was flipping awesome! We got up to his barracks and went inside and it was yet again, different than I had imagined. You have to use a card to open the door like the ones you use at hotels. Also when he said he shares a bathroom with his neighbor, I didn’t realize you have your own door that you can lock. Duh! Why wouldn’t you? The room was a little small, with a twin sized bed probably about 3 feet off the ground with a desk, full sized fridge and two storage/clothes lockers. I thought it was awesome being there in the barracks and living out a few days as a future Army wife.

My first night there, my honey and I packed up in the subie and headed over to Manhattan to go to Chili’s. We had a nice dinner that neither one of us finished. Probably because we were both tired, me from driving so far and him from work. We ended up calling it a night when we got back to the room. Let me tell you something…sleeping on a twin sized bed with two tall people, is not pleasant. Not to mention, having tiny blankets. Haha. I was cold part of the night but my hip hurting was the main reason I didn’t like sleeping on the bed. I did however, love cuddling with my man. So, the pain and cold was totally worth it.

Every day I kind of got into a routine. My honey would leave for PT around 5:40am and I would get up and get dressed, brush my teeth and do my hair while watching a movie. He’d come home around 8am and hang out with me till almost 9am. From that time on I usually just watched movies or got on facebook to pass the time. He’d finally get off work around 3-5pm, depending on how the day went and then we would just hangout in the room for a bit before driving off base to get dinner. My heart could not have been any happier than being with him on base. One night we drove to Manhattan and got bdubs (Buffalo Wild Wings) and had some yummy pretzels. At least, I thought they were yummy anyway. I believe it was Friday that I finally got to meet his crazy friend Jamal. He’s just as crazy in person as he is over video chat. Haha! We ended up spending a couple of days working on the volvo and making it run better. Sadly, we went through a set of spark plug wires before finally getting a do-it-yourself kit and my honey made his own. It was fun hanging out with my love and watching him work on the cars. I also got to see him spray paint Jamal’s hood on the accord. He’s done more detailing to it since I left and it looks great. My honey is really artistic and does amazing work.

I ended up taking this one of his dog Loki and Loki’s mom Princess. They are super cute and I was actually surprised at how well this picture came out. Besides the fact that Loki’s ear is flipped back.

I was able to capture the beautiful sunset on Fort Riley one night while I was there. It was simply beautiful! Plus I caught a little bit of it starting behind the cars.

Moving on…Saturday night was the only night that we decided we had had enough of sleeping on the twin sized bed. We headed to the Hampton Inn in Junction City and got a room. It was definitely one of the nicest hotels I’ve been in! I fell in love with the duvet cover haha. The room was great and it was so nice being able to enjoy sleep while being on a super comfy queen sized bed. Bright and early Sunday morning we got up and headed down stairs to enjoy the complimentary breakfast. Steven would tell you it was nasty but I actually enjoyed the blueberry muffins. It wasn’t the worst breakfast I’ve ever had. Then we headed over to Jamal’s house and Steven changed out the spark plug wires on the Volvo. Later, we ended up taking the cars to the car wash and giving them a good bath because we had plans on taking pictures but that fell through because it was getting dark out fast.

Monday was my last official full day in Kansas. Steven had to go to PT bright and early and then go to work after that but I ended up keeping myself busy by cleaning and folding his laundry and putting it away neatly for him. It’s the little things that make me happy. hehe. Luckily he got off work a little early and we were able to hang out for a bit in the room. We ended up heading out to Manhattan early that night because we didn’t know if restaurants were going to be super crowded or not and we were both hungry. Steven ended up taking me out to Long Horn Steakhouse. It was nice! We enjoyed a porterhouse steak for two with a side of mac and cheese and sweet potato bites. The sweet potato bites were eh, alright but the mac and cheese was amazing! The steak was superb! It was definitely a great date night out with my honey on my last day. After dinner we headed over to the mall and went into Spencer’s to look at the domo things. Haha. I ended up finding a domo kitty key chain plush that I had to have. It was $10 but well worth the money because it was super cute. There were a lot of other things there that I wish we could have gotten. We then went into Hot Topic to look at shirts and see what domo things they had. My honey found two shirts he loved. One is a white storm troopers shirt that says “Support your troops” and then the other shirt is black and is from How I Met Your Mother and says “It’s going to be legend, wait for it dary”. Unfortunately they didn’t have his size in the storm trooper shirt so we just ended up getting some stickers at Hot Topic.

Then we went to look at engagement rings. The first store we went to was Harris Jewelry. They are a military based jewelry store that offers good deals to those who are still in the service. We looked at what seemed like twenty rings. I didn’t see anything that really caught my eye. Plus the quality of the diamonds was lacking majorly. I know Steven was sad that I didn’t find a ring there because we could have gotten the credit and gotten the ring that night but I wanted to be surprised and have him pick out the ring he wants to give me. I didn’t want to just be handed a ring and be like “Here, marry me?”. We ended up telling the lady that we had to think about it first. So we left and of course I was too embarrassed to say anything about the rings till we left the store because I didn’t want to upset the lady working there. We then went into Kays so I could show him the ring I really wanted. It’s a bit out of reach for us right now seeing as how it’s $3200+ but I wanted him to see the style and then he could go off of that. Plus I needed to get my ring finger sized because I couldn’t remember what size ring I wear. Found out I wear a 9 by the way. I showed him the ring I really like and then looked at some solitaires because they are cheaper. I think I just seem to like the Neil Lane collection the best because the settings sit lower than the regular solitaries and the sparkle is amazing! LoL. Well we attempted to get on Kays credit but that did not happen. We left the mall empty handed but that was fine because like I said, I want to be surprised and want something that he picked out without me being there.

From there we headed back to the barracks and took pictures of us and cuddled. Tuesday was not going to be a fun day for me seeing as how I had to leave that morning.

I love Steven so much. We are both dorks that definitely belong together!! haha.

Tuesday morning came and Steven headed out for PT. I decided I would leave after he got back and when he was getting ready to head to work. I figured that would get me home around 9pm.  Steven got back from PT, changed and we headed down to the cars so I could put my stuff in the back. I did NOT want to leave him.

My honey took this picture of me before I left, with my domo kitty plush.

From the moment I left the barracks, I cried till I hit Wichita, KS. I never knew how much I could miss someone till I had to see them disappear in my rear view mirror. The whole drive back to Houston was enjoyable. I didn’t have any issues until I got into Texas and that’s when all of the driver’s started driving ridiculously. I finally made it back home by 9pm. Sissy was beyond happy to see me and wouldn’t leave me alone till I gave her about 30 minutes of my love and attention.

and that was my trip to Kansas! Hope you all enjoyed.

To Kansas or Bust! Part 1

I’m finally getting around to writing about my trip out to Cali and the drive to Kansas to see my love.

I left Houston bright and early Friday morning (October 12th) at 6:30am. My friend Jose was gracious enough to take me but almost made me late for my flight. Luckily, I was able to get through security fast and jump on my plane. Before flying, I always have to take dramamine. I took 3 before I even left Jose’s house. Let’s just say, I was knocked out for the entire flight to Denver, CO. Once I arrived in Denver, I hustled over to my next gate thinking that the plane was about to leave since my flight was late getting in but I wasn’t. I took 2 more dramamine and waited to board the flight. Just so you know, you can take like 6-8 dramamine within a 24 hour period, don’t worry. Anyway, Denver felt amazing! I was pretty much the only person in the airport wearing flip flops and a t-shirt. Wimps! I had just enough time to talk to my honey before boarding the flight. Sadly, the flight was delayed about 30 minutes because the train broke down and we had to wait for about 20 passengers to get to the plane before we could leave. I touched down in Sacramento, CA at about 10:30am. My friend Jeremy was there to pick me up once I got off the plane.

Now begins my California adventure!

Jeremy and I had about 2 hours or so to kill before my friend Nate was off work. We ended up going back to his house and hanging out with his brother till it was time to go to lunch. I couldn’t stop laughing because Lee was telling me that I needed to help Jeremy get some better clothes so he could attract the ladies. *wink* Of course I told him I would try my best. HaHa. Around 12:30pm we headed over to In-N-Out to meet up with Nate – ItSuperPanda. Lunch was fantastic!! Jeremy paid for me (thanks!) and Nate decided to Vlog the entire time! Thank god he didn’t get video of me eating or anything. It was awesome finally being able to meet my friend in person. I think I’ve been friends with Nate for about a year and a half now? I’m not 100% sure but this was my first time meeting him in person and I’d have to say, he’s just as crazy in person as he is on skype. o.O Next we went over to Arden Fair Mall to go get Jeremy some new clothes (giggles) and just hang out since I didn’t plan on leaving Sacramento till about 3pm anyway. The mall trip was definitely interesting. Nate walked around being goofy the entire time and I ended up videoing him talking like Russell Brand and then super crazy Asian man. Here’s the Video he made if you’d like to view it. You’ll definitely get some good laughs!

http://youtu.be/S5ly-KQGZ98

To our surprise, Jeremy actually got two shirts! One I approved of and another eh. But he’s a guy, what can you do. We left the inside of the mall and went outside to hangout for a bit and take ridiculous photos. Here are the ones we took….brace yourself!

Sadly our time came to an end and Jeremy and I said goodbye to Nate. We got on the freeway and headed over to my parents house. We got to my parents house around 5:30 and we said goodbye. My parents were excited to see me and I was excited to be there. My dad was in the process of grilling some steak kabobs. Dinner was delicious and we relaxed the rest of the night. Almost forgot to mention that my hoodie arrived at my mom’s house the day before I got there. I am in love with it!!

Saturday morning I woke up at my normal time of 6am (4am Cali time) and chatted with my honey for a bit and then decided to curl my hair.

My dad woke up and we talked for a bit and he told me how no one ever wants to go with him to breakfast. We packed up in the volvo and drove to Perko’s Cafe for breakfast.

Once we got back to the house, I had about an hour and a half to kill before my nail appointment. My mom was sweet enough to make a nail appointment for me to get a mani and pedi. Thanks mom!! Here’s how my nails looked:

We had about 3 hours to kill before we had to go pick up 8 pizzas from Papa Murphy’s for the birthday gathering at my uncles house. So I snapped a few pictures to pass the time.

We packed up and went to my uncles house to celebrate his birthday along with my cousin JT’s birthday. It was nice being around the family again, minus the whole 100 questions that got thrown at me about my relationship with Steven. What can you do though? It’s family.

Hanging out with the family was fun. We left around 8pm and headed back to the house. My best friend Emily decided to head on over so she could at least spend a few hours with me before I had to leave to go to Kansas. I was super happy to get to see her since it had been a year since I was last back there.

Even though we only got to hang out for a couple of hours, it was still awesome. I love my best friend!

Sunday morning I got up bright and early and we headed out to Hollister, California to go to Casa de Fruta. I wanted to pick up a few bottles of wine to take back with me since it’s so yummy. We stayed at Casa de Fruta for a couple of hours and enjoyed a wine tasting. I had pomegranate, blackberry and plum. Mom had blackberry and apricot and dad had the same as me. My favorites are pomegranate and apricot.

One thing I made sure to grab before leaving Casa de Fruta was a pound (almost) of chocolate covered gummy bears! Can you say good memory or what?! When Steven and I first started talking he told me that his favorite candy was chocolate covered gummy bears. Since then I have been on a mission to find some. Luckily dad spotted the boxed ones while we were in the candy store and then I found the bulk ones. I couldn’t pass up on a pound even though they were $13/pound. He’s totally worth it. So all in all I brought back 3 bottles of wine (1 pomegranate and 2 apricot) and a pound of chocolate gummy bears.

After a quick stop at costco, we made it back to the house. We all had some lunch and just relaxed for awhile. Then mom and I packed up into the corolla and headed to granny’s house to pick her up and then over to my aunt Sabrina’s house to visit her. It was fun visiting. We taught granny how to use an ipad and enjoyed finding recipes on pinterest for yummy foods. Probably one of the best things that happened was Buster falling asleep in my arms. He’s so cute and cuddly.

Hanging out with my aunt and grandma was fun. We ended up having a small dinner consisting of pigs in a blanket aka hotdogs rolled up in croissant rolls. Then we dropped granny off at home and headed back to the house.

Sunday evening Tyler got back from his church trip he went on and was dropped off at mom and dad’s. I got to visit with him for awhile and even invited him to go with Jen and me to walmart so I could get some snacks and drinks for the trip to Kansas and home. It was awesome getting to see Jen. We have had our rough patches in the past but have still managed to be good friends. I had not seen her since probably 2007. Yes, it’s been that long. We hung out for a bit and got some things at walmart and then sadly had to drop her off and head to Tyler’s apartment to get his stuff. We headed back to mom’s house and hung out for a bit before I ended up going to bed.

Monday and the start of my road trip will be continued in another post. Stay tuned!!

The Countdown Begins . . .

In a little over a week I will be back in Kansas with the love of my life! I cannot wait! I cannot wait to be in his arms, get kisses from him, see his handsome face when I wake up and just be with him again. It’s been about 2 weeks since I’ve been back in Houston and I can’t stand it. I can’t stand being away from him. I’ve probably cried every other night since I have been back. It sucks. I’ve never felt like this before, like loved someone so much that I’ve cried almost everyday because they’re not here.

So yes, 9 days and counting till I’m with my handsome man back in Kansas. Sadly, I love Kansas…minus the wind. It’s beautiful there and it actually looks like Fall during Fall!! The leaves change colors and it’s just so pretty. There are amazing, old buildings and I love Manhattan because of all of the little shops and restaurants that are right on the main streets. I know I’m crazy because everyone hates Kansas but there’s just something about it that I really like. I know Steven will be shaking his head at me for this but I actually like Fort Riley as well. Then again, I’m not in the Army and I don’t live on base so yeah know. To me, it’s awesome. I can’t wait to be back and this time I’m actually going to take pictures of Fort Riley and then take pictures of the cars and more pictures of my honey and me. hehe. I’m just hoping that I can get my finances in order and make sure what bills I have are paid before I leave. Just gotta make sure I can cover myself. Then when I get home I will be looking for a second job.

Eeeee I can’t wait to see him again 😀
*does happy dance*

Back in Houston

Hello Houston, I’m home. I’m not happy one bit about being back in Houston. My ❤ is in Kansas right now and I still have another 3 weeks (maybe less) till he is here with me. I can’t wait to start my life with him.

Houston is hot and humid still, I miss the cool days that we had in Kansas this past week. I actually really like Kansas, even though everyone says Kansas sucks. The scenery is beautiful, there are seasons, cooler weather, amazing architecture, small towns and the Army base was great.

Hopefully here in a another day or so, I will have the pictures from my trip edited and I will do a big blog post about my trip to California and all the way to Kansas. For it being my first road trip by myself, I actually enjoyed it and had fun. The drive was horrible all the way to Kansas but I was extremely happy to be there with my future husband.

Stay tuned for pictures from my trip.