2006!!

happy new year boys and girls. let the home made irish creme making and tasting begin! hope everyone makes it up until the midnight... we get an extra "leap" second this year... so enjoy it because apparantly it only happens every seven years to correct the atomic clocks and what not! (useless new year's knowledge you can all bring to your parties/events/soirees... i am sure it will sound particulary intelligent later in the evening!!)

i am going to buy a new board/card game we played the other night called apples to apples for the festivities! LOOK for pics in the new year...

10987654321(1)happynewyear.

father christmas?

g-pa jerry who SNORED through 20 + people screaming and opening presents all around him on christmas eve. now that is what i call a grandfather!

we did the hills family wednesday night, the graves family thursday night, cronin christmas saturday night, and the horan christmas sunday. i have tons of pics but i tried to limit it to kiddos!

joseph brian costa

joey is my cousin bridget and her husbad brian's little boy... loves thomas the train. i swear he has a british accent at age four. i am not kidding either.

haley nicole horan

haley nicole is my cousin beth's little girl... she looks like a little horan, don't you think? i will have to post the professional pic bethie gave me... so cute.

cronin family christmas...

a glimpse...there were 26 of us i think?

little maggie!

maggie is my cousin laura's little girl...she is a creative little thing!

sister love

jayne and momma h

isabel kathleen costa

isabel, bridget's little girl, taking a much-needed "break" from present opening. i will try to find a face shot of her!

wendy and bel bel

wendy (my cousin jake and his wife jenny's little girl) and bel checking themselves out. are you getting all these names down? there will be a quiz!

thursday christmas at MK and Rea's

nephews fisher and simeon opening some lego's... will those things ever NOT be cool?

christmas!

rea and kim at thursday christmas... check out that tree!

Merry Christmas from STL!

So far a great holiday... great family time and great gifts like the one shown above that we pass around every year... karl was the lucky 2005 recipient! More pics to come! (i got a new camera!)

two things.

1. i think it is time to retire my little piece of mouth jewelry. thoughts?

2. we are officially having a NYE2006 party at our place. if you are reading this, consider this your invite. i sent out an evite, but i didn't have everyone's email address. i know most people have plans already, but karl and i intend to have our own party even if no one shows! if YOU do decide to join us, you must bring:

• drinks/beer
• fun
• a prop for our NYE2006 photobooth that we are setting up (you know how we do... we love pictures!) Examples of props: NYE hats... or any hats... specialty CELEBRATION party wear... inflatible animals... the sky is the limit people!

Christmas CHEER...

um i think this should work. this is my contribution to Christmas Cheer this year: It's funny.

santas-crib.mpg4181K Download

The weekend is shaping up to be pretty busy. Karl's sister Kristen and her husband are in town with their kiddos, I have to work at the Little Gym both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night is Karl's Christmas Work Party! Sunday night is our neighborhood block party Christmas party. Monday is my new bosses' birthday so we are having a "cosmo" party at the office apparantly and then Monday night I have a Christmas Party at the Little Gym (no kiddos allowed!)

PLUS somewhere in there we are having a Christmas lunch or dinner with MiMi, Karl's grandmother, and we have some serious shopping left to do. I just realized today that my tags on my car expired last month so I have to do that AND get a new license with my new name.

I got paid today... isn't that exciting?

new job...

is good so far!!!

i miss you all and i have a cell phone so CALL ME!!!

last night we went to US pizza w/ elizabeth and melissa and had a blast.... and tonight i had a GREEN people party party (environmentaly friendly people) at the Old State House...

busy like a bee... love you all...

this makes me laugh!

who is THAT guy that was trying to be in our picture? anyone, anyone? haha!

weekend recap: hmmm... friday night we went out to US Pizza w/ Elizabeth and Katie and some others and then over to say hi to mike and audra and play 'in a pickle' which was pretty entertaining little game! saturday i worked at LG and we had a PAR-TAY at the faded rose - er whatever! lots of friends and some slight drunkeness. (it happens!)

guests at the ROSE party: eric, em, audra, annie, mike, matt price, ebeth, melissa, kristen, jr, karl, um... is that everyone? whatever!

sunday was the fab survivor party with my girlfriend steph losing.... SO SAD!

I STILL DON'T HAVE A CELL PHONE SO CALL KARL IF YOU NEED ME!

my first day at Martinsen was pretty good! (first days always suck!) they still don't have a computer set up for me (well an email address anyway) so that sucks....hopefully that will happen ASAP! i feel so out of touch!

chest bump?

chest bump? this picture made me laugh. so i thought i would share. does anyone have a better caption? REEEE-DIC-UUUU-LOUS.

happy birthday kristy!  

me and kris at the wedding...how cute!  

help...

my flip phone has flipped right off.... and i have no cellular device. it does not work! if anyone has an old phone that will accept my cingular sim card, call me asap! aparantely, cingular only gives good deals to NEW customers.... cripes. let me know if you have any advice.

our weekend should be pretty boring.... HOPEFULLY! ;) Survivor finale Sunday night!

breaking news...

i accepted the offer from the association management company after some much needed salary negotiations. so i start work on monday there. i have to call presley and brooke's mom and tell her i am dunzo with nannying. i am still wanting the first job more, but they aren't offering right now, so who knows what the future might hold? haha! i will just be glad to have an office with a computer and a desk and a phone again! oh, and a paycheck!

i have a photo shoot this afternoon to get my picture taken for some of their, um, our brochures i guess... with a professional photographer so that is weird.. i will keep you UPDATED.

pray that i made the right decision!

I stuck the dismount.

So, I am pretty sure I nailed the job interview I had today. Nailed. Unfortunately, I am not sure I want the job or not. The company is an association management company, so that is what they do: manage associations. (for example, they manage the Arkansas Chiropractors Association and some HR associations, ect.) So they basically plan events and seminars for these companies. It is small - i would be the 4th person in the office. so it would be event planning among other things. I am not sure about it, but I am pretty sure they are going to offer me the position. I think I would rather the job I interviewed for yesterday, but.... I don't think they are wanting to hire SOON, so I might take this one. What do you all/guys think?!? I just don't want to get STUCK!

Second thing: my wedding photographer contacted me over the weekend. Aparantly, she sent some of our wedding pictures to a contact she has at www.theknot.com (anyone who has gotten married recently knows the KNOT! haha.) ANYWAY, it looks like THEY SELECTED our wedding to be a "Real Wedding" and to be featured in the regional issue of The Knot print magazine!! (Karl & I will be having a magazine signing so you all can have copies!! We're FAMOUS! hehe. kidding!) Anyway, I have to fill out a bunch of paperwork and sign that they can use whatever pictures they want! How exciting is that? Won't they be dissapointed that I had so much HOME made (veil) and do it yourself stuff (invites!) in my wedding and that my dress was jcrew and not designer!?! It is in the early stages, so who knows if it really will make it to print? (I worked in publishing; I know things can get cut at the last second!) I will keep you UPDATED!! Fun stuff!

lots to blog about.... keep reading!

i like my bullets so get ready to be bulleted!

• my interview this morning went well. it would be a GREAT job if they hire me! i felt pretty good when leaving there, but you never know!
• i have another interview tomorrow at 2 p.m. (when it rains....you know how it goes! when i got hired at Arkansas Business I got another offer from another company the same day... why does it always happen like that?)
• the weekend was good - Jermaine Taylor (JT) beat Bernard Hopkins (B-HOP) in an okay fight... not enough blood was shed! nevertheless, JT is the champ and I am sure there will be another parade in Little Rock (this one cold!) that we will all attend!
• Matt and Meredith Dill stayed with us Saturday night of their way through town. They were in Memphis - Meredith ran her first full marathon in under four hours! AWESOME! (and she hung out with us all night! good lord! how did she DO THAT?)
• today is audra's birthday. see below photo montage.
• the stl rams lost yesterday. by a lot. boo.
• grey's anatomy and desperate housewives were both good.

The end. Bang.

Happy Birthday Denise, er, Audra!

welcome to audra's birthday montage. enjoy. this is the most recent shot of audra, kat, and brooke at lin's bachelorette party in KC this fall. keep scrolling.. the pictures get WAY better!

happy 2-5 old timer.

even though i will have to send you a link so you even LOOK at these posts!

interesting outfit phase...

do you like our slutty, i mean, interesting outfit phase? this shot is before victory party one year - maybe sophomore. Victory party. What were we even celebrating? is it sad that i can remember what i wore to every single victory party all four years of college? i think it is. i wonder if we still have these shirts. we should wear them out one night. we might even be featured on other blogs like www.littlerockblog.com!

audra the "art major"

audra the "art major" is seen here creating art on a bench we happened to steal from a certain fraternity house that housed a certain ex-boyfriend of mine. we stumbled upon the bench one weekend while this particular fraternity was out of town and carried it all the way back to the Chi Omega house to decorate. (Note: We did have to call Melissa LaRose in the middle of stealing the bench b/c it was too heavy. We said: 'Melissa, we need your help'. And without a second thought she said: 'What did you steal and how heavy is it'? what can i say? we were kleptos! audra and i also stole a pool ball from each frat house on the row our senior year... how silly is that?)

anyway we did return the bench... redecorated with some interesting plants and other such nonsence painted on! the sigma nu's never knew it was us - they thought it was the pikes. i think someone threw it through a window or set it on fire - a lot of things got stolen and set on fire in those days!

Sweet Suite 318....

young kat and audra circa 1999. this is where it all began... LOOK how little we were! I bet - no I KNOW we thought we were UBER cool! this is a pic of us in the dorm fresham year. i think it looks more like an 8th grade pic than a COLLEGE pic, but we are, in fact, 18 years of age in this picture. note the stolen construction barrel in the left hand side of the picture!

obligatory weekend plans post!

weekend plans:

• HH (happy hour) with some friends from Arkansas Business tonight. (it's the work christmas party at Jeff Hankins... i am just going to PREPARTY! ;)
• working at the LG Saturday and Sunday.
• Hopkins v. Taylor fight Saturday night. (i personally don't really want to watch but the boys are all excited. you know karl worked with jermaine once. woo hoo!) i think festivities will commence at mike and audras.
• Getting a Christmas tree and decorating for Christmas. sigh. i should be more excited about that shouldn't I?

news & gossip:

• annie and elizabeth are hoping to live together soon (1st of the year) in a house with a yard somewhere in Little Rock... so if anyone knows of any hot for-rent houses....
• we got lauryl's and samuel's new years eve wedding invite in the mail yesterday and it is beautiful!
• i watched an episode of reading rainbow this morning and yes, it is as good as you remember!
• i officially changed my name yesterday: Kathleen Horan Hills. I will get a new social security card soon.
• i have an interview on Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. i am nervous. i hate interviewing! (why did i forget that when i quit AB?) but i have been preparing....and am getting closer to actually feeling prepared! so send me some of your best interview questions to help me!

would you care to hear the evening news?

on set at KTHV! I was the model while we were setting up and checking lights! haha!! would you like me to share today's news? their studio is pretty cool! Ed Buckner was in the weather center! The forecast is CLEAR!

what not to wear!

this afternoon i helped out my good friend and arkansas business photographer take some pictures for an upcoming publication called Arkansas Next: Career Edition! I was just standing in until Liz Massey from Channel 11 got there! This is some guy named Blake Eddonds (sp?) who used to play basketball for the Razorbacks under Nolan Richardson and one year under the other guy, um, anderson? anyway he works for Stephens now and he and liz were on the cover of the magazine! I was just along to see Pirn and help out with the photos! I look like the poster child for UNPROFFESSIONALISM and/or, um, OLD NAVY!

cocaine or wedding cake? that is the question.

so we did decide to celebrate our three, six, nine, and twelve months with wedding CAKE. we took out the box last night and laughed because it looked like d-r-u-g-s all wrapped up. not that either of us has ever seen or will ever see d-r-u-g-s in this quantity. but you know movies and CSI and all that crap... it just needs a johnny chimpo marking on it!

the cake wasn't too bad!

moxie roxy!

roxy - it is funny how you name your dogs but then attach like 800 nicknames to them as well... like they understand. anyway our current fav for roxy is MOXIE ROXY! karl didn't believe me that MOXIE was a REAL word... so here is the definition:

mox·ie
n. Slang

-The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage.
-Aggressive energy; initiative: “His prose has moxie, though it rushes and stumbles from a pent-up surge” (Patricia Hampl).
-Skill; know-how.

arlo-butt...hmmm...

arlo also gets nicknames.... arlo farlo... but arlo-butt seems to have stuck the most... hahaha... is this too much information?

doggie pictures...

arlo and roxy hanging out in the front yard! amazingly they don't run away when we let them out front. they love us. or they just think we are going to give them treats. i wanted to get some pics in the leaves before they all fell off and died! i really can't believe i am posting this many pictures of my dogs.

i am accepting fall/almost winter.

i have finally resigned myself to colder days. i am not fighting it anymore! instead i am trying to enjoy it. i even rearranged my closet so the sweaters are easily reached. we have a kick-ass tree in our front yard. the leaves are falling and falling so i thought i would share with you before they were all gone! i am sure my sister will make fun of me for this OH-SO-EXCITING old lady post!

oh and in other GOOD news i have another interview on Monday so keep your fingers crossed for me! things are looking UP UP UP!

auntie em, auntie em..

it was a dark and stormy night in Little Rock....

so this is the current weather radar for arkansas as i type this. how frightening is that? so far we haven't seen much at our place of residence. no sirens yet either. but lots of emergency alerts and constant weather reports over regulary scheduled programming. is it sad that i am slightly dissapointed i might miss desperate housewives and/or grey's anatomy. yeah, that is sad. it was about 80 degrees all day - i wore a Tshirt and flip flops to Target for gods sake (i know - classy!). the weather has been "bonkers" here lately. if there IS a tornado, i guess we should hide in the bathroom? this is not the first time i wish we had a basement! stupid south! we don't EVEN have an emergency plan. but karl says it looks like we are just going to get some major rain and strong winds here. we might loose our power and then i couldn't BLOG. tragic!

happy three months today of being married! yea! 92 GLORIOUS days. er... whatever. fun stuff. we are thinking of breaking into our cake topper - instead of once a year, i think once a quaRter! (three months, six months, nine months, and one year!) i mean it isn't possible to eat it all in one night right?

i am told i have been slacking in my blogging duties so i will try to pick it back up for your DAILY enjoyment. we shall see how that works out!

thankful thankful thankful...

1. friends.

i know i have said it before but we have a great social circle! i am thankful that brooke and paul and pam made it down to Little Rock this weekend to see us and the clinton library and the saucer and our doggies. i am glad we got to see blake who was in town for the holiday and have some friends over friday night to hang out! i am thankful we got to hang out with kristen and JR saturday at the Faded Rose for a bit. I am feeling a bit CHEESY and emotional so I googled some friendship quotes!

Hold a true friend with both your hands. -- Nigerian Proverb

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked. -- Bernard Meltzer.

Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends. -- Richard Bach