Defying Gravity

My life is complete! Matt and I saw Wicked on Friday night. I was in heaven from the moment the music started until the curtain call was over. I am NOT usually a big fan of touring companies of big Broadway shows, they never seem to be as good, but I must say that I was VERY impressed with this cast (Fiero was the lone exception. He could NOT sing but he was pretty . . . I guess that's the point though, right?!) I laughed much more than I thought I would and cried about as much as I expected to (seriously!? Why during EVERY showstopper number do I cry like a little baby?!?! Gets me EVERY TIME!) Matt liked Glinda (or Galinda) the best and I was torn between my love for Elphaba, her songs and her voice and her character . . . and Glinda's HILARIOUSNESS (yes I just used that word. I used it on purpose.) I honestly don't know which part I'd rather play more . . . though I'm sure those of you who know me best would think I'm more of a Glinda . . . sad but true.

Anyway, I have much more to say but my time and patience is limited, as is my alertness this evening. So I bid you all goodnight.

Birthday Week!

Matt and I have decided to implement a new family tradition. Birthday Week!

It all started when we were dating and I had to spread my birthday celebrating out over several days because I was traveling to and from Utah and California. Matt started laughing and saying I didn't have a birthday, I had a birthday week. My birthday is New Years Eve, so I think it's only fair, since I get jipped because of Christmas, the new Year celebration and other such nonsense (haha just kidding)

Anyway, I decided this week would be Matt's birthday week since he hasn't a week for himself yet. We are doing something little every day leading up to his birthday. Well . . . not necessarily little.

I had been telling him about his BIG birthday present for weeks and he was already home when I got home yesterday and it was in the car and I didn't want it to cook in the heat, so I had to bring it in. He started asking questions and I told him that he could have it if he wanted it and that would spread the birthday joy out for more time. So here it is, Matt opening his big birthday present. I actually got him to show outer excitement. That's how cool this present is.

It's a 26" flat panel Samsung TV that has PC hook ups, so it can double as a monitor for his computer. His eyes have been hurting lately, so I'm hoping this will not only be fun but help his poor eyes since he's working from home gazing into the screen.

We'll probably hang it on the wall in the new house, but for now it's on the stand on his desk in the study.

Yep. You're seeing it here folks . . .

Matt's real birthday is on Thursday and we're going to go out and have Mexican food from Rosa's, at Matt's request. Then on Friday we actually do something more for me . . . go see Wicked at ASU's Gammage Theatre. I have been DYING to see this and Matt was kind enough to allow me to get us tickets on his birthday week. I have heard that most guys actually enjoy this musical, so we'll see!!

Road Trip! Eeeeeeeee!

Yes, it's a quote from Legally Blonde . . .

And last weekend my eight best friends (yes all you people who only believe in one best friend EIGHT BEST FRIENDS) went to California and stayed at my grandparents house (aka Club Lynsky) and had a BLAST! I was lame and didn't take very many pictures, but I will provide a few for your viewing pleasure . . .

This is the Diva Packet Julia sent all of us. It had our itinerary, a DVD of pictures from last years trip, a great CD of songs to listen to while we were there . . . SO GREAT!

These are my white trash toenails. Pink with RHINESTONES! I was a little embarrassed of them at work but they were fun for the trip!

We all missed our men so we went to Fredericks of Hollywood . . . *wink wink*

For nine girls on the trip, we had very little drama and SO much fun!! We laughed and sang and danced down the street at midnight, talked, cried, hugged and . . .

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Mmmmmmm . . . Ferrraaarrrriiii . . .

I don't need to say too much here . . . Dan Kennedy bought himself a new F430 Spider and I was here when it was delivered . . . I got to touch it and hear the amazing engine . . . Agata opted to be the one to drive it home, stating that "Dan can kill you, Kate, but he can't kill me!" That did not stop me from PRETENDING to drive it though!!

Oh so pretty . . . and to repeat myself, "sigh . . . sigh again for effect"

Agata

I just got this new ad for Agata Kennedy's boutique, Agata. Isn't she a hot little number? She's wearing a Roberto Cavalli dress that I love on her . . .

Agata is married to the founder of my company, Dan Kennedy. Her story is actually really amazing. Her parents defected from Poland back when it was still under Communist rule. They claimed they were going on a vacation, but the Polish government wouldn't let them take Agata with them to prevent them from leaving the country forever . . . so they left her with her grandmother and went to Italy, where they then flew to the US to live. It took almost a year to get Agata the right papers for her to be able to join them. She grew up in New Mexico, where her parents scrimped and saved to put her in the best schools . . . she then rewarded them by getting a full ride scholarship to ASU in BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING. Yeah, she's brilliant. She speaks four languages, graduated from ASU with honors, was a cheerleader for the Arizona Cardinals, does pageants, was cast as Pamela Anderson's little sister on Baywatch . . . oh and she owns her own high end European Clothing boutique!

I just love Agata and I am lucky to know her and call her a friend!

My Cubicle

This is going to sound retarded to many of you who have been in cubicles for a long time, but I finally have one of my own!! I was so ready to NOT be at the front desk anymore, and though I miss the window and the granite countertop, I don't miss them that much.

I have the worst cube to have, it's right off the kitchen, so I get all kinds of funky smells, and it's right next to the fax machine and copier and is sort of a social center of the office, so it's loud and annoying at times, but it's MINE and I LOVE it! It's not decorated yet, but I promise I'll get to that and send you a picture when it is!

I am so random

I just took the funniest pictures. (ok maybe they're only funny to me) They are of the two shoe collections in our living room. yep. shoe collections

I knew I had a shoe obsession (accompanied by a problem wearing shoes so I take them off as soon as I can . . . it's a love/hate relationship I guess). So anyway, I have a pile of shoes accumulating downstairs. This information shouldn't be shocking to anyone. Or at least anyone who knows me. Here are my shoes . . . two pairs of flip flops (the official state shoe of Arizona), my gym shoes (I just returned from a work-out) and a pair of high heels (those belong to yesterdays work outfit)

What MIGHT be shocking to all of you is that my husband ALSO has a shoe collection accumulating downstairs. He's supposed to be the clean one!! He also has another pair outside of our sliding door to the backyard! Our house looks like Ross at the end of a Saturday, and that is NOT good. Oh well . . .

On a cleaner note, Matt cleaned this kitchen this week. I love him for that. And for other things too . . . but right now because he cleaned the kitchen and I don't have to!!

Curtains! (sort of . . . )

Ok I'm actually soliciting suggestions in this post. I have finally hung curtains, but I have an issue, as you can see. I selected a curain rod, then I selected curtains . . . then i hung both, then i realized that rod pocket curatins don't have a way to fit over the . .. hanging thingy(that's right hanging thingy) that holds up the curain rod . . . so I shoved the curtains to the middle, but it doesn't look right (as you can see from the picture above). . . do I buy two more curtains, one for each side of the windows and figure out a way to jimmy-rig the curtains to fit over the hanging thingy, but risk it looking stupid since one window is so much thinner than the other? Do I find a new rod? Do I do something else?? Help?!?!? I am in home decorating HELL here! I want to find the person who designed the window layout of this house and ring HIS little neck. Only a man . . . sheesh. Why put the windows so close together at the corner? We will never know.

On a happier note the valances look super duper, if I do say so my smug self :)

On another note, I need to start taking pictures of my house during the DAY since it's so much prettier then . . . I LOVE all the natural light from the windows.

Now I have to figure out what to do about the dining room and window treatments . . . and the kitchen . . . and the bedrooms . . . can I move into the new house yet???

Lightning and Childhood Memories

Last night we had the COOLEST Monsoon lightening storm in the northern part of Phoenix where we live. The lightning was very close to our house and very close to the ground and you could see the dark clouds and feel the electricity in the air . . .

When I was a little girl in Denver we used to lay outside in our huge yard and watch the lightening storms. I loved just laying in the grass and watching the bolts of light fly across the sky. As I got older, when there were huge thunder and lightening storms in Utah, all four of us kids would pile into my Mom's tiny day bed and we'd count the seconds between the lightening and the thunder to find out how far away the storm was.

Last night I sort of did the same thing . . .

It was ridiculously hot, so I didn't lay outside for long (I went inside, turned out all the lights and watched from my bed!!), but I got to watch some amazing lightening and I was so happy.

Then I was remembering a specific thunder storm when I was in high school . . . I think it was just Julia, Katy and I, but Hannah may have been there too . . . Katy was TERRIFIED of the storm and when the first really loud thunder clashed, she came BARRELING across the floor screaming at the top of her lungs and she jumped on top of Julia on the couch. Mike and Jennifer (my aunt and uncle) were living in the basement at the time and the loud running really made them mad, so Mike came up and got mad at us. Katy, in the true Katy fashion said to him as he walked down the stairs "you two just go down stairs, take off your clothes and have see . . . . ven children" Something we still say to this day!

Anyway, this is a picture I found on the internet of the kind of lightening that hits the Valley during these Monsoon storms. It's amazing isn't it?! This is the kind of lightning I was watching last night!

Anyway, to sum it all up, the storm last night was very cool and I am so glad I have so many fun memories of lightning!

More Peechas

As Julia would say "F freaking Y I" this post has been a pain in my butt!! I have been trying to post it for like twenty minutes and the pictures will NOT cooperate. So I was going to say all kinds of cool things about our adoreable house but instead I will say with frustration:

"Here are some more pictures of my house. If you can't figure out what and where they are in the house, call me and I'll explain it to you really slowly."

LOVE YOU ALL!

Cake or Death?

Death please!

Today was one of our company Board of Directors meetings. These are pretty stressful days, not only for me but for our executives. Especially this one because the executives were all traveling yesterday.

We also got to celebrate at work today though. We successfully launched a REALLY difficult client this week and got rave reviews from them. So to celebrate, we had this awesome cake made and delivered to us today. Can you guess who our big client is??

Isn't the cake awesome? I gave the bakery a little bit of direction, but they pretty much created this masterpiece on their own.
This is Daniel, one of our awesome software developers. He worked really hard on the launch so he got to cut the cake . . . he cut right through the dog's head, hmmm.

So I love frosting, especially fondant, which is what this cake was covered in. I ate a lot of it now and I feel SO ill, I just want to die. We still have lots left over too . . . anyone want some?

So, cake or death is the theme of the day, as you can see from the title. (Any of you who don't get the reference, you should probably go check out Eddy Izzard, funniest man ever. Careful he does have a bad mouth . . . ) Today I choose death because when I tried the cake I wanted to die . . . maybe tomorrow I will choose cake . . . we'll see. I have to be at work again, so it might be another death day! I'll let you know . . . and if I don't, it means chose death for reals :)

A slight view of our house

Well, it's what we call home . . . our little house in the middle of the hot desert . . . Here are a few pictures for those of you who have never seen it. There aren't many right now because I haven't cleaned to my liking for display, so I took some pictures of the most pleasing angles and I will take more as the rest of the rooms are straightened up to my satisfaction. (Those of you who know me well know not to hold your breath for this to occur!)

The room I am most proud of . . . my dining room. No art yet but i'm taking my time picking it out. This room has the beautiful furniture in my home. No chairs yet, those you see are from the kitchen. It's too hot to eat in the kitchen right now so we're taking a risk and eating on the dining room table. With coasters, placemats and protective coverings all over the table, of course. What do we think it's for, eating?!?!?

This is a shot from the front door . . . the kitchen is back through the mini-hall. No you don't get to see the kitchen. I made dinner tonight. Enough said.

Ok folks, that's all she wrote today . . . I do promise more pictures to come . . .

Dreaming of Superman

See the look on my face in this picture? My spazzy look? The one I usually reserve for Disneyland (where I happen to be in this picture)? Yeah that's how I'm feeling right now and my husband is passed out in bed. So, a-blogging I go.

I had an absoluetely INSANE week at work (I've started doing my new job along with my old job along with other people's jobs . . . and this will continue for quite some time I fear!) It was crazy, but I did get to call Rhonda's work and ask for her . . . and when the receptionist asked who was calling I said "First Mate Kate." (Rhonda dared me to do this.) When she said "Excuse me?" I articulated.

First

Mate

Kate

Her reaction was a puzzled "Ok . . . hold one a second please?"

I did it again the next day to another one of the receptionists. I think this might become a habit.

ANYWAY, after the heinous week I was hoping for a fun weekend. I think my mission has been accomplished . . .

Friday night we were planning to go see "You, Me and Dupree" with Rhonda. We were meeting for dinner at 7:30 and had tickets to the 9:35 show. At 6:30 Rhonda called with some bad news. Her brand new Mini wasn't starting! She was stranded in a parking lot waiting for AAA, so Matt and I decided to go rescue her and our evening! We waited for a while until the tow truck got there (I would like to mention we have had record hot days for about the past week. And for those of you who think record hot is like 106, think 120 . . . at night after the sun goes down. Yeah. And poor Rhonda was stuck without AC until Matt and I could get there) so needless to say she needed rescuing. We sat in my car hoping it wouldn't run out of gas . . . then the tow truck arrived and the driver was VERY serious about the business of towing cars. We learned all kinds of new things. Most of all to "relax and get confortable" while looking for your tow hook . . . then we grabbed some food and barely made it to the movie before it started. Which also means we were on the FRONT ROW since it was opening night. Oh and on the very edge of the front row. The actors look very large and very distorted from that view . . .

ANYWAY, I thought the movie was hilarious and I know Rhonda did too. Matt even chuckled a few times (those of you who know him will realize that means this movie was pretty freakin' hilarious to get that sort of outburst out of my husband) so we were all happy we went and Rhonda and I will most likely add many quotes from the movie to our random quote stash (which means we will add it to every day conversation and most people will have ZERO idea what on earth we are talking about.) All in all it was an action packed night. (And for those of you so concerned, Rhonda's car is fine. Her transmission connection wire-thingy (you heard me) had come loose and now is reconnected. The Mini is back to zipping around town.)

Today was a day of errands . . . We went to Costco to look at desks and furniture . . . picked up my new curtains (yay! I'm so excited to have lovely valances . . . though not all of them are in yet so for now it will just be a half-way thing :) ) We went to the gym (it was shoulders, chest and triceps day for me. It hurts to be typing right now) and then we came home, got ready and went right back out to get some more curtain supplies. THEN we went to dinner at the Elephant Bar (mmmm cashew chicken and lava cake . . . mmmmm) then went to see Superman Returns (mmmmm Superman . . . . mmmmmm so pretty . . . . mmmmmmmmm) Another recommendation from me. Besides Brandon Routh being GORGEOUS, he did such a good job and was so much like the original (in my opinion) it was almost scary . . . I LOVE the Superman story and the music . . . and everything about it (except the two elderly ladies behind us providing commentary the ENTIRE TWO AND A HALF HOURS. I thought old people went to bed early? What's with them being at a 9:40 movie huh?? They didn't even like it! Thought it was "too violent at the beginning" Whatever!) Like I said, I loved it, loved it, loved it. It brings back such fond childhood memories for me and I get all emotional just thinking about it. Plus did I mention Brandon Routh is hot? Well, he is.

So now, I am home, it's 1 AM, Matt is still sleeping . . . and I'm dreaming of Superman. Do you think Matt will care if we name our first son Kal-el? It's not that weird is it??? I mean really! Just look at him!!!

Sigh. Sigh again. Sigh a third time for effect.

Kate ala Promotion!

Well, finally, after two years of very interesting work here at Vcommerce, I have been promoted! Starting in a few weeks (after I train my replacement as the Executive Assistant) I am going to be starting as the Marketing Coordinator! I don't have a really good idea exactly what I will be doing, but as long as it doesn't involve cleaning out garages and paying someone else's bills, I am going to be a happy camper! I will post more information as I have it!

Immortalized Forever . . . Sort Of

Well, Matt and I have been immortalized forever . . . or at least until our wedding photographer changes his website. We're on it! Neither one of us would have picked the picture he chose, but it does capture us in a fun moment and we're both really smiling . . .

This is the actual picture but you can see it on this website www.breenstudios.com We are in the "couples" section.

Our photographer was Quinn Farley and he really is OH so fabulous. He took the pictures of my sister's wedding too and I'd recommend him to anyone!

CAAAAARRRRLLLLAAAA

My friend Carla Thomas Danko came to visit us today. She was getting some GORGEOUS (as you can see) pictures taken with a friend down in Mesa and we got so spend some time together. Carla and I met when we moved into the same apartment at the Colony while going to BYU. Sheila, Melinda, Hannah, Leslie and I all moved in together and we got lucky and had Carla as our fabulous sixth roommate.

Some of my favorite memories of Carla include . . .

Our combined birthday party where we played "Spin the Bottle" and scandalized the entire BYU community (not like it's hard)

Dancing around in circles through our apartment to Linda Eder, Faith Hill or the Dixie Chicks

Speaking in horrid (ok my accent was horrid) Scottish accents

All the boys. Enough said.

And most recently . . . the HUGE rack of ribs she ordered tonight at dinner. I think it weighed more than she does . . .
Anyway, now we are just chilling out together watching Season 1o of Friends and loving just hanging out. I hope I get to see her again very soon!

The Coolest Chicks Ever

I had to clean off one of my network drives this week at work (I got in trouble for having too much stuff on it . . . oops!) and I discovered all this fun stuff I had forgotten I had kept! I also went through Matt's computer last night and discovered all kinds of fun pictures I had forgotten about as well. What is all boils down to is that I happen to have the coolest bunch of girlfriends in the whole world and we have so many fun pictures and memories . . . these girls have been my rock and my joy for over ten years. We have had more fun that should be legal . . . so i thought I'd share some of my favorite pictures that I have in digital format . . . I'll add more from home tonight too.

Melinda, Emily and I on the famed San Francisco Trip with "We're Just Friends" Matt Batman . .. I mean Batmale

This is a picture from my going away party right before I moved to Phoenix

Rhonda and I at a Jazz vs Suns Game

HAHAHAHAHAH this was what? 1999? Heheheheh OH THE BANGS!

Melinda, Anne and I at one of our many TV Watching parties . . . we laughed really hard and scared Blake while taking this one

Hannah, Anne, Melinda, Julia, Rhonda and I at my 25th Birthday party

The First Annual Ladies Soiree!

Getting Our Groove on . . .

The dream is over . . .

First of all, I am lame and I don't think we took ANY pictures in California, but I'll have my Mom send me some of hers.

We had a wonderful time just hanging out with the family. Mom's birthday dinner was, in typical Shirley Lynsky style, FANTASTIC, and best of all, Meagan and Luke decided last minute to drive out so ALL the kids were there and it was so great to be our little famly as we all remember it . . . the four kids and just Mom hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house by the pool. I took a hilarious picture of Patrick doing a backflip off the diving board . . . caught him right in mid-air. I'll post it when Mom sends it to me. It's honestly the funniest picture I've ever taken.

Matt and I have decided to head back to California again for the 4th of July weekend. We have four whole days to play there so it will be wonderful. We're planning to go to the beach and the Swap Meet and do all kinds of things. We are very excited.

California Dreamin'

These are pictures from one of our trips out to California last year before we got married



I'm so excited because today we head to California! It's just a quick trip for the weekend, but my brother Sean is there from Pennsylvania and my Mom is going to be there too. We are celebrating her 50th Birthday as well as Father's Day, my Grandma Shirley's birthday and my grandparents anniversary. Phew!

We have a big seafood dinner planned for Saturday night and I'm hoping I get to see Sheila and the babies (Rylie is almost three and Brandon is about six months old) and play with them for a little while.

We're dropping the dogs off at Agata's store managers house tonight so we don't have to worry about trying to take them in the car, so it will be a fun road trip for just Matt and I. We have both been so busy lately it will be a good time just to catch up with each other for a few hours. Matt started his new job on May 22 and has also been continuing to do the bookkeeping for Parker Universal (his old job) on the side, so needless to say we haven't had a lot of alone time between the jobs and the dogs! ( I guess this is a prelude to kids, right?!?!) Anyway we're excited to have the six hours just to talk and hang out for a while. I'll post some pictures when we get back!

Damn Dirty Dogs . . .

Excuse our french . . . we are dogsitting for two weeks while my boss and his wife are in Italy. They are Malteses and oh so cute. They're not actually dirty, they are actually really good. They are very attached to us already and very protective of our house and particularly me. Matt isn't really allowed to touch me lately. Super fun! They have claimed their "spots" on our couches and are pretty much ruling the roost right now. They even sleep not only in our bed, but spread out between us. Ahhh the joy. Here are some pictures of Kimi and Enzo (Kimi is the one sprawled on the floor . . . he seems to like rolling around on our rug . . . ) We will probably be sad to see them go but for right now I've realized I'm very selfish and I like my house and my husband to myself . . . :)