Sorry dear reader, bear with me a moment. This meat eater is gonna say something I never thought I would utter:

So, um, I’m not so sure about this whole eating meat thing anymore.

WOAH, seriously?! Slow down Katie, where did that come from?

This is a recent thing for me, I’m trying to process how I feel about it, and more importantly, what I’m gonna do about it.

What started it?

This documentary.

I watched it yesterday, on Netflix, with an equal mix of amusement, horror, and curiosity. How do you get all of those emotions out of one film?

Just watch it, then you’ll get it.

A little excerpt from the director:

“Food is culture. Food is emotion. Food is one way that we communicate our values, priorities, and ideals. It comprises a large part of how we interact with each other, and if you rock that boat by being different, then get your fork ready; whether you’d like to or not, you’re about to get into a food fight. I like to call them “omniwars.”

To me, Vegucated is about the shift that happens when you sit at one side of the dinner table, looking at the vegan on the other side with amusement, envy, or perhaps, slight horror. Then you receive some information or inspiration and suddenly find yourself on the vegan’s side of the table, seeing the dinner in a whole new light.”

To be clear, I’m not going to run out tomorrow and declare myself a vegan.

It made me think though. . .

What exactly am I putting into my body?

If it’s meat or dairy. . . what did the animals go through for me to enjoy that double cheeseburger (that is frankly garbage for me anyways). Were they treated with respect? Probably not. . .

How does what I shove into my pie-hole affect my health?

How will it affect the health of future generations?

How will it affect the health of our world?

Are you still reading? Did you run screaming for the hills, clutching your steak and screaming, “They can take my freedom, but they can never take my steak!”

That would be overly dramatic of you

I would laugh at you

So don’t do that

Thanks for reading. Now go watch the film on Netflix or wherever, come back here, and tell this girl what you think!

For the record, I have always, and will always, despise Brussels sprouts.

I’m 25

25 years old, almost 26

Halfway to 30, 5 years past 20

A quarter of a century

Feeling stuck in the middle

Stuck in the middle of “real” adulthood, or at last what I think 30 is supposed to represent, and being a live in the moment and only for the moment college student.

Stuck in the middle of knowing that I want a career that leaves me feeling fulfilled and purposeful, and not yet knowing what that career is.

Stuck in the middle of wanting late nights with girlfriends and a Jack & Coke in hand, and wanting late nights in a rocker with a sweet baby in my arms.

Stuck in the middle of being wise enough to know that debt is bad, and being anywhere close to being free of my own.

Stuck in the middle between my hearts desire and my heads ever lingering reason.

Stuck in the middle.

And you know? I’m getting a little tired of feeling stuck.

So here’s to 2013, to greasing the wheels of my life and moving forward with something, with anything, in the hopes that it will bring me inches, if not miles, closer to my dreams, whatever they may be.

Here’s to no longer being in the middle.

Most people have an Elephant in a room, mine is very specifically in the kitchen. . .and it’s the junk drawer.

*Shudder.

You have it, I have it, we all have it. That one drawer or cabinet in the kitchen that is the dumping ground for all items that just don’t seem to go anywhere else. Mine happens to contain pens, bottle openers, batteries, playing cards, superglue, a truckload of appliance manuals, one too many lighters (I have an obsession with candles, therefore an obsession with things to light them with), and . . . a vacuum filter?! (ummm, why is that in there?)

Something had to be done about this mess. Skipping off to the container store would be the easy, albeit expensive solution, as I’m sure they just happen to have the ultimate junk drawer organizer halfway down on aisle five.

But I’m cheap

and Impatient

and also cheap

did I mention cheap?

Think, think, think. How to organize all of this randomness. . . then suddenly, Cheap-ster Mcfee had a solution, a free one!

A few hours before, I had finally had it with the giant pile of disorganized plastic that was my storage container cabinet. I couldn’t find my bottoms to my tops, and my tops to my bottoms. So everything came out, found its lidded mate, and was stacked back in the cabinet in an organized fashion.

And it will stay that way!. . . . .at least for a week. Or 3 days if Nathan puts away the clean dishes.

Inevitably, there was a stack of containers that was sad, lonely, and lid-less. (Side-note: how in the frickety frack does this happen? Where do the lids go? Is there some rubbermaid lid club-med special going on that I don’t know about that they jetted off to? Does my dishwasher have a vendetta against lids and secretly eats one every time I wash a load?)

Silly me, I had just tossed them in the trash, thinking their usefulness had expired. Not so! Out of the trash they came, bound for junk drawer glory.

To free up some space in the drawer, I knew the manuals had to find a new home elsewhere. I thought about leaving them in the drawer but in a bag. Bella suggested this one:

Thanks Bella, but the bag is a bit too small for my looming stack of paper.

Instead, I utilized an empty magazine holder I had in the office, and the manuals found a new home next to my cookbooks.

It only took about 20 minutes to turn this drawer from junk. . . to jewel. Now I can actually find things!

Seriously, it doesn’t even look like the same drawer. . .it’s the little things ya know?

Does your junk drawer need a makeover? Or have you already mastered the art of organized chaos?

When I find a new online store filled with oodles of goodness, it becomes my obsession. MUST HAVE EVERY ITEM.

Not being able to pay rent though, now that’s no bueno.

So I’ll settle for drooling over the items for now, plus, it will make me feel better if you drool with me.

Current love is Bourbon & Boots. DISCLAIMER: you need to enter your e-mail to join the site, they don’t spam, they’re cool.

It’s like the UNCRATE for all that is Southern and wonderful. Food, decor, apparel, you name it. It’s 100% unique, it’s 100% Dixie, thus 100% me.

Some of my favorites:

Oyster Knife handmade from Railroad spikes

Bourbon and Boots

The Adorable (I over- use that word, but they ARE adorable) Letterpress stationary cards from Belle & Union

Bourbon and Boots

This really gets me in the mood for Halloween!

Bourbon and Boots

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to immediately hop on over to B&B, peruse the items, and let me know which is your fave!

I just realized something

I think I am a t-shirt hoarder. I was trying to cram some clean ones into the already stuffed drawers and it dawned on me how ridiculous it is for a 25 year old to have so many. I’m not in college anymore, so forget wearing them anywhere but the gym ( which I don’t go to) to sleep ( but we all know stealing your husbands t-shirts is way more fun) or just bumming around in them ( I rarely have time to “bum it” anymore).

I dumped them out on the bed to count sort and send some on their merry way to goodwill.

I got to 30 and stopped counting out of shame. . .

That’s not even counting long sleeve tees and fitted tees.

The point of all this rambling is this: should I really get rid of any of them? I mean, you can keep t-shirts for years, and wouldn’t I look cool rocking my high school mission trip shirt in the carpool line at my kids middle school one day?

Don’t answer that. In fact, forget I asked that.

Also, what if I suddenly find myself in need of t-shirts down the road? ( hey, it could happen, global t-shirt crisis 2020) and then heaven forbid, I have to go BUY a shirt. I have painstakingly collected my free t-shirts over the course of 10 years, even the ugly ones are precious, cause free is FREE y’all.

I’ve officially lost it

Also, any other shirt hoarders out there?

Also also, goodwill, you will have to wait.

Also also also, forgive the tiny pictures, I’m still learning how to post from the WordPress app on my phone. I’m technology inept.

You don’t have to tell me, I know it’s been a few days since the last post. I wasn’t slacking I swear! (Not this time anyways) No, this time it was all technologies fault. I was having WordPress issues that have now been resolved. So yay!

In other news. . .

Fall is in the air

Please for all that is holy somebody tell me to wear makeup the next time I snap a fashion pic.

Hubby snagged me a new sweater from Banana Republic.It’s the color of a butternut squash, and it screams “wear me to a football game!”. Homecoming is this weekend ( Go Elon!) and this sweater will be in my suitcase.

Puppy got a new sweater too.

Nathan wanted the blue argyle

I wanted a pink sweater

I guess you can see who one out on that one . . .great, now she looks like a boy. A nerdy boy.
With the cooler temperatures I finally had a chance to go outside and work on our front patio a little bit; add some fall flowers and a  couple pumpkins. By a couple pumpkins, I mean 6 big ones. Pike Nurseries was having a “$20 for all you can carry” pumpkin sale.

My Husband took that as a challenge.

This gets me excited for the rest of Fall. Notice how I didn’t decorate for Halloween?

I have nothing against Halloween. In fact, I love love love Halloween (who doesn’t love a holiday that has become ALL about the candy?). I’m just lazy.

Decorate for Halloween = you have to decorate everything twice, spooky in October, Fall in November

Decorate for Fall = I can sit on my butt and enjoy my handy work until December.

And last but not least something that has nothing to do with anything!

Did you know that you can use vinegar as a way to freshen up your clothes in the laundry? Add  half a cup to your laundry load along with you detergent. It freshens and softens all of your clothes and gets rid of the mildew smell that sometimes develops when clothes have been stored too long (or if your husband is the type who washes a load, then forgets to transfer them to the dryer, AHEM).

Vinegar also works amazingly well as an inexpensive window cleaner. Just dilute with water, add a bit of lemon juice to combat the strong vinegar odor, and pour into a spray bottle.

Side note: I have made the mistake of assuming that everyone knows all the cleaning and cooking shortcuts that I learned growing up in a family of clean freaks. That assumption has been disproved more times than I can count. So I’m going to start sharing these tips when they pop into my head. 

The randomness that is my brain = your personal gain. Enjoy.

Sing it with me. . .

To say goodbye to summer in the south, you go to the fair . . .

To celebrate the birthday of a friend named Mike, you ride every crazy, spinning, makes you want to vomit ride. . .at least once.

Don’t wear flip-flops to the fair (like my husband), then non-riders are guilted into switching shoes with you while you ride the cyclone, and they stand around looking like retirees in Florida.

The Midway was bustling, the excitement was contagious, the obese children were abundant. . . (and yes, I found that to be incredibly sad)

I’m sure I gained a few pounds myself after downing a turkey leg, and some funnel cake doused in powdered sugar. That’s what you’re supposed to do at a Fair, right? Stuff your face, and then stuff it again?

Copious pictures of baby animals were taken, the petting zoo is always my favorite part, can’t you tell?

Hellooooooo!

Some were the animals, some were the picture-takers

Some were the riders. . . .some were the purse holders

This functioning organ from the 1800′s churned out the perfect musical backdrop for our escapades.

And because things had gone all too perfectly at the fair, we decided to let the universe deliver us a flat tire (discovered it after were had dragged ourselves back to the car)

At least I got the chance to brush up on my tire-changing skills!

How are you saying goodbye to summer?

This is a story about a chair. This chair.

The chair had no cushion, no style, and had been on the wrong end of some kitty rage.

It lived in a garage for a number of years, dreamed of being sat on, probably shed a few tears.

It was a sad chair indeed, but all was not lost.

It sat, it sat, and it sat, until a craigslist ad and $5 gave it a new home.

6 yards of fabric, and a coat of spray paint later, the caterpillar is a beautiful butterfly.

Who would have thought it had so much potential?

The lines, the chevron, the mid-century sass. I’m in love

Apparently so is Beagle. . .

Do those two things sounds related to you?

‘Cause there not.

First, I was super excited to get my 2012-2013 Lilly Planner in the mail yesterday.

Don’t they just have the cutest way of wrapping things?

So, so pretty.

Ya’ll, I tried really hard to be all tech savvy and put everything in my iphone calendar this year. I held out for 8 months.

Just.Can’t. Do it.

I need to be able to write things down, to see everything laid out, to be able to flip through the pages. I had the same result trying to read a book on Nate’s Kindle.  It just felt wrong to me.

In conclusion, no matter how much technology advances, no matter how many cool calendar apps Geek world can come up with, I will always be a paper kind of girl.

Second, the air is cooler outside, I’m packing away the shorts (who am I kidding, it’s Georgia, I can wear shorts here in November) and I’m feeling the need to deep clean the house. It seems overwhelming, but I think an extensive list like the one over at Lil Blue Boo can point me in the right direction. Except, I rent, so I won’t need to worry about things like “scheduling a furnace cleaning” or “stock up on salt”. Get real, if the roads ice over in Atlanta, I can guarantee you the entire city will shut down, let alone me having the need to get out of my driveway.

Now that I sound like a planning obsessed, clean freak, what are you up to this weekend?

Tart Raspberries, Frangelico, and Nutella, food of the Gods (if the Gods were as hazelnut obsessed as I am) as a surprise in the center.

I couldn’t resist whipping these up this weekend. They all found homes: A dozen to some friends for a housewarming gift, two in my belly, two in Nate’s, and 20 to his co-workers this morning, I’m sure he is the office favorite today.

Find the recipe for the frosting HERE. Hint: Add a tablespoon of raspberry liqueur to the frosting for extra color and slap yo momma taste.

The recipe for the amazing cupcakes is HERE

Make them, your friends will thank you.