The Many Highs of this Week

It is almost inconceivable to me that Easter was already a week ago! The past seven days have been crazy, mostly in a good way. In my Speech class last semester, my prof would always ask us to share the highs and lows of our week, and in thinking about this week, I could only come up with three lows: stress over finals, saying goodbye to all my friends at IWU, and cleaning up my disaster area of a room once I got home. But, in addition to these lows, I had quite a few highs over the past week!

1. Celebrating Easter with my family, cousins and all.

2. Bringing Bethany lunch on Monday. I love brightening her day with a McDonald's Happy Meal and root beer.

3. Toasting with Liz and Hannah at midnight with sparkling lemonade and giant cookies. Delish.

4. Doing my PR presentation and knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that public relations is the field God intended for me to be in.

5. Waking up Thursday morning to sunshine and making myself scrambled eggs for breakfast.

6. Going to Dewey's Pizza to celebrate my year ending and consuming this little beauty:

That's a buffalo chicken pizza, folks.

7. Going to Target twice in two days

8. Going to the Greene twice in one day

9. Going "garage-saleing" with Fidge

10. Getting my bronze on all day on Saturday

11. Going on a grand adventure in the warmth and sunshine with Fidge

We went to the park and she insisted I spin her on the tire swing until she felt "a little woozy." Silly girl.

After the park, we walked down to the creek and I did a little exploring.

AFTER the park and the creek, we came home and made lemonade, played volleyball in the yard barefoot, and showed off some of our tumbling skills.

12. Signed my FCC contract

Good start to an amazing summer.

Summer 2011: What To-Do, What To-Do.

Today, I give you:

Kate's Official Summer T0-Do List 2011

(In no particular order.)

1.Workout, workout, workout.

2. Tan, tan, tan.

3. Eat summery foods. Includes watermelon, sweet tea, lemonade, shredded barbeque chicken sandwiches, and fruit salad!

4. Go on a grand adventure in Columbus with Liz

5. Try sushi

6. Cook all the time

7. Live it up in Sarasota for the best 7 days of the summer.

8. Teach lots of kids how to be good cheerleaders

9. Drink lots of water. (Dehydration is a real issue!)

10. Eat shapes mac n cheese and watch Arthur episodes on a rainy afternoon.

11. Go to a concert

12. Go on a bike ride

13. Paint a picture

14. Actually talk to the cutie that I always see working at Target 

15. Go on a late night Bill's Donut run

16. Learn Bella's Lullaby on the piano

17. Go to Flying Pizza and pretend I'm eating in an authentic pizza restaurant in New York City

18. The Five. Enough said.

19. Eat Eggo toaster waffles and watch Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends in my underwear. (Pure bliss. No one can argue with that.)

20. Write the story of my freshman year

22. The Hollow. One week of nothing but lake fun.

23. Not lose or break any phones/iPods, laptops

24. Read lots of books

25. Perfect my tumbling

26. The Dairy Shed. Of course.

27. Catch a fish

28. Write letters

29. Watch the stars

30. Play with sparklers

31. Add to my sunglasses collection

32. Ride in the Life is Good Jeep with Kim

33. Learn something new

34. Go canoeing 

35. Pogo stick

36. Enjoy a Kiwi Quencher from Tropical Smoothie

37. Have the best summer ever!

Princess Kate

There are about to be TWO princess Kates in the world! Not only is Prince William marrying a Kate tomorrow, but his little brother is planning on marrying one too! Yes, I indeed will be getting hitched to the extremely attractive Prince Harry, moving to London, and living the rest of my life with an acquired British accent and raising our adorable royal children. 

Yummy.

A Surreal Day

When I awoke this morning, I had a giant, hairy spider staring at me from the wall by my bed. And such was the start to April 26, 2011, the last square unmarked on my calendar before the day my freshman year of college officially comes to a close. A surreal day to say the least.

I took three finals today, and was a stressed out mess until about 11:55 pm. That's when the fun began. To celebrate our last night as freshmen, Hannah, Liz and I strolled out of Shatford with a bottle of sparkling berry lemonade, plastic wine glasses, and chocolate chip cookie monstrosities  in our hands. We set off for the Bowman hammocks, only to find ourselves walking directly behind the portrait of the awkward IWU couple. The girl entertained us by loudly singing and dancing to a Grace Kelly song. Was she aware that three people were walking directly behind her? Probably. Did it make for a moment when the four of us (I'm including her helpless boyfriend in this) questioned the reality of life? Absolutely.

At midnight, Liz, Hannah and I toasted to our year. Summer begins for me today at 11 a.m, which is less than 12 hours away. Tonight felt like a summer night, laying on the hammock with two of my best friends, and just like our sparkling lemonade, the night proved to be bittersweet. Tonight marks the end of another year, another chapter coming to a close. I'm another year older, and another year closer to growing up. Yet despite the sadness of leaving friends and memories behind, so many future adventures are right at my fingertips, I can just feel it. 

I guess sometimes reality lies in the moments we find the most surreal.

As I'm Swimming Through the Stereo I'm Writing You a Symphony of Sound

Creating solid mix CD's is a lost art. I feel that people do not exchange music like they used to because of the spike in illegal downloading in recent days. Don't get me wrong, learning how to download music for free is among the beneficial life lessons I have learned this year, but I still appreciate a good mix CD. 

In my perfect world, people would trade mixes like kids traded Pokemon cards in the 90's (guilty). When I download cool music, I like spreading it around. I get a feeling of satisfaction when I introduce someone to a new song or band that they had never heard of before and end up loving. I like hearing other people's finds and favorites too! I'm always on the lookout for bands to get obsessed with and songs to play on repeat.  

Current favorites that got me through a record 2 hour and 15 minute drive across the rainy countryside of Indiana alone:

1. I'll Never Let You Go - Third Eye Blind (Old, but classic.)

2. Slide - The Goo Goo Dolls (They are coming to Dayton in July!)

3. Fall for Anything - The Script

4. Dog Days are Over - Florence + The Machine

5. Written in the Stars - Tinie Tempah (LOVE this song, but I'm predicting the radio will kill it by overplaying. Hate it when that happens.)

Mix for a mix?

This is the Clock Upon the Wall, This is the Story of Us All

As I was at the library on this dreary day studying paragraph structures and different types of fallacies (monotonous to the max), I glanced up from my work and saw a little Asian girl with her American mom. Every time I see Chinese kids with caucasian parents I can't help but smile to myself, as I love seeing families that parallel my own. After I came home after my long day of studying, I started looking through some old pictures on the desktop, something I would NOT recommend doing if your time is of the essence. Pictures from years gone by are so addicting, and I felt wave after wave of nostalgia as I laughed and "awwwww'ed" at photos of my sisters and me when we were younger.

WARNING! The photos you are about to view WILL make you partial towards Asian children. They are the cutest!

Marissa Abigail the first day we met her.

Bethany Caroline. My little buddy.

 

The Burkhardt Babes.

Sisters forever!

Surprises and Fidgets and Dancing and Chinese; These are a few of my favorite things!

I've only been home from IWU for about 30 hours, but every single 60 minute interval has been fabulous so far.

I walked in to the old homestead yesterday to an excited mom and Fidget waiting to surprise me with a non-IWU sponsored Finals Survival Kit complete with crayons, a Hello Kitty coloring book, Sour Patch Kids, a People magazine, sidewalk chalk, water balloons, a jump rope, fly swatter, book, and Penguins of Madagascar DVD. I was beyond excited. Am I 9 or 19? Sometimes I'm not really sure...

This morning I woke up after a glorious sleep and went to China Cottage with my mom. If you're ever in Centerville and start craving Chinese food (it happens to all of us), China Cottage is the place to go. My family has been ordering from there for 12 years, so we know our way around the menu pretty well. 

After filling up on Hunan chicken and crab rangoons, I convinced my mom to take me to Trader Joe's for some delicious hummus (be jealous, Hannah and Liz) and Target because I love it there. Anyone who knows me knows that Target is my happy place.

After Fidge (my 8 year old sister Bethany who has a knack for not being able to sit still) got off the bus, the two of us decided to spend our afternoon pretending to be world class bakers. We made perfect batches lemon bars and brownies, and then the rest of the family joined us to make soft pretzels which turned out to be delicious. 

To top the night off, Fidget and I uncovered a goldmine in the form of Exercise TV On Demand...score! We ended up converting the basement into a dance/kick boxing/yoga studio and got our sweat on. Working out with an 8 year old proved to be a good experience, especially since the one I had on hand possesses endless energy and loves to try new things.

Good day.

Growing Up Won't Bring Us Down

Today has been a day much anticipated, for today marks the creation of my very own blog! The always classy Liz Dickey was the first to spark my interest in the wonderful world of blogging, and ever since, I've been anxious for a window of time in which I could make one of my own. So, to start off, I feel it would only be appropriate to tell a little bit about myself!

That's me! Katelyn Victoria Burkhardt, but you can call me Kate. 

I'm a princess, because my Father is the King.

My little sisters are the most important people in the world to me.

I'm an IWU Wildcat, as well as a newly appointed FCC Tiger.

I will live in a big city someday!

I drink milk in the mornings because coffee literally makes me crazy.

At the conclusion of every school year, I take the time to write the story of all the things that happened to me that year. My high school collection I had bound by a publishing company, so I literally wrote a book!

Octopuses scare me.

I'm really into yoga right now.

I have an atomic sweet tooth. Smores Poptarts, sour gummy worms and Reese's Pieces make my mouth water. 

I love going on adventures.

Tiffany & Co. and Kate Spade. Enough said.

I'm super sentimental, my memories are probably my most treasured possessions. 

I'm horrible when it comes to technology, I break/lose/drop electronics into bathtubs and lakes like it's my job.

I'm a summer girl, if laying on the beach was a career option, it would have been taken long ago.

I love Asian things!

Being creative is fun.

I like making lists. (Obviously)

Ralph Lauren is the man for me.

Nothing beats boating in the summertime with friends and family.

I like words.

I want to be a cheerleading coach someday.

Audrey Hepburn was a really classy lady! I wish that I could be her best friend.

I get enjoyment out of the simplest things in life.

I love Disney movies, scary movies, funny movies, and sappy movies!

Not a big football fan. I watched Grey's Anatomy instead of the Superbowl this year.

I am not a neat person, it's a wonder they haven't named a hurricane after me. 

I love writing in journals.

I love making BIG plans!

I'm just a happy go lucky girl.

"Trust steadily, Hope unswervingly, Love extravagantly." The words I live by. (1 Corinthians 13)