day Nineteen.

day 19: whatever tickles your fancy

Oh I had a nightmare last night. A nightmare of great nightmarish proportions. It was like I was 8 again, I couldn't sleep and every creek in the house had me repeating "it was just a dream, it was just a dream, it was just a dream."

The only thing keeping me from turning on all the lights in the house, picking up my phone and dialing my momma is that I know she'd have it in for me for calling her at 3am.

You're welcome mom.

I feel the need to explain my dream so that it doesn't haunt me anymore. So here it goes:

I was busy getting lost and then studying (for Robert's test for him) on the LB state campus (but of course it looked nothing like LB state.). The sun was setting and it was so shockingly beautiful that everyone in the area (the library had quickly transformed into an outdoor eating/relaxing area overlooking a lake - naturally) had stopped what they were doing and were taking photos on their phones and most likely posting them on twitter.

Suddenly I'm at my mom's house. Inside and out running frantically searching for her.

Next thing I know I'm on the driveway looking into the opened garage door. There is a man that resembles someone I know, but don't really know. He is searching for something. My mom's garage is a mess (which is SO not my mom's garage) And I ask him where my mom is. He starts rambling saying something about "we need to figure out what to do with it", I scream at him "what happened?!?" as I notice fallen boxes in the corner. He starts explaining that "you shouldn't leave a chainsaw hanging around, someone might fall on it." He's nervous and obviously crazy and soon I realize that under those fallen boxes is my mother, she was gone and this man did it.
So I start to run, not sure where to go as the neighbors I never knew, but one. Sister Kaiser, yes, Sister Kaiser will help me.
Dream ends with me sobbing and running (but not getting anywhere of course) and looking behind me to see that no one is following me.

ick. ick. ick. There is NOTHING worse than having a dream about a dead loved one, let alone your mother.

I looked up on dream interpretation websites what some of it could mean, I thought this was interesting:
Death:
In dreams, death is a metaphor for change and separation.

All I know is it freaked me out, it's been a long time since I've had that strong of an emotion in a dream.

And thankfully Robert was up to riding his bike along side of me on my run this morning. Because I was not about to go outside, in the dark, with dream murderers out there.

Also, I love you mom, you better live until you're at least 100.

day Eighteen.

day 18: set or share a goal

I've had a goal recently that is especially hard for girls. That is to talk less about others in an unflattering way.

AKA: stop gossiping.

The word gossip alone sends shivers down my spine.

also, you have NO idea how hard this has been today. I may have faltered a bit.

Oh and if you need a lesson on gossip, Lucy never disappoints:

"that is all."

day Seventeen.

day 17: a photo that makes you sad

How depressing is this? Well let's just post one that makes me NOSTALGIC which in a way is something that often makes people sad:

circa 2006, me and the newly married Fenns in their Corona apt.

See, it doesn't make me sad. just nostalgic to a time in my life where I had really great friends that I could go visit when I needed to escape the craziness that was HB singlehood. I had cute short hair, I was skinnier than I am now. And did I mention I had great friends?

Oh and I was so magically falling in love with Robert and the time which gave life an extra spice.

Not sad...just different and oh so good.

day Sixteen.

day 16: provide pictures of 5 celebrity crushes



Would I call all of these crushes? Meh, maybe. More like, I will always like their music/movies because I don't know them, I just know who they play. And ok, they're nice to look at.

Clockwise:

Ryan Gosling - The Notebook won me over what can I say?

Justin Timberlake - this crush will never die.

Matt Damon - Jason Bourne, I mean really, who doesn't love him in those movies?

Casey Affleck - Ocean's movies won me over, "The Assassination of Jesse James" sealed the deal.

Matthew MacFayden - of course I only put him in there because he plays Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice. duh.

day Fifteen.

day 15: a letter to someone you wish you could meet

Dear Lucille Ball,

Mostly I was just wondering if you kept any of your wardrobe from the show? Because alot of your outfits are simply to die for.

Oh and thanks for keeping me laughing at the same jokes for about 20 years now.

Love,

Kari

day Fourteen.

day 14: a song from your childhood

Granted this song came out when I was like 3? I grew up with 2 older sisters and one older brother (*cough*MIKE*cough*) that I'm sure influenced this one...

day Thirteen.

day 13: whatever tickles your fancy

Today I would like to confess my love for this:

Best $5 impulse buy I've made (ok...maybe not the best, but perrty darn good.)

Not only does it make your lips perfectly light pinky shiny, but it smells amazing.

go get it.

day Twelve.

day 12: we want to see your teeth today / post a self-portrait

Not a self-portrait, but a portrait of me nonetheless.

I think it awfully clever of those Dodgers folk to put their logo RIGHT over my face...so I couldn't use this photo.

I also think this photo makes us look like real sports fans, and I kinda like it. Maybe that's because we just watched the Blindside, and it gave us fantasies of living in the South and living in a community that revolves around one football team. California is not like that to say the least.

aww shucks.

day Eleven.

day 11: share your favorite recipe

Just one all-time favorite recipe? How is this possible?

Instead I'm going to post 2 (one dinner, one dessert - of course) recipes that I have recently fallen in love with.

First are these...

Mushroom-and-Swiss Sliders with Spicy Fry Sauce

From the lovely, comfort food making Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman

So these little fancies showed up on my Google Reader a month or so ago and bam, Sunday dinner was planned.

So, run, click and make these ASAP.

My tips/thoughts:

• I LOVE spicy things, so globbing on the Spicy Fry Sauce (which contains Cayenne pepper) was a must!
• Do yourself a favor and buy King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls for your slider buns. You'll thank me later.
  
• No, I didn't use the wine and yes, they were still delicious.
• I am forever going to add heavy cream to my meatloaf, meatballs, hamburgers...you get the idea.

You can print the recipe here.

Now for a dessert, this isn't a recent discovery, but I've been craving them for a while...so they might get made soon.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Here is the recipe I used:
Cupcakes:
1 cup sugar
1 cup real mayonnaise
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne
1 cup buttermilk

Frosting:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
½ to 2 tablespoons of milk*

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two standard muffin tins with cupcake papers.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and mayonnaise until blended. Add the vanilla and blend.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne. Add dry ingredients to the mayonnaise mixture in 3 batches alternating with the buttermilk.
4. Divide the batter among the prepared pans, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake for 18 minutes, or until the tops are firm and spring back when lightly touched. Cool in tins for 10 minutes. Remove from tins and place on wire rack to cool completely.
5. When cupcakes are completely cooled, make frosting: In a medium bowl, sift together sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and salt, and beat until combined. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar mixture, and beat until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add milk as necessary to thin out to desired consistency.


Tips: for the "Dutch Process Cocoa" I used the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa, worked perfectly.

These cupcakes are perfectly dense and not just a plain boring chocolate.

day Ten.

day 10: a letter to the person you hate most or caused you a lot of pain

In the words of Cady Herron "I’m trying this new thing… where I don’t talk about people behind their backs"

truth be told I've been trying it my whole life...well since I was 11 (you know, puberty). Girls are vicious and catty, why promote it on my blog?

day Ten is officially skipped.

day Nine.

day 9: list some of your favorite tumblrs

I had a tumblr once for like one month...and I found it pretty, but slow.
Also, there's lots of dirty things on tumblr.

so I can't support day Nine, sorby.

Day Eight.

day 8: a photo of you taken recently

this is me using my phone as a mirror.

douche chill.

day 7: a youtube video you find funny

day six.

day 6: list of what you ate today

• Whole Grain Oatmeal with Cherry flavored Craisins
• Handful of Costco Trail Mix
• Pink Lady Apple - my current favorite
• Salad from Ralph's salad bar - including spinach, carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, asparagus, peppers, mandarin oranges and roasted chicken. YUM.
• Garlic hummus and TJ's baked blue corn tortilla chips
• handful of Wheat Thins
• like 20 Orange Tic-Tacs (impulse buy)
• handful of Chocolate alphabet cookies
• 1 can of Diet Dr. Pepper

What I wish I was eating? Chocolate covered Peanut Butter Sandwich from Disneyland. yup.

that's it so far...

day five.

day 5: a letter to your crush

Day Four.

day 4: a photo of you taken over ten years ago

will my baptism day suffice? we are so cute.

Day Three.

day 3: your favorite movie

Ok, how do I choose? I have multiple favorites. But if we are defining favorites by I've liked it for 10+ years and can recite the whole movie in my head?

Then the answer would be Clueless.

What else could a 13 year old ask for in a movie? Great Fashion, Witty remarks, Popularity, Cute Boys...the list goes on and on.

And apparently my movie taste hasn't changed in 15 years. sweet.

Here are some things about me completely inspired by this film:

• I still have a large movie star crush on Paul Rudd
• I tried to (and pretty successfully achieved) bringing this look into style at my middle school:

The one Cher is wearing, spaghetti strap shirt over a white t-shirt.

• "Rollin with the Homies" is still one of my favorite hip-hop songs.
• I still try to achieve many-a-hair styles as seen in this movie (unsuccessfully)
• Everytime I pass Melrose I get excited because that's where Cher took her walk when she realized she's in love with Josh.

Oh, I love this movie.

Day Two.

I should've warned accordingly that I would not be posting in consecutive days. It's just how I roll.

But I did write down my activities from Wednesday, so enjoy.

• Woke up groggy as ever, ignoring signs I’m getting sick, I went for a run.
• Boarded train, did my make-up, immediately fell asleep – yes I am that person with their mouth wide open and head back getting in their morning nap.
• Work-shmerk.
• Seriously reconsidering next Spring.
• Ate delicious Trader Joe’s spicy hummus for lunch – seriously addicted.
• Left work early to go to the OC FAAAIIIRRR.
• Stopped at McDonald’s to avoid an overpriced fair dinner, but save room for an overpriced/overfried fair dessert.
• Got in for “free” with back-to-school donations!
• Touched many fair animals including but not limited to: baby chicks, baby piggies, baby sheepies, baby goaties. I was in heaven.
• Couldn’t take the smell any longer, we shared cheese and ranch Australian fried potatoes (best/worst choice ever!)
• Paid $2 to see the huge cow…and man, they weren’t joking.
• Got in our free ride – included with the free admission – and picked one so scary even Robert was speechless.
• Ate overpriced fried Klondike and Snickers bars
• Woke up in the middle of the night with a gigantic stomach ache.

something to talk about.

I've seen this floating around and thought it would be a fun reason to blog. So here is the list of what's to come:

day 1: introduce yourself
day 2: make a bulleted list of everything that happened in your day
day 3: your favorite movie
day 4: a photo of you taken over ten years ago
day 5: a letter to your crush
day 6: list of what you ate today
day 7: a youtube video you find funny
day 8: a photo of you taken recently
day 9: list some of your favorite tumblrs
day 10: a letter to the person you hate most or caused you a lot of pain
day 11: share your favorite recipe
day 12: we want to see your teeth today / post a self-portrait
day 13: whatever tickles your fancy
day 14: a song from your childhood
day 15: a letter to someone you wish you could meet
day 16: provide pictures of 5 celebrity crushes
day 17: a photo that makes you sad
day 18: set or share a goal
day 19: whatever tickles your fancy
day 20: a letter to someone that changed your life
day 21: your favorite television program
day 22: a photo that makes you happy
day 23 share one of your current favorite tunes
day 24 time to face morph / http://morph.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk//transformer/
day 25: a letter to someone you judged by their first impression
day 26: favorite books
day 27: a talent of yours
day 28: favorite places to shop
day 29 provide the hex code of your favorite color /http://www.febooti.com/products/iezoom/online-help/online-color-chart-picker.html
day 30: a letter to the friendliest person you knew for only one day
day 31: whatever tickles your fancy
day 32: a photo you took
day 33: what you’re craving right now
day 34: your favorite quote
day 35: a letter to an ex
day 36: some hobbies of yours
day 37: a song that you like to dance to
day 38: a photo of your parent(s)
day 39: zodiac sign and do you think it fits your personality
day 40: a letter to a deceased person you wish you could talk to
day 41: whatever tickles your fancy
day 42: bad habit(s) you have
day 43: a picture of your favorite place in the world
day 44: something that fascinates you and why
day 45: a letter to yourself a year ago
day 46: photos of personal things in your life (pets, family, house, ect)
day 47: birthday wish list
day 48: a photo of you right now
day 49: hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
day 50: a letter to your reflection in the mirror

So...

DAY ONE.

My Name is Kari Lynn Williams. Before I was married I would sign my name "K. Simonsen" knowing someday my prince would come and change my last name - I am forever grateful I took advantage of my last name while I had it. I've been married for 1 year, 8 months and 24 days. My husband and I work for the same company. Sometimes this is fun. We live in Tustin and have dreams of buying a home on one of the many beautiful tree-lined streets of North Orange County someday. I wear glasses sometimes. I only paint my toe-nails red these days. I love baking and putting cute treats on cute plates for people to enjoy. And I long deeply for motherhood.

That really is me in a nutshell.

weekends away.

I'm going to Fresno tomorrow to meet with other gals and in-law boys of the Simonsen heritage to see seester J settled in her new humble abode. I'm so excited for this adventure - especially because we're going to a water park! Fresno + August = Water park.

I do love that Robert and I are at a point in our marriage where we can spend weekends and nights away from each other and call each other and be okay with being alone. But still, lingering somewhere in between the lines is...a jealous, a lonely, and drifting hint of "why am I here...and you...there?"

And I know that lingering will last forever, with this I am happy.




((Ok the jealousy part comes from the fact that he might go see/listen to Weezer perform at this year's US Open in HB. Oh I miss that place.))