Blog-tember: A Reintroduction

I found this month-long link up today (the 1st!) and I thought it was perfect for me. I've been having a hard time getting motivated to blog lately in addition to not having much time to sit down and do it. 

The first prompt is to reintroduce yourself - which is great because I think I have gained many followers in the past few months who might not know my story. 

If you don't know... my name is Katherine but mostly go by Kathy. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles (The Valley to be specific). Okay, I mistyped - I actually was born in UCLA, but was quickly taken to my family's home in Tarzana (a town named after Tarzan). I have (had) 3 older siblings -who are (were) 12, 14, and 15 years older than me. Which made for an interesting childhood. My two eldest siblings had left the home by the time I was 3 and the youngest of the 3 became my playmate. 

I feel like I have to mention that my sister who was playdate passed away about 3 months ago after nearly 42 years of health problems. She contracted e-coli when she was an infant and had to have 3 kidney transplants throughout her life. The long-use of medication weakened her organs and she died from intestinal hernias/sepsis. I mention it because the reason my family is in the United States is because they moved her to get her a kidney transplant. Although I was not part of that story since I was born after their move, it is sort of the reason that I exist. I also mention it because her illness controlled most of our/my life. 

I went to California State University, Northridge (CSUN) which is the local school (I attended Cal Stat Long Beach my first semester but transferred to CSUN to be closer to home because my sister had to go back on dialysis when I started college). I majored in Journalism with an emphasis in Magazine. I never used this degree for any practical purposes. Instead I got a teaching credential immediately following my BA. I then attended masters classes and stopped short of actually getting the masters degree in Elementary Education. 

My first job was when I turned 15. I worked at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but only for a short time because I didn't drive and it was a long drive for my dad to take me and bring me back. I was also being paid about $5 an hour, so it wasn't worth it. In college I got a job as a sales associate at Robinson's May. I then got a job as  a teachers' assistant. After I receiving my teaching credential I was lucky to get a job as a substitute teacher for Los Angeles Unified School district. 

I worked as a sub for 4 years with no luck in getting a full time teaching job. This was around 2008 - the worst time to be looking for a job. Eventually I felt like I needed something that would give me health insurance so I got a job as a receptionist. A few months into that job I was able to apply for a job with Los Angeles County, specifically for a position that my dad and brother had also held 2 decades prior. 

I've had this job for the past year and a half (a bit more) and I absolutely love it. It's social work and I love that I get to help people who are less fortunate on a daily basis. 

In 2011 I met my husband. I had dated a lot throughout college and after. I used all the dating websites out there, but it was on Craigslist that I met the love of my life (a post about that to come - possibly as a guest post on a different blog). We got engaged after a bit over 2 years of dating and we got married 5 months later on April 26, 2014. 

We closed escrow on our condo 2 weeks before our wedding and we are still unpacking/cleaning/organizing. 

As far as kids? We're probably about 2 years away from attempting to have kids. We want to have some time together before we add anyone to our family. We had both lived with our parents prior to getting married. But hey, maybe I'll convince my husband to get a puppy in the next year or two! 

Come back tomorrow to see what makes me happy these days! 

The Mahoney Wedding – Reception (2of 2)

Finally I have arrived at my last re-cap post for my wedding. It’s only been a few days over 3 months, that’s not bad, right? 

When I last left you I finished telling you about the ceremony. 

Our reception was after the ceremony (as soon as people could make the about 20 minute drive) at Thomas’ parents’ home. They have a very nice house with a pretty decent back yard (and by that I’m referring to Los Angeles, not in comparison to some of the backyards I’ve seen on other blogs). Since they knew we were trying to save money on the wedding so that we could buy a home they very graciously allowed us to use their home for free. 

In order to have the reception here we had to rent chairs, tables, linens, and tents. Although we got married in spring we live in an area that does not tend to have cool weather. While a lot of the country was under snow we were having 85+ days. That said - it actually rained the day before the wedding for an hour or two. 

My sister, brother-in-law, and (mostly) my MOH set up the tables early on Saturday morning and made them look gorgeous. I made the center pieces myself and my supervisor’s son made the table numbers – all items were from the Dollar Tree! I didn’t want any flowers on the table because one of the things that bother me at big parties like these is that there are so many decorations on the table you don’t have space for anything else. However my mother-in-law got some flowers donated and those were placed on the tables (I didn’t find out until the reception time).

As I mentioned in the previous post Thomas and I took some time to get to the reception site because the ceremony was shorter than we expected. When we arrived we had the bridal party come out to the front lawn of the house so that we could be organized to be announced into the party. 

While people were clapping for Thomas and I and we were doing a little dance when we walked in someone told us to re-do the cake topper, so we had to oblige! 

As you can imagine the night was a long of mingling and a lot of drinking. For me. The one regret I have from the wedding is that I drank way too much. The cucumber mint martini that I requested we have was SOO good that I couldn’t get enough of it! (My mouth is watering at the thought of it now!). 

The best pictures of the entire day were from the reception. I had a lot of fun and couldn’t stop smiling the entire time. 

My dad was too shy to do a whole speech but my brother-in-law went ahead and did it for him. The night before my nieces decided they wanted to give speeches as well so we let them. Thomas’ dad and best man (his cousin) both gave speeches along with my MOH. 

My brother-in-law (since I was 9).

My youngest niece, Camila.

After the speeches Thomas’ Uncle Greg gave a blessing and we said the Lord’s Prayer.

Thomas' Uncle Greg.

Then it was time for dinner! We chose to have it catered by Stone Fire Grill. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a chain restaurant that is simply delicious and very affordable. We ended up paying about $13 per person! We also had tons of left overs. 

The cake was ordered from a high school friend and she did an amazing job. Not only was it delicious (chocolate, lemon chiffon, and carrot cake) but it looked beautiful! I will be ordering from her again soon! We also ended up having left overs of the chocolate portion of the cake. I think we forgot to tell the caterers that the cakes different flavors so they only passed out the top two layers. Oh well.  

I set up 3 different things for our guests to do during the reception. 

• Jenga Guestbook

I saw this on Pinterest and since Thomas and I like to play games I thought it would be pretty perfect. Instead of a regular guestbook I set out Sharpies and our guests signed on Jenga pieces. Since our guest list was under 70 we had more than enough pieces for everyone. 

• Plate

    I saw this plate on clearance at Jo-Ann’s and thought it would be cut to put up in our home. Of course not I haven’t done it, but it was a cute idea, right?

• Thumb Prints 

I also saw this at Michael's. Everyone left their thumbprints as leaves of a tree.

• The Shoe Game

I’m sure you’ve seen this either in a movie, at a wedding, or floating online. The idea is that guests write down questions that have either a GROOM or BRIDE answer and then the bride and groom have to answer the questions by sitting back to back and lifting up either the bride’s shoe or the grooms. I was nervous to do this because I didn’t want the attention on me, but it ended up being SO much fun! 

There was plenty of dancing, including my dance with my dad to Bob Carlisle’s Butterfly Kisses and my first dance with Thomas to I Still by the Backstreet Boys (yes, of course BSB was played at my wedding!). Thomas had his first dance with his mom as well. I did a lot more dancing than I ever would have though since I hate to dance. 

I imagine I am sitting on his lap here because he is over a foot taller than me!

We did do a Money/Cash dance. It was fun, but also a bit disappointing. We didn't get many people to come out and participate. I think part of this is because people tend to think we are much better off than the rest of the family and also because since it was held in the home people were wandering around the house and not just in the backyard. 

I had to do a lot of this pulling up. I mentioned previously that I forgot to put my bra/underskirt on under my wedding dress!

Because I did end up getting pretty drunk I don’t remember much of what happened in the evening. I remember my MOH taking my dress off of me before she left (she had an early flight back home). I remember throwing up on Thomas’ parents’ bathroom (in the toilet) and that I cried because I felt bad that I had ruined it. Thomas assured me that I hadn’t ruined it and that everyone had fun. 

We also took a lot of pictures with friends and family.

My brother, David.

My MOH.

My Mommy.

And of course I threw the bouquet and he threw the garter!

We finally left at some time around 8pm. My brother-in-law drove us to the hotel we were staying at and he picked us up the next morning. 

Throwback Thursday!

Today I'm Linking Up with Amanda Nicole for Throwback Thursdays!

As many of you know I will be moving in… 38 days! This means that my mom has happily began the process of going through the entire house packing everything that belongs to me. While cleaning out a bookcase that she is going to give to me (something sweet of her because it was a book case that she has in use!) she found a notebook that she and my sister kept when I was little.

I’ve seen this book many times before but I never noticed a couple of papers that were taped to the cover. The first one I noticed was my mom’s pregnancy verification. In my line of work I have to ask women who report their pregnancy to submit this same document that my mom got at Planned Parenthood 30 years ago.

It was very weird to see this, but very cool at the same time. It is also weird because I had to go to that same Planned Parenthood a few years ago when I was uninsured (for a pap, FYI). 

Also in the book there was the card that is placed on the crib:

It also included a cute picture of me when I was a baby (but what picture of mine isn't cute?):

In a previous post I spoke about liking my cheeks - well here is a great example of my squeezable cheeks! Looks at those! 

#projectselflove

I have loved seeing everyone talking about this in one way or another. Thank you Whitney for starting this! It is SO important to stop for a minute and really give yourself credit for the person you are. With that said, I don’t do it often. I am very critical of myself and tend to put myself down. I could say that this is because I let what other people say about me get to me and then I begin to believe them, but that’s playing the blame game I think.

Truth is, there are things I like (or love) about myself if I stop to think about it.

//- I love my smile. Ever since I was little I was told that it’s like I have cotton balls in my cheeks, making them super squishable – and they were right!

//- I love that I am a helpful person (although maybe sometime too much so). I am always volunteering at work and other places to help the people around me. I volunteer on two committees at work, one is FUNMANIA which is our County-wide picnic, and the other is helping the Red Cross hold a blood drive at my office. This is sort of selfish, I like being appreciated and this is a good way to get appreciation.

//- Not to get intimate or anything, but I love my chest. It’s large but not overly so. In my opinion (and probably my fiancée’s) my chest is as perfect as it can be. It looks good in just about any clothes.

//- I am organized. This is something new that I learned when I started planning my wedding and we first put a bid on a house. I put binders together for each event, dividing the different subjects and even making a decorative cover for the front. I’m usually not as organized and I’m having a hard time finding bank statements to provide to my lender, but it’s a good thing to start being organized – especially since my life is doing a 180* in just a few short weeks.

//- I can cook! I’m good at it, too. I’ll be doing a lot more cooking in a few weeks, but I already know that I am good at making meals that are not only edible but tasty as well. I’ll be creating a recipe page on my blog if only for me to be able to refer to them later on (my fiancé expects me to cook for him just about every night!).

//- I'm a great mom. I don't have kids yet but I've done a lot of raising with my niece and nephew. I am the one who takes them to school, to birthday parties, shopping, helps with homework, etc, etc. Sometimes I get frustrated and upset, but I love them to death and they love me right back. They are good, loving, caring kids and I know part of it is because of me. 

//- Typically I am always smiling. Even when I wake up in a bad mood or something happens, it's hard for me to not be smiling or saying hello to the people around me. 

//- I speak/write/read castellano (spanish) fluently. My mom doesn't speak English so of course it had to be my first language. Lots of people in similar situations, though, have thick accents, either in their 1st language or in English, I speak both languages perfectly. I can go to Argentina without anyone realizing I am from the US an no one ever knows I speak Spanish unless they hear me speaking it. 

//- This one can be something I don't like sometimes, but for the most time I like my emotions. I can feel other peoples' pain and joy. It may lead to me crying over dumb things, but I think it keeps me true to myself.

//- I LOVE that I am comfortable enough in my own skin that I don't need to wear make-up. I'm actually sort of dreading it for my wedding day, but I know that on that day I should have my face evened out. On a day-to-day basis though I don't need or what to put anything on my face. (Note: this isn't to say anything against people who like wearing make-up, please don't be offended). 

#projectselflove

(anyone care to tell me how I can make the gifs smaller?)

Blogmopolitan Quiz #1

Thank you to Nora at The Petite Mrs for helping me to figure out how to fill this out! I've had a SUPER busy week and my weekend will be even busier with my sisters' family in town so this is a perfect easy post for me. 

Kathy's Barbershop

A year or more ago Thomas realized that he could save money if I shaved his head instead of him going to the barbershop to have it done. The only shaving that I had ever done at that point only included my armpits and legs. Thomas' had confidence in me, even if it wavered when we started. 

Thomas hates it when his hair gets long and would keep it nice and short (#1 clipper) all the time if he could. I think he looks better with his hair a little longer, but alas it's his head so he gets what he wants. 

The first time I shaved his head I was nervous so he started it off for me but I quickly got the hang of it and got upset with him when he continued doing it himself. I don't let him near the clippers anymore. I enjoy making sure all sides of head are even and I especially like shaving close to his neck and around his ears. 

We get around to shaving his head every few weeks. We don't live together so the opportunity just doesn't present itself as much as it will once we get married. 

(I see a heart shape there, can you?)

We shave his head in the backyard so it's easy to sweep up afterward. 

(the aftermath)

Do you cut your man's hair? Does he cut yours? 

Ten Favorite Things About: The Place You Call Home

Brianna (the artistic brain behind this here blog design) is having a Link-Up and I had to participate because I LOVE to talk about things I LOVE! This week’s topic is “Ten things I love about.. the place you call home”.

I live in Los Angeles, but more specifically in the San Fernando Valley. You don’t have to be from SoCal to know about this place. It’s the famous “818” area code (although they’ve now added a second area code, 747) and the “valley” that everyone heard about on Clueless. For a while I was the typical “Valley Girl” with blond hair and a red convertible though I don’t think my accent is quite as thick as portrayed in the movie.

Let’s get started with the fabulous place that is the SFV:

1.    Location, Location, Location!  They say that when you look to buy property those are the 3 things to consider, and although there are areas within the Valley you want to stick to, it would be very hard to move me out of the 818.

2.    Weather! I know this is probably something everyone who lives in California says – but it’s true (for the most part). This winter is an example. While most of the rest of the country has been freezing and/or covered in snow, we’ve been having 70*+ days daily. While today we expect a high of 68, by Friday it will be in the mid-80s! As many have probably heard, it rained this weekend (and it rained hard for 3 days!) but it was the first significant rain we’ve had in 3 years I heard. It does get hot in the summer but you do get used to it and that’s why we have so many shopping malls! Which brings me to…

(I took this one when I left work today, there's a plane in there!)

3.    Shopping! Everyone says this about their home town, but I think that we outshine others. The Valley is minutes away from Beverly Hills if those type of stores are your thing. There are also tons of thrift stores all around to satisfy the other shopping end. In the middle there are countless strip malls and shopping centers (I’ve heard we started the “mall” thing) with every kind of store you’ve imagined (or could possibly have a use for!)

4.    Food! Also, not unique but still true. Of course there is the famous In-N-Out but we also have some amazing hole-in-the-wall mom and pop type restaurants that are to die for. We have some pretty awesome ethnic food (Thai and Indian among my favorites) in the Valley and we are moments away from Little Ethiopia where the food is spectacular!

5.    Hiking/Walking/Climbing! Although our transportation system sucks (they are working on it and it is getting better) we do have some of the nicest areas to hike, climb and walk within 30 minutes from anywhere you are in the Valley. Near our home in the West Valley we have some rocky sandstone mountains that area beautiful to look like and fun to climb. There are also trails that will lead you right behind the Hollywood sign and others that take you to the point where you can look at Malibu and Santa Monica and the Pacific on one side and the Valley on the other – gorgeous views even when it’s smoggy or foggy.

(This is near my house. I love it!)

6.    Freeways! This one is a bit different, I guess. Most people would not include freeways since here that usually means traffic, but we have freeways nearby that you can hop on and take to any of the places I’ve mentioned. I’ve been to places where you have to drive miles and miles on surface streets in order to get to one, using up gas at each red light. In the Valley and in Los Angeles mostly anywhere you go a freeway is nearby.

7.    Snow/Beach/Dessert/ETC! These are almost obligatory to include, so I’ll lump them in together. Any of these things are available to you within an hours’ drive from where you live here. Albeit we aren’t getting much snow lately, but when it’s available we are close enough to visit. Mexico is only a few hours away as well!

8.    Historical Sites! Yes, I know, this isn’t New York or Washington DC or Philadelphia, but we have our own history. This item, for me, is a bit more local. I live in a suburb called Chatsworth. It has quite a history and it is pretty well recorded. For example, Chatsworth joined the city of Los Angeles when they had a need for water and weren’t able to get it for themselves. It also has the oldest elementary school in the Valley which has a cool story in itself (the school my niece and nephew go to, and hopefully my own kids one day!). There is a church from over 100 years ago at our cemetery and the house of one of the original inhabitants of the city. I love history, especially the one around me.

9.    Staples Center/Pantages/Hollywood Bowl/ETC: We have an enormous amount of places to go to for entertainment whether you like sports (Lakers/Clippers/Dodgers/Kings) or like the theater (Pantages) or like to check out Stars (Hollywood Blvd) or like listening to a concert under the stars (Hollywood Bowl) or want to see a fun pre-show at a Disney movie (El Capitan) there is something for you! With Groupon/Living Social type of websites you can get in to these places with discounts which is always an added bonus.

10.  Diversity! We are a very diverse place. There are over 224 spoken languages in Los Angeles, which doesn’t include different dialects. People in Los Angeles (and the Valley) come from all parts of the world. In my office there are people from just about every country in central and south American, from different countries in Asia and the middle-east. And that’s just my office!

It was hard to stick to only 10 things. I had to leave out not having a football team for instance. I love that and I LOVE my hometown!

 

Wedding Details

As I’ve mentioned previously I have gotten a lot done for the wedding. My initial check list is just nearly completed. Now that most of the big items have been taken care of I have to turn my attention to the details – the things that are harder to pin point and to complete too far ahead of time. I don’t like this part of the wedding planning. Mostly I’ve been avoiding it (although with good reason – we are trying to buy a condo) but I have to work out the details of the wedding day.

Part of the problem I have with working out the details is that I forget what they are and they keep popping up on me. There are some things that I am avoiding because I don’t know how to do it. For example, I have to figure out what I want the tables to look like but without having the table clothes, table diamonds, plates, utensils, and whatever else it’s hard to do. The tables, table cloths, and diamonds won’t arrive until the day before so it’s hard for me to really picture it. Worse I won’t be able to set up the tables (they will be set up the day of but I will be busy that day, of course)  so I have to instruct someone else on how to do it (and as I said before I want things my way and giving the job to someone else makes me anxious!).

I also have to come up with a seating chart which is difficult since most of the invitees are his family and I’m not exactly sure who should sit next to whom. I will have to involve him for this part. But I can’t do any of that until I receive RSVPs. I sent the invitations a week ago, so hopefully they’ll start coming in in the next few weeks. After getting the seating taken care of I have to create a way for the guests to know where they will be sitting. I had started looking into this but wasn’t sure what I wanted. At previous weddings I found it difficult to find my seat because there were many people trying to look at the same paper to figure it out. Luckily I’ve figured out how to do this (even if I still have to get it done).  Thomas often puts movies on his computer and then connects the laptop to the TV in the living room to watch them. While doing this the other night I realized that I can create a slide to put on his laptop and to have on the TV so that guests can easily see where they will be sitting. I still have to make the table numbers, but that worries me much less.

The biggest detail that I have to work out and coordinate with other people is the timeline of the event. I’ve gotten a rough timeline which I think will work well. However I still need to sit down with Thomas and go over it and make sure it makes sense to both of us. Once we have it written out I have to send it out to our DJ, photographer, ceremony coordinator, and my make-up and hair people. And possibly others that I can’t think of right now.

Speaking of the DJ I have to really sit down with Thomas and a computer/iPad and work out the songs we want to make sure he plays as well as the special songs for the scheduled dances. I’ve been avoiding this one as well because I’m not huge into music and I do not like to dance. It has to get done, though.

The other details that I’m worried about are things that I’ve given to Thomas to take care of. These include getting a car/limo for the ride from the ceremony to the reception. Thomas tells me we can do this the day before. As you can imagine, this didn’t go well with me since I like to have things pre-planned and figured out. I really don’t want to take this back and do it myself, but if too much more time passes I might have to. I’ve also left him in charge of dance classes and getting his suit rentals (as well as organizing his groomsmen to go get measured). I went with my dad for his suit and he is all set for his.  

I’m trying to not worry about his to-do list, but I get anxious about it sometimes.

I haven’t opened my wedding binder in a few weeks because the time we have put into buying a house (post to come about that). I need to fix that. The bag is sitting in my trunk at the moment. I will try to bring into work and go through the to-do list I have in there and see if I have knocked anything else off and if I need to add anything.

 

Getting To Know Us

To get to know me you have to understand how my mind works sometimes. I have never been a social person. The opposite, really. I suffer from mild SAD. Social anxiety disorder. Some people don’t believe in this disorder, but I can tell you it is very real. My symptoms have changed over time. At this point in my life it basically means that I do not like to be in big social gatherings of people I am not absolutely 100% close to. This includes being around Thomas’ family, unfortunately. When I am in those type of situations (a party, large classroom setting, gathering, etc) I feel that everyone’s eyes are on me. They are all looking at me and making judgments about me. Logically I know it is not true. I know they aren’t doing that, but I still feel like they are and it makes me very anxious. I will write about my anxiety and how it affects me now in a future post, but I wanted to introduce myself with that information so you can understand how I came to meet Thomas.

Because of my anxiety I typically avoid parties and other social situations. This started when I was young and resulted in my not making very many friends. I was always a one friend type of person. This caused me great difficulty in finding potential dates. My first date and kiss was when I was 21. He and all the other boys (and men) that I dated until and including Thomas I met online. Some people think this is a unsafe thing to do, but I counter that it is not any less safe than going to a bar and talking to the guy on the stool next to me. Actually, it is safe. I can get their name, phone number and use the powerful tool of Google to discover more about them. I never had any trouble (and I did quite a bit of dating!).

Thomas says that he had responded to an I had placed online a year prior to when we started dating, but I turned him down. He says it was after he sent his pictures but, although I don’t remember this at all, I think it was because he told me he was living near Compton. Nevertheless he replied to a post the following year and after talking and texting over the course of a few weeks we finally went on our first date the night before my 27^th birthday. It was a nice evening at Black Angus. We had planned to go out the next night after I went to dinner with my dad (we share our birthday) and he went to a “game night”. Unfortunately he chose to stay at the game night. I forgave him (but I am not letting him forget) and here we are nearly 2 ½ years later just about to get married.

We are a stay at home type of couple, something that I think attracted us to each other to begin with. As I mentioned before I’m not a person that likes to be social so it was nice to meet someone who wasn’t into party’s or bars. Thomas likes video games and I can usually find him in front of his computer. When we met I started playing one with him which was an adventure that I will write about later on. When he isn’t playing video games we are usually watching Netflix on the couch. We also sometimes go to a “Game Night” hosted by someone through Meet Up which is typically a lot of fun. Once we have our own place we plan on hosting them ourselves. Once or twice a month his parents host a family and friend gathering at their home to watch the MMA fights. Although I wouldn’t say I enjoy watching the fights I think it is nice that his family is so close to each other. As you may have guessed, though, these parties cause me great anxiety.

That is basically our lives up to this point. I’m sure much will change in the coming months (after all we both live with our parents and will be living with each other within 2 months) and I’m sure I’ll be sharing it with you.  

Welcome To Him & Me!

Welcome to my first post on Him & Me (But Mostly Me!).

Although this is my first post here, I have been blogging since 2002 when I started college. I use blogging as a release for my stress so you will find a wide variety of posts. I decided to start a new blog because I’m entering a new part of my life. I got engaged in 11/2013 and will be married on April 26, 2014 to my one and only, Thomas. He will probably make many appearances in my posts. Not only are we getting married in just 2 months. We are also in the process of purchasing a home. As I’ve waited to make decisions on what to name my blog and then to set it up I’ve written a few posts which I will be posted here in the next couple of days – these go into the wedding and our home buying experiences.  I look forward to writing about my life as a wife and homeowner and sharing my ups and downs with my readers (are there any out there?).

I want to share a little background on my blog-writing. As I mentioned above my first blog began on Live Journal in 2002 when I moved to a dorm room at Long Beach State. During probably the first year or two (or three) of my blogging I treated my blog like Twitter (remember, this is pre-Twitter). Of course I matured of the last 11+ years and so my posts have evolved. Still, I never developed into some of the more serious bloggers out there (maybe you?) that review things, hold giveaways, and are sponsored. Quite honestly I don’t have the patience or dedication for that. That said, until the past couple of years I’ve been a pretty consistent blogger. A few years back I blogged every single day of the year, even when it was just a nonsense post. I would like to one day have all my posts printed out, but that will have to be a project for the future.

After being on Live Journal for a few years I came to Blogger for a short while before moving to WordPress. I’ve had a few different of blogs on there (including a couple of main ones and a side one that I was using for my short-lived teaching career) and liked the way it worked. However when I was deciding to start a new blog I knew that I wanted it to have an amazing design because that would help keep me interested and coming back to post more. In order to have that I knew that Blogger was my best bet. I searched for designers for a while before choosing Brianna at Sparkle Out Loud. Not only did she have some amazing layouts in her portfolio, but her prices were much more reasonable than most. Brianna has been amazing even when I bombarded her with questions (including the dumb ones). I recommend her to anyone wanting to get a new layout made.

Lastly I wanted to mention the title of my blog. I would have to say that I am not a very creative person. I had a very difficult time coming up with a name. I scoured the internet for potential names, I enlisted friends and family and was still having a hard time. I finally decided on Him & Me which my friend at work thought was boring. Then I decided to spice it up with (But Mostly Me) because we all know it will be about me, my actions, my feelings, etc. He will just make a few appearances here and there. I thought it was cute if not catchy. I also liked it because I can add to it once we have kids (which won’t be for a couple of years yet).

In the coming days I will also post a little history on Thomas and myself, so please check back!