becomingkatie

[becomingkatie]

me: i realized last night [deeply personal realization about how i handle interpersonal relationships] therapist: *nodding knowingly with a sparkle in her eyes* me: ...you knew this? therapist: yes. it is very obvious.

#it didn't go EXACTLY like this #but basically like this #i was like holy cow i realized this yesterday #and my therapist has been trying to lead me to this realization for weeks #based on stories i told #her little smile and nod when i was like guess what i learned about myself #was so cute

[becomingkatie]

it's tattoo debut day (first day in the office since I got it thursday evening) and i'm torn between angling my body so no one can see it and i look normal and angling my body so it's like BAM look at my cool art lol

#also my artist posted my tat that night #he posts every one he does basically on his inst #and i shared it to my stories like hey thats my arm #and my friends were like whaaaat you got a tattoo?? #but what i thought was hilarious #was EVERY SINGLE FRIEND #was like did it hurt?? #idk i didn't expect that question

[becomingkatie]

Woke up this morning with a tattoo! Very much in love. Very much already thinking about the next one, ha!

#gpoy #me #first tattoo!!! #tattoos

[becomingkatie]

Eclipse Trip 2024 || Burlington, VT

Burlington is one of the few places I think Ken and I could agree to move to. (I love Atlanta and would move back in a heartbeat but Ken won’t go south of here; I don’t really want to move time zones and go west.) My uncle and his husband live here (I always say “my uncles” but then people think it’s a big chunk of my family, but no it’s just the one couple) and we visited them once pre-pandemic. They showed us around and I talked for ages about moving up there. I still love it.

We originally planned to go to Ohio and do Cedar Point, but it’s not open this early in the year. So last April, a year out, we paid like $300 a night for a holiday inn express in south Burlington. It was completely booked, along with everywhere else. It was hands-down the busiest I’ve ever seen a hotel breakfast. Every seat at every table full!

I convinced Ken to agree to a glass blowing class and it was a highlight for sure! We made cups! It’s one of those crafts that I just don’t know how anyone gets into unless they have a family member who does it. Like, the entry into it just seems so tough. But a one-hour class was a really good insight into it.

On Sunday we scoped out potential viewing spots. We picked a park on the lake 3 miles from our hotel so we could walk there and back and not deal with parking. We were there around 4:30, so later than the eclipse would be the next day, but could still get an idea of where the sun would be in the sky when thinking of potential spots to sit and watch. It was funny, us and everyone else walking around, whispering because we didn’t want to share our thoughts about where we planned to be.

Ultimately, it was busy but not insane. We were still quite a bit south of downtown and the university campus, which I think was much more packed. We picked up bagel sandwiches to bring with us and had little portable camp chairs. We got there a bit before noon, and totality was at 3:26. I loved seeing all the dogs. The feeling of community during totality was really cool.

Now that we’ve experienced it, we both say we’d travel under 3 hours to see it again (not the 10 hours we traveled this time), or further if it was somewhere we had family or otherwise already wanted to visit. But we wouldn’t plan more eclipse vacations just to see more eclipses. We’re both really glad we did this one though!

The drive home took 12 hours instead of 10. Since the eclipse was a Monday, travel in was spread out between some people coming in Saturday and some on Sunday, but basically everyone left Tuesday and it was bad traffic. Then we stopped at Panera and discovered they changed the menu and no longer have any of Ken’s favorite items!

Overall a fantastic trip, even with the tough journey home. I’m not allowed to send Ken Zillow links to Burlington homes for a month - he’s convinced the vacation excitement will wear off, and with it my desire to move. But I have a vision of myself in Chelsea boots boiling sap from a tree in my yard to make maple syrup and I will not let go of this imagined Vermont Katie.

#gpoy #me #k and k #eclipse 2024 #eclipse trip #Burlington vt #vermont

[becomingkatie]

Made it to Vermont for the eclipse! And this morning we’re doing a glass blowing class!!

[becomingkatie]

crying to tswift on the way to the consult for my first tattoo!!

idk why but the whole “you never gave a sign”/“i gave so many signs” duality in exile and you’re losing me just CUTS!! maybe because i try to impress upon ken how much certain things hurt or that certain things feel broken and he is like “this is fine, we are fine, i will be blindsided if it becomes too much and you break” and i am like ??? how could i be clearer?? and the guilt that comes with that, like i DID warn you! i DID give signs! you chose not to see them! idk when taylor sings it it hits.

#personal #k and k #how did this post get so dramatic? #im five minutes early in the parking lot #so its time to bare my soul i guess

[becomingkatie]

[becomingkatie]

emailed a tattoo artist about booking for my first tattoooooo!!!!

#scary! #but exciting! #i was like lol ken i sent the email i can't back out now

[becomingkatie]

At the ER with Ken because he has a kidney stone. I know nurses are people at work and they can do their jobs and still talk to coworkers, but it was really hard while Ken was at a 10 on the pain scale, writhing and panting and crying, to hear them laughing about a movie in the hallway outside our room.

[becomingkatie]

Winter Park + Denver Meow Wolf

We spent last week in Colorado for our annual ski/snowboard trip with our friends there. I skipped the last day of snowboarding because I pulled my groin (ouch) but luckily it is healing fast. I really liked the town. We had a day between getting from WP back to Denver and flying home, so we did Meow Wolf. It was very cool but (a) I was so done with vacation and being with other people by that point after a full week, and (b) it needs more slides.

#gpoy #me #k and k #snowboarding 2024 #Colorado 2024 #winter park

[becomingkatie]

I pre-ordered Iron Flame so I’ve had the physical copy since November but I wanted to read it on kindle instead (I’ve become a wimp about holding big heavy hardbacks and I like to read in bed in the dark and my kindle is backlit). Violet annoyed me enough in the first ten pages of the hardback that I put a library hold on it instead of buying the ebook, so I only just now finally read it. And it’s a good thing violet was so annoying because I was sobbing at 1am finishing this book, and I cannot imagine how broken-up I’d be if she hadn’t bothered me the whole book!! I would not be functioning today, I am sure! As it is, I’ve got that deep, deep sadness and ache that always comes over me after finishing a fantasy read where I’m mourning the lives lost in whatever epic battle and mourning that I can’t spend time in that world anymore and mourning that I don’t have a dragon to bond with myself.

#iron flame

[becomingkatie]

Felt v cute this morning in the elevator. Then took Ken’s board to get tuned up at Alpine Ski Shop. They have the best stickers.

#gpoy #me #k and k

[becomingkatie]

Okay now that the precious baby squirrel has reached its recipient I can share this crochet project I’ve been working on!! My first lil creature! And maybe also the last - such small stitches! Small hook! But it’s so stinkin cute and mailing it to my best friend was the absolute best feeling.

#crochet #amigurumi

[becomingkatie]

This little snuggle bug does not have cancer! He probably has IBD and he’s not gonna be happy when we change out his food, but through a change in diet and the introduction of steroids we can (fingers crossed!) get him feeling healthy again!

#theo #gpoy lol #I wonder how many pics of me sleeping Ken has that he hasn’t shared with me

[becomingkatie]

We dropped baby boy Theo off at the vet for his ultrasound today. He’s taken a further downward turn in the last week and both Ken and I are anxious that they’ll find cancer or something bad during the ultrasound. But we’re glad we’ll hopefully have some answers after months of visits and tests with nothing to show for it (except thousands of dollars in bills).

Unfortunately, I have some stuff due at work so I can’t just completely fuck off today. Just gotta get through it.

#theo

[becomingkatie]

I got glasses! I don’t ~need~ them but especially for things like trying to read the street signs before I’m right up on them they’re helpful. My close-up vision is fine, but these crisp-ify things further away. It’s nice while driving, but kinda weird in general.

Ken and I went to Texas Roadhouse tonight! I saw a TikTok and was like, hey I’ve never been there, we should go! I made him take a selfie to commemorate it, lol.

Theo is still not doing well. We’re going back to the vet on Monday. It’s hard to watch him have so little energy and struggle so much every time he uses the litterbox, and not to just be able to fix it.

I read the first Throne of Glass book and it was ehhhhh but I’ve heard it’s like acotar in that it gets way better. Started book 2 today so we’ll see!

#gpoy #me #personal #k and k #theo

[becomingkatie]

I've been on Threads recently and a woman tweeted (? threaded?) that she was being annoying and then asked her husband jokingly if he still loved her since she was being obnoxious. This man - this REAL LIFE MAN - responded, "There's breathing, and there's loving you. Loving you is easier." Tell me HOW this isn't some book boyfriend with wings but an actual human person???