It is my pleasure to present a blogger that is very close to my heart. (He's my boyfriend. You can say "Aw." It's okay.)


His blog, World Between the Lines, is so much fun to read! He just finished a project where he reviewed every song from his favorite band and is about to begin a whole new theme to his blog! Go and check it out! 

Kevin was kind enough to agree to be this week's guest post! And to make it more fun, he invited me to guest post on his blog today too! So, read this post first and then go and read mine!


1. Tell us a little bit about you and your blog.

Happiest Moment: Kissing Tim for the first time. (And all the times after that.)

Saddest Moment: Breaking up with CJ. It hurt. A lot.

Books Read: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (great book, terrible ending.)

Favorite Food: I don't know if it counts, but I've been in love with Chocolate Milk all month long. Love the stuff. 

My family is hilarious. Always has been. Lately, though, we don't hang out. Just a few "hey, hi, hello's" and they are out the door. 

But tonight. Tonight we had family dinner. Banana pancakes with strawberries on top. Yum. After the plates had been cleared, we all sat at the table and just chatted. Two of my sisters and my parents. One of the stories I just had to share because it would have been selfish of me to keep it to myself.

I was ranting about how I never want a public proposal. It's tacky, and even if I love the guy, I'll say no. Too much pressure. It's not a game show! I don't need the "Say yes! Say yes!" from the crowd. It's not Deal or No Deal. My dad then began telling this story of an old flame he had back in his college days. She would always tell him that if he asked, she would marry him in a heartbeat. He was certain this wasn't true. (He didn't want to marry her either.) We all listened as he explained how he proposed to this girl in this perfect little park while beautiful big snowflakes fell slowly from the sky. "Kathy, will you marry me?" "No." He laughed, pointed his finger in her face and said. "See!? I told you that you wouldn't say yes."

Kristi: "Dad... if you didn't like this girl, and she didn't really like you... why were you so serious?"

Dad: "She was a great kisser." 

*A few chuckles, pursed lips from mom and a groan from me.*

Katie: "And I'm trying to find one of you people? Here I was thinking that my dad was above all of this shallow guy stuff. Thanks dad."

He continued to explain how for the first four dates they talked about EVERYTHING. They seemed to be so in tune with each other. So much so that he invited her to come and spend Thanksgiving with his family. My grandfather didn't like her. At all. He asked my dad: "Why do you like her so much?" "We connect really well." "Have you kissed her?" "No." "Well, maybe you should find out if your 'physical' connection is strong before you decide."

So, later: 

Dad: "My dad says we need to kiss." (Great opener. That's just what every girl wants to hear.)

Kathy: "I have great respect for your dad."

She was a great kisser and needless to say conversation is effectively ruined when your lips are smashed together. 

Romantic comedies will be the death of me. 

(This is, of course, an exaggeration. No one has ever died from watching a romantic comedy. Someone might have died while watching a romantic comedy; but to my knowledge, cheesy lines and overly unrealistic love affairs projected on a screen have not caused a person's heart to stop beating permanently.)

What I mean by this is: while I am watching a romantic comedy, I laugh, I cry and I enjoy myself. 

Until the end. 

Something about watching a guy profess his love for a girl after three dates really annoys me. That never happens. (Except at BYU.) I find myself a little bitter as the final credits roll across the screen, thinking things such as "Yeah, that's totally unrealistic." "What they don't show you is the terrible break-up that's going to happen in a few month's time." "I hope they get married and have ugly kids." 

Of course I know that it's all fictional. And maybe this is what bothers me the most. Life is not like it is in the movies. Is it just me, or does everyone feel like this after watching the too perfect happy ending wondering why Hollywood does this to the world? 

I'm usually able to make myself feel better by reminding myself that I am watching a significant amount of time crunched into an hour and a half. So though it may seem like they just end up together, they didn't. They had problems. I mean, did you miss the cliche blow out in the middle? "Oh no! There's been some kind of misunderstanding and when we figure things out we'll be happy forever!"

I'm sounding like a total skeptic here. I'm sorry. I'll move on. Today I watched two romantic comedies that, while I was sad at the end, made me think of a bigger picture. Something to look for outside of the ridiculously corny "you complete me" nonsense. 

The first of these was from the movie "Hitch." This movie is hilarious and so far fetched in so many ways. But aside from that, 'Hitch' is constantly telling people to put themselves out there. Good solid advice. What have I been saying in most of my recent posts? Be social, dang it! This movie is just reiterating that fact.

The second was from the movie "Penelope." A girl born with the nose of a pig is able to break the curse and gets a cute, perfectly proportioned nose because she loves and accepts herself just the way she is. True, the love interest loved her just the way she was, but that's not my point. Or maybe it is. If you love yourself, someone somewhere will also love you for you. This also makes you more confident, and apparently that's attractive. Who knew?

So, in addition to my already standing goal to be more social and put myself out there, I am now going to try really hard to love me for me. (Maybe once I accept myself, my butt will miraculously be transformed into a cute, perfectly proportioned butt. Here's hoping!)

It's completely bogus, but I've been reading my horoscope almost daily. I have the button bookmarked because it is a quick and fun thing to check if I have a spare minute. (I have lots of those.) The horoscope is rarely true. Half of the time it's so vague that I am left staring at the computer screen with a furrowed brow and a skeptical mind.

About ten posts ago I mentioned how I wanted to be more social. I would still like to be, it just doesn't seem like I'm making any efforts in that category. I haven't gone to church for two weeks. I realize that I was sick for one of them, and accidentally slept halfway through the other, but I'm feeling it taking it's toll on me. For a while, church was the only time I socialized with anyone and now I don't even have that. 

In thirteen days it will be Valentines Day. That all too famous if-you-have-someone-to-squeeze-it's-great-but-if-you-don't-you-are-miserable holiday. For me, it's always been the 'but-if-you-don't' part of that overly long hyphenated word. It's not usually as bad as that. I'm not miserable. The day comes and goes just about like any other. No plans and single. 

Tonight is Family Home Evening, and while I could have gotten ready and gone; instead I curled up in my lovesac with a quilt and watched the third Spider-Man. (Ever since I wrote the post about looking like Kirsten Dunst, I've been craving it. I had a marathon and watched all three.)

My point is, the thought of this horoscope is great and maybe it could happen. But not if I am here in my room sitting on my can, watching Peter Parker sweep his hair into his face and dance down the street like a total moron. (That scene makes me cringe in embarrassment for him.) So, starting tomorrow, I'm going to get my carcass out of my bedroom and do something. I'm not saying that by doing this, the horoscope will come true, but it's not going to hurt to stop watching Spider-Man alone in my bedroom. (I'm finished with the movies...so it's not a huge loss.) 

Before I unfortunately deleted my blog in December, it was tradition that at the end of each month, I would write a post about the happenings of my month. I didn't blog nearly as much as I do now, and it was my way of not feeling guilty about not posting regularly. But they served a purpose much more important than that. It was great to be able to read through a short post about my month if I had forgotten something down the road. They are the things about that old blog that I miss the most. So, I'm bringing them back. 

Happiest Moment: Arriving in Provo. 

Saddest Moment: "Katie, I have some bad news." Okay, so the moment got increasingly worse as the news was spilled, but we'll say the bad news was the saddest moment. My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. B, and those that have been devastated by the whole thing.

Favorite Food: Spinach Wraps! Avocado, a little bit of fat free ranch, turkey, cheddar, baby spinach and good to go!

Overall: It was a good month. There were a lot of confusing, flustering and depressing things thrown in and a lot of the time I had a hard time focusing on the good. But after writing this post I realize that there was an abundance of good things to be found. It was a good first step into 2010, but I'm not sad that we'll be moving into February... 

I've been thinking about all of my past relationships. Some of them are pretty laughable. Enjoy yourselves in my failed relationships.

Justin (age five): A boy that lived across the street. His two older sisters forced us to get married in my back yard on my trampoline. The marriage didn't last for more than a few hours, but we remained really good friends.

Brogan (age six): A boy from my neighborhood. Our relationship consisted of swimming in ponds and climbing the tree in my back yard. While climbing said tree, he dared me to kiss him. I did. We didn't talk much after that.

Mike (age seven): A boy from down the street. He was eleven. We were pretty good buddies until he and two of his friends followed me to the park and forced me into the boys bathroom. Mike made me french kiss him. My seven year old self did not enjoy it. Yes. I was lip raped.

Quinn (age nine): A boy I met at the canal my friends and I used to swim in. After five minutes he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes. The next night I ran into him at the movie theater. I was going to see a movie with my parents and he asked me to ditch them and see the movie he came to see. I agreed. "Can I carry you to our seats?" He asked. I laughed at him and went back to sit with my parents.

Manny (age twelve): A boy who moved in down the street. Me and my four best friends were walking down the street to scope him out and he decided that he thought I was the cutest. After a week of "dating," we went to the water slide with a bunch of friends. Two of my cousins were there and were very clingy, meaning that I wasn't able to spend time with Manny. He decided to date another of my girl friends. By the end of the night he was back with me, and there was a tizzy in the girl group.

Jeremy (age fourteen): A boy from school. He was my walk on the wild side. I tried to sneak out to go to his house once. I was caught. (Thanks parents.) We went to the water slide on a date. He wanted to stop in the slide and kiss me. I called my dad to come and pick me up. I broke up with him that night.

Justin (age fifteen): A boy from school. We "dated" for the summer. We always brought an extra person to throw the number off because I wasn't 16 yet, therefore I shouldn't have been dating. (I don't know why all the previous boys didn't bother me.) He was apparently using me to make another girl jealous.

Adam (age fifteen-twenty): A boy that made my life a complicated mess. This post is long enough that I don't need to go into detail.

James (age eighteen): A boy I knew from school. We dated for a week. Lots of kissing. Oh, the kissing was fun. He broke up with me. A week later he changed his mind. I didn't kiss him again after that and I broke it off after another week.

It's been quite the week. I'm trying to come up with something witty to start this post with, but nothing is coming to me. I guess I'll just get into it.

On Tuesday I had a really good friend over to watch a movie. As we were going through the movie choices, she mentioned something about boys and instantly our focus switched. We didn't end up watching a movie. Instead we talked for five hours. Mostly about boys. She's going to try and set me up with a few people, including a guy from her mission that lives in Provo. (He thinks I'm cute.) She also has a few other friends that have seen my pictures via her facebook that want her to hook them up with me. I'm game. It was very much fun, and I just needed that girl's night.

The next night was institute. We had about eight quilts to tie, and I helped with one. About the time I needed a break, Pete showed up and I went over to try and teach him how to tie a quilt. He was hopeless and I ended up just finishing off his strand of yarn and talking to him for the rest of the night. He gave me a ride home and I got online. (Because that's what I do.)

Thursday was the day of my date with Pete. I woke up very excited, and couldn't wait for it to start. Somewhere during the time when I was getting ready, I got a phone call from my sister. She had seen on the news that one of my all time favorite teachers had been arrested for sexual misconduct with a student. I don't believe it's true. I've thought about it a lot, and I honestly don't believe it's true. I went onto the news web page and sure enough, there he was along with a brief story. They had a picture of his mugshot, and I kept thinking "This isn't the man I know. He's not smiling, his eyes are dull. This is not him." I credit this man to a large amount of my growth as a person. In an incredibly difficult time in my life when the world around me was threatening to bring me down, he was one who could make me feel like I was a wonderful person. That my life was worth something and that I had so much to give. This news absolutely devastated me.

I began to read some of the comments on this story, growing more and more depressed with each harsh and negative word. I needed to make one of my own. I put a lot of thought into it, and this is what I wrote:

"This man is one of my favorite people. I don't know whether the accusations against him are true or not, but I do know one thing; he does not deserve the hatred and insults he has been receiving in these comments. Do not judge a man that you do not know because of a story that we do not know the end of. That is all I have to say in the matter."

Needless to say, my desire to go on the date was pretty much non-existent after that. But I finished getting ready and went, burying the experience deep. I wanted to enjoy this date, despite the knowledge I now had.

Pete and I went to McDonald's and then to see Avatar. (Great movie!) We sat a little too close to the screen, and my head started to hurt halfway through the three hour movie. I very much enjoyed it, though.

There were a couple times I thought about reaching over and holding Pete's hand...but I realized that I really didn't want to. When the movie was over, my head hurt, and I just wanted to go home. I didn't have patience for that awkward "What now?" scene in the truck outside of my house, so I said:

"Can I have a hug?"

I reached across the seat, hugged him and got out of the car. It might be that I was just upset but I don't think I'm feeling anything special for Pete. I must have been really distracted or unimpressed enough that I didn't even think about the fact that his awesome arms were around me.

I didn't get a hair cut today. I knew I wouldn't have a car (my parents went out of town). I didn't plan that when I had made the appointment. I'll have to make a new one. I'll post before and after pictures.

It was a very busy week, and I'm glad it's coming to a close.

WARNING: Incredibly long post.

It's kind of surprising me how one conscious decision and some listening to the spirit has done for me in just two short days. A week ago, I would have sat at home with none of these experiences coming my way, and guaranteed a lot of sadness following it.

On Sunday, I was INCREDIBLY depressed. I cried quarts. With the help of a couple of friends, I changed the direction of my life. It was hard in the moment, but now I can feel how much that turn around has changed things. This change will make it so much easier to turn my back on those short comings.

Just after I did this, I emailed a bunch of friends. People that I wanted to hang out with and set up 'play dates.' I couldn't wait to get to church because it meant I would get out of my house. I couldn't wait to see people. I've realized that I spend WAY too much time online, and though talking to my online friends is great; I need some In Real Life (IRL) social contact.

Church was my first stop. You can read about the beginning of these exploits here.

It was 'Linger Longer*' after church and I was very excited. There are two different Singles Wards in my home town, and we combine for this activity once every month, rotating whose turn it is to prepare the activity. My ward's Linger Longers are INSANELY cool! Amazing food, decorations, different and fabulous things to drink. It's awesome. This week we were able to make our own grilled cheese sandwiches. (Tip: honey butter on a grilled cheese sandwich = fabulous!)

During this, I had the chance to flirt with two guys that I think are pretty cool. Pete and Devin. I had spent the last three hours of church with Pete since the Black Licorice Gum incident. I noticed that Devin was sitting alone, and because I kind of like him, too; I called over (totally out of character, I might add.) and invited him to sit with us. Another girl sat with us. Her name is Natalie, and she's about amazing. I quite love her to death. The fact that she's a fellow Friends addict instantly raised my appreciation for her. It was a great time. Flirting and laughter are bomb.

Yesterday, I went to lunch with a close friend of mine. She has been in town for nearly two months and I haven't spent any time with her, and I felt the need to remedy that. We went out to lunch and jammed on guitar. It was great to catch up with her, and I'm so glad we were able to make that happen.

My aunt and uncle are in town and the entire family went to my grandmother's house for soup and good company. I almost didn't go. I'm so VERY glad that I did. I was able to chat with two of my younger cousins. I love those girls! They are just cute, and so much fun to talk to. I'm very happy that I went and was able to spend time with family.

I did leave early. I had promised Natalie that I would come to the ward's Family Home Evening. You can read a bit about that event here. We played I've never, which is an incredibly fun game. The best is when you get targeted. There's no one to trade chairs with, as you are the only one who has done that thing. Someone tried to target me with "I've never made videos for YouTube." Half of the circle stood up, which surprised me.

After the game, we converged into the kitchen to munch on leftovers from Linger Longer the day before. Good chatting ensued. Including Pete asking me if I wanted to go on a date.

Pete: Have you seen the movie Avatar?

Kate: No, I haven't. I want to though.

Pete: I haven't seen it either. I want to.

...

Pete: We should go.

Kate: Yeah, I'd like that.

...

Kate: *after a long pause* When?

Pete: Oh! Umm...Thursday?

Kate: Sounds great!

I have so much more happening this week. I'll blog about it all, I'm sure. Movie night with a girl-friend tonight. Institute tomorrow. Date on Thursday. Haircut on Friday. It's going to be a good week. I'm determined to make it so.

The Singles Ward Family Home Evenings are just fun. I showed up late, missing the lesson, but was able to catch the activity. I walked into the room and everyone was sitting in a circle. Ah ha! "I've Never!" That was the game.

For those of you who have never played "I've Never," the rules are simple. There is one less chair than there are people. The extra person is 'it'. They stand in the middle and say something that they have never done. Those people in the circle that HAVE done that thing stand and swap chairs, leaving a new person standing in the middle. The game repeats over and over until you get bored. It's a great way to learn about people and their experiences.

So, I thought I'd go through the list of some of my "I've Nevers"

I've never been to New York.

I've never kissed a guy on New Year's Eve.

I've never had a broken bone.

I've never been snowmobiling.

I've never had the chicken pox.

I've never been on a cruise.

I've never had a bloody nose.

I HAVE however been asked out on a date for Thursday! YAY!

So, I realized yesterday that I haven't been on an official date since early October, 2008. I went to the corn maze. Lame-sauce! Sure. There have a few other happenings that could count as dates. But there wasn't anything planned, or I paid for myself. I could count these on one hand (four fingers to be exact), but I don't really count these occurrences as dates.

I've decided to work on this. I'm not sure exactly what I can do...except be more social. So that's what I've decided to do.

Yesterday I was late for Sacrament Meeting. Not overly late, I arrived during the opening hymn. Usually in this occurrence I would sit on the back row, so I don't disturb anyone. Apparently, quite a few people were late to Sacrament meeting and the back rows were full. So I started to work my way up the aisle, aiming for the next empty pew. There, a pew behind it, was Pete. Pete is one of the guys I not-really-dated*. He's cute and funny. I would say yes if he asked me out.

So as I'm walking past, I see him, and in the two seconds where I debated moving forward or sitting with him, these thoughts zoomed through my head. "Just keep walking. But if you sit with him, maybe he'll ask you out. Be social, wasn't that the goal? But what if he doesn't WANT to sit by me? Well, you better make a decision because you are by his pew, and if you want to sit with him, you better decide quick!"

"Hey Pete." I whisper. "Can I sit by you?"

He moved aside making room for me, I have no idea if he was smiling or not. I set my stuff of the empty pew in front of me and leaned back against the pew. I smiled shyly and looked forward. It was actually a bit awkward and I kind of regretted sitting by him. What if he didn't want me to sit by him? But on the spot like that, what is he going to do? We're in the middle of singing 'Lord, I Would Follow Thee' and he exclaims, "NO! You can not sit by me Katie Weber!" Psh. Right.

We sat there in silence through the ward/stake business and I longed to lean over and whisper something, breaking the tension. But what if he was totally enjoying the sustaining of the new Stake Young Women's presidency? Who was I to interrupt him unless I had some really insightful thing to say. We moved on to the rest hymn and the sacrament. Whew! An excuse to not speak. We're being reverent. But it was over quickly and the first speaker stood up.

Pete then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of gum, offering me a piece. I took it, an entire scene from Friends** running through my head. I unwrap the gum. 'Blackjack' it says. The gum inside is black too. In my head I wonder if this is that turn-your-teeth-black prank gum, but he puts his stick in his mouth and I lift mine to do the same, figuring it must be safe. I lean over as I do this. "What kind of gum is this?" The gum touches my tongue, answering for myself as he replies. "Black Licorice."

Anyone that knows me knows I HATE black licorice. But what was I to do? Give it back? No! It had been on my tongue! I put the stick in my mouth and began to chew, wincing at the grotesque flavor. I made a few clearing-my-throat noises as I tried not to show my utter revulsion as the flavor filled my mouth. He looked over at me with a smirk.

"Do you not like it?"

"I hate black licorice." I'm sure my face looked disgusted.

He chuckled. This painful experience gave us something to whisper about during the talks that we should have been listening to. I chewed that piece of gum all through Sacrament Meeting. Success!

Still no date, but things are looking up.

*A friend of mine invited me to play games with a bunch of people. It ended up just being Pete and I, and she and her fiance. It was very paired off...and if Pete had asked me...I'd call it a date. But he didn't, so it wasn't.

**The one where Chandler gets stuck in an ATM vestibule with Jill Goodacre (Victoria's Secret Model). She offers him gum. He says no because it wasn't sugarless. He then screams at himself in his head because if Jill Goodacre offers you gum, you take it. He then changes his mind, saying "On second thought, gum would be perfection." I almost said this. I knew that this was my chance to break the tension on the pew. I would not turn down the gum like Chandler had.

Hi. My name is Kate Weber. I'm 20 years old. I'm single, fairly normal, and I have a great sense of humor. I'm a great conversationalist as long as you don't expect me to come up with a starting topic. I'm a bit messy, but I simply have other priorities that trump cleaning. I like taking long walks on the beach, or I'm sure I would if I had a beach near my home. I love music, movies and books. I'm also in love with computers.
Lips: used, but in great condition. Also comes with large amounts of thick, long hair, perfect for running your fingers through. Warning: Emotional baggage likely to appear at some point.
If you are interested, leave me a comment!
XOXO Kate!

That wasn't desperate was it? *shrug*

Have a great new year, and I hope I was able to make you smile!

And remember "If you put a smile on your kisser, maybe someone will put a kiss on your smiler."