An Online Love Story

My husband and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary this weekend on July 1. And I think it's about time that I come clean. The truth is,

This post goes out to all you single girls who might be embarrassed about admitting that you are have thought about looking for love online. I know the feeling.

Little girls don't dream about meeting their prince charming online. We dream of running into him at a bookstore or some other 'meet-cute' like in the movies. The truth is, even in this day & age where we are addicted to our cell phones, Twitter, and Facebook it still feels taboo to admit that you are/were an online dater.

Back when I met Chris, Match allowed you to "connect" with the other person so long as one of you had a paid account. He did, I didn't. Nowadays, I understand that you both have to have paid accounts to connect. #whatsupwiththat

After talking online for a few weeks (I wish I had those transcripts!) He invited himself along to a Christmas party I was going to in downtown LA. I let him pick me up at my house & broke rule #1 of online dating: Always meet somewhere neutral. Maybe that's why,

Or maybe it's because we were both out of our element. The party turned out to be a hipster-artsy-photographing-rooftop-affair. Talk about awkward. He did take me to play a game of pool after the party, which somewhat balanced the terrible first half. 

I didn't think I'd ever hear from him again, until he called, the very next day, asking to take me out on a real date. And then the next day, and the next. It was that sweet 'getting to know you' period of talks that last till 5am and that first {foot-popping} kiss. 

I loved his confidence, that he knew what he wanted out of life, and that he lived a life of faith. Surprisingly, after our first date, we rarely talked online. It very quickly turned into a real-life relationship.

All because of a little website called match.com. The moral of this story is: You can find real love online. In fact, I recommend it.

Love those Leprechauns! FB Cover Giveaway & Deal

Happy St. Patricks Day to everyone! St. Patty's Day is special to me, mostly because of my Grandpa Mahon. He loved me more than all the tea in China and when I was younger I could always be found trailing him around the yard to feed the horse or water the plants. Grampy was the most generous, gentle, and gentlemanly man. His parents (my great-grandparents) came over from Ireland and St. Patrick's Day was always a family day to have dinner & get together.

I've already come to terms that there will be no corned beef again this year. It's okay though, because tonight is the 4th Semester Banquet (aka the Med Student Prom).

The Lephrechauns are shining favor on you today as well, because I'm teaming up with Jillian from Geek Chic Social Media to giveaway a free Facebook Timeline Cover. Did you know that all business or fan Facebook pages will be switched over to the new timeline on March 30th? That gives you about 2 weeks to get yours in order.

Please don't fall into the trap of cropping your blog header to squeeze into the cover! Use the generous space to showcase some awesome things about your blog. Maybe have a "what's new" area or update pictures of your recent Pinterest projects. Take advantage of the free advertising space that FB is giving you & create something unique to you.

Jillian has you set, with a simple how-to article here. And I have some additional tips for you too:

• The best size to create a cover is 851x315 pixels. If you have a photo-editing program, set your document settings to 300 DPI in CMYK mode. 
• If you don't use a photo, use a colored background, not white. It will help your words stand out more clearly.
• Use an easy to read font & make it large.
• Save the photo at the highest possible quality! Use a .png file name for anything with type on it. 

Check out my PDS fan page and Mrs. Alana's Miscellany's fan page to see good examples.

OR if you aren't a D.I.Y.er, you can enter the giveaway here, and we will work together to create something perfect for you!

And as a special treat for all my bloggy followers out there I'm going to offer you a little (big!) discount. Any orders I receive before March 26th are guaranteed to be done by the 30th.. even if I'm up all night! And I will do my best to make it something that you can edit yourself in the future!

Anyone interested can send an email to katie@pricelessdesignstudio.com & mention this post!

The Awkward Years

My awkward years would be circa 1995.. the time of overalls, Mickey Mouse clothing, and wide legged jeans. Chunky blonde highlights in my hair, braces, and no contacts.

I only wish we had digital cameras back then! The few pictures I have scanned from home hardly do my awkwardness justice. But let's start with this one:

Sissy-la-la, Mommy-Dearest, Awkward Me

Why yes, I am rocking prescription sunglasses, an awesome tie-dye shirt & a hip-bag. Throughout my childhood, my mom would pack my sister & I up and take us to Brownsville, Oregon; home of the hippies. We would help my favorite aunt and her family pack up to go to the Oregon Country Fair. We would put up the tee-pee and circle the tents and custom VW bus to make a fabulous little campsite. This is only the beginning of my awkward stage.

Wow-za. I must have felt as awkward as I looked! No boyfriend, at a party, probably should have hid under that blanket! This picture was recently added to Facebook by an old friend. Thanks for that.

See the braces there? We all had braces, didn't we. I also love my baby-fat cheeks. Is that a dimple or a pimple? Hard to say.

Sissy-la-la, Sarah, Pam, Awkward Me

Here is a fine specimen of a true awkward adolescent. By this point I think I had contacts, but still had braces. Notice the trendy W.W.J.D. bracelet & girls with bangs. This photo was taken my freshman year of high school. Freshman year, yup, I was awesome.

Well guys, it was fun looking back at my awkward years. If you want to see more, go check out the link-up at Confessions of a Graphic Design Student.

It's in my blood...

I realize that I don't talk too much about my family here on my blog, other than mentioning Chris every now and then. This is probably because they all live so far away this year. I miss them.

I have a wonderful mother, Diane, who is so generous and kind. She is hilarious, and I get my laugh-till-I-cry gene from her. My mom is a kindergarden teacher, agility dog trainer, and is quite crafty when she wants to be. She taught me to love books and reading by always being half way through one herself.

My sister Julie is the most tender-hearted girl you will ever meet. She instantly makes you feel welcome and like you are the center of her attention. Julie is super compassionate to everyone she meets. She is a graphic designer by profession {check out her work here} and amazing artist.

I am lucky to have my step-father Peter in my life. He is kind hearted and always has good advice in tough situations. He has a keen sense of intuition, which is difficult to describe but incredible to see in action. Peter is a minister as well, and married Chris and I back in 2007.


My father, Ted, is a man of many hats. He is a drummer, engineer, Harley-rider, and also where my computer and technology geekiness comes from. He is a computer programmer and made sure I was way ahead of the other kids in mathematics. We even had an original Apple desktop computer, way back when.


It's fun to look at the bits and pieces of my family that I carry with me. I am a teacher like my mom and computer nerd like my dad. My sister and I are so very different in some ways, and so alike in others.

Although I dislike the two day trip to get back to California, I will be glad to see everyone at Christmas this year.  We will be in California for about 3 weeks in various places.  Let me know if you'd like to get in touch!

Summertime

My time in America is almost over.. but it was really great while it lasted.  Being in Atwater felt like summertimes of long ago.  Especially when the fireworks boothes went up!  Staying up late and sleeping in, drinking fresh made sun tea no-lemon-no-sugar, and Foster's Freeze ice-cream sundaes made me happy.  Even the 100 plus degree weather didn't phase me after living in Dominica for so long! Here's a picture of us happy girls on the front lawn.

Mom, Sissy-la-la, Sarah-Bearah, Me

 It was a rare few days to have my mom, Julie, Sarah, and me all in town at the same time.  Julie has been living in LA for a long time now working as a graphic designer, Sarah is living in Seattle and just graduated with her masters in social work, and with me in Dominica it's been almost 2 years since we've all been in the same place at the same time.  What a wonderful way to end my stay in norCal.