Happy Birthday Brudder! June 30, 2008

Robert is my big brother. Two years older. My birthday was Friday, his is today. He could never quite come to grips with how, as the oldest, my birthday got to come to come first. The injustice of it all. Robert has been more than just a brother. As children, he was my best friend, (until junior high, when at times, we would’ve cleaned each others skillets had we the chance), and a stand-in dad when I was running wild in high school and he was called upon to calm my mom’s frazzled nerves. Then back to friends…I got to visit him in college and date his cute frat brothers, adviser (on so many levels), uncle to my children, the one guaranteed to “clap my hands” or make me laugh. He’s the best, and I am blessed. I love you Robert…even though you used to call me “foreigner” and “bathroom,” I’ll forgive you.

Happy Birthday.

Now…because I haven’t posted in ages…the junk drawer of blog posts…
This is for you mom (tapping your foot and demanding new reading material and visuals of decorative changes at Casa Du Kat).

The chair WITH ottoman.

Henry’s twig bed-turned-daybed on the screened porch…

Miss thing who now says “do you think this is cute/am I cute? You should take a picture”…but then she gives me this..

And my bee-u-ti-ful hydrangeas. I think they are still recovering from last years frost so they aren’t as big as usual, but the color is amazing.

Mom had a blanket like this which I COVETED and had plans to spirit away in my suitcase…but fortunately we found another (and on-sale at that) and I didn’t have to commit theft against my own kin.

Oh yes, and also the table cloth. Shoot! I took a picture of that too…I’ll post it later mom, but I love it, thank you! (And yes, I promise, no food will come near it. Ha)

So last week I survived (barely) the mother of all photo shoots. A two-day, overnight deal that wore me flat out. I actually came home and took a NAP. This does not happen. Mom, stop laughing. Yes, I used to be to be the nap QUEEN but somewhere along the path to becoming a workaholic, can’t sit-can’t stop, OCD, NUT JOB, I gave them up. So for the next few days I worked towards recovery (which meant making 12 zillion t-shirts– but at least I made them in my pj’s and didn’t have anywhere I had to be, so for me that qualifies as a rest.)

I had a lovely birthday which included SUSHI and designer jeans…my two favorite edible/material things on planet earth, plus a date night (SANS KIDS), and tons of sweet wishes from friends and family (and gifts, and more gifts…thanks again MOM).

July is positively going to be INSANE. Actually, from now until Christmas…pure craziness with Kat in the Hat (not complaining, mind you). Plus, we are heading out of town AGAIN and much as I would love to go sit on a beach in Maine, I DON’T HAVE TIME. Yikes. Stress levels are high. Deep breath, deep breath…I am so blessed and thankful for the continued growth of my business, another year on God’s green earth, my precious family and friends and SO MUCH MORE.

Happy Monday folks!

SHOOT ME NOW June 21, 2008

The college-aged intern just asked me if the pictures on my wall of MY CHILDREN were my GRAND children.

I guess it’s time to sign up for my spot at the old folks home. I can do some tees that say “I lost my last tooth today!” and make a killing. My co-workers assured me that she needed to have her eyes checked, but of course they did.

Oh and here’s my July 4th mailer…we still have time, order now!

Birthday Part 2 June 18, 2008

This is actually from Bday Part 1…
in Charleston at Nana’s. Monkey and cousin Malone had a big time.

He LOVES icrecream cake, so he was a happy boy (thank you Nana).

Presents aren’t bad either! Thank you Malone!

Now. This is from his actual bday, yesterday. He scurried off to camp before I could get a picture, so this was taken at the end of the day and he is FILTHY. White shirts are basically disposable at our house.
Good thing I am in the t-shirt biz

Could it be true? Is it what I think it is???

Sinking in…sinking in….

YYYEESSSSS! And then he declared it the happiest day of his whole life.

Next we went to Agave Azul (Mexican, in case you didn’t figure that one out already) and chowed.

Hubby had whispered to the hostess that we had a bday to celebrate, and the little (spanish speaking/but mostly mute) waiter came out after a second prompting and solomnly slid a dessert in front of Bday Boy without a word. So hubby and I broke into song to try and salvage it/make it festive. But Hubby was not having the LAME-O Birthday treatment (we’re used to Mexi restaurants that come out with instruments and sombreros singing at the top of their lungs) so he went and had a word with someone, and whatdya know, back they come…about 6 of them clanging pots and pans with wooden spoons and singing with a sombrero for Bday Boy to wear. Monkey thought the first one was dandy so the second one was almost more than he could handle!! “Wow, they sure make a big deal out of birthdays here!”

Then of course he and dad played with the Wii half the night. So…one more round (camping this weekend) and he’ll be totally, officially, undoubtedly 8.

Happy Birthday Monkey!! June 17, 2008

My stinky boy is EIGHT. Where did 8 years go since the birth of my 9 1/2 pound bowling ball? He has been celebrating for a week. At the beach he spent the day with his cousin; first the beach, then a movie, then his favorite…icecream cake. Tonite we are going for his favorite supper…Agave A’Rip-Off, er, I mean Agave Azul (Cheeeeeeeeeese Dip!) and Saturday, he and his cronies, along with their dads are going hiking and camping in the Smokies. Phew.

And I’m already thinking FALL…

Yes, it’s a little disconcerting. I have worked like a madman on Fall/Winter designs and prepping for a slew of shows. The world of apparel is a strange beast. Some of the new designs are included in my Fall emailer:

But I’ll save some for a chilly weather post.

I think these will be cool for the bigger boys…

and this one is my favorite newby:

I really like this font:

I just did this one last night…by special request:

as well as this one, also a “custom” order:

That’s some cast, huh? (Actual Colors!)

I also just did this logo for a company in Birmingham…

Be sure to check out the Cupcakery in Beardon (Knoxville). It is so cute…in the brand new shopping center that Kristi is in. And I hear the cupcakes are divine! I did probably 8 designs exclusively for the store (a franchise) and about killed myself to make the Grand Opening date with a huge order. But we made it!

I am now beginning work on another very exciting project…I’ll share more about it later. It’s amazing how the tees have led to a revival of so much of my other stuff…especially logos and stationery. I am having a ball!

I think that’s it for now (or all I have time to chat about anyway.)

Have a GREAT DAY sweet boy. I love you!!!

(Don’t think you’re escaping a photo of you in your new bday tee either…

you may have slipped out of my grip this morning, but the day is young

Happy Father’s Day! June 15, 2008

I have to get sappy for a sec. My kids really do have an amazing daddy. He ALWAYS has time for them, he plays like a kid, he cooks a mighty mean meal…he adores them, they adore him.
Happy Father’s Day to the best dad in the land

We just returned from Charleston. My mom, and my brother and his family live there.

Lot’s of mornings we hung out in mom’s beautiful garden and had coffee on her porch
(hubby re-screened it while we were there.)

Of course, we also spent lots of time at the beach…

Look! A couple of beached whales…ha

But when these monkeys get down to business they don’t fool around:

Dirty little sand fleas

Here are a few more from mom’s garden. Nothing like a popcicle for breakfast..
that’s what grandmother’s are for!

But alas, all good things must come to an end.

I had to try a few artsy shots…well this one really isn’t artsy I guess, but I was having fun playing. I didn’t take nearly as many pics as I intended…I kept forgetting my camera!

I really like this one.

This one is a little blown out…but I kind of like it anyway

And finally…a tuckered out princess at the end of a big day.

I tried it two ways…with an out of focus background, and one that is all in focus.

I think I like the first one best. Anyway, that’s all I’m going to post. I gotta get back to waiting on hubby hand and foot (I’m actually not even kidding! I made breakfast, lunch and now I’m going to make DINNER TOO. Zoix. Who am I and what happened to Kathryn?)

Chaos June 2, 2008

How cheesy am I with all my one-word titles of late…like I think I’m Madonna or Beyonce. (Okay, not so much, but surely you get my drift.) I guess things have been so nutty one word is really I all I can come up with. I have been working frantically on two really huge orders (and tons of smaller ones) and trying to gear up for Fall shows. I have to update all of my materials and that sort of snuck up on me. I thought I had scads of time, when really, it’s knocking at my door. So I dragged whirly girl outside yesterday, after working straight for 4-5 days with zero break at all, to take a few photos for a brochure. She was cranky, I was cranky. Not a good pair, the two of us, and it shows. I gave little to no forethought to what I was shooting, and that too, shows. Oh well, we’ll try again another day. Or in the middle of the night.

If you’re like my mom, you’ll ask “don’t you have a son too?” and my reply would be…”IT’S NOT MY FAULT!”. If the child so much as sees a camera he heads for the hills. I will tell you that he is alive and well…and playing a heck of a good baseball game. His team is #2, and they only lost to #1 but ONE POINT. It was a darn good game. They are going to the championships and he is all kinds of excited.

Ok. Back to the ole Monday grind. Here’s my grumpy girl.

Obviously this won’t work for any brochure–you can’t even see the artwork on the shirt.

But it’s sweet of her.

Poor thing can’t read, and has no idea her shirt has another girly’s name on it. That, my friends, is the most sincere looking fake smile you will ever encounter. It was made with threats and bribes.

There you have it. Three shots out of 50 and the best one has another kids name stamped on it. But We’re going out of town soon…virtually the ONLY way I can relax is to leave it all behind. I wonder if I can regain one shred of sanity? Anyway–maybe I’ll get some fun beach shots. Or maybe I’ll be too busy sleeping and reading smut magazines.