andiekp

I've moved into my house! It's all very exciting, and I'm loving it so far. My commute is a bit shorter, the cats have plenty of room to run and go crazy. I have a walk-in closet... Mostly, I just have plenty of exciting plans and ideas to complete the space over the next year. Our office Christmas party was this past Saturday, and I was actually surprised how fun it was. I thought there was no way I would stay the whole time, but I did. I'm still trying to learn a balance between work and my personal life, but it's difficult. I'll get to a place that's at least a bit better than now, soon-ish. Mochi and Pekoe are now 7 months old and are almost full-grown cats. They've transitioned to the move pretty well, although the first couple days saw two terrified kitties hiding in my closet.

First up, this week on Instagram: (a) I went to Cirque du Soleil for the first time last weekend, see more about it below. (b) My family and I went out for dinner on Thurs. to the nearby Nutty Brown Cafe. This photo just screams Texas to me, am I alone in that? (c) Sunday's are for Netflix marathons, and Mochi's got the controls. Cirque du Soleil's Kooza came to Austin, and my friends got tickets to go. Now, I've never been to one of their shows. So, I was ridiculously excited for it. The show was at the Circuit of the Americas, in a tent set up in one of the parking lots. Having never been out there before, I found the venue pretty cool, too. Especially hearing the race cars going round the track while we were parking.   The cats are 5 months old! How time flies, and how quickly they grow. Both have remained sweet and well behaved, so I'm happy and feel lucky to have such sweet kitties around. As I type this, Mochi is playing with my hoodie, and Pekoe ...

- Mochi and Pekoe continue to be absolutely adorable and sweet, but my gosh, have they grown. Both were just over two pounds when I got them and are now close to seven. Pekoe in particular, he now has giant paws and quite a big noggin. Mochi remains my delicate little lady. - August was a great reading month for me, and I somehow managed to read 13 books (one is not pictured. The Selection series takes the spot of hardest to put down. However, the one I most enjoyed was probably "Saint Anything" by Sarah Dessen. In an effort to save money, I've been re-reading quite a bit recently. It seems I'm going to run out of books to do that with soon. My Dad gave me "To Kill a Mocking Bird," which I haven't read since grade eight, and "Go Set a Watchman," which I'm halfway through and will most likely post about on Monday.  All up for adoption! My pal Dafney sitting on my lap (left)   - Planning seems to have become trendy recently, and...

 I recently started volunteering in the cattery at Austin Pets Alive! (APA!). Naturally I knew it was only a matter of time before I found the perfect kitten to take home. Actually, it was my second time going there when I got my first kitten. L: Pekoe, the boy - R: Mochi, the girl I saw her profile online first and knew I had to meet her. She turned out to be the perfect sassy, but super sweet kitty. I adopted her that day and took her home. What I didn't know when I read her profile was that she only had one brother, whom she'd never been apart from. I did meet him too, but I was worried about getting two. So, I didn't adopt him. She did really well when I was around, but found it hard when I wasn't in sight. After two and a half days of regretting not getting her brother, I decided to call and ask if he'd been adopted. He hadn't! He had been moved to one of APA!'s offsite catteries, though. It was a bit far, but I drove out and picked him up that...