order outing.

On Friday, the long distance portion of "The Order" was in town. So, we celebrated with a mini road trip to downtown Morrilton to eat lunch and shop the antique stores. Elliott got to tag along, and he was such a good sport, tolerating Destiny's Child in the car and hanging out in his stroller while we shopped.

Morrilton had an excellent selection of antique/thrift stores! I brought home a vintage clutch, two antique blue mason jars, a couple of hard back books for E (one of which is a Reading Rainbow edition), and a darling floral dessert plate for a project I'm working on in our kitchen. I'm regretting passing up an antique school desk though, so a return trip may be in our near future...

I love these girls dearly. They are some of my oldest friends. The kind where you can just pick right up where you left off, even if one of you has had a baby and another lives in South Korea. These kinds of friendships are hard to come by, but are a true treasure when you find one... or three!

when lauren comes to town...

My childhood friend, Lauren, has lived in South Korea for about 4 years now. I only get to see her about once a year, sometimes not even that. Well, she is here visiting, so Meghan and I have been soaking up as much time as we can with her, since it may be another year before we can do it again. 

Last night, Lauren treated us to some South Korean cuisine. She cooked vegetarian dumplings and kimbop. It was delicious! Here's to 2 full weeks of making up for lost time.

The Order's Christmas Eve Party.

On Christmas Eve, three of my oldest friends came over for a Christmas brunch.  We call ourselves "The Order of the Four."  We were inseparable in high school, but our adult lives have spread us all over the world.  Meghan is still close by in North Little Rock, but Kristin lives in Delaware, and Lauren in South Korea.  For the first time in a year and a half, we're all home at the same time.  To celebrate, we ate brunch, exchanged gifts, and watched Elf.  

Our time all together is limited, so I'm thankful we got to catch up, reminisce, and celebrate Christmas together.  No matter where life takes us, we'll always share a special bond.

A [very] Late Korean Christmas Party.

My beloved childhood friend, Lauren (above with her boyfriend, Han Joo during their last visit) now lives in Korea.  She makes up 1/4 of "The Order of the 4", half are here (myself and Meghan), and the remaining 1/4 (Lauren's twin sister, Kristin) is in Delaware.  Last week a package arrived from Korea for "The Order" and the Walker family members.  There were detailed instructions for us to all open the gifts together, so yesterday we met Lauren and Kristin's mom, dad and brother to divide the loot.  

The box was covered in bright Korean letters.  This built suspense since none of us could read what it said.  I got the whole gift opening process on video on my iPhone, but I'm having trouble uploading it to anything because it is so large.  Most of you would find this video boring and borderline strange anyway, so I'll spare you.  I'll have to resort to burning the video to a DVD and mailing it to you Lauren.  I know it will make you smile!

Lauren- We loved our gifts. (Mostly because they came from you.) I loved seeing your handwriting on the letter, and hearing your familiar jokes.  I loved being with your family and Meghan, because it made me feel like you're not so far away.  I love knowing that on the other side of the world you're thinking of us, and you're still our same ole Reem. Miss you kid.  Come visit us soon.

P.S. Send more "Calorie Balance" (they taste like lemon cookies).  In the words of Han Joo when first experiencing the greatness of Sonic, "I love it!"

...and then there were 3.

Lauren is back in South Korea safe and sound.  The Order of the 4 is back down to 3.  I had lunch with Kristin and Meghan today at Sticky Fingerz. 

Meghan has got me really wanting to learn to sew.  She has made some really cute things with her sewing machine!

She also made this cute flat iron bag.  We decided today that she is going to make some more to sell at the salon. 

I'm hoping she and Laura can help get me going on this sewing thing.  Maybe in the near future I'll have some cute projects to share with you.  Here is the sewing machine I'm thinking of purchasing.  (Any of you who sew feel free to send advice my way on whether or not this is a good choice.)

I've been feeling a little under the weather the past few days.  This has hindered my running.  I'm way behind on my training for the half in October!  I may be to ashamed to even share my time with you.  However, Gary agreed to run the Memphis half marathon with me again in early December.  So we'll just call the Soaring Wings half marathon my "warm up" for Memphis.

Today I made a Target stop and picked up two new CDs.  (I know, I can just buy them on itunes and put them straight on my iphone, but there is something still satisfying about have the album and book in my hands.)  I'm loving them both!  If you need some new music you should give these a listen.  Band of Horses newest album: "Infinite Arms" and "Volume 2" of She and Him. 

Meghan introduced me to this blog a little over a year ago.  I don't know these people, but I have fallen in love with their family.  Their son has SMS, and they have been working hard to put an album together using various indy artists to raise money for research on SMS.  I purchased the song "Nothing" from their album "Do Fun Stuff".  All the proceeds from the "Do Fun Stuff"album go to research on SMS.  You should check out his blog and the album!

Speaking of blogs you should check out... Laura started a blog today! Check out knick knacks of my life!

Tonight I had dinner at my parents' new house.  They are at a weird new stage in life and I'm still getting use to it.  They just downsized to a smaller house (one where none of us "kids" have ever lived).  My sister got her own house earlier this year, and my brother just moved to college last week.  They are empty nesters.  Strange.  The only thing that stays the same is that everything changes, huh? Here's my mom, sister, and I tonight after dinner:

It's back to work tomorrow.  This time of year is the slowest time of year for us hairdressers.  Maybe I'll get some reading done.  If you need a new look now is a good time to call us!

Our Weekend in a Nutshell

Yesterday after work we went to our friend, Kirt's, birthday dinner at Loca Luna.  We had a good meal and a fun time catching up with friends.  His cake had his dog, Augie, on it.  So cute! 

                                        

I also said goodbye to Lauren last night.  She started her journey back to South Korea this morning.  I don't know when the four of us will all be together again.  It was so nice to have her home for a while.  Kristin is still here for another week, so I'm looking forward to a little more time with her before she heads back to Delaware, leaving just Meghan and I here in Arkansas.

Today was pretty uneventful. Got a few things done around the house and heard a great message at Epoch Church tonight. 

I also signed up for "The Grocery Game" today.  If you're like me, and you spend a fortune at the grocery store every week, you should check this out!  They take all of the coupon inserts from the paper, mail, and online, and show you how to maximize your savings.  Each week you can select the items you buy at Kroger, Walgreens, or Super Target, and view a list of how to combine multiple coupons with items already on sale in order to save lots of money, and in some cases get things for free!  It's $5 a month, but you will save much more than that.  I'm kinda getting excited about my grocery shopping now...

Tomorrow is Monday which means I'm off work, Hopefully I can get some cleaning done around the house.

For the "Order of the 4"

Wow, it's been almost a year since my last update. I began to feel my life was not eventful enough to continue with my blog and I switched to shorter updates via Twitter (you should follow me btw, @katherinegrant). However, after some encouragement from my oldest, most beloved friends, I decided to pick back up. If I bore you with the mundane details of my life I apologize in advance and give you permission to skim and skip to the good parts...

Today, however, was an exciting day. I took a break from errands and housework to spend the day with my 3 oldest friends, the sisterhood of "The Order of the 4". Just a little background: Meghan and I live here in Arkansas, Kristin is in Delaware, and Lauren in South Korea. The 4 of us were inseparable in high school, but we have not all been in the same place at the same time for almost 2 years! So seeing them all at once today was... pure bliss.

We decided to split the day between two of our favorite pastimes: Games and pizza at Chuck-E-Cheese, and beading at Argenta Bead Co. What a fun time with my forever friends.

It's funny how things have changed over the past 7 years: we graduated high school and college, 2 of the 4 of us are married, and now we are spread out between different states and countries, but some things will never change... "We're loyal like brothers, just us verses all the others."

3/4 of "The Order" Reunited!

I had a slow day at work today, so I was able to sneak away and meet Meghan and Kristin for lunch. Kristin is in town from Delaware for 2 weeks. This is the first time since February we have had more than 2 of the 4 Order members together, and it felt wonderful! Lauren was the only missing link, but we did get to talk to her on the phone all the way from Korea.

Today after work, Gary and I ran 4 miles at the Big Dam Bridge. This was my first time to run 4 miles, so I was proud of myself. I did it in 43 minutes and 30 seconds. I'm slowly working my way up to 13. I also went all day today with out a Diet Coke or coffee. That's huge! I drank lots of water and I am hoping that helps with my endurance while training.

After we ran, Kristin and Meghan came over. We laughed and joked about some of the things we did in high school. It's amazing that has been 6 years ago! I love those girls. They are some of my longest friends! I'm looking forward to reuniting with Lauren in February.