Katy Loves

..and we’re off! Almost.

katy — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:30:08 +0000

DC, watch out, these two crazies are coming for a visit.

We’re almost off to DC! Almost. Just one sleep and a half-day of work for Adam and we’re going, going, gone. I cannot believe it’s here! It’s been quite a few years since we’ve had a vacation. I say it’s our first real one since our honeymoon, but Adam pointed out that we did a North Carolina road trip a few years ago so I’ll give him that one.

I had my first day on Monday at my new job and it went very well. It just feels good to be contributing to my household again and to be offering my skills somewhere. It’s good for the ole heart, you know?

Anyway.

Off to DC tomorrow. I’ll be lugging my camera around everywhere to document the trip, so expect a few posts about it next week. I’ll also be posting on Instagram as well. Until then, I’m off to get ready. Working today, cleaning the house later, laundry, packing, losing my mind a little. The usual.

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lattes and grilled cheese sandwiches

katy — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:57:08 +0000

Yesterday, as I Adam and were texting each other trying to figure out what to have for dinner, he heard about a fun event at a local coffee shop. Every month they have latte throw downs where baristas get together and compete in (how do I put this scientifically?) froth design. I have always caught glimpses of the latte throw downs on Instagram and was excited to finally get a chance to go and watch it live. When Adam mentioned there would also be grilled cheese sandwiches there for dinner, well that sealed the deal. Oh Charlotte food trucks, you’re pretty darn phenomenal. We headed over to the Elizabeth neighborhood to Central Coffee Co. and had such a good time. I really wish I had the skills to participate, but I’ll just enjoy free lattes and cheer on the pros.

This week has been a little crazy, but I have some good news to share before we head off into the ~~sunset~~ weekend. I got a job! I’m really excited to start working with a startup here in Charlotte starting on Monday. It’s really part time right now, so I can still take on a few other things which is great since Adam and I have a project up our sleeve as well. Oh and next week we go on vacation to DC! So much to look forward to. But first? The weekend. I hope you have a wonderful one!

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four years

katy — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:17:47 +0000

[ photos by Cory Callahan ]

Yesterday we celebrated four years together as husband and wife, that Adam and I. It’s been four amazing years, but by no means has it always been easy. I don’t think I’d ever want it to be 100% easy all of the time, though. It’s the tough times that have made our bond stronger than ever. I love him more as each day passes and am blessed to be able to call him my husband. He’s the greatest guy I know, really. I love you, Adam Hill. Thank you for loving me so well and being there for me through everything. Life really is a roller coaster, with it’s ups and downs, and I’m so glad you’re the one sitting next to me on the ride.

We celebrated last night with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and fro-yo. The real celebrating is in a couple weeks when we head to DC! I can’t wait for vacation with Adam. We haven’t had a true vacation together since our honeymoon, so we’re excited to say the least. Hooray to four years and to many, many, many more together. Hooray!

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A gray, gray weekend

katy — Mon, 06 May 2013 14:00:53 +0000

This weekend was fun despite the deep, thick and misty gray clouds that filled the sky like insulation surrounding a home. It’s so hard to wake up on dark days, isn’t it? Come on out anytime, sun, we miss you dearly. Luckily, it didn’t rain on Saturday because we helped some friends move all day. I tell you, you know you have good people in your life when you leave their house after eight hours of moving and say “man, that was fun”. Perhaps it was more fun because it wasn’t our stuff we were moving, but still. Great people, great time. The weather was cool and windy, which made the moving more enjoyable as well. I’ll take cloudy and cool over hot and humid any day. Call me crazy.

But then Sunday. Oh Sunday. Adam wasn’t feeling well and I couldn’t wake up in what had become not only gray and cloudy skies, but now rainy as well. A constant stream of drizzles and downpours. Oh me oh my, this weather puts me in a semi-comatic state for the greater part of the day. Is it seriously May? We spent most of the day driving around looking at neighborhoods we’d potentially like to call “home” some day. Not sure when that will happen, but it’s always nice to dream and plan, you know? We joke that driving around Charlotte is one of my favorite past times only we’re completely serious. Put some good music on the CD player and I’m good to go.

And now today…

Still gray. Still rainy. Still dreary. But my soul is not. She’s rarin’ to go. Bring it on, week. Oh and when I say “it”, I mean the sun of course.

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a new baby and random thoughts

katy — Thu, 02 May 2013 17:46:12 +0000

I’m in the process of cleaning out my closet and drawers, making donate/keep/sell piles and listing things on Threadflip. I have this urge to get rid of the old and in with the new and well, being mostly unemployed doesn’t allow for many shopping sprees. So I get rid of what I don’t wear(some of it’s painful to let go, some not so much) and I sell them. Pass them along to someone else who will breathe life into a piece. This allows me to release the clutter and only hold onto what I truly wear and truly enjoy.

It’s hard though, isn’t it? To let go of the old. The past. The stuff that holds us back. Can you sense that I’m talking about more than just clothes at this point? We hold onto it all and it fills our heads and closets with things that hide the best of life from us so we have to dig and search for the good stuff. For the joy, for the happy. We waste energy contemplating for the hundredth time if something looks good on us, or if something is the right choice/move for us and really if we have to ask so many times doesn’t it make the answer pretty clear? These are all the things I’m thinking of as I type so if it makes little sense, forgive me. Just the things I think about sometimes.

My mother, the new grandma, holding her grandson.

Last week was one of the most stressful in a very, very long time. For many reasons I won’t list here. But it ended with the birth of a new family member. My sweet new nephew, Griffin Charles was born early Thursday morning. It made the stress of that week melt away the minute I held him. It was such a stark contrast to the first half of the week, one that felt like a years worth of stress was resting on our shoulders and had gathered there in just a matter of days. Then I met this baby boy. And I realized it’s all going to be okay.

Thankfully, this week has been much kinder to us. One thing I realized is that I still need to keep blogging more often. It inspires me and it’s one of my few outlets. I need words. Words help me make sense of things when life gets crazy. I love them, those words. Journaling, songwriting, blogging, conversations. Words make me happy. It’s funny that I stopped blogging as much to release myself from pressure, but I felt more difficulty not blogging than in making sure I blogged regularly. I need to find a happy medium, my sweet spot. I’m looking for it and I’ll find it when I just start sharing my heart and staying true to myself. So with that, I’m signing off for the day. To continue the decluttering and making room for the good stuff.

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DC, here we come

katy — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:18:18 +0000

[ Print by Art ShArk Designs on Etsy ]

Next month we’re taking our first, real vacation since our honeymoon. We’ve taken small trips and had day adventures that we tied in with other things, but this is truly a vacation and we can’t wait! It’s so needed. We were deciding between a couple different places, but finally chose to head to DC. Since food and drink usually top our to-do lists, DC and it’s free museums leave us extra money to splurge a little more on dining. We spent a half-day there three years ago when I went to a blogging conference and we had the BEST time in just a few short hours. Having a few days to really explore the city is going to be a ton of fun.

So this is where we need your help, all you DC folks. Where must we eat, drink and go while in Washington D.C. next month? Any recommendations on affordable and nice hotels? Thanks for the help!

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Dear husband

katy — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:04:30 +0000

Better Together by Jack Johnson on Grooveshark

Better together by Jack Johnson

Happy birthday to my love, my best friend and just a downright absolutely amazing human being. I’m blessed to call you mine and so excited to celebrate you this weekend! I love you to the moon and back and know this is going to be your best year yet.

With all my love,

Katy (aka, the wife)

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Neighbour

katy — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:00:23 +0000

Photo by the very talented Joseph Elliot. I mean, just look at his photos they’re amazing.

A funny story about Kacie. That story is the one of how we became friends. We both share a mutual love of Brooke Fraser and as I was watching Brooke’s music video for her (then) new single “Something In The Water” I noticed some covers to the right in the sidebar. I clicked on one and was blown away at how good it was. I remember thinking that if I ever did a cover, I hope it sounded half as good as this one. It was hers. Cut to two years later and I notice another musician I love mention a Kacie Williams. I thought the name sounded familiar and discovered it was the same girl. So I e-mailed her and told her this story of social media going full-circle.

Well, we’re now good friends as Kacie lets me go on and on in epic, long e-mails all about music. It’s wonderful to know someone who totally gets it, you know? No matter what your passion is, it’s hard for someone to understand why you love something so much unless they love it just the same. They say God places people in your life at different times for different reasons and I know that’s how it is with Miss Kacie.

Her band, Neighbour, just released a new music video and I wanted to share it with you all. She’s so talented and the video is fantastic. I hope you like it as well and check out her EP which is FREE right now. You heard that right.

Now hear this and go get that EP of hers!

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I miss the 90′s

katy — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:26:07 +0000

That would be me, in the 90′s.

First it started with this video that took me back. Then I got to YouTubing my favorite 90′s classics which then led to me making a playlist full of my favorites and some other songs thrown in there because, well, what’s a 90′s playlist without Hanson and the Backstreet Boys. I’m just sayin’.

Music defines times for me, it’s like a time machine. I remember the song “Hey Jealousy” by the Gin Blossoms was a hit when I was six and we took a vacation to Colorado. I remember sitting in the car while we ran errands the day we left, listening to that song and loving it so much that a simple drive in an old Volvo became memorable to me. I remember staying up late when I was in fifth grade, just so I could hit “record” on my tape player when my favorite songs came on the radio. My mom let me listen to music to “fall asleep”, but to be honest I could never sleep. Ever. I stayed up as late as it took to listen to and record my favorites. I really didn’t get much sleep back then. I’d stay awake at night making imaginary music videos to songs in my head.

I remember staying home in the summer, planted in front of MTV hoping to catch the video for “Wonderwall” or “Crash Into Me” (you know, back when they actually played music) because they were the songs that made me fall in love with music. Needless to say, times in my life are defined by music. So here are some of my memories of the 90′s. I could go through most of these songs and explain in detail what memory is tied to it for me, but that would be one very long blog post. So for now, enjoy listening and traveling back in time with me. Deal?

90\'s Faves by Katy Hill on Grooveshark','hspace':null,'vspace':null,'align':null,'bgcolor':null}" alt="" />

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oh the doubts

katy — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 20:38:42 +0000

So this is a post about how dreams can not only be scary, but they can make you doubt yourself in every way possible.

Do you ever notice how big dreams often seem like a joke to some people? Let’s be honest here, to be a successful, professional musician is not the most stable career choice, nor is it the easiest to obtain. What am I even doing?

Yesterday I spent two straight hours recording a two minute song over and over and over and over. On one hand, I practiced guitar for two hours and my almost-calloused fingers are thankful for that. On the other hand I felt like I wasted those two hours because I hated every. single. take. It was frustrating. Granted, I am relying on barely-there guitar skills, a mic built into my laptop and Photobooth to record it(with dogs who barked during the best takes), but still. I felt so defeated by the end of it and just wanted to curl up and sleep the rest of the night away. Feeling like you’re inadequate for the big dreams God has placed on your heart is one of the worst feelings. To want something and feel like you can’t have it because you’re not good enough(or so those little lies in your head tell you).

The worst.

It brings up all sorts of icky feelings. Regret that I didn’t major in music in college or stick with piano lessons and guitar lessons when I took them as a kid. When all I had to do with my time was music. I didn’t have bills to pay, the stress of being basically unemployed wasn’t on my shoulders. If only I could walk up to fourteen-year-old Katy and tell her to stick with guitar, that it does get easier and it’s so worth it because it’ll hit you one day that a career in music is all you ever wanted. It’s what you love, it’s what makes you feel alive. That you think in lyrics for a reason.

I don’t know where I’m going with this except…words. I needed to put down these words. I need to stick with it for me today and stop doubting myself so much so that 30-year-old Katy doesn’t come back and bash me over the head with a guitar, because I don’t play it anymore. I need to keep going. I have so much to prove, I really do. Mostly to myself. The main thing I’m lacking is confidence. Confidence in myself, confidence in my voice.

It’s not going to magically come together right away, it’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of hard work. Work I want to do.

The doubts and the lies that flood my mind? They prove I’m onto something good. I just know it.

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Katy Loves

..and we’re off! Almost.

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