DEAR CARLY,

Dear Carly,

I would like to pretend that the reinstaliation of blogging was my idea but... alas it is all for you!
Now you have something TO STALK! : )
I really enjoy procrastinating (obviously) so this is what I am doing instead of finishing writing about how to solve racism manifested in children. NOW THE WORLD IS gonna go to POT because of you!
; )

Okay, so this is going to be a weird compilation of
as many things I can think of that are pertinent to understanding me!
You (Carly) probably already know them... but this was kind of fun so my other followers (ha!) can see how I perceive myself.. ish. 


These are my parents. Adam and Tina. Please note that Star Wars poster in the background. Explanation: This is a family friend's quiceañera (and being 15) she really wanted THAT poster to be in the ballroom. Anyway, my parents. They are awesome. They have given me so many opportunities in life I am so glad they are mine and I also really enjoy that they are still in love and show my siblings and I what the sacrament of marriage actually means. I think they only people I am cool about bragging about is my family and so I have to say something else. THEY LOVE EVERYONE!!! Ask any of my friends! They are just really loving people and they show me how to be loving to ALL people.

 Okay, so this is Pal and I. I love him very much (as much as you can love an animal) HOWEVER, sadly, I realize that I do not get to spend a lot of time with him because of my academic life and that whole growing up thing. So, recently I have decided that I need to find a place for him where he will get the attention he needs. This is really sad for me because I've had him since he was 4 months old. I will keep you posted on this.

 These are not all of my instruments, they are my friend Eric's. He plays tons of string instruments. I'm super jealous. This photo represents my lust for all things musical. It could potentially be unhealthy.
I like ALL music except well, heavy metal, most rap... and then there is always Country music. If you want to know how I feel about country music you will probably have to ask me because it is a very complex relationship... not hate... not love. But there is something; something that I appreciate and something that I abhor about country music.

 SISTER CAMP!!! The Dominican Sisters in Ann Arbor come to our Parish every summer for a week of super fun SISTER CAMP! In this photo I am singing with the kids during a sever weather alert... that's why we are all in the hallway. I was trying to keep them from getting too scared. It worked for the most part. SO... I love kids! A LOT!! Especially if they are young, difficult, or the underdog! But I love them all! I also LOVE sisters... although I really don't feel called to the religious life (at the moment_though I'm open) and I LOVE  MUSIC.  

 This is a photo of the choir I have participated in since I was a kid. It's called ALL GOD's CHILDREN CHOIR. It was created to promote tolerance and bring diverse groups of people together using MUSIC! My favorite things combined. This photo was taken at my house... my super awesome parents host a picnic for the choir every summer. Okay, so, I've tried to break away from this choir since I graduated. But, it's been hard. I wrote the very first song I ever wrote for this choir. It was for a performance for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I wrote it when I was 15 and they sang it for three years after that. I also interned with the choir to establish a youth branch two summers ago. This choir is my family! :  ) I love them all! I met my first social worker in this choir... Sandy Feldman. She is the person who inspired me to pursue social work as a profession (it has always been a passion).

 
CHICAGO. I love Chicago. I ALSO LOVE FALL. Fall is my FAVORITE SEASON!!!
I love the colors, smells, cool weather and the anticipation of CHRISTMAS! I also really like Thanksgiving (for secular holidays).

My friend Jaimie and I are officers for SMEAC Saint Mary's Environmental Action Coalition), we painted this last week for EARTH WEEK. I LOVE THE EARTH. I am on the verge of being a tree hugging, peace loving, hippie. On the verge. I do love the earth but I love PEOPLE FIRST.

 Does this even need an explanation. She is my favorite. I also love GHANDI.... and well India in general... I really really want to go there. We have had two priests from India. Great things come from that country... I will go there someday.

 SINCE IT IS OCTOBER I thought I would share this photo. This is from back in the day when all the kids lived at home. We each did a pumpkin. Good times. Honestly though, Holoween is my least favorite holiday... it's not aesthetically pleasing at all and it is loud and involves unhealthy food and whatever spiritual aspect it used to contain is totally lost in the hoopla. But I'm not passionatly against it ... I just don't like it.

St. Joe in the summer. Beautiful. Note: this new water fountain to play in. It is weird to me because the lake is right behind it... why do we have a fountain right next to the beach? I kind of hate the fountain because it is just to draw in tourists... I'm not particularly fond of tourists but I know they are a necessary evil. 

 I take photos of everything... and lots of random things. I really ENJOY photography but It has kind of always been my older sister's thing. I have about 50 photos of Starbucks from all around the world. I will find them one day and put them together on here BUT THE POINT IS. I am a coffee addict. There is no getting around it. It is who I am and I have learned to embrace it.

Um, okay. SO... these are my old honorary roommates.  Mary is the only one left but this is to say that I am so PROUD of all of them... specially you CARLY Miss. Valedictorian. I like having smart friends it makes me feel important. 

 Okay, this is actually my sister BUT it is to show that I am a swimmer... or rather, used to be a swimmer. ALSO it shows that I hate being photographed especially in a swimsuit. My sister was always a GREAT SWIMMER and I was okay.. but I enjoyed it. We were both lifeguards all through high school... I actually kind of hated being a lifeguard but It definitely beat being a waitress or working at a grocery store!

 This is the 5 of us with my DAD. He is awesome. I think I was like 12 or 13 in this photo? We are all definitely daddy's girls... can't help it.

 My mother made this pie! I LOVE PIE!!! So does my sister JESSICA! : )
I would like to take a moment to say that there is no way in hell that I could make this pie right now... I am not the best cook or baker. My mother was a professional baker when I was younger. She made beautiful things including WEDDING CAKES. She also cooks very well. So does my dad. I never wanted to but NOW I REALIZE I have to step up my game. My goal is to learn to cook ALMOST as good as my mom. : )

 My puppy (220lb Mastif) Sr. Dartagneon Kohler. BEST DOG EVER. RIP. 
Note: All of our animals have crazy names such as: Frida Kahlo, Faustina, Benedict, Isabella, Gustav...ect.

 This is a photo of my dad after he grew a beard for two months when I was in Guatemala.
The story: So, I LOVE WHEN MY DAD HAS A BEARD. He doesn't like it so much. So when I was a Jr. in High School I went away to Guatemala for 2 months... when I came back my dad had a BEARD! He grew it for me and the second that I saw it I started to cry. My dad really loves me enough to wear a beard he hates for 2 months! He shaved the next day.

 I LOVE FALL. THIS IS FALL AT MY HOUSE!!! : )

I love art. I love all forms of art but I am only good at Music and Drawing / Painting. Oh! I also like poetry A LOT... and have a knack for it but my poems are always songs now... I rarely write a poem just to sit on a page to be read... I force them on people by singing them!!

Our town does this thing called chalk the block... trying to emulate European countries that do street drawing. I LOVE IT. I did it for three years in high school. SUPER FUN!

 My house. My house is small. BUT IT IS FULL OF LOVE. I love my house a lot especially when there is good food cooking or coffee brewing : ) and especially now that the CATS HAVE TO LIVE OUTSIDE. I HATE CATS!

 This is a photo I took at a squaters house in SEVILLA (for a project).
I like it because... well, it's true. We need to STOP RACISM.

 THIS IS MY FAVORITE PROFESSOR AT SMC. Why? because he has dreads. I LOVE DREADS!!
I (thanks to my friend Hannah Beth) had a short stint with dreads but I am too lazy and incompetent to keep them up. So... that's why I have them no longer.

 I LOVE LOURDES!!!!! Bernadette was my patron of choice form a very young age and naturally was my chosen name at Confirmation. It was so SO awesome to go to Lourdes with my mom at the beginning of Holy Week when I was studying abroad.

 Sevilla. If you want to know how I feel about Sevilla... look at my blog called SEVILLA!!

 I am learning to like football... I never went to a single game before this year (my last year) and I am realizing that it is actually fun. I am learning to like football.

 GUATEMALA. My first experience living en el extranjero. This was totally different from Spain becasue well... I was younger, we lived in a poor community and my Spanish was atrocious. I am so thankful for the opportunity though because it was after this trip that I decided that I was going to Study Spanish and Social Work at Saint Mary's College and that I was going to study abroad for the year. I think I grew leaps and bounds during those two months... metaphysically of course.

 I LOVE WATER. Besides coffee and ... WINE it is the only beverage I prefer. THUS, I have always loved my water bottle. This water bottle died last spring. It took me about 3 months to find a sufficient (aesthetically pleasing and functional) replacement.

 My church. I love my church. If you live in south bend you should go there (St. Joseph Parish in St. Joseph MI) sometime... it's worth the drive. WE HAVE A PERPETUAL ADORATION CHAPEL. I love my church because when I come home I am surrounded by my community. It's great. It is a little annoying that it butts right up to the road though... It would make a wedding procession difficult.  Speaking of which... I hope to someday be married in this church. Unless of course my future (hypothetical) fiance has a REALLY GREAT REASON to be married somewhere else.

Also, FACTS: I am a pretty healthy eater except when it comes to ice cream, I like the idea of working out, I love people but I'm an introvert, I like thinking about things and daydreaming, I don't eat meat but I'm definitely going to feed my children meat one day, I am super complex and generally contradictory in my beliefs... I like to laugh, I like to visit with people, I hate to study, I like writing papers though, I hate deadlines, I talk too much ... I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC but am trying to wait until Thanksgiving this year... I like to argue a little too much... I'm a little sarcastic (sassy) I LOVE TO TRAVEL... and I really would like to be a mom someday and have a big family of biologicall and adopted children... that was the first job I ever wanted and now I'm back to where I was when I was 5. : )

And for now I think that is as much as I can stand to say about myself. THIS IS FUN!! 

Carly, I hope you enjoyed this. 

Un fuerte abrazo,

Katherine Kohler : )