GREG BROWN LIVE IN CONCERT!

My parents and I have front row tickets to see Greg Brown! The concert is March 4th (one month before my birthday!). I'm excited for my folks to see him and hear his music. Get a reintroducing to Iowa folk music.

Here's a picture of me on my 3rd Birthday with my Grandpa Wuennemann. I uncovered this picture this weekend in a box of my old stuff and wanted to share it. Just two kids enjoying a birthday!

I'm thinking about changing our honeymoon plans to the more practical and economical Niagra Falls (?)... could be fun! Here is the description for the suite...
Honeymoon PackageIn the Honeymoon Capital of the World, Luxury Suite Accommodations A Honeymoon Gift Package, full fallsview dining...
Honeymoon Packages include:
Luxury Suite Accommodations
A Honeymoon Gift Package including; a Bottle of Wine (a choice of Red or White from Niagara's famous wine region), 2 wine glasses, gourmet chocolates, a Niagara wine region corkscrew, and a special souvenir memory from the hotel.
Fallsview Dinner for two, one Evening at the award-winning Terrapin Grille (a $75 value)
Complimentary Cooked-to-order Breakfast for your entire party
Evening Manager's Reception with 2 Complimentary Alcoholic Beverages, each evening
Complimentary Casino, Falls & Attractions Shuttle throughout your stay Luxurious Fallsview Whirlpool & Fireplace Suites also available.Deluxe Honeymoon Packages Include:
Fallsview Suite Accommodations
Fallsview Dinner for two, one Evening at the award-winning Terrapin Grille (a $75 value)
Private Horse Drawn Carriage Ride along the Niagara Parkway at the base of the Horseshoe Falls
Strawberries Dipped in Chocolate delivered to your Suite
Bottle of Champagne delivered to your Suite
Turn down service with Rose Petals on your pillow
Complimentary Cooked-to-order Breakfast for your entire party
Evening Manager's Reception with 2 Complimentary Alcoholic Beverages, each evening
Complimentary Casino, Falls & Attractions Shuttle throughout your stay Luxurious Fallsview Whirlpool & Fireplace Suites also available.* Carriage ride must be booked at least 24 hours in advance* Hours of operation as of January 9/06 are: 12 noon until 5 pm Saturday and Sunday only* Hours of operation from February 11 - 19 / 06 are 3 pm until 9pm* Times are subject to change based on availability and weather permitting

The final day unpacking the parents
Well, today was my last full day in Cedar Falls with the folks. I'll be going back to Iowa City tomorrow. There are more reasons why my mamma's crazy... Our family dog, Gracie, is very old, partly deaf, and blind as a bat. Mom and her have a very precarious relationship.
Today I witnessed the following senerio. Mom took Gracie out to go potty. Unfortunately, Gracie gets disoriented and takes some time before she realizes its safe to let go... Well, today mom forgot she was out there. Pop-o and I were upstairs. I was washing my dog, Olivia and he was trying to get the scanner on his computer to work. We kept hearing barking. Pop-o asked me, "Who's barking?" and I said, "Must be the neighbor dog." All along Mom was listening but couldn't remember Gracie was outside in the sub-zero weather of Cedar Falls. Finally Gracie kept barking long enough for her to realize. Folks, this is what happens when the blind leads the blind.
I actually think my Pop-o is going deaf too.. Maybe my mom's jibber jabber cause all who lives with her to go deaf. My dog, Olivia, is a willing listener. I was listening to Mom chat with her earlier today and was giggling. I was in the living room with Pop-o and asked him if he could hear them (my dog wasn't actually saying much). He smiled really big and said, "Well at least this time she talking to something... Usually she's just talking..." We had a laugh about that.
I didn't have any major discoveries today. I had an excellent breakfast, however (eggs benedict, bran muffin, and fruit - does life get any better?). Also we have a very good lead on some lanterns for the wedding. Considerably smaller than I wanted but they might be OK. Also, their affordable!

Well, another day of going through boxes and boxes of memories. Today Mom and I found my old Cabbage Patch Dolls. Growing up these with my most prized possessions. This is probably why my brothers enjoyed torturing them (preferably in my presence) so much. My mother made bags full of cabbage patch clothes. I wanted to play dress-up so bad. I kept my African American girl cabbage patch, my red head with a tooth, my premie, my blond yarn haired cabbage, and last but not least, the only doll I actually remember the name to... Eldon Adon. My very first cabbage patch doll that I actually adopted in the presence of witnesses and swore to always love. Unfortunately, during the ride home after adopting him I stuck him out the window of the car to show the world my new baby and the wind frizzed his hair. I have three or four boxes of crap I want to keep but have no idea what to do with. Yikes! I still haven't found the ultimate booty... My baby blanket that my grandmother (I think) made for me. It was a quilt with blue satin lining and pink and blue flowers on top. I hope it pops up. The only other thing I can think of is that I left it at the professor's house (Where I lived shortly), the Stromer's house (also about a month or two of residence), or the Lowens... I don't think they have it because you can always count on SLo to notice something like that. My Mom is on the hunt for her knives and a antique mantel clock... There are more discoveries to be made.

I'm here in Cedar Falls at my parents' lovely new house. Yesterday, I went through boxes of my old stuff and have more to go through still. The most difficult thing to get rid of was bags and bags full of letters and cards from my childhood through high school and then into college. I have saved EVERYTHING and didn't even know it.
Its alright though. At least I'm not like my mother who has saved boxes and boxes of unopened happy meal toys. I'm a bit worried about her actually. My first thought was, "Man, Mom ate a lot of fast food". But then I remembered her obsession with happy meal toys was so deep that she actually never ate the food very often and that she actually gave that food to Gracie, the family dog. She used to tell me that Gracie would look depressed and she would buy her a happy meal. Well folks, now you know where I got my ideas of comfort food from! Above is a goofy picture of my moher to illustrate how crazy she is...
Things I'm most excited about taking back home are my cowboy boots, my art restoration projects, and my swatch watches. Mostly, because I want to sell the watches on e-bay. I also have a myriad of stuffed animals that make me sneeze to sort through. I could sell these as well. Its a dilemma.
Pop-o also wants me to take the slides back with me from our family vacations, ect. I have a slide scanner so that I could make them into computer files for keepsaking. However, Mom and Pop-o have about 60+ boxes of slides at about 80-140 slides per box... Now THAT'S a project!
Well, the folks are up now. Olivia got to sleep with them last night. I'm guessing their bed looked more appealing and well, Mom and Pop-o did spoil her all yesterday. Not to mention the coffee is READY! Time to spend another day in the lap of luxury.

Here is something fun to do.... It's called a Johari Window. Basically, It compares the way I describe myself with the adjectives that my friends and family use for me. Contribute to my Johari Window here...

Arena (known to self and others) extroverted, intelligent, observant, witty	Blind Spot (known only to others) able, bold, dependable, happy, helpful, independent, knowledgable, responsive, self-assertive, sentimental, spontaneous
Façade (known only to self) loving, searching	Unknown (known to nobody) accepting, adaptable, brave, calm, caring, cheerful, clever, complex, confident, dignified, energetic, friendly, giving, idealistic, ingenious, introverted, kind, logical, mature, modest, nervous, organised, patient, powerful, proud, quiet, reflective, relaxed, religious, self-conscious, sensible, shy, silly, sympathetic, tense, trustworthy, warm, wise

Dominant Traits

66% of people think that xkobertx is knowledgable
66% of people think that xkobertx is self-assertive

All Percentages

able (33%) accepting (0%) adaptable (0%) bold (33%) brave (0%) calm (0%) caring (0%) cheerful (0%) clever (0%) complex (0%) confident (0%) dependable (33%) dignified (0%) energetic (0%) extroverted (33%) friendly (0%) giving (0%) happy (33%) helpful (33%) idealistic (0%) independent (33%) ingenious (0%) intelligent (33%) introverted (0%) kind (0%) knowledgable (66%) logical (0%) loving (0%) mature (0%) modest (0%) nervous (0%) observant (33%) organised (0%) patient (0%) powerful (0%) proud (0%) quiet (0%) reflective (0%) relaxed (0%) religious (0%) responsive (33%) searching (0%) self-assertive (66%) self-conscious (0%) sensible (0%) sentimental (33%) shy (0%) silly (0%) spontaneous (33%) sympathetic (0%) tense (0%) trustworthy (0%) warm (0%) wise (0%) witty (33%)

Created by the Interactive Johari Window on 14.2.2006, using data from 3 respondents.
You can make your own Johari Window, or view xkobertx's full data.

Here are some more ideas for hairstyles. I can't even decide between up or down. I'm starting to understand the things that interest me and don't interest me and the things that just scare me to death about wedding planning...

Things I like:

Food, Cake, decor, theme, site scouting, flowers

Things I dislike:

music, DJ, invitations

Things that scare me to death:

My dress, beauty in general (hair, nails, makeup)... I know on the day it will be fun... but trying to get it right is a little overwhelming- I went to prom my sophmore year with a nice boy named Russ. I decided to wear my hair up... I ended up with a huge alien head. The problem? The hair didn't interact with the rest of me... It became a show of itself. I don't want this to happen to any one element of my appearence.

Here is an Idea for a hairstyle.
I know I'm going to be sweatin'. I hate that I sweat so much. I wish there was a shampoo/antiperspirant. That would be wicked awesome.

Things that make you go Poo.

Are there certain places or things that you do that make you automatically have to go "#2"?
While I sit here in the office of the BG I'm reminded that I always have to go at about this time down here in this basement office... Is it is the coldness of the office, the quiet, or the fact that I'm underground?
My money is on the quietness... I say this because the other place that makes me need to go poo is in the library. I often wonder as I'm squeezing my cheeks together in the library if everyone else has the same problem and if they do how many #2-s does the library see in a day? I bet it would be a high percentage of the total number of visitors there.
Often driving makes me have to go #2. Is it the motion of the vehicle?
I have never been a very regular person so i can never prepare myself for a #2. I can get into a number of "sticky" situations.... Friends who know me too well- "Keep your traps shut".

Well the cake is settled. The first baker I went to was in Cedar Rapids/Marion called Jules Bakery. I wasn't happy with the woman's approach to the customer relationship. She was more interested in making obstacles rather than solutions. Coming from a working background in a bakery as I have, I have come to know a lot of pastry chefs. There are those prima donnas who like to tell you what you can't do just to make themselves look smarter and holy-er than thou. I think the woman at Jules bakery was of this variety.
Anyway, my future mother in law gave me the name of a very nice woman who operates a bakery and catering business out of her home in Mount Vernon call Carol's Bakery. I met with her and I got along with her instantly and we got to talking about caterings and the business, ect., in no time. She was very solution orientated to what I wanted. She made Kent and I up a very nice sample cake of what we wanted: Hazelnut cake with a fudge frosting (unlike Jules who knew I wanted that but when I showed up to taste her cakes she just gave me her typical sample package of Red velvet, Pink champane, white and chocolate with buttercream icing). Carol's cake was AWESOME!!! It was exactly what I wanted: Something without buttercream icing (blech) that wasn't too sweet and had a good Italian flavor. My favorite chocolates while I was in Italy were the Baci. Baci are hazelnut flavored/mixed into chocolate. I think I actually saw pieces of hazelnut in the cake! Isn't that cool?... And its cheaper than the original bakery!
I'm having a bit of a problem with my "enter" key on this blog today. That can be rather annoying.
Anyway, Kent, My bridemaids, Melissa and Genevieve, and the reader, Sara all got to taste the cake. We all agree that it's awesome. I still have some left that I wanted to share my future parents-in-law and my momma and Popo but I don't know when they will have opportunity to do so.
I promised I would write a nice long blog for my friends who are all embarrassed because of the big picture of the woman in underwear that I posted. I guess a lot of you like to read this blog while at work. Sorry to all of you out there who have had to close out of this blog as if its a porn site because of the underwear picture. You know me... I don't really think about crap like that very often.
Anyway, Its saturday and I have a growing list of things in my head that I need to do.
1. CLEAN APARTMENT!!!
2. Call hotel and reserve rooms for night before the wedding.
3. Find DJ
4. Find music for wedding/ musicians
5. Register (maybe at Dillards and Target?- Haven't really decided yet)
6. Go to Houseworks and look for aforementioned votive lanterns that someone spotted for the reception.
7. Go to grocery.
8. Put air into stubborn European style tires on bike. Not as easy as you'd think.
9. Clean out car including putting away X-country skis that I've been toting around in hopes of more snow.
That's my list so far... But as I said, it keeps growing.
There has been lots of news in the Obert family lately. So if you haven't talked to any of us lately you may want to give us a call. Not me in particular but my parents and my siblings. I don't feel at liberty of sharing their news yet for them so I leave that up to them if they want to post, ect.
Well, better get back to cleaning. Happy Saturday!

p.s. While looking through a baby names book for my friend Genevieve I found out that Obert is a first name for a boy that means bright in Welsch or something. I had no idea. So I guess if Kent and i have a baby I could name hime Obert. I'm rooting for the name Sean Richard Nelson for her even though I might have to use the name Sean too. I probably wont tho'. What if I named my son Otis Obert Olson and his initials were O.O.O. Would he hate me forever? I had a friend Matthew David Davis who was mad that his parents gave him a middle name so close to his last name.
Here is a list of names I like for my children of "someday"
Olivia, Madison, Kelsey, and Grace-Annette for a girl.
Otis, George, Sean, Gregory, Antonio, or Jude for a boy. (I also like the name Levi but I have that name in mind for someone else.)

I've gotta keep this post short as I am at work but I have to share in my rejoicing that my parents have moved back to the United States!

"hooray!!!!!"

I hope everyone will join me in welcoming them back. I will be making a special trip around Feb. 16-20th to spend time with them at their new home in Cedar Falls. Well better get going in case big boss decides to drop in a give me a whuppin'

All work and no play make Katy an unhappy girl... :(

Hello... My name is Katy Obert...

And I am a bride-with-a-gut-and-enormous-TA-TA to be. I need to go on that "Biggest Loser- engagement edition" or something.
This is how my day went:
1.) Went to work (in very good mood)
2.) Talked a bridesmaid into staying my bridesmaid
3.) Went home to meet my soon to be husband. Found my rehearsal dinner dress I ordered had arrived. Got very excited and tried it on... Realized I'm in desperate need of heavy duty undergarments otherwise breasts will fall out of dress and smother friends and family.
4.) Went to talk to woman about baking a cake for my wedding. People... This cake is going to be goooood. Sorry to you people who don't like chocolate (who are you, anyway?) but I'm planning on a Baci candy inspired chocolate hazelnut delight!
5.) Went to Dillards with a nice gift certificate in hand to buy some undergarments for my sexy new dress that actually fits!!! Hooray.
6.) Spent an hour and a half circling lingerie dept. Without help of woman in doctor-like white coat with "fitting specialist" embroidery to help me. Tried on too small undergarments.
7.) Watched as my white skin turned pink from shoving too small undergarments around my body... Torture.
8.) Drove directly to gym to punish myself for being disgustingly overweight slob.
9.) Worked out on bike and treadmill for an hour.
10.) Got the stupid idea that I should try "Bodystep"
11.) Almost died from tripping overmyself trying to follow very tricky and fast aerobic "bodystep" workout. Then almost passed out from my fat suffocating my lungs.
12.) Went straight to car and drank a barrel-ful of water.
13.) Came home to find spaghetti nasty disaster left in our kitchen sink. Apparently Kent got hungry (then, refused to eat carb filled rubbish- ate an apple instead- good job Katy :))
14.) Sat down to computer to buy aforementioned heavy duty keeping in fat underwear for rehearsal dinner dress and wedding dress.
15.) That's it, really.

So you see... I've been very busy. A very busy chubby bride. That's me.

"I'm... gonna rock and roll all night.....!"

I thought of one last thing I want to post about... Wedding music. On my "Knot" website there is an RSVP option. When you RSVP on there you can choose whether you need a vegetarian meal AND what song you'd like to hear! I'm anxious to see what you all want to hear.
This is what I'm thinking about so far:
1st dance (Kent and I)- Fly me to the moon- Franky
Last dance- Unforgettable- Nat King Cole
Father-Daughter- Wink and a Smile or My Girl
Friends (Katy's)- anything Indigo Girls
Other songs:
Forever Young (for my parents- Mike and Annette)
Time after time
How sweet it is -Marvin Gaye version
Unchained Melody (of course)
They can't take that away from me
Anything Clapton, Beatles, Nina Simone
and last but not least-
gotta have Rock Ballads-
G-n-R, Poison, Warrent, Styx, Bon Jovi, Def Lepard, Led Zep, ect...

These pictures look a little awkward stacked on top of each other but it looks better than trying to put them side by side... Anyway, I want to have lanterns for my centerpieces and I'm going to need about 25-30 of them I think (at most). This could get pricey...
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions or finds some- Please let me know. I've already sent out e-mails to some of my family and friends to help look for them but this is turning out to me more difficult than I anticipates.
A few hints:
1. They don't need to match.
2. Used is fine
3. The cheaper the better
4. The more basic the better
5. They don't need to hanging or vice vera. I like the idea of them all being different.
Argh! Help!

The Block of Hotel Rooms

I reserved a block of 40 rooms at the Best Western Longbranch Hotel & Con - (319) 377-6386 - 90 Twixt Town Rd NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

Map of
90 Twixt Town Rd Ne
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402-3205

The rooms I reserved at mostly poolside with the option of non-poolside for a cheaper rate (one or two bed). I reserved mostly non-smoking rooms but all anyone has to do is request smoking. Guests only need to ask for the Olson/Obert block to reserve a room at the wedding rate. Kent and I have also reserved our honeymoon suite here. I plan to also have the sunday brunch for gift opening the next day in this hotel. I will reserve an alternate, more economical, alternative when we find one that is the most accessible to this, original, hotel.

You should be able to pan the map over on the link and see how close this hotel is to the reception. I'm pretty sure there is a bar in this hotel as well for some after hours cocktails.

I will have all this information in the invitations as well, of course.

p.s. I bought my attendant gifts today and BOY am I excited about them!

The Bridesmaid Dress
Here is a picture of the bridesmaid's dress I chose. It made by Bari Jay (follow the link for the website).It has an ivory organza sash in leiu of the pink. All the colors will be in the flowers and the attendants will remain neutral. I feel this heightens the oppertunity of being able to wear the dress again. Maybe that's every bride's pipe dream but in this case I think it is at least possible.

There will be one junior bridesmaid, Hannah (dudette). Her dress will be white with a sash to match the bridesmaids. I'll try to find a pic of that, too(went to website and couldn't find the dress. Maybe I am confused on the designer of that dress I found. I will do some investigating).

Here's the dress I chose for the rehearsal dinner. I bought it a size smaller than I should have bought but I want to use it as an incentive to keep working out and eating right. Today is double pay day and yesterday Kent's unemloyment was approved so we went out to dinner to celebrate not being completely broke.

I made a better choice than I could have. Instead of eating Italian or burgers we went to Oyama and had sushi rolls. We were seated next to the special ed teacher from City High. He's a lot of fun and it turns out he also lived in Florence for a year. We had a lot to talk about. His group brought a bottle of rice whiskey and they were nice enough to share it with Kent and I.

I need call Heart to Heart today and get swatches of the bridesmaid dresses for my future mother-in-law, my momma and florist. So I better get a little business done instead of doinking on the computer all morning.

Quick Update

Well, working out has been going fine. I haven't lost any weight yet but It's still early. Today and yesterday I had to work my second job. Tomorrow I will will get back in the gym again. I over exercised on Monday night. I didn't feel sore yesterday until night time. Today, I'm still pretty sore.
Kent is still looking for a job. Everyone should keep him in their thoughts because this thing is turning out to be more difficult than we anticipated. I hope he can find something really nice so I don't have to worry about money for the little things before the wedding.
It has been raining in Seattle for 20+ straight days and they are about to hit record amounts of rain. University of Washington had a frat that was closed down due to mud slides! This is where Kent and I are going to be moving. I hope Seattle gets this kind of rain out of the way before we move there. Or maybe I'll like all that rain. It will be different.
As for wedding business, I'm still worried about finding rustic looking votive lanterns for the reception tables. I also need to find a DJ and think about making a "Kids table". I can't wait until Mom moves back so I can get her working on some of these things. I made hair appointments for me, mom, and the bridesmaids. If anyone wants an appointment or if you are a bridesmaid and don't want an appointment- let me know and I try to find us all someone.
Other than that, Happy Hump Day!