I decided my first post is just going to be about me, so here it goes. My name is Katarina Strode (formerly Kutilek), I am an 18 year old from a small town in Missouri that no one has ever heard of, I graduated in 2016 as secretary of my class, married my best friend (who also happens to be a U.S. Marine), & am currently in college pursuing an unknown major because, let’s face it, who really knows what I want to be when I grow up.
Here’s a picture of me in a gown the same color as mustard.
Growing up in a tiny town, everyone knows everyone. My parents were both elementary school teachers, so it was even worse for my sister and I with everyone knowing our entire lives as we grew up, especially my parents divorce in 2009. I played every sport you could imagine until I had a my-best-friend-was-a-cheerleader-so-I-can-be-too accident in my front yard & broke my growth plates in my elbow. Many surgeries later, I was out of sports for good. So, I moved to choir, theatre, and speech & debate. I found my in-crowd in high school with the kids who everyone looked at with weird glances in the hall because they were singing & reading scripts while walking to class. Aside from those being my friends, I knew everyone in my high school, freshman & senior alike. I was “that girl” in high school, who seemed to have everything figured out. But jokes on them, I DID NOT. I changed my “when I grow up, I want to be..” about twice a week & chose my life plans by my feelings the minute someone asked me. About halfway through my senior year, I decided to play it safe & just go to our community college on a full scholarship while I figure my future plans out. I still don’t really know what I want to do, but hey, I’ve got time.
Now for my favorite part of my story. After my junior year, I had just broken up with my boyfriend & like every teenage girl, I was heartbroken. My friend & I went to eat sympathy ice cream (because frozen dairy fixes everything) & I went home after. A few days later, she asked if I wanted to go on a drive (a popular thing to do in my town) & I said yes & was on my way. I met her, the guy she was a thing with & that I had been friends with for years, & his friend, Jake. We all got in Jake’s Explorer (aka Dora The Explorer) & went to Kennedy Playground. On the way there, Jake talked to me about my recently-ex boyfriend & how I deserved better than this & he was sorry I had to deal with him. Once we got to Kennedy, our friends sat on the swings & were talking, so Jake & I did too. We talked about a lot for people who before that night just has passing smiles in the halls of high school. After a few hours, we decided to go home. We all parted ways & when I got home I messaged Jake on twitter & told him thank you for listening to me babble & that I felt we could be really good friends. He responded with his phone number. Now, if you ask Jake today, he would tell you that it was love at first sight. Not for me. I spent days ignoring his attempts to talk to me. Then, on a surprising turn of events (that will be in another blog entry), he stole my heart. We started dating August 1, 2015.
A couple weeks later, we started looking for a puppy (because what else do couples do). We decided on a precious Australian Cattle Dog Blue Heeler puppy & named her Mia. She is a hyper, well-trained (thanks to her dad), ball of spunk who enjoys taking up 9/10ths of the bed & chasing her tail. She was my rock & best friend when Jake was in boot camp. If you don’t know the joy & love of having a dog, I highly recommend.
A year later, my best friend Madeline was about to leave for college & she told me we were going out to eat after I got off work. We went, ate, & then when the bill came a picture of Jake & I was along with it. On the back was a note from Jake that had an address on the back. & so began my scavenger hunt to the place we first met (Kennedy Playground as aforementioned). August 6, 2016 I said yes to spending the rest of my life with my best friend.
After 4 1/2 months of being engaged, Jake & I were married on November 20, 2016 in a park near our hometown & it was everything I could have hoped the day to be & so much more. You’ll hear more of it in future posts, but here are some pictures to tide you over until then.
Thank you so much for reading this insanely long post all about the pretty boring me. I hope you keep stopping by when I post! There are many of stories & pictures to come! (:
-KS
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