15 Facts About Katy
Before returning to our regularly scheduled content, here’s some information about face behind Little Goose Garden
Katy is my full name; it’s not short for anything, just short. My mother insisted my middle name be Scarlett after Katie Scarlett O’Hara. Dad disagreed. My middle name is Marie.
I don’t drink coffee but I love the smell. I have an odd weakness for hugs from people that smell like morning coffee.
My close friends joke that I’m a grandparent in a young(ish) body. My joints pop every time I move, I groan when I sit, I love puzzles and gardening, I constantly have to pee, I’m always down for a nap, and I love 4 pm dinner. The list goes on but you get the idea. I’m an old man.
I’ve only been stopped by airport security once to have my bag searched. It was because I brought plant cuttings home from Colorado. No, they weren’t contraband.
I’m blessed by the magic trifecta of anxiety, depression, and ADHD. While they don’t define me, they certainly make life interesting. The therapeutic gardening I practice is just as much for me as for the people I work with.
Missouri is my current home but not my only one. I was born in North Dakota and soon after, my family moved to Georgia, where my father is from. After 5 years back there, we moved to Colorado where we spent the next 11 years. I consider Colorado my first home because that’s where most of my memories growing up take place. In 2011, we packed up and moved back to Georgia. My parents still live in Augusta, and most of my father’s family lives in the state. Some of the most precious people in my life came into my life while living in Augusta so I can’t help but call it home. One of whom is my now husband, Andrew. When he got out of the military in 2019, he moved back to where he grew up, the St. Louis area of Missouri. I followed shortly after.
I’ve climbed a fourteener, which is a mountain with a peak reaching 14,000 feet or higher in elevation. I hiked to the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado but didn’t go back down the side due to snow making it unsafe. It was June. My group took the railroad back down instead. We had already had some close calls and it was definitely the right choice.
I was recently diagnosed with PCOS and I’m still struggling to edit my lifestyle to be a healthier version of me. I’m encouraged by other ladies with PCOS and the progress they’ve made. Maybe in a year or two, mine will be amongst the successes. For now, in its newness, the progress I make is mostly psychological… and that’s hard enough on its own.
I have one dog, named Rose, that Andrew and I adopted a few years ago. She is the perfect pup for our life and I don’t know how we got so lucky. She’s a Great Pyrenees and Golden Retriever mix with a little Chow Chow. Somehow she’s black. She’s such a chill goober and loves lazy days as much as we do. There’s no comparison to her.
I’m a chronic over-complicator and catastrophizer. My husband didn’t answer his phone? He got in a terrible car accident. I failed the first time I tried something? I’ll never be good at this. I want something? I tell myself all the reasons it’ll never work. I’m my own worst enemy and it’s something I work on every day.
The red hair is natural. I used to wish to be blond because all my friends were. I hated my mom for refusing to let me dye my hair. Now I’m so grateful to her. I’m proud of my natural hair.
Plants and gardening have always been part of my life. I remember filling ice cream buckets with cherry tomatoes with my Grandpa and Grandma, and blueberries at my Granny and Papa’s house. My father once desired to study botany and even owned a landscaping company for a while.
I tend to lead with kindness and empathy, which I consider my biggest superpower, especially given how many times I’ve been taken advantage of. If you’re the same way and always see the good in people, don’t harden yourself. You’re doing the strongest thing you can do; you love without conditions.
I can’t stand the sound of chewing. I don’t even like to hear myself chew. I’ve been known to tell Andrew to leave the room if he’s eating something crunchy or soupy and I’m not eating anything. I have to drown it out somehow.
I dream of having a big expanse of land to share with my family and friends. I imagine a commune of sorts, several houses on loads of land for space to be apart but close enough to do life together.
If you made it through this list, you deserve this photo of my glorious Rose basking in the sun between tossing wood chips across the yard.
Follow me on social to see other personal and garden content, as well as alerts when garden blogs are published!
For even more content from Little Goose Garden, subscribe below.