Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Happy 2 Year Anniversary!

WOW! I've had this blog for 2 years. I still remember the day I decided to start the blog. Time has flown by! In those 2 years, I've posted 81 times and my blog has been viewed about 1,200 times. That's pretty impressive considering I don't really think anyone reads the blog. But anyways, the reason I blog is to document my life and hopefully, one day turn the blog into a book. I used to scrapbook but have no time for it now so this is my way of preserving my memories!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

New Years Resolutions

Last year, I made a bunch of New Years Resolutions and did a pretty poor job of following through with them. I read somewhere that if you write them down, you are more likely to follow through with them. I'm going to try it again this year and see how I do! These are the same 6 I had last year so we'll see how things go.

1. Work out at least 3 days each week- I started a new healthy living plan (aka diet) last week and worked out 4 times so I'm off to a good start!
2. Read at least 1 non-law school book a month (the book club)
3. Pay off one of my credit cards and stick to my budget (I got a job at a law firm so hopefully this will be easier)
4. Continue to strengthen my faith by praying more, reading scriptures, and going to church (not sure about church but the other things I think are doable. I just don't have much free time)
5. Eat less fast food and cook more (that will for sure help with the whole budget thing and the diet)
6. Try to eat a salad 5 out of 7 days each week (if I stick to this, that will be 260 salads in one year!)- failed miserably at this one last year but I'm going to give it another shot

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Book Club



On top of everything else I have going on, I joined a book club. Last week was the first time I met with the girls and it was a lot of fun. We read the book "Room" by Emma Donoghue and we met at IKEA because the book was about a room. I highly recommend the book. One of my goals for the new year is to read one non-law school book a month and I figured a book club would keep me on track.

Next month, we are discussing "The Help" by Kathryn Sackett. I hope its good!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Pirates!!!


Once I was back in Houston, life went back to normal. I went back to work, bought my books for school, and tried to relax as much as possible. One of the things my roommate and I did was to go see the Pirate exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science. It was such a cool exhibit and I learned a lot about pirates. I had a great time learning and its always nice to do something different. I couldn't take pictures of the exhibit but if the Pirate exhibit comes to your neck of the woods, I highly recommend it!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Christmas Vacation- part 3

This year for New Years, I went with a few of my friends to The Hyatt O'Hare. They had an 80s cover band playing, a pretend casino, and a Dj dance floor. We stayed at the hotel, which ended up costing us extra $$$ but it was worth it because at the end of the night, we just took the elevator up to our room! It was a fun evening and a great way to ring in 2011!
Here are a few pictures from the night-
Snooki was at the party (or maybe just a look alike) And just a side note, the outfits I saw throughout the night amazed me. Perhaps I'm too old to be hanging out with people in their early 20s because I would never wear some of the things I saw!
This guy and a few of his friends just started break dancing in the middle of the hotel
The Band!!!
And the countdown! Happy New Year!!!!
Now I'm all caught up on my blogging. School starts on Tuesday and my life will be over for a while. I'm taking a clinic and got a job at a law firm and still working at Williams Sonoma. I might just be crazy!

Christmas Vacation- part 2

While in Chicago, I did lots of fun things. One of those was seeing White Christmas the Musical. White Christmas is one of my favorite movies and I loved the musical. It was a little different than the movie and left out some of the good parts but it still had the same feeling and theme. I snuck this picture when the ushers weren't paying attention!
While downtown, we also went to the Kris Kindle Market in Daley Plaza. We go just about every year and I always enjoy it, even though it is freezing cold outside!
After New Years, my mom and I came down to the city again and did some shopping at the old Marshall Fields (aka Macys) and then we ate lunch in the Walnut Room. This is one of my favorite traditions. I remember doing this as a child and I hope that one day when I have kids, I'm able to continue the tradition. We thought the tree would be down already but we caught it on its last day up!
On our way back to the car, my mom and I stopped in the Chicago Conservatory. It used to be the Chicago Public Library and I had never been in the building. They have a huge Tiffany dome that is gorgeous. I also got some good pictures of Millenium Park.
After 3 long weeks of fun and relaxation, it was time to go home. I was ready to be back in my own bed but sad to leave my mom all by herself in Chicago. Anyways, this is what I woke up to when I left last week. SNOW!!! It had all melted right before New Years and I guess Chicago didn't want me to leave without getting another blast of it. The snow caused my flight to be delayed about 3 hours so I got to spend some quality time in Midway Airport before coming back to Houston.
Part 3 of Christmas Vacation will be New Years!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Christmas Vacation- part 1

This year, I was able to go home to Chicago for break. I was there for 3 weeks! I had so much fun and really enjoyed living in denial that I had a ton of things to do when I got back to Houston. I started off my trip the Chicago by doing a lot of baking. I love to bake and most of the time (when I don't burn things), I'm actually really good at it!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are pecan and cinnamon sugar cookie things (I can't remember what they are called but they were yummy!)
I also made snickerdoodles- my favorite!
These are ranch oyster crackers- also a favorite
For breakfast on Christmas morning- semi-homemade cinnamon rolls
And then for dessert on Christmas- Peppermint Ice Cream!

Here are some pictures of my mom's decorations around the house. She has such cool stuff!
The Christmas Tree-
My Mom collects wooden Santas
Close up of the Santas
We even have Christmas night lights!
And finally, even Leo got into the Christmas Spirit!
Up next- the Kris Kindle Market, White Christmas the Musical, New Years, The Walnut Room, and Snow!!!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Happy 2011!

Another year has come and gone. Where did the time go?!?!? Well, this past year flew by for me with school and life in general. I've had a great Christmas break and have enjoyed the holidays a little too much. I'm really not wanting to go back to school in 1 1/2 weeks. I have lots to blog about and will get to that maybe sometime this week but I wanted to post the Christmas card that I got made for FREE from Shutterfly. I didn't mail a lot of them out because I had already done regular Christmas cards. Plus, I think it looks a little funny with just pictures of me. Anyways, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! I'm really excited for 2011 and my 30th year of life!