On existing

In the winter, I'm like a bear. I leave my cave for sustenance and necessity only. Although, unlike a bear, the sustenance is Duck Walk Thai food, Ringo Sushi, and DMK burgers - not an SUV full of Cheetos and teenagers. Also unlike a bear, necessity means the occasional manicure, window shopping on Armitage, and a stroll down Michigan Avenue (if I'm feeling brave).

I leave for work covered in layers of down, wool, and cotton. I come home covered in slush and salt - a less-appealing version of a margarita. However, a few things have made winter more tolerable:

•Monopoly on my iPhone
•my electric blanket
•the fleece Disney princess blanket my sister made me for Christmas
•Interior decorating projects with my tall friend
•The Fountainhead - what an amazingly complex and entertaining book!
•fun dinner and football parties
•houseguests!!
•planning surprises for my tall friend

January is fading fast. I'm going to make it!!

Decorating fun!

Since we moved into our apartment in July, we've had a blast decorating and settling into our new home.  (We're hoping to live here for the entire time we're in the city.  We recently found a rug for our living room.  Let me preface this by saying we have been searching for months for a rug to cover the floor in our living room.  My parents thought that the room seemed a little bare. They were right.  We just happen to be incredibly picky about rugs for some reason.  Here is a before picture, taken about a week after we moved in:



Here is our living room now:



Our Crate and Barrel rug (on sale!) warms the room up and makes it so much cozier.  My husband's next project will be repainting the canvases that hang over the couch.  He likes to paint them to match the room decor.  Our next colors will be sage and purple.  It saves us a ton of money on decorating to DIY as much as we can.

Spring is coming!

I enjoyed an incredibly relaxing weekend.  We threw a dinner party for two of our favorite couples.  My husband made a great meal of greek gyros with homemade cucumber sauce, cous cous, greek salad, and tahini basted steamed carrots.  

On Saturday, we went shoe shopping.  I need a great pair of pumps for my work events in NYC and Boston this week.  I picked out these pumps 

but my husband decided that these pumps  would be perfect for spring.  I absolutely agree. :) I got both pair to celebrate my slightly better week at work.

This week -- NYC and Boston.

Homemade pizza day!

Book review: Dirty Sexy Politics by Megan McCain

Don't waste your time.  I thought that I would give it a try.  I was a little hesitant, as I'm not a huge MM fan.  I do like her dad, though.  I wanted a light, easy audiobook to listen to during my commute everyday, as I get tired of the same music over and over again.  It is every bit as vacant as I thought it might be -- okay, maybe a little worse.

This review is probably a better assessment of her than I could ever provide.

She proves only that throughout the campaign she tried to attach herself to her father's campaign, while knowing nothing about politics, image, and/or selflessness.  It's a blatantly narcissistic look at the 2008 campaign.  It's incredibly interesting to see the campaign through her eyes -- until you realize the narrowness of her focus.  I wasn't all that impressed.

Good things lately

A raise 

Sister moving to Hawaii for three years-- good for her but I'll miss her!  

Wedding planning!


More quality time with my favorite tall friend


Impending visit from college roommate at the end of January

Increasing the frequency of my post-gym time

My newfound love for Ann Taylor's suits -- I already love their skinny jeans.  Their Modern fit work pants are phenomenal.

Lots of snow

NYC and Boston next week

Yay!

Even more exciting than my own wedding . . .

is my SISTER'S wedding! Isn't she gorgeous?
 I didn't keep a wedding blog while I was planning my own wedding.  I didn't have time.  I was going through pretty much every life change that you could possibly go through at that time: moving, changing jobs, etc.  However, now that my baby sister is engaged, I get to enjoy planning her wedding (and live out my dream of one day becoming a wedding/event planner).

My sister is an extremely casual, laid-back person.  She likes what she likes and everything else -- she doesn't.  She is a private person and doesn't like to be the center of attention.  She is beautiful and hilarious.  She has pretty dark hair and lovely features. Her fiance is much the same.  He's a quiet, kind person and very handsome. They make a great couple.  They deserve a wedding that fits them and their happy, relaxed relationship.

We started planning her wedding this afternoon.  In one day, she has already:

• chosen a date
• booked the rehearsal dinner venue
• booked the wedding venue/reception venue
• booked a pastor 
• booked hair appointments 
• selected her matron of honor :) & 
• narrowed down her color selections. 

Next on the list: 

• Photographer
• Dress
• Flowers 
• Cake 
• Decorations 

Yay!! 

Productive Saturday

After a long week, it was a relief to have no plans today.  I was able to rest (I think I'm getting sick), get some reading done, lots of cleaning, and lots of cooking.  This weather is perfect for staying indoors.  Plus my husband is working a long shift this weekend -- lots of me time.

I made pesto for the very first time.  It was fantastic -- thank you for the cookbook, Holly!


I made a double batch so that I could freeze some in ice cube trays for small portions with pasta during the week.


I also made vegetable lasagna -- by the time it was finished I was too tired to eat.  I'm assuming it's good.  It's not charred, at least.

Finally, I made cranberry/orange biscuits.  They ought to be good in the morning.



(pictures are for dramatic effect -- I did not go to the trouble of staging my culinary creations. :)

ooooh! I'm in love . . . with a very random assortment of things

It's the little things that make surviving winter so much easier . . .

Like truly preppy accessories found HERE  <3 Kiel James Patrick!

Like amazing Greek yogurt . . .



Non-sticky lotion



broccoli (weird addition, I know)



pears



My new perfume


My favorite drugstore nail polish



my new cheap moisturizer



Bare Minerals makeup -- best makeup I have ever worn



That's probably enough for now.  Focusing on other things I love helps me survive these miserably cold Chicago days! Happy weekend!

How I rang in 2011

Typically, my husband's friends from college always find a way to get together on New Year's Eve. Our parties have become very tame house parties as the years have passed.  This year was much the same.  It was phenomenal to see our friends who are moving to London for four months and our friends from San Francisco.  There is only one wedding this year so it will be tough to make plans to see everyone as regularly as we have in the past three years.

I had to attend  the party alone, as my husband was on-call.  Seeing all of our friends is like seeing family, though, so I never mind getting together with everyone solo.  I stopped by the hospital with Subway for dinner so that we could eat together before I headed over to the party.  Around 11:55 p.m., I heard my friend's door phone ring.  A few minutes later, my husband appeared at the door (sweaty because he had run from the hospital & it was unseasonably warm in Chicago that night) to kiss me at midnight.  Even though he was paged almost immediately after arriving and had to run back, it was one of the happiest NYE moments I've ever had.

Top 10 of 2010

I didn't reflect a lot on last year.  I was bored  had some free time at work today and thought that I'd reflect on the past year.

Top 10 - 2010 Edition

10. Seeing so much of my old friends.
 9. Becoming close to so many new friends.
 8. Learning a ton about how to be a good attorney (and how not to be a bad one).
 7. My sister getting out of the military.
 6. Getting to go home almost once a month/seeing my parents more.
 5. Finding a home we love.
 4. My sister getting engaged.
 3. My mom graduating from college.
 2. Getting involved in my church youth organization at home, again.
 1. Marrying the kindest, most loving man I've ever met.

Top 10 - 2010 Trash List

10. Brett Favre.
 9. Government's poor management of the war in Afghanistan.
 8. The rise in popularity of shows that glamorize teen pregnancy.  i.e. Teen Mom, 16 & Pregnant.
 7. TSA drama.
 6. The government's handling of Wikileaks.
 5. Bristol Palin.
 4. North Korea v. South Korea -- It's a bad situation for everyone.
 3. Unemployment and foreclosure rates.
 2. Wasteful government spending.
 1. The B.P. oil spill.

On track so far. . .

So I had a few less public resolutions.  I thought that keeping them private may make me less likely to give them up.  I know that accountability normally works the other way but I'm pretty good at declaring things rather than actually doing them sometimes.  However, I have done well so far at keeping them.

• Holding my tongue at work. 
• This is because my office is a drama-factory.  This includes everyone from the least to the greatest employees.  I'm doing okay so far.  I'd still give myself a B on that today.  Our billable requirement was increased by 25 hours.  This does not make my job any easier.  It also makes our office twice as demanding as many other firms in the city.  It also means that I have to work more hours for less money.  New year = pay cut?? Yeah, I'd say I kept my tongue in check as well as can be expected when my reaction could have been much worse.  We'll do better tomorrow . . .
• Going to church more often 
• Well, it was the first Sunday of the year.  I went to church and enjoyed it so much.  I'll definitely be going back to that one.  It has me thinking about a lot of the way I think about my faith.  I get an A+, mainly just because I'm one for one so far. :) 
• Reading more 
• The Fountainhead is amazing so far.  I'm definitely enjoying the philosophical aspects of it. A- because I could have read a little more and watched a little less ABC Family last night.  
• Doing more with my leisure time. 
• We saw Black Swan last night.  It was intense.  More about that later. I also got out a lot this weekend.  I was less tired than usual because of the very short work week.  
• I ran 3 miles. First time in awhile that I've run that much. I feel much less stressed than I did yesterday.  
• A for effort! 
• Staying in touch with friends. 
• C - but I plan on remedying that this week.  I just have to get back into the swing of things. 

More reading, less reality television

One of my goals this year is to be a little less obsessed with this
this: 

and this: 

Technology has definitely taken over.  Last Friday, I turned off the television, ignored my cell phone and finished this book: 

It was a great thriller.  The writing was okay -- not great.  However, I'm sort of in love with the thought of Russia at the moment.  Very fascinating.  More on that later.

The bottom line is that I felt more relaxed and disconnected than I have in quite some time.  I dozed in between chapters and felt truly relaxed.  I will be doing this more often.  I also think that it made me feel better about going back to work next week.  I feel a little more space between work and my personal life.  I've needed that for quite some time, so I am looking forward to seeing how getting back into reading and working out more often will help my sanity.

My next project:

Making the transition

It's always tough to make the transition from the holiday season to January/February.  I always like to overplan January and February to make them pass by more quickly. Right now, I have a trip planned for work - NYC/Boston, - a visit from my college roommate, a visit to my dear friends from Indianapolis, and a week of vacation in March.

My husband is great about helping with the transition, too.  We took down our Christmas decorations and redecorated our table in spring colors almost immediately after the holidays.  He loves getting out our new wedding stuff and rotating the decorations in and out -- we received a ton of great decorating items.  It doesn't hurt that we're both in love with our new kitchen table and chairs, either.  We're planning lots of dinner parties for this winter.

We just got a new rug for our living room, as well.  Can't wait for it to arrive! It will definitely brighten up our living room! 

Other ideas for surviving the winter months:

• theme parties (we had a cookie party, post-Thanksgiving-Thanksgiving dinner, etc.) 
• game watches for college basketball 
• weekend trips 
• movie nights
• redecorating 
• indoor projects (scrapbooking, sewing, etc.) 
• working out regularly 

Here's to hoping for an early spring! 

My favorite childhood books

Every so often we talk about having kids or what we'll do when we have kids, etc.  We're excited but we're still not planning on having them for awhile.  However, I always think of things that I want to teach them, read to them, and/or have them experience.  For me, books were incredibly important as a child and into adulthood.

My parents taught me to read pretty early in life (around 3).  I slept with books instead of stuffed animals.  I loved to go to the library for storytime on Wednesdays -- mostly because of the puppets.  My love of reading only grew as my parents bought me loads of books on tape.  I followed along and helped teach my little sister to read, as well.

I can't wait to share my love of reading and books with my children.  These are a few of my favorites:









The whole series is amazing.

























That's probably enough for now!

Happy new year!!