Hi, I'm back!

First, it has been a long time since I last blogged.  I've been swamped at work for the past two and a half months.  As of late, I have decided to start working at a work/life balance as hard as I work at work.  (if that makes sense).  I find that I am most happy when I have weekends full of whatever I happen to need at that point in time - more exercise, more husband time, more outdoor time, more t.v./reading/internet time - etc.  I think that my life would be overall a lot happier if I were able to have a little more of that during the week, rather than cramming it all in during the weekends and resigning myself to living in my office during the week.  I digress.  Seeing as I have not blogged in awhile, I have a lot of recaps coming soon.  

I love lists

Not kidding.  Always have. Always will.  A partner at my firm noted recently that he makes lists whenever he wants to avoid doing what is on the lists.  A very astute observation - often true in my case (unless the list involves some sort of shopping, cooking, exploring or web-surfing).  I was inspired as I looked at another book that caught my eye as I was buying my 5 year journal: 



THEN, I decided to see if I could capture the idea of this journal by purchasing my own journal - probably a fab Moleskine notebook - and coming up with my own list topics.  So I did a search and came across a unique concept: Make a list of 100.  


The idea found here is that to address any problem, you write the question/problem at the top of a sheet of paper and you  list 100 answers to the question/ways to address it/answer it, etc.  If you're lazy like I am when it comes to linking to other sites from blogs, here is the gist of the post: 


The ground rules are: 

1. Do it at one sitting

This is the one crucial element for the technique to work. If you end up doing your hundred entries, though over many sessions, you’ll defeat the point of the technique. Before starting your list, make yourself comfortable and try to block all potential interruptions.

2. Eliminate distractions

Just like most brainstorming techniques, you should strive to eliminate all activities unrelated to idea generation during the brainstorming session. Just focus on getting the ideas out of your head as quickly as possible following these rules:

• Don’t judge or evaluate ideas; you’ll review them later.
• Don’t write complete words or sentences if that slows you down.
• Don’t stop to wonder how far in the list you are; number the lines from 1 to 100 in advance or use numbered lists if you’re using a word processor.
• Don’t worry too much about repeating entries; duplicates can shed light on your patterns of thought.

As a list maker, I love this idea.  However, it does seem daunting.  When I have more time and am not totally exhausted, I may try this for a future blog post.  However, I'm going to have to come up with a really good question.  I guess the perfect question will be not yes/no (obviously) and will likely be so open-ended that the possibilities are endless - well, at least so numerous as to yield 100 different responses.  Now, to find a problem worth solving . . . 


Possible contenders: 

• How do I use a very expensive legal education to my benefit when I am eventually tired of being a lawyer? 
• How can I cook dinner (healthily) every night for a year without eating the same thing twice? (that's a trick question - my husband cooks dinner) 
• How can I find a new way to profit off of this generation's obsession with finding something on the internet and then attempting to duplicate it.  See Pinterest, Etsy, Apartment Therapy, etc. 
• What book topics will put me at the top of the NYT Bestseller List? 

Wow, I'm better at coming up with questions to answer than I thought.  Maybe I can come up with 100 questions to answer.  I am much better at asking questions than coming up with answers.  

This list thing really does work!! 

Learning Projects

It's time for some self-evaluation.  I've decided to take on new projects and adopt a few old ones in the hopes of refocusing some attention on some interests I abandoned during law school and my entry into the real world.  


Here's the plan, each month I focus on learning something that I don't know but I feel like I should know.  This month, the flags and countries of the world.  Sounds silly, but I love maps, geography, travel and the like.  However, I am not always good with geography outside of North America and Europe.  I've become pretty familiar with the flags and am quizzing myself daily on both countries and flags in the hopes of memorizing them all before too long.  


With the help of my husband, I've also revisited my love for classical music.  Spotify has been a dream come true in giving me access to all of the classics I've been neglecting for the past few years. 


I have also started playing my flute again.  I played for seven years and sort of abandoned it when I entered college and became too busy with sorority and other fun college activities - obviously, learning :). 


Anyway, between this and my daily Q & A journal, I've really enjoyed cultivating some interests outside the law. 


Next up for February, training for my first half-marathon - April 1, here in the city! 

Korean Karaoke - my favorite

Whenever possible, we love to get a group of friends together and go to Lincoln Karaoke.  We first went back in 2010 - shortly thereafter, that place blew up in popularity and it has become increasingly difficult to book a room for a large group.  We decided to try again back in November and it was a huge success.  Karaoke is fun but private karaoke is even MORE fun!

Erin, Meagan & I



At this point, James and I are very into Africa by Toto

Possibly a Whitney Houston song - Erin's choice!


This is my husband - I love him :)





Before our Karaoke adventure - Korean food!

Who were your heroes?

When I was a little girl, I was fascinated by historical figures.  My parents spoiled my sister and I by giving us books constantly throughout our childhood.  I had so many favorites, but here are a few of the ones I remember best: 


Marie Curie 
Nobel Prize Winner in Physics in 1903 
Her BIO here


This book was one of my favorites: 



Abraham Lincoln 


As a Kentuckian & a lawyer, I love all things Abe Lincoln.  
This book particularly piqued my interest: 



Amelia Earhart 
Famous aviatrix who disappeared during her attempt to fly around the world at its widest part - near the equator.  





I was assigned to prepare a book report on this book in 4th grade.  I remember being fascinated by her drive and ambition but also a little spooked about the fact that she was never found and essentially disappeared into radio silence. I applaud my 4th grade teacher for providing us with assignments about famous American males and females.  


Laura Ingalls Wilder 


My grandmother and I used to read books from the Little House on the Prairie series.  I would borrow them from her set (until I got my own) and excitedly return them to her after devouring them.  I wanted to be a for-real prairie girl for years after reading those books, around the age of 5-6.  Luckily, I lived in the middle of a gigantic pecan farm and got lots of opportunities to pretend that I lived in the wilderness of Missouri, the Dakotas and Minnesota - just like Laura.  I still want to visit her homestead in Missouri one of these days. 





This is why teaching children to read early and often - & not just fiction - is incredibly important.  

Things I don't Understand (in no particular order)

Riding the train every day, I see and hear things that make me wish 1.) that I could take my phone out and snap a photo right. at. that. second; and/or 2.) that someone else was there to observe many of the following.
Some of the other things that I list are merely things that I have tried and decided that they are not good but are instead, very evil.  See boyfriend jeans & ponchos 

Toe socks

Twilight (& the appeal of either one of its male leads)

Hair feathers

Airbrushed anything

The Bachelor

Cropped shirts

Boyfriend jeans - are they tight enough? Baggy in the right places? I give up.  Too much thought goes into purchasing a pair of bf jeans.

Navajo Print - is that PC? Native American print??

Adults wearing sock monkey stocking caps

tennis shoes and pantyhose - that's what flats are for, designing women

Harry Potter

why everything that I see at Urban Outfitters (right now, at least) looks like Goodwill in my hometown, 13 years ago; UO - please go back to being fun!

gastronomy*

white sweat pants - also add to this category any sweat pants that have a word across the behind

ponchos - unless you are a gaucho; for that matter, add gaucho pants to this list; I don't have a horse and ponchos make me look fat and/or pregnant.  I cannot justify the purchase of what looks like an afghan with a hole in the middle.  In fact, I've tried one of those, too.  It just doesn't work!

Ed Hardy &/or Affliction - full disclosure: I only recently learned about Affliction.  It is equally as bad as Ed Hardy.  Another disclosure: I don't think I know anyone who wears either brand.

*Note:  I have tried to understand this to no avail & with a great deal of heartburn.

Good music to kick January to the curb!

To close out the month of January:  Fitz & the Tantrums, along with a little Young the Giant, have gotten me through the snowy, windy and sometimes dreary month of January.  Bring on February!

 Pickin' up the Pieces of Love - F&T

 Moneygrabber - F&T

 Apartment  - Young the Giant