For the past few weeks I've been scared of November 20th so the boy decided to do everything in his power to make it enjoyable. On Friday I...
1) Saw "New Moon". I thought I was being clever by going in the morning and would only have to share the theater with 20 or so people. I was so wrong - it was packed full of college kids and moms. Fortunately there wasn't any screaming (except when Jacob took off his shirt because, let's be honest, how could you not). But I liked it more than "Twilight" and cannot wait to see "Eclipse".
2) Took my first SF cable car ride. I've lived in the Bay area for 8 years and never took one because the boy refused to be a tourist. But in the spirit of planning a day that that would keep me happy and distracted, we went. It was super cheesy and super fun.
3) Went to Musee Mecanique, an arcade with antique games, photo booths, and fortune tellers. Hoping to determine my fate, we definitely hit up all of the fortune tellers (including Zoltar). We followed that up with a trip to the "Ripley's Believe It or Not" museum which was more random artifacts than weird stuff, but still entertaining.
4) Pretended to be 10 years old by going to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and laughing for 5 minutes straight during the "thunderstorm".
and finally...
5) At 6:20 p.m. I found out that I PASSED THE BAR EXAM!!!
I've been on Cloud 9 all weekend and could not be more excited. Thanks to all of you who have sat through my law school rantings about studying/stress/ridiculousness - it's over!!!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
getting rid of your oldies but goodies
For the past week or so I've been doing a major sweep of my house. A little background:
The boy and I moved in together right after college graduation. Our first home was a little apartment which we loved, but it wasn't vary spacious and we knew that we wouldn't stay there for more than a year and didn't feel the need to unpack things we didn't need. Because our college makes seniors move out of the campus apartments the day after graduation (mean, I know), we didn't have a chance to do a thorough investigation of what we were taking and leaving and a lot of stuff followed us to the apartment. A year after living in the apartment I got into law school and had to move to be closer to my campus. After discussing our options, we decided to buy a house which was an exciting but daunting task and we found a home we loved and were ecstatic that it was ours. Unfortunately, we couldn't move in until the week before first year orientation which left enough time to unpack all of the essentials. The remainder of boxes/bags/suitcases full of random junk went into the basement or one of the spare rooms and we promised that we would go through it a weekend at a time until we either unpacked or gave away what we didn't want.
That was 3 years ago.
Now that I sit around the house all day and have spent the last week and a half watching the first 5 seasons of "The Office" (which, I'm sorry I ever said that show was bad. It's genius), I finally decided that the time has come to go through everything. I thought it would be easy because I would want to get rid of everything. Here I am sitting in our office, surrounded by stuff, and I don't want to let go of anything.
A few examples:
1) I really started to love clothes when I was 15. Ok, I've loved them for my entire life, but I got my first job when I was 15 and could actually buy my own stuff. In the boxes I found a bunch of slip dresses that I bought from Contempo Casuals (and had to hide from my mom) as well as some cute dresses that my grandma who I only see once a year gave me. I stopped wearing them in college because of my love of Mother's Frosted Animal Cookies and other late night snacks, but due to my recent weight loss, they fit me again. I know that chances are slim that I'll ever wear these again, but I have so many memories attached to them that it kills me to put them in a box to give away. I feel really selfish about this.
2) As a political science and sociology major, I was always really proud of the notes and outlines that I made for every test or paper. Apparently I had so much pride that I didn't feel the need to throw them away when the class was over. I think I convinced myself that some day I would need them. I have no idea when that day will come. I spent time going through those notebooks and laughing at things I wrote in the margins (example from undergrad ethics: wow, that girl really answered her phone in the middle of class and left the room. She thinks she's the shit. I really don't like her...) I managed to part with these notebooks as well as the insane number of handouts/cases from law school, but I couldn't get rid of the outlines. Yes, I have them on my computer but I scribbled in the margins in marker while I studied and somehow I think they're important. I did put them in binders though, so I guess that's an accomplishment.
3) I love girlie magazines (Glamour, Elle, Allure, etc) and one of the best ways for me to relax is to chill in bed reading them and marking the pages of outfits that I love but can't afford but will find a way to recreate. This is all well and good, but then I save them in case I want to reference them later on. Does this happen? Of course not. I know they need to go because they take up a ridiculous amount of space, but I wonder if I should rip out those pages I marked. Will I really look at them? I have no idea. I guess if I'm questioning it, the answer is no.
4) I've gone to a ridiculous number of concerts and back in high school and early college, a large portion of my wardrobe consisted of band tshirts. When seeing a band that I really loved, I always bought a shirt. I have 6 Blink 182 shirts...and that's just the beginning. I decided that I can't part with these. When I was younger I loved looking at my dad's band merch and I'm hoping the some day my kids will do the same. Or think I'm silly. Either way I'm ok with it.
5) Being in a sorority = more tshirts/pins/pictures/pens than I could ever need. They're all in a box on a shelf in my closet next to the band shirts. Don't think I can part with them either.
6) We've managed to acquire a lot of random trinkets in the past 8 years from various holidays or just because. I definitely have memories associated with 80% of them, but I'll never use/look at them, but I feel guilty giving them away.
Am I the only one with this problem? I've actually parted with a lot of stuff, but I know I can get rid of a lot more. What to do, what to do...
The boy and I moved in together right after college graduation. Our first home was a little apartment which we loved, but it wasn't vary spacious and we knew that we wouldn't stay there for more than a year and didn't feel the need to unpack things we didn't need. Because our college makes seniors move out of the campus apartments the day after graduation (mean, I know), we didn't have a chance to do a thorough investigation of what we were taking and leaving and a lot of stuff followed us to the apartment. A year after living in the apartment I got into law school and had to move to be closer to my campus. After discussing our options, we decided to buy a house which was an exciting but daunting task and we found a home we loved and were ecstatic that it was ours. Unfortunately, we couldn't move in until the week before first year orientation which left enough time to unpack all of the essentials. The remainder of boxes/bags/suitcases full of random junk went into the basement or one of the spare rooms and we promised that we would go through it a weekend at a time until we either unpacked or gave away what we didn't want.
That was 3 years ago.
Now that I sit around the house all day and have spent the last week and a half watching the first 5 seasons of "The Office" (which, I'm sorry I ever said that show was bad. It's genius), I finally decided that the time has come to go through everything. I thought it would be easy because I would want to get rid of everything. Here I am sitting in our office, surrounded by stuff, and I don't want to let go of anything.
A few examples:
1) I really started to love clothes when I was 15. Ok, I've loved them for my entire life, but I got my first job when I was 15 and could actually buy my own stuff. In the boxes I found a bunch of slip dresses that I bought from Contempo Casuals (and had to hide from my mom) as well as some cute dresses that my grandma who I only see once a year gave me. I stopped wearing them in college because of my love of Mother's Frosted Animal Cookies and other late night snacks, but due to my recent weight loss, they fit me again. I know that chances are slim that I'll ever wear these again, but I have so many memories attached to them that it kills me to put them in a box to give away. I feel really selfish about this.
2) As a political science and sociology major, I was always really proud of the notes and outlines that I made for every test or paper. Apparently I had so much pride that I didn't feel the need to throw them away when the class was over. I think I convinced myself that some day I would need them. I have no idea when that day will come. I spent time going through those notebooks and laughing at things I wrote in the margins (example from undergrad ethics: wow, that girl really answered her phone in the middle of class and left the room. She thinks she's the shit. I really don't like her...) I managed to part with these notebooks as well as the insane number of handouts/cases from law school, but I couldn't get rid of the outlines. Yes, I have them on my computer but I scribbled in the margins in marker while I studied and somehow I think they're important. I did put them in binders though, so I guess that's an accomplishment.
3) I love girlie magazines (Glamour, Elle, Allure, etc) and one of the best ways for me to relax is to chill in bed reading them and marking the pages of outfits that I love but can't afford but will find a way to recreate. This is all well and good, but then I save them in case I want to reference them later on. Does this happen? Of course not. I know they need to go because they take up a ridiculous amount of space, but I wonder if I should rip out those pages I marked. Will I really look at them? I have no idea. I guess if I'm questioning it, the answer is no.
4) I've gone to a ridiculous number of concerts and back in high school and early college, a large portion of my wardrobe consisted of band tshirts. When seeing a band that I really loved, I always bought a shirt. I have 6 Blink 182 shirts...and that's just the beginning. I decided that I can't part with these. When I was younger I loved looking at my dad's band merch and I'm hoping the some day my kids will do the same. Or think I'm silly. Either way I'm ok with it.
5) Being in a sorority = more tshirts/pins/pictures/pens than I could ever need. They're all in a box on a shelf in my closet next to the band shirts. Don't think I can part with them either.
6) We've managed to acquire a lot of random trinkets in the past 8 years from various holidays or just because. I definitely have memories associated with 80% of them, but I'll never use/look at them, but I feel guilty giving them away.
Am I the only one with this problem? I've actually parted with a lot of stuff, but I know I can get rid of a lot more. What to do, what to do...
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
let's get physical
After Halloween and the many mini-snickers/milky way/kit-kat bars that come with it, I've decided that I really need to get back on my "healthy" kick. It's not so much the eating well that's hard for me. Once I clean house and get unhealthy things out of my kitchen, I find that I enjoy the fruit and granola that replace the mint milanos (which are dangerous - I could definitely eat an entire bag by myself. Bad, bad, bad) What I really hate is going to the gym. Though I occasionally enjoy jamming to my ipod while on the elliptical, I'm usually over it in 20 minutes.
Though I get that I need to suck it up and go to the gym, I'd also like to come up with different means of exercise:
1) While figuring out what I want to do with my life, I've decided to do a major overhaul on the house. The boy and I have so many boxes that we moved over here after college that haven't been opened since we graduated in 2005. I've spent so many hours lifting boxes, going through them, moving some things into different rooms while throwing others away, etc. Since I'm a girl who doesn't like to sit in silence, I've been playing old dance music from the 90's that has me dancing around in between running up and down the stairs with boxes. Does that count as exercise? And do I get bonus points for singing and dancing while running around? I think so.
2) I used to be a dancer (jazz, modern, ballet, and tap) from when I was 3-16 years old. When some of these 90's gems come on, I remember certain routines that I did in past recitals and for some reason I can remember entire routines, which is pretty rad. I'm thinking of enrolling in a weekly dance class because 1) I miss it a ton and 2) I was never in better shape than when I was taking those classes.
3) Even though the doctor doesn't like it, this week the weather has been amazing in SF so I've taken Brodie on a few runs around the neighborhood. Though my back problems may get worse if I make this a habit, I've really enjoyed the time outside. I wonder if there are any other good outside activities that could be considered exercise.
4) There was a 1 month period during the bar exam that I was really into "Wii Active" and though it had a tendency to get boring, I actually think some of the exercises worked. Maybe I should use it again?
5) Anyone remember Eric Nies from the first season of "The Real World"? Anyone remember that he used to host "The Grind"? If you've made it this far, maybe you know they had "The Grind" workout videos...which I'm sad to say, I purchased when I was 12 and felt compelled to workout (silly Bianca...you barely had any fat on you back then). Upon telling my mom about how I need to put some excitement into my workout, she offered to send these back to me. While I have no desire to do these tapes again, I know that a lot of people are into the Jillian Michaels' "30 Day Shred". Does it work?
Alright my healthy friends, send suggestions this way!
Though I get that I need to suck it up and go to the gym, I'd also like to come up with different means of exercise:
1) While figuring out what I want to do with my life, I've decided to do a major overhaul on the house. The boy and I have so many boxes that we moved over here after college that haven't been opened since we graduated in 2005. I've spent so many hours lifting boxes, going through them, moving some things into different rooms while throwing others away, etc. Since I'm a girl who doesn't like to sit in silence, I've been playing old dance music from the 90's that has me dancing around in between running up and down the stairs with boxes. Does that count as exercise? And do I get bonus points for singing and dancing while running around? I think so.
2) I used to be a dancer (jazz, modern, ballet, and tap) from when I was 3-16 years old. When some of these 90's gems come on, I remember certain routines that I did in past recitals and for some reason I can remember entire routines, which is pretty rad. I'm thinking of enrolling in a weekly dance class because 1) I miss it a ton and 2) I was never in better shape than when I was taking those classes.
3) Even though the doctor doesn't like it, this week the weather has been amazing in SF so I've taken Brodie on a few runs around the neighborhood. Though my back problems may get worse if I make this a habit, I've really enjoyed the time outside. I wonder if there are any other good outside activities that could be considered exercise.
4) There was a 1 month period during the bar exam that I was really into "Wii Active" and though it had a tendency to get boring, I actually think some of the exercises worked. Maybe I should use it again?
5) Anyone remember Eric Nies from the first season of "The Real World"? Anyone remember that he used to host "The Grind"? If you've made it this far, maybe you know they had "The Grind" workout videos...which I'm sad to say, I purchased when I was 12 and felt compelled to workout (silly Bianca...you barely had any fat on you back then). Upon telling my mom about how I need to put some excitement into my workout, she offered to send these back to me. While I have no desire to do these tapes again, I know that a lot of people are into the Jillian Michaels' "30 Day Shred". Does it work?
Alright my healthy friends, send suggestions this way!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
honeymoon!!!
I can't really blog about the wedding if I don't blog about the honeymoon, right? That's what I thought...
The boy and I waited a few days after the wedding to say goodbye to all of our family who flew in for the wedding before we took off for our trip. We knew we couldn't get a direct flight, so we decided to take the red eye to Charlotte thinking that we would sleep on the plane. Of course, the boy and everyone else on the plane fell asleep but me. There was quite a bit of turbulence and since I'm scared of flying, I only managed to get 20 minutes of sleep. Needless to say, I was crabby when we landed. However, I was pumped for breakfast (since I rarely wake up early enough to have it at home) and I decided that after months of dieting, I was going to treat myself to a sausage and cheese biscuit from McDonalds (my breakfast choice of youth - I always had them before my AYSO soccer games on Saturday mornings). Giddy and excited, we walked off the plane and walk around...and discover that there's no McDonalds. The carb gods were trying to tell me to stay strong. Boo. Since we make a point of trying the random chains when we go out of town, Matt decided to try Bojangles (chicken and biscuits - he was in heaven) while I settled for a bagel (take that carb gods!) We managed to fall asleep at our gate and before we knew it, it was time to board our flight to...JAMAICA!!!
I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was for a trip that involved nothing but reading magazines and books while drinking pina coladas by the pool/beach. After getting off the plane, we were greeting by resort employees who promptly handed us 2 Red Stripes - fabulous. The drive to the resort took about 2 hours in which the driver played Bob Marley the entire time. We thought this was specifically for us since we're tourists. However, we heard Bob Marley every day, everywhere we went. I'm not gonna lie, after 10 days I was over it.
After checking it, we walked up to this room, opened the balcony door and were greeted with this:
No joke, I started jumping up and down cheering "yay, yay, yay!!!" when I saw it. I loved being one of the rooms surrounding the pool - it made me feel very "Melrose Place" except without all the drama and scandal.
The resort had a crazy amount of activities and water sports, though we spent most of our time hanging out on the beach being couple-y. Regardless, here are some pics/stories of what we saw/did:
1) A lot of our trip was spent doing this:
or this:
Amazing.
2) Our resort was "Couples Tower Isle". While it looked pretty from afar, we actually didn't go to the island because it's an "all nude" part of the resort. I've done the topless thing, but I don't think I could go all out. We did get a closeup peek of the island during one of our boat rides...and the people on the island decided to moon us. Nice.
3) We took several boat rides during our trip - once for a catamaran cruise (where I was d.r.u.n.k.) and to go snorkeling/scuba diving. I could not get over how clear and blue the water was and it was my fist time swimming with fish - an interesting experience for a girl who often says "I don't do nature", but it was fun. I didn't scuba with Matt since I wasn't comfortable with breathing underwater, but I did snorkel above him so I got to watch everything he did. Not fun - When we got back on the boat, I started to feel sick and my muscles tensed up and I couldn't move them. Turns out I was showing symptoms of the bends - yes, leave it to the girl who didn't actually scuba to get sick. Needless to say, I spent the rest of that day in bed watching "The Tyra Show", "Wendy Williams", "Extra", and other bad talk shows.
Me and the boy on the Catamaran
Where they took us to snorkel/scuba
I love that this fish was camera ready
4) I also ate...a lot. This is the benefit/drawback of all-inclusive resorts. In addition to the buffet, they had 2 fancy restaurants as well as 2 more casual restaurants, juice/veggie bar, and a poolside grill. Being the dork that I am, I definitely took pictures of food, especially since some of the meals were the most beautifully plated meals I've ever seen, but I won't bore you guys with those.
5) Ever since I can remember, whenever I've been on the beach, I've written "Bianca <3 *insert current crush*". So of course, I did that in Jamaica.
Time flew by way too fast and before I knew it, we were at the Montego Bay airport which I have to say was awesome because they had the Official Jamaican Bobsled Team store complete with the actual bobsled they used. The best part is that they were playing "Cool Runnings" on loop. I used to LOVE that movie!
Looking through these pics makes me want to be back on the beach...think I can convince the boy to go somewhere tropical for Christmas?
The boy and I waited a few days after the wedding to say goodbye to all of our family who flew in for the wedding before we took off for our trip. We knew we couldn't get a direct flight, so we decided to take the red eye to Charlotte thinking that we would sleep on the plane. Of course, the boy and everyone else on the plane fell asleep but me. There was quite a bit of turbulence and since I'm scared of flying, I only managed to get 20 minutes of sleep. Needless to say, I was crabby when we landed. However, I was pumped for breakfast (since I rarely wake up early enough to have it at home) and I decided that after months of dieting, I was going to treat myself to a sausage and cheese biscuit from McDonalds (my breakfast choice of youth - I always had them before my AYSO soccer games on Saturday mornings). Giddy and excited, we walked off the plane and walk around...and discover that there's no McDonalds. The carb gods were trying to tell me to stay strong. Boo. Since we make a point of trying the random chains when we go out of town, Matt decided to try Bojangles (chicken and biscuits - he was in heaven) while I settled for a bagel (take that carb gods!) We managed to fall asleep at our gate and before we knew it, it was time to board our flight to...JAMAICA!!!
I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was for a trip that involved nothing but reading magazines and books while drinking pina coladas by the pool/beach. After getting off the plane, we were greeting by resort employees who promptly handed us 2 Red Stripes - fabulous. The drive to the resort took about 2 hours in which the driver played Bob Marley the entire time. We thought this was specifically for us since we're tourists. However, we heard Bob Marley every day, everywhere we went. I'm not gonna lie, after 10 days I was over it.
After checking it, we walked up to this room, opened the balcony door and were greeted with this:
No joke, I started jumping up and down cheering "yay, yay, yay!!!" when I saw it. I loved being one of the rooms surrounding the pool - it made me feel very "Melrose Place" except without all the drama and scandal.
The resort had a crazy amount of activities and water sports, though we spent most of our time hanging out on the beach being couple-y. Regardless, here are some pics/stories of what we saw/did:
1) A lot of our trip was spent doing this:
or this:
Amazing.
2) Our resort was "Couples Tower Isle". While it looked pretty from afar, we actually didn't go to the island because it's an "all nude" part of the resort. I've done the topless thing, but I don't think I could go all out. We did get a closeup peek of the island during one of our boat rides...and the people on the island decided to moon us. Nice.
3) We took several boat rides during our trip - once for a catamaran cruise (where I was d.r.u.n.k.) and to go snorkeling/scuba diving. I could not get over how clear and blue the water was and it was my fist time swimming with fish - an interesting experience for a girl who often says "I don't do nature", but it was fun. I didn't scuba with Matt since I wasn't comfortable with breathing underwater, but I did snorkel above him so I got to watch everything he did. Not fun - When we got back on the boat, I started to feel sick and my muscles tensed up and I couldn't move them. Turns out I was showing symptoms of the bends - yes, leave it to the girl who didn't actually scuba to get sick. Needless to say, I spent the rest of that day in bed watching "The Tyra Show", "Wendy Williams", "Extra", and other bad talk shows.
Me and the boy on the Catamaran
Where they took us to snorkel/scuba
I love that this fish was camera ready
4) I also ate...a lot. This is the benefit/drawback of all-inclusive resorts. In addition to the buffet, they had 2 fancy restaurants as well as 2 more casual restaurants, juice/veggie bar, and a poolside grill. Being the dork that I am, I definitely took pictures of food, especially since some of the meals were the most beautifully plated meals I've ever seen, but I won't bore you guys with those.
5) Ever since I can remember, whenever I've been on the beach, I've written "Bianca <3 *insert current crush*". So of course, I did that in Jamaica.
Time flew by way too fast and before I knew it, we were at the Montego Bay airport which I have to say was awesome because they had the Official Jamaican Bobsled Team store complete with the actual bobsled they used. The best part is that they were playing "Cool Runnings" on loop. I used to LOVE that movie!
Looking through these pics makes me want to be back on the beach...think I can convince the boy to go somewhere tropical for Christmas?
Monday, October 26, 2009
My Wedding!
The boy and I have been back from the honeymoon for 2 weeks now and I realized that today I have been married for 1 month...which means I should finally blog about it. And while I wanted to wait until I had the digital files for my wedding pics to post pics, some of you have asked to see some so I'm going to post some that my friends took.
I'm proud to say that I remained pretty calm throughout the wedding planning process. I guess after going to law school and studying/taking the bar exam, nothing can be more stressful. Plus it helped that Tiffany, aka, the BEST maid of honor ever, flew out a few days early to help with last minute details. Since we had a long engagement, I was able to space out details pretty well and fortunately we only had 1 unexpected thing go wrong (candle holder drama) so I didn't have to deal with too much before the big day. The rehearsal (which went smoothly after everyone finally got there due to ridiculous SF traffic) was fast and the dinner was lovely. We all ate too much and happy. Here's Tiff and I right before dessert. I was in LOVE with my vintage 1950's dress that I got at Shangri-La Vintage in Chicago. I love it there!
After the rehearsal Tiff and I went back to my house where we painted our nails and I watched Tivoed talk shows until I finally fell asleep. I woke up at 6 a.m. the next day and watched an episode of "Clean House" before taking my shower - typical Bianca.
My bridesmaids and I all went out to breakfast before heading to the venue where we were all getting our hair and makeup done. We were greeted with champagne and juice which we drank while getting pampered for 4 hours. Lovely. Time flew by super fast and before I knew it I had to put my dress on and go outside for pics. When we walked outside, we were shocked. It was 90 degrees outside which is hot for the Bay Area and even worse considering it was late September. My dress fit perfectly, but that also meant there was little breathing room and I was pretty sure I was going to faint. Fortunately that didn't happen. Here are some pics of me and my bridesmaids:
The girls helping me with my dress
Group portrait for the photographer
The photos didn't take too long and after relaxing for 20 minutes and having a group dance party to "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus (don't judge us) it was time to walk down the aisle. The ceremony was quick (15 minutes or so) but it was beautiful and everything I wanted it to be:
Walking down the aisle to a string version of "Pictures of You" by the Cure
Saying our vows
Yay, we're married! Walking back to "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes
The reception was fabulous. My colors were pink and champagne and while it was stressful to pick out cake/linens/flowers without seeing what they would all look like together, I loved it:
Entrance
Pretty Friends!
Cake!
Along with dinner and dancing, my favorite part of my reception was that we had a photobooth! It was the 1 thing that I always wanted at my wedding and I'm thrilled that we had one. Guests not only took pictures, but the machine printed doubles which they placed on a page that they decorated and wrote notes on and was then placed in a book which we used as our guest book. Photobooth + open bar = ridiculousness. I love my friends. Here are some of my favorites:
The Girls
College Roomies!
Groomsmen
Law School Girls!
Me and the Boy
At the end of the night we waited for everyone to leave and then we took off for the Four Seasons where we had the coolest hotel room I've ever been in which included a TV in the bathroom. Love it. I'm so, so happy with how the entire day went, but more importantly I'm unbelievably excited that I'm this boy's wife. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.
I'm proud to say that I remained pretty calm throughout the wedding planning process. I guess after going to law school and studying/taking the bar exam, nothing can be more stressful. Plus it helped that Tiffany, aka, the BEST maid of honor ever, flew out a few days early to help with last minute details. Since we had a long engagement, I was able to space out details pretty well and fortunately we only had 1 unexpected thing go wrong (candle holder drama) so I didn't have to deal with too much before the big day. The rehearsal (which went smoothly after everyone finally got there due to ridiculous SF traffic) was fast and the dinner was lovely. We all ate too much and happy. Here's Tiff and I right before dessert. I was in LOVE with my vintage 1950's dress that I got at Shangri-La Vintage in Chicago. I love it there!
After the rehearsal Tiff and I went back to my house where we painted our nails and I watched Tivoed talk shows until I finally fell asleep. I woke up at 6 a.m. the next day and watched an episode of "Clean House" before taking my shower - typical Bianca.
My bridesmaids and I all went out to breakfast before heading to the venue where we were all getting our hair and makeup done. We were greeted with champagne and juice which we drank while getting pampered for 4 hours. Lovely. Time flew by super fast and before I knew it I had to put my dress on and go outside for pics. When we walked outside, we were shocked. It was 90 degrees outside which is hot for the Bay Area and even worse considering it was late September. My dress fit perfectly, but that also meant there was little breathing room and I was pretty sure I was going to faint. Fortunately that didn't happen. Here are some pics of me and my bridesmaids:
The girls helping me with my dress
Group portrait for the photographer
The photos didn't take too long and after relaxing for 20 minutes and having a group dance party to "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus (don't judge us) it was time to walk down the aisle. The ceremony was quick (15 minutes or so) but it was beautiful and everything I wanted it to be:
Walking down the aisle to a string version of "Pictures of You" by the Cure
Saying our vows
Yay, we're married! Walking back to "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes
The reception was fabulous. My colors were pink and champagne and while it was stressful to pick out cake/linens/flowers without seeing what they would all look like together, I loved it:
Entrance
Pretty Friends!
Cake!
Along with dinner and dancing, my favorite part of my reception was that we had a photobooth! It was the 1 thing that I always wanted at my wedding and I'm thrilled that we had one. Guests not only took pictures, but the machine printed doubles which they placed on a page that they decorated and wrote notes on and was then placed in a book which we used as our guest book. Photobooth + open bar = ridiculousness. I love my friends. Here are some of my favorites:
The Girls
College Roomies!
Groomsmen
Law School Girls!
Me and the Boy
At the end of the night we waited for everyone to leave and then we took off for the Four Seasons where we had the coolest hotel room I've ever been in which included a TV in the bathroom. Love it. I'm so, so happy with how the entire day went, but more importantly I'm unbelievably excited that I'm this boy's wife. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.
Monday, September 28, 2009
officially a mrs.
Sorry I've been absent. I've been pretty busy. Nothing special really...
Ok, that's a lie. I've been busy getting MARRIED!!!
Things are super crazy as we're running around saying goodbye to the family that flew into town as well as preparing for our honeymoon, but I promise to write all about it when I get back!
But to summarize - I'm a happy gal.
Ok, that's a lie. I've been busy getting MARRIED!!!
Things are super crazy as we're running around saying goodbye to the family that flew into town as well as preparing for our honeymoon, but I promise to write all about it when I get back!
But to summarize - I'm a happy gal.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
back in chicago
Tuesday night I flew back to Chicago. In the past month, I've been on a plane 3 times and as a girl who really hates to fly, it's been a little bit rough. I'm terrified of flying. I used to love it and then suddenly about 6 years ago, it started to scare the crap out of me. I still have trouble wrapping my head around how something so big can fly. I know it's physics and it's not that complicated and that it's the safest way to travel. The boy constantly tells me that I have no problem with driving and that it's much more dangerous than being on a plane. I think it has something to do with giving up control. I get so nervous that I'm super alert for the day or so before the flight and I'm really jumpy during the flight so I'm exhausted by the time I get home. I also haven't been sleeping well the last few nights, so I'm a sleepy gal. Anyone with advice on how to cope with flight nerves, please pass them my way.
I've spent the last 2 days running a ridiculous amount of errands. I'm absolutely thrilled to be back home. Since I was here 3 weeks ago, I feel like I never left. I don't get home very often so my mom totally pampers me when I'm here and I have to admit, it's lovely. I'm a lucky gal. Plus, I absolutely love waking up to this view every morning:
Yesterday the bestie and I went to our spot for some much needed BLTs and pie and were thrilled that it was free pie day. We ate far too much and she suddenly pulled out plastic vampire teeth, put them on and asked if she sparkled (if you're in the know, you get this). We proceeded to spend about 30 minutes quoting twilight and laughing about how ridiculous we are. I swear I'm 26 years old...and that this behavior is totally normal. I adore that girl.
Oh, and I'm getting married in 3 1/2 weeks. I was really calm but I slowly feel like freaking out. There are a bunch of little details to take care of and I'm worried about it getting done and looking fabulous. I keep reminding myself that the day is really about the act of getting married and everything else will fall into place but the girl in me wants it to be perfect. Yesterday I had my final dress fitting and it's amazing, so at least I was able to avoid the cookies and sweets and zip the dress up :)
Chicago Peeps, let me know if there's anything fun going on in the city this week/weekend that I should be aware of!
I've spent the last 2 days running a ridiculous amount of errands. I'm absolutely thrilled to be back home. Since I was here 3 weeks ago, I feel like I never left. I don't get home very often so my mom totally pampers me when I'm here and I have to admit, it's lovely. I'm a lucky gal. Plus, I absolutely love waking up to this view every morning:
Yesterday the bestie and I went to our spot for some much needed BLTs and pie and were thrilled that it was free pie day. We ate far too much and she suddenly pulled out plastic vampire teeth, put them on and asked if she sparkled (if you're in the know, you get this). We proceeded to spend about 30 minutes quoting twilight and laughing about how ridiculous we are. I swear I'm 26 years old...and that this behavior is totally normal. I adore that girl.
Oh, and I'm getting married in 3 1/2 weeks. I was really calm but I slowly feel like freaking out. There are a bunch of little details to take care of and I'm worried about it getting done and looking fabulous. I keep reminding myself that the day is really about the act of getting married and everything else will fall into place but the girl in me wants it to be perfect. Yesterday I had my final dress fitting and it's amazing, so at least I was able to avoid the cookies and sweets and zip the dress up :)
Chicago Peeps, let me know if there's anything fun going on in the city this week/weekend that I should be aware of!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
i'm a lazy gal
It has been almost a month since I took the bar exam (which is bananas) and while my days have been filled with wedding planning, a lot of them have been spent lounging around my house. So what does an unemployed recent law school grad do with her time? Here's a little recap:
1) Travel to/Miss being in Chicago: I flew home a few days after the exam because I wanted to leave California for a while. On top of getting my wedding dress altered and celebrating the Bestie's birthday, it was just super nice to be back home...minus the humidity - I wasn't a fan of that. I'm flying back next week to pick up my dress and celebrate my last single gal trip to the Windy City - which is really weird.
2) Watch Far Too Much Reality TV: does anyone remember when VH-1 was MTV for our parents? Playing music videos 24/7 of artists that our parents wouldn't cringe at with a few hours of Behind the Music and Pop-Up Video sprinkled in. While I do miss those shows (and Behind the Music is coming back!), I am so thankful for the trashy reality tv that has taken the place of the music. I was totally into "Megan Wants a Millionaire" and I'm sad that they had to take it off the air along with the upcoming season of I Love Money (though those events are really tragic). Also, I'm loving "My Antonio". Is anyone else watching this show? I had a massive crush on Antonio when he was on General Hospital, but I'm really watching the show for the crazy girls who are one it. The girl who kept crying and running away? His ex-wife coming back? That crazy lady who was paranoid about her clothes getting stolen? Genius!
3) Becoming Obsessed with "One Tree Hill": I avoided this show when it started because I was certain that I didn't need another "Dawson's Creek" to watch. Several of my friends told me that I HAD to watch it and when it started from episode 1 on SoapNet, I decided to dvr it but still avoided it as 20 episodes piled up. I finally decided to check it out...I hate myself but I love it. In addition to angsty teen drama, the music on that show is amazing.
4) I can't stop listening to "She Wolf" by Shakira. I don't know why, but I love it.
5) Now that I have time I've started reading for fun again. I think I've read 10 books in the last month and I'm running out of books. Next up on my list are "My Custom Van" by Michael Ian Black and "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer. I'm taking suggestions so if you have any good ones, pass them my way.
6) I also sleep 9-10 hours a night. My bed and I are bffs.
7) Note that no where on this list do you see cleaning my house, laundry, running errands, etc. I'm bad.
Wow, reading this list shows that I've been quite lazy...part of me feels like I deserve it, but I do feel guilty. I'm very, very lucky that the boy is able to support both of us and I realize that I better enjoy these last few months before I have to enter adulthood...and on that note, I'm off to sit outside and read.
1) Travel to/Miss being in Chicago: I flew home a few days after the exam because I wanted to leave California for a while. On top of getting my wedding dress altered and celebrating the Bestie's birthday, it was just super nice to be back home...minus the humidity - I wasn't a fan of that. I'm flying back next week to pick up my dress and celebrate my last single gal trip to the Windy City - which is really weird.
2) Watch Far Too Much Reality TV: does anyone remember when VH-1 was MTV for our parents? Playing music videos 24/7 of artists that our parents wouldn't cringe at with a few hours of Behind the Music and Pop-Up Video sprinkled in. While I do miss those shows (and Behind the Music is coming back!), I am so thankful for the trashy reality tv that has taken the place of the music. I was totally into "Megan Wants a Millionaire" and I'm sad that they had to take it off the air along with the upcoming season of I Love Money (though those events are really tragic). Also, I'm loving "My Antonio". Is anyone else watching this show? I had a massive crush on Antonio when he was on General Hospital, but I'm really watching the show for the crazy girls who are one it. The girl who kept crying and running away? His ex-wife coming back? That crazy lady who was paranoid about her clothes getting stolen? Genius!
3) Becoming Obsessed with "One Tree Hill": I avoided this show when it started because I was certain that I didn't need another "Dawson's Creek" to watch. Several of my friends told me that I HAD to watch it and when it started from episode 1 on SoapNet, I decided to dvr it but still avoided it as 20 episodes piled up. I finally decided to check it out...I hate myself but I love it. In addition to angsty teen drama, the music on that show is amazing.
4) I can't stop listening to "She Wolf" by Shakira. I don't know why, but I love it.
5) Now that I have time I've started reading for fun again. I think I've read 10 books in the last month and I'm running out of books. Next up on my list are "My Custom Van" by Michael Ian Black and "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer. I'm taking suggestions so if you have any good ones, pass them my way.
6) I also sleep 9-10 hours a night. My bed and I are bffs.
7) Note that no where on this list do you see cleaning my house, laundry, running errands, etc. I'm bad.
Wow, reading this list shows that I've been quite lazy...part of me feels like I deserve it, but I do feel guilty. I'm very, very lucky that the boy is able to support both of us and I realize that I better enjoy these last few months before I have to enter adulthood...and on that note, I'm off to sit outside and read.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
my kind of town
Hello Chicago - So glad to be back!!!
I always get a little giddy whenever I fly home. Now that I'm finished with school and I'm ready to enter the lawyer world full of writing memos and court appearances, I realized that I won't get to come home as much as I use to. So sad.
But for now, I'm excited to have a week here. It's absolutely gorgeous outside and I'm ready to hit the town.
So Chicago friends, what exciting things are happening in the city this week? Any new restaurants or bars I need to try? Let me know!
P.S. I was going to write a post about the hellish bar exam, but I'm still not at the point where I'm ready to talk about it. Sitting in a room with 1500 other people for 3 full days of essays, multiple choice, and performance tests was not a good time. But I stuck it out, so keep your fingers crossed for me!
I always get a little giddy whenever I fly home. Now that I'm finished with school and I'm ready to enter the lawyer world full of writing memos and court appearances, I realized that I won't get to come home as much as I use to. So sad.
But for now, I'm excited to have a week here. It's absolutely gorgeous outside and I'm ready to hit the town.
So Chicago friends, what exciting things are happening in the city this week? Any new restaurants or bars I need to try? Let me know!
P.S. I was going to write a post about the hellish bar exam, but I'm still not at the point where I'm ready to talk about it. Sitting in a room with 1500 other people for 3 full days of essays, multiple choice, and performance tests was not a good time. But I stuck it out, so keep your fingers crossed for me!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
wish me luck...
I've been a wreck the past few weeks. This was to be expected. My head is 2 seconds away from exploding from being filled with useless legal information and none of the information that I'm sure I actually need. After a much needed chat with Kahea yesterday, I think I've come to terms with whatever happens happens. Le sigh.
BUT what has made me happy is walking around the house in these beauties that I think have won the "I'm Bianca's Dream Wedding Shoes" contest. What do we think?
So my dear friends, wish me luck and think happy thoughts for me this tuesday-thursday. And if I can manage to type, perhaps there is a drunken blog post in my near future, aka thursday night.
BUT what has made me happy is walking around the house in these beauties that I think have won the "I'm Bianca's Dream Wedding Shoes" contest. What do we think?
So my dear friends, wish me luck and think happy thoughts for me this tuesday-thursday. And if I can manage to type, perhaps there is a drunken blog post in my near future, aka thursday night.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
some things to be thankful for
oh how I miss my blog. i long for the days when I was taking [insert law school class here] and I would ignore everything my professor was saying and write. This is also the reason why I don't bring my laptop to bar review lectures because we all know I wouldn't pay attention.
I've been a complete emotional roller coaster lately. One day I tell myself that I'll be ok and the next I'm crying/staring blankly into space/wishing for thousands of dollars to fall out of the sky so I can buy shoes and feel better. But tonight as I was taking the world's longest shower, I started to think about the things that are making life good right now:
1) The Pipettes: my future sister in law took me to one of their shows randomly a year or so ago and I just adore them. They take their sound from 1960's girl groups (think The Ronnettes/Shangri-Las) while singing about one night stands. This cd isn't long, but it can sit on repeat for the entire day and I don't get sick of it.
2) Netflix: inspired by reducing our cable bill dramatically after switching to DirectTV, the boy and I decided to get NetFlix. While getting movies delivered to my door is fabulous, I'm in love with the ability to stream some movies and tv shows on our Xbox. There is a crazy selection of 80's sitcoms that I listen to while studying because I either remember the episodes from when I was young and don't need to pay attention or they're so bad it's good that I can't necessarily bring myself to watch. Currently I'm watching "Charles in Charge". Awesome.
3) Fat Free Reddi Wip: Trying to keep my diet going while in a constant state of stress is super hard, especially since I have a big sweet tooth. But I treat myself to berry medleys and fat free reddi wip. It's the only reason I'm succeeding (update: down 31 pounds. no bad my friends, not bad)
4) Daisy of Love: Because whenever I need mindless television, this does the trick. I wasn't a big fan when she was on "Rock of Love" but I just love this show. Oh the drama.
5) Jess for her amazing "you're awesome" care packages. Life doesn't get better than tank tops covered in stickers, almonds, starbucks gift cards, and postcards. This girl is truly amazing.
6) My Google Reader: one of my few connections to the real world and is generally an uplifting moment in my day.
7) That in less than 3 weeks this will all be over
I've been a complete emotional roller coaster lately. One day I tell myself that I'll be ok and the next I'm crying/staring blankly into space/wishing for thousands of dollars to fall out of the sky so I can buy shoes and feel better. But tonight as I was taking the world's longest shower, I started to think about the things that are making life good right now:
1) The Pipettes: my future sister in law took me to one of their shows randomly a year or so ago and I just adore them. They take their sound from 1960's girl groups (think The Ronnettes/Shangri-Las) while singing about one night stands. This cd isn't long, but it can sit on repeat for the entire day and I don't get sick of it.
2) Netflix: inspired by reducing our cable bill dramatically after switching to DirectTV, the boy and I decided to get NetFlix. While getting movies delivered to my door is fabulous, I'm in love with the ability to stream some movies and tv shows on our Xbox. There is a crazy selection of 80's sitcoms that I listen to while studying because I either remember the episodes from when I was young and don't need to pay attention or they're so bad it's good that I can't necessarily bring myself to watch. Currently I'm watching "Charles in Charge". Awesome.
3) Fat Free Reddi Wip: Trying to keep my diet going while in a constant state of stress is super hard, especially since I have a big sweet tooth. But I treat myself to berry medleys and fat free reddi wip. It's the only reason I'm succeeding (update: down 31 pounds. no bad my friends, not bad)
4) Daisy of Love: Because whenever I need mindless television, this does the trick. I wasn't a big fan when she was on "Rock of Love" but I just love this show. Oh the drama.
5) Jess for her amazing "you're awesome" care packages. Life doesn't get better than tank tops covered in stickers, almonds, starbucks gift cards, and postcards. This girl is truly amazing.
6) My Google Reader: one of my few connections to the real world and is generally an uplifting moment in my day.
7) That in less than 3 weeks this will all be over
Sunday, June 28, 2009
garage sales can help you pass the bar...maybe?
Yesterday while running errands, Matt and I decided to pop into a garage sale. Really they were selling everything in the house. Bananas.
While looking at the bookshelf, I saw this:
"Dictionary of Legal Terms: Definitions and Explanations for Non-Lawyers"
I figure law school graduate minus the bar exam = non-lawyer.
In the midst of studying for the bar (and the reason why I currently don't have a life), I felt compelled to pull out $.50 for it. While reviewing something today I pulled out the dictionary to look up a term and went "ooohhhh...that totally makes sense."
Maybe this book will be my key to passing
While looking at the bookshelf, I saw this:
"Dictionary of Legal Terms: Definitions and Explanations for Non-Lawyers"
I figure law school graduate minus the bar exam = non-lawyer.
In the midst of studying for the bar (and the reason why I currently don't have a life), I felt compelled to pull out $.50 for it. While reviewing something today I pulled out the dictionary to look up a term and went "ooohhhh...that totally makes sense."
Maybe this book will be my key to passing
Sunday, June 7, 2009
stop...hammertime!!!
There are only a handful of things that can make me laugh during this stressful time, but this really got me:
How I wish I could have been in that store!
How I wish I could have been in that store!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
fortune cookies don't lie
I have a tendency to believe fortune cookies. Yes, like the Lindsay Lohan version of "Freaky Friday". While I know they are random and often make no sense, sometimes I believe them. Let me explain:
My senior year at my small Catholic high school, I was a Eucharistic minister and one of my tasks was to help set up everything for Friday mass. One Friday the we had a visiting priest come say mass and my teacher introduced me to him and told him if he needed anything, he should come ask me. No big deal. The time came for him to say his homily. He grabs the microphone and says "will Bianca come up here?" Totally confused and a little embarrassed, I walked up. He then proceeded to tell a story about me - a girl with a lot of potential, but I was afraid to take advantage of it. Instead, I hopped on the bus and went to the bank where I rented a safe deposit box and locked up my potential. While I would visit it from time to time, I would never remove it. Bizarre, right? The whole point was for us to live to our potential which is a lovely message but I thought nothing of it. That night, my friends and I went out for one of our weekly dinners and went for Chinese food. At the end of the meal, I opened my cookie and read the fortune: "Be Sure to Make Full Use of Your Potential." I was totally freaked out but took it as a sign that sometimes I should pay attention to the message.
Today, after a day of feeling super overwhelmed, I decided that I wanted Chinese food. I also went out for it a couple weeks ago. Yea, it's not on my diet. Whatever. The fortune from a few weeks ago was "Things are Not Always What They Seem. It's Not That Bad." Today's fortune was "Keep Up the Good Work. You Will Be Rewarded Within the Month."
Must remind myself of this when I freak out while studying for the bar.
Friday, May 29, 2009
just call me miss bianca, j.d.
The past few weeks have been super crazy and I had planned to write about all of the wonderful things that occurred...but then life got the best of me. So while this post won't do it justice, I felt compelled to write it down before life got too crazy...again.
1) Tiffany Comes to San Francisco!!!
I'm constantly running around doing something, so I'm really bad about having friends come out to visit. However, for the first time since I moved out to California almost 8 years ago, the bestie flew out to visit. She arrived the day I turned in my last law school final (yay!) and I was running on 1.5 hours of sleep. No good. But I pulled through and had the most amazing 5 days with her. We started off her visit with a trip to Chevy's. Pre-diet I ate there every other week or so because I'm a sucker for their chips and salsa and it's 5 minutes from my house. She heard me talking about it all the time, so off we went. Feeling this need to celebrate, we decided to get margaritas and figured "hmm, a pitcher is cheapish, why not." Seeing that I was on so little sleep/my tolerance has dropped dramatically since college...well it was a good time. I highly recommend the strawberry-raspberry ones. Delish.
The next day I played tour guide and took her all around SF. It has been a long time since I went all around the city, the weather was insanely gorgeous, and so it was crazy fun. to not do something relating to school. We started at Fisherman's Wharf for clam chowder in bread bowls which is so tasty and I ate way too much. Awesome. We followed that with a drive down Lombard street where we felt the need to take this lovely photo:
We then did a ton of shopping before going home and lounging around the house before the big event of the evening: Tiffany's first trip to In n Out where I forced her to order this 
3 Words. Animal. Style. Fries. So so bad for you and so so good. After being denied In n Out for 4 months, I totally crashed after dinner which was good, because I needed a lot of rest before...
2) My Bridal Shower!!!
Though I'm not getting married until September, I'll be spending this summer studying for the bar exam, so we decided the have my bridal shower right before graduation. The lovely Miss Lailah banded together with my bridesmaids to throw the most amazing shower. She made these adorable cookies
and Tiffany made fantastic mix cds as my party favors. The house was decorated with all kinds of streamers and pictures of me and the boy, which are still up and will probably stay up for a while. We played a bunch of games and my friends sat around and told their favorite stories about me (we made me go "aww" every 2 seconds). I received an amazing amount of gifts that are beautiful and I felt like such a lucky gal. It was a bit of an intense day. After everyone left, I sat down and started sobbing. I looked like I was watching the end of Beaches. As a girl who doesn't love a lot of attention, I was so overwhelmed by how much attention was on me and how much love I felt from my friends and family. Mix those feelings with a bit of cosmos and I was a mess. I wonder how I'll keep myself together at the wedding.
3) The next day I turned 26. More than halfway through my 20s. I don't know what else to say about that.
4) Drumroll Please...
Tiff left the day after my birthday and I had 1 day to relax before my mom and brother flew in for...LAW SCHOOL GRADUATION!!!
I can't believe I did it. While we don't get the official "you're finished" until all our grades are in, walking across that stage made it feel like we were done. I spent the entire weekend saying "it's not a big deal" (and really, passing the bar will be a bigger deal), but as I stood in line with my friends it hit me and I couldn't control my excitement. 3 years of work, stress, and sleepless nights...finished. It's awesome and I'm so proud of my core group for keeping it together...WE DID IT!!! Hopefully I can muster up the motivation for the next 2 months of studying for the bar (for which classes started 3 days after graduation) but I'm almost there. Phew.
Let's hope the next few months won't be as crazy as I think they will be.
1) Tiffany Comes to San Francisco!!!
I'm constantly running around doing something, so I'm really bad about having friends come out to visit. However, for the first time since I moved out to California almost 8 years ago, the bestie flew out to visit. She arrived the day I turned in my last law school final (yay!) and I was running on 1.5 hours of sleep. No good. But I pulled through and had the most amazing 5 days with her. We started off her visit with a trip to Chevy's. Pre-diet I ate there every other week or so because I'm a sucker for their chips and salsa and it's 5 minutes from my house. She heard me talking about it all the time, so off we went. Feeling this need to celebrate, we decided to get margaritas and figured "hmm, a pitcher is cheapish, why not." Seeing that I was on so little sleep/my tolerance has dropped dramatically since college...well it was a good time. I highly recommend the strawberry-raspberry ones. Delish.
The next day I played tour guide and took her all around SF. It has been a long time since I went all around the city, the weather was insanely gorgeous, and so it was crazy fun. to not do something relating to school. We started at Fisherman's Wharf for clam chowder in bread bowls which is so tasty and I ate way too much. Awesome. We followed that with a drive down Lombard street where we felt the need to take this lovely photo:
We then did a ton of shopping before going home and lounging around the house before the big event of the evening: Tiffany's first trip to In n Out where I forced her to order this 
3 Words. Animal. Style. Fries. So so bad for you and so so good. After being denied In n Out for 4 months, I totally crashed after dinner which was good, because I needed a lot of rest before...
2) My Bridal Shower!!!
Though I'm not getting married until September, I'll be spending this summer studying for the bar exam, so we decided the have my bridal shower right before graduation. The lovely Miss Lailah banded together with my bridesmaids to throw the most amazing shower. She made these adorable cookies
and Tiffany made fantastic mix cds as my party favors. The house was decorated with all kinds of streamers and pictures of me and the boy, which are still up and will probably stay up for a while. We played a bunch of games and my friends sat around and told their favorite stories about me (we made me go "aww" every 2 seconds). I received an amazing amount of gifts that are beautiful and I felt like such a lucky gal. It was a bit of an intense day. After everyone left, I sat down and started sobbing. I looked like I was watching the end of Beaches. As a girl who doesn't love a lot of attention, I was so overwhelmed by how much attention was on me and how much love I felt from my friends and family. Mix those feelings with a bit of cosmos and I was a mess. I wonder how I'll keep myself together at the wedding.
3) The next day I turned 26. More than halfway through my 20s. I don't know what else to say about that.
4) Drumroll Please...
Tiff left the day after my birthday and I had 1 day to relax before my mom and brother flew in for...LAW SCHOOL GRADUATION!!!
I can't believe I did it. While we don't get the official "you're finished" until all our grades are in, walking across that stage made it feel like we were done. I spent the entire weekend saying "it's not a big deal" (and really, passing the bar will be a bigger deal), but as I stood in line with my friends it hit me and I couldn't control my excitement. 3 years of work, stress, and sleepless nights...finished. It's awesome and I'm so proud of my core group for keeping it together...WE DID IT!!! Hopefully I can muster up the motivation for the next 2 months of studying for the bar (for which classes started 3 days after graduation) but I'm almost there. Phew. Let's hope the next few months won't be as crazy as I think they will be.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
just breathe...
12 days until finals season is over.
20 days until law school graduation.
1.25 papers, 5/6 of a take home final, and 1 in-class exam stand in my way.
I'm a social gal, and being in hiding is the worst. As unmotivated as I am, I just need to remember to breathe and think that this insanity is almost over.
...until I have to start studying for the bar in 23 days.
Send happy thoughts my way!
20 days until law school graduation.
1.25 papers, 5/6 of a take home final, and 1 in-class exam stand in my way.
I'm a social gal, and being in hiding is the worst. As unmotivated as I am, I just need to remember to breathe and think that this insanity is almost over.
...until I have to start studying for the bar in 23 days.
Send happy thoughts my way!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
thank you for being a friend
First Estelle Getty and now Bea Arthur. I'm totally bummed. While Blanche is my favorite golden girl, the relationship between Dorothy and Sophia always makes me laugh. How such a tall girl was created from such a short woman is ridiculous and I love it. I can remember my mom watching that show when I was little and I will almost always watch a rerun when it's on tv. So sad. 
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
giving in to peer pressure
It's crunch time in the law school world...my last one...to say I thrilled, ecstatic, insanely excited, etc., would be an understatement.
I have 2 papers to write, an outline to prepare, and a take home exam that I'll pick up next week. While I've done a little work, there is oh so much to do.
But I haven't been working on these papers...
I've been reading Twilight.
The Bestie and Kahea have been bugging me to read it for months. I finally agreed to borrow the first 2 books from Kahea back in February. They sat on my coffee table watching the weeks go by. I wasn't going to give it to the peer pressure (not that these 2 ladies could ever pressure me in a bad way). Finally, I had a presentation to work on for class and I ran out of ways to procrastinate. So I picked it up expecting to be over it within 5 minutes.
I loved it.
I found myself being taken back to 1999 when I was 16 years old. I was a crazy giddy girl, slightly boy obsessed, and thought I knew everything. As I sat in my bed at 3 a.m. reading, I found myself laughing at parts because in a weird way, I could relate to some of it. Clearly I wasn't in love with a Vampire, though for one like Edward, I would have considered it.
I finished the first 2 and went out and bought the rest yesterday. Really Excited.
Is it bad that I'm 25 and loving this?
I have 2 papers to write, an outline to prepare, and a take home exam that I'll pick up next week. While I've done a little work, there is oh so much to do.
But I haven't been working on these papers...
I've been reading Twilight.
The Bestie and Kahea have been bugging me to read it for months. I finally agreed to borrow the first 2 books from Kahea back in February. They sat on my coffee table watching the weeks go by. I wasn't going to give it to the peer pressure (not that these 2 ladies could ever pressure me in a bad way). Finally, I had a presentation to work on for class and I ran out of ways to procrastinate. So I picked it up expecting to be over it within 5 minutes.
I loved it.
I found myself being taken back to 1999 when I was 16 years old. I was a crazy giddy girl, slightly boy obsessed, and thought I knew everything. As I sat in my bed at 3 a.m. reading, I found myself laughing at parts because in a weird way, I could relate to some of it. Clearly I wasn't in love with a Vampire, though for one like Edward, I would have considered it.
I finished the first 2 and went out and bought the rest yesterday. Really Excited.
Is it bad that I'm 25 and loving this?
Friday, April 10, 2009
me minus 4 bags of sugar
Today is a good day.
Either my scale is lying to me or...
I'm down 20 pounds!!!
Out of control. Tonight is sushi/sake bombing for the boy's birthday, so I may ruin it. But that's totally worth it.
Either my scale is lying to me or...
I'm down 20 pounds!!!
Out of control. Tonight is sushi/sake bombing for the boy's birthday, so I may ruin it. But that's totally worth it.
Monday, April 6, 2009
wedding weekend
It was a crazy wedding planning filled weekend. It was a little stressful and overwhelming, but really fun. Plus it involved no schoolwork. Fabulous!
Last weekend we were stuffing and licking envelopes for our save the date cards. We ordered them from Wedding Paper Divas, a super cute local company but they are well-known and did an amazing job. Here's the card we chose:
which you can find
Here. Clearly that's not my exact invitation since my name is not Gabrielle, but it's beautiful. I started getting calls as early as Tuesday and I found out that the card made it to my relative in Spain on Friday so I think everyone should have received it. Big check out of the way.
On Saturday the boy and I spent the entire day sampling wedding cake from several bakeries. I haven't had real sweets like this in 2 months and it was INTENSE. Complete sugar overload. The amount of samples and flavors that we got to try was unbelievable. Not just vanilla and chocolate, but Bailey's and Kahlua, lemon, cheesecake, dulce de leche filling, ridiculous types of frosting...you get it. I was in heaven! The boy had his heart set on Red Velvet and I'm a girl who likes simple cake so we were worried we wouldn't be able to decide on what we wanted. Fortunately, we found an amazing bakery and designed our cake: 4 square levels, the bottom and top will be red velvet w/cream cheese frosting and the middle two levels will be vanilla with strawberry and whipped cream filling (a la strawberry shortcake). The outside of the cake is butter cream frosting with a thin layer of fondant for decoration. I wish I could explain the outside of the cake. Each level has a different decoration and the sketch of it looks AMAZING. It's girlie and wonderful.
Yesterday we decided to finally start our registry. I thought it would be pretty easy: we have similar tastes, already have some stuff since we've been living together for 3 1/2 years, and discussed what we need. Oh. My. Goodness. Impossible. We only started our registry at one store and we were completely overwhelmed. Which coffee maker do I want? How do I decide between 3 different flatware options that look the same? Wow, pots and pans are expensive...can I justify it? It's rough. I need help and I know there are some super lovely, married bloggers who read this. What do I do?! Any registry advice (including places that you love/hate) would be great.
And finally...for all you baseball fans, today is opening day. I'm treating myself to some low fat popcorn and rocking my Cubs hat and watching the game in an hour. Go Cubs!
Last weekend we were stuffing and licking envelopes for our save the date cards. We ordered them from Wedding Paper Divas, a super cute local company but they are well-known and did an amazing job. Here's the card we chose:
which you can find Here. Clearly that's not my exact invitation since my name is not Gabrielle, but it's beautiful. I started getting calls as early as Tuesday and I found out that the card made it to my relative in Spain on Friday so I think everyone should have received it. Big check out of the way.
On Saturday the boy and I spent the entire day sampling wedding cake from several bakeries. I haven't had real sweets like this in 2 months and it was INTENSE. Complete sugar overload. The amount of samples and flavors that we got to try was unbelievable. Not just vanilla and chocolate, but Bailey's and Kahlua, lemon, cheesecake, dulce de leche filling, ridiculous types of frosting...you get it. I was in heaven! The boy had his heart set on Red Velvet and I'm a girl who likes simple cake so we were worried we wouldn't be able to decide on what we wanted. Fortunately, we found an amazing bakery and designed our cake: 4 square levels, the bottom and top will be red velvet w/cream cheese frosting and the middle two levels will be vanilla with strawberry and whipped cream filling (a la strawberry shortcake). The outside of the cake is butter cream frosting with a thin layer of fondant for decoration. I wish I could explain the outside of the cake. Each level has a different decoration and the sketch of it looks AMAZING. It's girlie and wonderful.
Yesterday we decided to finally start our registry. I thought it would be pretty easy: we have similar tastes, already have some stuff since we've been living together for 3 1/2 years, and discussed what we need. Oh. My. Goodness. Impossible. We only started our registry at one store and we were completely overwhelmed. Which coffee maker do I want? How do I decide between 3 different flatware options that look the same? Wow, pots and pans are expensive...can I justify it? It's rough. I need help and I know there are some super lovely, married bloggers who read this. What do I do?! Any registry advice (including places that you love/hate) would be great.
And finally...for all you baseball fans, today is opening day. I'm treating myself to some low fat popcorn and rocking my Cubs hat and watching the game in an hour. Go Cubs!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
shamwow and blog love
Law school really needs to learn I have a life. Really. I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep in two weeks, hang out with friends, watch trashy reality tv, etc. It's just not right. Here are a few things worth mentioning:
1) Today I found out that the Shamwow guy was arrested for assault w/a prostitute. According to "The Smoking Gun, Mr. Shamwow paid a prostitute $1,000 for sex. When he kissed her, she bit his tongue and wouldn't let go so he punched her a few times until she did. Shamhow? Shamwow. Also: he's 44. Doesn't he seem a lot younger?
2) I'm obsessed with "She Loves Everybody" by Chester French. Listen to on repeat obsessed. The guys met at Harvard and have that nerdy vibe which I dig. Check it out:<
3) In weight loss spectacular news, I'm down 5 more pounds. Though friday I'm going to Zachary's Pizza with the girls (one of the 2 semi-accurate Chicago style pizza places in the Bay Area) and then I have cake tastings at 3 bakeries on Saturday, so I'm sure I'll take a few steps back. But screw it, I love pizza and I love cake.
4) I received some great blog love last week from Post Smith and Jeans Friday. These two ladies are absolutely lovely and their blogs are always fun and entertaining. Thanks for the Love! So here we go:
Here are the award rules:
List 7 things that you love, and then pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you love!
Be sure to tag them and let them know that they have won. You can copy the picture of the award and paste it on your sideboard letting the whole world know...you are Kreativ!
1) Cinnamon and Sugar rice cakes. Generally I think rice cakes are pretty blah, but these are surprisingly tasty.
2) Listening to "Nothing But a G Thang" super loud in my car at 9 a.m. on the way to school. That song is so classic and pumps me up.
3) Vintage Pin-Ups: they're totally cute and girlie. I try to bring their style into my wardrobe.
4) "The Cosby Show", particularly the early episodes. Those Huxtable kids were out of control.
5) Backgammon: my mom and dad taught me how to play when I was little and we used to sit outside and play during the humid, summer nights in Chicago.
7) C.O. Bigelow Rosebud Salve. Best lip gloss ever.
8) "Teen Witch". That movie is awful, and yet I love it, particularly for this scene:
to accurately follow the rules for this award, I have to list ten not-so-cute things about myself. Hmm, can I do this? Absolutely:
1) Though I sometimes sleep in cute jammies, often I'll sleep in long jammie pants, a hoodie, and have my hair in curlers. Doesn't really set the mood.
2) I will watch an episode of certain shows every time they air. I know exactly what is going to happen. I can even start to talk along with the characters. It can get extremely annoying.
3) If I can't find something or I'm frustrated, I'll sing random songs about that thing. When the boy asks me to stop, these songs just get louder. Speaking of songs...
4) If for some bizarre reason "mmm Bop" comes on, it's stuck in my head all day. And I will continue to sing the chorus until it gets out of my head.
5) During finals, my hair smells like coffee because I spend most of my time at starbucks. Ick.
6) I start movies before I go to bed and fall asleep before it's over so the title screen along w/any music or dialogue will play over and over again.
7) I'll grab my boobs at random. I think this started when I first got them and I was super stoked that they finally arrived.
8) My feet are always cold. But I refuse to wear socks unless I'm going to the gym or it's raining. Makes snuggling not as comfy.
9) If something really makes me laugh, I'll let out a little snort.
10) I have a potty mouth. I drop the f-bomb at least 10 times a day (but probably more). My mom has given up home on me being "ladylike". But, I can turn off the potty mouth in a heartbeat.
Phew! I'll pass these awards to:
1. Tiffany
2. Kahea
3. Lailah
4. Pardon My English
5. Miss Type-A
Also...Just finished the season finale of "Life on Mars". Did anyone else see this and think "wtf???"
1) Today I found out that the Shamwow guy was arrested for assault w/a prostitute. According to "The Smoking Gun, Mr. Shamwow paid a prostitute $1,000 for sex. When he kissed her, she bit his tongue and wouldn't let go so he punched her a few times until she did. Shamhow? Shamwow. Also: he's 44. Doesn't he seem a lot younger?
2) I'm obsessed with "She Loves Everybody" by Chester French. Listen to on repeat obsessed. The guys met at Harvard and have that nerdy vibe which I dig. Check it out:<
3) In weight loss spectacular news, I'm down 5 more pounds. Though friday I'm going to Zachary's Pizza with the girls (one of the 2 semi-accurate Chicago style pizza places in the Bay Area) and then I have cake tastings at 3 bakeries on Saturday, so I'm sure I'll take a few steps back. But screw it, I love pizza and I love cake.
4) I received some great blog love last week from Post Smith and Jeans Friday. These two ladies are absolutely lovely and their blogs are always fun and entertaining. Thanks for the Love! So here we go:
Here are the award rules:
List 7 things that you love, and then pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you love!
Be sure to tag them and let them know that they have won. You can copy the picture of the award and paste it on your sideboard letting the whole world know...you are Kreativ!
1) Cinnamon and Sugar rice cakes. Generally I think rice cakes are pretty blah, but these are surprisingly tasty.
2) Listening to "Nothing But a G Thang" super loud in my car at 9 a.m. on the way to school. That song is so classic and pumps me up.
3) Vintage Pin-Ups: they're totally cute and girlie. I try to bring their style into my wardrobe.
4) "The Cosby Show", particularly the early episodes. Those Huxtable kids were out of control.
5) Backgammon: my mom and dad taught me how to play when I was little and we used to sit outside and play during the humid, summer nights in Chicago.
7) C.O. Bigelow Rosebud Salve. Best lip gloss ever.
8) "Teen Witch". That movie is awful, and yet I love it, particularly for this scene:
to accurately follow the rules for this award, I have to list ten not-so-cute things about myself. Hmm, can I do this? Absolutely:
1) Though I sometimes sleep in cute jammies, often I'll sleep in long jammie pants, a hoodie, and have my hair in curlers. Doesn't really set the mood.
2) I will watch an episode of certain shows every time they air. I know exactly what is going to happen. I can even start to talk along with the characters. It can get extremely annoying.
3) If I can't find something or I'm frustrated, I'll sing random songs about that thing. When the boy asks me to stop, these songs just get louder. Speaking of songs...
4) If for some bizarre reason "mmm Bop" comes on, it's stuck in my head all day. And I will continue to sing the chorus until it gets out of my head.
5) During finals, my hair smells like coffee because I spend most of my time at starbucks. Ick.
6) I start movies before I go to bed and fall asleep before it's over so the title screen along w/any music or dialogue will play over and over again.
7) I'll grab my boobs at random. I think this started when I first got them and I was super stoked that they finally arrived.
8) My feet are always cold. But I refuse to wear socks unless I'm going to the gym or it's raining. Makes snuggling not as comfy.
9) If something really makes me laugh, I'll let out a little snort.
10) I have a potty mouth. I drop the f-bomb at least 10 times a day (but probably more). My mom has given up home on me being "ladylike". But, I can turn off the potty mouth in a heartbeat.
Phew! I'll pass these awards to:
1. Tiffany
2. Kahea
3. Lailah
4. Pardon My English
5. Miss Type-A
Also...Just finished the season finale of "Life on Mars". Did anyone else see this and think "wtf???"
Sunday, March 22, 2009
90's movie soundtracks
The other day Kahea and I took a much needed shopping break during our massive time gap between classes. On the drive back we started talking about 90's movie soundtracks and how they were so great. Being the pop culture/music gal that I am, I thought I'd share my favorites:
1) "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet" Bonus points to you if you had both soundtracks. This movie came out when I was in 8th grade (1997ish) and I loved it. I thought it was beautifully shot, lovely and modern but let's be honest, it had Leonardo DiCaprio and he was super dreamy. Almost every girl I know remembers the scene 10 or so minutes into the movie where he's sitting on the stage, writing in his journal and smoking a cigarette and he looks up and that little bit of hair is in his eyes. Hardcore gals can also start humming the song that's playing in the scene. But the soundtrack had a lot of gems. For starters, there was "Lovefool" by the Cardigans which you could hear every time you turned on the radio during ths time. But it also had Everclear, Radiohead, Garbage, and Butthole Surfers. Kahea and I started laughing as we realized we both loved the song "To You I Bestow" by Mundy and actually started singing it out loud.
2) "Can't Hardly Wait". I'm not going to lie, I bust out the cd fairly often. My favorites are "Dammit" by Blink 182 and "Tricky" by Run DMC, but it also has Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth, and Busta Rhymes. Plus any cd that ends with "Paradise City" is fine by me. It's surprising that they didn't include "Mandy" on there since Barry Manilow was kinda a big deal in the movie, but while he makes the songs that make the whole world sing, I didn't miss him on here.
3) "Clueless". If you read this blog enough, you know I love this movie. But I also adore the soundtrack. When I first got it, I listened to "Supermodel" a million time. Not that I wanted to be a supermodel, but I loved the line "I wish that I was like Tori Spelling with a car like hers and a dad like hers". My favorite song was "Where'd You Go" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. This was right before I was into ska music, but it was so bouncy and fun. I was thrilled when I saw this song was included on Rock Band 2. The soundtrack also had 90's favorites from the Beastie Boys, Radiohead, and Luscious Jackson. Plus who doesn't love "Rolling with the Homies"?
4) "10 Things I Hate About You". This is one of the few tweeny flicks I can watch with the boy and we both actually really enjoy it. My friend Cat and I saw it in the theaters and thought we were so clever because "Bianca and Cat were seeing a movie about two girls named Bianca and Cat". Yea...we're awesome. The big songs that really stick out in my head from this movie are "I Want You to Want Me" by Letters to Cleo and "I Know" by Save Ferris, both bands which appeared in the movie. All my friends were really into this cd. The only this missing was "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" by Heath Ledger. I still can't help but swoon a little when I watch that.
5) "American Pie". That movie was absolutely ridiculous and I loved every second of it. Whoever thought to have some guy "have fun" with a pie is insane...or genius. Besides goodies from Blink 182 and Sugar Ray, my favorites were "You Wanted More" by Tonic and "Sway" by Bic Runga. Whatever happened to them? VH-1, get on that.
After having this convo, I spent the weekend listening to these cds and working on a paper. The music was great...I wish I could say the same for the paper.
What 90's gems did I miss?
1) "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet" Bonus points to you if you had both soundtracks. This movie came out when I was in 8th grade (1997ish) and I loved it. I thought it was beautifully shot, lovely and modern but let's be honest, it had Leonardo DiCaprio and he was super dreamy. Almost every girl I know remembers the scene 10 or so minutes into the movie where he's sitting on the stage, writing in his journal and smoking a cigarette and he looks up and that little bit of hair is in his eyes. Hardcore gals can also start humming the song that's playing in the scene. But the soundtrack had a lot of gems. For starters, there was "Lovefool" by the Cardigans which you could hear every time you turned on the radio during ths time. But it also had Everclear, Radiohead, Garbage, and Butthole Surfers. Kahea and I started laughing as we realized we both loved the song "To You I Bestow" by Mundy and actually started singing it out loud.
2) "Can't Hardly Wait". I'm not going to lie, I bust out the cd fairly often. My favorites are "Dammit" by Blink 182 and "Tricky" by Run DMC, but it also has Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth, and Busta Rhymes. Plus any cd that ends with "Paradise City" is fine by me. It's surprising that they didn't include "Mandy" on there since Barry Manilow was kinda a big deal in the movie, but while he makes the songs that make the whole world sing, I didn't miss him on here.
3) "Clueless". If you read this blog enough, you know I love this movie. But I also adore the soundtrack. When I first got it, I listened to "Supermodel" a million time. Not that I wanted to be a supermodel, but I loved the line "I wish that I was like Tori Spelling with a car like hers and a dad like hers". My favorite song was "Where'd You Go" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. This was right before I was into ska music, but it was so bouncy and fun. I was thrilled when I saw this song was included on Rock Band 2. The soundtrack also had 90's favorites from the Beastie Boys, Radiohead, and Luscious Jackson. Plus who doesn't love "Rolling with the Homies"?
4) "10 Things I Hate About You". This is one of the few tweeny flicks I can watch with the boy and we both actually really enjoy it. My friend Cat and I saw it in the theaters and thought we were so clever because "Bianca and Cat were seeing a movie about two girls named Bianca and Cat". Yea...we're awesome. The big songs that really stick out in my head from this movie are "I Want You to Want Me" by Letters to Cleo and "I Know" by Save Ferris, both bands which appeared in the movie. All my friends were really into this cd. The only this missing was "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" by Heath Ledger. I still can't help but swoon a little when I watch that.
5) "American Pie". That movie was absolutely ridiculous and I loved every second of it. Whoever thought to have some guy "have fun" with a pie is insane...or genius. Besides goodies from Blink 182 and Sugar Ray, my favorites were "You Wanted More" by Tonic and "Sway" by Bic Runga. Whatever happened to them? VH-1, get on that.
After having this convo, I spent the weekend listening to these cds and working on a paper. The music was great...I wish I could say the same for the paper.
What 90's gems did I miss?
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