2010 in pictures

Since I love a good dose of nostalgia, here are some highlights from the year:

1. Kicking off 2010 the right way with my favorite people in the world in goodole Anna Maria Island:

Note: these are not all of my favorite people, just two gorgeous ones. All my other pictures involved bathing suits and I wasn't feeling that...

2. Our third and final Barrister's Ball:

4. ITP trip to Cuba!

5. My last Wigmore Follies--The Loanies!

6. Doug and Claire (and lots of other people) graduate law school...

Oh yeah, and Claire and Emily throw a Totally Awesome 80s Grad Party.

We also graduated:

sans ugly gown.

7. Zoe turns one!

and eats her presents.

this tasted much better:

8. Take (and eventually pass!) the bar exam

Here's where we stayed while we did this:

9. Mandy and Tim get married!

10. Travel the world

First, we went to Europe (Paris, Munich, Amsterdam, Prague, Venice) with Rami and Melissa:

my only picture with the four of us. If you want scenery, go to facebook :)

Then, we went to Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia) and Australia (Sydney and Melbourne). Clearly the pictures do not do the tripjustice. It was unbelievable.

Angkor Wat at sunrise.

11. Move to Los Angeles

You can check out our new apartment here and here and here.

12. Fantastic weekend visit with these three:

We had way more fun than this photo would make you think...this was taken while Zoe was mesmerized by the carousel at Griffith Park. Other highlights: the tot lot, Santa Monica Pier, Toast, Sprinkles cupcakes.

13. Start a new job as a real lawyer

14. Lauren and Alan get married!

15. Thanksgiving in LA (because of number 13), which even included a hike.

16. Christmas in Kansas City

No pictures from this one yet, but believe me it was a great week!

It was quite a year. Finished law school, traveled the world, moved across the country, started a new job. I am looking forward to what 2011 brings!

Bedroom Makeover!

So I suppose it is not so much a makeover seeing as it is only just now getting completed since moving in a few months ago. But whateves--since no one reads my blog I can make the titles as lame as I want. :)

The bedroom has been a work in progress. I would still like to add a chair and maybe some things on the wall, but I'm pretty happy with it so far! We have random things on the walls, a rug, bedside lamps, bedding I love, and a fab DIY headboard. All in all not bad considering I lost steam on the whole fix up the apartment thing once I started working ridiculous hours.

Without further adieu...I give you our bedroom.

Today I got these babies:

Jolie table lamp: Crate and Barrel

they were a Christmas present from my lovely parents. Since we were in KC for Christmas, they arrived today, and I couldn't be happier.

here it is in action on my side of the bed:

Notice the self and bhg magazines--highly recommended. and that adorable couple is my grandparents on their wedding day. don't they look happy??

And now the full bedroom shot:

I have no idea how to take pretty pictures and did this at night, which is apparently the worst time to do it. Sorry for the dark photos!

And here is one peering into the room so you (my nonexistent fake audience) can get a feel for how the room looks:

LOVE my overstock.com rug. for reals.

Smells like Thanksgiving!

Tonight I made this:

Pumpkin pie (note this is not mine...if you're lucky I"ll post one when it's done!)

And this:

Pumpkin lasagna (also not the actual one...probably won't be nearly this pretty)

I'm so excited to try them both. Here's hoping they turn out! It's been a relaxing weekend around here. Thanksgiving was at a co-worker's house. We brought stuffing, which turned out alright. I also brought pumpkin bread, which was a much bigger hit (it was probably the 3 cups of sugar and the cup of oil...). The rest of the weekend has been full of relaxation, doc review, shopping, and cooking. All in all a good one. Christmas carols are on in the background to get in the mood. Only thing better would be if we had been able to be with family!

Back to pumpkin night--I made the lasagna for the office potluck tomorrow. The pie is just because.

I used the recipe on the can of pumpkin for the pie. Here is the recipe for pumpkin lasagna, courtesy of the master chef of the Lux family, John:

Pumpkin lasagna

By Wolfgang Puck, Chicago Tribune, Oct. 27, 2004. Originally called Three-cheese pumpkin lasagna

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 1 1/2 hours

Yield: 8 servings

9 to 12 dried lasagna noodles (No-boil noodles work fine)

Bechamel sauce:

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter

1/4 cup flour

3 cups whole milk

2 teaspoons fresh creamy goat cheese or mascarpone

1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly grated nutmeg

Filling:

1 can (29 ounces) pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon each, thyme, sage

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup each: panko (Japanese) bread crumbs, mascarpone cheese

1/4 cup each: freshly grated Parmesan cheese, brown sugar

2 tablespoons creamy goat cheese

1 tablespoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

For assembly:

1/2 cup each: bread crumbs, grated Parmesan cheese

1. If using dried noodles, heat a large stockpot of lightly salted water to a boil; fill a large mixing bowl with ice and water. Boil the noodles until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain. Transfer to the ice water. Drain the noodles; arrange in a single layer on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, for the sauce, melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat; sprinkle in the flour, stirring continuously with a wire whisk. Cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes. Whisk in the milk; whisk in the goat cheese, salt and pinch of nutmeg. Heat to a simmer; cook, whisking often, until thick and creamy, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat; set aside.

3. For the filling, combine pumpkin puree, thyme, sage, nutmeg, bread crumbs, mascarpone, Parmesan, brown sugar, goat cheese, salt and pepper to taste in a large mixing bowl.

4. Heat oven to 400 degrees. To assemble lasagna, spread a third of the pumpkin mixture on bottom of a lightly greased 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Cover with a layer of lasagna noodles, placed lengthwise side by side, overlapping the edges. Spread another third of the filling over the noodles; top with 3/4 cup of the bechamel. Top with another layer of noodles, the remaining filling, and another 3/4 cup of bechamel. Cover with a final layer of noodles and the remaining bechamel. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and Parmesan. Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with nonstick spray; place it sprayed-side down over the lasagna pan, folding the edges over.

5. Bake until heated through and bubbling, about 50 minutes. Remove the foil; bake until the topping is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven; cool 10 minutes. Cut into rectangles or squares.

Enjoy!

This Mean Lawyer Girlfriend

PASSED THE BAR!!!

I am officially (well, once I'm sworn in...) an actual mean lawyer girlfriend :)

(the nice lawyer boyfriend also passed)

DIY Upholstered Headboard!

I'm giddy! I've been dying to make an upholstered headboard for some time now, and today I finally did it. It was SO EASY. Seriously. Un.believ.ably easy.

Since we had to put our bed under the window in our room (it just cut the room up awkwardly anywhere else), I wasn't sure I could have a headboard. But then I decided, whatever, I'm doing it. And I dove in!

I picked out the fabric, with input from boyfriend, and went to town. The hardest part was buying the ENORMOUS piece of plywood, getting it cut to size, and getting it delivered by one of the many day laborers.

Once that was out of the way, it was easy peasey. Seriously, look:

Step 1: Use spray adhesive to attach 1 in. foam to the board (I had the foam cut at the fabric store. Yes, it added some cost, but it was WAY worth it to me)

Check out that fabric panel art in the background--did that today too.

Step 2: Lay out fabric on the floor (note: the fabric saleslady said I could skip the batting and I'm SO glad I listened to her. Definitely didn't need it and it would have added to the cost, obvi)

Step 3: Lay board on top of fabric, foam side down.

Step 4: Staple fabric to the board, pulling taut.

Step 5: Admire, jump up and down, put it in place.

So yeah, I'm happy. I didn't want it to be too tall because of the whole blocking the window thing and I think the height is just right. It looks modern and fun against the grey. Loves it.

Ignore the blurriness...sorry, must have been all the jumping up and down

I still need to figure out a way to attach it to the wall (the whole window thing throws a wrench in that...), but for now it seems sturdy enough just using the bed to hold it in place. Ha. We'll see...

Yep. Super proud.

ps--don't judge the rest of the room. It's obviously still coming together...

pps--look at my cute little chair waiting to be reupholstered!

The new apartment!

Well lots has happened since I last posted: I took the bar (no results until November 19th!), traveled to Europe, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Australia, and moved to LA!

We moved into our 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment almost a week ago and are finally getting settled. I'm not ready to show any after pictures (you know, to my fake blog reading audience who is quite judgey) but I figured I'd get started with one small before. Boxes galore, no furniture, but at least our tv made it!

I love our big, huge window and the hardwood floors!

And here's a couple "halfway there" shots:

We obviously have no couch yet--it's a slate grey sectional from Macy's. I love it! And I'm planning a sweet gallery wall around the TV to make it blend in more (well as much as it can--it is 50 in after all). I would love some curtains, but I think the air conditioner is too close to the window.

This is the corner of our living room opposite the photo above. I ordered a chair to go where the desk chair is now. I've been calling it the reading corner. We also need to hang art and get a rug.

I will (probably) post afters in a week-ish when it's more finished. Hopefully our couch will be here by then!

I have some VIPs coming in next week: mommy, my sister, and the ever adorable Zoe:

I know, she is so cute.

We will have tons of fun galavanting around town in this:

My new-to-me Acura!

Anyway, that's it for now :)

Pantry Eating at its best

Gorgeous Italian pantry--image here--Nope, not mine. It would be way more fun to eat out of this one...

First things first--I love that this is a fake blog open to no one to read. That means I don't have to try to come up with clever post titles. Because I certainly am not clever enough for that...and I would needlessly stress over it naturally.

Anyway, we move out ONE WEEK (!!) from today. This means the bar is only a little more than a week away. Honestly, I'm glad. I can't wait to take it and be done with it. I'm doing my damndest to make sure I don't burn out/peak too early/freak out/lose motivation/insert other worry here. So here's hoping I keep going and just pass the darn thing already.

Sooo back to the topic at hand: pantry eating. I'm fascinated by frugal mommy sites where they talk about their crazy, ridiculous low budgets and doing things like bartering for milk. While I'm not going out to work in the fields just yet, I figured I might as well try to use up all our pantry things before racing to the store to buy new food.

I suppose I should show you what our pantry actually looks like now:

Okay I did choose the saddest shelf and took it with my phone--so while it certainly does look sad it's not all that bad

The sad pantry has made for some interesting meals:

1. Rice, black beans, and Portuguese sausage--surprisingly wonderful!

2. Pork chops and a medley of veggies--eh. Cuba really turned me off to Pork. Doug like it though

(oh and ps if i were a real blogger i'd have pictures of all these. but i'm not. so i don't)

3. Italian sausage, edamame, and tater tots--so weird. so delicious. i felt like a little kid getting to eat whatever she wanted

And tonight's meal of old frozen chicken breast, frozen sugar snap peas, and baked sweet potatoes (maybe i'll get a pic up here...probably not)

The reason I started this long, winded, rambling post was that this has taught me to stretch my imagination and not run to the delivery menu drawer. Hopefully I can keep this up when I don't have the "oh crap I am moving and need to use up this food" mentality.

Maybe one day I will be bartering for milk after all...particularly given that mint.com now informs me I have -$174,000 to my name. Excellent.

Inspiration (from Grey's Anatomy no less...)

The ever wise Bailey spoke those words a long time ago, and they have always resonated with me. It reminds me to stop beating myself up when I can't do it all and to let go of even trying to.

You gotta do what you can, of course, but when you can't, you can't.

So thank you Shonda Rhimes and the Grey's writers :) I have plans to blow this up a bit bigger and frame it to hang somewhere in the new apt.

ps--i also had fun experimenting with making a poster. I need better fonts!

Eat Pray Love

I just finished Eat Pray Love. I know I'm late to the party, but hey now I get to see the movie with it fresh in my mind! Can't wait to do that by the way...

Here is where I pause to watch a trailer of the movie. And get sad because Liz was most certainly not Julia Roberts in my head. And in my mind the book bore no resemblance to a romantic comedy, which is exactly what the preview looked like. Sigh...

Anyway, I just loved the book. It was one of those books where you want to slow down and soak up every word so you can be sure it's getting through and sticking.

So on that note, I decided to excerpt a few of my favorite passages:

"the appreciation of pleasure can be an anchor of one's humanity...You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight."

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."

"If I am truly to become an autonomous woman, then I must take over that role of being my own guardian...I not only have to become my own husband, but I need to be my own father too."

I realize there were many gems I did not mark that I now have sadly lost. But what I appreciated most was Gilbert's incredible honesty. She truly bore her soul, her most private and ugly thoughts, for the whole world to see. It made for some powerful stuff on God, grace, relationships, happiness, and figuring out who you are and your place in the world.

Couch Love

We're in the market for a new couch. In about 4 months that is. But I can't wait! I am ready for an upgrade from our current couch--the Ektorp from Ikea. No hating on it--it has served me well these last three years and has gotten LOTS of love this year! But it's white and a little dingy. In short, I'm over it.

So while killing time before Billy Elliot today (that kid can DANCE!), my mom and I stumbled upon this beauty in Macy's:

I LOVE IT! I love the buttons on the back part. And Doug would love its flat arms. It comes in a chocalatey brown color that would be perfect! I also love that it looks all sleek and clean, but is totally comfortable too. (obviously we tried it out). PLUS it is ONLY $699! A total steal.

So of course I got to browsing the interwebs when I got home and here's a couple others I like.

This lovely at Pottery Barn:

I love the shape of the back. And of course, I love the upholstered look rather than the slip cover. I like to show off those legs! Sadly this is not as much of a steal...probably would be about $1800 in any fabric I'd want.

And this one (also Macy's):

Sorry, Macy's website has yucky abilities with downloading pictures. So it's hard to see. But this is another gorgeous beauty with the buttons and wide arms. Love her.

And then my eyes started hurting and I lost interest. Because did I mention this isn't happening for months yet?

Summer Reading

Yay! My Amazon order arrived today :)

Here's what I'm reading (aside from 11 fascinating Bar Bri books on topics such as Wills and Real Property...):

1. Eat Pray Love
2. The Choice Effect (written by a friend of my college roommate and best friend!)
3. Little Bee
4. Madame Bovary (not pictured)
5. House Beautiful
6. Better Homes and Gardens
7. Real Simple (not pictured--Amazon takes FOREVER to send magazines!)

I was inspired by Edie, my blog crush, to ramp up my reading again. She reads some impressive stuff. Seeing as I'm also spending a million hours a day on the aforementioned boringness of Bar Bri, I thought I'd follow her lead on a smaller scale!

I've been reading Madame Bovary for a couple days and so far it just hasn't grabbed me yet. So I'm jumping ship for the time being. I'm starting with Eat Pray Love. I know I'm light years behind everyone who read this years ago, but hey at least I know it should be good! I'm in a reflective mood lately and am looking to be inspired. So bring it on Elizabeth Gilbert!

So here goes!

My first paint project!

I decided to take the plunge today and paint my ratty old dresser. I've been looking at every piece of furniture I own now, dreaming of how I'll transform it with paint. So I decided it was time to just do it already and stop worrying.

I started with this old dresser I use for my tights and things. My mom bought it for $5 a few years ago (thanks Mom!). It was already painted white and was in sad shape with lots of chips and stains. I figured if I messed it up it couldn't be much worse than what I was already living with, and I could throw it out when I moved to LA.

So I dove in--after reading what seemed like hundreds of blog posts on painting furniture. I bought Rustoleum semi-gloss black paint. I chose this one because it had a picture of furniture on it so I knew I could use it (I'm not kidding). I am sure I could have used lots of other paints, but that aisle is intimidating so I went with what felt safe.

Here's a few before shots:

Even with this bad picture you can see how uneven the paint was.

It also had a few chips on it:

Here it is all sanded down and primed (ps-I have no idea if I sanded enough or even had the right sandpaper thingie. My new motto is just go with it! So I did...):

I got excited seeing it all grey--it already looked so much better! (like my orange toes? :)

And here it is now!

(what looks like a fleck of white is just on the picture, not the dresser!)

I'm really happy with how it turned out. I already have plans for painting two shelves black to match our other fancy one we got for free from Doug's old neighbor. This is addicting!

My very first DIY project--tile art!

I don’t even remember how I stumbled upon all the wonderful blogs I read, like this one and this one. I’m sure it happened during the hours of procrastination during finals in my third year of law school. At first, I was just admiring the pretty pictures and homes. I recently got interested in decorating and was having fun putting together mine and boyfriend’s apartment. But then I started letting my mind wander to what I might be able to do. Of course this was swiftly followed by thoughts of “you can’t do that." Nevertheless, when I stumbled across this I knew there was no going back. I blocked out a time on my calendar and read the post 5,000 times to be sure I understood exactly how to do it.

When the appointed project week arrived, I was so excited. I spent an hour roaming around Home Depot choosing just the right tile, even lining them up in the 2X2 square to see what it would look like (I’m sure they were loving that). I asked lots of questions that I’m sure made the nice Home Depot worker wonder what business I had in their store. Any questions he asked of me were pretty much met with a blank stare. I can’t even remember them now to type here. When the nice worker asked if I needed floor or ceiling grout, I said “ummm well I’m mounting it on the floor but it will go on the wall” (Kimba had not prepared me for this question!). This time it was nice worker’s turn to give a blank stare. I expanded—“well it’s for artwork." I guess that was enough for him because he showed me an adhesive/grout combo deal (2 for 1-score!) and I was on my way. He must have lots of clueless, uncrafty people like me who come in wanting to make tile art. Kimba’s post was inspiring so I’d believe it!

Supplies in hand, I trudged out to wait for the bus and was reminded yet again of why having a car would be nice. So I hailed a cab instead. I was in my new lulu workout pants and the 2x2 piece of dry wall was dusting on me! (Most DIY gals would know not to wear nice, new clothes to Home Depot. Lesson learned). I made it home, laid out my new drop cloth (which boyfriend asked if I made—clearly he has more faith in my craftiness than I do) and got to work.

I won’t give a tutorial because, really, there are far wiser, more experienced people out there to teach you—see Kimba’s site. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Here it is all grouted up!

And the final product!

I am SO proud of this first project. I feel like I can do anything now—and I can’t stop my imagination from running. I’ve already conjured plans for a new upholstered headboard (like this one and this one!) and seriously cannot look at a piece of furniture in my apartment without wanting to paint it.

So there you have it—I survived my very first DIY project and caught the bug. If you like the way this looks (or Kimba’s because I think I still like hers better) you CAN do it! It is SO easy and hardly takes ANY time. Just give it a try!

Let me know what you think below (please be nice though--I'm so new to this!)