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.