monogram necklaces

I have been seeing these everywhere lately and decided that I want my own. I am also thinking this may be a good way to spend my graduation money because it is something I will have forever. Here are a few I like:

Necklaces by Sarah Chloe were featured in this month's Elle Magazine and I loved them. 

I also have been wanting to get a signet ring for quite some time and Sarah Chloe designs them as well:

These are SO popular right now that I wonder if it is just a passing trend. But on the other hand, its not like your initials will ever go out of style. Is it worth spending a lot of money on a monogram necklace or signet ring with the goal of having it forever? Or better to purchase a less expensive one and enjoy the trend while it is hot? Will this turn into the "Carrie Necklace" type of situation where everyone will buy a little gold necklace with their name on it and then all of a sudden the popularity will disappear? hmmm

Life lately

I am currently enjoying the last of my flowers from graduation:

and photos I took of my Sister's new puppy Bernie, a bichon frise:

{smitten <3}

attempting to adjust to my new, rigorous bar exam study schedule.

AND day dreaming about possible weekend adventures . . . 

poached egg with wilted spinach and parmesan

This past week when I was staring into the fridge and deciding what to make for breakfast and I remembered this recipe from this month's Women's Health Magazine. Women's Health this month featured Giada De Laurentiis {LOVE her} and she had a series of recipes including this one:

I decided that I had enough of the ingredients to spin the recipe into something fresh and delicious for breakfast. Here is what I came up with:

Steps:

Poach desired number of eggs. I have spent a long time trying to perfect the art of poaching eggs and here is what I do:  (1) fill a shallow pot 2/3 with water and bring to a boil. It took me a long time to realize deep pots were not as conducive to keeping the egg together. (2) reduce heat until the boiling water is at a gentle simmer. It also took me a long time to realize that a boiling hot torrent of water was just needlessly ripping my egg apart. (3) crack egg into a small bowl and then pour egg into water. Repeat this step with desired number of eggs. Probably not a good idea to cook more than 4 at once. Try to insert eggs into water in different corners of the pot (4) cook 3-5 minuted depending on your preference/the number of eggs you are cooking. (5) remove eggs with slatted spoon. Note that fresher eggs stay together better!

Meanwhile, toast desired number of pieces of bread. I used Italian loaf. English muffins or bagel halves would also be good.

Meanwhile, add one to two tablespoons of butter to pan and proceed to wilt desired amount of fresh spinach. Olive Oil would also be a good substitute. I just love butter . . .

When toast is done, lightly butter and add spinach. Then place egg over the spinach. Top with freshly ground salt and pepper and fresh parmesan cheese.

Surprisingly, S was full after just two of these and I was full after one. It was light and enjoyable and definitely something we will make again. Once again, Women's Health has saved me from meal time doldrums with a great recipe that inspired me to try something new : )

Memorial Day Weekend Style

My outfit for Memorial Day seemed to center around varying shades of turquoise, most likely in an attempt to match my J Crew bubble necklace and my new Essie nail polish in Turquoise & Caicos:

{Banana Republic Espadrille Wedges/ Essie Turquoise & Caicos Nail Polish/ J Crew White Artist Tee/ J Crew Gingham Shorts/ J Crew Bubble Necklace/ Fossil Ceramic Watch/ Nylon Prada Bag/ Ray Ban Aviator Sunglasses}

On a less trivial note, with BBQs, beach days, ridiculous shopping deals, and the first signs of summer, it can be so easy to forget to true reason for this three day holiday weekend. Even though our time as a navy family seems farther away as each year passes, I still want to take the time today to feel thankful, grateful, and blessed that my husband remained safe while serving our country and to thank every other service member and their families for their courage and sacrifices. Happy Memorial Day.

Weekend Plans

We have two birthday parties to attend this weekend. Most notably, my niece's first birthday!!

I am also hoping to FINALLY get out on our sea kayaks for the first time this year. I got a spiffy new PFD from LLBean I am dying to test out : ) Hoping to get in a game of tennis too!

Of course grilling is on the agenda. I would LOVE to test out this drink:

recipe available here

Looks like shaved ice in that cup. Maybe I need this this. And these : )

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Life Lately

Hi. I'm just ignoring all of my Barbri books for a few more glorious days and enjoying life.

Here are some images from my week:

my house is FULL of flowers. including these gorgeous peonies 

delicious home made salsa and these amazing tortilla chips from whole foods

hand stitched table cloth picked up at a market in Spain that my Mom let me borrow. It went with my "English Garden" graduation party theme. 

party supplies that went with my theme. we also had croquet and bocce at the party : )

gorgeous flowers from hubby : )

outfit worn while running errands and to graduation rehearsal {J Crew skirt/ C&C California Shirt/BCBG Max Azria shoes/ pearls by the yard Tiffany necklace and bracelet}

more flowers  {from my sister in law} I am feeling very loved!

Gallery Wall

Confession. Three and one half years later, and we still have not had a single wedding photo printed, despite an entire disk worth of lovely (and expensive) professional photographer photos. Rationale: we knew our current house is temporary and did not want to go to the trouble of picking out frames and matting that may not be what we want for our house.

At any rate, I have recently become obsessed with the idea of a gallery wall. My Mom had one in our house growing up with so many wonderful pictures of family members and our family at various stages of life.

Here are some I am loving:

{from young house love}

{from Pottery Barn}

{found here}

{found here}

{found here}

{Pottery Barn}

My favorites are the ones with all the same color frame. There is something clean about the uniformity that I think is more "me." 

Accidental Over Exposure!

There are few things I enjoy more in life than the feeling of the warm sun on my skin after a long cold winter. Consequently, in the beginning of every spring/summer it never fails. I get one mildly bad sun burn and then lotion up religiously for the rest of the year. I know as well as the next person how important it is to wear sunscreen with an appropriately high SPF that gives the right kind of protection against ALL of the harmful rays, and to reapply when necessary. I also am a firm believer in wearing quality sunglasses to protect your eyes. Of all things to attempt to save money on, quality eye wear is NOT one of them! Further, although I deplore the idea of shielding my hair from the rays that are sure to restore beautiful blonde highlights to my darkening hair, I cannot resist a nice floppy hat to add extra protection to my face and shoulders during the hours of the day when the rays are at their strongest.

Despite all of this knowledge, on Sunday I sat down in my lawn chair with a refreshing beverage and the 2nd Hunger Games book and planned to get just an hour of sun in the early morning. I found myself saying, one more chapter and I will go in to make lunch. Well I never got hungry and I kept accidentally starting the next chapter and before I knew it, it was 2:30 pm and I had been out there for hours!! I think the temperatures reached 80 that day too. Shamefully, I now have a mild sunburn, which I am not too proud of!!

Here are some tried and true products I will be using to nourish my poor skin, and to prevent similar lapses for the remainder of the summer:

this stuff is amazing. Applying it before bedtime almost assures that any hint of redness will be gone in the morning. very soothing too {tested on our 2 week trip to costa rica last Christmas where our pale new england skin was exposed to the harsh equatorial rays!}

a good way to keep skin smooth, moisturized, and hydrated

very moisturizing body lotion

I used to drive a convertible and kept a stick of this in my purse at all times to apply to my lips, nose, eyelids, cheek bones, and forehead. It was convenient to be able to apply it when ever normal sunscreen was not available. 

my favorite brand of sunscreen because it does not leave you feeling oily and greasy, and like you immediately need to shower after using it!

perfect for more active outings like running, surfing, or kayaking

sunglasses I know are truly protecting my eyes

stylish and practical protection!

I will for the rest of the summer attempt to follow my own advise and rely on more than my every day moisturizer with SPF and will not be heading out to my patio to read without first lotioning up! 

Happy sunning!!

Juris Doctor!

SO I graduated from Law School!!! I seriously had the most amazing weekend, surrounded by my amazing family. 

Here are some images from my big day:

This is us on the steps of city hall shortly after graduation

I was able to use graduation as leverage to force get S to wear the pink J Crew tie with blue star fish to match my dress : )

I have just been "hooded" in this picture

Me receiving my hood

Making my way across the stage!

I feel so blessed that my family was there to support me on my big day. It was surreal, especially because it really only had hit me the night before that three years of hard work was now finished! After graduation my family came back to my house and we had a BBQ get together complete with champagne sangria {recipe available here}. We also had caprese salad, strawberry, spinach, & goat cheese salad, kabobs, as well as a veggie platter and salsa & guac dip from Whole Foods. I was so caught up in enjoying the day that I did not take very many pictures of the party itself. BUT I will be back with a few at some point this week.

Fortunately, the weather here in the north east was fantastic ALL weekend. I hope you all had nice weekends as well. Cheers!

Relaxation

warning - this is kind of a long, random post!!

FACT: I do not know how to relax. This explains why, in the nine days that have passed since my last final exam, I have not sat still. My husband, who has started summer sessions and works 20+ hours a week, is irritated that I do not know how to take advantage of down time. The last time I relaxed was last August I think. Our month long winter break was dominated by a two week trip to Costa Rica {which was relaxing but VERY busy as we spent two weeks touring a LOT of the country} and a two week self impose brief writing boot camp for my moot court competition. Spring break was spent preparing for a practice argument before the Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, a United States District Court Judge, and a Bankruptcy Judge, and traveling to NYC to compete. Not to mention this past semester was definitely the most hectic to date, with a full course load, Law Journal editing to do, and practice arguments at different law firms three nights a week.

Nevertheless, I have been VERY productive this past week and this "free time" has allowed me to get caught up on some things that have been long neglected {like our closet! I cleared out three trash bags worth of clothes that I will be donating next week!}

Here are some shots of what I have been up to:

enjoying my Lilly of the valley plants that started blooming last week

Made spaghetti alla carbonara and discovered I do not like the taste of pancetta {or perhaps just the brand my grocery store carries?}

I applied teak oil to our patio set. I skipped doing it last year and the wood was very dry and faded. It is amazing how a couple of coats of teak oil made such a huge difference {I should have done a before shot!} They still need another coat but I will wait a couple of weeks I think. The market umbrella I picked up at Christmas Tree Shop for $45. This is the second market umbrella I have purchased there. The first one lasted two summers but was in pretty rough shape at the end of last summer. However, we use and abused it {leaving it up most of the time and not covering it} and for the price I think that is a decent useful life, especially considering that the more expensive ones will still fade and probably not last any longer. The cushions I picked up on extreme clearance last fall at target. I love them and I am delighted they are still being stocked {for full price} this year! The Adirondack chairs were also a target purchase.

Also, if you look at the siding of the house above the market umbrella, you will notice that our property management company has LONG neglected pressure washing the exterior!! I spent half a day scrubbing the parts I could reach because I could not take it any more. Now that I have free time I will most certainly be inquiring about that!!!

In addition to cleaning my house top to bottom, I made some time to start making my way through these reading materials! All with my handsome buddy curled up by my feet.

On another note, I graduate from Law School tomorrow!! I can hardly believe it because it feels like only yesterday I left Davis, California and finished college. I have been so busy the past week it is only just hitting me now that I am entering uncharted waters in terms of studying for the bar and starting the next, professional phase of my life. I have spent the last at least 10 years working towards the goal of going to Law School and being successful there. Now that I have done that and obtained an amazing job, I have no more goals. Of course I want to work hard and be successful once I start work in the fall and I want to find a perfect house to buy, other than that there are no specific milestones that I feel I must achieve. Maybe that is a good thing because I have spent as long as I can remember waiting to get to the next stage and almost wishing time away. Wishing for college to go by faster {this was in the midst of a long distance relationship with S}, and wishing for S's deployments to go by faster. Now that I have gotten to where I want to be, I think it is time to abandon these broad long term goals and start enjoying each day for what it is. Yes, I still need to set goals regarding my performance at work and consider how I want my career to shape. And I need to at some point consider how to balance work and a family {maybe a couple of years from now . . . }  But for the immediate future, I think my only goal will be to attempt to lead a balanced life, enjoy good meals and good company, make time for the activities I love, and overall appreciate and love life. Because I am very fortunate and blessed for all of the opportunities I have been given and success I have achieved. 

Have a wonderful weekend!! I will be back on Monday with graduation pictures!