Home for Christmas

I realize it's been ages since I've posted anything. It's not even for lack of worthy content. It's mostly because I lack the motivation and/or time. That said, this may not be the best topic for my comeback post, but I just finished my Wills and Trusts outline and I'm in desperate need of a finals break. What better way to take a mental break from finals than to think about the post-finals awesomeness that awaits me? Sure I have some amazing plans for when I get to CA in less than a week (but I'm not going to talk about them), but hopefully most of those plans will be couched in eating everything I've been missing for the last YEAR. Hear that people, I haven't been in CA for an entire year! That is far too long to deprive oneself from both the friends I miss and the following culinary delights:

1. Baker's - Other than the fact that it is the place where I grew up, Baker's maybe the best reason to visit the I.E..
2. Earl Grey Tea Latte from Coffee Bean Tea Leaf
3. Avogobble (avocado and turkey sando) - and anything else with avocado I can get my hands on.
4. In-N-Out
5. Islands - Though it hasn't been discussed, I assume this restaurant will make it's appearance on my New Year's trip up to NorCal.
6. Del Taco - Chicken Soft Taco, fries, and a Cherry Coke please!
7. Rosies - Greatest burritos eva!
8. Mom's ribs - It's kind of ironic, my mom's cooking is definitely of the Midwestern variety (meat + potato + vegetable + crock pot = meal), but I can only get it in CA.
9. Mom's potroast
10. Sunday Steak - Being able to barbecue year around is not a luxury I'm afforded in MN (or ever considering I don't know how to do it). I love going home where almost every Sunday my Dad and/or Bro grills.
11. Cheeseboard - Dare I dream. Sadly, I'm not sure I'll make it to Berkeley this year and Cheeseboard tends to be closed around the holidays, but this would certainly be a New Year's week miracle! ...If I were going to Berkeley this year, this list would easily double.
12. Homemade Mexican food - preferably with sangria, made by people I love, and eaten over the course of several hours.
13. HOF's Hut - This is the post-Castle breakfast tradition that I look forward to almost as much as the night that precedes it.

Old

Today at school I was surprised when I saw an undergrad riding a Razor scooter. I was even more surprised when I turned my head and saw another undergrad less than 15 feet away riding another Razor. I thought it was odd that college kids would be riding these things around campus, I mean weren't they popular way back in like 2000, and even then weren't they for little kids. Then it dawned on me. In 2000 these college freshmen were little kids and these scooters were marketed directly to them. I think I officially just joined the ranks of old people.

Be Still

Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." Exodus 14:13-14

School has started again, though I'm not sure that I've really started school quite yet. Still don't have the books I ordered on line, though hopefully they will be awaiting me when I go home this evening. Haven't read for this week (for obvious reasons). I have a million meetings scheduled, but haven't attended any yet. The busyness of it all is kind of overwhelming, but still removed, sort of looming in front of me.

Also looming out there is the fact that this is my last year of school EVER. There is a certain amount of excitement that comes with finally reaching my educational goals, but I am definitely nervous about the fact that I don't have a job yet. That I don't know where I'm going to live next year. That I don't know where I should take the bar. That I'm comfortable in Minnesota and I don't want to leave, but might not have a choice. That I have no idea what the next step is.

So, here I am. Feeling like I'm standing on a ledge with a lot of nothing in front of me and for whatever reasons, feeling very pessimistic about the whole thing. Yet, I know God is there. So often in my life His plans tend to unfold in the eleventh hour. A friend actually pointed this out to me and admonished that perhaps (read: most definitely) God is trying to teach me to rely on Him...over and over and over and over. I will plan if given the opportunity. I tend to live my life in such a way that basically says, "Hey God, how about I plan all this out and You make it happen. Sound good?" So when I can't plan, I'm "forced" to rely on whatever God is doing and I'm reminded, that though it is not in my nature, this is probably part of the sanctification God desires for me.

Tuesday morning before school I came across the verse at the beginning of this post. As I read, I just kept coming back to it and was reminded of this verse:

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10

I love this verse and try to focus on it when life is getting busy, but I've always associated it with peaceful imagery; waterfalls, warm sun, soft breezes, that sort of thing. I love how the passage in Exodus tells the people to be still as they stared at a huge army ready to take them out. I was also somewhat surprised to read the rest of Psalm 46 and find that the passage preceding this one also uses some battle imagery, because in all honesty, that's where I feel like I'm at right now. What does it mean to be still? I'm pretty sure it has something to do with prioritizing. Recognizing who God is and who I am (or rather, who I am not). Trusting that despite how I feel, God is there and in control. Learning to let go of the "what ifs" and wait. For now, I am praying God will teach me to be still and that He would take care of all those "Egyptians" I'm worried about.

I leave you with this gem from one of my favorites, the Newsboys.

Be Still

be still and know He
know He is holy
be still and know He is God
love Him more dearly
see Him more clearly
be still and know He is God

we've been running without a direction
we're afraid to get there late
what we need is strength just to kneel down
and wait

Humidness

I knew I wasn't making up those childhood memories of crazy hot humid summer days in Minnesota.

Carmel Corn

Lately I've been missing California and all the things I associate with summer in California...the beach; really hot, really dry days; barbequeing with my family; spa nights with friends etc. One summer when I lived in ADX we were obsessed with caramel corn. We seriously made it like once a week if not more. In an effort to cure some of this nostalgia (and newly enabled by my fancy stovetop popcorn popper that I got for my bday from some of my favorite people) I decided to make some caramel corn tonight. After an unsuccessful email attempt at getting the recipe we used on short notice, I did some internet searching and I'm pretty sure I found the right recipe.



It's crazy how fast time goes by, I can't believe it's been 3 summers since the caramel popcorn summer. I'm so blessed by all the people God's put in my life, but as I do more things and meet more people it's hard being away from other people that I care about.

Even if you aren't missing home and feeling nostalgic, here's a great recipe for caramel corn.



Caramel Corn

• 7 quarts plain popped popcorn
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Place the popped popcorn into two shallow greased baking pans. You may use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
3. Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting all of the corn coated.
4. Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans, and giving them each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight containers or resealable bags.

Rain

Molly: Hey roommie, wanna walk 1 and a 1/2 miles to get ice cream cones?

Roommie: Sure.

Random Dad at Dairy Queen Talking to his Kids: Hurry up and eat your ice cream, it's going to rain.

Molly: Think it's going to rain?

Roommie: Nah. Look there's a patch of blue sky coming toward us.

Random Dad: It's going to rain.

* About 1/4 of the way home.*

Roommie: Uh-oh.

Molly: I guess wearing this white shirt was a bad idea.

P.S. Dons this would make a good comic. I promise.

Strawberries!!!

Since moving into my house last August I've been looking forward to this summer. By moving in at the end of the summer I missed an entire season of fresh strawberries grown in our backyard in a small, rather unkempt, patch.


Our little strawberry patch was struck by a tragedy in late May, when just after flowering, the man who lives in the other half of our duplex MOWED OVER THE STRAWBERRY PATCH! Luckily most of the plants along the wall survived, and though I wonder what it could have been like if we had all the plants (sigh), I'm grateful for what I have.


So, as soon as I saw this recipe for strawberries and dumplings on my favorite foodie blog I new I had to make it. After a long weekend of grading petitions, Sunday evening was the perfect time to try it out.



Note the bright green walls, the strawberry picture, and the red accents...this kitchen was made for this dish.

I only wanted to make one serving (probably more like one and a half) so I just kind of guesstimated on the proportions for everything, but basically followed the recipe from the blog. I used half normal white sugar and half brown sugar though (per the bloggers suggestion).


I also didn't have any whole milk or heavy cream, I did however have half & half (mmm coffee!). I just cut it with a little bit of water for the dumpling dough. I totally improvised for the heavy cream though, I mixed half & half with some non-fat vanilla yogurt (from TJ's :) ) and stuck it in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Delish!


I don't think words can really explain how good this was. Tart (with an added kick from the yogurt), dumpling-y, warm, gooey, goodness...yep that's it.

Freedom?

Confession: I read mom blogs. Not sad depressing ones about spouses dieing and babies being sick *cough*randi*cough*, but funny and/or thoughtful ones just about raising kids in general.

So one of these mom blogs posted the other day about a somewhat non-mom thing. Apparently there's this program called Freedom that basically keeps you from connecting to your email, facebook, and other generally distracting internet things (it's only for Macs).

I don't think this sort of program sounds like "Freedom" at all. (1) Something that is restricting is not freeing... just doesn't work. (2) I experience freedom from working by checking email, going on facebook, and gchat. (3) During law school exams we use this program called ExamSoft that blocks you from doing anything on your computer, but taking your test. Finals are the furthest thing from freedom, any program that is that similar to Examsoft should not be called Freedom.

I'm not saying the program isn't worthwhile, I just think it's a bad name. Basically I've concluded this program should be called "Get Work Done."

Vacay!

Tonight I'm driving "up North" to "the lake" to spend the week with my Aunt, Uncle, their kids, and their grandkids. I'm driving up kind of late and my Aunt told me to watch out for deer. So now I'm freaking out. How does one watch out for deer? It seems like one of those things where if a deer is going to run out into the middle of the road you're going to hit it. The end. I don't really see how watching out is going to help much. Maybe watching out means stress and be paranoid, in that case I'm totally watching out.

Shark Boy

I picked up a job this summer teaching swimming lessons. So far I love it, but I've just been training. I don't start actually teaching until Monday. The kids are hilarious, so I'll try to keep you all informed of all the funny things that happen to me in the course of this job.

For starters, there's this kid, who I'll call Shark Boy because he wears goggles that look like a shark mouth and he thinks they give him super human powers to swim extra fast....anyway you can totally tell he's the type of kid that just soaks up a ton of information and will tell it to anyone who will listen. Today he told me that this week he saw Jesus turn into a tree. Kid's theology is obviously way off.

In other non-swimming news I have to make an appointment with an orthodontist. What self-respecting 23 year old still goes to the orthodontist? Ugh...

C-Tom

This post has been a long time coming. Sorry

A few weeks ago I mentioned on fb that I had the most nerdy law school moment ever. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, or C-Tom as I like to call him, visited my law school back in April. A supreme court justice walking the halls of a law school can be compared to the Jonas Brothers showing up for lunch at a junior high. We're talking crowds of people blocking hallways so that they can stay within earshot without getting too close, security guards, and professors who can't figure out what all the fuss is about. If you're wondering why I waited so long to post about this it's because I was waiting for this to come in the mail:




Me and Randi's 8x10 pic with C-Tom, which will look awesome on my wall at work (and totally put the picture of Walter Mondale one of the attorney's has to shame). I haven't taken it to work yet, so for now it is nicely complementing my Justice Scalia bobble head on my shelf in my room.

Why Didn't I take Pictures?

Tonight me and the other law school Molly fulfilled our semester long dream of hosting a hot dish party. I made tater-tot hot dish using a recipe from the Minnesota Winter Festival's Hot Dish Tent and other Molly made a hot dish from what is becoming one of my favorite cookbooks, Hot Dish Heaven. Hot Dish Heaven was written by Ann Burckhardt, which is only funny because there is a prof at law school whose name is Ann Burkhart and she would totally be the type to make hot dish. She recently auctioned off her help with drafting a will for a school fundraiser, which I did not bid on. However, if she had auctioned off a night of hot dish making I totally would have bid on her. I digress. Molly and I asked people to bring either bars or a salad as defined by Minnesotans (In Minnesota a salad is pretty much any mixture of ingredients served cold. See Frog Eye Salad, Seven Layer Salad, Broccoli Salad.) While I am very grateful for those who brought food, they did not so much catch the vision Molly and I had. We got one real salad, several non-bar desserts, and orange juice. Still, hot dish night was definitely a success, I only wish that I had taken pictures.

Dear Jesus,

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for summer and nights when it's just beginning to get dark at 9pm and warmth and stars. Thank you for worship and peace and joy. Thank you for prayer and listening. Thank you for your Spirit, for your healing. God, thank you for your grace, for loving me and teaching me to extend grace to myself.

Chair Races

In the last 4 days I have taken 3 finals. Luckily I have almost a whole week before my next one and then it's summer! I whine about how stressful law school is a lot, so rather than focusing on that I have a story about how law school can be awesome... even during finals.

Law school has turned me into an old person and generally speaking I prefer to be in my bed by 10pm and asleep by 11pm on weeknights. Law school is the last place I want to be at midnight, and yet that's exactly where I was on Tuesday night. Luckily I was not there studying or citechecking (THANK GOODNESS). Christine and I showed up to watch several of our friends make fools of themselves and disrupt the entire library during finals in the middle of the night (and I thought I was being a rebel by wearing my flipflops). An epic rolly-chair race from one corner of the library to the other and back. Awesomeness...

Easter

This is a post from my old xanga that I thought I'd repost in part today. I wrote it during Spring break of my Junior year while visiting Emily in Paris. Below is the painting the post is about. For reference, the painting depicts John 20:1-9.


Although it sounds like I've just been goofing around for most of this trip, it's also been very "spiritual" (or whatever you wanna call it). This being Europe and all, we've managed to hit up several of the major Cathedrals and museums. It's been cool to see how each one teaches me a little something more about the gospel. I could probably write a really long entry about each of them, but that would probably be excessive (if you wanna know about the other places ask me). Instead I'll just tell you about my most recent moment at the Musee d'Orsay. There are a ton of famous impressionist works there, but I was struck by a random painting some where in the middle of an exhibit on the second floor. I can't remember who painted it or what the French title was, even though I went back to look just so I'd remember for this entry. Anyway it was a painting by some guy whose name starts with a B, of Peter and John as they were running to the tomb to see if Jesus was really gone. It was an amazing and yet simple picture. It was close, just of their upper bodies. I think what made me cry when I looked at them were their expressions. They looked excited, hurried, worried, and relieved at the same time. I was left imagining what it might have been like for the disciples to hear that Jesus was not in the tomb. Their fear that some one had stolen His body. The thrill of the thought that their best friend was really coming back to them. Jesus promised to return, but the disciples were not always the quickest of fellows. I wonder if when they finally figured it out, all of their memories of Jesus saying odd things about coming back on the third day came flooding back and clicked into place. Christ had conquered death, but even more, their best friend was back. How often do I run to Jesus with that same enthusiasm? Does my relationship with Him reflect that same amount of passion, fear, love, and expectancy? I have a God who died for me, how amazing is that? And in addition to that, He wants a relationship; He knows me and wants me to know Him in the same way. I want to run to him like Peter and John did.

Good Friday

Yesterday was a good Friday. The Good Friday service at church opened with the worship team playing Sufjan's Abraham.

Abraham, worth a righteous one
Take up on the wood
Put it on your son
Lake or lamb
There is none to harm
When the angel came
You had raised your arm

Abraham, put off on your son
Take instead the ram
Until Jesus comes

I love this song. I love this story. I love God's foreshadowing.

It's hard to internalize the significance of Christ's death, to reconcile God's justice and His grace. In some ways Abraham's story is more relatable. It's easier to look at the story and understand how hard it would be for a father to kill his son when his son did not deserve it. While Christ's death is certainly a horrific image, Abraham's story sheds light on looking at it through the lens of Jesus and God's relationship.

I think that some times I forget about Jesus' humanity, that just before His arrest He prayed for an out and appealed to God calling Him Abba, Father. I think about salvation and the crucifixion in a sort of removed way that allows me to discount the sacrifice and suffering involved. I ignore the pain that Jesus and God must have suffered when they were separated because it's easier on my pride. Some how it makes me feel like I need God less, a total lie. I realize that in doing this I'm missing out on understanding how much God loves me. I'm grateful for the moments when I wake up from those lies. Right now I feel loved.

Top10...err 11 Spring Break Moments!

These aren't in any specific order.

1. It was almost 60 degrees out on both Sunday and Monday. It was so nice all the snow melted, I went home early from work, and I ran like 3 days in a row.
2. As a result of 1. I got to dig my rainbows out from the back of my closet and wore them at least 5 times (sadly with the current weather they have been returned to the closet).
3. I went to Michael Jordan's house near Chicago and got yelled at through the intercome. I'm pretty sure it was actually Michael Jordan...or at least that's the story I'm sticking to (we actually just saw the gate). This is just one of the amazing things I got to do on my first ever trip to Chicago.
4. I got to spend over 12 hours in a car with Christine. We haven't had nearly enough time to hang out this semester and had lots of catching up to do. We never turned on the radio and didn't even need a no-pressure-to-talk rule, one of the many things I love about Christine.
5. I had 2 Slurpees! There are no 7-Elevens in Minnesota, which makes me sad. Icees and Slurpees are not the same thing. When I noticed a 7-Eleven on the way to Christine's I literally freaked out. Maybe a little bit of an overreaction, but I was excited.
6. I caught up on Professional Responsibility. I had only read for two classes before spring break. Catching up is a feat to be proud of and I got to do it at my favorite bou, awesomeness.
7. I got to see Lake Michigan. I had this vision that we would listen to Sufjan's To Be Alone with You as the lake came into view. Sadly, Josh is lacking in his Sufjan music collection, but I sang the song in my head, so it's okay.
8. Lisa Chu made me (and a bunch of her friends) Pad Thai from scratch. Freakin' delish!
9. Christine and I got manicures. I painted my nails dark purple. Totallyout of character for me, but I was in a trendy mood. This was one of the many awesome things we got to do in her way cute home time. I am so grateful for the time I got to spend with her and her family.
10. We went across this weird bridge in Chicago that was designed by this guy who also designed a really ugly building on the U of M campus. This was mostly exciting because I thought it would be fun to slide down the side of the bridge. Didn't do it, but should have.
11. OMG! I almost forgot. Lisa Chu and Christine met, and the world did not implode. They are each other's doppleganger (I'm a nerd). I built this up a lot and as a result I worry that it was not as fulfilling for them as it was for me. Awesome!

I'm on Spriiiing Break!

Right now it's 55 degrees outside. In Berkeley this would be when people would start busting out their pea coats (has anyone ever noticed that everyone in Berkeley owns a pea coat?), but in MN it gets this warm and everyone immediately runs outside to rejoice after a long cold winter. It's so nice to see people outside. I watched at least 5 people with strollers cautiously navigate a patch of melting ice in front of my house this afternoon. I left my coat at home today and wore flip flops. Flip flops = happiness.

This weather is particularly awesome because this is the first weekend of spring break...and it feels like spring! I have high hopes for this week. I finished my law review obligations on Thursday. TORT was last weekend. I cleaned my room yesterday (after like several months of neglect...). I'm finally reading for PR after not even touching my text book for weeks. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to slow down, to rest, to catch up on life, and do some processing. I'm having one of those, "wow I'm so freaking blessed" days. God is so good and I hate that I don't readily recognize that more often.

Whoa!

Sometimes I have these moments where it hits me that I am in Minnesota, thousands of miles away from beaches (the good kind), sunshine, and my childhood "life." It's weird because Minnesota has never been a strange place to me. I spent a lot of time here on family vacays, my extended family has always been here, and it is where I was born. Even though I've been here for over a year and a half now, I'm still caught off guard sometimes by the fact that I'm not on vacation and that this place is actually starting to feel like home. I can picture myself living here after law school, like settling down here. It's weird, but good.

Since high school I've been thinking about my life in chunks -- this is where I was, this is where I am, and this is where I'm going. It's odd to get to the point in my life where I have to make some more permanent decisions. I'm still not ready to commit to any one place...side track: wow, I just had an epiphany. Is it weird that I don't want commit to living anywhere yet? I feel like most people I know have a general idea of where they want to end up. Might need more time to fully process the implications of that...* Not knowing where I'm going to end up is kind of frustrating and doesn't really jive with the whole plan-it-all-in-advance part of my personality. Yet, I'm sort of getting the impression that God is using this to encourage (and by encourage I mean force) me to rely on him.

* Dave/Randi - insert comment here.

Playing Catch Up

Okay, so it's the last day of February and I am still 3 days shy of reaching 25 things. So, I will try to throw something together in this post.

22. I love people watching.

This might have something to do with that over analytical thing I talked about before. My favorite thing to do is to assess couple's relationships at coffee shops.

23. I have really high expectations for people.

I think this comes out of my general sense of optimism. I see the best in people and I expect them to live up to that. I'm coming to terms with the fact that when I feel let down that is often my problem, and not theirs.

24. I avoid awkward situations as often as possible...which often only makes awkward situations more awkward.

This has been recently complicated by the introduction of Randi into my life, but I love her nonetheless.

25. I am a C, I am a C-H, I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N


My relationship with Christ is what defines me, it is what drives me, and it is what I strive toward. This all sounds kind of cliche, but it is true. In college most of my life was centered around ministry (through Crusade and ADX) and it was a lot easier to find my identity in Christ in that context. Learning what it looks like to glorify God in law school is challenging, but I feel like it's a better reflection of what my faith will look like in the long term than what it was in college. It requires a different sort of intentionality and integration and it's something that I still feel lost in.

Normally I'm a big fan of abbrevs.

21. I hate it when people say "Cali" instead of California.

I will never use that word. Unfortunately everyone and their mom refers to California as "Cali" here in MN. The worst part is they always say it with a MN accent, but trying to sound "cool." They over emphasize the a, dragging it out even longer than they normally draw out vowels. I used to think that the only people who called California "Cali" were people who were not from California. However, I've come to the sad realization that this is not true and have heard California natives refer to it as such. People, PLEASE STOP.

Should Probably Get over It

20. I'm still bitter about elementary school.

Suffice it to say that I went to a small private school and was not one of the "cool kids." However, I found my niche at church. My church had an amazing children's program back in the day, we refer to it as the golden years of YCC children's ministry. My oldest friends are people I met in church. It's crazy because in a few years, some of these people will have kids that are the same age as we were when we met. I love that we grew up together. We all lead very different lives now, but it's amazing to see how God has worked in each of our lives over the years. Tuts for life. :)

I was bit by a shark...jk

19. I have a really awesome scar on my left leg.

During the summer between 8th and 9th grade I was surfing with my dad in Carlsbad and my leg got cut open by the fin on my board. The only time I ever saw the wound was when couldn't stand up and looked down. My dad was by my side in about 30 seconds and covered it up with a towel (I suppose to stop the bleeding) and he never let me look at it again. I sat around in an emergency room for a few hours wearing my swimsuit and a sweat shirt, it was kind of awkward (I don't think anyone noticed though, especially considering they had their own injuries to worry about...like one guy who had a huge knife sticking out of his foot and was screaming like a big baby and begging for vicodin.) I had 18 stitches on the outside and more inside my leg. I took the stitches out myself while on vacation in MN because I wanted to swim. I still have some weird nerve damage in my leg. When you press on one end of the scar I get this stabbing pain by my knee, kind of like when your foot falls asleep, but it stings. I'm not a big fan of blood and gore stories, but it is kind of awesome (in a 13 year old boy sort of way).

word to your mother

18. I am a mama's girl.

I mentioned at some point (10) that my Grandmom is the woman I most want to be like, and in that post I mentioned my mom. Basically, she's awesome. I figured she deserved her own number though.

Today in the mail I received a random tax paper that included an unnecessarily long note letting me know that I am loved and being prayed for daily. My mom shows me on a daily basis what it means to love God and love people, and I'm so grateful for who she's been in my life. She'll listen to me talk about nothing for way longer than she should. She does not get impatient with me even though I often do with her. She is the mediator and the de-escalator of situations in my family. She lets me know all the time that I am missed, but has also given me the freedom to move away and grow up without making me feel guilty. I love her.

PS I am lame and way behind on this, but my life is a bit more than busy right now...dealing.

PPS I definitely referenced Vanilla Ice in my title. I listened to Ice Ice, Baby for the first time in several months today, which reignited my love of the song and it's awesomeness.

...

17. I over use ellipses.

I use ellipses way too often when I casually writing things, mostly in gchat. I think that in my head they carry a lot more weight than what it communicates to the people reading them...

I'll Be Done in Plenty of Time

16. I procrastinate.

Surprisingly, I have only pulled 2 all nighters in my life for school related purposes. I have the second draft of my Law Review Note due tomorrow. This post will be short. It's going to be a late night.

We're All in this Together

15. I am a sucker for all things a pre-teen girl would love.

Here's a list: Taylor Swift, HSM (1,2, AND 3), the Twilight series, the Disney Channel, etc. The odd thing is, I was never much for teen-girl fads when I was a teen-girl. Never did the whole boy band thing and my parent's weren't big fans of encouraging trendy behaviors. Maybe this is my way of rebelling...

Thinking About It

14. I over analyze...like to a ridiculous extent.

I especially over analyze when it comes to my relationships, with people and with God. In some ways I think that my analytical perspective helps me relate to and read people better. I also think that it's made me extremely intentional when it comes to my faith. Still, the "over" part of it makes me doubt myself and where I stand with people and God. I don't think I'll ever be able to just turn it off, but hopefully as I grow I'll learn how to better balance between being analytical and over analytical.

Bread + Brie + Wine = amAAAzing

13. My favorite meal is brie, bread (preferably something w/ rosemary in it), and red wine...no need for vegetables (wine counts as the fruit).

This was my dinner tonight and I am very happy, especially because the brie only cost $1.99 (usually $5.99). Back in college Em and I made this meal on a regular basis and usually ate it while watching an ep of Gilrmore Girls, or part of Pride and Prejudice. Those are still some of my favorite times from college.

12. I'm slightly afraid of getting killed while walking from school to my car after dark, so I always call someone while I walk.

I blame this fear on the mass emails sent to all the students about once a week informing us of an assault that has happened on or near campus. I have to be strategic about who I call. It's usually someone in CA because it's too late to call anyone in MN. My mom is usually the lucky winner because she's most likely to actually answer the phone. If I do call someone and they don't answer, I'll leave a really long message (Mel, hope you appreciated that tonight :) ), so that it at least looks like I'm talking to someone while I walk to my car.

I don't really know what good talking to someone in CA is going to do if I get attacked. But I figure the bad guy doesn't know I'm not talking to someone in MN, or across the street, or even the police, so it's got to be some sort of a deterrent. Also, I find at least a little bit of comfort in the fact that if I'm attacked at least one person will know and it won't be days (or even weeks) until someone realizes I've gone missing and informs my family.

Shopping

11. I hate shopping, especially with other people. However, I'll go shopping with you, I just won't look for stuff for myself.

I need jeans...but I don't want to go shopping.

Who I Want to Be

Note...these are likely to get shorter, because the novelty is wearing off.

10. I hope that I can be the kind of woman my Grandmom was.

While many amazing Christian women have influence my life, I look up to my Grandmom the most. She loved people and Christ in a way that I just can't comprehend. She never put herself before other people even toward the end of her life when she was really sick. That's not to say she let herself be walked upon, she often insisted she get her way. I remember once when I was a kid my older cousin and his friend helped move a couch into my Grandmom's apartment. She wanted to give them money as a thank you so they could go out to eat or something afterward. They both insisted that it was unnecessary, but Grandmom insisted more and they finally took money. Only my cousin slipped the money back into her purse when she wasn't looking. Except, Grandmom was much too clever for that trick; she saw the money and as she hugged my cousin good bye she managed to put the money in his back pocket without him ever realizing it. She was also a very competitive game player, I don't ever remember her letting me win as a kid.

I always felt loved by my Grandmom and I know that she had that same impact on others. I've gone back to the church my mom grew up in a couple times since moving to MN and people still tell me amazing stories about her. I see this same capacity to care for other people in my mom. I hope that, like my mom and Grandmom, I become the type of woman that shows people who Christ is by the way that I live and treat others.

mmm...coffee

9. I heart coffee.

Yeah, I think this one is given. I just decided to mention it because today one of my law school friends made fun of me because so many of my Berkeley friends tag me in random pictures of coffee or coffee related things. One of the things I miss about Berkeley (I could start a list of 25 things I miss about Berk) is the cafes...but not Milano (or being forced to go there by people that didn't understand the icky-ness that is Milano coffee). I have found some great coffee shops in MN, but nothing really compares to the Far-Away-Starbucks (that is no more) and Strada.

Ooops!

I skipped 6...and no one even noticed, which makes me think no one is reading this...c'mon people. :) Anyway.....

6. I loved high school.

I feel like high school gets a bad rap. School was relatively easy and I spent most of my time socializing. I had awesome friends (and still have many of them) and we spent most of our weekends hanging out unsupervised in Em's pool house or driving around Yucaipa doing stupid things (touching stop signs, off roading, playing a variation of tag with cars, going to midget villiages, parking outside haunted mansions and thinking about goin in... wow we were dumb). We even had a secret "gang." I spent most afternoons and many mornings in a pool beating up on people/being beat up on by Kelly (or climbed on by her...Carp: "Kelly, what are you doing?" Kelly: "I'm a sloth."). I was still one of the popular kids at church. Sure, there was drama, but I was rarely the center of it and compared to life now, that stuff seems relatively unimportant. I don't want to be one of those people who can't let go of high school, but I have no problem admitting that I enjoyed those 4 years.

LaLaLaaa!

8. I sing in the car.

Okay, so maybe this isn't surprising considering I'm annoyingly humming or singing a song under my breath like 90% of the time. I guess what's odd is I sing in weird voices in the car when I'm by myself. I usually smile at people in the cars next to me if they catch me, mostly because I know that if they could actually hear me they'd probably have an even more amused look on their face. Also, I sing in my head a lot, including while I swim. It's horrible if I get a slow song stuck in my head because I usually swim to the rhythm of the music and it slows me down.

Mornin'

7. I am a morning person.

I can cope with late nights and on occasion I don't mind sleeping in, but over all I am a morning person. No matter what time I get up in the morning, I'm usually in a good mood. I'm also most productive in the morning (forcing my brain to work after about 7:00pm is pretty painful). If you want to piss off people who are not morning people, put them in the same room with a morning person in the morning. I learned this after sharing a room with my little sister for 16 years, who is the crabbiest non-morning person ever, but I guess this isn't her 25 things, so I won't elaborate.

Choo! Choo!

5. I love playing Train with my family!

Everyone in my family is really different, so finding things that we can do as a family can be kind of difficult. Still, every time I go home, I know that one night after dinner we're going to play train ...even Billy. It's great family bonding time and the way each of us plays says a lot about our personalities. My dad refuses to set up a train before he starts playing and tries to rush everyone else into taking their turn. My mom takes FOREVER (like days...and the game is already really long so it's kind of maddening) to set up her train and take every turn. Jackie is sneaky, she likes messing people up and laying down doubles without covering them or right before she goes out. And she will always catch it if you don't say "choo!choo!" when you're down to one domino. Billy simply tolerates the game. I don't know how I play, you'd have to ask my family. Maybe my thing is just that I analyze how everyone else is playing and adjust my playing as necessary (I also try to set my tiles up so they can't tell when I have a double coming up or how long my train is...but shhh don't tell them my strategy :) ).

Messy

4. The cleanliness of my room is a fairly accurate representation of where my heart is at.

When I am stressed or have too much going on in my life, my room gets messy. Usually I set aside time to clean my room and sort of symbolically destress my life. I've noticed, in general, that the more stress I have in my life, the less I focus on who God is and who He wants me to be. It becomes so easy to push aside, even the things that matter most, when my priorities get out of whack.

Car Gradient

3. I've always had brown cars.

When I turned 16 my parents gave me my Grandmom's old car, a 1987 Chevy Caprice, the Boat. It was dark dark brown; I liked to say it was maroon. The interior was awesomely maroon, and when a family friend broke my radio, my sister and I made a concerted effort to memorize music we both liked so we could sing it in the car. I always gave the quiet neighbor girl a ride to school, and Jackie and I would sing songs from Moulin Rouge and Chicago to her (or at her). When the Boat died my parent's came upon (from where I don't know) a poopy brown Zepher. It was the worst car ever and I hated it, the end. Then one day my Daddy bought the Ford. A dark tan Explorer, with fancy leather seats and a fully functioning CD player/radio. It was a major step up but still brown. While I was in college my dad sold it. In high school my friends and I joked that I would eventually get a white car because, though always brown, my cars got progressively lighter. When I moved to MN and knew I was going to buy a car, I looked forward to getting a not brown car. Instead of getting a not brown car, I got a gold car, which is just a fancy way of saying brown.

Most people already know this...

2. I'm deaf in my left ear and I don't mind being made fun of for it.

My favorite jab ever was one night when I went out to Skates with a bunch of Berkeley friends for happy hour. Joey and I were joking around and, as is typical of Joey, he was being mean to me. I told him I couldn't hear him because he was on my deaf side; to which Joey responded "Well, you're on my angry drunk side." I think it's one of those random quirks I have and I'm glad that there are people out there who know me well enough to feel comfortable poking fun at me. However, I know that someone is truly a good friend when they remember to walk on my good side or automatically give me the spot at the table that will allow me to interact with the most people.

Things About Me

So, everyone and their mom have been posting notes on facebook titled "25 Random Things About Me" (or some variation of that). I am taking the position that this is both stupid/annoying and entertaining/insightful. Mostly, I just don't like getting a bajillion emails telling me that a) I have been tagged in a note and b) 9 million people have commented on it. I do however, enjoy learning stuff about my friends and being reminded of funny things I already know. So, in an effort to both protest facebook notes and participate in building friendships I am going to use the month of Febuary to post 25 things about myself.

Originally I was going to post 28 things and commit to posting every day in Febuary. Randi told me that there was no way I would be able to post that often, which I took as a challenge and immediately swore I would prove her wrong. Well...Febuary 1st was yesterday, and I didn't post, so whatever, Randi wins. Still, Dave pointed out that I could stick with the 25 things and give myself 3 freebees, so that's the new plan of action. So with out further ado:

1. I sleep with all of my closet doors (I have 2 closets) closed, no matter what, but during the day my closet doors are usually open. I also used to sleep with the opening of my pillow case to the right, but in an effort to be less neurotic I've tried to let that go.


To be honest, I don't even know how this started. As a kid I had a hard time falling asleep, and I think I just came up with this whole set of rituals to distract me. I also will sleep under a comfortor or heavy blanket no matter how hot it is. I figure if someone were to sneak into my room to kidnap me (improbable part one) I'd wake up when they took my cover off (improbable part two) ...you know so I could defend myself (improbable part three). Yeah, it's irrational.

Perspective

When it's not unbearably cold, the snow/winter isn't so bad.

Lord,
Thank you for -20 degree days that give me the perspective to enjoy 20 degree days.

Vegas Family Vaycay

For Christmas this year my family road tripped it out to Vegas so my parents could use their time-share before the year ran out. My parents do not drink, gamble, or like to spend lots of money, so I can't tell you why my mom chose Vegas, but to Vegas we went. Ultimately I think the trip was more about my mom trapping the whole family together for several days without interruption from friends or work than going to Vegas.



Here is me, my sister (Jackie), and my brother (Billy...er Bill, whateve) all cozy in the back seat during our 4 hour drive through the desert! Surprisingly the desert is pretty and I got my 60 degree Christmas wish!




We established quite the routine while in Vegas: wake up, daytime outing, dinner on the strip, look at things on mom's list of free things to see in Vegas, go to bed, repeat the next day.

For our Christmas dinner we went to Margaritaville at the recommendation of Jackie, who is the only Miller who has been to Vegas for "recreational" purposes before. She promised a diverse menu at reasonable prices. While she did a great job remembering that the place has killer nachos she forgot about the bikini clad dancer who slides down a volcano water slide into a margarita glass and then dances around a giant fishing hook suspended above the bar. Merry (uncomfortable) Christmas!



This is a pic of my parents at Christmas dinner before we told my dad his hair looked ridiculous.



We went to the Hoover Dam for one of our day time outings. This pic was taken by a pair of random high school guys who I'm pretty sure were hitting on Jackie. They did an excellent job at getting all of the construction, but none of the dam in the picture.



The fountains at the Bellagio were probably the best of my mom's free attractions. All of the shows were to Christmas music and my sister and I took this really attractive picture. The downside of a hotel piping Christmas music out doors is that it inspired my father to dance and embarrass us all. We have a video, but I'm not going to subject myself to unneeded embarrassment twice. I'm pretty sure the family standing next to us thought he drank too much.


The worst attraction on my mom's list, as you can tell by my brother's face, was the singing statues in Caesar's Palace. The mall stores were more entertaining; what the heck kind of stores stay open in a mall past 11pm? Also entertaining was antagonizing my brother's bad mood. I took pictures and Jackie sang the song Cheer up Charlie, replacing all the Charlies with Billys (Jackie loves the movie Willy Wonka. I hate the movie as a result of being forced to watch it so many times during my childhood). Billy is wearing what Jackie and I lovingly refer to as the lumberjack-et.

I'll end this post with a funny pic of Jackie taken somewhere between our hotel and the New York, New York roller coaster. I was not there because, while I love my family, I needed some alone time and stayed back at the hotel. While not the conventional Christmas, we had a great time and I am reminded that I have an awesome (-ly odd) family!