Spelling Bee Tonight!

I'm very excited becuase the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals is tonight! I like to watch every year if possible, because it's exciting, impressive, and just plain fun! My fav DWTS host Tom Bergeron is hosting, which should be good too. Anyway, that's where I'll be tonight, cleaning up my room while watching kids spell words I've never heard of.

My Shoe Crisis

So I'm having a wedding shoe crisis. At first the only concern I had was that they be comfortable and wearable for the entire day. So on the day I ordered me dress we also went over and bought my shoes. So other than a few details, I had what I was going to wear the day of the wedding.

But after recently looking at pictures of brides with different colored shoes on (for example, one of my friends wore blue shoes as her "something blue"), I had the idea to get a pair of fabulous pink strappy sandals. Because, who am I if I don't incorporate something pink into my bridal gear? Plus it makes for a fun detail picture where you show my pink shoes, and a way to stand out from the bridesmaids who will probably be wearing white shoes.

There are 2 problems with this. First I have a big of a timing problem because my dress is due to be here in June/July and will need to be altered, the hem in particular. So I need to decide on shoes in the next month so that the hem is adjusted properly.

Second, because it's so late in the season, it's hard to find pink shoes. One option is to get a pair dyed pink from David's Bridal, but then they aren't very unique, except that they're pink. I guess I could have 2 different pairs of shoes - the pair I already have and the "fun pair". But at this point I'm brainstorming and looking at a lot of different shoe websites to see if anything catches my eye. Let me know if you see anything!

Ugh!

Yesterday after I posted my blog I realized I had all these topics I wanted to cover here. But I figured I'd just cover them over the next few days. Then, I ended up getting this emergency work assignment, so not only did I lose the time I thought I had to blog but now I can't even remember what I wanted to blog about! So, hopefully my memory will catch up with my by time I'm done with this project (4:30 PM tomorrow) and we'll have some quality posts over the next week!

Things to do Before I Leave - Update

A few months ago I made this list of things to do before I leave the Bay Area. Here's my progress (or lack thereof):

1. Explore Golden Gate Park in SF - not done :-(

2. Go wine tasting (I'm going this Saturday for the first time!) DONE :-)

3. Visit the Monterrey Bay Aquarium (as an adult) - not done :-(

4. Go to the SF museums & the exploratorium - not done :-(

5. Go on Alcatraz and take a boat around the Bay - not done :-(

6. Buy a bunch of stuff from the Stanford Bookstore (shirts, sweatshirts, etc.) - not done :-(

7. See a Golden State Warriors Game (and maybe a Sharks game, but I'm not really into Hockey) Unfortunately the regular seasons of both these teams ended before I could get tickets. Maybe I'll make it to an A's game!

8. Visit The Great Mall DONE :-)

So it looks like I've gotten 2 tasks done, which is rather disappointing for this stage in the game. But with my dad here on Sunday maybe we can take one one of the San Francisco tasks, like going to GG park. I'll continue to keep tabs on my progress until July.

Monday Updates - 5/26/08

Happy Memorial Day! Seeing President Bush at Arlington Cemetery reminded me of when Curtis and I visited in early April and how peaceful and beautiful it was.

We spent our holiday having brunch with Curtis' parents (we took them to Stacks!), and then we went to see Indiana Jones before taking Curtis back to the airport. Indy was pretty good, I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. Some of the stunts were ridiculous and were in no way realistic (straddling 2 fast moving cars while fighting with a sword? Going down three ridiculous waterfalls in a car/boat?), and I didn't think the movie was silly enough, but it was definitely entertaining.

Curtis left me the Wii to play with and I discovered how fun Wii Boxing is!!!! I think I blew out my left arm boxing, but I've won every match so far and have only been down once! It's definitely a workout and a stress reliever. I also downloaded a trivia game that was pretty fun. The next task is to get one of my game cube remotes from home so that I can play some of the old games that we have downloaded. We're also still looking for Mario Kart for Wii, and Wii Fit (let me know if you have any tips on where I can find them)!

Other than the Wii and the movie we had a nice weekend. We didn't do too much because it wasn't very warm here, but I enjoyed just hanging out w/ him because we never get to do that. We had a really good time on Sunday walking around Stanford campus with Curtis' parents. We walked from Tresidder to the Oval, to Hoover Tower and back. We went to Cheesecake Factory after so overall it was a really nice day.

I don't think I have any life updates as of yet, but if you're keeping track, I have 6 weeks of work left, aka 28 work days. I'm happy because this week is short and I have another fun weekend ahead. Adelyn and I are going to see the Sex and the City movie on Saturday and then that night my dad is flying in and we're going to hang out on Sunday before I take him up to SF as he's there for work.

With each day, I am less stressed out about where I'm going to law school, which is a blessing. I think I've made peace with it, wherever I go. I got a really nice call from a USC 1L on Friday, and she was able to answer a lot of my questions, and it turned out that we had a lot in common. She actually is going to be in the same clinic that I want to be in if I go to USC, so it's a good connection to have. Plus I just got a really good vibe from her and her experiences, so it definitely made the prospect of going to USC even better.

Curtis and I are excited that we're going to be married in less than a year, I think the next big milestone will be 9 months, which is the end of August, right when I start law school. It's a little scary, just because it's such a big deal and is a huge life-changing event, but I'm very excited and confident that we're going to have wonderful marriage.

That's all for now, have a great week!

1 Year

Today is my -1 Anniversary! In one year from now, Curtis and I will be married and I will (probably) become Christine Hart! We are celebrating by going to a nice dinner at Il Fornaio. It's fun to realize that as of tomorrow we're getting married in less than a year, the time since our engagement has gone really fast.

Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge that :-)

Our new baby!

In the Monday updates I forgot to mention that Curtis and I got a new baby Wii! He bought it from one of his old UCLA roommates who is moving to Europe. I had to go to Target and then Best Buy today just to get an extra controller for when he brings it up on Friday. Wii is an addition to our little family, a younger sibling if you will, to his sibling, Xbox 360. Now we're trying to figure out what we should get for it. We're interested in getting Mario Kart, and I think some party games would be fun, but we'll see. I'm also tempted to get Wii Fit, but it is a little pricey ($90 or so).

So among the other plans we have for the weekend, we will be playing with our new baby :-)

(brief) Monday Updates - 5/19/08

7 weeks left at work! I'm trying to start transitioning my cases to the other paralegals, so they aren't overwhelmed when they are left by themselves. I'm feeling more productive today, so hopefully that will continue through the week.

Law school is still in a holding pattern - right now I'm leaning towards USC, and I'm starting to grow weary of moving to D.C., even for Georgetown, but I'm still thinking. I guess the convenience of staying in Southern California is starting to manifest itself, as I'm going through the process of cleaning stuff out of my apartment.

I'm excited because Curtis is coming up on Friday, which is also our -1 anniversary. I'm still thinking of something special to celebrate the fact that we'll be married one year from Friday. Plus I'm happy that a 3 day weekend is coming.

That's it for now, more later this week.

Updates - 5/15/08

First - Happy Birthday Curtis!!!! For the next 3 months he will be 23 and I will be 22. And, in a year and one week from now, we will be getting married!

the old guy in D.C.

Second - The poll is still active. As you can see the answers are mixed, so if you haven't done so yet please go vote. I'm just trying to get some outside perspective, it's not the basis for my decision (although we were floating the idea of just flipping a coin).

Law School Updates:
Pretty much the same as before. I haven't decided between USC and GW and I probably won't hear from Georgetown until the beginning of June, if at all. Fortunately, I don't have to put another deposit down until early June, so there's really no reason to fret about the decision right now (other than that I can't help myself). My new idea to help me make a decision is to record each day which school I'm leaning towards (GW or USC), and then when I hit the next deposit deadline (June 16th, unless I decide earlier), I'll see how I've felt from day to day (see sidebar called "My Indecision 2008"). Today I'm leaning more towards USC, and I started looking at areas where Curtis and I would live after we got married.

Wedding:

We booked a wedding photographer on Saturday! His name is Jim Kennedy. Click here for his blog. We're planning to take engagement pictures in July so I'll make sure those get posted here when we get them back. I'm close to a decision on bridesmaid dresses (not sure what's holding me back really). So as far as a current to do list, we have:
- gather addresses for Save-the-Dates

- book florist

- book hair/makeup

- design the cake

- decide on menus

- Try on dress when it comes in for alterations

- do our marriage counseling sessions and start planning the ceremony content/music

- choose invitations (surprisingly difficult)

- actually book the church (we're not in a hurry b/c no one does weddings there)

- start looking into reception music

I'm happy that I'll be off for a few weeks to work on this stuff. It's a long way off but as of July-August the wedding will be less than a year away, which means vendors start getting booked. And as much as I love the fact that our wedding is on a holiday weekend, it's a popular date for weddings so there is some competition.

Work:

Work is really really slow right now. I feel like I should be getting stuff organized for my transition out but I'm completely unmotivated. So hopefully it will pick up in the next few weeks so I can have a good last few weeks.

Weekends:

Last weekend was fun, I was in Orange County. I was down there for Mothers' Day but I ended up being able to watch my brother play baseball and see my Grandmother. Overall it was great to get away. I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend to be honest. I'm thinking about doing Bay to Breakers with some tridelt alums I know, since I've never done it and it could be a fun way to see the city before I leave. But we'll see, it's really hot up here right now so options are limited. Plus I need to try and get in gym time over the weekends because it's hard to be motivated to go during the week.

New Poll - Where should I go?

I just put a poll up on my blog (Facebook readers - please go directly to my blog) and tell me where I should go to law school. You can select more than one answer.

If you care about US News rankings, they are as follows:
Georgetown (DC) - 14
USC (LA) - 18
George Washington (DC) - 20

Please vote! I could use all the help I can get in making this decision. And if you have additional feedback, please make a comment on this post.

Thank you!

Monday Updates - 5/5/05

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Unfortunately I have no party plans but I hope some of you do.

Law School - Same as before, can you tell that I'm growing tired of the subject?

Work/Life - I will be done with work in less than 2 months, which is crazy. It feels like the end of an era, where I was able to just work hard, and not worry about much other than myself. My life is about to change drastically in the next year. Not only am I back to student life, but I will be moving to a new area and getting married. I'm trying not to let my emotions get to me as this transition unfolds.

Wedding - Adelyn tried on dresses on Saturday. I think I'm 90% sure of my decision to go with with dress with the embroidered overlay. I just need to figure out a sweater to go on top of it for the ceremony and the shoes.

Weekend - I had a really nice weekend. On Saturday Adelyn and I hung out in Santana Row. We had lunch at Left Bank, went to David's Bridal to try on bridesmaid dresses, went back to Hagen Daas for ice cream, went to H&M, then went to the wine bar for a few hours. Sunday was also fun because Juls came over and we went to Melis' track meet, which she won in the shot put (yay!). I ended up falling asleep last night at 9PM, which was wonderful.

This coming weekend I'm flying home for Mothers' Day, and I'm hoping to see my brother play baseball and book the photographer for our wedding. That's all for now :-).

I'm a Blog Stalker

Obviously we all Facebook-stalk. But I also have a habit of stalking blogs. Yes, I realize that this is probably more common than I think, and that people like me write blogs hoping that their friends and acquaintances will come visit every so often to find out what I'm up to. But, after finding out some really big news via a blog tonight, it occurred to me that I probably wasn't the intended audience.

I went on a blog of someone I know from an activity I was in at Stanford (details withheld to protect the innocent stalk-ees). I don't know them very well and they would probably be surprised to hear that I read their blog. They don't post very often, but I'll check it from time to time just in case. But when I checked tonight, I read about some REALLY BIG EXCITING NEWS. I went back to their Facebook pages to see if anyone else caught it and wrote on their wall. NO ONE HAD SAID A WORD ABOUT IT. So of course, I didn't want to write "congratulations!" on there because one, it would give it away (and it was the kind of news that's fun to tell other people personally), plus I'd be exposing myself as a blog-stalker. So I didn't, but I wanted to talk about it with someone, so I decided to post it here...without any real details.

So to any fellow bloggers out there whom I'm even remotely friends with - I'm probably reading your blog, or at least checking up on it from time to time, I hope that's ok :-)