Half Way...Almost!!!

Can I just say, this has been one busy week!!!  Between mid-terms, assignments from the Brief I work on, and other school stuff, I am more ready for Spring Break than ever!!!  Seriously though, school has pretty much consumed my life (more than usual) so this week has been pretty boring (just judge for yourself from the picture below)...but it won't be boring for much longer :)

The weekend was obviously exciting :)

 Most exciting moment of the week: losing my keys!  OK, so I need to preface this story by explaining that I only have one pair of car keys (I lost the other pair two years ago when I worked in Ohio) and have been needing to get a copy since then.  Mom, always being the first to say "I told you so," has been reminding me to get a copy made and, last week, I finally agreed to take it to the dealership next time I went to visit.  Literally the next day, as I was taking Honey for a walk, I pulled out her treat bag and must have pulled my keys out with it!  As we got back to the house, I reached for my keys and no luck!  Luckily we have a concierge to let us in, or I would have been stuck outside waiting for Seth (and I had to be at a meeting, so that would have been no bueno!)  Anyway, I learned that an all-wheel drive car, parked in a garage, with no key is pretty hard to tow...it actually took two tow-truck drivers to get me out...but they did it!  Long story short (and $300 later) I learned my lesson and now have a key to my car again!  I guess mother's always right :)  Adios until the next time!

My baby at the dealership via the tow-truck

What a Wonderful Week

Hey there!  First, sorry I slacked off this weekend in the Blogosphere...I kind of had a boring week (a.k.a. school, school, school) last week speckled with a couple of job interviews.  I didn't really want to bore you, but, now I have a fun update or two to share :)  First, speaking of interviews...I got a job!!!  I will be working as an intern in the Federal District Bankruptcy Court of Maryland (in Baltimore) for Judge Nancy Alquist.  I am SO excited - working for a judge (especially on the federal level) is great experience and one of the best things first year law students can do!!!  Like I said, the Court is located in Baltimore, so it will be a bit of a commute but will TOTALLY be worth it!  I feel like a real adult haha - I will have to take the train into work, I get my own office, and (from what I understood in my interview with the judge) will be given a lot of freedom in my work and play a key role in her chambers...luckiest. boy. ever.  After the interview, I felt really good about working there, especially since it's only the judge, her clerk, her assistant, and her scheduler/decorum person a.k.a. I will get a lot of face time with the judge and have a chance to really put into practice everything I have learned so far!  Also, on a funny note, it's all ladies in her office, so I will let you know how it goes, although I think I will be just fine haha :)

Good morning, Baltimore!!!

Anyway, enough about school and work...now it's time to talk about LOVE :)  Valentine's Day was Monday, and Seth and I celebrated with a low key night at home.  We made take and bake pizza and ate that for dinner with a salad, chocolate pastries (and Mrs. Field's cookies via Aunt Carol), and red wine/pink champagne (gotta keep in the spirit of things!) and then relaxed with some TV and an early night's rest...does that mean we are getting old!?!?  Anyway, I'm glad Cupid struck me with his arrow, cause I sure do love Seth :)  Besides that, nothing much new to report, but hope all is well for each of you!  Enjoy the rest of your week - it's on the downhill side now!!!  Love you all and will talk to you soon!  xo

Valentine's Day dinner <3

All you need is a ring, a book, and a flashlight <3

GQ Bombay Party

OK, so I mentioned a while back that I won a contest through GQ magazine and Bombay Sapphire Gin.  The iPad was the first part of the prize but, the second part was a party at our house sponsored by Bombay!  Well, last night was the party and it was so much fun!  Around 6:00, Gary (Bombay's Master Mixologist) arrived (straight from his home base in Miami) with tons of Bombay, mixers/garnishes, and FREE (I love anything free) cocktail glasses!  Shortly after, the caterer came with TONS of YUMMY food (even enough leftover for some late night munchies)!  Once the set-up was done, our friends came over and a great night of fun began :)  Gary was great and is truly a master mixiologist!  After the party at the casa was over, we hoped on the Metro and moved it down to DuPont for some more fun and dancing at Public Bar...good times! 

Emily, Emily, Veronica, and Kim muddling some drinks.

Emily, Seth, Emily, Tensie, Me, Veronica, and Kim.

Tensie, Gary the Mixologist, Me, and Seth at Public Bar.

Anyway, after a nice walk with Honey, we spent the day cleaning-up and resting up for another week...and now it's time for the Super Bowl!  Hope that life is good and all is well wherever this finds you...now go and have yourself have a great week!!!

Honey Child

Well, for those of you who weren't aware, Seth and I have a new addition to our family...our adopted dog Honey!  Yeah, it was kind of sudden but, we had been talking about getting a dog for a while and the timing just seemed right, so we made the plunge!  We did some research and knew we wanted to adopt a dog from a rescue.  We also knew that we wanted a smaller dog that didn't shed too much.  After some research, we found Honey at the Arlington Lost Dog Rescue.  Honey is a Basenji breed, about 25 pounds, and (best of all) is hypoallergenic so I don't have any allergy problems :-) 

We brought her home last Saturday and she has been a bundle of joy and brought so much happiness to our home every day!  She has settled in quickly to her new home and is a very happy doggy :)  Honey loves a big belly rub and playing with her ball, but she especially loves time with her daddies...and she never fails to welcome us home with jumps and love!  Seth and I are excited for each of you to meet Honey and know she can't wait to meet you either.  Woof woof!

Honey and her trusty ball.

Seth & Honey at PetSmart.

Honey loves her naptime!!!

 

You Win Some, You Lose Some...AND You Win Some!

Howdy ya'll :) Well, this has been quite an interesting week!  First of all, in case you hadn't heard, the East Coast got POUNDED by winter weather!  In DC, it only takes a little bit of snow to wreak havoc, so needless to say with a mini-blizzard that poured 5 inches in a couple of hours, the city was in disarray!  On Wednesday, class got canceled due to the storm and same for Thursday classes...which would normally be A-OK with me BUT in law school, you have to make up EVERY missed class, so it's likely that some of these classes will have to be made up on a Saturday :(  Oh well, I enjoyed the snow day nonetheless!  Guess I should just count my blessings that it only took me 2 hours to go 4 miles instead of being like my Aunt Carol and Uncle Skeeter who took about 9 - 10 hours to get home...CRAZY!  Luckily, everyone made it safe and the weather has chilled out and we can all enjoy making snowman (see below plus there was even a barista snowman outside Starbucks!)  Seth even got the day off on Thursday and went into school with me (since our power was out for a bit!) and enjoyed a fun day kicking it with us boring law students :)

Tenley Circle Snowman with an orange cone on his head!

Anyway, aside from a fairly lazy weekend, a few updates on school stuff.  This weekend, I participated in the 1L Mock Trial Closing Argument Competition.  It isn't actually trying out for the team yet, just an opportunity to practice and get ready for tryouts.  I gave my argument on Saturday and, while I didn't win, I did get a lot of good feedback and felt encouraged to tryout in March :)  I was glad I did it and, as soon as I walked out, I got a call saying I had been accepted to write on the Legislation & Policy Brief at school.  It's a great opportunity to start writing and getting some of my work published, so I'm excited!  To boot, I found out that I have made it into the final round of interviews for this amazing judicial internship program and have a training this Tuesday with an interview in the coming weeks...so keep your fingers crossed!  Anyway, not much else going on right now, although I am sure that the coming weeks will bring us (and hopefully you too) lots of good news and new adventures ;)  MUCH more to come SOON...love you all!

Time for Family Time

Well thank goodness for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day...celebrating human rights and a day off school...what could be better!?!?! :)  For real, with no class Fridays and then a day off this past Monday, I had a four day weekend after my first full week of school...and I could sure get used to it!!!  Anyway, the long weekend was fun but this week made up for any extra rest I got!  As you all know, this semester is not only filled with school but it's busy with searching for jobs and such.  This week we had an internship fair at school with lots of potential employers, and Thursday I went to the Hispanic Bar Association of DC to network and meet local attorneys.  So far  no job offers yet, but I have two second interviews and lots of applications out there...so wish me luck :)

As is typical for our Friday nights, Seth and I were in the mood to celebrate the welcoming of the weekend!  Since this week was Restaurant Week, we took advantage and went to a yummy dinner at Couer de Lion downtown...SO good!!!

Seth chillin (literally) on the patio :)

After a good date night, I made us some German pancakes Saturday and we packed up and headed down to Mom's for Uncle Skeeter's birthday party with the fam.  Between the good food, amazing cake (courtesy of cake maker extraordinaire Aunt Carol), and wonderful company, we had a great time and enjoyed our first visit down to Mom's since 2010 :)  Today, we got to use our gift cards for massages/pedicures and loved having a pamper day with Mom (although I wish I didn't have to intermingle school work!)  After a yummy lunch with Mom and Dad at La Pizzeria, it was back up to DC for a last bit of time before another week of work and school!  Every time we cross the Potomac and drive through the city on our way home, I still lose my breath when I look around an realize we are living in Washington, DC - life is good!  Anyway, had a nice Skype date with the Utah fam and now it's time for dinner and on to another week!  Hope all is well with each and every one of you...and always know you are loved very much by the two of us!

Uncle Skeeter and his grandkids (William, Ethan, Logan, and Kylie)

I'm One Lucky Boy!

Well this has been a GREAT week!  School started off kind of slow and didn't really throw too much at me this first week (which I really appreciate!) and it's a three day weekend (for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day) so I don't have school on Monday - hooray!

So many great things have happened this week it's hard to know where to begin, but I guess the best place to start is with updates on my summer job hunt.  While I do not have any firm offers yet, I had two interviews this week regarding an internship with various federal court judges and I got offered a second interview on both of them - so keep your fingers crossed!  To boot, I have almost all my grades back from last semester and am very please with the results...looks like I might be cut out for this whole law school thing after all :)

Self-portrait on my way to the interview :)

And the luck didn't stop there.  This week I won a contest from Dr. Oz for a free pair of Nike shoes!!!  Since I got new shoes for my birthday, we got Seth some running shoes so we are both ready and equipped for the DC Marathon in March...now we just need to start the whole training part haha!  And speaking of lucky, we are the luckiest people in the world because we have the BEST friends and family out there.  This week our friend Whit (from SLC) came to town and we got to spend some time with him.  Since I don't have class on Fridays, I made Whit a birthday brunch and enjoyed catching up on gossip :)  Friday night, Seth and I met some friends from school out for dancing and drinks downtown and it was SO fun (Section 1 is the BEST!!!) 

On Saturday, Seth and I met our friends Beah and Matt downtown to get our cars detailed (Seth got me a two-for-one coupon at Christmas to get this done) and as we pulled up, much to our surprise, the Secret Service, police, and hotel security were EVERYWHERE because there was "a VIP in the hotel."  Gotta love DC!  We suspected it was China's President (who was in town this week) but then also wondered (judging from a lot of the people in the lobby) whether it might have been the President of India.  Either way, it was still pretty cool...oh, and the car looked great by the way :)  To end the night, Seth and I met Whit and some of his friends downtown and then headed home to rest up from going out two nights in a row...hey, we're not spring chickens any more :)

Me, Seth, Whit, Tim, & Dan.

PS: Sorry this pictures have been so blurry lately. I take most of them out and about with my phone, so when they are downloaded to the Blog, they are never as crisp as originally but you get the idea :)

Anyway, not much else besides school work and relaxing going on for the rest of the weekend, but I hope this finds you all well!  Have a wonderful week and know the biggest reason we are so luck is not because of free shoes, good grades, or potential jobs, but because of each and every one of you who we love so much!  Til the next time - xoxo!