TiLT #4

Parks and Recreation

NOT AN ACTUAL JUDGE

I am destined to be the saddest when this show is over. Season 7 is involving everything I love though. JJ's, Perd. Treat yo self. It is so so so good.

Girls Night 

and the Crazy Conversations when the large group dwindles to 4. Round-Robin style, where we harass everyone. Drinks and getting ready and Sava's and Bar Louie because it was close and cold outside.

Camio Cam

Now I watch what Maizey does all day long while I'm at work. It's good to know she's not distressed in her crate, and that she's only howling like a banshee and disrupting my neighbors occasionally. and luckily she's the cutest ever when she sleeps. [heart eyes emoji]

Little Loves: Broad City | Long Runs | how did this get made (thanks kate) | unexpected free time during weekday daylight hours | talking about M | R.B.G. tickets | dry shampoo (batiste and triple sec)

New In 2015

I think that December 2014 is completely the time for free trials, or at least, "close to free" trials.

So I jumped in feet first and signed up for the following:

Oyster

What is it? a digital book subscription service.
Regular Price: 9.99/month.
promo: 1 month free
current impression: 
Books: this is great so far, but mostly I think because I'm flexible in what I'll read. There aren't a ton of newer books, but there are plenty that I'm interested in (including the pretty little liars series and love with a chance of drowning, which i've heard great things about, but my library never carried the e-book of, which is how i get most of my books now). It's also nice, because you can read and check out an unlimited number of books.

Reading: Books can only be read on a computer, or using the iPhone, Android, iPad, Tablet, Kindle Fire Apps. This can be kind of frustrating, as reading on screens isn't really ideal for me, but so far it hasn't bothered me. There's also a nifty "night" mode with black background and white text which really is easier to read in the dark.

Cool feature: Oyster will tell you approximately how long the book will take you to read, and approximately how long it will take you to finish a chapter. This is something totally frustrating on my kindle because I'll say "oh I'll just finish the chapter" and then the chapter ends up being an eternity long, and I have no idea. (apparently this is a feature on new-er kindles, but my old kindle keyboard doesnt have this feature)

Spotify

What is it? on-demand music player. Streams music. Paying gets you similar features to the free version, minus ads.
Regular Price: 9.99/month
Promo: 3 months for .99
current impression: i like spotify premium, and i think this three months for .99 is awesome. But I'm not sure if it will be worth full price for me, because i don't have unlimited data, so I don't listen to spotify in the car or anything.

Audible

What is it? Audiobook subscription service.
Regular Price: 14.95/month
promo: 3 months for $3
current impression: I like audible. It downloads the book to your phone, so that you dont have to stream it. I always try and get books read by the authors themselves, so I downloaded B.J. Novak's "One More Thing." I have quite a bit of traveling by car in the next few months, so this is great for that.  Seems like a very broad range of books too, which is great.



NOTE: this post contains some referral links, because, why not?

TiLT #3 (On Sunday)

go w/ the flow

on saturday (1/17) i got to spend one of my "31 days of go w/ the flow" live with tori and ben at lululemon grand rapids. I dragged along a law school friend who is currently living in the GR area (it was essentially her first vinyasa yoga class, and i think she really liked it! so yay for that!). Loved practicing with so many awesome ladies ... and dudes! Thanks for coming to Michigan go w/ the flow! We love having you! :)

trader joe's cookie butter cookies

hello diet ruiners in a box. I love love these sandwiches. not super sweet, not overpowering in the cookie butter department, appropriately tasting butter cookies. pretty much perfection.

wazelle long sleeve and the five miles I ran in it

picked up this shirt at the playmakers sale, and ran in it on Monday. It's the wazelle long sleeve made by oiselle (all pronounced the same, unsurprisingly). Its a great great long sleeve running top -- wore it in low 30s weather on Monday by itself and felt good the whole time. well temperature wise. and lack of chaffing. but it was my first outdoor run since the great "rolling my foot on an unruly fat stick" incident of boxing day 2014. There were times when it was hard to catch my breath and times when my legs were a little upset, but overall it was a good 5 miles. which is really good, because I'm running a half in less than a month. eeeee. 

being the scrabble winner

J and I have been playing scrabble as our evening activity of choice since we are no longer being typical law students and going out until 2AM on the weekends. I have been kicking butt. and i loooove it.

little loves: a clean apartment | freshly laundered everything | buddy's pizza | trader joe's runs | puppy snuggles | love with a chance of drowning | a bluetooth FM transmitter for my car -- makes long car rides totally podcast friendly for my aux jack-less car

TiLT 2015 #2

Maizey

This dog. In the snow. I just die. She makes me squee, and want to take all the pictures of her snow covered nose, and frozen whiskers. Life is so much better with a dog

Space Heater

Without this bad boy I'm pretty sure I would freeze constantly. I'm trying to live that fellowship life, and save money on things like heat, but even with multiple layers of clothing and big fuzzy patagonia sweatshirts and a dog resting on my feet I still freeze without the space heater. It's also all kinds of awesome for my 31 days of go w/ the flow yoga practice. love in a electric box.

New Real Deal Snow Boots (Sorel Caribou)

so heavy. so massive. so much love.

Little loves: Invisibilia | the winter CSA including the perfect veggies for recently posted recipes | surprise roses | movie theatre popcorn | day designer (yes, still) | sephora favorites: the great cleanse

TiLT 2015 #1: make29 resolution, day designer

Things I Love Thursday!

it's back!

image from: make29

Elise's Make29 Resolution Page

Paid $4 for this download and it is making me accountable for flossing every day in 2014. or close to every day. but we're on day 8 and I'm 7/8 (only because i floss at night). sometimes i do it while i'm on the phone with my boyfriend who is sadly driving home very late, because he is sadly rocking that (public interest) firm life. sometimes i do it while maizey stares at me inquisitively, and hesitantly because bathrooms are scary places where baths happens, and you never know when you're going to get tricked into a bath. but EVERY day i'm flossin'.

Easy Dinners

source: howsweeteats.com

In the past week I've made:
No recipe chicken fajitas (i toss onions and peppers in my dutch oven. cook until desired softness. then in goes chicken. cook chicken until done. heat up some corn tortillas. pull out salsa, gauc. dig in)
portobello fajitas (also totally planned to make the queso but then realized i had bought gouda instead of fontina at trader joes. damn you same red rind)
turkey chili (made with quinoa, and didnt add the fresh salsa. added a bottle of honey brown beer for extra liquid)

Such great dinners -- so easy. Which is really just the best part.

image from: the grommet

Day Designer and Whitney English

Here I am again, singing its praises. I've been diligently cataloging my to-do lists and events/appointments/dailies etc in this, and I am still in love. I also recently ordered the mini, which is a smaller undated version of the regular day designer. It was kind of an impulse purchase, but I'm thinking because it's undated, there's no "feeling bad" if I don't use it right away. Because I surely will use it. Even if it has to be an in-between planner, or if, god-forbid, day designers stop being made, I can have that.

Also Whitney is just incredible. This year I also purchased the well-designed year, which is a more in depth evaluation of your goals and how to achieve them. I haven't gotten far, but what I have done has been so so great. Also there was a small fiasco on the most recent release day, and a lot of people freaked out about it, and Whitney's response was so classy and real and it just made me love her even more. So thanks Whitney!


Little Loves: trader joe's beet hummus (it has little bits of beets! i love it!) | 31 days of go w/ the flow (more on this soon!) | tackling small things each day (progress > perfect) | oyster (more on this later too) | emojiary (yes, its exactly what it sounds like. a daily diary on your phone written in EMJOIS) | going crazy shopping for healthy food at trader joes. and i mean crazy.

2014 Favorites

Favorite Podcast: I have to be typical and say Serial, but before I started listening to Serial, it was definitely The Lively Show. And will probably be long-term The Lively Show. Because it is the one podcast I've listened to consistently. But I'm a lawyer. and Serial is insane. So if I'm being honest, I have to list it.

Favorite Album: It should come as no surprise that this one is Taylor Swift's 1989. Which I bought at Target the day it came out. And then bought a under-the-counter CD player/bluetooth system so that I could listen to it in my apartment, since my macbook air doesn't have a CD drive.

Favorite Item at Trader Joe's: Candy Cane Joe-Joe's. So good I dreamt about them last night. Why must they be seasonal? I have no idea. Non-seasonal item? Creamy Goat Cheese and Everything Bagels. Breakfast love.

Favorite Ann Arbor Restaurant: Aventura. For dinner, for brunch. Sava's new tapas venture was my go-to "going out" restaurant. Favorite dishes? Patatas Bravas, Churros, Coca Del Toque (brunch exclusive. totally worth it).

Patatas Bravas @ Aventura

Favorite App: Instagram. follow me and maizey.

Favorite Song: "Riptide" by Vance Joy.



Favorite Movie: The Fault in Our Stars. I sobbed, and loved it so much. As someone who's worked with children with life-threatening illnesses for the past 5 years, this book and movie completely told it like it is. I have never seen a more accurate portrayal.

Favorite Clothing Item: Madewell Sweatshirt Dress. Ordered on ebay since its not sold any more, and totally worth it.

Favorite Flower: Peonies

Favorite Skincare Product: Dr. Jardt Sleeping Facial + Lush's Let the Good Times Roll

Favorite Make Up Item: Beauty Blender

Favorite Race: Hot Cocoa Classic Half Marathon - April 6, 2014. Half Marathon PR. Failed to do a recap because I'm the worst. Whoops.

Favorite Craft: Finally finishing/really learning how to crochet. and by "crochet" I mean do a bunch of double crochets in a row, with limited turning, increasing, and slip stitching.

I successfully crocheted the following:


an infinity scarf

a much longer infinity scarf that loops around once for a little bulk

a headband

Favorite Blog: How Sweet Eats. 

Favorite Planner: Whitney English Day Designer
I've always been one of those people obsessed with planners. So when I found the whitney english day designer last year, despite already having a moleskine, I made the switch. and haven't looked back.

Favorite TV Show: this is hard. I just breezed through all 10 episodes of The Affair and loved it in the beginning, but that love kind of wavered by the end of it. I stopped watching a bunch of shows I used to watch this fall, including revenge and nashville, although i wouldn't be opposed to catching up on them. I just didn't make it a priority. I have still been watching "Modern Family" and "The Mindy Project," but haven't been loving them as much. I do still LOVE LOVE Parks and Recreation, and I think if it was on, it would be something I'd watch every week. I'm so sad it's ending. Also, this is everything.

The Best Thing that Happened to Me in 2014

A lot of really great things happened in 2014.

I graduated law school.

I passed the bar exam, to become not just a person with a law degree, but a licensed attorney.

I ran my second marathon (actual misery), and my fourth and fifth half marathons (both great).

But the hands-down greatest thing to happen was a 20-pound bundle of joy, originally named sprite, but quickly renamed Maizey.

My housing search in Lansing was limited to apartments that would allow me to have a dog. I was desperate for one, and surprisingly, it was pretty difficult to find apartment complexes without crazy additional fees, or breed restrictions.

J and I went to the Meet your best friend at the zoo event at the Detroit Zoo in September. I intended to get there early to get first dibs on the puppies I wanted, but I had a brain mixup and didn't realize what time I needed to leave to make it to the start of the event. So I got there about an hour after the event started and many of the dogs, puppies especially had been adopted.

There was one dog - a husky, shepard mix named Dakota, who I'd actually seen photos of online, but the photos failed to document her beauty. But of course, she had been adopted just before I found her at the event.

And thus I went home without a puppy.

It was the following week when I saw a new posting under the "husky" search -- for a "husky/corgi" mix from canine companion rescue center. I submitted the application immediately, and also almost immediately got a call from the foster mom, telling me all about "sprite."

A few days later, I went to meet her, and instantly fell in love.

She was so soft and shy when I first met her. I held her on my lap and she was so nervous, but warmed up to me by the end of the time with her.

I was pretty much sold.

The following Saturday I went to pick her up.

J and I are so in love with her.

When she snuggles up on top of me, or lays in the most ridiculous ways with legs and feet in all different directions, or snuggles up into a ball, or when her ears flip back so that she looks totally husky, or uses her paws like hands, I fall in love all over again.

she is actually sleeping here. this is not mid-stretch

J brought her to the half finish last weekend, and everyone loved her. So many "your dog is so cute" compliments.

So yes, she's very clearly the best part of 2014 for me. and I can't wait for many many more years with her.