Day of Relaxing

Whew! That was such a fun holiday! Our Thanksgiving was a ton of fun: we enjoyed going to my Grandma's house for family festivities and then coming back here for David's family fun. Then yesterday I studied, David organized a bit in the house, and last night we decorated the Christmas tree!

On Wednesday we stayed at home. David worked most of the day and I prepared for our Thanksgiving with his family a bit and then studied a lot. That late afternoon we trekked to my parents' house, where we feasted on tacos, played Monopoly, and watched a movie. That night I went to sleep super early (um, 9:03).

The next morning David and I got up to run. Our plan was simple: run at 6 a.m. in order to get in the shower line first. Our house is in a rural area, so if two people take showers or a bath then the hot water disappears and the others have to take cold showers or simply wait a few hours to take a hot shower. However, we were tricked because when we arrived home from the run my dad was already dressed and showered! Quickly we showered and luckily we had hot water. Poor David usually gets last place in the shower line because he does not know to wake up early to get a hot shower, and he sleeps in later than everybody else.

After the showers, we went to town and attended Thanksgiving mass, which was nice. Then we went to my Grandparents' house, which smelled delicious! My grandma is known as a fabulous cook, so we look forward to her Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts every year (or just going to eat lunch)! We feasted on potato casserole, rolls, turkey, stuffing, corn casserole, fruit salad, green beans from the garden, peach pie, pumpkin pie, and homemade pickles. Yum!

After being thoroughly stuffed, David and my brother weighed themselves. They have a tradition where they weigh themselves before and after every meal at my grandma's house. This year David gained 2 pounds and my brother gained 4 pounds during the course of the meal. After their big weigh-in, they took naps.

Soon we loaded up the car to head back to Columbia! On the way there we saw an eagle in the middle of a field. So did Bethany from the Fabulous Adventures of Mrs. Haid! How weird!

I enjoyed seeing my family over Thanksgiving. I love holidays because I enjoy visiting with everybody.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

Finally, for my last Thankful for Thanksgiving post, I am thankful for my family and friends! I am so lucky to have a great husband, great parents, grandparents, in-laws, cousins, aunts, uncles, and extended relatives! Besides that, I am lucky to have friends who are so wonderful and lend an ear whenever I need them. Everybody is so kind and supportive and I am lucky to have them in my life! I am also thankful for the health and happiness of those close to me.

Besides that, Happy Thanksgiving! Today I will be acting as hostess like this lady:

This is what I will be wearing:
Find me on Polyvore
Enjoy your holiday!

Thankful for Thanksgiving

Today I wanted to write about how I am thankful I went to law school. This is my last year and thus my last Thanksgiving break I will be spending studying! I am a little sad but mostly happy. When I graduated from college, I was not ready to enter into the working world and could not imagine wanting to start a career at age 22. However, these last few years have prepared me to enter into the working world and have given me a chance to really reflect on what I want to do with my abilities.

I really enjoy law school. I love being challenged and thinking about the law and its consequences. Besides that, I love how law school has taught me to think differently. Before I went to law school many people said that I would become more confident in my learning, and that I would feel like I could teach myself anything. I find this to be very true. Law school taught me to be a critical thinker, always looking for the holes in arguments and to voice my concerns about them. While it drives my husband crazy when we are arguing, I think that is a good thing.

I know that there are a million jokes about lawyers being greedy, and sure, there are some lawyers who are greedy out there. But the lawyers for whom I've worked have also been some of the most charitable people I know. Lawyers do pro bono work, take a lower-paying job to go into public service, and write off a ton of their time when they think a client can't pay. They spend their evenings volunteering for service organizations that help people in need. I hope I can be that charitable after I graduate.

Finally, I am thankful to have a life that allows me to go to law school. My family always encouraged me to seek a higher education. I saw my parents work hard through graduate school, my two living grandparents both graduated from college, so I never had a second thought about going to college and seeking a graduate degree. Furthermore, I have the unending support of my husband. Many people face more obstacles when they think about getting an education, and I am thankful that I have a wonderful support system from my family and friends. Therefore, I am thankful that I am in law school.

In other news:

Today I am going to make Chex Mix to have for snacks this weekend. Our house is clean and packed with delicious food! We are all so excited for the holiday!

Thankful for Thanksgiving

This may be like beating a dead horse, but today I wanted to write about how I am thankful for my pets.

I absolutely love my pets. Everybody jokes that I got married to David at such a young age because I really wanted to get a cat and my mom said that I couldn't get another one until I was paying for my own insurance. She said that about getting a second hole in my ears and about getting a tattoo as well. Well, I got married on a Saturday and had a cat by that next Wednesday. Haha mom! (I still haven't gotten that second hold or the tattoo.)

Don't worry, I didn't get married just so I could have more pets. Okay, maybe it was only about 50% of the reason I got married. Okay, okay, I know, it was about 80% of the reason why I got married. Fine! Wanting pets was about 95% of the reason why I got married, okay?

Of course, I'm kidding. Seriously. Okay, I'm pretty much kidding.
My pets are so fun. I love them because they have to be in the same room as us at all times. When I'm home alone, they follow me around.

Thorina is a great pet because she is so extreme. She goes from being lovey-dovey to mean in a split second. However, she is also very loyal. She only loves me and David. If anybody else tries to pet her, she goes crazy! However, every evening before she goes to sleep, she climbs up in my lap and purrs and purrs, kneading me and wanting pets. I just love her.
Paco is just an all-around good puppy. David and I always say that we will never have a better dog than Paco, and seriously that is true. He is so good, he always wants to please, and he never ever causes any trouble. He would never think a mean thought, he loves to play, and he is so charming. Everybody loves Paco! We are lucky to have him as a doggie.
Finally, we have Arwen. Arwen is the sweetest kitty I've ever had. She is so nice and loving. She is also very playful and still acts like a kitten, playing with bobby pins, hunting play mice, and loving a good belly rub. She likes to sleep right next to me every night.
Pets are great joys. I have always enjoyed having pets and I love coming home every day because they greet me. So, this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my pets.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

Today I wanted to write about how I am thankful for running. I've always been a runner, but I was never really good earlier in life. When I was in junior high and high school I ran on the track team, which was a lot of fun! I have a lot of fond memories of track meets with my friends in high school, freezing or getting sun burns, trying to lift the shot put with Rach, and doing the triple jump.

Now that I'm older I married someone who was a very competitive runner in high school and who has inspired me to continue running! David and I always joke that he would never run if it were not for me, and I would never improve or do races if it weren't for him! We enjoy running together on the weekends.

Besides David, I now have my friend Julie to inspire me. We ran the half marathon together this fall and also ran a Halloween 10K together. It is a lot of fun to have a running buddy who is on your same level. We are planning on running more races in the future and will hopefully eventually run the Nike Women's Half Marathon! I'm so glad Julie started to run!
Here I am with my birthday cake this year after we ran a St. Patrick's Day 5K. I ran it with my mom and David. My mom has also inspired me to run. She's been runner since something like 1984 and used to run on our gravel roads outside of our house. She still runs now and is quite impressive! She's up to running at least 3 miles or so and almost beats me when we run 5Ks together! I'm really proud of her and glad to have a role model to keep running throughout my adult life.
This is hopefully a picture of me after I have children:
Hopefully I will be able to get a double running stroller so I can run in the park! This is really a picture of my niece Emma and our puppy Paco.

I'm so thankful that I run because it is a great stress reliever. My teacher mentioned last week that attorneys are often depressed (I think like 25% of attorneys are diagnosed with depression), and exercise is a great way to relieve stress! Besides that, I am thankful that my good health that allows me to run!

Thankful for Thanksgiving

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I think I am going to write one thing on my blog for which I am thankful each day this week. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because I love going home and being with my family (and eating!), but also because I think that it is a good preparation for the Advent season and eventually the Christmas season. It is good to take time and reflect on things for which you are thankful before joining the celebration of the Christmas season.

This morning, I saw this video on That Wife blog, and while I am not Mormon, I loved the message of this video, so I thought that would share it as well:



I love the guy who says that he is thankful for "lunch and breakfast and dinner". It may sound funny at first, but I think that sometimes we lose sight of how lucky we are that we have enough to eat. Another man mentioned that he will be thankful to have a bed when he gets one. While he seemed to be a college student and probably didn't have a bed because he was crashing at a friend's house, we are also all lucky to have a bed and shelter. When you start to really break it down and realize that you are lucky to have your feet with which to walk, your eyes with which to see, or your ears with which to hear, many of life's problems seem much smaller.

This week a lot of people on Facebook have been posting things for which they are thankful. This week, David's cousin posted that she is thankful for her faith, and I am going to make that my first post this week.

I am thankful for my faith and also for my church in general. I am thankful for the fact that since I was an infant, my family made it a priority to attend church every week. Some children do not have that opportunity and wish that they did.

I am thankful that my husband and I let our church be a part of our marriage. I am thankful that I married someone who does not laugh or scoff at me when I discuss faith and religion. I am thankful that I married someone who shares my religious beliefs and who supports me on my faith journey.

I am thankful for my Catholic religion. I love the tradition, the belief system, and going to communion. I love knowing that every Sunday or Saturday evening, thousands of people around the globe are partaking in the exact same tradition in which I am participating. I love that I feel like home no matter where I go to church, no matter if it is in America or in the Czech Republic. I love our beliefs about the Communion of the Saints and how I am participating in a tradition that not only encompasses us in this world, but also those who are in heaven.

Finally, I am thankful for my relationship with God. I am thankful for the peace I receive when I pray, the comfort I receive when I ask, and the love that is given to me unconditionally. God has given me so many blessings, and I am thankful for every day I awaken.

For what are you thankful today?

Fun Thing Friday

Paco has a Holiday wish list, so I thought that I would devote a Fun Thing Friday to his wish list to Santa!

1. First off, his little paws get really cold when he goes outside. He really wants some doggie Ugg-style boots from Old Navy. He would totally rock that look with his really warm red vest he already owns.
2. Next, he wants a doggie hoodie from Old Navy. Blue, of course. The hood will keep him warm in the cold and he thinks that it would look pretty awesome under his red vest with his boots on his feet. Paco is pretty sure that his friends Jose and Terry will be pretty jealous.
3. After that, he would like to open a pack of Greenies. What doggie doesn't love the Greenie taste? Also, Paco likes to keep his teeth shiny and clean. Source


4. Finally, Paco really, really wants a Snuggie for dogs. This will be awesome while he lounges around the house in between his many activities, including going to the bathroom and traveling for the holidays.
He's going to write all of these in his list to Santa this year! We'll see if he is good enough to get them!