It's still winter

Snowfall

This is a view from two stories up

I cannot tell you... the anger i felt when it SNOWED today. it is march 31st.  It's not april fools!  But it snowed. and it was a gross cold semi windy day.  Where is this spring that i've loved?

the top photo is taking in the parking lot behind my apartment... i couldn't quite capture the sereneness of the falling snow (or the cold for that matter), but i tried!  It's snowing big flakes so it's really pretty in the light.

the second photo was me attempting to capture the result of the "snowball snow" we had this morning.  No i don't mean good snowball packing snow.  I mean chunks of snow were falling down from the skies, the size of small snowballs! it was ridiculous!

p.s. two pics elizabeth :) just for you!

Sideview Mirror

Dangerous

Yes Yes. I know how dangerous it is to take pictures while you are driving. But the sunset was amazing. I didn't really capture it because i got to far from the hill that's blocking where the sun is right above the car in the mirror.  But it is awesome.  I love taking photos of things in mirrors!  Something about how it reflects so clearly is pretty cool...

I got a pic of my friend Robby sticking his head out of my backseat window like a dog... and i did it like this one. from the driver's seat through the mirror :)

p.s. I know i slack a bit on my photos a day. But school's been kicking my butt (spring break... PSHHHH) so i've been preoccupied with other things :/

back to the grindstone

It's a sad sad day...

It's March 26th... and it is snowing outside.  Granted, it may just be that the wind is blowing a little bit of snow around so that we think it's a lot. But still! snow in late march is unacceptable!  oh who am i kidding. it's minnesota.  I expected this!  this is outside my parents house. they just did some landscaping this past summer and we ended up with tri colored wood chips!  Love that it looks like frost.

flowers

In celebration of "spring" in Minnesota, my friend and I visited the Como Park Conservatory and got some beautiful photos of flowers.  I couldn't pick one to post, so I'm going to put up some of my favorites :)

This is me... Sort of :)

My Magnet Board...

You may laugh.  But this magnet board is a nice symbol of who i am. or at least a little bit of who i am :)  Let me tell you a little bit of it...

1. Dollar bill: weird, but true. i enjoy finding money. and saving money.  So me putting the dollar bill up on my magnetic board is like me being like... "hey if you ever need a dollar, you know where it is!"
   
2. Jon McLaughlin Sticker: This signifies a few things.  For one, i love his music.  He is an incredibly gifted man.  Thankfully he shares it with the rest of us!  And second, i love playing the piano...
3. Photo of me and my friends Beth and Janahn: These two girls are great.  the pic to me reminds me of how much i love all of my friends.  
4. Card of Flowers:  it's just purrrty :) and reminds me of springtime!
5. Chino Latino Magnet:  I spent many a night there in my undergraduate years with good friends.
6. Pic of Zachary Levi:  UM. he is a cutie patootie.  and his show "Chuck" is my altime favorite right now!  The only thing that would make that photo even better is if Jonathan Togo and Eric Szmanda were in it too...
7. Mountains:  My good friend Gina wrote me a little note of encouragement on the photo of a mountain, reminding me how great God is and how little that i am.
8. Photo of Me and Gina: she is just an awesome girl!  She started dating my good friend and is now engaged... and I have enjoyed our times together (even if she did move out to cali and leave me behind!)
9. Cari the Caribou: as a law student, i tend to spend a lot of time studying at caribou.  Nuff said :)

A Nice Cold Brew.

Bumblebee and a HoneyBear

Nothing like a good beer to top of a fabulous road trip!  Leinenkugal's brewery is located in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin and produces some pretty sweet beer!  Most well known is their honeyweiss and sunset wheat.  They also have an awesome Summer Shandy and Oktoberfest beer!

At their brewery, visitors can try some of the mixes that they make by combining their beers.  Yum.

Tracks to Nowhere

Lake Wissota

My friend Jenna and I road tripped to Wisconsin (okay okay, MINI road trip) and I was super excited to visit the lake.  I LOVE big bodies of water, especially on sunny, clear skied days when it's just gorgeous.  Unfortunately, it's still cold and the lake was frozen over.  We DID however find some train tracks right off the edge of the lake and had some fun with the angles and lines that the train tracks gave us.

Tea Lights

Set of Tea Lights

My friend Kristin and her bf Dave had a BBQ.  It was raining, but we still powered through!  After some guitar hero at Dave's, we headed to Kristin's and hung out and watched a movie.  Kristin and her roommate have a ton of candles and tea lights all over their apartment.  On their TV they have a string of about 10 lights in a row. beautiful.

a study in wine

Notice the title of the wine...

I love the shape of wine bottles.  They're just sleek and elegant.  Plus light bounces off them in ridiculous ways!  At our dinner at Dixie's on Grand, they had a really fancy looking pillar of wine.  It had several bottles on each level, lit up by back lights.  I caught a picture of the "menage a trois" wine bottle here.  It's just some fun lighting.  For some reason the camera caught the light in a way that is almost blinding.

Chili Cook off!

mmmm chili.

My school has an annual chili cook-off. It's awesome.  It's not just to make a lot o chili and eat it.  The whole point is to raise money for Minnesota Justice Foundation.  So for $5, you can eat all the chili you want! There's tons. there's really spicy chili, white bean chicken chili, and even a chili with cinnamon and cloves in it.  It was AWESOME! my friend elizabeth spotted me $5 (okay so maybe she owed me $5) so i could enjoy it.

Even though I am currently meatless (for lent), i picked out the chicken from this yummy chicken chili and then enjoyed a bowl of veggie chili!  LOVE it.  It also made the whole school smell like scrumptious chili the whole afternoon.  I think they raised over $800 :)

my childhood mirror

best lighting...

I've had this mirror/light since i was a wee yougin.  i loved it.  I had bad zits when i was growing up (er in middle school) and this mirror and light always made them look better.  probably why i loved this mirror :)  the other great thing was it had this little drawer on the side that you could put bobby pins and stuff in. and I decided to use it as more of a secret place to put money.  for some reason i thought no one would think to look there :) but up until mid high school, that's where i hid my loose cash! (don't go lookin, it ain't there anymore!).

Cruisin...

... with the windows down

gotta love a good car ride with some good friends.  and nothing is more classic than a pair of aviator shades and a popped collar!  To mark the start of amazing spring weather, some friends of friends were having a bar-b-q that we decided to head to.  And in the spirit of friendship and good moods (thanks to the sunshine), I let my friend drive us in my car to the house.  it was fun. there was red bull involved and open windows with the wind blowing.

Get your motor gunning

head out on the highway

now, we're lookin for adventure

or whatever comes our way...

...

never gonna die

born to be wild.

daffodils

bright colors...

So i went to my friend abby's house this afternoon (CUTEST APT EVER!) and we had some fun making homemade guacamole and tortillas...

(btw. trader joe's black bean and roasted corn salsa... amazing!).  But she is all about spring and summer and has been attempting to make her apartment more springy! she found some great daffodils at trader joe's this afternoon.  Aren't they gorgeous?  I love 'em. they are the epitome of spring!

what a girl wants

What Pretty Colors you have...

No matter the girl, something about lots and lots of make-up just makes you feel more alive!  I don't wear that much make up to begin with, but i loved the girls night we had.  Jenna won a girls make up party at bare escentuals at southdale mall.  it was aewsome! We got makeovers using mineral make up, and learned how to do smoky eyes, night out eyes, and every day eyes.  

I don't know much about mineral makeup, but it's light weight and the good stuff can even out your skin to make it look flawless.  And the colors that B.E. has are endless and beautiful.  Sparkly eye makeup, bronzers... every girl's wish!

my life...

welcome to the university of st. thomas

Birds eye view of where I spend a good chunk of my time.  This is the University of St. Thomas School of Law.  Actually, the building to the left is my school.  It looks a lot more inviting in the summer :)  But i can see the library, the front atrium, and the skyway to the business school (which is the building in the upper right hand).  The school sits on the edge of downtown, and if you look in the distance you can see where the new Twins stadium is being built.  It's amazing being so close downtown. It connects you with all the businesses and restaurants that make Minneapolis what it is!

I snapped this photo from the 20th floor of my friends' apartment building kitty corner from my school.  It's amazing how close and clear it is.

MMM... cupcakes

What could be better...

Not much... This chocolate cupcake was GINORMOUS. the size of the palm of our hand.  we split it and was full!  This thing was amazing.  THere is seriuosly nothing better during a long day at school.  Elizabeth and I were walking back from Dunn Bros when a girl tabling at school was like "want a cupcake?"  Did we ever.  I had been struggling to stay awake. and this sugar high was exactly what i needed!!!!!!!! it was soft and cakey, but still cupcake like. amazing. :)

Snow Day!

SNOW DAY!

Okay, so not literally a snow day... It only snowed for a few hours, and then melted. but for a while I thought that we were going to have a full blown snow storm blizzard on our hands!  In fact, it was sleeting on my way to school, and turned into snow.  Love it.  You can barely see the buildings downtown because of the snow falling.  and the best kind of snow is the flakes. large large flakes of snow :)

Sticky Bun

Warm, Gooey Goodness

"baby it's cold outside"... what beats the cold winter blues?  A warm restaurant with yummy breakfast!  Doesn't this cinnamon roll look amazing?  Jenna and I went to Key's Cafe and got breakfast.  We didn't get this cinnamon roll (mostly because we didn't see it until we were on our way out), but were so tempted to grab it!  There was a whole tray of sticky buns, with caramel just oozing off the sides and onto the tray.  They looked soft and perfectly baked.  We even squished one of the "day old" cinnamon buns, and they were still soft as ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the next time i'm feeling cranky from the cloudy, cold weather, I'm heading over to Key's to get me one of these sticky buns :)

Light a Candle

candles...

I love candles. and flames. and fires. well, as long as they are safely contained.  But there's just something about natural light that is gorgeous.  This is a photo of my friend Andrea's candle in her kitchen.  It's kind of funny. When it's not lit it looks like beeswax almost. But when it's lit it becomes mesmerizing. At least to me...

Flames are beautiful in that they dance and flicker, depending on what's going on around them.  If it's still, the flame is still.  If people are moving about and air is flowing, the flame will flicker and dance, and the light from the flame will make the shadows dance as well.  Love it.

Questionable...

you really don't want to know...

This is a super cool picture.  but i got it because i forgot to rinse out a cup of soymilk... it was just sitting there a day, but it had dried in the bottom of the glass. so i added some water so that i could rinse it out and wash it a little easier. and after a few minutes this was the result...

so sorry about the nastyness of the actual picture.  But the photo looks pretty sweet!!!!!

Greens and Pinks

What I wished it looked like outside...

It's most definitely not spring.   But this shot of my friend's room decor makes me want spring even more.

I think this is the coolest thing ever!  She just took an old painted sheet and split it into three, then mounted it on the wall. GORGEOUS and soooo creative! love it!

Spring.. Almost

Spring Thaw

When i say spring thaw... that doesn't really mean that spring is here in Minnesota.  Here, in the winter, usually in late february and then ALL of march, the weather will play with our emotions, giving us a few warm days, and then dropping the temp down below zero.  It's pretty harsh.  

So today began the days of warmth.  My pic attempted to capture the water dripping down the drain pipe.  It didnt work quite as well as I had hoped.  But it's kind of cool.  It's a dash of hope for me and all of my friends who are currently wishing that we lived anywhere but here... Happy few more weeks of winter everyone :D

The View from Work

Do you see what i see?

This is the view from the window in the Westlaw/Lexis office where I work.  Most people wouldn't really recognize the building straight in front.  But here it is well known and beloved.  It's none other than TPN: Target Plaza North.  This is where the headquarters are for one of the biggest retail chains in America (world??), Target.  

I love this view at dusk because the lights from the buliding and the cars reflecting off the snow give it a glow.  Kind of like a warm glow, except that I know it's 0 degrees outside!  But the Target building is our savior:  we need frozen dinners? go to target.  Running out of toilet paper? Run to target!  Need Pizza Hut Breadsticks... why yes, you can run to target!  Target Plaza North (in the picture) is just one of the buildings that house many different departments from marketing to design (those top secret floors you need keypasses to get into!).  But in Target Plaza South, there is a full Target store.  Fully accessible from the skyways.  

So this photo is an ode to my work and the amazingness we love to call Target :)

the old and familiar

My Dad's Office

It is funny. I was at my parents house today because I have to bring them to the airport tomorrow morning... and this room brings back a lot of memories... I used to live in this room when i was in elementary school! there was a HUGE desk in there the size of a bed and the weight of an elephant!  But now it's the computer room/my dad's office.  He always sits and works on his sermons or studies and tends not to come out until someone lures him out with dinner, or better yet... ice cream!

there's so many pictures of my sister and i when we were little in this room, climbing around on the huge desk... My favorite memory?

The room is on the corner right by the front porch. So when I was living in the room, I would get uber paranoid (I still am quite a worst case scenario girl) that someone would break into our house from the porch. SO i decided to create my own personal alarm system.  I stuck needles (the tall ones) into little balls of retainer wax (gross i know) and then set them up on the "outskirts" of my desk near the window...

JUST in case a robber came in through the window, he would step on the needles.  Well, one morning I was trying to get the shades open and slammed my hand down on my desk to get some leverage... RIGHT on a needle.

after that my mom made me stop creating do-it-yourself traps for potential robbers :)