Life Lately {vol. 54}

The absolute joy of knowing your finals are *thiiis* close to being over? PRICELESS.

J's sister, Jillian, got us some of the BEST Christmas presents this year! So grateful for how well she knows him (which is obvious - they're siblings) and me. :)

I flew into Iowa right after finals! J flew to Arizona the same day and I missed him, but I was so happy to have some time alone with my family!

Chase, Dad and I ended up going to Exile Brewery while we were in town. Their parm-truffle fries are TO-DIE for, but (of course) Chase told us later that they were "alright." Dude, if you didn't like them, you should have let me eat more! ;) I am powerless against them!

Chase and I got to have a brother-sister date, so we went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory and then saw the new Star Wars movie! You don't need me to tell you it was fabulous.

Before we left Iowa, we had Christmas with my dad's side of the family! My little cousins are my WORLD. Actually perfect people.

I swear, every time I get off a plane, I develop some sort of sinus/cold problem.

J and I ended up getting a new setting for my engagement ring. I miss the old ring a lot (it had to get busted up to get the diamond out), but it was just impossible to find a wedding band to match it because of the two-tone colors and the shape. We decided it would just be easier to get a new setting, so I picked one out in Iowa while I visited and they shipped it to us in Hilton Head! The new setting is a plain, rose-gold, which will match the wedding band I picked out!

My dad's birthday is in December, so my mom made him this gorgeous cake from scratch! Isn't that cake stand stunning too?!

It always amazes me how gorgeous and wild my parent's home is.

My family's dog, Kichon, is such a sweetheart!

J's birthday is just a few days after my dad's, and also happens to be Christmas Eve! I think he was dreading the big two-six, but hopefully we gave him a good celebration. :)

I made bank in my stocking on Christmas! *heart eyes*

I also got new workout clothes for Christmas, and thankfully my family let me tag along with them to their local gym! It felt so good to be in a gym again!

My parents got J and I these ADORABLE felt mushrooms - I never knew I needed them, but now I can't imagine not having them! Aren't they perfectly ridiculous and precious?!

J got me the first three seasons of Ally McBeal for Christmas! I'm already almost on the third season (don't judge me - I love this stupid show, haha).

I was so pumped that we got to go to my favorite breakfast place on the island a few times! My current breakfast obsession is eggs benedict with smoked salmon, and the way they make it is perfect! I wish I had some right now, haha.

We didn't do too much for New Years Eve, but I did get cheap-ish champagne and raspberries! More importantly, I got to hang out with my family. Chase and I played Game of Thrones Risk (courtesy of J) and watched "The Imitation Game."

Exhibit A: Game of Thrones Risk! After an hour and a half, we really hadn't gotten very far, so we ended up negotiating a truce. I gave Chase two dragons to guard the Wall, and we married off Catelyn Stark and Barristan Selmy.

I made my family homemade salsa! It was a little hot for them, so we added more tomato paste than I regularly would have - but then again, I normally live with a guy who grew up in Arizona, so most of what I make is pretty spicy!

My mom and I stopped by Walgreens, and something seemed to be missing out of this nativity set...

I only went to the beach two or three times once J left. It was beautiful, but actually very cold. On Christmas, it was almost 80 degrees out (hot, even for Hilton Head), but afterwards the temperature dropped to the 50's and then 30's! The beach was extremely windy and bitterly cold.

My parents' neighbors invited us over for drinks one night, and I fell in love with their dog! Also, how beautiful is my mom in the background?! Uber babe!

Even though I missed my family, it was so nice to be back home! I missed my cats and J.

When I got back, one of the first things I wanted to do was organize our "spare" closet, where we kept all of J's t-shirts and workout clothes. I bought these boxes on sale from Target for $5.99 each, which I thought was a great deal! It looks so much better (and more organized)!

Kendra sent me these early birthday gifts! :D I really needed a ring holder, and I'm so excited to try this chocolate! She's so sweet to me.

The minute I got home, I couldn't help taking a million cat pictures, but you can understand why when they're so cute all the time!

Also, our Christmas tree was hella dead. Like, if you touched it, every pine needle would fall off. J was kind enough to take it down to the road, and I was kind enough to vacuum everywhere the pine needles fell on their way out, haha. I miss having the tree already! I loved how bright and festive and happy it made the living room look.

J blew a tire on his way home from work a few days ago, so I drove down and helped him (aka, I held the flashlight and gave advice based on what I had googled). He actually made the whole process look really easy, though I'm sure it's not, haha.

Hello friends! I'm still on break from school and simultaneously loving/hating all this free time! I start class on Tuesday, so until then, I'll be cleaning the apartment, prepping for class, and doing some legal research. It's a thrilling life, I know!

I thought that I would love all this time off - after all I had to complete a portfolio before class started, as well as do a little tiny thing like... apply to the New Hampshire Bar! I'm happy to say both are completed and turned in, but now I have the weird sensation of having time on my hands. What is this new sensation?! It's become weirdly difficult to find motivation, and all I really want to do is sit in my warm bed and watch Ally McBeal until I die.

I've also been stressing about moving to Denver. I'm a planner by nature (but especially since I started law school), so I want to get everything planned and done now even though I can't. I want to find us an apartment to live in during the summer, I want to find a job so I can work at least part time this summer while I study for the bar exam, I want J to find a job he loves, I want to set up interviews for when we visit in February... There's a lot I'd like to do, and it's hard for me to let go and understand that there's only so much I can do right now. I kept finding apartments online that looked nice, but then had terrible reviews. I was losing faith of ever finding one that we could afford and that was nice enough.

Thankfully, J lives in the present, and talked me down from this future-thinking ledge last night. He reminded me that I can't feel guilty about things I cannot control, and that I need to be here sometimes, not off six-months from now in my head. I was (and am) very thankful for him last night. I need those reminders sometimes, just like he needs me to make him think further down the road than this week. In that sense, we're very different people, but I think we need the other to keep us balanced. And to make things better, I actually found a few apartments this morning that look very doable (I know, I know - I'm not living in the present, but hey, at least I'm productive)! ;)