True Story: I made a girl cry. Once.

Not on purpose, I swear.

It was probably second year of law school when it happened. Allegedly -- and I use that word simply because I don't remember it happening, the source of this information is actually very trusted and don't doubt her word by any means...and I really like to use "allegedly" whenever I can -- our usual group of law school folk were hanging out, probably pretending to study Con Law, and a new member was introduced to our group: cue Ms. Natalie. Through the course of this initial interaction, Ms. Natalie said or did something that elicited me to say something to the effect of "wow, you're not even part of our group." Harsh, right? Here's the thing though...if she had known me at that point in time (which she obviously didn't because we had just met), she would've known that I was being uberly sarcastic. Maybe too sarcastic...since those words did elicit some tears. Am I ashamed? Yes.

Good part of the story: we now share moments like these:

To those I have unintentionally made cry: I'm sorry, I hope you've since forgiven me and that we've had some amazing moments like Natalie and I :) And let this be a reminder to all of us: sarcasm is usually only appreciated after the person knows you well enough to be able to appreciate it. Yep, true words of wisdom, from yours truly.

'Tis the Season!

With Summer comes...wedding season! This year Jeff and I are fortunate to be invited to two weddings, both of which I'm excited for and honored to be invited to (and be a part of!).

This Saturday, my amazing friend Katie gets married. We met in law school, after finding out that we had both been to Guatemala. I literally just realized that the two roommates I ever had (other than Jeff), I've gotten to know because of our initial connection with Guatemala: my freshman year in college someone told me there was another girl in our dorm hall that was from Guatemala...I think I left a really lame message on her door with something to the effect of "You're from Guatemala, I'm from Guatemala, we should hang out!" Lame, but it worked. We became great friends and shared a one bedroom apartment for three years. And then my first year in law school we had to introduce ourselves in Torts and say something "interesting"; Katie mentioned she had just traveled to Guatemala, and I mentioned that I was half Guatemalan and spoke Spanish fluently (what can I say, it's the only really interesting thing I got going sometimes). We sat next to each other in one class, and before we knew it, we were trying out for the ADR competition team together, traveling to cities near and far, sharing an apartment, and eventually sharing a hotel room during the bar exam (let me tell you, sharing a hotel room during the bar is EXTREMELY frowned upon--we were advised multiple times by multiple people not to do it...it worked out great :) ). Anyhow, Katie's friend Lauren made her invitations, and they're absolutely adorable (vcm1313@cox.net).

And next Saturday is Shirley's wedding! We also met in law school. Shirley might be one of the craziest girls I know, and she's absolutely amazing for it. She's incredibly smart, and has more passion for public interest than anyone else I know. She currently works for a legal aid in Nebraska, and is kicking ass at her job. I wanna be her someday :) Her sister, Wendy Peng, designed and made her invitations, which look awesome (pendyweng@gmail.com).

I should mention that both of these fine young ladies are marrying amazing gentlemen. Katie met J, and it's the first time ever I've ever seen a couple that is more lovey dovey than Jeff and I :) And Shirley is marrying Seth, who she met in Nebraska while doing an internship out there during law school. Things worked out well enough for her to move to Nebraska (yep), and now they are happily engaged and....homeowners!

Ladies: I can't wait <3

From Hi5 to Peru!

So back in 2006, Erika, Brooke, Sarah and I had the opportunity to take the trip of a lifetime. A couple of our spots included Lima, Peru, and Machu Picchu. In Lima, we were fortunate enough to stay with Will's family, who were sooo amazing. I should tell you that we all took a chance on Will. Friends were shocked and extremely concerned when they asked where we were staying in Peru, and their answer: "We're staying with some guy's and his family that Alex met online...that she's never met before." Yeah....that didn't go over very well with people, and I honestly don't blame them. But I'm glad we went on faith alone and proceeded to stay with Will and his family. Will and his friend, Alan, picked us up from the airport, and accompanied us on our following trips to the airport when we flew out to Cuzco. And his mom made some amazing food. I may be using the word "amazing" too much in this blog, but I mean it every time I use it!

Here we are with Will on a tour of Lima. His sister, Mawi, actually majored in some sort of historical architecture of Lima, so she gave us an amazing tour of the city ;)

Jump to 2009: I still keep in touch with Will. Granted, I'm kind of a terrible friend and I don't actually talk to him often, but we chat online every now and then, I update him on my life, he tells me about his promotions and employee of the month awards (felicidades willy!), and he also tells me about all of his amazing trips. I seriously want to be like Will and explore every inch of this country, just like he's explored so much of Peru. This brings me to the original purpose of this post, which was to share some pictures from Will's recent travels. Without further ado:

Here is Will in Playa Azul

And this one is amazing, of the Peruvian jungle:

I'm gonna work on convincing Will to give me some travel tips, hot spots, etc., so I can share with you guys :)

Remembering What We're Thankful For

I really think it's the only thing that has gotten Jeff and I through these last couple months. As you probably know from prior posts, things have been difficult for Jeff and I, but we've somehow managed. People always say that money is what tears marriages apart, and I guess I can kind of see why. Obviously Jeff and I are somewhat novice to the marriage idea (3 months today!!), but I'd like to think we've got a good thing going.

Even now that I started a job, it doesn't alleviate things overnight. We still have bills that are overdue (but getting paid day-by-day), and things we'd like to do but are unable to do right now. And Jeff won't be getting some of the money that he was getting from unemployment, so I think my income will basically even things out rather than put us over the top. But among all of this, there have constantly been things that keep me positive and hopeful (which is difficult to do, believe me). As rocky as things have been the last couple months with money, rent, bills, etc., the thing that always kept me hopeful was knowing that I have Jeff in my life, along with our friends and family.

This season, especially, makes me really happy. My mom and all my aunts came to our place last week, and it made me so happy to just sit around my apartment with them and catch up on everything. It made me realize how lucky I am to have the family that I have. On Tuesday, my mom surprised Jeff and I and bought us a Christmas tree, which was amazing. We had been holding off on buying it because we wanted to make sure all our bills were paid before we splurged, so it was soooo amazing to walk into our apartment on Tuesday after my first day of work, and find a Christmas tree all set up! (My mom called Jeff, so he went to her house to pick it up, then set it up at our place before I got home.) We also got to spend time on Tuesday with Jeff's parents (who cooked him a special birthday dinner: tacos!), and got to celebrate Jeff's birthday on Wednesday with all of our close friends. To top it off, Courtney came over to our place to help us decorate the tree, and we had hot chocolate after we were all done. It's amazing to share special occasions with those you love and appreciate. It makes me all giddy!

I know some of you reading this are still struggling, and the point of this is to simply remind everyone to be thankful for the good things we have in life. I know how easy it is to get down and out, but it makes life easier when you remember all the little-good things in life, rather than just the big-bad things ;)

Dinner with the Cheney's!

After continuously hearing from Brooke how her and her sister cook dinner all the time, Jeff and I finally got an invite! Here are some pictures from our night of great food and even greatER company:

I apologize for the weirdness of the picture above...I still had a weird setting on my camera...but these are the amazing ladies that fixed us dinner :)

Homemade hummus!

mmmmMmmm! Everything was delicious, but I think we all got second helpings of the green bean casserole....

And what's dinner without dessert?! -->

Brooke made an AMAZING apple crisp, which she said was pretty simple to make.

In case anyone wants to try to make the apple crisp at home:

Prep time: 30 minutes

Bake: 30 minutes

Oven: 375

Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:

5 cups sliced, peeled cooking apples

2 to 4 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 cup regular rolled oats

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup butter or margarine

Vanilla ice cream (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 375. Place fruit in a 2-quart square baking dish. Stir in sugar.

2) For topping, in a medium bowl combine the oats, brown sugar, flour, and nutmeg. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping over filling. NOTE: Brooke said she would have doubled the topping recipe because it wasn't enough. Proceed at your own risk!

3) Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until fruit is tender and topping is golden. Cool slightly. If desired, serve warm with ice cream.

*Thanks to my Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book for this one*