Embarking on a New Adventure

When I was a little girl, I spent a large amount of my time drawing and writing.  I tried to write many stories, but they were all either terrible, or abandoned before they could become terrible.  In undergraduate I even took a creative writing class, but nothing came of it and I eventually pursued a more academic study of literature.

Before I left for Ireland, I came up with an idea to do sketches everywhere I went and turn them into a pretty little children's book.  Of course, I took more pictures with my camera than I drew while I was there.  But now that law school is done, I figure that I can go back to my photos and do sketches from them of the various places I visited.  I've given it a lot of thought and I would like to introduce you to my main character and his little insect friend:

The colored-in little guys are the ones I'm using: duck and lady bug.  The rest are just doodles I tried and rejected :)  The idea is that Duck will travel the world, checking out the major sites in each place he visits.  He'll be found on every page along with Ladybug.  I've envisioned it as (an educational) children's book that adults can enjoy looking at.  Sort of a mash up of Madeline and Paddington Bear with a hint of Eric Carle.  It's an ambitious aim, I know, but I may as well shoot high.  I plan to do pencil sketches with water coloring and black inking for the illustrations. 

So I'm pretty sure Duck is just about the cutest thing around, but the big question is where he should visit first: London or Paris? (please don't let your vote be affected by my jacked up sketch of the Eiffel Tower!)

Let me know what you think!  Whichever gets picked will become my first *real* attempt at writing a book and Duck's first stamp in his passport.

A New Focus

Law school is over.  Well, technically, I still have an exam and the actual graduation on May 14th, but classes are over and it's all down hill from here.

At an end of law school celebration, I was talking with a friend who asked me what I would blog about now.  There's still wedding planning and sporadic home updates, but most of the big projects are done.  So I wondered too, what will I blog about?

And so I have decided to revision my blog.  A new design (do you like it?), a new tag line, and new subjects to post on.  I used to be quite the dabbler before law school.  I painted, drew, made arts and crafts projects - I even designed and sewed purses for a while.  Now that the shackles of law school have been lifted, I feel a return of creativity.  I'll still post on wedding updates and other projects, but I'm also going to get back into the things I lost along the way to graduation.  The first being an idea I had before I left for my semester abroad.  Stay tuned!

A String of Saturdays

I have had a string of interesting Saturdays this month of April.  Each Saturday was something very different from the Saturday before.  They ranged from the Malpractice Ball (law school prom), the gun range (2nd Amendment Day), a bridal shower, and egg dying.  My Saturdays have certainly been varied.

The Malpractice Ball is an annual event that pairs the law school and the medical school in a formal/semi formal dance, the idea being that doctors and lawyers only get together in malpractice suits (har har har).  Each year there is an open bar, some pretty bad food, and lots of ridiculousness.  This year wasn't much different, except that the med school students didn't come.  Despite their absence, we were only 100 less in attendance.  I had originally hoped to find some tacky dress (sequins, taffeta, animal print...), but sadly the uglier the dress was the more expensive it was as well.  So instead, I donned my top hat and party shoes and had a great time dancing the night away.

The following Saturday could not have been a greater departure from a cocktail dress and sequined shoes.  I made my way with John to the U of M police department gun range for the second annual law school hand gun day.  We celebrated our 2nd Amendment rights with a 40 caliber, but the grip was so big that my finger barely reached the trigger.  I decided to switch to the 1911 45 caliber that I used last year.  The instructor joked that it was typical- the shooter blaming the gun- but my back to back bulls eyes put an end to any teasing.

The Saturday after the gun range, I traded in my 45 cal. for a pretty skirt, brunch, and bridal shower games.  John's aunt generously offered to host a shower for me and it was lovely.  The food was fantastic, the company was great, and I even got to meet John's newest relative: his cousin's baby boy.  Oliver was the only boy allowed at the shower, but John stopped by at the end to say hello and to help load the wonderful gifts into the car (we used a bunch of them the next day for a home made brunch for two).

And here we are on the final Saturday in April, the day before Easter.  Ever since my brother and I moved out of the house, it's been a yearly tradition to come home and dye eggs.  And that is precisely what we did today.  John and I made our way down to the suburbs where we dyed eggs with my brother, sister-in-law, and Dad (Mom just watches). Another part of this tradition is that there is always an "ugliest egg."  Here is this year's winner:

I myself prefer to make pretty eggs :)

Happy Easter!!

Cakes (thanks, Em, for the reminder!)

John and I have picked our cake!!  I follow my friend's blog (http://lawlesscharm.blogspot.com/) and she just had a very cryptic post about her gorgeous yummy wedding dessert and it reminded me that I hadn't posted about our cake decision.  It's been a busy week or so, and I guess it just slipped my mind.

We found our baker through my mom, who works at an elementary school.  One of the teachers there has made my brother and my birthday cakes for years.  So, she was a natural pick for a tasting.  My mom and I went over to her house to try out some frostings and some cakes and it was quite the experience.  Judy has several boarders that live with her- a few of her kids, their spouses, their kids, and a renting family- and there is a million and one things going on all at once.  Somehow, amid the chaos, she finds the time to make amazing cakes.  We sampled 3 kinds of frosting: cream cheese, french silk, and her buttercream which is actually a mix of buttercream and cream cheese frosting.  We also sampled three types of cake: white, chocolate, and carrot.  It was all so good!

The venue that we are using charges a cake cutting fee (don't get me started), so considering that the reception food is going to be heavy hors d'oeuvres, we decided to go with cupcakes!  Unfortunately, the kind of cake I had really wanted to try, pistachio, was not available when we went to taste.  So, I had a few rough ideas, but I was holding out hope for that pistachio cake.

On Friday, Judy surprised us with a six inch pistachio cake frosted with a white chocolate buttercream.  It was SO good!  So, our decision has officially been made.  And since I have no capability of keeping secrets, unlike my cryptic wedding planning law buddy, I will tell you that we are doing three kinds of cupcakes: chocolate, pistachio, and carrot.  I loved all the frostings so much, so we decided to leave that to Judy but they will definitely all be white.  Decorations will be simple, but will tie in the dark purple and light blue from the wedding colors.  It will hopefully be delicious and beautiful :)

Photo Shoot

Today, John and I had our engagement photo shoot.  We met up with David and Kristen Drufke from Onsite Photography at the Como Conservatory (where John proposed to me!).  It was a bunch of fun, but maybe a little bit awkward at first.

We did our first half hour inside the conservatory, and it was really beautiful.  They are having a spring flower display in one of the rooms which was gorgeous and smelled amazing.  There were also lots of orchids all around, which were a lot of fun to look at in between posing.  Como requires you to buy a permit for any indoor posed photography, but it's relatively cheap and well worth the views.  I can't wait to see how some of the shots turned out.

The next hour or so we spent on the grounds around the conservatory doing a few shots here and there.  Then we took a quick jaunt to the Bear Lake area across the street.  I think there will be some fun pictures from there.  The first stop was a man made waterfall which wasn't running.  But the rock formations looked neat, so there might be some good shots.  After that, we wandered around the building at the site and did a few pictures on a dock.  What was really neat was that the dock was surrounded by mostly frozen water.  As a result, the dock was raised in some spots and not in others, giving it some great angles.

Overall, John and I had a bunch of fun.  The beginning was a little awkward, but it got better the more relaxed we became.  We should have the pictures pretty soon.  Then John and I can pick some that we really like and they'll be incorporated into our guestbook!  :)