Lent

It's been a while since I posted - December 28, 2009 to be exact. After a very slow December, life has picked up at such a fanatic pace that I am struggling to keep up. I'm not really complaining because this is so much better than having nothing to do. I just spend more money on caffeine and spend less time with the dogs (sadsies).

I have decided to give up fried foods for Lent. Even though I am not Catholic, I join in on the Lent fun every year. I like to think of it as a mental challenge rather than a spiritual thing. In Lent accomplishments, I believe my record is 1-8. As in, I have only met my Lent goal once. And I think I set my goal real low (gave up Kit-Kats) that year. I even tried giving up friend foods before. I think I gave in one drunk night with a basket full of Villard chicken strips and fries. But this year might be my year. Wish me luck!

Let me Get some Hi-Chews and I'm Outtie

Have you ever been to Daiso? It is basically an amazing store full of so much useless $1.50 stuff it's ridiculous. Not everything is $1.50 but most of it is. They have two of my current obsessions - Hi-Chews and Banana Keepers.

These Japanese candies so sooooo good. They are these rectangular chewy candies that are oh so tasty. I just ate seven of them in a row. My personal favorite is the melon flavor.

Now the Banana Keeper must have been the best Christmas gift I gave this year. My friends Jenny and Wincy loved them. They keep your bananas unsquished and will get people staring at you. What more could you want? They did come in green and yellow, which are Ducks colors I might add.

Banana Bread Success

My second project from my new Baking Illustrated: Banana Bread. The hardest part of this recipe was waiting for the bananas to properly ripen. The one time I wanted fruit to hurry and ripen (to the point of black and squishy-ness), it felt like it took weeks. Either way, I love bread and I really love my banana bread. It was a success and it is almost gone. I am one step closer to baking goddess!

That's the Spirit

This is the extent of my Christmas spirit this year.

Love in Code

I have found that women (myself included) often talk about men in code. More specifically, we often give our boyfriend/significant other/lover/sometimes lover/booty call/one night stand nicknames. The nickname usually corresponds with some sort of distinguishing characteristic of the guy. For example, I dated a guy who was very pale. We called him Paley. I dated a guy who liked to hold my hand. (I don't like holding hands.) I called him Handholder. He became a d_bag. Now I call him D_bag (insert name). <-- not very as subtle as the first one.

I have often wondered two things. First, why do we do this? Second, do guys do this?

A friend of my suggested that she thinks she give them nicknames as a way to avoid intimacy. By calling them something else besides their name, she subconsciously avoid getting to close. Another friend had a more practical reason. She's hooked up with a person at work and doesn't want the other people to know so she uses code. Makes sense. I just think nicknames are fun. They just come naturally when I gossip with my girls.

I've tried to ask a couple of guy friends about whether they give women nicknames. Apparently they don't do it that much. However, I suspect that if they do give nicknames, I'm sure they are more on the lewd end. Or they just call the girl "that crazy chick." I hear that a lot.

My Crazy Friday Night

Okay so I lied. But tonight, I baked my first batch of cookies from the new cookbook Marie got me for Christmas. It's called Baking Illustrated and I love it. It's written by the people from America's Test Kitchen. The first recipe I tried was the Peanut Butter Cookies. I also did a batch with chocolate chips as well. They turned out so very good and that's my crazy Friday night!!!

Sooner or later, I will upgrade from Seasoned Rookie to Neophyte.

Here's a picture from my tonight's creations:

Law and Stuff

So, I was browsing one of my favorite blogs TaxProf Blog (don't judge, I like tax) and I came across this post publishing a survey that Lexis did called the State of the Legal Industry. The most interesting highlight that it had was this:

"One fifth (21%) of law school students say that based on the changing
legal marketplace, they regret attending law school."

There are a lot of times where I can say that I really do agree with that statement. Sometimes I wonder whether I have sold myself to the devil by going to law school. Being held down with the massive amount of debt from law school, I often feel really trapped in my employment options. It's like I have to be a lawyer, or at the minimum be something that will pay me a lawyer's salary in order to fulfill my potential. It's not like right after college where you have a choice to "follow your dreams" and be whatever you want. Instead of providing a path of shining light to the promise land, I have emerged from law school completely unsatisfied with life, really poor, in massive debt and just clueless. That was soooooo not worth the 30K per year in tuition I paid.