Who I was in High School

Ok let me just start off by saying high school was an age before cell phone cameras so I was severely limited as to photos.  There were a few that friends and family had scanned and posted on Facebook and a few that I had easily accessible around my house, but that is it.  I know I have more photos but they are buried in boxes that are not easily dug out.

High School Graduation

In high school I was a pretty good student and most of my classes were either AP or Honors.  I didn't really struggle to do well in most of my classes though if I ever see another spelling test (hello junior year english) it will be too soon.  

Fun Fact: I sewed all those yellow stoles for the National Honor Society members to wear to graduation.  

I guess I was a bit of a nerd and had my little group of friends but I had been in the Honors/Gate/AP classes with the same group of kids for years (many since kindergarten) so I was at least friendly with pretty much everyone.  Everyone knew everyone and I was fortunate enough that it was a really good group of kids who where generally nice to each other.  I know there were probably cliques and a bit of not so nice behavior but I really never felt it or was a party to any of it.

Prom

I can't for the life of me find a photo of my little group of friends (though I know there are many) but here is a really bad photo of my two best friends and I at prom.  These two girls and I have known each other since kindergarten.  We don't see each other as often anymore and none of us live in our hometown anymore, but we still try to see each other whenever we are home for holidays and such.

Senior Portrait

I have been working to grow my hair out for my wedding but I cannot believe how long it is in this picture.  I never actually took the time to straighten my hair so it was not this long on a daily basis but wow was it long.  I was on a swim team and I remember going to practice, washing my hair, going to bed with it wet, waking up with it still wet and putting it in a ponytail and then going to practice and getting it wet again.  I am pretty sure I went for days without my hair ever fully drying.  Now I am pretty sure I would break out the hair dryer but in high school I just thought it was fine.

Overall high school was fun experience and I am still friends with most of the same girls I was friends with then.  We see each other when we can and it has been fun to see many of them get married and start families of their own.  They are all invited to my wedding next year and I think many of them will be there to help me celebrate!  Purple and gold forever.  Go Cowboys!

Linking up with Andrea for Show and Tell Tuesday

Turkey Chilli...Yum!

As hot as it was here this weekend I had all the ingredients for a pot of turkey chili, so I went ahead and made it.

The recipe for this chili is incredibly flexible depending on what you have in your fridge/cupboard and how spicy you like things.  Tonight I used:

About 1 lb of ground turkey
A little bit of olive oil
2 bell peppers, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 jalapeno, chopped with the seeds
2 peppers in adobo sauce and about a tablespoon of the sauce
1 can tomato sauce
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can red kidney beans
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp chipotle powder
2 tbsp chili powder

• Brown the turkey with a little bit of olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat
• Remove the turkey and set it aside on a plate but do not drain the pot
• Using the juices/fat from the turkey sauté the onion, bell pepper and jalepeno in the same pot used to cook the turkey
• Add about half of the spices to the veggie mix
• After the veggies are about 3/4 of the way cooked add the turkey back in along with the tomato sauce and chipotle
• After the mixture comes to a boil add the beans and the rest of the spices
• Let the chili simmer for at least 20 minutes
• Add the cilantro right before you serve

This chili is really good with bit of greek yogurt and some cheddar cheese.  Enjoy!

Here I go again!

Earlier in the year I set out to eat better and move more in an effort to lose weight.  I lost about 15 or so pounds between January and May but this summer has been kicking my butt.  My life has been crazy and busy so the weight loss has stopped.  With all the chaos going on I am happy to say I have only gained pound or two back.

I am giving myself a round of applause for maintaining my weight loss amidst the chaos but it is time to focus on losing a bit more weight.  I have at least 10 pounds to go before I reach the point where I am going to evaluate where I am and if I want to lose more weight or not.  I have a feeling after I lose those 10 pounds I will want to lose another 5 but I will wait and see.

Here is a fairly recent picture of me so you can see my starting point this time.

Back to eating better and moving more. Wish me luck!  Any delicious recipes appreciated!

Stitch Fix #3

I opened my box this month and was really excited.  The colors and patterns were just up my alley.  It didn't turn out as well when I tried things on but hopefully next month things will fit better.

The first shirt was a short sleeved chevron blouse.  I was excited that it had sleeves because this meant I would have been able to wear it to work without needing a cardigan over it.

The sleeves fit fine but at the hem it narrowed.  For someone who does not have small hips this is not a good trait.  It was too small at the bottom so I am sending it back.

I had told the stylist that I need some comfy lounge clothes since I have been spending a lot of time hanging out in my mother-in-laws living room recently.  This is what they sent to fulfill that request.  It was kind of a thin terry cloth material and it clung to every bump.  Nope, that is not going to work.  This too is going back.

I like pencil skirts and I like stripes (almost as much as polka dots) so I had high hopes for this skirt.   I think I would have like this skirt if it had been one size larger.

The material has a bit of a stretch to it but not enough to make a skirt this fitted comfortable.  I have really stretchy striped pencil skirt from The Loft that I love, so even if this had fit I am not sure I would have kept it.  My Loft skirt is so stretchy that it doesn't even have a zipper.  I sent this striped skirt back.

Again I loved the color and pattern on this dress as soon as I pulled it out of the box.  I put it on and then I wasn't so in love.  I had to work really hard to make sure my bra wasn't showing and I am sure if I had been moving around my bra straps wouldn't have been hidden for long.

Another problem with the dress is that it made me look kind of shapeless.  I am anything but shapeless so this was not boding well for me keeping this dress.  I still love the color and pattern but I had admit that this dress was just not made for me.  I sent this one back too.

The last thing in my box was a reversible bag.  Finally something that fit.  Ok, fit is not the right word but I put it on my shoulder and it looked good.

It is a little hard to tell from the pictures but one side is an almost purply wine color and the other is a very neutral taupe.  It is no secret that I love purple so I was intrigued by this bag.  I love a big bag but this bag is a little big even for me to carry on an everyday basis.  This bag will make a great bag for days where I have a bunch of stuff to bring to work.  It will also make a great carry on bag because it will not only fit my laptop but also the other bevy of things required for a plane flight.  Finally, success!  I am keeping this one and am looking forward to taking on my next plane trip in less than 2 weeks.  My sister and I are heading to Disneyland for a quick weekend trip at the end of the month and I am already getting excited.

If you are thinking about trying out Stitch Fix I have a referral link I would love you to use and if you are not thinking about trying Stitch Fix I hope you enjoy the pictures of mine.

Random Thougts for Friday

I have been saying for months (ok, possibly even a year) that I need a new purse.  I have been keeping my eyes out, but had not really found anything I am in love with.  I am not really the type of person who moves their stuff from purse to purse on a regular basis.  I pick a purse and use it to death.

I ordered the Fossil Sydney bag because I loved the teal color and the fact that it zipped all the way up.  I knock my purse over way too much to have a purse that doesn't zip.  I was a little worried that it would be too small.  It is a bit smaller than what I have now, but I am hoping having a bit less room will force me to clean out my purse a little more often.  My shoulders would appreciate that!

I am thinking I will keep this purse but I have not made my final decision yet.  Any opinions?








So I went to the eye doctor at the end of June for a check up and ordered a new pair of glasses.  They came in about 3 weeks ago and I finally made it up to Palo Alto to pick them up.  Don't judge!  I have been busy and my current ones are not broken or anything.

My prescription didn't really change so I am keeping my old pair too.  Since I will now have two pairs of glasses to wear I wanted my new pair to be a different style and color than my old ones.  What do you think?

Yesterday was my mother-in-law's birthday.  We stayed a her house Wednesday night so we could wish her Happy Birthday first thing in the morning before we headed off to work.

After work we met up with my fiancee's siblings and took his mom to a sushi buffet.  She chose this place because she likes their sashimi and because it is free on your birthday.  Soo much food!

We took a group selfie before we got too full.  All in all it was a fun night celebrating her birthday.  I have had my fill of sushi for a while, but I am sure it won't be too long before I am craving it again.

This week I saw a skirt on The Loft website the intrigued me.   It is a white lace and looks comfy and flowy.  I have lots of pencil skirts, but not too many flowy skirts so I decided to go ahead and order it.  I think I will like it (assuming I managed to order the right size), but I won't know for sure until next week when it arrives.

My Stitch Fix box arrived yesterday but I haven't had time to really properly try the stuff on yet.  I got a dress, 2 shirts, a skirt and a bag.  Full report coming next week!

Happy Friday

Show and Tell: Back to School Traditions

I decided to link up with this topic, even though I think it was more aimed at those who have kids going back to school in the coming weeks.  I don't have any kids yet, let alone any old enough to be heading to school but I know that day is coming sooner than I realize.

For now, I will reminisce about all those many times I headed back to school.  From pre-school to grad school I have had 22 first days of school.  That is a lot of first days of school!  One of my biggest surprises is that in my final year of school (no plans for a PhD) I met the man I am about to marry.  I went into that last year of school focusing on finishing up my classes and finding a new job with my fancy degree but life had other plans.  I did successfully finish up my classes but it took me over a year to find a new job.  In the meantime my life changed in ways I couldn't imagine.

The other thing I always remember about back to school was picking out a first day of school outfit.  As a kid we would go back to school shopping a few weeks before school started, but we weren't allowed to wear any of our new clothes until school actually started.  It was torture!  Even in college and grad school, when I wasn't necessarily wearing new clothes, I still thought long and hard about what I was going to wear on the first day each year. I am sure no one was really paying any attention to what I was wearing but that didn't stop me from wanting to start out each year looking fabulous.  It just sets to tone for the year!  

On of my sisters is starting medical school and she called me from across the country to discuss what she should wear on her first day of orientation.  Old habits die hard!

As much as it was torture to wait until the first day of school to wear my new clothes, this is one rule that I plan to pass down and enforce with my kids too.  It is just one way to make the first day of school a special event.  

On my first day of my senior year of college I wore my all planned outfit to my first day of classes but once classes were over for the day this is where you would have found me.

Why study in your dorm room when you can study at the pool?  I am sure I would have gotten more reading done that day in the dorm but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to hang out with my best friend.  Oh, to look like that in a bikini again!

To everyone about to start school again: Have fun!  I am jealous and not so jealous all at the same time!

My Productive Weekend

Hello again Monday!  

After finishing up at work on Friday I met up with my sister and we headed up to Shoreline for our fourth concert of the summer.  The food at Shoreline is not particularly good and to expensive so my sister stopped by Trader Joe's to get us dinner.

We bought frozen margaritas and settled in with our snacks.  The margaritas had pretty much no alcohol so they were quite disappointing.  At least to food we brought was good!

We didn't really know the songs of the first opening act (A Thousand Horses) so we decided to take some selfies.  Some guy behind us decided to photo bomb us so we put our heads closer together.

It was remarkably chilly when the sun went down considering it is the middle of summer so by the time Darius Rucker hit the stage we were wrapped up in our blankets.

Saturday after my sister left I attacked my kitchen cabinets with a vengeance.  I pulled everything out the cabinets, sorted it, organized it and put it all back.

I wish I had taken before pictures but take my word for it that it looks a million times better than it did before I declared war on it.

After my success with my cabinets on Saturday I set my sites on our passthrough counter for Sunday.  Over time we had acquired a random assortment of junk on this counter and it just looked messy.  It is near the front door so things just end up being set there as we come in the door and never leave.  I threw out or put away all the junk and just left a few decorative things on the shelf.  

Since we all know I wasn't too inspired with my summer decorations I didn't have anything planned for the shelf.  I took a vase and put my big white pillar candle and filled the bowl with some corks.  I am really happy with the way it turned out.  I may just have to drink a few more bottles of wine to add a few more corks to it.  Oh, what a problem to have!

I have a ways to go in decluttering all the surfaces at our condo but I feel like I made some progress this weekend.