Snapshots

Snapshots from February & the last few days of March:

A fruit and cheese spread while we watch episodes of New Girl (Jess & Nick--be still my heart.) Although we try to be classy, we're using Christmas plates. Long after December. On our shattered coffee table. One day we will be real adults. 

Snow came to Nashville! While I realize this is pretty much just a dusting, its still beautiful.

Oh hey books.

And laptop. Why do you own me?

Wine Down Wednesday at Music City Flats with the girls. Wine tasting + flatbread makes for the perfect midweek pick me up.

This was me & my friends' Valentines Day. Not pictured: giant beer and bruised egos.



Gourmet grilled cheese from the Grilled Cheeserie. HOLY DELICIOUSNESS.

We celebrated a 24th birthday with salted caramel cupcakes with chocolate bourbon frosting and candied bacon. Gluttony & extravagance are simply not part of our vocabulary.

Please hurry up, spring. For once in my life, I want warm weather for sundresses, picnics, and brunch on patios.

Treating myself to my all time favorite Nashville place: Jeni's. Toasted Coconut + Roxbury Road was probably the best way for my spring break to end (welp)

Its been a little (ok, a lot) quiet over here these last few months. I wish I could say its because I've been having a grand old time living life away from my computer, buts its actually the total opposite: I've been chained to this stupid machine for weeks on end, memorizing and studying, typing, and learning. Missing out on fall. Missing out on fun. I have stacks of Cooking Light, Glamour, and Kinfolk sitting in my room, their spines waiting to be cracked. My recipe to-do list is overflowing but all I ever have time for these days are salads and oatmeal. I stayed in town for Thanksgiving break instead of going home to my family so that I can prepare for final exams. It most certainly has not been the most fun time of my life, but its approaching its end. Finals may kill me, as will the anxiety of waiting for grades, and the inevitable crushing disappointment I will feel when those grades don't meet my expectations. But its approaching its end.

I won't be neglecting this space that much anymore though. The happiness I get from writing and posting and sharing is worth the study time it steals. I have some fun recipes lined up, holiday gift guides, and a whole lot of Nashville to share in these upcoming weeks.

In honor of Thanksgiving, today my heart is full of:

My family

There is no way I would have gotten through...well, anything, without them. They're the funniest, kindest, and most amazing people I know. Their encouragement and support is unyielding and I'm so thankful for each of them.

My soulmates.

We may be in three different states this year, but keeping in touch with them and hearing about their lives is always a highlight of my week. I miss everything about this picture, but I'm so proud of them both for working hard and achieving so much. I hope they do realize though that I'm kidnapping them and dragging them to Nashville next time I see them. I think 6 months apart has been plenty.

School.

Yes. I'm even thankful for school. I'm thankful I have the opportunity to keep educating myself, and building up for my future. This is a privilege. I forget that a lot, but its worth reminding myself that this is special, and not to be wasted.

The miscellaneous things:

Mumford & Sons

I dont want to think about where my life would be if this hadn't been playing on repeat since it came out.

Greek Yogurt

Coffee. And all caffeine, generally.

And finally, My absurd collection of fuzzy socks. For keeping me warm.

********

I hope you all have the happiest of Thanksgivings!

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what I wish I could spend my sundays doing. these days are spent cooped up in the library, poring over cases and aggravating my already sore wrists with more typing. carpal tunnel is going to own me by the time I graduate.

Even though I have a mountain of work and studying to do in preparation for finals, I'm looking forward to my Thanksgiving break, which begins promptly at 12:05 this Friday afternoon. I won't be going home this year because of the school work that needs to be accomplished, but I'm hoping to balance the studying with some quality time exploring Nashville. Just 5 more days.

Hi There.

Its been a little silent over here for the last 3 weeks. I've moved to a new state, unpacked a whole new apartment, started a new grad school, made new friends, and I am slowly making my home here in Nashville.

School has been a rollercoaster of every emotion under the sun. Its been wonderful meeting all these new amazing people (who are so smart. so smart. and kind.) and the school itself is fantastic. My classes are challenging in a way that makes me feel like my brain is growing everyday but that also makes me nervous and intimidated and that makes me doubt my abilities. Sometimes I start falling down a rabbit hole of overwhelming emotion, but then I have to stop and remind myself that its only been two weeks. It feels like a lifetime, but 10 days of real school is all I have under my belt, so I try to stay patient. I also miss my family and friends more than I can articulate. Its been growing pains to the extreme, ya'll.

Here are a bunch of snapshots of my new life. Other than my school anxieties, its been a pretty fantastic three weeks.

{the mellow mushroom pizza outside of my building makes me feel at home.}

{the view from my bedroom window. Taylor Swift lives up in the corner penthouse and there are rumors of Kings of Leon residing in there as well. I've yet to spot them, but as an avid people watcher, its a fun way to procrastinate.}

{some of my new best friends.}

{the essentials: caffeine, chocolate, eye drops, charged up computer, private study carrel in my secret campus study spot (that law library is stress central), and some quality time with my Torts book.}

{we threw an impromptu rooftop party at our building last weekend. it was sparkly and i laughed all night long.}

{I've obviously been making my rounds throughout Nashville restaurants and the best stop thus far was Jeni's Ice Cream.  Being the glutton that I am I couldn't just pick one flavor so I went with the try three bowl: goat cheese & cherry, sweet corn & blueberry, and dark chocolate. The sweet corn & blueberry was the best ice cream I've ever had. Ever.}

{yes, you're reading correctly: Trailer Resort. Paradise Park is a trailer park themed honky tonk in downtown here and we tend to end up there more often than I am comfortable with. Only in the south...}

{Green Hills Farmers Market made my week. Fresh veggies, local goat cheese, and bluegrass music playing while I browse through each tent. Best Saturday morning activity.}

{market loot.}

{season opener against South Carolina. It wasn't quite like Athens, but I made it work. Who would have thought I'd miss my dogs that much though?}

{my current cell phone background and the reminder that gets me through those tough days at school followed by long hours at the library}

Law school has begun--I'm already swimming in a sea of logic, analogical reasoning, textbooks, and more reading than I know what to do with. In my usual fashion, I'm full of self doubt and uncertainty about my ability to fare in this environment and amongst my peers. Its high stakes and everyone appears to be more confident: its enough to make a girl feel like she's in way over her head.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in a perpetual state of reminding myself that I am a competent individual. The doom and gloom thoughts spiral out from me faster than I can remind myself it all ends up being ok in the end. Seeing these words on fitnessista's site today felt like the internet gods heard me and sought to console me. It was the reminder I needed to realize that I can tackle these challenges ahead of me. Even when its an uphill battle, it can be done.

"please update me on your feelings"*

*a request from a friend that made me smile with its candor and simplicity. Good friends are everything.

As I sit surrounded by boxes, packaging tape, and the endless amount of junk I've managed to accumulate over the last four years, my feelings are, admittedly, scattered. It only takes one quick look around my apartment for me to feel relief that I am leaving it behind. Seeing my law school admissions papers gave me butterflies in my stomach--some out of fear--but mostly out of excitement at the brand new adventures that are waiting for me 300 miles away from here. I am so ready for a change-that I am sure of.

Theres sadness too though. Packing away the picture on my fridge of me and my friends, dressed in black and red and white at a football game, makes me miss them terribly. Closing a chapter is bittersweet, especially one that has been filled with so much growth and so many great memories. Even though I graduated three months ago (what the what? where did summer go?!), I'm just now coming to terms with the real end of things. When I get in my car tomorrow, that will be it. Bye bye for real.

Despite the nostalgia for these years and this town that is sure to take root in me as soon as I being unpacking in my new place, I am at peace with the end of my time here. I'm ready to take all of the things I've learned about myself and all of the growing I've done since I was 18 and apply it to a new beginning. At the end of the day, few things in life are as liberating and freeing as a clean slate and a fresh start, and I fully intend to embrace it and make the very most of it.

Snapshots

Snapshots from recent weeks:

{Discovering a King of Pops cooler at the coffee shop next to my old apartment was a highlight this summer. Banana Cream Pie pops = everything.}

{Lazy girl lunch: spinach salad with Trader Joe's smoky peach salsa, avocado toast, and an orange.}

{Enlightening myself on all the things I really need to know. It turns there is quite a bit I need to know. Hence the flashcards.}

{Perfect nights involve re-reading Kinfolk magazines and getting inspired. Preferably with a big bowl of cherries and chocolate covered almonds.}

{The New Hampshire coastline and the crisp, cold, and navy North Atlantic are my ocean soul mates. A week with both was the perfect summer beach get-away.}

{My love for picnics and all meals eaten without a table or roof was satisfied with a Panera beach lunch. And yes, my sister did eat soup on the beach. In July. We're odd ones.}