Finally...a Corner or Two

I've loved the idea about showcasing parts of our homes thought up by Miss Kat, but I haven't been so good about doing it on Fridays...so here are a couple pieces of my home for your Monday morning viewing pleasure:

I've made some progress in the living room filling up the "entertainment wall" with a new bookshelf and a new piece of artsiness that I made the other weekend.

Here's a close-up. The colors are a little off in the photo, so you'll just have to come and see it in person.
















This is a new addition in the dining room (remember the greens and browns a few weeks ago). The light fixture is the same. I just made some new shades to make it a little prettier and more fun. They used to be plain, black and round.

We had a great weekend this week. It was a good mix of relaxing, hanging out, and working in the yard in the beautiful weather. I didn't do as much school work as I probably should have, but I've only got one test this week...and this semester is going pretty well so far. I've passed all my tests up to this point. Knock on wood I suppose.

Bring on Spring!

For once in my life I am truly excited for Spring to get here. Usually it just makes me sad to see the cold weather leave, but this year I've got my own yard where Blue and I can grow things and do pretty landscaping and plant lots of flowers. (Please notice that I did not say that I am excited for summer and the atrociously hot weather and humidity that goes along with it. Boo to summer!)

I'm extra excited at the moment because I ordered some plants this past weekend and I want them to get here so they can start growing and giving me happy feelings. Here's what I selected:

These are Fairy Lilies. They are small and pretty. Don't know where they're going yet.

This is Lily of the Valley. It grows well in shade and will be going in the bed to the left of our deck in the backyard.

This is a Clematis. It is a vine that grows on fences, trellis, etc. I tore down the honeysuckle on the fence where our gate is, and this pretty lady will be going there.

This is what the clematis looks like from far away on a fence.

Say hello to Lilac. Imagine a big bush full of these flower clusters and imagine it on the south side of my house where there is currently an ugly, half dead bush. If you've never smelled lilacs you're missing out, so when mine blooms you'll have to come over and have a sniffle for sure!

I think these are what I'm most excited about. They are field grade Gladiolas. We're gonna fill up one of the three raised beds that Blue put in in the backyard with fifty of these bulbs!! I'm hoping to have lots of cut flowers to share!

Oh, and I ordered a bunch of strawberry plants too. So exciting. There not coming till March though, so I've got to practice patience. Yea! for Spring!

Ants in My Pants!!

Ughh! I woke up this morning to find an ant infestation in our kitchen. What??!! Ants in February? It wasn't a crisis style infestation or anything but there were enough of them that it was necessary for us to rumble. I proceeded, instead of studying this morning before I go to class, to scrub down every surface in the kitchen (literally, every surface....well, except the ceiling). It appears that I have won the fight. I wasn't able to locate exactly where they were coming from though, so we'll have to wait and see if I was successful for sure. If you know me, you know that bugs and I are not friends, so for my sanity's sake, cross your fingers that they aren't coming back.

Friday, ugh!....Everyday, ugh!

I can't even be excited that's it Friday people! This is because I have 3 exams next week. This comes after having two exams this week, one of which I just finished...so if this post is boring you'll have to excuse it because I'm sitting in the library waiting for my last el stupido class of the day to start at 1pm. Arrrgh! P-school is sucking out my soul. I totally wanted to take on Miss Kat's fun idea of posting home-stuff on Friday, but I couldn't squeeze in time to post last night because of all the mad studying that was going on. Arrrggghh!! Frustration!

Okay. Enough negativity. I'm a little glad it's friday I suppose. At least I don't have to go to class for a few days. I'm meeting with my mom after class today to do more design work for her and then there's Joe's going away party tonight which promises to be quite a wild event, so some fun will be had this weekend after all.

Snow Days...Hooray! Back to School...Blaahh!

Me and Mo playing in the snow!

Two snow days in a row that fell on my birthday made for a great 4-day weekend. Unfortch, it was back to normal today. I must say that school is starting to get pretty stinky. I must get back to studying...more later.

I know. You're probably like, "Sheesh! Finally!!"

Here they are...finally. Befores and afters of the dining room. Really I should say befores and halfways, cause the room as a whole is not finished yet. I've got to make draperies for the back door and I'm spruce-ing up the shades that go on the light fixture too... and a matching table and chairs would be nice...and a buffet and some artwork and accessories etc. So, yeah, check back in a few years.

Before:

During:

After:

Birthday Girls!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth and Kristen! Love you!

It's like I never left

• I've jumped right back into the swing of things at p-school. It feels strangely like x-mas break was just a dream that I had one night and then I woke up and had to go to class again the next morning...not in a bad way...I think it's just because professors start things off in full "On" mode right when we get back. There's no first day where we cover the syllabus and then talk about what to expect during the semester and so on. Yeah, there's none of that in p-school. I have my first medicinal chemistry test two weeks from today. That will certainly make you slap yourself out of x-mas break mode in a hurry! Overall, things are good this second semester...so far.

• One thing I've decided is that I do not like the word ointment. I hate saying it. I hate spelling it. I hate thinking about it. This could be bad.


• Yea!! It's Friday. Though I do have the regular load of studying to manage over the next two and a half days, I hope to shuffle in some fun too. I want to do some more work on the dining room. I know you're probably saying, yeah we know, just show it to us already. After this weekend I will, I promise. I think Blue and I are also gonna have a date night tonight. Lilly's Dim Sum and Little Miss Sunshine = yum and fun! I thinks it's one of the best movies of the year (he's not seen it yet and it's so good that I'm certainly gonna watch it again).
  
• Check this out: Blue and I went for a hike with Mo in Alsopp park yesterday morning (I don't have class until the afternoon on Thur.) and we came across these very strange ice formations just off the trail all throughout the woods. They seem to defy the laws of physics (they probably don't...there's probably a "physics" way to explain them...I just don't know enough about physics to give it to you). They're totally fairytale, wonderland style. If anyone can explain how they got there, do tell. They've got me very curious.

The Honeymoon is Over.

My x-mas break has officially come to a close. I've got registration tomorrow morning and then its back to class on Wednesday. I've been dreading going back up until this evening. Now I'm feeling like I'm ready to get back in the groove and get another semester taken care of and out of the way.

Could it have rained anymore this weekend? It kept us inside for the most part, but that allowed me to finish painting in the dining room. I'll show you some pictos soon. The room is far from complete, but it's coming along nicely.

Arrgh! It's back to going to bed early, so I better head that way. Have a good week!!

Grades Are In!

1,600 note cards.......................................................................................$21.00

Lab manuals, scrubs, drug weights........................................................$110.00

Textbooks..................................................................................................$300.00

Tuition........................................................................................................$4,000.00

Passing all the classes of your 1st semester of pharmacy school........Priceless!!!

Busy, but still having fun

Whooo! I've been going full force ever since school got out. I've slowed down a little this week, but still have a lot I want to do. The Minnesota trip was good and Christmasey as usual. When I got back I immediately jumped back into re-doing my mothers den, casual dining and kitchen. All the painting is finished at this point, so now its onto the fun stuff like furniture and window treatments. Then I had to get working on Brooke and Trevor's groom's cake for their wedding this past Friday. By the way, it was a blast. Brooke did such a good job of being a calm, "go with the flow" kind of bride on the day of. Good job Brooke! Congrats to the happy couple. Now I've moved onto remodeling projects at my own house. I took down the wallpaper in the dining room yesterday and I'm about to go by some paint to put on the walls, so look for some pictures in the near future.

Now onto the photos:

Me and Brooke

The Cake!

Good Times.

THE CAMRY IS DEAD!!

Not dead forever, but dead enough to die in the middle of west Little Rock noon-time traffic on Thursday. Arrrghhh! It is good that it happened now and not during finals week or anything, but money-wise....not such a good time. I hate car trouble!

In other news, my break has been progressing spectacularly so far. We (as in mostly me....cause I'm superwoman) pulled up the fugly carpet in the living room on Sunday. What a chore! Though I must say that I'm quite pleased....the hardwoods underneath are in near perfect condition. Here are some before and afters (you have to look a little hard because the rug we put down is in the same color family as the carpet we pulled up):

Before:

And After:














We are loving it. Just say no to carpet. It's dirty.

In even more news, I'm flying out this afternoon for my x-mas trip to Minnesota for the annual Billings Christmas celebration. I do have to say that for some reason I'm not all that thrilled about going this year. Maybe its cause I have my own house now, or maybe its cause I have to leave Blue and Mo behind. Well, lets hope I have fun anyway.

Lastly, but not leastly, I have to send out some fabulously belated birthday wishes to my littlest sister Jillian who turned sixteen on Monday. She's been driving up a storm around LR. She's in a red Camry, so keep you eyes out for that. (J/k....she's a good driver.) Happy Birthday Bean!

Well, I hope everybody has a beautimus christmas and travels safely to and from where ever they are going. I'll be back in town on Thur. See you then! Christmas cheers to all!

It's in the air

I don't know about you guys, but I had such a fun time at the x-mas party. It was a fabulous ending to a long and arduous semester. Thanks for coming out guys. The gift exchange was great fun. We'll definitely have to make that a tradition. All the food was so delicious too. I love potluck style. Oh, and we have a lonely gray fleece and a lonely santa hat that were left behind if anyone wants to claim them.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas (7 days people!). It totally doesn't feel like it. Maybe its the icky warm weather. If you're feeling a little lacking in the spirit of x-mas, maybe this will help.

Pete and Repeat

Just a reminder:

Details for the first annual
Super Christmas Party!!:

Where: Leah and Blue's

When: Friday, Dec. 15; 7:00, 7:30, whenever

Food: Bring your favorite appetizer-y dish to share (I'll handle the sweets)

Beverage: BYOB

Gifts: = Fun!...we're gonna have some sort of random gift exchange present game so everyone needs to bring a gift (wrapped but unmarked) to play. It can be naughty or nice, silly or heartfelt...the choice is yours. (This could get dangerous.) Oh yeah, and don't spend more than ~$10.

I've NEVER been so HAPPY to be average in my entire life!!!

I'm doing a dance of joy around the living room because......................

Yes indeed! We take our tests on WebCT so they get graded really fast and they posted our final grade for the class this evening. It's a C for me, and I couldn't be happier. Yahoo! I made it through what I've been told is the most difficult class in pharm school. Time to party! (After I take my last two finals, of course.)

Oh, and in a triumphant celebratory moment of procrastination (I seem to be having a lot of these lately), I upgraded the blog and fiddled around with my template. I think I like it. It's nice and peaceful.

Um, Seriously?

Check out the amount of material I'm supposed to know for my biochem final tomorrow:

Yeah, that's about 500 pages of notes, powerpoint slides (6 per page), and practice quizzes. I'm laughing right now. I don't know if its because I've finally snapped or because this is truly absurd. They've got to be kidding. This stack of stuff weighs more than my brain. It's just not gonna happen. I only have to make a 63% to pass the class, so at this point I'm thinking of just answering "C" for each question...especially when I'm dealing with slides that look like this:

Yeah.....right.

mleh, mleh, mlehmlemlehelehlehm

My brain is goo. I just finished my physiology final. I studied for 12 hours yesterday, 12 hours people! (seriously, I counted). I even got up at 5AM this morning to squeeze in an extra 2 hours of studying before the test at 8AM. Even with all of that I still don't think I made the grade that I wanted. Sighhh.
I suppose the bright side is that I only have three more exams left. I don't think I've ever wanted something to be over so badly in my entire life. The medical profession has sure perfected the art of depleting your soul while you're in school. At least I've got two days to try and recoup before the next test. Serenity now!

The Calm Before the Storm

This weekend was a good as I could make it under the present circumstances. I did have to do the necessary studying, of course, but I tried to mingle in some other activities so that the constant studying I'll be doing over the next two weeks doesn't seem so suffocating. I managed to get the inside of the house all decorated for the holidays. I intended to put lights up outside, too, but, well, I'll have to squeeze that in somewhere else. I cleaned about half the house. It's funny that cleaning is a form of procrastination when you're a p-student. I did some cooking too. I made a few things for my fams thanksgiving dinner during the break and that re-lit the fire that I have for being in the kitchen, so I decided to make a weeks worth of food to keep me fed while I'm preparing for finals. Here's what I made:

For breakfast:
-Chai Spice Bread
For Lunch:
-Creamy Chicken Salad w/ dill and smoked almonds
-White Bean Salad with red onion and lemon
For Dinner:
-homemade salsa
-Mexican torilla casserole
For Dessert:
-Chocolate walnut tart

Luckily enough it only took two hours to make it all, which left plenty of time to study last night. In a crazy moment of super procrastination while I was checking some facts on the internet though, I did this:

http://www.myspace.com/leahsota

Yeah, crazy indeed. I'm still working on the whole thing little by little and learning how to use it. It probably looks kind of empty right now, but it'll get better soon.

@!*&^%*&@$&^%#!%^$#%)@#!$(*&^(

OY! My nerves are on super craziness overload! Finals start one week from tomorrow and I have three regular exams to get through before then. Come on Christmas break! I need you....I NEED YOU! It will be so nice to be able to hang out with all you guys that I miss so dearly on a more regular basis....and to be able to blog more than once every week or two (Blogger is definitely giving me coal in my stocking this year!). Who's ready for the x-mas party? I know I'll need a big stiff drink by then!

Mark your Calendars!

The holiday season is in the air and I'm getting pretty excited. This past Saturday, after a few beers, us girls decided that we need to have a Christmas party this year. Nothing extravagant, just a fun night to do all the fun things that make Christmas parties great. It will be at my house this year, so here is your invitation.

Details for the first annual
Super Christmas Party!!:

Where: Leah and Blue's

When: Friday, Dec. 15; 7:00, 7:30, whenever

Food: Bring your favorite appetizer-y dish to share (I'll handle the sweets)

Beverage: BYOB (though I am thinking of making some real hot chocolate, yum!)

Gifts: = Fun!...we're gonna have some sort of random gift exchange present game so everyone needs to bring a gift (wrapped but unmarked) to play. It can be naughty or nice, silly or heartfelt...the choice is yours. (This could get dangerous.) Oh yeah, and don't spend more than ~$10.

There'll be a fire outside, tasty food inside, and cheesy Christmas music to tie it all together, so put on those Santa hats and jingle bells and come on over! (Cosby Christmas sweater optional)

P.S. I know not everyone reads the blogs, so spread the news to whom you see fit.

NOT a morning person!

I just finished an exam that started bright and early at 7AM....yes, 7.A.M.! Needless to say, I'm cranky. I just keep telling myself "5 weeks left, 5 weeks left...". I wish I could somehow relay just how much they expect us to know/learn for these exams. I heard someone say the other day "its like trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant." I'm just glad that excercising your brain doesn't cause it to grow like muscles do. I'd look pretty funny with my giant swollen cranium.

Fun fact for the day: On average we pee about 2 liters a day. In someone who has undiagnosed diabetes isipidus, they pee, on average, 23 liters a day. That's about 3 full bladders every hour, people! That would be inconvenientely managable during the day, but at night?......You'd have to sleep in the bath tub!

Mental Health Weekend

Since I finally have a week with no exams, I decided to do as little studying as possible this weekend. It worked out well because things were pretty busy.

I finally met Blue's mom. She didn't make it into town a few weeks ago when I said she was coming for the Big Dam Bridge bike race. She was traveling through LR this past Saturday though on her way home from Dallas and stopped by to see the house and take us out to dinner. Everything went well and, btw, Cafe Bossa Nova is one of our new favorite restaurants. Yum!

At the last minute we decided to get dressed up and go out to a halloween party. Here's what we came up with after digging in the closet:

















Surprisingly enough, this is the first time I've ever been Princess Leia.



















But wait, it gets better.....





















Overall I think we did pretty well for "last minute."

You'll Have to Excuse My Recent Absence. I've Been Lost in a Biochemistry Blackhole for the Past Week and a Half.

(Sigh.) This semester is really starting to weigh on me. Procrastination has become rampant and I'm also starting to feel apathetic. Not a good combination, especially when there are a few classes that I'm kind of not passing or about to be not passing. (Double sigh.) This is too hard.

Well that's my pity party for the day. I'm loving the weather and I've only got about 8 weeks of the semester left, which is very exciting. My sisters are visiting from Colorado during Thanksgiving and Christmas is almost here (one of my favorite holidays)! At least everything's not bad.

Interesting fact for the day:
When cheese gets digested in our stomachs, the casein (proteins) in it gets turned into an opiate derivative. No wonder we all like it so much!

Have I mentioned that I'm loving this weather?

I know most of you are probably mad and sad because you are cold, but I am in heaven! Because of this glorious fall weather, I'm going to take a break from the books this afternoon and do some fall inspired cooking. I'll be making pumpkin chili (never tried this before...excited to see what it tastes like) and an apple spice cake with caramel icing. Yum!

Now, if it would only snow.....

I'm Alive!

I made it through death week. I'm still recovering, but feeling good. I've never been so glad to be through with something in my life! It was trully brutal. I shouldn't have to deal with this much pressure again until finals week. (Sigh of relief.)

I'm fantastically ecstatic that some real cold weather is on the way. It'll be down in the 30's tomorrow night! Yahoo!

You know you've lost it when you quiz yourself in your dreams...

Yes, that actually happened to me last night. 7 days of death is officially upon me now. I have a nice dose of physiology this morning and then the giant drug test on Friday. Too bad it's not the "pee in the cup" kind. I know I could get an A on that.

Well, here goes nothing......