settling in

Sorry for the complete lack of updates around here. We've been a little busy!

We finally got ALL of our stuff moved to Tulsa a few weekends ago. There are still a few boxes sitting around unpacked, but things are starting to come together. I'll try to post some pictures soon. I got to exercise my domestic skills over the weekend when we discovered that our curtains were about a foot too long. It doesn't feel like it, but apparently our new place has lower ceilings than our old apartment! Let's just say that I did not miss my calling to be a seamstress. Very little natural talent there, but I think I got the job done.

Now I am knee deep in bar exam preparation. I have classes almost every day from now until July 9, even on Saturdays and, once, on a Sunday! My bar prep course has a rigid schedule to follow, and I'm planning on sticking to it. Life will be un-fun for a while.

I think I promised some graduation pictures. These are also on Facebook, but here are some highlights:

This is a terrible photo of my dad and me.

Mom & Dad at The Wooden Spoon in Gentry, Ark. Best. Bread. Pudding. Ever.

The fam.

This is me, off in the distance, getting my name mispronounced when being presented with two awards. Lee-ah. Two syllables! Who knew it was so hard? 

My sweet husband and me.

I think he was proud.

Me with Mom & Dad. I think they might've been a little proud, too. Thanks for everything, Mom & Dad! (Especially the money!)

Michael A. Thompson, left; me, right. I feel pretty privileged since apparently Michael thinks he looks terrible in photos and refuses to have them taken. And hey, there's a little bit of Schube and his lady friend in the back! Schube, if you ever read my blog, hope you're doing well in KC.

This is me with my friend Katie. We suffered through first-year Legal Research & Writing together. I'll never forget the day our memos were due first semester. The topic: In Texas, can a person get money for suffering emotional distress after her pet horse nearly died due to veterinary malpractice? The answer: When pigs fly. The poetic justice: Our professor couldn't be at school the day we turned in the memos because her horse stepped on her. 

meet molly, our cousin/niece/whatever

Last weekend, before heading down to Conway for the Ward-Barron Extravaganza, we headed north to Springfield, Missouri, to meet this little two-day-old:

This is Miss Molly Abigail Floyd, the newborn daughter of Ross's cousin, Sara, and her husband, Justin. (Whew! That sentence had a lot of commas. I apologize!)

Isn't she a cutie?

She didn't open her eyes much when we were there, but she was only about 52 hours old. I guess we can't blame her. She'd had a traumatic few days, what with being born and all.

Even Ross held Molly for a few minutes.

You can read lots more about Molly on her momma's blog. She was born on Tuesday, February 16. She's almost two weeks old already! I'm sure by now she's, oh, twice the size that she is in these pictures. Kids today. They grow like weeds.

Now, to the purpose of today's post. Technically, Molly is our first cousin once removed. Or, if you don't do that "once removed" stuff, she's our second cousin (although technically, that's incorrect, and all you people who don't do the "once removed" stuff are confusing your future generations, genealogically speaking!). But "first cousin once removed" just sounds BORING. What kid has ever said, "Mom, I want to go visit my first cousins once removed Ross and Leah!"? Answer: no kid.

So, I hereby announce and declare that henceforth we shall be known to Molly as Uncle Ross and Aunt Leah. I reason that this is only fair because I only have one sister who hasn't had kids* yet, and because Ross has no siblings, so his opportunity to be an uncle is unfairly limited.

Note: We haven't actually discussed this with Molly's family yet, so this announcement is official pending further review.

*My sister and brother-in-law haven't had human kids yet, but Ross and I were thrilled to become aunt and uncle to our favorite niece-dog, Margo!

Warning: Extreme Cuteness Ahead

(Or "Extreme Cuteness Below," as it were.)

This past weekend, Ross and I went to his parents' house to help them pack up and move to a new place. Last week, we both received an email from Ross's mom. Subject: "Get Ready." The email read:

One of the nights you are home I want you to sit down with me and go through a bunch of memorablia and walk down memory lane and then we'll throw it away. This will help me get closure. It may take a while, so be prepared. I have already thrown a ton away, just so you know I won't make you look at all of it. Love, Mom

On Thursday night, the walk through memory lane began. I found out a lot about my husband that night. The thing that was most apparent to me was that Adult Ross didn't come out of nowhere. Adult Ross and Kid Ross have a lot of the same preferences, tastes, and hobbies. (OK, so Adult Ross doesn't draw pictures anymore, but everything else is pretty similar.) Check this out and you'll see what I mean:

This is Ross with a picture he drew of Garth Brooks, his favorite music superhero of all time. Ross still listens to and loves Garth.

For Christmas one year, Ross asked for, among other things, a guitar, some guitar picks, and a Davy Crockett costume. I'm pretty sure he has grown out of the Davy Crockett phase. Guitar? Not so much.

Ross drew guitars as a kid. I love it!

This picture has nothing to do with this post. I just thought it was really cute!

Here's to walking down memory lane and remembering what it's like to be a kid. For some of us, maybe it's not so different from being an adult!

homemade potato chips: you can do it!

A few months ago, I thought to myself, "Self, how hard could it really be to make potato chips?" With a little help from Paula Deen, I decided to give it a go. I've made a few batches since then, and I think I've finally got it down to a science! And you know what? IT'S EASY. You should try it! Here's my step-by-step process with visuals!

Step 1: Put on the new Vera Bradley apron your mom got you on her recent trip to Chicago, then take a crappy picture of yourself in the mirror!  (Optional)

Look at the pattern -- what a rockin' apron!

Step 2: Drag out your equipment. Here's what you'll need:

• your trusty dutch oven or other heavy pan (which I did not take a picture of -- sorry!)
• a candy/frying thermometer
• a jelly roll pan; a few sheets of paper towel; and an upside-down cooling rack, fitted like so:
• a fryer dipper utensil thingy (that's the technical term), which looks like this:
  
• the largest bowl you have, lined with a sheet of paper towel to soak up the extra frying oil:
• and your friendly neighborhood mandoline slicer. Pictured is my Cuisinart mandoline, which I absolutely do not recommend at all!  I hear the Oxo handheld version is much better, and cheaper, too.
  

Step 3: Gather your ingredients. We'll be using peanut oil, two Russet potatoes, and good old table salt.

Step 4: Pour 2 quarts of peanut oil into your dutch oven fitted with a frying thermometer and turn heat to medium-high. Look! I can pour!

Step 5: Wash the potatoes. Scrub with a vegetable brush. Don't peel! There's no picture of this step -- YOU try taking a photo while scrubbing potatoes! I dare you!

Step 6: Slice the potatoes very thinly. I mean it! We're talking really thin:

Step 7: When the oil reaches somewhere between 325 and 350 (Fahrenheit, of course), drop in 10-12 potato slices. Take them out when they're done. You'll know they're done when the oil stops bubbling.
Here are the potatoes when they first went in:

See all the bubbles? Now...here they are when they're ready to come out of the oil:

No bubbles!

Step 8:  Transfer each batch of potato chips to your draining rack (the paper towel/cooling rack thingy), and salt immediately -- just get out your regular table salt shaker and give the whole batch about five good shakes.  Allow to cool on the draining rack, and periodically move the cooled chips to your bowl when finished.

Step 9:  Store in a large bowl covered with plastic wrap.  Try to make them last longer than one day.

YUM. I think I need to go eat some of these. Immediately.

Enjoy!

Leah

Representing the late '80s/early '90s

Last weekend, Ross and I had the pleasure of attending a "Decade Dance." Our instructions were to come dressed as your favorite decade ready to dance the night away.

Since we don't actually have a favorite decade (at least, I don't), we went to Cheap Thrills, our local overpriced vintage/thrift store, where I walked directly to the racks labeled "1930s", "1940s", "1950s", and so on.

We decided to go with the '80s because, really, how hard can it be to look tacky?

Here's what we came up with.


How'd we do?

dieting

I started a diet a few days ago. It's awful.

True, I feel better already. True, I like it when my Wii Fit tells me my BMI is lower than yesterday.

But you know what? All I can think about is...

is...





Dear Cookies,

I miss you dearly. Our swift and painful break-up has left a hole in my heart. And in my belly. It seems that hole cannot be filled with any amount of green beans or lean protein. I hope you'll find a way to forgive me. I need you in my life.

Love,

Leah

p.s. That photo up there was taken by yours truly. Name that movie: "Well, I'm votin' fer yours truly, too!"

Farewell, Canon PowerShot A85

It was due time. In my last post, I mentioned my old Canon PowerShot. It was a good camera for a long time. But then, it started taking pictures like this:


No, that's not my mad Photoshop skills you're seeing (ha!). That's just my camera's best effort. (If you can't tell, that's Ross under there.)

I admit that the sporadic functionality of the PowerShot was, in large part, my own fault. After its spontaneous and accidental plunge into a plastic cup filled with unknown (and unordered!) light beer, I thought the PowerShot had met its certain end. A few months later, I picked up the PowerShot and thought, "What the hay?" So I pushed the power button. I heard months-old dried-on crust go "crunch." And...I saw the screen light up! I have no idea how, but the PowerShot had been revived...sort of. It sometimes took OK pictures. It sometimes took blurry pictures. It sometimes took pictures like the one above. Nonetheless, I stuck with it. It was my trusty old PowerShot. And I'm poor.

But I really wanted a new camera! So, knowing it was only a dream, I put a shiny new digital camera on my Christmas wish list at Wishpot. And then, to my surprise, I got THIS for Christmas:


My in-laws are the bestest! Thanks J & B!

You can expect LOTS of pictures in future posts!

Wedding Photo Post!

It occurred to me a few days ago, as I was scouring through Shutterfly trying to put together a Christmas gift that cannot be mentioned here because several of my readers will be receiving said gift, that I have wedding pictures that haven't even been posted on the blog!

Of course, most of you have already seen the pictures via Facebook or Shutterfly, but I thought I'd do a series of photo posts on the blog. That way I can tell the stories behind some of the pictures. No matter how hard I try, my eyes still well up every time I tell one of those stories.

Not today's story, though. I thought to kick things off, I'd tell you about the first time Ross and I saw each other all dressed up in our wedding duds. It was July. (Reader: Didn't you get married in August?) Yes, we did. But, in what I still consider a stroke of genius, I decided we should have a pre-wedding photo shoot with BOTH of us, not just me. We did our bridal and groomal shoot on July 3 in Siloam Springs, where our photographer was located.

**Side note!** If you live in the Northwest Arkansas area (or nearby), and you need a photographer for any life event, we highly recommend Jonathan Edward Photography! Jonathan & Becky are crazy talented photographers and incredibly nice people to boot. Go sign 'em up for your next event.

I got dressed in the tiny bathroom at our photographer's office/studio, with my mom's help, and told Ross to shoo. He waited down the sidewalk...

And then I snuck up on him.

And then, we looked at each other for the first time in our wedding clothes -- the clothes in which we would become husband and wife before God and our families and friends in just one short month -- and at that very moment, we both knew we had found our perfect soulmates. It was the most romantic moment of our relationship.

NOT!

I have to say, Ross looked really good, but I just didn't find it all that moving. Maybe it's because we still had to wait another month to get married. But I think if we'd waited until the day to see each other, it still wouldn't have lived up to the hype. Really, it's just a suit and a dress. Sure, we looked pretty, but our romantic moments are not made from fine clothing and grand events. It's just not us.

So we said a simple, "Hey, you look good!" And we gave each other a hug.

And a kiss.

What? We were a month from getting married. Cut us a little slack. :-)

{p.s. I should mention that all of these photos were taken by Jonathan Seauve of Jonathan Edward Photography, and that only JE Photography can give you the rights to print or reproduce or repost these pictures in any way. So don't do it. Violating copyright law is really, really bad. Like, several years of your salary bad. Especially now that you've seen this disclaimer!}