Guess what?

I didn't go to work today!

I took one look out that window and saw the 6 inches of snow resting heavily atop my car and decided to stay in :)

I'm so fortunate that my job is so flexible. 20 hours a week, any way i please :)

So I'm trying my best to take advantage of these few hours I have to myself. My plan is to do several of the following things depending on what I feel like doing ( i like options!):

blog (check!)
dust/vacuum
laundry
meal plan for February
organize hall closet
figure out what to wear to Mina's birthday tonight:)

well, time to get started on something!

addendum:

my loving husband (who we just found out ROCKED his first semester of law school!!) informed me that i spelled half a dozen words wrong in this post and made several grammatical errors. Being the English-nazi that i am, this was slightly bothersome to me. I type so quickly and often fail to review what i have written.
So for future reference, if you see these mistakes in the future---gracefully ignore them. You know what i meant anyway ;)

also, lower case "i's" are not a mistake. I just prefer them that way. :)

I'm pretending that it's the weekend :)

...I'm allowed to do that, right?

I'm done with classes until Monday and work is no big hassle. In between lease reviews and letter writing, it's nice to have the time and space to organize other areas of my life.

Speaking of organizing, I've been working on a list lately that I would like to share with you:

My list has 3 columns. Also, it's an ever growing list (so if you really need the satisfaction of seeing everything crossed off at the end of the day- this exercise is not for you!)

The list has 3 columns and is saved as a word document on my computer.

Column 1 is a list of one time things that need to get done.

examples:

return jeans

call the cable company

put photos in the collage frame

Column 2 is a list of things I am trying to schedule into my weekly/daily/monthly life.

examples:

wash bed sheets

scrub the bathroom

do laundry

make a meal schedule

spend time in the Word

(this column is particularly helpful to me because I am naturally a "do it as it needs done" kind of person. I've found that my natural way of doing things, however, is not very conducive to creating a peaceful life environment.)

And the 3rd column is simply a list of general goals for the year.

examples:

get organized
become more dedicated and disciplined in my schoolwork

become a good steward of the body that god has given me (eat right, exercise)

grow in my relationship with, and understanding of, Christ

This column is particularly important for me. Every January I have these grand ideas about the super-human I want to become over the next 12 months. Inevitably, December roles around and I'm left wondering if I changed at all. Did i grow? Did I meet any of my goals?

Hopefully, over time, I will come to see that I have crossed dozens of things off of my to-do list. I've already had the satisfaction of seeing many of these things taken care of.

With that small bit of satisfaction, I can see that, day by day, I am achieving these over-arching goals in my life. I am growing.

Happy January 20th, everyone. Remember: it's not too late to make new year's resolutions :)

Hello 2011, nice to meet you.

2010 ended in a fury.
We have three Christmases. Polish Christmas (december 24th), good old fashioned American Christmas (the 25th), and Serbian Christmas (January 7th.) All of these christmases have eves, which makes for 6 days of celebration and food. Then, because my parents are party animals, they host a yearly New Year's eve party. It's become my favorite holiday over the years. It has become such a lovely tradition for us and the people who come. Some of them we only see once a year and it really blesses my heart to see their faces.
In the midst of all the holiday joy, we travelled to visit friends, friends travelled to visit us, our car broke down several times and cost us several dollars, we struggled to divinde our time evenly and wisely amongst 2 families- a challenge for all newlyweds. But overall, I feel blessed to have so much love in my life that at the end of a holiday, I feel tired.

In 2010-
I was single, engaged, and married.
I moved into a new apartment.
I was a 1st and 2nd year law student.
I started a job and took my first ever summer course.
My husband joined me in law school and kicked butt his first semester.
My best friends moved or made plans to move all over the country.
I made new friends.
We started attending a new church and a new home group.

So many more things and I am thankful for all of them. Good experiences and not so good. All of them molded me and changed me.

I am happy to be back blogging. It's such a fun outlet for me. I love sharing my life with the few of you may read this.
Even if you don't, I don't mind. I'm doing this for me this year. I hope I can share things that are encouraging, interesting, or inspiring to you along the way.

All my love.

Finals have a way of sucking the fun out of life.

My deepest and profound apologies the -3 of you who read my blog-- I am 47 pages and 2 exams shy of completing this semester-- pray me through this and I'll be back as soon as possible!

Stuck in a Mon-daze.

Ohhhh mondays.

I wouldn't dread the first day of the American work/school week if it didn't entail sitting at the office till 5 followed by class till 7:30.

Tuesday thru Friday are either solely dedicated to work or school, and when I'm done I can shut my brain off, go home, and take time to reorient my brain for the next day and it's challenges.

But...Mondays have an upside.
at 7:30 i get a ride home in a car i don't have to drive, eat a dinner that i don't have to cook, snuggle with a husband I haven't seen all day, and watch a new episode of the Event which I haven't seen in a week.

and, best of all, I don't have to wake up and do another Monday for another 7 days:)

~~~~

Currently, I'm sitting in Med Mal, law school slang for medical malpractice. Over the course of the semester I have come to one conclusion regarding this class: mixing lawyers and doctors is a bad idea. Generally ((not always)) it involves two of the most heartless, money-hungry, desensitized, generally amoral people you could possibly imagine fighting it out in a court room. Our time and money would be better spent putting two dogs in a cage and letting them fight it out ((which is essentially what happens anyway)) to determine a winner in a a malpractice case.

blah.

I don't want to be a lawyer.

~~~~

As a sidenote, Med mal generally= tetris. lots and lots of tetris.

I'm on the verge of ranking down in Arena. That shouldn't mean anything to you...if it does, you are as desperately in need of a tetris intervention as I am. In searching for tetris images I happened on a few of things that caught my fancy:

Tetris item #1: Tetris skirt.

Originally thought this was a bag, which was more appealing to me. However, the tetris image is painstakingly awful. I hope the person that created that tetris layout was 4 years old and blind. If I ever owned this, it would haunt me unceasingly.

Tetris item #2: Tetris necklace.

Love this, would never wear it obviously, but love it.

...ok. maybe i would wear it at home.

...or when I went out once in a while...possibly.

Tetris item #3: REAL LIFE TETRIS GAME!

This, I simply need.

Jonathan and I would probably never leave the house again.

So maybe what I actually need is to never EVER have this.

Good night all, enjoy your evening. I'm looking forward to being only ONE hour away from the best part of my day :)

A time to keep silent and a time to speak

I am, and have always been considered, a fairly outspoken indivdual. Not afraid to state my case or my mind. Thankfully, suprisingly, (and painstakingly) law school has humbled me and made me virtually shy in some respects. I have a hard time fitting in to this newly developed "nook" sometimes, but I think it is for the best. I think before I speak more frequently. And Iam finding that I listen better. But for all the good it's done for me in some ways, it's take a toll on me in others. I don't stand up for things as passionately or trust my brain as surely as I used to for fear of being wrong or, worse yet, for fear of being verbally and mentally beaten down by someone who knows more that i do. In law school, a great variety of topics come up that merit heavy debate. However, as liberalism has a virtual monopoly on my school (and, as it seems, my generation), the debate rarely arises. While I often consider myself a donkey/elephant crossbread (a delephant?), I hold several conservative opinions upon which I do not waiver. If I could wind back the clock this semester I would kick myself a handful of times for not speaking up when I know I should have. Not in defense of a political party, but in defense of justice, of rightness, of the Gospel.

My prayer is that the Lord would give me the strength and wisdom to find the balance between:

Proverbs 17:27-28 - A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.

and...

Hebrews 13:6- So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven... a time to keep silence and a time to speak."

Ecc. 3:1-7

I don't blog when I most need to-

It's a fact. The more I have to say the more the less I blog and the more my husband gets his ear talked off. Thankfully he is patient and loving and far more level-headed than I.

In short, my world has recently been shifting and changing steadily ((and without my permission, I might add)). When I graduated college I was passionate, motivated, idealistic. And, honestly, I really liked myself that way. I began a journey that, at the time, felt so clearly laid out before me, it was as if i could do nothing else. I applied and was accepted to law school and started my first year last fall. Now, nearly halfway through my second year, the path is fading. I know that this is where the Lord wants me. He brought me here, ONLY the Lord could have brought me here. Recently, though, I have been so tired and frustrated and confused. I spend too much time wondering what I'm doing here and pleading with God to tell me what it's all going to amount to. But this is a new part of the journey, the part where he only lays down one brick at a time. The part where he only gives me what I need to get through this day. The part where he teaches me to stop looking at 3 years from now and all the students with better grades than me and the lack of jobs available and JUST look at Him.

I guess I have forgotten something very critical:
I don't know about you, but I am living for something much MUCH bigger than myself.
I do not live for myself, but for my Creator.
My goal is not so small as to be comfortable.
And for those of you who don't know, for those of you who have come to believe that living for yourself is the greatest joy, take it from someone who has been on both sides of the fence- there is one GREATER.
When I wrap myself up in His heart, His causes, His people, His Word- I become myself again. I become what I was designed to be.

Remember who you are. Remember what you are created to be and do and , I promise, the other things just fall into place.

"For he chose ((me)) in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, he predestined ((me)) to be adopted as ((a daughter)) through Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will." Eph. 1:4-5

Who are you?