Cruise Recap: Island Adventure - Falmouth, Jamaica

Today's post is another followup to my Cruise Recap series talking about specific places we visited. You can also read about the ship or our day in Haiti. Today we're on to Falmouth, Jamaica! 

Cruise Recap: Our Haitian Adventure

Today's post is a follow up to my Cruise Recap post about my post-bar, anniversary, and birthday celebration vacation. We cruised to the Western Caribbean for seven days and visited Labadee, Haiti, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, Falmouth, Jamaica, and Cozumel, Mexico. The islands were AMAZING and I got so many incredible photos that I can't even share them all (but I want to!). This post is just for the time we spent in Labadee, Haiti.

Cruise Recap: The Ship and Stuff

After the bar exam in July, my boyfriend and I went on a 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean to celebrate us turning 25 years old, our 5 year anniversary, my law school graduation, and of course the bar exam being over. I wanted to just do a couple of posts talking about how the cruise was and share some photos we took throughout the week! If you're interested in cruising or just want to see how the trip was, stay tuned!

Sister's Bridal Shower

Hi everyone, I'm back for the moment! I hope you're all having a great June. I have been studying for the exam as you know but because my sister is tying the knot in September I had to split some time preparing for her bridal shower. This post is a quick loooooong recap of the Bridal Shower so keep reading if you're interested in some festive photos and bridal shower ideas.

My Brother is a High School Graduate!

Yay! I love when I get to celebrate my siblings and this past weekend my brother graduated high school so it was very special day for him. I'm glad to take a break from bar prep and have a great day with him. Congratulations to him!

Blog Break While I Study for the Bar Exam

Hi everyone, as you know I'm preparing for the Bar Exam because I graduated. I wanted to give you all a heads up that I will not be blogging from June 1st to probably sometime in August so that I can adequately prepare for the exam. I might do some status updates throughout and always know that my nails ARE painted, but I might not be able to stay as active as I would have hoped! I'll talk to you all in August!

I Graduated Law School!

I graduated!! Finally, after three years of law school I have my Juris Doctorate! On my way to being an Esquire!!Turns out I graduated cum laude, 16th in my division (total of 107 students) and within the top 15% of my overall class (total of 170). I was honored to wear not one, two, three or four but FIVE honors cords! I wore a red cord as a graduate with Pro Bono Distinction (meaning I performed at least 60 hours of pro bono legal service during law school). Additionally, I wore two more cords: a dark green cord as a member of an honor society and a white cord as a member of law review. I also wore a blue and gold striped cord for graduating cum laude. Lastly, I wore a red, white, and blue striped cord as a member of the Military Law Society. I was well decorated to say the least!

I was so excited to wear this regalia!

An Erin Condren Life Planner Review

I have such a weakness when it comes to organization. I have to have a planner and I have so many post-is I could open my own office supply store. I have tried my fair share of planners and nothing compares to the Erin Condren Life Planner. Whether you're a student like me or a busy mom keeping track of your family's schedule, this planner is perfect.  It' $50 a pop but honestly it's well worth the investment.

Who Loves to Plan? This girl does!

Ladies and gents, I may have momentarily lost my mind....but hear me out okay? After seeing a friend of mine post on Facebook that she was looking at "Erin Condren Life Planners" I sort of laughed and thought to myself Life planner? What is this nonsense? Wow, I was so wrong! There is an entire following out there of ladies (and gents probably) who absolutely swear by the Erin Condren Life Planner. You all know I'm a law student and I'm a HUGE fan of everything organizationally focused. Yes, that includes agendas/planners. Color coordination? YES. Sticky notes? Heck yes! So I started looking at all the options for the Erin Condren life planner (I still chuckled that it was called a "life planner") and there were soooo many different types. The covers were all colorful and different. You could personalize it with your name (or whatever other words you want). And the space? Oh my gosh, the amount of space included in these things looked to be prime for 100% organizational bliss. The price of the Life Planner doesn't come cheap though, and I was really hesitant to believe that a planner, something to scribble down assignments, appointments, notes, etc, could cost such a price. At $50 it took a lot of convincing and I researched and researched the product. I watched youtube videos where people reviewed their Erin Condren Life Planners, checked blog posts reviewing the product, and even googled images for how you could use the showed you how you could use it. Eventually I broke down...and I bought one. More information on when it comes in! I might just review it? Or use it for a nail design? Who knows. If you want to see some of what the fuss is all about you can always watch this video:

And just a little hint: the cover of my Erin Condren Life Planner that I bought just might look like one these!

Wedding Dress Shopping with my Sister

As you know from my previous posts my older sister is engaged to be married in September 2015. As a continuation in the her Wedding Series, today my mom, my sister, my sister's bridesmaid, and I went to look at potential bridal gowns. 

Seriously, how are you not going to find the perfect wedding gown in this room?! It was an entire large room full of all type of white bridal gowns. Anyway, Sister tried on a bunch of beautiful gowns in various styles and she looked gorgeous in each and every one of them. She may have settled on her perfect dress but she didn't decide yet so we all wait to see if she will say "YES!" to the dress. 

Looks like there's 444 days til the Wedding Day!

Mani Monday: Fighting Phils!

Pardon me while I bust out some serious American "take me out to the ballgame" but...I went to a Phillies game yesterday with some folks from work! Naturally, a nail design was order! I had to keep it semi-work profesh because otherwise I probably would have gotten a few looks from the senior partners (and CEO!) and I wouldn't want that. I went with red but then a baseball on my ring finger. You guys may remember that I'm not a huge sports fan (I like odd sports like gymnastics....and nascar, lol) but I really did enjoy watching the game and chatting with my work people outside of the office. It was nice to see everyone relax a little bit.

Because it was a work event we had one of the "private boxes" that allowed us to have our own food, drinks, seating, and bathroom. It was so enjoyable to not have to wait in long lines for either food or the bathroom. I really had a great time and it turned out my sister and her fiance were at the game too! He had earned Salesman of the Month (yay!) at his job and so they were in a box too! We ended up not being on the same level but we met up after the game. Overall it was a really LONG game but a really GOOD night :)

In case you watched the game (or care)...the Phillies lost :(

Bonsai Tree

While Boyfriend and I were at Longwood Gardens (google it) last weekend we saw the most adorable little bonsai trees. Seriously...some were older then my grandparents (like the one from 1909!). Anyway, he knew I liked the bonsai trees and when we saw them for sale in the store he bought me one! Yep, proud owner of a "Mini Jade Tree" which, if you don't know, is a South African tree (I knew nothing about it) that might flower in autumn. By sheer luck we found out it's one of the easiest bonsais to care for. He even made sure to equip me with the appropriate bonsai trimmers. So sweet! Check out my little bonsai: