1/1/2009

Happy New Year!
If you can't tell, I'm working on the blog layout. Please pardon my dust while I try to figure out a layout that I like. This should be up and running again soon.

Thanks,
Shandie

Out with the old and in with the new.

Hello everyone! I just wanted to write a quick blog. The end of our holiday trip is fast approaching and once I get home I plan on changing the blog a bit and I will eventually post a slide show of holiday photos when I learn how to use my new Photoshop software. We have had such a fun time and I am starting to feel a little sad knowing how soon we have to go home. I hope that everyone had as much fun over the holidays as we did.

Check back soon for a new blog and lots of photos.

Love,
Shandie

Skiing.

Ben and I went skiing this past Friday the 19th. We went to The Caynons, which was the first time skiing there since I skied it when it was Park West (and it hasn't been called that since 1995, to put a time reference on it). The resort has solved the problems of the past, i.e. the lack of snow, by making you take a gondola at the bottom before you ever put your skis on. The upper mountain is large and has plenty of snow. I was impressed with the amount of trees and I enjoyed the views, but it was super cold. Guess you can expect that when you go skiing. 

My First Santa Picture

I have never taken a picture with Santa so we took this last night. I will post more pics later.

- SHANDIE

Finals Finality.

I just finished my last final. Yay! That means Christmas is officially here. Yay! I am super excited to be home and to visit family and to see all the people that I haven't seen in so long. As for finals, here is a rundown:

1. STEPPS (last thursday): basically my professional responsibility class coupled with advanced legal writing. The exam was only 20 multiple questions lasting 1 hour. Which doesn't seem like much, but the semester was jam packed with assignments so even though the final was light the class took a lot of work overall. 

2. Federal Income Tax (last friday): This exam really scared me. Not only was income tax a tough subject that is different from the rest of my law classes, but it ended up being really encouraging because I felt like I did really well. Plus, federal income tax knowledge will always be good. 

3. Trusts & Estates (last saturday): This was a really interesting case and will most likely be useful in the future. The exam ended up being much more difficult than I expected, however, i was well prepared and I felt that I did well. Maybe it was just the fact that it was the 3rd day in a row of exams.

4. Constitutional Law (today, wednesday): after a well needed break last sunday, I spent all day Monday and all day yesterday studying for the exam. In fact, yesterday was probably the longest period of time of continuously sitting I have ever accomplished. The exam was big...really big. But I felt really organized and well prepared. I've found that those two things amount to good grades, so here's hoping. 

And now that I am done, I'm enjoying the weight off my shoulders and looking forward to hanging out with Shandie, something that I haven't been able to do that much lately. Yay!

Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Do you remember a while back when I dyed my own hair and had to find a stylist to fix it? Well, her name is Emilie and I've been going to her ever since. She invited us to go to an "Ugly Christmas Sweater Party" over the weekend. These are the sweaters that we found at the Salvation Army.

I also wanted to post a couple more pictures from Thanksgiving that were on my camera.

And finally, here are a few of the things I've been working on while Dave has been studying.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Hi everyone! (Shandie here.) I promised to put up pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend. I only took a few pictures of my own Jarid (my brother) was here and he brought his camera. He copied the pictures that he took to my computer and now I have about 600 pictures to pick through (which is why it's taken me a little while to post this). He loves taking pictures and I think he is really good at it.

This Thanksgiving my dad and my brother decided to come down for a visit. It was my dad's first time in San Diego and we were all looking forward to a really relaxing day. Instead of cooking a huge dinner we decided to go to Karl Strauss Brewery and eat there. They were offering a traditional turkey dinner with all of the fixings (mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and green beans). It was fantastic!

They stayed in town until Sunday so after Thanksgiving we did some sight seeing.
First stop: OCEAN BEACH.

Jarid wanted to get sunset pictures at the beach so we headed over to Sunset Cliffs. (I forgot my sunglasses this day so I had to wear my spare pair. They are hideous so I felt like it needed an explanation.)Jarid got a couple of pretty cool pictures from our balcony that night.We spent the next day hanging out downtown.As you can tell, we had a lot of fun. It was nice to have them in town and to have a relaxing holiday.

I can't guarantee that I will be updating the blog that much this month due to all of the holiday planning. I'm trying to get in as many hours at work as possible and Dave is really busy studying for his finals. We will be back home for Christmas before you know it.