new celebrity crush

the law student and i watch a bunch of crime drama. by "bunch," i mean specifically law & order: svu, law & order: ci and most recently, criminal minds. and while this guy is super hot,

shemar moore as derek morgan

this guy is my new celebrity crush:matthew gray gubler as dr. spencer reid

yes, he's skinny. his character is a bit awkward on the show. he has long hair (that i adore). and he really really reminds me of the law student when we first met. but total celebrity crush on this guy. almost, if not equally, as big as the one i have on jim halpert, not to be confused with john krasinski, although they look exactly alike.

i just feel like i know jim halpert a little better, you know?

christmas post #1--my christmas favorites

in no particular order, the things i love about the christmas season:

• 24 hours of a christmas story on tbs. my favorite!
  
• mom's cinnamon rolls
  
• grandma ann's dream cookies (i have the recipe!)
• the annual christmas photo cards and making fun of that one braggy newsletter mom used to get from a college friend
• sending out christmas cards to friends
• getting to see my far-flung friends!
• christmas music--carol of the bells, oh holy night, baby it's cold outside, just to name a few.
• wrapping up gifts in brown paper and tying with yarn, just like the song says
• smell of christmas trees
• driving around looking at lights
• candles in windows
• watching old christmas movies from when i was a kid
  
• christmas day steaks
• waking up at 4 am because i still can't sleep through christmas eve
• downtown all lit up
• when we were little, watching the weatherman "track" santa's sleigh on tv
• finding that perfect present
• avoiding all malls by shopping online
  
• matching pajamas
• learning more about the advent season
  
• remembering christmas is not about gifts, or santa, or reindeer. it is a reminder about our Gift, Savior to the world, He who was sent to redeem. so often that story is lost in the story of santa and the worldy christmas of spending money on empty present promises. it is a reminder that there is a Hope and a Future, and for us to live accordingly.
  

honey do lists

the law student is great. case in point: i can send him honey-do lists from work and come home to find a clean house, washed dishes, halfway-made or prepped dinners, clean laundry, et cetera. you get the idea. i usually get a response and a crossed-off update email as well.

here, the latest. keep in mind law exams were over on friday and the weekend consisted of the law student sleeping til noon, passing out after only 1 sip of alcohol, and yelling at the tv when his games were on.

from kissey to law student

you knew it was coming, you sexy beast. (yes, i really called him that)

1. clean up dishes in sink. put away the ones on the left.
2. clean up counters (i.e., wipe down with spray, etc.)
3. lint roll couch and roxy (yes, i lint roll my dog. who are you to judge me?)
4. walk roxy.
5. start laundry--separate our clothes (i have 2 frilly thongs in my bag--white and striped)
6. clean up your desk (watch out for my charts)
7. clean your car.
8. there are clean purple and green towels on the dryer. please put up.
9. we have dirty towels in our hamper
10. wash roxy's bedding
11. i have not sent a check yet to tim and sara.
12. not sure what else. have fun. check back soon.

from law student to kissey:

1. Look at honey-do list with antipathy and wonder where was my wife when I said no honey do list til Tuesday.

because, apparently, 2 days of doing nothing really wore him out.

long overdue update

hello, laura. are you happy now?

so, update. here are a few photos of thanksgiving (also known as the christmas card outtakes):

sweet sisters

kissey, law student and the roxy

family at the egg bowl

thanksgiving successes: i brought wine and made a dish, so i felt grown up. my 5-year-old cousin jay is the cutest thing ever. my grandmother gave me her dream cookies recipe, so i will let you know how they turn out. msu won the egg bowl and i got to see tons of friends.
thanksgiving fails: dad being a jerk and the law student's cowbell was confiscated at the game. boo.

next up: nfp. we are successfully in month 2. no babies yet, thank you jesus. hopefully, this will get easier and more predictable, because right now i really miss birth control.

third: visiting friends. i got to do a lot of it this year! here are a few (more) photos of me most recently at jessica and chet's christmas sweater party, and a few others:

yay for pictures! now if i can just find my camera charger...

and lastly, christmas. can y'all believe it is already the middle of december? where did it go? and i still have so much to do. well, mostly just painting and wrapping gifts that come in the mail. yes, it is another amazon christmas for the langs. i love it--no shopping, no lines, no headaches (that i always get from shopping). just a click to ship and they are dropped off on my doorstep. i even have my tree up already--last week, in fact! this time last year, there was still 1 more week of law exams and the tree did not go up until the week of christmas. soon it will be flanked by brown paper packages tied up with string. i've probably spent too much again this year (more on that later), but am pretty satisfied. this week and next will be made up of parties, wrapping paper and packing, and best of all, JULES and MANDI!

haven't seen this girl in MONTHS

or this one.

we won't all be together this year for the first time EVER. so i'll finish this post (finally!) with a photo of what happens when we get together...


see y'all tomorrow. i'm just BURSTING with blog posts.

she's baaaaaaaaack

and a bit depressed.

i privatized ole blogger here because i was applying for a new job with a GREAT company and thought it would be prudent to keep these random thoughts hidden.

i found out this morning i did not make it to the second round of interviews. suck. so back to blogging it is. small consolation. le sigh. well, i did get what i asked for. i asked for clarification and for the job to open up if it was right, and He didn't, so there. it's still not any fun though. i really wanted that job.

moving on to my next disaster....it's not really a disaster. it is a decision with great risks. and the law student and i are ready for it.

natural family planning.

um, eeeeeeeek.

not to be confused with the less-than-reliable rhythm method.

we (well, i, and the law student went along with it more than willingly, which is a bit (but not really) surprising. ooooh, parentheses within parentheses! squeeee!) have embarked into uncharted (ha! pun.) territory. i feel a bit like i've dived into the deep end of a cold, cold pool. so, i'll finish this post with how we got started down this path.

it really all started with food. as you all know, dear readers, i like organic food. i am down with dirt. grass-fed cattle, chickens and pigs, free-range eggs, milk straight from the dairy, no pesticides on our veggies....aaahhh. i miss summer. so, before i digress into my trip to the dairy, let me get back. the principle is really the same--being careful and intentional about what you put in your body. i have been on the birth control pill for several years now. i have never really had a problem with them--they usually work like a charm and didn't whack me out or anything--but was getting concerned about being medicated with hormones for such an extended period of time. i had read a little about natural family planning and decided i wanted to try it. i really like the "natural" aspect of it.

a little crash-course in nfp--it's just biology. and that kills me. women are not taught how to interpret their bodies, which i think has profound implications as far as personal health. seriously though, it's biology, and it's amazing. a woman's body gives off natural cues relating to her fertility, controlled by the rise and fall of hormones estrogen and progestin. natural family planning (a blanket term for several different methods and just the general idea of it) teaches you the signs to look for and how to interpret those signs to be able to, with more than reasonable accuracy, determine the status of your fertility and use that information to avoid pregnancy (my goal) or obtain pregnancy (not my goal). it's a lot more involved and is backed by a life perspective as well, but this is what i am focusing on here.

and, well, biology is confusing. currently, i am most interested in billings/creighton model, which charts cervical mucus. you can also chart your temperature (in three different places) and the position and feel of your cervix. (um, what?) you could chart one, two or even all three. but that involves more work. cervical mucus is charted by its presence and consistency and color. you have to take your temperature first thing in the morning before you get out of bed or even roll over, or it's off. and if you are sick or take medicine or something like that, it affects your temperature. and the cervix charting has a higher "ick" factor than i am willing to deal with. also, per my conversation with my very knowledgeable friend (and courtney's sister) katie, charting lots of symptoms seems good but can cause confusion if one sign says "fertile" while another says "infertile." so mucus it is. i have a little chart and everything. hopefully i can get the coordinating stickers soon.

also, here's the kicker. if i were catholic, i would have been charting since i got engaged. i'd be a charting pro right now. but i'm not catholic and have been on the pill, so i really have no idea what my body's "normal" is. so abstinence for the first cycle charting is recommended just to get a grip on things. the law student seemed to take this recommendation to heart, as in it does not seem to bother him in the least. i'm a little pissed. and we're on day 6.

so, that's our new adventure. pray we don't get pregnant. i'll keep you posted.

psalm 139:14 - i praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, i know that full well.

willby....

right back!

ok, total childhood saturday morning cartoon flashback right there. maybe you "got" it, maybe you didn't. but, i have an issue that needs to be addressed, and in order to cover bases, i'll be going private, and be back soon! no worries, kids.

secrets uncovered

after being sick and home-bound for 3 straight days, i now know what the roxy does when we are away.

nothing.

she slept on the couch with me from saturday to monday, curled up between and over my legs. she didn't whine, didn't play with her food bowl (and by play i mean tear off the rubber bottom into pieces all over the rug, couch and floor) and didn't have a fit to go on a w-a-l-k, even when the law student came home. she was content to be warm next to me as i slept and channel-surfed. she is such a couch potato.

proof:

this is a photo my sister took when she was staying with us.

sneaky sneaky sneaky.