and another one...

takes the plunge!

meet the newest nearlyweds, my jules and her zachary
been waiting on this one, folks. they were goners as soon as they met.
wishing you all the love and happiness in your marriage you both can stand.

p.s. move closer?

days 19 - 22

day 19 - something you miss

oh, wow. what a loaded question. in no particular order:
my memory, being skinny, msu pom, being with my friends all day long, stressless christmases that didn't involve bad feeling, fbc youth group, riding horses every weekend, being able to hang, skipping class, visiting my boyfriend in LA, my cat cookie and my dog nellie, my sisters (remember the email! you know, kind of like remember the alamo!), spring break, lost friendships, abercrombie and fitch's kid jeans, sleeping in, my grandfathers, and being called by any of my college nicknames.

day 20 - nicknames

nice segue, huh? i'm awesome that way.
my nicknames are very special to me. no one here knows them. it makes me sad.
certain friends use certain ones. very few actually call me by my given name.

lu or lulu
lala
kissey or just kiss
mckissack
little bit
lil frien
tiny one
little lauren

day 21 - picture of yourself

me in my favorite city. again, no recent pictures of myself.
i want a camera for christmas. hint, hint.

day 22 - favorite city

BOSTON! i've told you this before.

day 8

#8 - a place i've traveled to

well, there's been a few. my blog, my rules

upstate new york and gloucester, massachussetts

grammi's house

gloucester fisherman's memorial

quechee gorge, vermont

saratoga race track (have i mentioned i love horses?)

new york city with my besties

baltimore with college friends for the preakness

talladega super speedway
(also known as redneck central)
chicago with dad and the law student

wrigley field

boston

fenway with the fam

los angeles and santa barbara wine country for vacation and our 3rd anniversary
santa ynez hills

brander vineyard, santa ynez


but my very favorite place ever was
costa rica
our fabulous honeymoon destination
san jose

guanacaste province on the pacific

rainforest in arenal

the arenal volcano

best. vacation. ever.
did you know the law student planned our entire honeymoon himself?
i want to go back.

costumes of halloween past

a list, with pictures if possible. enjoy.

note: i have had considerable trouble a) finding time to try to finish this post, b) uploading pictures with our non-awesome scanner and c) locating pictures of all mentioned costumes. please accept my apologies as i make do with what the facebook offers.

2001 - dixie chicks with kristi and laura. really just an excuse to wear a small shirt. we did make it into the 2001 - 2002 revellie though. i believe we were dancing on a pool table, not that this was anything unusual. at all.

2002 - avril lavigne. someone, somewhere, has a video of me singing "sk8ter boi" while likely very tipsy and hopelessly out of tune. i have tried to upload this picture, because i was wicked accurate in my portrayal of miss lavigne, but our scanner blows goats.

2003 - fairy. yet another excuse to wear a ridiculously small costume. jessica, this was our best idea ever, i'm sure of it.

2004 - a road sign. yellow t-shirt reading "dangerous curves ahead" with my black dance pants. comfy. ben & aaron were black eyed Ps in ellay. i have this picture as well. somewhere.

2005 and 2006 - i have no idea. probably nothing. feel free to correct me.

2007 - thing 1 and thing 2. we were super cute.

2008 - nothing. someone forgot to tell me about the annual law school costume party.

2009 - please see 2008.

2010 - i had hopes of being the cutest-ever sophia petrillo, but have all but abandoned them when i realized it would probably cost me upwards of $50. i'm cheap. i may be thing 2 again, or maybe thing 1 to change it up, but if i happen upon an iconic bamboo purse, it's on.

epic PASS

as most of you already know,

he PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!

SQUEAL!

my retirement party will commence within the year. ha. kidding, student loan holder, kidding.

so, as is required, he has a new name here on ze blog: the esquire. and since so many of you whom i texted "he's an esquire!" responded with "yay! what's that mean?," i have looked it up for you. my favorite part of this definition comes from wikipedia: a term of British origin (ultimately from Latin scutarius in the sense of shield bearer via Old French "esquier"). An unofficial title of respect, having no precise significance, it is used to denote a high but indeterminate social status.

hahaha.

but really. basically, it was used way back when to denote a particular status (or non-status, as the case seems to be) in the english hierarchical system, and has since been adopted by the legal community here in the states.

back to the man of the hour. i couldn't be more proud. law school is no cake walk. i know--i edited many a paper, endured many a lonely night while the law student was at the library, and listened to countless recitations of cases and laws on the nights before exams. talk about your pillow talk. but all the way through, i never doubted he could do it. he moved to LA after only one semester of college to be an actor, and had a good degree of success and supported himself. after 5 years of acting, the man moved back home and finished his undergrad in two years. he studied for the LSAT by himself with enormous discipline and drive. he tutored undergrad students all through law school. he wrote papers, studied relentlessly, passed his exams and even graduated with honors. no small feat. he may have complained, he may have worried, he may have doubted, but he never quit. and now, with the bar exam successfully behind him, we're both ready for the next chapter. and even though the "right now" seems so uncertain, we know the Lord goes before us and makes a way, and His provision these past three years were not in vain.

**i would also like to add that the esquire is now following my blog. finally.

vacation photo post, numero tres: fun in LA

the final chapter of our vacation. we came back from santa ynez and went to the LA artwalk, went out on the town, played with hex bugs and generally just hung out.

kissey & jules

welcome to funland!

the neon exhibit. way cool.

max. at LA artwalk

his first pedicure

melrose. i did some damage at aldo.

jules & zach. we think she'll keep him.

obligatory photo #1

obligatory photo #2

WE LOVE IT!

afternoon trip to the orchid hothouse in malibu.
right after the gary busey encounter.
and then i saw this hothouse in the new anthropologie catalog.

friends: aaron, sweet sarah and us

kissey: "we look so awkward, jules."
jules: "it's what we do. it's why we're friends. plus, what good are
photos if at least one of them doesn't make people go,
'wait a second...what?'"

vacation photo post, numero dos: santa ynez

pictures of our anniversary jaunt to santa ynez valley. i highly recommend it.

(having a bit of trouble putting the photos in order with blogger, so just disregard it)

getting ready to go

brander winery

the brander vineyard

the ballard inn

anniversary dinner at the ballard inn

the ballard inn

brander winery

i'd like to put up more photos of our gorgeous drive down, but i'm annoyed with blogger. enjoy!

God bless the camera cord

i found it, it works, and now i have lots of new photos on our computer to share with you.
i'll start with the vacation photos, days 1 and 2 in los angeleez with friends.

the law graduate and his buddies christian & aaron

angel trolley. thank God the cable didn't snap.

kissey & the law graduate on los olvera street

oldest home in los angeles

ben, ryan, aaron--donna reed reunites

the boys. love aaron's face.

our barbecue-turned-pizza-ordering-ordeal. note john jordan and the candle.

i miss vacation.

wednesday wussy

it's a wednesday wussy post, just for my friend elizabeth.

my body is conspiring against me. not only am i just now recovered from previously mentioned hellacious sinus infection and living with a disagreeable gi tract, but i suspect that my body actually wants to get pregnant against my will. my fertile period seems to be extremely long this time. maybe my body is producing ambiguous symptoms on purpose. maybe it's just the antibiotics. it doesn't matter--i'm on to its games, and i will win.

i gained four pounds on vacation. four. and we really didn't eat all that much! i ate SALADS on vacation! we accidentally skipped dinner two nights. i only had ice cream once. geez.

i think my camera is dead. it started suffering grand mal seizures on graduation weekend. you know, the moment i pick it up to take a picture of my law student receiving his diploma. so, i've found the camera cord (fingers crossed for a successful upload!) for the computer, found my stash of photo cards and have actually taken pictures of an entire vacation, and now my camera is kaput. sigh.

i have a bit of a vacation hangover/depression. before los angeles, i was kind of ok living here in small town. it had its good points, its perks: the farmer's market, our church, the park and the trails for roxy, a cute little downtown, good public schools, and it seems to be perfectly situated as a sort of home base for all my travels. i'm really no more than 4 hours away from any given friend except jules, and we're only an hour from an international airport. not to mention we live rent-free (for now) and i am employed. but after los angeles, i'm in a bit of a funk. i don't really want to live in los angeles, per se. you know, traffic, smog, crime, etc. but it is just as intoxicating to me as it once was: very grand, very busy, very cool. and very not like small town. sigh.

i have been accosted with two emails this week about homeless dogs--my poor little heart can hardly stand it. one family is looking for a new home for their dachsund, and another family has been semi-adopted by a stray. i am particularly drawn to the scraggly stray. i think she and roxy could get along. anyone want a dog?

in happier news: i may have the best husband ever. last week, i woke up at 5 a.m. unable to breathe and proceeded to blow my little nose off in the bathroom. instead of 1) rolling over and 2) telling me to go to the hall bathroom (like i might have done), he got up and made me a glass of cold water and a hot towel to put on my sinuses. awwwwww. he's also brought me lunch twice this week. whatever it is that he wants, he's playing his cards very shrewdly.

celebrity sightings 2004 vs. 2010

celebrity sightings 2004-2005 (about 18 months):

jerry o'connell, jogging

vince vaughn, heard but not seen at a bar on sunset

celebrity sightings may 13-15, 2010:

gabrielle union

essence atkins

meredith from the office

kevin durand on L O S T

the one and only gary busey

the law graduate lived in los angeles for the first year and a half that we dated. during this time, i only saw 1.5 celebrities. now, we really didn't do a whole lot during that year and a half other than hang out with each other, and i'm not celebrity crazy or anything. i was just annoyed i never saw more than the one (jerry o'connell) during the entire year and a half i went out there. so on this trip, i really wanted to see a celebrity or two in their natural habitat out of principle. i saw more celebrities on thursday than i did during 2004-2005, and then a bonus personal encounter with a weird gary busey. i feel vindicated.