Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Christmas Cookie Exchange :)

Happy Wednesday (and a rainy one here in Charleston)!

Last night, I got to take a break from all my studying (which has been pretty weak lately, just too burnt out from finals, but finally getting back into it) and enjoyed a girls night in.  A few of my friends and friends of friends have put together a girls night, every week for the past couple months.  Since I have been so stinking busy with school/life, I haven't been able to make the girls night out yet!  But luckily, I was able to attend last night--and it was a delicious one!

Cookie Exchange

We ended up going to Ali, Mary Foster and Annies house for a cookie exchange.  It is a great idea and super fun for the holidays!  Everyone brought a bunch of cookies to swap around with everyone, along with some holiday wine and eggnog (Anna made it from scratch--quite impressive in my book!).  It was a great time and I brought home a ton of cookies--Drew was certainly happy :).  I forget how much I enjoy girl time sometimes and it was wonderful to just be able to chat and hang out with everyone!

Filling up our bags with cookies (such cute bags too)
Girls Night :)

As for me, I brought ginger snaps/molasses cookies and white chocolate pretzels   I made a hybrid cookie from two different recipes--one from the back on the molasses bottle and one from allrecipes.com.  They turned out pretty tasty if you ask me--next time I will have to splurge and buy ground cloves; but you couldn't tell that it was missing that if you didn't know (at least I hope)! Nothing like some homemade cookies :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday party season :)

Off to walk this bird loving girl...

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

This Weekend: Finished Law School, Finished a Marathon :)

Wow! This was an incredible weekend in the life of Cody.  I finished law school and PRed a marathon :).

I have spent the last few weeks preparing for my final finals...ever.  I have been a student for my entire life (as I know it)--and am happy to report that I am finally finished with my long career as a student :).  It is a much different feeling this go around, than the times past when I finished up with school.

I remember "graduating elementary school" and thinking that I was growing up--we even had to sing "the time of your life" to our parents, a little dramatic for elementary school but it worked!  And then graduating high school, I remember not wanting to go to college, I loved my friends, life and living at home.  I remember talking to my best friends saying how we wished that there was a 13th year.  And then college graduation came around--and boy was I NOT ready to leave college (so since I graduated early I stayed around for the semester that I should have still been in school and worked/played)!  I could have stayed in college for a few victory laps, and to this day when I go back to Clemson, there is still a part of me that longs for those college care free days!

Sorority Senior Walk 
*my other pictures won't upload :(

But this go around, aka my final go around, is completely different--I am ready to be done with school once and for all :).  It's not that I didn't enjoy law school and all the friends that I made along the way--it's just that I'm ready to enter into the "real" world and actually know how it is like to have a "big person job."  I have seen most of my friends finish with college, and even some with grad school, and enter into the work force--and I can't help but feel jealous of them for being independent and self-reliant. So, I am happy to report that at the end of my law school career/long educational career--I am looking ahead to the future and not wanting to look back (no Ph.D. or Master degree for this girl)!!

Also, I ran the Kiawah Marathon on Saturday (finished law school Friday afternoon--ran marathon Saturday morning: my life was a tad insane this weekend).  It was a great race and I felt great the entire time!  I started out the first half (13 miles) with my dad and Mimi.  I wanted to make sure that I had enough "gas" as my dad likes to call it for the end of the race--so I didn't bonk!  We started off at around a 10 minute pace (slow and steady wins the race).  When I cut off from them I was aiming at between a 9:00 and 9:30 pace.

Dad, me and Mimi before the race

Originally, I wanted to do the race in 4 hours--but since I have been studying and school took up my life, I stopped focusing on running and decided that I just wanted to finish the race with a smile on my face and didn't care about the time.  On Saturday morning, my dad said that they wanted to finish the race in 4:20--I then decided that since my last time was 4:17 I wanted to beat that time and we planned that I would stick with them for the first half and if I felt good that I would kick it up.  So, I kicked it up a notch--and when I was around mile 15 decided that I wanted to do it in under 4:15--which then at mile 19, that goal became 4:10. Basically, this was a plan as you go marathon--and I finished in my final goal of 4:10 with a smile on my face!

Drew's picture of me running--
no one said that running was attractive 

Looking back at the race, I wish that I had planned out what I wanted to do before the race started.  I was so consumed with school work that I lost sight of what I wanted to achieve in my running.  I am still proud of my time, especially with the amount that I was able to take off my time from my last marathon.  But part of me wishes that I would have had a goal and went for that goal.  I finished the marathon sprinting towards the finish (last mile was 8:10) and I wish that I had left all I had out on the course.  However, this isn't my last rodeo and I will always have another shot at my sub 4 hour original goal :).  Overall, it was an amazing race and gives me excitement for my next race--whenever that will be!

I don't mean for this to sound like I am boosting about myself--I am just really proud of myself for finishing two very challenging things.  I think that it is alright to be proud of yourself every once and awhile--and these two things are that for me :)  Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday--off to read some of my book before hitting the books for studying for the Bar :/

Reading the Happiness Project 
(since it has been popping up everywhere--decided to jump on the band wagon :)