Head Cold + Finals

Equals just about the worst combination ever.

The only plus is that it gives me an excuse to sleep more than I study. Translation: I've slept about 10 hours every night for the past five or so nights. Yep, that's definitely more than I've studied over the same number of days.

Unfortunately, the general fogginess in my head has not been a good motivator to actually study. Thank goodness that I started studying Con Law a week ahead of time, and I could take the Code into my Family Law exam this morning.

In exciting news, I'm 1/2 of the way done with this set of finals! I have one tomorrow morning (I know, I should be studying...but this is a short post!), and then one more on Friday morning. And then I'm FREE!!!!

And I can start packing for Colorado...wait...I've already started, hence the more-than-one-page-long, outline-format document labeled "CO Packing List" that's sitting on my desktop. It was just so much more fun than paying attention in class last week. :) (shhh...don't tell my Professors)

Last week I made pineapple fried rice, AND put it in a pineapple bowl. Sometimes it's just fun to be fancy. :) Unfortunately, I wasn't thrilled with how it ended up tasting - it was kind of bland, so I'm going to have to go back and tweak the recipe (not until the summer). Also, the pineapple ended up being really acidic, so I ended up with a burnt tongue and lips. :( But it looks awesome, doesn't it? :)

Over the weekend, I got to play mommy again. AnnaGrace and I kept Ross for the weekend, which was loads of fun, as usual. :) Minus, however, the part where he woke up crying at midnight. After trying to coddle him for about 5 minutes, I realized that he was crying on purpose to wake himself up (*sigh*). So, I put him on the other side of the bed and ignored him - it worked like a charm! Within 5 minutes, he had calmed himself down to just a pathetic whimper. Clearly, he's an attention-seeker. :)

I started off the weekend by taking Ross to gymnastics. Unfortunately, my camera can't quite keep up with his movements, so half of my pictures ended up blurry. :( I did, however, manage to catch these...

On Saturday, AnnaGrace and I walked Ross downtown to a the Candy Jar Malt Shop. We told him we were going on a walk to get a "treat." It's so much fun to spoil him a little. :)

While we were there, we worked on his French.

And now, I'm back at law school, coming down with a cold and preparing for finals. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? :) I keep consoling myself with the fact that in 10 days, I will 2/3 of the way done with law school and ever closer to moving to Colorado!! :)

New Dinner Recipe!

Last week, I tried a new recipe for dinner. I've been needing new recipes lately, so when I came across this recipe for Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken on Pinterest, I thought it would be a great idea.

It's really amazing - and I even made it without the egg. So I won't keep you in anticipation any longer...

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken
From Life as a Lofthouse

Chicken coating:

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

salt + pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

Sweet and sour sauce:

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbs ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.  Heat your 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.  

Here are the tweaks I made:

1. I didn't have any eggs, so I skipped the step. Since I don't have anything to compare it to, I don't know what I was missing, but it tasted fine!
2. I cut the recipe in thirds because I was only making it for one. I ended up guesstimating on the ketchup, soy sauce, garlic salt - it's a little hard to measure 1/3 of a tsp. :) It ended up tasting fine, though!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

God is Good

This last week was incredible. It was a reminder once again of how God has been and is orchestrating this summer in ways that I could have never imagined. So, here's the story...

I have been calling law firms since November trying to find an internship for this summer. The process is very frustrating - most of the firms I called weren't hiring interns and most of the rest said they weren't sure, but I could send my resume in anyway. Even after I sent my resume, I usually heard nothing.

In January, I applied for and got an internship with the Supreme Court of Texas for the second half of the summer. I was (and still am) ecstatic!! It was very clear to me that the Lord opened that door. However, I was still looking for something for the first half of the summer, so I continued calling firms.

This past Tuesday, I called a Christian organization that has an embryo adoption program. I heard of the organization last year, and have wanted to intern with them ever since. So on Tuesday, I picked up the phone and called. The secretary put me through to the director of the embryo adoption program. She has never had an intern before, but she was open to the idea. We ended up talking for about ten minutes, and she asked me to send a resume and ideas for what I would like to do.

On Thursday morning, she emailed me back and said that she would love to have me intern with her this summer! She wants to do an outreach to OB/GYNs to educate them about embryo adoption. Additionally, the organization recently found out that the 2013 Presidential Budget does not include funding for embryo adoption, so I'll be brainstorming about how to get it back in the budget.

The greatest part of this whole story is: the organization is in Colorado!!! I've decided that I think I would love living there (even though I've never visited), so I'm over the moon with excitement about getting the chance to test-drive the state. :)

But, the story gets even better...when I called my grandmother to tell her, she said that my mom has cousins in the town where I'll be working. She hasn't seen them in years, but just recently visited them while she was in Colorado!! When she called to tell them I would be living there, they offered for me to stay with them.

It has been amazing to see how God has orchestrated this summer, far beyond what I could have ever imagined I would be doing. I can't even begin to express the excitement and amazement that I have experienced over the past few days. The months of calling firms and being rejected was SO worth waiting for these opportunities.

So - get excited!!! I plan to post lots of pictures of the mountains, me trail-running, and having lots of cool adventures in the lovely state of Colorado!!! :)

Here's a sneak peek of what's to come...

P.S. If you would like to know more about embryo adoption (what it is), you can check out this website: Embryo Adoption. I will also post more about it soon!