The best parts of 2011

I’m jumping on the bandwagon and doing a 2011 recap.

So many good things happened this year! Here are just a few of them (starting in January and ending in December):

Jonathan and Jessie got married
I went to Chicago for St. Patty’s day and saw the green river
I dressed up as a mothereffingBEAR for Beth’s purple birthday party
I went to law school prom with Dustin
I discovered the MAGIC that is a top knot (and basically stopped washing my hair)
I finished my 2nd year of law school!!
I celebrated being done with another year of law school
I moved to a trailer park on an Indian reservation in the middle of nowhere Oregon
I had my first ever grown up lawyer-ish job doing estate planning for Umatilla Tribal members
I went camping (for the first time in years) for my brother’s 22nd birthday
I had the BEST 4th of July [weekend] (brunch party, TREW party, camping with Dustin)
I also went to lake billie chinook with my brother and cousins that weekend
I went to Napa Valley for Danielle’s Bachelorette party
I survived my brother’s girlfriend’s pregnancy scare (barely) and then she moved into my parents house (again)
I finished my job
I spent three weeks in White Salmon/Hood River in August and partied it up with my besties every day
and generally just had good Beth and Marissa time which I loved
I started my 3rd and last year of law school
I was a bride’s maid in Danielle and Steffen’s AMAZING wedding in Half Moon Bay
went to some Husky Football games
I went hunting and didn’t get anything
I went to Hops Fest in Hood River
My “twin” Sarah got married
We started the no boyz allowed club and Wednesday dinners got me through so many school weeks
I got in TWO really crappy car accidents
I celebrated Dustin’s 32nd Birthday
I had an amazing Halloween
I represented [juvenile] clients in court for the first time ever
I turned 25
My baby tot cousin was born the day after my birthday
Dustin and I celebrated the 1 year anniversary of our first date
I spent my first ever Christmas away from home

And some of the music that will always remind me of 2011 (probably not in any order):

The Foster the People CD
Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO
So many Rihanna songs (we found love, cheers, you da one, what’s my name, etc.)
& so many Lady Gaga songs (born this way, you and I, the edge of glory, etc.)
Buzzin – Mann
Drop it Low – Ester Dean
Hello – Martin Solveig
Ce jeu – Yelle
Just can’t get enough – Blackeyed Peas
ET – Katie Perry
Buttons – The Weeks
Shake it out – Florence and the Machine
Tongue Tied – Grouplove
Your Song & also Lights by Ellie Goulding
The Jay Z & Kanye CD (mostly Monster & Otis & N***** in Paris)
the Hood Internet
Black and Yellow – Wiz Khalifia
that Better with the Lights off & also that kick it in the back seat song
& also Stereo Hearts and Moves like Jagger and Adele because that’s ALL that’s ever on the radio

Also some of my favorite fashion trends of 2011 (because you know, things like that are cool):

top knots
stripes every day
fur vests
sparkles
booties
everything Native American print
cropped-ish shirts

Last of all, some awesome 2011 pictures, because what’s a blog without pictures? (again, in no particular order):

  and last of all:
NEVER AGAIN: 

So here’s to hoping 2012 is as good as (or better than) 2011 has been. I hope you all have a happy New Year (and a happy time celebrating New Year’s Eve – p.s. I finally got a sparkly dress to wear)! Catch you all next year!!

NYE dresses

Every December, even though it’s approximately 2 degrees in the northwest, I feel the need to seek out a short sparkly dress for new year’s eve.

So, since I am in wonderful White Salmon today, with not much to do, I was browsing the Free People website, thinking about NYE, and found these dresses which I love and which would be perfect for the most sparkly holiday of the year:

 

I really really love the dress on the bottom, right. Too bad it’s a little lot out of my price range!

This year, my new year’s eve will involve Seattle, Dustin and some champagne. I’m not sure what else. Also, probably a little bar hopping, a cute dress and some heels (Dustin got me a gift card for Christmas so I can buy some sparkly date clothes, so hopefully I’ll buy something NYE worthy with part of it). Last year our NYE was low key and fun and perfect, so I’m hoping this year will be similar. Cheers to new year’s! What are your plans?

Our Christmas

I had a wonderful Christmas and Christmas eve this year. It was just the best. There was: lots of Christmas movie watching and hand holding, an amazing seafood dinner on Christmas, homemade cinnamon rolls and bread for Christmas too, some Christmas Eve Chinese Food (& cocktails), followed by the craziness of Snowflake Lane in Bellevue, also somewhat disappointing Candy Cane Lane Christmas lights on Christmas night, eggnog, lots of candy, a long Christmas walk, present opening, our mini Christmas tree, fuzzy socks and pajamas (and Dustin’s fuzzy UO Santa hat) for days, lots of love and so many more good things too.

I kind of sucked at taking pictures (except for when I saw crabs and also on Christmas eve after my vodka martini, thanks Dustin & PF Chang’s). But here are a few from my iPhone:

Christmas dinner shopping: crabs in a tank

Christmas dinner shopping part two: crabs with faces ready for me to eat

Snowflake Lane on Christmas Eve with a GIANT mouse! YAY!

Snowflake lane photo shoot (obvi):

And one more for good measure (Dustin and I Christmas Eve): 

I hope you all had a good Holiday as well! What was your favorite part of Christmas? Please tell me, tell me!

Also, I’m headed home to White Salmon today. Wish me luck! Ha.

XXOO

P.S. follow me on Instagram (rebekaann)

Seattle Funtimes

This weekend Dustin’s and my friend Heather came up to visit us for the weekend. We tried to go ice skating at the Seattle center but when we got there we found a TINY skating rink filled with about a million children. No thanks. We settled for sunny in December hot chocolate by a fountain that shot giant bursts of water everywhere instead.

After our cocoa we headed to Gasworks Park for some pictures and pretty views and things. And then, since it was so nearby (how convenient), we went to Ivar’s for happy hour (it’s one of Dustin and my favorite HH spots).

The next day we had breakfast and bloody marys before Heather headed home.  It was a good weekend – especially good since the sun was shining (in December, guys! that’s a big deal here).

On Friday

On Friday Dustin didn’t work and his friends Alex and Emily were driving through Seattle on their way to Canada, so they stopped and the 4 of us went to lunch at the Thaiger Room on the Ave. A college favorite of mine. And also, they will now deliver me food to my couch if I order $30 worth. Thai food for one, for dayz! 

After that Dustin dropped me off so he could go Christmas shopping. And I went to U Vil in search of foundation. All really exciting, guys. At Sephora I found Lisa and so then we went searching for fleece lined leggings (Antrhopology, they’re pure magic, I haven’t taken them off) and a glass of wine. I really obvi needed the glass of wine after my taxing week of doing nothing:

And also Lisa decided we should order a BUCKET of white truffle popcorn, which was really tasty. And also a lot of popcorn. But can you ever have too much popcorn? I didn’t think so.

Wine + Lisa break was perf. And I was wearing my fur vest too:

And then, after that, I went to Dustin’s and we made dinner (quinoa pasta and sauce over spinach with sausages – clearly all my doing). It was good. Then I forced him to get reallyyy excited about life, and I put on my purple booties and sparkly shirt and we went to Ballard to this club thing (Bal Mar) for a law school birthday and lots of girls wearing short dresses and there was loud music and people grinding on each other. It was a little overwhelming, especially since I was DD and it’s not really Dustin’s thang. Also there: more Lisa (and Brittan too) and we managed to get one really overexposed, red eyed, iPhone picture:

And then around midnight Dustin was like, do you want to go to another bar? And I was like, I kind of just want to go home. And so we did. And then we stayed up until like 2:30 being silly and it was much better than a crowded, loud club. Even if we did have a private room there with bad private service.

So that was my Friday. More weekend coming soon (hint: Heather visited and we took very Seattle-y pictures with my actual camera).

Oh and P.S. on Friday we also decorated Dustin’s apartment for the Rebeka, Dustin, Battlecat Christmas of 2011 (because I may or may not (?? to be decided) be boycotting WS Christmas and unwanted & inappropriate guests roommates):

So we have a: Christmas tree, Christmas presents, Christmas lights and stockings (left to right: Rebeka, Dustin, BC). And it was Dustin’s doing and also we’re classy and I like it!

Friday Roundup

1. This week I finally took the plunge and signed up for Pinterest. After hours (no joke) of set-backs and Pinterest being a little B-word it finally let me sign up. I have to say I’m not as impressed or as addicted as everyone else seems to be. Don’t judge me, but I don’t really see the draw. Maybe because there is no school work to procrastinate? BUT I do have cleaning to procrastinate and so SO much time to kill since it’s break and I’m not working. Maybe I just don’t get it. I guess though, it is a good way to save random recipes and stuff I see on the internet. Is that the point?

2.  This song has been my JAM the past few days. Don’t mind the first 25 seconds…

Others on the list that has been playing on repeat: Shake it out – Florence & the Machine, Lights – Ellie Goulding (Dustin does a really great Ellie Goulding dancing impression. Have you ever seen her dance? She only has one move. It’s weird), We found love – Rihanna andddd that song with Lily Allen and T Pain’s audio tuned voice, it’s really catchy, 5 O’Clock. OH and also the She & Him Christmas Album!! Can’t forget that one!

3. I made Chex Mix this week, and it’s GOOD. So much better than the kind you buy in gas stations or as finals study “fuel”. You know, the kind that is reallyyyy salty. Here is the recipe I used in case you want to make some for yourself:

3 cups Corn Chex
3 cups Rice Chex
3 cups Wheat Chex (really though, you can mix and match these as you please just make sure you have 9 cups total of Chex)
1 cup Mini Pretzels
1 cup Nuts (I used peanuts)
1 cup Garlic Bagel Chips – broken into manageable, bite-size pieces (again, you can kind of mix and match these, if you can’t find bagel chips I think you could put in some extra pretzels and it would still be good)
6 Tbs. Butter
2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce (you find it by the BBQ sauce in the grocery store FYI)
1 1/2 tsp. Seasoning Salt (I used Johnny’s because that stuff is magical)
3/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp. Onion Powder

 

I baked mine, you can also make in in the microwave but that just seems weaksauce. So anyway, what you do is heat your oven to 250deg F, then take a roasting pan (I used a 13 X 9 cake pan) and put your butter in it and melt it in the oven. When it’s melted take it out and  mix all the seasonings into the butter. Then, because you’re a great multi-tasker you have also measured all your chex and pretzels and nuts and bagel chips into a big bowl together. So you take the bowl of goodies and slowly pour it into your butter mixture, mixing it all together while you pour (without crushing the chex – a spatula, like for flipping burgers is good for this – because it’s much easier to eat when all the chex are whole and not crumbles) and then when all of your ingredients are combined in the pan, you should probably stir it some more to make sure that it’s all coated really well!! After that you put it in the oven for 15 minutes. Then you take it out and stir it. Then you put it in again for 15 minutes and then take it out and stir, and you do this 4 times total, so your chex mix has baked for an hour total. And then you take it out and eat it and give it to your friends and it’s a delicious treat. And because it’s the giving season, if you want an easier to follow version, look HERE.And just for good measure, here is a really fancy iPhone picture of my final product:

 

But really, I did give a big bag of it to my boyfriend and he text me later that night saying that he went to town on it and it was delicious. This was after we had gone out to dinner (so it’s not like he was starving and anything would have tasted good). Moral of the story: it’ll probably bring all the boys to your yard. And it will give you something to do over winter break.

 

4. It’s Friday which means that it’s almost the weekend and also it’s the last day of finals at law school, WHICH MEANS maybe I will have SO MAN FRIENDZ to hang out with during the weekend! This whole hanging out alone thing has been getting boring. But I did go to happy hour at Tutta Bella with my friend (and sorority sister) Kate yesterday, and we had wine and italian pizza and it was delicious. If you live in Seattle you should go there. And also, you should eat their salted caramel gelato.

 

5. My roommate and I were talking last night about what to get a new boyfriend for Christmas. Isn’t that just the most awkward thing? Like, what if I get you something too big or too small or too awkward (anyone watch this week’s episode of New Girl??)? It’s really just so stressful. So we decided that an appropriate gift might be a subscription to the beer of the month club. Right? It’s not too sentimental, and also beer is delicious so it’s a win win. I think I got Dustin mugs last year. But that’s mostly because he only had one and we always had to share if we were having coffee or something and also I don’t think he got me anything (we had only been dating for like a month) and yeah. It can be so awkward. What do you guys think is an appropriate gift to give to a new boyfriend (or girlfriend) if anything at all?

 

6. This whole Friday Round Up stuff is hard. I don’t have 10 new things to write about. I haven’t been doing anything except deep cleaning our home and going on really long walks all week. So I’ll show you some pictures:

Above: Our house at Christmas time. All because of Kylee. Really, though. A purple and gold Christmas tree (go huskies?), a wreath Kylee’s mom made us and the only wrapped present under our tree.

 

Below: findings from my walk to Greenlake: a flamingo that should have been in my yard when I lived in the trailer park, a very gray Greenlake, Christmas randomness, and my Zoka (super watered down) eggnog latte + mitten/gloves.

7. That’s really all I have for you. Also if you want to do your own Roundup you should. I’m linking mine up and you can too:

Wednesday Date Night

So apparently winter break means lots of time for blogging. Hooray!

Last night Dustin and I went on a date. Like a date date. I even wore heels!!

I don’t know about you guys but Dustin and I usually just make plans to “hang out”. We don’t normally make date plans. We’ll hang out and then decide to go somewhere to eat or whatever. I don’t know why it’s different, but I was excited for a date date in all of my winter break boredom. Mostly because it gave me an excuse to do my hair and makeup and put on a cute outfit. 

He picked me up after work and we drove to Greenwood because he made me choose where I wanted to go and I said Gainsbourg (really I said “the French place across from your apartment”). I was super proud of myself for choosing, because normally I’m a total girl about it and say “I don’t know where I want to go” about a hundred times before Dustin gets really frustrated and chooses for us. Whoops. Anyway, I chose and it was good until we parked and walked over there and it was all dark and there was a sign on the door that said “closed for improvements”. Whattheheck?! I chose and the restaurant I chose was CLOSED? Gah!

So, Dustin suggested we go to the brewery next door for a drink and a soft pretzel and a chance to re-evaluate our plans. He made me pull out my phone and get on yelp to decide where I wanted to go, round two. Gah! So much stress! But guess what guys? I chose TWICE in one night. When I was looking at places and getting frustrated because apparently I can’t use Yelp, Dustin said that there was a new wood fire/Italian pizza place up the street a few blocks in Phinney that wasn’t yet on Yelp. I was all, I WANT TO GO THERE! Because he’s always like “remember that one time we got drinks at that pizza place?” (when we walk by it) and I’m always like “no, I’ve never been there YOU’RE THINKING OF SOMEONE ELSE” and get all butthurt. And then he remembers it was him and Ben and Greg. Whatever.

So we finished our beers and walked up the street to restaurant #2, Cornuto, holding hands and it was good.

When we got there, there was one tiny booth left. Perf. The place was super small and dim and cozy and amazing. We ordered a pizza that was delicious and more beer (because I’m on breakkkk).

 
And while we were sitting at dinner and Dustin was telling me about work, I had this “I’m a grown up” epiphany. It went like this: I’m 25 and on a date with my boyfriend at this romantic little restaurant, and he’s telling me about his grown up job and I’m wearing bootie heels and this is what, at 15 years old, I imagined life would be like at 25. And it was weird. But also good. So good.

And then we finished our beers and pizza and talked some more and then held hands and walked back to his place and then he took me home and I drove to the airport to pick up my roommate, Erin.

And guys, it was the best date night.