Linking up with Miss Leslie from A Blonde Ambition this morning for some Friday Confessions!

I confess... that I studied until 10pm last night and then immediately went to bed. My tea were still sitting at my desk this morning - I was too exhausted to put anything away. For some reason, this week has killed me.

I confess... reading catering proposals for our wedding (proposal + venue) is my new favorite thing. SO many YUMMY things! We are doing a tasting Sunday, two Tuesday, and one Thursday. Bring on the leggings and awesome food. Then we have cake tastings to schedule. Do you think I can request a cocktail tasting? Is that too much? ;)

I confess.. that I am not the planner in AR & I's relationship. So thankful to have a man who says "I got us tickets to a tapas and drinks event at the aquarium tonight. I'll come get you at six." Almost 4 years in to our relationship, and he still plans out dates. Love him :) (And so excited about sipping wine with all the fish tonight, haha).

I confess... that I did not meal plan before grocery shopping last Saturday and it is a hot. mess. Who knows what I bought because my refrigerator only has yogurt, cheese, 1 egg, and some carrots in it. I am even drinking my coffee black right now, a sure sign that things are bad. I've been living off vega nutrition shakes and the frozen bananas in my freezer.

I confess... I made dress shopping appointments for my mother's visit next month. Lets hope I find the one! I had a blast last week trying on dresses with my girlfriends and they really helped me narrow down what I want.

Happy Friday friends!

Hannah 

WIAW: Day in the Life

Hello all! Today I am sharing a bit of my life with my WIAW post. I wanted to share a typical school day for me to show you my glamorous law school life. Kidding. Thanks for hosting, Jenn!

6am - Wake-up! Head to the gym by 6:15 with AR. I ran just under 4 miles and did about 25 minutes of yoga and stretching.

Confession: This is a photo from today's workout. I forgot to snap a picture at the gym yesterday. #bloggerfail

7:30am - Back home from the gym. I start prepping breakfast. The menu? scrambled eggs on wheat toast topped with avocado, s&p, and parmesan. Served with lots of coffee and tangerines. I am so obsessed with these.

7:50am - eat, drink coffee, catch up on blogs and news reading.

8:30am - Still drinking coffee, I showered and dressed for the day.

9am - Study! I worked on my Legal Professions course and completed the readings for the class, as well as reviewing my notes from another class.

10:30am - Made some calls for the wedding and booked a hotel block and a suite for the wedding night!

11:15am - Head to class. In classes for a while :) During class, I ate a yogurt, banana, and pb packet.

Upside down! Side note: I buy these pb packs on Amazon and it is SO much cheaper.

3pm - Escape the school and run to Marshalls for a quick return. Grab a small soy latte with a friend at school on my way out. I somehow manages to escape Marshalls without buying ANYTHING which is a complete miracle. I also said to to the Sally's Beauty Supply store next door. So much self control.

3:15pm - Home and starving! I whipped up a big salad, but couldn't make up my mind on dressing. I drizzled a little leftover greek dressing and added a massive scoop of hummus. I was craving carbs like no other, so I and some toast on the side!

3:15pm - While eating, I studied. I had 2 classes to read for and lots of review to do. I ended up snacking on some golden raisins while studying because I was wanting something sweet. FYI, raisins are not chocolate chips. But I am trying :)

7pm - Finally finished studying. I started dinner. Tonight's menu: curried lentil soup and wheat drop biscuits. I use the word recipe loosely. I just browned onion and green bell pepper in some olive oil, then added dry lentils, broth, curry powder, and garam masala. I brought this to a boil, added a TON of kale, and let it cook until soft. Then, I blended the whole thing with my immersion blender. You can find my drop biscuit recipe here.

7:45pm - AR gets home! We eat and catch up on the day and eat dinner together. He does the dishes :)

8:45pm - We settle in to watch the State of the Union. We contemplate making it a drinking game, but go for tea instead.

We also folded massive amounts of workout clothes while watching the SOTU. Exciting times. 

10:15pm - Bed time. Sweet dreams!

Reading, Wearing, Eating, Watching, etc!

Good morning! How is your Tuesday shaking out? I'm working on school and wedding fun today before heading to class in a bit, but I wanted to jump in and say hi. I love when these updates float around blogland, so I though I would participate too!

Reading: I just finished Sleigh Bells by Beth Albright, which was book three in her Sassy Belles series. LOVE this series. So cute and fun, with just enough mystery and romance. The stories are based in Alabama and full of southern charm.

I am also reading fascinating things for law school. I am working on a 40 page brief on lethal injections and the Eight Amendment right now, so that reading it fantastic (not. more like gruesome.).

Watching: AR wanted to start watching Breaking Bad, so we started about two weeks ago. We are the worst at watching shows - we are 4 episodes in. Frankly, I don't love the show. It is interesting, but kind of sad for me. I am just waiting for Nashville to come back. Anyone else?

Eating: So many juices. For some reason, I have been craving fresh juices. I love Arden's Garden here in ATL. Yesterday I had their Apple-Pineapple-Ginger and today I am taking their Yoga 1 as a snack. The Yoga1 is full of kale and spinach goodness, plus pineapple juice to balance out the bitterness.

I've been making tons of soups in the last week or so too (check out my Chicken and Wild Rice slow cooker recipe here). Apparently I am just craving liquids. Tonight I am working on a blended lentil soup... I'll let you know how it goes.

Running: slow and steady. I did 6 on Sunday and almost 4 this morning. I am trying to work a bit more on pace right now because I am running a 10k in a few weeks. This is my first race under 10 miles in over a year!! <-- distance junky for sure.

Enjoying: Wedding planning! Scheduling tastings right now, which might be the best part of wedding planning :)

What have you been up to? 

x0x0, 

Hannah 

Monday Morning {Weekend 1/19}

Today is the BEST kind of Monday... a holiday! I am off from school and relishing the long morning. 

Breakfast:

Leftover whole wheat biscuits from the weekend, with greek yogurt and banana. 

This weekend started early on Thursday with drinks and dinner with a friend from Junior League. We met at a place in our neighborhood and sipped champagne cocktails while catching up. 

Ladies, if you have not checked out the Junior League in your area, I highly recommend it! I have met so many wonderful women and learned so much about my community. Such a wonderful civic and social activity for me :) They have a million events going on each month, plus awesome training and volunteer work with some of the biggest non-profits in Atlanta. 

Friday.... DRESS SHOPPING!!!! 

Two of my very favorite people joined me on a dress shopping adventure. We went to Fabulous Frocks in Atlanta and tried on dresses for 3.5 hours. The woman who owns this store is seriously the best - she was so kind and helpful. 

I didn't buy anything - waiting for mom's visit! - but I plan to head back to Fabulous Frocks. Their collection was so wonderful and the staff was fantastic. I am so glad that this store was recommended to me! 

I met with a wedding planning on Friday afternoon and went out for a birthday dinner with friends that evening. No pictures - we were having too much fun. 

The rest of the weekend was lazy and relaxing. AR and I became members of our church on Sunday, which was so exciting. I really enjoyed the couples in our membership class and I was excited to meet so many other youth engaged couples. 

How many dresses did you try on before finding the one? 

Who did you/will you take with you when you go dress shopping?

x0x0, 

Hannah

Thanks for hosting, B Loved Boston and Champagne & Suburbs! 

Friday Fun {1/16}

Since I have been an absent blogger of late, I am linking up with TWO lovely ladies today for twice the fun!

Thank you to Natasha for hosting Five on Friday & Leslie for hosting Friday Confessions. 

1. My save the dates came in yesterday! Ahhh!!! 
I cannot even talk about how excited I am. I LOVE the way they turned out. So perfect and simple. I need to mail them out by the first week of February, but I am still looking for inspiration for the calligraphy on the envelopes. I can't decide how I want it to look. Thoughts? 

I confess.... that my Save the Dates are in neutral colors because I still haven't selected my wedding colors. I am just way to indecisive. 


2. In other wedding news, I am having coffee with a wedding planner today. 
I never thought I would consider a wedding planner, but now I am. I am just not sure I have the time or creative genius to make the day what I want it to be. I don't expect to get a full planning package, but I would like someone to do month of coordinating. What do you think? 

I confess... that I had a conversation with a wedding designer and she asked me so many questions that I nearly panicked. I felt SO overwhelmed. She had a million things that I had never even thought about - but that is why is was incredibly helpful. 


3. This dinner. 
I threw this in the crockpot on Wednesday and we loved it!

Chicken and Wild Rice Stew (based on this recipe)
Ingredients: 

• 4 Tbsp fat of olive oil
• 1  cup chopped onion 
• 1  cup finely chopped celery 
• 1 cup finely chopped carrots 
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 2-4 cups finely chopped kale 
• 2 tsp. dried sage, rubbed or crushed by hand into the stew 
• 1/2 Tb. fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp. dried. 
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 8 cups chicken or veggie broth 
• 1 lb. uncooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces 
• 1 1/2 cups wild rice, uncooked
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I used reduced fat) 
• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley (optional: for garnish)

Directions: 

1. Place wild rice and 3 cups of water in a large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. 
2. While rice is simmering, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. 
3. Add the onion, carrots and celery and saute until the vegetables are softened, about 3-4 minutes. 
4. Add the mushrooms, sage, thyme, salt and pepper to the pan and toss well, cooking for another minute or two.
5. Transfer the vegetables (add in greens now) to a 6-8 quart crock-pot. 
6. Stir in the chicken broth, chicken and wild rice (include the water from the pot). 
7. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until the wild rice is tender and the stew is thickened (because of the rice). 
8. Stir in the cream and parsley (if using). Serve. 

I confess... All of my meals were made in the crockpot. Even my breakfast porridge that I reheated each morning. I am so so lazy. 

4. A new cleaning schedule. 

If you spend .08648 seconds with me, you will notice that I am extremely concerned about keeping things neat and clean. Some might say obsessive ;) 

I found this pin before the new year and have been loving the schedule! It keeps me from having massive cleaning days and spreads it throughout the week. This way, I never have a "my apartment is such a mess" moment. #success. 

I confess... I picked all the jobs I don't like doing and told AR he was responsible for them. And he said yes. Hahah. 

5. Back into running

Last week, running clicked for me again. I have blogged several times about my lack of enthusiasm for running post-Chicago Marathon. I let it go, did tons of yoga and strength training, and only ran when I felt like it. For the last two weeks, I have done 4-5 miles a day and enjoyed it! I am so excited to be back in the groove a bit (especially because I have a race in 6 weeks). 

I confess... I want to register for another fall marathon but AR keeps shaking his head. He says that we should wait for next spring. Let us see who wins ;)

x0x0, 

Hannah 

Weekend Recap! {1/12}

Happy Monday, friends! I am excited to share my weekend with you because it was jam-packed with Atlanta highlights. My little brother and his girlfriend came to visit AR and I and we had the best time! Due to school commitments, this will probably be my last "play" weekend in a long time, so I enjoyed every minute of it. 

Thursday

Our weekend started early when Sam and Becky arrived late Thursday night. AR and I prepared homemade pizzas for them and we all stayed up wayyyyyy too late catching up. 

Friday

Poor AR had to go to work, but Sam, Becky, and I started early. We went to the Atlanta History Center,  home of the Swan House, Old Smith Farm, and Atlanta History Museum. 

Recognize this? The Swan House was used in the film The Hunger Games for the party at the Capital. 

I had to head to class in the afternoon, but Sam and Becky went on to the CNN Center downtown (which is amazing, by the way). 

Because our guests had dinner plans, AR and I grabbed soup at our favorite casual spot in midtown - Metro Fresh. Then we headed to the P&P (Proof & Provisions) for drinks. Sam and Becky joined us by the time we were ready for round two :)

Dark bar photo. Love that man.

Saturday

More Atlanta sightseeing! AR and I snuck in an early workout while they were sleeping. After everyone was up and ready, we headed to the World of Coca-Cola. I'll be honest, I don't drink soda, so I wasn't holding any high expectations for this trip and I was so surprised. 

World of Coca-Cola is so well done! They had a museum, art exhibit, 4-D movie, and a test-tasting room. I even sampled my very first soda in YEARS. #whatcleaneating? I learned so much about the Coca-Cola brand and their extreme efforts to protect their image and their recipe. 

We took home commemorative glass bottles of Coke.
Mine will probably be  in my cabinet for ever, haha.

The four of us headed home for lunch and took a long walk through Piedmont Park. By the time we got back home, I had logged 4.75 miles - not including my run that morning!

Dinner was perfect at No. 246 in downtown Decatur. I had bites of pear-fenenl soup, apple and walnut salad, stuffed mushrooms, chocolate "Spoom" ice cream, and tiramisu. So so SO good. 

We were sad to see Becky and Sam leave on Sunday, but we so enjoyed their visit!

Do you ever do tourist things in your own city?

Have you been to the CNN Center or World of Coca-Cola?

x0x0, 

Hannah

*Linking up with B Loved Boston and Champagne and Suburbs today. Thanks for hosting, ladies!*

3 Ways to have a Fantastic January

I really love the fresh start of January. I make resolutions, I get excited about new goals, and everything seems full of possibilities. This year, I announced some of my upcoming goals for 2015, but I wanted to share ideas specifically for January.

Whether or not you make resolutions, these are specific ideas for your month. We stay home more in January. We stay inside more in January. So lets use that time for the fullest.

1. Pick an Organization Project. Or 5. 
Last year, I did the January Cure with Apartment Therapy. Has anyone ever done this? It was awesome and full of ideas to organize, declutter, and beautify my apartment. But it was a lot. Honestly, I didn't complete all of them. While I felt like I had done some awesome projects, I also felt like a failure by mid-January. (If you did all of them, jealous)

This year, I am picking a few must-do projects:
- Clear out the kitchen. AR and I did that last Friday while we were both off. We removed everything from the kitchen and pantry, and cleaned the whole thing. Then we sorted and reorganized. The space moves so much better now and looks neater.
- Clear out the bathroom - maybe next week? I have beauty products for days that I need to clear out. I bet I don't use half of them and they are just taking up space.
- Organize the photos on my computer and print ones from last year. If I really do well, I will order a Shutterfly Photo Book for 2014. #dreambig

Love this idea for Pantry Organization!


2. Wear What You Own. 

Confession: I shopped for myself over the holiday. And I received clothing as gifts. And I really didn't need clothes before all of this.
For the month of January, I am NOT buying any clothes/accessories/makeup. I am wearing and using what I have. Maybe you can do the same. Browse Pinterest for inspiration and work through your closet. You may find things you don't like, or things that you forgot that you loved!

3. Try a New Weekend Activity. 
Visit a museum. Volunteer at a local non-profit. Organize a dinner party at your house.
Weekends can fall into routine: eating out, shopping, watching movies, etc. Pick something new and try it this weekend!

I am going to visit one Atlanta attraction this month and try to take a long walk each weekend. What will you try?

What are your plans for January?

x0x0, 

Hannah 

5 on Friday {1/2}

Hello 2015 and happy Friday!

Today for my Five on Friday post, I am sharing 5 things I loved about 2014 and 5 goals for 2015. 2014 was a crazy year - I cannot believe all that happened!

Favorite Moments of 2014

1. Getting engaged - Cannot wait to marry AR! You can read more about our proposal story here. 

2. Running the Chicago Marathon and getting a PR. This marathon was great - despite the fact that I lost AR pretty early on and had to finish by myself. 

3. Finishing my first year of law school - this was such a challenge. Right now, I am half way done. Woo hoo!

4. Loving my summer internship - and know I was in the right place. I spent a summer working at a government agency and learned so much about the practice of law. But the best part was realizing that I loved the work I was doing. Switching from being a full-time first grade teacher to a law student has not been easy, but I know it is the right choice. 

5.  Joining the Junior League of Atlanta. I haven't blogged about this much, but the JLA has been such an important part of my year. I have made new friends and found new connections in the city. I cannot wait to move from provisional to active member and get my full time placement this spring!

Five Goals for 2015

1. Finish my second year of law school strong! 
Motivation is different the second year, but I am working hard to stay focused this year.

2. Plan an amazing wedding that reflects our personality, and not get caught up in all the stress and details.
You can read about our venue here... I am in love with the place!

3. Run 3 races + another marathon. 
I am running a 10k in March, and would like to do another 5k and a 10 miler. AR and I are discussing possible fall marathons and I am trying to be realistic about marathon training and wedding planning. We will see!

4. Manage my shopping spending better. 
I am very financially conservative, but as AR and I plan for our future, I want to limit my Target binges and get more use out of the items in my closet.

5. Limit my sugar. 
If I were to grade my eating, I would say I do pretty well. I hit 7 servings of fruits/veggies most days, I stick to whole grains when I am at home, and I follow a mostly plant based diet. My downfall? SUGAR! I LOVE sweets like no other. This year I want to limit my sugar intake and find healthier ways to bake my favorite treats :)

What are your goals for the new year?

x0x0, 

Hannah 

Thank you for hosting Five on Friday, ladies!