Honest

Who else has been following this story? I have such admiration for Elizabeth Smart. What a smart, kind, intelligent, and strong woman.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/05/07/elizabeth-smart-mormon-teaching-on-sex-stopped-me-from-escaping-kidnappers/

Done is Better Than Perfect.

I am a huge fan of Sheryl Sandberg.  This is putting it lightly.  Obsessed might be a better way to describe the huge fan-girl crush that I have on her.  I really love her new book, Lean In, and have read it several times already.  I regularly re-watch her TEDTalk, Barnard Commencement talk, and her Levo League Office Hours video.  I find her inspiring on both macro and micro levels. 

One thing that she talks about is her ethos of "done is better than perfect."  To be honest, I fundamentally struggle with this.  I am a perfectionist.  I love doing things well.  I love the pursuit of perfection, and seeing what I can accomplish.  However, like most people, I have a lot to do each day.  I have a lot I want to accomplish.  And I love being incredibly prolific.  I have struggled with this dichotomy for a couple of years.  I have pinpointed that my perfectionism is one of the key stumbling blocks in my progress.  I have known this for quite some time.  Sheryl Sandberg talks a lot about "done is better than perfect."  I am afraid of this.  I am afraid that this lets my standard of "good" lower.  I don't want that to  happen.  I like doing things really, really well. 

One of her best examples of this is answering emails.  She talks about answering email immediately, instead of waiting, composing a perfect 3 paragraph email, and then realizing that 3 weeks have gone by.  I felt like she was describing me.  I am so guilty of this!  

I am challenging myself to adapt this ethos into my life, day by day.  I need to find a way to reconcile perfection with prolific.  Blogging is something that I miss so much, and so I have decided that this is the arena in which I will just begin. 

Life Lately is Wonderful

Things have been busy & wonderful!  Here are some pictures to catch up on the last little while!

Tulip dressed up in her festive Christmas bandana.

 

Wishing we could get a tree this tall!

 

Dressing Tulip up in bedazzled antlers AND the bandana!  I love this.  She does not :)

The first decorations we put out are our Swedish Tom-tar dolls.  They are the sweetest!  

(The Swede-est...haha!)

A friend took me to see Yo-Yo Ma & we snuck backstage & I got to meet him!  He kissed me on both cheeks.  I felt so sophisticated!

 

I've started drinking green smoothies for breakfast.  They are wonderful!

 

It was my birthday!  I love birthdays.  

 

Jessica passed the Louisiana Bar Exam & I made her this celebratory pumpkin!

 

Our lovely Christmas tree!

 

The tree, view deux.  So pretty!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

New Blogger interface

Well.  Another Google update to learn.  I....mostly like the new blogger interface.  Except that it just ate my latest post. 

GOOGLE!  I CANNOT KEEP UP WITH YOU & YOUR UPDATES!  ENOUGH ALREADY!

(Although if you're going to keep fussing with things, can't you please make Google docs a little better?  Like, I still lose my formatting from Excel & PowerPoint.  Please make that better)

Travel Essentials

 

Travel Essentials by emilylarene

 I have great appreciation for ladies & gentlemen who travel in high style.  I prefer to opt for comfort but still like to rely on classic pieces to keep it presentable.  Flying home last night, I wore my favorite new yoga pants, a borrowed pink button up, a new straw hat, & super comfy boat shoes.  As always, I had my monogrammed LL Bean tote bag, filled with snacks packed by my mama & a great new book.  I may be the last person ever to read The Hunger Games, but whatever.  It was absolutely fantastic!  I read the entire book over my 2 flights back to New Orleans.

 

I flew SouthWest, & had a wonderful experience with them, yet again.  Their customer service is truly extraordinary, polite, kind, & welcoming staff.  And BONUS - I had extremely empty flights both ways & was fortunate enough to have an entire row all to myself each flight. 

Anyone else have travel tips & essentials to share?

Tulips for Spring Break

 

 For the 2nd week of my spring break (because, yes, Tulane's business school is THAT awesome & gives us 2 full weeks of spring break!) I spent time with my parents at their new home in the country.  My mama doesn't really think it's in the country, but I do, so I call it the country house.  We had such a lovely visit, full of sitting by the fire, doing yoga, meeting new friends, cooking, lots of bubble baths, & doing homework with my papa. 

Happy Spring Break y'all!  Now, back to work.

BCV

Last night you gave me

A tiny silver key.  To

You I give my heart.

Workout fun

Over the summer I found this great online resource for FREE, high quality pilates video workouts.  I was inspired to do this by the below-mentioned now-married best friend, who literally transformed her body in the 9 months leading up to her wedding.  So I was majorly  motivated & excited to see what I could do for myself.

Even more fun, Cassey {the blog owner & creatrice} has just designed a 3 month workout & eating plan, based on a body shred she did about a year ago.  It looks awesome!  I'm joining the challenge, & invite you to come along!  Her workouts are fun, upbeat, medically sound, & feel so good.  She builds the warmup for each exercise around the beginner, then adds modifications for intermediate & advanced people.  There is something for EVERYONE!!!!  Come one, come all! 

{And if all goes well, perhaps I'll even post a bikini pic like Cassey did after her body shred.  No promises though!!!}

So much to update!

My birthday - AWESOME!!!

Best friend getting married - AWESOME!!!

Getting on track, financially, studiously, healthily - AWESOME!!!

Planning for Thanksgiving - AWESOME!!!

Rock 'n Roll!  Let's go.

Blah

Sad news.

Bad news.

UPDATE:  And I got a parking ticket today!  They changed the time limit rules apparently....curses!

Woe is me.

Boo-hoo-hoo.

Thanks for letting me kvetch.  Now - onward!

{Tomorrow is my birthday!!!!!!!}

Fall is here

Someone left this pretty bunch of fall flowers on my car this morning! Whoever you are, thank you! xx