First item checked off the 30 before 30 list!

excavate all the files I want to keep from my OLD computer before it is gone for good

Taylor and I decided to take advantage of a low-key weekend and the 1 terabyte external hard drive we bought on Black Friday and checked one of the items off of my 30 before 30 list. I have a Dell laptop that I got the summer after I graduated from Vanderbilt. It worked great for more than 3 years, but for some reason when I moved home to Ohio in December of 2008, it slowed to a near crawl and became virtually useless. Coinciding with that, I also got a laptop for my job, which meant that I didn't really need to have my own separate laptop. So, it has sat in our closet since we moved to New York and hadn't even been turned on in almost 2 years.

I have always wanted to make sure that I get all of the files off of it, so that was the project this week. The problem was, that I had no idea what the login password might be. After trying about 5-10 different passwords that I've had over the years and resolving that I'd have to deal with Dell Customer Service, Taylor had the brilliant idea to try just pressing Enter without putting in a password at all and, EUREKA! Turns out the password was nothing, literally.

So, once we were in, it was just a matter of waiting for the dinosaur to start up and then slowly moving all of the music, photos, and documents stored therein over to our external hard drive. I'm pleased to say it was an overwhelming success and I'd like to share some gems that were required. First, a photo from each year represented:

2000: This is the only digital photo I have from high school. It was taken by my friend Steve Kerr for a photo project, I believe. Junior year. I loved that shirt.

2001: This photo is from freshman year of college on a trip to the Opryland Hotel. Still some of the best guys I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.
2002: I believe this little gem is from our Freshman year beach trip with the BCM. The combination of silly, sexy, and unnecessarily serious is cracking me up.
2003: This photo was taken my sophomore year on a winter trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. This was actually taken about 10 days after I started dating Taylor. Kim and Will (to the right of me) were just barely dating in this photo too. Now they're married and living in Australia! And I must say R.I.P. Thomas Lindsay, who's just to the left of me (in the button down and sweater) and died tragically in the summer of 2005.
2004: It's the summer of 2004 and Taylor and I took a trip to Sedona, Arizona. That trucker hat was all my doing...What a cute photo!
2005: The night it all began. This is the night that I met some of my best friends at a party in Nashville! I wish Brittany was in this shot!

Also 2005. I had to include this one not just because of my *awesome* outfit (pink and green, really!?) but also because I'm working on the computer that this post is about.2006: This is my first apartment in NYC. And yes, it was that small. Fun :)

2007: Traveling to Nashville to run my first Marathon and wearing an "I Love NY" shirt, how fitting :)2008: This is an impromptu engagement photo that Taylor and I took of ourselves the day after we got engaged. He looks a little terrified, no?
Such a fun trip down memory lane.

Oh, and here's another gem, a poem my friend Kenny Lee wrote about me back in college. I think he went through a period where he wrote funny poems about everyone, so here's mine:

Hey I'm Carissa and I major in HOD

Everyone knows that means Hand-Out Degree

I'm really very smart, just like the famous MacGyver

When I'm riding in your car, I'm also a backseat driver

I love to study rocks, when I'm in Geology

And I really prefer boys, who are younger than me

My boyfriend is a freshman, which does seem very fitting

Unfortunately he's in love with Kim, wait, just kidding

I do everything really fast, so I can have a chance

To finish all my essays, three weeks in advance

I do a lot of community service, in case you didn't know

And I'm originally from, the state of Ohio

The guys I met in Italy, think that I'm a hottie

And don't be too surprised, cause I can be a little naughty

This 30 before 30 thing is great!!!

It's here! 30 Before 30!

Alright, it's here, the kickoff of my blog re-design! Today is my 27 1/2 birthday and I'm kicking off a 2.5-year adventure to complete 30 things before I turn 30. The best thing about this endeavor, in my opinion, is that it really forces me not just to live day to day but to REALLY make sure that I live. Some of the items on my list are things I've always wanted to do (read the Bible all the way through, san francisco, get a dog), others I completeld came up with just for this list (give a speech, pick a stock, go a month without watching TV (yikes!)). Some people have told me it's silly to make up goals just for a 30 before 30 list, but I think that's the point! This forces me to finish some things I've always wanted to do and ALSO forces me to come up with some new goals that I may never have bothered with. So, here goes!

And, in case you're wondering, yes, I still have a husband and yes, he's aware of the list. And of course he will be participating in many of these with me. This isn't my attempt to be independent or have a bunch of adventures without him. I'm so excited to do some of these together (except maybe the spa day, I think that's just for me :).

I will keep you posted on my progress on this list and also just on life in general per usual over the next 2.5 years. Get pumped!

Carissa

Holiday Recap

Alright friends, I'm finally back on my feet after the holiday (and a sick day yesterday).

I can't believe 2010 is already over! Taylor and I had a blast visiting my family over the holidays. I figured I'd give you a quick recap with photos where possible.

We started our holiday break with dinner in the city on December 22 with Taylor's whole family including his brother Alex and his wife Hilary, his parents and his sister Allison. We went to a fun German place near our apartment. It was definitely an adventure!

On the 23rd, we opened Christmas presents in the morning with Taylor's family at their house. We got some great gifts including a new hat and gloves for me, some video games for Taylor, and a wine aerator for both of us. Thanks, guys!

After presents we left for the 10-hour drive to my house in Perrysburg. It was a really long drive, for some reason it took us almost 11 hours. Part of the problem was that we took a rather elongated break in beautiful Strongsville, OH and felt compelled to walk around the nice little lights display they have in downtown:

From December 2010

We met the mayor and his wife!

From December 2010

This is me feeding Baileys to an elf through his trumpet

From December 2010

Cute

On Christmas Eve, we traveled up to my cousins' house in Michigan for Christmas Eve with the Lucyk clan. It was fantastic and complete with Alaskan King Crab, delicious steak and plenty of shooting games (thanks, Brent and Miranda!).

Christmas day was VERY low key. So low key, in fact, that I have absolutely nothing to show for it. We opened presents and just hung out at home all day. Some highlights on the present front were a private ski lesson for Taylor and some fantastic new underwear, a North Face sweater, and a new necklace for me.

The day after Christmas (Sunday, the 26th), we drove up to Michigan again to have Christmas with my Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of my mom's side of the family. There were more shooting games:
And, of course, more gifts! Taylor and I even got a new laptop. It's a really small, super-portable one called a netbook. We're pumped!

Whew....this was a busy week, I'm tired just writing it!

Ok, so THEN...on December 27th, we piled in the car at 8am with my parents, my brother, and his friend Tony to go up to northern Michigan for some skiing. Taylor had never been skiing before and it had been years since I was skiing, so we were pretty excited (and anxious).

We stopped on the way at an outdoors store and had a little fun. This is a 5XL:
My grandparents have a chalet up north, but when I was growing up, they had a much smaller one that's not far from their current place, so we went to check it out. Here's a photo:

From December 2010

It's so cute :)

The next day, was the day we actually went skiing. I'm happy to report that all parties had a good time and no one got hurt. In fact, Taylor picked it up really quickly and totally showed me up. Here are some photos of skiing:

From December 2010

Getting ready in our thermal spandex

From December 2010

Ready to go!

From December 2010

This one's a video. I'm not sure if it will work. If it goes, you'll see Taylor in all black a little left of center.

From December 2010

Would a real "Sno Pro" need their husband to keep them from falling down the hill with his pole?

From December 2010

Me and Dad

We were pretty tired that night, so we were in bed by about 9pm. Then we got up early the next morning to take a quick ride on the snowmobiles before leaving. Taylor had never done this either. It was a week of firsts!

From December 2010

All of us on the "sleds"

From December 2010

On the trail

From December 2010

Taylor driving, watch out!

After snowmobiling, we headed back down to Perrysburg with a stop in Plymouth, MI to visit my Grandpa and Nana for Christmas.

Ok, so we just finished the 29th. I'm actually not even sure what we did on the 30th, which is a good thing because every other day was so busy!

On the 31st, we relaxed most of the day and then got dressed up for dinner/New Year's Eve at night.

From December 2010

Glamour Shot

From December 2010

All of us at dinner

New Year's Eve was pretty low key. We went to a bar after dinner so Taryn could utilize her new-found status of LEGAL (my little sister is 21, crazy!). Then we headed back to our house and drank whiskey sours and played games until it was time to ring in 2011 :)

My family convinced Taylor and I to stay through New Year's Day and return, instead, on the 2nd, which actually worked out really well. We had lots of time to relax, EAT, and watch football on New Year's Day. We also went to the store and bought Taylor 2 new suits using some of his Christmas money, which was exciting!

We left at 6:30 in the morning on January 2nd and made great time back to New York, arriving at Taylor's parents' house at 3:30pm. Whew! What a trip!

Hello 2011! It's going to be a good year!

Hi there, blogland! I am really excited to be back and celebrating what should be a great year. I promise an update about the Smith holiday soon complete with photos (not all of them flattering). For now, though, I have a fun announcement. Despite knowing that this turns me into a TOTAL cliche, I think I've decided to document a "30 before 30" list on this blog starting as soon as I can get the list together. I have a draft, but I thought I'd reach out to my readers (what few of them there are) to see if you have any suggestions!

What are some things you've done or would like to do that you think I can accomplish in the next 2.5 years. You know, I just realized that it will be exactly 2.5 years on my half birthday, January 21st, so I think I have an official kick-off date for my list! So, if you have suggestions, let me hear 'em. I should tell you, I'm trying to do a few things with this list:

1) do things I actually WANT to do rather than cliched "adventures" like skydiving, surfing, etc. I'm not saying those aren't good things, they just really aren't things I want to do.
2) not go broke
3) not die

Alright, let's hear it!!

The Holidays in New York = Magical

So, I guess I feel off the bandwagon with my blogging about my diet! The good news is that I did not fall off the bandwagon of the actual diet! All told I have lost 5 lbs, which is not as good as I had hoped, but better than a sharp stick in the eye. I have cheated just a touch, on Saturday night, when Taylor and I went out for desert (so clearly, this was premeditated cheating, on my diet, not my husband). Anyway, I had a cappuccino and we split a piece of apply pie a la mode, but I was good and really Taylor ate 75% of it :)

Anyway, back to the purpose of this post. This weekend, I had some moments that reminded me why Christmas in New York is unlike Christmas anywhere else.

First, I emerged from our apartment at about 1:30pm on Saturday to realize that about half of the 20-somethings in New York had been up drinking since 9:30am for the annual "Santa-con." I don't know how I never heard of this activity before this weekend, but from what I can tell, it involves lots and lots of belligerent Santas wandering around the city all day. Here are a few shots near our apartment:

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

Later that night, still oblivious to the craziness that is Santa-con, Taylor and I went out for desert (the very trip I described above) and saw - actually we HEARD - one of Santa's Elves (ie. a skankily clad girl) completely drunk a couple of booths away from us. She was belting out the words to every song that came over the diner radio and kept yelling for more coffee. Then, after about 15 minutes, she stumbled out. Very interesting indeed.

The second fun New York City Christmas activity of the weekend was truly unique. The MTA, which normally stinks in every way, does something need on Sundays in December. They take out old Subway trains and run them on select routes throughout the city. I caught one on my way downtown to buy a present for my Aunt Sheryl (do you still read this, Aunt Sheryl??). Here's the train pulling into the station:

From Drop Box

The cool thing about this train ride is that it wasn't full of jaded, grumpy New Yorkers. Instead, everyone was like a kid in a candy store. No one really sat down, we just walked around looking at all the features of the old train, including the old-timey ads and everything. Here are a few more photos:

From Drop Box

They had ceiling fans and incandescent bulbs!

From Drop Box

Ads advocating violence, no big deal :)

From Drop Box

With accurate start/end points!

From Drop Box

The origin of the word straphanger (well, actually this is second generation, at one point they were leather!).

From Drop Box

I like this shot because the guy looks old-fashioned and then the yellow coat is so modern.

Hope you've enjoyed this!

South Beach Diet = Hungry 24/7

Well, it's day 2 of the diet and I am doing a pretty good job with sugar cravings and going without caffeine. My biggest problem is that I'm always hungry!!! I mean seriously, I'm eating dinner and I feel completely full and then 15 minutes later I'm hungry again. I know this all sounds like self-torture and I've had people ask me why I'm even on a diet, but the truth is that this is good for me because as my husband will tell you, I am a SLAVE to my cravings and I eat at the slightest feeling of hunger. So this is definitely good to build some tolerance. Don't worry, I will not waste away! :) My penchant for margaritas ensures that this will never happen.

Anyway, on to my menu for today:

Breakfast: onion and peppers omelet with tomato juice
Mid-morning snack: celery with Laughing Cow swiss cheese
Lunch: chef salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil
Mid-afternoon snack: 2 ham roll-ups with spicy mustard and a little bit of cheese and a handful of almonds
Dinner: rosemary salmon and sauteed asparagus
Desert: Vanilla Ricotta "ice cream"

South Beach Diet, Day 1

Today is day one of the South Beach Diet and so far so good! For those of you who don't know, the South Beach Diet is designed to regulate your blood sugar and cravings for sweets. I have done it a few times with moderate success, primarily because I am not good about sticking to it for the full two weeks, which is the duration of phase 1. Well, that's changing right now! Today, I'm kicking off my 2-week Phase 1, which ends December 21 just in time for the holidays. Hopefully, by getting my appetite under control before the holidays and being inspired by my success over the next 2 weeks, I can set myself up for early success in the new year!

So, I'm going to take the time over the 2 few weeks to use my blog as an accountability partner for my diet. I'll be brief and won't bore you with all the details. Hopefully you'll find it interesting. And hopefully I'll take time to interject some other stories so you're not bored out of your mind reading this.

So, to get started with the South Beach Diet, I had to make a couple big shopping trips. The main items on my list were vegetables, dairy, meat, and decaf coffee. In order to use said coffee, I had to clean my coffee maker, which my husband is keen to remind me has not been used in months and really is just a large clock taking up all of our counter space. Well, not anymore! I brewed 16 oz of Dunkin' Donuts this morning and added Sugar-Free Hazelnut creamer and 2 Sweet 'N' Lows and I must say, it's very good!

I spent a lot of time prepping my foods for this diet. I made mini quiches with spinach, green peppers, onion and cheese. I also made turkey roll-ups, salads for lunches, celery sticks with laughing cow cheese, and a delicious ricotta desert mixture.

Today, here is my menu:

Breakfast: 2 mini quiches (need to buy tomato juice to have with them next time, it wasn't substantial enough)
Mid-morning snack: String Cheese
Lunch: Chef Salad with Balsamic vinegar and olive oil and I'm also going to go look for some sugar free jello cups if they have them at the store. If not, I'll make some tonight
Mid-afternoon snack: 2 turkey roll-ups with cilantro mayo
Dinner: Grilled chicken, steamed veggies (haven't decided which ones yet, probably broccoli with a little low-fat cheese), and salad
Desert: Vanilla Ricotta "ice cream"

Looking forward to having one day done!

This is the first I've heard about it, but apparently next Friday is the 3rd annual Free Shipping Day. Looks like it's a pretty big deal!

Click here

Memories of Magdalene

Perhaps it's the holiday spirit, or maybe it's my constant quest for thoughtful, creative, and socially responsible gifts, but today I was reminded of a very dear part of my college life and I thought I'd share it with you all.

My sophomore year at college, I lived with 9 other girls in an apartment called "Mayfield." In order to live in this apartment, we had to submit a proposal for a community service endeavor that we would participate in for the academic year. We decided to partner with an organization that at the time was called "Magdalene House" but has since shortened it's name to just Magdalene.

Magdalene is a residential program where women who have a history of abuse, prostitution of drug addiction can enroll and receive shelter, counseling, rehabilitation, education and job training. They fund themselves by running a separate organization called Thistle Farms, a social enterprise where the women create home and bath products by hand and sell online and throughout Nashville.

Magdalene's headquarters is the beautiful St. Augustine Chapel on Vanderbilt's campus, and I have many fond memories of volunteering there throughout my Sophomore year and beyond. Here are a few:

- Tutoring a woman for her GED in basic high school math. She had no trouble grasping the concepts, but the fact that someone at her age had never been exposed to so much really opened my eyes to my own good fortune.
- Cooking meals in the Magdalene kitchen and serving them to the women and their families.
- Helping make candles, soaps, and lotions in advance of the holiday surge. The scent of Lavender is forever linked to Magdalene in my mind.
- Volunteering for an overnight homeless event at St. Augustine Chapel where we go pick up people from an over-full homeless shelter and house them at the Chapel for the night.
- Cleaning up the yard at one of the Magdalene residences. They were so appreciative and it looked so good!
- Having a holiday even at our sponsor's house. It was a wonderful night of friends, food, and coining of the nickname "Mel Hester"
- I will never forget the day that the secretary at Magdalene, a nice, single lady in her 30s with a few pounds to lose, came in to the office all excited and said, "Guess what!? I just started smoking to lose weight!!" Shocking, really.
- Cleaning and organizing St. Augustine Chapel seemingly every week because there were always so many people in and out of there.

I'm thankful to Magdalene, Becca Stevens, Leigh Gilchrist, and Vanderbilt for the opportunity to look beyond my own little bubble during my time at Vanderbilt. It was truly a blessing.

If you're looking for good Christmas gift ideas, may I suggest checking out Thistle Farms and telling their story along with the gift?

Blessings to you this holiday season!

I'm so fashion forward...

A few weeks ago, I sent Taylor a text that said, "What are your thoughts about a yellow jacket with black poodles on it?" To my surprise, he said "Sounds very cool."

So, I of course purchased said jacket immediately. Taylor was shocked, he thought I was joking!

From First Anniversary Trip

and I'm not the only one! I've seen the jacket on several web sites, in magazines, and even in the Willow Smith video, Whip My Hair.

Here are a few screen-shots: