Have I mentioned how awesome my friends are?

I am honestly the luckiest person in the world to have such amazing people in my life. I've had a couple of down days recently- law school taking its toll as it's wont to do, and my friends have rallied around me. My teammate in The Game gave me dispensation to take a snacking penalty (note- I didn't anyway, but it was nice to have it available, guilt-free!) Also, my friends Hillary and Amanda came to the rescue and made me come out of my shell to have dinner and a klatch. That was JUST what I needed today to get back on track. ALSO, Hillary heard about Betty, the Kitchenaid (how, I've no idea. I mean, I've only blogged about, facebooked about it, made every coworker come into the office to look at the box, and made it my gchat status...), and thought what a great idea it was that she wanted to add to the excitement. So my next step in kitchen awesomeness it to head over to Broadway Panhandler to spend this gift certificate from her on an attachment for Betty!!! HOW AMAZING ARE MY FRIENDS!?!?!?! Have I been checking out the website already? Oh yeah, you betcha. Do I go practical and get the splash guard? Or do I go awesome and get the pasta maker? Or do I go in a totally different direction and fill some other kitchen need? (seriously- do I have any more of those? Other than space?) The one thing I know is that I'm (at least for now) sticking to my guns on the "no sausage maker until after graduation." Because, let's be serious. If I have the potential to make sausage instead of study? Yeah..... I'll just fail out of school. On the other hand....

As for the progress on resolutions:

1) Be myself: Well, yes and no. The past few days have been trying, and I've reacted to different stressors in ways that disappoint me. I certainly don't want to be an automaton when it comes to dealing with stress, but I would like to be able to handle it better. That said, I've definitely made some progress over the past few years, when I would get into a funk that I couldn't get out of. I've developed some coping mechanisms that allow me to move past it- at least enough to get through the day. And then my friends are there, being awesome, to help with the rest.

2) CCs: still haven't used them. (sweet!) I also got a kind birthday check from my mom

which, in the past, would have gone out the window quickly. This year, I'm trying to be more measured and thoughtful with how I spend it.

3) Back in shape: Well. We'll see. I've been doing well at The Game- I've actually got a perfect score so far (yeah- all you have to do is tell me it's a competition, and I'll kick butt... you know, unless it's a law school exam), but I'm not sure how that's translating right now. I mean, it's gotta be helping- I just did 150 crunches, which I wasn't doing a week ago, so... that's good. I just have to remember that I won't see change in 1 day, or even necessarily in 1 week.

4) Mass: I didn't go last weekend, I think I mentioned, but I'm making a concerted effort this weekend. In fact, I've planned my Sunday morning around it. I'm headed back to St. Ignatius Loyola, my home parish, which I haven't been to in probably 2 years. Though I am a parishioner there, I know it's not the right home for me. But it's a lot easier to get myself to in the morning than the parish I like that's 45 minutes away. So we'll see how it goes!

5) Cookbooks: I haven't made any new recipes yet- I'm still feasting off the cooking day last Sunday.

6) Meditation: Ok, so again, I'm failing on this, but part of those coping skills that I referred to act sort-of as a structured mediation, so... though not quite what I was aiming for, at least I'm somewhere on the dartboard.

7) Praying: Yeah.... this hasn't gone so well. There have probably been 2 days where I've fallen asleep before I've prayed. And not because I was so tired, but because my mind was so distracted. I will try to work on this.

8) Organizing the room: erm... Yes and no. Probably, no in the bigger ways- clothes strewn everywhere- though- yes in the smaller ways- only clean clothes are now strewn- the dirty ones go immediately in the laundry bag. And when I opened the kitchenaid, I put the instructions right in the instruction folder. And I've put the tape back in the drawer every time. So... progress, just not... ideal yet.

9) Knitting a sweater: haven't started- I finished my hat though. It's pretty great!

10) Volunteer: Haven't done this yet. But I did donate to Catholic Relief Services to help in Haiti. That was actually how I spent part of my birthday money, and it made me happy to do something positive for the world with it. I chose Catholic Relief Services to donate through, as 93% of their funds go directly to the programs, unlike places like the Red Cross who only pass along about 60% to their programs. I'm not passing judgement on the Red Cross or any other aid provider- they're doing wonderful things, and if that's who you feel comfortable supporting, I fully back that decision. They (the Red Cross specifically) are a much larger organization and just have greater overhead costs. I just like CRS. Check out their website to see the projects they're doing in Haiti.

That's all I've got! There ain't no more!

Sleep well, my friends. I hope you have a great weekend!