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My grades posted for the Fall semester.... I got a 4.0! I was pretty sure I would do well, but I'm estatic! I can't remember the last time I got straight A's

Whee!!!

No more metal mouth (for my husband anyway)

I am so excited for H right now. This summer during a dentist visit they were discussing a tooth he had that was significantly behind the others. Growing up in India in the 1970's braces were extremely uncommon unless you were uber wealthy so of course my husband and his siblings didn't have them.

My husband is one of the least vain people I have ever met and would never have considered having braces to straighten his teeth. (He doesn't even do any of the whiten at home treatments, etc.) However, when they went through his options to fix this braces were the cheapest method. (and Lord knows cheap is one thing my husband can relate too) Even better the dentist offered to do them himself for a reasonable fee. I was overly cautious about having a regular dentist do it given my then two time experience with braces especially since the dentist was promising such a short time with them (much less than either of my experiences and no offense my teeth weren't as bad).

Fast forward to the present, they come off tomorrow. Basically the 4 months the dentist estimated. I am so excited for V! I know he has been really self-conscious about them and having them removed before his new job next week is the best timing. He was so happy with the experience he's actually considering fixing his bottom too.

Before and after pics to be posted tomorrow! (Yes we took before's to see the transformation)

And to relate this to my last post he got them put on two weeks before I took the bar.....see how much has happened in the meantime?

OMG can the calendar move any slower?????

For those of you that may not know me in real life, I spent my summer in preparation for the state bar exam. I took the exam w---------a----------y back in July. It is now November and I am still sitting waiting for the results.

Yes, this is normal for California.

Yes, going into it I knew November 19th would be the release date.

Yes, I know patience is a virtue.

Yes, I have no reason to be mad....

However.......

I want the results.

I feel like I need to know.

I'm tired of people asking if I have heard yet.

I hate people asking what my plan is if I fail. (STFU people, seriously???)

I'm exhausted with waiting. My sole comfort is that I gave it everything I have and couldn't have been more diligent about it.

I really want to know this experience is behind me. I'm a glutton for misery and already registered to take the exam at the next available date (February) and I want to start studying, but can't. I hate thinking it's all a waste if I haven't passed and need to re-do California.

On a side note.....My back up plan is not a good one. I saved over nine weeks of vacation for bar prep and used it all when I took the test this summer. If I fail, I'm at the mercy of my work letting me take time off completely without pay (something I don't think they have done before) or being forced to resign which would mean zero income or job to return to. These are soo things I can't think about right now.

Whoa that what a lot of rambling and venting!

Tweet yourself at 16

Yesterday's popular them on twitter was tweet yourself when you were 16. I started seeing some random postings in the morning and it was in full swing by the afternoon. Here are some of my favorites from my twirlies (I removed their identities because some have protected their tweets)

• By your mid 20s you'll have a far better life than most of those popular people that tormented you as a young teen.
• Yup. You're right on about that boy. Don't rush it you'll have a lifetime
• I know you think running the mile sucks. HA! When you're 27 some crazies will talk you into running 26.2!
• Asking others for help doesn't mean that you're weak. It just means you GASP! don't know everything.
• when you go to make that left turn at reseda & chatsworth a month after you get your license, look twice, dumb ass.
• Stop comparing yourself to your way too skinny chicken head best friend.
• Hug your dad. A lot.
• He's gay.

My personal pearls of wisdom to teenagers

• Don't ditch your friends when you have a boyfriend. They will stay in your life. He won't.
• It's okay not to go out every Saturday night
• Don't be a workaholic yet. You'll do it for the rest of your life.

To view all of the tweets you can click here

It was a lot of fun, but got me thinking about who I was when I was 16 and where I thought I would be at 30. When I was 16, I was starting the workaholic phase of my life that I'm still in. I desperately wanted to go to Europe with my friends that summer. I'd never been out of the country and was dying to go. My family wasn't the type to do those type of things, but I was blessed with a supportive Mom. We cut a deal to split the cost provided I worked and paid for my half. After a while I was frustrated at the lack of progress I was making busing tables (whopping $4 an hour) towards the $1500 goal I had set to include my costs while on the trip. In the end, I sold Avon (not the typical 16 year old thing to do but mainly I put catalogs out around town and took orders) and worked another day job over the summer in the pizzeria at the mall. I sacrificed by delaying getting a driver's license because I couldn't do the trip and cover insurance, etc. In the end, I made it and got to stop being an Avon girl, etc. The trip was one of the most eye opening experiences of my life and a ton of fun. I traveled through Germany, Hungary, the Czech republic and Austria for two weeks right before my senior year started.

In so many ways that year changed me. I know if I hadn't done it I wouldn't been as driven to work and be productive starting so early. Maybe I would have lost interest in seeing the world.

Thanks twitter for making me reflect on my 16 year old self!

Product Raves of the day

Today's blog is going to be some product raves. This summer I was followed by @Influenster on twitter. When I got the notification I checked out their site and found they are a product testing company. For the last few years I have done some product testing and word of mouth programs so I gave them my info. A few weeks ago my first "VoxBox" arrived of green themed products. I was super impressed with Influenster right away. The products were all full size and some great brands that I had heard of, but never actually tried myself.

The first was Pureology shampoo and conditioner--I am super picky about shampoos (to the point that I actually use 2 different types of shampoo and 3 different conditioners each time I wash my hair--but that's a story for another day). However I wanted to try these just to see how they held up with my hair and they were color safe which is a must for me.....I was blown away by how great they work. My hair smells fabulous and has great shine. To add to the bonus it has kept my hair blonde and not brassy for the last month. I randomly was told last night by a classmate that he thought I was a natural blonde. Major yay's for a color that is almost 6 weeks old! I think these products totally had something to do with it. ;o

The next was Kiss my face Peace soap. I've seen Kiss my face in stores for years and my BFF totally loves it, but somehow I'd never tried it. It's basically a simple environment friendly soap that you can use to clean almost anything. My box included the Pomenegranite scent which made me want to use it on ME instead of clothes, the dog, etc. I started using it as a shower gel and it works well (not too sudsy) and smells yummy! (I'm a sucker for smells when it comes to my products) I'm not usually too green, but it is a nice feeling seeing a small ingredient list of things you are familar with for your shower gel.

The third item that I was super excited for is called Zsweet, which is a zero calorie sweetener. I'm a huge sweet and lo gal and use it every day in my morning tea, but I mainly use it for being an artificial sweetener and have no loyalty to their brand over any other. But the one thing I hate is having and throwing packets away every day (especially since I'm at home). The box had a box of Zsweet packets and a shaker more like you would see for regular sugar, etc. It's been so nice to use it and not have to deal with packets each morning.

Disclaimer: I am not paid by Influenster and my only potential compensation is the free products I have tried or may receive in future VoxBoxes.

On a side note: check them out on Facebook or twitter--better yet sign up on their site to try some too! Everythings better with friends :-)

Welcome to my new blog!

New phase of my life means a new blog. :-) I feel like I have re-invented myself in a lot of ways in the last year and decided to start from scratch. The new blog has been inspired NaBloPomo (National Blog Posting Month). The basic idea is to blog a post every day for the month of November--what better way to commit to a new blog and make it a habit?

I've got lots of randomness to post this month--so I may do more than one a day and just keep them short and sweet (mainly so that I can feel I accomplished something haha)

Ta-ta for now!!