graduate!! [well, almost]

i've finally tasted freedom following finals! yesterday my lovely friends and i headed to ja grill for a small celebration over rum drinks and stew chicken.

one of the signature drinks - dark & stormy (dark rum and ginger beer)

the red lighting is kind of nice - you cannot see how full we are

afterward we stopped at annette's, one of jaime's favorite places. i told myself i couldn't leave chicago without trying out annette's ice cream and i am so glad i did (although i am currently nursing a food hangover because of everything i consumed)

even at 10:30 pm we had to wait in line

missy pointing out my choice, anniversary cake = cake batter ice cream with sprinkles and pieces of cake mixed in! omg.

we met this little friend in line. he had the biggest personality and biggest bug-eyes i'd ever seen. true to dog form, i couldn't get him to pose.

love this sign by annette's... bikes need respect!

just for fun

a beautiful image by my friend michael gomez taken in burgos, spain. that sky is inspiring.

happy mother's day

here's a picture of my mom, holding me, next to a voodoo doll in a cigar box full of jewelry and an ankh. moving on...

happy mother's day to the most devoted, loving and caring mother in the whole world. i love you.

deal[s] of the day!

well my brain break is in full effect. i rode my bike up to lakeview and got a little retail therapy in to distract myself from studying (and thankfully beat the rain!!) let me tell you... i made a killing!

ikat print scarf from world market (find a similar one here)

prayer shawl, world market (yay, more scarves!)

stopped in my favorite consignment shop, buy popular demand, and picked up this ann taylor dress for $7!

little fishy earrings from the consignment shop, $2 - i had to get them!

gold, black and blue earrings, world market (similar to these, i knowwww)

consignment leather belt, $4

so my mom got these fish earrings years ago in mexico - and then proceeded to lose the other half. i've kept one fish, trying to work up the courage to wear just one earring (i don't know if i'm cool enough to pull that off), but now he has buddies! i plan on wearing all three. it's a good thing i went through an ear-piercing phase freshman year of high school.

i had to stock up on incense

best purchase of the day! i've been craving a pair of allstars for rainy, cooler, casual days for the longest time and found TEAL ONES! ya'll know i love my teal...

are you there, graduation? it's me, margaret

hello, long lost friends! i am taking this day to emerge from the library and give my brain a break. i just took part in a 3-day, 3-final marathon test-taking session and am spent. now, a mere two finals stand between me and graduation. i have nothing terribly interesting to report, other than the search for a graduation dress continues; i am avoiding packing like its the plague; and am overall very resentful of the finals cloud i'm under.

sidebar: walking home from my exam last night at 9 pm (so glamorous, i know), i traipsed past cafe bernard and saw this kick-ass cruiser for sale for the bargain price of $350. how ferosh is this bike? i'm a big fan, obvs.

have a great weekend, peeps. hopefully i'll be back soon!

finals.

in case anyone noticed that i dropped off the face of the earth, i am going to take this time to use my all-time best excuse that has gotten me out of birthdays, family parties, grocery trips, boring errands, doing dishes, and being a normal human being altogether throughout the last 3 years: i am in LAW SCHOOL. finals have taken over my life, yet again. given that this is my sixth and final finals season, i am going to make use of it yet again and beg your forgiveness for the continuing lapse in updates and my boring life in general.

the last 537298089032 days of my life (or so it feels) have been spent at the library. this is infinitely boring and not worth discussing. since the best library ever is one mile from my parents house, i have reacquainted myself with my childhood twin bed and moved in for the time being. that said, i sadly have nothing new to share. i walked home from the library today and normally would have shared with you some pretty pics from that exciting experience, but instead i spent the walk on the phone with my long-lost friend tony (no, not her!) and didn't take any shakeitphotos. so of course one of many afternoon study breaks consisted of fun pictures of my parents' house. enjoy!

my mason's collection! see, i told ya

i love this lamp

look familiar?

i love this little snail!

the artist, josef lacki, has a series called "venentian carnival," and this one of the series. my parents bought a bunch of mardi gras masks in new orleans last year and adorned them like so!

okay, i'm off to continue my exciting life.

my exciting life

my "study break" yesterday consisted of driving my roommate to a bar (yes, in the middle of the day) and then going to the home depot to pick up some moving boxes. thrilling. before completing my errand and returning to the confines of my dining room table, i walked about the garden section a bit to give myself (and my iphone photo album) the illusion that i'd spent a great deal of time outdoors, not staring at my books.

ranunculus flowers i was absolutely obsessed with - wouldn't a huge carpet of these look beautiful in a back yard?

and orchids, of course. aren't all of the different varieties so cool?

how do you say "feed me" in 6 languages?

oh, i know, like this:

lebanon

italy

brazil

india

france

japan

aren't these fantastic? nicole over at juicy clouds found these incredible images of flags made of food and i just want to gobble up every single one. aside from the fact that the rectangular white plates make just about anything look delicious, these are styled so uniquely and beautifully that i might have to pass up my exciting lunchtime plans of a turkey sandwich for something more exotic.

images via juicy clouds; see more images at trendland

minolta memories: the stragglers

these all took place during mardi gras 2010 (as if the boas didn't give it away). the pink palace, pictured above, is where marty calls home and where i'll be spending my summer studying for the bar.

speaking of studying...

minolta memories: still life

some more salvaged photos off of my less-than-successful roll:

the top photographs are from an antique store in sandwich, il (yes, it exists).

on that same trip my parents and i stopped at a roadside antique mall and i amused myself by taking the photos of the cornfield - i remember it was the absolute perfect summer day with a tiny breeze, and the sunlight was beautiful (you can see another picture from that day and of my parents here).

the tulips are right outside my soon-t0-be-former law school.