Holiday Season

I'm told it's the holiday season, but the only indication of this is the amount of red and green everywhere. Leigh and I have been down in the dumps big time these last few weeks. I think it's the weather and we're not getting nearly enough exercise. We had a few weeks of good snow for skiing, but the temperatures were so low it was pretty uncomfortable to be outside for more than an hour, and that was pushing it. Then over the weekend the temperatures were in the 40's, which was great for a break from the bitter cold but also caused a lot of rain and melted snow. Now we have bare pavement and ice everywhere, so no more skiing for a while. I anticipate a lot of dark evenings watching TV, drinking wine, and slowly gaining a few winter pounds.

It's not all bad though, the weekend before Thanksgiving we threw a Mad Men party at our house. It was our "house-warming/Emily wants to throw a party" party. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing because I had never thrown a party before and it was proving to be quite a project. In the end the whole thing cost me about $300 in food, booze and decorations, plus Leigh and I had to put together outfits. But the result was completely worth it: We had at least 25 people crammed into our tiny house, great music, people brought snacks and drinks to help keep things moving, and our guests put a lot of effort into their outfits. I was so touched that they took the party as seriously as I did. It made the whole experience so much fun!

Some of our nearest and dearest: Joan, Leigh and I, our friend Leslie, my former co-worker Nicole, and a new friend Hannah. Joanie helped us a lot with putting this party together and was an amazing go-to person for ideas and coordinating.

We had Heineken, of course, and I drank most of it myself. Yum!

And a VERY full house. At one point I realized that I didn't know a lot of people there! Then I realized that a bunch of people were dancing. Amazing. I even got to see my old roommate from NYC for the first time in 2 or 3 years. Our house felt so warm and lively that I think we'll make theme parties an annual or semi-annual event.

Speaking of parties, this weekend Leigh and I are going to Nicole's (see above) "ugly sweater party" and next weekend we're going to our other friends' Christmas house-warming party. Apparently when you live in a cold, dark place it's normal to plan tons of gatherings with friends, drink, and eat a lot. Sounds good to me!

In other news, my law review article is FINISHED and SUBMITTED. I don't find out if it'll be published until mid-January. That's fine though, I'm just glad to have that off my plate. Plus I finished a job application today. I'll be curious to see how much free time I have now that these projects are completed. Additionally, since I've submitted my first application all subsequent applications should be a lot easier. Maybe after Christmas I'll start papering the city with my awesomeness in hopes of getting some interviews.

So that's a recap of life in Anchorage. In exactly TWO WEEKS Leigh and I will be on a plane to Florida. Maybe then I'll start really getting into the holiday spirit....