I Can See The Light

I am beat! Spent the last 4 days doing an intense review for the final section of the CPA exam. Not sure what to think. It might be close. Now the wait begins. Probably 4-6 weeks until scores are released.

I'm looking forward to a couple days of nothing to re-coup! Then, I'm moving on to new and exciting goals. No more stressful ones!

Sillyness Runs In The Family

Meet KJ. KJ is my younger sister, she's 22. Her name is Karen Jean, but since my moms name is also Karen we call her KJ for short. She's probably the biggest goofball of all of us 4 girls. Here she is jokingly acting proper during my tea party. Notice her pinkie sticking up? During the party she came and whispered, "When I get older I'm going to have tea parties too Rach!" So cute. We are pretty close. I'm not sure how we did this, but when I was 21 and she was 13 we convinced our parents to let us go to Orlando Florida for 2 weeks! They agreed and we had a blast, she's definitely the best travel partner. Anyway, thanks for being a BEST sister Kaje!

Movie Night

My birthday weekend continued with a trip to the movies. Jonathan's family was in town so Kate, Jemma, Donna, and I went and saw Julie and Julia. What a fantastic movie! This is the cutest movie I have seen in a long time. I am really considering buying myself a french cookbook too! I highly recommend this movie.

Afterward, we stopped for gelato! It was a beautiful day out and we were able to sit on the patio. Overall, a great evening!

Birthday Tea Party!

I had such a great day! I hosted a Tea Party in celebration of my 30th birthday. It was fun catching up with my closest friends and family. We shared a lot of stories and laughs.

Menu Included

Cucumber Sandwiches
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Mini Blueberry Muffins
Cheese Cubes and Crackers
Strawberries and Grapes
Summer Salad
Chocolate Mousse Tarts
Raspberry Cheesecake Tarts
A Variety of Tea
Lemonade
Honey Apple Ice Tea

Everyone also enjoyed a tea bag holder to take home!

Flowers = Happy

I just wanted to share some of the lovely flowers I've received from Jonathan over the years.
I love all of them!

The Big Three ZERO!

Today is my 30th birthday! And what a delightful one it's been. :)

I awoke to a surprise gift


Diamond Earrings!

Then I received a dozen beautiful long stem roses at work!

Top it all off with a delicious birthday meal of mini crab cakes, steak & lobster with potatoes, and white chocolate mousse with fresh berries! MMMM.

Jonathan said I deserved a special birthday because not only was it my 30th but it was my first birthday as a "Mrs." LOL! I'm so lucky to have a great husband. :)

Weekend Summary

I had a very nice weekend. Chels came to visit and we got in some shopping. We also treated ourselves to pedicures! My feet are so smooth and the polish is perfect. Had lunch at Panera, that's our tradition. Then went on a nice walk before the rain hit. After dinner, we watched a movie and worked on our scrapbooks. I've been meaning to get going on my wedding scrapbook, it's long overdue!

Today is catch up on chores day. I'll be leaving for Omaha tonight for training on Monday and Tuesday. I'm making Jonathan a pot roast. I figure he can eat off that for a couple days since he "doesn't remember" how to take care of himself since he's gotten use to having a wife. Lol!

Misery

That's what I would say I've been going through the last 5 days, in my final attempt to pass the CPA exam. I spent the last 5 days doing an intense review, 3 hours of studying 1 hour break increments from Saturday to yesterday. I dont necessarily need the CPA since I have changed jobs and moved to private accounting, but since I already have 2 sections passed I thought I'd give it one more go around.

Tonight the studying picks back up as I take the tax section on August 31st.

Pass or fail, after August 31st I will never think about this exam again and I'm very much looking forward to that day.

Trip To The Mediterranean

I decided to try something different tonight. I found this recipe in Fitness magazine. Mediterranean chicken. Pasta and chicken in a white wine/chicken broth sauce loaded with katamala olives, artichokes, and roasted red peppers. Super tasty! Jonathan would only eat the pasta and chicken, leaving me with double the good stuff!

Maya V.S. Her Foot???

Oh silly Maya. Never a dull moment with You around.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today we celebrated my dads 54th Birthday! It was a great afternoon with the family