Lately

Wow, I realize I have not posted in a while. The past few months have been a WHIRLWIND. I am still breathless from the marathon of events that has had my schedule locked up every weekend. And I’m still running! Between graduations, weddings, and baby showers, I am swamped! So I’ll recap the summer so far:

My wonderful husband Mark graduated from USC School of Law on May 7th. I'm so proud of him. I’ve seen him work so hard these past three years, diligently studying, writing, and becoming actively involved in extracurricular activities such as the Law Review and Moot Court. His dedication to academics allowed him to graduate second in his class. I could go on, but I’ll spare you my bragging.

After graduation, we took a lovely weekend trip to Hilton Head Island. We rode bikes on the beach, relaxed in beach-side hammocks, ate room service breakfast on our balcony, and picked out which beach houses we wanted to live in someday. Oh, and I had one of the best dining experiences of my life at The Studio. It’s a small, chef driven half restaurant, half art gallery. Everyone was extremely pleasant, and the food was incredible and very artfully presented. Candles and mellow live music created a romantic atmosphere, and the hostess was also an artist that had an easel set up in front of our table and painted between helping the diners. Definitely my kind of place.

Baby Fever is in the air! So many of my friends and coworkers are sporting the bump, but the mommy-to-be I am most excited about is my dear friend Kathryn. She is going to have a precious baby girl, and I was so happy to host a baby shower for her. It was so was great to see all the girls and celebrate the upcoming arrival of McKenzie.

My brother Cameron graduated high school on the last Friday in May, which ended up getting rained out and (after 2 hours of the administration's disorganized attempt at decision making) moved to the gym. Because of limited space, I didn't get to see my brother graduate. But I did get to wander the halls a bit for the first time since I graduated, which was WEIRD. I thought about all the awkward moments and how the little things I worried about then don’t even matter anymore. I wondered what I would say to 16 year old Kara if I saw her walking down the hall. It doesn’t matter, she wouldn’t have listened anyway.

The next (EARLY) morning we jetted off to San Diego for my cousin Ingrid’s wedding. She had one of the most beautiful receptions I have ever been to. It was held at her great aunt’s fabulous house on top of a hill. It was an incredible site for a reception. Some of my favorite highlights were the sun setting in the background, a fire pit, and at the end of the evening a surprise hot dog and soft pretzel stand as the guests trickled off the dance floor. For pictures, see my facebook album.

We took a few extra days and had some fun in San Diego. We did some sight seeing, went to a Padre's game, and had some AMAZING food (think fresh fish tacos and some of the most beautiful sushi you've ever tasted)!

Wedding events continued with a bridesmaids luncheon for Tiffany the beginning of June, and Tiffany and Jamey's wedding on June 12. Another beautiful wedding reception!

Mark and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary the last weekend of June that started with a French cooking class here in Columbia and ended with a lovely stay in Asheville, NC (with more good food, of course - it's kind of our favorite hobby).

What's going on now: Mark is neck deep in bar study, putting in 14+ hours a day. So that's yucky. BUT - the very very exciting news is that he got a job! This year has been the toughest year for graduating law students - only about 20% of his class has a job. Firms just aren't hiring in this difficult economy. After neither of his summer clerkships resulted in a position, we were so disappointed. The next several months were even more discouraging as more opportunities seemed hopeful, but the thud of rejection letters on our doorstep knocked us back down. But, as I already knew, God had a plan for us all along, even if we couldn't see it yet. Mark got a call from Nelson Mullins (the firm he interned with over the summer in Columbia) saying that they had an open position at their Atlanta office. He interviewed, they offered, he accepted. It is an incredible opportunity, one that we were definitely not expecting a couple months ago. Needless to say, we are extremely thankful to God for providing, and are excited about starting a new chapter in the big city. Now we are in the process of packing and looking for an apartment. So there is more race to be run with no end of the busy craziness in sight, but I love it.

On a totally random note, I really don't understand these hamster KIA commercials...