Category: glasses

highlights of 2011.

i love reading the yearly highlights on other blogs & thought it would be especially fun to catch up on the entire year since i didn’t start blogging until the fall.

{via google}
january: we had a mellow start to the new year that was highlighted by starting the last semester of my law school career.
february: we celebrated our 6 month anniversary on the first (cheesy, i know). we hosted a celebration party at our townhouse which included my turning 26 (yikes!), a very belated housewarming & of course, our 6 month anniversary. aaron took me away to whidbey island for a romantic weekend to celebrate my birthday and valentine’s day, and we went to serafina (my fav) for dinner!

march: my last official spring break (probably ever) which was spent studying (papers & oral argument) & working on my Bar application. i submitted my Bar application. we were surprised by the early arrival of baby cambridge: franklin pierre cambridge.

{via cari cambridge}
april: we attended the Barrister’s Ball (a.k.a. law school prom) which was held at the EMP. we drove to ritzville, WA to meet my dad & brought home the newest member of our little family, sadie. we had a date night at The Pink Door during Seattle Restaurant Week.

{taken at photobooth}
{the very first picture of sadie & aaron at the columbia river – taken with holga 135}
may: my last official final exams period: one final, two papers & a project. i painted our office a soothing blue in preparation for my bar exam studies. we attended Baccalaureate Mass at Seattle University & my Law School Graduation at Key Arena. we flew to indiana to see aaron’s family & to attend aaron’s ten year reunion at Culver Military Academy. we continued east-ward to Paris where we spent a week of celebration: graduation & aaron turning 28! we spent our first day in Paris with our good friend jerry who acted as our translator & tour guide.

june: i started my bar prep studies on the first; this marked the beginning of eight grueling weeks of 80 hours a week cramming. aaron interviewed & was offered a program manager position (still at microsoft). 
july: we saw Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part II at the IMAX. i sat for the WA Bar Exam on July 26, 27 & 28; i wouldn’t have made it thru those three days without my friend miriam, three-evenings-in-a-row massages, jimmy john’s delivery service or the sheraton hotel in bellevue. we got celebratory pedis at my favorite spa Julep. 
august: on the first we celebrated our one year anniversary at Rover’s. we dropped off sadie with nanny lisa and headed east for a lower family vacation. we spent the bookend weekends in charlotte, NC with aaron’s brother david & his family, but spend most of the vacation in charleston, SC on the beach at the Isle of Palms. lots of sun, sand & air conditioning. sadie & i drove to boise for a quick trip home to visit my family & to get a haircut (yes, i go to idaho to get my haircut). we waited in anticipation for baby lower who was born shortly after we left NC: landon neal lower.

{via jodi lower}
september: we saw maroon 5 & train in concert at the white river amphitheater. we drove down to salem for a weekend to see old family friends & so aaron could skydive; we saw our friends but had to cancel the skydiving due to weather conditions & miscommunications. we attended a surprise dinner party for sami, one of my very old friends from idaho, who now lives in seattle with her husband, brandon. on the 26th we celebrated sadie’s 7th birthday.

october: i passed the bar exam! we celebrated our four year dating anniversary with dinner at the melting pot. we attended Ghouls Near Greenlake, ben & sarah’s annual halloween bash as aladdin & jasmine. we ate our way thru seattle & bellevue during Seattle Restaurant Week. aaron ran in the warrior dash. i started a little blog called emerald city diaries to keep family & friends updated on the lower family.

november: i was sworn in as an official King County Bar Association member. i was rear-ended. we celebrated the baptism of baby herschel, the son of one of my law school friends. we celebrated thanksgiving with my grandmother & friends in seattle. we bought doug the douglas fir, the second annual lower family christmas tree. aaron took me to the nutcracker for an early christmas date.

december: we celebrated the engagement of our good friends andy & hailey. we attended a champagne brunch fundraiser. we got an SLR camera. we drove to boise in a rental car. i got a haircut. we flew to vegas. we attended the nuptials of scott & kelly at the chapel in the clouds. we cheered on the boise state broncos to victory in the las vegas bowl. we attended a christmas reunion of the CBC (my dearest high school girlfriends). we celebrated christmas! we drove back to seattle. 

whew, what a year! every year i think “this has been the best year ever!” and i think this is totally true about my 2011.
how was your 2011 – was it a year to remember or are you itching to start 2012 already?
M

four eyes.

no, i was never called “four eyes” by anyone on the playground (kids can be so mean!), though i was always really conscious of my glasses from the time i first got them in second grade. i got contacts as soon as my eye doctor thought my eyes were ready, and by the fifth grade, no one was any the wiser that i was blind as a bat. fortunately for me, glasses are in and i am definitely embracing the trend!

i have a really great pair of glasses from my eye doctor from ProDesign out of denmark. i love these glasses, totally lawyer-chic! and the big bonus (two actually) is that i can replace the lenses every year without worrying about threatening the frame’s integrity (metal vs. plastic frame) AND i can wear mascara or even eyelash extensions with these glasses without my lashes hitting the lenses.

as much as i LOVE my glasses, i really wanted a fun pair of glasses. perhaps it would convince me to wear my glasses more often (which i really should be doing anyways). there are lots of online eyeglass stores popping up all over the internet that offer cute & trendy frames for really reasonable prices ($99).

a little FYI about three of these stores i am in the know of:

ONE. $88 prescription glasses & sunglasses.
TWO. free shipping & returns.
THREE. spex vision – a unique virtual mirror.
ONE. $99 prescription glasses & sunglasses.
TWO. discount styles offering – 30% off.
THREE. virtual try-on.
FOUR. “Pay It Forward” campaign: We support ChildSight, free vision care & glasses for children in need.
FIVE. free carbon neutral shipping.
ONE. $95 prescription glasses & sunglasses.*
TWO. free shipping & returns.
THREE. virtual try-on & home try-on.


FOUR. “Do Good” campaign: almost one billion people don’t have access to glasses. glasses can increase one’s productivity by 20%. we have distributed over 85,000 pairs.
FIVE. the colonel monocle.


*there is an extra charge (around $30) for high index lenses if you have a strong prescription (like me!). this may be true of spex club and bon look as well.

i decided to go with Warby Parker, mostly because of the at home try-on but also for the “do good” campaign. you pick out five pairs of glasses on the website and (for free, though you have to give your credit card information) they will send you your chosen pairs to try on for five days. i don’t know about you, but “trying on” glasses on a picture of me just doesn’t cut it. the fit is so important when it comes to glasses and i really needed a company that would let me try the glasses on for real.

so here were my five picks:

{sorry for the reflection in all of the glasses. the only way i could competently take a picture of myself was on my webcam.}

and i chose… {drumroll please}

the beckett!

have you gotten new glasses recently, prescription or otherwise?
M

note: i did not receive any compensation from warby parker, bon look, spex club, or any other eyeglass company. the words above are solely my opinion.