I can't believe it, I survived finals! I survived my first semester of 1L!! For better or for worse, its over and for 3 weeks there is nothing to do but relax, catch up on some trashy reading, have a few drinks, catch up on sleeping, catch up with non-law school friends and just forget about law school for a while! I'll catch up on blogging too, I promise!
Have a great holiday all!
Thanksgiving break is over and it's officially "that time of year." No, not the Holiday season, for us law schoolers it is Exam Season. It's the time of year that we all dread and fear and give thanks that it only comes around twice a year. The holiday season won't officially begin until my last bluebook is turned in. Then I'll be able to enjoy some holiday cheer.
Thanksgiving was a nice 3 day break from law school. Many of my classmates made me feel guilty for being a slacker and actually going home for the holiday and taking a quick break from school. But I needed it. After turning in my Open Memo (which was a a piece of garbage IMHO **fingers crossed that I did better than my last one, even by a smidgen). When I arrived back in Law School City almost all the 1Ls were in the library already. It was 11am on a Saturday for gosh sake! I did not join in the frenzy. Instead I unpacked all my treasures from Mom, more specifically all my Christmas decorations. My apartment for once doesn't look like study central w/ books all over the place, instead it looks like Santa's Workshop with law book interspersed with snowmen and reindeer.
I actually took books from one of my classes home, admittedly I knew when I left that I wouldn't even open them (hence I only carried 1 subject home). I did peak at the outline I am working on and did a few edits, for a few minutes. There was just so much excitement around the house, all the siblings together again for the first time in ages and ages. Who wants to study at a time like that? Now I'm paying for it. For the next 2 weeks I'll be in outlining hell! And then I'll be in exam hell!
1L is a marathon. You have to have a plan to finish and stick to it. If you go out too fast, you'll burn out early. If you wait til the end to push it, you'll finish but you'll be running hard to catch up and when you finish you'll feel like there was more you could have done to finish better. Thanksgiving Break was "hitting the wall" for many classmates. Everyone is feeling the exhaustion and the pain and they just want it to be over. All we have left is less than a month, in a marathon most people hit the wall around Mile 20, where there's only a 10K left, but that last 10K feels harder than the first 20 Miles! This is time to be a smart studier. Time to rediscover your stride. For the law school 1L marathon i don't feel like a back of the packer/penguin, but i'm definitely not a Kenyan either. I'm a "just hope to finish and finish well"
Good Luck to all the other 1Ls! "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming"
Consider this your notice that from Monday until Exams are over in December, I will have limited time to gchat, AIM, email, skype, txt (who am I kidding?), talk on the phone for hours at a time, go out drinking every night, spend all weekend parying and shopping...basically spend quality time with you.
Sadly, you will all be replaced by law school friends competition, our days spent shopping and partying will be replaced by hours in the library writing and re-writing my memo, outlining and re-outlining, reading and re-reading.
In light of this, I have scheduled times that I will still have fun and go out in Law School City . If you want to see me then that's when it will have to be, unless you want to come sit in the library with me ;). However, I will still be going to the gym M-F mornings, so if you really miss me, get your cul out of bed and join me at spinning!
Friends, the following are definite events that are currently planned and your attendance is welcomed: saturday brunch, thanksgiving break re-hash (saturday following Thanksgiving), christmas party, wednesday night we-almost-survived-another-week dinner and the Fave Band concert. There will also be at least one more crazy Saturday night (i said at least!) or Thursday night Bar Review.
Family, I will be home for Thanksgiving, but only for 3 days. You have me completely on Thanksgiving, so bring on the Beaujolais Nouveau, Turkey, Champagne, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!!
If, however, you bring a care package (or just coffee/redbull/no-doz) I'll find time to squeeze you in!
I will miss you all dearly.
XOXO,
1L Elle
It's mid-semester and I've realized that I have spent most of my money for the semester already. Don't be so shocked, most of that was used to pay for moving expenses. Moving from abroad I had to buy all new furniture and furniture is definitely NOT cheap! So I've been trying to find ways to save $$ and still enjoy the finer things in life and afford the essential of law school survival (COFFEE).
I realized after looking at my quicken that I spend as much $$ a week on Starbucks that I do on food during the week (weekends I always go out and spend waaaay too much!) I spend a minimum of $5 a day on coffee, sometimes as much as $10. OUCH!! That's between $125 and $200 a month on Starbucks!! HOLY BOLLUCKS!! No wonder I'm broke! I order a quad grande soy latte, sometimes vanilla if I'm feeling extravagant. That darn "latte" and soy part adds up. On Monday I discovered that with the creamers they finally have soy available for free too!! woo hooo!! Now all those dairy allergic people aren't discriminated against!! So I now only spend $2.50 on the same amount of caffeine. How do I do it? I order an extra hot quad espresso in a grande cup and add my own soy milk. It's not steamed milk and I do miss out on that little frothy-ness on top, but seriously an extra $2.50 for warmer and a little froth?? I let it cool off so much anyway before I drink it that it's not much different anyway. At least the way I reason it!!
And on that note, I'm off to Starbucks to get my fix to help me get through the reading due for today!
XOXO
All the recent law school grads are hitting "refresh" and holding their breath, waiting for Bar Exam results. Good Luck to you all!!
this will be me in 3 years!!!
until then I will continue to pretend to study and drink lots of wine.
Hello Fellow Law Students,
1L Elle here.
Remember that song you learned in kindergarden "make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold" ? Law school is really challenging that! My old friends, my best friends are all starting to bitch that they heard from me more when I lived 5000 miles away than they do now that we live in the same city, 1 mile apart! It's getting really hard to manage new friends, old friends, family and law school!
I wish law school friends could merge with old friends, but old friends are all at completely different places in their lives than all the 1Ls who are straight out of uni and are all about getting wasted every night and hooking up with each other.
Speaking of hooking up, the incest (dating/hooking up within the section) is really starting to get around! The beginning of the semester everyone was being discrete, not no more!! Their discretion is no competition with the gossip girls in our section. Our section night out last week was one huge gossip night! Oh my goodness the things that i saw and heard! I'd love to share, but I don't want any gossip to come back around about me, so I'll keep my mouth shut...for now.
until then, back to studying
xoxo
I'm reading law school message boards and there seems to be a lot of 1Ls who hate law school. Is that what's supposed to be happening? I don't really see it at my school. Everyone is stressed out about midterms (which can't hurt your grade) and starting to fret over outlines...I mean, I bitch about the reading and the research and the writing, but honestly, its not that bad. Definitely not bad enough to drop out and lose $25K. But now that they mention it, I wonder if that's why my Civ Pro class seems so empty. Or maybe they just decided that they can teach themselves the law? I'll have to investigate and see who's missing.
On another note, I have my ticket home for Thanksgiving!!! :-) I'm leaving super early on Tuesday and coming home on Friday night. It's a short break, but it's so close to finals that I'm one of the only ones who is even going home! If it was any other holiday then maybe I'd spend it w/ my friends in New Law School City, but Thanksgiving is the only holiday that my family isn't completely dysfunctional, only minimally! Plus my baby bro is home from Iraq and about to be deployed back to another military conflict area and I want to spend some quality time with him (i.e. try to beat him up, get beat up by him, and then get some brotherly advice). I can't wait!!
Look what law school has done to me! I spent my whole weekend studying and not partying in New Law School City! Well, not the whole weekend studying, I did do brunch with the girls on Saturday AND Sunday. And I did catch up on all the shows that have backed up on the DVR. Oh, and I did some reading for fun (the first time since classes started 5 weeks ago!). And there was some baking time spent. And I cleaned my room and kitchen (the living room and dining room is on the list for this week). I did get through the first 3 LEEWS disks (for the 2nd time). I did get caught up on my Crim reading and finished my Civ Pro reading for the week, but don't even get me started on Con Law!!!!
Ok, so its not like I wasted the weekend, but I didn't party OR get all the studying done that I needed to. This is what law school has driven me to. I spend the week in class, library, Starbucks, studying all the time, drafting memos, or sleeping. The law school dominates so much of my time that I'm now skipping out on going out with my friends so that I can stay home and clean and bake and do all those ordinary people things that I couldn't find time to do during the week. I do always manage to go out on Thursday night, that's my reward for surviving another week. And I usually manage to go out on Saturday night, but that depends on how much studying I get done during the week and if I have Legal Writing to work on.
I really wish there was a break somewhere, time to breathe, relax, go on vaca, time go visit my family, lots of time to go shopping (that of course requires $$ which is in short supply these days). Just time to sit outside with a cup of coffee and read the paper and not be worrying about the reading that is due and the exams that are looming in the distance.
I think this week I will kill myself getting ahead of all my classes and i will spend the weekend with my best friend shopping, gossiping and drinking lots of wine!
I found this on http://postsecret.blogspot.com a site where pepole anonymously send int their secrets. 
I wonder, is this a secret that I'll harbor in 3 years? How long after law school will I regret becoming a lawyer? I'm still determined to not let anyone break my spirit and deter me from becoming a lawyer, but it's getting more difficult. Yesterday someone saw my portfolio from my around-the-world trip and they offered me a pretty sum for some of the pictures. Could I make it as a travel photojournalist?
I've been in law school for 5 weeks now. Some classes are starting to "click" and others i'm SERIOUSLY drowning! I want to go to office hours but I don't even know what questions to ask to help me understand! On a good note, all that work I put into my first memo really paid off! My rewrite was not too hard!
Back to the library, on a friday night, my life is really starting to SUCK...but here's my secret...I'm actually loving the law school challenge!!
It's 7:30am and I cannot sleep. 6.5hrs of sleep and I'm completely energized. Ask me on Thursday morning if I'd get up at 7:30am and I'd punch you in the face, but today I woke up to the first real Fall day of the year! I slept with the windows open last night, it was around 50 degrees and I was able to sleep snuggled up under my warm duvet. I woke up and watched the sunrise. The weather reminds me so much of arriving in France. And listening to a city is wake up is amazing. At 6:30 all I hear is birds chirping, 7am cars start moving around, by 7:30 the kids are up and off to school, neighbors are out for their morning jogs and Starbucks runs. By 8am horns will be honking and construction will resume on the building across the street and the puppies will be barking. Until then I'm sitting on my balcony watching the world wake up, drinking my coffee and actually thinking about opening my crim book. I love the mornings so much more than the nights, for observing that is. In the morning its a brand new day, everything smells so fresh, and there is so much possibility and optimism, like the dream that I'm actually going to get in a run this morning, finish my reading for Crim AND finish my memo rewrites. By nightfall, the day is over, everyone is tired after the long day of working, you realize that you didn't get 75% done of what was planned, but there's still that optimism that you'll stay up all night and be ready for the next day, after you watch all the shows you've Tivo'd and share a bottle of wine with your friends and caught up on all the law school gossip.
The semester is already almost half over!!!! Not to panic anyone or anything!!!!!! OMG, I haven't started outlining yet! I haven't finished listening to LEEWS again! All the panic is already starting to hit everyone. Just as we're starting to understand the cases and the classes are finally starting to "click", Legal Writing is ramping up to kick our a$$es. If it's only October 1 and people are going crazy what will Dec 1, right before finals, be like?????
It's Friday night, and I'm still hungover from too much partying on Thursday night. Whoever said that there's no fun in law school is clearly a looooooser! Of course there is a lot of work, and you have to stay on top of it or you'll drown, but if you're efficient in the study plan, there is definitely still time to make friends and party!
I wasted my day off today though. Between cable tv w/a dvr and a hangover, this was a very unproductive day. I have all of my reading still to do for next week, serious cleaning that needs to be done in my apartment, I mean SERIOUS cleaning, and i have a memo due on Tuesday. AGH!! Looks like this weekend is going to require some studying on Saturday (between college football games of course) ;)
I'm trying to decide when to start outlining. I'm not even sure how to outline, but I'm thinking that if i get my memo done tomorrow and my reading for Monday, then I might try to start outlining, at least for Civ Pro. The time might be better spent, however, doing some hard-core studying for Con Law, the bane of my existence! I am so seriously lost in that class!! Civ Pro is all coming together, Crim is fine too, law and order helped with that ;-), Legal Writing is gonna kill me because of all the work, but I'll survive that. Con Law just is not "clicking"!!!!! Damn!!
I was just reading my student code of conduct (hey, don't laugh, anything is scintillating than reading Con Law!!) and I came across the section on inappropriate relationships between students and professors. In undergrad I don't think it was ever mentioned, frowned upon, but not forbidden. At Law School we're not allowed to have sexual relationships with our professors! And if we do we have to end it until they are no longer our professor...LOL...DAMN!!
First day of school went pretty well. I didn't get lost, I had people to sit with in the cafeteria, and when I got called on in class I got the answer sortof right! Go Me!! Of course this is still orientation and none of what we do or say counts, but still, I SURVIVED!!! I have like 60 pages of reading to finish before my first Real class tomorrow. UGH! Its really buckle down time. No more playing. Of course, if I could just get a good night sleep, wake up without a massive headache and find my appetite I might do better, and before you ask, no I'm not taking adderall or any of those "smart pills"! I think I just really need my new bed to be delivered!
Ok, back to studying!
I'm finally moved into New Big City! Well, almost moved in, my apartment doesn't have any furniture, and nothing is set up or organized, and the cabinets are empty, but I do have a bottle of wine chilled, wine glasses are unpacked, and i've bought my first semester books! Go Me!!
I love my new apartment and my roomie is a crazy awesome girl! Love her! I was really looking forward to living on my own again, but this is better, b/c we have separate schedules, and our own lives so we won't be on top of each other 24-7.
Now its time to really crack open the books and get down to business! Wish me luck!!!
Ok, my world is complete now. Two of my favorite things on earth are now one! I know I shouldn't be excited about this, it probably isn't safe for the poor albino dolphin (i'm thinking the pink is sunburn?), but its so cute! 
This morning I woke up at 4am to a sound that I dread, serious thunder and rain pouring down. UGH was this a sign of how my day was going to be?
and this is a hint of how my day went...
Some days its just a better idea to climb back in bed and pull the covers over your head!
I remember back in high school, the teachers gave us a summer reading list and first day assignments to go with them. Usually it was the night before school was starting and all my friends were trying to guess which book we'd start the semester with. Praying we pick the right book, we stayed up all night reading and then writing our journal assignments. Then we got to school and, in all the excitement of seeing all our friends again, promptly forgot anything we had read the night before. Law school is a little different, there's a little more pressure and expectation that you will actually read the assigned books, before the night before classes start.
My first day assignments are posted and the booklists are out. Classes start in 3.5 weeks and I'm already ahead in Civ Pro :-) Woooot, summer reading didn't fail me! Buffalo Creek Disaster is part of the 1st day assignment and our text is Glannon's Civ Pro E&E! Of course I still have LEEWS to finish and Delaney's Learning Legal Reasoning to finish. I haven't started 1L so I don't know if any summer prepping did any good, but it calmed my nerves and kept the boredom at bay. This is not to say that I followed the Planet Law School 1 year prep (that guy is crazy!) I took the advice of 2Ls and 3Ls and enjoyed myself during my last summer of freedom. I partied, I travelled, I drank a lot of wine, and I slept. But at the office, the mornings are soooooo boring and when I got hired my boss made an exception to the rule for me and we agreed that I could read instead of staring off into space for 3 hours, so long as it was reading for school! No Cosmo or US Weekly, whatever I was reading had to be school related. So I skimmed the E&Es for Civ Pro and Torts, skipped Criminal (bored me to tears, hopefully there's a better Crim hornbook out there!), and then I started reading the "suggested" summer reading list from the law school. Ok, so it sounds like I did a lot of prep, but I promise I'm not the gunner!!!!! Instead, I'm the nerd who loves to read (even if I don't completely understand what I'm reading) and I'm the girl who hates to be bored so I always have a book on hand.
Ok, I think I need to go sit by the pool with the girls, drink a margarita, and open up a really trashy novel!
Cheers!!
Sending out Happy thoughts and lots of luck to everyone out there taking the bar today and tomorrow! That'll be me in 3 years! UGH! 3 years sounds so far off all of a sudden. I haven't even started classes yet and I'm already dreading the next 3 years and studying for the bar. I think I need to back up, I'm getting ahead of myself, I need to make it through the next month!
Summer is almost over. My years of just "playing" are almost over. In 3 weeks I'll be back in the academia world. Soaking up the law like a sponge. That list of "To Do's" is still long and I have now accepted that that's the way it'll stay for the next few months. I just don't have the time to get everything done before I move in 2 weeks. I barely have time to finish up at the awful office and pack and say my good-byes!
Today at the awful office job I started reminding all my clients that I only have 2 weeks left! Most of them are so sad to see me go. The supervisor on the other hand, well, she replaced me faster than 2 shakes of a lamb's tail. Hope the new guy realizes what he's getting himself into. Some the clients have hinted that next week I'll be finding going away gifts on my desk. awwwww :-) I heart some of them so much. We've bonded over the disgustingly early mornings filled with energy drinks and looking for ways to stay awake and keep the boredom at bay. One of my clients this morning told me that he wants to set me up with his young, eligible, successful son. Unfortunately, said son lives on the opposite coast, 3500 miles from Law School City! Maybe if he's so successful he'll be the one willing to put in the effort to come visit me, b/c i've seen my school calendar and its looking like I am not going to be taking too many mini-break vaca's this year. Grad school isn't like undergrad with lots of long weekends for Homecomeing, Veteran's Day, Columbus Day, Teachers' Day...
All said, I can't wait to start law school!!! I'm so excited to be moving to the Law School City in 2 weeks!!! :-D
My law school hasn't sent out our syllabus with the book list, first day assignments, etc., but some of the other schools that I was considering published "suggested" reading lists. The "suggestion" is polite way of "requiring" that students read long lists of books that are supposed to prepare students for law school. I know that with only a month to go until I start school there's no way that I can read 30+ books, as well as pack up my household for a long-distance move. I decided to begin with the most popular books that sound at least a little interesting. We'll have to see how many books I actually finish before classes begin in August. There are so many non-law books that I want to read before i start living in the library and have to spend 23 hours a day reading case books! I love reading for fun, not having time to read for fun this year is going to be so hard!!
I started my "suggested" pre-law readings with The Buffalo Creek Disaster. 
. It is surprisingly good! It's about a disaster in coal-mining town in the 1970's and how the victims sued the mining company. It moves fast and explains the litigation process without being to complex. I finished it in a day and a half!
Next up is either biography of Holmes or The Supreme Court by Rehnquist.
Then again I'm really wanting to read Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper or a fun fiction. Suggestions?
I know I complain and rant all the time on my blog. In person I'm not really this way. I'm truly an optimistic and very cheerful person, but sometimes a girl's just got to let it out, and its not like anyone reads this anyway!
Well, today I'm not going to complain or rant, my faith has been restored that there are truly good people out there. Random acts of kindness is not gone forever!! What, you may ask, has restored my faith? Well, I was wallking home from the gym today, nasty sweaty, tired, and a little cranky since blood sugar was too low. Oh, and did I mention that it was also 95 degrees and sunny and humid? UGH! I'm walking along mentally deciding if I could physically run home (i'd just run 8 miles on the treadmill) and if I did run home how soon I could be jumping in the pool. I'm completely oblivious to anything around me when I hear a passing car stop and the driver yells "One L, do you want a ride?" This may not seem like much, but on the days that I've walked or ridden my bike from the gym friends from the gym pass me and the next day as we're chatting they say "I saw you walking yesterday. You looked so hot and miserable!" they say this and yet they never stop to offer a ride. They probably don't want my sweaty body sitting on their new leather seats, and I don't blame them ;)
Anyway, thanks Gym-guy for the ride today!
So summer is here and I'm way behind on staying in shape. I have motivation though, one of the Besties is getting married in a few weeks and I need to look HOTT to snag a cute groom's man...J/K (sorta ;-) ). I also have the motivation that being in shape will help keep me sane during the crazy stressful time known as "One L Hell" I used to be such a fitness nut, swimming 5 mornings a week, spinning or running 3-4 times a week, and strength workouts while I watched my shows. Now, I'm just making it to spinning once a week, running 3-4 times a week and strength or swimming? Well, I'm building muscles by lifting a glass and swimming in pre-Law School debt already!
This week I was awesome! I got to the pool early enough a couple of mornings to gossip with the girls, get the best lane, and during our kick I got to gossip even more! It made the killer sets worth it. Of course all those calories burned were for nought b/c brunch was calorie and alcohol-laden hours of yumminess. I also trouv'd my iPod Nike+, FINALLY! So on my run I had Lance cheerin me on, it made the run so much better! All in all, my short run was 3 mi, my long run was 5.4 mi, my short swim was 1.25hr, my long swim was 3hr and in between there I just had some average workouts. I think I lost 2 lbs., but won't know for sure til Monday when I use the gym's scale (its the most accurate). I'm still well far away from my goals.
On the law school front, I have a place to live!!!! :-D Its a super cute little apartment in a neighborhood that i LOVE! I'm debating how I'm going to move up there. I don't have any furniture, but I have a TON of boxes. I'm sure my mum would love for me to finally get rid of all my stuff from high school and uni that I've been storing in her attic. My options for moving to New City are 1.) moving truck, buy furniture here and drive up, 2.) SUV with as many boxes I can fit, buy furniture in New City and have it delivered to the apartment, 3.) ship all boxes via UPS, fly up to New City with 2 FULL suitcases, and have furniture delivered and rent a truck to go to Ikea one day. The prices come out to be pretty close after gas, hotels, flights, shipping, etc. The flying/shipping/delievering idea is the most appealing, but i'm just not sure how secure I feel in shipping my new LCD TV via UPS? I'm so worried they'll break it or lose it. Just about everything else can be packaged in peanuts and I'm not too worried. I'm so indecisive. I need to make a spreadsheet and figure this all out (my nerd backround is showing!) and SOON! Mum and I keep going antiquing and there's so many things that she loves for my apt, but I'm ambivalent about buying anything until I know how I'll get it up to New City. Ok, resolve, I will decide this week how I'm going to move! But for now, I'm going to lay by the pool with a cool drink!
Cheers!
Today is the 62nd anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy, D-Day, J-Jour...I would think that every person over the age of 12 knows what D-Day is. Living in France I've visited the beaches and tried to imagine what those boys saw and felt as they fought for inches, losing so many of their brothers. The American Cemetary is haunting, with its rows upon rows of crosses. These boys fought for the freedom that we have today.
At work I was sitting at my desk and it hit me what today is, I asked one of my co-workers if he realized that today is D-Day. I work with an idiot. He had no clue what D-Day was and asked if I was going to have a party to celebrate?? Ummmm...what?? We honor the memory of the men who fought on that day, but it's not a light the fireworks and tap the keg kind of celebration day!
Merci for what you and your friends did that day on Omaha beach! Je t'aime!
Every day should be Memorial Day. We should never forget the brave men and women who defend our freedom. 
Bub is in Iraq right now. Everyday we pray that he comes home safe. He is a third generation militaryman. Grampa T and Grampy fought in WWII. Grampa T was Army-Airforce, he flew rescue missions and was shot down over the English Channel. Grampy was part of the Normandy Invasion on D-Day and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I am so honored to call Bub and Grampa T and Grampy, Family. I'm proud of the sacrifices they made to keep us safe. 
**Rant Begins** Bad manners is one of my biggest peeves. This is not to say that I am always the best example, but I try 90% of the time. I had a MANDATORY meeting, on a Sunday evening no less! There are 2 reasons that the scheduling of this meeting annoyed me. 1) The scheduler knows that I have to be up @ 4am on Monday mornings, 2) I don't drive (lots of different reasons), i walk or take public transpo; usually no problem except on Sundays the buses stop running before 8pm. I told the scheduler of this issue, made sure she knew it was inconvenient for me, but that I would be there. So what happens? I get my butt to the office, such a hassle, only to find that they cancelled the meeting but failed to tell me!!!! WTF??!?!? Come on! OF all the people to not tell, you forget to call the one person who you're really screwing over? THANKS!! I ended up having to walk all the way back to mere's not getting home until late and missing out on important hours of sunday night sleep, therefore making me very cranky when I had to get up @ 4am on Monday morning!! GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! I'm so ready to be done with this girl and her lack of courtesy! I'm not coming to your next "Mandatory Meeting"!!!!
**Rant Over**
In Law School news, I've conditionally decided on a school!! Some of the friends are happy w/ my choice of New City, others are disappointed b/c I didn't choose their city. :-( Sorry Girls! I'm excited about moving into a new apt. and getting to decorate a new place! Sadly, every time I move I seem to pick a new color scheme, which means that I need to get all new decor! Expensive habit, but fun too!! I've already found my bed, dresser, and desk! I'm starting to get nervous about the actual moving process though. I'm sure that I can find people to help with the big stuff, but I'm already in "moving help debt" to my friends in the city I'm moving to! I'm going to need a LOT of ice cold beer and a yummy dinner to bribe them this time!
I have to say HAPPY MOTHER'S Day!! to all the mommies out there!
What I learned today: i have a LOT of crap! As a mothers day present today I'm packing up and getting rid of a lot of stuff that I've had cluttering up my mom's house for so many years. It seems that every time I move btween places I bring stuff home to Mere's and throw it in storage, to be saved for that house that I'll buy someday in the future! Well, it's been 10 years of moving and I've still yet to buy that house and now Mere is wanting to move at the end of the summer. that means that either I pack it up and take it with me when i move to school or it'll be thrown out on the front lawn, and I wouldn't put this past Mere, she did it to me when I was 16 and refused to clean my room. I came home from school and my whole bedroom was on the front lawn for all the world to see. So embarassing! I don't want to have all my possessions thrown out, so today I gave Mere the best Mommy's Day gift, I cleaned out the chest of drawers, 1 of 2 walk-in closets, and emptied 3 boxes that I shipped home when I moved back from abroad a few years ago (yes, they were still sitting there unopened from all those years!!).
Happy Mother's Day, Mere!!!!
(trans: smoke and smog = SICK!) :-(
I hate being sick! It's so not fun and so not fair when it's not even my fault! I mean if I had gone out partying and skipping sleep and not working out and not eating right then, fine, I deserve it. But all because of global warming and some idiot causing a forest fire I'm trapped inside my house. The smoke is so bad outside that you can't even see 50meters infront of you! At least I have stuff that I need to get done at home so its not a complete waste of a day.
I was so ambitious this weekend. I was convinced that this was my week to get it all together. HAHA! Part of my getting it all together was a new plan for my mornings. I was hoping to streamline the process and gain a few extra needed minutes in the morning. I decided that instead of getting completely ready for work at home and then looking a mess when I finally got to the job and spending time fixing what the commute messed up, I would put my workout clothes on and carry my work clothes and then change when I got there, thus eliminating the "redo" part of my morning and for once maybe I'd be ontime (or as close as I get to ontime). As an added bonus, I'd be sure to remember my workout clothes so I'd have no excuse to skip the my run during my lunchbreak, Score!!
Yeah, well, somehow I took just as long to get half-ready as I do to get all the way ready (I'm a great lolligagger). so when I got to work I was not only just as late as usual, but then I had to still finish getting ready (which takes longer than just fixing-up). Thus making me late for the morning and throwing off the whole schedule for the day. Now I have to skip the planned lunchbreak-run to catch up on the stuff I needed to get done this morning (with the extra time I was supposed to have found with this plan)! Blasted! My plan didn't even last 1 day! I have a headache. Maybe I'll just crawl under the desk and take a power nap ;-)
Bonne Nuit!
Nicolas Sarkozy élu à la présidence de la République à une large majorité
French Elect a New Prez
Au Revoir Jaques Chirac. The French elected a new President today, Nicolas Sarkozy. I don't agree with all of the French policies (and attitudes) but, of the choices, Sarkozy was a better pick over Segolene Royal, sometimes she's just scary
I can't even begin about this movie! Yes, it's true that I fall hard for an accent, guilty, but that's not the reason I'm in love. After watching this movie I remember what I love about France. It's not Paris (although my love affair with this city is long and passionate, albeit tumultuos at times), it's the small quaint villages that have character, it's the lazy afternoons spent sipping a beautiful bottle of wine. Living in France is an experience for all the senses. There is beautiful scenery, but the taste and smells of fresh baking bread from the boulangerie and the taste of the pain au chocolat so flaky and buttery and warm the chocolat melts, or the taste of a cheap bottle of wine enjoyed on a summer day with friends watching the sun set from the steps of the beautiful cathedral (except for the smell of the metros during summer rushhours when the people aren't wearing deodorant and there is no air conditioning (la climatisation)) Forget law school I'm buying a villa in Provence where I can sit and contemplate the world while tasting all the wines the region has to offer.
At the very least I've decided that if I can't get a paying firm job next summer, I'm studying abroad. I miss living abroad. It makes me so aprreciative of what I have when I come home.
Cinco de Mayo brings back memories of a fun night out with Amie in Paris. We were craving real mexican food, which is almost non-existant in a country that shuns spicy food. The closest we could find was an american tex-mex chain. Not even close to real mexican food and the margaritas were trés cher and trés faible! So we sent her boy out on a mission to find us tequila to add to the margs. 30€ later we had the most kick-ass frozen margaritas and we were WAAAsted! I wish I could find the photo evidence of that night...or maybe they're better off lost! ;-) Anyways...
Remember...It's always on 5 at Margaritaville!
I have so much that I need to be doing, but I just feel gross from the winter. So, in lieu of getting somthing useful done, I am off to get prettied up and do some necessary damage to the AmEx! Summer is almost here and I am ready for the change of season, the season that brings...
sandals
pedicures 
flirty sundresses
and childhood memories of lazy days in the sun 
Au revoir l'hiver! L'été, Je t'aime!
This week I finally told some of my best friends that I'm going to law school in the fall. Up to this point only my family and my recommenders knew of my plans (hopes) to start law school in August. I didn't want to tell anyone until I actually got accepted by a school that I would be happy staying for 3 years. I also didn't want to tell people have them get all excited for me and have them encourage me and then to fail to follow through. Over the past few years (since I left the big bad corporate world) I've changed direction so many times that I think my friends are lost keeping track of me! I finally found something that I love and I'm putting it on the back burner for a few years until I get my JD and then I'll hopefully come back to it with better opportunities open to me.
It feels like such a weight off to finally tell my girls what I've been keeping secret for so long. They are so supportive of my decision (as if there was any doubt!!!) and this is one of the many times that I'm so blessed to have the best girlfriends in the world! It would just be so much better if we all just lived in the same region!
Thanks Girls! I heart you!! When is our next big adventure??
Today Amie turns the big Three-Oh! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPY Birthday!!
Where did the years go? Is 30 just around the corner for me too?!? I'm not done with my 20's yet! I remember turning 20 and not wanting to leave the teens. 20 seemed to mean that I was supposed to be mature and responsible and all that merde. But now 30, yowza! 30 is big business! 30 means that I need to find my career, husband, house, and family and FAST!
My review of WCL
Getting to WCL (Metro)
I was staying near the Metro Centre stop (xfer point for the Red, Orange, Blue lines) so I took the Red Line up to the AU-Tenley town stop. From there the law school shuttle picks up, across the street from the AU main campus shuttle. I've heard horror stories about what a hassel it is getting to and from WCL, from my experience it wasn't a pain in the butt that people whine about. The shuttle drops off behind the WCL building or there is the option of taking the undergrad bus, which seemed to run almost every 8-10 minutes and then walking (down the hill!) to the law school. I also found that a bunch of the metro buses run right past the law school! Driving to campus, as almost everyone has commented is not fun if you're a 1L b/c you have to park at a commuter lot and take a shuttle. But they just opened an independent lot very close to campus and it's $75/mo to park there. I forgot to ask if you can "buy" parking passes (for the lot under the building) from 2L/3Ls like we did in undergrad.
Near the Tenleytown Metro stop there were a few places to eat, a Best Buy, Container Store, and a gym.
While I was on the bus I heard a bunch of 1Ls comparing spring semester to fall. All (4) of them said that they had barely started outlining (12 weeks into the semester and only a few away from finals) and they agreed that this semester was harder because they slacked off so much at the begininng. I stored this tidbit away for future reference...Do NOT slack 2nd semester!! The girls also were talking about their lack of social lives this semester and how they're constantly tired and just can't get up the energy to go out. Boooo!
I sat in on a 1L class at WCL. It was not as scary as all the stories that i've heard. In the hour that I was there they covered 2 cases. The prof only cold-called one girl, and she wasn't really all the prepared. I don't think she'd done the reading, she didn't know what the facts or holding were. Most of the class was volunteers. When the prof started the class he jumped right in and everyone started typing furiously to keep up with what he was saying. After a little while he slowed his pace and started posing hypos and asking questions instead of straight lecturing. I tried to spot the "gunner" but couldn't pick him/her out. I've heard from others that many students in class are on IM, surfing the internet, etc and not really paying attention. The class had maybe 60 students and I could see ~25 screens from my seat, only 3 were surfing and didn't have any notes up on the screen. A couple switched between IM and taking notes. From what I could see a lot of people seemed to book-brief, i didn't see any rainbow highlighting though.
Large Classroom
The classrooms that I saw were all clean, bright, and modern. There is a lot of sunlight coming into the rooms, which should help keep people awake. The whole building has wifi and each seat in the classrooms have power source and are hardwired for the LAN.
Lockers
Hallway, Lockers
Every 1L gets assigned a locker. 2L and 3Ls can request to be assigned one. This really did remind me of high school!
Laptops: I only saw 2 students in class without a laptop (one guy was in the back and I think he was asleep thru the whole class). There was probably 30% Macs and a Lot of Dells. The Macs work on the network and no one seems to have a problem using them, except for exams. For exams there were a couple of different scenarios 1) the law school brings in a bunch of laptops for students to borrow for exams 2) the profs let the students use their macs without the exam software and they go by the honor code that noone will cheat.
Library(Very Bright)
Quiet Room in the Library
Study Desks in the Library
I stopped by the library and, well, it was a library. Lots of light from the skylight, there seemed to be enough study desks, but since it was a Friday it wasn't very crowded. All the desks had a light and power source.
Ceremonial Courtroom
WCL Cafeteria
Eating options around campus included a bagel/sandwich place, starbucks, chickin out (i assume to be a rotisserie chicken place), and the WCL cafeteria (which I was told by a 2L is not great)
Pool at the AU Main Campus
There is no fitness center at the law school, but students can use the main campus facilities. Working out is a priority for me so I had to check it out. Maybe I'm spoiled, my undergrad had the most amazing, HUGE, gym, in NYC I had a beautiful place to workout (that I paid a pretty price for too...OUCH!) and if I wanted to get outside I had Central Park at my doorstep. After visiting the AU gym, i'm majorly disappointed!! It was tiny and way too crowded. There is a nice jr. olympic pool and diving well, but the cardio section, while equipped with brand-new machines was only about 500sq ft and every machine had wait to get on, and this was in the middle of the day, i could only imagine peak-after-class-ruch hours! They had about 10 elliptical, step, and arctrainers, all with personal tvs! The treadmills were ok, but they didn't have tvs and faced a blank wall. The weight and stretching area was cramped with a lot of equipment and no place to move. Overall, my review of the gym was that it has the right equipment, but it needs to expand. I'll prob end up joining the gym by the Tenley metro stop if I move to DC, or finding someplace close to home and only use the one on campus in a stressin out emergency.
Around the campus were some beautiful houses (definitely out of the student price range!). i didn't really look too closely at apt or condos close to campus b/c I'd probably live near Dupont. I was told by a student to avoid at all costs the apartments that the school recommends (can't remember the name). She said that they're expensive, not worth their price, and its very likely that you could be placed with and undergrad roomie!!! I did check out a couple of apts and condos in the dupot, adams morgan, and georgetown areas. Expensive, but not that bad compared to NYC. If I end up in DC there's a chance I'll be buying rather than renting (after moving every year or 18mos for the past 16 years I'm ready to put down roots somewhere.)
All the students that I met seemed very nice and helpful, albeit a bit stressed out and tired. A couple of them told me that last year they had been deciding between the same schools that I am, and none of them regret their decisions to go to WCL. They did all complain about the cost though (of course!) My superficial description of the students is that there is just about every type there, but a majority of the students were dressed in jeans/tshirts/sweatpants/baseball caps. A couple were in business casual, a few guys had collar-popped shirts, and there were more "vivians" than "elles". Like I said, this is my superficial impression of the students.
Overall, WCL is among my top choices (if I get in off the WL). The cost is going to hurt, but there are some programs that i really like (clinics and study abroad) and I LOVE DC! I had the best time going out with friends, I checked out a few of the rowing programs on the potomac, and buying is more affordable than in NYC!
Cheers!
I love everything Pink, but I try not to go over the top; There are some green and blues in my wardrobe too.
I have spent a lot of time traveling around the world, but there is so much more the I need to see. I'm working my way through 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, I've got a good portion of Europe, the US, and Africa.
My life has a soundtrack. I love listening to music and I'm rarely without my iPod. When I drive, I usually have the top down, music up and i sing without caring who hears me.
I love water, being in it, looking at it, touching it. I have been known to take a 2 hour bubble bath and on occasion I fall asleep in the shower.
"I cannot catch, cannot throw. In all honesty, I am afraid of the ball. Balls are something that Cinderellas attend, not orbital devices that cause serious bodily injury." (I borrowed this quote from Think Like a Woman, Act Like a Man's blawg, it's so perfect!
I can't do my hair and makeup in the morning with my shirt on, so once or twice (a week ;-) ) I'll step outside before I realize that i forgot to finish getting dressed.
I love to wear dresses and skirts, I do own jeans and trousers, but those are only for the coldest of days in the winter. I'm never caught in shorts, even at the gym I wear this:
I can sleep anywhere. My best friends can vouch for this and my family has a collection of pictures from family trips of me sleeping (they're not attractive pictures, i try to keep them out of the public eye), but don't worry i don't drool.
I've only had cable for a total of 4 years in my life and it doesn't bother me. With itunes I can download my favorite shows: Grey's Anatomy, House, Numb3rs, NCIS, CSI: Miami, Law&Order SVU. I appreciate the shows with intelligent writing and charaters. I can't tolerate reality tv or courtroom tv (judge judy, etc).
I'm stubborn as all hell, but I'm also fiercely loyal.
I wish I was more eloquent and a better writer.
My favorite time of day is nap time and bath time. No, I'm not a 2 year old, but I still take naps and bubble baths.
Bad manners is my pet peeve, especially table manners. If you talk with your mouth full, I'm likely to ignore you, or get up and leave the table.
I watch tv with closed captioning on and i prefer to watch dvds with foreign subtitles or dubbed in an attempt to improve my language skills
If you're wearing white pants/skirt/shirt, wear nude colored bra or panties, not white, I don't need to see that!
My body doen't adjust to sudden temperature changes so if it's cold outside i'm usually hot when I go inside and in the summer I'm usually freezing.
I don't have a great sense of taste so I usually eat by texture. I can't handle slimy or mushy, don't get me started on bananas!
I drink a lot. Not just wine and martinis, but tea, coffee, water, orange juice, smoothies, I could easily live on a liquid diet. Living in France I learned to appreciate cheap wine and the fresh squeezed OJ that mom used to give me every morning growing up (oj in france is so bitter! blech!)
I speak 4 languages, but my goal is to be proficient in 10.
I can't make a decision to save my life. My family knows that to give me a hard time give me 3 choices, I can handle 2 but, 3 throws me!
My grammar pet-peeve is passive voice (thanks to my h.s. freshman writing prof drilling it into us!)
I love fromage! Goat cheese, feta, mozerella, cheddar, brie...everything but stinky cheese, don't give me no blue cheese, roquefort, blech!
I would much rather be a passenger/navigator than driver in a car. Driving makes me nervous. Its a good thing my best friend loves to drive!
I love penguins and dolphins and monkeys
Give me a map and my trusty compass (My fave Pirates quote: "This compass is broken! It doesn't point North!" My Johnny: "We didn't want to go North anyway!") and I can navigate us anywhere!
I'm always up for an adventure to destinations unknown, but please, when I get there, let there be wine!
