New Season, New Blog

Well I got kinda horrible at keeping up with the law school blog, don't ya think :)

Now that I am finished with law school classes and about do be done with school in general (crossing my fingers that I pass the bar in March!) I thought it time to start a blog for my new chapter in life.

you can find it here if you are interested in reading.

School Update: Classes

This semester I am taking 4 "real classes" and it is safe to say that I am enjoying most of them!

Evidence 2: Is a really interesting class with a really interesting professor, which makes for a great combination. Not only does he break up the reading by giving us writing assignments (and not assigning reading when they are due) but he just does a great job of presenting the material in class and keeping it engaging for everyone.

Constitutional Law, Liberties: This could be a really interesting class, except that the professor is soooooo boring. I try really hard to pay attention, but some days it seems pretty impossible. The subject matter is really interesting, so I am pretty disappointed at how this class has turned out!

Advocacy: Despite all of the busy work, I like this class. Some weeks we have writing class and others we have skills exercises which keeps it interesting. The only thing that I don't like about this class is the grading. Each week we have a different professor grading us on our skills exercises (think direct examination, cross examination, etc.) and so it is hard to know what each professor is looking for because they are all different! Overall I am enjoying this class though.

Criminal Procedure: I could pretty much write the same thing here as I did about Evidence 2. Interesting subject matter and interesting professor = awesome class that I really enjoy. Yes this class is held on Thursday and Friday nights, but it is so interesting that I don't care!

This semester has taught me that the professor can really make or break the class. No matter how interesting the subject matter, if a professor isn't engaging then the class is a bust. So now I have a handy dandy list and I will only take classes from those professors from now on.

9 more weeks until summer . . . hooray!

Bagel Date

A while back Chris and I were in Maple Grove for various family activities. We had a couple of hours between activities and we decided to use that time for me to get some homework done. So we headed to starbucks and grabbed some snacks and I did homework while Chris messed around on his ipad.

(my Criminal Procedure Homework, Chris's ipad)

We were surprised at how fun this little study date was. I was able to get some studying done, but we were also able to spend some time together and hang out a bit.

Ever since then we have made it our little Saturday tradition. Normally Saturdays are my day "off", but since this semester has been so crazy I always have to do something on Saturday. So these little study dates of ours have been a great way for me to get something done while spending some time with Chris.

We usually go the Brueggers on Grand. This is because it isn't super busy, and I LOVE their bagels. Because of that we have started calling them our "bagel dates"

(mmm . . . bagel and chai tea at Panera)

This week we went to Panera (because the fresh snow made us depressed and we needed some delicious soup . . . yes needed :))

(soup in a bread bowl and a mocha . . . with "fake" whipped cream that Chris had to complain about!)

I think it's safe to say that we love our new little bagel tradition!

The Things that Arty Ate: Week 3

Well Arty was a good boy this week. Nothing major was eaten. Could we be done with the teething phase early??? I'm not going to count on it :)

So for this weeks post I thought I would show you another reason why I should never buy nice decorative things.

I previously posted about how I like to decorate my whole house for Christmas. Every year after Christmas I hit up all of the sales and try to find new things to add to my Christmas decor. This year I fell in love with some red and white plaid throw blankets and pillows that Target had. I waited until after new years to buy them (because that is when they go on super sale . . . and let's face it, i'm cheap when it comes to decorating stuff) and then I snatched them up. I spent most of my days trying to keep the dogs from laying on them (cause gosh darn it, ALL of my blankets were not going to be for the dogs) but then I gave up.

I realized that Arty had been using the pillows as toys when he ran into my office on day with one of them in his mouth. I assessed the pillow and blanket damage, and while not too bad or noticeable it was still enough to make me a little annoyed!

There are many of these little holes in the blankets:

And most of the seams on the pillows are a bit shredded.

Oh well, they were cute while they lasted :)

Look at the little deer. He would never think of destroying anything on purpose . . . never! (and yes he is wearing a training collar, those who are anti-training collars can chastise us if you want, but then I will challenge you to try training a big dog with out one!)

School Update

Well since this blog is titled "lawschoolcraziness" I suppose I should write about school every so often.

This semester has been pretty uneventful, but incredibly busy.

I am really enjoying my time out of school at the public defender's office and at my externship. It is nice to see the law at work outside of the classroom and to be a part of it.

The public defender's office has been such an amazing learning experience. I get to meet with clients, negotiate with prosecutors, and be on the record in front of judges. I really enjoy this side of the law (as compared to the reading and writing side) because it is more hands on and moves quickly. Although I have made my fair share of mistakes, I am learning more and more everyday and I think I'm getting better at this stuff!

My externship has allowed me so many opportunities as well. These are less hands on and more observational, but I am getting the opportunity to meet a lot of amazing people and the chance to see what behind the scenes of a courtroom looks like. It definitely has secured my goal that I want to become a judge some day. It seems like such an amazing and challenging job and I can't wait to have it :)

Researching for Professor Hilbert has been awesome as well. He has me on some really interesting projects that involve civil rights and they are my favorite things to work on.

I'll have to write about my classes later, as I have run out of time for blogging for today.

Christmas Photos

For our Christmas card this year we had some professional photos taken. It is something that I hope we can do yearly because as a person who loves having photos all over my wall, these make me happy. We had them taken by Meghan Doll Photography and she finally sent us the low resolution photos of the ones we ordered prints of so I thought I would share:

Our Arty boy:

This next one was not one that we needed for the house ( I had places for all of the others) but it was such a great picture of their relationship that we had to get it. Dart being king, Arty just hanging out:

Our little D'artagnan . . . such a cutie

And finally the one we ordered a huge print of to put on the wall . . . I love it, it captures our little family so well:

My sister-in-law, she rocks!

Why my sister-in-law is awesome

yes, that's right. 2 days after I posted my blog she had already "whipped up" another one for me. Is this girl amazing or what? I can't imagine how long that would have taken me!