Old, and New

So i've made a lot of changes in my wardrobe since I made the decision to go to law school and become a lawyer. I now have more pairs of dress pants than sweatpants (GASP, i know!). My columbia coat is now the least worn coat in my wardrobe. I think, however, I realized the biggest change today when I was putting my new shoes safely in their new spot high up on my bookshelf (D'artagnan chewed through two heels a couple of weeks ago, so I had to find them a safer spot). May I present to you . . .

Old Shoes:

New Shoes:

my sister would be proud:)

Fall Break and . . . Dumas!

The long awaited fall break is finally here, and I must say I have enjoyed it thus far! I spent Thursday studying a little, and then Jill, Phil, and Joe came over for a couple of games of settlers. The studying was productive and the settlers games were tons of fun, so that made for a successful Thursday. Then Friday Chris and I drove out to Iowa to celebrate (a little early) our 1 year anniversary. We went down to Des Moines to see Wicked, which was AWESOME! Not as good as the Lion King, but definitely up there on my favorite plays list. It really was a cool story. Today we drove back and I spent the rest of the day writing my second graded WRAP assignment, the Partial Memo.

The Partial Memo is such that we have to pretend we are an associate in a firm writing to one of our partners about a client and his legal issues that he has brought to us. We end it with our conclusion of the issues and our recommendations. I must say that writing on a Saturday night is not very productive. I think I spent more time on facebook than writing the memo! But I did eventually get it written, which means all's I have for tomorrow is editing.

This brings up a major issue of my law school career, Facebook. I can't tell you how many endless hours I have spent wasting time on facebook. Don't get me wrong, i love keeping up with everyone and reading about my friends and what they are doing. Facebook makes me feel connected even when I don't have the time to physically be with everyone. But, I can't help but wonder how much more productive I would be without it. Honestly, I would probably find other waste of time things to do, these breaks from studying may be what is keeping me sane. So I will keep my facebook habit for now!

On another note, first graded mid-term next week. No worries here though, I feel ready for it and confident that I will be able to decipher my professors ramblings:) If not, I will learn from the experience and do better on the final, that is the good thing about mid-terms, we actually get feedback for once!

Enough about school. I would like to introduce you to the latest edition to our family, Dumas. He is a 3.5 month old rescue dog from WI. We think he is vizsla mixed with greyhound, maybe? We're not really sure, nor do we really care! He is such a sweet sensitive dog, and so smart too! Chris can't wait to get him trained up to go pheasant hunting, he's got webbed feet and a "soft" mouth so he will be perfect.

It has been really fun to watch D'artagnan and his relationship evolve. Dart is very dominant and playful and Dumas is very calm, cool, collected, and always wants to be in your lap (we'll see how that goes when he gets bigger!) so it has taken them a while to get used to each other. But we are now a week into it, and they are becoming buddies:)

He loves to give kisses!

such a cute little guy!

His first day: D'artagnan barking at him, and Dumas just sitting there wondering what to do with this crazy dog!

Tonight: they spent the night wrestling with socks and toys and are now crashed out in my chair, SO CUTE!

The week in review and . . . Brooklyn!

This week was pretty uneventful. Our midterms seem to be approaching must faster than we anticipated so it is making everyone a little on edge, which adds a whole new element to the school atmosphere. I'm also beginning to feel like my school day breaks are starting to fill up with never ending appointments. Meet with the fellowship director, meet with the multi-cultural affairs lady, make sure to go to some required PLP events (we have to go to 10 events by mid next year, something about giving us perspectives on lawyering?), meet with my grammar tutor, etc. That along with the constant studying leaves me drained by the end of the day. It seems like every Tuesday I come to the end of the day thinking, "oh good tomorrow is Friday" and then I realize it only feels like tomorrow should be Friday because I have crammed so much into my brain on monday and tuesday!

But honestly, I'm kinda liking the pressure. I've always been competitive, so law school feels like this constant game that I am working endlessly to win. Though unlike the way I play competitive sports (and board games), I'm hoping the competition doesn't get the best of me! One thing that I have learned as I have grown older is that winning isn't everything. If you knew me 3 years ago you know how much I needed to learn this lesson! I learned that it isn't always worth getting mad at your teammates for making a mistake, or mad at yourself cause you screwed something up, it is about having fun. I try and remind myself of these lessons so that I can remember that it isn't always about being the best, but it's about learning everything you can and having fun! Now I'm not saying I lack the desire to be the best, I do still dream of being number one in our class, I just want to make sure that my competitive side doesn't get the better of me, and that I remember there are more important things!

That being said I can finally "introduce" you to my amazing friends

Brittany, Geri, Me, Rachael, Maureen, and Jill

We have so much fun together, and we even got our significant others to meet and have dinner with all of us (and I think they may have actually enjoyed it, at least I know Chris did!). Safe to say we spent the whole night laughing, which is pretty much what always happens when we all get together. Much needed relief from our law school craziness!!

And now I will end this post with a tribute to one of my favorite little guys in the world and a list of why I love him (and miss him!!)

Brooklyn

I love him because . . .

He is so animated (in this one he is telling me a story about his trucks crashing!)

He makes me laugh:)

Even at the age of 2, he's got an amazing passion for music

He is so adventurous

He never fails to gross out the moms at the children's museum, which completely amuses me (they all look at me grotesquely as I let him eat bubbles, stuff his face into the fountains and suck on the ping pong ball, whatever, germs wont kill him!)

He really believes that he is lightning mcqueen (sp?) sometimes

He has always kept us on our toes (even as a baby)

He sometimes lets me take pictures with him

And so many other reasons!

Well on that note I will leave you now. Our new puppy Dumas comes home tomorrow and I will of course post pics when I can! So excited for my saturday off! Now back to homework, on a friday night!

And fall reared it's UGLY head!

Not that I think the fall season is ugly in and of itself, just a lot of the things it brings are ugly. Such as cold weather, cold house, cold rain, cold car in the morning, cold dog that doesn't want to go outside, cold hands, and layers of clothing . . . all of which I find very ugly:)

Lets just say that the weather had a grand effect on my mood this week. I had my first minor breakdown on Monday (the first cold day of fall, coincidence? I think not!) I just felt overwhelmed with reading and studying for my first practice exam, and anxious about receiving my first graded paper back the next day. Then I woke up the next morning refreshed (albeit still crabby of the weather) and no longer stressed.

First paper was a success in my opinion. I got above the average, hooray! I probably won't ever post my actual grades, because this blog is public and we have this unsaid, and sometimes said rule in our little friend group that we don't ask and we don't tell. It saves the drama, and the people feeling bad cause they didn't do as well as you, or did better than you. The practice test went pretty well. I got in all of the issues that he said we should. However, it left me feeling a little bit unsure about the exams. How much detail do I need, should I focus on less issues and more detail, or more issues and less detail? Our professor didn't really give us a definite answer, but I plan on having him read my response to tell me what he thinks i need to improve on, so that should make it better!

Now with the week behind me I wanted to do a quick note on my wonderful friends and how much they made me laugh this week (and every other week for that matter). I will try to explain what was going on in the following situations, but I'm mostly putting them down so I look back to them one day, and laugh hysterically again:)

#1Lunch and Neil:

There is this librarian at school named neil. And he is not your typical sweet helpful librarian. Not only is he really into is job, but he is also really intense. On our library tour he spent 10 minutes telling us how we should never call the bottom level of the library the "basement" it is not a "basement", it is a "lower level". And you really cannot enter the library when Neil is there without hearing "shhhh". So we were talking about Neil at lunch, and Geri, the appointed Jester in our group, thought (kiddingly) what if "shhh" was just a speech impediment that Neil had, and that he really couldn't help but say "shhh" all the time. She then began listing off the things he would be doing all the while saying "shhh" let's just say it turned into belly laughing by all of us, and the entire lunch room looking at us like we were crazy (not the first time)

#2 Fee Simple me your husband

In property we are learning about how one inherits land. If property is the type that is inheritable forever, it is called a "fee simple". I find the term simple ridiculous because it makes no sense, why not just call it "inheritable land". So fee simple was topic of many of our "this is so stupid" conversations this week. Well one day we were talking about our husbands/significant others, and I was saying how great Chris is at cooking and taking care of the house, and taking care of me:) The Rachel states, "I want a fee simple on your husband when you die." hehe, safe to say belly laughing and staring commenced again:)

I know it is probably not funny to most, but it just goes to show how great (and crazy) friends can really make your week. Next week we are all having dinner at Jill's house and bringing along our significant others so they can meet. It should be a good time and hopefully we can get some good pictures so I can "introduce" everyone to you!

Well that is all for my crazy ramblings. Have a good weekend everyone!

The past week in review

I'm sitting here waiting to go to a grammar workshop (to be explained later), and decided that there is not enough time to start to study something so I thought I would write a new blog.

In the past week many things (exciting to me, probably boring to others) have happened:

#1 I got my first cold call(when the professor calls on you in class and asks you a question with no warning), in contracts no less. I thought I did pretty well, if I do say so myself:) though it was incredibly nerve racking. When you realize that you are the name she just called out (after hoping as she is looking over the seating chart that she doesn't chose you) it takes a couple of seconds to realize that you need to answer, and then a couple of more seconds to find the answer in your notes, and then more to answer the questions she continues to ask you. All in all probably about 2 minutes of my life, but the adrenaline seemed to last way longer than that. Looking back it was kind of fun, even though I hope I don't continue to get called on, I don' t think I will mind if I do . . . It is good practice!

#2 Bought my first interview suit. Is it fashionable? No. Does it make me look young and modern? No. But that is the point of an interview suit, plain and black, makes you look older and mature, and most importantly no one notices it, so they are allowed to focus on you. I still have to get the jacket tailored (another conversation could be had about the tragedy of women's sizes) but I am excited to finally have one in my wardrobe.

#3 Went to federal court! It was so cool because they were talking about civ pro stuff that I have been learning. It was crazy because I showed up to volunteer and had decided to dress up that day, cause I wanted to wear some of my new clothes. Good thing I did, because my volunteer coordinator walked in and said she was going to court for one of there current cases and wanted to know if I wanted to come to observe! Of course I said yes, and It was really interesting to be able to watch! Of course I loved that it was a woman judge on the bench:) Future me? Maybe . . .

#4 Got my grammar quiz back in WRAP, and did as I expected, a bit poorly. It's funny cause the other people who did poorly are all ashamed of it, only telling you in secrecy. And then there is me, who is self proclaimed horrible at grammar and could care less if you know. Now I had a good reason to contact our school's writing expert and solicit her help. I should be meeting with her next week, and I am excited to finally bring my grammar skills up to par (if not better). This is also why I am going to the grammar workshop today, I really want my skills to improve so people see my writing for how good it is:) and not by how bad my grammar is

Well I think that is all for the main events of the week. I think it would be good to mention that I am seriously happier now than I think I have ever been. The mixture of all of the amazing things in my life puts me on top of the world:) Good feeling to have while in law school? . . . I think yes!

-Laura

Videos that make me smile!

Not really related to law school but fun none the less. These are two videos that have really made me smile this week. Forgive my really bad camera work (i've got one of those flip videos, so it's really easy to get distracted and forget that you are focusing on something!)

#1 D'artagnan as a little guy, when we first got him:)

Cutest puppy ever!!! Right??

Now this one is really long(and a good display of my bad camera skills), but the best part is the first part:)

Gotta love the evil laugh!! My nephew is the cutest

Caffeine Regret

Well I'm up later than I should be because I had way to much caffeine after 4 p.m. I had some coffee expresso mix at bread and chocolate, and then some coke at bonfire . . . safe to say I was tired and felt warranted in drinking so much. But alas, now I am awake, not only with a caffeine fix, but with indigestion from said caffeine fix:( So I figured what better time to write a new blog.

This has been such a very busy week, but the funny thing is it hasn't been busy with studying. I started volunteering at the American Civil Liberties Union this week. This volunteer position mostly consist of reading letters from people hoping to get the ACLU to pick up their case and bring it to litigation. I look at the ACLU's criteria for picking cases and decide whether or not to refer the letters to another agency or send their case up to the big wigs to decide whether or not to take on the case. It has been pretty interesting thus far and I think I am going to enjoy volunteering with them.

It seems like we are getting to the point in school where things start to intensify. Talk of various mid-terms are in the air, and our first graded WRAP assignment is due next week. Yet, despite these things, I don't feel stressed about anything. I think that all of my happiness that comes from being in school, being challenged, having fun with new friends, and finally having my husband home on a full-time basis( he spent the majority of the summer traveling back and forth to and from SD) outweighs what would be stress.

Although I'm not stressed I do sometimes have feelings a guilt. Guilty that I don't get to see my nephews very often, guilty that I no longer get to talk to my dad on a bi-weekly basis, guilty that I don't get to spend much time with Chris now that he's home, guilty that I rarely see my family, and guilty that my dog gives me those sad, "i miss you" eyes every time I come home from a late night study session. I've heard that these feelings are pretty normal, and yet, sometimes I do struggle with them. I guess I get past them when I remind myself that this is only three years. Three short years and then I get my life back with new found freedom in not only time, but career options:) Which is the goal right? So that is what keeps me pushing through. There is an end in sight, and it may seem like a far away sight, but it is there:)

So there you go for my late night caffeine induced ramblings. In ending . . . I miss you all family and friends, but Christmas break is not that far (but far enough that I'm not stressed about finals . . .yet)

Now off to try sleep again . . . so I don't repeat the sleepy Civ Pro class experience I had this morning!