Happy Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas day. On Christmas Eve I did some last-minute shopping (next year I'm buying gifts before the semester begins) and then we had pizza for dinner and went to the Christmas Eve service at my church.

After church, we drove around Mission Viejo to see the lights (not sure how I feel about Santa's new residence at City Hall) and then headed home. We have a tradition in our family that we take pictures of everyone putting the angel on the top of the tree. Because I drove down so close to Christmas everything was done except that. So we took the traditional pictures, and it was the second year that Curtis was in on the fun. It was one of the few years that I actually was dressed in real clothes and had my hair done, so I can actually share these pictures!

We always open one gift on Christmas Eve. Mine was a very pretty hand-painted USC ornament. Then we crashed, and woke up between 6 (me and my parents) and 8 (Jon and Curtis). We opened presents, made brunch, paid a short visit to my grandparents, slept, made rib eye for dinner, and watched Wall-E. We had a really nice day.

The nice thing about starting my break just before Christmas is that I still have 2 weeks off! My uncle and aunt are in town for a week so I'll be spending time with them. I have a few wedding appointments on the horizon. And Curtis and I are planning another trip to Disneyland for New Year's Eve. We're already discussing our strategy for staying awake and energized from 9AM to 2AM....it will be quite a feat.

I hope to have more pictures uploaded over the next week. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

I survived :-)

I finished at 12:30 PM on Friday! It took a few days to recover from the experience and I've had a great winter break so far. Overall this semester was as hard as I expected, but I left every final feeling like the studying paid off. I won't get any grades until January.

I drove down to Irvine on Saturday to see a Kids are Music show (I'm a former member). I'll try and get the pictures from Curtis of my performance of Toy Soldier, lol. That night I had dinner w/ my parents, Curtis, and Jon at PF Changs, and then went back to LA to continue my recovery.

Sunday Curtis and I went to breakfast and then Christmas shopping. We had a really fun day shopping, making dinner, wrapping presents, and listening to Christmas music. Then on Monday morning I cleaned up my apartment (it was a mess after the finals experience) and headed back to Mission Viejo. I still have some Christmas shopping to do but it's only the 23rd :-)

Merry Christmas!

1 more final

This morning I had my second-to-last final, Torts. Overall there were not any major disasters, although I don't think I managed to come up with anything too brilliant either.

The bummer about this particular final is the fact that now all I have to study for is Civil Procedure (Friday). It's notorious for being one of the hardest first year classes, and it's definitely the class that I have the least grasp of. However, it is also the one class where my 2 years of law firm experience helps, and so I am familiar with topics that I otherwise would have no clue about. The key issue over the next 2 days is how to apportion time between studying and sleeping. I'm going to try and get a full night of sleep tonight, but I think it's 6 hours tomorrow and Thursday. I'm trying to treat it like the times we had a large brief to file and were working late the week before. If you keep telling yourself that it'll be over soon, you can push through the exhaustion.

One thing is for sure, there will be a lot of celebrations going on starting around 1PM on Friday :-P.

Just for fun - Curtis & my tree

Check this out!

http://cheetafight.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/street-art-joshua-allen-harris-inflatable-bag-monsters/

I think it's pretty cool.

Winter Break Movie List

After hearing the Golden Globe Nominations today, it made me realize that once again, most of my Christmas break will be spent seeing movies. I am happy to see that there are movies this year that seem to be intellectually stimulating, as opposed to the typical romantic comedy or action thriller. Here's my priority list (with links to Roger Ebert's reviews):

1. Australia - never miss a Baz movie.
2. Seven Pounds - same with Will Smith
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. Frost/Nixon
5. Doubt
6. Milk
7. Revolutionary Road
8. Slumdog Millionaire
9. Rachel Getting Married (if it's still in theater)
10. Role Models

I'd also like to see a few movies now on DVD:
- The Dark Knight (I haven't seen it yet and feel ashamed)
- Maid of Honor
- Iron Man
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Updates

Yesterday was a little too weird to put it all together for a blog post -- I feel much better this morning.

Basically since my last update I've been studying all the time. My friend Aysha would come over after school, we'd make dinner, talk through a class, and be done at around 11PM. It's tiring to say the least, so I was happy to sleep in this morning. I think my parents were worried when they didn't hear from me for several days!

I had my first final yesterday morning, Contracts. The one annoying thing about our finals schedule is that even though you have to be there by 8:20, but you actually have to be there even earlier so that you can get a seat you want (something either in the front or on an edge so you're not in between a ton of people frantically typing). Between that and the insomnia that I got the night before, I was running on coke zero and a little coffee (and there are no breaks during the exam).

The great thing about the final was that with the exception of a few concepts on the multiple choice, I didn't feel like I was struggling to remember everything on the exam. Everything was pretty intuitive and it was stuff that I had practiced a lot the day before. Unlike yesterday's exam, the rest of my exams are mostly open book (some multiple choice sections aren't) so I'll be able to spend more time understanding the concepts.

After the final two of my friends and I went to an Asian fusion restaurant in downtown LA that was really good...we were able to get some good laughs in over lunch before we headed home to sleep and start studying again.

Next is LLE (law, language, and ethics) on Friday morning, which is basically a philosophy course on theories of law and theories of adjudication. I'll let you know how it goes!

Anniversary

I wasn't going to post today because my first final is tomorrow (I'm feeling good about this one - Contracts), but I did want to acknowledge that today is the first anniversary of my engagement to Curtis! It's amazing how fast this year went by. Click here for the blog post from last year detailing my surprise at Disneyland. :-)

Earlier this semester Curtis and I decided to hold off on a celebration until I'm done with finals, but yesterday I changed my mind and if all goes well with studying today we're going to do a quick dinner out tonight.

Have a good day! Hopefully if I'm still in a good mood tomorrow I'll post a Tuesday Updates and do a post-game on my first law school final.

Tuesday Updates - 12/2/08

It's December! Here's a quick update:

Thanksgiving weekend: I had a really nice weekend at home, although most of it was spent studying. I was very happy to see Marjorie, Curtis' sister, again. I think the last time we saw each other was June 07! Didn't do much more than eat, but it was good to get away.

Law School: we're at the point where it's time to spend ALL time studying, with some breaks. I think the hardest part going into this was how to divide up my time between all of my classes. I'll let you know that goes. But I'm trying to continue taking care of myself by getting enough sleep and eating well, as well as I normally eat ;-).

Wedding: the big news is all the bridesmaid dresses have been ordered...yay! And I decided go to with short navy satin dresses from alfredangelo.com, and everyone could order a dress they liked.

Next "updates" will probably be after my first final on Tuesday, Contracts. Wish me luck!

yay!

Monday Updates - 11/24/08

I am done with legal writing for the semester -- yay.

Weekend:
I spent most of the weekend working on my paper, reading for Torts, and starting my Civil Procedure outline, but I managed to have some downtime. Curtis and I went to Best Buy and Target on Saturday so that I could get Windows Vista for my computer (the exam software required it), and he also bought a new monitor to replace the one he gave to me. We walked down to the Farmers' Market and ate at Johnny Rockets, which was fine except that the average age in there was 14. On Sunday the Grove had their annual tree lighting ceremony so we watched the fireworks from my building.

Wedding:
Now that I'm at the 6 month mark, I'm going to start following this beauty regimen laid out in one of the magazines I have. It involves stuff like taking care of your hair, drinking a lot of water, and avoiding processed foods, all of which don't bode well for me. But I think it's worth the effort since it's good for my overall health and well-being. Stay tuned for a post on that.

Law School:
Now that writing is over, my main focus is outlining and practice exams. My outlines are in fairly good shape, I think I'll have a better idea of where I'm at when Thanksgiving is over. The biggest challenge is staying motivated and efficient.

Thanksgiving Plans:
I'm going to be in Mission Viejo from Wednesday night until Friday afternoon for Thanksgiving festivities. I'm hoping to see Australia while I'm there. I'm excited to eat a lot of pie, stuffing and mashed potatoes (not a big turkey fan) :-).

That's all for today - have a good week!

6 Months - Ack!

I thought i just posted that we had 8 months to go? Planning is going well, and I'm still very excited, but to be honest I'm just amazed by how fast the time is going. In half a year I'm going to be married...wow!

On the ridiculous side but appropriate for the occasion, while I've decided to change my name (Christine Hart), I'm trying to decide what I should do about my Facebook name. Many married people will put both last names up on the website so that friends can identify them by either name ("Christine Harding Hart"). On the other hand I'm not very "findable" to begin with on Facebook so I'm not sure if it makes a difference. I know I know, a ridiculous thing to think about, but that's what happens when all you do is study case law. :-)

Sleep

After sleeping 13 hours on Thursday, 9 on Friday, and 9 on Saturday night, I realized that there might be something to all of this sleep. After consulting with one of my law school friends and Google, I think I am "stress sleeping".

According to what I read, there are two ways that stress can affect sleep. In the first, you fret about what's going on in your life and lose sleep, and in the second, you suppress your feelings and end up sleeping more, because that's the only way the body can process all the anxiety. It looks like this week I am in the second category. It truly is amazing how easily I can fall asleep these days. The only problem is I get tired really easily (like at 6:30 PM, which was the time I went to bed on Thursday) and there's still a lot to get done before time finals start. So with the help of some kind of stimulant and a well-organized schedule, I'm hoping to remain well-rested and still be ready for finals by Dec. 9th.

Wedding Nightmares

Last night I had my third wedding nightmare. From what I've heard this is a common occurrence, but nevertheless it wasn't fun. This one featured hair problems. I will say that I looked really good in my dress, but my hair was not done and so I was sitting in a private room waiting to get my hair done while all of my guests were eating and while my photographer was on the clock.

I'm hoping these dreams don't increase in intensity as we get closer to the date, because they're very scary!

1 month

In one month from now, I'll be done with my first semester of law school! It's crazy how fast the time has gone, and it's crazy how much I need to learn/understand/memorize in the next four weeks.

In other news, I was very happy that I wasn't sore today when I went for my walk/run. I'm trying to go 6 days a week but I had to take 3 days off because the air quality from the fires. I think that those 3 days were good for my legs to heal because I've been really sore/still lately. One thing I've found that is really good for my upper body is Wii Boxing. My skill level is about 720, I haven't lost a fight yet, but the problem is the next day I'm really sore, so I'm hoping I can do it more often during the week so I can still lift my arms the following day.

That's all for now :-)

Goodbye to TV

So yesterday I spent the evening not working on my outline like I had hoped, but on getting a last binge of TV in before life gets even busier. I caught up on Gossip Girl (4-5 episodes, I lost count), watched Dancing with the Stars, and then got rid of the season passes for all of my daily shows: PTI, Daily Show, Colbert, Oprah, and The View. I'm trying to cut out as many potential distractions as possible, and I'm also trying to make sure I have enough space on my DVR to save episodes of Brothers & Sisters and Desperate Housewives to watch during the winter break. At least I feel like I got a good "last hurrah" in before I have to focus 90% on school.

In other news, the air quality was good enough to open a window last night so I was able to fall asleep (it was really hot in my room w/o any windows open and I don't have any windows in there). I'll start walking again tomorrow morning.

Monday Updates - 11/17/08

I can't believe we're already in the middle of November. Seriously -- I'm not sure how I'm going to know everything i need to know in the matter of 4 weeks. Quick update today:

So.Cal. Wildfires/Weekend - For those of you not residing in SoCal, we're dealing with some pretty nasty fires that have destroyed a ton of homes and structures. I haven't been personally affected, other than than the air pollution that is all over the region. I stayed indoors most of Saturday and all of Sunday but today is much better. From what I've heard the fires are quickly becoming contained, but they are still worried about the wind turning and the fires moving back towards residential areas.

Weekend: Curtis was around, so we went to my new favorite restaurant on Friday, Wood Ranch at the the Grove. On Saturday we went to Louis' to watch the Stanford-USC game (yes USC won, but we still have 1 more opportunity to become bowl-eligible if we beat Kal on Sat.), and spent the rest of the weekend cleaning up the apartment and studying.

This week will be taken up working on my open research memo (due Monday) and outlining for Torts and Civ Pro ;-) Have a good week!

Stanford v. U$C

I've been getting a lot of questions about who I'm rooting for in the big game tomorrow. Let me make this clear:

GO STANFORD!

I am a Stanford Cardinal fan, I will always be a Stanford Cardinal fan, no matter that graduate schools I attend, no matter what schools Curtis attends, and no matter what schools our children attend. :-)

(I feel better now)

Have a good weekend!

Tuesday Updates - 11/11/08

Law School: It's starting to get tiring again, as I'm trying to get my outlines done for contracts and torts this week so i can take on Civ Pro and Law, Language and Ethics this weekend. Class is still fairly interesting, but overall I'm in study mode.

Wedding: the Save the Dates got here last week and I sent most of them out yesterday and today. I'm very happy with the way they turned out. I need to finalize the bridesmaid dresses this week, because there is a discount opportunity at the end of the month, and I think Curtis is going to start looking at tuxes pretty soon :-). I set up an appointment with my florist on Jan 8, the start of I'm sure a week of wedding planning, which is good since I won't have much else to do.

Next Summer: Starting Dec. 1 I can reach out to employers for 1L summer jobs. I want to either work for a judge or work at a law firm in LA or OC. There are advantages and disadvantages for both, but I do need to decide fairly quickly if I want to go for a federal judge externship. You have to apply early since it's competitive, and if you get an offer, you have to take it. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do, but I'll keep the blog updated.

That's all for now. Have a good week!

The Blog is now Blue!

Yes, I changed it, Christine's "world" is no longer pink (in reality, my world still is pink and the blog is an exception). I like to change the picture to reflect the season and have a fresh start, so enjoy =). I took the picture in January 2004 from the charter bus on our way back from Tahoe.

Finding Time

One thing about being a law school is the allocation of time is a lot different than undergrad or a full-time job. For one thing, at the beginning of the semester you're a lot busier than you are in undergrad. Maybe it was just a 1L fall quarter thing, but I'm currently looking back at my notes from the first week of Contracts and I clearly had no idea what was going on. Because of that it takes a ton of time to read and understand the cases. And between learning in class, carrying your books around, getting to know your peers, and unpacking, it takes a lot out of you.

Then after the first month, the reading suddenly gets easier. It's still voluminous, but it goes a lot faster and it's easier to glean the important facts, rules, and rationales from each case. Plus, you don't need to get everything, because the prof. usually goes over it in class - you just have to have a good faith familiarity with the case.

But then it becomes November and the task you've been dreading - outlining, suddenly takes over your sub-conscious. In between doing the reading and going to class, you also have to make these outlines to make sure you understand and memorize everything you've learned. These outlines can take days or they can take weeks, and they have to be done well in order for them to be truly effective. And once Thanksgiving hits, you're in full practice-exam mode, taking as many practices exams as possible to get the endurance aspect down.

So how do you fit them into the schedule? I'm currently struggling with that question as I continue working on my contracts outline (the first of 4). I think I'm going to have to give something up so that I'm forced to make the time and still get sleep/exercise. Here are the candidates that I'm willing to consider:

1. Facebook - probably a half hour to an hour per day.

2. TV - this is a big one - 2-3 hours per day. I'm thinking about doing it by show: I can watch Stanford Football and Dancing w/ the Stars but everything else sits in the DVR until Dec. 19.

3. Eating out - Curtis and I probably go out to eat 1-2 times per week, and that takes up double the time that eating at home or getting take out would take. Plus it's expensive.

4. Sleep - I'm seriously considering training my body to operate on less sleep. I currently need between 8 and 8.5 hours of sleep per night to function. If I could somehow drop to 7, or even drop to 6 plus an afternoon nap, that might increase my overall productivity. As I've told many people, my best quarter at Stanford was the one in which I took a nap everyday.

Anyway, those are the options. Chances are TV is definitely getting cut, and I might try the sleep thing, we'll see how it goes. And don't be surprised if I'm not on Facebook from Thanksgiving until Dec. 19. And I will probably do 1 short Monday Updates a week, just as a little respite from studying. I can't believe how fast this has gone!

Have a good weekend :-)

2 New Pictures :-)

This one was from last night, just before CNN called the election for Obama (Notice our matching "I voted" stickers)!

This one was actually from a few weeks ago, just before we finally went to a "Bar Review" in LA. (That's code for a law school bar night - they happen every Thursday)

Monday Updates - 11/3/08

No class until 1:20, so I have some time to do a quick post between contracts reading!

Weekend:
Very interesting weekend, only because it involved extremes. Thursday night I went to the Halloween Bar Review thrown by the law school in Hollywood. That was pretty fun actually, I purposely did not go crazy since I was going out the following night, and I had class on Friday morning at 10:30. I went dressed as an angel with an Obama t shirt on (I was sent by God as a surrogate for Obama...get it?). Then on Friday night I went to my first mansion party in LA! I dressed as an angel again, but without the Obama shirt (didn't want to be too political). Unfortunately, I overdid it because I was really sick Saturday morning until about 5PM. Luckily I had 2 friends who stayed over with me to make sure I was okay and Curtis came over in the afternoon to take care of me. The good thing is I felt pretty normal again by Saturday night and got a lot of sleep (I was very grateful for the extra hour).

Sunday I worked on my paper all day and turned it in at 6, and then Curtis and I went to the BBQ place we love at the Grove (Woodranch) and I had baby back ribs, baked beans, a baked potato, and pomegranate lemonade! It was delicious and I still have some leftovers! So, other than those 5-6 hours or so on Saturday, I had a good weekend :-).

Law School:
Law school is starting to get intense, because in order to prepare for our exams, we create these massive outlines. I started my contracts outline on Thursday and I'm hoping to put a few good hours into it tonight. But let me tell you -- I thought I knew what law school was like but I was completely unaware that we are supposed to do these outlines. I understand the rationale, it's just a big job to do. Plus, my second Legal Writing paper is due in 3 weeks, and I want to put a lot of time into that to make sure that I get a good score. But I can't believe that it's already November and we have finals in a little over a month! It's just going so fast.

That's all for now, have a good week!

Thoughts on the election

(I'm not really bothering with Monday Updates this week, but fyi - I had a very nice weekend that involved seeing the movie W, going to Westwood, and getting some work done)

1. It has been such a long election cycle. I think I'm excited at this point because it's almost over and George W. Bush will no longer be our president. I excited that we will have a new administration with fresh ideas.

2. I will be happy that we can refocus on issues that have been set aside because of the election, like Darfur, education, and poverty.

3. I really hope Obama wins. Yes, he's up in the polls, and yes I think he'll win, but I'm still worried. Our country's electorate isn't as thoughtful as I'd like and the idea that Obama could lose because people think he's a socialist that's hanging out with terrorists really makes me upset. Yes I know many people are voting FOR McCain and not AGAINST Obama, and I don't have a problem with that. I think if you can make an informed argument for McCain you deserve to vote for him. It's the whole, believing everything you hear and read thing that bothers me (Does that make sense?). And when you add that to this seemingly underlying acceptance that racism against Muslims is okay, I go crazy.

4. I spent a lot of time trying to decide whether to post on California Proposition 8. I'm not partly because I made it a personal policy not to express my political opinions on the blog -- I think it goes against my blog's purpose, which is to update my friends and family on my life. I did make an exception to tell my own personal story of why I supported Obama from the beginning. But the truth is, it's too hard for me to articulate my own personal relationship with Prop 8 without sounding extremely angry and judgemental (If you're interested in how I'm voting, it's on my facebook page or you can send me a message).

5. Another thing about the propositions: It's frustrating to have to vote "no" on issues that I in principle agree with because the state has no money. Yes, I want higher sentencing for gang members, but our prisons are way too overcrowded as it is. I guess you could vote yes, but seriously, we have no money and we barely got a loan this year.

6. I am voting on election day. Yes, you can vote early in California, but now worried that the lines to vote early will be longer than they are at my polling location on election day. I plan to get there a half hour before the polls open and stay until I vote, even if I have to miss my morning classes. If there was ever a day to have a legitimate absence, I think election day would be it. Plus, I want to show off my sticker :-).

7. It's been a fun election. Partly because the party I'm affiliated with got the lion's share of the media coverage, and Partly because it's been so unpredictable.

8. Also, this election parallels the election on The West Wing so well, it's eerie. (For you West Wing fans who've felt the same, I did some online research and it turns out that the Santos character was modeled after Sen. Obama. No word on McCain) Here are the similarities:

Santos-Obama: inexperienced congressman of color has big ideas, runs a long shot primary campaign against the sitting VP and squeeks out the nomination.

Vinick-McCain: maverick conservative with a wide range of supporters. Older than many, has sat in the senate for decades.

Russell-Clinton: established candidate with the competitive edge in the primary

Hoynes-Edwards: primary candidate who has an illicit affair. Difference here is everyone knew about Hoynes' before he ran for the nomination.

McGarry-Biden: Catholic from northeast with foreign policy experience

Sullivan-Palin: VP Republican pick that the Republican base loves but doesn't necessarily jive with the policies at the top of the ticket.

Nuclear Crisis/Financial Crisis: In the West Wing, the surprise before the election that gave Santos the boost needed to win was the incident at the "San Andreo Nuclear Station in San Diego" (sound familiar? ask my dad about that one). The economic crisis we're currently having gave Obama a similar boost that could be the deciding factor.

In short, the West Wing writers were either extremely intuitive or extremely lucky. Either way, it's a fun analysis.

Anyway - those are my thoughts on the election, if you were wondering :-). I'll be tuning into election night with my law school friends at an event thrown by the student bar association.

Have a good rest of the week!

My review of "W"

Last night Curtis and I walked down to the Farmers' Market/Grove for dinner and a movie. Unfortunately HSM III wasn't playing there so we had to see "W". Let me first say that I think the movie would have been a lot more interesting if I hadn't heard so much about it. It was funny at times, but a little slow, especially since it went through the events leading up to the war in Iraq and well...I was around for that so I know what happened.

I guess my question is - how much of it is true? We know that the President was an alcoholic who took awhile to get his life together and it was discovery of Jesus that really helped him focus. We know about his grades at Yale and his lack of motivation as a young adult. We know what V.P. Cheney and Colin Powell's opinions were about the war. But what about his relationship with his father? Was it all in W's head that his father favored Jeb or did his father really think that Jeb would eventually become president while Junior would only get so far as owner of the Texas Rangers? How did his mother really feel? Was there a conversation on election night 1992 where W attributed his father's defeat to Pres. Clinton to his failure to go into Baghdad during the first Gulf War? Is that why W went further when he was president?

I realize that we don't know everything, but it felt like the assumptions that were made could have been expanded on. I also felt like Oliver Stone spent more time on the lead-up to the war than he needed to. We know that there was an internal debate and we know that the intelligence re WMDs was sketchy. I wanted to see more about his campaigns, both for Governor and for President, and understand better why he felt so connected to regular Americans (several times in the movie they told him he had "the touch", but we never really understood why).

Nevertheless, "W" reminded me that our president is a fascinating character study, who overcame serious emotional challenges to become one of the most significant presidents on record, for better or for worse.

Monday Updates - 10/20/08

Very, very short today because I'm running on less than 4 hours of sleep. 

Weekend - 

I had a very unusual weekend. On Friday I got out of class early and was able to go to the USC gym. That night I did a lot of chores which made me feel better. Unfortunately, I woke up on Saturday morning with a debilitating headache, which made me unable to do anything for about 4 hours. Finally I decided to drive home to Mission Viejo so I could at least be around my family even if I wasn't feeling well. I stayed there, watched the Stanford-UCLA game (don't want to talk about it) spent a few hours on my memo, and went back to LA on Sunday morning. I actually headed straight to the USC law library to continue work on my office memo that was due today at 9:30 AM. I worked until I had to leave for the airport to get Curtis (he was in Provo this weekend) and then worked until 2, and got up at 6am, and headed back to the library to finish. I have nothing to say at this point except that I'm happy I turned it in on time and I'm happy that I'm probably done studying the New Mexico attractive nuisance doctrine. 

I'm hoping that this week will be calm and very productive! 

Tuesday Updates - 10/14/08

Yes - I'm late on the updates again. But I had a busy 4-day weekend so cut me some slack.

Weekend - We had a fall break so no school on Thursday or Friday. I drove to Mission Viejo on Wednesday night and stayed there until Friday night. I was happy to get a pedicure, get my car washed, catch up on some TV and hang out with my mom. We also went to Macy's to open my registry and pick out the wedding china and matching glasses! So overall I had a nice visit. On Saturday morning Curtis and I drove to Stanford for the Homecoming Tailgate and Football Game! It was so fun being there again, the tailgate is always really good and the game was very exciting - we won by a point! So we're not in the bowl race, and if we can beat UCLA this weekend (knock on wood) I'll start saving money for Christmas break. Here's a picture taken with my friend's camera and then one I took of the stadium:


Law School - School is okay, I really need to start studying for finals but I'm in that mid-semester slump where I'm just not very motivated. I think I'll feel better once my office memo is turned in on Monday. Then I'll start working on the outlines, etc. I just have to keep remembering that I have less than 8 months to go and then I can relax a little.

That's all for now - busy weekend ahead!

Monday Updates - 10/6/2008

I am fresh off a very pleasant and relaxing weekend. Curtis and I finally got some low key time together to study, watch TV, go out, and eat! On Friday night we went to this BBQ place - Wood Ranch, at the Grove where I had beef ribs, baked beans, a baked potato, and flourless chocolate cake for dessert! Saturday was a lazy day, where we watched college football and only ventured out for food. But I got a lot of studying done and a lot of cleaning actually.

Sunday was the day we ventured out. Curtis had been wanting to go to UCLA campus to pick up some stuff from the Bookstore, so we made an afternoon out of it.


These pictures were actually taken with my iPhone! Not bad, actually. We walked up to Royce Hall and back, and then went to Innout and Diddy Riese. Then I decided that I wanted to see the La Brea Tar Pits once and for all, since they're close to my house, so we went there and walked around. Not much to see if you don't want to put up the admission cost to the actual museum, but we did get to see some asphalt (it's not actually tar) bubbling up from the ground via methane air bubbles (I had to look this stuff up when we got back). Plus it was a gorgeous afternoon and there's a ton of open space. I'm sure we'll make more trips there and to the other museums nearby.

This week is only 3 days because of our mid-semester break: Thursday I'll be in Mission Viejo and Friday-Sunday I'll be in the Bay Area for Stanford Homecoming with Curtis! So a busy but fun week ahead.

That's all for now, have a good week!

Tuesday Updates - 9/30/08

I can't believe it's October tomorrow! Apologies for not having this up yesterday, I started writing it on Sunday and then I forgot about it!

Weekend:
I made a really quick trip up to Santa Clara/Campbell Saturday-Sunday. I went to a friend's birthday party on Saturday night which was really fun and then spent the night with another friend. When I woke up the next morning we went to Stacks, which was very exciting for me because its my favorite breakfast place and they have one in Campbell in addition to Menlo Park. The trip took a little over 5 hours each way which was a little longer than I expected, but wasn't too bad. Here are a few pictures from the road!
School:
After turning in my 10 page case memo, life got a little easier, but it's time to start reviewing what I've done so far, make sure i don't have any questions, and pull everything i have so far together. So I think I might have to cut down on the tv time to start reading supplemental materials, etc. It's sad, but I have to remind myself that this lifestyle is temporary :-).

That's all for now!

PS - I added pictures here if you want to see who I'm hanging out w/ at school :-)

USC Gym and other related wedding issues

So I finally got a decent workout today, my first since I started law school. I wanted to give myself a few weeks to get into the swing of things before I added workouts to the schedule. Plus, for awhile I was wondering if I'd even need to work out since I was carrying a 10-15 lb bag everywhere and all the time. It's remarkable that I'm maintaining my weight while eating whatever I want.

However, there is a reality that it would be best if I drop a pant size so that I get the optimal fit from my wedding dress. I figure that I need about 10 lbs or so to get there, which is enough to be a challenge yet not enough that I feel a sense of urgency. The best way I lose weight is a combination of diet and exercise. There are two goals with 2 different deadlines really: I have my first dress fitting in December so I need to drop the 10 or so pounds by then. I would also like to make sure my arms are toned for the wedding itself, but I probably won't really focus on that until Spring Break, and my Wii fit will be helpful, I'm sure. As much as I don't post about diet/exercise on the blog, I thought I'd make an exception because this is a common issue for brides.

So I put on my workout clothes, went to Civil Procedure, and then made the walk from the law building to the gym, which is unfortunately a 10-15 minute walk away. I really want to get my bike on campus so I can cut that trip in half. Maybe I'd go more if I had that ability. I didn't see much of the gym, and already it's obviously better than Stanford's. There's a nice big locker room where I could leave my purse, and the cardio machines there have their own TV's, so I watched the end of Oprah. I'll admit, I'm pretty sore, which is an indication that I'm pretty out of shape, but I'm patting myself on the back for making the trip and rewarded myself with a Jamba Juice. I'm really tempted to find the money to get a personal trainer for the next few months, just because that would make me go and get toned. If anyone is interested in sponsoring me, let me know =)  (just kidding!) 

8 months!

As you may have noticed from my wedding countdown, in 8 months I will be married! There are 3 major logistical implications of this –

1. Curtis (and his stuff) will be moving into the apartment. As much as I’ve been making an effort to leave space in the closet and the dresser for his stuff, it’s hard because I’m used to having a lot of storage to myself, and lets face it, I’ve been accumulating a lot of stuff over the past few years. But, we have this lovely walk in closet that still needs to be organized and we have 8 months to get ready for the logistics of co-habitation.

2. 8 months is not a lot of time for wedding planning. There are still some major things to get done. In particular I still have to book the music for the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. There’s a long list of things that need to happen over Christmas break, like picking the menu, getting my dress fitted, etc.

3. I will be done with my first year of law school in 8 months (minus 1 week). That does not seem far away, given that the last 4 weeks went by in a blur. As much fun as I’m having in my first year classes (really, I think the classes are interesting), I will be happy when I’m done and know how I did and where I stand relative to my classmates.

It’s very exiting to acknowledge this milestone; I think once we’re under 6 months I’ll start panicking =).

Monday Updates - 9/22/08

Quick update on law school: I had a 10 page closed research office memorandum due this morning and I was able to turn it in to the library at 6 PM yesterday! To celebrate 2 of my friends and I went driving around in my car with the top down and ended up at the Beverly center for dinner at PF Chang's. I even took a few pictures!
So, even though my weekend was busy with law school activities and paper writing, I did get a few hours to relax. I don't have class until 1:20 on Mondays, so I had the morning to do my reading for today.

I had a pretty good day at school today, everything is starting to make sense ! I'm sure I'll have more to talk about, but right now I'm watching Dancing w/ the Stars!

Wedding Planning: Bridesmaid Dresses

So I haven't blogged about this much yet (partly because this isn't a topic that I like to talk about to be honest, but since I have a paper to finish today I'm procrastinating), but one of the hardest decisions I'm making about this wedding is the bridesmaid dresses. I don't think this is a common hard decision brides face (but correct me in the comments if it is) but for some reason I'm really indecisive. 

I have 5 bridesmaids who are wonderful and I'm sure will be supportive of whatever decision I make. When we first started working on this they all went and tried on dresses and told me what they liked/didn't like, and we narrowed on a canary-colored dress that everyone would be happy with. And as cute as I think this dress is, for some reason it's not like, speaking to me. It's weird I know, but I make most of my decisions on instinct and my gut has decided to abstain this time. I know, I know, it's really rather trivial and everyone is going to look good no matter what, so why the indecision? Well, I have conflicting goals with the bridesmaid dresses: 

1. The look of the wedding party: I am fascinated by the weddings where the Bridesmaids are in black. It just really adds some uniformity when both sides of the bride and groom are in black and I think the flowers could really pop (and I have this awesome florist that I'm very excited about). Plus there are practical considerations: Everyone can use a black dress and black generally looks good on everyone. I'd probably let everyone wear their own black dress instead of choosing one (although I might exert some control over the material). But I'm just really interested in going in that direction. 

2. The general theme of bright spring happy colors: Lets face it, if this wedding was held on a January evening, there would be much less hesitation to go with black bridesmaid dresses. While black is formal, it is also connected to mourning. And I'm not sure how black would be received by our guests. Yellow on the other hand is a happy color that would really promote the youthful theme of the day. Plus we have a dress picked out that's really cute and we will get a white sweater to go over it. And to a certain extent I respect the tradition of bridesmaids and the unusual circumstance of 5 girls wearing the same weird-colored dress all day. 

So obviously it sounds like I'm leaning in the yellow dress direction but I still want some time to think about it. There are other yellow options, and in fact there are some new really cute online-only satin dresses on davidsbridal.com. I gave myself until November 30 (if I remember correctly) to decide. 

Any former brides out there? Please comment with any wisdom! 

Quick Check-In

This week was odd because we didn't have a class 2 our of the 4 days its scheduled, plus we didn't have any new reading for Contracts, so the first few days were really easy and then the work just piled on. We had a 1L party organized by the university on Wednesday (with really good food btw) so essentially I wasn't prepared for class on Thursday. Luckily I didn't get cold-called so no harm done. But it's never fun to be behind in the reading. 

Of course, then today I spent a lot of time preparing for class and it went really well! I had a good grasp of the concepts, participated in both of my classes, and left school feeling really good. Of course, I have a 10 paper paper to write that's due on Sunday at 6, but I was happy with how the week ended. 

Tonight I'm going to a BBQ thrown by La Raza and BLSA, and tomorrow I have an academic retreat, also thrown by BLSA, so no free time essentially until Sunday night. But it's a good mix of work and extra-curricular activities. And I'm very excited because next week I'm sneaking up to San Jose/Campbell for a birthday party! So just knowing that something fun is horizon is keeping me sane :-) 

Have a good weekend! 

Monday Updates - 9/15/08

Alright here we go, it's a short one today: 

Weekend: 

This weekend turned out to be pretty low key. On Friday afternoon I made the trip to the OC to have dinner w/ Curtis and his parents for his mom's birthday. We had a really fun time at Cheesecake and I was very excited to have the White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake again (I tried it for the first time on National Cheesecake Day). Then I went home and hung out w/ my family that night. I got in a good ranting session about politics with my dad, talked about the social dynamics of law school w/ my mom, and threw the ball around with Jon. On Saturday morning I did my laundry and then headed back to LA around 1PM. We watched some of the UCLA game, until we could watch no longer, and then went out to dinner that night. 

On Sunday morning we saw Burn After Reading. I still haven't decided whether I liked it or not. It was a very odd movie, but I had to admit, it did have quite a few funny parts. And the trailer is a lot more amusing now that I know what all of the scenes are about. Then Sunday night I had dinner w/ people in my section at Father's Office in Culver City.  It was nice to see everyone after a weekend where I had essentially no connection with law school (I didn't even do any reading). 

Law School:

The reading is still under control since I'm still ahead in Contracts. The LLE reading was remarkably short and Torts is canceled tomorrow and Wednesday (civ pro is only Thurs/Fri). So it's nice to get a bit of a break before we have to kick it into gear and start work on the outlines. As of now I had a free lunch today, tomorrow and Wednesday(there's like, 4 different things scheduled for Wednesday lunch, and one of them includes Chipotle!) . Plus there's a party thrown by the Dean on Wednesday night and a BBQ with BLSA on Friday. And Saturday I'm attending an academic retreat with the regional BLSA (Black Law Students Association) and possibly a mansion party later that day. So as of now, I'm healthy and happy with how law school is going. I hope that holds up at least through October. 

That's all for now, nothing new otherwise. Have a good week! 

Make sure to Register/Re-Register/Set up Absentee!

I realized on Saturday that I hadn't re-registered to vote in Los Angeles county. I was able to go here and fill out and print a registration form. You have to have your form postmarked by October 20th to be eligible to vote in CA. 

It was completely random that I even remembered to do this, and as someone who is excited to vote for Sen. Obama and also wants to vote on Prop. 8, it's a good thing I remembered in time. 

I think most of my readers are registered to vote, but make sure you're registered to vote in your current location, and if not make sure you will get your absentee ballot! 

A short Monday updates will probably be up tonight. Have a good day! 

Class cancellations, scrounging, and other assorted law school adventures

So far the week is going well, in part because at the unfortunate expense of our professor, one of my classes was cancelled all week because of illness. Granted, we're going to be making up the time in the future, but it's amazing how much more time you have without 3 hours of class and approx. 3 hours of reading. 

This week overall has been pretty manageable since I did a good amount of reading on the weekend. Instead of leaving the library between 7 and 8 PM I'm leaving between 5 and 6. I'm trying to be much more efficient and use my mornings since I tend to be more focused then. 

I'm also happy because we're using economics in my torts class to determine whether there's negligence! I won't say more about that since it's nerdy but just wanted to convey my excitement that the degree in econ is counting for something :-).

We've also had the opportunity to get free meals at various organizations' meetings. Granted, most of them are organizations that I intended to join/participate in (Black Law Student Association - BLSA, Public Interest Law Foundation, etc.), a positive externality of this is that I've been able to get decent lunches (not to mention cupcakes from the LexisNexis people) for free. 

Coming up, we have a social tomorrow afternoon for the Public Interest Law Foundation (the PILF "kegger" as they call it), a training on outlining from the 1L tutors (yes we have tutors), a tailgate for the Ohio State game, a party next week thrown by the dean (I'll try to snap pics), lunches with 2 of my professors, and I'm pretty sure there will be other opportunities. I'm starting to wonder whether these organizations were just created for the free food that comes with them. 

Monday Updates - 9/8/2008

Happy Monday again! I'm watching Big Brother After Dark as I'm writing this, Keesha put two and two together and realized that Memphis was going to vote her out and she's pretty upset about it. Not gonna lie, I do feel sorry for her. 

Law School:

I had my first writing assignment due today. I had trouble getting motivated to actually do it, and I was a little stressed out as I was driving to school to turn it in, but I got it there with 10 minutes to spare. Then I was confronted with the fact that I didn't have class until 1:20, so I did a little reading but mostly passed the time chatting with friends. Then it turned out that my contracts professor was sick, so I had another hour to kill before class actually started. Class was fine, and I'm in a pretty good position in terms of what reading I have done. Plus I was able to finish my legal research homework today that actually isn't due until Monday! 

Weekend: 

I had a fun weekend considering how much work I did. I stayed at the library on Friday until 5:45 typing up my Civ Pro notes, and then just hung out that night. I slept in on Saturday (it's sad when 7:45 is sleeping in) and went to the library from 9-12. From there I drove to Downtown Disney to meet up with Curtis for lunch. We had a really fun time there walking around and eating at the ESPN Zone. Then Saturday night me and 3 new law school buds went to a bar/restaurant called "The 3rd Stop" to have a beer and just hang out, getting to know each other. It was a fun night and definitely worth staying up for. Sunday I stayed in my apartment, went grocery shopping, took a nap, did my LLE reading, watched TV and did my writing assignment.

Wedding: 

I've been working on the website a little the last couple of days. It's not ready for me to share the URL, but it's getting there. I'm trying to figure out some efficient method of telling people to save Memorial Day weekend for the wedding, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. 

I wish I had pictures but I've been lazy lately plus I can't find the charger for my digital camera.

Have a good week! 

Tired...

Law school is not for the weak. I was at school from 7AM to 7PM today. I got there and read from 7-10:15, class 10:30-12:20, public interest law foundation (PILF) meeting 12:20-1:10, class 1:20-3:00, then more reading from approx. 4-7. And I still have reading to do for tomorrow, which I'm going to try and get done before class and during my 2 hour break between Torts and Civ Pro. 

Tomorrow afternoon/evening will be my chill/catch up on sleep night, and then I'll be back to the grind Saturday/Sunday in-between football. I'm hoping to finally be healthy again, maybe try out the USC gym, and get ahead in my reading. 

Also, it looks like I might be spending 20 hours or so in the San Jose area Sept. 27-28. I'm looking forward to the prospect of getting away. And as of now I'm planning on going to Stanford for homecoming, just need to finalize details and timing - I'm hoping to make an appearance at Orrick while I'm there :-). 

Monday Updates - 9/1/2008

Happy September! It's amazing that this year is almost over, I thought 2008 just started! 

Law School: 

I start week 2 tomorrow, which is fortunately 1 day shorter. I think I'm going to try and visit a few professors this week. I was planning to get ahead in my reading this weekend, but I got really sick this weekend so that plan never got off the ground. 

Weekend: 

I went home on Friday night, and on the way I stopped at BJ's in Huntington Beach and met up with Curtis and 2 of his co-workers. That was really fun, and given the way the weekend ended, I was happy to have at least a healthy evening. On Saturday I woke up feeling kinda out of sorts. By Saturday afternoon I knew something was coming, but it stayed away more the most part until 2AM on Saturday night when I woke up with a fever. I'm feeling better today, but still not 100%. I was planning on doing a full day at the library and I really didn't have the energy for it. On the positive side, I was happy to be back home with my family and they took really good care of me. 

On Sunday night I drove back to LA and hung out in the apartment Sunday and most of Monday. I did venture out Monday to IHOP/Ralphs (8 min. walk) and to the library so I could get my legal research assignment done, but other than that I was low key. I'll be up early tomorrow to get the rest of my reading done. 

Other: 

Not much to say other than that, law school is pretty time consuming! But check below for the pics of my apartment if you haven't seen them yet. I was able to do a little more unpacking yesterday and I'm 90% settled. 

Have a good week! 

10 Observations of Law School after the first week

1. Being a 1L isn't like having a full-time job. It's like 1 and a half full-time jobs (this goes up to 2 in November). 

2. There are classes where I'll sound really smart, and others where I'll sound really stupid. As long as that doesn't influence my final grade, I'm okay with that. 

3. They purposely designed the building with the lockers in the basement and the library on the second floor so that we would get at least some exercise in your 1L year (even if you'll never see the sun). Seriously, you have to be in shape to carry that 15-20lb backpack all day. 

4. Speaking of the sun...I will need to take a vitamin E supplement this year because I will not see the sun much until Christmas, and then again until the wedding (I might have to tan so my dress doesn't wash me out). 

5. Being poor is probably going to be good for my waistline. Between the walking, the overall lack of free time, and the extreme lack of discretionary funds, I probably won't eat much. 

6. I'm grateful for my Orrick job - yes for the obvious reasons, but also because I had something to say when we had to introduce ourselves in every class. 

7. The attitude of USC law students is not unlike the attitude of Stanford undergrads. Everyone is trying to be nice and easygoing, but my feeling is they're secretly fretting over the amount of work we already have. 

8. It's probably a wise idea to dress up a little every day, or at least keep something in the car that dresses up your outfit. You never know when you'll be going to a formal event straight from class. This already happened yesterday when I went to an Obama speech viewing party in the Baldwin Hills at a prof.'s house. I was happy that I left my patent leather Franco Sarto flats in my car to wear instead of my Rainbows. 

9. You have to pray that the people in your section don't get on your nerves, because they are the people that you spend ALL of your time with. It's like the closeness you have with people from camp, except that this is 10 months long. 

10. Lastly -- law school isn't something you should do if you have "nothing else to do" after undergrad. This is a ton of work and any previous commitments really have to be set aside for at least the first year. I'm so grateful for the fact that I truly want to be a lawyer, because if I wasn't sure, I think I'd look into getting a refund ;-). But seriously, motivation is what's going to get my through the year.  

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts - maybe when I get through 4 weeks I'll add to this list, but to sum up, I've really enjoyed the first week and I'm looking forward to getting to know my professors and fellow 1Ls. 

Have a good weekend! 

The long awaited pictures

I finally walked around the apartment and took some pictures. It's very messy still and I'm not completely unpacked, but you'll have a good idea what it looks like. Enjoy! 

Tuesday Updates - 8/26/08

Ok, ok, I realize that I failed horribly in my attempt to put out a Monday update. In my defense, I was at school until 7:15, and then I wanted to unpack and hang out with Curtis while he was visiting. So, you get Monday updates on Tuesday :-). 

My last week of freedom:

Well...it wasn't completely free. I was running around last Monday like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get all of the admin stuff done so I wouldn't have to make the drive another day. On Wednesday night my mom and I m

et with the florist for the wedding! We had such a fun time thinking about all of the decorations and bouquets! I was glad we got that done before we started school. My mom and I went to dinner together afterward and that was really fun. 

On Thursday I did a lot of organizing, trying to get ready for the move. On Friday I had my other day of orientation. It was actually really fun because we got to go around with our section so I got to meet the people that I'd be spending a ton of time with. Saturday was moving day - which went quite smoothly actually. We had a pretty large group - my family plus Grandpa, Curtis and his parents, and Louis for a little while. Everything fit in elevator (yay!) and it looks really nice in here. I haven't completely unpacked yet (see the section on law school), but it feels like home :-)

Sunday was a really fun last day - we celebrated my mom's birthday with a yummy breakfast and dinner and cake! I got a little creative with the cake decor, here's the final product pre-candles: 

Then Curtis and I said goodbye and drove to LA. 

Wedding: 

So I mentioned the florist earlier...I also have made a tentative decision on the Save-the-Dates: I think I'm going to try and send them via email - to save paper and postage, and time really addressing them. I hope to get that going over the long weekend. I'm giving myself a deadline of Nov. 1 for deciding on Bridesmaid Dresses, so I'll keep you posted on that. I also need to find a way to get the music component of the day going - if any of you readers are O.C. brides and have a recommendation, please let me know (for live music for cocktail hour and a DJ for the reception). I also have to officially let the church know that I want to have the wedding there - so I hope to do that this weekend. The sanctuary is actually being remodeled right now and won't be done for at least 6 weeks, so we really can't plan a whole lot until we know what the end result looks like! It's ironic that I've been going to this church since I was 6 and they're remodeling it 9 months before my wedding. 

Law School: 

So I started law school yesterday! It's very exciting, and a bit surreal just because it's been a lifelong dream to go to law school. I'll give a brief summary of all the classes I've attended so far (Procedure doesn't start until Thursday)

- Contracts: this was my first class, and so far it's been an overview of the course. My prof. made a really good first impression so I'm hopeful that I'll enjoy the class and be able to understand the material

- Law, Language & Ethics: From what I've read so far, I think we'll get to read a lot of interesting cases. Like for tomorrow we have to read the first half of the D.C. Handgun law decision (where the Supreme Court ruled that the 2nd amendment does not allow for a city/state to impose laws that restrict the possession of weapons), and I'm pretty sure we go over big cases like Dred Scott & Brown v. Board of Education. So, again, I'm optimistic that I will enjoy the class. The concepts seem more challenging than torts or contracts, so we'll see. 

- Legal Research and Writing: Not too much to say, except that this is a really important class in terms of what I'll be doing next summer, the summer after, and as a lawyer. I'm glad USC has such a class :-).  

- Torts: I think I'm going to love this class. We spent almost the entire time discussing 2 hypotheticals, and I even answered one of his questions correctly! 

Overall, I think my impressions of my classes will change in the next couple weeks as we get into more substantive topics, but so far so good!

Studying wise, it looks like I'll be putting in 9-11 hour days at the law school, partly because those books are too heavy to bring home :-) The good thing is it gets better as the week progresses.  

That's all for now! I'll *try* to keep the blog posted! 

Updates coming - I promise!!

I moved into my new apartment yesterday and I officially start law school classes tomorrow, so obviously things have been crazy. I'll try and put some pictures up this week - of my apartment, of the cake I decorated for my mom, and of USC :-). 

Tonight Curtis and I are going to do a little unpacking and celebrating that we're in our new place (well, we're not both living here yet, but we both have keys and we're staying here after we get married). I'll try to keep the blog posted this week! 

Monday Updates - 8/18/08

Ok - so today has been a really big day. So I'll get through the other stuff and then get to the USC orientation stuff. 

Wedding - Hoping to meet with a probably florist this week, I'll keep you posted. 

The past week - as you probably gathered, I got a little bored this week - which was perfect since I'm about to not be so bored. I've been working on this Paint By Numbers project, which is actually almost done, I think I'll try to finish tomorrow. I'd also like to try and do some running before the crazy weekend. 

Last Weekend - Had a good (and very busy) weekend. Curtis and I went to the Spectrum again on Friday night and ate at Javier's which is a relatively new Mexican restaurant there. The food was pretty good but the service was very slow and the drinks were only okay. On Saturday Curtis and I took a load of stuff up to the new apartment and put the table and chairs together. We then got back to Mission Viejo just in time for our families to have dinner together at Curtis', which was very nice and we had a great time. Then on Sunday my family and Curtis went to my Grandparents' for dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday. I had fun spending time with my little cousins and I think they had fun too :-). 

We actually didn't get home until 9:30 because the traffic on the 5 was so bad that we turned around and spent another hour at my grandparents - and the traffic was still bad. So I immediately went home and went to sleep since I had to get up at 6 the following morning for...

Orientation (or, "Pre - " Orientation) - Monday was very long. But I'll be honest, it got me fired up to start school. I had quite the reality check when I bought my books - $890 for 12 books. I'm still sore from transporting them to my car. And yes, that's just for 1 semester. I already have some assignments and some confusion, but overall it was a really good experience and I met a handful of my classmates. 

I have a few funny stories. I asked one of the current students where the cashier's office is, and she looks at the map and goes "oh...it's on the complete other side of campus", as if that was like going to be bad. So i was like, "should I drive" and she said "oh no, it's easier to walk, not sure about parking". And so I head out, and it turns out that it's like, a 10 minute walk to the other side of campus. That is nothing compared to most campuses I've been on. It takes at least 30 minutes to cross the main Stanford campus, and UCLA isn't exactly small either. So, I'm not as concerned about making the walk to the gym after class anymore, since the entire campus is about 3 standard street blocks wide. 

We also had a funny moment with a couple of current students. They asked us who our profs were and I responded. They had really good things to say about 2 of my professors (they didn't know the others), so I was happy. Then someone else provided their professors and she was like "oh..." in that negative way. We all laughed, and were like, "quit now while you still can!". 

I'm sure I'll have more later, right now I'm pretty fried :-). 

My new project!

I started this today. Yes, it is a Paint by Numbers (and a cheap one at that). This is the second one I've attempted, I like doing it because it's a nice distraction without requiring much brain power. I'll post a picture when I'm done, but so far I think it has potential! 

New Poll - Just for fun

With Fall TV approaching, I thought I'd add a poll - please take a moment to answer it :-). If there is another show that you are more excited about - add it in the comments to this post. However please note that I excluded non-fiction shows on purpose. 

Irvine Spectrum

Tonight Curtis and I decided to meet at the Irvine Spectrum since he was leaving work a little late and I wanted to get out of the house. On my way I took this picture because I thought the sky looked pretty. 

We went and had Pinkberry (I had the original with granola and strawberries - it's like a frozen parfait!) and spent some time in both the Apple store and Barnes & Noble. After I realized that we hadn't shared a funnel cake in awhile and that we should get one....

It was really tasty but we were too full to finish it. It's hard to eat stuff that fried when you don't have it very often. 

The Spectrum has this giant wheel that we've gone on a few times, you get a pretty view of Orange County. I suppose we could have gone on it tonight but we dressed pretty lightly so it would have been chilly at the top. Maybe next time. 

Overall, it was a fun mini-date :-) 

Monday Updates - 8/11/08

Yay I'm doing Monday Updates!!

Apartment - 

Today I drove up to my new apartment in LA to be there for the sofa/love seat delivery and the Time Warner installation. It went pretty smoothly, I was able to unpack all of my kitchen stuff and some of my warm weather clothes. Both deliveries went very well. The furniture movers were worried that they would have to carry my sofa up 13 stories worth of stairs (not my problem, but still...that would suck) but in the end they were able to just barely fit the sofa in the elevator.  I'll probably try to go back up there later this week and take more stuff. I'd like to have everything moved in except for the major furniture before the 23rd since I start class on the 25th. Everything is starting to look really good in there so I'm very excited about driving up there to stay. 

Here are a few pictures of the new stuff :-) 

I think I have an idea of where I want all of my framed stuff to be, and I'm excited to put it up so I'm not just looking at bare (albeit beautifully painted) walls. 

Law School - 

Not much new on the law school front, getting my schedule was pretty much the high point of the summer as far as school is concerned. I'm sure I'll have much more to report once I attend orientation on the 18th. 

Wedding - 

Doing some work on the guest list and I'm hoping to meet up with a potential florist (who comes highly recommended by like, everyone I know) this week. We have also started our official wedding website, which is a very exciting endeavor. It'll be included on our save-the-dates, so we hope to have it ready to go by September when those go out. Other than that the planning has slowed down a little bit, and I should really devote some time before finals roll around. At least I also have 3 weeks at Christmas. 

How I've been spending my time - 

One problem this summer has been my wake-up times. My room is at the front of the house, so while my brother was still in school the bus woke me up at 7:30. If it isn't the bus it's the garbage trucks on Monday mornings (which is like, the worst sound you could ever wake up to), and sometimes the telephone. So I don't really feel like I've caught up on sleep while I've been home, but I still have a few more weeks, and if you read my law school schedule, you'll see that I won't be waking up at the crack of dawn. 

The Olympics have been very good to me. It's given me something to do that doesn't require much brain power. I've also been helping a lot in the kitchen, loading and unloading the dishwasher, etc. With the arrival of my new MacBook (yes! I got a beautiful new MacBook!) I've been in front of the computer a lot more, which I can live with since compared to work and compared to the upcoming 3 years, I'm really not as attached. I hung out with my brother on Saturday night and Sunday morning while my parents went to a wedding, and that was actually really fun and easy. I was happy that I felt comfortable taking care of him and he felt comfortable conveying to me what he needed. So overall it's been an interesting summer. I've had boring moments but for the most part I've been pretty busy so it's gone fast.

This Week - 

Today was a big day with the appointments in LA. Like I mentioned before I'll probably try and go back later this week. On Saturday night my family is having dinner at the Harts, and then on Sunday afternoon we're heading down to my Grandparents' for my mom's birthday celebration. I'll get to see my little cousins for the first time in awhile so I'm excited about that. I'll try to get some pictures I can put up. 

That's all for now - have a good week! 

Birthday Pictures

We had a great time the night of my birthday. We had Chinese food and margaritas and watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics - which were AMAZING.

 

Twenty-Three

As most of you know, it's my 23rd birthday today. So far it's been great: My mom made me breakfast and decorated my door (a family tradition), my friend Adelyn took me to lunch and then we saw Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 and had Pinkberry for the first time, and later on I'm having Chinese food & Margaritas with a few friends and watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Plus, getting presents and e-cards and and facebook "happy birthdays" is pretty fun :-).

I have to say, it's been an unusual birthday this year. It's the first time since I turned 18 that I was in Mission Viejo for it. And before 18 it was 14, so it's quite the anomaly. Plus, 23 seems like a milestone birthday for some reason. Possibly because by the time you're 23, it's likely that you have some kind of direction. And, it also falls during a year of changes for me. This is my last birthday as a single woman, and it also marks the end of a 2-year break from being a student. I guess overall it's been a surreal year, and my birthday is no exception.

When we were at Pinkberry Adelyn asked me an interesting question (Adelyn I hope you don't mind that I include this - it really got me thinking!). She asked whether I had any goals for myself on my 23rd year, other than the obvious get good grades, a good summer job, get married stuff. It occurred to me that a big thing on my mind this year has been my maturity. I've always felt a little older than my peers, maybe because I take a lot of responsibility upon myself. I think I felt so comfortable working with a group of people who were a little older that now I'm a little scared to go back into an environment where the average age is lower than 25. So, I resolved to not care about that as much this year. I will try to be more open-minded and not fixate on the age and maturity of my peers, because it just doesn't matter.

It feels good to set a personal goal for myself, outside of the obvious benchmarks. We'll see how it goes. Have a good weekend!

My new schedule!

Thanks to some fellow USC Law classmates' advice, I was able to see my first semester (semester!) schedule online. I am in Section L! I think the most remarkable part is that Monday classes for me don't start until 1:20PM (Tuesday is my busy day)! But I'll be able to use the morning to catch up on reading and gear up for the week.

Here it is - broken down by class:

Procedure
Thurs/Fri. 1:20-3:oo
Contracts
Mon/Tues/Wed 1:20-2:35
Torts
Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri 10:05-11:20
Law, Language, and Ethics
Mon/Tues/Wed 2:45-3:35
Legal Research, Writing, & Advocacy
Tues/Thurs 11:30-12:20

Here's the breakdown by day:

Monday
Contracts 1:20-2:35
Law, Lang., Ethics 2:45-3:35

Tuesday
Torts 10:05-11:20
Legal Research, etc. 11:30-12:20
Contracts 1:20-2:35
Law, Lang., Ethics 2:45-3:35

Wednesday
Torts 10:05-11:20
Contracts 1:20-2:35
Law, Lang., Ethics 2:45-3:35

Thursday
Torts 10:05-11:20
Legal Research, etc. 11:30-12:20
Procedure 1:20-3:00

Friday
Torts 10:05-11:20
Procedure 1:20-3:00

I am slightly concerned that I will be sleepy during my afternoon classes, so I'll have to make sure I get a good amount of sleep. At least the classes are shorter than they were at Stanford. I'm also glad classes don't start until 10:05 at the earliest so I can commute from Park La Brea after traffic. Then I can stick around until after traffic subsides on campus to do my reading and workout. So overall I have no complaints with this schedule - I don't know anything about my professors yet to make a judgement, and I'll probably reserve that until my first couple of weeks.

Pictures - Apartment!

On Friday we worked hard to paint the apartment! My dad is a skilled edger.

My mom did the shelf and drawer liners for the kitchen and the closet. (Our walk-in closet includes a dresser and a large mirror!)

More rolling :-)

Jon was so good all day - we were there for 9 hours!


A good view from the front room of the kitchen.

More painting....

My dad did this :-)
But I did the smiley face :-) I thought it was appropriate for the color.
I took this picture yesterday when we went back to evaluate the work. I really like how the colors turned out!

The new shower curtain.

The front room after we took all the tape off. We're really happy with it!