New directions.

Okay, I've decided something. I need some sort of direction for my blog. My friends all do fun and interesting things with theirs [they write about delicious vegan food or tell funny stories about the horrors of law school]. I need to find my place, because as much as I hate to admit it, no one wants to just read about me [except me, of course]! I know this, which is why I never, ever make blog posts. What do I do?

I know what I need to do. I need to make more art. My only other options are yoga [boring to write and read about] or my love life [I won't let myself make that any more public than it already is]. So, art it is. After finals [or before finals, if I procrastinate just hard enough], get ready for some more lovely paintings by yours truly. I might also throw a bit about music into the mix, because, let's face it, anyone who has experienced the thrill of my Zune program on shuffle knows that I am the queen of random and incredible music selections. After all, music is the greatest of all inventions.

Talk to you SOON! And you thought I was going to say "never". Silly you.

Oh, the grace.

I realized that I have some major ADD. I blame it on having to do the majority of my school work on my computer, with the Internet just one click away. Somehow, and sometime SOON, I need to conquer this.

Halloween is this Sunday! I'm so pumped for all the festivities of my favorite holiday. And my costume will be so adorable. And believable. Like a Halloween costume should - no, MUST - be.

I'm pretty sure everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) fell from grace last Saturday. I have no problem with that.

Wawa egg and cheese biscuits are the best.

Totes perf.

If you think I'm going to attempt to re-cap almost two month's worth of my life, you're sadly mistaken. You're getting the highlight reel. Take it or leave it.

1. Fall Break was amazing. Time spent at the Casa Casa was just perfect (complete with veggie pot pies, apple orchards, wine tasting, stinkbug stu, endless shrimp, and major B.S. spooning). I got to see my Fav, enjoy a Drowsy Milton with him, and catch up on some pretty monumental life stories. I also had the pleasure of driving Biddy Boo back to the best place on earth (Blacksburg.. duh). I can't think of anything better than walking around Tech's campus. Plus, I got to have pretty much the best conversation I've ever had with Pete, delicious pita pizzas at The Cellar with Monica/Leah/Meg, Rita's with Bid and Travi Claus, and strawberry bars after a long workout at the New Res gym with Biddy. Pretty much an epic weekend.

2. It's official: as of yesterday, I'm a real vegetarian! After over four years of eating only poultry and seafood, I'm eliminating chicken and turkey from my diet! I hardly ever ate it anyway, so it won't be a problem. Except for Chik-fil-a chicken sandwiches. And turkey burgers. And BTO locos (which I'll likely never have the opportunity to eat again, anyway). I'M SO EXCITED TO BE TOTES VEG.

3. Vampire Weekend is my all time favorite pandora station. I love Spoon. And Phoenix.

4. My law school intramural softball team (the Tom Jackson Project) won BOTH the co-ed and men's intramural championships this past weekend (which led to two home plate pile-ups, Old Leafe mug night, and endless t-shirt tiiiiime). We also won the law school softball tournament, which means that we're going to UVA in the spring to play in a weekend-long tournament against law school teams from across the nation. You better believe we're getting custom-made jerseys so we can rep TJP hard.

5. HP7 pt. 1 is deffff coming out on my birthday. OHMYGODSOEXCITED.

6. My law school girlfriends are precious to me. I don't know what I would have done with my life without them over the past two months. Especially the other 2/3s of the Dream Team.

7. I've been a Bar Review champ. I don't think I've missed one in 5 weeks. That might be a record. My favorite one was def last week's.. Opus 9, the New Leafe, and Eric and Will's afterwards.

8. This past weekend, I had a total of 7 hours of sleep. And it might have been the best weekend in Williamsburg so far. Baller. Status.

9. So, so excited for Blacksburg Reunion.

10. I could go to Aroma's for some kind of iced coffee every day for the rest of law school and I'd never get sick of it. Especially if I'm in good company.

11. Jen and I prepared for spring class registration last night. I am absolutely, 100% NOT GOING TO HAVE THURSDAY OR FRIDAY CLASSES. That's right: 4 day weekend every weekend. My life.. it's just so perfect.

12. I have perfected at least 5 new yoga positions in the past month (including crow, which is simply amazing). I think it's time to get my yoga instructor certification.

13. I haven't taken a single picture in over two months. I'm protesting against my crappy camera. So, until I buy a new one, everyone else is responsible for photographing ME. Oh, how the tables have turned!

14. I baked my famous made-from-scratch chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles the other week. Let's just say that they were a hit at multiple venues. Thank goodness I'm good in the kitchen.. at least when it comes to dessert and chocolate chip banana multigrain pancakes.

That's all for now. TTYN.

i have heart-shaped ice cubes now. while filling my water glass a moment ago, i accidently dropped one of the hearts and watched it melt down the drain.

that's all i know.

Law school [is] for dummies.

Wowsa.. I might be the worst person to every own a blog. No one this busy should expect herslf to be able to do anything on a semi-regular basis. Oh well. Here goes another recap.

Things you should know about the last few weeks of my life:

1. Training for Grad RA was just as time consuming, draining, fun, and monumental as training for RA was in undergrad. Unfortunately, we didn't have a cool name for it like FTLWTLWTWFLW. BUT, I did learn a lot of things that I want to remember:

(a) The Midnight Society was the best thing to happen to me during training. We need to reunite. Like ASAP.

(b) My superior, Mike, is my favorite thing to ever come from NYU.

(c) I'm learning sign language! How awesome is that?

(d) "Blockbuster" aka Boom Blox is an amaaaazing Wii game.

(e) I still win everything, even without trying. Also, I really good at Policy Pictionary.

(f) I've still got it when it comes to making AWESOME BULLETIN BOARDS.

(g) I will never get sick of eating soft-serve vanilla ice cream in a sugar cone for lunch AND dinner dessert. I just wish there would have been sprinkles at the Commons.

(h) My and Jen's apartment looks amaaaazing (check out the pictures).

(i) The PRC is just as cool as the Imaginarium, but without the wonderful title.

(j) Planning bar-b-ques right after the Meet the Dean event ends at the Law School is GENIUS. Almost 150 people at our first program? Yes, please!

(k) I can finally cut tomatoes without getting the juice ALL OVER EVERYTHING EVER.

(l) Nighttime volleyball and cornhole (yeah, I said it) are both reeeeally fun.

(m) I can't wait to make our horror film. I hope I can FWIW in it. But that would turn out to be a different kind of film..

(n) Photo scavenger hunts are pretty much my forte.

2. Jen was long gone until right before classes began, which was horrible for me. But now she's back and we're living blissfully in the most beautiful 2-bedroom apartment the Grad Plex has ever seen:

3. Being on a journal is verrry time consuming. That is all.

4. I am in love with the majority of my classes. I actually get to read about things I like [but I still hate law school]. My classes: Land Use Control (with Rosenberg.. loves it), Natural Resources Law (obvi amazing), Admiraly Law ("yoooou're a crook, captain hook), and Evidence (no comment). And Legal Skills. Can't forget that weekly bundle of fun.

5. I love, love, love going to weddings. Chris's cousin, Douglas, just got married, and the wedding was so much fun! We danced the night away. AND, that morning, Nick graduated from his first summer of OCS (first in his platoon)!! I was so happy to be in Fredericksburg that weekend (even if I'm now 90% sure I have narcolepsy).

6. Jen and I were curious about the amount of fat/calories we consume on a regular basis, so we logged it one random day this week. I only ate 45 grams of fat (mostly good fat from fruits/vegetables) out of the 65 average fat consumption, and 1,400 calories out of the 2,000 average calorie diet. Not too shabby! I need to eat more protein, though. And I've been running every day, so I should make sure I get enough calories so I don't die (Chris's words).

7. I get to go to Blacksburg and Lynchburg this weekend! YAAY.. I can never have enough burgs in my life.

To make a long story short ("too late!"), everyone says that 2L year is crazy busy, and I definitely believe them. I just hope I have time for all of the things I want to do. Who am I kidding? I'll do what I want, and STILL be baller at everything.

Field trips!

I have been doing a lot of traveling lately, and it's been awesome. Unfortunately, all that traveling didn't give me much time to update this thing. Well, this is a long needed and jam-packed post. And, it's the first post since I actually told other people besides Jen about my blog! So, here goes.

I completed my internship with the Fredericksburg City Attorney's office a couple of weeks ago, and since then, I've been so, so busy. For a while, I was pretty sick with some sort of cold that transferred from my throat and my head to my nose and sinuses. But, Chris and I were still able to enjoy his birthday weekend at home and in DC. We were supposed to go to Lake Anna to play on the boat with a bunch of his friends that Saturday, but the RIDICULOUSLY UNCALLED FOR HEAT ruined the trip. Instead, we celebrated all day and all night with his friends. It was awesome. We went to DC the next day, and almost got swept away in an insane stormaggedon that took over the mall (see photo). We went to the modern art museum and the Museum of Natural History with Chels. It was a lot of fun.

The following week was spent trying (and failing) to get over my sickness. My body should know that it's not allowed to get sick, because I need to exercise. I did yoga during the last two days of my sickness. I don't think it helped the process. But at least I didn't feel like a lazy bum.

After I finally got better (and after a false sickness scare from Chris), we headed to the beach house! Mom was there, and Chels and Dad met us there later that night. The next day was spent entirely on the beach (south beach, where the waves were too intense for anyone, and there was literally a cliff to slide down before reaching them.. check out the photo). We went to happy hour afterwards and then spent the night in, playing games and listening to Chelsea's amazing

middle school stories that she wrote. Genius. Also, Chelsea and I helped Mom put on fake nails so she could be on par with the other chicks on the JERSEY SHORE.

On Saturday, after Mom and Dad left for the shore, the three of us went to the beach (where Chels and I did some awesome yoga; see the photo), ate Grottos (naturally), let the craaaazy gaggles of middle school drama queens and kings entertain us on the boardwalk, got a drink at The Cottage, and played Mario Party at home. The next day, we went to the crazy north shore to wrestle the hundreds of other sun bathers for sand space. After eating delicious Boardwalk Fries, we headed back to MD/VA.

I stayed at Chelsea's apartment in Silver Spring after Chris dropped us off on his way back to Fredericksburg. Notes from our slumber party:

1. I need to watch more of The Good Guys.. seriously. Pure genius.
2. Billy Bell's homeless dance = increeeedible.
3. I enjoyed realizing (all over again) how young Chels & And were when they first started dating.

4. want to buy an elliptical.
5. I kind of feel like a creeper when I'm alone in someone else's apartment, even though I'm doing absolutely nothing sketchy.
6. I hope Chels turned on the TV and saw that I was watching E! all morning. I thought about changing the channel to CBS or something so she wouldn't think I'm a freak (she already knows it), but I forgot to do it.

I caught the bus from DC to NYC the following afternoon so I could visit Juss for the next couple days. I was incredible. I missed him so, so much, and I loved being in the city with him. I was also very impressed with myself for not screwing up the metro, bus, subway/subway, bus, metro insanity all on my own (for the most part)! We got to spend time with his friends, we ate at one of his favorite diners, and we got to see "Promises, Promises," starring Sean Hayes (Jack from Will & Grace, if you live under a rock) and Kristen Chenoweth. Great vacay.

When I returned to the big F-B (there really is no cool nickname for Fredericksburg), I had to buckle down and finish packing up my summer LIFE. It was horrible. I didn't want to leave the Greys, I didn't want to go back to law school life, and it was TOO HOT TO MOVE BOXES AROUND. Also, Chris's dad accidently spoiled Roberto for me, but I was still incredibly happy to watch the Tiboed finale. Thankfully, we all got to spend one last family night together on Thursday night, where we did some of our favorite things: ate at Margarita Grill, drank margaritas (I don't think I've been that giggly in.. ever), watched Real World: Nawlins, watched SYTYCD (yaaay Lauren), and ate fudgesicles (okay, maybe I was the only one to do that).

I left the next morning, Friday, for Williamsburg. My good old car was packed to the briiiim, and with Two alongside me and my kayak strapped to the roof, I made it safely back to the 3rd Burg I've been known to call home. Jen welcomed me there as soon as I made it to the Grad Plex, and we've spent the past 3 days either crying for joy when we think about the next year we get to spend together or crying for hate of everything move-in related. I swear, I have never had such a difficult move in my life. Here are some of the many reasons:

1. There was a girl still living in Jen's room when I arrived, and she didn't move out all of her stuff until 11 p.m., which significantly hindered the move in process.
2. Jen and I couldn't get my bed apart to turn it into a day bed and put it in the living room. Just believe me when I say that we. tried. everything. We eventually found out that a hammer is a lot more powerful than us, even when we jump up and down a lottt. So, after a completely unsuccessful night of attempted piveting, we figured it all out yesterday afternoon with the help of my hammer.
3. The carpet squares in my room decided that they didn't want to be glued to the floor, which made it almost impossible to move my huge desk. It took about three hours to successfully re-arrange my room. Let's just say that there was a lot of caddy cornering.
4. I own a really long kayak. Like taller than our ceilings. We moved it around and around the apartment (and used the measuring tape after we were tired of moving), until we finally found the perfect place for it.
5. I have to train and train for my Graduate Resident Assistant position for the next 2 weeks, and I'm doing all of this moving in between the training. It is a bummer. But, I really like the other students on my staff, and our director seems amazing. So I think this will be a great experience.
6. Chris was supposed to come on Friday evening to spend time with us and help with the move in, but my training schedule seemed really crazy, and Nick was coming in town, so he stayed home to see him. It turned out that I have a lot of free time I could have spent with him, so that was just heartbreaking.

Jen and I still need to decorate the walls of the apartment, which is, of course, the best part. We'll both be contributing some art for the shared living spaces, once we finally get around to making it. :) Photos of the apartment will come soon, because it is the most amaaaazing living space for two of the best friends.


All in all, an amazing end of the summer. And I could not possibly be happier to live with Jen. But, of course, I already miss Chris. That's what living with someone for 12 perfect weeks will do to you. Anyone want to offer him a job in PR in Williamsburg? K thanks.

Gifts galore.

Somehow, it's not December, but I'm giving everyone and their mom (literally) gifts over the next couple of weeks:

1. Chris's birthday is on Saturday. He's getting some incredible gifts. I'll go into detail after Saturday (with photos, too).

2. My last day of work is tomorrow. Kathleen is getting a pretty awesome Fredericksburg-themed frame (photo soon, since it's not even finished yet) and a gift card to her favorite restaurant: La Petite Auberge.

3. Since I'll be leaving the Grey's soon, I have some thank you gifts for them: a gift card to one of our favorite restaurants to frequent: Margarita Grill, a retro wallet from the 1984 World Fair in New Orleans (where they first met), diamond fleur de lis earrings for Mrs. Grey, and one of my first pieces of art (see right). Check out more photos of the Mardi Gras mirror (made from authentic New Orleans Mardi Gras beads) at my art page.

4. Nick is in Officer Candidate School right now, and he's dying for things to keep his mind off of boot camp. Even though he doesn't know it, after his 10 weeks at OCS, he'll be coming home to a beautifully made high school scrapbook. I've included his memories from wrestling, soccer, Mr. Stafford (which he, of course, won), and graduation.

5. EDIT: I realized, as I read through this after my rush to post it yesterday afternoon, that I didn't mention Jen's awesome birthday present that I gave to her over the weekend. Jen, I just read your comment, and I'm a big dummy. Your present is obvs one of the best EVER. Jen got a cupcake-themed birthday present: the Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World cookbook, a mini cupcake baking tray, mini cupcake baking papers, sprinkles, and two cupcake-to-go containers. I can't wait until we live together and go to cupcake heaven! Also, side note: Chris bought me the I <3 Trader Joe's cookbook yesterday. I'm super pumped to be back in Williamsburg, close to Trader Joe's, so I can make some delicious dinners.

Needless to say, I'm ready to receive a few gifts of my own. Birthweek, come oooon. Why are you 4 months away?!