alienating friends and enemies

This is my brief apology if for the next two months I tend to either update sporadically or completely bore you with mundane details, such as who recently won dancing with the stars. Above you will see a sampling of my life (a mere sampling to save those souls who were smart enough not to attend law school). This is what we refer to as bar review. Unfortunately, this term does not refer to soon-to-be attorneys sampling out which bars in the city where they can act like rainmakers, commiserate with other disgruntled lawyers, or find bars to hide from your clients. No no...this refers instead to the bar examiners version of torture (as if the past 3 years weren't hell enough..)

The funny thing (hardy har har) about bar review is it is held at my school. A school I just graduated from. A school which I still have to go to daily for 4 hours a day. Isn't the humor just overwhelming?

And for those of you who don't believe me or think i'm just whining, please take this quote from wikipedia which says: "Bar review is considered by many to be one of the most stressful and unpleasant experiences which a law student faces before becoming a lawyer." And we all know wikipedia doesn't lie.

sidenote: my friend actually updated the wikipedia page for "the wedding planner." yes, the movie with jennifer lopez that you can frequently catch on TBS (which leads me to a quick tangent that I think she has some sort of awesome contract with that channel b/c they always play her movies...go j.lo). one day he was watching the movie (allegedly he is straight) and he didn't feel like watching the end so he looked it up on wikipedia. apparently, the page wasn't to his liking so he redid it. my favorite sentence is "Mary and Steve spend a wonderful evening in the park, watching an old movie, dancing, and nearly kissing before being interrupted by an untimely rainshower." again, allegedly straight.

back home again...in indianaaaaa

ladies and gentlemen, it's race weekend and i seriously couldn't be more excited. i never thought i would enjoy it, but what's not to love really. there's tailgating fun, there's the boy singing "back home again in indiaaaannaaa" in just a beautiful voice, and there's fast cars driving all around me. boy, i wish i was kick ass enough to be a female race car driver. perhaps in my next life.

in preparation for the big event, i went grocery shopping this morning (afternoon, whatever) in true tailgate fashion. we've got the lunch meat, the water, the beer, the cheese, the chips, and the cookies. i literally headed to the line and almost forgot the water. seeing as tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and beautiful, i'm glad i remembered.

but to truly enjoy the tailgate (which lets not lie, when haven't i) i decided to do some tailgate research and i discovered the coolest group that i need to join--The American Tailgaters Association. according to this really cool group, 30% of tailgaters never see the inside of the stadium. when i was in college, i think probably only about 10% of the people at the tailgate saw the inside of the stadium. lord knows i never saw it during a game. another website told me that the Indy 500 is only the 8th on the list for great car racing tailgates (it's like someone stabbed me in the heart...) there is even a tailgate magazine!

and lastly, i leave you with this funny little quip about tailgating from tailgating.com. " The fact that beer has been around so long lends evidence to even medieval origins of tailgating. They probably did it before jousts or throwing a Christian to the lion. To define tailgating as a party before an event....well there you have it....beer has been around for a long time and events too." oh that is too funny...

reversion to being 12

i know a lot of people hate the character meredith grey. most of my friends do. they think she's whiny, selfish, etc. some girls can't see how she could let derek get away and that she's cold and uncapable of loving.

to those people i say bite me. my theory on why people don't like meredith is that they see parts of themselves in meredith that they don't necessarily like. yes, she has her faults. but overall, i think she is probably the character that is most "real." she doesn't have this overwhelming desire to always do good and be perfect (izzie), she isn't 110% obsessed with her career (yang...who i'll get back to in a moment), etc. she has her flaws.

this is all brought on by last night's episode (which i won't actually say what happened), but last night's episode made me the biggest team meredith supporter ever. i just love her...

now with that being said, yang is my all-time favorite character. she is motivated, immersed her work, passionate about it, etc. i think i'm more yang-like than meredith. her dry wit, the fact she has no filter on what she says. love her. and last night's episode made me seriously happy for that reason.

anyways, now that i have acted 15 and written about one of my favorite tv shows, i will stop...

Izzie: Dammit, WHAT?!
Cristina: Hell hath no fury like a girl whose non-boyfriend screws a nurse.
Izzie: [under her breath] Bitch.
Cristina: I like you bitter and pissed off. You're almost like a normal person now.

Meredith: Don´t wonder why people go crazy. Wonder why they don´t. In face of what we can lose in a day, in an instant, wonder what the hell it is that make us hold it together.

it's not easy being green...

i think i just fell in love with these shoes...
i have a tiny obsession with green.

triple toe loop

for those of you living under a rock, (or that just find reality television to be acid for the brain...shame) my idol, my hero, ms. kristi yamaguchi won dancing with the starts last night!!!

when i was younger, i was OBSESSED w/ figure skating which of course meant i was obsessed with ms. yamaguchi. i watched her skate in EVERYTHING that i possibly could, including those cheesy disney skating events she participated in when she went professional. i stood right there in my living room cheering for her when she won the gold. and she introduced me to bjork when she did an amazing routine to "it's oh so quiet." in fact, this milk ad was on my wall until i graduated high school in the section entitled "wall of champions," (right next to a picture of one of my favorite lawyers in town....nerd alert!!).

but yes. i love kristi yamaguchi. even more than i love the 1996 olympic gold medal U.S. gymnastics team...which is a story for a different day.

Indiana Jones is My Type of Man

1) I find someecards.com to deliver some of the best entertainment and online e-cards in the entire world. i find them entirely inappropriate, which means of course I find them hilarious. goodness.

2) this someecard did not let me down. hilarious. it also goes along w/ my mood that is excited for the new indiana jones movie to come out. i think harrison ford was probably my third crush in my lifetime, a crush that has never dwindled, after watching these movies. the crush only increased when he was in the fugitive. my first crush was george clooney (and that one hasn't disappeared either) as the loveable neighbor boy from "the facts of life." my second crush will not be named, but i will give you several hints such as a couple of years ago he went on an anti-semitic tirade. further, he recently let ms. britney spears spend some time at his costa rican hideaway. if you can't guess from those clues, well i'm glad you can block those things out.

i think though if you look at that pattern of crushes (and then look at the majority of the men i've had crushes after) i really have a thing for manly men, with a penchant for danger, who are rather cocky individuals. the sensitive types just didn't really do it for me from the age of 5 until 15 and then 22 to now. of course there is a 7 year gap. you can fill those in with crushes of men, such as rider strong, river phoenix, ethan hawke, dave pirner, etc. these are the "in-touch with their emotions" kind of guy who want to read you poetry. yuck. we call those the "lost years." all those manly crushes i missed out on....

and if you're still confused about the type of guy i like, i will put it in sex and the city terms (since i am currently attempting to watch the whole series prior to seeing the movie so i think in sex and the city terms). i'm a "mr. big" type of girl, not an "aiden" type. yum yum!

Mr. Big: You know, I don't live here anymore and the Plaza won't check you in until 1.
Carrie: Oh, you wanna come up?
Mr. Big: Abso-fucking-lutely.

domestic goodness

when i was growing up i never thought i'd want to learn to cook. this partially stemmed from my huge tomboyness and disdain for all things "girl." yet, as i am sure happens with most girls, you start to get the domestic "itch."

last year, when i was having a particularly bad week, the best mom in the world (mine) surprised me with a subscription to rachel ray's magazine (love her). over the summer, the boy and i tried to cook meals from the magazine or other recipe books once a week. and at the gym, you can usually find me watching the food network on the treadmill (b/c that makes sense...).

i started to design my dream green kitchen in my head last semester while i was bored in admin law class. for graduation, my mom purchased me my own cute little green tea pot (which i will not drink green tea out of...yuck). it looks so cute in the little apartment.... now i just need someone to purchase me my green kitchen aid mixer...any takers?

p.s. if you look closely enough in my teapot picture, you will see my favorite gift from my alaskan "brother" mandy. it has a lumberjack on it to remind me of a very special breakfast which led mandy to coin the best word ever: "fantasty."

spoiling myself? yes!

I find it necessary to share with you that I am a bit of a tight ass when it comes to my money. That is what those call me who do not share my viewpoints. I refer to myself as a fiscal conservative, which makes the democrat in my heart scream and yell and the boy happy that I am conservative in some viewpoints.

However, I am currently thinking of breaking my fiscal conservatism and purchasing a "happy graduation" present to myself. This will take much force on the part of myself, but there is one item that I have always wanted and never owned. I have owned fake ones, that I have coined "Fuggs," but as I will be walking to work (hopefully!) next year during the winter (see, fiscally conservative) I will need warm boots to keep my feetsies comfy (shush, democrat in my heart).

So here are my choices:First, we have the classic tall. As the description goes, it is just classic. And, against my ten commandments, I have coveted them....Up next we have:
This is the crochet tall ugg. My friend owns these and when she walked in with them one day I think I fell in love. I am so torn....

**note: please don't be surprised if I don't purchase either...once again, tight ass!!

Ode to How I Survived Finals

i promise one day i will have a conversation that is not peppered with law school, the law, the bar, or legalese...however, sadly (for you) that day is not today.

i just find it appropriate to give a shout out to the music list that kept me going through finals. i seriously listened to this list on repeat for approximately 3 weeks. some would get bored, but not I, soldier. so here it is, in all its glory.

"The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson
1) MJ always reminds me of LPH who always makes me happy, 2) who doesn't love MJ, and 3) it has made me want to dance since "Center Stage." in fact, without fail, i will always do this certain dance w/ my shoulders when this song comes on.

"Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac
I think we can all figure out that I needed someone to tell me not to stop studying. and typing. and calculating John and Mary's gross income.

"I Want You Back" by the Jackson Five
Again, I love MJ, and this is some MJ at his best. When I was in 5th grade I actually choreographed a dance to this song. For myself.

"Sister Christian" by Night Ranger
This is my Uncle Doug's favorite karaoke song so it of course reminds me of good times dancing with my people. I blasted this at 6:30 a.m. the morning of my tax final and then skipped to school. All 25 blocks.

"Here for the Party" by Gretchen Wilson
Some might not want to admit this song describes them just a little bit. But it does...

"A Moment Like This" by Kelly Clarkson
We all have our weak spots. And Kelly Clarkson is one of mine.

"My Prerogative" by Britney Spears
This would be another weak spot of mine. But seriously, she is amazing. She will reappear on this list, I can promise you that.

"Will You Be There" by Michael Jackson
Free Willy, anyone? I actually got caught rockin' out to this one in the library. I kept going though.

"Don't Phunk with My Heart" by the Black Eyed Peas
"girl, you know you got me got me; with your pistol you shot me shot me." OK. bad lyrics galore. but my oh my keeps my little fingers a typin!

"Check on It" by Beyonce
Good girls gotta get down with the gangstas.

"Buttons" by the Pussycat Dolls
This was my song that got me through 2nd year, 1st semester finals. It was really a throwback. (ok and I still love the song...)

"L.O.V.E." by Ashlee Simpson
As I write these out, I realize my strong love for pop music. Apparently, I am a 25 year old teeny bopper.

"Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood
Homegirls got some pipes. And I like when she makes fun of the girl for not being able to shoot whiskey. Weakling.

"Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilera
Christina is my all-time favorite to pump me out and keep me going....

"Touchdown Turnaround" by HelloGoodbye
HelloGoodbye got me through 2nd semester 2nd year. So for sentimental sake, I threw this upbeat song on. Plus, you can get maximum bounce in the chairs w/ this beat.

"Sugar, We're going Down Down" by Fall Out Boy
I hate Fall Out Boy. But I love this song. It causes me much turmoil.

"Don't Turn Off the Lights" by Enrique Iglesias
Always listened to it senior year prior to going out on the town....and has never left my "get pumped up" list since. Although sometimes when I try to turn on and off the lights, I feel I might have a seizure. Plus, the kids at the library don't like it....losers.

"Gimme More" by Britney Spears
Told you she'd come back....she is just too great to only have one song of....

"La Vie Boheme" from the RENT soundtrack
This is one of my favorite songs on this soundtrack. And after about 10 years of listening to this cd, I finally know all the words....and sing them at the top of my lungs whenever possible :)

"Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis
I owe my knowing of this song to one of my dear friends, Ashley. But seriously, it was my finals anthem this semester. I listened to it on repeat and would dance around my apartment by myself. I have no shame.

"Fighter" by Christina Aguilera
Sorry, but how can you have a mix that is trying to keep you going without "Fighter?" It would be a sin against nature.

"Number One" by John Legend
This got me through first year finals.....

J.D. For Me

Yesterday was the end of an era in my life. I graduated from law school (finally!). Technically, I am now considered a Doctor of Jurisprudence. However, for whatever reason lawyers don't go by Doctor Scalia (and no, they didn't teach us why in law school, along with many other practical lessons). Instead, we are forced to endure another 3 months of torture (all during the wonderful season of summer) in order to earn our right to be an "esquire."

But you can still call me J.D. for now...and that feels pretty damn good.