I Think I Peed Myself

I mentioned yesterday that we went out to celebrate being finished with our first drafts on Friday night. We went to Mezze and omigosh - YOU HAVE TO GO. We had some amazing food. Zucchini fritters, meatballs, hummus, spinach pies, chicken kabobs, baba gounoush, lamb chops, and more. There were 4 of us and it was the perfect number of people to order a ton of things and split them. This restaurant is all mediterranean tapas...a.k.a. de-lish!



Saturday was friends and family day at the law school. I dragged Ian and my mom to it. The program puts the friends and family in a classroom, has a professor come in and put them through a mock class (there wasn't anything really mock about this - it was literally identical to our classes). They were required to read a case ahead of time, and it just so happened that my amazing contracts professor was the professor for this exercise. He put the pressure on, and treated the friends and family as students - all about socratic method. Luckily for Ian and my mom, neither were called on. But Ian did say it was super intense. All in all, I think he really had a new appreciation for what we go through for 3-4 hours per day. He only had to go through it for 45 minutes!


I also have made it a point to continue with hot yoga. I went on Friday and Sunday. Ian actually accompanied me on Sunday. He went into it thinking, what really can be so difficult about it. Well, we left the studio and he said he felt like he'd just run in an entire soccer game - he was exhausted, completely soaked through with sweat, and already sore. I then told him that now he can't comment when I come home from hot yoga - and just accept that it looks like I peed my pants - it's just the way the sweat runs on my capri spandex - I can't help it!

I Lied

I know I promised pictures - but I haven't had a chance to add the camera software onto the new laptops. I will get to it eventually.

Well - I finally turned in my paper on Friday. It was a great feeling, although, unlike the relief and satisfaction I felt after turning a paper in while in college, I was feeling rather unhappy. While although the first draft is done, it's a style of writing unlike anything previously done, and is uncomfortable. We were told to expect that our first drafts will be torn apart. But, I don't think it really prepared me for the type of comments I received.

I got it back today, and my gosh, it really did get torn apart. So while we went out and celebrated being finished with our first draft on Friday night, the celebration was short-lived. I now am going into anal editing and correction mode. Here are some examples of the types of comments:
What does this add? (when referring to an entire paragraph)
Not sure what you're saying
You'll have to explain this to me - I can't figure it out
I'd rethink this paragraph

Harsh? Yes - but a few of us shared the comments we'd all received and mine aren't dissimilar to what other people experienced. So - I think we're all in the same boat.

A common question people keep asking me is, "how are you doing in law school"? It's not really a question I can answer. We have no way of evaluating how we're doing, as we only have one assignment for the entire semester - the final exam. Otherwise, I go day by day, do my assigned reading thoroughly and on time and take notes in class and pay attention. I talk things through with classmates. I am doing what I should be. But there's ALWAYS more that I could be doing. Our teaching fellows (2nd or 3rd years) broke down what our schedule SHOULD look like each week. According to their recommendation, the day starts at 8am and ends at 10pm. They allow for an hour break each day and do not include commuting times, workout time, grocery shopping time, errand time, etc. This means that they recommend we spend 13 hours per day attending class, reading, reviewing, and revising class notes. WHAATTT?!

This all leads me to say - I'm exhausted and stressed and unfortunately, this is just what it's all about for the first year. Going into week 6 - the semester is 13 weeks in total - 7 more weeks to go. Can't wait!

I'll continue more of a weekend recap tomorrow...

Pulling Out My Hair

AHHHHHHHH - I am very stressed at the moment. My paper is due tomorrow and I have a whole lot to work on between now and then. Stay tuned - tomorrow I'll put some pics from last weekend. Wish me luck in the meantime!

Growing Up

There have been a lot of situations recently that have made me take a step back and think, gosh we really are adults. I know you're thinking, duh, you just got married Katie, that is an adult thing. Yes yes I know it is. But Ian turning 28 really made me think about it. Then, in class as I am sitting with fellow students who just graduated college, it makes me feel old, then add the fact that I'm married and holy crap it feels weird.

Well, I was already feeling so mature when I hear yesterday from our friend Juan and his wife Lauren, that she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl yesterday. You can see pictures of the cutie Here. I turned to Ian and said, wow, they are parents now. Not that we haven't known that this was happening - we've been getting together with them over the last 9 months, so you'd think that'd be some type of preparation. But once agian, I was left thinking.

At what point do we become adults? Is there a moment? A situation that changes us? Or is it gradual? Will I ever feel adult like? Because I can remember thinking even 5 years ago, when I was 20, that a 28 year old was so adult and mature and I couldn't wait to be that person. Well, I'm 25, and I don't feel like that person yet. I still feel young at heart, tormented with decisions, people can still be crappy to one another, and I still struggle with some of the same things I struggled with at age 20. So do things ever really change?

At our housewarming party, my friend Josh was acting very quiet, and finally blurted out "I don't know what to do with myself - we're standing having drinks out of fancy glasses in a house and you're married - how did this all happen? Where am I?". It makes me think that maybe we're all wondering the same thing - how did we get here?

Sometimes we hear of people getting married, or engaged, or buying a house, and wonder, hmmm - they aren't really ready for that, but we smile and go on with life because it's not our business to say anything. But I wonder if they too think, wow, I can't believe we're here. And maybe that little doubt in my head of whether another person is ready is just the young-at-heart part of me that forces me to be in denial, that we are in fact, here. And in some ways - that is a great thing - it means that I still feel young and wild and crazy and you know what, I hope that feeling lasts a whole lot longer!

2 New Laptops - What??

I hate Mondays! I hate that with the amount of studying I do on weekends, the weekend just flies right by.

Friday night we had a small get together at our house for the first time. Even though it was small, we didn't manage to get to bed until close to 2 with people staying to hang out and drink. It was a blast! I need to upload the photos from that night. It was nice to have a few law school people blend in with my non-law school friends. It always amazes me how well everyone seems to get along in those types of situations.

Saturday we slept in and sorted out the laptop situation. Currently, I am using Ian's old laptop for school. The school offers a laptop program and I was hoping to buy one through them when their newer model arrives. Well, this lovely computer decided to poop out on me last week, not completely, but as in I have to hold the cord at precisely the correct angle for it to work. I know what you're thinking - we tried a new power cord as well - same issue. So to Best Buy we went on Saturday to get this baby fixed. Well, they determined that the cord thingie is attached to the mother board and when the cord thingie comes off the mother board and becomes loose, you have to replace the entire mother board. Doh! We went home and thought about our options and decided to order a new school laptop for me through the laptop program, and yesterday Ian went and replaced our home laptop. A whole lot of hassle (and money spent) later, I am now typing on our lovely new home computer while my school computer should be here in about 2 weeks. Yay!

And it's a fantastic thing that it pooped out on me last week so that I had time to get a new one, because, I have my first law school paper due on Friday! On that note...I will be quite busy this week trying to do that. Eek! Wish me luck:)

Oh and I managed to fit in another 90-minute hot yoga class yesterday. I'm a little sore, but I think the soreness will subside much more quickly than last time. However, I still sweated just as much - I'm hoping maybe I will stop sweating like a hot pig eventually in these classes!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. PS - How beautiful has this weather been!!

Things are A-Changin

So, since I'm finishing up my 4th week in law school, it's time to take a look at how things have changed. I realize now that I have very little time for Ian, my family, and friends. It's sad. I feel so disconnected from all of my closest because I simply barely have time to sleep these days. I've decided that I am going to try to be better about the blog and try to use it as a way to keep in touch with friends - that way I can fill everyone in on everything all at once. That sounds horrible - but I figure it's better than nothing. But that is going to require that I get to hear from all of my friends through this! So - I need to clean things up a bit and tone things down in other ways. But it means that I should be better about this whole blog thing!

I also have realized that I barely have time for "me". Any spare moment I get is normally to eat or sleep, and any other moment I am trying to do my laundry or pick up something from the store, or do the dishes or something else around the house. And as busy as I am, I absolutely must make time for exercise. It sounds stupid - but it really does help me feel better about life and I think that's going to have to be my "me" time. Last night I took a hot yoga class and holy cow, I am so sore today! Two of my friends from school joined me for the sweat-filled 90 minutes. I normally have a sweating problem in my face, but I didn't know that my ears could sweat like that. Ian squished his face to look like a raisin when I walked in and he saw just how much of one hot sweaty piece of mess I was. I'm heading back for more torture this weekend!

How is married life? Well, school certainly is putting a little damper on the honeymoon stage. I am putting a lot more on Ian than I think he was prepared to handle. I don't think he was quite prepared for how things would be with me being in school. He thought, Katie's not working - she'll have plenty of time to cook, clean, run errands, pay bills - be a housewife. Not so much what he bargained for. He ends up doing a lot more than me and although he doesn't always where a smile on his face, he's managing and little by little we're getting a handle on things. Bottom line is, that no matter what we have going on or how stressed we might be, we go to bed happy to be together every single night. And that's all that matters in the end!

This past weekend was Ian's birthday. We went to Salt Tavern on Friday - it was fantastic. I highly recommend you go if you haven't been there already. We went to Bicycle Bistro on Saturday night which happens to be Ian's favorite restaurant.

On Sunday we took Tessa for a big walk and went down to the Harbor:

I also have continued my love for baking! I tried a new recipe for homemade cookies:

And the one I'm most proud of...I baked my first pie from SCRATCH! I got the recipe from Southern Living and holy crap was it good:

Ta-Daaaaaa!

Some places to try...

We've been trying lots of new restaurants so I thought I'd do a quick review of them!

Pitango Gelato: This gelato tastes like heavenly, creamy, flavorful goodness. I tried the pistachio and chocolate and omigosh it's AMAZING. It's expensive - I got a medium size and it ws $6. So it may be heavenly, creamy, flavorful freaking expensive goodness. What's in there? Milk/cream from the king of cows??

Matthews Pizza: Their specialty is deep dish which I personally love, but Ian doesn't normally like. But he is addicted to it as well which just shows you how amazing it is.

Jacks Bistro: The inside doesn't look as comparable to how amazing the food is. I got the Sous Vide Bistro Steak Frites. It is cooked in a sealed bag that is placed in water that's 136 degrees and massaged under water. Not sure what that means - but it makes the meat extremely tender and the seasoning on it is salty and delicious. It comes with rosemary fries that are addictive. It is perfectly prepared and no need to add salt (which I normally have to add) or pepper. We split the mac + cheese + chocolate. Yep you read that correctly. It was YUMMY. The chocolate almost made the mac&cheese spicy - it was interesting.

Mehek: I was anxious to find a good indian restaurant to take over since we're not longer near our favorite indian takeout restaurant in Bethesda. Unfortunately, this place did not live up to my expectations. It was just as expensive as the one in Bethesda, but the food was disappointing. The sauces were bland, rice wasn't included in the price of the entrees, and the service was iffy. The sauces almost tasted watery. Would not go back here. I think we'll have to keep searching for a replacement.

Chiu's Sushi: We really liked the sushi here. They have a ton of selection and lots of new rolls we'd never tried. It was a little more expensive than we'd like to pay, but not so bad that it's outrageous. Certainly will be getting takeout from here!

That's it for now. We're trying a new restaurant tonight and spending the weekend celebrating Ian's 28th birthday which is tomorrow! Have a great weekend:)

I'll Always Remember...

Whoa the title of my post makes me think of Sarah Machlachlan's "Remember" song. Okay but anyways. Today marks 7 years since 9/11. I think it is one of the situations in my lifetime that no matter how long it's been, I can always remember that day. My mom says she can always remember exactly where she was, who she was with and other details when she saw on TV Kennedy's assassination. It's the same thing for me with 9/11.

I was asleep in my freshman dorm room when I received a call from Maggie. She was frantic and asking if I had been in contact with my brother who at the time (and still does) work in Manhattan. I had no idea what she was talking about when she explained that one of the towers had been hit. I immediately worried about my brother, and my mom who was on her way up to NY that day to visit my brother for a few days.

I went out to the living area and turned on the TV. I then woke my roommates up, and well, we all know the rest of what we saw. I called my mom, who hadn't heard anything yet and was at the train station waiting to leave. She never did make it to NY that day. We also weren't able to get in touch with my brother until late that night, after he walked about 100 blocks, found an owner of a boat who was just using their boat generously to help people get to and from Hoboken (where he was living at the time).

It's hard to believe that was 7 years ago. 7 years. I think about how much my own life has changed in those years. I was 18 at the time, now 25. But how far has our country come? I know for awhile afterwards there really was a sense of unity. People realized we all had differences, but they didn't matter because we all were in this world together, as one nation. I guess considering how much my own life has changed, it makes sense that maybe that sense of unity, that kindness that we all had for one another for many months afterwards, could dissipate. It's sad - but it also represents healing when life returns to so-called "normal". No matter what though, it's helpful for me at least, to always reflect back on that day, to remember that sense of unity.

Friends

I'm pretty sure the majority of people have had their share of friends over the years. It seems like it's fairly normal that friends come in and out of your life, sometimes for a chapter, a few, or possibly if you're lucky, they've been there for your entire book called life. Friends sometimes are in your life because of mutual interests or fall out of your life just because you went separate ways, had a falling out, or possibly just lost touch.

I recently had a situation that presented itself that made me wonder - what are the cause of all of these changes in friends, and if you do fall out of each other's lives, what does that mean. Was it not a true friendship to begin with? Or was it just not strong enough? Or was it something to do with him/her, both of you, or you? And it sometimes leaves me wondering, why was it so easy for them to walk away from me?

When friends go out of my life, I sometimes take it as if I've just broken up. It sometimes produces that same type of pain. Was it me? Was it them? Was it mutual?

At least for me, I think it depends on what people value in friendships. People have different definitions of who friends should be and how they should act. For me, I value a friend who when I ask for their opinion, they'll give it to me straight. I want someone by my side who will call me out when I'm being mean, rude, or terrific. I'm okay with disagreeing with friends. I'm okay with tough love. But when I ask a friend to go easy, they know that I need them to lean on and respond accordingly. It's all about communication for me. I have some friends who I can go months without talking to, but still consider one of my best. That's a true friendship to me. I want a friend to say be able to disapprove of something I've done, or disagree with an opinion of mine, but still love me all at the same time. Same goes for my feelings towards my friends - sometimes they drive me bananas, but it's a true friendship if they are driving me bananas but I still love their craziness all in one.

I also think friends have different purposes in our lives I think. I had a horrible sophomore year of college in terms of roommates (this is a whole story that is blogworthy - but that's for another day). I befriended a couple of people who I no longer keep in touch with. But I will always think of them fondly because they took me under their wings in a way, and for that I am eternally greatful. They helped me out of a situation that I thought there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

One of my close friends is facing something very difficult in her life. Something that I cannot imagine having to face at just 23 years old. Her strength, love, and kindness even while she is battling something really put things in perspective for me. It made me realize, that no matter who comes in or out of our lives, it's those few friends who are with you no matter what, whether they're in my life for just a chapter, or from the beginning, I cherish you. To those of you who realize how crazy I am, how terrible I am with returning phone calls, how particular I am, and you still love me, well that's just amazing.

One More Plus

I drive an SUV and used to fill up about every 5-6 days. Well - last time I filled up was 17 days ago. That makes me oh-so-happy.

I'm Addicted to...

Coffee! Since I started law school a couple weeks ago, I can't get enough of it! I used to be very sensitive to caffeine, especially Starbucks. I'd get the shakes and get all jittery and my stomach would feel like it was being torn up by shards of glass. Now - I make a huge pot in the morning, have a cup before I leave for class, take a mug full with me and inevitably when I get home in the afternoon, I open the book and as my head starts to nod, I realize I need to get up and go pour some more for my afternoon reading. And no jitters, no shakes, no nausea or stomach pains. Just...awake. I guess this is my life for the next few years - spending loan money on coffee.

Couch - We got a new couch and instead of using the office to do my reading, I cannot seem to get out of this comfortable couch. This isn't really an issue until Ian comes home and wants me to move over.

Baking - Somehow the thought of baking gets me through the day. All our new bakingware is major inspiration for making tasty treats. I should start a daily bake sale - you want something sweet, come by! I'm sure I'll have a selection to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Shaved Ice with ice cream in the middle. I'm going to be very sad in a couple weeks when the stand closes for the winter. I guess my baking treats will have to suffice for satisfying my sweet tooth during the winter.

Wow - apparently lots of my addictions have to do with food. Now I may understand what people say about the newlywed 15 - just like freshman 15!

Just in Case...

Just in case you haven't guessed, between the move and the start of law school, I've been slacking in keeping up with everyone!

I am loving where we live! We are slowly getting scheduled but are quite behind schedule with where we'd hope to be at this point in terms of unpacking. I think unpacking is one of those things that always takes longer than you'd ever imagine. Slowly but surely it's coming along. I have yet to come across the box with the camera charger - otherwise I'd have already taken and posted pictures of the house.


The Good
We finally have a grill! Ian's birthday is coming up in just a couple of weeks and my mom surprised him with this early birthday gift. We grilled out and had Mr. and Mrs. Twink over for some food last night and tonight once again cooked out. We now live about 1/2 mile from the Twinks so I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of them!

Tessa can go on our 2nd story deck and wonder around in addition to having a much larger house, and also can run around in our fenced in patio area. The outdoor space isn't that large in size but it's a change for her and she's loving it! She also isn't used to people walking by our house so much, or the mailman coming to the front window to drop our mail off. These things she's not liking so much but overall, she's adjusting beautifully! And as mentioned before, she was loving the 2 staircases in our house and I was hoping this novelty wouldn't wear off, and so far it hasn't. She even goes as far as to take her toy to the top of one of the staircases, drop it and go chasing down after it. She's certainly getting a lot more exercise than she had been.

We have a full size washer and dryer. This is A-MAZING to me as we had a stackable washer and dryer before and I felt like my life revolved around laundry. Now - two loads per week just about does it for my clothes! Heaven.

We live down the street from a snowcone stand. I know snowcones don't sound that amazing - but this place is to die for. Ian has to basically hold me back from going every single night. I'll be sad when it closes for the colder months.

New restaurants! I'm loving trying out all of these new restaurants! So far, we've found an amazing pizza place, a very good sushi restaurant, and two cute pubs that have fantastic food all within about 5 minutes walking or driving.

In 9 days, I've only driven about 50 miles. This is incredible for me. Normally, I fill up my car with gas about every 6 days. Well, the last time I filled my car up was 9 days ago and I still have 3/4 tank left. I am so happy we're about 3 miles from school and all of our errands are within those three miles.

The Bad
Well - I don't have that many bad thus far. But - here is the only one I've found to really start to annoy me...

We aren't used to having more than one story. So I am finding that I start accumulating water bottles, coffee mugs, water glasses, cereal bowls, cans from sodas all upstairs. I finally make a big trip down to the kitchen and my arms are full. I'm sure this will get better as I get more used to having this much space.

Law School
My first week went very well. Although I think I might have to get an IV to hook me up to the coffee pot. Holy hell - I have had more coffee in the past week than I have in my entire life.

I like all of my professors - although one of them makes me sit in fear for my life the entire class. He is the epitome of intimidating! You've heard of the socratic method, but he should have a method named after him because he is that scary! I'm hoping it's just the beginning and he's trying to break us in a bit - but basically I try to hide behind my laptop the entire class hoping he won't call on me.

Law school is exhausting. I got very little sleep my first week. I'm hoping it's just because being in orientation for the first two days for about 8-10 hours didn't allow me to start reading the assignments until after 9:00pm when I got home. The most I am in class per day is 4 hours so the rest of the day should allow me plenty of time to get things done, spend time with Ian and hopefully get some sleep.

Speaking of Ian, today is his 2nd anniversary since he quit smoking. He rocks and I couldn't be more proud of him. I told him I'd treat him to something special for this big occasion - a homemade cake, a nice dinner - all he wanted was ice cream. Ahh - the little things that make us happy. I love the full washer and dryer, his is ice cream. I think I need to come up with something better...