Great Reminder

Sometimes, I come across quotes or sayings that really just remind me to be grateful...and it makes me happy.

I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go; Things go wrong so you can appreciate them when they're right; You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.-

Marilyn Monroe

One Down - 3 To Go!

I realize my posts recently have been less than interesting considering most of them have been about work! But sadly - that's just what's occupying my life at the moment. I had my first exam today for Property. It was not fun studying for it as it's the only exam that you have to memorize - about 50 single-spaced typed pages full of rules and information I had to memorize. I have NO idea how I did - I'm just glad it's over.

I think all people deal with stress differently. Some aren't as affected by it as others. Others are highly affected. Whether people isolate themselves, lash out, or carry stress in some other way (pass gas, stop eating, whatever). I personally carry stress in various ways. Since I was little, I've always had anxiety problems. I think it probably started when my grandmother died when I was 5 years old. She lived with us some of the time and watched my brother and I - so she was extremely close with us. Soon afterwards, I faced my first set of anxieties, even if I couldn't recognize it as that at the time. I was scared...of people close to me dying. I still to this day have fears about that - and not the normal you don't want something bad to happen to anyone fears, fears that could eat up time and lead me to crying.

Over the years, different events have happened in my life that have sparked similar anxiety issues. I was fortunate enough to learn how to deal with it without medication - I learned breathing exercises, write in a journal, and read a little meditation book each day that gives me a simple thing to focus on for the day.

But the one thing that I have not been able to control through techniques is that I carry a lot of my anxiety in my...stomach. This will probably be way TMI, but my stomach gets ridiculously upset when I'm anxious or nervous. Enter exams into my life - and it seems as if my stomach is constantly gurgling and doing weird things. So what to do? I've learned that if it's really bad, I take Immodium and just doing that normally puts me at ease to stop my stomach from feeling weird. Ahhh - thank god Ian is understanding of my sensitive stomach. I'm always amazed at how understanding he is because he's the complete opposite - he rarely gets any form of anxiety or nervousness and his stomach is rock solid.

I only share these things because I've learned that I am far from being the only one with anxiety problems. Through opening up and sharing these things, I've learned it's okay to have our own little issues. Hopefully through sharing, it may ease our little fears just a tad, knowing we aren't alone.

Not in Denial: I'm a Clutz

I remember one of the first few dates with Ian, I tripped. Before he could ask if I was alright, I was already giggling uncontrollably. I told him I trip a lot so to not be surprised by it.

It certainly was a clue to him then that I am a clutz. I fall more often than the average person does. If I'm walking outside and there is a little difference between two slabs of concrete and one is a little higher than the other, my foot will inevitably catch it. My first day in Spain when I was studying abroad, we were sightseeing in Madrid with the entire group. Coming out of the train station up the steps, I completely bit it and ended up on all fours. I just can't help it.

But one area where I am not normally a clutzy is all the years I danced. On stage, I didn't trip, I didn't fall. Somehow I managed to avoid it. I also never had falling/tripping issues in all the years I played soccer.

This is all leading me to say - I think the clutziness is leaking into those areas that I was not normally a clutz. I have not made it through a freaking kickball game without falling! I can't move my feet quickly enough - it's like they won't keep up with my upper body.

What makes people trip more often than others? Am I doing something wrong? Did I learn how to walk and run incorrectly as a little girl and have been doing it wrong ever since? Is it because of my poor eye sight? Do I not pay attention well enough?

Luckily with all the practice, I don't get embarrassed from it very often. And Ian said he actually likes it about me - it's funny. Hey - at least I'm entertaining to be around - or embarrassing, I guess it depends on who you are. And don't even get me started on the falls I've had while being drunk!

Yummy Potatoes

Had these potatoes on Easter and fell in love with them - have made them 2 times since, and I swear they are addictive, and delightfully easy to make.

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Take 1-2 lbs of potatoes, cut them up into small pieces (diced; and I used the little red baby bliss).
3. Put them in 9x13 inch pan (I used a glass pan and it worked well).
4. Add 1 package of Lipton's Onion Soup&Dip Mix.
5. Add enough olive oil to coat them, and make the mix wet and blend it well.
6. Cook for 30-40 minutes.

The recipe is actually on the Lipton package (which I didn't know until after having them on Easter, and making them twice).

P.S. - is it just me or does looking at the word potatoes kind of gross you out? It has toes in it. Ew.

Bloodshot

You'd think I was a big pothead or something from how red my eyes are - all thanks to lovely allergies.

And I am not a fan of skipping Spring - what happened to breezy warm weather?? Instead, it was 90 degrees today. Oh well - I like it better than the cold!

Now if only the allergy medicine would help my body fight the affects of spring weather, I'd be really happy!

Back to studying I go...only 2 more days of studying before my first exam - and I am NOT ready!

Keeping Me Sane

This face keeps me from throwing my laptop across the room in frustration with studying. She will take a break from her morning nap to put her head on my lap to see what I'm doing.

And if she decides she really wants a break from napping - she goes and finds a toy, and brings it to me and puts her head on my lap until I throw it, like this (excuse the madness going on in the background - I don't pick up ANYTHING during finals - and Ian just can't possibly keep up with the amount of stuff I leave around during the day):

I'm so lucky to have that little precious one to keep me company and push me through the day.

21st Mile

You know how people who run marathons say the worst is when you get to about the 21st or 22nd mile? Yeah, well that's where I am in school. So close to the finish line, but now it really is a fight to get there. It's going to take all the strength, dedication, and motivation to finish what has seemed like a marathon. Now it's a test of inner personal strength to get there. Can I do it?

I am 1 paper, and 3 exams away from being finished with my first year of law school - and holy crap, it cannot come soon enough. Less than 2 weeks to go.

I'm having major trouble with procrastination, which of all times, now is not the time to deal with that. So I'm trying to muster all the energy within me, (and drinking all the coffee I can possibly take until I get jittery and shaky and feel like I'm some sort of addict) and pushing through. Can I do it - I'm trying. But at least I know I have amazing people around me pushing, cheering, and waiting for me to cross that finish line.

And instead of a nice cold sports drink when I'm finished, I'm looking forward to a big bottle of wine!

Anyone Else?

Does anyone else think this is funny? Personally, I couldn't stop laughing my ass off.

http://www.tmz.com/videos?autoplay=true&mediaKey=843f0155-8212-4081-9513-f00fb2760e49

And it prompted me to post this one as well (which makes me laugh even harder). I can't help it - people falling or being clumsy makes me laugh (probably because I'm just as clumsy, so can definitely relate.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-cxitNqSnU

Saddened

Recently, there have been many tragic deaths. Personally, I have been to more funerals than I could possibly count.


First, there was Natasha Richardson. Then through the blogging world, I came across the deaths of Zach Sowers, and Maddie Spohr. I became engrossed in reading their stories. I found myself crying over the deaths of these people, whom I had never met in my life. Since little Maddie's death, over $55,000 has been raised in support of March for Dimes (as she was born 3 months premature). It is such a bittersweet situation - I am amazed and proud that people who are strangers will support and mourn the loss of someone they don't know. But, it makes me sad at the same time that innocent lives are lost that cause people to act.

Finally, there is Steph Parente, who was a sophomore at my alma mater, Loyola College, MD. She, along with her parents and younger sister were found dead in a hotel room in Towson. Her parents were visiting her for the weekend. You can read the details at the link. It makes me proud to be a greyhound when I read that 1/3 of the undergraduate students attended a mass last night at 9pm to remember her. Clearly, 1,000 people didn't know her - but it just shows the strength of the Loyola community. Loyola is a small Jesuit college - so to gather this much strength from the community is amazing.


Death is scary to me. Losing people in our lives is devastating. I think it changes each of us in different ways. For me, having lost some close family and friends has made me more compassionate. It also has made me realize how fragile life truly is. I think it contributes to my unwillingness to ever go to bed angry with Ian. Inevitably if I'm irritated when he leaves to go somewhere, I call within a couple minutes of him leaving just to smooth things out and make up. It comes from fear. Although, I hardly think that using the fear to do good things, like making up more quickly with my husband, is a bad thing. So I'll take the fear.

It also makes me ridiculously tearful - every time I come across another sad story, I can't help but cry. I didn't cry when Ian proposed, or at my wedding - but sad stories get to me. I can honestly sit and just think about a sad story, or worry about something bad happening, and I start crying.

So today I'll be especially aware of how precious life can be, and remember the people who are suffering because of the tragic loss of a loved one in their lives.

Men are Stubborn

Ian hurt himself playing soccer on Sunday. He's not normally one to complain (except when he's sick - he's a big baby when he's sick). Slice his finger with knife? No big deal. Slice his hand at work? No big deal. So I know something is wrong when he keeps complaining about an injury.

He doesn't really know what he did to it during the game, but he was having trouble walking on it yesterday. Personally, having 4 ankle surgeries from sports related injuries, I don't take ankle injuries lightly. So I've looked at it and felt it and could see that one of the tendons was kind of popping when I pushed on it (thereby making him really uncomfortable).

But when I suggested that he go to the doctor? NOOOO. Like a little freaking kid. He rather hobble around and complain and take medicine and make me worry. Last night, I had it. After much persuading, and him refusing to speak to me after my mom and me persuaded him to go, we were waiting at Patient First (which by the way - I love Patient First, the best!). Good news - no break. Bad news - he'll be complaining for awhile and probably needs to head to an orthopedist if it doesn't get better.

What is with men being stubborn? Ian isn't normally stubborn - but when it comes to doctors, he is TERRIBLE. Don't even get me started on trying to get him to the dentist (I've been trying for 4 years, with no such luck). Although, this time, my stubbornness won out. All I could think of was if we waited to go, and he then decided he needed to get it checked during my exams - I'd have just about killed him.

Finished with Classes!

I am so thrilled to report that I am finished with classes for my 1st year of law school! OW OW!! So excited.

That excitement quickly fades when I look at how much I have to do to prepare for finals, and then taking the finals! My list of to-dos includes:

• Finishing my bioethics paper on surrogacy
• Finishing my outline for Property
• Memorizing Property outline
• Start and finish Constitutional Law outline
• Start and finish Civil Procedure II outline
• Take practice exams in Property, Constitutional Law, and Civil Procedure II

Eek!

My weekend was full of revising my paper and procrastinating by enjoying the beautiful weather. We picked up hand-me-down patio furniture from Ian's parents house on Saturday instead of playing kickball (the other team forfeited). Yesterday, I think I kept Panera in business with the coffee I drank while there studying!

Hope you enjoyed the beautiful weather! Back to studying I must go...

Behind the Storm...

Out comes the sun! And as I was one crabby lady just a couple days ago - I really do think it had something to do with the rain. Now that it's sunny, I'm happy as can be! I really think we need to move some place warmer - the sun makes me so incredibly happy. It's perfect golf weather for me:) (yes I play golf - and absolutely love it - this is another blog post in itself I think).

How freakin' beautiful is it out there today?! I just ate my lunch in the courtyard at school after finishing my 2nd to last day of classes! WAHOOOOOOO!!! Sadly, I'm now sitting in the library, procrastinating by blogging instead of studying. Also, instead of reading this morning, I cleaned up my labels on my blogs - ummm that's gotten a little out of hand (I have way too many). I'm seriously getting the itch to be finished with school when I start doing tedious things like that!

I don't have big things to do this weekend - my one and only thing I have planned to do besides study is play kickball tomorrow. Big plans, clearly. What are you up to this weekend?

Up to Date

I can't believe I am just getting around to posting pictures from our dinner to celebrate our 4 years of being together! Over a month ago now, we went to Roy's for a nice dinner out. Since we now have loans to worry about, I've been creative in finding yummy places to eat that don't cost a fortune - and we get takeout a lot (booze is expensive at restaurants!). But for this occasion, we decided to splurge more than we had been.



And if you've never been, get the chocolate molten cake - so YUM!



Awhile ago I know I asked for opinions on what to do for the summer. Well, I am very happy to report that I finally have my summer plans set. I was able to get into the summer clinic at my school. It is essentially doing pro-bono work for clients. I of course will be supervised, but it's an awesome opportunity and I'm so happy to be able to get 7 credits out of the way during the summer, and hopefully (fingers crossed) raise my GPA, and fulfill a requirement for graduation all in one. It's a 9-5 job for 10 weeks which means I'll have 4 full weeks of NOTHING to do - I will be one happy camper.

This leads me to the next piece of news - there is a possibility I may try to finish up school 1 semester early. Because of getting the 7 credits out of the way, if I continue with 15 credits per semester (I took 16 credits fall and spring semester of this year), I will graduate 1 semester early. This is not set in stone - I'm in the process of weighing the pros and cons. Pros - save a lot of money, can start working earlier, and possibly start planning for a family sooner. Cons - semesters may be more jam packed than if I wasn't doing it, not sure if working earlier is that big of a deal, may not be able to take as many fun classes. I have a meeting with an advisor tomorrow to discuss all of my options - we shall see!

Also, it's hard to believe, but we're coming up on our first anniversary in just 2 months! I can't wait to celebrate! Originally, before I found out that I was taking the summer clinic, we were going to take our vacation over our anniversary. But since I'll be in clinic and cannot take any time off, we'll now be taking a vacation in August. We don't have our plans finalized yet, but we've picked when we're going - this certainly gives me something to look forward to.

Now, we need to decide what to do for our anniversary weekend. Here are some of the ideas - what do you think? 1 - Go and stay in DC in the hotel we got married at, and have a fancy dinner out in DC. 2 - Go somewhere else (ideas anyone?) for the weekend and do a fancy dinner out. 3 - stay in Baltimore and do a fancy dinner out. Hmmm, clearly we're about the fancy dinner out part!

Now, I just need to figure out what I'm getting Ian as a present - he's been such an amazing supporter of me our first year of marriage, so I want to do something special. And paper is the 1st anniversary - that part is done but I need something more. I guess I need to get on that - after exams!

Being a Woman

Sometimes, being a woman isn't easy. You know all the weight issues I've been having? I know I know, enough about the weight issues. Well, I've seen a few doctors over the past few months and recently went with Ian to see my OBGYN (Ian visiting with me is an entire story in itself). They are running some tests and to do so, I have to be off of birth control.

Geesh - I have been on it for so long I didn't quite remember how bad menstrual cramps and PMS can be. And the hunger - I can't get rid of it - no matter how much I eat at the moment, my stomach is letting me know it is just.not.full.! Let's just say, Ian is keeping his distance from the crabby lady in this house.

And, the rain....oy, the rain is making the moodiness even worse today. Sadly, tomorrow is looking the same in terms of the rainy weather. So in all likelihood, the forecast for tomorrow just about sums up what my mood is looking like: cloudy, overcast, rainy.

So what did I do to cheer myself up? Took advantage of the bedding sale at Macy's, and the major Bath and Body Works sale. I guess that's the bright side of being a woman - in an instant (or just a few clicks on the laptop), suddenly my moody self can brighten right back up.

For the Love of Puppies

If you happen to love seeing adorable puppies, check this website out: Daily Puppy.

My weekend was spent doing mostly work - Saturday at the library, yesterday at home. We did take a break for Easter dinner down at Maggie's. We took Tessa and she and Maggie's dog played for hours. She's one tired pup today!

How was your Easter weekend?

Thanks Honey

At a recent softball game (I sat out since I was sick), this is the conversation that took place between Ian and I. Ian had just come off the field and was waiting to kick.

Me: Honey, you're having a really good game.

Ian (as he is standing behind me, he leans down and whispers): You have a lot of gray hairs back here.


Thanks honey. I guess law school is taking its toll in the form of aging my hair. I'm only 26 yet have quite a bit of gray hair all over (thanks to my Dad for those stinking genes - he was 30 and almost all gray). My brother is 31, and he is already all salt and pepper. But damnit, he still looks handsome with it. I hate that about guys! Gray hair, no big deal - guys are just hoping for gray instead of balding. My mom, on the other hand, didn't start graying until late 40's. She starting coloring her hair in her 50's. Clearly I didn't inherit her hair genes.

I think the worst part is, my gray hairs are wire-y - like REALLY wire-y. I've thought about going back to coloring my hair since the grays seem to be growing at a very rapid rate. But my hair is deceiving - it's actually super fine and color fades very quickly - so I absolutely have to get it colored every 8 weeks if I do that route. And hello - with the economy the way it is, and school loans, that route is just not possible at this time. So the gray hair must stay for now. I'm just hoping some time in the sun will make them a little less visible. Anyone know any tricks for getting the wiry-ness to go away, or become less, um, wire-y? Considering most of my readers probably don't have premature aging like I do, I don't expect many responses to this (you lucky bastards).

Iggies Pizza

UPDATE - I forgot to mention how amazingly inexpensive Iggies is - great quality food for less money!

Since it's lent season for any Catholics out there - we don't eat meat on Fridays (just during the weeks of lent). Typically, we resort to eating sushi since we can have fish. But Friday we just were up for something different. I'd read good things about this restaurant - but didn't prepare me for how much I'd truly like it.

Iggies Pizza is in Mount Vernon. It's BYOB (great way to save money!) which I love. It's so low-key and relaxed. The hostess will take your things and put them at a table for you while you wait in line to order. Then you go sit at your table and wait for your number to be called. It sounds a lot like Panera, or something similar - but there's something more upscale than that about it. And the pizza - amazing. Ian got the margherita, I got one with ricotta and arugula with lemon oil on it (my mouth is watering thinking about it). We split a caesar salad that was good as well. And then you finish off the meal with gelato. Truly delicious!

If you're in the Baltimore area, definitely check Iggies out!