True Love

I know that many of you are hoping that I am the one who has finally fallen in love. Well, sorry to disappoint, but you're still going to have to wait a while for that one. :) The title refers to my 18-month-old cousin, who clearly picked AnnaGrace as his favorite this past weekend. Unfortunately, I was unable to seal my place, despite giving him the cookie dough beater, feeding him pumpkin pie for breakfast, and generally encouraging bad habits. :)

Allow me to illustrate:

Ross with the beater...

 versus

Ross with AnnaGrace

Please note the discrepancy in his facial expressions. I guess the way to a man's heart is not always through his stomach. *Sigh*

Besides doting on Ross, the other highlight of the weekend was running my very first 10K. I came in at 54:50, and placed third in my age group, though only because AnnaGrace didn't cross the finish line before she came back to find me. :)

We also watched "It's a Wonderful Life," which I had never seen all the way through before. I highly recommend the film, though if you are prone to crying, make sure you have a box of tissues. :) Now I just need to find my own Jimmy Stewart... :)

Weekends

This past weekend was fabulous. For the first time in five weeks, I was actually able to get out of Waco and forget about law school for about two days. On Friday night, AnnaGrace and I attended the Dallas Symphony concert. They were playing one of my favorite orchestral pieces, Ravel's "La Valse." It was AMAZING!!! I have listened to the piece many times on recordings, but there is just nothing like hearing it live. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a piece more thoroughly. We were lucky enough to be able to get seats behind the orchestra, which is a wonderful vantage point because you almost feel as though you are in the orchestra. In fact, when the conductor walked out, both of us nearly stood up with the orchestra!! :)

On Saturday morning, I got a much-needed haircut (and yes, to those of you who think that it's short enough already, it needed new layers). :) Then, it was off to the gym and a running store in Dallas to get our gaits analyzed. It's actually quite disconcerting to watch what your feet do while you're running.Mine look quite uncoordinated!! They ended up putting me in "stabilizer" shoes, because my ankles pronate (turn in) a lot while I am running. Here's hoping the new shoes will help some of the soreness I have been experiencing lately!

And now, for something new on my blog post: a movie review!! Yes, even as a law student, I do occasionally have a chance to watch a movie. Since I'm usually way behind on new stuff anyways, it's no surprise that movies are the same way. :) We watched "Shutter Island," which was actually quite interesting. It's a psychological thriller, though it's not scary. And the ending isn't really an ending at all because it leaves lots of questions unanswered...but that's the best part because you get to come to your own conclusions about what really happened. Although I enjoyed the movie, it did contain quite a bit of foul language.

Yikes...class in an hour and a half - I guess I should go get ready!

Cirque de la Symphonie

This post is nearly two weeks late...I'm having a little trouble getting caught up after my week in the caves. :) But, better late than never...

My attempts to keep my sanity during exam week included an evening out to the Waco Symphony. Once I get my grades back, I'll know whether that was a smart idea, but there was no way I was missing this concert. The title of the program was "Cirque de la Symphonie." It incorporated classical music plus acrobats, and it was AMAZING!! I have never seen acrobats live, and it truly was incredible. Of course, I also appreciated the wonderful music as the backdrop. :)

The music selection was almost like a Pops concert...a "Favorites of Classical Music," if you will. Some of the highlights included the fourth movement of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" (a fantastic piece, if you've never heard it), Khachaturian's Valse from Masquerade, and Tchaikovsky's Valse from Swan Lake, No. 2. Also on the program was the "Harry Potter Symphonic Suite," by John Williams, which you should also listen to if you have never heard it. Overall, it was a lovely evening...getting dressed up, taking my nose out of the law books, and hearing beautiful music - what's not to love??

If there is ever a similar program in your area, GO!!! The acrobatics are amazing, and it was neat to see a mesh of classical and "pop" culture. See, us classical music buffs aren't snobs! :)

Oh, and PS - my assigned seat is an aisle - PERFECT! :)

Normalcy

I am happy to report (albeit a little late) that I survived my very first set of law school exams!!! Let me tell you, come Friday afternoon (well, actually Thursday afternoon), I was dying for classes to start, just so that I didn't have to study for exams anymore!!! On Saturday, I actually found myself giddy with excitement because I was reading cases again, instead of staring at outlines, hypotheticals, and charts. :) Now just comes the awful waiting period. Since we started a new quarter so quickly, the professors have something like 6 weeks to turn in our grades. Our Contracts professor, the wonderful workaholic that he is, already has 2/3rds of our exams graded, and will likely have our grades to us next Wednesday (gulp!!). I still haven't figured out whether that's a good thing - while I am curious, at this point, ignorance is bliss...

Thankfully, law professors do have a heart, and they have taken it somewhat easy on us for the first couple days back. I am basking in the somewhat light schedule that comes with the beginning of a new quarter...and trying not to think about the next exam period at the end of January (thankfully I have Thanksgiving and Christmas to divert my attention!!!).

So, in honor of this light schedule, please allow my domestic diva to once again surface. Our water bill every month comes with a newsletter. Because I am a nerd, I scan it for anything that might be interesting. In the last newsletter, I found the following article:

A Holiday Recipe From the WIC Program: Pumpkin Pudding
1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 1/2 cup cold milk
1 cup canned or mashed pumpkin
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
In a medium bowl, beat pudding mix and milk together until well-blended, or about 2 minutes. Stir in pumpkin and cinnamon. Cover and chill before serving.

The great thing about this recipe is that because it's from WIC, it is easy and cheap. Now, usually I am not a huge fan of pumpkin-flavored items (I much prefer peppermint flavorings). However, I was feeling adventurous, and decided to give this recipe a try. WOW!!! The recipe is super amazing. The pudding makes it really sweet, and the pumpkin is not overpowering. I have definitely found my latest fall-inspired dessert. Thankfully, pudding is cheap. :)

Caves and Time Warps

The past week has been an up-and-down ride...from feeling confident about exams, being scared out of my mind by the professors (they seem to have a knack for doing that to me), studying furiously, and becoming completely consumed with the minutia of the law. Thankfully, with two exams down, my time in the caves is almost over, and I can feel myself returning the state of a normal human being. Although I am not quite done, please allow me to reflect on my very first set of law school exams...

Our last day of classes was last Wednesday. In order to prepare us for exam week, our Intro class's theme for the day was "How to Take a Law School Exam." The advice was not limited to the art of actually taking an exam, however. Rather, my Contracts professor proceeded to tell us that we should go grocery shopping, do laundry, and call our friends and family to tell them that we were "cutting them off" for the next week and a half. And no, I am not exaggerating - those were the exact words that he used.

This was followed by a lecture from our Intro professor about how our generation has too many distractions - cell phones, facebook etc....and laundry and grocery shopping are excuses not to study. He also told us that we should be studying from 7am until midnight (in 4 to 5 hour chunks, to practice mental stamina) - but make sure to get a good night's rest because the tests are performance-based!

Although I recognized that my professors were probably exaggerating (and even if they weren't, my hope is in Christ, not my grades), I walked out of class feeling a sense of urgency about my preparation. It was actually a good thing - until that point, I had been feeling fairly confident about my ability to prepare, and finding motivation lacking. The scare was thus a nice kick in the pants to get busy! MaryLou and I went grocery shopping that night, and basically reacted as if a snow storm was coming. One gallon of  milk was suddenly inefficient, and I grabbed everything I thought I might reasonably need in the next week and a half. :)

Thursday and Friday I spent nearly every minute studying, with small breaks every couple of hours for running or allowing myself to check my email. I probably logged around 10 hours of studying each day. However, by Saturday, my ability to focus for long periods of time was waning, and I had to start giving myself breaks more frequently.

On Sunday, I started feeling quite anxious. As time ran short, I suddenly felt as though I didn't have enough time to finish studying. This feeling, however, was completely irrational. I was ready, and I think I would have gone crazy if I had had to wait any longer. At this point, I would like to thank those of you who have been (and hopefully still are!) praying for me over the last week. On Monday morning, I woke up completely calm and ready to go. I can only attribute this to the numerous prayers that I know were being brought on my behalf!! THANK YOU!! My nerves on Sunday which much more severe than the nerves I experienced on Monday morning.

I think my Civil Procedure exam on Monday morning went alright. The multiple-choice section was extremely difficult (our professor said that students always performing terribly on it), and there were definitely a good number of questions on which I had to guess. However, I know that I prepared to the best of my ability, and I will be happy with whatever grade I get.

My Torts exam was yesterday (Wednesday) morning - and I think that one went really well. I LOVE this class!!! Although the amount of tiny details was overwhelming at times, I find the subject matter extremely interesting, and much easier to grasp than the others. I feel very confident about my performance - hopefully the results will confirm this feeling!

At the current moment, I am sitting in Panera Bread, where I have been for the past 4 hours, listening to Owl City (who is my new favorite artist). I am trying to prepare for my Contracts exam tomorrow...and once again motivation is severely lacking. First off, I don't enjoy the subject matter. Second, I find myself thinking that it doesn't matter if I'm not spectacular on this exam - since I don't want to practice Contract Law anyway, my future employers won't hold it against me, right?? I know...somebody slap me for being completely lazy.

Well, I think that my break has unfortunately too long, and it is time to get back to work. One last thing...please check out this version of "In Christ Alone" by Owl City. And if you've never heard anything besides "Fireflies," go check out his other stuff - it's wonderful!!

Sorry this post is so incredibly long!!