St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patty's Day!  The one day of the year that everyone actually wants to be Irish.  Unfortunately I had to take the MPRE this morning (this is the test that the ABA gives out that tests the ethical requirements of lawyers) so I was unable to take full advantage of St. Patty's Day ACTUALLY FALLING ON A SATURDAY.  It's all good though - since this test has been looming large for a while now I wasn't able to really do much of anything for my birthday (which was this past Thursday).  


So my friends and I are painting the town green tonight.  To celebrate my Irish heritage birthday we are going out for Mexican which is my favorite.  Hopefully, I'll remember to bring my camera with me (and then, you know, actually use it).  


I hope you all have exciting St. Patty's Day plans too! 


Before you go, here's some St. Patrick's Day goodness.


An Irish blessing:

May you always have...

Walls for the winds

A roof for the rain

Tea beside the fire

Laughter to cheer you

Those you love near you

And all your heart might desire.

Springing Ahead

I know it's been a while, but I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  I know I sound like a broken record, but school has been CRAZY busy over the past month or so.  Unfortunately when things get busy, blogging's kind of the first thing to go.  I also got a Kindle for Christmas which means any extra time I do have gets spent reading (BTW, if you haven't read The Hunger Games yet, DO IT NOW!)


This past week I had spring break so I spent a few days back home in Virginia.  It was a restful week (one night I slept for 13 and a half hours.  not exaggerating) and I was glad that I got to spend some time with my family and friends.  


One of the best things about spring break is that it's an opportunity to restart.  Over the break I got caught up on some work that slipped off my radar during the semester.  I managed to lace up my sneakers and get a few good runs in and restarted my training for the Marine Corps Half Marathon (which will be here before I know it!).  I know the next week is going to be crazy (I'm taking the ethics portion of the bar next Saturday - yes on St. Patty's Day!) and have bunches of work to get done this week.  I'll pretty much need another spring break after next week.  


I also started toying with the idea of restarting this blog.  I'm thinking a make-over might be exactly what this thing needs.  I'd like to keep my web-address but I'm looking for a new title.  Unfortunately I'm pretty uncreative which is where you guys come in!  Come up with a new name for this blog!  It'll be like a contest except the only thing you'll win is my respect and gratitude.  


So I realize this post kind of went no where, but it did let you know that'm still alive, so we'll say that was the point.  Happy Daylight Saving Time!

Super Bowl

If you were in America last night (and paying at least the tiniest bit of attention to pop culture) you know that yesterday was the biggest unofficial American holiday of the year.  I was really happy with the Super Bowl: I'm not a huge football fan, but if I had to pick a team I would without a doubt root for the Giants.  I also hate Tom Brady with the fire of a thousand suns, so to see him lose is always fun.  


Football aside, I do always enjoy Super Bowl Sunday.  To me, Super Bowl Sunday is a good food, good friends, good beer, good commercials, good time kind of day.  I have to admit, the commercials this year were a little bit of a disappointment.  But it was the Super Bowl, so there were a few gems in there.  Here were my favorites:

There is no such thing as too many monkeys in advertising

Hope you enjoy!

WHAT WERE YOUR FAVORITE ADS???

WHAT DID YOU DO FOR THE BIG GAME?

Weights

If you caught my New Year's post (not linking it, it's only a few entries back) then you may remember that one of my New Year's resolutions was to have more balance in my life.  This is kind of an "all-inclusive" resolution, but one thing I definitely wanted to work on was adding a little more balance to my work-outs.  I wanted to do more cross-training (truth: any kind of cross-training would be more than I was doing last year) and I wanted to incorporate weights into my routine.  I have been successful with one of these and unsuccessful with the other.  


The cross-training has not happened yet.  I had the best of intentions today, but sometimes these things don't work out.  The gym I belong to in Charleston is pretty good.  There are a lot of locations all across the Low Country, so you're never far from one.  Which I like a lot.  They have a wide variety of classes offered all day.  Which I also like a lot (actually these are the two reasons I joined this gym, but I never really take advantage of these things).  Two of them have pools.  


So today I decided to skip my run and go for a nice swim instead.  I got all ready, packed my gym bag, and drove over to one of the locations that is advertised as having a pool.  Technically the gym does have a pool.  I mean there is a large-ish, in-ground pool-like structure, but in no way, shape or form was it the type of pool that I expected to find at a gym.  I was expecting lap lanes and found a place where you can splash around with your kids.  A few gym members were bobbing around on pool noodles and I knew that there was no way that I could swim laps there.  Pretty disappointing.  I think I'll give the other pool location a shot, but I think this time I'll do some investigative work before.


Ok, so the cross-training's been a total bust.  But the weight lifting has not.  And I'm excited about it.  A few weeks ago I bought a book on weight lifting for women.  More specifically I bought this book:

which you can purchase here

This book's pretty intense.  I don't know if I'm as weight-lifty as the guy who wrote it (ok, actually I do know that I'm not nearly as weight-lifty as he is.  Exhibit A: I said "weight-lifty").  But its full of great information and misconceptions about women and weight-lifting, comes with a nutrition section, and (here's the best part) SIX MONTHS of weight lifting work outs.  


It's broken down into stages and each stage is made up of two work-outs that you do for a certain amount of times.  In stage one, you do each of the two work-outs 8 times or a total of 16 lifting sessions.  The best part is that it's not a long, drawn out sequence.  Both sequences in stage one are only five exercises long.  Even when I really took my time today, I was done in less than twenty minutes.  Which is totally great and really manageable.  And if soreness is any kind of indication of effectiveness, it's totally working - I'm crazy sore from my Monday weight lifting session and I'm simultaneously looking forward to and dreading the soreness I'll feel tomorrow.


I think I'll take some before and after pictures, but I won't post them until I see a major difference.  So there's that to look forward to :)


Hope everyone's having a great week so far!

Election Season

I know this is going to sound a little strange, but we are in the middle of one of my favorite seasons - ELECTION SEASON!  I've always had a love of all things politics.*  Growing up, politics were frequently discussed at the dinner table - my dad representing one party, my mom the other.  


Although this isn't a "normal" way to grow up, I'm glad I grew up in this sort of environment. My parents taught me from a young age the importance of being invested and involved in the political process.  Since my parents didn't necessarily agree with each other most of the time I got to hear both sides of almost every argument on just about every issue.  


What started as family dinner conversation grew into a passion.  I don't think that The West Wing helped anything on that front.  I was OBSESSED with that show in 7th grade and used to chat about the story lines with my history teacher (as a side note, how great is the cast of The West Wing???  I mean seriously, look at that cast!  Rob Lowe! Allison Janney!  Martin Sheen!!).  In college I majored in Political Science, specifically I graduated from the American Government department.  

photo cred

Right now I am VERY excited to be in South Carolina.  Last night was the New Hampshire primary which means they are onto South Carolina!  Virginia is never an exceptionally important state in the primary process because it's usually one of the Super Tuesday states or the primary is so late that the candidate has already been decided.  But not now.  And what happens in South Carolina is going to matter.  And I'm going to be here to witness it.  I would just about die if I had the opportunity to meet one of the candidates.  


Even though I can't participate in the primary (I'm a registered voter in Virginia), I am so excited to have the opportunity to get to witness the process.  The ads are all over TV and I'm sure (and sooner rather than later) the candidates will start showing up in charming Charleston.  I love the democratic process.  And even more I love when people get excited about engaging in that process.  Here's to the next two weeks - can't wait to see what they have in store.


*As I love politics, I do have rather defined political views.  I enjoy talking about politics, but I try not to use this blog as a means of putting my political ideas out into the blogosphere.  This post is simply intended as a way of me sharing a passion with my readers without engaging in the political nitty-gritty.

New Year's

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  I know I'm a day late, but I think we can all agree that being on time just isn't my style.  I rang in the New Year with some of my dearest friends.  Honestly, I was excited for 2012 to begin because 2011 was not the best year of my life.  Nothing really bad happened, but it was a difficult and trying year.  Needless to say I'm pretty excited to have a fresh start.  


Last year I only made three resolutions: to be optimistic, to finish a half marathon, and to take time for myself everyday.  How did I do?  Well, I finished the half back in February, but I don't think that I did very well on my other resolutions.  I struggled with some personal things and let a lot of things get to me in ways that I shouldn't have.  I also let school/work/other obligations eat into any time that I had earmarked for myself.  


So what's on tap for 2012?  Looking ahead - two more semesters of law school will be under my belt, hopefully a decent summer job, a few trips to visit friends over the summer, and I'm going to be a bridesmaid (I know, again) in October.


Now for resolutions.  There are only a few things that I want to accomplish this year.  First, and most importantly, I believe that I need more balance in my life.  This kind of transcends everything.  I need to make more of a point to enjoy myself during school (as in taking a break from the books on Friday nights and having some actual fun).  I need to make more time for friends.  I need to get rid of known stressors (like all of the clutter that is currently occupying way too much space in my bedroom).  I'd even like to become more balanced in my approach to working out (that's right - no more running only!  I'd like to incorporate free weights, swimming, and maybe even pilates into my life this year).  


Other than that, I'm going to stand up for myself a little bit more this year.  There had been several times over this past year where I let people do things that hurt me, times where I should have put my foot down and stood up for myself.  I could pick these moments out as they were happening, but let them slide anyways.  This year, I'm going to say something and not give people the opportunity and permission to do so.  


That's really it for this year.  I hope that 2012 is filled with love and joy; good times and memories; friends and laughter.  Happy New Year to you all, dear readers.

My Christmas Wish

Merry Christmas!  I won't be long but I wanted to wish my readers a very happy holiday!  Since I'm having a hard time coming up with the right words, I'm going to borrow the always eloquent Kermit the Frog's Christmas Wish (you can check it out here).  I know it's Kermit, but I promise that it's beautiful, and worth a read.

I don't know if you believe in Christmas

Or if you have presents underneath a Christmas tree,

But if you believe in love, that will be more than enough

For you to come and celebrate with me.

For I have held the precious gift that love brings,

Even though I never saw a Christmas star

I know there is a light, I have felt it burn inside

And I have seen it shining from afar.

Christmas is the time to come together

A time to put all differences aside

I reach out my hand to the family of man

To share the joy I feel at Christmas time.

For the truth that binds us all together

I would like to say a simple prayer

That at this special time, you will have true peace of mind

And joy to last throughout the coming year.

And if you believe in love

That will be more than enough

For peace to last throughout the coming year.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, filled with joy, love, and happiness.  I'm so thankful for you all.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

FINALLY

I am FINALLY done with my finals, which, if I passed all of them means that I am officially half-way done with law school!!!!  The past few months of my life have been exceptionally miserable so hopefully I passed everything and don't need to take anything over the summer or stay an extra semester or repeat this past semester or anything...I suppose only time will tell.  The worst part about exams (besides the fact that they bring out the craziest in me) is that I don't actually get my final grades until AT LEAST the beginning of January, but not finding out until late January is not entirely unheard of.


Anyways, despite all of these things, I have an ENTIRE MONTH to myself right now.  I have a few small-ish school things to do over my break, but aside from those things, I'm entirely free, which makes me entirely happy.  


How do I plan to spend this glorious month.  Well if the past few days are any indication, there will be a lot of sleeping and lounging in my pajamas.  Yesterday I got a massage and finally started my Christmas shopping (yeah you read that right...December 12 and just starting now).  


There is also the current state of my nightstand.  Which I think will keep me pretty occupied for the next month:

Hope you've all had a Happy First Half of December and that you are MUCH further along in your Christmas shopping than me!!!

Home Stretch

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.  My last final is at 1 this afternoon, so in something like 8 hours from the moment that I'm typing this, I will be free.  For a month.  My supreme and utter exhaustion and stressed-out-ness prevents me from really explaining how excited I am (and how beyond ready I am for it to be 4 pm).  I'm so excited I don't even know what I'm going to do first!  But I think Happy Hour is going to be going down after the test!

Indian Summer

The title of this post is a word New Yorkers use when there is an unusually warm spell in the middle of fall.  But I think South Carolinians just call it November.


People who have spent time with me over the past few weeks may have heard my running commentary on the weather recently in Charleston.  For lack of a better word, its been hot.  I don't really do hot very well, especially when December is three days away.


It's been too hot for me to wear jeans and I'm tired of all of my summer clothes (I mean I've only been wearing them since May).  It's been too hot for me to sleep, and I'm tired of being tired.  And hot.  And sweaty.  And grumpy/irritable due to lack of sleep and wardrobe and copious amounts of sweat.  


The bright side?  It is supposed to drastically cool off tonight.  Instead of highs near 80 today, the rest of the 10 day forecast has highs in the upper 50's to low 60's.  So here's to grinning and bearing it for 24 more hours, but I'm sure ready to cool off.