You can measure my stress level by the food I eat

I know when I am under too much stress because I start having crazy cravings that I can't ignore. When I start feeling a little frantic or have a bad day, all I want is comfort food. Mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade queso, ravioli with Alfredo sauce. Well you get the idea. 

When the stress gets a little worse and I start having to cut down on my sleep, then I want sugary sweets to give me a little boost. Donuts, ice cream and cupcakes. Oh the cravings I have for cupcakes. 

But when it's do or die time and I'm pounding back the red bull like a champ, well, that's the point that my body goes Yo Stupid! Do you have any idea what you're doing to us?? And that's when I start craving spinach. Or summer squash. Or both. 

I was trying to write the statement of facts section of my Memorandum of Law and all I could think of was veggies. Lots and lots of veggies. I knew I needed to buckle down and NOT go to the store but I couldn't concentrate. Finally I gave in and called my neighbor/friend to see if she had anything fresh and green. Noooope. So I gave in and ran to the store. Just to get spinach. Nothing more. Yeaaaaah. I came home with spinach, asparagus, tomatoes, avocados, cucumbers, and green onions. And then I ate and ate and ate. It was fabulous but my memo is no closer to being finished. Sigh. 

I made what I call Caprese Toast which is one of my favorite lunches. I love Caprese salads but as a main meal, they aren't quite enough for me. One day I decided to put it on some italian bread I wanted to get rid of and now I'll never look back. 

I should warn you that if you ever show this to a true Italian, they will want to smack you. This is nothing new to me because I add cream cheese to my spaghetti sauce (GASP) but I don't want anyone to be taken by surprise. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 ripe tomato, sliced 
• 2 slices of italian bread, sliced thin 
• Mozzarella cheese, either shredded or sliced thin. The shredded was on sale so that's what I used this time.  
• Fresh basil roughly chopped
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Garlic salt
• Avocado (optional - sometimes I add it sometimes I don't)

Start by brushing some olive oil on the italian bread and a sprinkle of garlic salt. Go easy with this, we aren't trying to make garlic bread, just add a bit of flavor. Place it on a cookie sheet and broil until brown and crispy. 

Take out of the oven and load it up with cheese. I was running low but usually, I'm a wee bit more generous with the cheese than in the picture. 

Put it back under the broiler until mostly melted, pull it out and turn off the oven. Add the sliced tomato and basil and drizzle some balsamic vinegar over the top. 

Add avocado if wanted and EAT. The avocado does make it a little more of an adventure trying to get it into my mouth in one piece but usually it is so worth it. 

If I set everything out before hand, I have enough time to slice the tomato and avocado while the bread is toasting, so from cupboard to mouth is about five minutes. Even a law student can manage that!

That was less than helpful

So basically every time I talked to someone in career development about what to do this summer, they'd tell me to go to the workshop that was on Friday. So I went.

After three hours, I knew exactly what I'd known before. They spent a full hour on how to write a resume. Half that long on a cover letter. What I really wanted to know was how to find opportunities for volunteer work or even something paid. (Yeah, I know. Long shot but a girl can dream.) I've already had two meetings with career development to go over my resumes and such. The workshop was nothing new.

A few weeks ago, career development was pushing a judicial internship on me for this summer but my scholarship wouldn't cover my tuition for it and really, I could do it during the year just as well. Once I decided it wasn't for me for the summer, I've had no feedback on what to do now.

Considering how hands on my school has been up to now, I feel a little frustrated.

Who says Law School isn't fun?

That awesome moment in Torts when we're all talking about exploding heads and falling body parts and our professor comes up with this gem:

For wrongful death claims, under the common law, the liability ends with the person who died. So it's much better to kill them than to merely harm them. And for that matter, if you're going to negligently kill someone, kill lots and lots and lots. You won't be held liable. Instead of the slogan "vote early, vote often," in tort law it's kill early kill often. 

This explains so much about torts.

Too many things to do, not enough time

If I fall off the face of the earth for a few days, don't be surprised. I have got a TON of things to do the next two weeks and I have no idea how I will manage to do them all. 

Actually, I have one idea on how to do it all. Stop sleeping. 

It's a combination of three R&W assignments due next week (two of which were only assigned today), career development workshops, a networking shindig, and the admissions department wants me to help with the scholars retreat. The same scholars retreat that convinced me to move 3,500 miles to go to law school in Florida. Oh and various meetings scattered throughout. 

Now obviously, only the R&W assignments are mandatory. The career development workshop is highly advised and as I desperately need to figure out what to do this summer, well, I'd better go. The networking thing I would gladly skip but I RSVP'd long before my schedule got so wonky so I am stuck. And as to the scholars retreat, well that is the ONLY thing I actually want to do. So I will. Even though it is the same day my second memo is due. Here's to an all-nighter!!! 

Oh did I also mention Fiancé is leaving to go back to Washington and I don't know when he'll be back? Boooooo. 

I am really not going to enjoy the next ten days. Wish me luck!! 

Suiting Up

Yesterday was the first day that I looked and the mirror and wasn't taken aback to see myself in a suit. Now it's undoubtedly because I've worn one so often during the last two weeks for the Wills Event but still. It was a big moment. I wonder if I would feel strange in scrubs now? I definitely miss the pockets in scrubs. I'm pretty sure I'd be able to fit at least one of my casebooks in there and you can't do that in a suit!

I do have a question for the ladies though. (Men can chime in too, no judging here) I've only been able to get my nylons to last through two days before getting a run or my toes breaking through. Is this normal? I hardly want to have to buy a new pair every other day so I'm really hoping there is a trick to getting them last longer.
How long do they last for you? Is there a magic hose secret I don't know about?

Professors want to make us work for it

I'm pretty much used to the fact that I can be cold called at any point in a class. I almost never am called on, but I am used to the fact that I could be. What I am not used to is the professors who like to make us come up to the front of the class for one reason or another. Sometimes it's to argue one side against another classmate who takes the other side. Sometimes it's to work out hypos or explain a topic. We had to do it in Criminal Law too but I somehow managed to not get called on for that.

It caught up to me in Property today. I was lucky in that I just had to go through one hypo and part of one case but I'm still hoping it'll let me off the hook for awhile. It wasn't too bad. Apparently I spoke too fast and I had to go over the hypo again but I had a group up there so we all took turns. All in all, not a horrible experience.

But I still miss undergrad lecture style classes.

Oh, and about the fact that I'm almost never called on. I've found that those in the back row get called on the most. The middle rows in the middle of the room get called on almost as often and the middle front row after that. I sit in the very front row on the side and I almost never get called on. I do raise my hand and volunteer sometimes but that's a whole different beast than being called on out of the blue.

I'm helping Mom

Hiding the ball

My Property casebook has one major flaw. And it is not that it is 1307 pages long.

Okay, so most law school casebooks have hypos. You learn about a subject, either from a case or from a summary of the law. Then they ask you something like "O conveys Blackacre to A, B, and C as joint tenants . . . . Some other stuff happens . . . .  What is the state of title?" In all the other casebooks, the information you need to get it right is in the book. You might have missed it, or didn't understand it, but it's there. Not in Property. Virtually every Hypo can not be answered correctly from the information in the book. There is enough there to make you think you know the answer but it's a lie!

Generally, the professor cold calls on people to answer the hypos so I'm sure the book is intended for the professor to correct the student and then all will be well. But I think it is ridiculous.

Good thing I have four property supplements because generally at least one of them has the information I need to answer the hypo. Of course, that also means I need to read five books for each class that I'm on call for.

Eh. Silly Law School.

Six years equals 72 months

So there I was, sitting in torts minding my own business. The class was talking about whether or not law professors owe a duty of care to their students while discussing rape and sexual assault. It was a very interesting conversation. Then out of nowhere, I hear the door behind me slam open and a guy with the biggest bouquet of roses I've ever  seen walks in. I swear that I did not even connect the bouquet and my anniversary until I saw that the delivery guy was carrying a book. A book by my favorite author.

So me being me, I immediately swing my chair the other direction and pretend that since I can't see him, he can't see me. Yes, I AM two.

So the guy calls my name, my professor starts a slow clap and the delivery guy tells me that there are 72 roses here, one for each month Fiancé and I have been together. I'm as red as a lobster, my classmates are oooo-ing and I wanted the floor to swallow me.

This was the LARGEST bouquet I've EVER SEEN. Do you know how much room 72 roses take up? A lot. Not to mention the filler flowers and greenery. They had to put them in a bucket because they couldn't find a vase big enough.

This bouquet is as big as I am!

I couldn't even carry it. I had to have a friend help me. Good lord.

And yes, I am aware that anyone at my school would recognize me from this picture and this story. However, I'm just not comfortable having my face on the internet like this. I'm strange like that. Plus, I feel like I mostly read law school blogs before starting school. What are the chances one of my classmates will find this blog anyway? 

I'll never be a real adult

A couple days ago the arch of my foot just started cramping up. Over and over again. Then my toes started getting in the action. I'd just be sitting there, or standing, or sleeping and BAM. Foot cramp. Fiancé tried giving me foot massages, I ate bananas, nothing really helped.

Finally it came to me that over the last week or so, I've worn heels more days than not. With the wills event and a couple interviews, I actually wore a full suit as often as I wore jeans. Whoa. What is this? Is this adulthood? No. No it is not because doing so turned me into a cripple who randomly falls to the ground because of a foot cramp.

Well now what do I do? I have to wear a suit again on Tuesday and today is Fiancé and I sixth anniversary. I definitely want to wear heels when we go out tonight. Hmmm.

First world problems.

The funny thing is, I'm such a klutz that I purposely buy the lowest heels I possibly can. I'm not strutting around town in stripper shoes. Good Grief.

If My Professor Cites Wikipedia, Can I As Well?

One of my professors wrote his own casebook and self published it online. Some parts of it I like quite a bit, other parts not so much. My biggest problem is that if I want a hard copy, I need to print it out myself. Which gets expensive and is way too time consuming.

So I just read it online and then complain about it. Heh. Sounds normal right?

Anyway, I just ran across a section that cites wikipedia as it's source. I don't even have words. If I can't use wikipedia, YOU can't either Professor.

This is probably leaving you with the impression that it's a lousy casebook but it really is the same quality as my other books. Except for the wikipedia cite. That's different. And unlike my Crim Law book, it doesn't have the F word in it for absolutely no reason. At least not so far.

Law School Makes You Unable To Do Basic Tasks

Like pay your rent.

Seriously you guys, I have been either paying rent or my mortgage for ten years now. I've never just forgotten to pay it! Until this month.

I don't even have a good story or excuse. The last few months, my landlord has happened to need to come by for various reasons and so I just gave him the check. But he's out of the country right now and so I had to go back to depositing it to his account. And I just forgot to go to the bank. I don't even know what to think right now.

Thank God my landlord is the nicest guy ever. And he's slightly impressed with the whole law school thing. He apologized TO ME. "Hey, I'm really sorry to bug you when you're so busy but . . ."

I need a wife. Or a new brain. Either one.

What do you mean Queso isn't real food?

Last night Fiancé wandered into the kitchen and whined that he was hungry but didn't want to make anything. I told him to look in the crock pot. He looked at it, looked at me, looked at the crockpot again before turning to me and telling me that I am the best thing that ever happened to him.

Of course, we didn't only eat queso and chips for dinner. We also had beer.

I'm pretty sure we are going to get immensely fat. I'm also pretty sure that this is why I'll never feel like a real adult. I am positive that this is one major reason why he wants to marry me.

Generally, I do try to eat a balanced diet. Veggies with every meal. Whole grain breads and brown rice and such. But after my legal brief got torn to shreds yesterday, all I wanted was comfort food.


Everyone's queso is a little bit different. I didn't exactly get this from a recipe but I didn't really invent anything new with it either. I fiddled with different recipes and it just happened to evolve to my favorite queso ever.

Ingredients:

• 32 oz Block of Velveeta cheese product
• 1/2 8oz block of cream cheese
• 1 can bean less chili 
• 1 can hot green chilies w/ juice
• 2 cans Rotel drained

Instructions: 

Roughly cube the Velveeta and cream cheese and place in your crockpot. (Crockpot liners are your best friend for this. No one wants to scrub a pot full of melted cheese!) Dump in the chili, green chilies and the drained Rotel. Stir and turn on the crock pot. Stir every half hour or so. It'll look disgusting until the cheese melts but wait it out. 

I've only cooked this on high (but I'm sure low would work if you have more patience than I do) and it takes about an hour and a half to fully melt down. Then I turn it to warm while we are munching on it. It lasts for hours. Assuming the queso lasts that long. 

Well, today didn't kill me

So I did the client interview and the will write up and it went alright. I wasn't fabulous but I wasn't horrible. I could tell that he knew I was nervous at first but I calmed down and it went smoothly after the first few minutes.

Impressions:

• That big old lawyer desk does make a person feel less like a kid playing dress up. I've never sat on that side of the desk before but it really did make me feel all official and stuff. 
• My biggest worry was that he'd have a question that I wouldn't know the answer to. He did have questions but I did know the answers. Yay me! However, at least one or two, I wasn't allowed to answer because it would fall under legal advice. Awkward. 
• Secretaries are awesome and I want my very own someday. I will buy them flowers and love them forever. 
• I was aware that we'd be discussing private financial matters but I had no idea that he would just start talking about all these non-related family matters or personal tragedies. One thing I need to figure out is how to better respond to this. There is only so many times you can say, "I'm sorry to hear that." 
• Actually, writing the will was easier than the client interview. Go figure since messing up the will was what I was the most worried about. 

Right after I wrote the will, I had a meeting with my R&W professor to go over my legal brief. That's the memo where I had no idea what I was doing or how it was supposed to go. Surprise surprise, I did not do very well. I knew I hadn't but it was still a hard to pill to swallow when it came down to it. This is the first time in law school that I was told that I am below where I should be. OUCH!!

It had to happen eventually. 

Update on the Wills Event

After all that stress wondering if I was ready to interview a client. And after all the worry about if I knew enough to write the will. And after I got all dolled up in a suit and heels and wore it to class all day. Oh not to mention leaving property class early to make sure I would get to the appointment on time.

The man stood me up.

The secretary was beside herself. Apparently my appointment was the only no show of the entire event. Just my luck.

It may or may not be rescheduled for tomorrow but nothing definite yet.

Humph.


Edited to add: I got a new client for tomorrow. Apparently the secretary felt so bad for me that the second a new client came in, she assigned him to me. So YAY on getting to do this. BOO on having to wear a suit to class again. I don't mind wearing a suit in general but I dislike it for class. Class should be comfy. Maybe not pajama comfy but jeans and t-shirt comfy.

OMG I Have NO Idea What I Am Doing

Guess what??

No Gueeeeesssss.

Okay, fine.

Tomorrow I am going to dress myself in a suit, sit behind an impressive lawyer desk, interview a client and then ..... WRITE HIS WILL.

As a 1L, I am so so so lucky to do this. As a 1L, I am so so so terrified. Please don't let me screw this up.

Now obviously, I will have an attorney checking every single thing I do. And as a student I cannot give any type of legal advice at all. Even if I am asked to define what a fiduciary is, well there are rules as to what I can say. I can read the definition off of google, I cannot say well if "you . . ."

But still! I am going to be writing a will. And interviewing a client. Oh My God. Please save me. I'm so scared I will mess this up. But at the same time, so excited.

This is all my own fault too. I am the only 1L that signed up for this and although I was told that it would be highly unlikely that I would actually be assigned to a client, I had to go ahead and go to the training anyway. And then I had to personally contact the coordinator and express my willingness to do this. And then I had to go above and beyond and send an updated schedule as the program went along. They are taking a chance on me and I am very appreciative of the opportunity. I just am terrified of messing this up.  Even though there will be an attorney checking my work.

Please, if you are reading this, wish me luck!!! At the very least, it will make me feel better! Confidence is key.

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

Law School Makes You Lazy

Alternative Title: How to get more done in less time

I'm going to teach you a secret. If you are considering going to law school, paper plates will become your best friend. I mean, you still have to eat and your budget is definitely NOT going to allow you to eat out every day. There are going to be days where you have to decide whether to shower or walk the dog because you can't do both. On those days do you really want to forgo a few more precious minutes of sleep to do the dishes? I think not.

It's not environmental friendly but I use paper plates, plastic silverware, and cardboard coffee cups. Other than the silverware, I try to buy biodegradable products but I realize that I'll be making up for this for a very long time. It's worth it.

It gets worse. Not long after orientation, I started covering my cookie sheets with tinfoil. If the food doesn't touch the pan, it doesn't need to be washed. Right? Right. I have heard that you can fry an egg on parchment paper in your skillet so you won't even need to wash that pan. Now I haven't gone that far but I've considered it.

And did you know you can get crockpot liners? They are amazing. Throw a bag in there, cook your food and boom. At most you need to rinse the insert. Genius!

Say no to dishes. Say yes to showering.

You're welcome.