Law Students

Baby Beluga in the Deep Blue... Aquaruim

Posted on February 24, 2008
If you didn't start singing along with that title then you need more Raffi in your life. I love his silly songs and "Baby Beluga" was always a favorite growing up. Last night JP and I had a delightful dinner at Quartino, an Italian tapas-like restaurant "where the wine is cheaper than water and the pizza is the finest"...

End of an Era

Posted on February 23, 2008
My mom called this morning to tell me that my high school 100 breaststroke record was broken yesterday at the State meet prelims. I think she sounded a little more sad than I was. It's been so long since I've thought of myself as a swimmer, and I'm so happy and fulfilled with what I do now, that I was just excited for the girl who broke it (a junior who, according to everyone, is an all-around awesome girl)...

Have Whine, Need Cheese

Posted on February 21, 2008
I'm trying to keep this blog from turning into a complete whine-fest, but this has not been a particularly good morning. We got the DCFS investigative file last night and reading through it was horrible. I'll probably have more to say about it later, but reading a blow-by-blow of the events (and my reactions) through someone else's eyes was really hard...

Getting Up Early, Coming In Late

Posted on February 20, 2008
Landon woke up at 6:30 this morning*, so I woke up at 6:30 this morning. I have class at 8:30 on Wednesdays, so this should have worked out perfectly- we need to be out the door at 7:30 and one hour is usually plenty of time to make that happen. But then it took a while for Landon to eat his breakfast, and JP is really sick so he was in bed and no help at all, and suddenly it was 7:10 and I hadn't even changed out of my PJ's, and then I was dressed but Landon wasn't, and then we were both dressed but my backpack wasn't packed, and then I had to make up Landon's lunch and bottles, and then I remembered that it was negative fifty degrees outside (or maybe it was 3 degrees, but at that level of coldness, the difference is negligible) so I put on warmer shoes, and then I had to wrangle Landon into his coat, mittens, and hat, and then I started walking out the door wearing my backpack and a Landon but no coat, so I had to take everything off, set down the Landon, and put on my scarf, coat, and gloves...

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Restaurant Research and Reaction Papers

Posted on February 19, 2008
I love birthdays- they're like little holidays sprinkled throughout the year and offer a great excuse to eat cake, be spoiled, and go out with friends and significant others. I turn 25 next Monday. My girl friends are taking me to a wine bar Thursday night and JP and I are going to dinner on Saturday while two friends dote on Landon...

Maybe Moving Down South Isn't So Bad...

Posted on February 17, 2008
Today our temperature spiked up to a toasty 42 degrees, causing flash floods as the ice melted all around the city. My car was standing in about 8 inches of water when I went out to run errands this morning (thank goodness I have an SUV)- I had to jump in the passenger door and crawl over to the driver's seat...

Full Fat Delicious

Posted on February 17, 2008
Yesterday JP had some work to do at his office way out in Schaumburg, so Landon and I decided to come along and run a few errands in the suburbs. (Side note: I'm scared of moving to the suburbs. There's so much more STUFF out there. Stores, lots of stores, full of stuff we don't need but start thinking we do- and there's parking lots for your cars so you can pile the stuff inside...

King Of His Castle

Posted on February 15, 2008
Because I can't let the weekend begin with that depressing post at the top of the page, I offer a picture trio of Landon sitting on his throne (or, the car seat that still hasn't been installed in JP's car). Every time I see his picture on my laptop desktop in class I get the biggest smile on my face...

Fear of Doctors

Posted on February 15, 2008
Today Landon will be making his third trip to the pediatrician in 7 days. That's a new record for us. He went back on Wednesday because he'd been up crying/screaming all night on Monday and Tuesday (the lack of sleep, and what it's doing to me, is hard to put into words)...

Stud Muffin

Posted on February 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day from my little stud muffin.

Bumps and Bruises in Mothering

Posted on February 12, 2008
Yesterday, when exiting my illegally parked car to pick Landon up from Maya'a apartment, I admired the softly falling snow and noticed that it was starting to hide the sheet of ice covering the sidewalk. I made a mental note to be extra careful while walking with Landon because that path was going to be very slippery when I came back out I went upstairs and was greeted with big smiles from Landon, wrangled him into his puffy coat, carried him out the revolving door, and immediately slipped on the ice...

Feeling Grateful

Posted on February 11, 2008
(or "How I Learned to Stop Bitching (so much) About Law School")A friend just emailed me this story from the New York Times about "Education City" in Qatar. Five American universities have brought their programs and professors to the Middle East, and apparently more are on the way...

Frumpy Friday

Posted on February 08, 2008
Assuming drinking beer is cool (and college is a near enough memory for me to go with that assumption), does the coolness of drinking a beer in the law library offset the nerdiness of being here at 6:15 on a Friday? Because I'm thinking it falls short...

My Post Meme

Posted on February 08, 2008
I've been doubly tagged for this one thanks to Butterflyfish and Someone Being Me. I feel so loved.THE RULES:** Post about the meme and link back to the person that tagged you.** Go back to your archives and link to your five favorite posts.Link One: must be about familyLink Two: must be about friendsLink Three: must be about yourselfLink Four: must be about something you loveLink Five: can be anything you choose** Tag five other people (at least two must be new acquaintances so that you can get to know them better)...

Pop-Up TV Not Included

Posted on February 07, 2008
This morning Landon took his first ride in the big boy car seat.He seemed to approve of his plush new accomodations.We went with the Britax Marathon- it's safe, easy to install, and lasts up to 65 lbs. We couldn't afford two Britaxes, so we bought an Evenflo Titan for JP's car- he doesn't drive Landon around neraly as much as I do, but I knew there'd be at least one occasion where he'd need to the ability to pick the little guy up...

Another Snow Day

Posted on February 06, 2008
Last night's party was a big success- lots of fun, food, and chocolate cake was had by all. JP even got to play poker with a few of the guests, so he didn't mind beign surrounded by Obamamania quite so much. People left around midnight, so I knew making it to my 8:30 Con Law class was probably not going to happen this morning...

Political Party Hats

Posted on February 05, 2008
Super Tuesday has finally arrived! I don't talk about politics in my blog nearly as much as I do in my everyday life, but I am a political junkie. I didn't know Sunday was the Super Bowl until two days prior, but Super Tuesday has been on my calendar for months...

Case of the Mondays

Posted on February 04, 2008
Landon woke up at 3 AM this morning and cried off and on until around 5- efforts to comfort, feed, cuddle, or pacify him in any way were unsuccessful. This "sleeping through the night" thing is one leap forward, three steps back, 2 hops forward, 1 flip backward...

The Sweet Smell of Chlorine

Posted on February 03, 2008
Today I found myself back in the pool after nearly a year away to give a friend a swim lesson. Every time I get back in I'm reminded of how much I loved it- I am more comfortable and more graceful in the water than I will ever be on land. Getting back in also reminded me of how out of shape I am...

Mexican with the Texans

Posted on February 02, 2008
Tonight we're going out with another transplanted Texas couple (she's a 2L at Northwestern) who greatly miss the glories of Tex-Mex. Arturo's Tacos is in our neighborhood and one of the better Mexican places we've found up North. It has the added bonus of a liquor license (unlike many of the tasty places in Pilsen) so we can order margaritas to go with the $1...

Snowed In

Posted on February 01, 2008
Chicago has received 12 inches of snow in the last 12 hours. Outside our window is a beautiful, white and fluffy, winter wonderland- and the snow is still coming down pretty hard. There's reports of white-outs and major accidents on the highways, so we're having a family snow day...

"Can A Working Mom Be A Good Mom?"

Posted on January 31, 2008
That was the subject line of an email waiting in my inbox this morning. It was immediately deleted and Landon and I continued our morning routine. The reactions it provoked weren't outrage and anger (although there was some eye-rolling), but instead, a realization that since having Landon, lines like that don't really bother me anymore...

Law School Auction

Posted on January 31, 2008
Tonight is the Law School's CLF Auction. It is by far my favorite law school event, and this year Landon and James are coming to join the fun. It's organized by the Chicago Law Foundation, a student group dedicated to raising money for classmates who take public interest positions after graduation...

4,000 Words

Posted on January 29, 2008
I have a half-written post that I really want to finish, but I'm so behind in my reading that it's not going to happen today. Luckily, we finally got our new camera in the mail (JP dropped and broke ours on New Year's- and he was the sober one!). So I'll leave you with a few pictures:The JumperooWe finally gave in and bought Landon a new plastic monstrosity to play in...

A Top-Down Kind of Day

Posted on January 27, 2008
Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry has free admission through the end of January, so JP and I decided it was a good day for a family outing. Landon doesn't get much out of the exhibits yet (although he seemed to like the giant airplanes hanging from the ceiling), so the free price tag meant we didn't have to care if he decided it was time to leave after only 15 minutes...

Home Buying

Posted on January 25, 2008
Today is my day to get caught up in school, and maybe even get a little ahead, but it's already 11:25 and I haven't opened a book. I have, however, spoken with our loan officer, learned several new home-buying terms, emailed our real estate agent, identified our "must have" home characteristics, and perused far too many online listings...

Hooray JP!

Posted on January 24, 2008
JP got his acceptance phone call from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business yesterday! He's officially a member of the MBA class of 2010. Hook 'em!!We had already decided to move to Austin and just assumed he'd get in; and while it was a well-founded assumption, he was getting very nervous while waiting to hear the decision (I wasn't worried)...

Unfair Scrutiny

Posted on January 23, 2008
Andrea over at Peanut Butter Burrito, a 3L at Harvard who just had a baby girl, wrote a lovely post today about her husband and how he sees being a dad as just "as important and active a role" as being a mom. Reading it reminded me of the fact that somewhere in my saved, partially written posts, there's one titled "The Evolution of (a) Man" where I described how wonderful it's been sharing my life with JP and watching him change from boyfriend, to husband, to father...

Caught Up, But More Behind

Posted on January 23, 2008
I spend most of my time feeling like I'm treading water and barely keeping my head above it. I enjoy swimming and am very skilled at water treading, so I'm usually pretty happy in this state. But someimtes the to-do lists get overwhelming, and losing my child care on Monday has crippled me for the week...

Sleep, Finally!

Posted on January 22, 2008
Last night Landon slept from 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM. That is through the night people. Landon's wake up time is not my top choice, but it's a whole lot better than multiple wakings between 2 and 5 AM, so I'll take it.After six months of night feedings, night cuddling, and night crying (not just Landon), we finally decided to follow Ferber and our pediatrician's advice and let him cry it out...

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