Poor thing

Oh poop. One of my very good friends from law school did not pass the IL February bar. :-( It makes me wonder if not taking it last summer with the rest of us played a big part in her not passing. You can certainly lose a lot of knowledge between graduation in May and early January when you start bar classes. My friend is ridiculously smart too- she knows 5 languages and decided to pick up Russian while we were in law school!

It seriously makes me wonder how the h*ll I passed the bar?!? It also makes me feel a bit guilty as a couple of my friends that have not passed want to actually practice law…where as I have already gone inactive with my state!*

Just another reason I feel grateful that I passed the first time and will never have to take a bar exam again!


*I wasn’t planning on going inactive, but I am not an attorney or dispensing legal advice at my job. If I was to stay active, I would have to take CLE (continuing legal education) credits- which means taking time off work and would have to pay $300/ year more than I currently do in fees. I do use my legal education/ analytical thinking every day though……

Months late

I know that I am waaaay behind the curve on this, but I finally saw the Sex in the City movie.

When it came out this summer I couldn't find anyone to go see it with me as CP and I had just moved to NH to live with his mom as I studied for the bar. The only people I knew (and not that well) were CP's male friends and I sure wasn't able to convince CP to go to the movie with me!

So I pouted because I couldn't head to the movie with my girlfriends back west, drink martinis, and generally have a good time. Well, after watching the movie, I don't think that I missed out on anything. The movie was overdramatic and overacted through much of it. I really enjoyed the show and was very disappointed. Supposedly they are thinking about doing another movie....hopefully it is better than this one!!!

If you guys saw it (which I know most people have)....what did you think about it?

Why do I care?

Why do I care what other people think about me so much? All of us do it, but I think that sometimes I take it to an extreme.

For example, I want people to know that I am not losing weight because I am the typical bride-to-be and want to look fantastic on my wedding day. OF COURSE I want to look fantastic on my wedding day, but my weight loss is not for the wedding. Also, I want people to know that my weight loss has nothing to do with a New Years resolution. Before law school I was in great shape- working out by playing volleyball, flag football, soccer, etc. while running two to three times a week when living in Chicago. Despite my love of Miller Lite beer and such delicacies as wings, I was healthy and happy with my body. I knew that I was never going to be a stick figure, but was okay with the curvy, athletic body I had.

Then came law school. The lack of a schedule killed me. I didn’t work out enough and I ate because I was stressed. Three years of crappy eating while CP was on the road and not working out enough pushed me at least 30 pounds heavier than when I entered law school. This summer I vowed that while studying for the bar I would allow one hour of working out a day to keep me sane. That went well until two weeks before the bar. After the bar was over, I vowed that I wanted to look better for my 30th birthday. Well, that milestone came and went with me working on a regular basis, but not having lost any weight.

Why does it matter to me that people know that I have been struggling for this for a while instead of wanting to lose weight for my wedding and/or a New Years resolution? I have no idea.
Maybe it is because I intend to not only lose the extra weight before my wedding but also keep it off. I want to be a healthy mother when CP and I start having kids. I want to go off my stomach medicine for my acid reflux. I firmly believe that my weight gain in law school, coupled with the stress brought on my painful and annoying stomach condition. Hopefully losing the weight will allow me to stop taking the pills.

Maybe I should stop worrying about why other people think I am trying to lose this weight and focus on sticking to healthy eating and working out…..

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On a non sequitur note, someone typed the phrase "chicas in heat" and ended up on my site. Somehow, I don't think that they found what they were looking for!

Bye bye 2008

Looking back on the year that was 2008, I have to say that I had an amazing year! I almost don’t want it to end! Then again, maybe 2009 will be even better?

Some of the 2008 highlights:

*Two week trip to Maui with CP. Exploring places with funny names such as Haleakala National Park and Wai’anapanapa State Park. Learning the basics of scuba diving while watching huge sea turtles and bright fish swim by and listening to the whale sounds while underwater. Traveling as high as 10,000 feet to the top of the Haleakala Crater, to the bottom of the 400 foot Waimoku waterfall. Relaxing by the pool with fruity tropical drinks. Ahhhh it was the life.

*My final spring break as a law student. My law school friends, their significant others and I were able to score a sweet ski condo for the week- I even had two friends come over from Sweden! The skiing was amazing. Before we head up to the mountains, CP (ever the engineer) came up with an “alco-rhythm.” Basically, it was a formula that he made up to gauge how much alcohol we needed for the week. And it was DEAD ON. I have a smart man!

*A long weekend with CP in Puerto Rico. I happened to be out in DC for a job fair and CP was stuck in Puerto Rico for work (usually you wouldn’t say that you were “stuck” in PR, but CP was working very long hours- even weekends- and didn’t have anyone around that he knew). It had been two weeks since we had seen each other, so CP asked his boss to fly me out to PR from DC on the company’s dime. Amazingly enough, his boss said yes! We spent the weekend exploring the San Juan National Historic Site, El Yunque National Forest , going to yummy restaurants, and even kayaking in a bioluminescence bay (AMAZING!).

*Getting an offer for my dream job right during finals.

*Graduating from law school. ‘Nuff said.

*Getting a kayak as my graduation present from CP. I was able to justify a few hours away from studying for the bar for kayaking because it was exercise and time with CP this summer.

*Surviving a summer studying for the bar 12+ hours a day and living with CP at my future mother-in-law and her fiance’s house. The future MIL was great….the fiancé? A different story. At least I had an excuse (studying) to get away from silly conversations with him.

*Getting engaged! With a beautiful ring! In a way that is very “us.” Speaking of which, this is what CP wants to write on our wedding webpage about how he proposed: I like surprises. NSC likes ruining my surprises. Tactically this needed good execution. No dressy dinner, no get away weekends, nothing that was going to arouse suspicion. How was it that I was going to propose without any warning? My solution: choose a random day and deliver the ring via bivalves! With a little help from my hard-shelled friends, I was going to deliver a sparkling diamond ring on the underside of a oyster on an otherwise uneventful Wednesday evening. First problem is that NSC doesn’t like oysters (don’t worry, I am working on this issue). My solution was a dish of mussels steamed in a broth of herbs and fume blanc. Second problem, diamond rings have all sorts of prongs and crevices that seem to snag onto food. My solution was to wrap the ring in plastic wrap, which had the appearance of a bottle cap. Also, mussels don’t comfortably fit a full ring. Needless to say what I envisioned was a romantic delivery of a ring. What resulted was that NSC almost became ill from eating a mussel that had mysteriously swallowed its body weight in bottle cap. So, where I failed in romantic execution, I at least passed in catching her off guard. Success!” CP amuses me.

*Passing the god forsaken bar!!! Then getting sworn in last month.

*Doing my part to help Obama win the presidency!! Does anyone else want time to speed up so that he can just become president already????

*The joy of continuing my streak of seeing one Eagles game in person per year. So the game against the Redskins wasn’t very good….at least they made up for it last weekend!

*Getting to see CP during the week instead of just on the weekends starting halfway through the year. Although CP is not very happy with his job right now, at least he hasn’t had to travel since June. It’s nice to sleep next to him every night….even if he does snore sometimes!

*Getting back into an exercise routine. I was exhausted yesterday at work, but still willed myself to go to the gym because I didn’t exercise as much as I would have liked while in Chicago. I feel better….even if I have only lost 2.5 pounds.

*My family and my friends. This year they have helped me through freak-outs over why CP hadn’t proposed, if I was going to find a job, if I was going to pass the bar, moving across the country for a BOY, etc.

I hope that everyone has a SAFE and FUN New Years! See ya in 2009!

What a load off my back!

My stomach was in knots this morning as I kept refreshing the website for the supreme court. What will I write on my Facebook status if I fail? What will I write on my Facebook status if I pass? Two minutes before 9am, I refreshed and suddenly the results were up.

I PASSED THE BAR!!!!!!!!!!* What a freakin' relief. Seriously. Now I never have to take that damn test again!

Of course, I couldn't quite celebrate with champagne this morning as I was at work conference in RI (and have been since Weds). Currently it's very windy and very rainy so the drive back to MA is going to be interesting. But I do know of a bottle of Prosecco (Italian champagne and my favorite) that is sitting in our house just waiting to be opened! CP spent part of last night making stuffed quahogs (clams) for our happy hour/ appetizer Friday so that should be a yummy dinner.

When I called CP to tell him the good news he was excited. And then said, "good thing you passed because then we stay engaged. You know that the engagement was predicated on you passing the bar." Ha ha. Not funny CP.


*My Facebook status immediately went to "HOLY CRAP I PASSED THE BAR!!!!!!"

Leaving town?

So yesterday an opportunity came up to volunteer for a 3 month rotation down in DC. I have to do a 3 month rotation in DC for my fellowship anyway and CP and I decided that the sooner I get it done the better because it’s going to get very hectic when it gets closer to the wedding. If I was selected, I would head down to DC on December 1st and stay for three months. It sounds like a great opportunity in a different division, working on stuff that is very current.

However, if I fail the bar (which puts my stomach in knots because I will hear on FRIDAY) I have no idea how I am going to study for the bar (AGAIN), work long hours in DC, keep my relationship from falling apart because we won’t see each other every weekend, AND plan a wedding. Oh god I hope I passed the bar.

The bar exam wrap up

For all two of you that care what the bar exam is really like...here is what two days of the bar exam looked like:

Tuesday

7am- Shower, eat breakfast, and head down to the testing facility. Luckily, I am staying at the hotel where the exam is being held so I don't have to worry about driving directions. I highly recommend it.

8:15am- Stand in line to check in. For my state we only need one form of ID.

8:30am- Go to the bathroom for what seems like the 10th time already today (when I get nervous I have to pee- a lot).

8:35am- Spend over 30 minutes waiting for stragglers to come into the bar exam. This part is very annoying. The examiners told us to be checked in by 8:15am. It is the BAR EXAM. How could you possibly be late for this??

9:15am- Listen to test instructions. *snooze*

9:30am- Finally start the first MPT (Multistate Performance Test). It is a "nice" way to start the bar exam (are there really ANY nice ways?) because you don't need to know any outside law for the MPT. They are simply testing you on your ability read the cases and information that they give you and organize a coherent brief, memo, jury instruction, or whatever else they decide for you to write.

11:00am- The First MPT is done and we get a 10 minute break. My hand seriously hurts from writing so much, but I think that I did pretty well with my organization and analysis of the problem.

11:10am- Start on the second MPT of the day. We are done 90 minutes later. My hand hurts even more. This MPT was a little harder and halfway through I thought of a better way to organize it, but when you are handwriting, you simply don't have time to go back and re-do things.

11:45am- I start to get distracted by a proctor that has fallen asleep on a chair behind his "area." There is one girl that is raising her hand that wants extra blue books and he has fallen asleep. Why won't he wake up so that she can put her hand down!!!!! I can't say anything, but I am fully distracted. Maybe that is why I would have liked five more minutes at the end in order to finish the question. Jack*ss.

12:40pm- We break for lunch. Although there was no time to eat during the MPTs we are all starving. We get an hour for lunch. During that time I go upstairs to my room, eat a sandwich, drink a soda, and go over my essay topic notecards.

2pm- After some more instructions, we start in on the essay portion. We have six essays, with three hours to complete all of them. Although Barbri told us not to, I glanced through the questions and wrote the essays out of order. We had a separate blue book for each essay anyway, and I wanted to be able to spend more time on topics that I knew more about. We ended up with the following topics: Secured Transactions, Family Law, Partnership, Torts/ Constitutional Law, Property, and Contracts. The first three I was estactic to see, but none of us were expecting three MBE topics on the essay day. I didn't go over the MBE topics the night before so I was really nervous about those essays. My rule statements were not as strong as I would have liked them to be, but I at least finished all of the essays.

5pm- The essays are over. I think that I did okay (?).

6pm- I decide to go home to have dinner with my boyfriend and his mom. I knew that I was going to get questions like "so, how did it go?" that I really didn't feel like answering, but also didn't want to be sad and order pizza to my hotel room. After an hour dinner, I left to head back to the hotel.

7:30pm- Calls from my friends taking bars out of state start to come in. We had some of the same essays and although they tell you not to discuss the exam, we of course do just that. We all agree that we are having trouble finding motivation to go over MBE topics tonight to prepare for the next day.

9:30pm- I finally stop accepting phone calls and start to look at my notecards, along with doing a few practice questions. I'm trying to figure out the best way to study the night before and it is simply not working.

11:40pm- I finally shut off the lights and try to get to sleep. I then spend the next two hours or so tossing and turning, trying to fall asleep. Very frustrating.

Wednesday

7am- Shower, eat breakfast, and head down to the testing facility.

8:00am- Stand in line to check in. Other people had a lot of trouble sleeping last night so I am glad that I am not the only one.

8:30am- Listen to instructions and start to fill out all of the bubbles on the scantron sheet. I feel like I am 12 again.

9:00am- We start the MBE. The MBE is a 200 question multiple choice portion of the bar exam. Multiple choice SOUNDS easy, but this is where most people fail the exam. We have three hours to complete 100 questions on the following six subjects: Torts, Contracts, Property, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law/ Criminal Procedure, and Evidence.

9:30am- I start to worry as I usually finish the MBE early, but the first 17 questions are freakin' hard and I am on schedule to finish right on time! I swear the rest of the questions were ones that I have never seen before and truly had no idea what the answer was. At one point I was thinking in my head, "I hope that I am guessing correctly." Seriously.

12:00pm- Lunch break. I quickly talk to some of the other takers. Some people didn't finish (I ended up speeding up and finishing with about 10 minutes to spare). Everyone is stunned and also pissed at PMBR and Barbri because we all feel like we weren't taught some of these concepts. I go over a few notecards, but once I start to see a few mistakes, I decide to put them away.

1:00pm- We sit through more instructions and have to fill out all of the bubble information again.

1:30pm- We start the second half of the MBE. I am a little less stressed this half because there are fact patterns and questions that are familiar to me. Thank god. I finish with 10 minutes to spare again.

4:30pm- It takes about 20 minutes for the proctors to pick up our scantron sheets, make sure no one stole the test, etc.

5pm- I have a mojito in hand at a bar and drink it in less than five minutes. I haven't been drunk all summer long and I am determined to make up for that. I meet two guys that I took Barbri and the bar with, and for the first hour or so, we are not really celebrating. We are thinking that we just got our proverbial nuts kicked in and hope that we don't have to do it again in February (the bar exam is only administered two times a year- in July & in February). As the drinks start flowing and the texts/ phone calls come in from friends taking other bars, we start to realize that we DON'T have to study tomorrow and that there is nothing we can do about the bar exam anymore. More bar takers start to come into the bar and we all congregate, but after a while, stop talking about the bar.

7:30pm- BF shows up and I am already fairly loopy. We stay for another three hours, and then leave because he is my ride home and has to get up early for work. I say goodbye to my fellow bar takers who I probably will never see again as I didn't go to law school with them and tomorrow I move from the state.

HERE'S HOPING I NEVER HAVE TO GO THROUGH THESE TWO DAYS EVER AGAIN!!!!

My girl card is gone

So yesterday as BF and I headed to the store to check out some tables, I had a thought that I probably shouldn't be shopping and instead I should be studying for THE BAR. *sigh* After three years of law school and then two months straight of studying for THE BAR I guess it is just ingrained in my head. Here's hoping those thoughts go away soon.

So shopping with BF? I should have known better. He claims to have an aversion to the mall. I think that this is true only when he is shopping for clothes. He wants to get in and out as quickly as possible. Home furnishings however? Holy f*cking sh*t. We shopped for EIGHT HOURS yesterday. Yes, you read that right. Part of that time was driving and we did stop to have lunch but the fact that we were gone all day shopping? Ugh.

We did get some things that were badly needed. Curtains for our front window so that we can watch porn (just kidding). Lamps. Plants. Etc. The most annoying part of our day? Shopping for plates. When we left the west coast, we ended up giving all of our plates away to the Salvation Army because we only had a few left. We must have gone to 5 or 6 different stores looking at plates. Some were too expensive, some were too ugly, some were too hard to care for (not microwaveable), etc. Luckily, we found plates at the last store we went to that we both agreed on and were not too expensive. And thank goodness!

During our search we joked that we wouldn't be using the plates very long as we would register for nicer ones for the wedding. And after the day we had shopping for home furnishings? I don't even know if I want to register anywhere!*

*Oh who am I kidding? Who doesn't want free stuff!

Hello anxiety! I've been waiting for you all summer long.

AHHHHHHHHHH. Alright so I haven't been freaking out about THE BAR too much this summer. I think that it is partly to do with the fact that I have never studied so much for an exam in my entire life. TWO MONTHS devoted to one test. Who does that? Stupid people that just went to law school that decided that their life didn't suck enough for the past three years.

Tonight? When I checked into my hotel? It allllll hit me. Not earlier today when I was in the law library studying for another NINE HOURS. But when I had to put all of my things into a plastic bag? Oh yes, the bar examiners do not trust us so we have to put all of our stuff into a plastic bag, just like you are going through security in an airport. I think that I am well prepared though:

*Advil (since I have been getting twenty bajillion headaches in the past two weeks)
*Caffeinated mints (the BEST thing since I don't drink coffee)
*Sweetarts (because I have quite the sweet tooth)
*Stomach pills (in case my stomach starts to act up)
*Earplugs (I don't think that I will use them because I always think that I start to breathe really heavy even though I am breathing normally)
*Highlighters
*Pens
*License
*Lip gloss
*Non-digital watch

Did I mention that all of these things need to be unwrapped in the plastic bag? Obviously some jackass a few years back decided to try to write notes onto wrappers or something so everything has to be taken out of the wrapper.

So BF? Sometimes not so good with what NOT to say. After I was done studying on Saturday night I started to watch tv with him. Our conversation:

Me: What are you going to say to me if I fail the bar?
BF: That you didn't study enough.
Me: WHAT??!!? (bursts out crying) Why would you say something like that?
BF: (shocked look on his face) What? I was just kidding. You have been studying so much this summer.
Me: You can't say that to me. That's awful!

Boys.

Alright, no more bitching because I have to go study some more. And I might, just might, have to go throw up.

Manly meat

Hello lover!

(Photo from Yahoo Sports)

I like my men manly. When I was growing up, I used to read Teen Beat with my sister, fawning over boys like Kirk Cameron. WTF? As I grew older, I started to fawn over rockers- people like Axl Rose and Anthony Kiedis. I even named our two goldfish after them. Again, WTF? But as my taste in actors and musicians has changed, one thing has stayed the same. I love me some manly sports-playing men. Growing up in my midwestern city? Michael Jordan was my unrequited love. He was so sexy with his bald head and huge smile. You could also tell that he put his heart into every single game. Now THAT's sexy.

After Michael Jordan retired (again and again), I had to find a new unrequited love. I found Brett and it was a match made in heaven. The scruff on the face. The love of the game. The clean image (minus the whole....uhhh painkiller addiction). My ex even gave me a tshirt that says "Got Favre?" instead of "Got Milk?" Even now that Brett's ass is a little saggy in his uniform? I still want to grab a piece of that adorable booty.

The reason I go into manly men is because thankfully, BF is a manly piece of meat. I have dated other guys that just can't cut it. I am still a tomboy, even in the last year of my 20s. I don't wear a lot of makeup, I would rather pants or capris over skirts and dresses, and I use one product in my hair after getting out of the shower (partly because I have curly hair and us curly hair people have lots of issues). I need a strong guy that doesn't mind a strong female.

One thing I can't stand? Men taking longer to get themselves ready than me. If you are a man that uses more products in your hair than me, we have a problem. I bet that Brett doesn't use ANY product in his hair. Okay, he probably doesn't need to because his hair is so short. Regardless.

I'm all for a guy being romantic, but when the guy is more sensitive then me? We have a problem. I dated a guy after college that was a musician. He was sensitive. I walked all over him. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. So when Brett cried after announcing his retirement? That's okay because it was for the love of the game. Hell, I cried after my last meet in college. (I'm also a girl so it's okay).

Speaking of crying, I am going to need my manly man to be there for me if I suddenly break out into tears Wedsnesday night while I am at the bar after THE BAR is over. I do love me some manly hugs.

No posting again until Thursday.....send good thoughts my way tomorrow and Wednesday. Thursday I will be back in god knows what shape.

Don't put THAT in your mouth

Stress eating. I does it. I know that I do it and yet….I keep on doing it. When it got close to finals in law school? What did I do? Eat when I wasn’t hungry. And I didn’t eat rabbit food like lettuce and carrots. Oh no I ate fast food, ice cream, pizza, etc. All while telling myself that I needed to eat quick food because I didn’t have time to have anything healthy. Because of my stress eating? I am twenty-five pounds heavier graduating law school than when I started law school (I wasn’t exactly a stick when I came into law school either). Ugh. I am at the heaviest I have ever been in my life and it feels awful.

I know what I have done in the past to lose weight (count calories, go to the gym, not drink as much, etc.), but as I get older it is going to be harder to lose that extra weight. I made it a goal this year to lose weight before my 30th birthday in December and I am hoping that after the bar exam I can stick to it. I am a schedule-loving girl and when I worked prior to law school it was easy to drag myself to the gym after work every day so that I missed the bad traffic on my way home. I am hoping to do the same starting in less than a month.

One of my possible impediments? BF. He is absolutely THE BEST COOK EVER. I keep telling him that he is chef stuck in an engineer’s body. But…..this means he doesn’t use margarine or Pam instead of butter, he makes sauces for vegetables instead of just eating them steamed, etc.

Another impediment is simply wanting to spend time with BF. This will be the first time since we started dating that I won’t have any homework or studying to do at night (oh boy I can’t wait!) and he won’t be traveling during the week. We can actually (gasp!) spend time together. Because he commutes one way and I commute the other way we probably won’t join the same gym. That could be quality time we spend together after our work days are over.

BF and I do try to get out a lot on the weekends for athletic endeavors. My first birthday present from him was to learn how to ski because if I lived in a ski state, then I had to learn. Recently, we bought kayaks and have been enjoying getting out on the water as much as possible. We both have golf clubs and I would like to teach him how to play tennis after we are settled into our new place.

I just need to tell myself that the gym is for ME. Time for ME to spend getting healthy and losing weight. And maybe my compromise with BF and his cooking is that two days a week during the week I get to cook something healthy. I found a lot of recipes in The Biggest Loser cookbook that are delicious. That way if I eat a healthy breakfast and lunch, then on the couple of other days that BF cooks, I can eat foods that are a little more caloric while still losing weight.

I also have already told BF that I am instituting the “salad rule” after the bar. At the beginning of the week, I will wash and cut a bunch of lettuce, along with chop up lots of fresh veggies in advance of the week. Every night with dinner we will have a salad on the side of whatever we are eating.

Hopefully in the 3 ½ months before my birthday I will start to see some progress and work towards the goal that I set for myself in my last year of my 20s.

I have judgments

I will admit to being a judgmental person. We all are, no matter how we much we try not to be. Take today....I am in the library studying because my life consists of THE BAR 24/7. A woman came in with a nice suit on, but her pants were a little too tight. Because of the tightness and because of the light color of the suit, her underwear lines showed. And it really bothered me. Thongs have been around for a long time. Some people aren't big fans of thongs...and thus why the universe has boy shorts. But why didn't this woman look in a mirror before leaving her house today to make sure that she didn't have any panty lines? I'm not even sure why this irked me so much....I'm going to chalk it up to irritability due to having to study for THE BAR. And yes, I have now decided to put it in capital letters because it is going to happen in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS.

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I am very sad that I am missing out on some of my favorite tv shows because of THE BAR. Project Runway started last night! But I didn't get to see Heidi tell someone that they are out. I have been missing Kathy Griffin hanging out on the D List and crazy Jeff Lewis and his flipping of houses. No Big Brother stalking this summer!

I have been watching I Love Money because while I liked to watch Flavor of Love, I Love New York, and Rock of Love? Putting all of those psychos together in one house is about the best damn entertainment out there. Obviously my taste in television is not high brow. But that's what happens when you go to law school- when you are done with classes and studying for the day, you want mindless entertainment. You don't want to (and sometimes can't) actually think!

I make myself feel better about my choice in bad television by pointing to my father who also watches crappy tv and enjoys celebrity gossip because he just doesn't want to think after putting a hard day in at the office (he is a lawyer too).

Two days of hell

I am not looking forward to the upcoming bar exam. I think that I even have it easier than some of my friends taking other states because it is only two days and the state that I am taking it in does not require as many subjects for the essay day.

Some symptoms of studying for the bar for two months straight:

*You feel like crying, simply because your brain hurts from trying to force feed it too much information.

*You harken back to your time as a 1L when you and your law school buddies would point out people doing negligent things or joking about the difference between "knowingly" and "recklessly."

*When the fire alarm goes off at the law library, no one gets up to either go outside or to find someone to turn it off because we are all too busy studying.

*At the same time you are wishing that the bar was just over, you are hoping for more time so that you can study.

*You lose the ability to spell or form sentences with the correct words.

*You don't get drunk or really drink at all for two months straight because you need to be up and chipper to study the next morning. This one might have a disasterous effect on the night of the last day of the bar exam when you want to drink your thoughts of possibly failing away. You might turn out to be a very cheap date!

*You glare at people making the slightest sounds in the law library and don't care if it makes you seem like a bitch.

Since I still have 14 days (SH*T ONLY 14 DAYS??!!?) left I'm sure that I will add to this list. Things only get more stressful from here.....

Sticky in some not-so-fun places

I just got back from an awful bikini wax. I hate bad bikini waxes. The past three years I have been going to the BEST waxing place while I was in law school. The waxers were friendly, the service wasn't that expensive ($50 for a brazilian), and the best thing of all? No tipping allowed. So I am at bit spoiled when it comes to waxes. For the past two months while I have been studying for the bar I have had to find a new place as we have temporarily moved to a small town on the other side of the country. The woman is nice enough but leaves wax all over the place when she is done! The wax is currently sticking to my thong and making studying very uncomfortable. Grrrr.

When I first started getting bikini waxes I felt very weird being naked waist-down in front of a stranger. I mean, they see the same stuff all the time, but what if mine looked weird? What makes me think that I would be comfortable spreading my legs for some woman who shines a bright light down there? But I was able to put my thoughts aside and show up every month. After a few years of waxing I was shocked to meet so many women that have never been waxed or are fearful of waxing because of the potential for pain. I can't imagine shaving ever again.... although I am curious to try laser hair removal as in the end it will be less expensive. (sidenote: has anyone had that done? thoughts? yay? nay?)

Waxing results in less hair growing back and it can be a pleasant surprise for men. When my boyfriend (I guess I will from now on shorten this to BF) and I first starting dating he said that he was surprised at first, but then thought to himself something to the tune of "hell yeah" when he realized that I was completely waxed. Tee hee.

On a somewhat related note, I have booked a facial, manicure and a pedicure for the day after the bar exam (July 31st). I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to the day- hopefully I am 1. not too hungover, 2. not crying, and 3. able to relax!