Day 342 - Finish a Law School Outline
Date: December 14th, 2010
I suppose it should be hideously embarrassing that in three years of law school this is the first time I've accomplished this, but I was pretty darn proud of myself. Usually the deadline gets too close and I end up just rereading for detail to prepare for the exam. This time, I buckled down and forced myself to push through. It felt good to get the hang of something, even if it was my last time at the rodeo.
Day 343 - Finish a Law School Exam in Under Half the Time
Date: December 15th, 2010
Along similar lines, I'm going to continue to pat myself on the back about finally properly managing law school exams. The first portion of the exam was multiple choice. I ended up taking a cat nap because I got done so insanely quickly that I had a solid 90 minutes until I was even allowed to look at the second portion of the test. Man did that feel good.
Day 344 -Be Fully Prepared for a Law School Exam
Date: December 16th, 2010
I know, similar theme, but when the essay portion of my exam on the day before this hit, I realized I wasn't as prepared as I'd hoped. Yeah, okay, I managed the multiple choice just fine, but the essays were a killer. I started to get disheartened, thinking I'd go all the way through law school without once feeling like I knew what I was doing on an exam (though I suppose that part of what they're going for most of the time). Then I took my exam on day 344. As I looked through each question, I knew the answer. That or I knew where to find it in my notes. And man did that feel good.
Day 345 - Hang My Own Stockings
Date: December 17th, 2010
Justin and I don't have stocking holders. We both go excited about decorating for Christmas, but didn't realize until we got going that we were missing certain parts that we needed to get in order to fully enjoy the season. Like things to hang stockings on a mantle. We decided to go a different route this year and hang little mini-stockings on our tree instead. I stuffed his with a massive Hershey kiss (filled the whole thing). I love Christmas.
Day 346 - Go to a "White Elephant" Party
Date: December 18th, 2010
Yeah, so, I had no idea what a "white elephant" party was before going over to Justin's dad's house, but once I got there, I realized it was awesome. See, everyone buys a gift and puts it in the center and then people draw numbers. People then pick out and open gifts based on the numbers and the later people can force trades down the line. I, of course, managed to get the one dirty gift in the entire pile. It was like the universe drew me to that package. Hilarious.
Day 347 - Get a Ring Resized
Date: December 19th, 2010
For Christmas, Justin and I had decided to get each other promise rings. We both bought them a few months back and tried them on just for good measure. Turns out, his was almost two sizes too small. After twenty minutes and way too much soap (and Justin keeping his eye closed the whole time so he wouldn't see it before Christmas) we decided we needed to get it resized. Two things shocked me. First, it was the easiest thing, like, ever. Second, they did an absolutely incredible job. Its impossible to tell where they added metal - they kept the pattern pristine. So, our Christmas was wonderful.
Day 348 - Shop for Christmas from a List
Date: December 20th, 2010
My family is somewhat romantic about Christmas. What I mean by that is that we like to surprise each other. We particularly like getting that just perfect gift and seeing the person's reaction when they open it. Justin's family tends to be a bit more utilitarian about the season. I thought I wouldn't like that, since I'm a big fan of big surprises, but it turned out to be fantastic. Shopping from a list was so easy and it ensured that people got exactly what they wanted. The best part, for me, is that I don't have to choose a Christmas style - as long as we do Christmas with both families, its the best of both worlds.
Day 349 - Take a Drug Test for a Job
Date: December 21st, 2010
I'm not going to lie... I'm mostly just happy that no one watched me pee. Sorry if that's gross. I'm just saying. I'm... not particularly a fan of having an audience for such things. That being said, other than not wanting to lose privacy, it goes without saying that I wasn't particularly concerned about the whole drug test thing. You have to, you know, use drugs to fail one of those tests.
Day 350 - Graduate Law School
Date: December 22nd, 2010
So, of all the things happening these last couple weeks, this one was simultaneously the biggest and the reason why none of the others have been big. In preparation for my last finals, graduating, etc... I've had to scale back a lot of this project. As I reached that day, it became more and more emotionally clear that focusing on graduation was the right choice (not that it was significantly in question before). It was an incredibly proud moment. Especially getting to sit next to my classmates and see them experience the same joy and pride at finishing one of the harder life tasks that exists today. The speech by our classmate was incredible. She did a great job capturing what it was like for our class to go through law school together.
For me it was particularly touching to have family there. My parents were there, of course, but Justin's family also came to the ceremony. My parents made a wonderful dinner afterwords and we spent hours just relaxing, enjoying the day and socializing. Its amazing to feel like all the divergent aspects of your life can come together seamlessly for a day. My graduation day was, without question, one of the highlights of my life.
Day 351 - Give Christmas Present Advice to Someone
Date: December 23rd, 2010
In particular, by someone, I mean Justin's mom. I got a call asking if something she was thinking of would be something he would like. As simple as that question was, it carried with it a high level of trust, for me at least. As with the graduation, I've come to deeply enjoy getting to interact with my boyfriend's family in a positive, affirming way. They're all such wonderful, open people. I laughed after I hung up the phone because I realized it was the first time I'd been trusted with even a somewhat mundane question like what to get someone for Christmas.
Day 352 - Go to Midnight Mass
Date: December 24th, 2010
I've been to church (quite a bit actually) and I've been to Mass a few times. I'm not Catholic, so Mass is still a rather new experience for me in general. One thing I definitely hadn't done before was go to the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at a Catholic Church. Justin's mom goes every year and when he mentioned it to me, it seemed like the perfect thing of the day. In addition to being a very Christ-centric activity (given that it is Christmas and all), I found it delightfully uplifting to be surrounded by people celebrating the season.
The one thing that threw me off is that I'm not used to the Catholic versions of hymns and verses. So we started praying multiple times and I confidently started saying the words I knew, only to look around and realize I was the only one saying it that way. It led to a couple awkward stares. That didn't dampen what a great night it was though.
Day 353 - Have my Own Personal Christmas
Date: December 25th, 2010
Every year, for my entire life, I've done Christmas morning with my parents (or someone's parents). There comes a point in everyone's life when they begin to want their own traditions and their own distinct memories. This year, instead of spending the night at my parents' house the night before and waking up there, Justin and I stayed at our place, woke up without an alarm, relaxed on the couch in pajamas and opened a couple presents. For the first time ever, I had my own personal Christmas at home. It was lovely.
Day 354 - Play Bumper Pool
Date: December 26th, 2010
Bumper pool rocks. Justin cheats though. That's a lie. I'm just a sore loser. We went over to Dawn and Tony's for a Christmas dinner and got a few rounds of bumper pool (the table was my dad's gift to them) in after we ate. Its great. I love it. Its so much faster than pool and even not being very good, people can challenge each other. Pool, when people aren't that good, takes for darn ever. With bumper pool, the table is so small that most people will sink their shots rather quickly regardless of skill. Also, Justin cheats.
December 27, 2010
December 14, 2010
Finals are a PITA
Well, as the year draws to a close and I'm entering finals, I'm reminded of why so many people told me this project would be difficult or impossible when I started. My concern about being able to keep it going has been growing, even though I'm now less than a month away. I'm loving every minute of it, don't get me wrong. Its just that I've entered the final mile of the marathon. There's still the possibility of failure, even though victory is so close I can taste it.
Day 333 - Create my Own Sudoku Puzzle
Date: December 5th, 2010
I love puzzles and I've been playing with them since I was a young kid. I decided it couldn't be that hard to make one so I decided to try my hand at it. Yeah, I was wrong about it not being that hard. My mind is too linear for puzzle creation. I tried to make a line that went 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 and then fill in everything around it. Turns out, instead of creating a puzzle, I just started myself on the hardest sudoku puzzle in existence. As frustration set in, I tried another strategy. I filled in all the 1s and then all the 2s. It took several tries to make it all fit, but eventually I had what the completed puzzle should look like. Then it was just a matter of figuring out which numbers to remove to make it a puzzle. I think I may have now created the easiest sudoku puzzle in existence in my attempt not to make it too hard. I'm still calling this one a success.
Day 334 -Decorate my House for Christmas
Date: December 6th, 2010
For most of my life, I lived with my parents. For the brief time that I lived in the condo, I didn't really spend Christmases there. The first year I was here, I went to California for Christmas. The next year, I was in Boston until right before the holiday and spent the actual morning at my parents' house. This year, while most of Christmas is going to be either at Justin's family's house or at my parents' house, most of the season has been/will be in the condo. So I took out a bunch of the holiday decorations my grandmother had left me (including a fabulous German pickle ornament) and put them up around the house. I have Christmas candles, nutcrackers from Justin, bowls of candy (homemade bowls) and ornaments on our tree. I love Christmas.
Day 335 - Send Back a Broken Phone
Date: December 7th, 2010
Verizon annoys me sometimes. That being said, I feel like they handled my phone situation pretty well this time around. It started fritzing out the day Justin left for Vegas (the 5th) and we immediately took it in for repairs. That's code for, give them the broken phone and they replace it. Thank goodness for warranties. Mine had decided that working buttons were for losers. I got the replacement phone in the mail and immediately sent the broken one back to their headquarters/repair shop/north pole/whatever. Ahh to be done with the hassle. And to realize that I've never done that before when what I needed to do was spend the day studying. Hooray for small miracles.
Day 336 - Toast my Last Day of Classes
Date: December 8th, 2010
So, December 8th, 2010, at 2:25pm EST, I had my last class of law school. It was the culmination of 20+ years of schooling, without any breaks or gaps. What began in kindergarten with nap time and macaroni art, has reached completion with anti-discrimination laws and how they apply to voting rights. I'd like to say that I didn't know this was where I'd end up when I was a 5-year-old, but let's not kid ourselves. I argued my case for chickenpox, decried the racket that was forced naps in the afternoon and petitioned (with the much vaunted tantrum method) for free reading after recess. I was on the path when I stepped out of the womb.
As for the class itself. I was lucky to have a professor who was so incredibly cool and laid back. I brought in apple cider (Martinelli's, of course) and cookies and asked the class to raise their paper cups (cause we're classy) to the graduating 3Ls. Then I sat back, took notes and sipped my cider. Like a boss.
Day 337 - Have a Legal Interview
Date: December 9th, 2010
So, when I interviewed at Legal Services, it was for an unpaid externship. Because of that, the thoroughness of the interview wasn't quite as much as I would expect from a law firm or a government job. I'm not knocking it. I definitely felt like there was a real process for determining if I would be right for the job. I mention it only because the reason I get to count the interview I had last week is that the level of thoroughness was so much as to be unexpected.
On the bright side, having not lied on my resume or pretended to do things I haven't, it was easy to answer all the questions the interviewers asked. I got asked, in detail, about all of my previous legal work and was walked through my resume job by job to answer questions. I will say, I actually rather liked the format. Then again, as I said before, I'm a linear thinker so... it meshed well with my brain. I got a great vibe from the interview, but I haven't heard back officially yet so its still just fingers crossed at the moment.
Day 338 - Make Candy from Scratch
Date: December 10th, 2010
I missed Justin while he was gone. I mean, no kidding, right? But, as his arrival back in Michigan got closer, I decided I wanted to do something nice to surprise him. I was going to get him his favorite candy, but then I realized that it was just as easy to make it from scratch. And since I hadn't done that before, it seemed like a good use of resources. I made candied cinnamon almonds (with hints of nutmeg and vanilla, of course). In addition to being a very simply recipe, it gave me an excuse to taste test my creation. Yeah. They turned out awesome.
Day 339 - Hang Stockings
Date: December 11th, 2010
So, one of the things that Justin and I have kept in mind in the condo is that we don't want to go too nuts with the Christmas decorations. We got a small tree (about 5 ft tall), a few ornaments, one string of lights. Its been decorated, but not in a way that's, you know, insane. So as we decided what to do about stockings, we were both struck by a brilliant idea, at the same time, in the grocery store. See, Kroger has these little mini-stocking ornaments. We grabbed one each and I'm going to embroider our names into them after finals. Then we'll have our stockings, but in that cute mini-apartment sort of way. In the meantime, we immediately hung them on the tree because, well, Christmas is awesome.
Day 340 - Drive in a Blizzard
Date: December 12th, 2010
As a general rule, I avoid driving in horrible weather like the plague. While I've driven in snow before, I've generally opted to be the passenger in that four wheeled death machine if the weather is bad enough. Unfortunately, I broke my streak this past weekend because Justin had, we're pretty sure at least, food poisoning. He was laid out and in pretty bad need of a CVS run. So I donned my coat, hat and gloves and shuffled out into the storm. Keen observers will note that it was dying down by midday and that CVS is only a couple blocks from my house. Keen observers can just shut up. It was still pretty nerve-wrecking for me and it was totally a first.
Day 341 - Put Together a Comprehensive Christmas List
Date: December 13th, 2010
The last Christmas list I made took the form of a sarcastic note to Santa Claus indicating what things not to bring me for Christmas that year. My parents considered it brilliant satire. I was 12. As for my older years, I've generally been pretty romantic about Christmas, choosing to observe people and drop hints as a means of figuring out gifts and letting people know my preferences, respectively. This year, I do not have that luxury. See, Justin's family is much bigger than mine, which neatly triples the breadth of my Christmas givings. So last night, he and I sat down and laid out a spreadsheet with what we've gotten and for whom. I've seen my dad do that before, but I hadn't had the pleasure. It is a fantastic OCD exercise, if I do say so myself. Goodbye sorting Skittles, hello Christmas spreadsheet. Tis the season.
Day 333 - Create my Own Sudoku Puzzle
Date: December 5th, 2010
I love puzzles and I've been playing with them since I was a young kid. I decided it couldn't be that hard to make one so I decided to try my hand at it. Yeah, I was wrong about it not being that hard. My mind is too linear for puzzle creation. I tried to make a line that went 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 and then fill in everything around it. Turns out, instead of creating a puzzle, I just started myself on the hardest sudoku puzzle in existence. As frustration set in, I tried another strategy. I filled in all the 1s and then all the 2s. It took several tries to make it all fit, but eventually I had what the completed puzzle should look like. Then it was just a matter of figuring out which numbers to remove to make it a puzzle. I think I may have now created the easiest sudoku puzzle in existence in my attempt not to make it too hard. I'm still calling this one a success.
Day 334 -Decorate my House for Christmas
Date: December 6th, 2010
For most of my life, I lived with my parents. For the brief time that I lived in the condo, I didn't really spend Christmases there. The first year I was here, I went to California for Christmas. The next year, I was in Boston until right before the holiday and spent the actual morning at my parents' house. This year, while most of Christmas is going to be either at Justin's family's house or at my parents' house, most of the season has been/will be in the condo. So I took out a bunch of the holiday decorations my grandmother had left me (including a fabulous German pickle ornament) and put them up around the house. I have Christmas candles, nutcrackers from Justin, bowls of candy (homemade bowls) and ornaments on our tree. I love Christmas.
Day 335 - Send Back a Broken Phone
Date: December 7th, 2010
Verizon annoys me sometimes. That being said, I feel like they handled my phone situation pretty well this time around. It started fritzing out the day Justin left for Vegas (the 5th) and we immediately took it in for repairs. That's code for, give them the broken phone and they replace it. Thank goodness for warranties. Mine had decided that working buttons were for losers. I got the replacement phone in the mail and immediately sent the broken one back to their headquarters/repair shop/north pole/whatever. Ahh to be done with the hassle. And to realize that I've never done that before when what I needed to do was spend the day studying. Hooray for small miracles.
Day 336 - Toast my Last Day of Classes
Date: December 8th, 2010
So, December 8th, 2010, at 2:25pm EST, I had my last class of law school. It was the culmination of 20+ years of schooling, without any breaks or gaps. What began in kindergarten with nap time and macaroni art, has reached completion with anti-discrimination laws and how they apply to voting rights. I'd like to say that I didn't know this was where I'd end up when I was a 5-year-old, but let's not kid ourselves. I argued my case for chickenpox, decried the racket that was forced naps in the afternoon and petitioned (with the much vaunted tantrum method) for free reading after recess. I was on the path when I stepped out of the womb.
As for the class itself. I was lucky to have a professor who was so incredibly cool and laid back. I brought in apple cider (Martinelli's, of course) and cookies and asked the class to raise their paper cups (cause we're classy) to the graduating 3Ls. Then I sat back, took notes and sipped my cider. Like a boss.
Day 337 - Have a Legal Interview
Date: December 9th, 2010
So, when I interviewed at Legal Services, it was for an unpaid externship. Because of that, the thoroughness of the interview wasn't quite as much as I would expect from a law firm or a government job. I'm not knocking it. I definitely felt like there was a real process for determining if I would be right for the job. I mention it only because the reason I get to count the interview I had last week is that the level of thoroughness was so much as to be unexpected.
On the bright side, having not lied on my resume or pretended to do things I haven't, it was easy to answer all the questions the interviewers asked. I got asked, in detail, about all of my previous legal work and was walked through my resume job by job to answer questions. I will say, I actually rather liked the format. Then again, as I said before, I'm a linear thinker so... it meshed well with my brain. I got a great vibe from the interview, but I haven't heard back officially yet so its still just fingers crossed at the moment.
Day 338 - Make Candy from Scratch
Date: December 10th, 2010
I missed Justin while he was gone. I mean, no kidding, right? But, as his arrival back in Michigan got closer, I decided I wanted to do something nice to surprise him. I was going to get him his favorite candy, but then I realized that it was just as easy to make it from scratch. And since I hadn't done that before, it seemed like a good use of resources. I made candied cinnamon almonds (with hints of nutmeg and vanilla, of course). In addition to being a very simply recipe, it gave me an excuse to taste test my creation. Yeah. They turned out awesome.
Day 339 - Hang Stockings
Date: December 11th, 2010
So, one of the things that Justin and I have kept in mind in the condo is that we don't want to go too nuts with the Christmas decorations. We got a small tree (about 5 ft tall), a few ornaments, one string of lights. Its been decorated, but not in a way that's, you know, insane. So as we decided what to do about stockings, we were both struck by a brilliant idea, at the same time, in the grocery store. See, Kroger has these little mini-stocking ornaments. We grabbed one each and I'm going to embroider our names into them after finals. Then we'll have our stockings, but in that cute mini-apartment sort of way. In the meantime, we immediately hung them on the tree because, well, Christmas is awesome.
Day 340 - Drive in a Blizzard
Date: December 12th, 2010
As a general rule, I avoid driving in horrible weather like the plague. While I've driven in snow before, I've generally opted to be the passenger in that four wheeled death machine if the weather is bad enough. Unfortunately, I broke my streak this past weekend because Justin had, we're pretty sure at least, food poisoning. He was laid out and in pretty bad need of a CVS run. So I donned my coat, hat and gloves and shuffled out into the storm. Keen observers will note that it was dying down by midday and that CVS is only a couple blocks from my house. Keen observers can just shut up. It was still pretty nerve-wrecking for me and it was totally a first.
Day 341 - Put Together a Comprehensive Christmas List
Date: December 13th, 2010
The last Christmas list I made took the form of a sarcastic note to Santa Claus indicating what things not to bring me for Christmas that year. My parents considered it brilliant satire. I was 12. As for my older years, I've generally been pretty romantic about Christmas, choosing to observe people and drop hints as a means of figuring out gifts and letting people know my preferences, respectively. This year, I do not have that luxury. See, Justin's family is much bigger than mine, which neatly triples the breadth of my Christmas givings. So last night, he and I sat down and laid out a spreadsheet with what we've gotten and for whom. I've seen my dad do that before, but I hadn't had the pleasure. It is a fantastic OCD exercise, if I do say so myself. Goodbye sorting Skittles, hello Christmas spreadsheet. Tis the season.
December 5, 2010
Holiday Catch-Up
Ok, so, the second-wind thing, while true, didn't result in me updating more religiously as I intended. Instead it made each of the project days significantly better. I enjoyed my daily experiences a lot more this last week and a half, which, you know, is important. I do apologize for not being more interesting though.
Day 317 - Seek Advise from an Expert
Date: November 19th, 2010
For the first time since I started at work, I hit a wall that couldn't be broken down with independent research. All the books, articles and cases I could find pointed the same direction, but the attorneys at work knew that wasn't how cases turned out. I learned a valuable lesson about the legal community. The response wasn't simply to dismiss the concerns I had, but to bring the issue to someone known to be an expert among their legal circles (without sharing case information, of course). Knowing when to ask and when you know is an important distinction and it was a good lesson for me.
Day 318 - Set up a Room with my Boyfriend
Date: November 20th, 2010
When I lived with my previous boyfriend, we didn't really plan things... together. It was the only other experience I had living with someone (not counting a freshman year roommate that I'm pretty sure was karmic retribution for some horrible thing I did in another life). When Justin moved in, most of the condo was already organized in a good way since I'd been living here for a while, but the basement was still being used for storage instead of as an exercise room. Together, we set things up the way we wanted, organized everything and stepped back to reflect on our work. It was a wonderful feeling to work with someone so evenly.
Day 319 - Go to a Wine Tasting
Date: November 21st, 2010
So, I'd been saving one of the more romantic things on my list for a special occasion and November 21st was just that occasion. About a week before our six month anniversary, Justin and I started talking about what we should do to celebrate, but we couldn't come up with anything. Just as we were getting ready to give up and have a night at home (how terrible that would've been...) I got an invite to a local wine tasting. We decided right then it was the thing to do. It was a lovely occasion. We got to sit together, talk about the different wines, enjoy the flavors from local wineries, and snack on really tasty appetizers. The part we both enjoyed the most, though, was hearing about RESULTS. See, the wine tasting was a charity even for RESULTS and part of the event was a presentation about the work RESULTS was doing around the country and around the world. We both found ourselves frustrated that we didn't have money to donate, but we both ended up on the e-mail and mailing lists by the end of the night. I would urge anyone interested in making a difference to check them out. Its a great organization.
Day 320 - Attempt a Rubik's Cube
Date: November 22nd, 2010
The key word here is "attempt". It was hard. I looked online and found stock combinations that should've worked, but I decided against following someone else's step by step. I'll figure it out at some point, but for now, even trying was more than I'd done before.
Day 321 - Offer to Pay for Someone's Groceries
Date: November 23rd, 2010
It just didn't seem right. I was at the store getting ingredients for Day 322 and the woman in front of me kept having to put things back. A can of peas here, a can of green beans there. And just a couple days before Thanksgiving. Usually I wouldn't say anything, because I don't want to embarrass anyone, but it didn't seem right to ignore it. So I decided to offer to pay for the things she'd had to put back. She didn't take me up on the offer and for a while that bothered me because I felt like I could've done more. Then it struck me that forcing her to accept the cans of food wasn't somehow better. If anything it would've been rude when my intention was good. So I left it at her declining my offer and realized later, when I thought back, that I'd never made anyone that offer before.
Day 322 - Make a Pie from Scratch
Date: November 24th, 2010
I told a lot of folks that I was making a pie from scratch and for the most part, people assumed that I meant the pie filling and were impressed. Not quite. I meant everything - as in the filling, the crust, everything. See, excluding the last few years, my grandmother always made the pies for Thanksgiving. She bought crusts the last couple years, but even then she still made the filling. This is the first Thanksgiving she hasn't been alive for so I wanted to do something to honor her memory. I figured the best way to do that would be to make the pies. I made six pies because I was having Thanksgiving with Justin's family and there were 25 people there.
I spent about seven hours on my feet, making dough, rolling it out, cutting apples, mixing pumpkin batter, shaping crusts and baking. It was fantastic. I started with a pile of ingredients and I ended with pies. It was such a wonderful feeling. I made four pumpkin pies (that, of course, being the quintessential Thanksgiving pie), one cherry and one apple. When I got to the cherry and the apple I decided to get creative with the crust. I made one lattice crust (something I learned directly from my gramma) and one full crust top with a design cut into it. In the end, I was incredibly proud of the pies. I got wonderful complements on them from Justin's family, but the highest complement I got came a couple days later from my dad. He said it tasted like gramma's. I had to walk to another room so it wouldn't be obvious I was crying. That was exactly what I was hoping for.
Day 323 - Share a Tradition
Date: November 25th, 2010
One of the things that has been unique to my family was the Dorito breakfast. When I was a little kid, my gramma and I would sit in our pajamas and pick out all our favorite kinds of junk food. Then we would lay out the food on trays, elaborately as though it was the actual point of Thanksgiving, and we would sit and eat and watch television together. See, my parents generally made an early dinner, but didn't eat any other meals on Thanksgiving, so gramma and I decided we needed breakfast. It became a running tradition for every year. So, not unlike the making of the pies, I made a point to continue the tradition my gramma and I had started.
Justin and I originally intended to wake up around 9am and have the Dorito breakfast at the condo, but I had to finish two of the pies and we ended up not being able to relax until 11am. Then, of course, we had to get ready and go see Justin's family. He was so wonderfully sweet and apologetic that we didn't have time for the breakfast. He'd even gone to the store a couple days before and bought all the snacks for it. I started to say it would be ok to just have it a day late, but when we got almost to Justin's dad's house, he stopped at a CVS. I wasn't entirely sure what he was doing so I just relaxed in the car, still thinking we'd have the breakfast on Friday.
He came back out with two shopping bags filled with snacks. Doritos, twinkies, cupcakes and other goodies. I couldn't keep the smile off my face by the time we got to his dad's house. When we got there, we explained the Dorito breakfast tradition to his extended family and, much to my surprise, not only did they think it was a cool tradition, they were all for participating. Some of the best memories I have from Thanksgiving are Justin, his dad, his little nephew Christian, his brother and other family members snacking on Doritos, hostess cakes and other goodies before dinner. It was lovely to get to share that happy memory of my gramma with his family.
Day 324 - Shop on Black Friday
Date: November 26th, 2010
Generally speaking I avoid shopping on Black Friday like the plague. I hate the crowds, the pushiness and waking up early the day after a good turkey coma. But, since I'd never done it before and Justin's extended family was in town, it seemed like a good way to kill two birds with one stone. I did something new and we spent time with relatives he doesn't get to see very often.
Day 325 - Show Someone my Memory Boxes
Date: November 27th, 2010
I'm a moderate pack rat. I don't keep everything, but keeping things to remember the important parts of my life is very important to me. While Justin and I were staying at my parent's house, dogsitting, I decided to rummage through the box to look at some things. I ended up showing him my baby book, speech finals pamphlet, high school pictures and other neat memories. It was about halfway through showing him all the little knickknacks of my life that I realized it was something I hadn't shared with anyone before. It truly is lovely to have a best friend and boyfriend that I feel so comfortable with.
Day 326 - Be Part of a Secret Santa
Date: November 28th, 2010
In my life, I have had a few different boyfriends. In only one other case was I with someone long enough or close enough that I spent the holidays with his family, and that wasn't particularly inviting. One of the things that has been incredibly touching to me (and also completely new and unexpected) has been how much I've been accepted by Justin's family. Given my past experience, I expected to have to fight every step of the way just to be seen as human. Instead, when it came time to figure out the Christmas gift exchange, it was just assumed that I'd be included as Justin's girlfriend. It made my day.
Day 327 - Walk Backwards on a Treadmill
Date: November 29th, 2010
Yeah. I was grasping at straws. Also, it was hard and I fell down.
Day 328 - Mail Out Bar Reference Forms
Date: November 30th, 2010
The real reality of the fact that I'm almost a licensed attorney (assuming I pass the bar and don't flunk out of law school, of course), it starting to set in. Its a little scary, but also incredibly exciting. The last thing I needed to do was ask people for references. Now its just a matter of time and studying.
Day 329 - Apply for a Fellowship
Date: December 1st, 2010
One of the things that I've been intimidated by is the quality of competition for good legal jobs. My passion for public representation and public interest law is the main reason I became a lawyer, but even those jobs are often going to people who have the journal credentials instead of the passion (or, in some cases, both). I decided that my fears about not being as qualified or as good as my competition shouldn't stop me from at least applying. I had the realization that not applying guarantees you don't get the job so I should at least give it a shot.
Day 330 - Make a Paper Airplane
Date: December 2nd, 2010
I've folded little paper airplanes in class before, but I didn't realize until this year that there is a real science to a good paper airplane. My dad got me a book on paper airplanes that I decided to save for a time where I really needed good projects. As I've started buckling down to study for finals - now is that time. Folding a proper airplane, built for distance (instead of annoying a substitute teacher) is incredible difficult. Good to know.
Day 331 - Listen to Christmas Song Parodies
Date: December 3rd, 2010
One of the things I used to hate admitting to is that I love Christmas. I really truly do. Somehow that become uncool though. Generally speaking, I sought out traditional Christmas songs and jingles when other people weren't around. Well, Justin doesn't have the same love of Christmas I do, but he's definitely making the effort to see why I love the season. He introduced me to some hilarious Christmas song parodies that, rather than bothering me like I thought they would, just made me giggle. Hooray for hilarity.
Day 332 - Cut down a Christmas Tree
Date: December 4th, 2010
When I was really little (as in, too young to remember), my parents cut down trees. Most of my life, though, they would pick out a tree at a pre-cut farm and we would take it home and put it up. Most recently, my parents switched to a fake tree to make things easier. Built in lights and the whole shebang. One of the traditions that Justin's family has though is to go cut down a tree at this huge sprawling farm in Grass Lake. So we walked around, picked the perfect tree out for his mom and brother and cut it down. It was delightful. We could smell the fresh pine in the air everywhere.
The best part was this amazing church down the road from the tree farm. They open up and serve fresh donuts, hot chocolate, and pastries to the people cutting down trees. In addition to being the best fresh donut I'd ever tasted, the church was incredibly beautiful. 150 years old and seated next to a beautiful graveyard (yeah, I know that sounds macabre, but it was really serene and peaceful with beautiful trees), the church looked like it could've been a Christmas ornament. But, in particular, the whole day was lovely. I so deeply enjoyed being part of Justin's family's Christmas tradition.
Day 317 - Seek Advise from an Expert
Date: November 19th, 2010
For the first time since I started at work, I hit a wall that couldn't be broken down with independent research. All the books, articles and cases I could find pointed the same direction, but the attorneys at work knew that wasn't how cases turned out. I learned a valuable lesson about the legal community. The response wasn't simply to dismiss the concerns I had, but to bring the issue to someone known to be an expert among their legal circles (without sharing case information, of course). Knowing when to ask and when you know is an important distinction and it was a good lesson for me.
Day 318 - Set up a Room with my Boyfriend
Date: November 20th, 2010
When I lived with my previous boyfriend, we didn't really plan things... together. It was the only other experience I had living with someone (not counting a freshman year roommate that I'm pretty sure was karmic retribution for some horrible thing I did in another life). When Justin moved in, most of the condo was already organized in a good way since I'd been living here for a while, but the basement was still being used for storage instead of as an exercise room. Together, we set things up the way we wanted, organized everything and stepped back to reflect on our work. It was a wonderful feeling to work with someone so evenly.
Day 319 - Go to a Wine Tasting
Date: November 21st, 2010
So, I'd been saving one of the more romantic things on my list for a special occasion and November 21st was just that occasion. About a week before our six month anniversary, Justin and I started talking about what we should do to celebrate, but we couldn't come up with anything. Just as we were getting ready to give up and have a night at home (how terrible that would've been...) I got an invite to a local wine tasting. We decided right then it was the thing to do. It was a lovely occasion. We got to sit together, talk about the different wines, enjoy the flavors from local wineries, and snack on really tasty appetizers. The part we both enjoyed the most, though, was hearing about RESULTS. See, the wine tasting was a charity even for RESULTS and part of the event was a presentation about the work RESULTS was doing around the country and around the world. We both found ourselves frustrated that we didn't have money to donate, but we both ended up on the e-mail and mailing lists by the end of the night. I would urge anyone interested in making a difference to check them out. Its a great organization.
Day 320 - Attempt a Rubik's Cube
Date: November 22nd, 2010
The key word here is "attempt". It was hard. I looked online and found stock combinations that should've worked, but I decided against following someone else's step by step. I'll figure it out at some point, but for now, even trying was more than I'd done before.
Day 321 - Offer to Pay for Someone's Groceries
Date: November 23rd, 2010
It just didn't seem right. I was at the store getting ingredients for Day 322 and the woman in front of me kept having to put things back. A can of peas here, a can of green beans there. And just a couple days before Thanksgiving. Usually I wouldn't say anything, because I don't want to embarrass anyone, but it didn't seem right to ignore it. So I decided to offer to pay for the things she'd had to put back. She didn't take me up on the offer and for a while that bothered me because I felt like I could've done more. Then it struck me that forcing her to accept the cans of food wasn't somehow better. If anything it would've been rude when my intention was good. So I left it at her declining my offer and realized later, when I thought back, that I'd never made anyone that offer before.
Day 322 - Make a Pie from Scratch
Date: November 24th, 2010
I told a lot of folks that I was making a pie from scratch and for the most part, people assumed that I meant the pie filling and were impressed. Not quite. I meant everything - as in the filling, the crust, everything. See, excluding the last few years, my grandmother always made the pies for Thanksgiving. She bought crusts the last couple years, but even then she still made the filling. This is the first Thanksgiving she hasn't been alive for so I wanted to do something to honor her memory. I figured the best way to do that would be to make the pies. I made six pies because I was having Thanksgiving with Justin's family and there were 25 people there.
I spent about seven hours on my feet, making dough, rolling it out, cutting apples, mixing pumpkin batter, shaping crusts and baking. It was fantastic. I started with a pile of ingredients and I ended with pies. It was such a wonderful feeling. I made four pumpkin pies (that, of course, being the quintessential Thanksgiving pie), one cherry and one apple. When I got to the cherry and the apple I decided to get creative with the crust. I made one lattice crust (something I learned directly from my gramma) and one full crust top with a design cut into it. In the end, I was incredibly proud of the pies. I got wonderful complements on them from Justin's family, but the highest complement I got came a couple days later from my dad. He said it tasted like gramma's. I had to walk to another room so it wouldn't be obvious I was crying. That was exactly what I was hoping for.
Day 323 - Share a Tradition
Date: November 25th, 2010
One of the things that has been unique to my family was the Dorito breakfast. When I was a little kid, my gramma and I would sit in our pajamas and pick out all our favorite kinds of junk food. Then we would lay out the food on trays, elaborately as though it was the actual point of Thanksgiving, and we would sit and eat and watch television together. See, my parents generally made an early dinner, but didn't eat any other meals on Thanksgiving, so gramma and I decided we needed breakfast. It became a running tradition for every year. So, not unlike the making of the pies, I made a point to continue the tradition my gramma and I had started.
Justin and I originally intended to wake up around 9am and have the Dorito breakfast at the condo, but I had to finish two of the pies and we ended up not being able to relax until 11am. Then, of course, we had to get ready and go see Justin's family. He was so wonderfully sweet and apologetic that we didn't have time for the breakfast. He'd even gone to the store a couple days before and bought all the snacks for it. I started to say it would be ok to just have it a day late, but when we got almost to Justin's dad's house, he stopped at a CVS. I wasn't entirely sure what he was doing so I just relaxed in the car, still thinking we'd have the breakfast on Friday.
He came back out with two shopping bags filled with snacks. Doritos, twinkies, cupcakes and other goodies. I couldn't keep the smile off my face by the time we got to his dad's house. When we got there, we explained the Dorito breakfast tradition to his extended family and, much to my surprise, not only did they think it was a cool tradition, they were all for participating. Some of the best memories I have from Thanksgiving are Justin, his dad, his little nephew Christian, his brother and other family members snacking on Doritos, hostess cakes and other goodies before dinner. It was lovely to get to share that happy memory of my gramma with his family.
Day 324 - Shop on Black Friday
Date: November 26th, 2010
Generally speaking I avoid shopping on Black Friday like the plague. I hate the crowds, the pushiness and waking up early the day after a good turkey coma. But, since I'd never done it before and Justin's extended family was in town, it seemed like a good way to kill two birds with one stone. I did something new and we spent time with relatives he doesn't get to see very often.
Day 325 - Show Someone my Memory Boxes
Date: November 27th, 2010
I'm a moderate pack rat. I don't keep everything, but keeping things to remember the important parts of my life is very important to me. While Justin and I were staying at my parent's house, dogsitting, I decided to rummage through the box to look at some things. I ended up showing him my baby book, speech finals pamphlet, high school pictures and other neat memories. It was about halfway through showing him all the little knickknacks of my life that I realized it was something I hadn't shared with anyone before. It truly is lovely to have a best friend and boyfriend that I feel so comfortable with.
Day 326 - Be Part of a Secret Santa
Date: November 28th, 2010
In my life, I have had a few different boyfriends. In only one other case was I with someone long enough or close enough that I spent the holidays with his family, and that wasn't particularly inviting. One of the things that has been incredibly touching to me (and also completely new and unexpected) has been how much I've been accepted by Justin's family. Given my past experience, I expected to have to fight every step of the way just to be seen as human. Instead, when it came time to figure out the Christmas gift exchange, it was just assumed that I'd be included as Justin's girlfriend. It made my day.
Day 327 - Walk Backwards on a Treadmill
Date: November 29th, 2010
Yeah. I was grasping at straws. Also, it was hard and I fell down.
Day 328 - Mail Out Bar Reference Forms
Date: November 30th, 2010
The real reality of the fact that I'm almost a licensed attorney (assuming I pass the bar and don't flunk out of law school, of course), it starting to set in. Its a little scary, but also incredibly exciting. The last thing I needed to do was ask people for references. Now its just a matter of time and studying.
Day 329 - Apply for a Fellowship
Date: December 1st, 2010
One of the things that I've been intimidated by is the quality of competition for good legal jobs. My passion for public representation and public interest law is the main reason I became a lawyer, but even those jobs are often going to people who have the journal credentials instead of the passion (or, in some cases, both). I decided that my fears about not being as qualified or as good as my competition shouldn't stop me from at least applying. I had the realization that not applying guarantees you don't get the job so I should at least give it a shot.
Day 330 - Make a Paper Airplane
Date: December 2nd, 2010
I've folded little paper airplanes in class before, but I didn't realize until this year that there is a real science to a good paper airplane. My dad got me a book on paper airplanes that I decided to save for a time where I really needed good projects. As I've started buckling down to study for finals - now is that time. Folding a proper airplane, built for distance (instead of annoying a substitute teacher) is incredible difficult. Good to know.
Day 331 - Listen to Christmas Song Parodies
Date: December 3rd, 2010
One of the things I used to hate admitting to is that I love Christmas. I really truly do. Somehow that become uncool though. Generally speaking, I sought out traditional Christmas songs and jingles when other people weren't around. Well, Justin doesn't have the same love of Christmas I do, but he's definitely making the effort to see why I love the season. He introduced me to some hilarious Christmas song parodies that, rather than bothering me like I thought they would, just made me giggle. Hooray for hilarity.
Day 332 - Cut down a Christmas Tree
Date: December 4th, 2010
When I was really little (as in, too young to remember), my parents cut down trees. Most of my life, though, they would pick out a tree at a pre-cut farm and we would take it home and put it up. Most recently, my parents switched to a fake tree to make things easier. Built in lights and the whole shebang. One of the traditions that Justin's family has though is to go cut down a tree at this huge sprawling farm in Grass Lake. So we walked around, picked the perfect tree out for his mom and brother and cut it down. It was delightful. We could smell the fresh pine in the air everywhere.
The best part was this amazing church down the road from the tree farm. They open up and serve fresh donuts, hot chocolate, and pastries to the people cutting down trees. In addition to being the best fresh donut I'd ever tasted, the church was incredibly beautiful. 150 years old and seated next to a beautiful graveyard (yeah, I know that sounds macabre, but it was really serene and peaceful with beautiful trees), the church looked like it could've been a Christmas ornament. But, in particular, the whole day was lovely. I so deeply enjoyed being part of Justin's family's Christmas tradition.
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