Hallelujah and amen...

So my phone fell in the toilet on Monday. What's ridiculous and unfortunate is that, just before I heard the telltale splash, I thought to myself, "Oh wait! My phone is in my back pocket. Maybe I should take it out. Nahhhh.... it'll be fine."

The moral of that story is that, if I am ever blessed with psychic powers, you can count on me to do absolutely nothing with them.

Fortunately, the phone is just fine. My screen was being a diva for a few hours, but apparently everything dried out, and I have avoided, for the time being, having to go buy a new phone. #hallelujah (#yesIknowblogginginhashtagsislame)

And that Whole30 number 3 I was doing? Well, I made it solidly to day 16 when I cheated in an epic way. And then I squeezed through to day 22 before I enthusiastically gave up the charade. Ugh. I'm definitely doing the moderation thing okay right now, but goodness gracious. I don't need moderation. I need motivation.

Thankfully, a friend at work has been persistent in encouraging me to join her in her workout sessions. Our firm just installed a gym in our office, which really renders my ready-made excuse ("I'm too busy to schlep all my stuff to the gym and spend 45 minutes working out!") sort of moot. The workouts she does (mostly strength training with some bursts of mountain climbers, etc. to get her heart rate up) take 30 minutes at most, and the gym is right there. So I've gone with her the past week and am really liking it. I sort of overdid it yesterday (which is so lame because I was going super light on the weights), and my quad is on fire today. Let's all say a hearty "amen" that today is rest day.

Compounding the soreness of working out, I've also made the switch to a stand-up desk at work. It's adjustable, so I can move it back down when I need to rest, which is nice. It's probably the case that, 20 years down the road, the research will demonstrate that stand-up desks are no healthier than sitting on our rears all day, every day. But for now, I feel like I'm doing something good for my body for standing up a bit more each day. And, I swear, I feel more productive. I think it's because I tell myself that I get a sit-down break as soon as I complete a task. And for a person who really despises standing, that's a pretty good incentive.

(Also, how pretty is my new painting? I got it from One King's Lane, and I'm really liking it. The artist has several pieces that I'd love, as I feel like they're the perfect mix of, "I'm a professional, and I hang serious art in my office" and also "I've totally got two X chromosomes.")

One other thing I forgot to mention here, though you may have seen it on Instagram: I'm a brand-new contributor to Dallas Moms Blog! So crazy, right? If you're a mom in the DFW area and are not already a reader of this blog and/or following them (us??) on Instagram and Facebook, you're definitely missing out. I had been reading for over a year when they announced an open call for some new contributors, and I just thought, "Hey, I think I want to get to know those women!" Because it really is a diverse group of moms who have tons of great ideas on doing life well with kids. I think I'll most certainly be the underachiever in the group with not a whole lot to contribute, but you'll nevertheless be able to find me there once a month, rambling as I do here. :)

Last, but certainly not least, Gracie is still cute.

Just in case you were wondering.

I'm linking up with Kristin and Joey for Stuff and Things. What stuff and/or things do you have going on this week? Link up and share!

The one where I almost got to speak in court...

I know I missed Thankful Thursday yesterday, and I'm so sorry!  But it was kind of a crazy day...

... to make a really long story short, the judge ended up starting to hear argument on the defendant's motion that I was prepared to argue against.  After peppering the defendant's attorney with questions about all of the issues I had raised in my brief, he ended up just denying their motion without even having to hear my response.  So while we totally won, I was bummed that I didn't get the chance to speak.  Next time... :)

After the hearing was over, I made the drive back home.  We made the decision that I'd drive out for the pretrial hearing, as well as the days of opening presentations and closing presentations, but that I wouldn't be staying for the duration of trial. 

It was so hard to leave, y'all.  The best part about being a litigator is trial, and I hate that I won't be there.  But my doctor, along with Micah and me, worried about me being a two-hour drive from home for two whole weeks so close to my due date.  The place where the trial is being held isn't a huge town, so they don't have a Level 3 NICU.  Which means that if there were any problems and I had to deliver there at 33 weeks, they'd have to careflight Grace back to Dallas if she had any complications.  The whole thing was just too much.  For my first baby, I just couldn't take the risk, even if it is a teeny-tiny one (since all things seem to be fine with us for now). 

Plus, trial is just exhausting.  I averaged about 5 hours of sleep per night at the last one, and I honestly didn't think I could hang this time (my eyelids are usually droopy by 9:00 these days).

So that's that.  I'm back home, missing out on all the action.

The good news is that I'll be here for Micah's birthday on Sunday.  (As usual, I have no freaking clue what to get him, but hopefully I'll figure something out.)  I'm also hoping to finish several projects around the house.  We need to hang various pictures/canvases, hang the bookshelves and order some prints for Grace's room, and various other little things.  I'll post pictures as we finish things.

I'm also hoping to get a hospital bag packed relatively soon.  If any of you gals have any tips, I'd LOVE to hear them!

Hope you gals have a fabulous weekend! 

What up, yo'?

(Can I pull that off?  I'm pretty sure I cannot, but I like to give it a go every once in awhile, just to make sure... :))

I'm in Atlanta for what ended up being one of the most pleasant depositions I've taken.  Nice witness, nice guy on the other side, no ridiculous technical difficulties.  Love.  (Although I had so much work to finish up last night that I got a grand total of three hours of sleep... do not love.)

Right now, I'm hanging out in a Starbucks, waiting until I can scrounge up some lunch and head to the airport. 

When I leave here, I'm flying to meet Micah in Austin this afternoon, and we're going to drive to San Marcos and stay there for the night (we may or may not have picked San Marcos because it's where a certain outlet is located.  I may have a problem, y'all.).  Then we'll get up in the morning and finish out the drive to South Padre to meet up with my family! 

I'm seriously so, so in need of a vacation.  I feel like it has just been non-stop since I headed to London at the beginning of May, and this girl is ready to sit and do NOTHING for a few days! :) 

So I'll try to check in, but I can't make any promises.  My butt's likely to be permanently attached to a beach chair from the moment we check in to the moment we leave. :)  But I will be Instagraming (@MrsHargrave) and Tweeting (@Mrs_Hargrave) it up, so feel free to come say hey. :)  Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Thankful Thursdays...

As I'm typing this, I'm running a spell-check on an email for work that absolutely had to be sent out tonight this morning.  After I got home from a flight that landed in Dallas at 11:30 because I missed the flight that landed in dallas at 8:00 because my first deposition (for which I have a WHOLE post planned) didn't quite go as planned.

And, in case you were wondering, this is what Terminal D of DFW airport looks like at midnight. 

So since it's technically Thursday, I wanted to go ahead get this week's Thankful Thursdays post up (given that I'll almost certainly be sleeping in a bit in the morning...)

And you know what I'm thankful for in the wee hours of what I hope will be a much better day than yesterday?

I'm thankful that I get to crawl in bed next to my sweet husband and wake up next to him in the morning.  And I'm also thankful that I can put my first deposition behind me.  As atrocious as it was, I feel certain it can only get better from here. :)

Now you guys spill - what are you thankful for?!

Thankful Thursdays (Link Up!)

I'm counting my blessings again, y'all.

Today I'm thankful to be able to work at a job that I love.  Like love.

Being an attorney wasn't really what I set out to do when I graduated high school.  I planned on getting my degree in biochemistry (which I did) and going to pharmacy school after graduation (which I did not).  About halfway through college, I realized that I was entirely too clumsy to be mixing peoples' medications (you think I'm kidding...) and tried to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.  And because He always knows better than I ever could what's best for me, I "accidentally" ended up in a business law course that same semester and fell in love.

So I took another law course the next semester and began to realize that being an attorney could actually be the perfect career for me.  But I wasn't about to throw away all those science classes that I suffered through my first two years, so I decided to finish out my biochem degree and just add in as many extra government/law classes that I could.  Then I learned about intellectual property law (patents, copyrights, trademarks) and figured that it'd be a neat way to tie in the two things that I loved and make a hopefully perfect career out of it.

Turns out I was right. :)

I moved to Houston for law school, and I actually kind of loved it (nerd alert!). I really loved the patent classes I took.  But then the market crashed, and the summer jobs that I just knew would turn into full-time jobs after graduation didn't, and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the heck I wanted to do.  After taking the bar exam, and doing everything I could possibly think of to find a job, God dropped my dream job in my lap.  Because He's wonderful in that way.

And now, after having practiced patent litigation for a year and a half, I can tell you that I wholeheartedly love what I do.  And I know so many people absolutely hate their jobs, so I just feel incredibly blessed to get to spend my days doing something I love.  Let's be honest... sometimes I hate it and want to pull my hair out and curse the day I ever thought about going to law school.

But most days?  It's pretty great.

I mean, I totally feel comfortable using legal jargon in everyday life! (Movie quote!) :)

Also linking up with black tag diaries, The Fontenot Four, First Day of my Life, kate says stuff, a punk a pumpkin and a peanut, and Elf House Chronicles.

Esquire...

Every day I thank my lucky stars that I decided to go to law school.  For the obvious reason, of course - I'm crazy about my job.  It challenges me and frustrates me at times, but it's definitely what I'm meant to do.  

But it has also been useful in another way.  It gave me (1) a basic knowledge of the legal system such that, even if I don't know what the law is, I can usually figure it out, (2) negotiation skills that come in handy in the real world.

For example, last week Micah went to our old rent house to drop of a check for the guys who mow the lawn.  When he went around to the back of the house, he saw a car in the driveway.  This was odd because our lease isn't up until the end of September, and we're still paying rent and utilities, even though we don't live there anymore.  After talking to the landlord, Micah found out that they had found a new tenant.

Needless to say, I was livid.

Texas law doesn't permit a landlord to collect rent from a tenant after they have surrendered the premises and the landlord has found a new tenant.  It was especially frustrating since we were also still paying utilities and for the lawn service.  

So I sent a cordial, but firm, email to the landlord explaining that we would appreciate the return of (1) a prorated portion of the rent for August, (2) our security deposit, and (3) our pet deposit.

He responded that he wasn't sure if he could return the rent and that he'd be docking us the expenses to replace a dead bush in the yard.  After a bit more back-and-forth (wherein I informed him that we absolutely would not be paying for the bush, since it was dead when we moved in [I attached a facebook picture uploaded on the day we moved in as proof]), we received an email today informing us that he'd be returning everything we asked for.  Whoo hoo!

Maybe it was the signature block on the email, or my clever negotiating skills, or maybe it was the time-stamped facebook picture, but I'm just happy that we'll be saving a bundle of money!  Maybe we won't have to wait so long to buy those dining room chairs, after all! :)

What's been up - in iPhone pictures...

Whew!

The last week has been INSANE!

I was busy with the trial skills course from last Saturday through Thursday, and, although it was amazingly useful and fun, it wore me out. I was in lectures all day long, and then I had to come home every night and prepare various things for the next day. But the good news is that I won my trial! :) If only I could really count it as a "W"...

In other news, Micah and I finally bought the armoire that matches our bed. We went back and forth between buying the bigger, two-piece armoire and the single dresser to keep the TV on. The dresser was definitely cheaper, but we eventually decided that we needed a bigger piece to counter the massive bed. Plus, we liked the idea that we could shut the doors and hide the tv.



Yesterday we went to my brother and Faith's house to see the little princess. She's so incredibly precious, and I'd be remiss if I didn't share a few pictures. (Some of them are from yesterday and some are from the hospital.)

(These last two are obviously not iPhone pictures - they were taken by my BFF, who is absolutely amazing. Check her out here.)

Today we went to church, picked up some clothes for Micah and me, and then had lunch with Micah's sweet family.

Right now, I'm actually watching the Mavs, hoping and praying that they can finish the Heat tonight. Dirk and Kidd really deserve a championship. :) Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Wow...

I shouldn't even be awake this early today, but I think my body is still coming out of the study/panic mode and can't quite accept that there's nothing left to study/panic about.

It feels so incredible to be done. There are really no words to describe how wonderful I felt as I was walking out of that testing room yesterday. It was just a crazy mix of pure exhaustion, elation, disappointment, joy, and terror. But the sheer panic I'd been feeling was gone... thank goodness.

And it's strange, because I'm generally not the type to have exam anxiety. I am, for the most part, a fairly chill and relaxed person, and I take most things in stride, including every other exam I've ever taken. And I even managed to keep the panic about the bar at bay until the night before the last day of the exam. Wait, have I even explained how the Texas bar exam works? Alright... let me back up for a minute.

The bar exam is taken over a three-day period. The first day lasts three hours and consists of two parts: the multistate performance test (MPT) and the procedure and evidence exam. The MPT is the practical part of the exam, and we had to write a memo (something that took me a month to do during my first year) in 90 minutes. The procedure and evidence exam is a set of 40 questions about the mechanics of prosecuting crimes and filing civil suits in Texas. The second day, we took 200 multiple choice questions spanning six different first-year law school topics. And yesterday I answered 12, 30-minute essay questions over approximately 12 different topics (depending on how you look at it). Ugh, it's exhausting just writing it all.

A lot of people rent a hotel near the exam site, just so they don't have to worry about driving back and forth or being late or any other nightmare-ish thing that could possibly happen. I wasn't going to, but I ended up biting the bullet and just paying for a room for the second two nights at the Holiday Inn Express near the exam site. I'm glad I did, because it sure was nice to be able to go back to a quiet, clean room each day and just study.

Okay, so back to my panic.

The night before the exam I was just ready. Ready to get started so that I could wash my hands of all of it and be done. I woke up early on the first day, drove downtown listening to "Defying Gravity" from the Wicked soundtrack on repeat. I got to the exam about an hour before the exam was supposed start (and about two hours before it actually started).

I won't get into the nitty gritty because, let's face it, no one should be subjected to boring lawyer stuff, and I already bore you enough. But I'll just say that I didn't feel wonderful after the first day. When it was over, I went back to the hotel room, got some yummy lunch, took a long nap, and had a fairly relaxing night studying the next day's topics.

The next morning, I walked over to the convention center feeling pretty okay. I was obviously a little nervous, and I kept having crazy visions of looking for my name on the pass list (they post it on the internet for everyone to see) and not seeing it. But other than that, no craziness. And after I finished on the second day, I actually felt fairly decent. I hadn't nailed it by any means, but I wasn't horrified by my performance.

It was when I got back to the hotel that night that things went south. I ended up meeting Micah downtown for dinner, which was a nice break, but when I got back to the room and started to look over the subjects for the next day, I just started feeling overwhelmed.

The sheer volume of the material was horrifying (TWELVE subjects!). And I kept looking at things, things I'd read over several times, and I couldn't recall anything! It was like I was reading everything for the first time and that I hadn't spent the past two months trying to cram it all into my brain. I started feeling queasy. I took a bath to relax. Then, I decided to go to sleep because the studying wasn't helping anyway.

Of course, I absolutely couldn't sleep. I got into bed around 10:00, and I just couldn't make my brain be quiet. Every fear and every worry just keep swimming around my head. Every time I started to pray for peace, I just kept worrying that I didn't know enough. The panic was debilitating.

The next morning, after getting about 4 hours of sleep, I woke up feeling the same way. I was queasy and jittery and panicky and horrified. And the worst part was that I hated the feeling that I couldn't control the way I was feeling.

But, amazingly, when I walked into the testing room, it all disappeared. Clearly, the Lord was providing the peace I had asked for (or tried to ask for). I just sat down, listened to the seemingly never-ending instructions, and began typing (I took most of the exam on my laptop, which provided another layer of stress - wondering whether or not it would die or crash or explode into oblivion... because that's my luck). And while I certainly didn't know all of the answers, my brain recalled many of the things I had shoved in there. :)

So, the bottom line is that I survived the Texas Bar Exam. Who knows if I passed, but I feel proud to be standing on the other side with my sanity, my marriage, and my good nature intact. :)

Hallelujah!!!!!!!

I am officially finished with the Texas Bar Exam... for now.

I'm so exhausted and mentally drained that that typing that last sentence was almost more than I can bear, and I'm going to just sit and be still and not use my brain for ANYTHING for the rest of the night. I promise I'll write more tomorrow... I just need a few hours to become a normal, functioning human being again. :)

What a week!

Wow... this week has been very un-fun.  Just go ahead and skip this post if you aren't interested in hearing me whine like a four-year-old for a minute or two.

First, on Tuesday I woke up to a very unhappy puppy.  We're still not sure what happened, but apparently Lilly got into/bitten by something she was allergic to, because her entire face and body were swollen up.  I'd post pictures, but it really wasn't pretty.  

Clearly, I couldn't go to my bar review class that day, which meant I would be even more behind in my studying than I already was.  

Then, as I tried to search on my PC for our vet's number, I realized that our internet wasn't working.  Like, at all.  I spent about an hour on the phone with the AT&T customer service representative, only to have him tell me that I probably just needed a new power cord for my modem.  

So I ran up to Best Buy and bought the cord the salesman suggested.  Then I ran over to Walmart and grabbed some Benadryll for Lilly.

The power cord turned the modem on, but I still wasn't getting any signal.  The Benadryll helped a lot with the swelling, but after three doses she was still itching and was clearly still very uncomfortable.  I was 0 for 2. 

So I made an appointment with AT&T for Thursday (today) and braced myself to live without internet for two days.  I realized a few hours later that no internet also meant no watching Lost on our Wii.  Ugh.

Yesterday was actually pretty great because I went to see Eclipse in IMAX!  For any other Twilight fans out there, it was GREAT!  Definitely the best movie so far.  Also, Micah took Lilly into the vet because she clearly wasn't feeling much better.  The vet gave her a steroid shot and gave us some pills.  The shot made an immediate difference, and she was doing wonderfully by yesterday afternoon when I got home from the movies. 

Today I missed my bar review course on Texas procedure because my iPhone died in the middle of the night and my alarm didn't go off.  The good news was that I got to sleep in until 9:00.  The bad news was that I didn't take Texas procedure in law school, so I really, really needed to sit through that lecture, plus I'd already missed Tuesday's lecture.  I did get up and start studying, though, so I don't feel too horribly about missing class.  Then, the AT&T guy came and fixed our internet - apparently the new power cord I bought wasn't putting out enough current, so he replaced it (for free!), and now I'm back up and running. :)

The worst part about this week was that today I realized that it was July 1st.  The worst month of my life has officially begun.  I take the bar exam on July 27, and I'm not even close to ready.  But I made myself a study schedule this afternoon, and I feel like it's doable, though the next few weeks are going to be totally miserable.

So if I'm a little slow in posting this month, forgive me.  It'll all be worth it when I can officially call myself a lawyer. :)

I have been...

... INSANELY busy this last week.  Here's the semi-short version.

I had one final last Wednesday (I think it went well, but I have learned that I should NEVER try and predict how I did on law school exams - it's totally and completely random). Then I studied for my Trusts and Wills final all week and weekend.  I took that final on Monday morning.  It was painful.   

Then I ran straight home, packed a bag, and rode with Micah and the devil puppy to Josephine that afternoon.  Micah's grandma is very, very sick, and we just... wanted to make sure we got to visit with her.  So we spent most of the day on Tuesday at her house.  She's the most wonderful woman, and it was lovely getting to talk with her and Micah's sweet grandpa (who reminds me SO, SO much of Micah).

Then I got to see Lauren, her husband Eric, and their adorable little boy Landon and Landon's t-ball practice, which was SO hilarious.  Those kids were the cutest thing EVER and made me practically ache for a baby.  But, judging from Micah's freaked out "uh, um... well... I mean, do you really think we're ready?" and the fact that I'm still jobless, it's definitely going to be awhile. :) (Sorry, Dad!)

It was wonderful getting to visit with my best friend for a little while, and later that night we got to visit with  some of Micah's best friends, as well.  His best man, Cody, and two of his other very close friends from high school, Jake and David, dropped by his parents' house last night.  We stayed up until almost 12:00 (hey, that's practically an all-nighter for us!), but it was SO good to see them.  

And then we got up at 7:00 this morning and made the drive back to Houston.  Ugh.  Just typing it all makes me crave another nap.

I'm about to write a quick paper and crank out a take-home exam for my Public School Law class, and then I'll be DONE with law school! Whoa... surreal.  Expect a cheesy, sentimental post about how much I have loved law school in the next few days. :)

Embrace the gray...

Law school professors say a lot of things.  I could fill thousands of pages with the words of law professors - words I was supposed to absorb and remember.  

But most of those words went in one ear and right out the other.  A lot of it was gibberish.  A lot of it was probably pretty important.  Oh well. :)

Anyhow, I say all that so that I can tell you about one of the things I actually DO remember hearing.  It came from a woman I adore and admire, Professor Duncan.  She teaches Criminal Law, and she made me love it despite the fact that I was determined to hate it.  She is one of those professors you just want to listen to, though you're not sure why.

I can't remember what we were talking about, but she said something profound, and it went a little something like this.  "The law is almost never going to be black and white.  It's mostly a lot of gray.  Learn to embrace the gray."

I hadn't thought of it this way because I'm definitely a black and white kind of person.  There are rules, and you follow them, and that's the end of the story.  

But the law is just not like that.  There are rules, but they're definitely not black and white.  And when you throw a bunch of facts into the mix, it all really does become gray. A lawyer's job is to attempt to create a black and white argument from this sea of gray.  

And in the very few rare instances in which the law is black, your client's situation may very well be white, and then you're praying to goodness that you can create enough gray to keep them out of trouble.

So hearing this just made law school a lot simpler for me.  I was done looking for the "right" answer.  I just learned to look for the gray areas and argue both sides.

And, because I'm me, I also thought about this phrase in a different context.  

Life, like the law, is also rarely black and white.  

I'm not talking religion or politics or anything like that.  

I just mean that the good times come with the bad. 

It seems like people spend a lot of time looking toward the future, waiting for the day when they'll have more money or a nicer car or a house full of kids.  Waiting for the day when they won't have to struggle to make ends meet.  

But I think that the good times are here.  Right now, in the midst of the hard times.  If you can't find happiness in what you have been given today, you won't find happiness in what you hope you'll be given tomorrow. Because the good things in life are often hidden amongst the bad - it's all just mixed in together in a sea of gray.  

You just take it all as it comes, and you learn to embrace the gray.

Ten Things I've Learned at the DA's Office...

Next week is my very last week at the DA's office.  And I'm more than a little sad about it.

This experience has been one of the best in my life.  I've learned so much about myself, and I have learned so much about people, in general - some of it good, and some of it very, very bad.

And because I love lists, I'll tell you ten things I've discovered at the courthouse.

1. Criminal behavior is addictive.

When I pick up a new file, I know exactly what I'm going to find inside:  a big, fat list of prior offenses.  

A person who steals once will probably steal again.  A person who gets caught with drugs today will almost definitely get caught using again.  

It's sometimes disheartening, but I just refuse to become jaded.  I'll keep believing the best in people because my God can change any heart. :)

2. Police officers are really, really good at their jobs.

Obviously not every cop is perfect, but for the most part I have been incredibly impressed by how dedicated and intuitive police officers are.  I've also discovered that traffic stops are often a ruse because the police suspect that some other criminal activity is going on... and most of the time they're right. 

3.  Prostitutes... er... um... sell themselves short?

You'd be SHOCKED at how little a prostitute costs these days.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.

4. Playing with rubber bands in the courtroom isn't a great idea. 

5.  Juries are worshiped.

If you've ever been called for jury duty, you should know that the attorneys for both sides were agonizing over every detail of your life (at least with respect to those things you filled out on your juror information card).  They were watching your body language.  They were watching your eyes.  They were trying to figure out every single thing they could about you, so that they could decide whether you'd be a good juror. 

And then, if you were actually picked, they spent countless hours trying to figure out how to make you trust and believe them.  They prayed that you were paying attention.  They hoped you understood everything they said.  And then they sat, in absolute torture, waiting for you to come to a decision. 

The moral of the story? 

Jury service is important.  Go and feel honored to get to serve your community in that way.

6.  Prosecutors are overworked and underpaid.

I'm sure this one is obvious, but I was pretty surprised to find out just how hard prosecutors work on a daily basis and how much is expected of them.  During my law firm experiences, the lawyers were pretty pampered, and they didn't do any sort of administrative work - they had someone to run their copies, make their phone calls, and even do legal research for them.  

It's a whole different story here.  

There simply isn't enough money to hire enough people to do the work, especially in this economy.  So be satisfied that your tax dollars are being spent efficiently and responsibly - there's not so much as a free plastic cup for water in this place!

7.  Victims are often unwilling to talk about it. 

A big, big aspect of my job is to call and speak to victims.  I ask them what happened.  I ask them about their injuries.  I ask them about restitution.  And I also ask them how they feel about punishment - whether they're comfortable with the idea of jail time for the defendant or if they prefer probation, etc.

These phone calls are the most interesting/frustrating/surprising part of the job.  Often, the victims don't even want to talk to me.  They're scared.  Or ashamed.  Or crazy.  I get a lot of crazies.

And a lot of the time, especially in family violence cases, the victims will straight up say it didn't happen and tell me to dismiss the case.  Those conversations are the hardest for me, because I know if the defendant is released, he's going right back to the victim, and it's likely that he will will hurt her again. 

8.  I now have a slight fear of elevators. 

I have never been the slightest bit claustrophobic, but after a few months at the courthouse, where there aren't enough elevators and people cram into them like sardines, I can now say that I would be happy if I never had to get on another elevator for the rest of my life.

9. Judges are people. 

I got a glimpse of this during my internships with Judge Werlein and Judge Elrod, but it has become even more clear that judges are just like the rest of us.  I happen to know one particular judge who has Converse tennis shoes and tattoo-covered arms under his robes.

They bring their own life experiences, and their own biases, to the bench, and the best judges are those who are dedicated enough to ignore those things and apply the law neutrally.

10.  You never know what you'll find in the courthouse. 

I walked into the courthouse yesterday morning and saw this randomly sitting on top of a trash can.

Classy, right? ;)

I'm sorry...

... that I've been a crappy blogger lately.  This week has been NUTS, and I've been crazy busy.  Plus finals are looming.  But I'm trying not to think about that. :)

Interview - DONE!  

First thing's first.  I had an interview with a fantastic firm this week! 

I went in on Wednesday, and I think it went great.  It's a great firm with a fairly small Houston office, which I LOVE.  Their intellectual property practice is booming, and I think it would be a wonderful place to work.  Plus, my friend Jared is also interviewing there.  We think there's a chance they may hire both of us, so fingers crossed everyone! :)

Law Review - DONE! 

Also, I am OFFICIALLY done with law review duties! We had our banquet on Thursday night, and two of my five 2Ls' papers were published, and two others were alternates.  I'm like a proud little momma. :)  Also, Micah and I sat with some lawyers from the firm I interviewed with, and they were great.

Trial Advocacy - DONE! 

I also wrapped up my Trial Advocacy class on Saturday.  We had our final jury trial, with real jurors and, at least for my group, a real judge.  It was a fake murder trial, and I was representing the defendant.  Before my very conservative family judges me, I'll just say that I really think he didn't do it... :)

Let me just say... it was so much fun!  

I can't describe the rush.  My adrenaline was pumping nonstop the whole time, and I was definitely nervous, but I can see how people get addicted to it. 

Poor Micah had to come and be my witness.  I was definitely worried, because he clearly didn't want to do it, but he was really the only person I had, so he knew he had to come through for me.  And he totally did.  I was so proud of him.  Plus he wore my favorite purple striped shirt from Banana and looked ridiculously handsome. :)

So that was my day yesterday.  This morning we went to church, then had Chinese food for lunch, and then came home and took a nap, which was GLORIOUS.  But now, after having squandered away a lot of good studying hours, I've got to get down to business for a little while.

Trusts and Wills, here I come...

Things I've Been Up To...

So apparently I've been busy.  And it hasn't been super-interesting, exciting things kind of busy.  It has been class and class and more class... Throw in a few sixty-page papers I've got to read, and there's my life.  So here's what I've been up to.


Mock Trial
I've been taking a Trial Advocacy class, and one of my assignments was to do a mock trial last weekend.  It was scary and fun, and a bit of a disaster. But I did it anyway.  This particular trial was ungraded, so that's good- I would have given myself a B-.  The real, graded trial isn't until sometime in April.  So I've got some time to get better. :)

Law Review
I'll be officially done with law review in a week or so.  Hallelujah.  But between now and then I've got to read ten 60-page papers and evaluate them for publication. 

Micah's Birthday
It was Micah's birthday on Wednesday, and I felt like such a crappy wife.  We're broke as a joke right now, so we agreed that I wouldn't buy him anything big and that he could just buy himself some stuff at Bass Pro with some gift cards he'd saved.  (P.S. It's amazing that these gift cards have lasted so long... he got them for Christmas! When I get gift cards, I'm lucky if they last a week.)

Anyway, so I got up on Wednesday morning and made him chocolate chip pancakes, which he loved. :)  When I got home from class that afternoon, I went to Kroger so I could get stuff for dinner.  I had decided to try making chicken-fried steak for the first time.  I'm not a HUGE fan of it, but Micah is so I picked up the meat (Another P.S. - I had to ask the butcher what kind of meat to buy.  That's not super-interesting, but I thought I'd let you know anyway.) and all the other things I needed.  I saw some of his favorite candies, so I bought a few bags of Swedish Fish, Ferrero Rocher Candies, and Werther's Hard Candies.  Plus I found a really funny card - it's "The Office" themed.  We're SO dorky.  He's also been telling me how he needs a picture of me for his office, so I framed a bridal portrait picture in a frame and put it in the bag with the candy. 

So I made chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes (with lots and lots of heavy cream... yum!), and cream gravy (which was also delicious - I'm about to have it on toast for breakfast).  I tried a new Pioneer Woman recipe for dessert.  Have I written about Pioneer Woman yet?  I stumbled across her website, thepioneerwoman.com, as I was reading other blogs a few weeks ago, and I'm officially obsessed.  I'll let you explore the wonderfulness for yourself, but here are a few of my favorite recipes:  Ribeye Steak with Blue Cheese and Onion Sauce, Chicken Spaghetti, Chicken Salad, and Apple Fritters - the dessert I made for Micah's birthday.  They were so good! I could have eaten the whole bowl of batter, but I exercised just a little self-control.  And after dinner, I even did all the dishes... and there were a LOT.

Anyway, so Micah swears he had a great birthday, but I hate that I didn't get him more.  It'll be so nice when I finally get a job and a salary... this pinching pennies stuff is for the birds.

Work
I've been having a great time at work.  It's so fun. And I finally got my third-year bar card number yesterday, which means I can actually DO things in court now!  I'm so excited! But can I just tell you about something that the judge in my court did yesterday?  I'm just going to tell you to go here and read the story.  All I can say is that trial judges are supposed to follow the law - not make it. That's that.

Mamaw
My sweet, wonderful Mamaw (my Dad's mom) has been in the hospital this week.  She went in because she was having trouble breathing, and she assumed she had a mild case of pneumonia.  But after a few days and a few tests, the doctor told her that she has pulmonary hypertension - a kind of low blood pressure in the lungs.  We don't know much about it other than that it's a rare, serious condition and that there isn't a real cure.  She'll probably be discharged from the hospital today, and she's going to have to see a specialist next week.

We're all worried and scared, but we know the Lord is in control.  He has miraculously healed my Mamaw before, and I have no doubt He can do it again.

So that's what has been going on in my world.  Let's hope next week is a bit better. :)

Am I ACTUALLY considering this???

Um. Yes.  I AM actually considering it.  

I'm actually considering making a relatively huge leap from the idea of practicing patent law to the idea of being a criminal prosecutor.  

There are a billion reasons I shouldn't.  The pay is WAAAAAAY less, yet the hours are about the same as what I would work at a law firm (except I'd get paid about three times more at a law firm).  Some might consider it dangerous.  It's a sort of thankless job, and the environment is not very cushy - I'd be sitting in a government building all day, surrounded by criminals.

All of these things are true.

And yet... I just can't describe the way I feel when I'm there.  It's like it's the most real thing I've ever done in my life.  More real than mixing molecules and creating chemical compounds.  More real than working at a social security law firm, staring at the medical records of sick people all day. 

Everyone always says you should do what you love.  That you won't be happy unless you do.  But then, the logical, reasonable side of me says that a job is still just a job.  That I want to be able to have a family and give my kids as much as I possibly can.  If I'm going to have to work long hours anyway, why not make more while doing it - even if it is less exciting?

I'm debating.  And what I REALLY need to be doing is praying.  So please be praying with me! And I'll keep you updated... :)

The beginning of the end...

I started my very last semester of law school yesterday.

What a bittersweet feeling.  I'm definitely ready to be done with school, but I have so loved my time in law school.  It has definitely been a challenge, but I know without a doubt it was the right decision. 

So in less than five months I will be a law school graduate, and I'll begin studying for the bar exam.  Ick.  But I refuse to worry about that right now.  One thing at a time. :)

I also started my internship at the Harris County District Attorney's office yesterday.  And I absolutely love it.  It's going to be a busy, exciting, crazy, scary experience, but I'm going to love every minute. 

Other wonderful news is that this will definitely be Micah's LAST week in Fort Hood.  I can't even tell you how happy this makes me.  So I won't try. :)

This is short, but my brain isn't working very well right now.  I think this new schedule is going to take some getting used to.

Study break...

I desperately need a study break right now. I've been glued to this stupid chair for what feels like weeks. (Actually it really has been weeks.) And I've finished two of my four classes, so I'm halfway there. Perfect time for a blog, right? :)

I'm actually getting really, REALLY excited about my future. I feel like I'm sort of at a crossroads, and I'm seeing the Lord slowly, but surely reveal His plans for the road ahead. After what has felt like months and months of wandering in the darkness, I'm catching a glimpse of light, and I'm starting to see my hope float.

I'm still jobless. But I think I am really understanding that I'm jobless for a reason.

I came into law school absolutely certain that I would graduate and practice as a patent lawyer. That's what I came to law school to do. That's actually why I chose to come to University of Houston - they have one of the best intellectual property programs in the country.

Patent law is interesting to me, and I think I'd do well in that area of the law. But this summer, I really began to feel like it wasn't the best "fit." I think a lot of that had to do with the firms in which I was working, but I definitely felt like something just wasn't right.

Whatever the reason, I began to seriously listen to this small part of my brain, which, during my second semester of law school, began telling me that maybe patent law wasn't the only choice I needed to consider.

During my second semester of law school, I was required to take a criminal law course. I expected to hate every second of it. I just wasn't interested in criminal law on any level, and I planned on suffering through the course.

But, of course, I absolutely loved it. I loved reading for class. I loved going to class. I even loved the freaking exam. But I told myself that it was because the professor was amazing (which she was), and I continued on my plan to practice patent law.

Then I did a moot court competition last spring. A criminal competition. Even though there was a patent law competition I could have competed in, I opted for the criminal one and was thrilled when I was selected for the team. The experience, though not all together a positive one, reaffirmed my interest in criminal law, and I decided to take a criminal procedure course this semester.

Again, I have loved it. The professor is amazing, and I have enjoyed every aspect of the course. If you have read this far (sorry this is so long), you're catching my drift. I'm pretty much obsessed with criminal law, and yet I've been dead-set on pursuing a path in patent law. I think I've been apprehensive about it because I perceive it to be a dangerous area of the law. We've already established that I'm a scaredy cat, and I think I just wondered if I had enough guts to do the job well.

But I don't want to ever wonder whether or not I would have been great at it. Plus, I just feel like the Lord keeps pulling me off the path that I've so carefully planned out for myself, and I'm not so stubborn that I can't take a hint.

So I applied for and got an internship at the Harris County District Attorney's office for the spring. And I honestly could NOT be more excited. It's criminal prosecution, in case you're wondering. I haven't gone over to the dark side of criminal defense, I promise. :) It's going to be a lot of work, and I know it's going to force me out of my comfort zone. I mean, I could be running my own misdemeanor trial by the time I'm finished in May.

Me. In trial. I get a rush just thinking about it.

So anyway, I start in January, and I hope it goes well. And if you get a chance, will you please say a little prayer that I don't totally screw it up? :)

Walking

So I'm actively looking for a job right now. I'm obviously not having a lot of success, but I swear that if I hear the words "in this economy" one more time, I'm going to strangle someone.

For me, it's crystal clear that I'm being led. I can't see where I will end up yet, but I know that God has a plan, and I have every faith that I'm walking down a very particular path. A path that He has determined will lead somewhere.

So I'm going to keep walking. Even if I have no roadmap, and there aren't any street lights.

It's funny because a year ago, I was so confident that I would end up working at a big law firm after graduation, making the big bucks, and working ridiculous hours. And, on paper, it seemed like that would happen for me. I had done very well my first year of law school, I was being actively recruited by countless law firms, and I decided to spend the summer at two great law firms in Dallas.

And this past summer, things were still looking bright, in spite of the fact that the economy had crashed and everyone was panicking. I had gotten great reviews at both firms, had made some good contacts, and knew that I had done enough to deserve a full-time offer of employment at both firms.

Yet here I am, jobless and with no prospects. The firms that were so actively pursuing me last year are full, and even the smaller firms seem hesitant to take a chance on an unknown candidate that didn't spend the summer there. I applied to several judges for a one-year clerking position - something I'd have been a shoe-in for last year. And still nothing.

Panic time, right?

No. I just refuse to stress out about it. I'm convinced I'm being led in a different direction. That my well-intentioned plans weren't what God had in mind for me. I feel peace, even though there's no earthly reason I shouldn't be completely freaking out.

I don't know where I'm headed yet, but I know I'm headed somewhere. I know God hasn't forgotten me, and I know He will provide. I just have to keep walking through the darkness until I see the light.

I'm still here!

I know it has been forever... I'm so busy at work, and I don't have internet at the apartment I'm renting, so it's hard to find time to write. Which sucks, because it's so therapeutic for me.

But the summer is just FLYING by! I'll be finished working at Sidley on Friday, and it's crazy how fast these five weeks went by. I really really like this firm. It's a group of very cool people... especially considering we're all scientists and engineers. You really can't imagine how hard it is to find a patent lawyer who is capable of carrying on a conversation. We're just a fairly dorky/awkward bunch, and it's SO nice to be around fun, young, attorneys who have their crap together but know how to have a good time. :) I AM fairly certain I dashed everyone's hopes, though, with my no drinking. Generally firms do a LOT of happy hours to socialize with the summer associates. But since I'm the only one, and I don't drink, we really didn't do a lot of that. So I'm the reason there wasn't an exorbitant amount of free alcohol for all the other attorneys. Wouldn't YOU be a little pissed at me? :) Oh well... I'm fun anyway.

It has been a surreal experience living without Micah. I've never lived by myself before, and I think it's a good experience for me to have. In some ways, it's nice coming home and having no responsibilities to clean or cook. If I want, I can sit on the couch and watch "Sex and the City" all night long. I sometimes do! But, man, for the most part... it's not fun at all. I enjoy being with Micah... even if we're just sitting next to each other and watching t.v. He's connected to my happiness in so many ways that it's a little disconcerting to be without him. Plus, it's always in the back of my mind that he's stuck in a city he doesn't like without his wife, who made a vow to take care of him. And here I am, back home around my family and friends, trying new restaurants and spending every night doing SOMETHING. It's just a crappy situation. But God's got us taken care of, and I know it's good for our relationship to be able to handle this situation. It's just SO not fun. :)

On another, completely unrelated note, God is really working on me... in a good way. I've started reading a seasonal bible, which is basically a way to read through the entire bible in a year. It's exciting to dive into the Word again on a consistent basis. It always puts my life in the most appropriate perspective.

Anyway... I'm here. Alive. Life's just hectic. I'm actually grabbing sushi tonight with some girls from work and super excited about it! What IS it with me and sushi lately? It's all I can think about!