a bird's eye view of the week

as always, this is going to be a busy one.

tomorrow i have class from 3-5.  its my microenterprise class and we generally have a lot of reading.  following that class i have my clinical class.  this is really kick back (there are only 2 students) and we basically just talk about the forms we need to fill out for our clients, etc.  but before all this, i need to get my law review subcheck finished.  this shouldn't be much of a problem since its all 2 pages this week.

wednesday i have evidence class from 11:30-1 and corporations from 2:40-3:40.  

thursday i have my clinical at the union rescue mission.  this goes from 9-1.

friday i have corporations class from 2:40-3:40.  somewhere in this week i need to finish the guest list, make some decisions about the wedding, send out resumes, write my christmas thank you notes, and read some books on marriage.

saturday we have our pre-marital class from 9-12 and then the annual law school dinner.  this is always a great event at a very swanky hotel.  this year, the chief justice of the supreme court, justice roberts, is speaking at our dinner.  go pepperdine!

sunday we have church and a superbowl party.  

i think thats it.  but its only monday so i'm sure more will pop up as the week progresses.

joel's 27!

this past friday, joel turned 27!  we went to nickel nickel in whittier (an arcade with a lot of old school video games where every game takes nickels).  we had a great time playing games and winning tickets.  we then went back to joel's house and had ambrose pizza and beer.  this is one of joel and my favorite pizza places.  we then continue the foodfest with baskin robbins ice cream cake.  it was amazing!

joel had a great birthday and it was wonderful to see everyone.  thank you to all of you who came...it meant a lot to both of us.

anticipate invitations

this weekend was probably the busiest during this semester.  joel and i are starting to fill our weekends with everything wedding.

on saturday, we started our pre-marital class at rockharbor.  i think its going to be an excellent class where we will learn many tools to make ours a strong marriage.  we are also going to meet with our pastor for more one-on-one marital counseling.  that will be the time for us to focus on specifics in our relationship.

sunday, we met with our friends mike and kimi who started a wedding invitation business, anticipate invitations.  mike is an extremely talented artist and i know we are going to end up with kick-ass invitations.  i cant wait to see what he comes up with!

i would like to take a minute to boast about myself.

last week i made the most delicious dinner (this will be all yours baby in just a few short months), but the best part was the preparation. i'm not one to prepare/plan/think in advance (hence the reason i'm NOT enjoying the wedding planning), but i thought i would do it a bit different this time.

the prep...i actually put the chopped up items in little bowls. it was very colorful. this is also a snippet of my kitchen. in the near future i will take pictures of the apartment (now that all the boxes are unpacked - yea!!) and post them for your enjoyment. trust me, its well worth the wait. hopefully you all will be able to see our new apartment in the near future!

the finished product...


yummm yummm.

100!!!

i pat myself on the back for making it to post #100. nobody is more surprised about this gigantic feat than me.

to celebrate the momentous occasion, this is the first picture that showed up when i googled "100"

the wedding day

don't get me wrong - i love being a bride. i love the attention, i love the gifts, and i love the idea of a big party with all my friends and family (and anyone who knows me knows i LOVE being with my family and friends).

but i don't like the process leading up to the wedding. this past weekend i scheduled an appointment at the wedding day for the sole purpose of finding a dress (its funny that when i was first engaged all i got was "when's the big day?" now that we've figured that out all i get is "have you bought your dress yet?" i can't wait to see what the next question de jure is).

pretty much the only reason i did this (rather than buying one off the internet which i was completely content on doing) was because of two lovely friends - chantel and melissa. surprisingly, they love going wedding dress shopping. i dont. within a few minutes of looking i was practically in tears and begging the people with me to take me home. thankfully rachel took initiative and chantel showed up and the crisis was averted.
2 hours and several lacy dresses later i found the perfect one (but its not that one below). ironically it was one of the first dresses i pulled off the rack. supposedly i was supposed to be looking for a dress months ago because it takes 4-6 months to order one. lucky for me, the Lord was smiling down on me that day and i was able to fit into every dress i tried on. which meant i could buy any of them off the rack (and for a discounted price). so, as we speak (or really as i type) my wedding dress hangs in the closet content as a pumpkin pie because it finally found the perfect owner - me!

chantel with her new baby, colton

now, i just need to get it altered a bit, find some shoes and viola! another wedding crisis averted.

its amazing that 12 years later there are still many people driving around with los angeles raiders pasted all over their cars and trucks.  get over it people!  they're in oakland now.

santa monica living

i have to admit i love living in santa monica.  i dont think i can emphasize love enough.  when joel is here we take nightly walks around the neighbor.  we like to admire all the different architectural structures, the palm tree lined streets and the fact that restaurants and, more importantly, bars are only a short walk away.  i am anxious for summer to come so that joel and i can ride our bikes to the beach and have fun in the ocean.  its a tough life, but someone's gotta do it.  yes, please!

from fine dining to skid row

i signed up for the family law clinic this semester.  its a pepperdine program at the union rescue mission.  today was my first day.  its hard to prepare for a trip to skid row.  there are a lot of perceptions and ideas of what one might find there.  needless to say i was nervous.

but then i realized i had been there before.  and it wasn't so long ago.  three months ago i flew back to la for some interviews with high-powered, fast-moving law firms.  turns out, these firms are DOWN THE STREET from skid row.  as i was driving down san pedro street (at the intersection the mission is at) i literally could see the front of the buildings i had been in.  three months ago i was surrounded by name brand suits and swanky offices being wined and dined at an expensive sushi restaurant.

there was no sushi today.

instead, three blocks away i was interviewing people who had drug problems, had been in jail, and needed free legal help.  what a trip!  when i arrived at the mission there underground parking lot was closed.  i had to park at the corner lot (literally 100 feet from the front door of the mission) and have a security escort to the mission's front door.  sheesh.  

but, i don't know if i would trade situations.  i think i like being at the mission.  i feel like i'm helping real people with crazy problems.  my pathetic free help actually makes a difference in their lives.  i thought i would have to wait another 1 1/2 years to see how the law is practically applied.  but now, every thursday i get to help people that truly appreciate me and my time and the fact that i offer them water.

the apartment staple

every apartment's gotta have one - the annoying old lady whom nobody likes. i've already been warned of ours by two of my neighbors. i ask, so how do you like living here? they reply, i love it, except, you know. to which they give a knowing glance towards the apartment right above mine. this is then followed with, but hopefully she'll be gone soon. sheesh. they really hate her here which is funny because she was the first person i met and she seemed very nice. apparently she's not and apparently the whole apartment complex (there are only 12 apartments) is petitioning to get her removed. yikes!

i love apartment politics, that is as long as i can stay on the fringe.

lesson in dishwashing

lesson 1 - they do not wash themselves. one thing i like about living on my own (and trust me, there are few things i like about living alone) is that i can put the dishes in the sink, not wash them, and NO ONE CARES. its excellent! who has time to wash dishes. but you know the worst thing about living alone? the dishes DO NOT wash themselves. i come home and there is still a pile of dishes in the sink. ugh.

lesson 2 - yellow gloves are a god-send. i've been hand washing dishes for sometime now and i've never considered using gloves. i'm not sure why. the water would always get so hot that either my hands would burn and chap or i would turn the hot water off and the cold water on. this can't be too sanitary. but now we've reached an excellent compromise. the hot water stays on and my hands stay nice and cool in their yellow medium-sized gloves.

lesson 3 - soaking is a girl's best friend. i've made it a habit to soak my dishes a loooong time before washing. this makes #2 so much easier and achieves #1's purpose!

$33,700!?!?!

uhm, no.

p.s. look below for some cool pictures from christmas

reason number 203 why i love my new apartment...free internet.  this is wonderful beyond words and relieved some of the pressure from my overstrained pocketbook.  

also, the house situation in london turned out well and we will be receiving back our full deposit ($7200) in the next few days.  we also do not have to pay council tax (sort of like property tax but its paid yearly by who ever is living in the property) which saved us $2400.  so, overall good news today.

today was the first day of school.  i have mixed feelings.  it was so so so great to see all my london friends.  my two main classes are packed full of londoners so it reduced the shock of being back in malibu.  i think this will be a good semester.  i am taking evidence with a visiting professor who is supposed to be amazing.  i am taking corporations with an excellent professor who has taught this class for 25 years.  she is going to split us up into groups of 2-3 people and give each group "$500,000" to invest in the stock market during the semester.  the top 6 teams get prizes.  i am in a negotiation class that has a large role-playing element.  tomorrow i have my micro-enterprise class which is ironic because this was my area of studies at biola (not to mention honduras).  i think its going to be a great class (but i already have 80+ pages to read for tomorrow - the first class - and i have a 2 page paper due.  did i mention this was a 2-unit elective?)  i have law review (which i heard today is time-consuming and difficult.  great.)  and last but not least a family law clinic.  this clinic takes place at the union rescue mission on skid row and deals with family issues such as custody, etc.

this is no london but i am glad to be back in school and moving on with life.  each day that class goes by means one day closer to being married.  i cant wait!

update

i'm trying to upload pictures from christmas but its not working.  i've been having internet and computer troubles and am now on my 6th attempt to bring you an update.  until further notice, this will have to do.

after apartment shopping, joel and i flew to tacoma, washington to spend some time with the myers family.  we had a wonderful (and relaxing) visit.  during the day joel and i spent time with mark and john (joel's longtime friends from washington) and at night we would have dinner with his folks.  my mom flew up over the weekend so she could meet his family.  both families have been anxious to meet one another before the wedding and i thought this would be the perfect time for such an event - and it was!  i believe they all liked each other and will enjoy being related.  

i'm starting to get used to the idea that i have a whole new family.  i've grown up with so many (i have 4 families...the product of too many divorces but they have added a richness to my life that i would not replace) and now i have one more.  its cool to see how the two families are melding and how they will continue to grow into one large extended family.  i'm very grateful that steve and wanda have accepted me as a daughter and that i too have accepted them as my new parents.  it would be horrible if i didnt like them or vice versa.

on the sunday before christmas, mom and i flew back to orange and joel stayed in washington.  we arrived at john wayne late sunday night so we both fell in to bed.  oh, i forgot to mention - while we were in washington we heard back about two of the apartments - amos' place and doug's place.  that was very good news because they both wanted us to be their tenants!

monday was the beginning of an eventful week.  my dad, stepmom and brothers flew into town thus kicking off the week-o-christmas.  we have started a tradition of celebrating christmas at my aunt's house.  since everyone lives so far away, they all generally fly in to town for a week and all the festivities usually happen at my aunt and uncle's house.  i like doing christmas this way!

so we had dinner on christmas eve at aunt holly's house.  christmas morning we went back over to their house to open presents and have breakfast.  my grandma used to make her homemade cinnamon rolls on christmas morning.  since she hasn't been able to make them we have all missed them dearly.  so i've decided to continue the tradition and made them this year.  the first batch was not cooked enough but the second batch was incredible.  everyone raved about them and said that i nailed grandma's recipe.  that was a huge sigh of relief.

in the afternoon, my mom and i drove to my mom's brother's house for christmas with the cassidy family.  the past few years we've done a gift exchange (where everyone brings a gift for $15 or less and then we choose, i mean steal, the presents we want) and we did this again this year.  i love this idea and it makes christmas so much more affordable and fun!  i walked off with a $20 target card which was dearly appreciated.  we then had a delicious dinner and played poker the rest of the night.

on wednesday we went back to aunt holly's house and visited with the family.  in the evening we went to my grandparents home for dinner.  they recently moved in to a new retirement home and we all like it so much more than their last one.  especially because now we can have wine for dinner!

on thursday my mom and i drove to fontana to pick up my sister, brother, and second step mom from the mcgoughs (my third family in case you were keeping track).  we had breakfast with them and visited for awhile and then we drove back to my aunt holly's.  this was the first time in a long time that my stepmom and dad would be in the same room together and some of us were quite nervous about it.  but i am happy to report that it went swimmingly.  in fact, it was the ultimate test because they spent 3 days together - and there was little to no tension! 

the rest of the weekend consisted of visiting, playing games, and shopping.  i love my brothers and sister and do not get to see them enough.  christmas is great because its a week where i get unadulterated time with them.  but its also a tough holiday because it reminds me how much i love them and how far away they are throughout the year.

this past wednesday, joel, uncle jim, and my mom helped me move to my new apartment.  which apartment did we choose, you ask?  doug's place!!!  and we love it!  i've been in the place for three days now and it gets better each day.  its huge and i still do not have enough things to fill it up.  i've had some of my santa monica friends over to see the place and help me unpack and joel has been here to get me situated.  even though i have lived abroad and at school for the past 6 years, i feel like this move was me truly moving out of my mom's house.  it was surprisingly tough and had an air of finality to it.  but i love the feeling and idea of living on my own (at least until may...wink wink).  i can leave the dishes in the sink, and my clothes on the floor and i can have everything situated just the way i like.  its a neat feeling to know this all rests on my shoulders.  it makes me feel grown up and mature.  its also nice to finally have all my things in one place and to know that i can set my roots down here because i will be here for at least the next year.  that's the longest i've been anywhere since graduating high school.

and now i have a wedding to plan.  i put it off while in london and am now realizing how much there is to do.  joel and i have been registering the past few days and its been so much fun to figure out how we want our place to look and what we want to have the rest of our lives.  we've tried to pick pieces that will be heirlooms, pieces that will be passed down to future generations. some of my favorite things are those that i've received from grandparents...i hope one day i can do the same for our grandkids.

now i am attempting to settle in as well that i can before school starts on monday.  it never ends, but i would rather have a busy life than a dull life.  i will try to post pictures as soon as the internet and my computer behave.

and in case you are wondering, joel and i are currently registered at crate and barrel and bed, bath, and beyond.