crazy finals time!

tomorrow is my first final...ahhhhhh! i cant believe they are already here. i am not too prepared (imagine that..in london and not prepared). but, at least i've had a good semester. so when i get my grades back in february, i will console myself with pictures of this amazing semester...like the ones below.

pics of me and joel in paris (can you tell how cold it was?)

notre dame



angelina's...thanks to my roommate last year, bri, joel and i went to this restaurant and had the BEST hot chocolate i have ever tasted. it was basically liquid chocolate...so yummy!


cool flower garden by our hotel in the latin quarterthe louvre...it was great but so exhausting walking through that huge palace






because of the cold and the metro strike, we decided to do a hop-on, hop-off tour. it was such a great idea and took us all over paris.




we couldnt go to paris and not climb the 600 steps of the eiffel tower!

here we are after the first set of stairs (the first floor of the tower)


second floor...maybe we should have sprung for the lift.


third floor - where it was snowing!

we had to wait a really long time for the next hop-on hop-off bus. so we did some jumping jacks, dance moves, and sang some songs...all in the valley of twigs.
we had some great meals. the first night we went to a place that our hotel recommended and it was extraordinary! we almost didnt go in because we weren't so sure about it. but boy are we glad we did! we had cheese for an appetizer, duck and pork with incredible sauces for dinner (complete with the most amazing au gratin potatoes) and mousse for dessert. yum yum!

this place on the other hand was not recommended to us and was in a very turisty part of town. i thought the mussels would be good since we both like them...little did i know that parisian mussels have little crunchy crabs in them. gross!


yep...raw meat. can you believe they gave me raw meat?! actually...i ordered it and then cooked it at my table in a vat of boiling oil. yum! (emphasis on the sarcasm in this post)

its been crazy lately here in the house of love!

these past few weeks joel was here visiting me. it was soooo wonderful to have him in london! over the weekend we took a jaunt over to paris and enjoyed excellent french food and romance on top of the eiffel tower (you have to have romance when its snowing!).

this past week two of our friends, shelley and jess, were visiting london. they were tourist champs and saw EVERYTHING here in london. they did more in six days than i've done in (a collective) six months. oh well...we cant win them all.

while they were here, joel and i accompanied them to brick lane, which is a street with tons of indian restaurants. as we walked down the street, guys would come up to us and tell us great deals so that we would go to their place. after denying a few, we settled on a great bangladeshi restaurant. the food was so good and to reward us for choosing them, we got our first two rounds of drinks free and 30% off the entire bill.

now i am in full throttle finals mode. our first one is a week from tomorrow! ahhhh! its so crazy that this time is almost done. but not quite because i still have a trip to budapest planned. when will i do all this you ask? well, i have 3 finals the first week of finals (not this week but the next week) and my last final on the monday of our second week. so, that leaves me until the following sunday (the 16th) to travel!

this past friday we had our second house of love par-tay. as usual it was a smashing success and people were calling for another one as they exited our door. we should have another one because we have so much alcohol that we will need a whole army to dispose of it for us.

i will post pictures from the past three weeks sometime this week. things are a bit complicated because i am using my old computer (which joel so wonderfully brought to me) but i prefer using my macbook because its soooo fast and pretty. but i cant stand its new 'quirk'. with the old computer my internet lasts for only 30 minute increments. so every half hour i have to reset my internet which messes up anything that i am working on (like this post). thats why i will be posting pictures at another time (and boy are they excellent pictures!).

i regret to inform you...

that since i have been gone, i have not received one package, letter, or post card.

humpf.

another day at the office

today, i worked. monday is my last day at the gherkin, which is both positive and negative. i am really enjoying kirkland and the environment and the people. on the flip side i am exhausted and find i dont have as much time to work on school as i'd like. so come tuesday, i will be finished with my internship.

perfect timing because that is the day joel comes to london! i am very excited for him to visit and cannot wait to share this part of my life with him. so far we have planned a weekend trip to paris and a day in london with two of our friends (jess and shelley) that will be visiting during thanksgiving week. other than that, london is our oyster.

the last few days have been pretty standard. monday - worked from 9:30 till 5 then had eu class from 6:30-9:30. i came home and instead of falling into bed i stayed up on the internet. ugh.

tuesday - i let myself sleep as much as i wanted and then got up, read a bit, and went to school. i had a remedies mid-term (um, yea...), then con law and then 2 hours of hell, i mean, international arbitration. i then came home and instead of falling into bed i played some foosball and stayed up on the internet and talking to joel.

today - i woke up and went to work all day. we are working on a large case and all my time is spent sifting through dozens of binders of documents. i make sure there isnt any personal information in them and then i make sure the indexes are correct and that the unrelevant documents have been removed. its not very thrilling but sure has taken a looooot of time. after i got home, instead of falling into bed i made some excellent spaghetti, played some foosball (i'm getting to be really good), read a bit of con law and am now playing around on the internet (i'm starting to think it wasnt the greatest idea getting the internet).

tomorrow - remedies has been cancelled so i dont need to wake up early. thus, i will not set my alarm clock and will let myself wake up whenever i damn well please.

layer tennis

while reading my favorite blog, i stumbled upon this very cool idea.

every friday two artists (i assume they are artists...) come together (in web-speak...they still might be in different parts of the country/world) and have 10 rounds of art-volleys. each volley is fifteen minutes long and the artists are to build upon/work with the previous volley to build a new image. at the same time there is a commentator (this week was my favorite blogger) who comments on each new volley, as well as, people (like me and you) who comment in the forum as the match proceeds.

at the end of the ten volleys a winner is chosen based on who was the crowd favorite. it was immensely cool.

here are the first three volleys from yesterday's match (go check out the rest of the volleys and thank me once you are addicted to this website).

volley 1 - marian bantjes


volley 2 - armin vit

volley 3 - marian bantjes

pepperdine: the apocalypse

the resort:



the furnace:

loser

tonight i am a loser...that is, a loser of two potential job offers. i am trying to maintain my dignity and some amount of grace but it seems more of me was wrapped up in these potential jobs (and might i add potential small fortunes) than i had realized.

but i'm glad (relieved, blessed, excited...?) that its happening this way because i am always asking God to show me His will (not mine) and reveal to me His plan in His timing. i have an inkling that this is part of that plan. mostly because the situation is odd...people generally get offers from call backs and these two firms really liked me and said i was an excellent candidate (and i know i interview well because i am personable and well-liked).

so i believe this is one of those moments (as joel aptly put) that in a few months we will look back on this ever-hard time and say "see, that's why they didn't choose you...God had something so much better in mind!"

it seems the more time i spend with lola, the more we become alike. for instance, we are both tempermental/moody, both white, both highly intelligent, and both LOVE being warm. my new theory is that lola performs soooo much better when her atmosphere is on the warmer side.

a couple nights ago our landlady came over and had her plumber fix our heat. before that the house was freezing (!) and lola was crashing at an unbelievable rate (probably the worst i've experienced thus far). since the heat has been fixed our house is nice and toasty and oddly enough lola has crashed maybe 5 times in 3 days....truly a record.

so, if not for our sakes then for lola's sake we should keep this place warm!

bocce in hyde park

a few weekends ago a bunch of us played bocce ball in hyde park. it was awesome! people would stop and look at us and sometimes almost get hit by the balls.


we had 11 teams of 2 players and played round robin where each team played all the other teams. the top four teams progressed to the finals and battled off in one large bocce game.
devra... stoner...the ultimate winner


there i am in the pink
the finalists
holly
drew
it was a gorgeous sunset

after we went to a pub and watched the rugby game (france v. england). now that i am writing this it seems i may have posted about this day back when it happened. well, if i did now you get to see the pictures.

thursday

my favorite past time these days has definitely been reading other people's blogs. i almost feel voyeristic as i read the private (i guess they aren't so private if they are posted on a public blog) moments of people i know nothing about. its almost as if i have two lives - the "amanda" life that everyone knows and the "blog-amanda" life that i am slowly kindling. in this life i have friends that i know only through what they have written. i am joyous when they post pictures that reveal parts of them i would never have known if it wasnt for the picture. i thrive on videos where the two-dimensional people become three-dimensional with real voices.

but the thing i've gathered the most from these blogs is how important pictures are. i love them! that's why i've decided to institute more pictures on this blog. the reason i haven't been posting pictures is because it is SO much work. i have to plug the camera into the computer (which at this point is VERY tempermental), upload the pictures, put them in a special file, then open firefox and upload the pictures on to my blog. then i have to arrange them in to a pleasing fashion and write blurbs about them. its all very exhausting.

yesterday, halloween was it?, was fairly uneventful here in london. its not a holiday so widely and fervently observed as it is in the states. apart from the half naked teens on the bus and the four kids who accosted our home, i really wouldnt have known yesterday was any different than, say, today. here's what the house of love did....

we ate at the gourmet burger kitchen and it was great.

today i had class from 2:30 until 9. we had a half hour break around 6:45. ugh. 4 classes in a row is grueling. and everyone around me is getting sick. now i have to go to bed and be well rested for another vigorous day at the office.

on a side note, i am still waiting to hear back about the interviews from last week....this waiting is killing me! i check my email every chance i get (which is about 15 times a day). i think this is the Lord's way of teaching me patience. ok God, i get it already - i've learned the patience...now send me an email!

part 3 of the macbook saga

while i was home joel re-installed mac osX on lola. at first she worked perfectly and i thought the random restarting problem was over! but, when i got her home to london she acted up in the most vicious way and was worse than before. sometimes she would shut down 5 or 6 times in a 20 second time period (and no exaggeration is necessary because it really is that bad).

but yesterday, i was working on her and i felt something happen...i cant explain the feeling but i felt like something clicked and knew at that moment that everything would be alright. a day and a half and no shut downs...until now. unbelievable that at the moment that i was smack dab in the middle of singing lola's praises she shut down on me SIX times!!!!

freaking unbelievable. i need a new computer.

normal day

today was a pretty normal day. i woke up around 7, took a shower, ate breakfast and zoomed off to the bus stop. i took the central line east and got off at bank. once i got to work i checked my emails (i had quite a few since i had been gone for a week), and then was assigned to a project that took me all day.

i left around 5:30 and traveled from the central line to the picadilly line and got off at south kensington. at school i had a hard time staying awake and at one point in knew jeremy was talking but i couldnt for the life of me understand what he was saying (and he has a really nice accent...so i know it was me and not his english).

after class corey and i jetted off to the picadilly line and took that to the northfields station. we then caught the e2 and walked a bit till we were finally home. which is nice because my bed is here but not nice because its freezing! our heat has decided it does not want to work just as its starting to get very very cold (hello heat, its winter). to make up for the lack of warmth corey made me a cup of english breakfast tea.

i then huddled in front of my computer, sipped my tea and caught up on all the blog happenings. then i realized it was 11:30 and time for bed! i did a few crunches and push-ups (this is my new thing...cause i have to look hot for the wedding). now i am layering myself up to prepare for the long, cold night ahead of me.

on another note...

i think the rain brings the blogging out of me (or it could be a way to get away from doing homework...i like the rain idea better).

i've been really into reading other blogs. seeing as my friends and family do not post enough for my insatiable blog appetite (come on guys, why arent you on your computers 24/7?) i've been turning to others to meet my needs. here are some that i cant get enough of.

meet heather armstrong. i'm not sure who she is but i have become addicted to reading her blog and feel as if i am her best friend. God bless the internet!

this is my wedding photographer's site. she is incredibly talented and sweet and i love love love seeing her latest work. i also feel that reading her blog keeps me connected to her...which is an extremely important thing...to be connected to your photographer (i tell myself this so that i dont feel like a first-class stalker).

and my newest obsession. lolkatz (super funny pictures of cats accompanied by crazy misspelled sayings) meets postsecret (a place where strangers anonymously post their deepest darkest secrets).

i hope you enjoy my blog treasures and if you have any good blogs you are connected to, please share...

aghanistan?

i know i've been gone for awhile, but i had no idea los angeles was in afghanistan. according to my profile, i live in los angeles, ca, afghanistan.

how nice.

home

its been nice to be home. i've been slowly getting back in to the grind of school work. yesterday i spent the afternoon and evening outlining constitutional law (which is actually quite fun). i stayed up late listening to music, outlining, and periodically skyping joel to see if he had put together his zombie costume yet.

even though i was up till 2am, it was really 1am because of the time change...go time change!

i have also been visiting with my roommates which has been great since we've all been doing different things this week. vanessa and her boyfriend angel (who was visiting this week) went to madrid for a few days and then came back to london to explore the city. corey and i played a card game with them last night.

corey stayed home all week and went to work the first three days. he works at a law firm, cleary gottlieb, and is in the middle of a big project. the other days he stayed home and studied...what a studious roommate!

ben and maureen (ben's girlfriend who is also visiting from the states) went to poland to visit with maureen's family and then went to florence for three days. i guess they loved the place and did not get run over by mopeds (those are about the only things i remember from that city). we hung out with them a bit last night.

both angel and maureen left today so i didnt see much of ben or vanessa for a good part of the day. that was fine with me because it meant less distraction and more study time. i'm starting to feel good about the progress i've made on outlining. i think tonight ben and i will see ratatouille at the local theater (i'm having to promise him its an exceptionally good movie...he's still very skeptical).

right now i am sitting at my desk, typing away on my macbook (which is not shutting down for once!), and listening to the rain drip off the eaves outside my window. tomorrow i go back to work after a week off...vacation, its been nice knowin ya. see you in 7 weeks!

i've always wanted to be a water buffalo...

my results from a very succinct (and didnt seem too detailed) book quiz. my favorite part is that in the next life i will come back as a water buffalo..thats ten times better than a gnat!

You're The Things They Carried!

by Tim O'Brien

Harsh and bitter, you tell it like it is. This usually comes in short,
dramatic spurts of spilling your guts in various ways. You carry a heavy load, and this
has weighed you down with all the horrors that humanity has to offer. Having seen and
done a great deal that you aren't proud of, you have no choice but to walk forward,
trudging slowly through ongoing mud. In the next life, you will come back as a water
buffalo.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

a slight detour

this past week i went home. i know, its not like this is an easy jaunt, but it was well worth the hassle. i had three interviews this past week with various law firms in la. my first interview was with bryan cave in santa monica, my second was with white and case in la, and the third was with sedgwick, detert, moran, and arnold (law firms have this thing about having a gagillion names in the firm name). i should find out next week whether or not i have a job for next summer. these interviews were the culmination of many months of work.

it started with the resume and cover letters in early summer. progressed to bidding for oci (on campus interviews) interviews in august. proceeded to interviewing with seven firms over video conference equipment here in london during september and october. and finished in some pretty rigorous interviewing. i met with not one, but seven attorneys during each of my three interviews. the first two firms had me meet with 4 or 5 separately for about a half hour a piece and then i was able to enjoy lunch with two attorneys (all were part of the interviewing process). these interviews lasted for about 4 or 5 hours depending on how long lunch went. the third interview with sedgwick was a panel interview so all seven interviewed me at once. this took only an hour. which was nice because i was exhausted at this point.

i was also able to visit with family and friends while i was home. on saturday, i saw joel's roommates and friends during charles' birthday party. on monday i visited with sean and chantel and baby colton (who apparently really liked sucking my shoulder). on tuesday/wednesday i visited with a law school friend who had to fly back to la from london for an emergency surgery this semester (that happened a few weeks ago...but i am happy to report that she is on the mend and doing very well. but, unfortunately she wont be able to come back to london this semester).

the rest of wednesday i spent with my mom and then that night we met up with a family friend, kim, to discuss wedding plans (we now have a professional coordinator to handle the potluck...yea!). thursday morning i spent with grandma and grandpa kelley and everytime in between all these other events i spent with my amazing fiance.

i realized on this short trip home how much i miss and love joel. its a neat feeling (except its not very neat now that i am back in london and missing him like crazy).

this blog is so much easier when i update it more frequently, so i am going to try to be more diligent. we'll see how that goes.

apologies

i apologize to all those that have been avidly reading this blog and for days now have sat in silent expectations for the latest entry. these last few weeks have been crazy and emotional and this has sufficiently quenched my drive to blog. but, i thought i would offer this piddly post as an offering.

also, i posted about norway but because i had already started the post before i actually posted it, the order got all screwed up. so, scroll down for a bit and you will see pics of norway.