HOLY COW

You guys!! I don't know what came over me today, but I suddenly decided to take a peek at my little old blog. Much to my surprise, LOB (little old blog, duh) still gets quite a few visitors - crazy! So, you'll have to accept my apologies for not posting any recent updates lately. I assure you, it's not because life is dull.

I see that the last time I wrote, I was just applying to law school. W.O.W. I'm currently working at my first summer legal internship at a prosecutor's office after finishing my first year in May! It's absolutely insane how fast time flies in law school. Well, sometimes the individual days drag on so slowly, but time as an aggregate? Lightning fast. It's crazy for me to think that around this time last year, I was moving in to my apartment and getting ready to start my summer Torts class. Now I'm screening domestic violence cases at a big prosecutor's office, and getting ready to move in to my next apartment in about a month.

The adorable little puppy that can be seen a few posts back, Pippa, is about to turn two-years-old in...four days! And my other sweet girl is now six and a half. :) She's been having some mysterious health problems for a while now, but even that seems to be turning around with some optimistic and hopeful news we received a few days ago.

My sister became engaged a few weeks ago! I'm so beyond happy for her, and can't wait to start wedding planning. I'm her maid of honor, and the wedding is in less than a year, so we've got some work to do! She's also adopting a new puppy next weekend to add to her family (her, fiance, and Molly the dog).

So overall, things are great for me! My first year of school was a success, I'm loving my summer job and think that it's what I want to make a career out of, and my family and friends and dogs are all wonderful.

I'll try and be better about updating in the future. :) I hope this blog has been helpful to others in the process of moving overseas, or even just starting a new adventure, or education path. Please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts!

Brief Update

Hi everyone!! So sorry for my absence from my blog. My daily life in America isn't nearly as interesting as the one I led in London, though a few things have happened since I returned.

Rather than take the October LSAT like I originally planned, I decided to take advantage of a Testmasters course in Detroit and rather opted to take the December test. This definitely worked to my benefit, as I received a score that I'm both proud of and should help to either get me a full/sizeable scholarship or into a great school.

I submitted my applications last week. I ended up applying to all Midwest schools, as I ultimately decided that being close my family and friends is of major importance to me. I applied to:

• Michigan State
• Indiana University-Bloomington
• Wisconsin-Madison
• Ohio State
• Iowa
• Minnesota
• Chicago-Kent
• Case Western

So, the waiting game has begun.

Aside from that, I've just mainly been enjoying time with my family. I've been doing things like cooking and running a lot, and I taught myself how to knit. I know, I'm basically a 93-year old woman...but I like it. Our house is crazy and overrun with dogs as usual, but I love that as well.

The next couple of months will be spent doing law school visits to check out the campuses, law schools, and programs of the schools I'm considering...so that should be fun.

I told you all my life is super boring -- I knit and deal with law school stuff. Hence my reasons for not blogging. Anyhow, I'm doing great and I just wanted to send out an update because I still receive emails regularly asking me what I've been up to. :) I'll try and make more of an effort to post here when I can from now on.

Love from Michigan!

LSAT studying isn't *so* terrible when...

...I have this little squirt at my feet. 

Meet Pippa! She's a doll, huh? :)

I Miss It...

But doing silly stuff like this on instagram on my iphone keeps me distracted. Yeah, I crossed over to the dark side.

It's a BEAUTIFUL day in Michigan! I've got my Garmin charging up right now, then I'm going to head out for a run.  ((I sound kinda techy. Am I techy? When did I become techy? I'm not smart enough to be techy.))

One problem, if you could call it a problem, that I'm having so far is kind of like over-stimulation, I guess. There are so many things I want to do, want to watch, want to cook, etc...I'm having a hard time spacing things out! I guess this is a nice problem to have.

Oh, and then there's the jet lag. Good god, the jet lag. I've been going to bed at 10 p.m. or earlier, and waking up around 5 or 6. This is not me. Hopefully this just naturally sorts itself out.

Okay, Garmin is all charged -- off for a run!

I'm Home.

My family is wonderful. The dogs are healthy. The lake is beautiful.

And that's all that matters!

(I'm going to be putting together some more meaningful posts about my last few weeks in London and what not in the near future. Stay tuned.)

Thank God for Rolling

No, not what you're thinking. I'm not referring to anything that has to do with drug use. Unfortunately. (kidding, mom.)

I'm talking packing. You know...the rolling technique?

It works. I can definitely attest to that. I was skeptical of how much room it could save me, and the (prominent) lazy side of me didn't really feel like taking the time to roll every. single. top, pair of jeans, etc.

Definitely worth it though! The real test will be when I need to squeeze about five days' worth of clothing plus some other odds and ends into that already-almost-stuffed suitcase above. Wish me luck on that one.

Rolling: making packing easier since, well...I don't know when. At least since 7 p.m. Monday night.

Afternoon Tea and Polka Dots

This afternoon, my two best girlfriends here in London and I ventured up to Highgate for an afternoon tea. For those who aren't familiar with the English tradition, afternoon tea is generally more than just, well...tea in the afternoon. It generally involves baked goods, and sometimes champagne. Ours ended up being quite casual, but super yummy and enjoyable!

We went to an adorable little tearoom called High Tea of Highgate, which is up in north London, not too far from where my friends both live. First of all, the place is obviously precious. Second, they hand bake all of their baked goods in-store each and every day...so when they're out, they're out. They have interesting things like lavender cake, as well as traditional options such as scones and cupcakes. They also had a vast assortment of different teas -- it was hard to make up my mind!

I ended up choosing the strawberry and orange tea (which was amazing), along with a mini vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting. Buttercream frosting truly is the food of the gods, isn't it? Kate went with the London afternoon blend with a slice of lavender cake, and Paloma had the strawberry and orange tea along with a piece of lemon drizzle spongecake.

Everyone loved their choices. The mini cupcake was perfect for me, because I wasn't very hungry at all, and those three bites were the perfect amount to feed my sweet tooth. I'm never one to turn a cupcake down -- they are my favorite! Not to mention, these were homemade and truly amazing. But I still managed to get the same amount of satisfaction out of it that I would have gotten from one that was three times the size. I mean, look at that face -- do I look upset in any way?? ;) And while I absolutely loved that cupcake, the real star of the show was the amazing tea. I'm a tea lover, and that strawberry/orange tea may be the best I've had. It was loose leaf, unsurprisingly...and sweet enough without being overbearing. And did you notice that it's pink?!?

We also really liked the cream pourer. Is that a word? Meh, if not then I just made it one. We liked it so much, we spotted some for sale in the shop and ran (okay, fast walked) to them. Err...£25. Adorable, but...well, we are poor graduate students. Couple that with the fact that I'm attempting to run my UK bank account dry before I leave (I think I'm at about £20 left right now), and I think you'll probably guess that I did not come home with a patterned porcelain cow.

It was such a nice afternoon with my girls that I'm going to miss so, so much. **tear** Prior to going out for our tea, we met at Kate's flat with another one of my lovely girlfriends, Emmy, and had a pink champagne toast while munching on some cheese and crackers and catching up. It's just so hard for me to understand and accept that I won't be seeing these girls anymore after a few days.../sigh.

Tomorrow should be interesting. In the morning, I'm going to head over to ULU to have my three copies of my dissertation bound, and then I'll make my way to SPP to turn. them. in. Whoa. It's weird to think that, in a way, this whole year had led up to this point...the turning in of the 'big one.'

After I get that taken care of, it's time to commence the packing! I think I have a lot of work to do. I need to get rid of the things I won't be taking home with me (like some books, my toiletries, my sheets/towels/pillows, etc.) and weed through my clothing to see what I do want to take home. I think three days should be enough time to sort through my life in my little room here!

Okay, time for some more LSAT studying. I haven't been as disciplined this weekend as I need to be. For that, I will now be up for the next 3-4 hours doing work. Party animal.

Last Night

Last night was my last Friday night, and the beginning of my last weekend in London.

We had an IPAS get together up in Camden.

I saw lots of friends.

I cried.

The end.