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

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

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

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.)

Change of Plans

I'm super busy today so I'll just be short and straight to the point -- instead of flying back home to Michigan on 22 August, I am now leaving on 11 August! There are a few different reasons, but those are unimportant. I will say though that I am thrilled to be going home soon. I don't think it's necessary to reemphasize how much I do love London...but just in case: I LOVE LONDON! I think I'm just ready to be home. It's bizarre for me to think about the fact that I haven't seen my dad (or my dogs...CRY) for 6 months now, and by the time I do see them it will have been 7! It's only 11 days sooner than my original flight, but that's 11 days more of Michigan summer, boating, the beach, and rooftop wine and sweet potato chips at the Vintage. It will also allow me to be home for my sister's birthday on the 18th, which I'm very happy about. Oh, and let's not forget the Britney & Nicki concert IN GRAND RAPIDS on the 17th! Somehow, I blanked out on the fact that it was going to be at Van Andel...I just assumed it was going to be in Detroit. So yes, that's a must-see. Van Andel is such a great venue for concerts because it's small -- Kel and I (and a couple of her friends) saw John Mayer there the winter before last. Amazing.

I've got lots of good stuff to look forward to, and I'm a happy girl. But now the next four weeks (well, now it's less than four weeks!) are going to be super crazy. I'm now looking to finish up my dissertation in three weeks, and I'm also trying to stay on a somewhat regular LSAT studying schedule. I'm in a pretty decent position regarding my dissertation -- I have about 2,000 solid words done (out of 10,000). About half of the paper can't be done until I close my survey and analyze the findings. Once I do that, I can type up the findings section, as well as the conclusions and discussion sections. Right now, I'm mainly focusing on the literature review and methodology parts of the paper. On top of all that, I have lots of fun to have with my friends before I leave. It's going to be a quick and wild four weeks, I'm sure. 

Okay, that is all the updating I have time for. I am now off to the gym, and after that is more dissertation work. Later on, Kate, Paloma, and I are getting together for drinks and food before going to see Harry Potter in Camden. Yay! 

The end of June and July, thus far...

Yet again, I find myself having to apologize for my absence the past few (er...nine) days. I'm sure you all understand -- I'm busy with my dissertation and living it up in London since my time here is winding down!

Since I last wrote, a few things have happened. 

There was a going away party/drinks gathering combination event for a couple of my friends -- one who recently moved back to Ireland, and one who is old (but fun!). I'm just kidding...he's only a couple of years older than me. The gathering took place at Proud Camden, which is where we had our Valentine's Day event back in February. You know, the place that used to consist of horse stables that is now converted into a pretty cool bar?

(These photos were borrowed from another friend, because I'm a photo failure sometimes.)

So that was a good night. I initially planned on just going to say hi to everyone, and not drinking, since I had a ton of work to do. Weeelllllll, that didn't work out as planned, and I drank far too much wine with my handsome friend Dylan (in the first photo above). It was a lot of fun though, and needed.

The next night, a few of my friends and I had a little nighttime picnic-ish in Hyde Park to listen to the Arcade Fire concert. Mumford & Sons opened, so I was pretty excited about that. We stayed in the park for a few hours, since it was such a nice night. Eventually, we did get kind of cold and found our ways back home.

Then, on Friday, it was Canada Day! I have a few good Canadian buddies here, and they were pretty excited to celebrate the anniversary of their country's independence. Who am I to deny them that? The main festivities were held in Trafalgar Square, so that's where we headed first.

There were vast amounts of poutine, beaver tails, curly fries, and Molson to go around. Canada was certainly well represented on that day.

Somewhere along our journey, we came across this sign, which Dylan and I loved and giggled over for a minute.

Oh, if only. I eventually separated with Dylan and Charlotte and met up with a few of my other friends later on that evening, which resulted in a late pub night with lots of good conversation, bad singing, and cheap beer. In other words...the best kind of night possible.

Since I had a pretty social Wednesday-Friday, I took it relatively easy on Saturday and Sunday, and tried to focus on getting some work done for my dissertation. I did manage to spend some time with a friend on Saturday, so as not to go completely dissertation crazy. 

Finally, this week has been all business so far. I have been super focused (for me, at least) on all the 'not always fun' kind of things: my dissertation, working out, and my future. Right...so, not always fun. However, these past three days have been pretty productive -- I've finally got my official survey up and running for my research, I've been doing a bit of LSAT studying and now have two of my 'bibles' on the way to me here (thanks, madre!), and I feel like I'm making some genuine progress on figuring out my plan for what I'm going to do when I return home in a couple of months. Wow, not even a couple of months...time is flying. Sidenote: I did get together with a friend for a while on Monday to celebrate the Fourth of July. I must say, it's not nearly as much fun here. We joked that we wanted to put on bikinis and drink a lot of booze to make us feel more like we were back home. We still had a good time though.

In other news, I'm sure you've heard or read or seen that Casey Anthony was acquitted on murder, child abuse, and aggravated manslaughter charges yesterday. I can't begin to describe how sick it made me feel to hear the court clerk announce the jury's decisions. I've pretty extensively watched and covered this trial from day one. I didn't know much about it before going in, which was actually ideal as it made me objective to all the internet rumors and miscellaneous evidence that the state chose not to present. I truly felt that the prosecution did an adequate job of proving her guilt in the death of her daughter. I thought the jury would come back with a verdict of guilty on felony murder, though not necessarily murder in the first degree. However, they also had the options of lesser charges second and third degree murder, as well as manslaughter...but did not feel she was guilty. My mind was blown. I have no doubt in my mind nor heart that Casey killed her poor little girl, whether or not she planned in. It just breaks my heart that she will now be getting what she wanted all along -- her 'bella vita' (meaning 'beautiful life', which is the tattoo she got while Caylee was "missing", though according to Casey's story, this would have been while she was grieving the accidental drowning death). She'll be free to do all the partying she wants to now...just like she originally wanted. And on top of all that, she'll be making bank with the book, movie, and television deals she'll be getting. The thing that makes me sickest is the thought that she may decide to start a family again someday. ARGH -- the thought makes me violently mad, to be honest.

Okay, sorry for that tangent...I have a lot of anger reserved for Casey Anthony, and truthfully I'm still a bit in shock that she will likely be walking out of the courthouse tomorrow after her sentencing a free woman (due to time already served). Sickening.

I probably should have saved some kind of good, light news to end on, huh? Umm...we're more than halfway to the weekend? Right. That is good news. I'm looking forward to spending some time with my friends this weekend, after a couple more days of hard work tomorrow and Friday. 

Ah, I have an idea for a good ending. My sister sent me these beautiful photos of our dogs from her Fourth of July gathering. How sweet are they??

The beautiful old girl...Casey

Happy 4th of July from Zo!

Ms. Molly Weasley

All tuckered out after a day of play...

The little Moo Nugget. :)

Okay, I feel better. That's a good note to end on. Until next time! :)

It Has Begun.

LSAT studying, that is.

Never fear: since the test is still months away, I'm just working on some preliminary things. Nothing too strenuous that will keep me from doing much more important things, like park wandering and outdoor day drinking.

I don't think that working on my dissertation, studying for the LSAT, and the above mentioned summer activities will be enough to keep me occupied and happy this summer, however. After discussing it with one of my friends, he suggested I should look into volunteering. Perfect idea. Ever since I made the decision to definitely apply for law school for next fall, I had the idea that I would go home and split my time between a part time job and volunteering (hopefully at the Humane Society or some type of rescue organization). So, I've started looking into various animal charities and homes in London that I could work with. Sadly, most of them require a time commitment of 3-6+ months, but I've been communicating with one organization in particular that seems to be willing to work with my time constraints. Being able to walk and play with dogs a few times a week sounds more than perfect for me. :)

Cross your fingers that that ends up working out for me. If it doesn't, I'll still be on the hunt for something meaningful to do with some of my time. Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of the French Open Men's final! I'd love to see Federer win, but I'm definitely a fan of Nadal as well. Can't go wrong here.

It Has Been Brought To My Attention...

...that I did not sufficiently (publicly) wish my amazing sister a happy birthday on her special day a week ago.

Oops. As you know, I was super busy.

However, that is no excuse to treat my little sister.

Happy 10th birthday (or...70th?), Casey Lou! She's quite honestly the best dog a human could ever ask for...so gentle, loyal, and she'll for sure throw down a couple large pizzas with you.

 And Casey, though I may not have been able to get around to posting your very own photo montage on your exact day of birth like I did for Zo, please remember that we've also never subjected you to this type of torture and embarrassment.

Tradeoffs.

(And yes - that is an entire case of Lambrusco that your little eye spies. That's how my family do at Christmastime...or any other time for that matter.)