Frequent Citations

Wrapping Up Summer

Yesterday I went to see a good friend and her new baby. It was great to see them both--one was very cute and squirmy, and one had lots of interesting things to say. It was good to do some catching up.

Now I'm reading in preparation for class on Monday. I suppose that means the end of summer is really here, and more regular blog posting will resume. I'm not saying it's all about work avoidance.

I'm also in a waiting pattern on clerkships, which is driving me a little mad. I've just started to make plans for moving to the City after graduation, because I don't cope well with the waiting and just about everyone else I know is getting offers on the spot. So, poo. Although I did have a clerkship dream last night, and woke up this morning thinking about it. What a pain.

It's All About The Wardrobe

For those of you who care about this sort of thing: today I wore my black Brooks Brothers suit with a pink linen blouse (I know, linen after Labor Day, but it's summertime temperatures today), my grandmother's pearls and small gold hoop earrings,  and very cute black flats with pointy toes. Even TFL likes the shoes.

I'm so glad my suit still fits after this summer (better, actually, than it did at the start of the summer). But I think I'm going to invest in some sweater sets. If you have a favorite source for those, let me know.

Some Vacation

I'm supposed to be on vacation. It's a well-earned rest, right? No rest for the wicked, I forgot. I've spent 90% of my time working and the other 10% fretting. Gah. The weather isn't cooperating, either.

I did enjoy watching Dogness realize that ducks are birds and nearly drown herself trying to get them. And I did go golfing once, which was great. But even deciding how and when to go home has turned out to be an angst-ridden process.

Ah, bah!

Canceled, Delayed, Missed, Delayed

The job is done, I'm back at home. Barely. The weather was ugly and the flights were as described above--there may have been some tears shed.

But I'm home, reunited w TFL and GirlChild and Dogness.

Winding Down, Winding Up

This is my last week at The Firm. I'm gradually starting to clear off my desk, getting assignments into their final stages and thinking about packing stuff up and shipping it off to wherever it needs to go. It's wonderful to be nearing the end of some assignments, not because I didn't enjoy working on them but because once in a while it's good to be done.

At the same time, things are revving up for LR and school. The fall schedule is finally posted, I got word that I received a fellowship (money? who knows?) and that a great professor wants to work with me on my project for it, and Law Review is a full time job and then some. So work is ending, but I'm a wee bit busy.

I love this city, and I've enjoyed my time here, and I am looking forward to finishing up school and getting to work. And I'm looking forward to seeing TFL, and Dogness, and GirlChild. I'm looking forward to having an electric kettle back in my life, and seeing all my friends from school (and their new babies!!).

It's been a good summer. I've learned a lot. I'm happy to be getting on with real life.

I Would Be Ashamed Of Myself

But I just don't have the time.

7:15 am (on a Sunday, mind you!) wake up and roll out of bed.

8:00 am: having put on a dress, some random jewelry, and a jacket, and having stuffed another sweater and shawl in my bag, head to Starbucks for tea and an egg sandwich. Spend half an hour over breakfast and a Comment I'm editing.

8:30 am: dash across the Park to dump some stuff in my office and pick up a respectable pair of shoes for Church. Head to church.

9:00 am: get to church bang on time. Admire the crowd--so much larger than the Church down the street that I went to when my friend was in town. Admire the windows that are utterly splendid. Generally enjoy the service.  Even--yes!--get in some prayer and meditation. It happens.

10:15 am: settle in at my desk with another cup of tea. Finish editing Comment, agonizing over it and wishing I'd had a crack at it earlier in its life. Send it off, and confer with another LR Board Member who is even more over-worked and angst-ridden than I. It's not possible, but I swear it's true.

5:00 pm: having finished LR work and started on a certain Memo, take a short break to dash to the drugstore and another store. Little (no) luck at either.

5:40 pm: return to the office with a bottle of tea, a fat-free yogurt, and a fear of the future. Work like fury on the Memo.

8:00 pm: field a call from Friend who Insists On Eating. Real Food. Promise friend faithfully that I am leaving for dinner Right Now.

8:19 pm: force myself to close out all the computer programs, chuck printouts (it turns out, not all the right ones) in my bag, and hustle Downtown for dinner. Read on the train.

9:08 pm: arrive, breathless, at the restaurant, having waited for two trains and struggled through chilly rain toward this distant restaurant.

Some time much, much later: pry myself out of my seat, collect my jacket, and fall into a cab. Arrive at my place feeling horridly guilty about not posting in . . . let us just draw a veil over that. We will leave it at "some time." Dash of the "Here is my day" post.

And now, bed. I need to get up in 4 hours. It may be closer to 5 before I actually manage it. But oh, that Memo. It won't write itself.

Happiness On A Plate

As you know, some desserts are better than others.

The other day I think I finally found the best in the city. It's not the cake alone, you see. The vanilla ice cream with it is essential, and almost no one gets it right. It has to be real vanilla, a dark cream with flecks of bean. This one had the perfect cake with the perfect ice cream. Oh, happiness on a plate.

Manicure Maiming

A great friend came in for the weekend. Yay! Of course, the first thing we do on Saturday is go get manicures and pedicures.

Because, you know, we are princesses.

She got a lovely manicure and pedicure. Her nails just as she liked them, lovely job on the polish, nice girl, everything was fine. I, of course, got maimed. My nails cut down to the vanishing point, because once she cuts one that short there's no turning back, and the roughest filing job ever, and a complete mess of painting them.  Really, truly awful.

But at least my friend looks pretty. And we've had lots of fun, and her flight is delayed because of weather and that's lovely--it's perfect weather here and we can do more shopping! Which we are going to do, now.

Frazzled? Me?

The high muckety muck that I'm working for asked me how I was doing. I said fine. He said, "Don't ever play poker."

So, not fine?

Frazzled, for sure. And then I try to do laundry so that I have some clean underwear and whatnot, and one machine, it turns out, only has very very hot water. So we'll see how tight my clothes suddenly become. And then, I dump a couple of quarters into one dryer and it stops taking them, and the second dryer took all my money but then wouldn't start, so I had to frantically scrounge for more quarters or sleep in wet sheets, but I found enough and the third dryer seems to be working. I hope.

Some Done, Some Not

One major enormous life-suckingly huge Law Review project is done, for better or worse, and another begins. Or, more accurately, another 5 or 6 begin. No, no, I'm not indulging in hyperbole. I would never indulge in hyperbole.

I am wondering when, if ever, I will not be chronically behind and overwhelmed.

Other points to ponder: why grades in law school seem to be tied so closely to race and gender, why I can't be more efficient, how I will figure out what kind of law I want to practice.

In other news: one of my nephews has joined the Army. He will serve with honor, I am sure; I pray he will serve safely, also.