Frequent Citations

Ow, The Irony

I start work tomorrow. Obviously finding the right shoes was a high priority task for this weekend. I needed two pairs: one to walk to work in, and one for work. And despite the torrential rainstorm, I found both! Beautiful pumps with sneaker technology and a high enough heel that pants actually fit instead of dragging on the floor--these were easy to find, as I knew exactly what I was looking for and there was a store close by that had them. Fabulous. Then I found a cute pair of sandals that are flat with awesome arch support and a closed toe so I can wear them to walk to work in, with hose on, without looking like a complete fashion disaster. No tennis shoes with a suit, thanks.

But now my foot looks like this:

I was unpacking a box last night--the box contained both lightbulbs and a crucial lampshade as well as artwork yet the movers only labeled it as artwork--when the floor reached up and stabbed me. I shrieked, TFL came running (all 5 steps), and I pulled an exacto knife blade out of my foot. It was buried pointy side in, something less than half an inch.

Wow, your foot can really bleed. I only got one drop on the rug, though! And because I had unpacked the bathroom boxes already I could tell TFL exactly where to find the gauze and the first aid kit he insisted on keeping even though I thought it was too big to haul around with us. Um, yeah.

I haven't looked at it again. Don't worry, I'm not getting red streaks up my leg or anything, it just throbs when I have it down and hurts if I put too much weight on that one spot but otherwise it's not bad. But that it will heal in time for me to happily wear my darling new shoes tomorrow, I doubt. Poo.

By the way, that picture was taken by me on TFL's ultrafancy new phone, which explains its poor focus (me) and low resolution (phone). The phone is pretty awesome though. I've named it Jeeves, as it knows all and is a darn handy thing to have around.

Miraculous Self-Restraint

I went to a yarn store today.

I did not buy the cashmere yarn, or the mohair that would have made the perfect double-strand with it. I did not buy the chunky alpaca that would have made a gorgeous scarf in about an hour. I did not buy oh so many things.

*sniff*

Part 2 of 7: The Sports Fan

I am extraordinarily close to my mother. We are much alike, to the extent that we can often read each other's mind.

But three of my favorite activities were ones I shared exclusively with my father when I was growing up: fishing, card-playing, and being a sports fan. These activities turn out to have a common thread. They require a happy willingness to take whatever comes along, good and bad, knowing it will never be all one or the other.

My father taught me to sit still and enjoy the water and the breeze as I waited for a tug on the line. He taught me to count cards and analyze opponents' likely strategies when we played Euchre or Pinochle. And by moving the family to Ann Arbor when I was young he turned me into a Michigan fan.

We didn't have a television. I remember listening to games--baseball, basketball, football--on the radio. It's still my preference for baseball and basketball, but I've come to love watching football games on tv (or, better, in person). Dad would get mildly riled up sometimes as we listened, expressing disgust at a particularly bone-headed play or delight at a great score. Occasionally he would haul some of us over to a friend's house to watch a particularly big game. I learned then that it's poor form to root for a team from the state you were born in over the team from your current locale. Or so they told me.

I don't recall him ever expounding at length about sports in general or any philosophy of being a sports fan. But Dad is a bit of a fatalist at heart, and a classic gesture of his is a shrug combined with a short shake of the head and a sad little smile. Meh, that's the way it goes. Sometime you catch a fish, a flush, a winning game--sometimes you don't. Really, it's beside the point.

Yesterday's loss hurt, I'll not lie. To see the Wolverines lose The Game again is heartrending and maddening and yes, I want the coach's head on a platter. Again. But I love the game, the rivalry, the war. I love watching the players excel (when they do) and their grit when the game turns against them. I love knowing that there will be next year, that sooner or later there will be revenge (and a new coach).

I prefer winning to losing. But man, I do love the game.

So there you go, a second thing about me. McPan, I know you're a hockey fan (no better place to watch hockey than Yost, by the way). What are 7 things we should know about you?

Running Woman On The Town

I went running through the Park this morning and did not get lost, which was good. But when I took a shower I discovered that the hot water was not actually hot, which was not so good.

I had to call my landlord and complain about that and a few other things. For some reason he was not overly pleased to hear from me. I don't care: I want hot water! It seemed to be working again when I got home.

This afternoon a bunch of us were taken on a whirlwind tour of the Museum. It was disconcerting to dash through the rooms at such speed; I don't think we spent more than 2 minutes in the Greco-Roman area, so I pouted for the rest of the tour. I didn't pout visibly--that would have been rude. I'm definitely going back this weekend though. Incidentally, I was wearing one of my new pairs of shoes and they worked out quite well. No blisters and I literally walked for miles this evening.

Then we went out to dinner. I had a frisee salad with soft shell crab and mango, then lobster Fra Diabolo, and they brought out a sampling of desserts at the end. We had a bottle of quite good wine, the name of which I forget (sorry!) although I might recognize the bottle. Overall verdict: yum. Not totally sublime, but definitely edible. The tiramisu was one of the better ones I've had, and we all know how important I consider tiramisu as an indicator of restaurant quality.

Tomorrow I have to get up at the crack of dawn or before to get in a run and haul myself to work before 8, I think, so I can get some work done before a noon deadline. But tomorrow night the Firm has a truly exciting event scheduled, so I'm looking forward to it. I have my outfit all planned, of course, although the shoes are up in the air. I have an adorable charcoal jacket with a Chinese flavor to it, and a double-pleated white skirt that's rather gauzy and charming. Will it be the patent leather heels? The peep-toe pumps? The adorable pointy-toed flats? Or maybe the crazy floral ones? Only time will tell.

Wandering Away

I went for a run through the Park yesterday morning. (So it was almost noon--that's still morning!) It was the weekend and I had no pressing appointments so I thought I'd explore a bit and took a differnt turn. Sure enough, I got lost. That Park is huge and the paths are very twisty-turny. Anyway, I was pretty much at the right spot in one direction, just had my east and west wrong. Eventually I found my way back out onto the right side of the Park and headed back for my place.

But when I stopped for tea I discovered a huge street fair, so I wandered through that for another hour. It was mostly crap that looked suspiciously as though it had just fallen off the back of a truck, but there was some nice stuff. I didn't buy anything there, but I may have found a store on the next street over that may have had some adorable shoes on sale and I may have bought one or three pairs of flats. Possibly. But I definitely did return some other clothes for a whopping total, which makes any shopping I may or may not have done afterward completely harmless.

Some people wouldn't agree. Some people would be wrong.

Urgent Need Of Office Supplies

I have multiple binders going and none of them are quite right for their contents. I'm out of colored pens. I'm nearly out of colored tabs.

I am so over-due for an office-supply run. Whee! I need dividers too! And a new notebook. Maybe some little pads of paper? Yeah, those could be good.

It's a disease, when you love to shop for this sort of stuff.

My Inner Knitter

Last month GirlChild and I stumbled upon a new yarn shop. Danger! Danger! Danger! Many skeins of yarn and a handful of patterns later, we had knitted up a handful of lovely scarves for Christmas presents and had armwarmers and sweaters in the works. I am back in touch with my inner knitter.

I haven't done much knitting since law school started. Usually I'm taking notes in class, and I have to haul so much crap around that even a small project is just too much extra stuff to carry. But I am really glad I started doing at least a little knitting again. It's very soothing, and if there's one thing I'm in need of it's soothing. TFL would comment affirmatively if he ever commented, which he doesn't because he never ever reads this thing.

I'm almost done with a very cute ski hat, and then I'm going to finish GirlChild's other armwarmer because she's not wild about using tiny double-points but I don't mind. She'll start her big sweater project instead.

What are armwarmers, you ask? Bizarre, that's what they are. But apparently very popular with a) sweet young things, and b) former sweet young things with painful arthritis in their hands. As I fall somewhere in between those two groups, it's unlikely you'll see me in them any time soon. Although the blasted classrooms are so cold, maybe you will...

I'm Not Paying Extra For Wrinkles

I went to pick up my new suit yesterday. I tried on the skirt, it seemed fine. The pants were okay too. But the jacket was definitely Not Right.

Instead of hanging smoothly down the back, it was full of all sorts of wonky folds.

I said to myself, "That's not right!" and I called for the sales woman.

She said, "That's not right!" and called for the tailor. The senior tailor, who does the men's suits.

He looked at the jacket and said -- you guessed it. So he pinned a bit here and there and immediately you could tell that it would be much better when he was done with it. At least I hope so! Especially since they had the nerve to charge me plenty for alterations; I'm not going to accept a distinctly second-class effort.

Then, then I went shoe shopping. I should not be allowed out without a keeper.

And on the way home, some idiot wearing half a bottle of cologne sat down next to me. By the time I got home I was nearly blind, my head hurt so bad. People! There is nothing sexy about wearing so much stink-juice you make a skunk's eyes water!

However, being that I have my priorities in order, I took a quick shower and slipped into one of my new pairs of shoes (yeah, one of them) and went off for a celebratory dinner with Boy and TFL. Four aspirin and a number of glasses of wine later my head was feeling better. We missed GirlChild, but had a good time. After dinner I learned one reason Boy had been so pleasant: apparently an exceptionally beautiful woman had been sitting behind me in the restaurant.

If you go to Vivere, order the beef tenderloin with truffle gnocchi. Or the pheasant pasta. But if you want chocolate dessert, order it first.

*sniff*

Fire Alarms and Prom Preparations

Now we know -- our school has VERY loud fire alarms. Unfortunately, it went off during a lunch with a few federal appellate judges who were around to judge the moot court competition. Fortunately, it was a spectacularly beautiful day. We all loafed around outside for about half an hour, except for the poor health law students who had class conducted on the steps. In the sun.

Tomorrow, besides being Cinco de Mayo (viva Mexico!), is Prom Day. Yes! Law School Prom! Otherwise known as Nerds' Night Out. In honor of the occassion, I tried to get a new dress. You know, something fun and cute and flattering. Obviously I struck out on that one, but I did get these shoes...

Sure to cause a scandal. That's all I have to say about them.

Shoe Blogging

You knew those were all rhetorical questions yesterday, right?

Of course I went shoe shopping! I got a pair of sparkly flip-flips, and a pair of all-purpose hanging around town flip-flops, and a pair of (really cheap) walking on sand flip-flops, and an adorable pair of regular shoes with just a bit of a heel because I can't go around in tennis shoes all the time, and a pair of strappy black sandals. I needed them.

It has been Far Too Long since I've been shoe shopping.

The sad part is that I still couldn't find a decent pair of interview shoes. I am becoming seriously annoyed about this. Every pair is either too plain, or has metallic junk all over the place. Harrumph.

Some of my new shoes and I are off to the beach where I shall be consuming festive beverages with good company. Don't worry, I'll be back early next week.

In the meantime, perhaps there will be a post or two.