Where on Earth Have I Been??

Sheesh! What's my problem?

Sorry for the blogging failure, everyone. I sure have been missing in action for a while.

So what has been going on in my life, you ask?

Uh . . . alas, nothing interesting. I have been working. My job is great. The people are tremendous, the work is cutting edge and compelling, and I get to do it all while living in the greatest city in the world.

We had a long, dark, awful winter, but now it's over! The whole city is positively giddy about spring. (Of course, we will all start whining come July, but for now, we're delighted.)

Over the past few months, I've gotten to see lots of this fine city, even though it has been frozen. Hopefully, I'll have time to post some pictures for you in a future post.

What else? I had a wonderful birthday, I went to a wedding, I worked, I laughed, I cried, I met lots of new people . . .

It has been a big couple of months.

But mostly, the bigness comes from the working.

Of course, everyone at work is working really hard not to become physically big given the bigness of our work.

Jury is still out on that one.

Headnotes and Giggles

I'm an attorney (that's probably not a surprise to most of our long-time readers, but I sometimes feel like I should loop in new folks).

One thing that I do most days is legal research. There are two main companies who compile all of the case decisions into a searchable database. Both of them are quite expensive, and each has its pros and cons. 

The companies work to differentiate themselves. One thing they do is make categories of what the cases are about, the principles of law in the cases, and make those sortable and searchable.

One company does it in the form of headnotes at the top of each case. These headnotes are generally quite helpful; they serve as a quick description of what the case holds is the relevant law. And every now and then, they're hilarious.

Here's a lovely one for you that I've been giggling about:

CIVIL RIGHTS - Arrest and Detention. Tackling arrestee to sidewalk, without in any way first asking for voluntary submission to arrest, was not reasonable.

Really? That wasn't reasonable?? Good to know! 

Sometimes, it's the job of the courts to state the obvious.

And sometimes, the really, really obvious.

Best Friends

I strangely have two very close friends named Kimberly. And neither of them likes to be called Kim, so I always cringe when anyone calls either of them by that nickname.

One of my Kimberlys is from my childhood, while my other Kimberly played an important role in my New York life, before she had to relocate.

They're both fantastic listeners, patient, kind, hilarious, and loving.

They're both the kind of friend that, even when I haven't spoken to them in ages, we can pick up right where we left off like no time passed at all.

This week, I've had some really challenging days. It seems like work and my personal life ganged up on me this week to see how much I can take.

Turns out, I can take a lot.

I reached out to both my Kimberlys this week for support, and there they were, ready to listen, counsel, and love.

I'm so blessed with friends to take such good care of me.

Someone once told me that friends are the family you pick.

I must be a really excellent picker.

I don't know how I got to be so lucky.

Happy Legs

We have had a couple of days of moderate weather in the last week. Of course, tomorrow the high will be in the low 20s.

Brrr.

But the other day, when the high was 60, I took advantage of the weather and wore a knee length skirt to work with no tights or anything.

My bare legs were SO HAPPY to be out in the city.

It has been winter too long.

I might start wearing skirts with no tights from now on. I'll just force it to be spring.

That'll work, right?

Long Morning, Short Morning

Time's a funny thing. It's both long and short simultaneously.

I had a million things to do today at work. Tomorrow is a big day for me, and I was doing some substantial prep work for it.

But at the same time, other current events made the time pass slowly as I waited for some news.

Long hour.

Short hour.

Time flying.

Time dragging.

I have a feeling I'm going to turn around one day and be a very old woman and have no idea how that happened.

Marching on with Winter

Spring has not come to NYC yet. We're still freezing here. Everyone at work was deeply excited today because it's going to be 50 degrees tomorrow. It has been in the 20s this week.

If you need me, I'll be under a pile of blankets.

Kindly Deeds

This week after church, I was sitting in my apartment with a friend chatting. I had been prepping food for feeding the missionaries, but since it wasn't time to feed them yet, we were just sitting around.

I heard the distinct sound from the street of a car that was stuck in snow and ice. Being from Utah, I know that sounds well. We have had significant snow and ice here for the past few weeks, so it wasn't surprising. The sides of the streets are filled with cars that are frozen into blocks of icy misery. The car sounded stuck. Really, really stuck. Almost in passing, I said to my friend, "Huh, someone's stuck out there."

Of course, my friend is a better Christian than I often am, and replied, "Should we go help?"

Sheepishly, I agreed that that was actually what we should be doing. So we put our shoes on and went down to the street. The man was actually stuck trying to get INTO a parking spot. We told him we were there to help.

As we pushed and pushed, we couldn't get the car to budge. Then I remembered that we have snow shovels at the church, which is a quick walk from my apartment. (Now you're all realizing the issue we have here--no one has snow shovels because no one has sidewalks . . .)

I told the man that a friend of mine just down the block had shovels, and that we would grab them and come back. (Note: I'm a terrible missionary. What was the thing I should've said here? There's a shovel at my church! I'll go grab it! Oh, what church? Thanks for asking! Etc. This story does not end with me becoming a better missionary, so disabuse yourselves of that hope.)

In any event, we grabbed the shovels and went back to see the man. We dug and dug and shoveled and pushed alongside him. I think that more than anything, he was just buoyed by our presence. It's nice to know you're not suffering alone in those situations.

After a while, my friend had to take off for a church responsibility, but the man and I kept working. Finally, we got his car far enough so as to be close enough to the sidewalk to avoid a ticket. He asked what he could do with the shovels, and I smiled and told him I'd return them to my friend.

He said, "God bless you."

And I said, "God bless you as well."

I walked back to the church with the shovels, thinking how glad I was that my friend thought we should go help this man. During the course of helping him with his car, I found out that he worked in the neighborhood. He was relieved he had decided to come to work early. What a tender mercy that he had decided to head into work early--he wouldn't have made it otherwise.

After I dropped the shovels off, I returned to my apartment via the other direction, somewhat completing a loop between me and the church.

On the back side of the loop, I saw the man again! He was heading to work. He laughed when he saw me and said, "I've been walking and thinking, thank you, God. Thank you for those people. I don't even know how that happened. Thank you, thank you."

It's funny, because I was thinking the same thing: "Thank you, God. Thank you for that man. Thank you for my friend. Thank you for a perfect Sabbath moment."

New York New York

When I tell people I'm an attorney living in New York City, they often have glamorous ideas of what my life must be like.

I smile appropriately, but I know my life isn't like that at all.

However, occasionally, I have a period of time that is exactly what people think.

A few weekends ago, I went to a fantastic brunch with a friend, where we saw a celebrity--my first celebrity sighting ever, for the record. Then, we decided to go for a walk in Central Park. And we walked. And walked. And walked. Like pioneer children, but without the singing. It was a foggy, gorgeous day in New York. I don't have any pictures because my hands were cold and in my pockets, but you can just basically picture the most gorgeous day ever. It was still, and cool, and soft, and hauntingly beautiful. We wandered down to the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, where in the span of about 15 minutes, we saw a wedding, an amazing choir singing Ave Maria (that wasn't part of the wedding), and a surprise marriage proposal. After we wandered back out of the park, we ate hot dogs from a street vendor and meandered about Manhattan. It was idyllic, and very New York.

A week or two later, I went to have a mani pedi with one of my girlfriends out here, while we gabbed about the men in our lives and our jobs and the weather and then I headed off to a party, and then the after party of said party, and then came home and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning with a friend from the party because we simply could not stop partying. (Those of you who know me personally can properly substitute whatever adjective you find appropriate to describe what it is that you know I do when I "party.") 

And this weekend, for further example:

• Went to two broadway shows
• Got autographs from the actors (who are all amazing movie stars as well)
• Wandered around Times Square
• Ate delicious food
• Listened to a man sing songs about New York as he wandered through Times Square (for the record, only a few people even noticed)
• Rode the subway late at night
• Bore witness to some impressive busking
• Spotted a random celebrity in a place he wasn't expected
• Made commentary on how short the celebrity was
• Was pulled from oncoming traffic by a dashing man in a suit

My life could be a TV show. It would largely be a really, really unpopular show, unless a new trend in reality TV that I don't know about is watching people sleep. (That's my main hobby. I can't help it--when you're as good at sleeping as I am, it's basically a crime not to do it.)

I love this city.

Working for/on the Weekend

I'm staying pretty busy at work. Life at Big Firm is good. My group is still awesome. A member of my group left the firm a few weeks ago to go in house (meaning that he's working for a company now and not at a law firm--a common path for people in my practice area--people at my firm generally don't quit to work at another firm. We've got it pretty good as far as firm life is concerned). So now he's gone and the case we used to work on together is now just me and the two partners on the case.

It's sort of like teaching someone how to swim by throwing them in a pool and hoping they don't drown.

I have stayed afloat so far. Mostly I work during the weeks and don't work on the weekends, but this week, I didn't get the weekend to rest--I have a bunch of work to do. Unfortunately, I'm also completely exhausted and must now take a nap.

Gonna have to work later.

Anyway, things are good at work. Although obviously my life goal would be to be wealthy and not need to work at all, since I have to have a job, this is pretty perfect.

The Heat is On

I finally got heat back in the middle of the night Friday. It took the weekend for my building to warm back up, but I'm relieved to no longer be so very very cold.

I spent the cold days using hand warmers in gloves and socks, sitting on a heating pad, and then ultimately buying a space heater for a wintery day of working from home due to snow.

My apartment is covered in piles of blankets and fuzzy socks, but I"m warming up.

Next adventure: finding a place in my apartment for the space heater!

Long, Cold, Dark Night

My heat is currently out.

How did this happen?

Well, earlier this week, my smoke alarm started chirping. It's hardwired into the electricity here, so I figured it was just the backup battery wanting to be replaced. I'm blessed with very high ceilings, and at 1:30 in the morning, I was unable to do anything about it, so I closed my bedroom door, put in earplugs, and tried to sleep.

Eventually, I woke back up just before four in the morning. It was louder and I was a bit confused. Then I realized someone was pounding on my front door. I was somewhat delighted, because I figured my smoke alarm had bothered one of my neighbors enough to have them come over. I was delighted because this meant I could ask them to help me get it to shut off already.

It was not my neighbor. (A side note here: I honestly do not know the name of a single one of my neighbors, so that would've been an awkward conversation no matter which neighbor it was.)

It was a nice firefighter from the FDNY.

All of the fire alarms in the building, including the ones in the hallway that automatically call the FDNY, were going off.

They came into my apartment to look for a fire. Apparently, they thought it could be an electrical fire in the walls. If you ever wonder what it looks like when firefighters use their cool tools to look at your walls to decide if there is hidden fire, well, wait until they show up at your apartment. I can't explain it.

I generally feel that leggings are not pants, for the record. One should not wear leggings in public. I happened to be sleeping in leggings that night though, and I answered the door in leggings and a sweatshirt. At first I felt kind of awkward about it, but then I figured I was not the least decent person the firefighters had seen this week.

Lots of my neighbors were out in the hall. It was loud and crazy and there were firefighters going up and down the stairs for about an hour. Eventually, they decided the problem was in the basement; the new boiler that had been installed had suffered a major malfunction, somewhat exploding and melting a substantial portion of the basement. Yeehaw! So that explained the fire alarms and sounds. The NYPD showed up, and then so did the super. It was a whole party. They turned off the boiler and everything down in the basement, which meant that I would keep my electricity and gas but no longer have heat and hot water.

But we were all safe, and after exchanging first names with some neighbors, we all went back to bed.

I have forgotten all of those neighbors' names, for the record.

And my heat hasn't been restored. It's about 40 degrees in my apartment. It's like a really long, really unpleasant camping trip.

Additionally, we're in the middle of a really ugly storm in New York. It's in the single digits, with serious wind bringing the wind chill well below zero.

And in the middle of all of this, I discovered a new mouse in my kitchen. Apparently, it's a really hearty mouse, since it's like a refrigerator in here.

So that's how my new year is going.

How about you?

Sorry

Today, I had big plans to write a fun blog post for all of you.

I came home, went to dinner with a friend from my ward, and while at dinner got an emergency email from work.

So . . . then I had to work after dinner.

And that took up all of my time that I had planned for fun blogging.

Why did I need to write a fun blog post?

BECAUSE I PASSED THE BAR!!!!!

I found out very late last night. I'll tell you all the details later, but I wanted to let you know.

Thanks for all the love and support and encouragement.

We did it!!

More Bacon, Esq., here we come!!

One Week

Some of you have kindly inquired as to how things are going at work.

It's going great, thanks!

I'm in a great group. It's small enough that I'm getting to work right with the partners and getting really included in things, but big enough to have great work to do.

My office is lovely, albeit chilly, and I'm adapting to my Blackberry.

-----------

Others of you have kindly inquired as to when I'll know if I passed the bar.

The answer to that is that it will likely be another six weeks at least, so please stop asking, because you all freak me out when you ask. :)

Starting Again, Again

Well, here we are. It's the night before I start my full-time gig with Big Firm.

I feel mostly ready, in that people's expectations of you are pretty low upon graduating from law school. (Law school isn't like medical school--and I'm technically not even allowed to practice the law, seeing as I have not yet received my bar results and been admitted to any bar.)

It's strange to be headed back to full time employment. For a long time, I worked while I went to school. A long, long, long time. So I was always working toward graduation, assuming I'd figure out what to do professionally (if a change needed to be made in my career) after I graduated. By the time I had graduated, although I had only told a few people, I had decided to attend law school and was working on application materials and selection of a school. Then, for the past three years, I've been working through law school.

But now it's done.

This is the job.

The job for a while.

As I've met new people in my ward this fall, a few have asked how long I'll be in New York.

Indefinitely.

So here we go.

This is it.

The rest of my life.

No pressure.

Cracking Myself Up

When I'm really tired, sometimes as I'm falling asleep or just waking up, I think the most random things.

I often write them down because I somehow have the presence of mind to know that I'll find them funny later, even though I don't find them funny at that moment.

Some recent funny things I've thought during this time:

• "Counting to one in Russian is the same as counting to one in Picard."
• "Pavlova is like Roman fillet sausages."
• "Ohio is really the North Korea of the American Midwest."

Nope, I don't know what any of them mean. But I laugh about them a lot!

Life After the Bar

You might be wondering what life is like after the bar.

No? You weren't wondering that? Your life isn't totally consumed by the schedule and weirdness of being a recent law school graduate?

Huh.

Well, I'll tell you anyway.

What do I do now that I'm done with the bar?

• Visit family
• Sleep in--WAY in
• Walk around the city for hours because I CAN
• Shower slowly
• Watch lots of Netflix--plenty of TV to catch up on 
• Nap
• Get lunch with friends

One of my friends says that I am "funemployed." I think this is the nicer version of how I describe my current unemployment. She's probably right; my unemployment isn't really stressful because I have a job beginning in a few weeks.

So for now, it's just funemployment all day, every day.

I keep trying to find someone to find me in my life of leisure, but sadly, everyone seems to be busy working...hmm...

Stick a Fork in Me!

I'M DONE!!!

Holy cow, the bar is over. I'm working on a full post that tries to capture the experience that is taking the New York Bar Exam.

In the meantime, I just wanted to thank you all for all of the love, support, prayers, thoughts, texts, emails, good vibes, care packages, snacks, visits, hugs, and other general wonderfulness you've all given me for the past three years, particularly in the past couple of months as I've been preparing for the bar.

I sure love and appreciate each of you!

For the VERY LAST TIME!!!

This is what I'm singing today, for the very last Friday EVER!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWleD1rrat4

Hitting the Bar

Well, the bar exam is just a few days away now (four, basically). YIKES! I'm incredibly nervous but simultaneously incredibly ready for it to be over. I've done harder things emotionally and physically, but bar prep has just been mentally draining. My poor brain has just turned to mush and I spend most of my days thinking that I know absolutely nothing anymore. I may be getting dumber instead of smarter. It's tough to say.

After I finish, I'll try to do another post with some common questions some of you have asked about the bar. Hopefully, there will be a good story or two to share. (There are about 6,000 people taking the bar exam at the location where I'll be taking it; every year, something interesting happens.)

So, July 30th and 31st are the big days. After that: FREEDOM!

Looking forward to seeing you all on the other side.

A Poem/Song

(I was going to write a song about today, but who are we kidding--I don't write songs. I don't really write poems either, but I ended up sending this to my sister...)


This day makes me say AAAAAAAARGH!
I would write on my BLAAAAAAAARGH.
But I have no time,
So instead I'll just whine,
And perhaps sail away on a BAAAAAAARGE.