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two years of dates
For Christmas of 2015, Carl and I decided to plan a year of dates. We alternated months and planned an activity around town (or at least within driving distance), trying to keep the overall budget down, but allowing for a splurge. We liked it so much that we did it again this last year and are planning on doing it this Christmas too. We haven’t done all of them, whether because of time constraints or budget constraints or something else, but we’ve managed to get to about 3/4 of them. Without further ado, here they are!
Mar 2013When I Die...
This may be a little macabre, but I’ve been thinking about what I want things to be like when I die. I closed my law firm officially last week. I just wasn’t happy practicing law, and I realized that when I’m on my deathbed, I don’t want to think that I should have changed jobs fifty years ago. And that’s what I would think if I continued in law, or at least in practicing law. So I’ve closed up shop and am spending some time being a housewife. I don’t think I will regret this. Thinking about being on my deathbed got me thinking about other areas of my life as well. Carl and I talked about things, and we agreed that, if one of us were to die suddenly, we don’t want either of us to feel that we should have said more or shown more love. And I know that, if one of us died today, I would know that I had shown him love and been shown so much love. I also don’t want to feel like I didn’t really LIVE. And by this, I don’t mean bungee jumping or swimming with sharks or opening a bar on a beach in Costa Rica. I mean being present. Being present to experience the beauty and the sorrow that life provides. This means everything from playing with my dogs and gardening to spending time with friends and family to traveling to reading a book and watching TV (because yes, watching some TV can contribute to my happiness). I’ve known someone who disconnected and chose not to be present and experience the hurts and the joys, and it caused a lot of pain for many people. I will be present though. I will try not to regret broken relationships or missed opportunities. I may not love life every day, but I will appreciate it and know that experiencing it is what makes everything worth it. Embracing the pain and the sadness so that celebrating joy and love is even more brilliant. That got really sappy, didn’t it? I’m in a bit of a sentimental and contemplative mood…
Feb 201017 days
17 days. Yes. 17. And then I will be married. I’m both excited and terrified, naturally. Preparations are coming together, but I’m having trouble understanding how I’m supposed to focus on work while this is going on. If I had been made to feel less important at work, I would probably just take off the next two weeks. :) As it is, they seem to like me, so I can’t really just disappear for a while.
Nov 2009a long pause
It’s been a long time since I’ve written, and a lot of things have happened in the meantime. The rest of my time in Europe was WONDERFUL. It was so good to be with Carl, and the traveling was a lot of fun. I flew home (that was an ordeal) at the beginning of September and started my job a week later. I was excited about my job before I started, and it has turned out to be even better than I thought it would be. I work with great people who support and challenge me, the subject matter is surprisingly interesting, and I get to do things that big firm associates don’t see until their third year. Also, I went to Miami this last week for a conference on asbestos medicine. Six of us went from the office - I only went because one of the attorneys couldn’t at the last minute - and it was a nice combination of educational lectures (including a video of a extra-pleural pneumonectomy - yuck), networking, and relaxing (mostly on the day before the conference actually started). I had a great time, and I felt really lucky to go. Asbestos is a complicated area, and so getting the chance to learn more in a focused context was really good for me. In other news, Carl moved home a few weeks ago. It’s so good to be back together. Wedding plans are gearing up, though there is still a lot to take care of. We’re also just trying to sort through the house. Between the two of us, who lived alone for three and four years, we’ve accumulated a lot of things, many of them duplicates. We have more tupperware (in a generic sense) than anyone should ever need. I also picked up the vestiges of my youth from my mom’s house about a month ago, meaning all of my childhood books, yearbooks, journals, stuffed animals, my baby blanket and baptismal blanket, and assorted items like a music box from my grandmother and a salt-covered rock from the Dead Sea. That is all now added to the pile of things to sort through. It is literally a pile, similar to a small hill, though much more fragile. I started to go through things today, but I didn’t get very far, because I started reading my journals from high school. Oh my goodness, those were drama-filled years. I’m very glad I’m past those years. So in closing, life is good, and I’m enjoying this journey into real adulthood. Oh, and Carl and I got Motorola Droids a week and a half ago. Awesome. We love them.
Aug 2009a week and a half into my vacation
After the horror that was the bar exam, I came over to Europe to spend a month with Carl. It’s been fabulous so far. We were in England for a little over a week, and now we’re in Munich until Friday. My brother’s down here visiting us, and this is time to just relax and sleep in. It’s wonderful. I was looking at some of the pictures we took in England, and I was shocked by how happy I looked. I’m not sure if I’ve smiled so much in the last three years as I have in the last week. When I get back to the States, I’ll have a little less than a week before I start my new job. This has been a welcome break between finally being done with school and entering the real world. I think Cort and I will head over to the Deutsches Museum today. And go shopping. Ah, what bliss. And Carl will be working, of course. He only has off for the first and last weeks of my visit. But he’s being sent to Dublin next week, so we’ll have a grand time there - I’ll go see exciting things while he sits in a server room. :) So that’s life right now. I’ll update more later…
Jun 2009studying for the Bar Exam
I like organization. I like having plans. I have created a plan that is supposed to motivate me to study for the Missouri Bar Exam, which I will take July 28th and 29th. I’ve devised a point system. Three colors of points, though they are all worth the same amount. I get a blue point for every set (17 problems) of multiple choice questions I do. I’ve thought about having a quality threshold, but that (and I) would be pointless. Then, I get a green point for every essay I write. Finally, I get a purple point for 1) every 20 pages I read in the large outlines, 2) every 20 notecards I create for studying, and 3) every half hour I spend (productively) studying otherwise, though if I study for 50 minutes all in one go, I get two points. Basically, every point is roughly 30 minutes of work. So that’s my system. Sounds great, right? I have decided that I need to amass 30 points before I can watch any Harry Potter movie, and if I want to watch all five before July 15th, I need to get some serious points going. I have not earned many points so far. I’m working on it. Also, I moved into Carl’s house a week and a half ago. Stuff is EVERYWHERE. I feel torn between studying and cleaning, and so I end up reading a magazine instead, naturally. It’s probably a good thing Carl won’t move back to the States until December. It gives me plenty of time to reorganize. I told him how I’ve been organizing our books and DVDs and things. He has a strange aversion to organization, and he has repeatedly cautioned me that his books will not stay the way I’ve put them. It will be a fun marriage, I think. Speaking of which, we’re doing things backwards, and we’re going to basically take our honeymoon this August while I’m over there. We’ll spend a 7-10 days in Great Britain at the beginning, a week in Italy at the end, and we’re hoping to spend a weekend in Switzerland (Zurich maybe?) and a weekend in Vienna. I’m really looking forward to it. I love hanging out with Carl, and we have such a great time together. We have not done much traveling together, and I think it will be a lot of fun. We have similar ideas of what constitutes “fun,” which will be a great thing. I can’t wait to be there. Then, after we’re married, we’ll take a weekend or something and go somewhere close. It may sound corny, but the thing I’m looking forward to most is just getting to be with my best friend. I should study.
Dec 2008news
Carl and I are engaged!
Sep 2008mixed emotions
Carl is moving back to Germany for a year. He’ll be leaving at the end of October/beginning of November. I’m thrilled for him, because it is such a great opportunity and it will be so wonderful for his career, but I don’t like the thought of being apart for a whole year. We’ll get to see each other every few months, and I guess that will have to do. I’ll miss him.