Weigh-In Wednesday

Hola Folks!
It's a BEAUTIFUL day here in Chicago and I'm in a GOOD MOOD!

This week: -4
Total: -16.5

So, I lost the 4 pounds I gained last week. PHEW! I am 3.5 pounds away from my lowest weight in yearssssss,which I hit for a very very short time in December.
I had some great workouts this week and did a pretty good job keeping my calorie intake relatively low, and it paid off, yay!

Even more exciting - Daisy and I have been tracking each other on our weight loss successes and failures. We are both at 16ish pounds right now and have made a challenge to help us break through the 20 pound barrier. I hit 20 pounds lost back in December, but quickly gained it back over Christmas break and then with my trip to Hawaii I haven't gotten back down there. So we have issued a little challenge. First person to hit 21 pounds will buy the other a pretty new lipgloss!

So now I am motivated to break through this 20 pounds... It will be difficult this week, since I'm going home for Easter Friday - Tuesday, but hopefully the weather will be nice and I can get some nice looooong runs/walks in while I'm home! Oh and hopefully I can STAY AWAY from Sonic and Chick-fil-A (but we know that isn't likely). 

Wish me luck with the challenge... who doesn't like a new lipgloss?! :)

Law School Questions and Answers - Part 2!

 Part 2 of everything you ever wanted to know about my life as a law student! hah.

II. What’s it like to be a law student?

How much do you study?

To preface this question: I don't make good grades. I'm definitely in the bottom half of my class. 

Now, for the answer. I get this question a lot. I don't study very much at all. (duhhhh. not studying = not getting good grades. Did you think I was gonna say I never study and I have a 4.0?! HA).

 I cram for finals, and that's about it. That's how I've always done it. I actually showed up to the first day of law school without having finished the reading for torts. I don't say this to brag (sometimes people think I'm lying/bragging when I admit how bad of a procrastinator I am), it's just the facts. I am the world's worst procrastinator. 

The thing about law school, is it is possible to study as much or as little as possible, and that's what kills people. It's possible to do the bare minimum, kind of study for finals, and pass. (honestly I still know NOTHING about contracts. NOTHING). It is also possible to lock yourself in the library for 20 hours a day, NEVER go out, never speak to anyone outside of law school, and to kill yourself studying. 

There is just no end to the amount of work that there is to be done. And when you add any semblance of a personal life to that, it can be overwhelming. 

The best advice I can give people on how much to study is to know when to take a break. You will burn yourself out if you try to study all day every day. Take some time off on the weekends. You don’t need to start outlining in August. If you spent 10 hours a day in the library every day of every week, you’re probably doing something wrong. You’re not using your time effectively. Learn how to be efficient. Learn where you get work done. If you can concentrate best at the library, go there. If you get more work done at a coffee shop by your apartment, get to the coffee shop. If you cannot get anything done at home, then get the hell outta the house!

Bottom line – figure out what works for you. And DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT get sucked in to what everyone else is doing. Every day you will hear that so and so spent 6 hours reading for torts. Well, So-and-so is probably an idiot, so don’t freak out if you only spent 3. And don’t freak out if you have no clue what is going on. No one does. If they say they get it, they’re probably lying. Don’t panic… everything will be just. fine.

People often talk about "activities" in law school. Are you in moot court or law review or a journal?

I have a feeling my answer to this question might catch some heat from my friends/followers. I am not on moot court or law review. I don't really know anyone on moot court at my school, but I've heard it's a lot of work. No thank you, I have plenty of work to do on my own, I don't need to add something else to the mix. I do have a couple friends who are on moot court at other schools and really seem to enjoy it. 

If you haven't figured it out by now, law review is the holy grail of law school activities. If you make good enough grades, do it. But be prepared to hate it. I have lots of friends on law review. It's miserable. But it looks good on your resume and it's cool to say you're published. 

As for any other student organizations? I think they're pretty much all a joke. The only people who care about SBA are the people who are on SBA . I know lots of people on journals. I think they're a pretty big waste of time. I don't know of anyone who has ever gotten a job because they were a member of a journal. It's a lot of work, there is a lot of "politics" (i.e. high school type drama), and it's just not that helpful. I think you're better off getting a clerking gig, making contacts, and getting paid. 

Feel free to chime in in the comments if you disagree with me. 

How have you survived the boredom of 3L year?

Don't take boring classes!!! That has been my theory all through law school. I have a very strong interest in criminal law, so I have taken just about every single criminal law class that my school offers me. Mental Health Issues in Criminal Law, Advanced Criminal Procedure, Death Penalty Clinic, etc. No, mental health issues in criminal law will not be on the bar exam, and secured transactions will. But to me it is so much more worth it to take classes that I'm interested in. It makes it easier to sit through the class, to read for it (occasionally!), and to study for the final. Find something that you're interested in! I also really enjoyed a couple of the family law classes I took. Each semester when I went through the course catalog to pick classes, I always went by what I thought sounded interesting

Other than that? Drink a lot. :) (c'monnnnn we knew that was going to be an answer somewhere, right?)

I just try to enjoy the fact that I won't be able to sleep in on Tuesdays when I have a "big girl" job, and I won't be getting spring break anymore, etc. Honestly 3L year has been my busiest year yet. Boredom hasn't really been an issue. Don't get me wrong though - it is so hard to stay motivated. At this point I'm just OVER IT!

  

What do you do when everything gets to you and you want to give up? I'm working on my appellate brief and wondering why I'm here. 

 Take a break! Appellate Briefs are tough. I work on them at work and still get frustrated and confused and stressed out. 

I just try to remind myself that it's just part of the process. What do you want to do?  I remind myself that this is just another step that I have to take before I can practice the type of law that I want to practice. 

Other than that, just take it easy. Ask your teacher for help if you need it (although I never found any of my legal writing professors to be that helpful!), talk about it with a classmate, etc. Make sure you actually understand what you're writing before you start writing. I think that's a big problem a lot of people have with legal writing stuff - they don't really understand what it is that they're supposed to be advocating for!

But basically, DON'T GIVE UP! Take a day off. Not a couple hours, a whole day. (unless you're like me, and you waited until 2 days before to do the brief, then you don't really have that luxury, ha!). But if you've worked on it ahead of time, take some time off. Do something that is NOT law school. The best thing I can say to do is to keep involved in your life outside of law school. Go to the gym, go to dinner, go out with your friends or boyfriend or whatever, and be a normal person. Don't let law school consume your life!

Would you be as bitter about law school if you were at a top 10 school? I don't mean this in a snarky way. I have friends at top schools that have a v. different outlook than those at lower ranked schools. Does ranking matter that much? I am in the dark.

Interesting question.
I wouldn't really consider myself bitter about law school. I definitely bitch about law school all the time, but just because there are a lot of aspects of law school that are really dumb. And law students can be really dumb and annoying.
Do I bitch and complain about law school? Obviously. But I don't think bitter is quite the right word.
Maybe bitter about the state of the legal job market right now, but even so not really that much. I think I have better employment prospects than a lot of people because I have excellent experience and an incredible professor with tons of contacts who is actively working with me on finding a job.

As for ranking? It definitely matters, to a point. I think out of the top 10-20 schools ranking doesn't really matter. At least it hasn't in my experience.
And the state of the job market is so bad right now that a lot of people even at those top 20 schools don't have jobs.

So yeah, as a general rule, ranking matters a lot. For people who graduated in 09 and 2010? I don't think it does as much. It kinda just sucks for everyone right now.

Let me know if there is anything else you want answered!

Law School Questions and Answers - Part 1

So I get a lot of questions about law school... what it's like, how I decided where to go, if I'm glad I went, etc. etc. etc. Since it's almost April, that means it's time that a whole new batch of you are making your decisions about where to go, so I figured this is a good time to do a law school info post. 

I also get lots of questions from 1L's and 2L's, so I'll answer those too. 

I might do a couple more of these throughout this week and next, because I have a feeling that my answers are going to lead to more questions, and my other fellow law student/lawyer bloggers might have something to add, so shoot me an e-mail or comment and let me know if you agree/disagree/whatever. 

(some of these are from what people asked me on formspring, yay copy/paste for lazy bloggers!)

So here we go:

I. Going to Law School

When did you decide you wanted to go to law school?

Law school has always been my plan. I wanted to be a lawyer before I knew what a lawyer did - I thought getting paid to argue every day would be cool, and lady lawyers looked tough. Now I know better, but it's still what I want to do. :)

I'm in the process of choosing where I want to go to law school next fall. I know that you should pick a school in an area you would want to live in afterward, but do you have any other words of advice?

First off - YES, definitely go to a school in an area you want to practice. 

I suppose I would say to go wherever offers you the most scholarship money, because debt sucks and you're going to want to have as little of it as possible! And on that note - BE CAREFUL about scholarships because a lot of schools give out scholarships to students that require you keep a certain GPA to keep your scholarship - those suck because the vast majority of people do not keep them! 

Definitely go somewhere you will want to live for the next 5 years or so. If you hate the living in a small town, don't go to a law school in a college town. If you hate being in a big city, don't go to law school in a city! Law school sucks enough as it is, don't make it even worse for yourself than it's already going to be!

Also - consider where you know people. If you know NO ONE in a city, that might be a really hard place to go to school, especially if you're shy. I am SO THANKFUL that I have college and other friends here. You see law school people enough at school, it's nice to have other people to hang out with on the weekends and when you need to get away from law school! It would have been really hard for me to move somewhere where I knew no one. I like having my "law school friends" and my "college friends" and my roommate and all my gays. It's nice to be able to get away from one group of people and hang out with another (especially during high stress times at school!). 

How did you choose your law school? Did you have an "ah ha!" moment or pick based on practical factors?

I only applied to law schools in cities that I knew I would want to live in for three years as well as for after I graduated, since it's generally easiest to get a job near where you went to school. 

I pretty much didn't apply to any "safety" schools. I only applied to decently good schools that I figured I had a pretty good shot at getting into. 
My school waitlisted me first, then let me in pretty quickly thereafter (found out in March of senior year of college), and it was the only one in Chicago that I applied to and got into, so it was a pretty easy decision. 

I got waitlisted at a couple of other schools but didn't want to sit out a waitlist and end up moving the day before I started school or some nightmare like that, so when you only get in to 1 school, the decision of where to go is easy! 

(actually I should add in here that I did get accepted to a couple of other schools... after I realized I was mostly getting rejected/waitlisted, I panicked and applied to a couple "safety" schools. I got in there, but once I got in at the school I attend I pretty much forgot about them.). 

Do you like law school?

NO. Law school is stupid. The worst part about law school? Law students. They're idiots. You don't learn anything in law school. It's expensive, and it's dumb. HOWEVER, I still want to be a lawyer, and I'm glad I'm there. Not as glad as I am to be less than 90 days from being finished with it, but glad I did it.

Also - there are parts about law school that I have enjoyed. I am a member of an incredible clinic. My clinic is 2 semesters long, and I've learned more in these 2 semesters than I learned in the first 24 years of my academic life and in having 2 jobs at law firms (no, I'm not exaggerating). In my clinic I have learned what it's actually like to be a lawyer. Which leads me to the next question – 

Do you still WANT to be a lawyer?

YES, very much so! I'm currently in a death penalty clinic and we have a death penalty trial that we're preparing for and also a post-conviction appeal that we're working on. I find criminal law fascinating, and it's absolutely what I want to do. I have always wanted to prosecute, so I'm surprised I like working on the defense as much as I do, but I definitely still want to be a lawyer.

There are parts of being a lawyer that suck, and I realize that. There are parts of my clerking job that I hate (mostly when I have NO idea what I'm doing and feel like a total dumb dumb), but I know that I very much want to be a lawyer. 

More Q and A's coming tomorrow - mostly about what it's like to be a law student and how I've survived 3 years!

Friday at Work - Spring Break Style

This morning I walked in to work and my boss says "OH MY GOD! What happened to you?! You look horrible!"

It's true. Last night's makeup smeared around. Eyes all bloodshot. I suppose I could have at least washed my face this morning. Or not stayed out until 4AM when I knew I had to work this morning. Whoopsies. Last Spring Break ever... sorry I'm not sorry for partying. 

The good news is no one is in the office today (seriously, it's just me back here in an area where there are normally 5 people), so I can wallow in my misery alone. And possibly get some work done. Maybe.

Weigh-In Wednesday

This week: +4

Total: -12.5

Totally not surprising, since I only worked out ONE TIME in the last week and pretty much didn't count calories at all. I don't know what I was thinking.
And I ate GARBAGE all week. We're talking multiple cheeseburgers, drank Wednesday - Sunday (oopsies), and Chinese food at lunch on Monday (sick, I know).

I'm back on the wagon today. Haven't had time for grocery shopping, so today for lunch is SUBWAY on wheat bread with no cheese and no mayo. Going to spinning after work, etc.

It is time to get serious about success! (ugh, how many times have I said that before?!).
Wish me luck, I need to get my ass in gear.

My friends are hilarious

So I'm sitting at my desk this afternoon when out of nowhere I get a text from one of my good girlfriends, Byron (gay friend = girlfriend). The text reads:

"Wanna go to Outback Steakhouse tonight and drink silly Aussie drinks?"

No, I have no idea what "silly Aussie drinks" are, but I'm cracking up.
And yes, of course I'll go.

Another day at the office...

So apparently there has been some tension in the office for a while now.

One of the attorneys (the one who I work directly under) has been directing the secretaries to scan her appellate orders directly into our network as soon as they're filed, so she can access them at any time. (Does this sound impressive? I have no idea what it means). So anyway, I guess one of the secretaries has been scanning and e-mailing it to the other who is supposed to be putting it on the network, but they hate each other. So somewhere along this chain of events that are supposed to take place, someone isn't doing what they're supposed to be doing (shocker, doesn't this sound like every workplace?). And everyone is pointing fingers to each other. (Think "I scanned it and e-mailed it, SHE didn't put it on the network" vs. "I never got this e-mail" vs "You never gave me this" vs. "You never told me to do this", etc.).

The attorney I work under is leaving on Wednesday morning to go on vacation for a week, so I was in her office yesterday afternoon getting the instructions for what I'm supposed to be working on while she's gone. She's looking through the network for the scanned copy of the appellate order that is supposed to be only a click away....
any guesses on whether or not the order was on the network?

She says to me "Excuse me, I need to speak to someone about this," picks up the phone, and the next thing I hear is:

"WHO DO I HAVE TO FUCK OR KILL AROUND HERE TO GET A DAMN APPELLATE ORDER SCANNED?!"

ooooohwheeeee I'm glad I am not the one in charge of the scanning. yikes.

The process is absurd...

A lot of people don't understand what a pain in the ass it is to become a lawyer. Yeah I mean everyone (I think?) understands that law school is long, and hard, and expensive. And some people know that studying for the bar is tough. And some people know that passing the bar can be difficult, and you don't get to automatically start practicing law, because hey, jobs are tough to come by. (if my mom was a blog reader, I'd e-mail her the link to this post, just to re-enforce, but that's another post for another day).

What nobody tells you, and what no one really understands until they've done it, is how much of a pain the APPLICATION process of being a lawyer is.
You can't just show up and take a test. You have to apply. YEARS and MONTHS ahead of when you actually plan to take the bar. And it's not just a standard application. You have to list every place you've lived and worked in the last 10 years. For most of us that includes our parent's houses (my p's have lived in 3 in the last 10 years), Dorms, college apartments, sorority houses, etc. Yes, I had to go look up the address of my freshman year dorm.
And not only is the application a monster pain, but they have to APPROVE it! So it's not like you just send it in and it's done. They actually check it out.

I have been going back and forth with the woman in charge of reviewing my application because no one responded from the car dealership that I worked at when I was 16 years old. That's because the car dealership has since closed, duh. It was 10 years ago.
So her suggestion? What about a roommate who knew you worked there?
Listen lady, I was 16 years old at the time. If you want my mom to confirm that I had a job there, that's fine with me.
No, parents won't work, what about a friend who knew you worked there?
Okay, fine, my friend A worked there with me. Here's her e-mail address.
Okay great.

This afternoon I get a text message from that friend:

"Ummm I'm glad that I now have your FULL SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. 

lovely State of Illinois, just e-mailing it out to God knows who."

So yes, apparently instead of just sending her an e-mail that read "Do you know Legally Fabulous? Is she a decent person?" they felt that they had to send out my FULL social security number. In case she thought that the state of Illinois was referring to another person with my incredibly uncommon first name and equally as uncommon last name?!

Also - this weekend in the mail I got a form. They want to run a full background check on me in Texas. Apparently they can't do that with just my name and social security number (which is being thrown around like it's a street address), they need me to actually go to a freaking police station and get fingerprinted.
You know, just in case I committed any crimes using an alias when I lived in Texas at age 14.


Who knew being a lawyer would be such a freaking complicated process?!

Texts From My Mother

Welcome to the latest addition of "texts from my mother."

My mom went to a baby shower this morning for a good family friend (who is now a new reader of Legally Fabulous via my toilet pic at Martinis or Diaper Genies! Hi M! Congrats on the baby!)

After the shower she texted me:

"I was at M's baby shower this morning. I want a grandbaby."

Good. Lord. 

I don't even know what else to say.

Becoming Lawyerly

I have slowly been expanding my lawyerly wardrobe throughout law school...
I have had two clerking gigs during school, but neither of them required suits.
My current gig is super casual (jeans pretty much every day). Sometimes I mix it up and wear something a little nicer, but it's not necessary. My old job was business casual. I pretty much wore black pencil skirts, tights, heels, and a sweater or something similar every day.

Since I went straight to law school from undergrad, Iactually only own a couple of suits, and no basic black interview-type suit. That is high on my list of things to purchase (since I'm hoping to have an interview at some point in this lifetime). This week, I ordered this suit from Nordstrom:

 *images from Nordstrom.com

I own very few pairs of dress pants - part of the problem is that I'm tall (5'10") and they're always too short. I figure if these are on the shorter side i can just wear them with flats (if they fit). I ordered the jacket, pants, and skirt.

J.Crew makes their suiting pants in Talls, which is nice, but their Tall pants are usually way too long, so I have to get them hemmed, which is a pain in the ass.

So, fingers crossed that my new suit fits. There's a good chance that it won't, but I'll just return it and try again if it doesn't. 

Pretty much everything in my closet comes from Nordstrom or J.Crew, so they're obviously my go-to places for lawyerly duds. Where do you buy suits?

Weigh-In Wednesday

Well... I gained 2 pounds this week.

Most people would take that as motivation to get their ass to the gym (which I did 5 days out of 7 of the last week, thankyouverymuch), but the only motivation I currently have is to get my ass to McDonald's for lunch. And I'm going to.
And then after class I'm going out for beers for St. Patrick's Day.
This gain a couple pounds lose a couple pounds cycle I'm on is CRUEL. And annoying. And frustrating.


And I SO wish I could suck 4 inches off of my hips and have it disappear, never to return again.
Does anyone want to buy me lipo for graduation? I'd much appreciate it.

I know I need to cut back on my eating. But I am SO FREAKING HUNGRY all the damn time.
Will this vicious cycle ever end?
Maybe.
But today is not the day, because I am going to get a Shamrock Shake. I just can't get it out of my head.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Fabulous ones!

I'm off to Kegs and Eggs at one of my fabulous sorority sisters apartments... should be an absolute shitshow.
St. Patrick's Day in Chicago is huge... there is a huge parade (which I will be too drunk to attend for the 3rd year in a row), and they even dye the Chicago river GREEN in celebration. Here is a video of that craziness:




I got up this morning and was sipping a screwdriver (and by screwdriver I mean vodka on the rocks with a splash of OJ) when I got this g-chat from N, who is a regular g-chat contributor here at Legally Fab:

N: the following quote was given in response to the question "do you want coffee?" 

"No, my adrenaline is enough to keep me going today." - Roommate

N's roommate is one of the most RIDICULOUS people I've met in my life. He is absolutely hilarious, and the biggest creep I've ever met in my entire life. I love him.


So on that note, have a good day fabulous ones. May your adrenaline be enough to keep you going. 

Weigh-In Wednesday

Some good news this week, FINALLY!

This week: -3.5 pounds

Total: -18.5 pounds

I think staying in this weekend and not drinking really helped (duh). I wasn't too hungover to work out and I didn't consume a million unnecessary vodka-tonic calories.
I had pretty good workouts every day except Sunday (rest day).

I am almost back to where I was before Christmas: -20 pounds. It is time to GET THERE and get PAST it!

My goal is still to be down 30 pounds by my graduation on May 16.
That's 11.5 pounds in 9.5 weeks.
It is totally do-able, but it won't be easy.

Any hints or tips for someone who has been struggggling for 15 months?!?!

Steve Jobs, will you marry me?

If you follow me on twitter (which you should), you know that this week has been a rough technology week for me. Sunday night (I think), I was walking down the hallway from my couch to my bedroom with my laptop and a big glass of ice water in hand. I tripped (likely over my own 2 feet, but let's blame it on the rug), and my laptop and glass of water both went FLYING out of my hands and crashed on top of each other on the wood floor. The corner of my computer kind of popped up from the impact, but after I wiped the water off of it, it was working just fine. PHEW.


Then yesterday, real tragedy struck. For some reason I was washing the dishes with my iPhone in my hand (yeah, I know... I've made better decisions). as I'm sure you can imagine the iPhone plunked right down into a pot full of water. It wasn't really submerged, but definitely got wet and started acting funny. It was randomly buzzing when it wasn't supposed to and not buzzing when it was supposed to, etc. I started researching blackberry's online because I thought it was on its last leg. RIP iPhone. But this morning, it appears to be back to normal. HOORAY! Good bless you, Steve Jobs. I am trying to hold out until a new iPhone comes out this summer since mine is 2 years old now. 


This morning I get this g-chat:

N: last night i spilled water on my comp but it was fine, wanna go halvsies on a fruit basket for steve jobs?

me: hahahahahahah

yes.

we owe him our life this week.

N: definitely. 

i'd much rather spring for an edible arrangement than a new computer.

also, edible arrangement sounds very dirty

me: 9:18 AM and you already went there.

good work.

So thanks Steve, we are SO HAPPY all our gadgets are still working. PHEW!

Runs in the Family

So I posted this weekend about how my brother and I are more similar than I'd like to think... well apparently so are my mother and I, who makes new friends on the internet.

I got this text message from her this afternoon:

Mom: "Look what I learned today from my new online Connecticut friend!" (followed by lots of symbols - phones, dogs, trees, shamrocks, footballs, etc.)

Me: "WHO is your online Connecticut friend?!"

Mom: "Random player on Words with Friends. Always plays me at 4 and 5 in the morning when I'm up with the dog. So finally I decided to chat her and ask where she was. She's in Connecticut working the 3rd shift and bored at work." 

Me: "Ha that's funny"

Mom: "I know. We had quite a conversation this morning. I'm not sure we could be more opposite. I visualize her being young with tattoos anywhere."

Me: "HA!"

Mom: "Sometimes Mommy makes friends outside of the box. Did you notice there is a rainbow in the symbols? God knows you need that with your friends!"

Cracking up.

Weekend Recap and a picture sneak peak

Hi everyone, Elle Woods here again!

We had a great weekend. Mom didn't go out at all (I know, this was shocking to me too, but I am not complaining!), so we spent LOTS of time snuggling together!
I had the greatest day EVER on Saturday, so I wanted to tell you all about it!

Here's a little video so you can see how it started off....


(my mom's voice is a little bit of a crazy kooky dog lady voice in this video. that's because she IS a crazy kooky dog lady)
Mom says people don't believe her when she says that I lay on the bed all day and mope around, so that video is some proof.

But once I woke up from my slumber and realized we were headed out to play, I got pumped up! Here I am hanging out the windows on the way to the beach... my favorite thing to do!

And I think the sun roof is awesome!

Lola is my little sister (same parents, different litter! she is almost 2 years old). She lives with her mom very close to us (she used to live in our building when she was a puppy) and our moms planned a playdate for us. Lola was SOOOOO excited to see me she was going CRAZY. Being the super cool older sister I acted nonchalant and kept my composure. I beat her up a little bit on the beach, but I mostly wanted to find my own friends while Lola wanted to follow me and do whatever I did. Little sisters can be kind of annoying like that. But then when Lola found her own friends?! I did NOT like that! Why doesn't she understand that she can't be hanging all up in my business but that doesn't mean I want her out making her own friends! DUH!

Here's me and Lola:

Then I went to do some exploring on my own..

Lola is wearing her cupcake collar (it's kinda hard to see in this pic!) because she and Satin turn 2 on Thursday! Happy Birthday Lolagirl!

Then Lola and I bodyslammed for a little bit:

Then I went out on the still frozen part of the beach to explore

Here is another video that my momma took of me at the beach. Her commentary sums it up just right "Wild, Wild Wild!" I am a WILD WOMAN at the beach! Most of the time I am a mopey sleepy pup (my nickname is "Eeyore"), but when I'm at the beach I go CRAAAZZZYYYY!




We had so much fun it was 45 degrees and sunny and BEAUTIFUL! I love spring and can't wait til SUMMER! (Can you see the butterflies on my collar? Mom says it's because spring is coming!!!)

And now -
For those of you who wanted to see pics of mom and me... here is a little SNEAK PEAK! My mom has 4 pictures like this in all different crazy colors on the wall above her bed. She calls it "pop art." She thinks they're cool, her friends think she's nuts, and I think she looks like an alien. This pic is me when I was just a little pup, sitting up on the bed.

OBVIOUSLY we know who the most beautiful girl in the picture is.

XOXO,
Elle Woods
ElleWoodsTheGreatDane@gmail.com

Runs in the Family

First off - I am awake at 8AM on a Saturday because I'm taking the MPRE this morning. (Yes, for those of you who pay attention, I took it in November too. I failed. FML. so I'm taking it again).

Some people on twitter were talking about how weird it is that we are graduating in May. I cannot believe that 3 years of law school is almost over. I feel like I just started and just moved to Chicago. In addition to me graduating in May, my little brother is graduating from the University of Arkansas on May 8th. This is almost weirder to me than me almost being a lawyer. I CANNOT believe my brother is going to be graduating (and on time!). (Oh and if you were wondering if my parents are freaking out with excitement about no more tuition bills to pay, you'd be correct).

So I sent a text out to my mom, dad, and brother at 8:05 this morning:

me: "I can't believe my little brother is going to be a college graduate 13 weeks from today!"

and I get this response:

Brother: "ur little brother hasn't gone to bed yet tonight either."

ahhhh, like brother like sister.

An update from Elle Woods

Hi everyone, Elle Woods here.

Mom has been very busy so I am taking over for the day.

Last year mom took me to a photoshoot for a new book that is coming out called "Big Dog, Small Dog."
She got an e-mail that they were looking for big dogs and small dogs to have their pictures taken, so she sent some pictures in. Obviously since I am the most beautiful girl in the entire world, they wanted me to be in the book. Mom also sent the e-mail to her law school friend who has a handsome English Bulldog named Sebastian. We thought they would want our picture together, since he's short and fat and white and I'm tall and thin and black, but they had other plans.

Here is Sebastian:

Handsome guy, huh?

So I went in and they took my picture with a little Papillon who was very cute. Bad news though - I DO NOT like the flash of the camera in the study. It is loud and bright and SCARY. So mom had to hold me by the collar so I didn't freak out. The best shots that they got were of the little Papillon standing in between my big ole feets. I hope that our picture makes it into the book!

Today my mom got an e-mail from the photographer and she sent us this shot she got of me:

I don't know if I'll be published, but oooooh weeeeee am I good looking or what?!

In November I had another photoshoot. Mom was nervous because the last one scared me pretty bad, but she figured I would do better on this one because the pictures were of us together! And she warned the photographer ahead of time so he used his least scary flash. The pictures turned out VERY cute (except mom had to put my pinch collar on me so she could hold me. that's not so cute, but it's okay).
Mom has been going back and forth on whether or not to make this blog less anonymous. She'd still keep her name a secret but she'd like to be able to show you guys the pictures we took. And she thinks that people like to read blogs with pictures more than without.
So help her out - is it a bad idea to put pictures up? Or a good idea? It's not like she blogs about confidential stuff. And you can still be anonymous with pictures, right? Hmmm....

Oh and feel free to leave comments telling me how beautiful I am.

XOXO,
Elle Woods
ElleWoodsTheGreatDane@gmail.com

Law school is a place for maturity...

So we're talking about a practice problem we did last week in my bar passage class and my professor says this: 

"Now, I'm not expecting you to be an expert in crop dusting."

Ohhhhhh but Professor, I am. 

So of course I am absolutely cracking the hell up and my professor thinks I'm a huge asshole (duh, I am). 

And then he starts talking about whether or not crop dusting is an ultrahazardous activity. And I totally lose it. 

Just another day at law school...

Weigh-In Wednesday

THIS WEEK: +1.5 Pounds

Total: -15 Pounds

Sad. 

The 1.5 pound gain is disappointing, but was totally expected. Last week was restaurant week, and I went to Carnivale on Thursday, McCormick and Schmick's on Friday, and Ruth's Chris on Saturday! There was no holding back. And I took 3 days off from the gym and 1 of my workouts was totally pathetic. SO - the bad news is that I gained, but the good news is I definitely know why! 


This week I vow to eat more veggies and less crap. I've been reading up on the Daniel Fast (check out Mrs. Everlasting's post about it here!) and am seriously considering it as a good way to get myself on a healthy eating regimen as well as a good way to finish out Lent and prepare myself for Easter. Have any of you ever done the Daniel fast? Or any sort of a fast at all?


Speaking of questions - Ask me some!


Here are my workouts from this week:
(oh and I know I said it before, but seriously if you guys haven't taken a Zumba class yet, you need to get yourself to your nearest gym and take one. It is so amazingly hilarious. And go with a friend so you can look like idiots together.)


WEDNESDAY

45 minute spin class

15 minutes elliptical

THURSDAY

60 minute yoga class that was amazing and kicked my butt

30 minutes elliptical

FRIDAY

so so so sore from yesterday's amazing yoga class... day off!

SATURDAY

Nada

SUNDAY

Ohhh it was HARD to drag myself to the gym on Sunday!
10 minute warmup on the bike
10 minutes on the treadmill
30 minutes elliptical

MONDAY

Nothing. Ate McDonald's for lunch and pizza for dinner. Lovely. 

TUESDAY
30 minute Body Blast (kicked my ass!)
20 minutes of zumba (we left early)
20 minutes elliptical

Ask me anything...

Lots of other people have done these, and all I want to do is be like my internet friends, so now it's my turn.

I've gotten some good questions on my formspring account, so here's a chance to open this up to my bloggy readers too. I'm probably going to put together a post later in the week all about me. (YAY! My favorite topic to discuss! Myself!), so tell me, what would you like to know?!

Edited to Add: either ask me in the comments or send me an email at legallyfabulous1@gmail.com