The results are coming...

EDITED TO ADD: I'm a liar. If I make it through today and tomorrow without shitting my pants it will be a success.


When you take the Illinois bar exam, they tell you that your results are coming sometime in the first two weeks of October. However, historically, they have arrived promptly on October 1. Uhhh. That's tomorrow. Weird.

As my friend Amie wrote last year, she received an e-mail at around 9 AM on October 1st telling her that results were in. It appeared that results went out in alphabetical order, and some of her classmates didn't find out until SEVEN HOURS LATER. The ten weeks since the exam have gone by quickly and I really haven't worried about it much, but I swear to God if people start finding out tomorrow at 9AM and I don't have my results until 5PM I will absolutely freaking LOSE IT. Luckily Amie and I both have early in the alphabet last names, so I hope I'm okay.

So, to answer the inevitable question: how do I feel? Well. Last week I was a little nervous and got a knot in my stomach every time I thought about it. This week? I'm totally fine. 

The calm before the storm? I've accepted my inevitable failure? Who knows.

I've already read blog posts of people failing other states. I don't know what I'll do if I fail... but I do know that life will go on.

Do I feel confident that I passed? I'm not sure that confident is the right word. 

I certainly did not study everything that I was told to. I definitely didn't do enough practice multiple choice questions. And I didn't do any practice essays. The test was really freaking hard. But did I know some stuff? Sure. 

Last year 84%of people who took the July Illinois bar exam passed. And graduates from my law school had a higher passage rate. So, do I think I knew as much as 84% of my peers? There's a really good chance. 

So basically - I won't be shocked either way, pass or fail. And either way, I'll be drinking (I know, you're shocked)

So, I'll be back tomorrow, with results either way. I'm going out tonight and drinking heavily with lots of friends. I have given my IBABY (Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar AND YOU!) login and password to my friend Brad and my roommate Kevin, so if I drink myself to death tonight, or get hit by a bus, or just can't bring myself to click, or forget my password, they can find out. If I am dead, I'll make sure to have someone post the results so you know what happened. Ha.

Oh, and tomorrow also happens to be my 500th blog post. So THANK YOU, my fabulous readers, for being with me through all of this! You're the best!

Vote to CURE SMA!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GO TO VOTE4SMA.COM and vote for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation!

Hey everyone - below I am re-posting an older post I wrote about the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation...
Gwendolyn Strong has SMA type 1. Her parents, Victoria and Bill, have a website and blog about their journey. Their blog was one of the first blogs I ever started reading years ago, and my admiration for Bill and Victoria grows every day.

TODAY is the LAST DAY of a contest they are in to try and win $20,000 to help CURE the cruel disease that is killing their sweet 3-year old.




For those of you who don't know about Gwendolyn Strong, I suggest you hop on over to www.gwendolynstrong.com right now and read up.

Gwendyoln is a 3 year old old with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type I (SMA), which is the leading genetic killer of children.

gwendolynstrong.com is written by her parents, Bill and Victoria, about their struggles with SMA and their journey with their beautiful daughter. This is from their website:

We are Bill and Victoria Strong. Our precious daughter, Gwendolyn DeBard Strong, was born perfectly healthy October 4, 2007. At 9-weeks-old she was hospitalized with what was thought to be Infant Botulism, a serious, but treatable illness. However, eventually, just before her 6 month birthday, our worst fears were realized when she was diagnosed with the terminal, degenerative disease SMA Type 1. This is the journey that follows the good, the bad, and all things Gwendolyn.

Most babies diagnosed with SMA Type 1 don't live to see their second birthday. This disease is SO tragic, but they are so close to finding a cure.

Watch this video:



Then go sign the petition to cure SMA:



This family has so touched my heart, and I'm sure if you go back through the archives of their blog they will touch yours too.

So lets get out there fabulous ones - and watch the video, sign the petition, donate some extra coin to the Gwendolyn Strong foundation if you have any, and keep sweet Gwendolyn and her incredible parents in your prayers.

XOXO

Resume Editing

I spent last night updating my resume for the 800,000th time. 
Based on the suggestions of Twitter friends, attorney friends, non-attorney friends, and a friend who works at CareerBuilder and has access to 79 gazillion attorney resumes, I am pretty happy with the way it looks right now.


Apparently I have an obsession with fonts. I didn't realize I did, but I do. (Confession: I even watched the documentary "Helvetica" on Netflix, which is about - you guessed it - fonts! I mayyyy also have a documentary obsession.) 
So naturally, one of the hardest parts of re-doing my resume was picking the right font. 
A twitter friend linked me to this website, and I spent hours last night poring over it.

http://www.typographyforlawyers.com/

For the moment I have settled on Century Schoolyard, and now I'm just waiting to insert the last missing line before my resume is complete... 

"Legally Fabulous is admitted to practice in the State of Illinois."

(just a couple days til bar results. gulp.)


So - what font is your resume in?!

Church Tales

This weekend I was in Dallas... my parents always take Granny and Papa to Church on Saturday at 5:30, but since the Hogs were playing Saturday (sad game), we told them we would just go to dinner after the game instead of after Church, as is the usual plan.

Since Saturday was my dad's birthday we told him that as his birthday present he could skip church for the weekend and my mom and I would take them to Mass on Sunday morning. (now that I write that it sounds really bad. ha. But he takes them to Mass every single Saturday so I don't blame him for wanting a weekend off!).

So Sunday morning my Mom and I took Granny and Papa to Church. There were TONS of kids there because the school that is associated with the Church was having their fall athlete mass so alllll of the kids were there in their jerseys. And that meant their moms and dads were there with their little brothers and sisters. They were whining and crying and SCREAMING the whole Mass. It was SO annoying.

After we dropped Granny and Papa off after church we picked my dad up and went out to breakfast. I was telling him about all the screaming children and said that St. Rita REALLY needs a nursery so all of the whiners/screamers can go somewhere else during Mass... my dad's response?

"No, Children need to be tortured by sitting through Mass just like the rest of us."

I was cracking up. 

And then my mom proceeded to tell me a story about a time when we were at Mass when I was about 2 years old... It was a silent part of the Mass when the Priest (who was very overweight) was standing up on the Altar and my mom said I stood up on the pew and HOLLERED at her:

"MOM, WHY IS GOD FAT?!"

HA. Kids say the darnedest things. 

Happy Monday everyone!

Workout Playlist

I got several requests on Twitter yesterday for my workout playlist (which also doubles as my getting ready playlist). I haven't posted any of these in a while, so here it is!

Any good songs I need to add?!

I'm off to Dallas for the weekend, hope everyone has a good one!

Things that Suck/Don't suck

Things that Suck:
- my wallet got stolen at lunch today
- the asshole managed to spend $500 in the 15 minutes before I could get all my debit/credit cards cancelled

Things that DON'T Suck:
- I have my passport at home so I can still get on my flight to Dallas tomorrow morning
- This baby came in the mail from Momma Fabulous today:

This baby is the Rolls Royce of vacuums.
So pumped!

Good Day

I had to go to court for my CASA babies this morning, which means I stayed up late last night finishing my court report, got up early this morning to shower and dress for
Court (I rarely shower in the morning and I usually wear jeans and a v-neck tshirt to work), then hustled in to get to work 45 minutes late, and paid $27 to park my car downtown for the day.

Work was busy all day (as usual) and I ended up having to stay 3 hours later than usual at work to get a FOURTH draft of a judgment of dissolution of marriage/joint parenting agreement out the door (which totally didn't bother me because I get paid hourly, am learning lots, and have nothing better to do).

Then I came home to 5 of my nearest and dearest friends, put on my fuzzy pink bathrobe, and we watched a couple of episodes of Hoarders while drinking wine.
(then I spilled red wine on my fuzzy pink bathrobe and laughed at what a hot mess I am)(sidenote: reason number gazillion why I don't usually drink red wine)

And as I lay here typing this before I go to bed?
All I can think is "it was a pretty good day."

10 Days

Until bar exam results.

Barf
Barf
Barf
BARF.

Eharmony is a freaking disaster

So I joined eharmony...
it has been nothing short of a disaster. I really need to delete my account (yes, it's THAT BAD).

So many people kept telling me about how great eharmony is, so I joined... and it's awful. I wish I could share some of the pictures of these guys, but that would just be wrong. Let's just say that I keep get matched with Jersey Shore rejects. They're SO AWFUL.
I also keep getting matched with 22 year olds who are 5'6" or shorter that live in the suburbs. Kill me.

But today I just wanted to share this gem from one of the "about me" sections of the profile of one of the guys that eharmony thinks I'd be a match with.

"I speak Italian and am learning Spanish. So finding someone who can speak any of these languages, or any other for that matter, I suppose would be a plus. This isn’t very important however, as long as I meet someone with a good sense of humor, or, can find humor in me being kinda weird sometimes, (I may have a mental disorder, haven’t found exactly what its called yet.  )"

WHAT THE HELL?!?!

Wooooooooooo

PIG SOOIE!
I found this pic and had to share it...
This is my little neighbor from home with his Arkansas Pacifier (which are called "binky" in the Fabulous household) in his first college football season, which was fall of 2006.
(OMG I cannot believe  he'll be FIVE in January!)

(that's a little razorback on his binky if you can't tell!)

GO HOGS! 

BEAT GEORGIA! 

And of course... I could not leave this post off there...
also from fall 2006... one of Baby Daniel's many Illinois outfits.

Baby Daniel says "I-L-L!"

GO ILLINI!

(Also I wish I had a picture of Baby Daniel in one of his gazillion Texas Tech outfits... Daniel's parents met at Texas Tech University (as did Momma and Daddy Fabulous!) and he is a BIG Red Raider fan!)

Hope your team wins big this weekend! (unless your team is Northern Illinois or Georgia or Texas!)

Not ready to see summer go

Edited - pics should be working now... I told you guys I was having internet troubles this week!


I'm still feeling like crap.

Well actually yesterday when I woke up (at 5AM when my alarm was set for 7:30, thank you sweet precious punkin Elle Woods), I felt okay. I'd had a couple good nights of rest, so I got out of bed, worked out, showered (I never shower in the mornings), and got suited up for trial (which didn't even happen because we just ended up having a settlement conference and may or may not have settled). But by the time I'd spent 6 hours sitting around the courthouse sandwiched between 3 hours of driving time (yay suburbs!), I got home and I was feeling crappy again. 

So I did the mucinex and tylenol sinus chased with a big ole giant glass of wine in the bath tub routine before hitting the sack early... Hopefully I've kicked this thing for good. 

So in an effort to avoid doing something like blogging my social security number (I'd say my home address but you'd have to get past the doorman and Elle Woods, so I'm not too worried about that), today I'm just going to leave you with some of my favorite pics from Summer 2010, because I'm just not ready to see these warm months leave yet...

Sigh. 

I am so not ready to trade bathing suits for snow boots... 

Monday Again

Monday again, huh?

This is one of Elle's many friends, Sebastian the English Bulldog.

He and I have similar thoughts about the weekend being over.

I have nothing else to add.








(Back tomorrow with a weekend recap!)

Real Men

My mom forwarded this to me a couple days ago and it's just too good not to share...

A real man is a woman's best friend. He will never stand her up and never let her down. He will reassure her when she feels insecure and comfort her after a bad day. 
  
He will inspire her to do things she never thought she could do; to live without fear and forget regret. He will enable her to express her deepest emotions and give in to her most intimate desires. He will make sure she always feels as though she's the most beautiful woman in the room and will enable her to think of herself as confident and invincible. 
  
No, wait.  Sorry, I'm thinking of Vodka.  That's what Vodka does. 
  
Never mind. 

Backpack Moratorium

My junior year of high school (I think... may have been junior year) my principal called a "backpack moratorium"....
For one full week of classes no one was allowed to carry a backpack. Yes. No backpacks. In high school.

Dumbest rule ever? Yes.

The principal wasn't actually the one who called it a "moratorium"... that was some clever student, and the name caught.
And what was the point of the outlawing of the backpack? Well our darling, wonderful, incredibly well-liked principal was concerned about our backs, and she just laid up in bed at night worrying that we were all going to get scoliosis from carrying a gazillion books, our laptops (we were required to have these awful Toshiba laptops [that weren't awful at the time] all through high school), power cords, etc. with us all day. (good God why is there no sarcasm font?)

Apparently her thought was that by disallowing backpacks, we would be forced to use our lockers, and would go to our lockers in between every class and get the book for the next class instead of carrying all the books for the day with us.  (obviously she was worried about the very important things that matter to teenage girls). (again, with the lack of a sarcasm font)

My high school (like most, I'm sure), was very spread out. There just wasn't enough time to go to your locker and make it to class on time. And carrying a laptop and a power cord by hand? Give me a break.

So everyone was pissed.

Seriously, I can remember it like it was yesterday. People could talk about nothing else. Because they were FURIOUS. (I mean come on, we were 16 year old girls... and when a principal that you already hate makes up some bullshit rule just because she can, shit's gonna hit the fan).

Never one to be outdone, I decided that I would make a silent statement against the backpack moratorium.

So I borrowed one of these babies:

And I wheeled my crap through the halls.

I'm sure you can imagine how thrilled the principal and Dean of Students were with my attempt to circumvent their rules.



What was the point of this post? There wasn't one. I just remembered the event and thought I'd share it so you can catch a glimpse into the life of 16 year old Legally Fabulous. Nope, law school didn't make me a smart ass. I've been one for a long long time. 

A Tale of Two Canines

First of all - thanks for everyone's sweet comments and e-mails on my last post. I'm still feeling pretty melancholy, but life must go on, right?!

So as promised (although a day later than I intended) here is a recap of Labor Day...

On Friday night Daisy and B dropped off Mr. Rhett Butler to spend the weekend at our house.

At first he was not so sure about being in a new house. And spent a few hours at the door crying, waiting for his mom and dad to come back.

(yes, my entry way is also apparently a shoe closet)

But he and Elle quickly remembered that they are best buds and took some laps up and down the halls and then things were better.

After tearing through the halls, it was time to sit on the couch and watch the tube:

And Rhett Butler joined me in some tweeting and internet surfing:

And watched some shows too



Then it was time for treats!!! Rhett Butler said "I'm gonna take my treat under here, where you can't get any! nah-nah-nah-nah-boo-boo!"

And Elle said "why u no want to sharez wif me? iz nice to sharez! and howz u fitz under der?"

(no fear - Elle had her own treat, she just finished it in one gulp while RB took his time)

After treats came naptime. Elle remembered from her visit to Camp Daisy how great Rhett Butler's tiny bed is!  Even though her giant bed was laying empty right next to it.



And Rhett Butler said "she haz tha dumbz. Why would u lay on EITHER of those beds when this giant couch is wiiiiide open?!"

And then when the weekend was over... Daisy and B returned from California to pick Rhett Butler up, and Elle Woods was very very sleepy. And probably glad to have her couch back.

THE END. 

Woe is Me

Listening to people bitch is exhausting. And if you want to smack people who bitch and complain about their lives, consider yourself warned that now is the time for you to just click on out to the next funny on the internet, because there is no funny happening here right now.

I was having a decently okay day, kind of annoyed about the crappy weather and all of the usual annoying things in my life, but nothing too huge. I cleaned my room, cleaned out my closet, and was going to Bed Bath and Beyond to purchase a new trash can because Ms. Elle Woods has figured out how to open mine to help herself to whatever garbage is inside. Isn't she a gem?

So I'm stopped a red light, checking my e-mail, when a cop going in the opposite direction decides to whip around, pull me over, and give me a ticket for not using a hands free device. Okay, whatever, I know I broke the law... but give me a break. WE have one of the highest murder rates in the country, and you're going to give me a ticket for checking my e-mail at a red light?  Fuck you Oprah.
Oh and also? I got a ticket for not having a city sticker. I was under the impression that you have to have a certain sticker to park in Chicago. Since I park in a parking garage I do not have one. NOPE, Mr. Police officer says, ANYONE WHO DRIVES IN CHICAGO has to have this sticker. What a fucking joke.
So basically this just totally sent me into a downward spiral of anger and self-loathing and wah wah I hate my life. So THANK YOU, Mr. Chicago police officer for serving and protecting. Grrr.

So here's where I'm going to go through and tell you everything that I hate about my life right now. Because maybe getting it off my chest will make me feel better?

First off - I'm broke. And not like "wahhh I want to take trips" broke. Like I haven't been to the grocery store in weeks because I can't. I am behind on bills because I can't pay them.
I know I wrote that I have a job, which don't get me wrong I am SO grateful for (and am actually learning a lot at!), but I am working 20 hours a week making 15 dollars an hour.
I have a JD, student loans coming due in November, and I make 300 dollars a week and live in Chicago. I literally cannot afford to live. (and I know so many of my classmates and other new grads are in the same situation. It just really sucks).

Oh and this is just a minor thing, but I joined eharmony and it's so awful it's depressing. I haven't dated anyone in 3.5 years. And I realize I'm still young, but it's kind of depressing to think about. Most of the time I don't really let it bother me, but on this long holiday weekend? I admit, I was feeling a little lonely.

I keep gaining weight. Because I get depressed, and I eat my feelings, and then I gain weight, and I get sad again, and I eat more. And it's a vicious cycle.

My mom technically doesn't have cancer at the moment, but the doctor basically said "you will always have cancer, it's just a matter of keeping it at bay." So anytime she is acting bitchy or "off", as she was this past week, I automatically assume she just had a doctor's appointment and got bad news. It's always there in the back of my mind. FUCK CANCER.

I've taken medicine for depression since high school. I have had a couple bouts of some pretty serious depression but I've managed it well with medication. My medication is currently not covered by the AWESOME insurance I had to purchase for myself for $140 a month. I had to switch from the medication that was working well to something that's working just sort of okay, and it's $150 a month. And I've stopped taking my adderall altogether, because I can't afford it, which makes me even crazier than usual. Even my friends have started to notice I'm not "properly medicated."

Elle is still sick. She's doing a little better, but she's far from 100%. She is on a very high dose of steroids, which make her eat and drink like crazy. And because she's eating and drinking like crazy, she has to go outside ALL the time. I haven't slept more than 5 hours at a time since July. And she pees inside all the time. My house smells like pee. It's awful. And I feel so bad, because I can't get mad at her, because she can't help it (she is a heavy sleeper and often pees in her sleep). I have done more laundry in the last 6 weeks than I've done in the past year. And of course the laundry is EXPENSIVE (2 dollars to wash and 2 dollars to dry each load), it's in the basement so it's like a 2 hour process, and it sucks. I have 800 candles burning at all times to try to get rid of the smell. I'm having the carpets cleaned tomorrow so hopefully it will help, even though it's really embarrassing, because seriously? They're GROSS.
Oh and the eating and drinking all the time? She is currently eating 80 dollars worth of food every 10 days. I can't afford to go to the grocery store for myself because I'm spending all my money on my damn dog.

And then? As if I'm not feeling bad enough about myself and my life, I start feeling guilty for feeling depressed.  Because I KNOW that I really DON'T have it that bad. Other people are broke too, and their parents can't afford to help them out. I KNOW that I'm lucky.  But that's the funny thing about depression. IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. I know that this is temporary, things really are not THAT bad, but that doesn't keep me from being unable to get out of bed for days at a time except to take the dog out.

So anyway... I didn't write all of this so you can feel sorry for me... more because ya know, it's my blog, I write about what I want. And right now? I want to write about how my life sucks. Ugh.
Tomorrow I will have cute dog pictures. Promise.

One more hurdle

"Dear Ms. [Legally Fabulous],


We are pleased to advise that your application has been recommended for certification by the Committee on Character and Fitness."


....




YES! Not that I was super worried about it, but it's nice that it's finally out of the way! And at least if I can't be a lawyer it's because I couldn't pass the bar exam, not because I'm a degenerate... (actually now that I type that out I'm not sure that that's better...)


Speaking of the bar exam....
 results... dun dun dun.


I wasn't super nervous before the exam, and for the month after I pretty much blocked it out and didn't think about it other than when someone asked me how it went, but when I realized that Wednesday was September 1 and that meant I was one month away from results, I immediately got a giant knot in my stomach and wanted to BARF. 

4 weeks from today I will know whether or not I passed. 

BARF.

Thank God I have lots of fun stuff going on between now and then, so hopefully it will go by quickly. 

BARF.

Wednesday Randomness

I'm a busy bee this week so today I'm just gonna share random thoughts:

- I got a lot of really great and a couple of super lame comments on my last post. I could probably write 10 more posts on the topic but my ADHD has gotten the best of me and I don't want to talk about it anymore.

- I've been super lazy and barely worked out over the last week. Workout Wednesday will be back next week... although I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who cares

- Yesterday was my first real day of work and for the most part it was great... I was super busy all day long so the day flew by. One of my main tasks is reading/printing/answering e-mails from clients. All I'll say about that: Holy shit ya'll. People going through divorces be crazy.

- Today is my first day in court - assisting the bossman in trial! I'm excited. I don't yet know what I'm going to wear... eep!

- Tonight I am having dinner with Daisy, Amie, and the Faux Trixie. V cancelled on us at the last minute and now I hate her forever. Jk. Daisy is cooking for us, Daisy Dinners never disappoint, and Daisy is the only one of them I've met before, so I'm excited to make some of my internet besties my new real life friends!

- I'm loving my new fall sweaters/jeans/boots, but I just love summer so much. I wish the wonderful warm weather would stay forever!

- Three years ago this week I was in the middle of my third week in Chicago, my second week of law school, and just a couple of days away from bringing home my 18 pound unhousebroken snugglebug, Elle Woods. (yeah, maybe tossed a little too much onto my plate all at once there, huh? But she was just so damn cute!)

Little Elle Woods, 7.5 weeks old, 18 pounds. (and already pretty in pink!)

So that's what's on my brain... What's going on in your corner of the interwebz?