Day Two

Another hellacious BARBRI day. 9-5 again, but this time, non-stop lectures. And, they had to end with Con Law, which is the worst subject freaking EVER. I could barely stay awake. But, I did get a great review of the three subjects done today. Excitingly, I get to go back tomorrow for more fun, 9-5. Yea! (heavy sarcasm noted).

Took Scott to the beach house to show him around. We are closing next Friday and then Kurt and Kory will start renovations.......Hopefully we can get this done and sold before summer is over.

Kurt and I went for a walk in the yard tonight, which I love. The pugs love it too, and I love how they know the exact path to take every time. Some of the vegetation in the yard is SO tall, about 7 feet now.

Yesterday, Kory saw two deer in the yard! I think I saw the same two last summer, but it's exciting they are back! he got two pics with my camera, since I was at work.

Need to get some rest.

Taste of the Bar Exam.....

Today, for class, we had a simulated bar exam. The multiple choice portion. Basically, we did three straight hours of multiple choice in the morning and three in the afternoon (which lunch as a break between). Wow. Even though the questions were not too bad, the intensity of doing SO many questions was awful. I was so fried after that, I can't even explain it. Actually I am still fried and it is almost bedtime! Blah. I even made myself a drink tonight, which is really rare, and now I am feeling a little better. Broke out the Kahlua I bought in Mexico in Dec 2002, a special dark kahlua only made in Mexico......It is super yummy. Put half a shot in my hot chocolate and I think I have invented a new fav drink......

Since I had class all day, I did not have class tonight and got to come home and spend time with Kurt, Kory and Scott (Kurt's brother), who is visiting from Florida. We went over to see the house we are buying to fix up and sell, on Lake Erie, then went to dinner at Pete's Garage. It was fun.

But, now, I am super tired and need to sleep, so I will write more when I get a chance.....

One of Those Days.....

So, today was "one of those days" at the office. The first half of the day went fabulously--got a lot of calls returned, documents drafted. It should have been obvious to me that this meant the second half of the day would be awful. After lunch, so many annoying things. Absurd changes to documents, detailed proofreading to do, blah blah blah. I felt myself starting to tense up and stress--felt a migraine coming on.

So, instead of going to class, I made a massage appointment. Kurt and Kory had plans to go to the Tigers game, so I took the opportunity to spend some time alone and try to destress. I went to the spa in Monroe after work and got a great massage from Cherry, my regular massage therapist at Blu Water Spa. Love that place. I have not been in FOREVER (it has been months since my last appointment). She told me I had a TON of knots and that she wants me to come back sooner than usual because some of them were so deep she could not totally correct them. Which she has not said ever, and I have been seeing her for years, between the two spas she has worked at. So, I am obviously having some issues with my current schedule. :).

Anyway, came home after that and hung out with the pugs and watched totally bad reality TV with Janice Dickinson. I love mindless TV when I need it.

So, am going to try and get a good night's sleep and hopefully, tomorrow is better. Night!

Darn Laptops......

came home today and tried to turn my laptop on, to no avail. It will not turn on. I am hoping my battery is dead or something easy to fix, because Best Buy sends in the machine and I don't want it to take forever...........really, I don't even recall when I got the machine, hopefully, its still under warranty. So, I am back on the desktop temporarily. Blah.

I got so much accomplished today that I have been meaning to do, and never have time. I called our mortgage company on the rental house with some issues we have, then I got together the 8 million documents our mortgage guys needs to refinance our land mortgage next door. Also, sent in some docs on mine and Kurt's IRA accounts.....Bunches of little things that needed to be done. Yay. I always feel so much better when I get all the little annoying things done that have been sitting because Kurt and I are so slammed at the office.

I had a short night of class tonight, only two hours. Yay. It was a helpful two hours, our second Essay Workshop. We were given three questions and had to write our answers on them, and I did surprisingly well. They were not as hard as I expected. I think I am expecting them to be like law school finals, and they obviously can't be as detail oriented as that.

OK, I feel like I live in the middle of a family movie whenever I am out in my yard. After school, I was talking to my Mom on my cell and decided to water my flowers in the front yard. It was about dusk. Anyway, as I was watering, I saw about 5 different bunnies, one of the groundhogs came to visit, and birds were playing in the yard, along with my fav, the cardinal. It's almost like the animals are not even nervous around us anymore--one bunny was less than 10 feet away from me, just standing there........not concerned at all that I was sitting nearby. It's insane and I LOVE IT! I don't understand how anyone would love living in the middle of a huge city with neighbors right on top of them.....

Trying to Catch Up...Also trying to stay awake to do so....

OK. I am so freaking behind, so I am going to try and get some catching up done here before I get too tired.

Last Friday, Kurt, Kory and I went to Canton to the Liberty Fest with Aunt Karen and Carl. We were to see a Blooze Brothers concert and go to dinner. It was a blast. The concert was great, and we walked around the art fair and played some Bingo, which Kory had never played before. Afterwards, we ate at Ashoka, an Indian place, and the food was fab, as usual. Click here to see my album of photos from that event.

Saturday, during the day, Rebecca and I went to the Toledo zoo. It was really hot out, but I had a great time. I love taking pictures of animals and seeing them. Click here to see my album of photos from that event. That night, we went to Royal Oak to the Comedy Club and dinner at Monterey Cantina, which is one of my fav Mexican places to eat.

Sunday, I went to Sterling State and hiked a little bit, got some new pics.

All week was exhausting....class class and more class. Oh, and throw in a full week of work. Blah.

Saturday, I went hiking with Lesley and got to show her Sterling State Park. It was fun to actually get to hike with someone else! I usually go by myself because I don't want to bore others with my constant stopping to snap pics, but Lesley likes to take pics too, so it worked out well! We ate lunch at Denny's afterwards and took her for a walk in the yard.



Saturday night, we did the comedy club and dinner at Mongolian with Rebecca.


Today, I went to a baby shower for my friend Melanie, held at Tammy's house. It was a beautiful "surprise" baby shower. Mel was actually surprised too!

I was shocked because since she lives next store to Tammy and is over there all the time, I did not think they would be able to keep it a secret.

It was nice to see everyone over there, as I had not seen that group of my friends in forever because of my schedule. also, got to pick up the scrapbooking tools I bought at the party at Mel's (which was forever ago). Shows I need to get to that side of town more often! :).

Day From Hell

OMG. I am so freaking bored. I had to go to school today at 130 p.m. for a lecture on Torts III. this lastest until 500 p.m. then another one started at 600 p.m. for Property I. It was one of the most boring days of my entire life. Blah. I much rather would have been hiking at the area above or below..............................Glad to be home.

Taken Over By Yellow

OK, seriously, our yard is being taken over by this yellow plant. It is EVERYWHERE. Out of the acres we have, prob about 25 of them are covered with this plant. It looks gorgeous walking on the paths, but I have on freaking clue what it is. And, we have never had it before. I am guessing some form of weed, but who the heck knows. Oh well, don't really care, I like it regardless...


Nothing too exciting happened today, an average day of work and school. Not much else going on, but I am trying to post every day to keep up with this thing, it's too hard to update when I procrastinate....

One Day--24 hours

Today was so busy. Sometimes, when I am sitting here at night, I don't really know how I do so much in one day.....Anyway, work this morning. Left to go to a doctor's appointment at 10 and while there waiting, read BARBRI stuff. Nothing like multitasking. Go me. HA. Anyway, short wait, so got back to the office around 1035 a.m. Then, worked more, had lunch with Kurty, and left to take Bugsy and Gretel to the vet with Kory. Bugsy was SO BAD. It was hilarious. He is obviously super spoiled because he did not like those vet techs messing with him, giving him shots.......But, they all loved him anyway...He is up to 3 pounds now. Gretel was angelic, as usual. She loves the vets and they all love her. But, after her appointment, they called me and I have to go back and get more meds because apparently, she has some form of parasite in her stool sample. Nothing serious, but I will have to find out more details about it when I call them back in the morning. Gretel weighed the same as last time, 15 pounds. The vet suggested we get her fixed now (should have at like 6 months), but I am really nervous about taking my dogs in after Daisy died from being put under (not at this vet, and a genetic defect with her, but still). So, I will prob schedule that soon........Then back to work and had class tonight, 3+ hours of fun fun Contracts. It actually was better than I anticipated.

So, here are some more pics. We have so many bunnies, here is a shot I got of one of them.

Also have a ton of birds in our yard, that follow us around when we walk back there...

Anyway, that's about it for tonight. Just watched the Tigs win it and noww I need to head off for bed.

Picture Posting Probs

I have not posted in over a week because I was having issues posting pics to this site, and I could not figure it out. In fact, I still have not totally figured it out, but I switched over to Mozilla from Internet Explorer and the pics are uploading in Mozilla, so I guess I will just keep using this browser. Many I have talked to prefer it anyway, so perhaps I should just bite the bullet and switch to it totally. So, I added some pics to my last post, in case you want to see those, look below.

So, to recap on the past week, let's start with last Sunday. Gretel and I met up with Rebecca and Simon in Grosse Pointe Shores at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House for the walk ro raise funds for the Humane Society. We had a blast and Gretel was a freaking angel! She had never walked on a leash prior to that day and she did it like she has known how to her entire life! Simon was perfect as well, :). We had so much fun, and the entire way home, Gretel slept in my lap, she was SOO exhausted. I was so proud of her for being such a good girl.



The rest of the week has been tiring, as usual. BARBRI classes every night, and on one day, I had class for 7 hours straight because of a make-up session I had to do from Kurt being in the hospital that one night.

Kory's 21st b-day was on Tuesday night, and him and Kurt went out to celebrate. I met them at Pete's Garage around 1130 p.m., as I had previous plans to see Wicked at the Masonic with my Aunt. We had dinner at Seldom Blues beforehand and it was one of the best meals I have had in a long time. I had a lobster meal, with shrimp/lobster bisque soup and we split mocha souffle for dessert. Yummy. I highly recommend the place to anyone who wants a nice night out. Plus, we got $25 off our meal with a coupon, and free dessert, so that was great. The show was incredible. It was one of the best ones I have ever seen. Maybe THE best. It wasa long, but it just flew by. AND, we had amazing seats, which rocked because the show sold out pretty much every night and day it was there.



Also, planted flowers last weekend. I have three huge pots on my bricks posts in front of the house, and a tiered flower thing on the front porch, so I bought flowers for all of those. They are really easy to plant, and already, a week later, are like double in size!


We also got the cars out and washed them, they both really needed it. It was fun to pull them in the yard and wash them.........

The pugs and Bugsy LOVED watching from the front door. So, of course, I had to snap a pic.

Saw a rainbow in our yard that same late afternoon, the weather was so weird that day, raining on and off, so this was pretty kewl.

That same night, Kurt and I with the puggies took a long walk in the yard and I shot this pic......Our yard is so incredible now. When we moved in, it was bare and farmland and since we have planted stuff and just let it go, we have so many trees and wildlife. It's turning into exactly what we wanted.

Kory put the solar lights I bought at the end of summer last year in by our sidewalk leading up to the front porch...they look SO good. And, buying them on eBay, I saved SO much money. Thanks Kory!


So, moving on to this weekend. Last night, we had dinner with Julia and Jay at Annam in Dearborn, one of my fav places. It is Vietnamese and awesome. Service and food both. We had a great time.



Both Saturday AND Sunday, I went hiking in Sterling State Park, which is up the street. I got some awesome shots, and posted them all to an online photo album. Click here to see it.


Last and final thing in this novel of a post, I am now a published photographer. A pic I took of Kurt in Red Rock Canyon was published in the Detroit News/Free Press last Sunday! The article, I need to put on here, but the pic that was published is below. I was so excited, and Kurt was harassed at court by other attys. HEHE.

Unknown Life

Today, Kurt and I were at Lowe's, and saw a new store being built next to Kohl's. Kurt asked me, "what is going in there?" I said "TJ Maxx...kewl, hun? It would be nice if I could actually GO to these new stores going in the area." Kurt said "Pretty soon, you will get to..."

Hun. The thought of having FREE time again, to randomly walk through a store that has just opened is really foreign to me. It's almost like I think this won't happen. I have been working so hard for the past three years (and for three years prior to that getting our business off the ground) that it does not seem true that I could have free time--but, I think I will! It will be amazing. Knowing me, I will find something new that will occupy my time, but one can always hope....LOL.

Have not posted in a while, I am always really tired when I get home at night from class.



Last Saturday, Kurt/Kory and I went to Royal Oak to have dinner at Katana and go to Comedy Castle with Rebecca. She met us at the restaurant and the food was awesome. It is a Japanese steakhouse, and kinda like Benihana. They make all the food right in front of you. We had sushi, and I had a shrimp meal. Kory tried a raw piece of sushi and loved it....Kurt thinks he is nuts, haha. The comedy show was great, and the club was the best I have ever been to..AND the tickets were free. I won them through their website. The comedians were hilarious and I even had a drink. Yes, my friends, I did! LOL. I rarely drink, but i had a great strawberry daiquiri. Kurt was driving, so I figured, what the heck?? Click here to see pics from the night.



Sunday was fun...We went to a Tigers game against the Indians. They lost their first game in a while..We had amazing seats in the infield box, right behind home plate. So, even though we lost, I got some amazing shots of the players during the game, which was nice. It was SO hot that day though and by the time we got home, we were all exhausted. We went and got ice cream down the street, but the heat kinda gave me a headache so I took a short nap. Click here to see pics from the game.



We bought 10 new trees from the nursery as well, they are Willow Oaks. Kurt and Kory planted them on Memorial Day in the yard and they all look awesome. Speaking of trees, our yard is becoming so kewl. When we moved in, the previous owner had been farming out our land. We stopped that, but the entire yard was pretty bare. Well, in the past three years, with our planting trees, and the yard being allowed to grow instead of being farmed--the yard has flourished. We have a ton of trees that have grown in the wild, and the animal life in the yard is incredible.

The rest of the week was really tiring. Kurt's stomach/side has been hurting him for a while, but he just thought it was stress, etc. Well, he was supposed to leave for Nashville on Tuesday night and while at the airport, his side started hurting so much he could not walk. Then, his flight got cancelled because of thunderstorms in Chicago (his layover). So, he left and called me at school to tell me he was checking himself into the hospital. So, I left school and met him and Kory there. By the time I got there (I was driving from Detroit to Monroe), they had already done blood work and xrays. They decided they wanted to keep him overnight for observation and a CT scan. By the time morning came, they still had not found anything. They thought it was his appendix or kidney stones. Ruled out his appendix, but kidney stones was inconclusive. The ER is really frustrating. Everything was super slow, and it's like, if you are not DYING, they don't really care what is wrong with you. So, I made Kurt an appointment with our normal doctor so he can be referred to a specialist. He flew out that night to Nashville. Everyone there was really concerned about him and shocked he even made the conference, knowing he had spent the night in the hospital.

This weekend has been fairly relaxing. Tomorrow is the mutt murch for Humane Society, thanks again to everyone who donated. I am sure I will have some pics for the site tomorrow.....

Make the Insanity Stop

OK, my bar review courses are offially killing me. Since i have not blogged in about one week, this should be obvious to some....Anyway, I started BARBRI on Monday. Every night, from 6:00 p.m. until 9::30 p.m. (Sometimes later). I am on day four and i am SOOO tired. Kurt finally, on his own, decided that something needs to change or I am going to have a mental breakdown by the end of summer. I simply can't study, work full-time AND attend these freaking classes. I am only home for literally about 2 waking hours a day. So, we changed around our secretaries' schedules so someone will be working every day, all day long. This way, I can work less, and sometimes do to class during the morning hours. This will help me so much and I am so relieved. I just have to make it through one more class tomorrow night. It's subject is Professional Responsibility, which iss somewhat interesting.

Sooo, since my last blog, what have we done....Last Friday night, Kurt, Kory and I went to Crave to celebrate my birthday as well as graduation. Crave is so awesome, my fav restaurant by far. Kory had never eaten Japanese food, so it was fun to let him try it, and he loved it AND Crave. The food was incredible, as usual. I wish I had time to go there more often.



Saturday, I had class, but then that night, we had dinner with my sister, her fiance, Jim, and his two kids, as well as my Auntie and my Grama. I had never met the kids before, and they were so sweet and fun. We had a blast at dinner and the house. The kids loved the pugs and Busgy.



Sunday, I had class. Kurt and Kory went to the Tigers game...I was jealous! ;).

This rest has pretty much consisted of class. Kurt and Kory planted 16 new pine trees in the yard and bought all the supplies to do the gym in the basement. Everything was delivered, but they have not started yet. I can't wait until that is done too.......

Think of the Positive

OK, I am trying to draft a really upbeat post here, because I have been exhausted all week from this bar review class. Love the class, hate the time I have to put into it...but, like I said before, worth every minute. I totally can see how the class benefits those who take it, it's doing wonders for me. Today, the lecture was Property. Great lecture, but BORING. And the guy teaches is hilarious, it's the material that was not that exciting. Tomorrow is Torts, so hopefully I will like it more.....Did all my homework for tomrrow's class tonight so I can work in the morning. Yay.

I so love Spring, and I really wish I could enjoy it! I want to go take pictures this weekend and hike, and instead I am stuck in a huge lecture hall in Cobo Arena learning about Con Law and Evidence....................

The Fun Never Stops

Happy Birthday to Me!! :). I am so exhausted that we are not going to celebreate until later, maybe this weekend. This week has totally worn me out........

Graduation was Monday night! I officially had a J.D. Crazy, hun? It still does not seem real to me....Anyway, the day was fun. I got to leave work after half a day, and then we went home. My Grama/Grampa, Mom/Ronnie got here around 2:30 p.m. and my grandparents got to see the house which they have never been to before. Then, we all went to an early dinner at Red Lobster. After that, Aunt Karen and my other Grama met us at our house and we all left in two cars together. My Dad, Julia and Jay met us down there. The ceremony was long and pretty boring. I was most concerned with tripping in my heels on the stage, so once I did not do that, I was psyched. Kurt was convinced I would since I rarely wear heels, LOL. He said he was ready with the camera to photograph my embarassing moment, but it did not happen so HA! Afterwards, there was a really nice reception at the Opera House and we took more pics.

The very next morning, I had to start my bar review courses. I had to leave the house at 730 a.m., and have had class each day since. Love the classes. Very, very helpful and I am so glad I took this. Many students only take BARBRI, but this PMBR class is superb. I am being so well refreshed in all this subjects I took like three years ago now......Today was Contracts, yesterday was Criminal Law. Tomorrow is Property. Yuck.

Anyway, I am going to sign off since I am exhausted and need to get some more work done before we leave.

No More Finals, but the Studying Never Stops.....

So.....finished my last two finals last Tuesday. I had two finals in the same day, which was no fun at all. Basically three hours of writing, then a short break, three more hours of writing. Anyone thinking about attending law school in the future, please keep in mind that each exam period, you will have bruised fingers and thumbs and almost have an exhaustion breakdown.........I was so tired at the end of the day.

Since then, life has been a blur and a combination of trying to catch things up at the office and trying to find sanity again, with a splash of trying to relax. I only have one week from my last final until the first day of bar review courses. What really sucks is that the first day of bar review courses is literally the morning after graduation, which is May 15. I picked up my cap and gown on Tuesday, and bought an outfit to wear this weekend at Elder Beerman. Really cute dress and awesome shoes, they are actually comfy after a night of wear. The graduation is being held at the Detroit Opera House, so I hope the temp there is good, and I don't have to stand too much....

Had a great weekend. Friday night, we took Kory to dinner at La Shish in Dearborn, to have dinner with Julia and Jay. He had never had Lebanese food, and really liked it. Even tried Jay's "kibbe nayee", which is basically raw lamb. Saturday night, we went to dinner with Kory, Cliff and Lisa, in Ann Arbor at Seva, a vegetarian restaurant, that was superb. Then, we went to the comedy club underneath Seva, called Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase. The first comedian was AWFUL, but the second two were funny. We rated the show average, but Kory loved it since it was his first comedy show ever. :). Today, we had dinner with Grama, Aunt Karen, my Dad, and Kory at Quatro's in Monroe. Food was great, but the service was below par, our waitress was kinda rude, which is so rare there. I think she must have been stressed but still. What a beyotch.

Oh, two weekends ago, Kurt and Kory bought and planted 9 Birch trees, 20 feet tall each. They look awesome in the backyard and since it has been raining nonstop since, hopefully they are rooting in really well.

Anyway, off to bed. I am exhausted and have a long week in front of me......

Birthdays

I love Spring. Yay, yay, and more yay! I so love all the flowers blooming, grass growing, allergies and Kurt sneezing....OK, wait, ignore that last part. HA.



Went to dinner for my Aunt's birthday tonight in Belleville at a place right on the water. Been there before, but it's renamed and newly bought out. Anyway, great food and awesome view. I highly recommend......

Today was Bugsy Siegel's last day as the office kitty. I think. He is so cute at the office though, I love having him there. But he far too spoiled for sure. All our employees love him and every client that walks in the door wants to hold or take him home.......Check Bugsy out in the printer:



Bugs is doing so much better at the house too. He recently found a pot to hide in, and would reach out and hit Vito every so often:



Gotta run. I am exhausted and want to get to bed soon. Night everyone!

One Down, Three to Go.....

So, I took my first final of the Final Four last night. I have deemed my last four finals that term as of right now, :). Last night was Constitutional Law II. The one I was the most nervous about because our prof is a freaking Con Law genious and nothing I could possibly say could even be close to the right answer.....But, it was 4 essay questions. I was glad for the 4, as I hate the exams with like 2 questions (as he mentioned in class it may be). Three hour exam, and I turned mine in at the two minute warning. One down, three to go...............my next one is Criminal Procedure I, which is Wednesday afternoon and the other two are next week Tuesday. So, I get to spend yet another weekend studying for school. Blah on school. At least these are my last exams! Hurrah! :).

Kory, our nephew (Kurt's sister's son), moved in with us on Friday. He is 20, almost 21. He and Kurt want to start some businesses together--Kory has time, Kurt has ideas and money. So, their combined effort will hopefully increase my net income for the year. So far, Kurt has just been having Kory do some things around the house--he mowed the lawn yesterday, is staining trim today. Yay for things getting done around my house! :).

I studied most of the weekend, which Kurt and Kory got to attend an awesome Tigers game with 18 runs scored by our team! I wish I could have gone, but I am sure I will be going to some games before long with Rebecca joining us! :). Right, Rebecca?

Bugsy has still been coming to work with us every day. I am unsure if this is necessary or not, as he is getting along better with the pugs, but, I think Kurt and I actually like having him here. (Don't tell).

Anyway, back to studying. Will try and update more later, when I have time to do it and I am not just procrastinating.