Beautiful Times

I fought all through the night

Oh, oh, but I made it alive

The sun's starting to rise

Oh, oh, these are beautiful times

This fight of my life is so hard, so hard, so hard

But I'm gonna survive

Oh, oh, these are beautiful times

                                                      -Owl City

I have good news (that's already been announced to facebook, actually. Haha). I HAVE A JOB!!

Last week, I was hired by a local OfficeMax, or rather, Office DepotMax as their Lead Sales Consultant -- Customer Experience. My job is to make sure that customers are being helped and that the store is operating where it should be. I'm a supervisor! It's the most authority I've ever had in a professional setting and I'm crazy nervous. But I think I'll be okay. The store and assistant managers felt that I would be good in this position and I'm going to do the very best I can.

It came at the best time. I was starting to lose hope that I would be able to find a job at all and, unable to afford to stay, I felt that I would be returning to California. I am SO glad I get to stay. Kris also has gotten settled into his job and he seems to like it. He's a lot happier there than he would have been working overnight stocking at Walmart. So I'm crazy happy for him. He's getting used to his new place and has a car!! Things have been going well for him.

I started work this past Tuesday and worked through Friday. There are many, many things I need to learn. Not only the jobs of the associates I'm overseeing, but also all the managerial duties that I'm responsible for. Even though retail is simple enough, the sheer amount of new information I'm receiving makes me nervous. I don't want to forget something important. I'm sure that once I start getting used to it, I'll be fine. For now though, I'm just trying not to show how nervous I am. 

In other news, Kris and I are becoming members at the church we've found. We really like the community there and the environment is so warm and welcoming. I also am talking to the worship leader to see about joining the worship team. It's such a good feeling to plug in somewhere since I no longer am as connected to the Regent community as I used to be.

As far as getting settled in Virginia is concerned, now that I've decided to stay here and am gaining the means to do so, I am making progress. I have a Virginia license, I'm registered to vote, and I'll pay Virginia taxes. I'm sorry California, but I'm not coming back. 

I really appreciate the support I've gotten from everyone through the last few months. My friends have been so encouraging through the dismissal, the job hunt and resulting discouragement, and now with getting the job. I've appreciated the comments, phone calls and texts so much. Even though I'm staying out here, I do miss my California family and friends. I wish you all were here with me, but I'm glad that y'all seem to be doing well, from what I've heard. Please continue to let me know how you're doing and keeping in touch. :)

Send me letters! My address has changed so if you're interested, send me a text/email/fb communication/call and I'll let you know what it is. I promise to send you a response. :)

I'll keep y'all posted as my life goes on. Thanks for reading!

3 Things

There are three things I do when my life falls apart

Number one I cry my eyes out and dry up my heart

Not until I do this will my new life start

So that’s the first thing that I do when my life falls apart.

Oh, the second thing I do is I close both of my eyes

And say my thank-yous to each and every moment of my life.

I go where I know the love is and let it fill me up inside

Gathering new strength from sorrow,

I’m glad to be alive.

Things are looking up

I know above the clouds the sun is shining

Things are looking up

Love is still the answer I'm relying on

Three little things

Things are looking up

The third thing that I do now when my world caves in,

is I pause, I take a breath, and bow and I let that chapter end.

I design my future bright, not by where my life has been.

And I try, try, try, try, try again.

                                  --Jason Mraz

Kris, Laura, and Sabrena in front of the gardens' entrance.

Greetings! This post is long overdo, I know.  Sorry for taking my sweet time to write a new post. I know y'all have waited anxiously to hear from me again. ;)

Aaaaanyway.

I finished my internship at the beginning of August, and my job at the school ended last week because the summer is over and classes have started back up for the Regent folk. So it's just a matter of finding myself a stable job.... or two. I've had some luck. I interviewed with Best Buy, Regent, and OfficeMax. Best Buy said no, Office Max is getting back to me this week, and I should hear from Regent next week.

The Enchanted Forest!

I'm still applying for places and everything, but we'll see what happens. When it comes down to it, I'm going to do what it takes to stay here.

I moved! Granted, I moved within the same complex, but I now live in a two bedroom apartment with a roommate. Yes, my days of lonely living are over, I have a roommate! I'm pretty stoked about it. She's a law student that I met last year and (at least for the week we've lived together) has turned out to be a great person to live with.

I also had some pretty fantastic visitors. :) Laura and Sabrena came to seee meee. :D They had been here for a couple of days and left last Tuesday. Unfortunately, they came to visit the weekend I had to move. Thankfully, though, they were gracious enough to help me move. I really, really loved having them here.

Kinda looks like a fairy tale, doesn't it?

Laura in a tree.

We did do some fun things, too. We went to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens (that's where all the flower pictures attached to this post are from) and to the beachfront. The Gardens were beautiful. I would probably have enjoyed myself far more if we hadn't been moving that whole morning before we went. There are miles of trails so we didn't see the whole thing, naturally. But we went to a Butterfly house, a rose garden, a place called the Enchanted Forest, and the Japanese Botanical Garden. Near the end, we took the tram which, in retrospect, we probably should have done first. It turned out to be a great day. After the gardens, we returned to the apartment to shower and freshen up. We went to Ynot for dinner which is this yummy pizza place out here that has a lot of gluten free options. For the first time in a long while, Laura got to have Ravioli!! I was pretty excited about that, anyway. I think she was, too.

We played a board game called Pandemic. Basically, it's a cooperative game where all the players (up to 4) are trying to rid the world of these four diseases. At the end of each person's turn, the diseases spread based on the card you draw. We played four or five times and couldn't win. It is surprisingly a LOT of fun.

We ended our trip at the beach which was a short, but lovely time. After a weekend of moving, I was exhausted and pretty much just wanted a nap. The day I took them to the airport, I slept from 6:30 pm on until morning, I was that tired. I'm still tired. Kris thinks that it has more to do with adjusting to the fact that I'm really not going back to school.

I hadn't noticed that my phone had switched
 to the black and white filter. Turned into a
cool picture though.

It's kinda surreal, watching my friends post all about starting up their second year of law school and not being able to do the same. I keep thinking that I should pick up all the things I wanted to do last year but didn't have time for, but I can't seem to get myself to do much. I've still been applying to jobs and am hoping something will come through soon, but as far as fun things....I just want to go back to school. Partly, I've always enjoyed learning things and school gave me a structured environment to do so. There is also the face that I've been in school for the last eighteen years...I haven't had to do my life without it yet.

But in all honesty, not going back is still heartbreaking. I don't have much of an idea as to where my life should be headed. I'm a bit lost. The only thing I know for sure is that I want to stay in Virginia Beach. Coming out here was one of the first decisions I really made for myself and followed through with -- against the odds. The last couple years before leaving California weren't my brightest moments. For me, moving was a fresh start and a chance to not have my life be dictated by those moments. Going back feels like I've lost to that part of myself. Maybe that's just how I feel and not actually the truth, but I'm not willing to let go of the life I've started here, yet. That being said, I also have to be reasonable. I know that I can't keep staying here on my parent's dime. If I don't get a job, I will go back.

So yeah, that's a small piece of my life right now. I'll let y'all know when I do get a job. I hope that I'll get good news from OfficeMax, the interviews I've had with them have seemed to go well. During my second interview, I heard that my the two who interviewed me the first time had raved about me. She said that was a plus. ^_^ We'll see. I promise to keep y'all posted.

For any Regent Law students who read my blog, I wish you the best of luck and perseverance for the upcoming year. I'm so proud to call y'all my friends and I really admire what you've done.

Until next time.

Blue Velvet

Blue Velvet

But in my heart there'll always be

Precious and warm a memory through the years

And I still can see Blue Velvet through my tears

                               -Lana Del Ray

Greetings friends!

It has been awhile and there are updates to be had. Some are happy some are not so happy. We'll start with the bad news.

So, back in January, I told y'all that my grades weren't fantastic. Well, my grades for the Spring semester weren't good enough to get me out of the hole I had dug. Because of this, I won't be a law student in the Fall. I can still apply for reinstatement in a few months, but we will see where my life is heading when that time comes. In the meanwhile, I'm staying in Virginia Beach and have begun looking for a full time job.

As heartbreaking as it is, I feel positive about this next phase of my life. I get to start actually providing for myself, and, while that will take a lot of work, I'm looking forward to standing on my own two feet.

NOW. For good news. :)

KRIS MOVED TO VIRGINIA. Well, sort of. He's officially here through August, but if he finds a job and a permanent place to live he stays forever! Haha.

He's currently staying with a couple from church. We occasionally have dinner with the four of us together and make things like Blue Velvet cake. It has been a really good summer with him here. Finding work and getting situated has been stressful but he's hanging in there. It's been amazing having him around. After the past year, getting to see him everyday is still something I'm getting used to.

Finally, I've been working a job and an internship this summer. I work at Regent Law Career Services and intern at Newport News Juvenile & Domestic Relations District Court. Career Services is good. I work with good people and I am happy to have a job. My internship, unfortunately, is a bit of a commute. But I love it. I'm learning so much and have met some wonderful judges, clerks and other court people. The Clerk of the Court (she's the one in charge of the Clerk's Office which handles all the paperwork behind the cases) has me working with the office Clerks when I'm not observing court. I've talked to some colorful people with some of the most original names. I really enjoy it.

And that's all I have got for you! Thanks for reading. Send me emails/letters! Update me on your lives. I'm typically free in the evenings so y'all should call, too. I'd love to catch up with folks. If anyone knows any interviewing or resume tips, let me know that as well. :) I can use all the help I can get. Haha.

That's How I Learned to Pray

Have you ever looked up at the stars in the sky, felt a tug at your heart

Didn't know why but you just knew

Someone is up there lookin' out for you.

Well you know just what I mean when I say grace.

That's how I learned to pray.

                                            - Charlie Worsham

Whelp. Finals are over. My first year of law school is over. Granted, I finished up a little over a week ago. It's summer! Wooh! I should be thrilled. I'm really not. Since about March, I've been dreading the coming of summer. I knew that once my friends left and got busy I'd be on my own again. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my own company well enough. I just enjoyed that law school gave me something to do.

I have way too much free time. In some ways, the last week has been harder on me than the weeks leading up to, and during, finals. Too much free time isn't good for a person, I think. Rest is important, for sure, but too much rest makes a person lazy. I'm itching to be working on something productive but at the same time, I can't bring myself to do much of anything at all.

I have been putting off writing this post because I was hoping to have something positive to talk about. Something like GREAT NEWS! or at least that things are going well. But that would be lying and unrealistic. I can't always have good things to talk about. I would have kept putting it off except that people have been asking for a blog post. I'm not trying to say that everything in my life is going wrong, because it's not. I have a fantastic vehicle. I have amazingly supportive parents. I have a wonderfully encouraging boyfriend and some pretty incredible friends. But aside from the vehicle, the positive influences in my life are just not here. And that makes things harder. Not impossible, though, just harder to manage. I'm learning how to deal with life as it is. The more I learn, the more I know things will get better.

If I'm being honest, it's hard to be optimistic about this summer. Things just don't seem to be working out like I had wanted. But isn't that true of most things? Our plans rarely seem to go as we plan them. I wanted to be in California -- I got turned down from every internship I applied for. I was hoping to take summer classes -- for several reasons, that didn't happen. I was hoping to have already started my internship -- I haven't heard back about scheduling. I was at least hoping to be working...but that's its own shenanigan.

After debating whether I should write about this, I ultimately decided to share my lovely job hunting experience because this is the primary reason of my present temporary discouragement. I had applied to several places and had been offered an interview from Best Buy, as a mobile sales consultant, and from career services, as a graduate assistant. I really wanted the job at Best Buy. Retail was not my first choice for paid positions, but the pay was good and the hours seemed to fit perfectly with what I needed. The career services position wasn't a terrible option, the pay just didn't quite meet the need I have for the summer.

After my interview with Best Buy, I received a phone call saying that I got the position. While I was pretty sure I had never wanted to work in retail again, I began to genuinely get excited. I liked the supervisor (the one who interviewed me) and the job seemed right up my alley. He told me to contact him the next day to figure out scheduling. When I talked to him the next day, he said that I actually still had to come in for one more interview, but made it seem like it was a matter of logistics. A week later, I was called to schedule an interview with the general manager. The interview caught me off guard. I put on my best face when I was told that they hadn't made any decisions yet. Looking back, I should have mentioned the fact that the supervisor had already offered me the job, just to see what he would have said to that. But I just smiled, said that I looked forward to hearing from them, and left. I figured that it wouldn't be wise to undermine the supervisor I would be working under before even getting the job (apparently). I was told I'd hear back from them the next day.

Two weeks went by and I hadn't heard from them. I tried contacting them several times and failed to reach anyone. Yesterday, I finally got an email saying I didn't get the job. When I checked the website to look at positions at other stores, I saw that the position was still open. My dad and I have several speculations as to what happened, but regardless, I was pretty mad. I have been ranting about how unprofessional the whole situation turned out to be. I had stopped applying to jobs once I had been told that I was offered the job. That was my mistake. Shouldn't have assumed I had a job until the paperwork was signed.

Now I'm just disappointed.

Thankfully, the Career Services offered me a position and have so far been following through with things. While it wasn't my first choice, I am grateful to have a job. Well, hopefully have a job. I'm a bit skeptical until papers are signed. In the meantime, I'm in limbo.

So that's current happenings. I'm waiting. As soon as thing change (for the better or for the worse) I will post an update. In the meantime, y'all get to share my limbo. I'm sorry that I can't provide a happier update. I'll try to be better next time. (I'm also sorry I don't have pictures. Haha)

Thanks for reading! Just seeing the page views give me the encouragement I need sometimes. Good luck, CSUN students, on your finals this week!! And papers. And general life stuff. Try to get some sleep. :)

P.S.  In case you're wondering: I picked today's song because it's the exact opposite of how I'm feeling, but definitely where I would like to be tomorrow.

Near or Far

Strong is what we are
whenever we’re apart
I’ll be right where you are,
I’m in your heart
So don’t you worry ‘bout a thing
Or all the miles in between
You had my heart
You had it from the start
I’ll love you from afar  
                           

                                       -Us

Greetings!!! I hope you're all having weather that's as beautiful as mine. I went outside to take a picture of the morning to show you! I thought you might appreciate that. :)

If it weren't for allergies, I would spend the day outside....but apparently I'm just as allergic to Virginia spring as I am to California spring. So no thank you, unfortunately.

So. This will probably be my last blog post until finals are over. I've got a week until finals, then two weeks, then I'll have finished my 1L year!!! Ahhhhhhh!!! It's pretty exciting. Once finals are over, I still have no real idea of what is going on with my life for the summer. I know that I have an internship, which is awesome. I also know that I need to get a job, which is less awesome. But other than that, I have no idea what I'm actually doing with my time. I applied for a couple jobs already. Two on campus, and then Starbucks. I'm going to try some local restaurants, too. I also applied for a job for the fall in the law library! I reaaaally, really want that job. Quite a bit. Haha. Old habits die hard, apparently. Guess that three years at the Oviatt just wasn't enough for me. :)

Sooooooo, I got a caaaar. Meet my Ford Fiesta, _________.

I haven't named it yet. I can't come up with anything. Naming my Saturn was a total chance encounter. I was mad they had denounced Pluto's planet-hood, so I revolted, saying that its name was Pluto because Saturn and Pluto were both planets. Haha.  

No such luck with my Fiesta. So I'm taking suggestions! You can comment on the blog, through facebook, or send me a letter!

I really like the car. It's been such a relief to be able to around this week. This week, all the 1L's had oral arguments based on the appellate brief we just turned in. We were all required to argue twice over the week, and then some folks went to additional rounds on Saturday (thankfully, not me). So with folks doing their oral arguments for the competition, everyone's schedule was funky. Great example: The morning of my first argument, I found a run in my stocking that went all the way down the leg. I didn't own another pair, so I drove down to target and got a couple extras. It was brilliant.

(Side note: I forgot to take a picture while I was all professionally dressed up, so unfortunately I cannot pass along such a look to you at this time. I should have a picture soon, though).

So now that our required competition is out of the way (at least for most of us...the four finalists aren't quite done yet), we get to focus on finals and getting through the other four classes we have. I'm looking forward to being done, but I'm also looking forward to finals, in a way. I'm not giving up. I'm already more prepared for finals than I was at this time last semester, and I'm no where near as checked out. So bring it on.

Last but so certainly not least, I'm really excited for Saturday.

Saturday will mark one year that I've been with Kris. Normally, I try to avoid gushing on the internet about the fact that I'm in a relationship. When I was single, it was really annoying to me when people did that.

But one year is a big deal, especially considering that we've been apart for most of it. I had a conversation with someone right before Valentine's day about how excited I was for my Skype date with Kris that we'd planned. My friend said something along the lines of, "Skype dates just aren't as satisfying. It's gunna get old." He then continued to say that long distance relationships don't last. I beg to differ. 10 months out of our 12 have been long distance. And if anything is true, we've been made a lot stronger for it.

In a way, I'm glad we've had this year the way we've had it. We've learned to communicate better, for sure. But we've also had to learn how to prioritize our time both for each other and for our individual lives. I think we were made better people for it, too.

I'm extraordinarily fortunate to be with him and I am so, so happy despite the distance. Not to say we haven't had any hiccups or bumpy spots, cause we definitely have. Just, overall, our relationship is good and we are solid. He's one of the best things that could possibly happen for me.

Gushing aside, I've got work to do today! I'll write again in a few weeks....unless something monumental require me to write sooner. :) Haha.

Unstoppable

When your heart is full of doubt

As you think that there's no way out

You find your faith that's been lost and shaken

You take back what's been taken

Get on your knees and dig down deep

You can do what you think is impossible

Keep on believing, don't give in

It'll come and make you whole again

It always will, it always does

Love is unstoppable

                             -Rascal Flatts

Greetings.

It has been a very long week.

We had our appellate briefs due on Friday and I completely botched the assignment. Time got away from me, I didn't understand the problem very well and the result was a terrible paper. I know that my grade is not going to be anything close to what I'm capable of. And that is incredibly frustrating to me. I'm mad that I put myself in the situation I did. Had I figured out my problem sooner, I could have asked for help. But I thought I could handle it and didn't realize until way too late that I was in deep trouble. 

Many of the people I've talked to have reminded me that it isn't over yet. I can dwell on how angry I am with myself or I can take back the remainder of the semester. Yes, LARW is over and I botched it, but I still have four other classes that I still have a fighting chance to do really well. As long as I do the work. 

A couple of my friends are in situations not so different from my own. One friend especially is incredibly encouraging. She's constantly reminding me that all we can do is move forward. We've begun keeping each other accountable in getting work done. It's amazing to not have to do things alone. If she reads this, she should know who she is and I hope she's at least remotely aware of how grateful I am that she's become such a good friend to me in Virginia.

I'm discouraged but not beaten, and I've decided that I'm not going down without a fight.

Other than that stuff, life is pretty sweet.

Last weekend, Kris came out! :D The law school was hosting the Barrister's Ball (essentially, law school prom) and Kris came out to go with me. He flew in Friday night and left early Sunday morning. Yep folks, he was here for just over 24 hours. My parents think he's crazy. I think he's fantastic. <3 He got to meet most of my friends and they were glad to meet this boy I talk about all the time. The ball was a lot of fun. I'm really glad I went.

In other news, I have an internship for the summer! I applied for a judicial internship program through my school and I found out on Thursday that I was accepted! I'm super excited.

Unfortunately, there's a catch.....it's in Virginia. So, my wonderful Californians....I will not be coming home for the summer. I know that was my plan, but I have to go with where the job is....which is here.

I'm looking forward to staying here, though. I quite enjoy Virginia. A bunch of my friends will still be here over the summer, so it's not like I'll be all by my lonesome. AND because I'll be driving a ways to the courthouse where I was selected to work, I'll be getting a car! I'm pretty excited. Even though this internship wasn't the internship that I wanted, I've been in situations where what I thought I wanted wasn't actually the best decision at all and things I didn't think I wanted turned out to be life changing.


So that's it. I've got more homework tonight, so I'll finish up here. Like always, I'd love to get mail from you. My mailbox is too full of ads and bills, I could use some love and encouragement instead. haha.

Life of Leaving Home

I am awake and alive

There is something calling me

More than a moment in time

It's a dream I'm following

On my own

More than a moment in time

It's a life of leaving home

                                  -Yellowcard

Greetings Earthlings!

As many of you may have now noticed, I'm back on facebook! I don't check it very often and It's still better to contact me via phone or e-mail, but I am indeed back on facebook. An interesting fact about being off of facebook, my blog viewers decreased to about a fourth of what they had been, which made me sad. Apparently, most of my readers aren't friends with my boyfriend on facebook (he was posting the update notifications for me). So partly because the point of this blog is to update folks on my life, I am going to keep my facebook on, if only for giving notice that there are new posts.

The main reason I will keep it activated, though, is because I have a new phone number! I still have all of my contacts. The beauty of an iPhone is that it saves my contact list to the cloud, so I still have everyone's numbers saved. You don't need to give it to me (unless your number changed, too! Haha). I've said that, but I still have people texting me saying, "Hi! It's so-and-so." I found it mildly amusing (but as it is with most amusing things, it gets old). If you missed my facebook post about my new number, send me an email (it should be attached to this blog), leave a comment on this post, or send me a facebook message. You could also send me a letter. I still like getting those. Speaking of letters! My lovely friend Melissa sent me a Valentine. It made my day. :) 

  

I know it's been a few weeks since I last posted. There generally hasn't been anything interesting to post about. After my last post, we had a few more snow days and I got some better pictures. And lots and lots of school work. I've been doing my best to keep up and am finally feeling fairly confident about this semester. Since I doubt any of you want to hear me go in depth about my love of Contract law, I thought I'd just wait until I had real things to talk about.

There are three main events that have happened other than what I've already mentioned. 

The first was Valentine's Day! It was exciting cause it's the first one I've had with a real Valentine. My wonderful boyfriend sent me flowers and hot chocolate mix (I had been talking about how badly I had been wanting hot chocolate for a while). I had a totally ridiulous card to send to him, too, but I was unable to get to the post-office and it's still sitting on my desk in Virginia. Can we say epic-girlfriend-fail a few times? Haha. We had a nice little Skype date and I was truly thankful for modern technology. It was unfortunate that we couldn't actually be together, but we made our long-distance Valentine's date work.

The second thing was that I had my first interview for a summer internship! I haven't heard back, and I'll give more details if I actually get it, but I got an interview. Just being given the opportunity made me feel like I wasn't completely hopeless and that maybe I've got a real chance in this field. Even more exciting, this is the one that I want. I don't want to jinx it by talking about it too much, so I'll let y'all know when I hear back.

The third thing is Spring Break! I'm back in California for the week; I get to spend time with boyfriend and best friend and good friends and people who make me happy. :] While I still have to work on the newest Voldemort assignment, it's nice to be back in sunny L.A. The flight over here was a shenanigan and I met some interesting people and I ended getting in at like 2am , but it's been very worth it. I'm glad to be home. Since being here, I've gotten a new phone, new number, new haircut, finished a good amount of homework, and, most importantly, enjoyed time with good people. I'll say it again, it's really great to be back.

That being said, I miss Virginia, my apartment, and my friends. Turns out, Virginia's got a piece of my heart and has become one of my "homes." It's weird to know that when it comes time to leave, there will be a part of me that will be sad to go.