This is me with an update

Well things are a bit crazy right now. Here's a little update on my life:

• Went to Amarillo w/ Patrick last weekend and met all his friends that live there (he lived there for about 10 years before law school). Had a blast :)
• Moot court competition is in a little less than 3 weeks, eek. We've been practicing almost everyday.
• I have done 3 mediations.
• I have a new job as a law clerk at a firm here in Houston for the semester, and maybe in the fall..so excited. I will start on Feb 4th (monday, which also happens to be my dad's 55th birthday!)
• I'm in a mediation meeting right now.
• Finsihsed reading PS i Love you, currently reading The Road my Cormac McCarthy, scared the crap out of me last night, can't wait to read more today.
• I might start watching Lost, might - key word.
• Patrick is sickly :( Has the flu or something so we haven't had much qt this week, hopefully he gets better soon! I know he doesn't like being sick.
• Need to get my hair cut and need to find a hair cutter...

That's about it.

Much love.

Yay: New job!

Dang: crazy weather

This is my Last First Day of School.

It all started about 20 years ago. I stepped out one fateful morning into the gleaming sun on a Monday or maybe it was another day of the week morning. I had my pink polka dot outfit on, my hair in a bow, a lunch box, and a jean bag my mom decorated, where was I going do you ask, well I was stepping into the great journey that would become my education. That's right, it was my very first first day of school in first grade at Key Elementary. I would have 19 more years of this very same behavior, and it has culminated in this final day, today, where I woke up this morning, put on my cream and pink and red sweater, jeans, put my hair in a pony tail, and stepped out into the gleaming sun of what would be my very last first day of school EVER. Things have of course changed since that day so many years, I am now several inches taller, i have gone through puberty, I can drive, and my mom is not picking me up from school this afternoon. You might be asking yourself, why is this important, well not only is it my last first day of my last semester of education, BUT it is the beginning of the end of my law school career, after this last semester, 3 1/2 months, I will no longer be a law student, but rather a lawyer (well sort of).... My how these past 20 years have flown by...

I am now sitting in the library, after my first and only class of today (how i love being a 3L). I have moot court practice tonight at 5:30, where I am to present my two arguments for my two sides, which as I sit writing this at 10:39 am, are not done. So I will be sitting here, until 5:30, with of course breaks in between writing these lovely arguments. I plan on winning the ocmpetition this year, so my dedication is a little higher than it was last year (which was already pretty high). Most of all, I do not want to disappoint my coaches who have a vested interest in me especially after last year. Nor do I want to disappoint my teammates or myself, since I am apparently my worst critic.

This semseter, I am only taking 9 hours (well 12 really but three are just credits retroactively applied from moot court). 3 of those hours is Trust and Wills, a very important class for the bar exam (which by the way I will be taking this summer, eeek), a seminar in Hot Topics in Criminal Law which entails I will be writing a 40 page paper w/ footnotes (yea i have no idea how to do that, but whatev), and then Mediation Clinic (where I will be mediating real disputes - i have been in training all weekend for it, 6 hours on Friday, 9 1/2 on sat, and 7 yesterday, repeat next weekend). All in all not a bad semester, AND i have only ONE final for the first time ever in Trust and Wills (now will be referred to as T/W) and its on April 30th. Whcih means I will have about a week and a half between when I am done and when I graudate, which is May 9th, in case anyone is keeping track. In that time period i will get to celebrate my quarter of a century birthday for the first time without finals looming in 6 years! Heck yes.

Well my faithful friends and those who never cease to read these very engaging posts, I must get to work on this argumet to convince the court to not allow pesticides in waters.

Much love.

Yay: The beginning of the end of my law school career.
Dang: The beginning of hte end of my law school career -- just means in 4 months I have to study for the bar....;

Back in action.

Well. I'm back in Houston after a whirlwind three weeks of fun. Finals ended luckily and I'm starting to get grades back (my least favorite part, but that's life). The day after finals, I left for the carribbean (i have a feeling i just butchered that) cruise w/ Patrick and his family. OMG it was so much fun! We went to Jamaica on Wed, and got to climb the Dunn's Falls, which was awesome, and then layed on a white sand beach and drank some rum punch, Grand Cayman on Thursday, Patrick and i went snorkeling and saw some pretty awesome fish. I started to get a little scared when we were out in 40 foot deep waters, for some reason shark week started flashing in my mind, think Jaws.... Then we went shopping in town and he bought me a really pretty necklace, earring, bracelet set from the market, and we had some lunch at this cool restaurant and people watched. On Friday we went to Cozumel and shopped in the morning. I really got to hone my bargaining skills and got a guy down pretty low on a bracelet for my mom, thank you law school for my negotiating skills. We then went and layed on a beach for the rest of the day. The rest of the cruise was spent lounging, relaxing, drinking fruity drinks, eating lots of yummy food and spending some quality time w/ my boyfriend that we'd been lacking during finals. I also met his mom and step dad and got a long great w/ them which was exciting!

The day we got back I headed to Arlington for Christmas. We did the normal Banks Family Christmas traditions of church on Christmas eve and then wake up early and open presents. The rest of the week just hung out w/ my family and it was great. Definitely needed some family time. THat weekend I went down to Austin for Elaine's bachelorette party. We went to Hula Hut, had a male stripper (joke), and watched Elaine down two fish bowls (with help from us of course), and then just had girly time and balderdash back at the hotel in our executive suite. It was a great time and really fun to catch up w/ everyone and felt like college all over again like the days when we hung out at Lainey's and Em's apartment all day long. Sunday headed down to Boerne and hung out w/ Patrick and his dad and step mom that night, we saw Sweeney Todd, which was funny, but gross, and then on NYE his whole family came to his dad's and I got to meet his sister and bro in law and his bro's 4 kids, and his sis' one kid, they were so cute and i enjoyed playing w/ them. I knew when 3 of the 4 kids tackled me on my bed on NYE morning that they liked me too :) That nigth we just hung out w/ his whole family and I met his best friend cousin Charlie and his wife Lauren. We rang in the new year and it was great!

After that I headed back to Arlington, and the rest of the week I got to see Lainey three times in one week!! And also got to see a bunch of college friends and sorority sisters last Thursday night in Dallas. I had a great time and it was good to catch up and plan our next get together, which will hopefully be a weekend long fiesta.

I'm back in Houston now, about to head to patrick's to hang out w/ some friends and watch the LSU v. Ohio game. GO OHIO! This week I am going to get my life back in order since I was gone for almost a month, see friends, relax, pratice moot court, and train to be a mediator. YAY for my last semester of school EVER, finally!

Much love.

Yay: My wonderfuly supportive and encouraging boyfriend.
Dang: Laundry.

I should be studying...

Well, its saturday, in the middle of finals, and I should be studying, but today isn't very conducive to that. For one, I of course needed to watch Grey's from Thursday this morning b/c there is no other time in the future when I could have done that, 2. i needed to sleep till 10 of course, I need sleep to study effectively 3. I needed a new dress for Patrick's firms Holiday Party tonight at this fancy restaurant, and well the dresses in my closet just weren't cutting it, so I of course needed to go to Francesca's and get a new dress, and while there try on about 10 other things and look at earrings for an hour, 4. I of course needed to update my blog like I said I wouldn't, 5. need to go Lights in the Heights w/ Patrick to visit his friends at their open house and 6. I definitely need to go eat a nice free dinner and drink good vino at Patrick's soon to be firm holiday party (soon to be b/c he signed but doesn't start till Sept, so proud!). Did I mention I still have three finals, one of which I just started studying for today, but its not till next Saturday. Which brings me to my next point, one week from this very moment I will be NOT studying and will be a semester away from finishing law school. Boo yah! (that's right boo yah).

Other than that I have really mostly just been studying. I still have Criminal Procedure on Tues, Family law on thurs, and Business torts (which i am supposed to be studying for right now) on Sat. and then I am finito! I'm ready to enjoy Christmas and the holidays and go shopping and sleep in (wait I already do that anyways) and spend time w/ my boyfriend and friends and family w/o finals looming over my head. Almost there.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!

Much love.

Yay: New dress!
Dang: finals. duh.

This is me yet again in the midst of finals.

Its that time of year again... the looming finals. I have four this semester. One a week from Thursday, one on tuesday the 11th, another on thursday the 13th, and last one on saturday the 15th. AND there are many things that make getting through the next three weeks alive -



Christmas w/ my family!

Week long cruise w/ my boyfriend and his family :)

Only one semester of law school left ever.

Sleep.

Sleep.

No studying.

Hanging out w/o finals looming over my head.



Thanksgiving break was great. I didn't study, which may or may not be a good thing, I'll let you know when I get my grades. Ate lots of good food, hung out w/ my family, and introduced Patrick to the familia as well. It was fun having him see where I grew up and hang out w/ my family. I also got to see the lovely Elaine on Friday night.



About to go see Beowulf in 3D. I think i'm more excited about getting to wear the cool 3D glasses than the movie. Yea b/c they are that awesome wish I could wear them everyday. no really.



This might be the last post for a while.



Much love.



Yay: Life after finals.

Dang: Finals.

Little sample of the crazy-ness that is my life right now.

Here's a little run down of everything I have on my plate right now:

• Helping host the National Moot Court Regional Competition Thurs. - Sat.
• Brief due for Pace Competition on Dec. 3rd -- i have one issue written, need to edit, then write my second, then edit, then put together. awesome. Conveniently due 3 days before my first final. love it.
• BIG trial on Saturday. I am in a trial advocacy class, and for our final we have to do a trial, from voir dire to closing to motions in limine, the whole she bang. I'm pretty excited about this one, not to mention nervous, better get my arguing shoes on.
• OH and did I mention i have four finals this semester, b/c I do. And those start in 4 weeks. I don't even have time to think about them at this point. Sweet.

Deep breaths.

But there are some good things right now that are keeping me from going insane, such as:

• Getting to go home on Tuesday and hang out w/ my family and friends for Thanksgiving break. (no worries I will be doing some studying too).
• Getting to eat my favorite meal of the year, gorge myself if you will.
• My boyfriend who encourages me and keeps me from ripping my hair out even though he is just as stressed.
• Starbucks christmas cups.
• Making desserts.
• Cooking.
• Vanilla Hazelnut coffee from Einstein Bagels.
• Riding my new bike.
• Sleeping.
• Focusing on the cruise i get to go on the day after finals end!

Sorry for being such a debbie downer in this post, life is just hectic right now, but that's nothing new for this time of year.

Much love.

Yay: Getting all ym classes when i registered FOR THE LAST TIME EVER!!

Dang: See above.

The case of falling down.

I found a bike! A road bike. And its lovely and pretty and fast and and lots of different fun adjectives. Its blue and silver - a Giant OCR3. I rode it today for the first time for an hour. It was a good ride definitely realized how out of shape I am in. OH and I fell down. Hard. Bit it. But that's all part of the game right? A few bumps and scratches never hurt anyone, even if they are up my arm. I felt the least girly I have felt in a while when I fell down. I like feeling girly, trust me. I'm riding again tomorrow, hopefully I won't fall down, but if I do, its ok.

Again this time of year is crazay. I should be doing something productive right now but I'm not. I could be camping w/ Patrick but i'm not. I could be out having fun but I'm not. Thank you school. (I stayed in to be productive, hasn't worked).

Well thats about it, not so exciting.

Much love.

Yay: new bike and a boy who makes me smile.
Dang: Boo finals.