Warning, Disclaimer & Apology . . . all rolled into one

This post will be brief, and it is mostly intended as a warning and FYI to everyone that I come into contact with from July 5 until July 28.  I have not been myself lately.  I have been slightly depressed, which is only because I have been studying so much, still have almost a month until the exam and I am unbelievably stressed - so, no worries. It is not a permanent attitude that I plan to have.  I have been giving myself 1-2 evenings per week to spend with friends and family, which has been essential to my mental health, but I have still been studying 8-12 hours a day since May 24.  That can really wear on a person's soul, which anyone who has taken the bar, is studying for the bar, or who has studied for some other career-determinative exam will attest to.  However, based on what I have heard from everyone who I have talked to who has taken the bar, my life after this weekend will be even less pleasant.  So, I will likely be doing absolutely nothing but studying from July 5 until the bar is OVER and out of my life (hopefully forever) on July 28. I will likely be highly unpleasant without meaning to, so please forgive me and do not take it personally.  I probably will take minimum phone calls, and I will likely turn down any and every invitation to do something fun. I promise that this boring, grouchy, highly irritable version of me is temporary, and I thank EVERYONE who has been so supportive and understanding during my studies.  Talk to you again after the bar!

Montani Semper Liberi. 6.20.1863

Happy West Virginia Day, everyone!  First, by way of update for friends & family, Jason and I had a nice anniversary weekend.  On Saturday evening we went to Joe Fazio's, which (for all of my in-laws out West)  is a small, local Italian restaurant that is really popular in Charleston. It has always been one of my favorite places to go, and it is actually the restaurant that we ended up eating dinner at on the evening that we got engaged.  Our dinner was amazing, the service was great, the food was delicious, etc. etc.  When we got home around 9:00, I, most unfortunately, had to study for a little bit.  At midnight though (making it our actual anniversary), we popped open a bottle of champagne, toasted to a wonderful year of marriage, ate a piece of wedding cake and watched our wedding ceremony on DVD.  It was wonderful.  Yesterday we had dinner at my parents to celebrate father's day, and we ate some more cake!  So, all-in-all, it was a nice anniversary.  It would have been nice to have gone on a mini-trip to celebrate, but there is always next year! Right now we are focused on saving money and me passing the bar so that we can COMPLETELY settle down somewhere in Charleston.

Now on to the real purpose of this brief post, it is the great state of West Virginia's birthday today! June 20, 1863.  For those who know me well, I love my home state.  I love seeing mountains in every direction that I look.  In fact, when I don't, I feel extremely uncomfortable and oddly exposed - naked almost.  I love the sense of togetherness that West Virginians feel with one another when gathered together for any particular reason.  I love that, from what my brothers tell me (because I have basically never traveled or lived anywhere else for more than a week-long vacation), there are Mountaineers everywhere, with bars devoted to reunions and serving as a place to watch WVU games from out-of-state.  I love going to weddings where all of the guests are swaying, arm in arm, and singing Country Roads. In fact, my brother, Justin, told me that the only time he got emotional at my wedding was when Country Roads was the song we chose as the last song. I love going to Mountaineer football and basketball games and seeing fans, no matter how tough they may be on a regular day in other situations, wearing their hearts on their WVU jerseys on game day. I love that Mountaineer sporting events bring grown men to tears because of the emotional rollercoaster that is being a die hard, life-long Mountaineer fan. Sure, there are times when I wish that I could move somewhere else, just to see what it is like, but I am a happy and proud resident of the wild and wonderful state of West Virginia.  I was born here, and I will die here. I don't need anything else. I don't need to live in a booming and bustling city.  I don't need a professional sports team - the Mountaineers are enough for me! I don't care about the opinions of uneducated (uneducated about WV, not in general) people who assume that I am just some random hillbilly who is married to a distant cousin and walks around barefoot.  I do like to walk around barefoot, but, I assure you, Jason is not my cousin. I don't care if we are one of the poorest states in the country, and I don't care that we are one of the most obese states in the country.  Well, let me modify that a bit.  I want our state's wealth to improve, and I want the health of our citizens to improve, but not to impress anyone else - I want those things so that the future of West Virginia is as bright and determined as the past.  Most of you probably don't know this, but on this date 3 years ago, I got "Montani Semper Liberi" tattooed on the side of my ribs.  That might be a slightly extreme version of showing the love that I have for my state, but Mountaineers are Always Free.  That saying gives me a sense of pride that occasionally brings tears to my eyes.  I like being the underdog.  I like taking people by surprise.  I like being a part of something so special.  So, as our boy Tony Caridi puts it best, it's a GREAT day to be a Mountaineer, wherever you may be! Cheers!

Quick Update & Quick Vent!

Hello friends & family!  One of the main reasons that I started this blog was so that my friends and family members who don't live in WV would have an idea about what is going on in my life.  Now, more than ever, I need to write a quick post because I have been sort of MIA for awhile.  So, here is the update!

I have been studying pretty much every hour of the day that I am awake, minus an hour or two by the pool (during which I usually am at least studying a little bit) when the weather is nice. I went to Philly for the weekend of June 3-5, and I got absolutely no work done while I was there.  It was a nice trip, but it put me a bit behind in my bar review course.  So, I have been playing catch up ever since! Thankfully, I am caught up, but I am still working hard so that I can do a couple of things that aren't built into the daily study schedule (which our bar prep program created for us).  For example, although the bar exam consists of 50% multiple choice questions and 50% essay & practice tests, the bar review course focuses almost entirely on multiple choice questions, so I need to practice some essay questions and what not on my "own time."  

With all of this studying, I haven't done much else worth updating everyone on! Jason has been amazing, as per usual, and has done the lion's share of household chores, but I've been making dinners and just cleaned the whole apartment yesterday. He is the neat one and I am the clean one. That is not to say that I am a slob or that he is dirty, ha, but he likes things straightened up and can't stand clutter, but he can deal with dust and dirt a bit longer.  I try to keep my things in order, but I always fail miserably.  With that being said, I cannot stand toothpaste on the bathroom mirror, a dirty toilet, or dirty kitchen counters.  So, that really works out.  He straightens up and organizes, and I clean. He has also been doing a majority of our laundry, for which I love him more everyday!  He has been keeping himself busy by working on our 20 + year old boat that my parents gave us a few years ago when they got their newer boat.  Even though I see him everyday, I miss him.  This schedule leaves us with little time to enjoy one another's company, but it is a necessary, and more importantly, a temporary evil. 

Speaking of Jason, our one year wedding anniversary is on Sunday!  I can't believe it.  Time really flies. I wish that I could re-live that day over & over so that I could enjoy different parts of it, one part at a time. One word of advice to brides-to-be - cherish the time leading up to your wedding day, because the wedding goes by too fast.  As the saying goes, don't wish your life away.  Don't worry about the little details of the wedding, because I would almost promise you that no one will ever remember if a centerpiece was messed up, or if some other little detail goes wrong (and if they do - WHO CARES?). 

To tie the past two parts of this post together, my "little" cousin, Francie, is getting married in just over one month.  She just finished her first year of medical school, and she is getting married in Mississippi on  July 23. I am so incredibly proud of her and happy for her.  Unfortunately, her wedding is about 14 hours away and three days before the bar exam, so I can't go.  She understands, but it still breaks my heart that I won't be able to be there for her big day like she was there for mine.  I take one bit of comfort  in knowing how busy the wedding day will be, how many people she will have to and want to visit with, and that, as much as she may think otherwise, she will barely notice that I am gone :) 

For the last note of the "update" portion of this post, Jason and I adopted a new kitten!!! We adopted her from the pound on Monday, and we get her either this afternoon or tomorrow (she is getting spayed and maybe declawed).  I haven't met her yet (I sent Jason to the pound because I would cry the whole time if I went and leave with every single animal), but she looks adorable and I can't wait to get her home so Stewie can meet her! I anticipate disaster, but I know Stewie will love her within a few days!

And for the venting portion - I watched Good Morning America today, which ran a story about former "Teen Mom" star, Amber.  She allegedly tried to commit suicide about a week after pleading guilty to beating up her baby's father on national television.  At the end of the story, the reporter confirmed what I have read in other places, which is that these teen moms are making six figure salaries for being on that show. That infuriates me.  First - I readily admit that I used to be a regular viewer of the show, until I learned how much money they were making and then I got annoyed and stopped watching. Second, and more importantly, I am in no way criticizing teen mothers.  I admire young woman who are brave enough to take responsibility for their actions and give up part of their youth so that they can make that of their children a positive and loving experience.  I am acquainted with several young women who had children young, but still attended or are attending college, and who are building careers, making something of themselves and who have raised wonderful children in the process.  I am in awe of these women, as I know how difficult it was for me to get through college and what not with just taking care of myself!

However, I think it ridiculous and socially irresponsible for MTV to be paying these young women such a large amount of money for doing this show with no strings attached (at least none that I have read about).  I've read reports (and seen pictures) that Farrah, one of the original teen moms, spent her newfound money on a boob job, and at least two other teen moms (including Amber) have likely been spending their money on legal fees thanks to all of the trouble that they have been in since the show aired. Don't get me wrong - some of those girls may very well be spending all of that money on college and raising their children, and for those girls, that is wonderful. But to pay these girls six figure salaries with no real strings attached seems, to me, to be rewarding them for getting pregnant and does not give teenagers in this country a real view of what it is like to be a teen mom - because I don't know any teenage mothers making six figures.  Yes, it is frustrating that I have been in school for 20 years, put myself in a decent amount of debt putting myself through law school, and will not be making six figures any time soon while these girls up to 10 years younger than me are making that money for doing nothing but getting pregnant and filmed by MTV. However, my real problem with them making so much money is that the babies may never realize any benefit from it.  If MTV really wants to be socially responsible and put a message out there that being a teen mom is hard and not something to be taken lightly, then, as payment for being on the show, set up a trust fund for the babies so that they can go to college!!! With as much money as they are making, set up two trust funds - one for the babies' college funds and one for the teen mothers' college funds. Or trade school, or whatever they want to do, but don't just write a check to a 16-18 year old girl and hope for the best!  Otherwise, it really seems to me that MTV is just sending out the message that, if you get pregnant as a teenager and get on this TV show, you will be well-paid for it and likely become famous and be plastered on the cover of every magazine. 

Well, that is enough ranting and raving for now. I will post again the next time I need to take a study break! 

Long Time, No Blog

Well, as I am looking at the date of my last post, I realize that it really has been quite awhile since I last blogged.  Although this post will not likely be very earth-shattering or intellectually stimulating, I figured that I should update my friends & family who read this.

I completely finished with school on Friday, April 29, I moved back to Charleston (clothes and personal items at least) on Saturday, April 30, and I started work on Monday, May 2.  I decided that I wanted to work full-time for the three weeks before my bar prep class started (this coming Tuesday), as Jason and I will be paying two rents for two months and I had no good excuse not to start work (and start earning my salary).  It was a busy three weeks of work.  I've been working really hard and working fairly long hours, but I just wanted to do the best that I could in the time that I worked.  Honestly, I know that it makes me a nerd, but I have enjoyed the challenge.

On May 14, I received my fake law school diploma at my law school graduation.  Check me out - I am Sarah A. Martin, Doctor of Jurisprudence.

Graduation was not all that I thought it would be.  For whatever reason it just didn't seem like that big of a deal.  Maybe it was because I was extremely hot the whole time, or maybe it was because I had already worked for two weeks so it just seemed a bit anti-climactic. Although, I did greatly enjoy my graduation gifts from my wonderful husband (a new watch and a bottle of my favorite gin!). 

Oh yeah, I forgot the Four Loko :) Ha!

Either way, I was still proud of myself, and I am proud to be a graduate of the WVU College of Law.  On Sunday, May 15, Jason and I moved almost all of our belongings out of the townhouse in Morgantown and into our apartment in Dunbar.  Thankfully, my parents helped us move out of the townhouse, as well as my brother-in-law, Lonzo.  We were also extremely fortunate to have some of our good friends help us move into the apartment on Sunday so that we weren't living out of boxes for the next month!  Casey, Brandon, Enybe and Hetu - THANK YOU! 

Here are some pictures of the apartment so far :)  

Our room

Dining area - cheap furniture, but it will do until we buy our first house in 6 months (hopefully).

View from our room into the closet and hall, ha. 

Kitchen and laundry area.

Our bedroom :) It is a bit sparse, but it will do for awhile. 

Living room view.

Jason's side of our walk-in closet :)

Living room view again.

Bathroom. 

Dining area again.

My half of the closet. 

View of our little deck with our new patio furniture, purchased at Kroger, ha. 

Dining area again. 

Living room into the hallway. 

Living room again. 

Hall. 

This weekend, Jason and I drove to Harrisburg, PA, for the wedding of our friends, Tara and Martin.  It was a beautiful wedding, and Tara looked gorgeous :)  Martin didn't look too shabby either!  I was so glad that they got one of the two nice days that I have seen in the past month.  They deserve it. 

Well, that is the cliff's notes version of my life for the past few weeks.  My bar review course starts on Tuesday, so I am pretty much done working for awhile. The next 10 weeks of my life are going to be completely dedicated to studying for the bar exam.  I am not looking forward to it at all, but it has to be done, and I just keep thinking about and looking forward to the day in August or September when I find out that I (hopefully) passed the bar.  What a wonderful feeling that will be. 

Well, that is all for now, folks!  Until next time . . . 

It's Really Over

I know that I posted 9 days ago about the end of my academic career (it feels like a month ago), but countless hours of studying, few hours of sleep, one final, one hearing, multiple phone calls and a non-filed supplemental report later, it really is over.

As many of you know, I am starting my job on Monday (May 2), so it is likely that I will be leaving without saying goodbye to so many of my friends.  I know it isn't really "goodbye" because I will see everyone at graduation in two weeks, but I wanted to make a quick post in hopes that it will show some of my appreciation to the people I have met & grown close to.

When I started in August of 2008, I only knew three people in my class.  Kevin, who I have known since elementary school (he was two years ahead), is the only other person from my high school in my class.  Then there is Natalie, who I've probably spent the most time with.  I met her in undergrad through a mutual acquaintance.  We apparently had the same major and minor, but we only had a couple of classes together in college.   There was one other guy I knew - a friend of a friend situation again. On the night before orientation, Natalie and I rode to the reception together, where we met and hung out with Sarah!  She was my first "stranger" friend in law school, and we have remained friends.  I didn't know that she was also from the Charleston area, and I'm not sure about her plans after graduation, but I hope that she is near Charleston again!!!

During the first week or two of law school, a group of girls came over to my house to begin what would become "Wine Wednesday."  It was a briefly-followed tradition, but I know that Megan and Mary Catherine joined in.  I will be spending all kinds of time with MCF (most of you know that she and I were hired by the same firm and will be ATVing [not talking about all-terrain vehicles]for years to come), but I will really miss Megan.  I've always admired her confidence and her style! God I wish I could dress & accessorize like that, ha. I think that Liz might have joined us for that first Wine Wednesday, but, if not, she definitely started joining us for dinners/wine nights. We've bonded over trash TV! Specifically, Teen Mom! She is moving all the way to South Carolina, and I will miss her. She is one of the nicest girls I know.

I don't know when or how Savannah and I started hanging out, but our shared love for Grey's and The Lost Boys made us fast-friends, haha.  I will miss her too.  Hopefully we can have the occasional Lost Boys reunion!!  I didn't start hanging out with Ashlee until our second year, but we've become very close over the past two years. She's moving to North Carolina, and I am really bummed that she isn't going to live 2 minutes away anymore, but thankfully it is just a 3.5 hour drive between Charleston and where she will be in NC.

Then of course there are the K(C)atie's!  They were my sanity throughout Moot Court debacles!!  I'll miss those girls as well.  I hope that I can continue to relay my outrageous antics to Katie - I can always count on her to enjoy my stories, ha.  I definitely have some hilarious memories from dinners/parties at Catie's!  That's pretty much how I starting hanging out with Taylor.  Though I probably come off as a bi$*H to Taylor sometimes, he's a nice guy.  A lot of people who came to our wedding didn't bring a card or gift, which we didn't care about, but Taylor couldn't come to the wedding so he sent us a card in the mail.  I thought that was extremely thoughtful.  And Catie got me a super thoughtful, homemade wedding gift as well.  Must be something about the water in Martinsburg! Ha.

Then there are the J boys!  Josh has gradually become a regular at Casa de Martin.  I'm pretty sure that he just comes because hes likes the food, but I'll miss him.  I can always count on him for a laugh or a spinning buddy. And the other J, Justin.  We didn't meet until this year, which is unfortunate, because we have similar personalities when it comes to a lot of things.  We share a love for Will Ferrell - anyone who loves Will Ferrell is a friend of mine!!! He always listened to me when I needed to whine about things, which I appreciated.  Again, I'll miss him.

I know that Michelle and Kiersan are going to be in Charleston! Glad some of the WVUCOL girls are setting up shop in my hometown! Obviously, there are other classmates of mine who I respect, and whose company I will miss, but if this post is any longer, it might get excessive :)

The last three years have been the most challenging years of my life. I lost three friends who were extremely dear to me and I lost two grandparents. I also spent the first year in a long-distance relationship, which was difficult and required a lot of honesty, understanding, and communication.  But, at the end of the journey, I am a far better person because of my years at the WVU College of Law.  I am stronger, and I have so much more confidence in my ability to accomplish my goals.  I am a better wife because Jason has shown me the meaning of sacrifice and compromise - he has moved twice now, and changed jobs twice, so that I could pursue my dreams.  He has dealt with my really unpleasant moods when I would have to study for hours and hours and hours, and he has been a shoulder to cry on when I've needed it.  I've met amazing people who have challenged me and taught me things that I couldn't have learned in any other situation.  I've made some great friends who have been there for me through it all.  So, to end, I want to say thank you to all of those people, and to those who I won't likely see very often in the future, goodbye, I'll miss you, good luck, and thanks for the memories!

WVUCOL '11

Quick Words of Advice for Brides & Grooms!

Another one of my close friends, Heather, got married today :)!  Which made me realize that I wanted to follow up from my last post about weddings.  Heather - this goes to you, too, since you are going to have a big reception later!

If I could give three pieces of advice to any bride & groom (especially brides), this is what they would be:

1)  Do NOT book a honeymoon that requires you to leave early the next day (or preferably not the next day at all).  Jason and I flew out of Columbus at 11:00 a.m. (or around there) the day after our wedding, which meant leaving Charleston at 5:00 a.m. and driving to Columbus!  That wasn't so bad at all, but we really regretted it in hindsight because apparently our entire wedding party (bridesmaids, groomsmen and guests) went out afterwards.  We really wished that we could have spent that additional time with our family members, especially since so many of them came from FAR away to be there with us.  A lot of our friends traveled from great distances as well, and we really were bummed out that we didn't get to spend more time with them.  My friend Allison came from California, Heather from Florida, Brittany from almost Virginia Beach, and then there were our family members!  My brother Andy flew in from Colorado and my brother Thomas flew in from AFRICA! I had only seen him once in a year, so it would have been nice to hang out w/ the whole family for that extra day. My brother, Justin, and his wife, Nina, drove down from the D.C. area, which is still quite a hike.  I also had friends from Maryland, Tennessee, and New Jersey make the drive, and family members from Mississippi and South Carolina as well.  Jason's family flew in from Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado,  Maryland, Virginia, and some drove down from Grafton.  The point is:  you will want to go out with your friends and family members after the wedding (if it is an evening wedding) or at least have brunch with them the next day.  Plus, you want to be able to sleep in and relax :)

2. Have a bouncer by your food table - seriously.  Jason and I had a sweetheart table set up at the front of the room for just the two of us.  Our plan was to eat and then to go around to each table and thank everyone for coming and take a picture at every table (instead of doing a formal "receiving line").  This was an excellent plan, in theory.  However, a lot of people stopped by our table to congratulate us on their way to the food line, which we really appreciated and we were so happy to see everyone!!  But then we realized that a lot of time had elapsed, the food on our plate was cold and uneaten, I was gabbing away with people, and we still hadn't started our rounds.  I've gotten so many compliments about the quality of the food at our wedding, and I only had a few bites.  You're (or your parents are) paying for it, so you might as well make sure that you can enjoy it!!!

3.  Brides - let yourself cry.  I put this last, but really, it would be my first piece of advice.  Leading up to the wedding, every time that I read the vows that Jason and I were going to make to one another, I would get choked up.  Every time that I heard the song that we would share our first dance to (Brad Paisley - Then), I would start crying (happy tears!).  To this day, I tear up when I listen to that song.  And don't even get me started about my dad.  I have always thought of myself as a "Daddy's girl," and I am the baby and only girl out of 4 kids.  When I would think about him walking me down the aisle and giving me away, I would instinctively tear up.  Even before I was engaged!! Especially hearing songs like "I Loved Her First" (which he walked me down the aisle to - instrumental only, or I would have cried all of the way down, ha) or "Butterfly Kisses" - I would turn into a tear factory!!! But on the big day, I joked my way through the ceremony and dances so that I wouldn't cry, and, in hind sight, I wish I would have just taken in the moment and, if that meant crying - so be it.  I picked the song "My Girl" as the song to dance with my dad to.  This was a strategic choice.  He has also been known to shed a tear or two, and if he cried at all, it was a sure-thing that I would lose it.  Also, my dad LOVES the Temptations. So, I figured if we danced to that song, we would just sing our way through it.  It was a success, and I don't regret it, but, again, I wish that I had taken in the moment instead of joking (when I wasn't singing).  I also didn't let myself cry when I saw Jason for the first time, when we were saying our vows, or when we were dancing.  I was SO happy, but I was concentrating so hard on not crying that I missed out on feeling things fully that I will never experience again.  Although, Jason was sweating profusely throughout our vows, thanks to the 96 degree heat and shining lights in our faces in front of 150 people, so I probably would have laughed through the vows no matter what :)

OK Brides - that is my advice.  Take it or leave it, but, coming from a semi-newlywed, I think it is pretty good advice :)

End of an Era

This morning, I decided to skip my 8:30 class.  I don't feel as though I particularly benefit from going to that class.  It is not taught using the socratic method, so there is no pressure that I am going to get called on.  The professor also has a tendency to pontificate endlessly (with the help of a couple of students) about sample problems, and then not really give us the answer.  When I woke up this morning, I was ridiculously sleepy, so I decided to skip class and go back to sleep.  When I woke up a couple of hours later, it occurred to me that I had just skipped the last class of my 20-year academic career.  Oops.

The full impact of this information hasn't hit me yet.  I still have office hours tomorrow, and I still have a hearing next Friday, so it doesn't feel like I am "finished" with school in any way.  I also have a final in the class that I skipped,  for which I will likely spend the entire weekend studying.  I hope to work on the final (it's a take home) on Monday & Tuesday and turn it in on Wed. morning.  Even then, I don't know that it will really hit me that I am done. Maybe because I am not.

I still have to study until the last week of July for the bar exam, and I will be attending the BarBri class from 9-1 on M-F from May 24 until the bar exam.   Even after the dreaded bar exam is behind me, I will be attending CLE (continuing legal education) classes every year until I retire (I think?).  Also, one of the things that I love about the legal profession, is that you never really stop learning.  The law is constantly evolving and changing, and lawyers are constantly having to learn about those changes.

With that being said, today is still significant.  I will never have to attend a class that I am paying tuition to take.  I won't have "homework" assignments anymore, and, although I don't really know the dynamics of CLEs, I doubt that I will be "on call" by a professor ever again.  That is a relief!  Homework assignments get particularly frustrating the longer you are in school.  It becomes infuriating to spend so much time on assignments that are "simulations," especially when you have already done the real thing.

So, whether I feel "different" or not, today is the end of an era.  From this day forward, every class that I take (the BarBri class, in particular) has a direct relation to my real-world career.  I no longer have summers "off."  I will never again have a three-week vacation during the holiday season.  I can't just "wing it" with my job like I could in classes.  No more three-day weekends every week because I could avoid taking Friday classes.  No more day-drinking in the middle of the week just because it is sunny and warm outside.  Where has the time gone?

I have to say, that while I will miss the "ease" that accompanies life as a student, I am glad that I will finally enter the professional world and leave the student lifestyle behind.  I look forward to making money instead of borrowing huge amounts of it to finance my education.  I am excited to be making a difference and for my work to really mean something.

Peace out, WVU. It's been real. Adios Morgantown, it's been a great 7 years.  Hello, Charleston & AGT, let's do this.