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!