Back from DC

As you may read from the title - I'm back from DC. Everything was so great - I saw the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, Arlington National Cemetary, the National Archives, the dinosaurs at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History - whew! I feel so grown up, doing the whole drive to the airport, take a flight, take a metro thing all on my own.

Some strangeness has occurred in Milwaukee upon my return, but suffice it to say that I am handling the situation and I am being bold, smart, and safe.

Otherwise, I've got a month left in this fair city and I'm going to enjoy it!

Apartment discovered

Hooray!

I'll be living next year in a lovely apartment, complete with a little patio in back for the doggies. The complex also has a dog run, and seems really nice and quiet. HOORAY! Also, I get to take the plasma TV from my parents' house, and the baby grand. And my bedroom set. I'm also lobbying hard for all the VHS Disney Classics - great for watching when you're studying.

I have wiggly toes.

And I also make a mean spinach and lentil salad.

Things that are good

In no particular order:

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Summer shoes
3. Food that cooks fast

On another note, my parents are moving to China. This is both good and bad news. The good? My parents will have this fantastic adventure, I'll be able to visit the, and I'll get to keep the doggies while they're abroad. The bad? They'll be far away, as will my sister, and also will take with them my one somewhat regular source of good home-cooked food that i don't have to make myself.

We've been house/apartment hunting in South Bend, with varied success, and will continue the endeavor this weekend. I think we've got a couple of places in mind. I'm really excited for my own place! Just think - The Magic Flute playing loudly as I cook dinner, the dogs cavorting around my ankles and somehow not tripping me. A closet, beautifully stocked with my clothes folded and organized as they have never been before, shoes lined up in gleaming rows on the floor. Fresh flowers, a fruit bowl, counter space! Ahhh, the things post-grads dare to dream of when it comes to living the good life.

I ahm dunnnnnn

So I'm walking in graduation this Saturday. Awesome. Bill Clinton. Awesome. Eating at Denny's afterward...even awesomer.
Oh yeah. Who's down with the pancakes?

Question: what should I wear? This question pertains to shoes, obvi.

On another note, I'm trying to teach myself how to wiggle my nose. Like Sam in "Bewitched." Not coming along so good.

What I sound like

Ig. Ug. Schnffffffffffugyarg.

I'm sick again.

And my Tom has just left me (even though he was so sweet and stocked my fridge with Gatorade (a vital fluid to those afflicted with spring colds) and my kitchen with napkins (a consolation prize for those who don't buy enough tissues)).

This does not change the fact that I still sound like a water pump gone wrong and am blowing my nose accordingly. It's also freaky cold out. I have many spring like dresses and skirts and shoes, which I can't wear because the wind is still nippy, the frost is still bitey, and the temperature is still frickin' cold.

I feel bad for the ducks who migrated back in hopes of the warm weather.

Plans

I have many plans. The most recent include: the post office, the library, Goodwill, Big Lots. And those are just errands!
The other plans include aged cheddar with baguette and French butter, wiggling my toes.

The rest of my plans include trying to figure out how to cut my budget down per moth. I think I might have to give up Netflix, but as I've discovered the media section of my public library, and let me tell you, it is fantastic.

Wiggling my toes again.

Other plans include black sheep, diaries, rocks. Etc. The purpose of this announcement will be later revealed in all of its glory.

Also I have a zexy new phone.

The best part about living by yourself...

Is that you can stare contentedly at your shoes strewn over the floor, while sitting in your bathrobe and sipping a hot cup of decaf beore you go to bed.

Not much new has happened, except I've heard some more news from law schools. So far I think Notre Dame is giong to take the cake. I have also begun to amass a collection of favorite movies, thanks to my cheap movie hunting skills and my wonderful boyfriend, whose habit of bringing me DVDs when he visits (Kill Bill! Both volumes! Casino Royale!) is quickly raising him to lofty stature...at least where my DVD rack is concerned.

Also, I have leftover ravioli for lunch tomorrow. Aside from the shin splints (walking too much, going for a run, unused to exercise) and a slight need to do laundry, life ist gute. Especially since a) I'm visiting Notre Dame this weekend and b) I get to see the parentals, the sister, the doogies...and my tom!!

Being sick sucks

i am sick and cranky and tired and exhaustified and frustrated and in a bad mood to boot. Being sick when you're alone SUCKS. I hate being sick. I also hate snow and the cafeteria in my office building and incessant phone calls and not having any medicine because I am too sick to go to the store.

Best week ever

Really. Totally and truly the awesomest week. First, my Tom came and spent a beautiful weekend, just relaxing and browsing around Milwaukee, including a truly fantastic dinner at Mader's German restuarant. Sauerkraut, sauerbraten, medieval weaponry adorning the walls....a few more "sauers" I can't really remember. Then two of the loveliest girls in the world (read: Jody and Irene) came for a few days, and we ate and talked and shopped our faces off. It was the best. And the food! I have not eaten so well before, and I certainly haven't eaten as well since - today I ate an egg, a leftover pork chop and macaroni and cheese. Ah, the life of a solitary gal in the city.

Late dinner

When do you know that you're a twenty-something girl living by herself in a strange city on an intern's salary?

When you eat dinner at 9 p.m., and dinner is a can of chicken noodle soup and an English muffin with peanut butter.

Also, when it's hard to fall asleep without the TV, and you've burned through your cell phone minutes before the month is halfway over.

A wealth of happy things

Oh man. I feel that I am jinxing myself with all the happiness that I am so suffused with. So many beautiful, wonderful things have happened to me in the last two days that I simply do not know how to describe them.

Yesterday, Valentine's Day, I received two amazing surprises - Twelve gorgeous multicolor roses from the fantastic ladies of 4QA and twelve beautiful two tone roses from my Tom - both of which were utterly unexpected and surprising, which made them all that much more sweet. They are bloming now and add such amazing color and brightness to my apartment. To wit:



The girls also sent me delicious box of chocolates. Yum.

And then, today, I went to Goodwill and bought the coolest cabinet-cupboard-whatever the heck it is ever. For $9.99!!! AMAZE!


And THEN...I came home and got an email that told me I got into Notre Dame. um...I don't even really have the words to express how happy this made me. So, at Jody's infinitely wise suggestion, i made my way to Metro Market and proceeded to buy myself a chocolate mousse cake and a mini-bottle of Korbel.



If you can't celebrate with the people you love, celebrate by yourself. I haven't been this happy in a long time.

Independent Woman, Part 1

So the reason I have been so completely MIA is that I had no cable (read: no TV, which is also no news, and also no TV shows to keep Bernie company) and no Internet (read: no access to email, blogs, anything...ack). But now that I'm connected again, news from the Milwaukee branch of 4QA, Tourneynbomb, Nguyens, and Disney Divas will once again commence. Saga=long, crazy, slightly dazed.

Left for Milwaukee on Saturday. Drove through white out conditions, 6 feet visibility, around Benton Harbor. Took an hour to get 20 miles. Sucked. Tom drove behind me. So it was okay. And we got here eventually.

Arrived in Milwaukee in the late afternoon. Unpacked everything. Carried a mattress out of my car. Took forever and it was really cold. Grocery shopped at a posh little urban grovery store called Metro Mart. Watched Groundhog Day on my computer because like the genius I am I forgot the connector cable for my DVD and television.

Next day, went shopping at Racine's (about 20 miles outside of Milwaukee) version of Meijer...Woodman's. Isn't that just too much?! Woodman's. Tom went home. I didn't watch the Superbowl because I didn't have any TV. Instead I watched Kinsey, which I purchased at Woodman's for 5 bucks, amd part of I Heart Huckabees, purchased for the same deal.

Next day, Monday. I started work, began training, did stuff. Came home after making a forty minute trek to Target and getting turned around on the freeways. Went to sleep watching episodes of Buffy season 7.

Next day Tuesday. I went to the only DMV open after 5, about forty minutes away, and finally something worked out. I got new plates and registered for a new license.

Today. Wednesday. Went to work. Drove home to wait for the cable guy, who was sick and had to wait for the company to connect me. He got put on hold! Seriously. After he left I went to the Police Department to get my parking permit and had a heart-stopping 15 minutes in which I thought I lost my keys. After I found them, in the single pocket of my bag in which I never put anything (of course it was there) I drove to Walgreen's to buy a screwdriver to put my plates in. Because I didn't have a screwdriver. But I bought one of those cute hammer-in-one things. And i finally screwe in my plates, and now I'm home.

Ah, the life of an ever-transient in-between-city independent woman.

At least my apartment is clean, cute, and nice to come home too.

A resolution

...being, that I will use this blog more frequently to keep updates on my life (moving to Milwaukee, etc., etc.) freely available. Today's episode: adventures of apartment hunting.

I am so pleasantly surprised by the ease of finding an affordable, non-12-month-lease-able apartment in Milwaukee. After making the drive in 3.3 (!) hours, the parents and I saw three different apartments and finally decided on the first one we saw without bothering to continue our search. The building my new apartment in is a charming, brick construction, 8 floors, with a sun-deck — perfect, according to Ramon, the building manager, for summer sandwich eating and firework watching. Ramon, an small character of a man who works as the manager in exchange for free rent, cable, and no doubt a small salary, spent his afternoon running up and down to get the keys he'd neglected to bring along (since we wished to see more than the one apartment he had been planning on).
The apartment itself is a small affair, lovingly called an efficiency, which term more aptly describes what needs to be done with one's furniture and knicky-knacky type things. It's very small, which in itself is more virtue than fault because it will keep me from accumulating...stuff...with a magnificently large closet to house all my clothes and shoes. After I finish shopping for career clothes, I have decided not to buy any more clothes unless absolutely necessary. I have a ridiculous amount, and I am growing slightly ashamed of the size of my shoe collection.
The only hitch in the apartment itself is the kitchen, which is literally smaller than the closet. However, as I am only one person, and not an excessively large one at that, I think this will be ok and will force me to keep the kitchen clean (because if I don't, dishes will undoubtedly spill out into my normal living space).
It is on the seventh floor, which provides a slight view, and is accessibly by the most absolutely charming elevator, which has double doors. The outer set is opened and closed by hand (very old fashioned, wherein lies its charm) and you see an intriguing little window at each floor you stop at.

This has been a long post, but hopefully one that provides sufficient introduction to my life in Milwaukee. More to come. And pictures.

A new leaf

A new year, a new life stage (ew, that sounds remarkably scary) and a new blog. Hopefully this new layout and attitude will refresh my musings in the same way I hope to get refreshed in life. College has been wonderful, but maybe it's time for bigger (and better?) things.

Peppermint mochas = death.
But a tasty death.

All that stands between me and being graduated is a take home final due Thursday. I'm keeping the faith alive. Diet Coke helps, as do apples, which I have learned can re-energize you more efficiently than a cup of coffee. And without the stains or the unfortunate tendency to spill (!) all over my clothes.

So I really have nothing to talk about, or any ideas about what I should talk about. However, I do have a new duck named Bartie, pronounced Bar-thee, much as someone named Bartholomew might nickname himself. I named him in honor of Arti, my roommate who introduced him to me. He seems to be getting off on the right foot with the rest of the gang, meaning Pudge detests him and Wade has already found a way to exploit him for labor. The wonders of the duck world never cease to amaze.

Seriously?

It's time to start working. I just spent a fabulous, wonderful, incredibly lazy weekend doing nothing but sleeping, eating, and watching various sports that were on television. How fab - and how bad for my gargantuan pile of homework. From now on, I'm buckling down.

Tomorrow night Tom and I are celebrating our 18-month anniversary (almost a month late, since I had LSAT when it actually happened) and going to the Tuesday Night Wine-tasting at Vinology, this new restaurant on Main Street. It should be very fun and I am looking forward to it.

This morning the window on my car broke. It refused to go up. What's up with that, and what's up with the $360 it's going to cost me to get it fixed? PLUS i missed class. How much does that suck.

But my new thermos makes me happy. It's silver and carries hot drinks and keeps them hot for a really long time. Very impressive.

LSAT = done

Get it? Got it? Good.

Now I am eating pizza and drinking champagne and letting my brain be a blob.

At least until tomorrow.

Woot.

Variety is the spice of life

Indeed. I am mixing it up this weekend and have hightailed it back to Kalamazoo/Port-age for some home time and my sister's confirmation. Food is good, doggies are good, everything is good. Yum.

Lucky got a haircut and he looks F-U-N-N-Y. He looks like a sausage dog. It's weird. But he is still really cute and smells good. Tom and I snuggle with him every chance we get, but he doesn't really seem to be fond of it. Maybe he doesn't like being squished? Dogs are weird.

Honeycomb's leg is still on the mend, but hopefully he's doing better. Right now I have been inforomed that there are 4 - count 'em, 4!) frogs in the pond out front. One on the top part and three on the bottom part. This morning Tom and I went and threw twigs at them and they jumped in the pond. Ridic!

To the tune of my darling Clementine!!

Crazy peeps! Crazy weekend! Crazy wonderful people who I love!

I am sick

I am sick and it is sucks and I have a cough and a cold and a runny nose and was feverish yesterday but not anymore and I hate it.

I have also given up on constructing proper grammatical sentences.

Being sick will do that to you.

El Apartment

Our new apartment is awesome. Seriously. Like, awesome. Jody, Arti, Ruth, Irene, I love you! We must do that champagne toast soon. In other news, class starts soon, LSAT class has already started, and Ann Arbor weather is disturbed. I can't tell if the sky thinks it's November, or if it's a weird weather effect of global warming. Hopefully it's not the latter, although I would be surprised.

Thus far, all goes well in the world of Bernie back in AA. I've discovered something that really sucks - parking in Ann Arbor. Hot damn, parking is a pain. I drive up and down twelve blocks and can't find a single space, so I end up parking in a structure overnight and paying out the nose for it. Never again, I tell you! Never again.

The ducks are getting used to their new environment. Being incredibly forgetful and absentminded, I definitely forgot to bring a pillow with me from home, so I'm sleeping on a sweater-weave throw pillow with a duck on it that leaves grid marks on my face when I wake up in the morning.

Last night, I ventured out in heels. I am SO not used to heels anymore - this entire summer I wore nothing but flat shoes. I need to get used to them again so I can wear my many pairs of sexy stilettos instead of leaving them to rot in the closet, looking beautiful, of course, but going painfully unworn.

If you're back in Ann Arbor and haven't seen me and are reading this, call! We shall most definitely need to get together. Preferably over a slice of pizza and a glass of beer. Or maybe a glass of champagne...since I'm 21! 21 21 21 21 yes awesome hooray!