Making Progress

This whole law school application process is, well, it's a process. It seems to take forever. I know you don't just get to wake up one day and decide to go to law school. (Which is the way I've made some of my best decisions ever. Hello? Moving to Tahoe? Total impulse decision.) But good Lord, does it have to take so long? I got an email from N today that said "Are you in law school yet?"

The good news is that I'm making progress. I just, literally moments ago, finished my personal statement. It's pretty good, if I do say so myself. I mean as good as personal statements can be. Nobody really likes writing a "Please, Please, Please Pick Me... Oh, and P.S. Give Me Lots of Money Too" essay. I tried to infuse mine with my own unique bloggy style voice, not that it's that unique. Hopefully, it will work for me.

Also, I know for a fact that 2 of my letters of recommendation were sent out yesterday. And, all of my transcripts have arrived and been processed. Turns out I'm pretty smart too! Honestly, it's all looking pretty good. As long as I do well on the LSAT in February, I should be well on my way. I guess that means I should get crackin' on that studying.

Does This Blog Make My Ass Look Fat?

Before you start grumbling and groaning, I'd like to point out that even us smaller girls feel fat sometimes. Now is one of those times for me. Allow me to vent?

I'm not sure if it's the holiday season, or the fact that it's freaking cold out (50 degrees is chilly, people), my diet and exercise motivation seems to have vanished (poof!) these days. Case in point? My cute pink gym bag has made the trip to work and back home with me 3 days in a row without once seeing the inside of a gym. I mean at least I'm optimistically packing it up each morning with every intention of hitting the gym each evening, but intent will not stop the spread of my booty. Nor will intent keep my thighs from rubbing together. Or stop the muffin top from oozing out over my jeans.

You know what also doesn't help? The pallet of goodies that is delivered to my office each day as "gifts" from all of our vendors. Don't get me wrong. I am grateful for all of the goodies, but it doesn't help my will power to have all manner of chocolate and cookies within constant reach. (My favorite of all the gifts? White chocolate covered Oreo cookies. My coworkers and I eagerly await our annual tin of chocolate covered Oreo cookies every year. And with each day that it doesn't arrive we get more and more indignant. It is our due! Where are our cookies? Must have cookies.)

Right now we are quite literally almost drowning in popcorn. We have every type of popcorn known to man in our office. Nacho cheese covered, butter flavored, chocolate caramel, chocolate peanut butter, kettle corn. You name it, we have it. Luckily, popcorn is not my favorite holiday treat. Now if it were tortilla chips? That would be a different story. (I love me some tortilla chips. Plain. With salsa. With nacho cheese. I do not discriminate. Mmmmmm. Tortilla chips.)

Today, one of our clients was kind enough to buy our whole office lunch as a holiday thank you. Bronx Pizza. The best pizza in all of San Diego, if you ask me. Is 3 ginormous pieces too much? Hmmm... I'm still not hungry and lunch was 6 hours ago.

So, what to do? Cut myself some slack? It is the holidays after all. Or do I re-commit myself, try to ignore all of the goodies, and drag my lazy ass to the gym every day? I guess the best approach is moderation. Try not to be too hard on myself, try to resist all the tempting goodies, and go to the gym. Now where the hell are those Oreos already?

Hi! I'm Back...

Hi! I'm still alive and kicking. I know, it's been a long time, but truthfully, I haven't felt much like writing till now. I've been going through a lot both personally and professionally, and frankly, writing about it felt like it would make it seem worse. I live a lot inside my head, and while letting those thoughts out can be cathartic at times, sometimes, I just want to avoid it all.

Anyway, I'm feeling better. Probably because I'm taking steps forward both personally and professionally.

First of all, I've started praying. I know my brother, who is a subscriber to this blog totally just snickered at that and wonders if I'm turning into a Jew for Jesus. No, I have not accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior (no offense to those who have). The messiah has not come for me, yet. But, I am taking some time each night to quiet my mind and give thanks to God (or whoever or whatever is up there) for my blessings. And then I'm asking him for fame and fortune in return.... Kidding! I ask for strength, faith, and hope in return. I ask to be open to possibilities. And it seems to be working. Just giving myself quiet time to be thankful and mindful each evening helps me face the next day with some hope and faith.

Secondly, I've finally decided to take the plunge. I'm applying to law school, people! Yep. I can hardly believe it myself. If all goes as planned, I will be graduating at the ripe old age of 41, but as my mom put it so succinctly, I'll be 41 no matter what. I can be 41 with a JD behind my name, or I can just be 41. My choice.

I've begun the process of applying to school. Requested transcripts, begged people to write letters of recommendation for me, and today, I wrote the first draft (a very rough draft) of my personal statement. I wrote about my long road to this point and what it means to finally decide to work at what is my passion. Totally weird concept for me. The example set for me by my parents was that work was just that... work. It's not something you particularly enjoy, you just do it because you have to. And while I like my job well enough, I keep coming back to this idea that there is something more to life than transitioning financial advisors. There is, isn't there? I mean, if that's my big contribution to this world, then I'm afraid the world is in trouble and the messiah may be closer than we all think.

So, yeah, I'm going to law school. I'm scared to death. I'll be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt (And 41! Did I mention I'll be 41?!?!?) when I'm done. I feel like I'm taking a huge chance without much of a safety net. But I'm hopeful and excited at the same time. I can't wait to begin my studies. Knowing me, I'll be the nerdiest law student to ever have nerded in the history of law school. I'll keep you all posted on my progress. XOXO