Right now, on Facebook, the “25 Things” note has been floating around.  Most of my friends have completed them, and I was no exception.  The notes are kind of like status updates, everyone does them.  I would post mine on here, but I ended up with 42 things, rather than the required 25.  It would be waaaaay too long.  So, I decided to select just a few of my favorites and copy and paste them into my blog. 

3. The first goal I remember scoring (that actually meant something) was against East Lyme when I was 8 years old. I was playing in Mary’s age group and had recently learned that East Lyme were our rivals. At home that night, Judy drew a picture of the moment and I felt like a soccer goddess.

12. In contracts class, my phone was vibrating in my backpack. I held the “ignore” button too long and ended up putting my Dad on speaker. Thank God all he said was “Hello??” That could have been embarrassing.

21. People in Minnesota brag because they have “four seasons.” I don’t get it. It went from summer to winter and I don’t see spring coming any time soon. If you want FOUR SEASONS, come to New England. It’s the prettiest place to be in the fall and beautiful in the spring. And winter is mild.

24. I used to get mad because people said “Mary Christmas.” I once asked my parents why they always said Mary Christmas instead of Judy Christmas or Susan Christmas. I was 6 years old.

26. Judy and Mary used to call me “Queen of England” because when we had to clean the basement at the old house (our play-room), I would sit on the couch and point to the messes for them to pick up. One day they decided they weren’t going to take it. I was cleaning up all by myself and my mom came downstairs, saw them sitting on the couch and they were immediately in trouble.

38. Ever snce I learned how to slidetackle when I was 13 I haven’t been able to stop (even in indoor). Once, a girl and I were trash-talking back and forth. She got the ball and I slidetackled her, purposely missing the ball and getting her ankles. I got up laughing. My parents were appalled. It happened on more than once occasion. When I got to college, we weren’t allowed to play dirty or trash-talk – I didn’t know what to do because it was half of my game.

41. Junior year of college I was diagnosed with mono the week before pre-season. I ended up coming a week late. Everyone was tired and miserable by the time I got there. My second day, I dropped my bagel on the table and wouldn’t eat it due to the germs (I know, I was already sick…). Exasperated, I threw my hands up in the air and proclaimed, “This is the WORST day of my ENTIRE life!!!!” My 20 teammates glared angrily at me.

So there they are.  The condensed version of 42 things you must know about me.

This post was supposed to be a picture collage, but I remembered that I had already completed one and I didn’t want to do the same thing twice.  However, for good measure, I’ll throw a pic in anyways.

Family in Ireland!

xoxo

S.

Two Words: Law School.

Alright.  Law school is tough.  I suppose I can’t complain because it was entirely my decision to put off working for three more years.  Right now, I should be working on a library assignment for my Law Skills Research class, but I can’t bring myself to finish the assignment.  Call it boredom, call it laziness, call it what you want.  I just… don’t feel compelled to research.  I loved Law Skills when it was all about writing.  I can write all day and all night without stopping or getting tired or bored.  But once Westlaw or Lexis is on my screen, I’m done.  Don’t get me wrong, I definitely realize the importance of conducting research that is accurate and will help a client.  If I were to flub my research in a real-life situation, there would be consequences that would be likely to end in me being fired.  I understand that.  I know I need to learn this.  But for some reason, focus is not my strong point tonight.

….Luckily, we have an extension and the assignment is now due on Friday….

Phew.

S.

Beverly Hills

Some of these make sense, most don’t. But it’s like Mad Libs + Music, so it’s right up my alley. My sad, time-wasting alley.

1. Put your iTunes shuffle on.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

IF SOMEONE SAYS, “IS THIS OK?”, YOU SAY?
One Second of Insanity (by the Butterfly Effect)

HOW WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?

Umbrella (by Rihanna)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL??
Click Click Boom (by Saliva)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Overprotected (by Britney Spears)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Something To Believe (by Lucky Boys Confusion)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?

Small Town Southern Man (by Alan Jackson)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
I’m a Slave 4 U (by Britney Spears)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Here I Go Again (by Whitesnake)

WHAT IS 2+2?
Champagne from a Paper Cup (by Death Cab For Cutie)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic (by The Police)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
(s)He Don’t Know (s)He’s Beautiful (by Sammy Kershaw)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Nothin’ Bout Love Makes Sense (by Leann Rimes)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Chicago (by Sufjan Stevens)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

Ohio (by Damien Jurado)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
I’m Only Me When I’m With You (by Taylor Swift)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Roller Coaster (by Red Hot Chili Peppers)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Girl in the Mirror (by Britney Spears)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop (by Landon Pigg)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Cleveland Rocks!!! (by Ian Hunter – but that’s no secret!)

WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Smile Like You Mean It (by the Killers)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Kissing the Lipless (by the Shins)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Stealing Kisses (by Faith Hill)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Recycled Air (by the Postal Service)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Don’t Forget to Remember Me (by Carrie Underwood)

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
With You (by Jessica Simpson)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
With Love (by Hilary Duff)

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?

Fly Like an Eagle (by the Steve Miller Band)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Like We Never Loved At All (by Faith Hill)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Miss Murder (by AFI)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Beverly Hills (by Weezer)

Facebook.

Sometimes I get  lonely.  Then Facebook tells me I have 651 friends, and everything is all better.

Ohhhhhh Facebook.

xoxo

S.

Connecticut-isms…

So, I’ve been in Minnesota for about three months now, and I have realized several differences in Midwesterners and New Englanders.  I’ve decided to come up with a list of “Connecticut-isms,” or words and sayings that are used back in New England that seem to leave Minnesotans quite puzzled.

1. WICKED: I use this word about 50 times per day.  (That’s wicked awesome… It’s wicked cold… I have a wicked bad hangover…)  This doesn’t necessarily confuse Minnesotans but most of them think it’s a pretty sweet word and think it’s funny when I say it.  Rather than “wicked,” Minnesotans use a variety of words… such as “totally” or “extremely” or “really.”  I think that’s wicked lame.  The word “wicked” makes the sentence!

2. PACKY/PACKAGE STORE: People really don’t get this one – when I say I need to go to the Packy, I get blank stares and have to explain myself.  Even after the explanation, Minnesotans say, “Well, why can’t you just say liquor store?”  The answer: In Connecticut, the sign on the packy does not say ‘Liquor Store’ – it says ‘Package Store.’  I grew up referring to it as a Packy and I will die referring to it as a Packy.  (I also have had the response… ‘Well it doesn’t sell packages, it sells alcohol.’) Eff that, all this reference to the liquor reminds me that I need to make a stop at the Packy for some more wine.

3. JIMMIES: I actually don’t use this word in every day life, but I have tried it out a few times in order to see the response.  Jimmies are sprinkles.  Minnesotans definitely don’t get that.  It’s okay, I think that’s a lame word anyway – although I do want to go to an Ice Cream Parlour and order jimmies on my sundae – and see what I get.  (Most likely, I will get a blank stare and NOT jimmies.)

4. MASSHOLES: Yup, we call them Massholes in Connecticut.  They’ve earned this nickname for a variety of reasons: they don’t know how to drive (they’re by far the worst drivers in New England), they are all jerks and they never stop talking about their Red Sox.  Most Massholes don’t really care about other sports teams from Boston/New England – their lives revolve around the Sox, annoyingly enough.  I also would like to mention that Massholes have embraced this nickname with open arms – most of them refer to themselves as Massholes as well.  Minnesotans would refer to them as ‘people who reside in MA’ – mostly because they have never come across a Masshole driver… The day they do, they, too, will hate MA.

5. COASTIES: This is just a difference between New England and the Midwest.  Coasties are Coast Guard Cadets.  For example… Mary was in the Miss Ledyard Fair pageant and won Miss Congeniality – and was serenaded by a group of Coasties when she was crowned.  I was in the same pageant years later and my escort was a Coastie, whose name was none other than Aaron Holler (yes, yes it was – I could never forget that because when I introduced my escort to the crowd, I wanted to shout HOLLLLLAAAAAAA! – Oh, and he had a twin).  Anyway… Minnesotans have mentioned that “Coasties” are girls from the East Coast that go to school in the Midwest and have a distinct way about them.

Okay, that’s actually all I have for now – even though I’m pretty sure that there are many more distinctions between New England and the Midwest.  Funnnn.

xoxo
S.

Sallllllllllllveeeeeeee.

Over fall break, I made the trek back to Connecticut and was able to make my way to Salve Regina to catch a soccer game.  Watching the game reminded me how much I miss playing… but it also reminded me of how much work and time it was to balance.  Games = fun.  Practices = ehhhhh.  I remember dreading practices last year, mostly because I felt as though we never accomplished much.  Sure, we did conditioning and shooting and skills and all the basics… but I don’t know if it ever came together.  And of course, after practice, I would have very little motivation to get any schoolwork done because I felt as though I should still be working out.  [I will point out that this year, I still have very little motivation to get schoolwork done, but not because of working out... which I haven't done in ages...]

While at Salve, I must have seen about 200 Red Sox hats and shirts, which brings me to my next point: I totally don’t miss New England sports.  There’s no  place for Boston/New England fans in Minnesota (there’s hardly a place for Yankees fans!) which is quite satisfying.  Once every 2 or 3 weeks, I’ll see a Red Sox hat or shirt and I get bitter, but it sure does beat the daily dose of Sox at Salve.  Thank goodness I haven’t had to deal with Patriots and Celtics fans.  For some reason, New England fans are that much more annoying than fans from any other region/city.  Speaking of Red Sox… they’re tied with Tampa Bay right now – so everyone needs to cross their fingers for a win from the Rays tonight so my friends from home aren’t rubbing it in my face tonight!!

What do I miss?  Ohhhhhh Salve… Newport… ocean.  I went to talk to an old professor and her office had the perfect view of the ocean.  You could see the tourists walking outside on the cliffwalk and you could even see all the way to First Beach from the comfort McCauley Hall.  And it was a beautiful day; I almost wish it had been rainy so I wouldn’t remember the best part about Newport in the summer/fall.  There were a lot of people at the game too, due to the beautiful weather.  Unfortunately, Brother Reynolds Field does not overlook the ocean, so I did not get to see the water while watching the game…  I remember freshman year, we got to play at Fort Adams, which was basically ON the water.  Those were the days.  During preseason the Fort was filled with sailboats and tourists, and it was amazing to see how active the place was. By sophomore year, Brother Reynolds Field on campus had been fixed, much to the disappointment of everyone.  And by everyone, I mean me.

Now I’m back in Minnesota.  A million miles from the ocean… *Sigh.*

xoxo

S.

Sunday… Funday?

Somehow, every day I find myself becoming more and more consumed with my fantasy football team.  In fact, I might spend more time pondering changes to make to my lineup than I spend on reading for law school.  [Okay, that might be a drastic overstatement, but at this very moment, instead of writing my legal memorandum I have been watching football all day, with the nfl.com's "live scoring" on my computer screen.  I currently have half of a sentence written for my memo.]  But in somewhere in the middle of Week 3, I am realizing that all of my trouble might be worth it.

I started the season knowing very little about football.  Here’s what I knew: I love the Cleveland Browns, hate the New England Patriots (and a few other teams) and prayed for Tom Brady to get injured.  I suppose my punishment for wishing harm upon others is that the Browns are kind of blowing it this year (start Brady Quinn already!!!)  Of course, I also know a little about the Browns – like that Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards are amazing, and Phil Dawson made several field goals that he never should have last year.  And Derek Anderson is horrible (in my eyes).

I still know very little about statistics or how fantasy scoring works, but I’ve made some quintessential decisions in my 2-0 reign over the fantasy world thus far.  Ben Roethlisberger is my QB – or… was my QB.  I looked at the matchups for this week and saw that he was still injured and playing against the Eagles, and decided that I needed to sub him out.  My backup QB is Brady Quinn (bad move, I know, but I’m an optimist) but I refused to get rid of him.  So I dropped Donte Stallworth (he hasn’t been playing anyway, so I think that was a good move) and picked up Trent Edwards.  I know Edwards isn’t necessarily the best QB, but the Bills are currently playing pretty well, so I felt that it was a chance worth taking.  (And by the way, in case you’re wondering, YES I do currently have 3 QBs on my fantasy team – what of it? I’m hording as many as possible just in case things change.)  But I can’t wait for the day that I can drop Trent Edwards, bench Big Ben and play Brady Quinn (whose initials are BQ, as in backwards QB – it’s destiny that he will play!)

On that note, nothing makes me happier than the Patriots losing to the Miami Dolphins, of all teams.  It’s pretty exciting.  Looks like the Pats will have a far from perfect season this year without their main man Tom Brady – and hopefully some of their other superstars (like Randy Moss) will just get frustrated and end up leaving the Pats after this year.  I wonder who will make it to the Superbowl this year.  Yes, it’s early, but I’m super excited, now that the Pats (hopefully) won’t even make playoffs.  While I want the Browns to make it (only if Brady Quinn is anchoring the offense), I also am pulling for the Bills… And then there’s the Giants – maybe they can win it again… I don’t know… I suppose it’s a waiting game.

xoxo

S.

Why I’m (Not) Voting Democrat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDWkwtHYzgA

Clearly, I would never do such a thing to America; a Democrat in office is the absolute last thing we need.  Political views aside, I’m posting this because I saw the “Why I’m Voting Republican” video on another blog, and I had to post this in order to even the playing field a little bit.

I also want to point out that the Jib-Jab video, “It’s Time for Some Campaignin,’” that was released in June (or July?) is one of my favorite things.  And the “Charlie bit me” video on YouTube.  Check all of them out, you won’t be disappointed.

xoxo

S.

Bitter Bears

I have spent all this time at law school, and haven’t bothered to write about my experience.  It’s not like I haven’t had time or had nothing to write about, I just get too angry sometimes.  Law school, and a few of the people that are in attendance, can be extemely aggravating.  I don’t have more work than I can handle… but there are more personalities than I can handle.

One of the groups of people that provoke the Debbie Downer part of my personality are the flaming liberals.  For some reason, the people that are so left-wing they’re almost socialist are the ones who make their voices heard moreso than anyone else.  An example of an actual statement in Torts: “If you ever listen to right-wing radio, all they care about are their guns and shooting people.”  Intelligent statement.  I’m right wing, let me just pull out my gun and shoot you because that’s what the NRA is all about. NO! That’s the most uneducated statement I have ever heard.  First of all, it’s our Constitutional right to own guns; it is NOT our Constitutional right to shoot people at random, and I don’t think anyone believes it is.  How did this come up in Torts, you might ask.  Katko v. Briney.  Apparently the Katkos were gun-toting conservatives who wanted to kill anyone who stepped onto their property.  Right.

In the same group as the liberals, we have the know-it-alls.  Every school has these people – the annoying ones who raise their hands every three seconds and spout off answers that are right only because the person is reading the rule of law straight from the book.  Great, everyone can read.  If you’re going to answer a question, try analyzing the case on your own and paraphrase, rather than reading the judge’s words.  Don’t act surprised when the professor asks you to clarify your answer – we’re in law school now; you should be able to come up with your own ideas.  At this point, there are some people that I see with their hands up and I immediately want to slam my head against the table, because I know they just want to show off their impeccable reading ability.  Welcome to first grade!

Finally, we have the people that show up to class completely unprepared.  Luckily, no one has tried to waste time by bullshitting answers, but the second week of class we did have a girl request the professor to call on someone else.  Honey, didn’t you watch Legally Blonde?  Such behavior can get you kicked out of class.  If I wasn’t prepared for class, I wouldn’t waste my time by attending.  Of course there are aspects that may be hard to understand – contracts is pretty difficult for me – but if you at least read and try to understand you at least will have a starting point in case you are called upon.

That being said, I must admit that I can be pretty politically offensive (although I would never share my views in class because there is a time and a place for politics and it is not in the classroom… unless we’re talking about the politics of a case, which did not include Katko v. Briney.  In fact, politics was never mentioned until Lib pointed a finger at conservatives).  And I probably shouldn’t be angered at law school by the small percentage of people that irritate me, but it’s impossible not to feel a little twinge whenever an idiot speaks (hence why I don’t spout off about politics in the classroom – I don’t want to be “that girl” that everyone groans when they see her hand raised).  Whatever.  I need to cheer up.

xoxo

S.

Mosaic My Life.

Found this out there and I had to do it…

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

Questions:
1. What is your first name? S
2. What is your favorite food? Cheeseburgers… obviously (nothing is quite as satisfying as a big ole juicy burger)
3. What high school did you go to? Ledyard High School
4. What is your favorite color? Bubblegum Pink
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Johnny Depp
6. Favorite drink? Amaretto Sour
7. Dream vacation? Portugal (so I can meet Cristiano Ronaldo)
8. Favorite dessert? Crepes with homemade whipped cream and blueberries and raspberries and liqueour
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Lawyer
10. What do you love most in life? Friendship
11. One Word to describe you. Pink (Okay, I know it’s lame but people know me by my signature color)
12. Your flickr name. Barbie (that’s not it, but they didn’t have any pics for what it would be…)

And that’s that…

S.