One Extreme to Another...

So Good to be Out of the City!

Here's a link to pictures of our visit last weekend to Orange County, VA, with our good friends Meredith and Cord. Another (food-related!) post to come...

Snowed In

OK, I just wrote a big long post about how we have been snowed in....and then blogger ate it. I think blogger ate it to get back at me for not posting for the past six months, so I have decided to just accept my punishment, instead of tempting further retribution by trying to recreate the clever things I said before.

So without further ado, here are some shots of the members of our family who have been quite pleased to have Mommy and Daddy stuck at home for the past SIX DAYS, and who really do not mind the three feet of snow in their backyard. In fact, they really quite enjoy it...

Otter digging a snow cave on his 1st birthday (Feb. 6th)

Bret tossing snowballs for the pups

Elsa enjoying the cold

Attack stance (This was early on in the snow fall,

when you could still see the bushes over the snow)

Done. (Again.)

I'm going to act as if the little readership of this blog has been chomping at the bit for an update, as if it is not made up almost entirely of people I talk to on a daily basis. It's OK. Just let me think that. (And if you are evidence that it isn't true, drop me a comment and let me know!)

Anyway, today is Day Two of Post-Bar Exam Bliss, and T-Minus ONE day until I turn 29. After the last few weeks of stressing and cramming and generally exhausting myself, I'm tempted to make a few last minute additions to my birthday list. Namely, a walker, some orthopedic shoes, some Ben Gay, and an industrial sized bottle of ibuprofen. Don't get worked up -- I am not saying I AM old, I am saying that I FEEL old. As in, decrepit. I tried to do two days of coffee detox in an attempt to "reset" my system, but that lasted one day, and that is only if you don't count the fact that I had three cups of Earl Grey tea yesterday. Oh well.

Here is the point where I sing the praises of my amazing husband, who has now seen me through two bar exams. The mere fact that I was able to take the exam instead of being admitted to the hospital for lack of nutrients is a testament to his devotion to keeping me fed and watered and generally moving in the right direction. This time was definitely harder than last. I "quit" at least 3 times a week, only to be encouraged and gently guided back to rational thought. Then, in those last few days, when the going got really tough, I came home to a "care package"- a new Vera Bradley bag filled with chocolate and gummy bears and advil and chamomile tea and a sleepy-time CD. He offered to drive me there ("there" being Roanoke, 4 hours away) and back, only to come pick me up two days later (which I turned down because, while the offer was tempting, it would be a little ridiculous). And PEOPLE, he had our house cleaned while I was gone. I left a certifiable mess behind and came back to sparkly cleanness. The moral of this story is: I am the luckiest girl on the planet.

And now our "summer" begins. Birthday celebrations lead into Anniversary celebrations. We've got tickets to the Legg Mason Tennis Tournament here in D.C. And my little brother is coming on his first solo trip to visit us. These next few weeks were my motivation through the last few... the light at the end of my tunnel, the cherry on top, etc. Bring on the happy stuff!

Happy Place.

Virtual Graduation.

If you had asked me months ago, or a year ago, I would have told you that you could hardly pay me to don a cap and gown and go through the graduation hullabaloo one more time for my LL.M.

I have had the "piece of paper" for months -- they handed it over immediately after I completed my very last Final Exam on December 5th. It's been right here, rolled up in a cardboard tube next to my desk ever since. I thought all along that it was just the piece of paper I wanted, and that even if we had stayed in Denver, I would have no urge or intention to endure another graduation ceremony (as if the ceremony was an extension of the pain of earning the degree in the first place).

:Sigh:

I think I was wrong. Right now, with me far away in rainy D.C. and my graduation set to occur in 2 hours and 15 minutes at the University of Denver, I have to admit that I am a little bit sad.

So I am taking a break from the droning of a Criminal Law lecture to throw myself a little blog party -- a virtual graduation, if you will. A little photographic recycling and VOILA:

Me. In a cap and gown, dressed and ready to cross the stage...

Now, lest anyone buy too far into my self-pity, my change in heart could have more to do with wishing I was in Denver (as opposed to D.C.....did I mention it's raining? AGAIN/Still?) than wishing I could cross the stage. But still...

Thanks, Grandma! XOXO, Otter

Time Waits for No One...

In retrospect, May was a busy month... I can hardly remember why, but all I know is that I just wrote our June rent check and I don't feel like we got our money's worth for May rent because we just weren't here. Too bad life doesn't work that way.

We've seen a lot of what life has to offer in the past month. Funerals. Weddings. The tendency that each has to pull people together or cause chasms between them. We've experienced in ourselves and in others around us both utter loneliness and complete togetherness. I know this is a little bit more philosophical than the usual fare here on our blog, but May 2009 was a little more... eventful than the usual month of our lives. The month of May has left us drained and looking forward to the opportunity to relax in the sunshine this summer (it has to stop raining eventually right?) and enjoy one another and our pups.

Unfortunately, relaxation isn't on the schedule for June either, and July could be dicey, but I'll pencil it in for August... 2010.

Suffice it to say that I haven't been out on any photographic safaris recently, and in all of the events of the past few weeks, we haven't had a moment or the proper words to express the goings-on here.

A bit of explanation: Around this time last year, I started this blog to give me a healthy dose of distraction from studying for the Bar Exam. Since then we've traveled around Colorado, witnessed history, made life-changing decisions...which resulted in moving cross-country....then Bret took the Bar and passed... And now here I am. Using this blog to procrastinate as I face down another two months of studying FOR THE BAR. Methinks I am a glutton for punishment...

This makes three straight bar exams in which one of the Lewises have made an appearance. Have we been doomed to a lifetime of perpetual stress? I hope this is the last one. And the only way that is going to happen is if I actually start studying...