Training

So all seasoned bloggers, like Carly over at College Prep, always advise that a new blogger should set out to blog about what they know and love. 

Well, I know a lot about the life of a law student. Boring.

I know a lot about living as an 'ex-pat' in Australia. Boring because currently all I do really is go to school. One day, though, I hope to include travel posts and such once I am free of the law school chains that bind me. One day soon (eeep!). 

I am not into music enough to blog about it, nor do I keep up enough with the latest fashion trends to really talk about that.

So what in there world is there for me to talk about that anyone could possibly want to hear? 

For starters, I am awkward. I could talk about the regular awkward things that happen to me. 

My family is also slightly nuts (in a good way) so I could share some stories.

Therefore, I guess what I can really aim to do as of now in my life, is to offer the reader a smile, laugh or just mindless break from whatever obligations they have.

So with that, I am going to tell you about the time my dad tried to train our cats to use the toilet. Yup, true story. Believe it or not, there are special litter trays that you can put on your toilet to slowly and successfully train your cat to go to the bathroom in the toilet. It's a tray the fits the bowl and you fill the area of the toilet seat hole with litter. Then ever so slightly, you cut the tray regularly until it reaches the same size as the actual toilet seat hole. Your cat slowly learns to balance and do its business without ever knowing. Genius or crazy?

These are not my cats but I felt a picture of a cat using a toilet HAD to be shared. I also love the fact that his friend is watching. Poor kid can't get any privacy.

Seriously, could you imagine walking into the bathroom in your house to find it already occupied by your cat? The whole process was actually pretty mortifying for my 12 year old self. Not only did I have to remove a litter tray every time I wanted to use the bathroom, but I had to do it for my friends when they visited! I am pretty sure people thought we were the craziest family in all the land. 

The training was successful with one of my cats but since we had to keep a regular litter box around for the other cat, she just ended up resorting back to that. Fail.

5 Things I am Grateful For This Very Second

I don't like corny blog posts, so this one won't be corny! But I am just in a mood where I have felt like reflecting on things I love in my life right now.

1. Shhh don't tell him but - successfully planting the idea of getting a dog in Mr Aussie's head without him even realizing it.

2. The sales guy who talked me into NOT getting dinky little Apple like headphones and getting these babies instead:

Sennheiser and adidas teamed up to make some awesome headphones. These headphones are 'sports' headphones so they come with special attachments (which you can see in the pic) that keep the ear buds actually in your ear when you're doing anything active! They come with a few different accessories to change the ear buds including just regular squishy padding. They're also much more durable than other dinky Apple-like headphones and are sweat proof! Pretty cool. And most importantly, the sound quality is great.

3. That college football is in full swing and exciting as ever. No explanation needed there. Roll Tide. Go CLEMSON Tigers.

4. Tickets to go home for a month are BOOKED. See ya soon, America! :)

5. My silly little cats

Yes, I am cat and dog person. They do exist.

Anything your feeling extra grateful for lately? Or just loving in general at the moment?

Conversation 1

We may both speak English, but it doesn't always seem that way

Mr. Aussie: "Will you open the boot?"

Me: "I will if you call it a trunk"

Mr. Aussie: "You bloody American"

Missing Fall

This is what it looks like where I live right now.

For those people who don't know, the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere are complete opposites when it comes to seasons. So right now, it is Spring here. Plus, where I live it is never really Fall. I live in a state that is essentially the same climate as Florida where the seasons are comprised of warm, warmer and warmest. To say I miss actual seasons is the biggest understatement of the century. I practically yearn for seasons. During 'winter' I would just pretend it was colder outside so I could actually wear wintery outfits. I'd say things like 'brrr it is cold tonight' and 'ah the air is so crisp' in hopes of tricking my mind into actually thinking it is winter weather. Nevermind the fact that it was June/July/August  and all my mind could really think of was summer (I will never get used to that). .

It is killing me seeing everyone and their mom (literally) obsess over pumpkin everything! I find myself longing for cool weather, riding boots, sweaters, pumpkin patches and good ole American Halloween.

What I miss dearly:

And finally, but certainly not even remotely the least, CLEMSON FOOTBALL:

Don't even get me started on fall outfits and college football or I will just spiral into a lack of sweater/tailgating induced depression!

Are you suffering from a lack of fall? What are your favorite things about fall?

Small Changes

Well, we all know that is true. 

Awhile ago I read an article in some women's magazine which featured a few different women who each made a small change in their life for 30 days. I remember one writer decided to wear red lipstick every day, and discovered she found a new sense of self-confidence from just wearing red lipstick! People noticed her new confidence too and soon the red lipstick led to other small changes that made her feel great.

So I have decided to make a small change for 30 days just as an experiment for myself.

As background: I do not exercise regularly. I used to but some how I just stopped. I blame the old age (alright, I am only 25).  

Before you worry, I am not about to be one of those bloggers that SUDDENLY has a new found love for running and has to talk about it every 2 seconds. No one likes that, do they? Unless you're a runner, then you can like that. But for the rest of us human folk - running sucks and hearing it about almost sucks even more.

So, for 30 days I am going to do 10 push ups a day. Not a big change, but enough to likely see a change. Let's face it, after this month I will probably be a bikini model.

So the challenge starts TODAY. That's Oct 25 Australia time. Join in on the challenge if you want!

I will be reporting periodically on how this challenge is unfolding. Until then, happy small changes!

Another Path

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both"

I've mentioned this a million times, but I am in law school. If you're in law school, have friends/family in law school, I am sure you are aware that about 98% of everyone in law school has moments of doubts. We like to think things like:

"WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

"LAW SCHOOL HAS RUINED MY LIFE!"

"SOMETIMES I WISH I WAS JUST A HIPPIE ON A BEACH WITH A MOJITO IN HAND"

and the worst:

"WHAT IF I DON'T END UP WANTING TO BE A LAWYER?"

(just to name a few)

Lately my friends and I have been talking about what we MIGHT have been if we followed a different path. A path that we had once considered but for some reason or another we didn't take. 

I've been on a couple whale watching trips recently which were amazing! I didn't get any pictures because I just wanted to enjoy the moment otherwise I'd share. On one trip a humpback whale was seriously about 4 ft away from me. If I had been allowed, I could have reached over the front of the boat and touched him! I also saw many whales on a hike I did. They are seriously beautiful creatures. This reminded me of the path I almost took: becoming a marine biologist. I also had another path: becoming a vet.

Sometimes I sit and think that maybe I should have taken one of those paths. But really, that's just a waste of time! If I had done that then I may not be where I am today. I certainly would not have met Mr. Aussie and I  probably would not be in Australia.

There is a reason I took the path I did, even if I don't fully understand it! At the end of the day I LOVE law school and I think I am going to love being a lawyer. I love where I am and who I am with. 

differences can be fun!

“I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort where we overlap"

- Ani Difranco

Last night, Mr. Aussie and I went to a concert for this Canadian rock band called the Tea Party. I'd never heard of them but I ended up having a good time and enjoyed the music. That got me thinking: Mr. Aussie and I are very different people. Aside from the fact that he's Australian and I am American, we have some very different interests. The most important things are the same: values, morals, both want kids, yada yada yada. However, the smaller things are quite different.

For example, we have polar opposite tastes in music. We have some music that we can agree on, but those are typically the "classics" like The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel. 

I have to admit though, I love how different we are! I am constantly learning about so many new things. 

Mr. Aussie is introverted and quiet, I am extroverted and loud. However, being around him has taught me how enjoyable it can be to just sit with someone you love, not saying anything at all.

I have a new sport obsession: Aussie Rules Football. It is very different than American football and I didn't like it at all at first, but once he taught me the rules and I saw a few games, I really started to love it!

The big one: music! Mr. Aussie is very passionate about music. He also loves live music. During our relationship I've realized that so do I! I'd never been really that interested in going to concerts before, but now I love it. I've been to a few concerts with him in which I had never even heard of the band before and/or it didn't fit into the genre I prefer, but I've enjoyed them! He loves showing me the music he likes and I love learning about all these new bands. 

I think these differences make things more fun! 

Do you have any relationships in your life like this? Where the person is very different, but you learn about so many new things?

Being Yourself

I very reluctantly call myself an "ex-pat" but I guess I am one. And I bet my other fellow ex-pats encounter some of the same issues I do. 

In my group of friends here, I am the only American. This combined with an Australian boyfriend sometimes makes me feel like I am losing things about me that are American.

Mr Aussie loves pointing out things I say that are most definitely Australian and that I have definitely picked up from him. One habit I have formed is the Australians' weird habit of saying similes without actually finishing them. Example: "Today was sweet as!" Sweet as what?! You'll never know. 

Other things that are different:

Lollies = candy

Jug = Pitcher

Biscuit = Cookie

Mince meat = ground meat

I love living here but I don't want to lose who I am. At the core, obviously my morals and beliefs are the same, but the little things like phrases are what differentiate all the English speaking countries and that's what I don't want to change! But at the same time I need to just accept that I am going to pick up Australian habits. Australian policies and way of life are changing me too. I definitely have a different outlook on a lot of things since living here.

It's like I am a new "you". My "you" is now mostly American with a dash of Australian. Some days I feel like I am losing my identity but really I am not - I just have a new identity! And really, this doesn't just apply to living in another country. As we get older life is constantly changing right? We're constantly having experiences that change us and so we've got a new identity!

Are there changes in your life that are making you feel like you're losing some of what makes you, you?

P.S. don't worry - I still say "y'all" constantly. Not sure that will EVER change.  

Cycle of Rude

Alright y'all, I have a theory in which I call the "Cycle of Rude". 

I am sure you all know what I am talking about: a stranger/friend is rude to you, which in turn you are rude to someone else and then they are rude to someone else and so on and so on. It's a horrible horrible cycle.

I can deal with a friend being rude to me, everyone has their days, so that doesn't set me into the cycle. It's the crazy rude strangers that just set me off like a bottle rocket. And unfortunately, yesterday I had TWO rude strangers.

It all started in a parking lot. Mr. Aussie was driving and we were stopped because this new driver was being an absolute idiot and we had no idea what was going on. Then there were other cars pulling out and such so he was just easing along in the parking lot, hardly moving. Then this car that we were directly behind started pulling out of their spot so naturally he honked. No big deal, right? WRONG. The crazies were out.

Once we reached a spot, I jumped out of the car to get the clothes for dry cleaning and right as I shut the door the man we honked at pulls up. He starts with, "I couldn't really see out of my car because the angle was hard". And I just said "Oh ok, well we figured you just didn't see us so that's why we honked." THEN the man starts going on a rampage about how we were flying through the flying the parking lot. WHAT? So of course I responded with "uhhh we weren't even moving!" Then he just kept yelling at me and sped off. 

SERIOUSLY?! Was that even necessary at all? You are such an awesome 50 year old guy to be sitting in your little station wagon yelling at a young lady you don't even know. I envy your life.

Then we went to go get new wiper blades. We weren't sure what we needed so we asked this lady for some help. She came back with just the little rubber bits of the blade which are apparently called refills (never heard of before in my LIFE). She instructed us to cut them and put them on. I turned to Mr. Aussie and I was like uh I don't think this is right, I have never had to cut anything for new blades before, we need the whole thing. He said the same thing. So I turned to her and told her "I don't think this is what we are after, we need the whole blade, we've never just gotten these little bits to cut before."

This salesperson of the year's response, in a rude condescending tone, was, "You just have to cut. Ya know, get some scissors and cut it." And did this stupid motion of cutting in the air and looked at us like morons.

Oh THANK YOU OLD WISE ONE, I had no idea how to cut things. 

I responded with, "I am aware of how to cut it, there is no reason to talk to me like that".

Then Mr. Aussie made the executive decision that we were not purchasing anything from this rude woman and we just walked out the store.

Both these people put me in quite a sour mood. Luckily Mr. Aussie was the only person who got the butt of it but if any innocent bystander had crossed my path after these two nemrods, it would not have been pretty. 

Real Talk

I haven't blogged in awhile, and I have really been meaning to but life got hectic. 

The idea behind this post stems from one over at Mornings at Pannikin. 

Plans. What would life be without plans? Actually I'd probably be working at my childhood vacation spot in the US Virgin Islands called Maho Bay. That's probably what my life would be without plans. That doesn't look too bad either. 

As I have mentioned, I am in law school. With law school comes a certain level of anxiety that I have never had in my life. I am not an anxious or paranoid person typically, but law school has made me one.

Now comes Real Talk, I have no idea what I want to do after I graduate from law school. I think I know the area of law I want to go into, but not entirely sure. And I have not actually admitted this out loud to anyone (so why not say it to the global internet world), but at this point I am not even sure I want to be a lawyer. YIKES. 

I have no definitive plan. I want to graduate, complete my PLTs, move out of this weirdo place I live to an actual city with my wonderful boyfriend, get a job, and someday get married and have kiddos. I guess that's a plan, albeit a very vague and generic one. Truth be told, sometimes I have freak outs that I have no plan and feel like everyone else around me has it all figured out. But ya know what I have learned, things look shinier when you only see tidbits on a Facebook profile or blog.

I have also noticed, when I listen very closely to my friends both at home and here in law school, I hear them quietly freaking out  as well. 

So this is what I have learned: No one has it all figured out.

And why should we? We're only in our 20s for the love of Moses. So I am going to keep trudging along, trying to figure out what the big PLAN is. That's what the 20s are all about right? 

The Tassie Tigers

Ok so I have formed an obsession with a show here in Australia called My Kitchen Rules. Basically there are teams of two from each state (plus New Zealand this year) and this season they have two sets of 6 teams and the bottom from each are now going against each other. 

Last night (Wednesday) the Tassies were up to bat in this round and let me just add, I love this couple! 

They’re friendly, they have an obvious passion for food and they are fair sports in this game. Unlike others – *cough* THOMAS *cough*

Carla insulted Hobart within the first like 30 seconds of the other contestants being on the show. This duo of “just friends” (what the heck is that?) already annoy the crap out of me but COME ON CARLA. I thought part of the show was going to the teams’ home states to appreciate the local food and way of life, yada yada. BUT I FORGET – Carla seems to have the brain of a gold fish (there’s not much there). 

I don’t know, I just found it very rude and an unnecessary snarky comment. Australia already hates you, try and not dig a deeper hole missy.

And Thomas – come on, get a new look. Seriously, Thomas always looks like he is about to cry or is constipated or something. He always makes this face just sitting at the table, talking about a dish and everything else involved with this show. 

Thomas and Carla’s very transparent plan to sabotage other contestants by sending negative comments into the air to maybe persuade others was so pathetic and low. Thank the food gods all the other contestants are way smarter than the two of them. 

Alright I’ll shut up – I’m just really sick of them. 

O my pink shirts, I love Peter and Gary!! Even if Peter can be so obnoxiously arrogant sometimes. And I find it very humorous that Peter has on an Abercrombie and Fitch shirt. Cracks me up. 

I also find it extremely comical that 7 gives most team headline names based on their relationship – ooo but not Peter and Gary, they’re just “doctor and lawyer”. 

I especially love when Gary called out that Thomas needs to maybe actually learn something about food. TRUTH. Homeboy didn’t even know how to explain crackling. And somehow he thought scallops and crackling were SIMPLE to do?! I bet you’d screw it up in a heartbeat, Thomas. 

Anyways, I am so happy the Tassies did well. Their food looked great to me, except the dessert. I am not a cheesecake fan to begin with and then that one just looked SO HEAVY. Too intense and sweet sounding for my taste buds. 

It’s kind of hard to see in this picture, but I am soooo obsessed with Pete’s eyes. Mr. Aussie totally got huffy puffy when I commented on their blueness since he is very proud of his own very blue eyes. But ah they’re gorgeous!

Anyone else out there watch this show?!

Healthy Competition

I stumbled across this at design darling and it made me think about competitiveness and law school and the legal profession as a whole. I am more competitive than your average Jane and I know that competing with myself is essentially more important than competing with others. However, I’m in LAW SCHOOL. 

I think law school is where they created the idea of competition. I’m serious. Especially since in my law school they have decided to use the bell curve for grades (STUPID) which makes people INSANE.

But how much competition is too much competition? When do we cross the line? I know med schools in the US are taking measures in the admission process to weed out potentially self-harming people because of the competitiveness. Some are even making grades only pass-fail to lighten the psychoticness of it all. There’s talk on implementing the same ideas in law schools now. 

I know these are good ideas, but at the same time, how much is it actually going to help? Competition comes with the legal profession. People are power hungry. People are obsessed with having what others don’t have.

So how do they help students that are one day going to be in this profession? I think students need to be reminded that YOU ARE NOT YOUR GRADES. Grades are arbitrary. I don’t care what anyone says, they are. Especially when you add a bell curve into the mix. Law schools also need to show students how to BALANCE life. Studying is obviously important, but so is living life. Make yourself work out, make yourself eat real meals and make yourself enjoy a couple nights a week with friends.

What’s your take on competition? What’s the healthy level?

Awards and Waterfalls

Feb 9 - Front door - Well, I didn't take a picture of a front door because all the ones I encountered during the day were so boring. So instead, I went the cheesey route and took this picture at my boyfriend's award ceremony for his super awesome grades. He ended up going back to school a couple years ago and he has done so well and I'm so proud of him! Going back to school can be so hard. So this is just showing "opening the front door" to new opportunities!

Feb 10 - Self portrait - took this during the ride to our little getaway today! 

And just wanted to share some of the sights from today...

Series of photos

So for Feb 5 - 10 AM, I was trying desperately to beat this level. I took awhile.

Feb 6 - Dinner - I was out that night and just completely forgot to snap a shot. I'm bummed because the food looked and tasted yummy, would have been a good pic! But I went and got a pic from the website of the restaurant to show some of what I was having:

Feb 7 - Buttons - These are buttons on a dress that I love:

 

Feb 8 - Sun - It's very warm and nice right now, but lots of clouds too, so I got the sun behind a big cloud.

 

Too Much Vino and Creepiness

I seriously am loving this Feb Photo a Day challenge. 

For Feb 3, hands, I went a little liberal with the word and instead of taking a picture of hands I went with a pic of a wine label...

Bird in Hand is some serious yummy Australian wine. I have been told that this one in particular is served at Wimbledon. Don't quote me on it though. But holy moly what a perfect summer wine. It's a pink wine and so refreshing and crisp! And I may or may not have pretended that I was drinking with Dutchess Catherine as spectators at Wimbledon...

In reality I was alone and watching SVU. Same thing.

So for Feb 4, a stranger, I wasn't really sure what to do with it. I felt uncomfortable asking to take a picture of a stranger which was probably the point of it but I just couldn't. Instead, I took the creepy route and just took a picture as I was driving in the car by the beach...on my Blackberry...I might have even involuntarily slowed down as I was doing. CREEPER ALERT.

Photo a Day Challenge

I am so excited to be doing this! This is such a fabulous idea by Chantelle over at fatmumslim.

I’m late to it though and seeing as I am in Australia, it is already Feb 2. So I’m doing two in one day!

Feb 1 – my view today: the view from my balcony. The mountains in the background are such a beautiful area and rainforest like too!

Feb 2 – words. Here, there’s lots of them in the cases I read for classes. There’s always cases.

The Last Half

So I am currently half way done with my law degree and couldn’t be more excited. You could I say I have the J of my JD.

Not only will it be amazing to finally be done with school, but it will also probably be good for my health. I am a person that stresses a lot! So this semester I am trying some new things to maybe help out with my stress, including being more organized. (Sidenote: started the year off not so great by leaving my KEYS in the US, good job Katy).

I started first with getting two new books from Maybooks. O my gosh, I love them! They’re both my first purchases from them and I am so happy I got them. I love the size of them in particular. I got one weekly agenda and one regular.

I also wanted to spruce up the way I organize things. I won’t even lie, I have always thought it to be very silly that people get expensive cutesy folders when you get much more regular ones for the same price. But, I changed my mind. To help brighten my days, I invested in some super cute Lilly folders:

Law school can really run you down with all its work, but these bright and fun patterned colors just make the day better! Seriously! I got mine at a store in Atlanta but I also just found them online here.

I also invested in some cute Lilly notepads to make my task lists a little more exciting:

And last, I FINALLY got a wireless mouse. I spend a lot of time on my computer and I get real sick of using the little touchpad. After checking out some of the more expensive ones, I ended up with a $20 Jenkins one. I searched for them and they may only be available in Australia but I love that they come in fun colors. I chose the bright green: