my hammock

thank you daddy :) there is nothing like watching the sun go down, or seeing the water stretch out to the south from my beautiful purple plumb hammock that I got in Cozumel. My dad installed it at Christmastime after much griping.

So after my debbie nasty complainer face post of yesterday I figure I owe my future family and their city some credit. When we arrived on Friday morning we went to THE BEST coffee in the world...Vivianno. Then we got home -- ate this amazing bread and cheeses and sausages that they get at their incredible grocery store. Think whole foods meets trader joes and 6 tanks of live crabs and lobsters. hung out with the fam, made some sweet love and got ready for our big night at our now traditional 9 course restaurant downtown. There was leek (?) soup, beets with hummus, filet tacos, fried bread with truffles, some kind of poultry that i forget now, an amazing cheese plate, dessert of rice pudding with blueberries, strawberry shortcake, and some kind of baked fruit. I'm surprised I can remember that because you get a new wine or cocktail with each course. It is truly an incredible experience.

Then off to meet the buddies for more drinks, the west coasts' finest, and irish jig dancing. Deep talks with his friends about girls that none of us remember. Then we decided to call it a night ...except i couldn't and my man couldn't drive. I insisted that we go catch a ride to a friend's house and then go in a cab from there. Well, turns out that is not the easiest thing to do at 4 am in the suburbs. we walked. and walked. and walked. for about 3 miles. in the rain. in my gorgeous blue strappy suede sandles that looked soooo cute with my blue and white polka dot dress :( we fell. we laughed. we talked. we probably fought. but we saw the sun (almost) come up which was something i had not experienced with him in a really long time, if ever. A good, wild night.

The next day ensued with a wretched hangover, so much that my favorite mother in law said we both smelled like booze. we lazed around watching the world cup and eating more fabulousness. finally managed to walk down to the shore of the lake near their house, and took the granddaughter to collect shells. i am very strange with children. They're cool, but i feel awkward with them never having really been around any. At first I was kind of jealous (i know, wtf???) and I wanted him all to myself for this sunny warm day on the beach. but it was cool to see him interact with her and just get to chill out and watch. she was better than me at climbing the trail, that is for sure. honestly i have some issues if i am jealous of a five year old child.

that night we fell asleep super early, probably jet leg. the next day was fourth of july so we went to his friends' boat house on the lake -- it was sunny when we got there, within 20 minutes it was foggy, rainy and cold. and it stayed that way for the next 30 hours. i spent fourth of july huddled in blankets and cashmere, still a tad hungover from the night two nights before. we played kings cup (hello college!!!) but so much fun and I ate more chips than any human should. we grilled sausages and watched amazing, 20 mminute long fireworks at which I jumped every time they ignited. my lover bear wanted to stay in after instead of going to the bar which suprised me somewhat but i was totally fine with passing out in this gorgeous sunroom on the lake and waiting for daylight.

In the am, we had pastries, swiss artisan bread selected by the swiss friend himself, and naaaasty coffee. we made our way back to mom and dad's for showers and headed to the university district and to have lunch with the sister. We went to a great little thai place with these amazing tumeric noodles and soup. we talked about her impedning law school decision and gave her a black's law dictionary. she's going through an almost divorce -- i hope she doesn't do it. its complicated but i really really think they need to work things out. anyway, none of my business.

we went back to the rents for dinner -- we did NOT stop eating...after buying ridiculous amounts of food at the market. so nice and fresh. I took the red eye home compliments of sister's friends' pill prescribed by her doctor in Austria. ok. I slept well enough and was able to bill 6 and change on Tuesday, no small feat.

so that was that.

tonight was t road after work, and I considered the irony of my ex Jeff having taken me on our first date there and i was so wierded out by the place. never thought I would meet my future hubby there some two years later. love it.

le summer

is halfway over :(

my life has become measured by the buildings going up around me, that when i started the lease had unobstructed views of Miami...now I look directly at a new apartment building -- don't even get me started on the color scheme -- a school, and now the first traces of a hotel. yuck. i heart this building, but soooooo over the noise. the smells of morning in the elevator. the lap pool...the insane valet situation...the beautiful, big, sunny windows....my hammock. i've really been spoiled here which makes finding a new place ridiculous.

just got back from inlaws' for the fourth of july-- interesting visit with the in-laws. I feel like mom is a little standoffish, at least at first. so much so that now reflecting, i found myself tied up with the 5 year old granddaughter teaching her about mermaids and dressup....avoidance? i guess i can't blame mom -- but i do get sick of suggestions that we move back to seattle. My strongest argument (that I can say to her face) is that it is too rainy and cold for me. the truth is somewhat further away. i starts something like, I don't want my children learning your language so that everyone around me can converse and I can't like you do too often as it is... i know that is your culture and who you are and you want to hold on to the old ways or whatever. but i'm sorry i don't like when you tell your son in a foreign language that i don't understand, in front of me, that i will be making dessert, and THEN complain that the dessert is not that great. i left out the sugar because you wanted it out. maybe your spoiled ass little grandchildren don't need to eat fish everynight that costs $12 a pound. phew that felt good.

but by the end she's all hugs and tears and friends. inviting my parents up for thanksgiving -- which he said was his parents' idea -- come to find out that it was actually his idea which he pinned on me in front of his mom. wtf??? then there was the comment that she's not sure why he likes me....well maybe he should just go find a good home-bodied (insert nationality here) girl like his sister who has not worked a day in her life but sure can speak the language. on that note, I actually really like the sister, and I feel like she is at least to some degree on my side. not that there are sides or anything. but you know, in-laws. they are always going to take ONE side or the other.

i hate sounding bitter and gripey, i mean they really are a great family but i think we are all still feeling eachother out. i just kept thinking the whole time that i was there,like, this is going to be a lifetime struggle. and it made me question, you know, my dad's relationship with my grandparents and my mom's relationship with my dad's parents...and as far as I know there was not one. however, my dad goes to visit my mom's parents when he is back east so i find that somewhat intersting. of course i was young when my dad's parents were around -- but it has always struck me that we never spent summers with them, i always got sent to PA with my mom's parents. which is AWESOME, but i'm just saying. even as a child i noticed a discrepancy.

in any event, marriage to me is FOREVER -- and i now realize to some degree or am trying to realize, the implications of actually marrying a family. and things chaaaaaange over the years....seeing how my possible in=laws talked about my bf's sister's husband as theya re in the midst of trying to avoid divorce...it was like all his fault. as an outside observer i think he is completely justified in his behavior. i won't even get into how awkward it was having dinner with him there and dying, just dying, to ask him what i was getting myself into. and the awkward silences stemming from me knowing more than i probably should, but at the same time only knowing one side of the story and feeling his pain.

it was strange because i was feeling all tense about it during the weekend, and then by the last day when we were leaving, like, i didn't want to leave. i got teary and sad and felt like i was coming back to be here all alone. often on my thoughts was my bf's statements over and over again that he moved away first to LA then to MIA to avoid his overbearing mother. and HOW does one approach the subject of their significant other's mother with their significant other???? i mean, obviously my mother has had her moments too so i need to keep a very close check on myself getting carried away.

in OOOOOTTTTHER news...i wonder waht is up with my parents' marriage anyway. my mom was gone for 10 days on a trip, got back for a few, my dad left to his hometown for a month. my mom works a lot when she is home, and all she talks to me about it seems like is her work drama with Dr. P and the bevy of women he is involved with following his wife's tragic death. She needs to live in a city. I feel like she is so stifled out there, but my dad just doesn't get it and won't budge. wow marriage looks better and better every day.

i love my bear, i want him home.

that was gross

i really disgusted myself last night. i let my jealousy completely take control and caused a huge fight. What he said to this girl was, I thought and still think, disrespectful to me and uneccessary. However, I have had underlying issues against her all along and this was my chance to bring it up. Instead I flipped it on him and made him the bad guy. He takes the position that he's just a joker and that is his personality and i need to just deal with it. But at the same time when he crosses the line that makes me upset, he needs to know without throwing it back at me like I am an overreactive baby. The girl in me gets upset. I admit I should have just let it go, but I was upset that he wasn't understanding why upset in the first place and then refusing to recognize that what he said was offensive.

So we kind of fought in the street and he took off and went home and I went home. That is the first time we ever had a fight where we separated like that...so it leave sme wondering if relationships just have to progress that way. I mean I NEVER want that to happen again. Even this morning I was wretched inside and still mad but I would rather him have been next to me instead of the playing "who is gonna call first" game. ugh. I mean I am just disgusted. Like my jealousy of this friendship he has with this girl is just exhausting which i now realize. Honestly I know I am too hard on him sometimes but that is because I am afraid that if I'm not I will get taken advantage of like I have in the past. And while I believe with every bone in my body that he is not that type of guy, I am also of the opinon that letting things slide all the time will result in creating some level of "That type of guy."

anyway I do need to make a concerted effort just to love him more, you know? Like go out of my way for him and do things that I know he likes. I think some of that has fallen off on my part as this thing has gone on. One year in two weeks :) I've been feeling kind of down for unexplained reasons and generally kind of blah and wondering a lot about direction and what i'm doing and what it's all about. But at the end of the day having him is the best thing in my life and has really become the center of it. Which, at the same time, I get scared that it is unhealthy. I mean obviously an all-consuming relationship is not a good thing; but at the same time love is a beautiful amazing thing and if I want to spend all my time and devote all this to someone, why shouldn't I?

and once again...

i update once every, like, 3 months. I am so proud of myself for having kept up with this so well throughout law school and the end of college. It is fun/dramatizing/invigorating/depressing to look back at those years and the things that were going through my head. It is compelling to read about people who affected me so severely that are not even part of my life any more. It's insane the things that mattered. It is fulfilling to look at goals that have been achieved and dreams that have literally come true. Amazing to learn how perspectives change and how one day to the next is always truly an adventure.

I, as I usually do, read through the "May" entries to see what i was doing this time a year, two years, three, and now four, years ago. CRAZY!!!! College graduation, the time right before Europe, the time right before I started my job (internship) and time right around law school graduation and beginning of bar study.

Now here I am, a full-fledged lawyer. pretty wild ride it has been. but beautiful. by way of update, i am still in a full-fledged (healthy -- yay!) relationship with the love of my life. I love him more every day and am so thankful that there are still people like him left in the world. so many of my issues with men and trust and on an on are just put to rest like i never even rememnered i had them. reading all that old nonsense makes me realize how fortunate I am to have someone like him, but also how much I have learned and experienced.

My life outside of him basically consists of working. I truly love my job -- i mean, working BLOWS in terms of working for the man and giving someone else my time -- but i am extremely fortunate to be in a good spot and be respected and appreciated enough to not completely dread getting up in the morning.

my personal life, i.e. friends is minimal. something that i know i need to work on. I've compeltely become the girl with the boyfriend that just kind of blocks everyone out. Its not really intentional, but its like my free time is so limited now, i want to be with him or i want to be alone. i do feel like it is a bit unhealthy but at the same time why should i force myself into friendships that i just honestly don't want to make time for. I do the occasional happy hour and lunches and stuff like that but i do need a good girl - friend to gab with guy stuff and makeup and that kind of thing. but i guess i will just keep trusting that person will show up. in the mean time i am happy figuring it out.

my relationship with my roommate has deteriorated majorly. if i am honest with myself i know that it is because deep down i just don't really like her and we don't see eye to eye on many things...i have always felt a little "off" about our relationship but she is a good roommate so i have always made it work. But we've basically decided that our relationship is beyond the point of repair -- she blames me for having the BF over too much, and i blame her for not accepting my transition into a relationship. She claims i am a completely different person than i was a year ago, and yes, i am. things have 100% changed, you know? anyway, it is such a negative thing to not speak with the person that you live with so i am just taking it day by day for the next couple of months.

my parents are doing well -- i miss them terribly. it is so hard to picture where life will go in the next five years or so. while i can never imagine moving back home, i think now that at least moving back to the state is not totally out of the question, at least temporarily. but i can't imagine going without my honey, and he has his sights set on Seattle, so we may have to meet somewhere in the middle. we shall see.

c'est la vie!

moments of crisis

seeing as how i only tend to update this thing during them, i probably come off as a complete nut job if anyone out there in the universe still reads this.

In any event, I'm feeling an awfully lot unlike myself lately; for the first time in a long time I don't have a constant sense of satisfaction and overall cheeriness. I'm feeling melancholy and scattered and basically just all over the board between bitchy and controlling and selfish to scared and trapped and stagnant.

I would like to attribute a lot of it to my taking a second bar exam in a few weeks. I am hoping that this will all largely pass at that point. This is the first time that I feel my bf and I may be hitting a bit of a rough patch -- mostly defined by me freaking out about the kind of stuff that I used to judge other girls for freaking out about in relationships: not calling when supposed to, being around other girls, or painting the town red with his buddies or not spending enough time, in general, with me. All incidences that are likely related to me feeling obligated to study much of the time while he has free time...I feel him pulling to go out drinking while I have to stay in Friday night. And then I question his drinking and going out and whether it is something that is going to cause a problem for me irrespective of the bar. and then I think of what a judgemental awful person I am for even thinking that way. he is a fun loving kid, and that is one of the things i love most about him. I guess it is just so hard and unfair-feeling for me to have to just watch it. I end up feeling like a nasty controlling girlfriend who won't let him have any fun or something.

it's pretty awful. I mean i guess if that is the extent of my problem it is really not that awful and it will pass. I'm just feeling very emotional...crying for no obvious reason and needing a lot of attention. pretty gross actually, I disgust myself. i think I need to pull back a little bit and just focus on me for the next few weeks and this test.

in any event I guess the bright side is I am recognizing my neurosis...which in fact might make it worse...i feel like i am just being out of line and crazy, but then i make myself feel guilty about it and i wonder if i should just feel it out and do the thing you know?

i'm just saying, don't say to me...glad you came over, wish i could have seen you more....after you spent the last hour playing beer pong. I mean really? irritating.

love

I'm 100% bitten by the bug. He went home with me for Thanksgiving -- I was more apprehensive about spending 5 straight days toghether...something we have never done...than him meeting my family. Of course he was wonderful with them in and fit in like he was made for us.

I have gotten over my anxiety about being in a relationship generally, and have decided to just dive right in. He's become my best friend and it is crazy to think how someone you didn't even know 6 months ago can affect you so much such that you cannot imagine life without them.

I am going to meet his family for New Year's in Seattle, about which I am very excited. I'm excited about this ride that I'm on...he brings me so much joy and is so good to me. It makes me look back on relationships past and just marvel at the way I was treated. I never put up with more than I should have, but there are certain individuals in my past that I let have way too much control for way too long. It is so gratifying to have broken free from those attachments now. The main one that comes to mind is A. The time I spent pining over such a broken and impossible relationship is just hilarious at this point. I can't even bitter...I'm just amazed and awed at how far I have come, and how an amazing person like B can heal so much baggage.

love him.

more firsts

tomorrow is my first hearing :) I have to admit it is a tad anti climatic, as two previous ones have been cancelled. But I am excited nonetheless, although I am not arguing anything, just appearing.

went to see my grandparents outside Pittsburgh over the weekend -- they are so awesome. what an example of true love. makes me do a lot of exploring and self-questioning as to the pureness of my heart and motives.

antsy. i want to go around the world. getting that stagnant, routine feeling. Thank God the holidays are coming up.

The bf is heading home with me, and I will be going with him for new years. I would be lying if I said I could put a finger on the way I feel about it. I am so excited in so many ways, but part of me does not want this to be the end-all. And I know that it may or may not be, and I have no idea, but it is a scary thought to think or feel that is possible. i don't know why I can't just be a normal person and not be apprehensive about having met a wonderful guy, and where we are going together.

let me put on my analysis hat. yuck. why do i keep wanting to run away from this stuff? Yet he makes me so happy and fills up so much of my life. I think I am just still tempted with the single world, that is not really as glamorous as my grass-is-greener self makes it. In fact, I know this yet continue to torture myself. Like, what am I going to do right now anyway? learning to take one day at a time is truly a learning process.

a book i read recently made me stop and consider how much time I spend in the past, present, and future....clearly spending waaaayyyyy to much in the future. making a concerted effort to live every moment right now.