jump the next train

25 Weeks!

2012-02-09T09:39:00.001-08:00

How far along? 25 weeks (and 6 days, at the time of writing this)

Maternity Clothes? Yep! That's all I've been wearing for awhile now.

Stretch Marks? Not yet! I think this is because I used to weigh approx. what I weigh now at 6 months pregnant. I lost the weight by going Paleo shortly before pregnancy, so maybe my skin has a lot of elasticity from the weight changes?

Sleep? Okay so far. I sleep with a body pillow, pee once a night, and switch sides a few times a night. The main disrupter is the cat, who loves to chew on plastic or mess with bags on the floor while I sleep.

Best Moment this Week: The round ligament pain and sciatica I had last week is gone this week. I credit stretching, yoga, massage, and chiropractic care. I'm still doing Crossfit, and as long as I am very careful, so far so good.

Miss anything? Being able to do everything I want at Crossfit. I miss being able to compete with the best athletes in my class!

Movement: Yes, but not a ton. My placenta is anterior (meaning, it's on the front of my uterus instead of the back), so when he kicks he often kicks into the placenta and I don't feel it. I feel him kick on my left side quite a bit when he's in the right position, or when he's breach. It feels like he switches positions pretty often.

Food Cravings? Not really. Last week I was craving tacos and salty chips a lot, but I'm trying to keep my diet pretty clean this week. I'm also trying to ignore my sugar (fruit, almond butter, larabar) cravings, but it's hard because those are my only snacks that are frequently on hand.

Anything make you queasy or sick? I had a half glass of wine a few nights during my sister's graduation celebration in San Diego, and I found that it made me a touch queasy.

Gender: BOY!

Labor Signs: None. Thank goodness :) Got a ways to go!

Symptoms: This week I feel like I did at the beginning of my 2nd trimester. Energetic, not waddling too much, pretty mobile. It's a huge change from last week, when I was feeling pain in my lower pelvis and round ligaments and such bad sciatic pain that I was paralyzed one night. I have been very proactive about stretching often, keeping up with my prenatal yoga, and getting frequent massages and chiropractic adjustments, and I think it's working! I have some swelling in my ankles, but it's not too bad yet. I'm trying to drink tons of water, pregnancy tea, and hydration drink (special recipe from my midwife)

Belly Button In or Out? In. I doubt it will ever pop out--isn't that for skinny girls?

Wedding Rings On or Off? On. Thought they are starting to feel a touch tighter.

Happy or Moody Most of the Time? Happy! Except for missing Bryan, I'm very happy with this relaxing little routine I have here in Arizona.

Looking Forward To: Entering my third trimester! I know it will be harder and more painful than the 2nd has been, but it also means our little boy will be arriving soon.

Pregnancy Beauty: Going No-Poo

2011-10-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

One of my goals over the past 10 weeks of my pregnancy has been to minimize as much as possible my exposure to toxins and pretty much any chemicals I can't pronounce. My first step was to switch from shampoo and conditioner to a "no poo" regimen. I had experimented with this before after hearing rave views from other Paleo-type folks, but pregnancy motivated me to recommit. Another factor that influenced me to ditch the 'poo was learning that almost all shampoos and conditioners contain gluten (typically called wheat protein in the ingredients list). Gluten causes such dramatic reactions in my skin (red blotchy face, psoriasis patches, dandruff), that as soon as I learned that it lurked in many shampoos, I knew it was time to make the change.

My no-poo regimen is pretty simple (and completely unoriginal--CaveGirlEats has an amazing series of posts on Paleo beauty):

Supplies:

-Baking soda (aluminum-free)
-Bragg's apple cider vinegar
-Cup for mixing
-Tablespoon
-OPTIONAL: tea tree oil

My daily regimen:

1. Get my hair nice and wet in the shower.

2. Mix 1-2 T baking soda with warm water in the cup I keep in the shower.
-I usually mix it with my fingers or swish it around with the handle of my razor to make sure it's nice and mixed up.
-BONUS: Mix in a few drops tea tree oil.

3. Pour the mixture on my head and scrub it into my roots. Let sit while I shave my legs. Rinse.

4. Mix 1-2 T apple cider vinegar with warm water in the same cup. Pour over head and comb through with a wide-tooth comb. Let sit while I finish soaping off.

5. Rinse really well.

Results:

The baking soda gets my hair PLENTY clean. My natural hair texture is normal-dry, so I never have had a problem with grease, and I haven't noticed any more grease since I ditched shampoo. I also like the gritty texture and the effect the baking soda has on my scalp (helps ease dandruff).

The apple cider vinegar does smell pretty vinegary. The tea tree oil drops does help a bit with the smell, but you can still smell the vinegar. That's why it's important to make sure you rinse well. Also, once your hair is dry, the vinegar smell goes away.

The best part is that my hair has never looked better. I have a tendency to frizz, and that is pretty much gone. My hair feels thicker and softer than ever before. I'm so glad that I'm no longer dousing my scalp with gluten and other unpronounceable chemicals. My hair and scalp are happy that they are no longer being stripped of their essential oils and then coated with a waxy conditioner anymore.

The only way I will ever go back to shampoo is after I apply an overnight coconut oil mask (just heat up the coconut oil and coat your hair and scalp, let it soak in overnight, then shampoo out the next day). The baking soda doesn't cut through the coconut oil, so in that case I will use a gluten-free shampoo (Dessert Essence is my favorite).

I highly recommend giving the 'no poo method a chance for at least 30 days. I know that might seem like a long time, but I have heard that for some people it takes about 30 days to get used to it, and then after that their hair has never looked better. Some people like to ease in by replacing every other shampoo with 'no poo, and then slowly adding more and more days of 'no poo to the week. Whatever works for you, but I think the goal of getting the gluten out of shampoo and the chemicals off your scalp is worth it!

We're having a baby!

2011-10-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Baby Bouchard at 9 Weeks

We've known we wanted a little Baby Bouchard since well before we got married (if you ask Bryan, he would say he knew he wanted to have a baby with me the night we met at McDuffy's). But with me being in law school, Bryan being in Japan, and the ever-present possibility of a deployment, when was the right time? Well, if you know anything about us, you know that we don't like to follow a traditional timeline. We got married while I was still in my first year of law school because it felt right. We wanted to be husband and wife, and so we were. Even after our wedding, however, Bryan was still living in Japan while I was in Boston ... so let's just say the baby-making would have been a little strategically difficult.

When we finally reunited in New York, we deluded ourselves into thinking we would wait and enjoy being newlyweds. That lasted for about 5 seconds before we both divulged that we actually maybe didn't want to wait. And so just one month after I finished my Arizona internship and returned to NYC (and we finally began to live together full-time) Bryan started noticing that I was eating--a lot. A lot of chocolate, to be precise. And even though I'm typically quite--erm--emotional...I was perhaps a touch more emotional. But Bryan forgot about this because I assured him that I was just PMSing (and we all know that mentioning the monthly visitor is a pretty quick way to get a man to stop asking questions).

I was feeling the tell-tale PMS signs of cramps and irritability, after all. Well, one day while Bryan was at work I decided I was sick of wondering when the visitor was going to arrive, so I decided to go buy a pregnancy test at the corner Rite Aid (always an awkward purchase). When the little pink line showed up, I was actually quite flabbergasted. I knew it was possible that we were pregnant so soon--but what about the cramps I had been having? The chocolate cravings? The tender lady lumps? (Sorry, I'm not good at self-censorship). Well it turns out that many signs of PMS are also signs of early pregnancy. I immediately started chugging water so I could take another test, just to be sure. I also whipped out my cell phone to call Bryan and tell him ... but hung up mid-ring because I realized I should probably come up with some cutesy way to tell him that we just might be expecting our first baby together.

I showered, got my pretty on (I wanted my baby-daddy to think his baby-momma was pretty fine), and rushed down to Bryan's office to tell him the good news. I'm not going to lie, I felt like I was floating the whole way there. I wondered if my fellow subway travelers could tell. I'm pretty sure there was some glowing going on. I could barely contain myself until we got into Bryan's office and I closed the door, then blurted "I'm pregnant!" Yeah, I'm subtle. I think the next thing I said was "Wanna see the proof?" Which was in my purse in a ziploc bag, natch.

Well, what followed was a flurry of phone calls to my mom and seesters, and then a few days of quasi-denial. Of course I purchased baby books and started perusing baby gear approximately 3 seconds after I saw the little pink line, but I was still understandably worried it wouldn't "take" for at least a few days. We're now 10 weeks and 5 days along, and have even heard the heartbeat and seen our little shrimp twice (that's what they look like at first...whatevs, it's cute). Bryan and I are both overjoyed and pretty darn impatient for the baby to come out, but we have a lot to think about over the next 7 months.

Baby Bryan

Baby Jenna

So, the Air Force is sending Bryan to Afghanistan. For a year. From Halloween to November-ish 2012, Bryan will be gone. The baby is due in May 2012, so that means that Bryan is going to miss approximately the first 6 months of baby's life, after he/she is born (we don't know the gender, but we do plan to find out). But there's nothing we can do about it, so we're just going to have to make the best of the situation and focus on what matters--Baby Bouchard.

We've also decided that it makes the most sense for me to move back to Arizona and finish law school as a visiting student at ASU (I'll still have my Harvard degree even though I'm spending my entire 3L year at different law schools). That way I'll have my family's support, will be able to have the baby in my momma's home, and we'll be able to save a ton of money for the baby's college education (or, for my law school loans).

So that's where we are: I'm preggers, Bryan's going to Afghanistan, and I'm moving back to Arizona. It's going to be a wild ride until Bry gets back from Afghanistan and we can re-settle down with our new addition somewhere in the New York area (we're thinking of moving to the 'burbs), but we know we can handle anything together.

Highlights of 2010

2010-12-28T20:08:00.001-08:00

2010 has been quite a year. This year we got married--twice. We went on many adventures (or ventures, as we like to call them when we're talking baby talk to each other...shhh). And we found out some important news that will determine the next few years of our life. Check out our 2010 in review!

We kicked off 2010 at the Insight Bowl with beautiful Hayley. She got a little antsy and we left early, and then went to Outback for some steaks. We spent a quiet midnight at home, drank some champagne, and retired early like an old married couple.

Here I am with pretty Hayley girl. We got to have her in January, and again in November. We're looking forward to even more time with her in 2011!

I think it was during our Christmas break that we hatched the plan of eloping in March. We had been very worried that Bryan was going to be deployed some time during 2010, forcing us to cancel the big wedding we had planned for August 2010. So we decided to outsmart the military and elope--that way, if Bryan did deploy, we would already be married, and I would be taken care of. If not, we could still have our big fat wedding.

I bought a dress and some jewelry, and flew to Japan for my spring break. Bryan had worked with an Okinawan civilian from his office to arrange the whole wedding. He made my dreams of getting married at sunset on a cliff overlooking the ocean come true. We were so happy to finally be man and wife.

I love this shot of my bouquet and the sailboat in the background.

After I finished my 1L year, I was lucky enough to get to jet (first class, no less) to Hawaii to meet Bryan! Bryan had a TDY there, and I got to relax in Honolulu with him for 3 weeks. We fell in love with Oahu and can't wait to go back (but this time, we will avoid trashy Honolulu and stay on the North Shore).

Another picture of us messing around, probably after a day of drinking fruity tropical drinks.

And here we are after hiking Diamondhead in Oahu. Fitness is a big part of our relationship, something we are both always working to improve at, and we enjoy doing active things together (and then celebrating our hard work with delicious food and drink). This was a beautiful memory from 2010.

We did everything out of order in 2010. First we got married, and THEN we had our engagement photos taken. These next three shots were taken on the North Shore by the beautiful and talented Natalie Norton.

I think Bryan was really napping in this photo. Because even though he was working 3pm-3am shifts, I forced him to wake up at 7:00 am and go take photos with me. What a trooper.

Oh yeah, and Bryan never ended up getting deployed. So we had our big Arizona wedding after all! It was hot, hot, hot, but it was definitely one of the best days of my life. I love Bryan so much that I married him twice!

The theme of the wedding was based off of the dark beauty of black baccara roses. I loved how my bouquet turned out!

Our favorite picture from the wedding.

This beautiful photo was taken right as the lights went out, causing quite the chuckle among our wedding guests.

Our only family wedding photo from the evening. We're so sweaty from all the dancing (especially Hayley--that girl was a dancing machine!).

The best part of our wedding was getting to share our special day with friends and family. We were so grateful to be able to see so many people that we haven't seen in years!

I surprised Bryan by getting someone to drive us from the wedding to our hotel in a mint condition Volkswagen bus. I found the good samaritan online, and he did it for free. What an incredible end to an incredible day!

My sister Kelly got married in October, and I was her Matron of Honor. Her wedding was beautiful and I had such an amazing time dancing with family.

Beautiful photo of the bridesmaids with the blushing bride.

Back in skinny jeans! October 24, 2010 I switched to a Paleo diet, and lost 18 lbs. I'm never going back to my old eating habits (I can't believe I used to eat a muffin for breakfast...and think it was healthy).

This year I also ran my first 5K, which I followed in November with a 4 mile run. Next year I plan to run many more races, including my first half marathon in May. Here I am with Hayley, the best little cheerleader.

And here I am after my post-wedding chop! It took me until December, but I finally cut my hair after growing it out all year for the wedding. I'm really loving the new shorter locks!

Well, 2010 has been quite a year. Bryan and I have been very lucky to get to spend so much time together this year, despite the high cost of all the plane tickets. We have spent at least$10,000 this year, we estimate, on plane tickets. We are definitely looking forward to next year, when we will finally be living together again (we hope).

In 2011, we have a lot to look forward to: Bryan's PCS to New York in May, my move to New York in August, we plan to run a half marathon together in May and we're both embarking on tightening up our switch to the Paleo diet and CrossFit. Stay tuned for many more adventures as we begin our first full year as a married couple living on the same continent!

Ever Ours: Man Candy

2010-12-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

Here is my sexy man looking like Santa Claus while he shaves in the men's locker room. This was right before he got kicked out of there, in a move that really pissed me off. Silverleaf, our venue, a country club which my parents are members of, told us that we were not allowed to use their BEAUTIFUL locker rooms to get ready in. Now I understand them not wanting a huge hoard of giddy wedding partiers ruining the experience of the other members...but come on. The actually getting ready part, and the accompanying shots, just look so much better in the locker rooms. I am annoyed that I didn't break the rules and do my dressing in the divine locker room. Especially since I've seen multiple other brides who did just that. Anyways, I'll get off my soap box now.

Bryan says this is his favorite picture from the wedding of himself. I think he looks very handsome.

I'm pretty sure Bryan does not like this picture, but I bet that's only because the oversize shirt makes him look bigger than he is. I've been trying to get him to wear smaller sizes lately, and I think he's coming around.

I really wanted some cool argyle socks for the groomsmen, but we couldn't find any in our wedding colors (come on--are lemon and wine really that strange?), but I did eventually find these burgundy socks. Unfortunately, I don't think we ever got a shot of all the groomsmen with their shoes and socks.

I love this shot of our custom wedding Converse sneakers. We got these for the groomsmen as gifts, and I think they got a chuckle from our wedding guests when the groomsmen walked down the aisle.

Mmmmmmm.

The men got ready in a sort of man cave with a pool table, bar, darts, etc. Very nice.

I love the ties. And the suspenders. Very glad we skipped the vests.

Ooohh. Artistic-y.

More sexy. Okay I'll stop now.

Next up: the bride getting into her dress, and our first look.

Christmas in Japan

2010-12-21T15:32:00.000-08:00

What? You thought jump the next train was dead? Not so! Just on hiatus while I allowed boring life obligations to take a larger percentage of my time than I prefer. 2011 I would like to change that, so expect to see more out of this blog.

Right now I'm in Japan for the last. ever. time. I'm actually pretty sad about it. We still never made it to the mainland, and at this point I don't think I will ever be able to convince Bryan to take a touristy trip to the mainland. I'm going to try to eek out a promise from him that at some point in our lives we will take a real, bonafide trip to mainland Japan. He kind of likes me and if I ask him to promise, he will follow through.

While I'm here, I'd like to take a few more adventures. I'd like to find a hike perhaps to go on, check out a few more beaches, and maybe even check out a new island for a weekend trip. Shh, don't tell Bryan about that one--he doesn't know yet. I also need to finish our wedding photo album, which I'm designing myself using an online book publisher.

Definitely missing the family for Christmas--Christmas in Arizona is one of my favorite things ever. Baking with my sisters, drinking some pomegranate margaritas, hanging out with our big crazy family playing Wii to all hours...I'm definitely going to miss that this year.

So anyways, look for more photos of this last adventure in Japan, our first Christmas as husband and wife, and our First Annual Bouchard Christmas Barbecue extravaganza!

Ever Ours: The Details

2010-11-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

The dress. Sigh. I loved his dress. I loved the Alencon lace, the way it highlighted my waist and decolletage, the little train. It was a bit heavy for an Arizona summer wedding, but I didn't want to sacrifice my dreams for a little heat. I have since had this dress preserved, and I hope that my daughter one day considers using some of the lace as a part of her wedding ensemble.

I have a secret. My perfect garter purchased from Etsy. Yeah, I didn't wear it. It was too hot and itchy. It came off after pictures. And we skipped the garter toss. Which I totally regret.

My sister Kristen's updo. I just told the stylist to make the girls' hair a little bit looser and highlight the Black Baccara rose. The roses were actually a last-minute addition, and I think they make the look. My bridesmaids were so beautiful.

My shrug. I knew from the moment I got engaged (before that, actually) that I wanted an Alencon lace gown with cap sleeves. But when you go wedding gown shopping, almost every dress is strapless. If I had found a dress with cap sleeves already on, I probably would have bought it, but this shrug, which I had custom made off Etsy, helped me create the look I wanted.

My goofy niece Maddy playing around in our Bridal Suite. It was probably too early for her to get there when she did. Note to brides: flower girls and junior bridesmaids do not have the patience to hang out with grown-ups all day. We might have champagne to amuse us, but they need something more. Plan for them to arrive when the bride is starting to get her gown on.

My sexy best friend Lauren and gorgeous stepsister Lisa lounging in our Bridal Suite while everyone else (including me) got our hair done. The alcohol was flowing, but unfortunately I chose not to partake. Big mistake! I didn't want to get blotchy, but now I wish I had a couple of nerve-soothing bevs.

My makeup artist Maureen is amazeballs. She has been doing my makeup for 9 years. Before you start thinking I'm some famous celebrity who needs their own makeup artist, I'll explain--she did my makeup for Senior Prom, my sister Kristen's Debutante Ball, Bryan's homecoming from Iraq, and now my wedding. So really, she is my go-to girl for any special occasion. She listens so well, takes her time, is a perfectionist, and does some killer things for eyes.

Here she is again. I love the black and white shots--so timeless.

I loved my shoes. I wanted a shot of color for under my dress, and I loved the fact that they carried the rose theme down to my toes.

I like this detail shot of my dress because you can really see the pattern of the Alencon lace, and the beautiful ribbon sash that really cinched in my waist.

My next recaps: Bryan's getting ready shots, and me getting in my dress.

Slow and steady wins the race...

2010-06-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

Rocking my Red Sox hot so that I could blend in. Took this right after the race, as I was walking home. This is how red my face gets after working out!

Me in my apartment after the race. Wanted to show off my race bib!

Bryan deployed to Iraq in April 2008. When he left, I was just about to go on summer vacation, and I made it my goal to get in shape while he was gone. I had visions of greeting him at the airport much thinner and shocking him with my hotness. I also set of goal of learning how to run. I have always hated running, ever since the dreaded mile runs in elementary and middle school P.E. I was moderately athletic through swimming and competitive cheerleading, but I just could not run. I couldn't get the breathing and form to come naturally, and I was wheezing after a block. I heard about the Couch to 5K running program that eases you slowly into running, so that after 9 weeks you can run at 5K, and I decided to try it.

Over the summer of 2008 (the dreaded Phoenix summer), I went to the gym almost every single day. I slowly progressed through the program, though it was not always smooth sailing. I am overweight, and my heavier frame made running painful for my knees. Sometimes I had to wear a knee brace, and I've learned that I really can't run consecutive days without experiencing some pain. I'm hoping that once I lose a bit more weight (I've lost about 10-12 lbs since I graduated college, by cleaning up my eating habits a bit and exercising more), the knee pain will diminish even more. I did all of my running on a treadmill, and was amazed that by the time Bryan returned from Iraq, I could run for about 30 minutes without stopping. I couldn't even run for 1 minute when I started, but I taught myself to run what I considered to be a decent amount!

After Bryan returned, I kept up with my running on the treadmill, but not as consistently as before. We often woke up at 4 a.m. to get to the gym by 5 a.m., but when we found out that Bryan was moving to Japan and I was going to Boston, we started going out more on weeknights, drinking more to try to take advantage of our time left with our friends, and exercising less. Over the summer while I was living in Okinawa with Bryan, I ran a bit to keep up my endurance, but still not as consistently as I would have liked. First semester of law school I exercised even less, but I picked up the pace after we got engaged. I am still trying to lose more weight before our wedding in August so that I can be proud of the pictures--I'm hoping to lose 15-20 more lbs before then.

One major change I have made recently is moving from the treadmill to the road. It has been tricky, because Boston sidewalks are death traps, and running on the road is obvioiusly much more difficult than the treadmill. While we were in Hawaii, Bryan ran outside with me, and I was proud to work up to running 3 miles outside by the end of the trip. While in Hawaii, I researched 5K races in Boston, and found that there was going to be an AIDS 5K on June 6. I put it in my calendar and decided to run it alone (since most of my friends are out of town for their summer jobs), and then promptly forgot about it. It wasn't until yesterday that I remembered that I planned to run it! I realized I hadn't actually registered for it, and registration was closed, but you could register in-person on the day of, so that's what I decided to do!

This morning I woke up, ate a banana and strawberry kefir for breakfast, and got ready. As I was walking there, it started pouring, but I waited out the heavy rain (which passed after a few minutes) under an awning, and then made my way down to the Charles River esplannade. When I got there, I found the registration tent, paid my $30, got my bib, and then checked in my purse. There was 30 minutes to go until race time, so I drank some water, used the port-a-potty, and stretched.

My goal was to run under 35 minutes, and to never walk--when I run on the treadmill, I'm usually at a 12 minute pace. I don't track my speed when I run outdoors, but I thought it might be a little faster. The announcer had us line up and told the slower runners to go to the back of the pack, so that is where I headed (although not allll the way to the back). It was cloudy, cool, and still sprinkling, which actually made for great running weather. The gun sounded, and I started slowly jogging at my normal pace. I kept repeating to myself that slow and steady wins the race, especially when so many people were passing me. I skipped the first 2 water stops, which was a mistake, because I later felt my mouth getting dry. The first mile maker I was feeling pretty good, and found out my pace was right at 11 minutes. I tried to slow down a little during the 2nd mile, but by then people who had started off too quickly were fading and starting to walk, and my competitive nature made me speed up to pass some slower runners. I was pretty darn tired by mile 3, but I knew I only had one more mile to go and tried to pick up the pace. I also grabbed some water, but I didn't stop to drink it and only got a little down before I threw my cup away.

The last mile was painful. I knew I was so close, and I really wanted to keep up my 11 minute or so pace (probably more like 11:30) and make it in under 35:00. I was breathing so hard, because I was pushing myself harder than normal, but I kept going no matter what. Walking was not even an option, though I let myself slow down a bit. But once I saw that finish line, I really tried to go all out--I didn't have much more gas in the tank, but whatever I had left I used to get through that finish line. When I saw the time was 34:50, I knew I really had to push it to make my goal. I made it through at 34:53! I was absolutely exhausted, my heart was racing, and I had to walk it off for awhile before I felt normal again. Afterward I sipped some water, called and woke Bryan up to tell him my time, and tried to get a free hat, but they were all out :( I knew I wasn't going to be winning any awards, and I didn't see anything much to do, so I just went home. But I wore my race bib the whole way home, feeling very proud of myself for making both of my goals.

Ultimately, I would like to run a half-marathon, and one day a full marathon. I had planned to run a half on June 27, but there is no way that is going to happen. They are also having a 5K that day, so I am going to try to switch to that. If I run the 5K, my goal will be to run it in less time than I did today. I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now :)

Teaching our children how to love

2010-06-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

One of the things Bryan and I often talk about is how we want to teach our children about love. We have been very lucky to discover a love that is equal parts friendship, passion, desire, humor, and shared interests. But what makes our love even stronger, we agree, is a common decision to be committed to each other no matter the obstacles. Thus far, the main hurdles have been geographical separation due to deployment and law school. Of course when we are together there are times when our moods don't jive perfectly--Bryan might be energetic when I'm tired, or vice-versa--but we have learned to work around that. I'm sure once we're finally reunited other things might pop up, but the distance is really the only issue right now, and it has made us so much stronger. We have to communicate more than we probably would if we were in the same house. Every few months we get a romance reunion. Then we say a tearful goodbye, and the tension builds over the next few months until we can see each other again. Both of us make sacrifices in order to strengthen our long-distance relationship, and the shared nature of those compromises binds us together even more tightly.

We just got our "engagement" photos back from the beautiful and talented Natalie Norton--we had so much fun, and it is so nice to have that documentation of our vacation in Hawaii. One of the many reasons I pushed to get them was to have something to show our children one day of when we were young, passionate newlyweds. Bryan was skeptical, and very tired that day, but he was a trooper and now that they are back he loves them so much. "Our love is incomprehensible to most mortals." (that's a quote from Bryan when I told him I was writing this blog post while Skyping with him)

After looking at the photos, Bryan remarked to me that he wants to renew our vows every year or so, in order to show our children a constant example of true, unswerving love. We want to show them that true love takes a bit of luck, and a lot of work and commitment--and renewing our vows often will be an example of how important it is to decide to love someone and never look back, even when it gets hard. We also definitely want to hire a photographer every year to take family photos (that include couples photos like our engagement ones) like the beautiful ones by Natalie Norton or Matt Sloan (who will be our wedding photographer).

I think a lot of people I know who currently struggle in relationships never had a good model of true love to draw from. Some of these people therefore don't believe in love, or think that if it's not perfect it must not have been meant to be (I think Sex and the City played a huge role in this for girls of my generation). Love exists--it's not always perfect, sometimes it takes just deciding to be in love even when you're not feeling so loving, and there must be a perfect balance of commitment and "into it"-ness on both sides of the relationship. If one partner is more "into it" than the other, or more willing to sacrifice, then it probably won't work. I don't know how to find that balance, but I do not that once you have something close to it it's possible to work together to equalize the sides of the scale through communication and faith.

Anyways--enough sounding like Dr. Phil. The point is I can't wait to share our engagement photos with you. I can't wait for our second wedding/party in August. I can't wait to get our wedding photos taken in August. I can't wait to reunite with my beautiful husband. And I can't wait to create a family and teach our children what it means to love--not just your partner, but your family members, friends, and even strangers. Bryan and I hope that by renewing our vows with our children present, and taking advantage of the talented photographers out there to document our lives as our family grows together, we will progress towards this goal.

I shall call it--mini-moon.

2010-06-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

My man sure knows how to make a girl feel special. This setup was waiting for me when I arrived at our hotel in Oahu (the computer in the background is a laptop with a slideshow of us playing on it). All in celebration of our mini-moon!

I'm a working girl!

2010-06-04T16:39:00.001-07:00

Just finished my first week of work at my summer legal internship! So far I am loving the job...the people I work with are really dedicated to children's law, I am already researching some really interesting topics, and today I got to go to court for the first time. One of my favorite things about starting new things is the steep learning curve--I love not knowing anything about an area, and then quickly packing as much knowledge into my head as possible, developing new schema, and piecing together the big picture. I feel like I'm starting to do that regarding children's law, after just a few days, and it's exciting. Next week I will start taking intake phone calls--where people with questions about an area of children's law or who need legal help call our office, and I record their information, send them materials, and possibly present their case at our staff intake meeting to determine if we want to pursue it. These will be mostly education calls, and I won't be giving real advice, but I think it will be interesting to hear what's happening to children in schools and seeing if there is anything we can do to help. I got to listen to a few such calls on speakerphone last week, and even though in most cases the intake was closed after the phone call, our intake worker sent almost every caller some information and they often seemed very grateful for the effort.

On a less-serious note, I have some shopping to do this weekend! I have found that my supply of work-appropriate clothes is almost nonexistent (I never worried about this when I was teaching), and now that I will be wearing a suit almost every day as a student attorney for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, I'm going to need some new duds! Maybe I'll showcase my finds on here :)

This weekend I have NOTHING planned. Which is a huge change for me. I need to clean my apartment, start getting organized for my move, do some shopping, and exercise. But I get to do this all on my own schedule, without any actual appointments or deadlines. Loves it!

Hotel Renew

2010-05-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

The hotel lobby.

Not our room, but this is exactly what it looked like, minus the candles and fresh flower. I didn't see any of those.

Anyone traveling to Honolulu and looking for somewhere to stay in the Waikiki Beach area should consider Hotel Renew. When I began searching for a hotel to stay in, I turned to my trusty resource Tripadvisor. Hotel Renew was the #2 rated hotel in Waikiki, and the #1 rated hotel just seemed too far away from the beach (about 4 blocks). Given that the rate was reasonable (and the military was paying--thank you Uncle Sam!), we booked it.

When you walk into Hotel Renew, no matter how bright, loud, hot, or crowded it is outside (and it is often all of these things at once in Waikiki), you instantly feel calm. The entire hotel is decorated in shades of gray and white, with very sleek, modern furnishings. It is nice and cool inside (love the air conditioning), and you are greeted with a cold glass of pineapple juice and icy towels. There is a small bar downstairs that opens at 5:30 pm. The bartenders are usually very friendly, with good restaurant suggestions, and there is a flat screen television mounted on the wall to watch. The bar wasn't very crowded whenever we went there (1-2 other patrons at the most), and the drinks were pricey (as everywhere in Waikiki) but delicious.

There are 2 elevators to take you to your room, and one of my complaints is that there are no stairs. There is an emergency staircase, but I discovered the hard way that this only leads to an alarmed exit. So there is no choice but to take the elevator, even if you want to get a little exercise.

The room was a dream. Just like the hotel lobby, decorated in white, gray, and black, with very contemporary finishings. Black tile entry way, black burber carpet, soft white linens, and really good lighting. The bathroom was also very modern with beautiful fixtures, but the shower door wouldn't stay shut (maybe it was haunted). I especially liked the square sink with a faucet in the corner as opposed to the middle. The desk is extremely large, with a cabinet, a mini-fridge built in, and a drawer to keep clutter and receipts (which you should save from the ABC Store, because you can get a free gift if you turn them in on your last day...I got an adorable hula girl coffee mug).

I spent a lot of time in the hotel, because the beach was too crowded and it was just so relaxing. If I had to do it over again, I would have looked for a hotel with a kitchenette, even though I loved the Hotel Renew. After 2 + weeks here, eating at a restaurant 2-3 times a day just really started to wear us out (we felt like this just after a few days). I haven't weighed myself, but I am guessing I've put on 10 lbs. Ugh. The location in Waikiki was nice because there was so many different amenities, restaurants, and bars in easy walking distance, but I am so over the touristy location. If we didn't have to be in Honolulu to be close to Camp Smith for Bryan, we would DEFINITELY have found a resort or hotel on the North Shore, or maybe even a rental house with a kitchen.

But all in all, if you HAVE to stay in Waikiki, and you aren't going to be here for longer than week (which in my opinion requires a kitchen so you can cook healthy meals), then absolutely stay at the Hotel Renew. It is calm, reasonably priced, and really does what it says--renews you.

*There was also a morning breakfast. Fruit, coffee, juice, muffins, toast, croissants. Not exactly paleo, so Bryan never ate it. I did...and usually had more croissants than I should have.

**Bryan would disagree with some of my review. He would have preferred a hotel more "in the action" closer to the restaurants. I disagree--we were at most a 10 min walk from the busiest part of Waikiki, and I didn't mind the "distance," if you can even call it that.

Getting lei-ed!

2010-05-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Get your minds out of the gutter people, I'm talking about Hawaii! As we speak, I am downloading ebooks and audiobooks, packing bathing suits, flip-flops, and floral dresses, and just generally trying to put my broken self back into shape so that I can get to the airport tomorrow. Bryan is already in Hawaii, sleeping in our cushy bed at our hotel. I'll have a lot of time for blogging when I am in Hawaii, as I don't have any actual plans for the entire 2 weeks! Read fiction? Get a massage? Spend time with my husband? Go to the beach? Check out a luau? That's the basic plan, and I'm very comfortable not having any other plans than that. 1L year has left me feeling pretty shell-shocked...I feel like maybe 50% human at this point. I function, I get myself from point A to point B, but I feel like I'm on autopilot. I need some serious decompression, relaxation, recharging time--I guess it's perfect that our hotel is called Hotel Renew!

Do you have any ideas for things we can do while in Honolulu? Any can't miss sights, restaurants, or things to do?

Trashy Summer Beach Reads

2010-05-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

I don't have much time because I'm currently in the final push of finals studying (recaps to come next week)...

I haven't mentioned this yet, but on Thursday, the day after my last final, I am flying to Honolulu (in a first-class seat, no less) to meet my love for our "Mini-Moon" (it's not a real honeymoon because Bryan has to work, but such is life).

I need summer beach read recommendations! If it will make me think, please don't recommend it. In the vein of Harry Potter, Twilight, and other trashy, mindless, romantic, sexy novels...let's hear your picks! I've been thinking of starting the novels that True Blood is based on, to give you an idea of how little I want to think.

What is your all-time favorite beach read or other guilty reading pleasure? Leave your picks in the comments!

Productivity

2010-05-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

It's finals period now, and one of my goals this period is to relax and not stress too much about it. My daily routine includes waking up, having breakfast, trying to get studying by 9 or 10 am, and studying more or less until 10:00 pm. Unfortunately for me, I think I have a mild version of adult ADD, because I am physically incapable of concentrating on *law* for that many hours a day.

Solution? Planned mini-breaks! I set the timer on my iPhone for 50 minutes, and I am not allowed to get up (unless I have to use the ladies' room), check email, facebook, Twitter, my Google Reader, etc. until the timer goes off. The only glitch is that I then do all of those things for at least 20 minutes before I set the timer again. New goal: keep it to ten minutes of goofing off, so that for every hour, I am focusing for 5/6 of it.

I also have set larger breaks for meals and the gym. And then I quit around 10:00 pm and let myself watch a movie or TV show on my laptop.

Since my first final isn't until next Wednesday, I feel like I'm in a strange sort of limbo right now, where I know I should be studying a lot, but I don't have that "OMG MY FINAL IS TOMORROW SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN CRIM LAW TO ME NOW" feeling. I'm sure that will come soon :)

The good news: this, too, shall pass. I will get through this and then finals will be a distant memory. The better news: May 13, the day after my last final, I will be on a plane, in a cushy first-class set to HAWAII!! Yep, Bryan has a business trip and I'm accompanying him. Thank you Uncle Sam! (Well, Uncle Sam is paying for the hotel, not the flights or anything like that).

In other news: Bryan and I have scheduled to have our engagement pictures taken while we're in Honolulu! Our AMAZING photographers, The Sloans, recommended Natalie Norton to us, and she responded so quickly and we booked her right up. I can't wait for our shoot! Although it is kind of interesting to me that our relationship has gone like this :

Dating --> engaged --> engagement party --> marriage --> engagement pictures --> bridal shower --> bachelorette party (#2) --> wedding

My sister says that as long as I don't try to sneak a baby somewhere in there, I'm fine.

Anyways, gotta study!

HLAB

2010-04-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

I just found out some AWESOME news--I have been accepted to the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau! This is seriously a big deal to me. When I learned about this student-run law firm before I even came to HLS, I knew I wanted in. Students in the Bureau take 3-5 cases at a time, family or housing law, and actually appear in real court, like on a weekly basis. Not only is it a huge time commitment, but the members have a very strong bond, which I have really been missing from my activities so far at HLS.

When I got the call, of course I screened out the Atlanta area code. Then I called back and got the girl's voicemail. As I was in the middle of leaving a voicemail, she called me back and I picked up. When I hung up with her (after getting the amazing news!), I started squealing and dancing around my apartment. Then I realized that my phone had gone back to her voicemail and there is a chance that it recorded my squealing. Oh well--I'm in now!

It's going to be a serious time commitment. At least 20 hours a week. That means I will only take 8-9 credit hours (2-3 classes). I will have a heavy case load and people's cases will depend on me. The learning curve is going to be steep, and I'm a little nervous. But so excited! OMG!

How to Survive the LDR

2010-04-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

Bryan and I have probably been separated geographically for more time than we've actually been in the same location. It's definitely not easy, but we make it work. I've been thinking of some tips I have for those brave souls who are about to embark, or who are already struggling with, the LDR.

1. Get a routine

Bryan and I speak at the same time every day. I wake up, and the first thing I do is call him. I know that he will be waiting for me to call before he goes to bed, so I try to call as soon as I wake up. Sometimes we only get to talk for 10-15 minutes, if I'm in a rush, have reading to finish up before class, or if he's really tired. But just knowing that I'm going to be the last voice he hears before he goes to bed, and he's going to be the first voice I hear before I start my day, is a great feeling. If something happens and we miss that call, I feel off for the rest of the day. We also talk from when he wakes up (my afternoon) until I go to bed in some way--whether it's chatting online while he works (shh!) or emailing back and forth while I study, we communicate so much that we are still a huge part of each other's day, even if we're physically separated.

Having set times when you call, IM, email, Skype, etc. makes both people in the LDR feel stable and cared for. I never have to wonder when I'm going to talk to Bryan, and because all of our communication, our relationship is actually stronger than before the separation.

2. Don't act like you're single

If I wouldn't do something if Bryan was here, I don't do it now. I do go out, but I certainly don't go out as if I were single. I don't stay out late, I don't go to pick-up bars, and I tend to prefer more low-key outings, like dinner parties or margaritas with the girls. I have male friends, but there is never any boundary pushing. Which leads me to my next point...

3. Don't get a fake boyfriend (or girlfriend).

When you're in an LDR, you're going to be lonely. Not all of the time, but there are going to be nights when you're hanging out with a madly in love couple, watching them kiss, and wishing you had someone to kiss. Or when you feel like no one who really knows the real you is around. Or when you start to feel asexual. Some people panic when the loneliness starts to set in and search for what I like to call the "replacement boyfriend." This is someone who can fill that void without actually cheating--they provide the emotional stability of a relationship that that person misses, but without (usually) any sex--and therefore, in that person's mind, without any cheating. But from my view, developing a fake relationship is just as much cheating as having sex with someone else, and could be even worse. Sometimes you just have to feel the pain of loneliness and let it sink in. It reminds you that something is missing, and it's not something that can be replaced. It's okay to hurt, and on the days when I hurt the most I don't reach out for a fake boyfriend--I call my real husband and we commiserate together.

4. Book your next visit during your last visit

This makes the goodbye easier, because you already know how long the next countdown is going to be. It gives you something to reach for. When you go to the gym, you don't just get on the treadmill and tell yourself you're going to run--you get on the treadmill, decide your going to run 4.0 miles, or 35 minutes, plug in your time, and watching that clock count down. Sometimes you play mind games with yourself ("I'm not going to look at the clock for the next 5 minutes") to make the time go faster. Plane tickets to Japan are not cheap, but as soon as it is realistically possible for us to book the next flight, we do, and that gives us something to dream about.

5. Decide when the LDR is going to end.

The times I've seen the LDR crash and burn the hardest is when there is no set end date, no light at the end of the tunnel, and one or both partners gives up. This might happen when one person has the ability to compromise, say by looking for jobs in the city where their significant other lives or looking for jobs in a city they might prefer more, and chooses the latter. When the person who has been waiting realizes that a 3 year LDR might turn into an indefinite LDR, it's easy for them to give up. So in our case, Bryan and I know that no matter what, when I graduate law school we're never going to be separated again. If it means I have to take a job in a city that isn't my top pick, that is so more than worth it to be able to finally settle down with my husband and start a family. If you're in an LDR, you need to talk together about when the LD part drops off so that you're just left with the R.

Final Thoughts:

These are not my only tips, but I think some of the most important ones. I think the last thing I would say is that both people have to be equally committed to making a long-distance relationship work. If one person puts more into it than the other, that person is going to start feeling resentful. Just as in all relationships, both parties have to be equally "into it" for it to work. If one person starts feeling like they are single, going out on the weekends, and leaving the other to sit and worry, that is the beginning of the end. Likewise, even if both are great about calling and keeping in touch and visiting, if the person with the most control over when the long-distance part is over doesn't show the other person they are willing to compromise by looking for a job in their city for when law school is over, it's not going to end well. Talk about what you want, where you see the relationship going, and when you see the geography split ending.

Oh, and download Skype and get a webcam, ASAP ;)

Blotchy Face

2010-03-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

After a magical week and beginning to our marriage, I'm experiencing a bit of deja vu right now. I'm back in the airport in Naha, about to board a flight to Tokyo. The deja vu stems from having to say goodbye to Bryan yet again, though this time I'm saying goodbye to my husband, which makes it easier and harder at the same time. The goodbye is usually the same--Bryan takes me to the airport, we check me in, and then spend about an hour waiting outside security before I run through at the last minute, right as my flight is boarding. I'm usually not too emotional until the split second I have to say goodbye to Bryan. Something about actually peeling myself away from him, breaking that invisible tie that binds us together, and walking away is just so difficult, and it gets harder for me every time. I cry, turn red and blotchy, kiss him a hundred times, and then take a deep breath and walk away. I never go back, but I do look back many, many times, not letting him out of my sight until the last second possible. I am really looking forward to the last of these separations.

This trip back to the U.S. I will be spending the night in a hotel near the Tokyo airport, because my flight to the U.S. isn't until tomorrow morning. I'm excited to get a good night's sleep, because I think I will wake up refreshed and clearheaded. Right now I feel exhausted, physically and emotionally. I miss my husband and I don't want to go back to law school, where only stress and work awaits me. But I just have to get through 6 more weeks until I will be done with 1L year and in Hawaii with Bryan--we are meeting up there in May after my semester is over. Bryan is going to be there TDY (an Air Force business trip), and I will be meeting him and spending my days on the beach with my Kindle while he is working. It's going to be a mini-honeymoon for us, but I won't count it as our real honeymoon because that wouldn't be fair to Bryan, who has to work. We are definitely planning to go on a real honeymoon after the big wedding, whenever that turns out to be...among the contenders are Thailand, Maui, and the Caribbean. Bryan is humoring me with a beach honeymoon, despite the fact that he doesn't actually like the beach. I have an amazing husband, in so many ways :)

We do!

2010-03-18T20:41:00.001-07:00

After we got engaged in October we immediately began planning our wedding celebration. We chose August because I would be on summer vacation, and we chose Arizona because we knew that my mom would have to do most of the planning and legwork with me in Boston and Bryan in Okinawa. Planning moved ahead quite smoothly, and by December we had a venue, my gown, florist, photographer, ceremony musician, catering, cake, bridal party, bridesmaid dresses, and more all squared away. With all of our contracts, we made sure to include a military clause that would allow us to get our deposit back in the event that Bryan was deployed. We decided that if he deployed, we would change the August wedding date until as soon as he got back.

After our winter vacation together, it became very clear to both of us that we didn't want to wait another year to be married, in the event that we had to change our August date due to deployment. Sure, we could always throw together a quickie ceremony, with me traveling to whichever base he was deploying from, but we wanted to get married on our own terms, and we wanted to do it sooner rather than later. The military has interfered with too many major life events, including the birth of Bryan's daughter Hayley Sofia, and we didn't want to let that happen again. So around January we came up with the plan to get married in March in Okinawa, just the two of us. If Bryan didn't deploy, the August wedding would still go ahead so that we could celebrate with our friends and families. But if he did deploy, we would have the security of already being married, connected for life--I would be taken care of and notified should anything happen.

So we quietly told our families our plan, and some close friends. I continued working on the plans for our August wedding, determined not to let the military hinder my experience, but Bryan got to work planning our March wedding. I told him my vision--that I wanted to marry him on a cliff overlooking the ocean, at sunset, with just me, him, a witness, and an officiant. Bryan told me just to worry about getting myself ready, and that he would do the rest. He found the location, a pastor, a guitar player, a photographer (one of his troops, who is a photojournalist for the Air Force), ordered me a bouquet from the base flower shop, and enlisted his buddy Joe to videotape it. I bought my dress, accessories, makeup, and flew to Japan on March 11.

Our wedding was beautiful and perfect for us. I was very emotional throughout the ceremony. We wrote our own vows, but did the traditional ring exchange and "I do's." When we kissed, Japanese tourists broke into applause. It was simple, intimate, and meaningful, and I am so glad that we did it this way. After our ceremony, we went to dinner, just the two of us, and we spent our wedding night in a beach cabin on Torii Station (an army base).

We still don't know if Bryan is going to deploy, but coming to Japan this week has convinced me that it is inevitable...and Bryan has quietly known this for some time, though he didn't want to dash all of my hopes by canceling the August wedding outright. So our personal feeling is that any day now, we will receive a tasking and Bryan will be headed somewhere in 2010, probably Afghanistan. If that happens, we will reschedule the August wedding for as soon as he comes back--because even though we are already married in the eyes of God, Japan, and the U.S. government, we want to celebrate our marriage with our friends and family with the wedding celebration we have been dreaming of.

We both feel that some higher power has been guiding our relationship since the beginning. Ever since we met, there has never been a question in either of our minds that we would be together. The love, respect, friendship, and passion we feel for each other is hard to describe to others, but we both feel very confident that our marriage will be a strong and ecstatically happy one. Of course, like every couple, we might run into tough times, but we both agree that communication, compromise, love, and faith will always help us through any rough patches. I have never been more in love with Bryan, and he tells me the same every day as well.

Walking each other down the aisle. I loved having Bryan to hold my hand as we walked together toward our officiant.

Here I think we're laughing because I kept tripping.

I was crying even before the ceremony started. Luckily, I had Bryan to wipe away my tears.

This is where we say "I do!"

I was thinking of how handsome he looked.

Here's a secret: we had to reshoot this one after the ceremony because it looked like I was shoving the ring on his finger.

Our first dance! We were laughing here because my heels kept getting stuck in the grass.

It's us!

No wedding is complete without the cheesy hands shot. I actually really like having this though, because it shows off my one good fingernail and my beautiful bouquet.

7 brides for 7 brothers

2010-02-24T07:12:00.000-08:00

Our engagement announcement came out in the Arizona Republic today. Kelly and Ryan's announcement was included side-by-side with it. I love this! In other amazing news, my sister Lyndsay got engaged to her boyfriend Mike last weekend! Out of 5 LaPrade/Morgan/Penwell girls, 3 of us are engaged (and we have a sneaking suspicion that a 4th is on her way soon!). I am going to be one of Lyndsay's bridesmaids, and I am so excited--before my sisters, I have never been a bridesmaid before! Although, technically I will be a matron by both weddings...so for Kelly's wedding I'm a "Matron of Honor" (blech) and for Lyndsay's I guess I'm a "Bridesmatron" (double blech). I'll stick with maid :)

Hope

2010-01-13T16:01:00.001-08:00

Trying to get back into the swing of things after taking a long blogging break during finals and Christmas break. Today I'll start of easy, with a quote I read on a wedding blog. I love it, not because I'm going through anything turbulent at the moment, but before Bryan and I met, we both were going through incredibly difficult times. We both completely believe that we met for a reason, to save each other and build a new, happy, passionate, love-filled life together. Weddings are about hope. With each day that passes, our love grows stronger, and we both can't wait for when we're reunited and, as Bryan puts it, "fat, dumb, and happy" together. Hopefully not the fat part so much, but I knew exactly what he meant the moment he said it. Wherever we are, whatever we're doing, as long as I can walk through this life holding his hand, sleeping with my head upon his chest, I will be content.

Every one of us is called upon, probably many times, to start a new life. A frightening diagnosis, a marriage, a move, the loss of a job . . . And onward full tilt we go, pitched and wrecked and absurdly resolute, driven in spite of everything to make good on a new shore. To be hopeful, to embrace one possibility after another - that is surely the basic instinct . . . Crying out: High tide! Time to move out into the glorious debris. Time to take this life for what it is.

- Barbara Kingsolver, High Tide in Tucson

Japan!

2009-11-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

After flying for 24 hours straight, from Boston to Newark to Tokyo to Okinawa, I have arrived back in Japan.

At HLS we actually only have Wednesday-Friday off for Thanksgiving, but I was at a party talking to a friend who is from Miami, and he told me that he was just going to take off the entire week to make it more worth his while. He didn't seem phased about missing class at all. And one thing that is true about me is that I am VERY easily persuaded to skip class when I feel, as an adult capable of making rational choices and not very susceptible to fear of authority, that I have a legitimate reason for missing. I am prepared to accept responsibility for my choices and, if I have a less than clear understanding of the Erie doctrine because I missed 2 days of civpro, so be it.

On the up side, I am 1) with my fiance! (need I say more about that?) and 2) completely free to work on my final legal memo without any silly distractions like, oh I don't know, class. And reading. And law school in general. Often, I find that law school gets in the way of my real legal education :) So many scheduling obligations = not enough time to actually study.

So the plan for the next week is to:

Finish my memo and submit it electronically by the Wed. 5 pm deadline (Thurs. 7 am for me).
Finish as much as I can of my outlines so that I am ready to start taking practice tests (only 2 weeks or so until finals!!)
Read 2 non-school books (The Time Traveler's Wife and Liberty's Blueprint, which I think will be helpful for my class on "Constitution and the International Orde r(The)"* with notorious genius professor Noah Feldman).
Enjoy my time and Thanksgiving with Bryan! I have a lot to be thankful for this year :)

*Have I mentioned my amusement at awkward usage of the article "the" in course titles, college names, etc.? See, e.g., The George Washington University, The Ohio State University

Wedding Inspiration

2009-11-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

I thought about not posting this, but I just had to because 1) I think it looks so beautiful and 2) it's really more of a sneak peek into what we're planning for the wedding. I don't think it gives too many surprises away! I had made this on MosaicMaker...all I had to do was sign up for a free account, accumulate pictures that represent my vision for our wedding, and then it made this mosaic for me! I don't want to give too much away, but my mom said she was having trouble sharing in my "vision," and this really helped her (since she's doing most of the planning for us in Arizona). Enjoy!

The Ring

2009-11-13T17:53:00.000-08:00

It's not the best picture, but here it is :) This is us holding hands on the train right after Bryan proposed at the airport. And Bryan already has my wedding band, waiting for me in a box in Okinawa. Part of me wishes that men got to wear engagement rings too...it seems unfair that only women get to! Every time I look at my hand I am reminded of my best friend and companion for life, while men have to wait until the wedding for that.

Friday the 13th

2009-11-13T06:19:00.000-08:00

13 has always been my lucky number. I can't necessarily point to anything specific that makes it my lucky number, but I've just always felt that way. I've never had any negative feelings about Friday the 13th.

Today didn't start well. Months ago, in an attempt to protect my old Macbook (circa 2006, which apparently makes it old), I covered it with a clear plastic shell. But this clear plastic shell has made my computer overly heavy, so in an effort to de-bulk I tried to pry the shell off. Piece of advice: DO NOT cover your computer in an INCASE plastic shell. Removal = unnecessarily dangerous. I felt like a meth addict compulsively picking at their skin--once I started trying to remove it, and realized I couldn't get it off, I began to panic and try to force it off. Which led to the picture above.

So when I realized that, for absolutely no reason, I had ruined my Macbook, I started to cry. And then I couldn't find a ponytail holder to get my hair out of my eyes, which made me feel even more irritated and out of control (I know, it sounds crazy).

And the worst part was, that even after I saw what I was doing to the computer screen, I COULDN'T STOP trying to get the case off. I literally got a butter knife, and pried and pried until it finally popped off. I'm pretty sure I ruined my computer in the process.

LITERALLY 2 minutes later (2!), I received an email with this subject line: "Computer Advance Request Check Available." I had requested a computer loan from HLS financial aid to get a newer, lighter, faster Macbook Pro, and I was going to give my Macbook to Bryan, who currently only has a little netbook, which is totally insufficient for his photography needs. So minutes after I ruined my computer I found out that my check will be available today at 3:00 pm.

Then, I received a phone call from someone that I had been putting off calling, regarding a case that I am working on with the Tenant Advocacy Project. Short story, I’m representing someone in a housing matter and needed a 30-day extension on a request I had made to the housing authority, and found out that I got it today. Big weight off my shoulders.

Then, I found out that my rent check had bounced by like $5. I emailed my landlord, and he said it was totally fine and that I could just mail him a money order to cover it, no problem. He also said he was going to fix our dryer, which takes 2 cycles to dry anything.

So a lot of things have gone wrong today in about the span of an hour. And, almost immediately, each of them has resolved and will probably turn out better than it would have if it hadn't gone wrong at all.

The day is early, but I’m thinking about buying a lottery ticket.

Faux News

2009-11-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

This is not a political blog by any means, and truth be told I've pretty much ignored politics for the last 3 months, so I am not one to be starting any political discussions/debates, because I'm sure I will get schooled. That said, I couldn't resist a quick story to accompany a video I came across yesterday:

This past summer that I spent in Okinawa with Bryan was the best summer of my life. I had no job, no obligations, no car...nothing really to do, except relax, prep for law school, and enjoy my time with Bryan.

One of the things we did was try to keep up our early a.m. gym routine. Bryan and I would get up around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. (a far cry from our 4:30 a.m. wake-up calls when we were in AZ), and I would go with him to the base for PT. While he ran with the rest of the public affairs people, I would go to the gym and run on the treadmill. The treadmills at Kadena were all located upstairs in a hot, humid, stuffy room. There were TVs lining the far wall opposite the treadmills, all pre-tuned to the various Air Force-approved stations. Invariably, one of these TVs was tuned to some overseas version of Fox News, and just based on the time that I was always there, I often had the "privilege" of watching Glenn Beck while I ran. Let me just say, one positive side effect of the anger that filled me after a few minutes of reading the subtitles of Glenn Beck sure did make me run...vigorously. My favorite was the day he used a chalkboard and chalk (he sure seems to be a fan of drawing on a chalkboard...can someone who actually watches this show explain that to me?) to draw a picture of Allah. Now, I don't know a lot about the religion of Islam, but I'm pretty sure I remember learning in Art History 101 that it's considered blasphemy to draw/paint/create a picture of Allah. Just sayin'. Anyhoo, I don't know anything else about him than what I gleaned from my treadmill experiences, and to be honest I'd like to keep it that way. This Daily Show clip sure did make me laugh though! Also, I miss DC.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage

www.thedailyshow.com

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My Hero

2009-11-11T07:35:00.000-08:00

ALSO I HEARD THE VOICE OF THE LORD, SAYING, WHOM SHALL I SEND, AND WHO WILL GO FOR US? THEN I SAID, HERE AM I; SEND ME.
- ISAIAH 6:8

In honor of Veteran's Day, this post is dedicated to my own Hero. Bryan enlisted in the Air Force when he was 18 years old. He has served selflessly, humbly, and courageously for 14 years. He has been deployed to the Middle East 6 times, 3 of which were to Iraq. He has sacrificed more than any man should have to. On September 11, as he watched the second plane fly into the tower, he immediately began packing his bags. Within weeks, he was on his way to the Middle East. He has been separated from his loved ones more times than anyone should have to endure, yet if you asked him if he wanted to go back, he would not hesitate before saying yes. He is a true hero, one among many thousands who have given so much to serve their country. I love and honor this man, and all the other men and women like him who would pack their bags today if someone told them they were needed elsewhere tomorrow. Bryan is an incredible father, fiance, son, brother, and human. I am proud just to know him, and I am proud to call him my partner.

Bryan received the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq in 2008-2009. Read about it here.

Bryan in Iraq 2008.

Bryan, joking around at the Pentagon.

Bryan, Iraq 2008.

Bryan and I before the Prom (we were chaperones).

Bryan preparing to fly in an F15 onto the USS George Washington.

Bryan 4+ years ago with baby Hayley. Look at those cheeks!
One of the things I love the most about him is what a loving father he is.

Bryan proposed to me in uniform.

Golf, Squash, and Marathons

2009-11-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

When Bryan deployed to Iraq in March 2008, I didn't really know what to do with myself. I'd never experienced anything like it, and six months seemed like such a long time to be separated from the one you love. The morning I dropped him off at Luke Air Force Base and said goodbye, I remember sobbing hysterically the entire drive home, so much so that I had to pull the car over at one point. My roommate Karin took the day off to be with me, though, and she comforted me withe a day of pedicures, lunch, and girl talk. With the support of Karin, my other friends, and my family, I quickly became determined to be strong and really focus on myself during that time. The long, lonely summer was approaching and, since I was a teacher and had the entire summer free, I decided to make the most of it by devoting myself to getting healthy and exercising. I had visions in my head of greeting Bryan and the airport, and those fantasies are what got me through some of the worst days during that time.

I had always wanted to be "a runner," but I couldn't even jog around the block without getting so out of breath I had to stop. I didn't even know how to start trying to build up my lung endurance. Then I read about the Couch to 5K program on PastaQueen, one of my favorite blogs about a girl who lost half her body weight and blogged through it all. Apparently, through the incremental weekly running program, anyone could go from being able to run just 1 minute at a time, to running an entire 5K. The plan looked pretty doable, and I downloaded these amazing podcasts by Robert Ullrey that motivated me along the way. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I ran on the treadmill at LA Fitness, and the podcasts told me when to walk and when to jog and provided energizing music to keep me going.

It was really difficult at first. I truly could barely run for 1 minute when I first started. But the slow progression of the program really worked. My endurance improved slowly but surely (and my fantasy of meeting Bryan at the airport and impressing him with my new fitness helped a lot, not going to lie), but I think my favorite part was just the feeling of accomplishment that I could finally run. I could call myself a runner and people didn't die laughing. Yes, I stuck to the treadmill, which I know is easier than the actual open road--but if you were running in Phoenix in July, so would you.

That was over a year ago. I can now run for about 30 minutes without stopping, albeit at a slow, 12 minute mile pace. Running on the treadmill is still much easier, but ever since I moved to Boston I've been trying to run outside whenever possible. I like the feeling of actually going somewhere. It feels more natural to run outside, and I feel like my breathing and form also feel more comfortable. Some downsides are the horrible Boston roads and sidewalks, the dangerous Boston drivers (I seriously feel like I’m in a life-or-death game of Frogger every time I run outside), and the lack of nature.

My friend Mischa recently suggested that I try running around Fresh Pond or along the Charles River--both of which, from my apartment, would be around 4 miles round trip. That means that if I’m going to break free from my urban shackles, I’m going to have to up my mileage and my endurance. I've come a long way from my days of 1-minute jogging intervals, but running anything over 3 miles is still not happening. So I have two new motivation tools that I think will help me reach my big goal: run a half-marathon by May! Bryan, who is training for the Okinawa Marathon in March, has even agreed to come to Boston and run the Boston "Run to Remember" Half-Marathon with me on May 30. There is a slight chance that I will have started a new job in another city by then, so if May 30 comes and it turns out that I’m not living in Boston, I will have to find a different half marathon, but for now that race is my goal.

How am I going to go from 5K to a Half-Marathon?

1. Podrunner Intervals- this podcasts are like the Robert Ullrey Couch to 5K podcasts, but even better, because they go all the way to 10K, and instead of interrupting you with voice cues, they use music cues. And the techno music they use is awesome! I download these to my iPhone, which I wear on a bulky band on my arm...but it's the heavy iPhone band is worth it because of my next tool...

2. Runkeeper! This is absolutely amazing: it's a free iPhone app that allows you to use your iPhone's GPS to track your runs, mapping them and recording your speed, average pace, distance, and # of feet climbed. It stores your information on your iPhone and online. One of my favorite parts of Runkeeper is that you can compile a "Street Team", which is basically an online community of your friends that use Runkeeper too. Your Street Team can see all of your runs, so you can motivate each other and compare mileage, speed, etc. Who is in my Street Team right now? That's probably an easy guess--Bryan! So far, it's just us, but anyone else who has an iPhone and likes to run or wants to start running should seriously download Runkeeper and start using it! It's so motivating to run, and then come home and see all your stats recorded online for you!

So stay tuned for more running updates and, if you are my friend on Facebook or Twitter, keep an eye out for my Runkeeper updates there (one of the other great things about Runkeeper is that it lets you share your runs instantly on FB and Twitter...another great accountability tool).

Oh, and about the title of this post: A friend of mine here at HLS recently remarked that, to make it in the corporate world, she heard that you have to play golf, squash, or run marathons. I definitely don't plan on taking up golf or squash. So I guess marathons it is! I’m a looooong way from being able to run 26 miles, but I think that eventually I would love to go for the whole thing! For now, though, I'll stick with improving on my current 2-3 milers.

Yes!

2009-11-09T03:22:00.000-08:00

2 years ago I met a handsome gentleman in a bar. 2 days after we met, I found out he was going to Iraq. I told myself that this would be the first time I approached a relationship with no expectations--there was no way I would get my hopes high this time. 2 months later, however, we were inseparable and the deployment had become just a hurdle to conquer. 2 years later (I now attending law school in Boston and he stationed in Okinawa), I went to meet this man at the airport and he, wearing his uniform, bent down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes!

Obviously, a lot is missing out of that story. We are madly, deeply in love (sickening, I know), and so happy that we are about to become husband and wife. You can read more on our wedding website: www.mywedding.com/bryanlovesjenna

Here is a picture of us the night of our engagement!

Us getting hamburgers after he proposed:

Us being touristy around Boston:

Eating clams on our jaunt to the Cape:

Aren't we cute...we match!

Cape Cod:

We saw this rose in a garden in Somerville. It's just like the roses (black baccara) that we're going to have at the wedding (expect lots of wedding posts to come!).

Bryan Bouchard, I love you. I can't wait to be your wife.

Now all I need is a hot pot to keep in my locker

2009-09-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

In law school, they don't give you personal coffee mugs--they give you personal coffee pots.

This was a gift I received today at the HLS "Love Your Library Fest", which basically consists of 1Ls running around the library scrounging up as much candy and free swag as they can carry (highlighters, pocket editions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, mini-flags, and your own personal coffee pot), with no regard for those who are actually trying to study. The funny thing is that the people who seem the least concerned with being quiet while walking through the library seem to be the library staff.

In other news, my head is about to explode with trying to decide between all of the student activities, practice organizations, and journals. 1Ls are basically slave labor to these groups, and I have a feeling that many, if not most, law students drop many of their organizations once they make it over the 2L hump. Here is a good analogy: Harvard hosts multiple (think 10-20) special events, talks, panels, information sessions, etc. each day, many with free food and most of which seem to be aimed at 1Ls. Harvard is a very large school, full of eager beavers. The eager beavers pack into these events, grab up the free food and chairs in a this very Hobbesian-state of nature dash and grab , listen intently for 10-15 minutes, and then leave in droves once they've decided they've gotten all they need. I have attended at least 5 different events in which literally half of the other attendees packed up their stuff and walked out less than halfway through.

So my guess is that 1L is very similar: everyone rushes to sign up for activities, journals, organizations, update their resumes and attend a few meetings, maybe spend a weekend subciting, and then quickly begin to dropout when they realize that they have overstretched themselves and need to focus more on their classes and job search. This is just my guess, but I have a feeling it explains why all of the groups are so desperate to recruit 1Ls.

Despite my cynicism, I too am being easily lured in by all the fancy activities with their tasty treats and nice spokespeople. Journal of Law & Gender? I have a gender--sign me up! Free Indian food AND books at the Human Rights Journal Information Session? I do love naan and I’m sure I'll have time to read a book about school choice in South Africa! Harvard Couples Association? I’m in a couple! (Not to mention, they had the best home-baked nom noms at their booth). So right now I’m very full and haven't spent my own money on food in days, have more swag than I know what to do with, and am contemplating at least 10 different student organizations. Ultimately, I know I'll whittle it down to 2-3 (4?), but right now I can't even think straight. On top of that, I've read so many hundreds of pages in the last 4 weeks that I think my brain has reached its saturation point--now, when I read anything that I won't be cold-called on to explain, my eyes just sort of skim over the words and my brain absorbs maybe 10% of the information. One of the only things keeping me sane right now is the fact that everyone I talk to is in the exact same mental state. The most common response to the typical "How are you?" question is "Ughhhh." Not really a word...just a noise.

The freedom to pee when I want: priceless.

2009-09-05T10:10:00.001-07:00

So Confused in Crimson, a section mate of mine, wrote a wonderful summary with opinions of our first week of classes that I just don't see the need to duplicate. His thoughts mirror my own, with a few exceptions, and I especially recommend that 0Ls read his post to get an idea of how the classroom experience of law school is different than anything you have experienced before.

Some of my own thoughts about this first week of law school:

-My classmates are brilliant. They think on their feet and analyze deeply and richly. They ask insightful questions. I am going to learn so much for them.

-I fear my Torts class the least and my Legislation and Regulation class the most. In legreg (as we call it), the professor summarizes the facts of the case himself and then immediately calls on people to argue for the defendant and plaintiff. He then leads us through a richer analysis of the possibilities of statutory interpretation than the judicial opinion even hints at. Maybe it's because I see the practical applications of torts most clearly, but that class is interesting yet safe.

-My civpro professor is intimidating. He is so articulate that I would love to record the class and then just sit there and soak up everything he says. He does not allow laptops, so I can't transcribe his genius (I can't write fast enough by hand). But I love how he makes what can be a very dry subject fascinating by forcing us to see the way skilled lawyers can learn the system and use it to further their deeper goals of ensuring outcomes underpinned by justice and morality (or, as with the counter-resistance during the civil rights movement that took advantage of civil procedure to block social progress, goals not so just and moral).

-Legal Research & Writing inspired my first panic attack of 1L, because I attended assuming that the class would teach me the tools I need to succeed in my other courses in a relaxed, safe atmosphere; instead, I left the classroom feeling more vulnerable and clueless than I had all week. I hope it gets better, because legal research & writing is a foreign language that I must become fluent in to succeed in the law, but if it doesn't I will have to teach myself.

-My property professor (the one who used to be an ambassador to the Vatican), is a fascinating woman; her approach to teaching property is highly theoretical however, which means that class discussion is intellectually rigorous but not so practical. She has lots of prior exams online, however, and it seems like she requires a weaving of theory, policy, and blackletter law, which means that I will have to take a much more holistic approach to studying for this course.

Finally, the workload: it is tremendous. Everyone does the work, though, so working hard is not enough. One must also work smart, in terms of how they take notes independently and in class, revise and synthesize these notes, apply the law to hypotheticals, and outline weekly to create a toolbox that can be used on exams. There are so many parts that must come together cohesively. That said, on Friday afternoon, after the final class of the week, I felt relieved that the weekend had come, yet not nearly as emotionally and physically drained as after a week of teaching. Law school is difficult and tiring, but I feel this odd sense of freedom. I know I have a lot of work to do, but I also have a lot of time in which to do it. And, most importantly, I can pee when I want to. All my teachers out there know how priceless that is!

“Now, don't be scared. Everyone will love you.”

2009-08-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of Orientation: I woke up late, showered quickly, and raced off to Harvard Law School. The first event of the day was a one hour section meeting. Many of us knew each other from the section party the night before, which was very comforting. It felt good to walk into the lecture hall and see familiar faces. I sat with some people I had met the night before, and we chatted until our section leader and torts professor, Professor Goldberg strolled to the front of the room and the group quickly lapsed into silence.

“Welcome to Harvard Law School.” I did get a bit of a chill at these words. As Professor Goldberg spoke about administrative concerns, our other professors, and a bit about torts, I found myself peeking behind me and scanning the rest of the crowd. Were these people future the future leaders of America? Did they look older than me, or more ”law studenty“ than me? Are they as awed by this moment as I was? My overwhelming impression from this and other orientation events that I have attended since then is that my fellow HLS students are, from what I can tell, just as humbled to be attending this school as I, just as fearful yet excited for what is to come.
Later, when we were eating sack lunches provided for us by HLS, some other students organized an impromptu icebreaker. We went around the room and shared the name and a “fun fact” about someone else, so that eventually everyone in the room was introduced. We have 2 former peace corps members, 2 former Teach For America corps members (including me), someone who attended culinary school in New York City, someone who was in the Korean army, a Fulbright Scholar, people who have lived and taught in China, Korea, Japan, Spain, and I'm sure many other countries, someone who spent last summer searching for dark matter (“I didn't find any”), and many, many other accomplished individuals who I have not yet had the chance to meet.

That eschewed the HL Central organized “bar night” at the Hong Kong (too crowded for my taste) for dinner at an Indian food restaurant and drinks at a section mate's apartment with a small group of people who I instantly clicked with. Saturday's events were cancelled due to rain, but the same group (and a few others who didn't make it on Friday) planned to meet up for lunch at Darwin's in Inman Square (delicious sandwiches, by the way). I spent the rest of the day studying in the Hark with some members of my section. Saturday night was the Student Government-organized “Pub Night”, with free beer and (very light) snacks, after which some of us decided to go out for Mexican and then to a section mate's apartment for drinks. I feel like I've gotten to know a good, small group of people from my section, and rather than attending the large “all 1L“ events, I have enjoyed these little spur-of-the-moment gatherings that we have largely been planning on our own.

That said, there is a great disconnect between what I expected Harvard Law School orientation to be, and what it has really been. I have found the planning and organization on the part of the school to be lacking. Everything seems very haphazard. I definitely expected more “hand holding” on the part of the school, more time spent with our sections, getting some sort of quick crash course to prepare us for the infamously daunting 1L year. I felt like saying, “Wait a second. My social events calendar is missing...You know, mixers, formals, clambakes, trips to the Cape.” Orientation events seem to have been an afterthought, very “Oh yeah, we should plan something. Umm...can we just put some pretzels in a bowl and give them some beer? That's good enough, right?” I'm not complaining, because if there were more events I might have been overwhelmed and equally annoyed, but I guess I just expected a little more. Maybe it's because of “these economic times...”

But, again, any disappointment I feel at the formally scheduled events is overshadowed by how impressed I am with my fellow students. I was sort of expecting popped collars, old money, and Ivy league airs and, while I'm sure they're out there, everyone I've been fortunate enough to meet has been just...normal. Insanely intelligent, interesting, and oftentimes funny. But, mostly, normal. I think I'm going to like it here :)

I Don't Suck at Life!

2009-08-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

So, this being the last week of freedom before law school starts, I have had a lot of time on my hands. Having free time, for me, generally means more of an opportunity for the OCD/Type A aspects of my personality to kick in. These personality traits lurk deep within, generally masked by my absent mindedness and pleasure seeking instincts, but when I have free time I am known to become a bit obsessive about self-improvement.

This summer, this tendency of mine has been manifested in my mental linkage of success in law school to success in life in general. This basically means that I have convinced myself that the extent to which I eat tasty, nutritious meals that I have cooked myself, keep my finances under control, have a spotless, organized apartment, and exercise regularly will be correlated to how well I do academically this semester. This is probably because I feel that if I let things slide in one area of my life, I am more likely to let them slide in other areas of my life.

Here is a window on how my mind works: if I let my apartment get too messy, I am less likely to feel motivated to exercise, because it will be too difficult to find clean, appropriate workout clothes. If my finances disintegrate (as they have been known to do), I will not have money to go to the grocery store and buy healthy food to cook. And let's be honest--very few people like to study. As a future section-mate commented to me, computers are temptresses, and I have been known to succumb to the temptation of the Internets when I should be studying way too many times.

But this summer has been different. Without a job, and with no real obligations until school starts, I have been able to obsess over law school, read up on the courses I will be taking, read a couple of books I have been meaning to get to for a long time (non-law school related), spend quality time with my boyfriend, and explore a foreign country. I have also moved from Phoenix to Boston, set up a new apartment, gotten settled in, explored my new city, and organized myself for the upcoming school year.

Through all this, I have been able to exercise more or less regularly (especially since I got settled in here in Boston). I have been running around campus, have checked out Hemenway Gym, and have even taken two group exercise classes on campus. The first was spinning, which I really enjoyed--the class was loud and boisterous, I sweated buckets, and I really dig the visualization aspect of it. The second was Pilates, and judging by how sore my abs are today, I will definitely be going back. I really need to strengthen my core so that I don't end up a hunchback by the end of this year! In addition, I have been cooking almost all of my meals with food purchased from the Union Square farmers' market, Whole Foods, and the Star Market next door.

On the finance front, I am pretty heavily in debt, but thankfully very little of my debt is credit card debt. My credit score leaves much to be desired, but I'm working on it. I transferred my Arizona retirement money (around $11,000) into an IRA to be managed by a financial planner, who is also going to oversee my student loan money and help me invest and budget my meager living allowance. I signed up for Mint, a personal finance website that allows me to track and budget all of my money, allowing me to review my checking, savings, credit card, and student loan accounts all on one page and providing many tools to assist with budgeting.

And today I used my last monies before student loan checks come out to go buy a new outfit for orientation! I was able to get a dress, cardigan, belt, and shoes for under $150. I'll take some pictures tomorrow before I head off to orientation and post them when I get a chance.

So all of this is to say that I am feeling really, really good right now. I am as ready for law school to start as I ever will be. Tonight I meet most of the students in my section, and tomorrow is the first day of orientation. Classes start Tuesday. I already have a pretty heavy schedule of reading, and I want to tackle all of it by Sunday. I know there were many who doubted that I would ever go to law school after my years of indecision and seeming procrastination. What to some seemed like dawdling, though, was really the best decision I ever made. Yes, I am entering law school at pretty much the worst time, economically speaking, possible. But if I hadn't had the opportunity to teach, I wouldn't have had the single-minded focus that I have now on becoming a child advocate. If I hadn't met Bryan, and had the chance to live with him for almost a year while teaching for a third year, I wouldn't be starting this adventure with my best friend and rock there to support me through the tough times. Even if he is thousands of miles away, Bryan always makes me feel so secure. He listens to me, understands me, gives me advice, and helps me make decisions. Bryan, if you're reading this--I love you and I am so glad that I didn't listen to you when you told me not to defer law school :)

So it's time. I know who I am. I know why I am here. I know what I have to do. And I am ready to blow this place away. Welcome to Harvard.

Quick Updates

2009-08-25T04:39:00.001-07:00

-My new roommates have arrived and settled in. We now have a full house! I like not being alone here anymore, having someone to talk to, commiserate with, etc. This house finally feels like a home!

-Orientation starts on Friday. Harvard's schedule for orientation doesn't seem very full. We have some meetings with our section, some lunches and dinners, tours of campus and Boston, and a welcome reception on Monday night before class starts on Tuesday. I will try to post a daily update of each day of orientation. Some might be shorter than others.

-Oh yeah, and there are also bar nights scheduled for every single night of orientation. One of the places, I hear, is famous for its Scorpion Bowls, which are giant bowls of liquor with a tiny scorpion at the bottom. Teams race to drink the liquor through straws and get to the scorpion. Sounds to me like law school is just like undergrad, except people are actually 21. I will be partaking very judiciously in these events.

-3 of my professors have assigned assignments so far. In torts, I have an orientation assignment and 38 pages of reading for the first day of class. Not so bad. In property, I have two cases to read, but they are in the Supplement, which isn't available until Wednesday. Great. In Legal Research & Writing (LRW), I had 4 really short articles to read. So far, I've read the articles for LRW and the torts orientation assignment.

-My major beef with Harvard right now is that lack of a centralized system for disseminating information about our assignments. We have to check like 3 different places to find out if, or what, we have. Some have emailed, some of sent out course announcements that we have to find on myHLS (which is a pain to log in to), and some have just posted them on the Course Website, which is also on myHLS. How about 1 email, sent to everyone in the section, with all of the assignments? That shouldn't be too tough...just make each professor send their assignment, if they are assigning one, by a specific day, and then have an intern compile the assignments into a section-wide email. On the other hand, maybe they are just testing our ingenuity by making assignment finding into a scavenger hunt.

-On the exercise front, my roommate and I have a goal to make it to the gym every morning by 6:30 am. We have been experimenting by going to the gym in the morning together, though not as early as 6:30. We even sprinted all the way to the gym one morning to make it to a spinning class. Great success making it there in time, no success in remembering a water bottle. We are also planning to run a 5K in September. Yay for non-law school related goals!

-Last night I experimented with making a giant batch of oatmeal in my crockpot. Irish steel cut oats, water, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, dried fruit, and nuts = tasty breakfast for over a week. I just put it in the crockpot and woke up to the delicious smell...now I just need to seek if it lasts for 7 more days (made 8 servings, I already ate 1 of them).

What Not to Wear

2009-08-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

At a very young age (like, 9) I decided that I'd had enough of childhood and was ready to be a teenager. My favorite TV show was Saved by the Bell and my favorite movie was Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the one where Kristy Swanson plays a cheerleader by day, vampire hunter by night). These shows glorified teenage-hood and I studied them pretty much as rigorously as I now study my pre-law books. I assumed that every teenager's life was an endless string of parties, shopping, and dating. I knew I wanted to be a cheerleader (mainly for the uniform) and I imagined myself looking like Kelly from Beverly Hill 90210 (long, straight blond hair) and driving a red Ford Mustang convertible. Yet, I was also a hopeless bookworm, and so my dedication to all things ”teenager“ was manifested in an insatiable appetite for teen magazines which, I thought, would teach me everything I needed about how to dress, apply makeup, and act, so that when the sacred time finally arrived, I would be ready. Teen, YM, Seventeen--you name it, I read it cover to cover every month, and couldn't wait until the next issue arrived.

One article that I remember that was repeated every so often in the various teen magazines that were my bible was the fashion quiz. This was a quiz designed to tell you what your ”fashion style“ was, or should be, based on your answers to some pretty generic questions. The categories were always the same--sporty, trendy, classic (preppy), romantic, and (sometimes), artsy. I agonized over quizzes like these, trying to figure out which box I best fit into, but I never could find a satisfying answer. Sometimes I liked to dress trendy, other times I felt the need to go sporty. Did people really just stick to one fashion “style”? How are you supposed to know what style to go with? These questions perplexed my overly-analytical mind and, I’m sort of embarrassed to say that sometimes they still do.

You might be wondering where I’m going with this....stick with me, I think I have an actual point here. You see, I still like to read fashion magazines from time to time, though not as obsessively as when I was a child. I watch shoes like What Not to Wear, which stress how what you wear communicates who you are with most of the outside world (i.e., the people you come into contact with, but never actually talk to, like the people on the train or on the street). I think this is more of an issue in places like DC and Boston, where people actually walk to school and work, actually take trains, rather than places like Phoenix, where the average person drives alone in a car to the same job every day, where they see the same people, who generally have the opportunity to get to know more about someone than what can be conveyed by clothes.

In addition, I really like to people watch. I spend a lot of time when I am in public places looking at others (hopefully secretly), thinking about who they might be, examining their clothes (I just realized that this makes me sound really creepy). I am really interested how people in different cities and regions often dress very similarly to each other and very different than people in other places I have been. I coined the term “GC” (Glendale Classic) for the inhabitants of Glendale, Arizona who wear skull t-shirts, black and white flat-brimmed caps, and drive big trucks (men), or cut-off frayed denim mini-skirts, star jewelry and tattoos, platform foam flip-flops, and also drive big trucks (women). I was truly fascinated by the fact that most girls in DC wore exactly the same outfit almost every day--Ralph Lauren polo shirt or button up shirt, Longchamp, Vera Bradley, or Lands' End tote, 7 for all Mankind jeans, pearl necklace and earrings, flip flops, and a North Face fleece if it was winter. Literally, entire sororities dressed like this EVERY SINGLE DAY. Yet, while I make fun of them, getting dressed must have been very simple. No need to think of new outfits or match items, as everything was designed to go together and be replicable day in and day out, regardless of the situation. For example, the same outfit could work for the gym (swap the jeans for black tight pants and the polo for a sorority t-shirt, keep the fleece, pearls, and tote) or work (swap the jeans for a pencil skirt, add heels, keep the Ralph Lauren button-down and pearls). I could never adopt a uniform with such tenacity, but part of me understands why these girls did it.

Which brings me to my original point--what is my own, personal style, and how can I adapt it to the lifestyle of a new city without losing my identity? I know what clothes I like, in theory. I like a mixture of classic mixed with some unexpected, bold, funky pieces and colors. I like cute shoes but my feet don't. I like to be comfortable, yet stylish, and I don't want to be wearing the same thing as every other girl in my section. The hard part, for me, is figuring out how to create a personal style that works when I have to walk a mile to the train station, or when it's 20 degrees outside, or when I’m studying for 7 hours straight in the library. These, the realities of my life, don't always mesh with the idea I have in my head of how I want to look and how I want to present myself to others. The truth is, life is not like it seemed in the glossy pages of the teen magazines I read as a child, and personal style does not fit neatly into the parameters of a quiz. I now live in a city with four seasons, that is incredibly hot and humid right now but that will become positively frigid way too soon. No matter what outfit I put on, I return home after exploring this city caked in at least three layers of my own sweat, yearning for a ponytail and some sweatpants. My feet always hurt, no matter what shoes I wear, and as cute as some of the dresses I have are, none of them really work with a bike and a helmet, which is the easiest way for me to get around now that I don't have a car.

And then, there is the issue of money. I don't really understand how people find the money to put together actual outfits, with matching shoes, jackets, and accessories. I can usually afford to buy a cute shirt from Banana Republic or even Anthropologie, but I’m going to take it home, hang it in the closet, and then either wear it with the same old pair of jeans and flip-flops, or not at all. The thought of spending money on a top, bottom, matching shoes, jewelry, and jacket to create an “outfit” is pretty much out of the question, given that I’m living off of student loans and trying to save money for plane tickets to Japan. I have a lot of nice things in my closet, but somehow I have never figured out how to match everything together to create multiple, cute, comfortable outfits for every possible situation from what I have (sort of like those DC sorority girls).

So next weekend is the last weekend before school starts. I will have a lot of different orientation events to attend, but I will also have a little free time. I'd like to go through my closet and pull out some things I already have, but for some reason don't wear. Then I’m going to figure out why I don't wear them, and come up with what I would need to supplement them so that I can create different looks building off of what I already have. I'd like to start a weekly blog post where I show off the new Boston outfits I create, sort of a Look-of-the Week. That will give me some motivation to actually think about what I’m wearing and how I’m presenting myself to my classmates and peers, and will also give me a fun outlet that is not directly related to law school.

I'll leave you with my interpretation of Boston fashion, based off of my two trips on the T to downtown Boston and my various excursions around Cambridge. The typical Bostonian woman prefers comfort above fashion. She wears Asics running shoes with everything. A typical outfit is running shoes, khaki cropped pants, a solid-colored fitted t-shirt, a Coach purse, and a jogging stroller. She also carries a windbreaker or fleece. Hair is brown and pulled up. Some also wear a Boston Red Sox hat, although that is more common with Boston men, many of whom I suspect actually sleep in their Red Sox hats.

Adjustments

2009-08-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

So here's a summary of how may days seem to inevitably go during these dwindling weeks of sumemr: Wake up. Eat breakfast of Greek yogurt and fruit while talking to Bryan on Skype. Spend 2-3 hours doing a combination of talking to Bryan on Skype, chatting with Bryan on Yahoo, facebooking, twittering, and google reader-ing. Feel guilty for not doing anything. Make to-do list. Bravely set out with my iPhone (so I don't get lost), bike helmet (so I don't die), and very little money. Get lost, almost killed, and spend too much money. Return home sweaty, thirsty, hungry, and needing to pee. Cancel the rest of my plans for the day due to above. Spend 2-3 hours in the afternoon surfing the net, facebooking, twittering, waiting for Bryan to wake-up, talking to Bryan after he wakes up, and doing a little pre-law school reading (emphasis on little). Feel guilty for not doing anything productive. Decide to cook a healthy yet delicious dinner. Go to Star Market for ingredients. Cook said dinner. Eat while drinking wine. Settle in for the rest of the evening to watch movies on computer while surfing the net, facebooking, twittering, talking to Bryan on some sort of chat mechanism. Go to bed too late, despite previous day's vow to start going to bed at 10 pm to get my body adjusted to my law school schedule.

Things I would like to change over this and next week: Get some exercise other than getting lost while riding bike. When it's time to study, disconnect from computer AND iPhone in order to improve focus. Spend less money. Stop getting lost.

This last one will necessitate an abandonment of iPhone Maps and a return to the good, old-fashioned paper map. The iPhone Maps app makes it far too easy to only focus on my next turn, and I'm losting the forest for the trees. I need to develop a big picture in my head of this place, because if I'm going to keep this bike riding thing up I have to stop stopping on every curb to check my iPhone Map and start relying on mental pictures in my brain.

I'd also like to see more of Boston, but it seems that every time I set out to do this, I get end up frustrated, lost, thirsty, hungry, needing to pee, etc. One of my plans once school starts is to choose a coffee shop AWAY from Cambridge each weekend day to go and study at all day. Minus my computer (maybe, depending on what type of studying I have to do). With my iPhone in my backpack. Does anyone know of an app that locks your iPhone so that all you can do is make calls (i.e., no checking email, facebook, and twitter obsessively?).

One more update--the new roomie, Elaine, arrived today, with her adorable mother. I can tell we are going to get along really well. I'm so excited to have someone at home to talk to! Although, I'm a little embarassed to admit, that her first morning in the apartment I spent in my nightgown breaking my record for Skype time with Bryan (over 4 hours...I know, pathetic. If your name rhymes with Yasmine, I apologize for ever making fun of you for anything having to do with a web cam).

Alwso--need to blog more. I always think about writing a blog post, and then decide it will take too much effort/time. But every time I sit down to write, the words just flow out, coherently or not, and I feel much better about whatever is bothering me at the time.

That said, my plan now is to find something in my kitchen to eat for lunch (so as to save money) and study (without the computer in front of me). Chau!

Ch-ch-changes...

2009-08-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

A lot has changed in the last week! Monday, August 3 I bid a tearful goodbye to Bryan, flew from Okinawa to Tokyo to San Francisco to Phoenix. It was really hard to say goodbye to Bryan. This summer was absolutely the best summer of my life. I got to spend every single day with the love of my life in paradise. I was able to rest and relax, while also managing to get in studying and sightseeing around Okinawa. Soon, the law school grind will start and I will look back on my relaxing days in Okinawa nostalgically. More than that, it was so hard to say goodbye to Bryan. The military makes it so that we never know what is going to be sprung on us. We don't know if or when he will deploy next, and it is possibly (though not completely likely) that he could deploy again very soon, perhaps even before I get to see him next. In addition, we have built this beautiful house in Okinawa, and now Bryan is there alone. I wish I could be two places at once. But, we have Skype, web cam, and the wondrous iPhone to connect us. Life is a marathon, not a sprint, and we were prepared for this.

My flights were fine, though I picked up a cold somewhere along the way that I have since managed to pass to my mom and Stan (stepdad). I got a little studying, a little sleeping, and a little movie-watching done. (By the way, has anyone seen The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? If so, we must discuss the ending, which thoroughly horrified me). I arrived in Phoenix with a to-do list a mile long and mountains of belongings to sort through and fit into suitcases before my Friday flight to Boston.

While in Arizona I managed to fit in a lot. I met up with Katie, Phil, Noah, Lauren, Janessa, and Johnny for one last Tijuana Tuesdays at the Salty Senorita, albeit this time at the Old Town location, as no one lives in Glendale anymore (*tear*). I signed up with AT&T so that I can use Bryan's iPhone. I had some upgrades done to my Mac to make it law school-ready. I met with a financial planner about rolling my retirement ($11K? Really? Is that possible?) into an IRA. I picked up my kitten from Lauren's apartment and brought her home to my mom's house. Now the poor orphan kitten is going to be traveling to San Diego to live with my sister for the semester. That poor cat is probably so traumatized from all the moving, but I promise that as soon as this law school thing is done I will pamper and spoil her silly for the rest of her days. Anyways, I pretty much finished everything I needed to in Arizona, packed my belongings into 5 suitcases, and flew to Boston with my momma. And yes, all of this occurred in less than 1 week's time. So if you are wondering where I have been with the blogging, this should clear some things up for you. I am now settled in to my apartment in Somerville (on the border of Cambridge). Tomorrow, I will write alllll about my first weekend in Boston...

Now, though, I have errands to run...only 2+ weeks until law school starts!!

1 week...

2009-07-26T21:39:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's true, but I only have 1 week left in paradise with my man. The time here has passed so quickly. We have built a beautiful home here and seen so many incredible things. While we have been very adventurous on the weekends, setting out almost every weekend to see a new part of the island or experience something different, during the week I have had ample opportunity to relax and prepare for law school. As soon as I get back to AZ, I'll be heading off to Boston to get settled before orientation starts. I will be so busy that I'll have fewer chances to be homesick and miss Bryan, which we think will help with the long-distance thing and will hopefully make the time until Thanksgiving, when I am planning to come back to Okinawa, pass more quickly. We are also setting up an elaborate communication system involving Skype, a webcam, and many, many emails, text messages, IMs, and morning wake-up calls. So if any of you are worried about how we will make it through this, don't be--we aren't!

Over the next week, I hope to:

Go snorkeling in Sunabe
Finally find some delicious sushi here (no luck so far)
Relax with Bryan and enjoy every last moment we have together
Buy souvenirs (shisa dogs and a calendar of Okinawa for crossing off the days)

Well, off to study and wait for Bryan to get home from work! For all of you who live in AZ, I'll be home August 3 and then off to Boston August 7!!

Aquarium

2009-07-23T16:58:00.001-07:00

Aquarium
Originally uploaded by jenna.laprade

Saturday after my birthday Bryan and I took a day trip to Cape Hedo, the northernmost point of Okinawa. It was absolutely incredible to drive almost the entire circumference of the island, and to see how uninhabited the north really is. On the way we stopped at the aquarium in Onna because we had heard such amazing things about it.

While the entire aquarium was phenomenal, truly the best aquarium I have ever been to, the highlight is definitely the final tank, pictured here. The glass (which is 3 feet thick) runs from floor to ceiling. The tank is enormous and filled with giant whale sharks that swim alongside stingrays that have to have a 6 ft "wingspan" and thousands of fish swimming along in schools. It was amazing to see this sea life as if you were inserted into the middle of the ocean. I still don't understand why the sharks don't gobble up all of the fish, so maybe someone can enlighten me.

I love this shot because you get a really good feel for the floor-to-ceiling glass, and the little people at the bottom give you a good perspective on just how enormous the sharks are. One of my favorite Okinawa experiences so far!

Quarter-Century Old

2009-07-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

This Friday I turned 25. I can't believe how fast a quarter-century has passed me by. I'm not thrilled that the 30s are fast-approaching, but I am remarkably excited for this specific birthday. The first reason is (and I'm saying this publicly so that everyone I know can hold me to it), the day I leave Phoenix for Boston (August 6), I am going to quit smoking. I want to leave that habit behind me so that I can start the second quarter of my life smoke-free and healthy. I am planning to live to 100, and if I'm going to do that, I can't smoke. The picture above, by the way, was taken on Saturday, the day after my birthday (I'll be posting about those adventures next!), but we didn't take any pictures on my actual birthday, trying to focus more on enjoying the day and each other, so I figured I would start the post with another one of Bryan's scenic beach shots.

The second reason I'm excited for this birthday is that a lot of changes are in store for me. In August I will be starting my first year of law school. I will be moving to Boston (brrrr!). I've already met the love of my life and we even though we are going to be parted for a few years, I am so excited for our future together. So this, my quarter-century birthday, was a pretty big one for me. Luckily, I got to celebrate it accordingly.

Bryan took the day off for my birthday, not an easy task given the ops-tempo here on Kadena (for all those non-military readers, he is really, really busy). The Thursday night before my birthday, he surprised me with a typed-up, official-looking itinerary for the following day. My day was to start with breakfast at The Rose Garden, an Italian restaurant. Bryan had delicious-looking eggs benedict, and I had french toast with eggs overeasy, potatoes, and spicy sausages. Needless to say, I couldn't eat all of my food, but the half that I did eat was delicious.

After that, I went for a pedicure at Cocok, the island pedicure place that is always full of American women getting their toes done. Cocok is a little different than "nail brothels" in the U.S., namely in that upon sitting down in your own recliner to get your toes done you are presented with an 80-page book of nail art that is complementary with your picture. In the U.S., most nail salons charge extra for one stinkin' flower on your big toe. At Cocok (the k is silent, by the way), very intricate nail art is complementary. I chose red toes with a very "mod" white, black, and yellow flower. I was thrilled with how they turned out!

Even though Bryan's itinerary had planned for lunch following my pedicure at my favorite Korean BBQ joint, we were too stuffed from breakfast, so we skipped lunch and headed straight to the Corazon Spa at the EM Hotel Costa Vista for my massage. This too was a little different than what I have experienced at spas in the U.S. We walked in and had to take off our shoes, which is pretty typical in Japan. The girls told me (they spoke a little English) that I was early, so I sat down and read for a few minutes until my massage therapist came to get me. She took me to a separate reception area further back, where I was presented with warm water to drink before my massage (I'm sure there was a reason for this, but I'm not sure exactly what it was). I had to fill out a detailed form about where I experience pain (lower back and feet). The therapist, who spoke very, very little English, asked me if I wanted the "Energy" massage, or the "Relaxation" massage. She described the Energy as "hardo" and Relaxation as "softo." Given that my favorite masseuse in AZ has hands from God that can cure any muscle ailment, but is also pushes so hard that it's almost unbearable (he is truly gifted though), I asked for the "hardo" massage. She then took me to the treatment room and explained (somehow, given that she really didn't speak any English) that I should put on these paper briefs and lay face-down on the table. The massage itself was very vigorous. She was definitely stronger than any female masseuse I have had before. She karate-chopped me, kneaded the bottoms of my fight with her knuckles, and worked really hard to get the tension out of my shoulders. Even though it was so intense, I found myself breathing very deeply (think yoga breaths, noisy in and out of the nose) and drifting off. If I ever go back, I might try the Relaxation massage just to see the difference, but overall I was very impressed. After my massage I got to shower to rinse off all of the oil and sip hot tea to relax and rehydrate before Bryan arrived to pick me up. Obviously this picture isn't me, but it does give you a good idea of what the place looked like.

After the massage I was getting a little hungry, so we stopped at Hotto Motto for a quick snack before heading home. Hotto Motto is a Japanese fast-food restaurant, but you won't find any hamburgers or french fries. We got these little sandwiches that are basically like sushi rolls in sandwich form. The outside is wrapped in seaweed, kind of like a sandwich wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. On the inside there is sticky rice that is sort of like the "bread" of the sandwich, and then the filler. They come with eggs and spam (Bryan's favorite), beef and onions, and potato croquette (my favorite). They are filling but not overly so, and we love them. After that, we headed home and relaxed (Bryan napped) to get some energy for dinner that night.

For dinner we went to Sam's-By-the-Sea. I've already explained how amazing Sam's is on this blog before, and Friday was even better. We both sampled various tropical drinks in funny glasses--Bryan got the "Tiki God" and I got the "Over the Rainbow." As an appetizer we had cheese-wrapped shrimp with Thai chili sauce, and it was to die for. For dinner, I had salmon with mashed potatoes. Bryan and I have decided that the fish here is, ironically, not our favorite. It just tastes a little fishier than in the U.S. and we haven't been too pleased with any that we have tried. Bryan had filet mignon and bacon-wrapped salmon on flaming sword, which is literally presented to you by the chef on a flaming sword before it is removed and put on your plate. For dessert we tried the fruit with ballerina cream, which was a fruit parfait with meringue and whipped cream...so delicious! We were both stuffed after dinner. Here is a picture of Sam's during the day...it's hard to tell by the picture, but the place looks like the inside of a pirate ship and the servers even dress like sailors.

All in all, it was the best birthday ever, and I have Bryan to thank for planning such a special day for me. Because I have a summer birthday, people are usually out of town, or else I am out of town. I have spent birthdays in Spain, Chile, and, now, Japan. This was by far the best, not only because of the thought that he put into planning my day, but because of who I got to spend it with and where. I also want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes from afar!

Adventures in Japanese Dining

2009-07-09T03:39:00.001-07:00

I've mentioned before that finding a restaurant to eat at is difficult in Okinawa. Either the signs are in Japanese, making it a guessing game for us if the venue even is a dining establishment and impossible to determine what type of cuisine is served, or the signs are in broken English, meaning that the place will be filled with loud Americans and the prices will be heavily inflated. Bryan was feeling guilty that I spend all day cooped up in our (amazing) house, studying, surfing the net, and entertaining myself with the casual yoga DVD here and there, so tonight he took me out to dinner. Normally I research possible locations on OkinawaHai!, a website run by Americans with blog posts all focused on life for Americans living on Okinawa, and then force Bryan to drive through heavy traffic to the place I have chosen. Tonight, however, I knew that he would be tired after a strenuous week at work (photographer didn't show up to the goodbye dinner for the old Commander, leaving Bryan, who was supposed to be a guest with me as his date, to take all the official photographs with his Nikon D40; change in Command today...hence, long week), so I decided that we should try a place very close to our home.

We had driven past this establishment multiple times, and I could tell by the exterior that it was a restaurant (signs picturing raw fish and beer). The only problem was that there was NO English on any of these signs, which generally means that the menus won't be in English either. But being the adventurous couple that we are, we decided to go for it. We walked in to the restaurant and were greeted by the customary exuberance that is the norm in Japanese restaurants and shops. We were shown to a table, on top of which were multiple (literally, 10+) various menus and menu inserts. That is one thing that I have noticed about Okinawa--there is never just 1 menu at a restaurant. Menus are laminated stacks, usually with separate tablets for the regular menu, English menu, sushi menu, drink specials, Happy Hour specials, dessert menu, kids menu, etc. The only thing missing tonight was the English menu. Luckily, every Japanese restaurant we have been to so far has had a menu with many, many high-quality photographs. I guess the managers have realized that, short of hiring a translator, photos are the only things that will get Americans to spend their yen.

Our waitress was a high school girl with a huge smile and little to no confidence with English. We perused the menus and pointed to the photographs that looked the best. We ended up with, in order: egg omelet squares decorated with catsup and mayonnaise, gyoza (nom nom), beef stir fry for Bryan, and then...my entree. I love sushi. Bryan hates sushi. This was my big chance to order sushi at a restaurant Bryan could also enjoy. The sushi menu was entirely in Japanese, so we pointed out something that looked like a mix plate with 8 pieces of sushi, and hoped for the best. My food came last, after I had already eaten the egg and gyoza, and Bryan had already finished his beef stir-fry (mediocre). At that point we were presented with what can only be described as a platter decorated with seaweed (copious amounts), lettuce, cucumber, and giant stacks of raw fish. Now I have had ngiri before, and while it's not my favorite, I can do tuna and even salmon ngiri raw with no rice. But on this plate were stacks of fish with the skin on, shrimp with heads and eyeballs, octopus with tentacles, shells, and other things I can't even describe. Luckily, Bryan had already finished his food, or a trip to the bathroom might have been in order.

I, never one to send a meal back to the kitchen, especially if the mistake in ordering it was mine, settled in to at least sample the various slabs of raw fish that I had unwittingly ordered. I smoked a cigarette and finished my beer before starting in. The raw tuna and salmon was familiar and pretty good. The tasted the tiniest bite of octopus (the only bite I could find with no suckers on the end of its tentacles). Bryan returned from the parking lot with his camera and I started in on the fish with its skin still attached (shiny). Some of the variations were tasty, skin and all, while others were far too chewy for my taste. Bryan showed me how to removed the heads from the shrimp and I even tried one of those. In all, I tasted every single type of raw fish on that platter (okay, so I also ordered a bowl of rice and used it as a chaser). When I was done, with summoned the cheerful waitress, who spoke at least a little English, and asked her if the symbol following the number 8 on the menu actually meant people. She laughed and nodded. Either she didn't understand our question, or she did and was laughing at us for ordering a platter of sushi meant for 8 people. I'm going with the latter.

I felt guilty sending the platter, of which only 1/4 was eaten, back to the kitchen, but there was just no way that I was going to A. finish it, or B. ask for a doggy back and then throw it away (our garbage still hasn't been collected, don't even get me started on that). All in all, this is a restaurant that we will be returning to. While our sushi adventure was a failure, we noticed an insert picturing some tasty looking sushi rolls on our way out. This place (we don't have a name for it) had great service, a huge menu, and some tasty gyoza. We will definitely be returning...despite my sushi for 8 mishap.

Powder

2009-07-08T01:25:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me personally knows that I am pretty much the palest you can get before you're an albino. Well, that may be pushing it--my skin is capable of turning various shades of pink. Light pink if I'm outside for more than 5 minutes, rosy pink all over my face if I've exercised, lobster red if I spend the entire day outside and my sunscreen somehow fails me... I used to think that if I was just diligent enough, if I just spent enough time "laying out", with the proper combination of low-SPF sunscreen and tanning oil, I might be able to get what I considered to be a tan. It would never be a tan in anyone else's eyes, but if I could just get my skin to turn a color somewhere in-between pink and brown, I would have succeeded in my eyes. It never happened, of course, except the one summer I spent approximately 7 hours a day outside at Cactus Pool, teaching swimming lessons in the morning and swimming on the summer swim team in the afternoon. That summer I wore sunscreen every single day, yet somehow managed to make it to August with a distinct racerback "tan" from my Speedo that I was immeasurably proud of.

But that tan faded, and I've since come to accept that my skin was made for Swedish winters, not Arizona summers. I wear sunscreen on my face and neck every single day, and try to be very good about wearing a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen any time I know I will be outside for longer than that. I've had my hiccups here and there, but I've pretty much managed to avoid any serious sunburns since the day I came home from an 8th grade end-of-year field trip to Sunsplash with a magenta criss-cross design on my back. My father used to laugh at me when he called to see how we were doing and my sisters and I told him that we were laying out--"LaPrades don't lay out. LaPrades don't get tan." I always knew that he was right, but it just took me a bit longer to be confident enough in myself to own my pale skin. This might be partially because of the teasing I endured in 7th and 8th grade. No one had ever made me feel self-conscious about my skin until middle school, when the boys dreamed up cruel nicknames for me such as "Casper," "Powder," and "Albino." It shouldn't have, but it really hurt my feelings at the time. Luckily, I grew out of those feelings of shame with the realization that my skin was never going to change, and if I was careful enough, I would make it to old age with fewer wrinkles than any of the bronzed girls at my high school.

And so, while ever since I got over my complex about my skin and began to pride myself in my skin care knowledge and habits, it wasn't until I arrived on Okinawa that I realized that even my reformed self can't hold a candle in terms of sun protection to Japanese women. It's one of the first things Bryan and I noticed when we started venturing to Japanese markets, stores, and beaches, as opposed to the BX and Commissary on base--Japanese women are EXTREMELY dedicated to sun protection. Most Japanese women wouldn't consider going out in the sun without clutching to a ruffled parasol of some sort. They hold their parasols sideways, so that their face is completely blocked by the sun as they wander through botanical gardens, outdoor markets, and even at the beach. On top of the parasol, many of them wear fisherman-style hats pulled down low over their ears with large sunglasses to protect their eyes. While the girls on base, the girlfriends and wives of American GIs, astound me with their towering high heels, spandex mini-skirts, and low-cut tops, I've noticed that "regular" Okinawan girls are extremely fashionable, yet conservative, dressers. They don't show a lot of skin, even on days when the blistering heat and humidity combine to turn the island into a sauna, preferring to don floaty babydoll dresses over leggings so that most of their skin is protected from the sun.

The women are not the only ones here that take what most Americans would find to be extraordinary measures in the name of sun protection. Every morning, when we're on our way back from the gym, we drive by hordes of Okinawan youngsters walking, skipping, and running to school. We always laugh at how cute they are, holding on to their siblings hands as they cross busy highways without a parent in sight. Their backpacks are enormous, sturdy, leather contraptions. And the cutest thing is that almost all children under the age of 10 wear what I have termed "mullet hats", hats with low-hanging flaps of fabric to cover their necks, and oftentimes sunglasses as well. Okinawans are known for living extremely long lives, and I can't help but think that the parents' devotion to protecting even their tiniest children from the harmful rays of the bright Pacific sun play a big role in this.

Another interesting phenomenon are the "ninja" workers--farmers and landscapers who, forced to work outside all day long, have attired themselves so that not one square inch of skin is exposed--long pants, long sleeves, turtlenecks, gloves, traditional straw hats, and veils covering their faces. It's pretty creepy to see these ninjas at work, usually on the side of the road on Kadena, but it's even more unsettling to see the ones that don't appear to be working in the sun, but are just even MORE devoted to sun protection than seems healthy, if that's possible. They drive around on motorcycles, take walks, drive to the store, all dressed like a ninja.

Many people have heard of the traditionally long life spans that many Okinawans enjoy. People have written books about the Okinawan lifestyle, the Okinawan diet, Okinawan health secrets...I've never read any of these books, but it's quite clear that sun protection plays a huge role in all of this. The effects are clear when you meet Okinawans themselves. Bryan and I like to play a game called "guess how old she is," because time and time again we're shocked to meet someone who looks to be in her 20s, with a wrinkle-free, completely unmarred complexion, only to find out that the lucky woman is actually closer to her 40s! I might look a little strange walking around Boston with a parasol on a (rare) sunny day, but, just like I eventually got over my fixation on trying to get a tan, this might just be one habit I will try to bring back to the U.S.

Garbage Dump

2009-07-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

Since I am the only person home in the day, one of my main sources of daily drama has been trying to figure out the garbage situation here in Okinawa. When we moved into our rental home, the housing agency gave us a chart that was meant to explain the garbage situation. It mostly contained pictures of different types of garbage items placed into categories, mostly garbage items that I would never throw away--teddy bear, VHS tape, hangers, sofa, etc. We got the gist that we need to separate trash and recyclables, but the sheet was not much more helpful than that.

The first week was devoted to figuring out which days the garbage collection took place, as the sheet had no information about that. After 2 or so weeks, I finally deduced that garbage collection is on Monday and Thursdays. I figured this out because the garbage truck plays a song, much like an ice cream truck, so I have time to run to the window and watch it as it, inevitably, drives right past our house. We then figured out, by watching our neighbor, that recycling is picked up on Wednesday (or is it Tuesday? still not totally sure...). But recycling doesn't seem to be as much of a problem.

The main problem, it turns out, is getting our garbage picked up. Due to 2 weeks of garbage drive-bys, in which I run to the window, only to witness the truck pick up our neighbors garbage and drive right by ours, we now have 8+ bags of maggot-infested garbage. After I spent the morning working up the courage to even drag the maggoty bags out in the first place, and they are all now still sitting on the curb in the sun, I was finally compelled to do some garbage collection research.

It turns out that the Japanese stereotype of OCD may have some truth. Here is what I found out:

1. I must have a separate can for flammable garbage. This includes: kitchen scraps, leaves, branches, plastic bottle caps and wrappers, plastic bottles, clothes, cassette taps/CDs, diapers, paper, and cardboard/newspaper/magazines, which must be bundled together and may not be placed outside on rainy days.

I MUST place these items in the city-designated clear plastic trash bag, which I must buy at a Japanese grocery store, or they will not be collected.

2. I must have a separate can for non-flammable garbage: This includes: light bulbs, batteries, thermometers, dishes, metal, small appliances, hangers, & aerosols (which must be placed in a trash can and have a hole punctured in them). These must go in a clear plastic bag (not the city-designated bag). I still don't know which day these things get picked up.

3. Separate bag for plastic bottles: bottles must be rinsed and stripped of their caps and labels.

4. Separate bag for cans.

5. Separate bag for glass bottles. Caps must be removed and placed in the non-flammable garbage bag.

Now I know that the flammable garbage is picked up on Monday and Thursday. But I have no idea when the other stuff is picked up...either Tuesday or Wednesday. And I don't know if non-flammable is picked up on the same day as recycling.

In case you are interested, here is a really funny video that taught me all of these tricks!

Here is the trash classification chart that I found that made a little more sense to me. Now I just need to figure out what type of garbage is picked up on each day...

Nom Nom Nom

2009-06-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

Bryan and I have experimented quite a bit with the cuisine of Okinawa. While in Arizona we normally limit ourselves to Mexican and American (i.e., chips and salsa and anything you can grill), we have really made an effort here to try different things. The main thing that makes it difficult for us to really sample traditional Okinawan/Japanese cuisine is that, unless the signs are written in English, we do not know if we are looking at a restaurant or what type of restaurant a place is just by looking at it. This really limits us to the locations with English signs, and of course these are the places that are purposely trying to attract Americans. They have full-color English menus with photographs, hefty prices, and are full of loud, obnoxious Americans and their loud, obnoxious children. I have nothing against Americans, of course, but when you are sitting in a restaurant trying to enjoy some nice teppanyaki (steak grilled on your table by a Japanese chef), it would be nice to be able to hear the person you are sitting next to.

That said, we have been to some really amazing restaurants here, whether they cater to Americans or not. Sam's-By-The-Sea overlooks a bay in Okinawa City and serves absolutely amazing steak and seafood. It was very spendy, but the pirate ship decor, tiki torches, view, and food were worth the big price tag. They also serve tropical drinks in collector's glasses shaped like skulls, coconuts, and Shisa dogs that you get to take home. We chose the Shisas--they are these traditional ceramic dogs that the Okinawans place at the front of their homes to ward off bad spirits. Our little Shisa glasses will have to suffice for now, because the ceramic Shisas are around $400 for a set!

So here is Bryan with his Shisa glass...

And here I am with a drink I got in a Skull glass. Arrrrr!

And here is a close-up of our Shisa drink. We got a set to take home (clean and boxed, not the glasses we drank out of here), and they are now sitting on our microwave. Hopefully we will get our own Shisas to sit outside of our house and guard against evil spirits. They are really cute and I love driving around Okinawa and spotting the Shisas outside everyone's houses!

While Sam's-By-The-Sea was great, it was more of a place for a special occasion than a regular haunt. Last Sunday we were driving around town, running errands, and we were both very hungry. We saw a place that looked like a restaurant, but the sign was in Japanese so we weren't sure what type of restaurant it was. We did, however, spot the "All You Can Eat and Drink!" banner....sign us up! It turned out to be one of the coolest restaurants we have ever been to. It is a Korean BBQ, where you grill all of your food right at your table. For $20, we got all of the meat we could handle--the only caveat was that we had to eat it all, or we would be charged a food disposal surcharge!

This is Bryan prepping the grill--he's so excited to have found a place where you can grill your own food!

Here I am enjoying my Kimchi, a spicy Korean vegetable dish. I loooove it!

Bryan's beautiful presentation of our food as it grills.

Bryan manning the grill...

The finished product...nom nom nom.

This is a close-up of the kimchi...Bryan tells me that it is rotten (literally), but I still love mixing it with my rice and meat.

And, of course, the bill. For $20 all-you-can eat (and $14 all you can drink in 2 hours, though we didn't try that one out--the DUI laws here are very strict), this was a great deal! But our bellies were very full afterwards...

Some other great finds: Pancake House, a tiny hole-in-the-wall where they serve up tasty pancakes. This restaurant is located in someone's house, the pancakes are very good, and the service is wonderful. The only downside--all Americans (that's the basic pattern here). Obbligato is a Mexican food restaurant near our house, and while it's no Salty's, it was pretty good for a Mexican food restaurant in Japan. We will probably return one of these days, but it won't be as regularly as our old favorite, the Salty Senorita. Finally, our most adventurous moment was when we were starving and driving around in an area with NO English signs anywhere. These is very rare. After what seemed like hours of searching, I spotted a tiny restaurant (at least, I thought it was a restaurant). We had no idea what it was, if they would welcome us, etc. But we took a chance and went in--and found a tiny soba restaurant. Soba is a traditional Okinawan noodle/soup dish. We definitely stood out as the only Americans, but we chose our soba from a picture on the wall and enjoyed our meal quite a bit.

Many of you are probably wondering why I haven't mentioned sushi. Sushi is one of my favorite foods, but Bryan can barely stomach it. There is a restaurant with a revolving conveyor belt of sushi right near our house that we went in to once, but they didn't have anything on the menu except for sushi, so I let Bryan off the hook. There are a few places near our home that look like they might have sushi and other items as well, so we will have to check those out soon!

And last but not least, possibly our favorite restaurant--home. We have such an incredible patio, now complete with tiki torches (filled with Citronella oil to ward off the skeeters), a patio set, and a grill that I bought Bryan for Father's Day. So we grill out at home almost every night and enjoy our ocean view! We're planning to have a 4th of July BBQ this weekend to show of our beautiful home to Bryan's work colleagues, so I'll have more pics of that coming soon!

This is a picture of Bryan messing around at home with the Japanese gardening hat we bought to send to Hayley. He's such a goofball!

Here is Bryan showing off the meat before we christen the new grill for the first time:

Putting the meat on the grill...note the beautiful view from our patio!

The meat cooking...obviously.

And, the finished product...Bryan is a really great barbecuer!

I will leave you with a shot that Bryan took that really captures the mood of our wonderful patio...the Corona bottle, the funny little ashtray, the sun, the ocean view. We are in heaven here!

Photos from Okinawa

2009-06-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

So my daily schedule here in Okinawa goes something like this: wake up, go with B to the gym on base, come home, shower, and say goodbye to Bryan as he goes to work, read everything I've missed on the Internets while I was sleeping (celebrity gossip, news, fb updates, etc.), make the bed/clean up from last night, begin my reading, and read pretty much until Bryan comes home. Bryan sometimes comes home for lunch, and he sometimes picks me up and we go out to lunch, and then he drops me off at the library on base for the rest of the afternoon. Then at night we watch movies rented on base, cook dinner, and try to relax. Even though I'm on vacation, Bryan is not, so we have to save a lot of the touristy/fun stuff for the weekends because he still needs to have energy to work each day.

This batch of pictures is from some of our weekend excursions around Okinawa. There is a small beach right down the street from our house that we have been to twice. We've been waiting for the weather to improve for a real "beach day", and even though this beach is nice in that it is so close, I'm excited to get out of our town (Ishikawa), and explore some of the more renowned beaches, go snorkeling, and see some more of the island. There are also some pictures on here from a short day trip we took to Ikei Island. The island is connected to the big island with a bridge, and is absolutely beautiful. It is very sparsely populated, and has a few hotels, but seemed mostly untouched from what we saw of it. There are a few beaches with recreational areas set up, and I hope to get to get back to Ikei Island soon.

This is a picture of a scary spider on the path to the beach. Turns out, there are a lot of scary spiders here in Okinawa, including many that have made our balcony their hunting ground!

Here I am posing on the beach near our house.

Here is Bryan and me taking a photo of ourselves on the beach near our house.

A better view of the beach near our house...

A picture of a tide pool that Bryan liked. The tide comes in really far, so we have to be careful about when we go to the beach I guess!

This is the beach on Ikei Island. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been--I can't wait to go back and explore more!

So the weather here is VERY humid. My hair makes that fact quite clear, I believe. After seeing this picture, picked up some Frizz Ease, and I've been good ever since :)

Okinawan religion is a lot about ancestor worship. These tombs are erected on the property of the family, and they go back to pay their respects, light candles, etc. all the time. It's amazing to drive around the island and see these everywhere--very haunting, so to speak.

Bryan took a picture of himself while standing on the side of the highway on Ikei Island. So Bryan :)

This is me posing by a rock back at the beach by our house. Notice the lack of bathing suits--either it's been raining, or we've felt like we were too busy for a beach day. I plan to remedy that soon and break in our snorkel gear that's waiting in the hall!

Another nice view of the beach near our house...and the industrial complex in the background.

This is the same tomb photo, but I think it looks amazing in black and white. It really makes those tree roots stand out as they threaten to overcome the tomb and suck it back into the earth (or at least, that's what it looks like to me).

More photos of our adventures to come soon!

First Impressions

2009-06-17T15:31:00.001-07:00

When I landed in Tokyo, the person I was sitting next to (I had the middle seat) didn't lift the window, so I couldn't do any initial inspecting from the air. I had had a mostly pleasant flight, despite my unfortunate seating arrangement. The people I was sitting with, a middle-aged Japanese woman and a middle-aged American man, kindly allowed me to use both of the armrests, and I took them up on their offer. I watched three or four movies to pass the 10-hour flight--He's Just Not That Into You (already seen it--love it), The Reader (snooze), and Bride Wars (cheesy fun). Luckily, the man who had the aisle seat felt the need to stretch his legs often, so whenever he got up, I got up and paced about the cabin.

Upon landing, I was still nervous about making my connection to the airport across town, so I booked it through customs (success), got my luggage (no problems there), found my way to the nearest money exchange (double success), and headed straight for the bus counter to buy a ticket for the shuttle to the other airport (great success!). So far things we're going exactly according to plan! When I went outside to my bus stop, I saw a few people standing there, so I stood behind them. The bus stop manager (is this what they're called?) checked my ticket, and told me that my bus wasn't coming for 10 minutes. I already knew this, but assumed I could stand in line anyways. Wrong! As it turned out, there were three different "queues"--one for the people departing on the next bus, one for the people departing on the bus after that, and one for people who's bus would be coming third. Talk about organization! The funny part was that there were only 1 or 2 other people waiting, so I didn't think it was a big deal if I stood there, but the bus manager was adamant that I stand in the appropriate queue. But so far, everyone understood and spoke enough English to help me, so I didn't mind having to be told 2 (3?) times to stand in the right line.

My bus came and I boarded successfully. I was hoping to be able to see a bit of Tokyo out the window on the hour-long ride, but two things interrupted this: One, I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open, and two, the little I did see was mostly cloudiness and industrial looking buildings. Nothing fancy, nothing to pique my interest, really. So I slept most of the way.

When I arrived at the second airport (Haneda), it was like I was in a new world. The airport was packed with Japanese business travelers walking hurriedly, many chattering away on cell phones that looked different than the ones we have back home. I gathered that this airport was more of a commuter airport for the Japanese, as it seemed that most of these business travelers (men and women) were heading for other Japanese cities. When I travel in the U.S., it seems that most business travelers aim for comfort in their apparel--rarely do you see someone travel in a business suit (at least where I live on the west coast). But these business travelers were all wearing black suits (no navy, no brown--all black) and heels, if they were women.

The Japanese flight attendants were also a sight. They all have very intricate uniforms involving very fancy neckwear. They seem to take their jobs very seriously, and they really do a great job.

I did happen to see quite a few Americans waiting to board my flight to Okinawa, which was my first clue that Okinawa was not going to be the purely Japanese experience I was kind of hoping for (more on that later). I could tell that the Americans on my flight were all military or their dependents, which makes sense given the sheer number of military personnel living on Okinawa (something like 40,000, could be higher).

My flight from Tokyo to Okinawa was only 2.5 hours, but it seemed much, much longer than the flight from L.A. to Tokyo. The first reason was no fancy personal movie player on the seat in front of me. Drat! The second reason was that I was exhausted from not having slept on the Tokyo flight (even though I took a Lunesta). So I put on my eye mask, pulled up my hoodie, and attempted to sleep. I was never awoken by the dreaded drink cart to the elbow (this time I had an aisle seat--score!), but I kept waking up due to cold, so I didn't sleep very well. Oh, did I mention that I was on the Pokemon plane?! I never saw the outside of the plane, but the inside of the plane was completely decorated with Pokemon characters, just like I predicted from my earlier post!! I was highly amused.

When I landed in Okinawa I rushed to the nearest bathroom to make myself look (semi) presentable for Bryan--he hadn't seen me for 2 weeks and I wanted to look as good as a person who has just traveled for what seemed like 24 hours could be expected to look. I got my luggage without a problem and rushed through the security exit into Bryan's waiting arms. I was so happy to see him! We headed for the parking structure, where his brand-new Japanese car was waiting. I, of course, headed for the right (wrong) side of the car, and Bryan had to remind me that in Japan, the passenger sits on the left. Driving from Naha International Airport to our house in Ishikawa took about 1 hour. My first impressions from that drive--lots of car dealerships, many signs and billboards written in Japanese (duh), and a strange number of signs written in English. Some of these were typical, like road signs and some stores and restaurants, but others were just plain funny. Like they tried to come up with a cute English name for their place of business, but somehow their intent was just lost in translation (Such as the hair salon called "Boy's" that leads me to question "Boy's what?" every time we drive past it. I'm planning to post an entire blog post about that.

We stopped for sustenance at the Family Mart by our house (real name, in English), but I couldn't understand what any of the food was and for some reason we weren't feeling very adventurous, so we went to McDonald's instead. Great way to spend my first night in Japan, right? Well it was the only thing open at 10 pm, it had drive-thru, and a Big Mac just sounded good to both of us. I guess some things never change, no matter what hemisphere you are in...

Update: There's no turning back now!

2009-06-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting here in the airport in Phoenix, about to board my plane to L.A. After I land in L.A., I will have to probably exit security and go to the ANA ticket counter to check in. I also just realized that when I get to Tokyo, not only will I have to change money and find a way to call Bryan, but I will have to get my bags and find a shuttle to the other Tokyo airport.

I'm pretty nervous right now. I am always nervous to fly, but my nerves right now are more focused on all of the logistics of getting myself to a tiny island in the middle of the south Pacific. But I know when I see Bryan's smiling face waiting for me in the airport in Naha, all of this traveling and stress will be well worth it. I have my backpack packed with law books, so I really need to get back to my reading now!

I'll post as soon as I have internets access again :)

Leaving on a jet plane!

2009-06-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

I sure hope that my plane and flight attendants look like this!

So, as you might have guessed from the title of this post, I'm leaving for Japan tomorrow! I'll be flying from Phoenix to LA, LA to Tokyo, switching airports in Tokyo, and then Tokyo to Okinawa. I leave Thursday morning Arizona time and arrive in Okinawa Friday night Japan time.

I'm going to try to sleep from LA to Tokyo so that I'm not a crabby pants when I finally see Bryan in Okinawa! I have so much packing to do, mainly because I haven't even started packing yet. I'm not planning to bring a whole lot, but I have a bunch of books that I want to bring to do some law school prep over the summer, and those can get pretty heavy. I really need to call the airline/go online to figure out how many bags I can bring! But in characteristic-Jenna fashion, I am leaving everything to the last minute! Aside from packing, today I also have to go sign a Power of Attorney document so that my mom can sell my car and lease an apartment for me in Boston, visit Ilalia and baby Tyson, and see a documentary about religion (I think) over at Noah's house.

Bryan has been pretty busy as well...I just got off the phone with him and he was about to go to bed. He'll call me again this afternoon (his Thursday morning) when he wakes up, after which he'll be taking a cab to the NEW HOUSE to meet the furniture delivery people. The military is going to loan him some furniture until his delivery arrives/he can buy his own furniture. We have some furniture of our own that has been shipped over, but not enough to fill an entire house (pics of the house to come soon!). So we'll be doing a lot of shopping for the house while we are there. Apparently furniture is pretty cheap (because it's made in Vietnam, which I hear is close to Japan), so we're going to try to get some nice pieces that we'll be able to use in our next house (hopefully in DC...more on that later as well!).

Bryan also purchased a car from a dealer in Okinawa, but so far he doesn't actually have possession of it. He paid the dealer to take care of the Japanese registration and everything for him, and it has taken much longer than he hoped for to get that all taken care of. He's getting pretty annoyed as a matter of fact, and I think if the car is not ready tomorrow, he's going to ask for his money back and buy something else. I'd be pretty annoyed too if I had to take cabs everywhere I went for 2 weeks!

As far as my move to Boston, I still have a lot to take care of. My mom and Kelly are flying to Boston this weekend to find me an apartment. I found 2 roommates on facebook who seem great, so now all I have to do is find the apartment. I really don't want to move again for 3 years, so it has to be a great apartment! I also finally posted the advertisement on Craigslist to sell my car (if you know anyone who is interested in a 2005 Toyota Corolla S, let me know!). The money is going to come in really handy, because HLS won't be handing out financial aid checks until the first week in September!

We won't have the internets in the house until June 12, but I will try to post an update from some computer on base. Wish me luck in my next big adventure!!

5 More Things I've Learned About Teaching

2009-05-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

6. Choose 1 weeknight each week to go out. For me, it has been Taco Tuesday at the Salty Senorita. $1 tacos and $5 buckets of beer--what could be better? It helps me unwind after a long day of teaching, and it makes the week more bearable to know that you won't have to wait until Friday night to do anything fun.

7. Do not decorate your classroom. I repeat, DO NOT decorate your classroom. There is a big difference between decorating and organizing. Bulletin boards that serve no functional purpose, "motivational" signs, cute quotations, and any other method of decorating are off-limits. Save your time, space, and money, and keep your classroom super-organized and simple, and keep the walls mostly bare. You will want that space for chart paper "anchor charts" that you should create during lessons and then keep up on the walls for students to internalize what you have taught.

I do, however, have a few tips on things to buy for your classroom that are helpful. A rocking chair for read aloud. Magazine holders to store workbooks, folders, and random things that you want to keep at your fingertips (I label these by subject). A lamp to turn on during read aloud. Plastic crates for hanging file folders (use these as mailboxes for students and portfolios). A categorized and organized classroom library that YOU control all access to (if you don't, be prepared for your books to sprout legs and walk away). Blue tape to section off areas of your white board for specific information. Bins to organize all of your copies by subject. Binders to keep your lesson plans and handouts organized by unit and subject.

8. Plan specific time each week for classroom community building, student recognition, reinforcement of rules and procedures, and conflict management. I did not do this consistently this year, and I regret it. I feel so much of a crunch to squeeze in all 5 subjects during the day, that community circle has been lost. If I taught again, I would designate a.m. AND p.m. community circle time with a daily agenda.

9. Take everything you are told to do by your principal and district administrators with a grain of salt. They will shove new responsibilities, curriculum, and "professional development" down your throat, but it is your job to figure out what you want to teach and how you want to teach it. Take what they give you that is good, throw out the rest (or save it for when you are ready), and don't compromise on what you know is going to be best for your students.

That said, there have been times over the past 3 years that I thought I knew best and was wrong. Some of the new programs and curriculum that they force on you really work, and so you will have to decide on a case-by-case basis. My main piece of advice is not to let "the man" make your job more complicated for you. If a teacher did everything they were told each year by the district, they would go crazy in a very short amount of time.

By the way, most of my advice is somehow related to ways to keep your sanity as a teacher...

10. Take attendance every a.m. at the same time electronically and in your paper gradebook. If your school requires it, print out your attendance verification sheets every Friday like clockwork. Don't leave for Happy Hour until you do this. Believe me--it will save you a huge headache when you try to check-out on the last day of school and they won't let you leave. For some reason, no one tells new teachers the importance of doing this until the END of the school year, when it is too late.

5 Things I've Learned About Teaching

2009-05-07T09:33:00.001-07:00

As I'm preparing to leave teaching after 3 years of teaching 4th grade in Glendale, AZ, I've been thinking about how much I've learned over the past few years a lot lately. I was talking about this with Bryan the other day actually, as we discussed some of my fears about starting law school. I know that the first year of law school there is going to be an extremely steep learning curve. All of the vocabulary, content, environments, and mindsets are going to be completely different than what I've become used to as a teacher in Arizona. Bryan reminded me, though, that I knew nothing about teaching when I started, and now I feel like a veteran. There is no teaching discussion that I feel left out of, or that I have nothing to say about. I know so much more than I did 3 years ago, and I also know what it is that I don't know, which I think is really important when you are a teacher. So here is some of what I have learned. One caveat--I know that most of you are not teachers, but I also know that some of you are and I hope that some of what I learned can help others who are new to the career.

1. Find comfortable teacher shoes before you enter the classroom, and buy them in as many different colors as you can. I can't tell you how many different pairs of shoes I have gone through over the last 3 years in my neverending search for comfortable shoes. Heels, kitten heels, flats, ugly purple crocs, Skechers, sneakers, sandals, flip-flops...I have tried everything. No matter what shoe I wore though, it seemed that I went home practically limping from being on my feet every day. The final winner: Mary Jane (thus, more subtle than the traditional version) style Crocs. They are soft, breathable, and don't give me blisters. The only problem--I bought them one size too small (they don't come in half sizes). If I were to stay in teaching, I would buy 3 more pairs in a larger size and throw away every other pair of teacher shoes that I have tried.

2. No matter how many ideas you have about what you are going to do when you are a teacher, keep it simple. I was just like all the rest. I was so excited to have my own classroom, and I had so many ideas of what I was going to do in my own little world as a teacher. I kept a notebook of my ideas and never doubted that I would be able to accomplish most, if not all, of them. The reality: some of my ideas were good, most of them were impractical, and it is impossible to do everything you want to do your first year. (Actually, after completing three, I am starting to think it is impossible to do everything you want to do as a teacher, ever). I will never forget the day I spent in the week before the students arrived that we had to prepare our classrooms hand-drawing a bulletin board-sized replica of the cover of Dr. Seuss's Oh the Places You'll Go. What was the purpose of this? There might have been one, but I don't remember what it was now, other than that I had some dream of having a Dr. Seuss "theme" to my classroom. As a new teacher, you must learn to work SMART, not hard. Every time you are doing something, ask yourself--How is this going to impact my students? If the answer is neglibile, step away from the scissors, construction paper, and glitter and start planning a unit.

which leads me to number three...

3. The most effective way to spend your time is to plan a thematic unit. Pick a theme that you think will have a real impact on your students (social justice, social studies, or science are the best, in my opinion), and plan an integrated unit that centers around that theme. Plan how you are going to tie in literature, social studies, science, writing, math, etc. Map out your daily objectives, plan every single lesson, create every single document, and keep everything in a binder AND in an electronic copy in a file on your computer. I spent too much time planning lessons and focusing on one subject at a time, when I should have been focused on what my students were going to walk away really having internalized. Do not stress about covering every single standard (especially in reading and writing, where standards-based instruction should be more of a guide than a rule).

The only thing that makes this really hard are when you have District benchmark exams and a scope & sequence to follow, but this usually only applies to math, which is the subject that can really fit into any thematic unit (cover your standards according to the scope & sequence, but try whenever you can to fit in math that applies to your thematic unit).

4. Pick a daily arrival and departure time and STICK TO THEM. My advice is to decide if you are going to have more energy before or after school. Decide which time of day you will want to get the majority of your work done, and plan to spend more time at school during that chunk of the day. But understand this--you will never, EVER, finish all of your work. There is no "done" in teaching. Save your sanity, energy, and health by arriving at the same time, leaving at the same time, and working smart (i.e., on things that will have the great impact on your students) in between.

5. Work out in the morning before school. It took me three years to figure this one out, but I finally realized that the day that I actually have enough energy after a full day of teaching to feel motivated enough to go to the gym will be the day pigs fly. I do, however, have a lot of energy in the morning. My third year I began waking up at 4:30 am, getting to the gym by 5:00 am, and squeezing a workout in before school. It makes me feel good for the rest of the day. I used to feel a sense of dread all day, knowing that I would end up skipping the workout I had planned for, due to lack of energy. I can't dread something I've already done though! Any teacher that does have enough energy after a day of teaching to exercise is probably not working hard enough at their job during the day.

My tendency for verbosity is making me realize that finishing all 25 things I've learned would turn into a novel, so I'm going to leave it at 5 for today. 5 more things I've learned about teaching will be com ing soon! (And for all the non-teachers who are reading this, I promise that the teacher-talk will diminish as soon as those kids leave on May 28).

Teachers: What is the biggest thing you have learned since you became a teacher?

Heading to Japan!

2009-05-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

This place looks amazing right? Well, it's official now...I am definitely going to Japan. I purchased my plane ticket on Friday. I'll be flying from Phoenix to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Tokyo, switching airports in Tokyo, Tokyo to Okinawa. I am so excited to be going to Asia for the first time, and to get to spend the two months before law school on this adventure with Bryan.

One of my goals for the summer is to spend my days helping Bryan put the house together. I want him to be comfortable (and I want me to be comfortable! ) in his new home. So I'll be setting things up, shopping for him, getting him organized, cooking real meals, etc. I'm excited to a good house-girlfriend for the summer (because I won't have this opportunity at any time for the next three years!).

I'm also looking forward to getting back into my daily workouts. Last summer I only had one goal: get in shape. I spent approximately 2 hours a day at the gym and religiously tracked my food intake. I had nothing else on my plate, so it was much easier to keep up with my fitness than it is during the school year. This school year I have been pretty good at going to the gym in the morning (wake up at 4:15 am, at the gym by 5:00 am, back at home to shower by 6:00 am). I am looking forward, though, to having more freedom to spend more than 1 hour in the gym. This will make it easier to actually run AND lift weights, which is very difficult to do in only 1 hour.

Finally, I'm planning to spend whatever time is left (and it's going to have to be a lot) studying for law school. When most people hear me say this, they seem confused. How can you study for law school until you get there? I've read a book called Planet Law School that details a pretty intense pre-law school preparation program that includes lots of reading, practice briefing, and even a CD program that teaches examsmanship tactics that should hopefully help me get a head start on the notorious first year of law school. I'm not expecting that my summer prep will make the first year easy, I am just hoping to get myself to a place where I am not drowning that first semester, as I have heard from so many other first-year law students.

So this is the plan for my day-to-day life this summer in Okinawa. Of course, from looking at the pictures I have found online and that Bryan has shown me, there is also so much to see on the island. So I am hoping that Bryan will have enough time on the weekends to go on mini-adventures with me that will remember for the rest of our lives. And anyone who has the travel itch should definitely contact us about visiting this summer! We are hoping to find a place with at least 2, hopefully 3 bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms, so we should have room for guests.

My Kids

2009-02-11T18:32:00.001-08:00

These are my students. I spend every day, from 8:45-3:45 pm, in a small room with them. They make me laugh every single day. They also make me very tired. In this class are some of the smartest children I have ever met. Yes, my class is the gifted class, but the two students who stand out the most, Sergio and Karidjata, are not currently classified as gifted. These children amaze me. Sergio calls himself the "Mexican Harry Potter" and manages to "discover" mathematical concepts usually a week before I actually teach them. When we were learning fractions, he discovered equivalent fractions before we even got there. When we were learning about electricity and magnetism, he asked if he could borrow a battery because he wanted to make a circuit at home and show his father, who is a Mexican immigrant who works in construction.

The other day, Karidjata was walking next to me in line on the way to recess and she said, "Ms. LaPrade--over winter break I was thinking about math...and I realized that you could take any word in the alphabet and do math with it...addition, subtraction, multiplication, division..you just need to think of the alphabet and how every letter in the alphabet is in order and has a place in order. Then you could do math with the letters in the word by thinking of that order." I was blown away. This girl, by the way, came to the U.S. as a refugee from Sierra Leone. Her logical reasoning and out-of-the-box thinking would blow anyone away, though she still struggles to spell basic words.

My first two years of teaching the exhaustion got to me so much that I took more "mental health days" than I would like to admit. Knowing that I am going to be done with teaching for the foreseeable future in a few months, I am having a very difficult time leaving my students for even a day (which is necessary from time to time). Today, however, I had to leave them with a sub. I imagine that playing hooky from teaching is very different than taking a "sick day" when you have a normal job--the rest that I get is pretty much overshadowed by the anxiety that lingers in the back of my head all day as I wonder about what my students are doing, if they are behaving, if they are learning. It makes taking a day off from teaching more hassle than its worth.

I know this will definitely be my last year as a teacher for quite awhile (I don't know where life will lead me, but I would love to go back to teaching at some point). Leaving my students is going to be very hard. But I May I will do it. I will pack up my classroom into two plastic crates and I will walk out of Challenger School forever. And then the next phase of my life will begin...stay tuned.