It's the Weekend!

I'm exhausted! Kristie and I stayed up til 2am working on Evidence and Torts, memorizing outlines/notecards and doing questions last night! I didn't wake up until 8:40am and rushed around and was 5mins late to class. The work is paying off though. Our numbers are looking better and now we are averaging between 70-75% which is really good. I came home after class, reviewed Contracts. Now I'm cleaning up and patiently awaiting Justin's arrival! Tonight is the James Taylor concert and I'm the happiest girl in the world, not just because I'm going to a great concert but because I have finally found a man that is fantastic, kind and I love him. Life is good and I feel blessed.

Much to do before I leave for the weekend!

I'll post some pics when I get back from NC!

-Ames-

All Hail Kinsler - The Jedi!

So it's 1am and I'm finally done for the day! Thank God! I'm pooped! I laid in bed tossing and turning until 4:30am and then finally dozed off only to abruptly awoken to the blasting of my annoying alarm at 7:30am. BOO! Justin and I have been coming up with ways to make money, because I don't know if you all got the memo but LAW SCHOOL and BAR EXAMS make for very POOR KIDS! I'm BRIZOKE! I've spent every last penny on PMBR, BARBI, Apartments, Utilities, Books, Paper, Pens, Printers, Lamps, Egg Crates, Food and to top it all off GAS! Damn you Exxon! One of the things I admire most about Justin is his drive and ambition and he's lit a fire in me that has been running very dimly for the past couple of years. As Justin would say, "I'm Hungry!" We've been developing strategies and ideas on how to make some money this summer and putting them into motion this week. More to come on that end in the near future.

We went over K (contracts for you lay people) today in BARBRI and I was reminded of how forever grateful I am to Prof. Jeff Kinsler for his devotion to ASL's bar passage rate and his extensive knowledge and his generosity in sharing it. Contracts is coming easy for me but it's only day 1 of K, so we shall see. Today, Kristie and I did 8 sets of 18 questions on Evidence and Torts and we are averaging about 66% on them which is a good start. Our goal is to get Evidence, Contracts and Torts memorized by next week so we will be ahead of the game. I finished up the Evidence notecards and Kristie is working on the K outline. We are rockin' and rollin'. Davis Whitfield-Cargile stopped by this evening to visit and borrow my PMBR book and he is as crazy as ever. He's decided not to take BARBRI and just get the state specific books online and study on his own. And the great thing is....HE WILL KILL THE BAR EXAM! I wish I was naturally that smart. Law school humbled my brainy ass! It was my moment where I looked around and I wasn't the smartest kid anymore....we are all the smartest kid from our respective school. lol. Yea, my ego got busted --- it was bound to happen sooner or later :)

Justin gave me the best graduation present ever!!! Tickets to the James Taylor Concert in Charlotte Thursday night!! I am so excited. JT is one of my favorites of all time and I am super duper happy and excited to be spending a night with the boy, grooving to great acoustic music from the king of hippies. Yay! Friday we have an engagement/pre-wedding party for Keagan and John and Saturday is Kaitlin's wedding! I am stoked to see the Bloxsom family, it's been too long and they are some of my favorite people in the entire world. Then back here on Sunday morning to work hard and study. I'm glad I'm getting all of the festivities out of my system in the beginning of the bar stuff and I'm working extra hard to be ahead of the game so I will not fall behind.

Exhaustion is setting in m'dears and I'm off to bed..........

Pray I make the right decisions and at the very least I get a good nights rest!

-A-

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend I have been a lil slack on the bar studying. I guess I was just exhausted! We went straight from exams on Thursday to a huge formal party the next night, then graduation was on Saturday morning, then PMBR started bright and early Monday morning and went on for a week, then I had to pack up everything and head home. Where I spent hours organizing and unpacking, of which I had to turn around and repack for Columbia. I ended up with about a 3 day break at the beach before I had to be here for BARBRI to begin. I think my body was just zapped and needed a lil R&R. I did however finish outlining Evidence and putting them to notecards and I did do a couple sets of questions, so I guess I haven't been too, too bad.

Justin came in this weekend and we've had the best time together. I adore that we can just sit and laugh and entertain ourselves with nothing more than a couch, tv and a laptop. We drove Saturday to Charlotte and met my parents for dinner and to exchange cars. My Jeep is finally fixed and looking quite fantastic! Yipee! We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and my oh my, that whole diet was out the window this weekend! And it was worth EVERY BITE! :) I realized just how much I miss the fam and home. I need a lil Momma, Daddy, B and Katy time....ASAP! Justin and I explored downtown Columbia, visited a place called Nonnah's and had the very best apple pie I've ever encountered, we drank beer and watched a great band at Wild Wing Cafe, and ate shrimp and grits at the Blue Marlin. Overall, a great long weekend of eating, drinking, being merry and a couple hours of studying Evidence.

Oh, let me just say this. I want to KILL Professor Kunich! (Insert shaking of Fist) I feel like I got nothing out of our Evidence class 2nd year. The fact that he spent 2 days on Hearsay and 3/4 of a semester on Relevance may have something to do with my lack of knowledge and abundance of anger. I do consider myself lucky though, because the USC kids weren't required to take Evidence or any of the UCC classes. Well in the land of the SC bar that's pretty CRAZY! The SC Bar is broken down into these categories:
MBE: Evidence, Contracts, Property, Constitutional Law, Torts, Criminal Law and Procedure.
Essays: Business Law, Civil Procedure, Commercial Law, Domestic Relations, Equity, Insurance, Wills, Trusts & Estates.

The good news is- I've had all of these classes with the exception of Insurance but I did the research on what the bar examiners ask for this essay and have good books and outlines to begin from. I will say this: Yes, ASL may suck when it comes to some things but I can honestly say that I feel completely and adequately prepared for the bar exam and for that I am beyond grateful!!

Well, I need to do some Evidence questions and look back over my notes.

I hope this finds you all well, feeling rested from the long weekend! Love y'all!

The Lil Things in Life/Bar Land

Kristie and I are taking a hard-core approach to the bar and I think it is already paying off. We've been putting in the hours and it appears that it's working! Yesterday's schedule went something like this;

7:15am: Up and at em
8:15am: Starbucks for a lil pep in our step
8:30am: USC Law School for BARBRI, staking out our front row seat and laying claim to it! Reading over the outline one more time.
9:00am-1:15pm: Torts lectures
1:30pm: Lunch
2:00pm-3:00pm: Work Out (relieve stress or more importantly down size the big ass that I received compliments of the gourmet cuisine in Grundy)
3:00pm-7:00pm: Studying Torts Outlines, Doing Notecards, Memorization
7:00pm-7:30pm: Dinner (For me: Nutrisystem, For Kristie: Spaghetti Os)
7:20pm-8:00pm: Quick run to Wal-mart for 3 Egg Cartons for my bed
8:00pm-12:00am: More notecards, then practice ?'s in Drill set 1
12:00am-1:00am: Talk to Mom and get the latest gossip, news and love
1:00am-1:15am: Talk to Justin
1:30am: Fall ASLEEP!

Okay, so last night before bed I was wondering if we were doing too much for the very beginning...BUT today in class the kids around us (from USC) asked us how many we were hitting out of the drill questions and we responded 14 of 17, 14 of 18. To which we were informed was super high that none of them were getting more than 10 out of 17/18! So, with the feeling of a tiny victory, we feel like we're doing something right!

Today was/is another long day but now we are working on Evidence! And let me tell you!!! I am super duper excited!!! Bobby (God's lil gift to me and the world) taught me how to make notecards on my printer/laptop!!! I've been handwriting notecards for the past 3 years and this new discovery has me beyond HAPPY! Yes, the bar exam makes the lil things in life worth getting GIDDY about. I'm inserting a picture of my handy dandy notecards!!!!!







IN LOVE WITH THIS APPROACH! I can outline and not have to rewrite all of it! Hip! Hip! Hooray!

So it's 1am, I'm exhausted and Kristie is too! This is us, still up and still studying (with an break to blog of course)







I'm too cute to look this bad already! But give me a break...I've been hunched over a computer and books for 12 hours today.

Oh, so the 3 egg carton bed thingys and my feather mattress has done the trick- I've finally had a good nights sleep! Thank you Lil Baby Jesus! Justin is coming to visit for the weekend and Kristie is leaving to go home. I'm excited to see him and lucky that he understands that I have to study 1/2 days on the weekend.

Back to Evidence........

Puttin' on the face paint, the camo and fatigues and I'm ready for war!!

-A-

Pictures!

My Work Zone!

This is the mountain of books and outlines I must squeeze into my tiny head!

1st Day of BARBRI- Look what Law School has done to my Posture!

My Tiny, Tiny Bedroom! This bed is an OLD SCHOOL bunk bed with no box spring! I think I'm going to have to see the Chiropractor when this whole experience is over!

Day 1 of Barbri CLASS

Today went well, we went over Torts and I felt pretty good about the material. Kristie and I arrived super early to stake out a desk at the front and as I was sitting there I was reminded of my 1L year. Wow, what a year. I don't think I've ever been so terrified of failure in my life. I remember sitting in the library, day in and day out studying. Reading case after case with the fear of being called on and not quite having the correct answer. So I would sit and read (and more than often ...look over to my friends in the carol beside me and say "I'M SO OVER THIS!") and read some more. School always came easy for me so law school was my wake up call. How to study was my biggest worry. Am I doing this right? And then came my saving grace, in the form of a 4 foot 9 inch tiny blonde with a bigger mouth than I had.....enter Kristie McAuley. I remember studying beside her and looking at her and saying "I just don't get this whole "proximate cause" thing!" Now, to you lawyer kids you understand what a big deal that is but to you lay people: That's like a butcher not knowing a cut of Filet or a CPA not knowing the standard deductions for a single taxpayer or to be quite frank it's like a prostitute not knowing how to give a proper BJ. I was so SCREWED and I just didn't grasp the subject! Kristie looked at me and laughed and we've been together studying, playing and laughing ever since. So the idea of studying for this mamouth of an exam without her would feel....well....just wrong. I'm so glad to be going through this experience with her. We just get each other and I feel super blessed to have walked away from law school with a best friend like her.

So we rented this 1 bedroom apartment here in Columbia, I put my bed in the Carolina room, aka: the tiny lil area off the side of the den and we've posted up a desk and work center in the dining room. I love the area we are in...Vista Commons is right near the USC Law School where we have BARBRI and it's in a super safe location with gates and double locks. This is crucial in Columbia because of high crime. So I'm gonna post a couple pics of our apartment....my tiny space of a bedroom but most of all take notice of all the books...WOWZERS! Between the BARBRI, PMBR, EMANUALS, Examples & Explanations and Gilbert's, I'm left with a dizzy head and an anxious mind!

Off to do more Torts!

Missing Everyone and Sending My Love!!

-A-

Bar Review Orientation

The past week has been blissful! I got to spend time with my fantastic family and wonderful boyfriend at the beach! We went down and just relaxed, laid around, ate and enjoyed each other's company. It was exactly what I needed to recharge my "battery" for the upcoming craziness that is the Bar. What I find more confusing than the Rule of Perpetuities is this whole nonsense of calling the hardest exam of you life the Bar!? Explain that one? I mean, a "Bar" in my eyes is a fun, it's laughing, partying, playing and hanging out. I personally believe that calling this personal hell of mine a bar is just SAC RELIGIOUS!

Yesterday I had my own mini-breakdown that consisted of a few tears and some frown lines in my forehead that I'm sure -I will never recover from. I guess I was freaked out because.....I've never done this! I've never taken a bar exam and I just don't know where to begin, how to plan for it and what to do! Failure is not an option and the very idea that I do not have everything organized in a neat lil outline, a precise list all highlighted in the perfect colorfully coordinated bow to wrap it all up in ---- just kills me. I am an organization freak and when I don't have a list, I feel out of control.

Today was all about how to study for the bar. A schedule, a list...AH! My AH! moment! Thank you Jesus. I feel much more at ease and that is quite a feat, considering I was handed 7 very, very, very large and heavy books filled with outlines, question and information that must be crammed into my tiny blonde head by July 28. I can do it! No doubt about it.

This morning when I woke up, I started to think about all my ASL friends and how they were waking up with the same anxieties and the same fears and I said a lil prayer that all of their minds would be at peace and that they would begin this journey with a sense of purpose and confidence.

Studying now begins for TORTS tomorrow....

The Journey Begins.........