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Sunday, September 26, 2010

Dash for Dad...and Mom on the Metro!!!

Spending time with my parents (although I never thought it was possible many years ago) is SO much fun!!!  Mom and Dad made the trek to come and see us today...and got on the road early enough to make it in time for the 8:00 AM race (and still made it even though they got lost...hehe!)  Seth and I (in an attempt to start gearing up for the National Marathon in March) have been registering for some local races.  Today we rand the Dash for Dad 10K to End Prostate Cancer and both got qualifying times for the marathon.  Mom and Dad walked to 2-Mile Course and beat us back to be there cheering us on at the finish line...what good sports they are :)  

Seth, Me, and Mom post-race.

Seth, Me, and Dad post-race.
Dad: "I could have done the 10K faster but your mother held me back"
Mom: "Yeah right!"

After the race we headed back home to show Mom our home since she had never been here and then headed downtown to the DC Fiesta (Latin-American festival).  Since we live so close to the Metro it is always quicker to just hop on the train and head down...and this was Mom's FIRST time ever riding the Metro...so I made a big deal about it and took pictures just like she did to me on the first day of school haha! 

Mom's first time on the Metro!!!  What a big girl :)

Anyway, took the Metro down to Mt. Pleasant to check out the DC Fiesta in all of its glory...and I felt like I was back in East L.A...tacos, balloons, and espanol all around :)  Had fun walking around and seeing the festivities and then headed back into town for lunch...although I'm having second thoughts about not getting some food from the vendors now :)  

Me, Mom, and Seth at DC Fiesta.

Mom and Dad left a little while ago to make sure they were home for the Redskins game and now it's time to crack the books open (boo!) but just wanted to give a shout out to two of the coolest parents in the world (no matter how dorky you may be hehe) - we love you Mom and Dad!  

You down with PAD, yeah you know me!

This week marked the end of my first month in law school and to celebrate I joined a fraternity...well, sort of :)  There is a nationwide legal fraternity called Pi Alpha Delta (PAD) that I joined mostly for networking and study aid purposes.  It was a fun night though and, in true fraternity fashion, we went downtown to party!  My two new bff's at school (Beah and Emily) along with Seth and some other friends went to Chinatown for dinner and drinks...fun times!  One month down...35 to go :)

Beah, Me, and Emily post-initiation outside of school (aka our second home).

Sunday, September 19, 2010

A Puerto Rican Affair

It's so interesting how life brings people together.  Take me and my cousin Maritere for instance.  Maritere is a cousin from my Dad's side in Puerto Rico and until recently it had been about 15 years or so since I had seen her.  Maritere lived in Orlando and came to visit us in the mid-90's with my Aunt Tita and Grandpa.  Recently, however, her husband was offered a job in Maryland and, before we knew it, they were living practically in our back yard and we have seen them twice already!

Yesterday  we actually made the trek out to visit them (they live a little bit outside of Baltimore) and not only was it worth it to see them, but Maritere is a wonderful cook (like her mother) and made a great Puerto Rican spread fro lunch...chicken, rice, spanish beans, sweet plantains, and salad...mmmm!!!  I brought my camera and meant to take pictures but I totally forgot all about it when I walked in the door to the smell of her cooking ;)  Anyway, her husband, Alvaro, runs marathons (and actually got lucky enough to early register for the Marine Corps Marathon here in D.C. which is sadly now sold out) and even has done an Iron Man triathlon (which he did in just under 14 hours...crazy!!!) so we are excited to have someone around to help us find out about cool races and start running again here in D.C.

Well, needless to say, yesterday was wonderful and when it was time to go, her two kids ran up and gave us big hugs and said 'I thought you were going to stay longer? We don't want you to go yet!' (cute!)  Curse you law school for taking over my life haha!!!  For real though, we are so lucky to have so many wonderful people around us in our new home and to be able to spend time with those whom I hadn't seen much since moving out west in 2004.  Even my Aunt Tita (from Puerto Rico) will be coming to visit next month so I am excited to have a family get together and see her for the first time since 2007 and practice my espanol!

The rest of the weekend has been a mix of studying and enjoying the city.  We actually did two date nights this week - Friday (after recovering from Bar Review the night before...going out two nights in a row is hard when you're an old man like me!) we went to dinner and then out in DuPont with some of my law school friends to a mixer with the Georgetown Med School and Saturday went to Columbia Heights for dinner to enjoy eating outside on a patio while the weather is still nice!  Over dinner we were actually talking more about how lucky we are to have so many great opportunities and especially for all the great people we have in our lives...sometimes its hard to believe that we're only in our mid-twenties and blessed as much as we are!  We were talking about the concept of 'home' and that, while we both miss our loved one's in Utah (thank goodness for Skype), we are really loving this opportunity and taking advantage of every day!  Maybe after law school we will all just have to meet in the middle...how does Kansas sound to everybody?  I guess I'm just dying to really be able to say 'We're not in Kansas anymore' and have a dog named Toto :)  Just remember, 'home is where the heart is'...and my heart is with each of you - love you all!  Have a great week!!!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

It's Our Life

It's hard to believe that it's been 2 1/2 months since we left Utah already!  D.C. has treated us really well though and we are still continuing to enjoy the new adventure in between all the craziness of work and school!  Seth is keeping busy at work (as usual).  His company, among many of the projects in which they are involved, is in charge of publishing the game-day guides for the..wait for it...SUPER BOWL!!!  Let's just hope that the Redskins make it to the playoffs this year and maybe we will have to road trip it to Dallas to see his handywork and hail to the Redskins!  As for me, I'm pretty boring...unless having your head stuck in a book all day is appealing to you...if so hit me up :)  No, for real, like I've said before I'm really enjoying school and even have some time to get out for our class parties, make some wonderful new friends, and even get involved with our school-wide "Bar Review."...insert funny story here haha:

*So I guess coming from Utah and being a former Cougar I'm not used to drinking in association with school functions.  Enter "Bar Review."  The first week of school I kept hearing about this 'bar review' and the only thing I could think was that it was a weekly prep-course helping prepare students to take the BAR Exam.  Well, boy was I PLEASANTLY surprised to hear that it was actually a club, the "Offical Drinking Club of American Univesity Washington College of Law" to be precise...guess people have found that drinking makes the work a little more bearable ;)*

All the activities aside though, I'm sorry that I really am actually pretty boring lately but, hey, I gotta focus up so when you all reading this do something stupid I can help you out...for FREE :) And soon, after my induction into the Phi Alpha Detla Legal Fraternity (by Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor), I will be one step closer...so wish us luck :)

Gettin Her Kicks on Route to 66!

Just a lil Happy Birthday shoutout to Momma!  She's gonna be a whopping...well, she looks really good for her age I will just say ;D  This weekend (aside from reading my eyes away and writing memos of course) was spent with the familia to celebrate our Mommas birthday!  Seth and I met Aunt Carol and Uncle Skeeter down in the 'burg for the celebration: lunch at Logan's Roadhouse, presents, cake, visiting...and more cake! 


I sure do love my momma...what a cutie!  Thanks for being the best and most amazing Mom a boy could ask for...I love you Marmie :) 

Sunday, September 5, 2010

The Seven Stages of Law School

So I was talking to a girl in my section the other day, and she was mentioning that she had read about the "Seven Stages of Law School" and was still trying to figure out exactly where she fit on the scale.  Well, I wasn't too familiar with this but, when I looked more into it, this is what I found:

Stages
1) Shock/Denial
2) Pain/Guilt
3) Anger/Bargaining
4) Loneliness/Depression
5) The Upward Turn
6) Working Through
7) Acceptance/Hope

Well, while I'm sure this can be used for many things besides law school, lets just say I'm in the process of Stages 1-4 all at once right now so I think its pretty applicable hahaha!!!  The end of week two has kind of brought me to the realization that the next three years are definitely gonna put up a fight...but I'm gonna win it :)   For real though, as much work as it is and stressful as it can be at times (like the fact that 3 of my 4 classes are all based 100% on the final exam) I am SOOO loving school and enjoy getting up every day and being able to immerse myself in something that I have dreamed about since second grade!  School has kept me busy between the hours of reading and the beginnings of some memos I have to write.  This past week I even had the opportunity to attend the D.C. Superior Court and watch some cases being heard which just confirmed to me even more that I made the right decision to come to law school...and thank God its the right decision or else I would be pretty upset when those student loan bills started rolling in ;)

Other than school, life has been moving along and Fall is just around the corner.  Seth has been keeping busy between his job and the freelance work he does on the side.  He is quite the worker bee and I know he is glad I'm a little more occupied than I have been in the past so I'm not bored and waiting for him to finish on his computer haha ;) We have been using whatever spare time is left and splitting it between visits to the fam in Fredericksburg (where we are heading tomorrow for Labor Day weekend festivities) and doing some fun stuff here in the city with other family and friends!  Lastly, just as a public shout out, I want to say extra thanks again to Mista Seth for all that he does to make my life easier and better every day...thanks babe - you're the bomb dot com and I love you :) 

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Our Casa es Su Casa


Well, after two months of prep the casa is finally all finished and ready for some visitors!!!  Our office/guest room is lonely and ready for YOU!!!  Come visit and check out these before/afters in the mean time :)

Kitchen/Living Room Before
Kitchen/Living Room After
Guest Room/Office Before
Guest Room/Office After
Bedroom Before
Bedroom After