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!!!

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 :) 

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 :) 

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

Brandon Roman, Attorney at Law...sort of...

Well, I sure have been quite the slacker lately...and I'm not even in school yet!?!?  While not the most exciting, these past two weeks of being blogless have been pretty busy though...not that it's an excuse to be MIA, but still...I guess it kind of kicked in that I only had two more weeks to get 'er done so I've been running around finishing up everything and enjoying my last little bit of freedom!  When I think about it, I'm honestly really not quite sure where the time all went...I hope that time doesn't pass that fast in school cause I might not be able to get all my work done if it does...and I know some of you are counting on me to get my degree and represent you when your shenanigans go awry so I better get it done :-O

Anyway, amongst all my 'piddling' these past few weeks, I have actually gotten a lot done and had some fun in the process!  The apartment is now (almost) finally ready, so pics are coming soon.  I've also been really lucky to have spent the past three weekends with my family (and seeing as I will have no life starting in 36 hours, I'm glad I got to see them now).  Two weeks ago I went with my mom, Aunt Carol, and Uncle Skeeter (no Seth due to a conflict with his busy work schedule - frowny face) to Pittsburgh for a Colorado Rockie's baseball game.  My cousin Chrys' husband Tom is one of their coaches so he got us all tickets and we had a really fun weekend root, root, rooting for the away team ;-)

Mom, me, and Uncle Skeeter at PNC Field in Pittsburgh.

The and last weekend have been nice as well with Seth and I trekking down to good old Fredericksburg and spending Saturday nights at my mom's to visit and get in some brownie points before I go into hiding in the law library this fall.  Speaking of which...I have actually already officially begun the transition from a summer of fun to a fall of studying!!!  We had orientation this past Thursday and Friday and already have readings and assignments due on our first day of class...which made me realize that we aren't in Kansas (or Provo for that matter) anymore...yikes!  It was really nice to have some guidance as to what to expect though and help get back in school mode.  I've been really nervous with the start of school looming ahead since I've been out of school for a year, but after going through orientation, getting myself all ready with books and such, and even getting a thumbs up from my professor for asking a good question during orientation, I feel like I'm ready to rock it and start this next part of our journey!!!

Me outside my new school!

Just wanted to leave a big thanks here to my family, friends, and of course Mista Seth for all of your love and support!  Although the past two weeks haven't been SUPER exciting, I promise to do better about blogging (although I can't promise it will be super interesting...unless you find torts or contracts to be exhilarating haha!) and keeping you all in the loop!  Much love until next week (and hopefully I will have gotten at least some sleep and be coherent enough to write again)  and please wish me luck!!!

Reunited and It Feels So Good!

Well, this has been quite the busy (but fun!) week!   Last week we found out that Brooke was offered a job here in D.C. and, next thing we knew, she and her parents were in the car and headed for the East Coast!!!   The Franklin gang got here mid-week and we got to spend some time with them at Mr. Smith's piano bar over sangria and (much to Daddy Franklin's disappointment) some not very cold beer! :( It was nice to have both of our girls in one place at the same time and to know that it wasn't just for a few days on a vacation but that it was for real...we actually all LIVE in Washington, D.C....our dream has finally come true!!!

Momma Franklin, Brooke, and me at Mr. Smith's

Anyway, our happy hour at Mr. Smith's was just the beginning of a great weekend with friends.  Although Amy flew back to Tulsa for the weekend on Friday, we still had a full house for the weekend because our other friends Jen and Liz came to visit and spend the night to celebrate Jen's 24th birthday.  Jen (my girlfriend who is studying to become an optometrist in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) was home for the weekend so with some help from Liz (my girlfriend from since I was a lil tike on swim team), we threw her a b-day bash at our place with some homemade red velvet cake (in honor of red hair of course :D ) and then hit the town in Georgetown for some drinks and fun!!!  Made it home (thank you Metro for being our faithful chauffeur) and got some Z's cause we are all getting old and need our beauty rest! :)

German pancakes and recovery the morning after!!!

After waking up late and getting ourselves together, Seth and I spent the rest of the weekend enjoying Brooke's company and resting up from the busyness.  Went to Chinatown on Saturday for dinner, some window shopping (emphasis on WINDOW, no real shopping thanks to my student budget haha!), and saw 'Inception' (good movie!).  Spent Sunday gettin 'er done and getting ourselves ready for another busy week here in our nation's capital.  Although it's only been a month since we have left Utah, it is hard to imagine all that has happened in our lives in such a brief span.  While we miss our family and friends back out west, we wouldn't trade this opportunity for anything.  Life is treating both of us so wonderfully and we feel blessed every day to wake up to each other and with all of the other wonderful people in our lives (near and far) who surround us with their love daily - thank you!!!

Well, I guess it's time for me to get my butt in gear and get going but hope you all start your weeks off great and that each day brings you nothing but good :)  Love you all - til the next time...