Home Repair, Part I

Lauren and I have been some painting fools the last week, and we've painted the half bath downstairs, the den downstairs, the dining area, and the kitchen. The half bath was the first room painted, and it is a greenish brown color that looks really good in the right light, as pictured below: We painted the den a color called "Gold Coin" which is a tan/gold color, and we painted the bricks at the fireplace white and the mantle black to match the railing upstairs (which we also had to paint).

The dining area is a brighter yellow, called "Lemon Ice." As I mentioned, the railing was painted black, and the trim is white. We had to get our friend, Kerry, who is 6'8" to come and paint the corner above the stairs, but other than that we were able to handle it ourselves.

The kitchen is also yellow, and we gave the cabinets a fresh coat of white paint and installed a toe kick on the cabinets. We still have to figure out what to do with the gap in the cabinets, but other than that, the kitchen if fully functional.

I'll post more pictures after more work gets done. We also have the hall bathroom upstairs done, but I'll post pictures of that when I have pictures of the rest of the upstairs to post.

Moved in and Cabinets Installed

Lauren and I finally moved in to the house a couple of weeks ago. Our friends Richard and Kerry helped us move in, and we couldn't have done it without them. Well, we could have, but it would have involved a large outlay of money to a moving company, because we had a ton of stuff. Connor's still adjusting to his new surroundings, but he's starting to get used to it. He loves that he has his own yard to play in, too, even though we don't have a fence yet, so he's still on a leash.

On top of that, the next weekend my friend Chris Osborn came in to town to visit Lauren and me, and we put him to work priming our kitchen and installing our cabinets. He enjoyed helping us out, even though we still feel bad about getting him to help. Fortunately, he knew what he was doing, so the cabinets look great. And then this past weekend, Lauren and I installed the countertop. After we get back, we'll install the sink. We didn't want to install it before coming home for Thanksgiving (we're in Jackson right now), because if it leaked, we might have a giant moldy mess when we got back.

Below are pictures of the drywall I had to install after ripping out the mold-infested part, and then the new cabinets. The purple-ness of the wall was unintentional, as that is the color of the mold and moisture resistant drywall at Home Depot.

The cabinets are not painted at this point, but they will be painted white to match the rest of the cabinets. We also have to get hardware, but we're going to get it for the entire kitchen, so it may be a while before we get it.

We both feel very blessed to have such great friends who are willing to help us out.

Lauren is still loving her job, and it looks like the company's going to do pretty well, even in the current economy. We'd appreciate prayers on that as well, because my project ended this past Tuesday, and I'm waiting for something to open up on another project or at a law firm. I'm not anticipating much opening up on either front until after the first of the year, though. Still, that will give me an opportunity to work around the house, paint, and clean up the yard before the Bullards come to visit us for Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from Lauren and Clayton!

Tree Removal

We had some trees cut in the front yard and a couple in the back. They were mostly pines, particularly a very large one one that was right next to the master bedroom. BEFORE

AFTER

Having the trees removed should make the house look a lot better, i.e. less like a haunted house and more like someone's home. Also, the added sunlight should allow grass to grow once we get all the pinestraw cleaned up and probably plant some grass seed down the line. We've gotten the house cleaned up on the inside and have started to do some work to the outside. There won't really be any marked difference on the outside for a while, but we're going to start painting this weekend, we hope, and then we'll move in some time later this month.

Mom and Dad's Trip to Charlotte

We're about the close on the house, but before posting about that, I wanted to go ahead and post about my parents' trip to Charlotte. We had a great time while they were here, and we're hoping they can make it back up here sooner rather than later.

Mom and Dad came in on Thursday afternoon, and we went to dinner at a restaurant called Gado Gado after seeing the new house. Friday, we rode the train in to uptown Charlotte (downtown).

We walked through the indoor/skyway mall that stretches through Charlotte and came out at the foot of the Bank of America Corporate Center, the tallest building in town.

There is a fountain out front that Mom took a picture of that I actually like a lot. On the right, you can see trees lining one of the main streets in uptown, which is the way all of the roads are down there. It is an interesting combination of a grown up southern downtown and a metropolitan area with skyscrapers.

We then went to Discovery Place, a museum that has a standing exhibit about general science and has some birds in a simulated jungle environment.

The main exhibit, however, was the Pompeii exhibit, which had actual relics from the destroyed city. I had been meaning to see it since it was opened, but hadn't had an opportunity until they came, so I took advantage of it.

Saturday, we went over to Asheville, another trip Lauren and I had not made, and visited the Biltmore. As you're riding away from the house in the shuttle to the parking lots, you get an idea of how massive the house actually is.
There also were some amazing gardens next to the house that we actually drove through on the way from the house to the winery for dinner. After that, we came back to Charlotte. Sunday we went to church and then drove Mom and Dad to the airport. It was a great weekend and everyone had a lot of fun!

House Update

I haven't posted in a while because the house situation was in a bit of flux for a little while because of the amount and type of repairs that were necessary. However, we've gotten everything resolved, and all the big repairs that really concerned us are going to be done before closing so that we can go ahead and get the little stuff done and move in sooner rather than later. That said, we're thinking about getting a pretty good bit of work done before we even move in, so it may be a month or so after closing before we start moving our stuff in.

Aside from that, the big news is that this week, Mom and Dad are coming to town. I'm going to be working some LONG hours early in the week so I can at least get full-time hours in before they get here, even if I can't get all 40. Hopefully I'll be able to get my rear in gear and actually get into the office early on those days. Either way, we're really looking forward to next weekend!

Work is going fine for both Lauren and I, though the job search continues to be a dry well for me. Hopefully someone will decide they're hiring new associates soon and I'll fit the bill. Problem is that the newest crop of law school grads just got their bar results, which means I have even more people to compete with for jobs. So, I'm starting to think I'm going to pick up some little work here and there just to get some experience, and maybe that will look good on a resume.

I will try to remember to take pictures of this weekend's activities and post them, but I'm horrible about remembering to use my camera, and Mom hates to be in photos, so we'll see how that goes.

New House

For those of you who didn't already know, Lauren and I have been looking for a house to buy so that when our lease runs out in a month or two we won't have to live in an apartment anymore. Well, after several months of searching and a failed attempt at buying another house, we finally found a split-level, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath home in a neighborhood in south Charlotte, near the suburb of Matthews.

We currently have an offer in on the house which the seller has verbally agreed to, but has not yet signed the contract. If all goes as according to plan, we will close at the end of September, and we will only have a month or so of overlap in our apartment lease and our mortgage. The picture below is the front of the house (brick with aluminum siding in a very 70's beige/yellow), with me and our realtor in front of it:The neighborhood around us is nice, and everyone who lives there seems to really take pride in their homes and the way they look from the street.As you walk in the front door, to the left is a very big living room area. I think Lauren's favorite part of the house might be the large window in the front that has enough room to put a long cushion on to make a window bench-seat:The kitchen isn't really anything to write home about, but it is big enough for Lauren and I both to walk around in and have plenty of room to spare, and should we decide we want a nicer kitchen, there is plenty of room to expand it into the adjacent eating area:As I said, the house is a split-level house, so there is a railing at the edge of the eating area that overlooks the den on the lower level:Here's the view looking up from the den at the middle level. Also on the lower level are the laundry room, the half bath, and two other rooms that we'll probably end up using for storage for now, but we could make into a playroom or even another bedroom if we feel the urge eventually:Upstairs, there are three bedrooms, one of which is more of an office because it isn't very large, as well as a hall bathroom (pictured below) and a bathroom attached to the master bedroom.Next to the bathroom is the walk-in closet, which Lauren is excited about. Just to the left of the picture below is another closet, which is actually a decent size, and will end up being my closet:In the back yard, we have a deck, which is in very good condition. The yard behind it slopes down toward a creek, but it is fairly overgrown and we'll have to eventually clear it out. At some point we'll also end up putting a fence up, which may be one of our first projects.
The house is in condition enough to move in without doing much more than cleaning, but Lauren and I have a lot of ideas about things to do to make the house a much nicer house. We're both very excited about the house and we're hoping things continue to move along smoothly.

Trip to Dandridge

Lauren and I went to Dandridge, Tennessee, the weekend after the 4th. Dandridge is near Gatlinburg, so we ended up basically making the same trip for a second weekend in a row. However, we stayed on the other side of the lake that's up there and most of our activities were at the Mountain Harbor Inn (pictured above), where almost everyone else was staying.
There was a VERY good breakfast served every morning that we were able to take part in. That's Lauren's dad sitting with us at breakfast.

We also got to see some of Lauren's relatives that we don't often get to see, like Lauren's cousin Amy. The weekend was a lot of fun and we got to go paddle-boating on Saturday afternoon. Then we left on Sunday to come back to Charlotte and go back to work.

Work is still going well for both of us, and Connor's still doing well. He was happy that we were back from our second week in a row being gone, meaning his second week in a row being in a kennel.

Gatlinburg

After much delay, here are pictures from our Gatlinburg trip on the weekend of July 4th. We had a great time and the house was beautiful.
On the way there, we took a little (unintended) detour down the Foothills Parkway, which had several sharp turns and was pretty steep, but the lookouts along the way were breathtaking, so Lauren wanted to stop to get a picture.
And after we got there, we had to come down this driveway (which is even steeper than it looks) and is a pain to get both up and down.Katie Margaret wanted to ride the skylift, but we figured Meg would have a cow, so we compromised and put her in the chair in front of the ticket window.Then Katie Ebers and I went up to the top of the mountain and hung out for a little bit. Its amazing how even on top of the mountain, the gift shops sell useless crap.And then we went to the a little mall there and Dad wanted to wander into the Western shop (why I don't know). Tom randomly put a hat on and I snapped a picture of him being a giant dork.And of course, I had to do the same, because I was bored in that stupid store. All my Dad's fault.Thought this was funny. This is what happens when the Air Force runs out of bombs and decides to get rid of some rednecks. Don't make the government mad, or they'll drop a house on your parking lot, too.

The weekend was a great break from work, and Lauren and I both enjoyed seeing the family, especially Katie Margaret, who has gotten so much bigger. Next up, pictures from our trip the next weekend to Dandridge, Tennessee, across the lake for Lauren's great aunt's 80th birthday, and then pics from Lauren's parents visiting Charlotte.

Job

Well, its not with a law firm, nor is it a long-term solution, but I have a new job starting on Monday. I will be working document review (staring at paper/computer screens) for the next month or so, and will be working 40 hours per week. I am going to keep my job with Banana Republic, so along with attempting to play softball for my church on Mondays and Fridays, my weeks will be pretty full. However, this is at least a step in the right direction. I'm going to try to get my hours at Banana decreased for the next few weeks so I can actually see my wife and puppy some time, but we'll see how well that takes.

Lauren is still loving her job. Her direct superior has been out for the last week after a surgical procedure, so she's been doing the job of both of them. Still, its the kind of stuff that she finds interesting, so its not like when she had to work 12 hour shifts when she worked at the store.

Connor is doing well, but I have a feeling he's going to be a little sad the next few weeks. With me working during the day, he'll be home by himself for several hours. Lauren may end up coming home a few times a week at lunch so that he can go out, but he'll still be lonely all day. On top of that, he'll be spending the next two weekends (after this one) in a kennel while we're out of town. The being home all day is something he'll have to deal with though, I suppose.

My dad got a clean bill of health from the doctors in Minnesota today, so it appears that for now, he's healthy again. It has been a long road, and if the last five years has told me anything, it is that I shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

Twenty Seven Years

Yesterday was my 27th birthday, and we didn't really plan anything exciting. We went to church and then ate at California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. After that, we were planning to go hit some softballs in anticipation of my first softball game earlier this evening. We got there and had to buy tokens to do it, but after we got out there, we realized that the machines were broken and ate all of our tokens. We tried to get our money back, but their policy is not to give cash back for tokens. So we had to take a "rain check", and they ended up giving us an hour's worth of batting cage time, but they didn't really have a long-term plan for repairing it, so we'll see how that pans out.

I had my first softball game of the season for our church team tonight. I got to start at catcher, and I really enjoyed it. I had two hits in three at bats, and the second at-bat might have ended in a hit, but the umpire called the ball out of play, and then changed his mind when the outfielder actually caught the ball, so I was out. I was a little peeved, as was the rest of our team, but the rules state that the umpire's decision is final, so we couldn't argue it at all. We almost won the game, and probably should have because the ump pretty much said we were in the last inning, and we pulled ahead, and then we ended up having to play the field for the next inning and they ended up getting enough runs to win the game. Still, we played really well, and if we'd had a different umpire, we probably would have won.

Lauren is still loving her job. Next week her "boss" will be out for some surgery, and she was supposed to do a big presentation for her on Monday, but she found out today that its canceled. The job that I interviewed for ended up falling through. The experienced attorney they'd talked to told them that he wanted to come on with them, but it sounded like they were interested in my services if that hadn't happened. Its hard to pass up an experienced attorney though, so I don't blame them at all. Still, they said they might be looking for someone else in six months or so. I hope I have something lined up at that point, but if I don't, or I'm working document review, I'll probably be interested. Either way, I have a meeting tomorrow with a company about an upcoming document review project, so hopefully that will result in a job that will give me some kind of experience, and more importantly, money.

Rob will be coming into town this weekend to visit, and I've asked off for the weekend, so I'll have plenty of time to hang out with him. We're planning to go to a Charlotte Knights game. The Knights are the AAA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, and they're playing the Phillies' AAA team, so hopefully we'll see some pretty good baseball. I also have another softball game on Friday night, so hopefully I'll keep up the hitting and maybe we'll win.

At any rate, 27 feels an awful lot like 26. Gas is still expensive, the weather is still hot, and Family Guy is still funny.

Amusement Park

Lauren and I spent Sunday at Carowinds, a theme park that is just outside Charlotte. It is supposed to be "Carolinas-themed" but it really doesn't have much in the way of regional themes. There is a Nickelodeon Kids' Zone, but aside from that everything else is fairly generic in name. At any rate, it was a lot of fun. On top of that, I actually rode roller coasters and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had to take some Dramamine before we went, but that means I was actually able to go on the rides and not just sit around and wait. They also had a water ride that was basically a giant inner tube with seats on the top that spun around and got people wet during different parts of the ride. All-in-all, it was a blast and a great way to spend our Memorial Day.

Lauren is still enjoying her job. Tomorrow night she's going to the Natasha Bedingfield concert with a bunch of her coworkers, so she's really looking forward to that. My job search is still pretty much the same. I did have an interview with a law firm last Thursday, which I thought went pretty well, but I don't want to even begin to estimate how well it went or whether they're interested. I hope they are, as I think I would really enjoy working there. I still haven't heard from the document review company either. I will definitely post something once something works out.

Lauren's New 'Do!

Last night we went to the mall for Lauren to get a haircut and run some other errands, and Lauren REALLY got her hair cut. Here are the pictures (excuse the unkempt background):I think it looks great!

May Update

In the last two weeks, I've been working my tail off trying to find a job at a law firm. However, I'm currently in the same position as before. The positive is that I had an interview with Hudson Legal, a document review company that seems to be a little more put together than the company that I was working with last fall. In other words, they seem to know about projects more than just a couple of days ahead of time. I don't know anything definite at this point, but it looks like I may be on a project by the beginning of June. I don't want to jinx it by talking about it too much, though.

Lauren is enjoying her job with It's Fashion!, a division of Cato Corp. She's working as assistant buyer for a buyer who is originally from New Zealand. She's still learning her way around, and last week, the buyers went to New York on their monthly trip to "market," leaving Lauren and the other new assistant to do more training things and get more acclimated. However, she didn't really have much to do, for those three days. After the buyer returned, however, Lauren had a pretty good bit of work to do. At this point, she loves her job and is very happy that she got it, even though she's still pretty tired most of the time. She's really enjoying the weekends off. Yesterday, we had a Sunday School picnic at the church and cooked out and enjoyed the great weather. She never would have been able to do that if she was still working in retail.

Connor is the same. He's still chewing on anything he can get his mouth on, including the collar stays that I take out of my shirts before I wash them. He's still a good dog in general though. Here's a picture of him wearing some new "bling."

God Save the State of North Carolina

Well, after I passed, it was inevitable...I was sworn into the practice of law in North Carolina on Thursday, April 24. We started off with an address from the judges, and then they called us up in groups of 10 (I was in the third group) and had our sponsors introduce us and "move for our admission." Not knowing anyone, I didn't have a sponsor when I got there, so when I got up, one of the attorneys present came up and served as my sponsor. I have a friend who is an attorney who I wanted to sponsor me, but she was out of the country the last week, so that didn't happen. After that, we all stood and took the oaths for state court and for federal court.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to do the federal court swearing in again, because I haven't completed the requirements for that. I have to take a training course for the online document submission software and then register for it, and then I will have to petition the court to be admitted. But, until then, I can still practice in state court.

A very positive bonus to the ceremony is that I met an attorney whose wife is originally from Jackson, and who knows Mark Hosemann as well. Moreover, I met one of the judges who is a fellow Ole Miss graduate. She kept saying that Ole Miss people have to stick together up here and offered to give me a tour of the courthouse some time. I'm hoping that will turn into meeting my future employer, or maybe even getting a job with her court for a little while.

Lauren started her new job today, but I won't be able to talk to her about it until some time tomorrow night because I have work at 5:15 and she won't get home til after then, and I work until 10 or so. She was very nervous about her first day, but she was also excited.

Connor is doing well. He had a bad day last week where we took him up to the vet to get his Bordatella vaccination (turned out to be a liquid that was squirted into the nose instead of a shot!), which took about an hour total because they had an emergency they had to attend to. After that, Lauren showed up out of nowhere while we were checking out and suggested we get him groomed, so he spent the rest of the afternoon getting his hair and nails cut. After that he was more than happy to come home and just sit around the rest of the night.

The job hunt continues and I haven't gotten any further leads, although there was one firm that told me to call back this week and they may want to bring me in for an interview for a position that will open up in a month or two. Also, I have an interview with another document review company at the end of the week.

The Hunt

I PASSED!!! I have finally started to settle back into some sense of normalcy after being on Cloud Nine about passing the bar exam. I figured I'd take a few weeks off from blogging to enjoy it, but most of the reason why I haven't blogged is that I haven't had time to do it between working and trying to get resumes together to send to law firms. Unfortunately, it seems that with the economy not doing so well, firms aren't really hiring at this point. I don't know whether that is the reason or if it is my less than stellar class rank, or maybe even the fact that I didn't send them a resume in the middle of my third year of school. Either way, the fish aren't really biting at the moment. Still, I'm staying in the hunt and eventually I'll find something. For the time being, I'm happy knowing that on Thursday I'll be sworn in to practice (even without a job).

Enough about me. Lauren's last month has been equally exciting. Shortly after she interviewed with Limited Too, she was given an interview with Cato, Inc., to be an assistant buyer. A few days after the interview was offered, she was offered the actual position with Limited Too, because she still wanted a new job. She then had her interview at Cato, and it went very well, so well that she was actually offered that position (it is actually with their subsidiary called "It's Fashion"). Its much more along the lines of what she wants to do, so she's very excited. The funny thing is that she had actually started training with Limited Too, and because her training was not complete, they didn't need a "two-week-notice" but she had already told Cato that she would, not having known that they'd just let her stop working at Limited Too. Long story short (too late) she gets two weeks off before she starts the Cato job, so as I write this, she is in Virginia spending time with her Grandmother.

Connor is doing well, and is really not enjoying Lauren being gone, but that makes two of us. Being alone in Charlotte is pretty boring, even though it is a big city.

Waiting...

In the words of Tom Petty, "the waiting is the hardest part." Its only been around two weeks since the bar exam, and I'm already chomping at the bit. In the meantime, I've been working more at Banana Republic, and I'm trying to add as many hours as I can to pass the time and make some extra money. I'm finally done with my root canals, which is awesome.

Lauren is still working way too many hours at Icing, but she has an interview with the district manager for "The Limited Too" tomorrow for a manager position at the mall next to our apartment, which will save a LOT of money in gas, and would probably end up paying more salary as well. She is currently wearing a walking cast/boot on her ankle because she was told she has a "talar colatition," which means that her talus and heel bone have grown together and it is causing the tendon on the front of her foot to become inflamed and that is the reason her ankle has been hurting. She will wear that until mid-April, and hopefully that will fix the problem, or she may end up having to have surgery.

Connor is doing well, and has started to behave a little better recently, so maybe he's growing out of his "terrible twos." Hopefully he'll also calm down and stop barking as much, but such is life with a dog in an apartment.

Bar Exam Postgame

I'm back in Charlotte now after the bar exam. I'm not terribly sure how well today went. I feel like I did a decent job on the morning part of the exam, but the afternoon session was substantially more difficult. Still, overall I think I did better than the July exam. It seemed like this exam was a little more difficult than the previous one, but I think I did better because I knew more what I was talking about. We'll have to wait and see about the results, but that won't be for another month.

I start back to work on Saturday, but other than that I don't really have any short-term plans at this point. I might start reading books again now that I don't have to read notes and outlines. The more probable bet is that I'll start playing more video games again. At any rate, I'll enjoy the next month as much as I can before I start looking for a full-time job or another part-time job.

Bar Exam, Day 1

Well, the hard part is over now. I got done with the North Carolina essay portion this afternoon and now all that is left is to take the Multistate multiple choice portion. I felt that my answers for the morning session were really good, and I felt pretty confident heading into the afternoon session. Most of the later questions were pretty difficult and a few of them really didn't ask a question that truly indicated what they were looking for. Still, my buddy Jim felt like the afternoon questions were much harder, and given that he seemed to feel a lot better about the exam last July than I did, at least I've made some progress. I'm not going to say whether I think I did well enough to pass or not, as I don't want to jinx myself, but I'm not feeling like I did horribly. Tomorrow will make a big difference, though, as last time my score on the multiple choice was much, much higher than my essay score. For the rest of the evening, I'm going to try to relax and maybe get a bite to eat and get to bed early. More work tomorrow!

Twas the Night before the Bar Exam, and all through the...hotel...

I have safely arrived in Cary at the Hampton Inn, and will be going to eat dinner after a little last minute review. I'm fairly confident that I'll do pretty well on the essays tomorrow (knock on wood) because Jim and I kind of quizzed each other on the way up and I was able to actually get everything correct, and it was the kind of specific legal discussion that you'd expect from someone who'd been studying for a couple of months straight. At any rate, we'll see how it goes tomorrow. I've gotten to the point where I'm morbidly curious about what they're going to throw at me tomorrow, and hopefully using the computer will make things a little easier. I really just want to get this over with. I'll post more tomorrow night.

Pre-Bar Exam Blues

With the bar exam coming up on the 26th and 27th, I have taken a break from working until March 1, so I'm only studying now. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some really good study time in and the exam will be that much less hard (not going to say easy there). Lauren's still working at Icing, but she's hired a new assistant manager, who hopefully will be a little more sane than the last one. She seems to be pretty happy with the new girl, who is actually very young, but has a lot of retail experience. Connor's still doing well, even though he keeps eating every paper product that he can get is paws on.

I'll post again after the bar exam is over, though probably not immediate after it. Until then, I'll be studying, eating, and sleeping. I would appreciate any thoughts and prayers you can shoot my way between now and the 27th, as I'm getting very frustrated with the whole bar admissions process, and I don't want to have to do this again.

Belated Second Post

Ok, so I didn't really follow through with this the last time, but we'll see how this works. Brief recap, Lauren and I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina last May and have been living in a suburb called Pineville. We're currently in an apartment, and that's the plan until we get the point where we can buy a house or townhouse and move.

I didn't pass the bar exam in July, so I've been working at Banana Republic since then and studying to take the bar again on February 26th and 27th. If I pass, I'll then look for another legal position of some sort, which hopefully will allow Lauren to find another job that is closer to where we live. If our finances allow, we'll probably be finding a house or townhouse at that point. I'm thinking I'll probably keep my job at Banana Republic and only work on the weekends (if I have time) or at Christmas so that I can take advantage of the killer discount employees get.

Lauren is still working as manager of Icing at a mall across town, and the drive, among other things, makes it an annoying proposition. Her store has done pretty well compared to last year, which I'm not surprised about because she's a good manager. Connor is doing well and is still acting like a puppy. He's gone through a stage recently where he has a problem peeing on our nice expensive comforter. Other than that, he's doing well and has decided that he actually enjoys wearing his little sweaters that Lauren loves to put him in. I have had some input into which ones we get, so they don't make him look like a girl or anything.

We got some snow a few weeks ago that was actually pretty steady and stuck to the ground. I'd been at work until one in the morning doing inventory, so when I got home there was a lot still on the ground. Lauren was still up, so we went outside with Connor and played in the now behind our building, throwing snowballs at each other and even at Connor, who was about as happy playing around in the white stuff as he is playing inside. He was so good that he didn't even try to run away when his leash dropped into the snow and got stuck, he just ran around in the snow and tried to get snow all over Lauren and me. I wish I had pictures, but neither Lauren nor I are any good at remembering that.

Lauren and I have found a church that we love. We've helped establish a Sunday school class for young adults in their 20s and 30s, which has made us both more involved in something other than work/studying/home. One of the things that attracted us to the church and has really helped us to stick with this church and the class is the devotion to missions. The link for the church is www.sharonumc.org.

Last week, Lauren and I both had the flu at various points, and we're both still recovering to a certain extent. Neither of us is contagious anymore, but we're both (especially Lauren, who's on her feet all the time) still getting fatigued fairly easily and coughing a fair amount. I've been having bouts with migraines again since then, which hadn't been a problem for a little over a year. Soon enough it will pass, though. I have a root canal procedure tomorrow, my second tooth to have worked on in the last three months. The first one took four visits, partly because the tooth itself was absessed, but it has healed nicely.

I suppose that's enough for right now. I'm going to try to make posting a little more regular this time, but with the bar exam coming up soon, we'll see how that goes.