good food on a poor student's budget

being a poor student after making decent income for 5 years takes some adjusting. being a poor student while living in manhattan takes A LOT of adjusting. being a poor student who is also an extreme food-lover in manhattan means you have to get REALLY creative.

and so, to help other poor students in manhattan who love to eat, i've compiled a list of cheap eats that actually taste really really good (because there's nothing worse than eating bad food).

(i'm also helping other law students at my school by taking the time to create this list instead of studying for my exams in 2 weeks, therefore lowering the curve.)

so enjoy! and please let me know if you have other ones to add.

yummy things under $10
1. florentines from Sweet Melissa's - 2 for $1
2. cream puffs from Beard Papa - $1.49
3. slice of grandma's pizza from Bleecker St Pizza - $2.50
4. zucchini/potato/funghi pizza from Sullivan St Bakery - $2.50
5. pork chop over rice from May Wah - $4.95
6. soft serve ice-cream from McDonalds - usually $1
7. everything bagel with sun-dried tomato tofutti from Absolut Bagels - $2.95
8. toasted yummy flatbread edges from Cosi - free
9. de pabillon arepa from Caracas - $5
10. cheese and potato pierogies from Polonia - $4.50
11. truffled egg toast from 'ino - $7
12. sauteed rice cake from nyonya - $5.25
13. spicy korean casserole from Albene - $13.99 (for two people)
14. beef shabu shabu from happy shabu - $8.50
15. masala dosai from chennai garden - $6.95

and you thought spider solitaire was cool

the girl who sits next to me in contracts must be a genius or something. she plays all these crazy online games throughout the entire class, and still coherently answers questions from the professor (questions that i don't even get when paying attention), all the while creating color-coded case briefs on Word.

i once watched her play a game where cartoon mosquitos were drifting towards what appeared to be a piece of skin and she had to use her mouse to kill them before they landed on the skin, or else they would suck on it.

i don't even know how to comment on this. so i won't.
(yes, another poor substitute for creative blogging)

i have a good excuse

ok, so i haven't posted in almost a month (not like anyone ever reads this except for me) but i have a great excuse.

you ready?

i had my first law school exam AND my bacheorlette party in vegas AND i found an apartment on this island full of insane people that we call a city.

so there.

now that we have that out of the way, i can move on to my true reason for not posting which is that i have nothing interesting to write about. i have been sucked dry of the minimal creative juices that i once had.

i think some of my creative brain cells moved to the other, non-creative side of my brain to study for my exam and stayed there. some other ones were destroyed by being in vegas for 48 hours (oops, correction, i meant 36 hours thanks to a missed connecting flight &%**%%@@*!!). and the last few remaining ones were so angry at the manhattan real estate market that they flew back to california.

and so i go back to my old staple of posting a list instead of really writing anything --

number of law school exams i have sat for: 1

number of hours this exam was: 4

number of pages i typed for the exam: 6 single-spaced, times new roman 12 font

number of times per week that i have a class before 9am starting next week: 4

number of my professors who have a blog (that i know about): 1, my property professor who focuses on cyberlaw. kinda cool, huh?

my new favorite game in vegas: pai-gow poker

number of times i had to wear a veil covered with plastic penises in vegas: zero (thank god for good friends)

number of times guys asked what nationality we were in vegas: 15

number of times this was a successful pick-up line: zero

number of times i will ever take a connecting flight to vegas again: NEVER

number of days i have before moving: 11

number of boxes that i have packed: zero

how confused my dog will be after we move to our new place: very

furnished 20,000 sq ft apt - FREE! (manhattan)

there is a large chance that my fiance, me and our dog will be homeless in about 30 days or so, because apartment hunting in Manhattan is the most annoying process in the world. you would think that with 20% of the island's population being real estate agents (well, it seems like it), it would be easier for poor souls like us to find a place that we like and (here's the kicker) that we can actually afford. but no, that's just not the case.

i've realized that NY real estate agents are either:
1) sketchy as hell
2) stupid
3) bitchy
4) a combination of any of the above

and apartments in manhattan under $3,000 per month are either:
1) the size of my dog's crate
2) dark as a dungeon with a view of a barbed wire fence
3) on the 10th floor of a walk-up building
4) located so east or west on the island that you might as well be in brooklyn/queens or NJ
5) renovated from dead WWII veterans housing with living WWII veterans as your neighbors
6) a combination of any of the above

with all of this mind, i'm beginning to consider less conventional options. at the top of my list is living in the library of my law school. not only is it in a great neighborhood, we can also benefit from the free food offered by the various school clubs. free broadband internet connection, too.

i mean, it will take my fiance and my dog a little adjusting to get used to it. but it'll pretty much be the same for me, since i spend most of my time there and it's easy for me to fall asleep reading case books anyways.

it's nice to know that there are always options.

oh, and just to keep track:

how much weight is currently in my backpack: 10 pounds (i figured out that finishing all my work in the library can save me from the fate that is the rolly duffel)

my current favorite professor: still Professor Torts, but newly close in second is Professor Contracts, who talks about tangents but is actually becoming kind of interesting once you get past his super-variable sound levels ("so the damages that are really due is the difference between the MARKET value of the goods...")

number of days of class i have had: 7

number of pages of cases that i have read: 360

number of hours i have studied in the library: 18

number of days until my first exam: 36

number of days until my vegas trip: 29

how happy my dog was to see me come home today: 45 wags per minute (not as fast as last week because she ripped opened her toy dog's leg, so she had to hide from me for a little bit while i cleaned up the stuffing)

if you ever slam your finger in the door...

... and your nail is turning purple and it feels like your finger is going to explode from the throbbing pain (the doctors call this subungual hematoma):

1) don't go to your primary care physician because you will wait an hour to see him, and then he will tell you that you need to get your nail removed and he can't do it

2) you could go to the emergency room afterwards and wait about 4 hours to get an xray and to finally see a resident-in-training who will poke two holes in your nail (yeah, kind of like when you open a can of fruit and need to drain the syrup), which takes her about 5 minutes - but don't forget, now you need to now pay the hospital for the robbery they call emergency room bills

3) but what you should *really* do, as i learned today (5 days too late) is go to your dermatologist! she will do the poking of the nail and you won't need to wait forever. and you just pay her your normal non-emergency co-pay.

just wanted to share this tidbit of advice. because it's bad enough when you get your finger stuck in the door and think that it's going to fall off; worse when you have to wait 5 hours to relieve the pain.

poster on my school wall (i did NOT create this)

Supreme Court Justices are dropping like flies!!

[picture of Rehnquist]

[picture of O'Connor]

insert your mug here

Take their place by joining the Moot Court Competition!

The winner is guaranteed to

start on the path to

become a Supreme Court Justice!!

Is it just me, or is there something inherently wrong about a a future lawyer referring to justices as flies? (i mean there is MUCH more wrong with this poster than that, but just as a starting point...)

I admit that the poster did help me pass some time waiting for the slow elevator though.

riding the magic yellow schoolbus

how much weight is currently in my backpack: 30 pounds

how much i wish i bought a smaller laptop: a LOT

my current favorite professor: Professor Torts, who talks like Count Dracula (and got very excited about my comment in class today, therefore making me feel nice)

number of days of class i have had: 2

number of pages of cases that i have read: 80

number of hours i have studied in the library: 6.5 (which, should be noted, might be the most time i have ever spent in any library in my entire life)

number of days until my first exam: 48

number of days until my vegas trip: 38

how happy my dog was to see me come home today (measured in speed of tail wagging): 60 wags per minute

no! not the rolly duffel!

since i'm going to be carrying a 7-pound notebook computer plus 30 pounds of case books to school everyday, i'm starting to accept the fact that i may need to get one of those really dorky rolly duffels. i guess preventing a visit to the emergency room for a slipped disc is more important than being in with the popular kids.

like my parents always told me, "school is not a fashion show."
sigh.

luckily one of my friends clued me in on a rolly backpack that is both cool and affordable:

a california dog is a happy dog

and apparently, a dog who comes back to new york from california is a dog who needs to express their discontent in a variety of ways, such as:

1. by ripping up her owner's favorite plush piggy slippers into shreds of foam

2. by chewing up the corners of her carrier and leaving pieces of material all over the floor (maybe this was to protest the 7 hours spent on the plane)

3. by eating 12 chinese rice crackers (about 6 human servings) and one large bag of spicy japanese rice crackers (about 3 human servings), and leaving a mess all over the living room rug, furniture and the like

4. by then puking up the above-mentioned crackers 4 hours later in three spots on the above-mentioned rug

5. by shedding about a pound of fur (keep in mind that the dog is only 15 pounds) each day

6. by licking her owner's feet and then immediately thereafter trying to lick her owner's mouth (ok, so she did this way before she ever went to california)

maybe it's not such a good idea to take a new york city dog to california 4 times before she turns 10 months old. i think the ridiculous amount of grass there spoils them.

but, then again, how can you not, when your dog looks at you like this:

my dog does not need ambien

this is how she's been sleeping for the last hour. i wish i had her skills.

march of the one-Ls

just watched March of the Penguins, which if you haven't heard, is this documentary about penguins in the South Pole who walk 70 miles each year to find a mate and have babies in the midst of an arctic winter, when the weather is something like 60-below-zero with 100 mph of wind.

it made me think of all the soon-to-be one-Ls, including yours truly, who will be making the journey to law school in an attempt to find a job (and in some cases - but not mine - a mate who might obliterate the need for them to find a job).

that sad but true thing about the film is that the 70-mile walk (herein referred to as "LSATs and applications") to the breeding grounds (i.e. "law school") is just the beginning of the weighty process (i.e. "briefing cases, making outlines and taking 8-hour exams for 3 years") that leads up to a healthy baby penguin (i.e. "biglaw job") being born (i.e. "getting an offer") and raised to a suitable age where it can sustain its own life (i.e. "finally making enough money as a law firm partner to be able to retire").

ok, i've also just realized the scary fact that, even before becoming a law student, i've managed to watch movie about penguins in Antarctica and relate that to law school. wow, that is so ego-centric. i can see why a lot of lawyers lose their non-lawyer friends after law school.

i'm about one mile (i.e "2 weeks") away from the breeding grounds. should i turn back now?

doing yoga at my house (i.e. with a pug)

it's always great to have that free morning when you can do yoga in the peace and privacy of your living room. you clear out the coffee table, pop the DVD in the player and turn on your 39-inch TV (way too big for your new-york-size apartment, but that's a different story).

then you remember that you have a pug. a playful, 10-month old, attention-grubbing female puppy who can't stand it when your activites, including yoga, don't include her.

as the relaxing yoga music starts, you notice that there is also another sound: the sound of your pug chewing on her nylabone. it's strangely soothing.

and as you move into downward dog position, there is, quite applicably, a dog who is licking your feet and hands and running underneath you.

the cobra pose, one of your favorite positions because it stretches your tired back so nicely, is also fun for the pug, who takes this opportunity to climb on your back. unexpectedly, it almost feels like a nice massage.

moving into triangle pose is a bit confusing for the puppy, because she can't quite grasp why you have your head in the position it is in. but, nonetheless, she will happily come over and lick your face (getting licked in the face while you are trying to balance is challenging!)

before you lie down to prepare for boat pose, you realize that you need to first clear out all the rubber balls, stuffed pigs and rope toys from the carpet. your pug has been dragging them out of her crate one-by-one while your yoga session has been going on, to show you that she, too, has an agenda.

finally, you are ready to move into your relaxation mode. as you close your eyes and let your arms and legs fall to the side, you feel sniffling all over your body as your pug checks to make sure you are still alive. can't get more relaxed than that!

peach torts and appellate pies

i've been spending the last two days at an intensive law school preview program (and will do so for the next four days), and surprisingly, i've been able to stay awake for the entire 8-hour lecture on both days. not only do i stay awake, i've been really engaged and interested in what these professors have to say about contract and torts law.

this is really good progress for someone who once missed a midterm because she never went to class and didn't realize there was a midterm until a week later when she overheard someone talking about it in the campus grocery store. yes, i plan to work a LOT harder in law school than undergrad.

anyways, the professor who taught torts usually teaches at Yale Law School (a school that i am, unfortunately, not attending) and he was AWESOME. he made a joke out of everything including his childhood, smoking dope, cricket (the "sport"), his marriage, his own name, you-name-it. i literally laughed out loud at least twice an hour. and more importantly, i came out of the class understanding (well, at least at a surface level) strict liability vs. fault liabiity and what proximate cause and cause-in-fact are. and i think my poor memory might actually remember these things because i was entertained while i was learning them.

i also came out of the class with a realization (and what i hope to be a true realization) that law professors are going to be much more interesting than my undergrad engineering professors. i mean, these guys talk and write for a living and they're all eloquent and witty and used to be hippies. how cool is that?

houston, we have progress

not that this is of interest to anyone but me and my hubby-to-be [ok, maybe just me], BUT i had a few pieces of wedding progress/excitement today and i wanted write about them. and, god damn it, this is my self-absorbed blog, so i will write about what i want:

1. my photographer sent us the pictures that she took of us in July at a beach in Malibu, and they are cute! i mean, i don't look that cute, but the pictures are cute. of course, being the narcissist that i am, i immediately scanned my favorite ones into my computer and updated our wedding website with them. so that hubby-to-be (let's call him R. from now so i don't need to keep writing "hubby-to-be") can be even more embarrased when his friends see the website and pictures of us snuggling on the beach and writing our initials in the sand.

2. the bridal boutique called and said that my wedding dress finally arrived!! i won't be sizing it until november, in case i either lose weight [unlikely] or blow up like a balloon [more likely] in the next 3 months, but i can go in and try it on whenever i want. i kind of forgot what it looks like, to be honest, so it might make sense to do that. but in any case, the dress is finally here, after 5 months of waiting.

3. i finally booked the DJ and the harpist for the wedding. only exciting because i don't need to think about it anymore (well, until the wedding).

wedding countdown calendar now reads: 5 months and 26 days.

things i hate (part two)...

1. when it about 100 degrees with 90 percent humidity outside and the f-ing subway cars have no air-conditioning and sweat is dripping down your face, but no matter how hard you try, you can't imagine yourself in a sauna, relaxing after a massage.

2. when a crackhead lady literally shoves you aside with her grubby paws to get onto the subway even though she could have easily walked around you and still got onto the train with plenty of time.

3. when you have two really really cute new bikins to wear but there isn't a pool without infectious diseases in the vicinity that you can use them in. well, without paying either $400 per night for a hotel room or $10,000 per year for a club membership.

4. when customer service representatives are obviously outsourced in a different country and don't speak or understand english, causing you to spend 1 hour talking to 3 different people for the same issue which ends up not getting resolved anyways. [note: i also hate it when customer service representatives that work in this country don't speak or understand english or when they are just plain DUMB.]

i think this new york summer heat is getting to me. i'm usually a very positive person, i swear.

idiot of the week

this past sunday, as me and my hubby-to-be [yes, i don't like using the word fiance - it's so... french] walk into the subway station to meet our friends for dim sum, two policemen come running up to us and tell us that "this station is temporarily closed - get outside right now!"

when we ask them what is wrong, they say that there is a "situation" in the train station and it is not safe for us to be there. that's when we scoot ourselves out of there as soon as we can.

when we get outside, we notice that there are crowds of people with their luggage waiting to get back in, ambulances and firetrucks everywhere, and a civilian talking to camoflouge-wearing-AK47-carrying-soldiers, describing some sort of man with a bag . hmmm, scary. but being used to this type of stuff (since there are ambulances and firetrucks on our street pretty much every day of the week and we used to see ravers dressed in camoflouge pants all the time), we take a little detour and get to chinatown right on schedule.

the next day, i find this in the news. skip to paragraph 6 and 7 and read about the idiot that caused hundreds of people to miss their train. god, with people like him, who needs terriosts??

wooohoooo - happy day it is! (is it?)

spoke with the admissions person at that law school that i was originally waitlisted at - and i'm in! they let me in, with my sorry undergrad GPA and all. i feel very blessed today.

i was all worried because i had this sudden realization late last night that maybe they only wanted to let me into the evening program, but my fears were unfounded. i'm in the full-time-daytime-more-classes-but-no-classes-needed-during-summer program! woohoo!

now i have a few options to consider:

1) go to this school and be very, very, very poor for 3 years plus be highly in debt for 5 years after i graduate, but with a higher likelihood of getting a big law job, which could reduce the 5 years of debt into 3 years of debt. deal with the seemingly not-so-helpful administration at this higher-ranked school for 3 years.

2) go to the other school i was planning on going to and be somewhat poor for 3 years but be in debt for only 3 years after i graduate, unless i screw up and can't get a big law job which means i will be in debt for 5 years anyways (and be really pissed off because i would be making less than i did before attending law school). be potentially happier for 3 years at this school because of the much nicer administration and nicer facilities. EDIT: be MUCH less in debt because they just offered me a lot more money today. unless i really, really screw up and end up in the bottom 40% of the class which means i will pay the same after my first year. hmmmmmmmmm. time to really really really think about this.

3) forget law school and this career thing altogether and live off of my husband-to-be. have three kids before i'm thirty and become a very desperate housewife. be potentially bored for the rest of my life but live through an artificially happier facade thanks to all the prescription medication my shrink will provide me with.

i'm leaning towards option #3, but it's been a long day. anyone care to weigh in?

this guy is funny

if you feel like laughing, read this guy's site. so awesome:
http://maddox.xmission.com

one of my FAVORITE entries of all time:
http://maddox.xmission.com/irule.html

enjoy.

oh (potentially) happy day!

just checked my home voicemail and i got a message from the admissions department of the law school that i've been waitlisted at! woohoo! this could be good. man, if they are calling to let me in, then this has been a LONG time coming.

must not get my hopes up though - maybe they are just calling for yet another update, to gauge interest, to ask for more information, or to tease me just for fun. but a girl can dream, can't she?

argh, i wish they would send me an email or something! oooh, maybe i can use their online status checker and see what it says. nope, that didn't help - it still says "status: waitlisted" and last update 5/26/05. darn.

the funny thing is, last night i started an entry about how waiting for them sucks but i never got around to publishing it. now i feel kind of stupid for writing about them. but, just so i have a record of my emotional state before receiving their message, i will attach my original (unfinished) entry below. hopefully there will be a conclusion tomorrow.

all together now, in Annie fashion: tomorrow, tomorrow... i'll love this school tomorrow, it's only a day away...

title: waiting sucks

i have always been an impatient person, so when a law school that i applied to, oh, SEVEN MONTHS ago still cannot decide whether they want to let me in or not, it kind of drives me insane.

on top of the fact that i've been waiting for so long, they refuse to let me push it out of my mind (which is what i usually do with things that bother me) by contacting me and giving me false hope every few months.

first, they tell me that i am waitlisted.

then, 2 months later, they ask for an update: "do you still want to continue to be on the waitlist?". uh, yeah, you b**tards, the $65 application fee wasn't meant to be a charitable donation.

then, 2 months after that, they tell me i am on their special priority waitlist, which i guess means i'm supposed to have a better chance at getting into their oh-so-almighty school.

then, a month after they originally said i was supposed to hear back, i get another "do you still want to be on the waitlist" email! oh, that really ruffles my feathers.... [never finished - i wanted to think of a better metaphor than "ruffles my feathers" but couldn't think of one]

the word is out...

i just sent out my first group of save-the-date cards, so there's no turning back now. soon our friends and family all over the US (and in some cases asia) will know about the crazy day that will be our wedding.

advice to you girls out there who are planning a wedding (or i guess to be fair, guys too - but we all know who usually does the wedding dirty work): begin collecting mailing addresses from all your friends, close family, and long-lost family that you have to invite out of politeness SOONER rather than later. as much as you will want to just send out an evite for the damn thing, it is proper etiquette to send anything related to the wedding by mail. not email, mind you, but US-postal-service-managed-delivered-by-men-in-blue-shorts-driving-little-white-trucks-mail. yes, it takes me back to the early nineties back when people called the internet the "information superhighway".

so anyways, i still have another 50 STDs to send out before the end of this month.

and by STDs i mean save-the-dates, not that other highly transmittable thing that we do not speak of in the same entry that speaks of a wedding. C. and J., you sick of that joke yet? :)

OUCH.

you know what sucks? when it rains in the city and you are running down the escalators in your sneakers to catch the subway, and slip right onto your ass in front of hundreds of other commuters. and then it smarts so bad that you have to stay seated on the dirty escalator stairs all the way down until the pain subsides. and then you are left with an imprint of the metal grates on your right butt cheek. and probably a big purple bruise the next morning.

i'm just saying hypothetically, that would suck.
not that it just happened to me.
because i'm not clumsy or anything.

am i not enough blog for you?

then check some of these out - they are all very entertaining:

http://gofugyourself.typepad.com - for those of you who love celebrity gossip

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/ - for those of you who love eavesdropping on others

http://www.chocolateandzucchini.com/ - for those of you who love good food

http://www.dooce.com/ - for those of you who have or are about to have a baby

http://thehotlibrarian.blogspot.com/ - just plain funny

a poorly written poem about something i love

craps, oh craps
how i love you so
my heart beats wildly
when the dice get thrown

shooter, oh shooter
why can't you see
that a lovely hard eight
is all i need

each roll could be a win
if you play the right numbers
a field bet, a craps check
i could stay here the whole summer

my chip stack grows large
and then it dwindles down
would i like another daiquiri?
"yes, please, another round."

when it's my turn to shoot
step away from the table
because a seven before the point
is all that i'm able

craps, oh craps
why do you torture me so
even when i'm down to my last red chip
i still don't want to go

here's a lesson for a potential wedding DJ...

if you want to sign up a new client, it's a good idea to meet where it's convenient for the CLIENT, and not trying to get them to drive to you, especially when they tell you that they are only in the area for 2 days and have flown from the other coast just to meet wedding vendors.

and after agreeing on a time and place to meet (let's say, at the airport, which is 20 minutes away from where you live), it's not a good idea to complain about how inconvenient it is for you and try to change the meeting place. and then finally agreeing back to the original time and place after voicing concerns on how "worth it" it is for you to meet said potential client.

the probable result of your actions: potential client will call you 5 minutes later to say "you know what? we decided on another dj for our wedding, so why don't you save yourself a trip and not come meet us", despite your sudden enthusiasm to save the meeting.

oh, well, you sounded young. hopefully you learned something from this.

rehnquist and the gang

last night, my husband-to-be pointed out the fact that one of the supreme court justices might be resigning and also pointed out the fact that, as a future attorney, i really should be more aware of issues like this. hmmm, he does have a point.

so i decided to do some research on the supreme court justices and compile this info for anyone else who might be starting law school, and like me, has absolutely no legal or politcal background (or is otherwise interested).

caveat #1: all of this info is compiled from various sources on the internet and my own interpretations and i hold no guarantees as to its accuracy.

caveat #2: this entry may be extermely boring to some of you reading, skip if neccesary.

first off, here's a picture of the lovely and powerful bunch, all in their cool judge robe gear. clockwise from the upper left, we have: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, and Antonin Scalia. don't they just look spectacular?

some "interesting" factoids about them:

• Chief Justice Rehnquist was appointed the longest time ago, in 1971 by President Nixon. Stevens comes in second, with a 1975 appointment by President Ford. I'm not sure if Rehnquist is the chief just because he was appointed the earliest or if he's just more of a "leader" type... anyone?
• O'Connor, Scalia and Kennedy were all appointed by President Reagan; Souter and Thomas were both appointed by President Bush (the older one); Ginsburg and Breyer were both appointed by President Clinton.
• Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas are generally considered to be the conservative ones (think brigham young). Souter, Breyer, Ginsburg, and Stevens are generally considered to the liberal ones (think berkeley). Kennedy and O'Connor are typically seen as moderates, which means their opinions go a long way in cases where it is a close call (another reason it is good to be a moderate!)
• supreme court justices rule only on cases that have to do with the constitution -- such as the recent highly publicized case on the display of Ten Commandements in courthouses (sorry, Bible Belt).
• once confirmed by the Senate, supreme court justices hold their jobs for life - until death or retirement intervenes.
• Rehnquist was rumored to be retiring, as he is suffering from thyroid cancer, poor guy. he was expected by some to announce his retirement today, the last day of the supreme court's term, but did not, which means he will return again in october when the new term begins. if he were to retire, President Bush (the younger one) would need to nominate a new justice.

and that is all i have to say about that today.

EDIT: 3 days after i wrote this blog, Sandra Day O'Connor, first woman on the Supreme Court, announced her retirement! bummer. she was my favorite justice based on my, albeit brief, research.

why i love my pug...

1. because when i take a shower, she cries and cries because i won't let her into the tub with me (i used to but the water gets in her nose and she gets these horrible coughs), so i have to open the curtains a little bit and she sits on the ledge of the tub until i am done

2. because when i talk to her, all she hears is "waungh waungh, waungh, waungh, NO, waungh waungh, SIT, waungh waungh waungh, TREAT, waungh waugh..." and she cocks her head from side to side

3. because when a dog is on tv, she runs up to the screen barking at it so that it will come out and play with her

4. because when the tv isn't on, she stares at it, crying softly until i turn it on

5. because when she wants to take a nap, she puts her paws up on my knees until i pick her up and then she curls up in my lap and sleeps

6. because she looks so cute when she sleeps in her "superman" position (on her tummy, face between her paws which are straight out in flying mode)

things i hate (part one)...

1. when a wedding gift bag "worth $200" actually contains two pieces of chocolate, mini-lipstick and a coupon for $200 with a purchase of $2500

2. when i see the train doors closing as i'm swiping my metrocard and know i have to wait at least another 10 minutes in the subway station in 120 degrees of heat

3. when stores that aren't restaurants, like banks or clothing stores, don't allow pets inside so i can't my pug with me on a walk and run errands at the same time (side note: something that i love are speakeasys like chumley's that allow you to take you dog inside and sit on your lap while you eat a yummy brunch!)

4. when i get 10 emails a day advertising free digital cameras, ipods and laptops and i know they are all just scams put on by sketchy internet companies but i'm still kind of tempted to try them

things i love (part one)...

1. when head chefs from really nice restaurants (like ono in the hotel gansevoort) have free cooking demonstrations at williams-sonoma and i get to eat foie gras with mango chutney and black miso shrimp dumplings for free

2. when a potential wedding dj is willing to meet me at 10pm on a tuesday night at the LAX airport because he wants our business

3. when my puppy runs to the door with a wagging tail to greet me after a hot day outside

4. when my husband-to-be suddenly has a stroke of generosity and buys me 2 skirts, sandals and a top in one day

the spainards have a sense of humor

our friend M. let us know this past weekend that, apparently, the word esposas means both wives and handcuffs in spanish.

coincidence? or not? i'll let you decide.

my new favorite song:

"fix you" - by coldplay on their new album X&Y.

so freaking beautiful. although a large part of why i love this song so much might have to do with the fact that they played it on the O.C., one of my favorite TV shows of all time.

does anyone have coldplay tickets for MSG that they are willing to trade for a really, really, really nice blog entry about their wonderful, generous, giving nature?

*big smile, batting eyelashes*

10 uses for the black's law dictionary

ok, so i don't *yet* have 10 uses for my new black's law dictionary that i won at my future law school's pre-orientation program last night. but nerd that i am, i actually used it today!

long story to explain why i even did this, but i looked up the word "easement" - an interest in land owned by another person, consisting in the right to use or control the land, or an area above or below it, for a specific limited purpose (in case you were wondering) - and found ONE AND A HALF pages of definitions - in size 10 font.

oh, boy. no wonder people say it takes 2 hours to read 25 pages of case material. with con law, contracts, torts, civ pro, property courses plus legal writing and elements of law next semester, it looks like i'll be spending a lot of time at the library, head deep in my case books and a very worn-out black's law dictionary.

darn, i wish i won the leather-bound version.

what my dog is crazy for...

i decided to write a blog for my dog, since she is currently undergoing her spay surgery and i feel guilty about it (even though it is the socially responsible thing to do). or perhaps i am just still a little drunk from my restaurant week prix fixe lunch plus wine pairing at Aquavit (which i may write about later when i am less full and can think about food again) and feel like writing something, anything.

poor thing was so excited to go to the vet office this morning, not knowing that she was about to be sedated for an hour while they [warning: gross] take out her ovaries.

anyways, as i walked back into my building, my doorman handed me a package full of Greenies - these awesome dog treats that my puppy goes NUTS over. if you have a dog, or better yet, a pug, you HAVE to get them some. under normal circumstances, my puppy is the most social being you will ever meet -- if you ever come to my place, you will most certainly be greeted by excessive licking and tail wagging.

but give this dog a Greenie and she becomes rainman. i can see her speech bubble now: "greenie, greenie, my greenie, more greenies, more greenies..." if you try to go near her while she has a Greenie in her mouth, she will run away, for fear that you will take it away from her. god forbid you actually stretch out your hand, she will then swallow whatever is left of it (keep in mind these things are 5 inches long), and then throw it back up the next morning.

you can get free samples here: http://www.treatforall.com

ps. if you ever need a spay/neuter for your dog, this site has great discounted certificates: http://www.friendsofanimals.org

measles, mumps and rubella, oh my!

i am so in awe of my undergraduate health services dept. i called them yesterday and left a message to get my measles, mumps and rubella immunization records, because i need to prove to my soon-to-be law school that i won't spread disease throughout my first year section.

i figured one of two things would happen: a) they would never call me back or b) they would call me back and tell me they don't keep records of students who graduated 5 years ago (yes, i realize that i will be a very old first-year law student), and then i would need to get another MMR vaccine and risk the possibility of brain inflamation, ruining my chances of any successful law career.

but lo and behold, i get a call ONE day later from E. of health services, who says he's already found my MMR records and then he faxes it to me 30 seconds later.

i will never complain about my undergraduate administration again.

hot dog days of summer

every morning, i check weather.com to see what the new york city summer has in store for us. in the last few weeks, it has almost always read 85 degrees or above with a humidity of 50% and a high chance of thunderstorms.

as much as i'd like to hole up in my air-conditioned apartment all day, my pug puppy needs her walks. so i pack her water bottle (and a few plastic bags) and we go on our way. unfortunately, she still hasn't learned the art of pacing in hot weather, so on our way home from the dog park, she runs for the first 3 blocks and then comes to a halt, panting and looking up at me with her big brown eyes, begging to be carried.

of course i give in. by the time we get home, i've walked 10 blocks carrying a 15-pound ball of fur, and am covered in sweat and dirt. the two of us paddle over the to a/c and stick our heads in the cold breeze until our teeth are chattering. she then sprawls out flat on the hardwood floor and takes a nice long nap, as i pollute the internet with more of my random thoughts.

when i moved back to new york from california, most people warned me about the cold horrible winters. i, for one, will remember to warn new california transplants of the hot dog days of summer.

what she looks like, except she'd be on the sidewalk

$4625 out-of-pocket

so i've just charged $4625 to my american express. and this was only for the deposit. seems like a lot of money for a girl who is unemployed and about to start law school to spend, isn't it? well, it's all in the name of love. this girl is about to be married, and apparently spending upwards of $35k for your wedding is the norm these days.

money-spending aside, i'm actually getting pretty excited about this whole wedding business. i've honestly never been the type of girl who's imagined her dream wedding since she was 10. in fact, the proposal from my boyfriend of 5 years was a complete surprise to me. i mean, i'm 26 years old, but i still feel like i'm 16. but all of a sudden, all i have is wedding on the brain. all i can think about is:

• wedding dresses (yes, i found mine!)
• DJs
• string quartets
• videographers
• officiants
• photographers (done)
• wedding favors
• bridemaids dresses (got them, from Thread)
• bouquets
• centerpieces
• invitations (bridemaid's professional designer boyfriend is doing these, am i lucky or what?)

when i hear a song, i wonder, "should we play this at our reception?"

when i see a floral arrangement i think, "hmm, that would look great as our centerpiece..."

if someone else were telling me that they thought about things like that, i would snicker behind their backs and call them pathetic. but now i understand.