It's Fall

Fall sort of snuck up on me. I even had a Fall break, but somehow Halloween just popped up. What's worse is that Christmas decorations are up and I feel like I missed Fall altogether! I did get a chance to enjoy a few things about Fall this week, and I'm feeling much better now.

Halloween Party

I honestly had no intention of ever going to the Law school Halloween party, but I did and I was the cutest flight attendant there (there were actually 2 other flight attendants, can you believe it!?)

Walking in the fall leaves

Is there anything more gratifying than hearing the crunch and rustle of leaves under your feet? I like it better than the beach because there's no dirty sand in my shoes, and better than snow because my socks don't get wet. And it means it's fall, which means my birthday is near. Andy and I walked in the park and went off the trail. Then I got some "nature" on my pants (some highly evolved weed that I brushed against covered my pants and socks with prickly little burs containing its seeds.) Since Andy loves me, he picked them all off for me so I didn't have to have any further contact with the "nature." He's a good guy.

My birthday

I have had the tragic misfortune all my life of having a birthday only 4 days after Halloween. Do you know what you get to take to class for your birthday party when kids are sick of candy and cupcakes? Pencils. So this year, given the more moderate and sophisticated crowd in my classroom, I finally got to take these divine chocolate frosted, fall leaf sprinkle bedecked cookies. It was great.

Life is really going well here. I'm busting my butt in school and getting ready for finals already! Eeek! I have my exams starting December 7, so I'll be trying to keep everyone posted, but don't be surprised if you don't hear a peep from me until December 15 when I'm all done (and 1/6 the way to being a lawyer :)

love always,

Kelli

1/12 the way to being a lawyer

I was reflecting the other day on what one of our professors said. " In two and a half years, you'll have to start interviewing clients and you'll need to know this."
What struck me is that for the first time, we were no longer talking about the 3 year journey ahead of me and my classmates. We are far enough along, 1/12 that is, to start talking about it as less than three years. That said, I feel like I know almost nothing. A conversation with a St. Thomas grad from 2008 who works at one of the biggest law firms in the Twin Cities did little to comfort me about that. She said, "Employers know that after 3 years of law school, you still don't know very much, so they don't interview you about how to write an appellate brief. They just want to make sure you aren't crazy and that you can carry a conversation." Ok, the second part was slightly reassuring, since I am not crazy and can carry a conversation.
So if I feel like I don't know much, and even after three years, my future employer knows that I don't know much, what is the point of me trying to learn all this stuff?
I was letting this kick around inside my head a little bit when we discussed professionalism in my class today. The concept of competence came up and the professor noted that graduating from law school and passing the bar exam are the minimum level of competence required to practice law. We discussed what ways you become more competent, and it seemed to keep coming back to practice and experience. Our professor noted that maybe that's why they call it practicing law, or practicing medicine. You get better and learn and become more competent because you practice, and you have this foundation to serve as that minimum, that platform to build on.
Someone said, "Well then it's just trial and error?" Our professor pointed out that it would be a good idea to keep the errors from creeping into malpractice territory. Maybe the most important thing I'm learning right now is the consequence of incompetence. Perhaps the point of law school is to give you the basics and put the fear of God, and court sanctions, in you so you don't screw it up!
Despite my insecurities about how little I seem to know about the law at this point, I feel like I have learned a lot. I think there's a song lyric "the more I see, the less I know." I am really enjoying all my classes and it seems like each class brings up a thousand new paths I'll need to go down to learn everything there is to learn. Right now, I'm taking the advice of one of my mentors, "This first semester, just let the law wash over you." So, I'm working hard, soaking up all I can, but trying not to drown in the law.
Since everyone seems to enjoy hearing about my wardrobe malfunctions, I'll share that I am wearing a cardigan today that is molting buttons. I've lost two buttons of a 7 button sweater since I put it on.
Oh, and I was told this weekend that I have an accent. I was talking about driving with "blowing snow on the road" and I guess they just noticed that I didn't say "blooowin' snoooow on the roooooad, doooontcha' knoooow?" Then, while sharing this humorous bit with one of my classmates, he said I had a "California accent." What does that even mean?!
All in all things are good. Sending all my love to you,
Kelli

Kelli and Laurie Do the Twin Cities

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To view these on my Shutterfly website, the password is: kelliandandy

enjoy the visual tour!

My mom came to visit me for my fall break from school, and boy were we ready for a V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N! We got off to a good start by having dinner at a local restaurant with Mike and Andy. Mom and I liked it so much, we went back the next day for lunch!

I stayed with Mom at the hotel so that we could get maximum quality time in. We soaked in the hot tub, imbibed on a little wine, and a LOT of cheese, and we had chocolate covered strawberries. It felt like a vacation even if home was only 15 miles away! We stayed up late chatting and watching HGTV and then got up early to get our coffee and go make Christmas cards at our favorite place, Archiver's!

The next day we loafed around, then went to see Oklahoma! at a dinner theater. More hot tubbing, more wine, you get the picture.

Monday we did some shopping, and met up with Andy for lunch to celebrate his new job. Andy starts at Target on Tuesday. Stay tuned for "Kelli and Andy Get Their Own Place....Maybe Even Before Christmas," which will be starring me, and Andy, and the cat. It should be riveting!

Then mom and I went to visit my school. Mom ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the law school. It is pretty cool, I have to admit. Then we shopped, and shopped, and ate some more, then shopped til we dropped. More hot-tubbing, more wine, more cheese, and now we've added decadent desserts. Good Times!

On our last day, we simply had not achieved the number of Christmas cards hoped for, so we headed back to Archiver's worked feverishly for another four or five hours. It was worth it. The results were magnificent. You can see them on my mom's blog: http://laurieslollyblog.blogspot.com

Then, through tears, we said goodbye. She hit the road, and I hit the books again. I have only 7 weeks of classes, then about 2 weeks of finals before I'm done for the semester. Then I will be 1/6 the way to being a lawyer!

I hope this finds all of you well and warm.

Wild couple of weeks!

I didn't realize until today that I hadn't updated my blog in almost two weeks! I've been, and continue to be, pretty busy, so I'll try to catch everyone up.
First, I finished my first paper for law school, and I feel really good about it. I get it back today, so we'll see if my professor felt the same way :) I poured something like 20 hours into it, and it was only 5 pages long, double-spaced. And, I'm sure you will all be surprised to know that I completed it and printed it more than 24 hours before it was due! I am really trying hard to avoid my former procrastinating ways.
I am in the middle of midterms, so in addition to the paper, I've been studying my little fanny off. In the last two weeks, I've spent an average of 70 hours a week at school. yay. I'm trying to get a better handle on maximizing my time. Part of the problem continues to be that I can't run home for a snack to refresh myself or for a quick nap or study break since I live an hour from school. So, I take breaks here, like walking to a coffee shop or reading magazines online. The breaks are good, they are needed, but it means I am now usually leaving school around 7 instead of 5.
I started my volunteer position for HOMELine (www.homelinemn.org) I will be taking calls on the hotline from renters that need help with issues with their lease, landlord, etc. I am excited to get started with that. At my training, the worst call was from 4 college students that had rats in their house! And the worst is that the landlord told them they would need to pay for the exterminator! (That is, by the way, the landlord's responsibility, not the tenant's) Should be interesting!
And, I've conquered my first mid-term. 1 down, 3 to go! I feel pretty good about it. And, even if I didn't, I don't have time to dwell on it because I have 3 more to study for. I will be done with mid-terms on Oct. 8th (at 2:45 pm.) I start my fall break on Oct. 10. I'm looking forward to a week off to relax and catch up on ZZZZs. Plus, I'll be entertaining a few visitors.
And, for your reading enjoyment, a story of wardrobe malfunction:
(for any man reading this, this paragraph will probably be totally lost on you, so proceed to the end.)
I had occasion to wear panty hose last week, and it was very much to my detriment. I had picked up a new variety that promised no panty lines, and no bulges thanks to a slimming control top with no waistband. Women, rejoice! Or, so I thought. As I got dressed, I was so impressed, I decided I'd go back and get 10 pair more they looked so good!
I headed off to school, and since, miraculously, I arrived almost 30 minutes early, I decided I'd walk 3 blocks to a coffee shop near school. As I walked, I noticed that the hose were slipping down a bit. We all know there is no "classy" way to solve this problem in public, so I thought that I'd right them in the bathroom in the coffee shop. The bathroom was occupied, and since I was only 3 blocks from school, I figured I'd just wait until I got back to school. Block 1, the hose started slipping to about mid-butt cheek. By block 2, they are sliding down mid-thigh. Once they got going, it was really like an avalanche. The lower they got, the faster they rolled down! I was 20 feet from the door to the school when they had reached my knees. If you ever did one of those games where you have to walk with a ball between your knees, it was like that. In rush hour traffic. With people staring. The horror.
I managed to make it to the bathroom at school to rectify them before they got to my ankles. Turns out, bulging or not, you need a waistband on pantyhose.
All in all, things are good. I'll probably have little occasion to write before Fall Break starts, so for now, I sign off.

so wrong

This morning started like most mornings: late. I have actually managed to sleep clean through my alarm several times lately, so I think it's time for a new noise on the alarm clock that I haven't learned to tune out. That said, I decided it would be best to skip the task of making coffee at home, and, if I had time, grab a cup when I got to campus before class. This was all fine and good. I had 10 full minutes before class started. This is not enough time to run to any coffee vendor on campus, but just enough time to use the Nescafe machine next to the pop machines in our Student Center.
This was my first encounter with said machine. For those of you not familiar, this machine has a variety of buttons to select the size of the cup, and even how much creamer you would like. Most importantly, it is cheap. 75 cents will buy you survival; not bliss, but hey, it's caffeine.
I plug in my change, make my selection (strong brew, large, and extra Coffeemate.) My classmate and I are chatting, and then I notice, it dropped the cup down, yet it appears to be empty. I investigate, and remove the cup. It is very hot and full, yet it's white. No sign of coffee. The machine dispensed to me, at the expense of 75 cents, a 12-oz (yah, that's "large"-please, have you seen my normal intake?) steaming cup of creamer!!! It almost evoked tears. I was desperate, desperate for a cup of coffee, and I got creamer. Not to mention that even if I had been brave enough to give the machine another go, I had used every cent in my little coin purse, and the Nescafe machine does not take plastic. "So wrong,"I kept muttering the whole 3 flights up to my class, "So wrong."

The good news is, as observed in earlier blog posts, I can run to Starbucks if I have 15 minutes. So, after forcing myself through 1 hour and 15 minutes of class, I bolted down the stairs, grabbed my books, dashed down the block (yes, I actually ran,) got my Pumpkin Spice Latte, dashed back and made it into my seat with one minute to spare. As I enjoyed my liquid joy in a paper cup, I noticed that Starbucks has a new slogan: "We don't just want to make your drink; We want to make your day." Mission accomplished, Starbucks, mission accomplished.

Recipe of the Week: Italian Mini-Chicken Pot Pies

For those of you who don't know, I spent the last three years writing weekly e-newsletters (a weekly email with updates, opportunities and a recipe) to the 1,000 partner non-profits with Food Bank of the Rockies. I had a section called Kookin' with Kelli that featured a recipe using items that were currently available at Food Bank of the Rockies. I was missing that part of my week, so I have been testing out some new recipes on my husband and father-in-law. I don't know that you'll get a recipe every week, but we'll see how this goes.
Last week, I made the Eggplant Lasagna, which was pretty tasty! It left me with some leftover ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, fresh basil and tomatoes. My mission yesterday was to use up some of these things, as well as some grilled chicken breasts we had leftover from another dinner. Result: Mini-chicken pot pies (the recipe called them "ricotta cups" which didn't seem to sell my audience on them, so Andy called them chicken pot pies.)
They were a smash hit with both Andy and Mike, and me, of course! They were very easy, especially since I had the cooked chicken on hand. We served it with a salad and everyone was stuffed!
Recipe of the Week: Italian Mini-Chicken Pot Pies
1 9-inch pie crust (thawed if using frozen)
2 cooked chicken breasts, diced
1 cup ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
1/2 shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. shredded Parmesan cheese
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 Roma or plum tomato, diced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Line 8 cup muffin tin with paper liners or spray with cooking spray. Divide pie crust into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, then press into muffin cup so that crust comes 3/4 the way up the side. Set aside.
Combine chicken, ricotta, cheddar, 1/4 cup of Parmesan, eggs, mustard, basil, tomato, salt and pepper and mix well. Evenly divide mixture among prepared muffin cups. Top each with remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake 20 minutes, until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Delicious! Enjoy!
Serves 4

Touch Football Semi-champions!

Since everyone seems completely astonished that I would play football, let me start by saying, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, y'all!" I admit that I hate running, and sweating, so I can see where you are coming from, but I do love football. I decided this could be a great opportunity for a few laughs and to get to know some of my classmates better. My team is the up top picture, compliments of the team photographer, my husband Andy, of course!

A handful of my classmates and I faced of against the sections from the 2nd and 3rd year classes for the Touch Football Tournament, and we won the first two games, then lost the championship game to one of the 3rd year teams. I contribute this largely to exhaustion and heat. Sweltering would probably be an overstatement, but see the next paragraph for why even a normal heat would make me sweaty.

The rules of also stated that at least 3 girls must be on the field at all times, and that for every 3 plays, a girl must touch the ball at least once. Like most of the other teams, we had few girls. At first we had only 4 girls, and 13 guys. We successfully convinced one of our onlooking classmates to play after one long sweaty game so that we could have more girls to rotate in so each of us could get some more downtime. That made a huge difference!

The first pic of me, to be fair, is after the ball bounced off my leg. I am actually a pretty terrible catch, but I worked hard to do defense. While we were out to have fun, and we did, some teams were a little more, how shall I say this? Evil. We didn't let it get in the way of a great day. Even though we didn't win, everyone on my team was really great and I was really proud of myself for running all afternoon.