The Story Behind the Surprise

I guess I left you all hanging in last week’s post, didn’t I?

I’m sorry! If you only knew how crazy the past eight days have been, I think you’d understand. But that’s a post for another day. I really did write a nice long post about the surprise visitor from last Friday but somehow Blogger ate it.

That’s ok, because now I have video to show you what happened. Here’s the set up…

Hubs has been in France since early January, studying law, doing interviews for internship, having fun eating at cafes and sending me macaroons. It’s a good gig, if you can get it! A few weeks ago, we realized there was a week-long break in his schedule at the end of February. We went back and forth, trying to figure out if I could get over there to Europe to vacation for a bit while he wasn’t in classes. For many various reasons (my foot surgery being only one of them!), we weren’t able to make it happen. We were bummed, but we moved on – after all, we knew going into this semester that it would be a while before we could see each other again. We were determined to get on Skype and talk more, email more, and just wish the days away so we could be together again.

Well, these past few weeks have been harder than most for some reason and I was really kind of bummed. I wasn’t looking forward to this major foot surgery coming up (more on that later) because who likes anesthesia and getting cut open? But my mom was coming to help me out so I did have that to look forward to. In any case, Hubs’ cousin asked if I wanted to come to her daughter’s elementary school variety show last Friday because Scrappy really wanted me to come watch her dance. My mother-in-law kept texting me, telling me I should come, and that it would be good for me. I told them I’d think about it, because I had a big work weekend after that and I didn’t know if I would be up for it.

In the end, I decided to go because it would make Scrappy happy and of course, who doesn’t love kindergarteners through fifth graders singing and dancing to silly songs? :) So Friday night comes, and I drive way south to Arnold to the variety show. I meet up with the in-laws and we’re hanging out, watching the kids dance. They’re adorable, by the way.

Then, after Scrappy has done her two dances, my father-in-law gets up and motions for me to join him in the lobby. My mother-in-law does the same thing, asking me to come to the bathroom with her (say what?) for some reason. Rolling my eyes, wondering what in the world has gotten into them, I get up to follow.

In the lobby, my FIL stands by the floral stand, asking if we should get Scrappy one flower from each of us or a bunch of flowers or what… and then, someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around to see my wonderful husband standing there. My brother-in-law caught it on his iPhone:

Apparently, when I get surprised, I can’t talk and I just cry a lot. But to be fair, I had NO idea he was going to be there! I really was surprised. The whole family had known for weeks, because they had been setting this up for me.

I really am quite loved.

What does a married lady do when her husband is abroad for a semester, anyway?

I’ve been a little quiet over the past few weeks, both on the blog and on Twitter. Someone commented on it the other day and I realized that I haven’t really posted in a while. What have I been up to, you might ask yourself? How am I keeping myself busy while my dear husband is studying international law in ole Paris? I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…

I managed to open a bottle of champagne on my own! Had to get Bachelorette Girl to take this picture of me to document the occasion. I’m such a dork.

I love my Keurig. So much.

Bachelorette Girl and I went to a chocolate and wine tasting a few weekends ago. Awesome!

I keep forgetting my keys in the front door. Hubs would always bring them in when he found them, but a few times, I’ve been finding them still in the lock the next morning. Whoops!

I’m at it again – organizing on a weeknight.

Law School Prom! This was such a fun night out at Union Station with all of our friends. By the way, that brown dress I have on? Well, it was altered when I was a bit bigger, so I kept having to hike the silly thing up. But Hubs requested I wear the big fancy ball gown and he was so right – I fit right in with all the other prom dresses.

I got to travel for work this past week! We went to KC for training and I actually enjoyed it. Yes, I needed four bags for a Monday through Wednesday trip, but whatever! The purple suitcase is my new one off Amazon, because the old honeymoon luggage is in the shop.

Beer? Me? Never. But then on Thursday night we had a beer tasting for the alum club and you know what? I actually LIKED the beer! It’s a summer one and tasted yummy with the lemon. We might have found one that works for me!

 

So drinking, cleaning and travelling. That’s what I’ve been up to these days. What’s been going on in your lives?

Wallowing is a Good Thing, Sometimes

So yesterday I said “see ya later” to my husband, while he studies abroad. We didn’t say goodbye, because that has a real finality to it. So we just said “see you in a few months” instead. After he got on the plane, I went and had lunch with my mother-in-law, who was waiting on the other side of security. Honestly, I pretty much wanted to go home and be by myself, but it was nice to chat with her after seeing hubby leave.

Besides that, I also had a SLU young alumni function later that day that I really didn’t want to go to. I ended up going, because I figured I needed the social interaction while I was down in the dumps. After being out at the basketball tailgate for a bit, I bailed and went home to be by myself. Because? I wanted to wallow in my sadness.

You know how a good hard cry can just make you feel a million times better, when it’s a long time coming and it just has that cathartic feeling afterwards? I felt the same way about being home alone last night. Lots of friends had asked if I wanted to come over and hang out, go to dinner, go to the basketball game. But honestly? I just wanted to be alone. I was sad and I wanted to alone and wallow in that sadness.

I came home and changed into pjs, poured a huge glass of white zin and put on Downton Abbey and a bunch of other DVRed shows. I went through the backlog of my Google Reader, drank my wine and watched TV. Then I fell asleep on the couch. After dragging myself to bed for a good night’s sleep, I feel like a million bucks this morning.

I allowed myself to wallow in the sadness of my husband being gone for a bit, because I knew that’s what I needed. Had I just put aside the feelings and gone out or just forced myself to be happy, I would have dragged out the sadness of being alone.

But I only allowed myself to wallow for the day. One afternoon and evening of sadness was all I was going to give myself. Now, I’m doing laundry and cleaning the house, including removing an entire Christmas tree worth of needles from my carpet. Because those things need to get done. I’m done being sad – because I don’t have time to be sad anymore!

Had I not allowed the sadness to take over my day yesterday, it would have dragged out for weeks. But now I can be productive because I know that he’ll be back just a few months. I can keep myself busy for that long, right?

Airport Goodbyes Aren’t Fun

After spending a few gorgeous days in Disney and then a few freezing days, and then another good day (please don’t ask my why the weather is always crazy for New Year’s when we spend it at Walt Disney World), Husband and I flew home to St. Louis and spent an insane 32 hours of unpacking, laundry, errands and repacking.

At noon today, my husband boarded a plane for Europe; Paris, to be exact. He is going to be there for at least three months, studying European business law. Saying goodbye at the airport was maybe one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. They let me get a companion pass so I got to sit next to him at the gate while the clock ticked down the minutes we had left together before he jetted off to Europe. And then when they called his row to board? I really kind of lost it. For the second time today.

As we were leaving the house, he realized he didn’t have his phone. It must have still been plugged in upstairs. He looked and me smiled, and said he guessed he didn’t need it! We didn’t do the international phone package, because we are planning on using Skype to stay in touch. That way, we can actually see each other’s faces when we catch up! But when he said that he didn’t need his phone, it dawned on me that he was going to another continent where I wouldn’t be able to pick up the phone and call him, or text him, or get in touch with him instantly as I’m used to doing. He was going to be staying at an apartment with a roommate, an apartment where I don’t know where it is, or anything about his living arrangements. Honestly, it scared the scrap out of me. And I lost it. Literally, it was the biggest ugly cry I had let him see in a looooong while. He put down his bags, enveloped me in his big arms, and told me it was going to be alright.

And then he had me get his phone. I’m not sure if he really thought he needed it, or if it was just to calm me down, but it does make me feel better. Long distance charges be damned, if he needs to call me, I sure don’t care about those costs!

If all goes according to plan, I will see him again in May when he comes home for some family graduations. We are all keeping our fingers crossed about his internship possibilities in Europe, which would keep him there until August. I’m not sure I’m hoping that he gets the internship or that he doesn’t, because he would come home earlier if he doesn’t.

Honestly, I just want him to get the education and experience that he needs in Europe and comes back to me as quickly as possible. Because this townhouse is awfully quiet this afternoon with only me here.

What 2012 Has in Store For Us

I’m going to be a single woman for the first four months of January – and I’m kind of excited about it! Sort of.

In Husband’s journey to his JD/MBA, the opportunity to study European Law in France during one of his law semesters popped up. He mentioned it to me two years ago, I think, in the middle of 1L. The program would set him apart from his fellow law students nicely, and he would be able to take the classes in French, thereby increasing his knowledge of the language and the law in another country that might help him get a job after graduation, possibly in Europe! These are wins, people.

Cut to today, when we are actually preparing for him to leave for three months in France. Paris, to be exact. He’s studying a local university for that time, with hopes for an internship after the classes end. I’m trying to figure out how to get over there and visit him, believe you me.

I know many families deal with long separations, as some of my cousins in the military have had to deal with for much longer than three months. But to be fair, he could be gone for as long as seven months with only two weeks’ break in the middle of that, should he get the internship. That’s a long time!

So yes, I’m excited about being on my own for a bit of 2012. It’s going to be hard to be away from him. When he studied in Hong Kong last year for his MBA and that was only for two weeks. By the end of that time, it was starting to get tough. I was so happy when I picked him up from the airport, even though he was crazy exhausted. I can only imagine how happy I’ll be when he comes home from this long trip.

Please remind me of this excited to be on my own bit when I’m complaining in the middle of March that there’s no one to snuggle with as I fall asleep, no one to take out the trash except for me, no one to go on an impromptu date with all those coupons I have for a night out, no one to come home to. Come to think of it, Husband may come home and find a cat in his place!

Apparently, I Am An Old Lady

Source

This weekend showed me the epitome of my old lady-ness as of late.

Example A: staffing a work event on Friday evening at the local science museum with over 380 people in attendance and cooing over one of my volunteer’s most darling two month old baby! I spent a lot of the event cuddling her. Made my uterus ache something fierce.

Example B: going to bed early after previously described work event on Friday night. I’ve always been exhausted after a work week, but I spent three days on vacation this week in Branson with the family. I shouldn’t be that tired after two days of work!

Example C: waking up early on Saturday morning to run with my husband. And not being able to get through the Couch to 5K program, even though I was doing the third week of it on the treadmill a few months ago. Working out is definitely in the sucking position right now.

Example D: eye exam and shopping at Costco after our run. What a Saturday morning

Example E: picking up a bottle of Arbor Mist for the party with the law school kids that Saturday night, rather than drinking their Bud Light

Example F: after drinking that bottle of Arbor Mist at the hours-long party, needing to nap in one of the bedrooms while Husband continued to hang out with his friends

No, ladies and gents, I am not proud of that last one. Everyone apparently kept asking where I was and Husband explained that I had a bit too much to drink and had to sleep it off. An hour after I laid down, he came in to take me home. All the kids were asking if “Mrs. L” was ok – they call me by my full name for some strange reason. It was sort of awful.

The next time Husband wants to go out with the law school kids, we are definitely taking two cars so I can put my old lady self to bed at a reasonable hour. Because that was ridiculous.

The Hazards of Being a Wedding Planner and Attending a Wedding

1. I begin to cry even before the ceremony starts. Because I love Law School Friend and his fiancée that much. And weddings are so awesome.

2. I have to sit on my hands during the processional, when the bride is coming down the aisle. I want to fluff her dress up just right before those doors open up.

 

3. I don’t have anything to do during the ceremony except watch and cry. The hankie gets a lot of use.

 

4. It’s not really a hazard, number four. It’s kind of an awesome point. I can show up to the reception and enjoy myself! I can take lovely pictures of me and my husband at the reception!

The Law School Kids and I head straight to the bar when we hit the reception. We were the first ones there and it was great. There were fried pickles along with the veggies and dip. What an AWESOME appetizer for a wedding.

5. Upon entering the reception room after the cocktail hour, I immediately assess the room. For this one, I totally approve of the decor, even though I don’t usually like chair covers. This one just looks so perfect for the bride. :)

The centerpieces were also really neat – some kind of orange lily and spiky purple thing, all tied together with the river rock in the bottom of the vase. So pretty!

 

6. I didn’t have to release tables or worry about how much food was on the buffet. And when the cake was being cut? I could stand to the side and take pictures, and hoot and holler at the bride to push that cake into her new husband’s face. It was great!

 

7. I had a wonderful time at the Law School wedding of the century. 17 of us took the big trip to Nebraska and we had a blast. A few drinks, some good food, and a dance party out there at the country club. I don’t think they knew what hit ‘em!

 

I think I like attending weddings, almost as much as I like planning them!

Spending Saturday Night on the Town

My brother was in town over the weekend, interviewing for a big scholarship to SLU Law. We hope to find out shortly whether or not he got said scholarship (so if you’re the praying kind, please throw a thought his way!).

That night, there was a fundraiser auction for the Public Interest Law Group for SLU (PILG). Hence, we got all gussied up for the evening:

Doesn’t Husband look adorable? I think I’ll keep him. :)

That purple dress is my new favorite piece of clothing – it’s a Tahari silk dress and is SO comfy. I can wear a normal bra (always a plus) and I can sit appropriately at a table (also good) and dance the night away at the after party (just awesome). Even better, Mom and I found it on sale at Nordstrom’s Rack and she decided I had to have it!

I must admit that taking my brother with me to an event like this, and asking him to get me a refill of Riesling, it’s still strange. I know he’s 22 and almost ready for law school but still, in my mind, he’s 5 and needs my help opening a jar of peanut butter.

He was there that evening with us at the auction, after his interview, but of course I didn’t get any pictures with him. Sorry, Mom!

After the auction, we ended up at the Library Annex and danced the night away with the rest of the law school kids. Brother had a great time! I think he saw himself fitting comfortably in the law school here. Which is a good thing.

Now to hear about the scholarship here, and decide if it’s SLU or a school in Texas. It’s a big decision and one I’m so glad that I don’t have to make!

Law School Outings

A fab shot of the boys at the Super Bowl game

I swear that those kids never actually do any studying.

But I know that’s not true. Because during exam times, I hardly get to see my husband except when I bring him food so he can actually sustain all those studying hours.

In just the month of February, we have been to:

1. A Blues game
2. On-campus arena for a basketball game
3. Old on-campus arena for a rousing game of floor hockey
4. Engaged couples’ apartment for a Super Bowl party
5. Karaoke at a local dive bar
6. The Rep to see the Scottish Play

Plus a ton of coffee shops so me and the hubs could study together.

I just wish I had their energy!

Speaking of floor hockey, this is husband’s shirt for the law school softball team. He wore it to play floor hockey this weekend. We’ve been talking about what to call him on the blog and he suggested this nickname. I vetoed it because the abbreviation would be BS. Am I right on that one? We still haven’t agreed on a blog-appropriate nickname.

Barrister Ball, aka Law School Prom

“I got a feeling, oo oo, that tonight is gonna be a good night!”

Oh Black Eyed Peas, you were so right. It was an awesome night.

We checked into the Hilt0n D0wntown. I found a great deal on Priceline and couldn’t pass it up. It was easier to take a cab to the Fox rather than drive all the way home after the event.

This hotel is just beautiful. It’s called a boutique hotel which is odd for a chain hotel, I think.

 

I mean, this is the lobby – with a big ole chandelier and grand piano in the middle!

I wish I could have hung out here because it was lovely. 

I think this was an old bank, because the gift shop was in a vault! I would have explored more, but we had an important date to get all gussied up for!

We had decided to meet up with the other law school kids at a party room in an apartment building near the Fox Theatre. It was a great place to hang out, take pictures of our lovies all dressed up and get a drink before the Ball.

The party room had some great Art Deco details that I loved.

 

What a great bar! There was another bar in front of this as well.

Don’t we look good together? I think I’ll keep him!

 

A friend of M’s being too good for a picture.

The main event started at the Fox that evening – we were even on the marquee!

We had cocktails in the lobby…

    

Dinner in the theatre…

  

And dancing on the stage!

Now, as an actor, on the stage of the most beautiful theatre in the city, what did I do?

Take pictures of the scenery of course! I may never get there again!

 

Husband and I had a magical evening – with good food, good drinks and even better friends.

The end is near!

The end of finals, that is.

Tomorrow morning, Husband will take his properties exam – the last of four exams over the past two weeks.

The laundry is piled up, the kitchen is a mess, we haven’t spent more than twenty waking minutes with each other in almost two weeks, but we’re almost there.

He’s spent the majority of his time when not sleeping in the law library prepping for all these crazy tests. Property will be one of the hardest ones – two hours of closed book multiple choice questions followed by a two hour essay (he’s allowed to use his notes for that one).

Basically, that’s my idea of hell.

Ugh. I wish we were like one of the other law school couples I know – and know that the end of finals means a bit of a break for a months before the craziness starts again.

Unfortunately, Husband and I aren’t so lucky. He has two weeks off, then a family wedding in Orlando (and a quick side trip to Disneyworld!) and then he’s back for his MBA orientation.

And with that small break, he’ll be going to school 8 hours a day three days a week and twelve hours a day the other two days of the week.

I think it’s going to be like finals week all summer. God save us.

I love massages

84. Get a massage – done!

Husband and I have a friend who is a massage therapist in addition to being a great actor and stage manager. She has her own table and comes to us.

For the rest of the tax return we received and to get Husband ready for finals, we had her come to the townhouse last week and give us both an hour-long massage.

Oh and how lovely it was!

I wish I could get one done every week – if we only had the money!

If you’ve never had a massage, please go out and get one now. If you’re a law student or law school spouse, please sign yourself and/or spouse up for one right now. You probably won’t find someone who comes to your house, but if you can, more power to you! Because it’s seriously the only thing that got us through finals.

Counting the minutes until our next one…

Friend Makin Monday - Super Bowl Edition

Did you watch the Super Bowl?
Is the Pope Catholic? This is an annual tradition for us. It's really the only football game that I pay attention to all year long. Husband has to remind me about a bunch of rules during the whole thing, though.

If so, who were you rooting for?
I didn't really care about the outcome, so I started out rooting for the Colts because I like Peyton Manning - he's so cute! Towards the end, I had to switch allegiances because I realized the Saints just deserve to win.

Where did you watch it/not watch it?
We usually have people over to watch the game on the big screen TV in the mancave but one of Husband's law school friends beat us to the punch - he sent out the Facebook invite before we could. So we were guests this year!

What did you eat?
I didn't have time to make the bacon-wrapped little smokies like I wanted to, so we ended up picking up nibbles at the grocery store. My favorite was the Lofthouse cookies decorated for Valentine's Day - and I was SURE to bring home those extras. :)


Plus some amazing Smirnoff Green Apple. Oh my, they are my favorite!


Favorite Super Bowl commercial?
I absolutely LOVED the Google search commercial. After it was done playing, a collective "aww" went up from the crowd. It was so simple and just lovely!

Least Favorite?
I don't have a least favorite... after the Google and Doritos-slapping-baby, I thought they were all pretty lukewarm. Nothing stood out to me as absolutely horrible.

What did you think about the halftime show?
Eh.

Who do you wish would have been the halftime show?
Anyone whose songs I actually knew. I would have preferred Carrie Underwood to do that rather than the Anthem.

Check out how other bloggers thought of the Game at Friend Makin Mondays!

Start out at the doctor, end up at the pub - really, it's just Tuesday

46. Go to a pub trivia night.

Tuesday was a rough one.

Started out at the OB-GYN getting everything down there taken care of. I'm happy to report that I have a clean bill of health where my lady parts are concerned. Always good to know, don't you know!

But that just starts off the day with a sour note - not that my doctor isn't amazing [because she is] but because all of that business just doesn't make one very happy at eight a.m.

Then it was a day of meetings, like usual, plus a grant proposal to write that was due on Monday. Whoops! Even though we received an extension, I hate doing that - I like being early, not late!

After working late, I zipped over to the theatre and had rehearsal for Noises Off. As funny as the show is, it always takes it out of me, especially because I was feeding the actors lines all evening and had to be on-book to make sure they weren't skipping anything that was VITALLY important to the plot.

So it's nine p.m. and I call Husband to let him know I'm on my way home [no matter that he knows I leave rehearsal when I do because it's on the Google calendar, but it's just to let him know I'm on the road] and he asks me how long it's going to take me to change before we leave for trivia.

Hold up.

What?

Apparently I had agreed to a pub trivia night that begins AT TEN P.M. Why in the world would I have done this, you might ask yourself? Given that at that point in the evening, I'm usually in my pajamas, on the papasan chair, wandering in the blogosphere [thank you, Brad!], and watching whatever's recorded on our DVR. I don't usually go out past seven, because I need my wind down time and what-not.

As hard as it was for me to drag myself out of work clothes and into something cute [that could withstand the smoke of the bars], I actually had a GREAT time. I don't think any of my answers were right because I got overruled by the rest of the time. Did you know that a sonnet only has 14 lines? Because I was sure it was 16.

We had a drink as evidenced by the photo above plus some amazing flash fried green beans with chipotle ranch - not on a diet, but SO yummy!

I'm glad I've got this list to get me to do things I might not otherwise do. That's the point of it, right? I'm having a blast doing them!

A Fancy Hotel? Why, yes, thank you!

23. Spend at least one night in a really classy hotel

I totally forgot that I did this one a few weeks, number 23 on my 101 in 1001 list.

When planning for the Barrister Ball, we decided to stay the night at the hotel where the event was behind held. Honestly, the dance was over at midnight and I knew we'd probably want to do an after-party and I hate worrying about whether or not one of us is sober enough to drive home. Definitely need to play it safe in that regard!

The event was at the Chase Park Plaza - this was the PERFECT place to spend the night! After the dance, we headed upstairs and were snuggling under the most luxurious covers in the biggest bed I have ever seen. It looks a lot like this one:

Source

We even had a suite no less - an entire room with a small area for a desk and chair, a huge couch and two side chairs with which to watch the flatscreen TV plus a closet and minibar.

THEN...

There was the entire bedroom with the aforementioned AMAZING bed. Plus a beautiful bathroom that was entirely too fancy for me to even contemplate showering in. It was quite complicated in the bathtub.

And I'm pretty sure the closet could have held my first college dorm room with space to spare.

It was so nice snuggling in the big soft robe while doing my make up and letting Husband have the bathroom for shaving. I could get used to it!

But alas, I cannot. We would need a small fortune to keep me in the ways to which I could easily become accustomed! We'll just have to save it for special occasions, like Law School Prom.

Barrister Ball or, as they like to say, Law School Prom

We had the pleasure of attending Law School Prom over the weekend.

I really love any excuse to get dressed up and eat a fancy meal and then dance ALL night. The event was at a swanky hotel here in St. Louis known for their good food and amazing service. Needless to say, we were not disappointed!

We were treated to cocktails and appetizers followed by a three-course meal. Being the event planner I am, I guessed the meal before we were served - and got two out of three dead on! The problem was the dessert. I called cheesecake but we ended up with a fancy version of a twinkie and a ding dong! Not kidding, it was a lemon pound cake with raspberry sauce or a chocolate mud pie thing with whip cream. We just laughed about it, but they were actually pretty good.

Later in the evening, a friend of Husband's ordered a few bottles of champagne for the table [who knew that you could even DO that at an event like this?!] so combined with the four-hour open bar, we had a pretty good time.

Needless to say that my husband was adorable and all his friends are just so much fun.

We were seated with many of his law school friends, a few that I knew and a few that were dying to meet me. I felt so loved! With my crazy schedule in the last few months, I wasn't able to go out with his group as much as I would have liked and so hadn't met some of the regulars. They call themselves the "D-Listers" - named after their section letter.

There are some other unflattering pictures of me dancing but I don't think I'll show them here. I'll leave this post with just a rosy memory of the evening of drinks, dinner and dancing.

Can't wait until next year!

It’s all about the Benjamins

At some point, I asked Mike why the school’s financial aid office couldn’t just tell us what the best bank for us was. Apparently there was this scandal back in the ‘80s that prevents them from doing that.

So we were on our own.

After some Google-ing, I came up with three contenders:

• MOHELA
• Wachovia Securities
• Bank of America

All of the companies I researched had the same fees, same repayment schedule and other various details were the same as well. Since graduate school loans are backed by the federal government, this makes sense! But it makes choosing a loan servicer hard, because there’s basically no difference.

MOHELA is the biggest loan servicer in Missouri, and happened to hold Husband’s undergraduate loans. Unfortunately, the customer service that he has experienced over the years and my experience with their phone responders didn’t give me the most confidence in them.

I truly think that whichever company you decide to go with, you have to trust them. You’re going to be working with them for a long time, and spending a lot of money with them. You gotta have confidence in their business.

Law School Swag

I stumbled on this website tonight – and I might be spending a lot of money there!

It’s Cafe Press and this area of the site features stuff for law students!

You can get these different sayings on lots of different things, like coffee mugs and onesies. :)

This one would be great for the little one – if we had one!

Well, this one was a no-brainer.. hehe.

I don’t even GET this one. Do you?

What about this one for May?

Can anyone the movie that this one is from?

This one makes me giggle.

I could have this one right now…

What if there were no hypothetical questions?

I love it! :)

How law school is like elementary school

Husband starts law school on Monday. As long as we’ve been planning for it, I’m actually surprised it’s here so quickly.

I really feel like a mom sending her kid to school for the first time. I don’t know how I’m going to do this for real, like when it’s OUR kid! There are so many loose ends to tie up, but I think we’re on our way:

• Tuition – We’ve paid a ridiculously large sum of money to SLU for the pleasure of Hubs to sit thru long hours of classes and do lots of homework.
• Books  - We have killed a small forest in order to give him the knowledge he needs to get thru his first semester of classes.
• Uniform -
• Clothes – Apparently his other polos weren’t good enough and he needed new ones for law school! Add in a new suit for all those presentations and we’re set.
• Shoes – Oh but he’s going to be walking around campus more than he has been! Since his tennis shoes had holes in them, I figured he would need some new ones. Have you priced tennis shoes lately? Highway robbery!

As we count down the hours (now only one day and eleven hours before his first class), I am trying to set everything in our lives in order so he won’t have to worry about a thing. I’ve done his laundry and bought his shoes, and worried about how to pay for his parking fee that apparently is due in September. I think he’s ready but I’m not sure I am!

It’s scary to think that he’s moving into this new phase of his life while I’m still at my same job. I’m doing everything the same but he’s moving on. I know he’s not leaving me behind – he’s doing this for the both of us – but I don’t think I ever put two and two together until now.

We’ll see where this journey leads us…

This Week in Law School – A Different Kind of Test

Before leaving for the Land of the Mouse last week, Hubs wanted to clear off some Law School items from his to-do list. There is still a lot to do – but the main items this week were loans and medical records.

We signed our Master Promissory Note online with Wachovia – and were pre-approved for our requested amount on the Stafford and the Grad Plus. Yay for being able to pay for books in August!

In any case, Hubs sent SLU the requested copies of his immunization and medical records to the Law School. Not sure why they needed another copy of these records – he did go to the same school for undergrad. Couldn’t they just call the Business School and ask them for a photocopy? Oh well.

After our vacation, Hubs had an e-mail from the school that said they were missing a few pieces. But that wasn’t all. Turns out he needs to have a new TB test and a tetanus booster in order to release the hold on his accounts. Apparently you have to have a recent TB test and the booster, well, given Hubs’ boyish activities, I’m sure he would benefit from the extra protection.

It’s off to the doctor for my dear husband. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that the insurance pays for these! SLU wanted to charge us over $100 for them!

So for this Week in Law School – make sure that you know what kind of documentation is needed for your school. You might need a medical test and who knows how long it may take to get those done. They’ll keep a hold on your account while you take the tests, and therefore won’t be able to register for classes until you do!