The after-math

Ahhhh, its done.

Finally.

Y'all I have taken this test THREE TIMES.

That is bananas.

BC went down to Tampa with me on Sunday.

I really hate that place with every fiber of my being don't mind the trip.

**Let me interrupt right now and say I am watching Sweet Home Alabama on CMT. This show is SO DUMB**

Anyway, we stopped at our traditional Cracker Barrel for dinner, where the same woman with the ridiculous extreme comb-over rang up our bill. (I HATE THAT I HAVE BAR EXAM TRADITIONS)

We crashed at the hotel and hung out all day on Monday. I went through Florida Civil Procedure that day, one of my weakest subjects, and figured it'd probably help to have all that fresh on my brain.

Tuesday sucked. Florida testing all day. Essays in the morning, MC in the afternoon. The essays were contracts-ish, family law, and property-ish. Of course, on this side of it all I can think is OMG I TOTALLY FORGOT TO SAY ANYTHING I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT XYZ I'M SUCH A TOTAL RETARD I'M GOING TO FAIL AGAIN. That afternoon was multiple choice, which was FL evidence, Fl civ&crim pro, and wills. WE GOT WILLS. I almost peed myself. The last two administrations it had been the first two plus partnerships and corporations. So I was way excited to see wills WITHOUT trusts.

That night, I got back and completely crashed. We went to the Whole Foods (LOOOOOVE) and got pizza and gelato. Another tradition. (DON'T WANT ANY MORE BAR EXAM TRADITIONS. SEND HALP.)

Once we got back to the hotel from dinner-ish, I started feeling like I had a sore throat.....and it only got worse from there.

I woke up Wednesday morning, and felt HORRIBLE. I woke BC up and told him I need cough drops STAT. He went and bought me some $400 Halls from the hotel mini-store (tiny over-estimate) and I got ready to leave.

Needless to say, I wasn't really jazzed about taking the MBE portion with a horrible sore throat. I was popping Halls like they were going out of style. I'm just hoping I didn't get too distracted during all that from being sick. We'll see.

I said this on Twitter, but y'all the worst part about taking the bar exam in Florida is that you have to take the bar exam with people who want to be attorneys in Florida. I can't handle the doucheyness. It makes me want to go on a face punching rampage. These people don't have fear. They have exhausting amount of snobbery and smugness. Its infuriating.

I knew some people who were taking this administration. One guy I interned with a couple summers ago and two girls from undergrad. One of the girls, let me make up a name here....hmmm....I'll call her...Schmether.

Schmether went to undergrad with me and was in one of the sororities when I rushed (I didn't rush immediately upon entering school, but we were in the same year in school). She was in one of the sororities that pref'd me all the way up until the end, like hardcore "we want you, you will be here, etc., etc." (which I HATE) and so I got all attached but didn't get a bid. Which is whatever, I loved the sorority I joined and made some great friends. So it all worked out, like they say it always does. But it always bothered me a bit that they did that. I found out later that certain group did that to a lot of girls, which just sucks. Don't do that, you know?

So, anyway, I randomly saw Schmether, which I didn't expect to do in a crowd of 4,000 people, but she was talking to people so I just stood nearby. I happened to be wearing a bid day shirt, not on purpose, it just happened to be on top when I was grabbing t-shirts when packing. It was hot pink. I was kinda hard to miss.

I could hear them talking, Schmether was essentially yelling about something related to how hard she studied and how awesome she is, and then all of a sudden she stops so I kind-of turn my head and see all of them out of the corner of my eye staring at me. So I keep turning around and say "oh HEY HOW ARE YOU!" In my super-excited-and-totally-fake-but-you-can't-tell-its-fake way, as is required of me as a Southerner. She looks at me and gives me this horrifically fake smile and says "oh hey. I'm fine." There was a further sentence exchanged about something about us almost being done and then she stopped talking and just stared at me. I took that as my cue to turn around and mind my own business.

People, don't be like that. Don't be a hateful B. I don't care who you are, where you went to school, whether you went Greek or not, what sport you played, who your family is, what law school you went to, what color your hair is (unless it is really gross and needs to be washed or something), just DON'T BE LIKE THAT. It always comes back tenfold. You can't treat people that way. You'll get smacked down in some fashion, I promise.

I ended up randomly finding the other girl I went to undergrad with and we chatted some Wednesday morning. I had hoped to keep conversation confined to the weather and how many disgusting TOMS shoes I saw everywhere, but alas, she kept keeping the conversation going back to how many activities she was involved in during law school and how many job opportunities she has had and how awesome her federal judicial clerkship was.

Why can't we just talk about the weather and disgusting TOMS shoes? ...sigh...

Barzammers

To all the sweet lil barzam takers who are finding my blog while scouring the web with searches like:

- status updates bar exam
- you won't fail the bar
- I want to fail the bar
- blog, fail the bar
- and someone who apparently got to me through facebook, which is kinda scary

I want to give you all a big hug. You're going to be fine. There's nothing that anyone can say to make you feel better. No one understands. (Except those of us who've had the trouble of doing this at least once.) My husband joked that people who take the bar exam get to sit in the treehouse while everyone else who has to take a professional level test stands on the ground. Our test is harder, scarier, and more ridiculous than all of them. He said those of us who have to take more than one bar exam get to sit on the top of the treehouse and throw rocks at everyone below us. That made me smile :)

Seriously, keep studying if you want, or don't if you need a break. Look over stuff tomorrow, or don't if your test starts Monday. Just get good sleep and a decent breakfast (those are more important than just about anything on test days) and shut out the crazies who want to talk about the exam.

Hang on until Wednesday/Thursday, and then go do whatever you've been waiting to do all summer. You deserve it.

Good luck to all those taking it!! Just keep breathing :) I'm saying a little prayer for us all!!

xo SJ

DELICIOUS food!

Everyone who knows me know that I l.o.v.e. Pioneer Woman and Tasty Kitchen. I'm still getting my cooking legs, so I haven't really put any recipes up on the website yet, but I an really enjoying experiementing.

I had a recent bad blueberry muffin experience, and I was feeling down. BC was sweet enough to say they tasted ok. But I know the truth.

Anyway, I wanted to share some really delicious recipes: one that is tried and true and one that is new and so good!

Italian Sausage Sauce (modified from italianfoodforever)

- 1 lb ground Italian Sausage, mild or spicy
- 2 cans of tomato sauce or diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled & minced
- 3 TB olive oil
- salt and pepper
- dash red pepper flakes
- 4 tsp dried basil

In a small saucepan, saute the italian sausage. When cooked, drain. In another large saucepan, saute the onion in the olive oil until soft. Add the garlic. Saute for a minute of two. Add in the sausage. Add in the tomato sauce, then red pepper flakes and basil. Bring up to a boil and then let simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Seriously, y'all this is the best pasta sauce I've ever had. I will never ever eat a jarred pasta sauce again.

Next up:

Squishy and Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from The County Cook)

- 1 stick butter, cold and cubed
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1 3/8 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chocolate chips/chunks

Cream butter and sugars together. Add the egg and vanilla and beat together well. Add flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder into the mix. When all combined, throw in the chocolate and mix until chocolate is evenly mixed in. Scoop dough onto a cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls. Its best if you can bake the cookies on parchment paper. Cook for about 10-12 minutes at 375*. Cook for less or longer, depending on how gooey you like your cookies!

Sorry I don't have any pictures. I'll try to update and add some later.

Give these recipes a shot, you won't be disappointed!!!

Hard head

I got hit in the face by the dog. Of course, its my fault, but seriously, dogs have to have the hardest skulls on the planet. And they always want to headbutt you on some sensitive area that will totally leave a mark.

Luckily, nothing blue or purple yet. But I'm sorry to say that I should have learned my lesson the first time. My roommate's dog hit me in the face and gave me a black eye during 3L year. It hurt RUHL BAD. My eye like immediately turned purple.

I had fun making up stories for that one. Unfortunately it was above my eye, so it looked like I was just trying to rock purple eyeshadow on one eye. ('Cause that's normal.) And with people being as obsessed with how they look as Alabama ladies are, you'd think I'd get more questions. Regardless, the people that did ask, I started telling them my roommate did it. Stuff like "hey SJ, what happened to your eye?" *look over at roommate and start bawling* "I said I was sorry, but he just kept hitting me!"

Of course my roommate, the turd that he was, just laughed and played along.

This time BC said, "oh great, now everyone's going to think I hit you or something."

I said "don't worry honey, no one will believe that. I'm too mean."

xo

Instant Latte!

So I meant to do this post a really long time ago because I had, like, taken pictures and, like, wanted to look all professional and cool.

But then it got messed up and I forgot. But now I remembered, so....you're welcome.

I discovered, thanks for the Food Network magazine, and super simple way to make a latte.

All you need is:
- fresh brewed coffee
- milk/half-and-half/cream, whatever you go with
- sugar/sweetener, if you use it
- whisk

1. Pour a little milk (or whatever you drink w/ your coffee) into a coffee cup. I used about 1/4 to 1/3 of the cup filled with milk.

2. Stick the cup into the microwave for 30-50 seconds, just enough to warm it up and not scald it. More or less depending on how much milk is in the cup.

3. Take the cup out of the microwave. Stick the whisk in the cup, into the milk. Put the whisk between your two palms and move them back and forth really fast (I don't have a picture of me doing this.) You'll start to see the milk get all frothy.

 

4. Pour in the coffee. It'll go right in and won't mess up the pretty frothiness on top of the cup! You can add any sugar or whatever at this point. If you whisked the milk for a long time, you won't have to worry about losing the fluff on top from the weight of the sugar/sweetener.

And voila! Instant latte. It works even better if you use milk with a higher fat content. I usually use skim, which gets you minimal fluffiness, but onetime I used half-and-half, and woah buddy, it looked amazing.

So, if you're poor like me, give this a try. It makes boring homemade coffee a little more exciting!

God wouldn't let you fail the bar exam

This was a distressing comment I read on a friends fb post the other day. She is taking the Tennessee bar exam for the first time at the end of the month, and hopefully for her, it wil be the only time. She made a status update about being stressed, and a friend of her commented that she needed to rest in the fact that God would no let her fail the bar.

I take some issue with that.

I love the Lord. I try to live my life as close to what the Bible says. Sometimes I fail, sometimes my faith is weak, and sometimes I don't pray like I should. But I know that God loves me, Jesus died for my sin, and I want to spend eternity in Heaven. 

I am not saying that to pat myself on the back. I'm saying that because I know, due to all those things, God has a plan for me. I have no idea what that plan is, but I'm living in it and trying my best to be patient as I travel down my little tiny sidewalk of life.

Now. God is not a genie in a magic lamp. He isn't Santa Claus. Praying is not like having 3 wishes or making a list one night and waking up to your "prizes" the next morning. But, for some reason, people have that idea. That if you are a "good enough" Christian, you will be "rewarded" with good things. 

So: am I not a good enough Christian because I didn't pass the bar exam?

Is this person implying that good Christians pass the bar exam and heathens don't?

As Amie so eloquently responded: how do we explain all the Jewish lawyers?

Now look, I understand this person was just doing their best to be super encouraging to my friend. I mean, I'm not dumb. I get it. For some reason, people feel the need to be over-the-top super duper encouraging to you while you are preparing. Which, I don't know about anyone else, that just made me hyper-aware of the fact I might fail.

So here's the deal. Following in Legally Fab's footsteps, I'll say it too: You might fail the bar exam.

Even bigger...

GOD MIGHT LET YOU FAIL THE BAR EXAM.

Its a terrifying thought. I know. I've lived it. TWICE.

It is a harrowing thought that you might fail.

But you know the MOST astounding thing? You won't die. You're life will continue. You'll wake up the next morning and continue to breathe. (Unless, I suppose, its just your time.)

I have to admit, I struggled with that. I struggled last September and I REALLY struggled this past May. Asking why I, a good little Christian girl, would be cursed with failing the bar exam? I mean, certainly God is bigger than a test and could make my brain know every single answer to every single question. So why wouldn't He?

Answer: I wasn't supposed to. That has been the single hardest thing to learn over this past year. I wasn't supposed to pass. Why? I don't know. Looking back, I can see how it forced me, completely and utterly FORCED me, to rely on Him. And you know, funny thing, He provided. I kept my job longer than any single human fail-er I've ever known. I had a government job and they kept me past two failings. How unheard of is that?! I've been allowed to leave my job, three times now, just leave all my responsibilities on my desk, to stay home and study. WHILE I cover my family in insurance. How crazy. 

Now, would life be easier if I was already sworn in, celebrating what would now be my first year in practice? Of course. But "what good is it for a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36). If life was one long cake walk, what would be the point? 

Look, here's the truth. You might fail. There is always that chance. Especially in Florida. You might fail more than once. I'm living proof that its a possibility. And even though you may feel like it will, your life won't end. You'll cry a lot, sit in dark rooms, stew over the fact your friends are getting sworn in and not you, and cry some more. But, ultimately, you'll get back up, keep working, and try again. 

That's the truth. 

So look, God might let you fail the bar exam. But remember, His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). Someone told me one time that our lives are like staring through a straw...we can only see this tiny hole in front of us, when there is a whole system working outside of us we don't even know or understand.

In a couple of weeks we all head to the big cities to take the test, for the first, second, third, etc times. If you are a believer, I urge you to allow God to work in your life right now. Don't rest in the fact that He will cause you to pass. Rest in the fact that He is working out an amazing plan in your life, and you're just along for the ride.

Words of wisdom from the Kaplan PMBR dude

At the end of my FL Crim Pro video, the professor told a little story. It went something like this:

There one was a judge named Kenesaw Mountain Landis up in Illinois. He was a very mean judge. Apparently he was so mean, he became the first commission of the MLB becuase they wanted a mean commissioner. Anyway, one day he was sentencing a guy to 10 years in prison (which, apparently, in that day was like a jail sentence) and the guy he was sentencing said "Judge, I'm old, I can't do ten years!!" to which the judge responded "do the best you can."

And with that the Kaplan guy said he says the same to us, "do the best you can."



Not going to lie, I kinda liked that story.