how many hours are in a day??

I just got done filling out my schedule for this semester...no, not the one that says what classes you have when so you can tell how late you can sleep everyday and when to schedule lunch dates and naps around those semi-important classes that you will actually make it to on a regular basis. No, no no friends, this is a BIG GIRL schedule that we are required to fill out that will regulate and utilize my EVERY waking moment for the next semester. To say that it is an intense schedule is an understatement. I am overwhelmed just writing (and thinking) about it. My day begins every day, Monday through Friday, at 6am, which I have allotted one solid hour to working out (ok, and showering). That may prove to be the ONLY flexible part of my schedule, in the event that I don't "feel" like working out one (or more) days. Hopefully, once I get into a routine, the whole work out thing will just kinda follow behind. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...and my running shoes somewhere in sight just in case. The next 12 or so hours are devoted solely to the study of law. The studying varies from reading/briefing cases for class, to actually attending lectures, and then post-class reviews of the material. sheesh. It is suggested (pretty much required) that a 1L study 3 hours for each credit hour a day...making a total of around 64 hours a week of study time...plus outlining time, which then bumps that number up significantly. whew. I knew that law school was time-consuming, but I am slowly realizing that it is more LIFE-consuming. I did manage to work my daily schedule out where I would have one day a week, Sunday (my favorite day!) completely free to do whatever I want or need to do. Pretty pumped about that. I am trying to get all of my errands, housekeeping business, etc. out of the way this week before "the real thing" begins next week...I am planning on making a beach trip this weekend while I still have a Saturday somewhat free. I am excited about getting started, but I am feeling a little overwhelmed with all of it after making that schedule. Maybe I should just lay down for a little while to take it all in...while I still have time to lay down.

New Town, New "Life"...and a New Look!

Where did the summer go?? I apologize for the long delay in blogging, but today is the first time I have had a few minutes to even sit down at the computer and collect my thoughts as to what all to blog about! SO much in my life has changed over this summer..even the past week...that I don't even know where to begin.

Beginning with how the rest of the summer went....well, it was definitely the most challenging and amazing summer of my life thus far. I learned so many things about being an effective leader, what servant-leadership should look like from watching my amazing "co-workers", and most importantly, i learned a TON about myself. I have so many people to thank for that, and they definitely know exactly who they are. ;). Not only did I learn alot, but I had a TON of fun!! From late night boat rides w/ solid heart-to hearts, cook outs, early morning wakeboarding, laughing so hard that I cried at the extent we could wear out a good joke, painting kids with paint-rocks at the beach, playing football, solid conversations with top staff girls about life, boys, and camp...the good times were a constant. Sure, I had my moments...days when I was worn out by the sun and frustrated with something that happened at the lake and just wanted to give up, but those were the exact moments that God was so powerful in reminding me the purpose of my job at camp and gave me the strength and encouragement to continue. What a wonderful Father we have.

Camp came to an end for me about a week and a half ago. Wow, I cant believe it's only been that long since I left..it feels like forever ago!! I left camp on July 30th and drove back home to get ready for the big move to Virginia. I had a day and a half to unpack everything from camp (which still hasn't really happened...most of it is laying in the floor of my room at my parents house-sorry mom!) and RE-pack my car and my parents Tahoe with everything I would need for the next 3 years of my life. I spent all day the day before we left running around town with my mom...changing phone services and getting a new number (and a new phone...a blackberry curve, my new obsession), going to the dentist, getting my hair cut, going to walmart, etc. Talk about a CRAZY day. We left Starkville bright and early the next morning headed 16 hours to VA. We finally rolled into Va. Beach around 3:00am (we made quite a few stops along the way...wouldn't be a Holland road trip without 'em) and unpacked just enough to have something decent to sleep on that night. We spent the next two days getting everything settled and set up in my new apartment (which looks so cute thanks to my mom's great decorating ability...i posted a picture of the living room area to give you an idea of what it looks like) and began to navigate the booming metropolis that is Virginia Beach. Seriously, the area is HUGE. I get lost at LEAST once a day around here, even with my new GPS on my phone! We went down to the beach, ate at some good restaurants, and even went to The Hillsong church that me and my parents had found when we visited at Easter.

My new "Life" began officially on Monday, when I started Law School at Regent Law. I am in an intensive 2-week program called the "Academic Success Program", which Regent offers to certain students to provide them with tools and help for succeeding in law school by taking the participants through what actual classes, exams, and the general law school schedule will be like. In the past week, we have had to brief cases, take notes and begin to outline those notes as a study tool (apparently the only way you will make it through law school is if you do an outline for all of your notes and briefs), and apply all of that on a final exam. The class I have been in is Civil Procedure, which basically deals with everything you can and cannot do as an attorney under the Federal Rules. It has been fascinating, but an OVERLOAD of information already. I guess I will just have to get used to that. The classes have been hard, but fun at the same time. My civ. pro. professor was hilarious, so of course I loved him. Both of the professors I have had so far in this program went to Harvard Law School, so they are brilliant and have a TON of experience with the law. I have heard that is the case with most professors at Regent...what a blessing! My favorite part of this school is the fact that we have a devotion everyday at the beginning of the class, which the professors lead and discuss with us, and then they always pray for us at the beginning and end of class. It's SO encouraging to know that they have our best interests at heart and TRULY desire for us all to succeed in school here.

Aside from school, I am having a GREAT time so far in my new town. I have met a bunch of cool people in our ASP class, and we have been hanging out a lot this past week. I went to Wave Church Wednesday night and ran into several of my classmates there and I have really enjoyed spending time with so many people that have similar beliefs and goals. It is also very nice to be able to talk to each other about the nervousness and anticipation we are all feeling at this point! We all went out last night to celebrate making it through our first exam in law school...what a fun night! (some of the group is pictured here) So, so far...so good. I will definitely keep you posted as the next few weeks unfold!

By the way, how do you like the new look of the blog? I thought it was about time to change it up alittle and be more "bloggish." I think I like it!

Update: camp is so great!

i LOVE the new lake crew...13 boys and only 1 other girl besides myself for the first few sessions...but it has been SO fun! The crew is SO solid and I have NEVER in my life laughed as hard as I do with this year's group. (and i laugh ALOT, so that is really saying something) It has been a little overwhelming at times leading so many guys and being so close to the same age as most of them, but I know that God is preparing me for something through this position as Lake Crew director. Luckily, I am not totally alone in my position...the other Lake director, Steven, is amazing. He is on permanent staff, and although he is new to the lake program this year, he has been at camp for a long time and has a ton of experience in relating to counselors, etc. and has been great with all of the guys.

There has been alot of activity on the lake the past couple of days...the wind has been out of control and making huge waves on a normally very smooth lake, and a sailboat turned over two days ago and the mast snapped as it turned over. luckily, all of the kids on the sailboat were saved and are all ok...God was definitely protecting everyone out there. Also yesterday, because of the strong winds and massive waves, the floating dock began to buckle on top of the other dock peices and some of them snapped in two! Again, thankfully, this happened about 5 minutes after all of the children had gone up the hill for lunch, so no one was injured, and the Lake Crew got right to work fixing the remaining dock pieces and making a makeshift dock so that the kids could go back out in the afternoon since it would be their only day at the lake...it was stressful, but watching all of the LC boys stepping up as leaders and figuring out how to re-rig the docks was so awesome to watch. They are definitely showing me qualities that I am looking for in a husband one day!!

Being on Top Staff at camp has been fun too...i love the other top staff and I have made some awesome friendships with some of the other TS girls. It is alot more work than I ever realized it would be coming into the summer, but I have enjoyed the responsibility I have been entrusted with and I am excited about the opportunity to serve as a "counselor" to the counselors at camp and to encourage them throughout the summer.

gone baby gone.

i am officially moving from starkville in the morning. i am headed to camp for the summer and then will be breezing back through starkvegas just long enough to grab my entire life and begin the journey to VA. the past week has been a roller coaster. i have been ready to leave one minute, miserably sad about leaving the next...and every emotion in between. not to mention my best friend got married over the weekend and most of my other friends left town right after graduation. luckily, I got to see my friends Lee and Stuart earlier this week when we all took a trip to see ole' Dick Chaney (again) in Southhaven, and I spent a great night with some other great college friends last night at our old hangout, the OVPC. To top off my Starkville experience, two of my most LOYAL and closest friends, Jake and Jenn, came out to my parents house to say goodbye and make some smores on my mom's new firepit. Jenn was out of her element big time, but i think she enjoyed it, nonetheless.

I have so many pictures from the events of the last couple of weeks, but i am in too big of a hurry to wait for them to upload and decide where to place them in this post...after all, it is almost 1 am and I am STILL not all packed and finished with my things to do before leaving in the morning. I will post at camp, hopefully...until then...if anyone wants to hear from me or just wants to make sure I am still alive and kicking, you can WRITE ME at camp!!

Lori Holland

155 Camp Ozark Dr.
Mount Ida, AR 71957
(that was from memory...impressive, huh?)

I....I.....I.....

ok, so i only made it H in the alphabet game. I have been told on more than one occasion that i lack the ability to commit, and although I think it has been said in context to relationships, it apparently really is true in this case. I couldn't think of a good "I" and I have WAY more to talk about lately than random things I like...so there it is. "I" quit.

A BUNCH has gone on in the past week and a half..hence the lack of blogging. I know my sporadic blogging makes it hard for those *few* committed readers to keep checking back in on me everyday, just to see if maybe I have resurfaced yet...but HERE I AM! I am sad to say that I will not be blogging much at all from May 16th-August 8th-ish...becuase I will be at Camp and then moving to Virginia Beach! But once I get settled and start Orientation, I promise to come back full force to keep everyone updated on life on the East Coast.

So what has been up, you ask? (even if you didn't ask...you know I am going to talk about it anyway)

***Campus Adventures***

A bunch of our college friends met up last Thursday night before graduation to go all over campus to places that have been memorable to us over the past four years at State. We started out at the Sigma Chi house (some good memories, both from high school and college..we get started on college life a little earlier than most people, being from Starkville and all). After we all got there, we went to the Hump...although we couldn't get into the actual coliusuem, we DID manage to get into the boys locker room, where several of us proceeded to put on Charles Rhodes' jerseys, took pictures, and snooped around the entire locker room/lounge area--that is, until we ALMOST got busted by security (or the janitor, we couldn't really tell)--we had to high-tail it out of the room and leap into the already moving truck to escape without incurring criminal charges. That was fun. After that, we went to Hunter Henry and waded in the fountains. That was cold. Then we went to the Davis Wade Stadium, climbed the fence, climbed another fence, and walked right out onto the 50-yard line. We played in the stadium for a while, took some pics, and then left (some of the group got caught and got written up for trespassing...oops). We walked from the stadium to the Chapel, where we all went in and sat and talked for a while (me and Baleigh attempted to play the piano....heart and soul was as good as we got) and then made our way back to the Sigma Chi house through the Junction. It was a night I will always remember...mainly because I have about a hundred pictures to document the night.

***GRADUATION***

I mean what can you say about graduation. I sat through almost 3 hours of rambling and name-calling (not in a bad way, but the actual calling out of names) all for my one half-minute of fame as I walked across the stage to shake some important peoples' hands and get what appeared to be a diploma...oh but no...it was just a cover for a diploma, filled with not even a blank sheet of paper. I found out today that I am actually still ONE HOUR short of graduating, so that little diploma cover was actually a pretty good idea to give to everyone...for all of us out there that wouldn't have had anything to show if they had really been given out that day. *note: my advisor emailed and informed me tonight that they retroactively enrolled me for one more internship credit for the spring so that i don't have to take anything else. and THAT is why I love my department/major.* The few good parts about walking at graduation...special attention, fun robes to wear, good pictures to take with your friends, and a couple of REALLY good meals with the fam. Oh, and the new President told me and Natalie, who got to walk across the stage when I did, that we "never [need to] loose that pretty smile." What a sweetie. I like him already.

***MOVING HOME***

Who knew I had SO MUCH STUFF??!! Saturday after graduation, my parents and Bo and Emily all came and helped me move my stuff home for good. *By the way, I would like to just say that those 4 people are AMAZING. They sat through hours and hours of graduation activities for me and then came and helped me ALL day* For a slight idea of how much crap I had, we loaded up my Xterra, my mom's Tahoe, My Dad's truck (the F250...so there was plenty of room in the back), AND a trailer behind the truck for all my furniture. Now, when I say we loaded them up, I mean we literally packed every single space of every vehicle there with clothes, shoes, purses, pillows, etc. Not only did it take all of our cars, but we had to come back for ANOTHER load after we got all of that home. AND I LIVE IN/AM FROM STARKVILLE....you would think I could have left SOME of that at home over the years?! But the thing is, my room at home is already full of stuff...so you can imagine how much FUN it has (NOT) been to find a place to put everything in my room upstairs, still manage to walk INTO my room and find anything. And the really fun part comes when I have to sort through everything and decide what goes to camp, what goes to Virginia, and what stays in Starkville...all before I leave next week. WHEW...I get worn out just thinking about it!

H is for....

the HOLLAND home

anyone who has spent time at my parents home knows how special of a place it is. My mom is THE BEST entertainer and cook in the world...seriously. I am not just saying that because she is my mother; that girl could throw a huge party with 5 minutes notice..and make it look GOOD. I have loved being so near to my parents while being at State, it is definitely the best part of growing up in a college town. From Sunday lunches, to dinners with my roommates out there (because of our lack of anything to eat at our house), and every occasion in between, my parents have taken mine and my brothers' friends in as family over the past 8 or so years that we have collectively been in college. My house is my favorite place in the world (besides the lake...if only there was a lake AT my house, life would be perfect) and I always know that when I go home, I will be coming home to two wonderful parents, a fridge full of diet cokes, some candy in the candy jar, and pretty much any other food I could want in less than an hour. My house has seen so many people in and out of its doors night after night after night for as long as I can remember. I grew up that way, which I am very certain is why me, Bo, and Jack could talk to a brick wall and it be an entertaining conversation.

JUST LAST NIGHT, my mom and dad threw me a SURPRISE graduation/going away party at their house. ALL of my college friends came and we ate (and ate...and ate) and just hung out with each other one last time before we all graduate and move off to all different places. The house was SO cute...maroon and white State stuff everywhere, law books, etc. all over the place. It was definitely a night I will never forget. I posted some pictures below of the night and the house, so you can see for yourself why the Holland Home is so special to me.

the front porch (pre-food)

one of the tablesand the other table after dinner

G-unit. ok, no...just G.

i just didn't feel right about blogging about this one until i could see the finish line....but i am one test away...so here it comes....

G is for GRADUATION!!!

finally! i know, i know...i still have three more years of law school ahead of me..but there is just something about having that degree finally under your belt...it feels wonderful. with only one more final to take (and a ridiculously easy one, at that) i can see the end...and it looks GLORIOUS. can you tell i am glad to be finished??

Looking back over the past four years at Mississippi State, I am truly amazed at what I have learned. Mark Twain once said, "I never let school interfere with my education," and I couldn't agree more. Sure, I have learned a thing or two about empirical research and democratic theories, campaign processes and public policy...but the lessons I have learned in my day-to-day life are far more important than any literature poem or spanish verb (that i couldn't even conjugate now...love that memory of mine)

some important lessons i have learned in college worth sharing:

1. you find out what TRUE FRIENDS are in college. you also learn along the way, often through experiencing those friendships, how to BE a true friend. The ones that build you up (and you build up) are the keepers. I also learned not even to waste my time on people who I would leave feeling worse about myself than I did before I was with them. stear clear.

2. Having a solid and REAL relationship with God makes ALL the difference in your everyday life. I would know..I lived on both sides of the fence during college- most of the time riding the fence between the two- and the past year has been the most joyful and rewarding year of my life, because I have let God have control of my heart, mind, friendships, and lifestyle. Trust me..it is better that way. Once again, I would know.

3. ROAD TRIPS are the best thing that ever happened to the college experience. Whether it was football games, a concert, retreat, visiting friends' hometowns, or random trips to the beach for the weekend...you name it, I did it. and very spontaneously most of the time..which is definitely the way to go, in my opinion. Not only are the conversations in the car usually really good, but I will probably be telling my kids stories of the "good ole' days" in college and reminiscing about each road trip in great detail. they were that good. So if you are still in college...GET ON THE ROAD!

4. You feel a thousand times better about yourself when you EXERCISE. I have gone through stages in college of working out 2 or 3 times a day (that obviously didn't last too long) and not working out at all (and let me tell you, once you stop...it's SO hard to get back into it!) I think I have, over the years, found a healthy medium somewhere in there. I have more energy when I go for a walk or run during the day, and I definitely have begun to use that time alone more wisely...i do ALOT of thinking when I work out.

5. Summers should NOT be spent in school!! Unfortunately, this will be my last summer to not have to spend in the real world. The way I see college is, you have to study most of the year, and you for sure are going to have to work the rest of your post-graduation life, so why not take a few months a year in college and do something FUN? I pride myself in never having to take summer school. Did I have to take alot of classes during the semester? yep. Totally worth it. I have spent the last four summers: living/working at the beach in Florida (a brief stay...but a good one while it lasted), working a whole summer on the lake at a Christian sports camp, interning in Washington, DC (it sounds like a real job....but if you know anything about interns in DC, you know what its really all about), and this summer I will be going BACK to camp to head up the Lake Crew. makes me sad to even think about this being my last summer. so i wont.

6. I could probably go on for way longer with this post than anyone cares to read, so I think I will just end at 5. or maybe i will just give a short last one...

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE MISSISSIPPI STATE.

if State is not your alma mater....I am sorry for you. truly.
(i am aware that this is not a lesson, but a statement. don't judge me for that.)