change of plans?

a potentially MAJOR update:

so i found out today that i am eligible to "visit" another law school next spring for my final semester of law school. As in, one in Texas. (insert a very excited shrieking noise). It just so happens that Erik goes to one of the law schools in Texas that would approve me to take my final 6 credit hours. coincidence? i think not. I need to take several classes that are heavily tested on the Texas Bar and Regent doesn't offer them, and so it is kind of perfect that I can do this. Me and Erik have spent the past few weeks in CONSTANT prayer about God's next steps for us, both as a couple and individually, and as soon as one of my law professors heard about our long-distance relationship and how serious it is getting, she suggested the possibility of either graduating early or visiting the last semester. Apparently, I have too many credits to try to cram into one final semester, and the probability that the Dean and Academic Committees (3 separate hurdles) would approve me to visit another school (without a VERY good cause...i.e. already married and have to move w/ husband) was almost an impossibility. At least, according to everyone I talked to...until today. I am the Dean of Students' Graduate Assistant, so I had a meeting with him today about something totally unrelated- but I took advantage of having some time to talk with him and just asked his advice about my "predicament." He actually met Erik during one of E's visits to Virginia, so he knows about us and how we are doing the whole long distance thing. He told me about his own engagement being long distance (disclaimer: i am NOT engaged- i am just stating what our conversation included) and how it was so hard for them, so he completely understood my situation. Long story short, he told me that he would approve anything I needed to get me to Texas for my final semester. Since he is the Dean of Students, he has the final say in all matters concerning transferring, visting, etc. at Regent. Coincidence that I already had a great relationship with him before knowing transferring would one day be an issue? Again, I think not. So anyway, it seems like doors have been just flying open all over the place the past couple of days- both me and Erik are discovering TONS of legal contacts that we have in the Austin/San Antonio areas.

I also found out today that I am eligible to get my 3rd-year practice certificate, which would allow me to try cases on my own in court before I even graduate...and it just so happens that I am allowed to take up to 2 more externship credits that would count towards the hours I need to graduate. How does this fit together? Well, there is an externship opportunity this summer at Legal Aid, a non-profit organization in Norfolk that offers pro-bono services to low-income citizens who really need legal assistance but cant afford it. (ps, WHAT A GREAT SERVICE!) The best part about this story/opportunity is that I did not know anything AT ALL  about it before this afternoon- the professor I would be working with for the externship credit hours approached ME in the hall (not knowing at all who I was or anything) and just started chatting it up with me...asking about life, interests, etc. After hearing that my interest is mainly in non-profit law, she started telling me all about the externship and how it would be a good opportunity for me to experience NPO's first hand. Oh and then the part about trying cases-on my own, as a student, came up. Um, that's all she neeeded to say- I was already sold.

All I can say, is that God is SO FREAKING cool, and awesome, and WISE, and creative in his plans for our lives. I cant stop thanking him for what he is doing in my life right now. wow.

                  if those dimples aren't a good enough reason to get to texas, the muscles should do it. :)

the life of a professional traveler.

the past month has been nothing short of CRAZY. i know, i know, i feel like every time i finally get around to blogging I end up saying that, but I promise the combined months of December/January take the cake. As if finals weren't crazy-stressful enough themselves, I spent the weekend before finals in Mississippi for Bo and Em's wedding. Taking a break was totally worth it- the weekend was SO MUCH fun and so so sweet- it was a memory I will never forget. Two weeks and 5 finals later, I hopped on a plane and flew to Texas for the weekend to see Erik and hang out with his family. had a great time and LOVED the family. Then home to Mississippi for about a week for Christmas....the best part of the break for sure! I got to see MARGARET the night I flew into MS for our once-a-year get together, and I made it back to Starkville just in time for the S'ville Christmas Party at Barrister's the next night to see all of my old friends. so fun. The weekend after Christmas, we (me mom and dad) headed BACK to Texas to visit Erik in Austin and then to Houston to help Bo and Em move into their new apartment. It was a crazy few days, but we got them all moved in (they have an awesome place in Midtown) and Erik even came and helped move one night....what a doll. The day before NYE, I flew to New Mexico to spend a few days with Sarah in AngelFire, where her family lives and has a cabin near the resort. We snowboarded for a few days (well, until my butt was literally numb from falling down so much) and spent the rest of the time sledding, hiking, eating, and sleeping. I don't know if I am necessarily sold on snowboarding after that trip, but I definitely enjoyed the challenge. I did hate the cold weather though...too much altitude for my preference....i think I will stick with the lake and wakeboarding from now on. :)

After spending TWO days back at school, I unpacked, repacked and left again for California to go to the National Championship Game in Pasedena (my Christmas present from E) and then spent the weekend in Santa Monica with Erik and his friends. It was definitely one the best trips I've ever taken....we stayed at Erik's aunt and uncle's house (in a legitimate mansion....think elevator, maids, etc.) and the view from the balcony in my room overlooked- the mountains to the right, city to the left, and ocean directly in front. not bad. We spent the weekend hanging out in LA, riding bikes from Santa Monica to Venice Beach, and eating some really good meals. The weather was perfect the whole time- needless to say, I did NOT want to come back to Virginia to the cold and tons of school work piling up really fast.

I am FINALLY home for a couple of months- I have enjoyed getting back into a routine and getting school under my belt....i have a really tough load this semester so I am trying to stay on top of things before Younglife and my internship kick back up full force. But if this month is any indication of what the rest of the year is going to be like....all i know is that it's gonna be a good one. :)

thankfulness

i stole this from LT's blog....i LOVE lists and i also have so much to be thankful for, so i knew this would be fun to do!

my ABC's of THANKSGIVING

Abraham Lincoln. he was a very good man...wish we still had a President like him.

my Beach House. coming home to the beach is consistently the best part of my day.

Christmas. both for the festivities and for the reason we celebrate it.

The Davidsons- my Virginia Beach family (and best friends)

Erik. the most amazing boyfriend in the entire world. (even though he refuses to read my blog)

Food. any and all.

God. He's so good to me.

the Hollands. I have the coolest family.

my Immune System...it fought off MONO...and won.

Juris Doctor (J.D.)---> my official title/degree in only year and a half!

Kids. i love everything about them.

Lentz Bergethon, LLP....my law firm. they make work exciting.

Music. worshiping, running, driving, sleeping, studying...it is vital for every activity in my life.

New Beginnings.

Ozark. that place changed my life.

Panera. one of the only reasons i made it through my first year of law school (free wifi, unlimited coffee, french onion soup)

Queso. (see also, F and T)

Regent Law School. good professors, beautiful campus, encouraging classmates.
Seasons. i love the way everything changes every once in a while.

TEXAS. my future domicile.

U. if you are reading this, there is a good chance we're close friends....so thank U for being in my life.

Vegas...Starkvegas, that is.

Winter Clothes. i LOVE dressing warm in cold weather- boots, coats, sweats, scarves, etc.

X-rays. It found my appendicitis last year (just in time, so that i didn't die of a ruptured appendix!) it's a stretch i know...but i'm still thankful for it!

Younglife. my girls are SO AWESOME.

Zzzzzs...although rare with my schedule, i love it when i actually get more than like 5 hours of sleep at a time.

happy thanksgiving, everyone! gobble gobble.

i'm alive, in case anyone cares...

imagine the scene:

i wake up on a miserable thursday morning (as in, the weather outside was miserable), with one thing on my mind- i have to finish a massive research brief before this day is over, and i still haven't packed for NYC, and we are leaving at the crack of down the next day. as i grab my phone to turn the alarm off, i notice that i have 5 new emails- each informing me that school is cancelled---due to the huge storm is currently hitting Virginia Beach. my first thoughts: SWEET, no school, i can spend all day on my paper! my second thoughts: wait, what storm?? Fast forward 30 minutes...sitting on my bed, papers spread all over the place, laptop open...ready to knock this paper out. and BAM- our power goes out. Now what!? No big deal, I have a Mac- these things have an incredible battery life...I should be good for at least a couple more hours before i have to move to another location. Fast forward 15 more minutes...my roommates bust into my room and inform me that we have to EVACUATE my house/the beach within the next hour or else we wont be able to make it out at all the rest of the weekend (due to heavy wind/flooding...., i live ON the beach....the waves were enormous at that point). SERIOUSLY, is this really happening!? all i can think about is finishing this stupid paper, and i still have to pack for the entire weekend before i leave the house- within the hour! I get up, shove all of my books/papers into my bag, grab every suitcase i own and throw almost every jacket, sweater, scarf, boots, and pair of jeans in my closet into them. Pretty sure i set a world record both for "the most clothes fit into a suitcase for one weekend" and the time in which i did it. So i get all 7 bags (seriously) down my 4 flights of stairs, move my car to the garage, and James finally pulls up to get me (he has an SUV and didn't want me driving my car on the roads in the crazy weather) all before our "evacuation time" has elapsed...craziest hour of my life i think. we make it safely to the Lodge- which fortunately had power the entire day- and i can FINALLY sit still and and work my paper! As the day goes on, the backyard of the Lodge begins to flood (as in, the docks were floating around IN the yard) and the boys spend all day wading out into the yard...just to "check the water level" (as if they can't tell just by looking out the window?!) Around dinner time, we think we should brave the storm because we are hungry and there is no food in the house. We get in James's SUV, pass VERY slowly through the raging waters flooding into the road from the lake-which Ryan happily stripped down to his boxers to wade out into to check the actual depth-and we MAKE IT OUT!! we are so proud of ourselves.....we fought the Nor'easter....and we have conquered it.

our victory dinner was held at "Just George's," my new favorite restaurant in VB.

so i finished my paper late that night, re-packed my clothes for NYC before going to bed, and we were able to safely make it out of the city around 8:30 am the next morning (after the bridges opened up again). we arrived in the Big Apple about 10 hours later (due to traffic and a GPS malfunction), ready for a much needed vacation from Virginia Beach and the Nor'easter!!

The weekend was SO wonderful- tons of sight-seeing, eating, walking, laughing, and hang-time with some of my favorite people in the world. I'm already ready to go back- hopefully next time, the preparation for the trip wont be quite so stressful!

i heart november.

november has always been my favorite month of the year, mainly because of my birthday (the 22nd) and thanksgiving, but november this year has been/will continue to be exceptionally great. Every single weekend of this month holds something exciting for me. Beginning with this past weekend- the first full weekend of the month- all of the Younglife schools from Virginia Beach went on Fall Weekend in Rockbridge, VA. It was THE BEST weekend- there were beautiful mountains and trees all around the (really fine) camp, i got tons of hang-time with my high school girls, had some pretty amazing conversations, and ate way more than any human being should. I got about seven hours of sleep-TOTAL-the entire weekend and ZERO amount of school work done, but it was so worth it. Now for the only sucky part of the month- I have a huge research brief due on Friday that I still have SO much to get done on, but I know it will all work out- it always does.

Then onto the next fun weekend- I am going to New York City this weekend!! I have never been before, and I had been telling some of my friends that I really wanted to go one weekend for my birthday since it's only about a 6 and 1/2 hour drive from VB. Well, wouldn't ya know it, Erik just happened to already be going this weekend anyway to attend the Queens Film Festival- how convenient! He wrote a screenplay a while back and submitted it to the Film Festival, and he got chosen as a FINALIST- which means he gets 10 free V.I.P. passes to the Festival/after-parties in NYC. Not only did he give me and some of our friends the passes, but he got us two hotel rooms IN Times Square for the weekend! I cant even concentrate on life right now because I am so excited...He wont find out if he won or not until the awards ceremony on Sunday, but I have read over it some and I think he has a really good shot at winning something. Baller.

To continue my best-month-of-my-life streak, the very next weekend is my birthday! As most of you know, my birthday celebrations last at LEAST a week...my amazing friends have already started planning a huge party and Erik is coming too!! I have talked E into running in a 5K (to benefit adoption) at Regent that Saturday morning, which I am sure we will make into quite a show. I should probably start training for that. nah.

And of course, to finish off the best month ever, THANKSGIVING is the following week! Although I will be studying most of the weekend, I am going to be participating in any and all food-related events all over Va Beach and watching football whenever I can...especially the Egg Bowl. GTHOM.

so i say this with as much enthusiasm as possible.....HAPPY NOVEMBER!!!!!!

what's that smell?

yes, i was a skunk for halloween.

it was the best/worst idea for a costume ever. best because it is just so funny- i mean that's not a typical costume that runs through one's head in trying to decide what to be for halloween. and worst because for whatever reason, the weather decided to be all crazy and it was 80-ish degrees all day and night. i was BURNING UP in that thing. i took it half-way off after about 30 minutes of dancing (mostly because that dancing was to Miley Cirus-on repeat-and i was literally jumping up and down for a straight half hour) but managed to keep it somewhat on for most of the night just because i didnt want to not have a costume on at our party. We had the party at the Lodge, the now-annual Halloween party location for Regent students. There was a really good mix of all of the classes from our school there, and even some randoms that didnt go to Regent. An overall successful night. Ryan did manage to sprain his ankle at some point during our "Party in the USA" dance-off, and he has been milking his injury all week by hobbling around school on crutches, trying to find compassionate girls to feel sorry for him. I have zero compassion because he keeps telling people I caused the injury. Really, Ryan? whatever.

but back to my costume...the best part was the time-released airwick air freshener we attached to my back....we set it to "poof" every 10 minutes. I think I got light-headed smelling the vanilla scent that followed me around everywhere all night. i dropped it about 8 times throughout the night (mostly while dancing) and so we had to fix it alot, but I came in the house the next day to help clean up, and as soon as I saw it laying on floor in the corner, it poofed! good to know it's still keeping the Lodge smelling nice- it sure did need it!

fixing the "poofer," as it was affectionately called all night.

home sweet home

fall break= complete bliss.

apparently, it had been raining for like six weeks straight in mississippi before i came home. however, the day i flew in, it was a beautiful day (a little colder than i would have preferred, but still nice)...and the weather stayed that way the entire week. i must be a weather good luck charm, because the awesome weather followed me back to virginia this week. the leaves were changing colors all over the place in the South- it was beautiful!! i spent the week sleeping in, going for runs on campus, lunch, dinner, and cofee dates every day with some old friends, attending wedding showers, and maybe a half of a day of studying. if that. I have always loved Mississippi as my home, but i don't think i have ever REALLY realized how much I've missed it until this past week. Being on campus for several days made me miss State and being in college so much- seeing so many students walking across the drill field, sitting beside groups of students doing bible studies in the Union, driving by the Cotton District and seeing people hanging out at the Bin in the afternoon....ahhhh, i miss it so much! I love love love where I am in my life right now, and I wouldn't trade it for anything, I just hope that kids in school still aren't taking all of that freedom and community for granted. I know I did for a few years of college, and I am so thankful that God allowed me to realize how much I was blessed in college before I left for good.

In more exciting news from the weekend, Erik made his big Mississippi debut over the weekend! It could not have gone any better. He met the family-even suffered through several sibling squabbles- and everyone really enjoyed being around him. We had a big brunch with the whole fam (everyone and their significant others) on Saturday morning then all laid around and watched football for a while....then I took him to Bops (he loved it of course) and we went to the co-op and bought him some carhart overalls. He looked so Southern in them- i was so proud. :) He put on his maroon bowtie and suspenders while we were getting ready for the game, and although he looked adorable, I wouldnt let him wear them to the game. Maybe next time. We did take some pictures before he took them off, mainly just because i was so proud of the fact that I tied his bowtie all by myself! (we had to watch a youtube video to figure it out- it was an event to say the least) We tailgaited literally ALL day-i think he met everyone i've ever known, and their dog, in that one afternoon. poor thing...but he was a trooper. We were worn out by the time the game started, so we decided to go back to the house and watch the game on TV and rest for a little while. good idea- i probably wouldnt have made it all the way through the game if we would have gone in- although it was an AMAZING game- go dawgs!! i know we didn't win, but the atmosphere the entire day on campus was unlike anything i have seen in Starkville in a VERY long time...SO much excitement and support! Dan truly is the MAN.

do i have the cutest boyfriend or what?! (oh yeah- we're official now.)

I drove back to Virginia with Natalie on Sunday...yes, drove. Natalie's car has been in MS since she moved to DC, and she wanted to bring it back with her when someone could ride with her. This ended up being the perfect weekend to do it. We dropped Erik off in Bham at the airport early Sunday morning and just kept on driving the whole day- made it to Va Beach about 11pm that night....it was actually a REALLY fun drive- we sang, we talked, we danced, we looked at the pretty trees, we danced some more...it was a great bonding time since we dont ever get to see each other anymore. Of course I did not want to start back to school on Monday, but this week has flown by! Maybe it's because Halloween is this weekend so everyone has been so excited about that all week. My costume is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I cant wait to tell you about it. But for now it is a surprise, so you will just have to wait in suspense until after the weekend!

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and eats lots of candy!! I made peanut butter cookies with candy corn pumpkins in the middle the other day, and they both tasted AND looked delicious! I highly recommend making them for any fall event you have coming up. (just dont eat too many of the pumpkins at once- i made that mistake the other night. not good) anyway, Happy Halloween!