Happy 2012!

This will be our last year of co-grad school slumming it. Maybe we will hit the mark of having more than 5 blog posts - maybe even Nate will contribute his thoughts. Who knows!

As we have learned from 2011, anything can happen. Such as cars breaking down, Emily learning to charge her cell phone, Nate getting a fancy lawyer job in Boston for post-graduation, and Emily's program letting her finish her program long distance from Boston!

Here are some things we are hoping for 2012:

Nate will pass his bar exam.

Emily will pass her comprehensive exams.

Nate and Emily will move to Boston in one ( or two) pieces.

Emily and Nate will run 10 miles without dying in C'ville 10 miler.

Emily and Nate will learn how to put their shoes in the closet.

Please note that this list is not chronological, plauisilogical - as in the plausibility of these things actually happening.

So stay tuned! Who knows, there may even be another post some time in the next 100 days!

The time has come for another blog post!

We've decided that once every 6 months is an appropriate spacing of blog posts given the pace of our lives right now. People ask us "hows grad school" and we let out a joint reply/ moan "its fiiine" or we're feeling enthusiastic "thank goodness this year is almost over!" Although we are thrilled to be continuing our studies at the same time/ place it is having an effect on how interesting our lives are. The day generally goes:

1)Roll out of bed 15 minutes after the alarm goes off.
2) Finish the reading/ paper writing we didn't complete the night before because our brains were mush.
3) Realize we forgot to start the coffee pot 15 minutes before we're supposed to run out the door.
4) Realize we still have to shower 12 minutes before we're supposed to run out the door.
5) Realize we haven't made lunch when we are supposed to be leaving and either
a) make a fast pb&j
b) grab some odd combo of snacks such as string cheese, apple and granola bar & hope
we're not hungry that day.
c) Give in and buy lunch - bagel or poptarts for Nate, egg sandwich for Emily usually
6) We head off to our respective classes, where we spend 6-9 hours listening to lectures, pretending we thoroughly read articles, have small moments of brilliance followed by hours of feeling overwhelmed, and procrastinating doing other work by checking Vulture, NYTimes.com, and other blogs ( esp. http://noofandnoel.tumblr.com/).

6) Get home between 5:30 and 8 , depending on the day, eat dinner, do more work, watch an episode of something on Roku, do more work but then not finish it because our brains feel like mush and head to bed.

This is the general pattern of daily life, with the exception of a few wonderful adventures : friends visiting, birthdays, beer brewing, cars breaking down on 81 on the way back from Montreal, sit down dinners, beautiful days that require long walks around the downtown mall. Although the moments are rare, I suppose they are worth documenting. If anything to remind us that we are more than the sum of our syllabus assignments.

PS - this posting is for you Nefret. And yes, it was done as a distraction from writing my 5 papers.

Living on a prayer, school loans and beans

Nate and I are married - I'm in grad school and he's in law school. When we tell people this we get one of two reactions :

1) Power couple! Wow - your kids are going to be messed up. Let me tell you about this crazy cousin of mine......

2) Wow - good luck! I knew this couple that did that and they got divorced in like 2 seconds....

Encouraging I know. Nate actually received a pamphlet on surviving law school and it included the following advice " Do not start a significant relationship. Do not get engaged. Do not get married or you will get divorced" I think since we had gotten married 4 months before the first day of class we're safe.

Luckily we have incredible family, friends and fellow students standing behind us and cheering us on. We enjoy what we're studying ( most of the time). And most importantly we really, truly love rice and beans.

Both being in school has its perks ( someone to procrastinate with, and to commiserate with when the procrastination leads to 2am cram sessions) and its difficulties ( living on a grad student stipend and school loans). If you are looking for a blog on how to get through law school without accumulating any debt and saving enough for a down payment on a house all through clipping coupons - this is not the blog for you. We do not have clever ways of turning newspapers into decorative wall hangings or empty wine bottles into lamps. Nate and I aren't the model of ingenuity and frugality - although a lot of times I feel the pressure to be both with our limited budget. We are just doing the best we can to stay sane and enjoy the adventure and we'd like for you to join us on the journey.