Well, it’s been a while, but I wanted to give you a wrap up of my law school visits. So, after Eugene—and I did find some yummy food there at a small Italian restaurant (cannolli and salad = yummy!)—I headed to Portland in the rental car. I had a good time on the relatively short drive. It was nice to drive in a state that recognizes the need for a passing only lane.
My flight to San Francisco was cancelled so I had to hop on another flight, which got me there about an hour later. Not bad considering. My first night in SF was spent walking around Chinatown alone. It was a good time, because of the rain (it followed me from Eugene) the tourists were not out. When the locals asked me what I was doing walking in the rain, I explained that I was from Seattle. They immediately looked at me with great sorrow. I’m so happy I’m doing my part to prevent the secret of Seattle getting out to Northern California!!
Anyhoo, Hastings School of Law in the heart of SF was interesting to say the least. It was certainly not the school for me. The visit made me pine for the lovely campus of U of Oregon and the high tech building of Seattle U. *sighs* Ah, well, at least I know where I DON’T want to go! After deciding on the school, and perhaps it was a factor in my decision, I wanted to be the quintessential tourist in SF! I bought a ticket to Alcatraz for the next day and let myself have the rest of Wednesday to do a walking tour of North Beach and the surrounding areas. I took a trolly from Union Station (near my hotel) to Fisherman’s Wharf area. I could not handle the traditional touristy things there—including the SF Coffee Company—eeck. I pined for a good cup of joe, but let my desires wane for the remainder of the afternoon as I chose to just start walking in any direction that I fancied. Wow. That was liberating! I walked to Coit Tower, which was a good workout and viewed the city from the top. It was from this view I decided where next I would go…to North Beach to see the famous Beach Blanket Babylon show. I then dined at a really nice Sicilian restaurant nearby while I waited for the show to start. It was a fun, but I found one of the character’s voice to be quite grating, which made it difficult to enjoy her performance. That being said, it was nice to see what all the hoopla was about. I then took a bus back to my hotel.
The next day, I took two buses out to the Golden Gate Bridge and toured that area. After that, I rode a bus back to Fisherman’s Wharf to go to my afternoon visit to Alcatraz. The boat ride over was COLD, but once we got there, I was totally entranced. I met a guy who was selling his autobiography of his life on Alcatraz in their bookstore and took my picture with him. When I went on the tour, I saw his cell. That personal knowledge made the trip more powerful and interesting. I ended up buying his book and he autographed it and signed his cell number and years he was in Alcatraz. Interesting—he’s from Iowa, so we chatted a bit about Council Bluffs’ ‘chocolate chip hills’.

I had pretty much no time to grab dinner in SF before I took the BART back to the airport (by the way, Seattle—what’s the deal with our transit system?? I loved SF’s!!). It was a pleasant ride and my flight left close to on time for a late night arrival in Seattle. Nate picked me up at the airport LATE, a fact that I didn’t let him forget for a day or two afterwards, but it was so nice to see him again!

About a week later after I returned to Seattle, I got a packet from Seattle University. It was my acceptance letter!! It seemed I had pulled a Dorothy—traveling all over when what I really needed was in my own backyard. It was an exciting time. I am still in awe of the fact I am going to law school!!

Unfortunately, the next day, Destiny suffered a grand mal seizure which threw us for a loop. Since then, we have been in and out of doctor’s visits trying to figure out what exactly happened and playing the test results waiting game. No news is good news, right? No official answers have been given, so we are just waiting at this point.

Nate applied to the GISE program through the AA Engineering and Business schools. Hopefully we will find out if he is accepted by the end of the next week.

Okay, I think that’s about it. Consider yourself in the know!

Toodles,
*sun

Today I had the normal law school visit (the tour by a current student, sitting in on a first year class, and meeting with admissions staff) at the University of Oregon, home of the Ducks and Prefontaine. Lots of outdoor activity available at this school, great location (although I miss the steep hills of Seattle), and lots of friendly people greet you and treat you nicely—not unlike the Midwest where I am originally from. I did come to find out that my hotel is in the seediest area of Eugene, which is less “sketch” than parts of the Ave. Even with this knowledge, it is a good place to stay if you want the basics. One thing I simply must comment on is the weather here. It’s not little misty rain, like Seattle…it’s big ole’ fat rain that pour down in buckets—but not quite as much as Jacksonville, Florida (where I once called home)—but still enough to make you wish every piece of your clothing were waterproof after a few seconds’ exposure. I describe it in detail because I'm staring out my hotel window watching it right now...

**change of subject**

Some other noteworthy events today:
- A man walked in on me today as I was taking a morning nap. Apparently he said my door was a smidge open…unlikely story, but I bought it after discussing the incident in depth with the management.
- I took a mid-morning nap!! I don’t think I’ve done that since high school!! Certainly before children were in the picture….!
- I upgraded my Ford Focus rental to a brand spankin’ new Hyundai Sonata to have the sunroof and extra room—the guy gave it me for an extra $4! What a deal!
- This is a noteworthy nonevent: I haven’t had a hot meal in days now. I didn’t realize I’d miss it so much, but I do!! I really really do! So, first thing on my agenda for the evening is to brave the pouring rain and find a place to eat. Too bad I’m picky….
- I thought of my family and missed them a lot.

I’ll keep you up to date on the (hopefully) food I find,
*sunny: a duck for a day

Hi! I’m in Oregon. It’s official. And kinda weird. It feels odd when the realization that you are leaving your home and family hits you. I felt that way halfway between Tukwila and Tacoma today. It was a wild thought and coincided with a rapid heartbeat and labored breathing—almost like a panic attack—when I realized with all certainty that I was leaving my children. Eesh. I should be looking forward some time away from the girls, as I do not get much of that! But, everywhere I looked I saw their faces in on the faces of other children I saw. There was one child in particular, redhead and sitting in front of me from Seattle to Albany, she was a troublemaker—but periodically careened her neck and adjusted her body just to stare at me. Her blank stares made me smile at her, which she eventually returned and then we became “buddies”. It was at this “buddy” moment that I realized I missed my children immensely.
That’s all I have to say about near panic attacks and stuff. I do want to let you all know that I am VERY tired from riding the train today. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that sitting for prolonged periods of time could wear on a person, but I stand corrected today. The last time I was on a train…oh, by the way, I’ve been meaning to correct a previous post which stated this current trip is my first time away by myself—I went by train to New York City when I was a teenager (a 3 day trip!!)…I don’t remember feeling so tired. Maybe it was because I was much more youthful (which really means I was young and didn’t yet know how to recognize exhaustion when my body felt it)? Dunno.
All I do know is that I’m looking forward to slinking into this foreign bed and getting some darn good shut-eye.
Ciao for now!
*sunshine in eugene

Okay, so it’s Friday (yay!) today. What a wonderful way to end the week. I have accomplished nearly everything on my lengthy to-do list this week. I still need to get waxed, buy a nice outfit, grocery shop for the week I’ll be gone, do dishes and laundry, exercise (cardio), and last—but certainly not least—work on my thesis. It seems as if once a task is completed, two more are added to my list in the process. Having a positive attitude is quite difficult when I feel I am buried alive in tasks! Nevertheless, I have a trip to prepare for!! Must. Trudge. Forward.
As far as thesis production is concerned, I think I have made good strides towards my goals thus far. I am a bit concerned about meeting my own deadline for work on Sunday night (as I leave for my trip Sunday afternoon), but I think all will be well if I really start writing today. But where to fit it in? Man, prioritizing important things is one of my fortes when the answers are obvious—it’s when it reaches a critical point where EVERYTHING is important that my task becomes dubious. *sighs*Off to face the world—one to-do list task at a time!!
Ciao,
*me*

Well, it’s been a full quarter and a half since the last time I’ve written anything here, but I think it’s damn time to start again. There is SO much to write about and I only have a few minutes right now—I’ll simply jump right in!
Hello! I am in the thick midst of thesis writing now after taking a quarter to research and really develop my topic (I’ll elaborate in great detail another time). I am gearing up to take my very first solo trip EVER next week as well. I am going to Eugene, OR and San Francisco, CA to check out law schools while the girls are on Spring Break. I am pretty nervous and excited to go it alone, but it is a step that needs to be taken if I plan on having a chance at U or Oregon’s or UC Hastings’ law programs! I will keep my hopes high that one of the final three schools (Seattle U is the other one) will have space for one highly qualified applicant—me—for their class of 2009! Wow. I just realized that is when I would graduate if I got accepted this year. A full 8 years of school (I started in Spring 2001)! I could be a doctor! Oh, wait, I’m trying to become one...a Juris Doctor. Okay, I’ll stop with the trite obviousness of the last few sentences and move on to other things—when I come back and write some more.
Avoir .

Nate, Savannah, and Destiny in front of Benaroya Hall. We saw the Bela Bartok Choir and the University of Budapest Orchestra...it was a magnificent performance (our all around fav? The violin soloist who would make Vivaldi beem with pride!) 

This is the girls' joint effort on taking my photo... 

Destiny beeming with pride! What a star! 

Savannah dressed up in a skirt! (well, really skorts) We went out to a concert at Benaroya Hall, so we all dressed to the nines!  

Yay for Saturdays! I slept in this morning until 9:56 am. What a treat! Nate, the girls, and I had a movie theater in the living room last night. Nate rented a projector from the STF Equipment to “learn the ins and outs” of the technology, and it turned into movie night on my living room wall! Harry Potter was an excellent choice, might I add! The girls were awed, I was impressed, and Nate was giddy with excitement. Since he’s the lead in the AA Dept.’s DBF Competition, he wanted to learn about the projector so he could give top notch presentations to potential donors to the Competition. Quite smart, that man is!!

Friday was Halloween Kid’s Karnival at the girls’ school. I came at 4pm to beat the rush (it was open from 4pm-8pm), but we ended up leaving right after I came because I forgot they should wear costumes to the Karnival! I gave up my primo parking spot and headed home—Destiny was ready as fast as you could say, “Rose Vampire” (her aptly named costume because Destiny claimed she doesn’t suck blood from people, she sucks the sweet nectar from roses), but Savannah had some difficulty. She said she was embarrassed that everyone would make fun of her in her costume. She has been feeling more and more self-conscious lately. It seems as if her awareness of the world is growing exponentially at this point! We had a talk about why we don’t need to pay attention to what others think about what we wear and that bit of encouragement was all Savannah needed to jump into her Power Rangers costume. Because Destiny had a beautiful crushed red velvet cape, I let Savannah borrow my magician’s cape (shiny black with moons on it) and thus she “morphed” into a magical flying Power Ranger.

We went back to school and noticed an equally nice parking spot was open. We took it and spent the rest of the night until closing at the Karnival. Nate joined us for the last two hours of fun! We went on to win two cakes at the cake walk (one from Savannah’s win, the other from Nate’s win). Needless to say, we made lots of good memories!

In other news, I took a math test yesterday and didn’t feel so hot about it. That feeling sucks, and quite honestly, I am not used to it. I was doing so well on my weekly quizzes, too! Ah, well, what’s a girl supposed to do? It is sure a good thing that this course won’t go on my transcript! I don’t want to bring my GPA down a bit as graduation is right around the corner.

I am off to UW’s Feminist Diaglogues on Social Justice Conference, research in the library, and other fun things!

Don’t forget to turn your clocks back tonight!! (That's mainly a reminder for myself, but if it helps you too...GREAT!)

Kisses,
me

Yesterday was Tuesday, the busiest day of the week for us. CHID class was informative, but there seemed to be something lacking...Participation? Interest from the group as a whole? hmmm...

Knitting Circle is my saving grace this quarter. Thank goodness Jen put it together! Kelly from CHID attends as well (she prefers to be there for the chatting instead of the knitting) and that helps bring the continuity of my day full circle. Between Kelly and Jen, I think there is plenty to talk about! Jeanette and others stragglers from her class attend and it makes for some wildly loud discussions! Fun. Simply fun. Interestingly, I found myself dreaming of knitting last night...

After stitch and bitch (the official name for our Tuesday afternoon soiree), I skipped Math class to hang out with Nate. He was quite tired after staying up for two days straight--no joke!! I helped him with his DBF Project and that seemed to put him into a cheery mood. I also talked that boy into getting some sleep! He's worse than the kids about going to bed! He finished his DBF Project stuff...He just needs to put something on the web...so that excuse for staying up is nearly out the window! However, he did get a good 6.5 hours of sleep last night (I seriously don't know how he pulls it off!).

Nate and I took the girls yesterday afternoon to the Pumpkin Carving Party at our community center. UW Family Housing is very strange. Most people here are married and in grad school. The most important distinction between myself (being a single parent undergraduate) and the others is that most of these picture perfect families cling to organized religion. The majority are Mormon (whom, contrary to my previous engagement with followers of this religion, are quite cliquish), with a few falling in other religious backgrounds. Suffice it to say, the majority of the people don't like me very much (I'm such a harlot!! *chuckles*). Those that do acknowledge me are wonderful people and I love them as neighbors, which makes up for the others . Unless...We have community events. That means most people from our community come and we are a bit ostracized at such events. Alas, we didn't let that put a damper on our creative pumpkin carving! Destiny carved a very cute pumpkin vampire and Savannah did a front-toothless pumpkin face (she just lost one of her front teeth last Thursday). They were adorable! Nate made an interesting abstract design that looks like a ghost in relief (he's so creative) and I stuck to a cat pumpkin (because I am particularly untalented carving teeth!). We lined them up on the balcony last night, so next time you're near U-Village, come and take a look!

Last night was uneventful. Still haven't applied to law schools. Still haven't checked the engine light in my car.

Hopefully today will bring boatloads of productiveness!! Until next time....

Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve written—not because I haven’t thought about it! Rather, I was a bit put off from writing lately. I needed a breather. I am okay allowing myself the opportunity to write now. It was quite overwhelming; the rush of completion and the sense of destiny that my personal statement left me. Alas, I am done. 100% complete—for now. I will submit my applications this week and next week. *crosses fingers* I am hoping for an easy submission process, but I know the opposite will occur!

I am here in now in the basement of Suzzallo this morning for the purpose of researching my thesis. I met with my reference librarian who will help guide me through my research project. I am hoping for the best, but she informed she is new at “Women’s Studies” research—about one month on the job thus far, but she came from government publications. She graduated in the mid 80’s with a WS emphasis, but she is woefully under informed of the current theories. Surprisingly, this makes me feel neutral. I think it is balanced by the fact that I knew little of my research either before a few years ago and I think it will be fun to learn together. With her background in government publications, I think it will help my analytical portion of the paper by providing hard data (perhaps statistical tables?) and congressional committee reports and the like. At first I was a bit uncomfy with someone who is so green to my topic, but what the hell…we all are at some point (and some of us even choose to stay there).

I spent this entire weekend homework free! Except for the papers I printed out for CHID class on Tuesday, I did NOTHING academically related with my hands or eyes. However, I was thinking about it a lot. I thought about changing my topic, I thought about what that would mean and what my new topic would bring…(haha, I rhymed). I thought about a recent talk with a friend, Jen, in which I touted the importance of following through with my word, and then I thought about breaking my word and changing my thesis topic. My new proposal? To explore the societal constraints of women with children who return to school. Basically, it would be a research project for those brave mother/students who come after me and what pitfalls to avoid and what resources to access. I figured it would be much less painful than my current subject with deals with the messy problem of the legal response to domestic violence in immigrant, indigenous, and other citizens of America and viewing it through the lenses of two different feminist theories. That subject can disturb. That’s probably exactly why I picked, too! Sadomasochist or academic intellectual? Are they synonymous? I think yes, at least in this instance.

Ah, well, I decided not to pursue the new idea as a thesis topic. Although I am passionate about both, I must stick to my original intentions. Besides the sadness and “that’s just wrong” impulses I get from reading my current project’s sources (which deal at times with personal stories of DV), it feels good that I am doing academic work that is breaking new ground—in both undergraduate and graduate work.

In family news, the girls were up and down this weekend with their emotions. But, overall it was a good time. Friday night we had pizza and movie night. We handmade our pizza, which was really yummy and the girls chose to watch "The Santa Clause". We made a big fluffy bed on the floor with blankets and pillows and nestled in to watch the movie. Sadly, I stayed awake a mere 20 minutes! It was nice to sleep next to the gals, though! Saturday, we had to wake up early to volunteer for the UW Alumnae Board Scholarship collection drive at the UW v. USC home game. It was my first experience with college football (although we didn’t actually attend the game). We were collecting money for the UWAB Scholarship committee outside the front gate. I was tapped to be a volunteer as I was a recipient of a full ride scholarship this year from UWAB. It was fun, actually! The girls and I wore aprons, purple mortarboard (graduation) hats and Mardi Gras beads as we yelled to the thousands of people walking into the main entrance, “BEADS, BUTTONS, and BRACELETS FOR YOUR DONATION! SCHOLARSHIP DRIVE!” The girls were so adorable—even USC fans stopped to donate to UW scholarships—they picked the gold beads instead of purple as their donation “prize”. Toward the end of our 4 hour fundraiser, I had an interesting thought arise: the majority of people rejected donating to our cause, which was quite overwhelming. I thought, “wow, this is good practice for the graduate school gauntlet!” Ha! A sidenote: we raised over $2000 (at last count--we left before they were finished!)!! Whoo Hoo!! That's something I'll get excited about!

The girls and I hopped on our bikes and headed home while the game raged on. I heard UW lost by a lot, I also heard we didn’t have a chance in the first place—something about no. 1 seeds—as you can see I know nothing (by choice) about sporting events. I had a slight headache on the way home from all the noise and the multitude of people. I felt like an old lady when I admitted to myself I would have rather spent the morning in my pj’s sipping coffee and hanging out at home. Oh well, at least I did my recipient duty! Finito.

Saturday evening the girls and I headed down to Steilacoom to see my mom, David, and Shannon where we were treated to dinner!! It was delicious—even more so because I didn’t have to dishes by hand (we have no dishwasher at home)! The girls listened to our newest book on CD, Hatchet, and they were very attentive to this on the drive down. After dinner we visited Holly and Thad for a few minutes before heading to mom’s. Mom and David knew that I had to bring a baked item the next day for Destiny’s choir fundraiser, so they baked cookies for us!! It was such a nice treat to not play supermom for one weekend! I felt awesome. No dinner dishes and I had my homemade treat to supply for the next day! The girls fell asleep on the way home. Getting bed late means sleeping in late….icing on my cake!

Sunday afternoon was Destiny’s Northwest Girlchoir Welcome concert and bake sale. We came early to drop her off for the practice before the performance (about one hour early). I was packaging my contribution (mom’s homemade organic cookies) and gleefully helping others do the same. Savannah was happily running in the hallway upstairs and Nate was happily studying. I specifically wore some sweat pants and a pink sweater to distinguish myself from these types of parents, who showed up to said casual events decked out in Chanel with huge LV handbags and a boatload of makeup on their cracked faces. Ah, well, it backfired this time! It was an odd hour, with many rich wives thinking that I was a teenager and must help them now with the packaging of their desserts. I politely informed them everyone was to package their own contribution, but if they required additional help they should ask other parents like myself. I don’t think I could see their complexion blush through their gobs of makeup, but their facial expressions reacted as such! All and all, despite the impatient, rude, extremely affluent parents, the concert was wonderful and Destiny lit up the stage! I tried to take photos, but the lighting (and perhaps my camera) were not cooperating. They turned out too blurry or too dark. Hmm… After the concert, Destiny and Savannah picked out a dessert to purchase and we sped home to complete the day! Oh, by the way, our organic cookies sold for 3/$2.50—all 8 plates! It was a little bummer that there were no leftovers to take home! 

Sunday night was eventful as we prepared for the week ahead. Mondays and Tuesdays are the busiest days of the week for us. The girls read ahead so they could put their reading in their reading logs for Mon. and Tues. and I made dinner. Nate had to go to school to study—a place he will be more and more often as this quarter grinds along. That’s okay. We made peace with our feelings this weekend and that makes me feel good.

The girls got off to a great start this morning, and I feel awesome about that. I suppose I should start my research now, but I felt the need to post badly before I tackled my project!! Perhaps the wheels are turning….Speaking of wheels, my engine light is on in my car. I should take care of that this week as well...

Tata for now!
*me*

This will be brief as I have a flu shot appointment this morning...

Good news, everyone!! My personal statement is printing out copies right now and I will be stuffing them into letters shortly to send to my recommenders!!

It is finished.

Now, I just need to finish the application process online!! Woo-Hooooooo!

Talk soon,
me

Today might be the day my personal statement might actually be completed! I have gone through so many revisions--so many... I am pleased that I can see the end of the road. Last night, I gave my statement to Nathan (my partner) who proceeded to make all sorts of corrections and marks. I felt that he was being cruel and developed quite a nasty attitude toward him and his "help". Attention--this is not the reaction most conducive to getting along with your partner! So, I went to bed feeling doubly crappy. For one, Nathan had completely butchered my personal statement. And for two, I gave him attitude for it and yelled at him for the first time ever!!
After some reflection today (and after a full--er--half night's sleep) I began to understand what fueled my reation to Nathan. When I first started amending, rewriting, and revising my personal statement in August, I thought I was on top of my game. I knew that my writings were not me on paper, and that sense of separation was distinct. As the revision process wore on and more people commented on my personal statement, the lines between ME and my personal statement became increasingly fuzzy. By the time it reached Nathan's eyes for a critical evaluation, I had begun to truly own it--rather, it owned me. I noticed the intensity for which I felt at one with my work was directly correlated to the amount of time spent thinking and writing on it.
Today I spoke to Karen, my thesis advisor, about this issue. She reviewed my personal statement (after I made the corrections Nathan recommended) and handed it back to me with a big surprise! Her notes were few and far between and her suggestions brief. She said, "You're almost there..."
MUSIC TO MY EARS!
Karen also mentioned to me that the circumstances (I described above concerning my writing) will arise again with the thesis and that this is good practice to get myself into the mental space required to write and rewrite and rewrite, ect.
I changed the personal statement this afternoon to reflect this most recent reading and feel 100 times better about life in general. Whew! Now it just needs to pass the next morning rule: If I can wake up tomorrow morning and still feel good about it, it's going to press, folks!!
So, there are my ten minutes for the day. I am choir mom tonight and need to pick up Destiny and her friend from practice.

All in a day's work...

P.S. I deleted my posting of my personal statement because it was so out of date with all of my recent revisions. I don't think I'll post my new one unless someone asks me.


I love you Nate! Thank you for all your support and dedication! I love you!!! :)

Destiny and Savannah enjoying the farm kittens in Snohomish County. Then we went pumpkin picking!