I don't know how it happened

I have TAN LINES. On my pasty white feet, and other spots, too! The sun liked me this weekend. I liked the sun, too. And the lake, the clouds, the trees, even the mosquitos. Note to family members - Northern Minnesota is very much like Lake Muskoka. We should vacation there.

Have you heard of Wordle?

You can paste any text into it, and it makes this cool thing* with the oft-repeated words showing up bigger than others. My friend made one from our recent e-mail chain. Take from it what you will.



* technical term

Things and Such

• Thanks for all of the design advice (cough cough Harrison - mirrors?). I am pretty settled on the blue/brown/white scenario, and I even found a REALLY cute bedspread from Target that will look perfect. I'm just waiting for it to go on sale.
• I'm certain that I could not work from home very successfully long-term. It's hard and kind of lonely! There's definitely something to be said for water-cooler chatter and random birthday celebrations (as much as I may have complained about coworkers in the past).
• Working out = very, very good for cranky lonely, I-work-at-home-and-I'm-lonely moods. Every time I get down lately (with the exception of when I've had visitors, when I'm exhausted but not at all down), I run down to the exercise room and do half an hour or so on the bike or treadmill, and then another 15 on the elliptical. It's like taking a huge Prozac (cue random spam commenters....now) or finding out you made law review.
• I made law review =)
• I'm super excited for school to start again, suddenly. For the following reasons:
• Law Review (maybe I'll get published!)
• Running the Negotiations Competition for the 1Ls
• 1 day a week fellowship at a local children's hospital, disability policy/advocacy-focused and interdisciplinary (social work students, med students, etc.)
• I'm going to make my apartment a nice place to come home to.
  
• I'll have my kitty back!
• Interviewing for jobs for next summer starts August 20th! Researching the firms has made me excited about the prospects - dream job includes some free European travel...
• Other random news
• Boys suck. (I try not to be super personal, or super immature on this blog, but I think this is just an empirical fact.)
• The Yankees suck, too.
• The Red Sox do not, in fact, suck. Take that, Yankees

A List. And also fun!

Made a list of things to do that were work-school-future-related. Got a little down about the length of the list. Put the list away. Made a new list of all of the fun things I'm doing this weekend. Felt much better.

Finally cashing in my Christmas present massage gift-certificate!

Helping a friend pick out new kitties from the shelter!

Crisping up a bit (in my new SPF shirt) at the lake!

Yesterday was fun, too. I turned in the world's longest memo to my boss about a subject that has seriously lost my interest, and now it's over. On to bigger and better projects, at last. Then, since I had worked my tushie into oblivion to finish it on time, I gave myself the rest of the day off. I shopped (without actually buying anything) at Home Goods, Goodwill, and Pier One. I'm looking for ideas for my apartment, which I'm absolutely determined is going to be a lovely haven of beauty and serenity by the time school starts. (As opposed to the grimy box of sadness that it currently is.) I'm sort of pondering two directions on the design front. One is more orange-brown, Italian, kind of autumn colors. The alternative is my dream living room scenario (not sure if I should use this idea up on the studio, but then again, I could reuse things if I move somewhere with a living room someday), which is basically light blue and chocolate brown, with white accents, trim, etc. It would be a little more modern than the "tuscany" room, but not too modern. I think it might work better with the light wood floors and the bedding I already have, so that's a plus.

Thoughts?

New Obsession

N* and I are seeing them in concert in August!!!!! I have a mad girl-crush on Zooey Deschanel.

Real Post, Too

I hate how the text messes up the pictures, and instead of figuring it out and being a perfectionist, I'm going to just write a new post. Zen. I'm trying really hard to be less of a perfectionist. It takes work! One of the worst things is when I start beating myself up for beating myself up for not doing the absolute best or most perfect that I possibly could. I have caught myself recently being a perfectionist about how bad it is that I am such a perfectionist. This is bad. And also what the Germans refer to as a "Teufelskreis" - the Devil's circle, or, more properly translated, a vicious cycle. Any advice for how to be more Zen about life? I know part of my successes can be attributed to this personality trait, but at some point it becomes a little ridiculous.

I'm sorry my posts have become so boring and narcissistic lately. But I am too worn out to do anything about it right now, thus, more lists:

Things I need to do this summer:

• Get some work done (procrastinating, much?) Like, internship work, not plastic surgery to remove my perfectionist gland.
  
• Apply to jobs for next summer (yeah, law school is total bescheuert)
• Get a haircut, a doctor's appointment, an eye appointment and a dental appointment (I ignored all of this during law school!)

Things I want to do this summer:

• Read at least 10 books for FUN
  
• Get a schmancy haircut for all of my job interviews in August/September (what are your thoughts on shoulder-length , layered with some blonde/light-brown highlightedness? Too much work/expense to keep up?)
• Get contacts - my prescription is getting worse and I am thinking of making the switch. I tried to do this last summer, but the gallbladder took over! I don't know about the $$ investment though.
  
• Bake stuff.
• Run more - I'm basically stuck at 3k right now, and just walking the rest. Plateau? (It took me three tries to spell that word!)
• Go to Sephora and get one of their free makeovers, and then proceed to get the cheap versions of the makeup they recommend. (Again, for the job interviews)
• Get a new tattoo (not happening)

Things I did today that I've never done before (this is becoming Emma's Beauty Blog)

• (This is kinda gross) Used this sandpaper like tool that Julia left behind to file down my gross flip-flop heels.
  
• Covered my feet in lotion and put socks on. I am going to sleep in it and see if my feet are as soft as advertised after this treatment. I read it in one of the magazines the sublet apartment's owner left behind (Oprah, Cosmo, Glamour - it's like being at the doc's office)
  

Ze German, Ze Minneapolis (it's growing on me)