March Marches On

A view of Old Sac and the Capitol Mall Brige

A sigh of relief and a sinking into the couch; the March of the Perpetual Houseguest has come to an end. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, but I am a tad bit tired. My mom left this afternoon after a wonderful brunch in Old Sac and a really fun weekend.

My mom and her new husband came down Thursday evening. We spent the weekend together playing Yahtzee, cardgames, and having conversations. We visited the Capitol Building and tasted some great wine and Chelsea made a wonderful Guyanese dinner in which we hung out with some  of mom's old friends.

One of the great things about having guests is it forces us to get out of the house and visit the sights that are always here, but we always put off for another time. We have our staples like restaurants we go to, but then there are other food places that we see along the road but say that we will check out later (and when we do, so far, we are super stoked with what we’ve found).  Then, there is the Capitol building that I’ve always admired from a distance, but never entered. That was a trip. There are museum rooms decorated as if from the early 20^th century and the rotunda is painted with complex patterns. In addition, Capitol Park is full of wonderful surprises from old statues to exotic trees.      

Mom in the foreground! The Capitol Building

On Saturday, we took my co-workers advice and checked out the Bogle Vineyards which is about 20 minutes away near a small village named Clarksburg. To get there we had to go along the river a ways, and carefully wind our way through narrow country lanes. When we finally arrived it felt like we were a thousand miles away. But the location was beautiful and the wine wasn’t half bad either.

The Bogle Vineyards

It was wonderful to see my mom because she hasn’t really visited Chels and me much since we’ve lived so far away (first San Diego, then Guyana, and now Sacramento) and she is usually so busy most of the time. Moreover, it was great to play host for her for once rather than the other way around.  There is this strange, affirming thing to have my parent come down and be in my space for a while. I was able to show her my classroom, take her to dinner, and engage her on a different level than before. In other words, rather than feeling like we were still on the level of mother and dependent child (even though I haven’t been that for while) I felt like we were engaging as two adults (though, you know she will always be mom!).  It was a fabulous feeling.  

Anyway, it’s spring break for me and I have a few weeks off. I have nothing special planned, just to laze around, work on my novel, finish some BTSA stuff, plan for the next few weeks, read, read, read, and do some things around the house that need fixing (Wow. That doesn’t sound like lazing at all.) I am sure things will come up, but for now I am going to sit back and enjoy the last vestiges of grand weekend.  

All of us at the Winery

Spring Break

            Today is my first official day of Spring Break! Yay! Last night I turned in my final graded assignment for my legal research and writing class which was a wonderful feeling! Another 1L law school milestone accomplished!

            Luckily, since I had started the memo earlier in the term, I was able to split my time between finalizing the assignment and enjoying my first weekend on Spring Break, which just so happened to fall on St. Patrick’s Day. My friend celebrated her birthday on Friday and she came to visit for the weekend. I am so lucky that we live close to each other so we can do weekend visits regularly. While she was here we ate yummy food, watched the St. Patty’s Day parade in Old Town, spent a beautiful, sunny day walking around mid-town for a celebratory pub-crawl and ended the evening with a raucous game of Cards Against Humanity.

            I felt like the weekend was a perfect balance between school responsibilities and fun. On Sunday I was able to finish my memo while Tim and Em did some of their own work for their respective professional jobs and then we all took Toast to the dog park followed by an afternoon at Tres Hermanas with margaritas (green drinks of course in honor of the holiday!).

            Over my break I am planning on getting started with my outlines for finals because when I go back to school next week there are only 4 more weeks of instruction before study week and then finals and then I will be officially done with my first year of law school. Hard to believe how time flies! I am also participating in the 1L Moot Court Competition so over the break I have to read a fact pattern, a closed-universe of cases from the hypothetical jurisdiction of Utopia and then prepare a brief and oral argument that I will submit next week. It is a fun competition that simulates the Appellate process so I will be practicing my persuasive writing skills and getting feedback on my oral advocacy. There is the possibility to win a scholarship prize and earn a spot on the Moot Court competition team as a research assistant next year if I do well so I am going to give it my best effort.

            Again, I am working on the whole school/life balance thing so also during this break I am heading out to Santa Rosa to visit my cousins and my 2 year-old second cousin while they are in town visiting Oma. It will be great to see the family and have some chill family time. Also, next weekend my mother-in-law is visiting us, which we are really looking forward to! I love hosting family at our little house and I am looking forward to showing off the fun parts of our new hometown.

            Tim has his Spring break next week and the following week (major bummer that our breaks do not coincide) and he is looking forward to having some time to relax, plan lessons without being under a time crunch and take care of some tasks around the house that he has had on his list for a while.

            The weather is beautiful here in the Capitol so we are happily taking advantage of our free time to get outside and enjoy the warm breeze, smell of the blossoms on the trees and sunshine. Toast loves the spring weather too. At the moment, I am watching her play in the backyard. She must have lost some toy in a bush and gone in after it but now she is stuck in the bush and all I can see is her little head poking out! She is a hilarious animal (although she is not staying tiny, technically a medium sized beast) and it is great to have a little dog friend to keep us company. Life is good. 

Toast and her best friend Atticus playing in Erin's backyard

The Paddy Wagon at the Parade

Celebrating Tim's Irish heritage

Seriously LOVE these ladies!

Old Town Sacramento reminds us how amazing California is!

Yay! Vacation! Yay friends!

Summer Sorted and March Madness

Exciting things are happening in Casa de Tibbs! Our summer plans are sorted out which is such a great relief and this month we have our house full every weekend with visits from friends and family, which is such a joy!

My summer plans were looking promising anyway, since I had interviewed and been accepted to work (on a volunteer basis) for a nonprofit that advocates for vulnerable populations in rural communities. I was excited for the opportunity because the hands-on legal work of underrepresented farmworkers was right up my alley but I was also a little concerned about how working for free and the long commute would be a serious hardship for Tim and me.

I had also applied to a program funded by the Bar Association that offers paid summer internships to 1L students. The Fellowship program is a great opportunity because it has an educational component where the participants get to know the lay of the land in the local legal community. It is a great networking opportunity and excellent experience. I wasn’t feeling very confident about getting the Fellowship because I was competing in a field with student from my school and Davis. And the competition was stiff. Plus, I did not leave my interview feeling like I had nailed it. So, I was starting to look for grants and scholarships to fund my summer working for the nonprofit.

Then, last week I found out that I was chosen for the Fellowship program! I was placed at a boutique labor and employment law firm. It is going to be such great experience for me to learn how things work in private law firms and the corporate legal world. I know I will learn a ton about many facets of employment law from wrongful termination, sexual harassment and labor law. I am excited about the technical skills I will gain and thrilled to have an established, structured introduction to the legal community in my new town. Plus, I’m gonna be getting paid!

So things are looking up for my summer! Unfortunately, my internship coincides directly with the month of summer vacation that Tim has so we don’t see ourselves being able to do much travel or vacationing together this summer unless it is local and we can go over three day weekends. But we are really looking forward to spending more time acquainting ourselves with the leisure and adventures that this part of California has to offer.

Now that I have my summer planned, I am able to focus more on school and ending my first year strong. Also, this month we are so lucky to have visitors who we adore coming to stay in our home every weekend. This weekend, both my mom and Tim’s friends from high school are visiting. Next weekend, Tim’s cousin will be in town, the following weekend Emily will spend her birthday and St. Patrick’s day celebrating in Sac and the last weekend in March, Tim mom will be here! We are so excited and so lucky to be surrounded by so many amazing people. After spending two years away from our families, we have developed a deeper appreciation for the amazing community that we are a part of.

So, as it starts to warm up in and the blossoms start to flower on the plum tree in the backyard, we give thanks for the blessings that we have; family and friends, a sweet home, great jobs, promising futures, a silly puppy, and each other.