If at First You Don't Succeed....

Once upon a time, I had such grand plans to blog about diet and exercise (among other things). Well, did not so much happen. So, we will start again. Forget I ever mentioned it the first time :0)

Today, as ambitious as I was, was NOT a good day. I'm pretty sure "Corndog" is not a diet food. Somewhere, Jenny Craig is hanging her head in shame. If I'm being honest, it was 2 corndogs. And they were damn good, too. So, we will pick up again tomorrow. Maybe I'll actually eat the fruit and vegetables I bought.

"Success is rare and slow, everybody knows how quick and easy ruin is." -William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

Dentists, Finals, and Shakespeare....Oh my!

Today was a big day. Beckett has his first dentist appointment today! I know it sounds cliche, but I really can't believe that he is old enough to go to the dentist! They wouldn't let me go back with him (They say the children do better without their parents, and I tend to agree). He looked like such a big boy as he took the hygenist's hand and walked back to get his teeth cleaned. Allison came out to talk to me before she took him back. She was explaining to Beckett what she was going to be doing and he looked very apprehensive. Then he asked, "Am I going to be laying down?" She said, "Well, I'll lean you back a little bit." All of the sudden, his face lit up and he said, "Okay." He then grabbed her hand and practically dragged her back to the office. He is so funny about things that bother him.

Because they wouldn't let me go back with him, I don't have any of my own pictures to share. But they took a picture for me, which I will scan and post later!

Hope everyone is having a great day! Last final for the summer is in an hour and a half! Then 12 glorious days of vacation until Law School Round 2 starts. At least I will be half way finished by the end of this year!

No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell.
Nay if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it, for I love you so
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot
If thinking on me then should make you woe.
O, if, I say, you look upon this verse,
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,
But let your love even with my life decay,
Lest the wise world should look into your moan
And mock you with me after I am gone.

-William Shakespeare, Sonnet 71

Tuesday's the Day to Roll the Dice.

It's been a while since I've written anything and, frankly, there's not much to share right now. Beckett and I are enjoying the last few days of summer before we both start school (on August 17th for me and the 18th for him).

15 Meaningful Books

*I was tagged in this note on Facebook, so I thought I'd add it here, too.

Don't take too long to think about it.

Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

Tag 15 friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose (as well as pick up suggestions for my reading list).

To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, paste rules in a new note, cast your 15 picks, and tag people in the note - upper right hand side). I will not be offended if you don't play.

___________________________________________________________________________________


(1) The Fountainhead -- Ayn Rand
(2) Dry -- Augusten Burroughs
(3) A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius -- Dave Eggers
(4) Night -- Elie Wiesel
(5) Letters From Rifka -- Karen Hess
(6) Loose Woman -- Sandra Cisneros
(7) The House on Mango Street -- Sandra Cisneros
(8) Lady Chatterley's Lover -- D.H. Lawrence
(9) Twelfth Night -- William Shakespeare
(10)A Doll's House -- Henrik Ibsen
(11) Breakfast of Champions -- Kurt Vonnegut
(12) The Handmaid's Tale -- Margaret Atwood
(13) Catcher in the Rye -- J.D. Salinger
(14) Everything That Rises Must Converge -- Flannery O'Connor
(15) Gone With the Wind -- Margaret Mitchell

Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE to read. I tend to find something to love in most books that I read, but these are 15 that are particularly special to me.

In law school news, I had one final last night and the other is on Wednesday. Eh. That's really all I have to say about that. But in happy law school news, I made LAW REVIEW! The paper I turned in was not my favorite that I've written, but I guess it was enough :0)

Okay, back to to studying. Is it bad that when I have to study, B watches TV and eats popcorn for lunch? I didn't think so.

I Wish I was as Cool as Beckett Thinks I Am...

....because that would be great! I'd be super talented.

He's been such a sweetheart today. I have a paper due at 5 o'clock tomorrow and, quel suprise, it is NOT EVEN CLOSE to being finished. So, I asked him what movie he wanted to watch (the committee's been behind...when can I expect my "Mom of the Year" trophy to finally get here?) while I worked on my paper. And, of course, he said Beauty and the Beast (he could not be more like me). And every time Belle sings a song he asks me, no, demands, that I "sing with it. Sing like she does!". When I try to explain to him that one day he is going to need to be

able to hear, so maybe I shouldn't sing, he replies, "But you sound like her and I like it. Now sing!". And yes, delusion does run in the family.

While I'm procrastinating, I may as well say a few more things about Beckett...

Favorite Foods: CORNDOGS. Hotdogs, too, for that matter. He still, however, LOVES fruit (strawberries especially) and most vegetables. Pizza, of course, he is 3. Chicken nuggets and peanut butter and jelly are usual sure to please. And fried chicken. But ONLY if he can eat it "off the bone."

Favorite TV Shows/Movies: He loves to watch Curious George, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Imagination Movers. He will watch anything that is animated, so I have to really keep tabs on him or he'll turn on the TV and find something

himself. He LOVES Beauty and the Beast, An American Tail (which according to him is about "Bivel"), Pinocchio, and Finding Nemo. And he is NOT a fan of Aladdin or The Lion King, much to my dismay. We are actually watching Beauty and the Beast right now, and B just got mad because the Beast was no longer a beast.

Favorite Books: Much like me, Beckett loves to read. He loves ALL Little Critter books by Mercer Mayer. He also loves the Franklin books (by Paulette Bourgeois) and any book about Arthur (by Marc Brown). Of the Dr. Seuss

books, The Lorax is his favorite (and mine!). He probably has over 200 books

and will let you read any of them to him, but some more than others. He has memorized Good Night, Moon and David Gets in Trouble and parts of countless other books.

About Beckett: He is super curious about everything and his favorite thing to say is still, "Why?" or "What is that?" He is very sweet and loving, but is ALL boy. He loves to play outside on the new "trubhouse" (clubhouse) that My Buddy just built him. He is his grandfather's little shadow. Whatever My Buddy does, wherever My Buddy goes, B is right behind him. He is strong-willed and very much a 3-year-old these days, but he knows when to stop trying to push my buttons. He has a memory like a steel trap. He literally remembers EVERYTHING.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Back to law school.....

What CaseNote?

What's he that wishes so?

My cousin Westmorland? No, my fair cousin.

If we are marked to die, we are enough

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honor.

God's will, I pray thee, wish not one man more.

By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,

Nor care I who feed doth upon my cost;

It yearns me not if men my garments wear;

Such outward things dwell not in my desires.

But if it be a sin to covet honor

I am the most offending soul alive.

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.

God's peace, I would not lose so great an honor

As one man more, methinks, would share from me

For the best hope I have. Oh, do not wish one more!

Rather proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host

That he which hath no stomach in this fight,

Let him depart; his passport shall be made

And crowns for convoy put into his purse.

We would not die in that man's company

That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is called the Feast of Crispian.

He that outlives this day and comes safe home

Will stand a-tiptoe when this day is named

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall see this day and live old age

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors

And say, "Tomorrow is Saint Crispian."

Then he will strip his sleeve and show his scars,

And say, "These wounds I had on Crispian's Day."

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

But he'll remember with advantages

What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,

Familiar in his mouth as household words --

Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester --

Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered --

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.

For he today that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition.

And gentlemen in England now abed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispian's Day.

-William Shakespeare, The Life of King Henry the Fifth

VI.iii.18-67

Picture & Poetry Monday

...Some more pictures that make me happy and one poem.

I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,
From waiting to not waiting for you
My heart moves from cold to fire.

I love you only because it's you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.

Maybe January light will consume
My heart with its cruel
Ray, stealing my key to true calm.

In this part of the story I am the one who
Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,
Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.

-Pablo Neruda

Long Day's Journey Into Night...

Roy Lichtenstein

The Melody Haunts My Reverie

Stuart Davis

Swing Landscape
...TOday has been SUCH a long day, SUCH a depressing day. In a vain attempt to cheer myself up (or get over myself), here are some things that make me smile.