Please disregard my appearance.
I was currently freaking out in a stage of "Oh my goodness I am obsessed with frye boots, do I get to keep these??!"
These babies are the best.
Hands down.
If loving boots is wrong I don't wanna be right.
Comfy, gorgeous, go with anything..I love.
Ok ok ok, enough.
But seriously, my mother will be receiving kisses from me til I am 80.
2. Adele's Album, "21"
I know I am late on this, and everyone else is obsessed with this sassy lady, but I just LOVE this album!
3. Nike running shorts
Always a fave, and now in a new style.
Thank you, SA! Sweet thang you!
4. JCrew Bonanza
Forever classic, forever love.
Pencil skirts, tissue tees and turtles, chambray buttons ups...eek!!
Once again, kiss kiss to mom and dad! :)
So what about y'all? What new (or old) favorite things will you be ringing in 2012 with?
I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my sweet family, eating lots of treats, and reflecting on the best gift of all: the gift of God's son!
However, I must admit, the coolest part of my Christmas happened the night before at Elevation Church!
I sat beside my parents, their best friends, and a sweet lady from my work and her two kids, ages 16 and 12.
The worship was amazing, and Pastor Steven did an AMAZING job presenting the gospel.
Every minute was joyful, powerful, and just..incredible. All for God's glory!
Then...whew..at the end..I ugly cried (ooooh did I ever ugly cry!) when my friend's two kids stood up (more like jumped up) at the invitation to say they had accepted Jesus as their savior!
Yayayayay asdfjkl;asdfjkl; so exciting!
Watch some of the amazing service here! I especially love the "global choir" which is comprised of youtube videos of Elevation members from North Carolina to South Africa! :)
Love you all!
Lizanne
"Now's the time for us to rise to carry hope to hopeless eyes to show this world that mercy is alive! Fill our hearts with your compassion let our love be active here and fill our hearts with your compassion let our love be REAL."
The Church- Elevation Worship
Working in the small small town before Christmas is always a pleasure for a number of reasons.
1. A paycheck
Enough said.
2. Having to run to Walmart to stock the kitchen = free Blue Bell
Under normal circumstances, I would have pop a few Xanax to handle the small-town Walmart (kidding...kinda), but the fact that I get to pick out my favorite ice cream as a small delivery fee = clutch.
3. Sharing some Blue Bell ice cream and pecan pie at 8:37am with my boss before a mediation.
We understand each other.
4. The buffet of treats in the conference room.
My "office" is in the conference room.
That's where all the Christmas treats get placed.
The end.
5. The sweet gals I work alongside.
And going to get margaritas after 5!
6. The clients who are normally complete grumps are actually being somewhat nice!
Lots of resting, and eating, and working at the SSF, and resting...and eating (snackers of the world unite!).
Christmas is always a fun time because you get to celebrate the birth of Christ and you get to give gifts!
I love giving presents that I've thoughtfully picked out (and/or made. ahem.) to those that I love!
I stole this idea off pinterest (naturally).
I love "simple" looking things, so I jumped at the idea of using brown mailing paper to wrap the gifts.
Then, taking advantage of any opportunity to use my crayloas, I added a splash of color, and then used people's pictures as gift tags.
Just too cute to me!
For the little ones, my nieces and nephews, to whom I always give "goodie bags", the ole dollar tree had the perfect bags to match the wrapped boxes (I'm weird like that).
So excited to see them opened up!
What is your gift giving style?
I hope you're simply having a wonderful Christmastime!
Lizanne
I know it's 10am but can we cut this workout thing and go eat Christmas cookies ice cream?
Are you going to spin me?
Please don't spin me. I don't want to be a pilot. I like my stomach too much.
It needs to be in good shape for ice cream eating.
Can I pick you up next?
Seriously, you always say squat and then you spin.
What are we going to do today since there's no football on? Waaaaaaahh. Oh I was thinking, we should go to the Orange Bowl. Oh wait, we have no money. That's ok! I bet Miami is nice this time of year... At least there's basketball. Your floor looks like basketball paint. Oh yea, it's a tape runway. Ah please don't spin me.
Those shorts don't really work well with your skin tone.
Let's go shopping and eat chips and salsa.
You aren't going to spin me right?
Ok, um, you can just put me down now."
I hope you too had fun and playful weekends with people you can be your weirdest around! :)
I will admit, I am not one to get into Christmas music until about 5 days before actual Christmas...
Oops!
However, this just popped up on the itunes shuffle
while I do a final edit to my seminar paper on ole' Atti being the bomb.com lawyer/citizen-leader (since it's now being submitted to the school's "1L Legal Profession" course teacher on recommendation of my professor to maybe be used in the curriculum. Can we not just stick it in the archives so I can be done with it? Oh well, as long as they pay my publishing fees. Laugh!)
And I am jamming to my #1 fave Christmas song that's making me super j-o-y-ful
and since y'all are most likely normal Christmas celebrating people, I had to share:
Oh the memories of dancing around to this song and decorating our sad little tree on the sorority hall with sweet Steph!
(sisters knocking on our door:) "Um, what are y'all doing in here?"
Via pinterest; but might as well have been taken in the WFG lawbrary, forrealz.
Finals week(s) begin Monday!
Just a few facts for those of you new to the law school final biz:
Finals are your only grade in most law school classes.
They are typically three to four hours in duration (a piece).
While taking one, they feel like thirteen to fourteen minutes in duration (cumulatively).
I have two exams during finals time this year (since my writing grade comes in brief form, as does my seminar; and military law and juvenile courts finals were taken in weeks prior. woop.)
Not having five finals during the next two weeks can be filed under the "Thank the good lawdy I'm not a 1L anymore" folder, along with approximately 123497135160 cites.
However, I must stay the course and not join the "I'm a 2L which means I'm almost a 3L which means I can lean towards the apathetic side of my studies here in law school" temptors.
So I have been studying lots this week in preparation for the weeks ahead. :)
So what all does this include?
Oh you know, the regulars:
Highlighters
Ear plugs
Flashcards
Resisting the urge to Christmas shop
Outlines
Pandora radio
Random dance breaks Missing watching the Tigers play in the ACC championship 30 minutes from my house tonight because I have a huge final in two days DON'T WANNA TALK ABOUT IT :)
Early morning workouts
Resisting the urge to Christmas shop
Legal pads
Practice problems
Study groups
Resisting the urge to Christmas shop
Allowing myself a second cup of coffee
Book tabbing Resisting the urge....taking a random trip to Target to keep my sanity
And maybe do some Christmas shopping?
Good luck to all my 2L gals in the midst of their finals weeks!
I know exactly where you are and am praying for you lots.
For everyone else, I'm praying for you too- whether it be your jobs, families, and the like. :)
As always, thanks for reading! I sure do love ya-
Lizanne
And it probably won't make sense, sooo..um.. sorry. :)
The picture above is one of my favorite places in Macon.
I adore this little study/small group/quiet time nook on the days when I want to get away from school, and my desk, and....to splurge on an iced skinny white mocha.
This afternoon, I took a break from my two-days-full of studying lawsuits to meet one of my 1L friends here for coffee.
I met Ashley within the first few weeks of the semester when I was assigned as her "mentor" through a program here at school. We meet every so often to chat about law school life and (my personal favorite,) life outside of law school. She is a super sweet girl and I really have enjoyed getting to know her! Our quick friendship has been a blessing to me.
Yet sometimes, if I am honest, I do not feel as if I make this best fit for a law school mentor.
While I am (er, most of the time?) a hard-working student, and have done (what I consider in my book) well in my time here, I confess that I often feel inadequate.
And a lot of times, I feel inadequate to give a younger student advice on how to be a super successful law student. (Did I mention she's not even younger than me? She is 26. She worked for a few years before taking the 1L plunge. She should be mentoring me!!!)
And in complete honesty, I have felt completely inadequate to be here this week.
Lots has contributed to this. Mainly, comparing myself to others that I am around.
But I am human and a confessed weirdo and...sometimes, it just slips!
And I start singing Antoine Dobson (remix of course) in my head:
Sorry. Had to do it. :)
Anyyyways, before I met with Ashley, I got to JCup early and read in My Upmost and had some time with Jesus.
This week, in my previous quiet times, I have been confessing to God, among other things, my feelings of the need to perform (for his love. for others' love. for this notion of a "better Christian". ewww.) and heavy feelings of inadequacy (esp. in the school arena). I then began praying for complete security, purpose, and fulfillment in Him and His love alone.
Isn't it weird what happens when you admit you are absolutely nothing without the grace of God?
How when you declare your utter dependence on Him, you soon find that, not only does he immediately meet you in that place...but that He's been there the whole time?
Letting you know it's not about what you do, but it's about who He is and who you are in Him?
That's when I read it:
"God is not after perfecting me to be a specimen in His showroom; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He likes."
Wheeeew. What RELIEF.
It's not about perfection or performance, people!
And that is awfully freeing for this gal.
The end. Amen.
Oh wait! My meeting with Ashley. :)
So I kept reading those words over and over again.
Getting me to a place where He can use me...
It's not about perfection, it's about living in his grace....
It's not about performance
...getting me to a place where He can use me...
And cutie pie Ashley walks in with the "I am a 1L and my first exam is in 3 days" look. Bless!!
"What is your best advice for me?"
"Well girl, I can tell you that in criminal he looks for yada yada....and contracts, the restatement is your bffl...property, use a quick ref sheet...torts, it goes quick so blah blah..."
"Ok great. I am just so stressed!"
"You know what? I'm going to speak from experience here, and I'm probably not the best mentor saying this, but you will never feel prepared enough. You will feel that you should go 9 hours instead of 8 straight. You will want to throw your hands up and quit. This is a hard time in life and it's ok to admit that, especially to this girl. I don't know all the right answers, but the best thing I can tell you, and what I need to tell you is, I believe (gulp) the Lord has you here for a reason and will see you through, and I believe in you...I believe all of that whole-heartedly."
(Screeeeetch dem brakes! I don't even know if this gal knows and loves Jesus? Did I just say that? Ah, where did that come from? I'm scared! Don't think I'm a weirdo and report me as crazy Jesus-y mentor!)
Quiet....
"Thank you so much. That's the most encouragement I've received in a long time."
It wasn't me!
It was "Let Him do what He likes."
And it couldn't have been more rewarding.
Sure, Ash things that was for her benefit, which I believe it was.
But I can attest that it was for mine, too!
I felt as if I was speaking to my ole heart in that moment...and I now stand secure in what God has in store for me in these next two weeks, the next year and a half, etc etc.
Whew. So blessed!
Be blessed this weekend, friends! If you're feeling inadequate or down- know that He loves you, you ARE worthy, and that He is using your life in great ways! :)
Love ya more'n my luggage-
LLF
"I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong; By no means do I count myself an expert on all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us- towards Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back." Phil 3:12-14 (msg) love love love it.
