Wow. Whew. So after getting over that flu (was that seriously the last time I posted!? Gosh...) I took a last minute flight to North Carolina to visit certain people, got home just in time to go to West Texas with my family, and now tomorrow I start law school.

Dang. So two things not to do: go on vacations literally the week/day before you have to move into your law-school-apartment. No, I'm not at all overwhelmed at the moment.
I'm also not at all packed. Yay!

Yes the forces that be combined to nearly kill my fragile, infant attempt at a blog...either that or I just mislaid my mutli-tasking knack in law school! But I think I'm back...for now...maybe.
AND, (drum roll please) it's all over and done with and finished and for sure, for sure: I am going to UT!!!!! (That's the University of Texas School of Law (www.utexas.edu/law ), in case you don't know. It's only the coolest law school EVER). Yes it took forever for the last, final decision...gosh, applying to law school is an intense, character-building, trial-by-fire process! But thank God it's over and all I have to do now is get the last of my books. And seriously, if anyone you know ever decides to go to law school, tell them they should probably go to UT. I mean not only is it the coolest law school ever, but it's also conveniently located in Austin (home of South by Southwest AND Austin City Limits), and LeTourneau doesn't have a law school, plus they have about the greatest financial aid office ever (they made my life much much better), and, let's face it, I'm there.

And if anyone ever wants to go out to West Texas for a vacation, I can HIGHLY recommend the Gage Hotel ( http://www.gagehotel.com ) in Marathon. I'll try to post pictures later but...it's AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think it got left behind in 1860 and stayed wonderful when the rest of the world went modern. It's also conveniently located near Big Bend National Park.....which is not Chihuahua-friendly. My mom might have taken her Chihuahua on the vacation, and possibly along to Big Bend...apparently they attract bears and mountain lions. Chihuahuas, that is, not moms.

Chihuahuas also dislike the heat of the Rio Grande Valley, preferring the air-conditioned car interior. To be perfectly honest, I think moms feel the same way about the heat.
Really, though, it was a wonderful retreat from the world right before the rigors of my 1L year, and I fell completely in love with the untamed desert out there and the sheer immensity of the sky. It really still is the "west" in that idealised way we all think of it, an empty, wild land with loan ranches and brave loners.