Autumn Update

It has been a beautiful and exciting fall for George and I.

George spent most of October in London on business. Although he laughs it off, I thought it was pretty cool that the Queen visited the Big G while he was in the London office. It's not every day that the Queen and Prince Phillip stroll past your desk. I'm told that there are videos of her visit on YouTube, though I don't believe George appeared in any of them. George also had an opportunity to catch up with his friends in London and his colleagues in Dublin while he was across the Atlantic.

While George was gone, I had 100% focus on school during the week and girl time on the weekends. One weekend, some law school friends came over for a night of snacks, mojitos, sangria, and Apples-to-Apples. It brought out the true geek in each of us. The other weekend, I drove down to Oregon to visit Tracy in Salem. The drive was gorgeous - sunny, warm, and full of colorful leaves. Although I haven't been to New England in the fall, I imagine it looking something like my drive down the I-5. (Tracy, from Maine and New Hampshire, assures me that New England is even more vibrant.) Tracy and I had a fantastic time catching up, grabbing some drinks, exploring wine country (see photo), shopping in Portland, and escaping from our respective law school work loads.

We've been blessed with exceptional weather this fall. For some reason, the leaves have been even more vibrant than we remember them being in the past. Our house backs onto a community road, lined with deciduous trees. Their huge leaves were glowing in shades of red, yellow, and gold. What a wonderful view from our office and coming and going from home.

Driving through the arboretum on my way to and from school has been therapeutic. (I know that I'm talking about the leaves a lot, but 1-I love the shifting of seasons and 2-little things like beautiful leaves can make the stress of law school passable.) I've definitely needed the momentary escape as the semester progresses. My classes have proven both enjoyable and challenging. The real test will come as I finish my final appellate brief and appellate oral argument for legal writing and take exams in my other courses over the next month. I've lined up an externship (like an internship, but I get credit from the school rather than compensation from the site) for next semester that relates to my interest in bankruptcy law - exciting!

Of course, this fall brought election season to both the U.S. and New Zealand. I can't speak for the NZ experience, but I feel fortunate to have been part of the U.S. election this year. While the ads (particularly for some of our local candidates) drove me crazy, I fed off of the constant election news. Hearing so much about Ohio also made me a bit homesick and even more attracted to the news. For election night, we hosted a small gathering. We had the TV on and two laptops keeping track of counties and states reporting. The election call itself was a bit anti-climatic but exciting in its own respect. This is a really neat time to be part of the democratic process, and I really hope that President-elect Obama is able to harness the country's positive momentum and take us to a new and better place.

Enough with the election talk - our thoughts are now shifting to the holidays. This will be our first Christmas together in Seattle, which means our first tree. I am absolutely ecstatic to bring the pine scent into our home and display my ornaments, though George is less thrilled about killing a tree for our enjoyment. Stay tuned as the semester wraps up and the holidays approach.