Neal Sales-Griffin: Crossing Over

This.  This speaks to me in so many ways.  I highly recommend Neal's video.  This guy's journey is something we should strive to emulate.  In this video, he addresses hitting walls, failure, taking the long way, and learning the hard way.

So.....Are you going to take the red pill or the blue pill?

VOTE.

It's been a while since I've blogged.  I've never been good about keeping up with blogging; if you're one of my followers, you know that.

But this election is SO IMPORTANT that I am shouting out into the oblivion: VOTE TOMORROW!!  Vote like your country depends on it!  And even if you aren't voting for Hillz, please just make sure you're taking part in the political process.  We need to be active members of society.  Do your civic duty, people.



xo, CJF

Where's Rosie the Riveter when you need her? U.N Visitors "horrified" by Gender Equality in the U.S.

It turns out women in America aren't just bitching.

In today's article titled "The U.N. Sent 3 Foreign Women To The U.S. To Assess Gender Equality. They Were Horrified." the Huffington Post details the reaction of several women visiting the United States from a U.N. delegation.  Apparently, they were not impressed.

Notably, "they found the U.S. to be lagging far behind international human rights standards in a number of areas, including its 23 percent gender pay gap, maternity leave, affordable child care and the treatment of female migrants in detention centers."

Perhaps the most heartbreaking and part of the article was when they chronicled their trip into a clinic providing abortions.

"We were harassed. There were two vigilante men waiting to insult us," said Frances Raday, the delegate from the U.K. The men repeatedly shouted, "You're murdering children!" at them as soon as they neared the clinic, even though Raday said they are clearly past childbearing age.
"It's a kind of terrorism," added Eleonora Zielinska, the delegate from Poland. "To us, it was shocking."

While we are definitely fortunate to be living in the U.S., gender issues still lurk like landmines in day-to-day life.  I've never experienced them more blatantly than in the legal industry, where I was once asked why I was going to law school since, "you're just going to be a secretary anyway."  I'm constantly mistaken for administrative staff, and often asked, "so what do YOU do at the law firm?" That's in addition to getting grabbed, hit on, and asked out by clients.  So there's that.

Read the whole article here, and let's start making some changes.

Connie Britton's Hair Secret

Brilliance.

I support Planned Parenthood.

I am a successful woman.

At least I'm on my way there.

I'm a college and law school graduate.  I'm an attorney.  I've won awards, started my own law practice, moved on to work with an amazing law firm, and I work very, very hard. I'm a Christian, even though I don't attend Church as much as I should.  I save money and dream about the day when I will be done paying off student loans. I enjoy a little bit of trash TV, a lot of NPR, and believe you can never stop learning.

And I support Planned Parenthood.

I'll admit that I am disturbed over the recent videos regarding the sale of aborted babies' body parts.  At first, I really hoped I'd read a Snopes.com article about how the footage was made up by some right-wing crazy conservative anti-abortion group. But that article didn't come.  And I still stand by my decision to support Planned Parenthood.

When it comes to abortions, we need to do better for both the women undergoing abortions and the lives that won't come into being because of the procedure.  What we can't do is allow the misguided activities of one center to negate the immense amount of good Planned Parenthood does for society. Planned Parenthood isn't just a place women go for abortions; it's a place we go for medicine, gynecological exams, breast exams, and help when we're at the most terrifying point in our lives.  It's a place where women learn about and take care of their bodies, which-- in my opinion-- are pretty amazing.  And now, with the calls for #defundplannedparenthood, #StoPP, and especially #womenbetrayed I think it's time I shared the story of how they helped me.

Cucko for Coconut Oil

It’s official. 

I am a HUGE fan of coconut oil.

Usually, my outlook is that anything that is so super hyped up as coconut oil can’t really be true, right?  Well it seems like I thought wrong.

Don't be afraid to #Ask4More

Happy Equal Pay Day! 

In a way, it almost pains me to say those words, simply because that means that something is unequal.

Why do we have an Equal Pay Day? Because women are still being paid LESS than our male counterparts.

Levo League has a great info graphic chronicling the history of Equal Pay Day, from Susan B. Anthony's call to arms for women everywhere right on up to today.  But here is the gist:

Illustrated guide to killing apartment bugs in style

I'm no wimp.  I can handle lots of critters without batting an eye-- lizards, mice, frogs, spiders, snakes-- hey ask my boyfriend, on my first date with him I STEPPED ON A SNAKE IN THE DARK in the streets of Georgetown, and didn't even flinch (that's when he said he knew I was a keeper).

However, I have a phobia of a certain type of critter.

What's in my Bag?



My favorite!

Behind every successful woman is a big bag she hauls around.  You can quote me on that.

After three weeks in NYC, I have perfected my tote bag.  I have enough stuff in it to get me through emergencies, impromptu happy hours, and just through life in general. I've listed my choice of (inexpensive!) things that every girl should carry around!

The Lucky Ones

I came to law school and met some amazing people.

Last year, someone I am lucky enough to call a friend found out that her mom had pancreatic cancer. This amazing, wonderful, and talented young woman remained the brightest burning star throughout the unthinkably difficult process of losing a mother in an accelerated period of time. On top of dealing with her personal life, she continued pursuing a dual JD/ Masters of Health Administration program across two separate (read: different schedules) universities. Her mother recently ended her time on earth, yet this individual has been as positive and as strong as ever. She continues to be a ray of light to everyone she touches.

This past weekend, members of the Richmond 2013 law school class-- along with several MHA students-- completed a Pancreatic Cancer Awareness walk hosted by St. Christopher's School here in Richmond, VA. Members of our class drove from hours away. This time three years ago, when we  were new to UR, I would have never expected such an inspiring connection with my classmates to form. We came to compete, after all, for everything: jobs, class rank, the best internships. But somewhere along the way we found a community. We found strength in each other. We found whole-hearted joy in each others' accomplishments. And we found out that no matter how much (little) money we make, how hard it feels to be a millennial in the legal system, the impending government shutdown, or even how terrible it was studying for the bar exam and awaiting its ever-looming results, we ARE the lucky ones.

So thank you, Richmond Law, for fostering this community of rag-tag vagabonds who somehow pulled ourselves together enough to become intelligent, educated, and exceedingly capable lawyers. Thank you for showing us how to be outstanding people as well as outstanding attorneys. And thank you for introducing us all to one of the strongest and most inspiring people ANY of us know, the founder and champion of TEAM TINA. No one else could have gotten about 20 law school grads up and functioning on a Saturday morning! 

To donate in honor of TEAM TINA to the Lustgarden Foundation, follow this link.

Skinny Studying

I've been a big fan of smoothies for a while now.  Until recently, though, I hadn't been supercharging them.  What does that mean?  Adding hidden good-for-you junk that I don't eat on it's own.  And I have almost perfected the art of hiding the taste.

I like to prep a bunch of ingredients at once by cutting the fruit and putting them in bags.  I usually do this while watching some sort of trash TV.  Then I freeze them all up and have them for the week/ 2 weeks/ etc!

• I have been buying frozen mixed berries, because they are cheaper than fresh (at least I have found)
• I buy fresh pineapple, kiwi, sometimes blueberries, chopped kale, and watermelon
• Peaches go either way depending on the time of year-- whatever is cheapest at the moment is the winner for me!

Clearly, my freezer is packed.

 I then use almond milk and sometimes 2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt as my liquid.


Here is a recipe for one of my favorite smoothie recipes to date. It's my go-to when I need a mid-day pre-workout post-study snack that leaves me feeling like attacking these Barbri problems is a piece-o-cake.

YUMMO! Look at that color!

Ingredients:

1. three handfulls frozen mixed berries
2. 3 tablespoons frozen chopped kale
3. 8 1-inch chunks frozen pineapple
4. 1/3 cup almond milk

Directions:

Throw that stuff in a blender.  Blend the hell out of it and enjoy!

Blessings from Goodwill rain down!

OMGOMGOMGOMG.

Look what I got at Goodwill for $25!!

I've already sanded it and am so excited to paint.  I was going to do satin black, but now I'm not so sure.  The room it is going into is black wood/ tan and burlap linens, and blue/gray accents. Thoughts?

The things lawyers have to deal with...

This man deserves a medal.

Teen Mom 2 (Season 3) | Ep. 3 | Sneak Peek: Jenelle becomes upset when she learns that she may have to miss a Ke$ha concert when serving jail time.

Ribbon/Bow Headband tutorial

As you already know, I went crazy with the crafts last night.  I promised tutorials, so here is the first!

Supplies: 

1 flat metal headband.  I used one from H&M.

Approx. 2 feet of the color ribbon of your choice

Glue gun/sticks

NOTE: I am using  different color of ribbon, because I didn't take pictures while I was making the black one!

1. Cover the headband with ribbon.  You can either wrap the headband, or do it like I did-- just run the ribbon straight from one end to the other, gluing intermittently.
2. Cut a piece of ribbon about 6 inches.  This is going to be the bottom bow.  Make an "O" shape with the ribbon, connecting the two ends with a dot/small line of glue.

...Yup.

Pinterest: Is it a walking Copyright Infringement?

I love Pinterest.  It's a problem.  But I've wondered about the Copyright implications.  So have some other people, apparently, because there are some articles popping up about Pinterest's legal issues.

For those of you with a "Paid Content" subscription:

Pinterest: Is it a Facebook or a Grokster?

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-pinterest-is-it-a-facebook-or-a-grokster/

For a free analysis:

Is Pinterest a Haven for Copyright Infringers?

http://greekgeek.hubpages.com/hub/Is-Pinterest-a-Haven-for-Copyright-Violations

One great non-legal point that I think we need to think about is the PR fallout. Read this exceprt:

Copyright holders may also fear a public relations fallout that would come with a lawsuit. For content owners, it’s one thing to label hip-hop artists and music fans as “thieves.” But it’s quite another when the content involves food and dress pictures—even the most hardened copyright visigoth would pause at denouncing a 16-year-old who borrows pictures to make a collage of her future wedding. 

Thoughts?

Long Live Pinterest!! 

The Depo From Hell: With Chaos, Blood and Violence

When Law School sucks, at least you don't have to deal with this (yet...)

Law School Exam Stress Relief

I have one exam left. One.  I've been studying non-stop since... geeze I don't even know when.  And today, I took my first craft break since at LEAST before Halloween.

And I went nuts.

I'm going to write mini-tutorials for these eventually, but I couldn't wait to share my handiwork!  I'm literally a five year old over how excited I get for craft time.  I was so cracked out on sugar, lack of sleep, and sheer excitement to be doing something that is NOT law school, I was almost jumping for joy.  Shoutout to my friend Marium for putting up with me while we were trying to watch TV.

Here are the goods:

 Gray knit hat (Target) with DIY Pink fabric flower, green flannel leaves.



Inspired by this Pinterest pin, but modified.

Pink and white fabric flowers on gray satin headband

Black simple bow on black satin headband

Closeup bow detail












I also made one more thing, but I'm not posting it here because it is a gift, and that person might be looking! But needless to say, I went buck-wild with the arts supplies tonight.  Fancy Nancy would be proud.

Super Easy Less-than-an-hour Pizza from SCRATCH

YES my friends, you heard me right: Pizza. From Scratch.  Less than an hour.

If I can do it, so can you.  Believe me, some of my cooking disasters are ones for the books.  I burnt SOUP for the love of Pearl!

But THIS is so easy, ANYONE can do it. 

Dough:
3 cups flour
1 packet dry yeast (I used the quick rise kind)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup warm (almost hot) water
a little less than 1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon garlic salt


Combine all dry ingredients and stir.
Mix in oil and water.
Coat baking sheet/ pizza sheet with a little bit of extra olive oil.
Spread dough out on pizza sheet.  Let sit for 5 mins.
Bake dough for 20 mins at 375 degrees F.

Pizza:
1-2 cups marinara sauce
1 clove garlic
1 tomato
1/2 tablespoon garlic salt
8-10 basil leaves
Parmesean cheese to taste
Feta cheese to taste
Italian seasonings

**all of these are "ish" measurements-- meaning if you want more or less, go for it!  You can add whatever.

Slice garlic very thin (Goodfellas, anyone??) and tomatoes fairly thin
Spread on marinara sauce on prepared dough
Sprinkle on cheeses
Lay garlic slices, tomatoes, and basil leaves on top of the cheese.
Sprinkle on Italian seasonings.
Place in oven and cook for 10 more mins on 375 degrees.

NOTE: Baking times may differ depending on your oven and how thick you make your crust!  I made mine very thick-- so thinner crusts may have a shorter cooking time.

Goodwill Lamp Makeover

Being a law student, I am poor.  I'm living on loans.  So decorating an apartment and making it feel like home is kind of trickier than it is for people with oh, I don't know...a job.

It is NOT impossible.

Armed with Google and a little imagination, I turned an ugly lamp into a beautiful one for less than $20.  How awesome is that?

I started at Goodwill. Lamps are usually easy to find there.  You usually can find those ugly ginger jar lamps-- like the one I found for $5:

 

Admit it, it's pretty ugly.  That's why I decided to coat it with the silver spray paint you see there.  It is a primer/paint all in one, an has a "hammered finish" for some texture.

I taped off the cord to prevent it from getting sprayed:

I then took it outside, where I spread out some newspaper.  I taped the bulb socket the same way I did the cord.  I sprayed a nice coat of silver spraypaint, let it dry, and then coated it again:

I let it dry for about 30 minutes (so it wasn't tacky to the touch), and then took the lamp inside. I then had to get that pesky wire topper off.

I don't have any pictures of this part because I had n idea what I was doing, but I simply peeled back the felt on the bottom of the lamp and unscrewed the top part, unclipped the metal lampshade holder, and screwed everything back together (make sure you have someone with little arms for this part!). 

I went to Target and found a nice burlap lampshade on sale for $9.  Placing that on top was the icing on the cake!

Voila! High class on a law school budget. Totally easy, totally cheap.  Not going to lie-- I am pretty proud of this.

Thoughts?