Oh geez, my duodenum's acting up!

I love Scrubbing Bubbles' Fresh Brush. I got it this past summer and haven't looked back. I know people who've had the same toilet brush for a decade. That is one stanky brush! Then again, I also know someone who used his toilet brush as a makeshift plunger. That is a stankier brush.

A couple weeks ago, I ran out of my last Fresh Brush refill. This week, I figured it was time to do a big cleanup in the apartment since New Year's Eve is coming up. Lo and behold, the Fresh Brush refills are nowhere to be found. Yesterday, I went to CVS, Duane Reade, and two grocery stores. Only Duane Reade had the starter kit, but I didn't need another one of those! You figure that if you stock the kit, you'd have the refills.

Today, I went to another Duane Reade, which turned up nothing, but after buying some ingredients for dinner, I decided to visit this shady basement discount store. Of course, this place had every kind of cleaner I could ever desire, and my beloved brush refills. I bought two packages just in case I have this problem again.

Maybe the shady discount store stockpiled the refills so no other store would have them...

10 things in my medicine cabinet

1. Philosophy's Hope in a Jar
2. Philosophy's Greatest Love
3. Philosophy's When Hope is Not Enough
4. Lancôme Color ID Foundation
5. Stila Convertible Color
6. Blisslabs Lid & Lash Wash
7. Tony & Tina Color Frequency Eyeshadow
8. Burt's Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme
9. Covergirl Perfect Point Plus Eye Liner
10. Origins Brush-on Color

Sparrow is taking off!

I've been keeping busy, but I'm relaxing as well. I was running around on Friday, taking Eli to the vet, shopping, and baking a couple cakes for Josh to take home. On Saturday, Joe visited for the day and we ate lots of good food.

I'm having a good time hanging out with the kitties and working on Josh's CH-anukah gift. I've watched Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement four times. I love it!

Oh hell, why not be honest? I heart you, Lord Nicholas Devereaux!

Careful, you almost lost your hand... formula

My torts final was from 1:00-4:00 p.m. today. I left at 3:15, but I wasn't elated when I got out, like I expected. The exam was anticlimactic. I studied so hard, but only a tenth of the material was tested, and it was on trivial stuff that we'd spent about 10 minutes in class discussing.

Josh and I went down to South Street Seaport this evening and there was a fireworks display going on as we were shopping. He joked that the display was in honor of our finishing our first semester of law school.

In cupcake news: my neighbor, the French photographer, loved the cupcakes I gave him and he gave me a bottle of wine for the holidays. 2 cupcakes, or as he called them, "the best cupcakes I've ever had!", for a bottle of French wine. I don't drink wine, but it was very sweet of him.

Behold... My minions!

My cupcake army

The temptation was too much for me. I couldn't help but try out that recipe because it was too expensive to take a train just to get a bunch of cupcakes that cost almost $2 apiece.

Fast forward three hours...

Mwa ha ha ha... I have amassed a whopping 24 cupcakes that would have cost over $50 if I purchased them. I think I made them for less than $12. The cupcakes also served as impromptu holiday gifts for neighbors and the building's maintenance staff. If I tried to eat them all, I'd be in a sugar coma until Christmas.

On a side note, Morty is now addicted to frosting.

Shouldn't I be studying for my last exam?

Jitters Part 2

I have Civil Procedure tomorrow. I'm not as scared as I was for Contracts, but I'm worried that I didn't study enough and everybody else will do better than me.

I'm deathly afraid of winding up in the bottom 25% of my class because the school places those 40-some students into a "special" remedial class. Talk about a morale buster.

I know I shouldn't be complaining. I've always been the "whatever, suck it up" kind of person. I guess the idea of spending $50,000 for a year of education in a subject I might not be cut out for is the truly scary thing.

Enough! I will suck it up and look forward to Thursday, 5:01 p.m. when my last final is over.

F for presentation

Rockefeller Center

I can say that Contracts was the hardest exam I've ever taken. I wrote my hand off for my short answers and essay. I kept track of the time wrong because I so wisely chose a seat that was in the worst angle for viewing the clock. I thought I had ten more minutes to write than I actually did, so let's say that my last point about equitable remedies was a teensy bit sloppy. After that mind numbing hour and 45 minutes, we had another 75 minutes of the most diabolical, sadistic set of multiple choice questions our contracts professor could have written. I can say that I got 2 of the 25 correct definitely though! After the grueling exam, many of us had a quick word about the test, and the consensus is that we all failed.

The one valuable thing I learned from my Legal Writing class was the importance of separating the exam from the next exam's preparation because your brain can't handle it. I wholeheartedly agree with taking a break! So after lunch, it was time for a nap and then going out to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, followed by cupcakes from Billy's Bakery, and homemade pesto chicken and pasta for dinner. Even though it was raining, it was a great evening because I finished my Contracts exam and didn't get a zero!

On a side note, Billy's Bakery is awesome. Once you walk in the door, your senses are overwhelmed with the sights and smells of this old-fashioned style bakery. Everything looked so good - not fancy like expensive pastry, but good in a sweet, cozy way, and tonight was a night I definitely needed that feeling. I like it more than Magnolia because it's easier to get to and isn't crowded. I got another half dozen super cupcakes, but I swear, it's the last time because I'm going to make a buttload of them when finals are over!

Perhaps for my indefinite New Year's party.

Jitters

I have my first real law school final exam tomorrow - contracts. I'm really scared because I have this fear that everyone studied better and longer than I did. I can't wait until it's over because I will no longer be facing "my first real law school final exam."

I don't think I've ever learned this much material for an exam, in comparison with how much studying I did for my best exam at Rutgers, but I think I'm still woefully inadequate.

Outlining sucks.

Sugar bomb

Ducky and his matching cupcake sitting on my contracts textbook

I went to Magnolia this morning for a wakeup walk. I've heard so much about this bakery by word of mouth and watching "Sex and the City." I got up extra early so I could arrive when it opened (I'd been warned about a line out the door).

I wound up getting lost in the West Village because the streets don't go in number order all the time. After some blundering, I made it there. As I waited, a crowd quickly gathered, also waiting to swoop in and buy some of the most expensive cupcakes I have ever encountered ($1.75). The frosting is PERFECT. I had never seen people go insane over cupcakes like the customers at Magnolia. I think it was nice to experience the bakery, but I won't make another trip to the Village solely to buy cupcakes. I've also got the recipe for the cupcakes, so I'll make them myself next time.

Diabetes, here I come.