So much has been happening!
I went camping on the 20 mile river.
Went hiking Blueberry Loop.
Went to a crazy bar called Koots.
Bridget and her mom came to visit. We went hiking Flattop Mountain. Made it all the way to the top, but had a panic attack --> WAY too afraid of heights to hike to the top of a mountain.
Went sea kayaking and got pretty close to a bald eagle.
Hiked to a glacier.
Went rafting (floating) on the Kenai River and saw grizzly bears in the river.
Saw my first black bear - it was crossing the highway and was SSSOOO cute. I wanted to take him home.
Went to the Moosedropping Festival in Talkeetna and watched the Mountain Mother Competition.
Work has been crazy. A father of a client tried to fire me. He was scary. A probation officer is being a bully.
I applied for the Equal Justice Works National Advisory Committee. I should find out if I got it by the end of next week. I doubt I will, but it would be amazing if I did.
My cousin James (and Annette) had a baby. SSSSOOO beautiful. Chris and Jennifer are due very soon.
Steve started ring shopping. Shhh!!!!
I am trying to plan a trip to SoFla for October.
I love and miss you guys. Hopefully it won't be so long before I write again.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Earthquake update
Hey everyone! Here is an update on the earthquake. It was pretty big and pretty awesome. Everything is fine. There is no damage. It was just really exciting and something I would never get to experience while in NC or FL.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7urGLJfuEzoD7emyTY5pbBxBKTAD9902S682
I promise I am working on getting pictures up of the Denali trip. I spent quite a while working on it yesterday and hope to finish by tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow I can also tell you about the camping trip.
I wish I could say more about the earthquake but it is impossible to describe.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7urGLJfuEzoD7emyTY5pbBxBKTAD9902S682
I promise I am working on getting pictures up of the Denali trip. I spent quite a while working on it yesterday and hope to finish by tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow I can also tell you about the camping trip.
I wish I could say more about the earthquake but it is impossible to describe.
EaRtHqUaKe!!!!
I was just in my first ever earthquake!!!!
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/ak00109805.php#details
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/ak00109805.php#details
Thursday, June 18, 2009
So much, so fast
Hi! So much has happened in the past week and a half. I have so much to tell you about. I have been really busy and that is why I haven't written in a while.
Dad and Pat came up and we went to Denali. It was absolutely amazing. We had a beautiful view of Mt. McKinley (Denali) on the drive up to the Park. Before I proceed, I should probably explain the whole "Denali" thing. There are 3 things that the word Denali can refer to: Denali State Park, Denali National Park, and Mt. McKinley. I will pretty much never talk about the State Park. So if I say that I went to Denali, then I am referring to the National Park. If I say that I saw Denali, then I am referring to the mountain. You are just going to have to pay attention to context to know what I am talking about.
So, back to the trip. Dad and Pat got up here on Monday night. We went and got some food and walked around a little bit downtown, but they were tired and it was sort of cold out and they weren't dressed for it. Tuesday morning we hung around downtown for a while going in gift shops and stuff. I had to stop by the office to update my boss on something that happened Monday night in one of the cases, but then I got to show Dad and Pat where I get coffee, where I eat, etc. After lunch we began the drive to Denali. We didn't see any wildlife on the drive up there, but we had beautiful views of the mountains. Once we got up around the park we met up with Billy (my second or third cousin who is working in the Park for the summer) and had dinner. It was really cool to meet a cousin whom I had never met and spent some time with him. He is really a great guy and I hope I get to hang out with him again this summer.
On the way to the hotel from dinner we saw 3 different moose. Two were off a little ways on the side of the road. I got out of the car and took a picture of them because they were at a safe distance. Then, along the back road close to the hotel we saw a really skinny one that looked like he was going to dying or something on the side of the road. It was cool because he was so close, but sad because he was so skinny and looked so sick. :(
On Saturday we got up super early to get on the first shuttle bus into the Park. The bus left at 6, so I was up before 5. Yuck. But the trip into the park was AMAZING! We saw TONS of wildlife. I think we saw about 20 different grizzly bears. Two of the bears (a mom and her one year old cub) were actually in the middle of the street at one point so we were only a few feet away from them (but we were in the bus). We also saw some bears out on the tundra just playing. It was really cool to see them in their natural habitat where they weren't worried about people or anything. They looked cuddly. haha. But I wouldn't want to get too close to one if I wasn't on the bus. :) We also saw an entire herd of caribou (aka reindeer) which was neat because you saw the younger ones playing around the herd. We also saw two wolves. Apparently wolf sightings are pretty rare. The ones we saw were a golden color. If no one had told me, I would have assumed they were foxes, because that is what they looked like to me (given the fact that I have never seen a wolf OR a fox in real life before this). One was on the side of the road, pretty close to the bus and the other was a little ways off in the brush. We also saw bald eagles and golden eagles. After seeing the first bald eagle, I wasn't very excited for the birds anymore, but other people on the bus were obsessed with the birds, which was kind of annoying. Oh well. The loony toons on the bus were quite funny once I got past my annoyance at them. (We all know I get a bad attitude sometimes.) haha.
On the way back on the bus we got off and hiked for a couple of miles on the bank of one of the rivers that runs through the park. We didn't see any wildlife while we were off the bus (boo!) but we did see some rabbit parts, including rabbit feet. It was kind of strange to find single rabbit legs, but no other part of the rabbit. I wonder why the animals didn't eat that part too....
Once we got on a different bus to ride the rest of the way back, some people from Hollywood were sitting right in front of us. How strange...
We didn't see any moose in the Park, but on Wednesday, on our way back to Anchorage, a HUGE moose walked across the street in front of the car. It was the first moose I had seen that was that big. It also had a huge rack, which was cool to see for the first time as well.
Tuesday night after the Park we met up with Billy again to eat dinner. Again, SO much fun to get to know my cousin. I feel so lucky (blessed) to have the amazing family that I have.
Wednesday morning we got up and went to a sled dog demonstration. We got to pet the dogs before the demo, but it was super anti-climactic because the dogs just sat by their dog houses out of reach. It was a pretty warm day and I think it was just too hot for them. Their prime operating temperature is below 0 and it was probably almost 70 that day. The dogs were beautiful though.
Alright, I think that is enough for tonight. This weekend I will update you on the camping trip from last weekend as well as this past week at work. I will also try to organize my photos from Denali and give you all a link to them. This week has been crazy at work though and I am exhausted when I get home (which is why it hasn't happened yet). Sorry for the delay. I miss you all and love you!!!!
Dad and Pat came up and we went to Denali. It was absolutely amazing. We had a beautiful view of Mt. McKinley (Denali) on the drive up to the Park. Before I proceed, I should probably explain the whole "Denali" thing. There are 3 things that the word Denali can refer to: Denali State Park, Denali National Park, and Mt. McKinley. I will pretty much never talk about the State Park. So if I say that I went to Denali, then I am referring to the National Park. If I say that I saw Denali, then I am referring to the mountain. You are just going to have to pay attention to context to know what I am talking about.
So, back to the trip. Dad and Pat got up here on Monday night. We went and got some food and walked around a little bit downtown, but they were tired and it was sort of cold out and they weren't dressed for it. Tuesday morning we hung around downtown for a while going in gift shops and stuff. I had to stop by the office to update my boss on something that happened Monday night in one of the cases, but then I got to show Dad and Pat where I get coffee, where I eat, etc. After lunch we began the drive to Denali. We didn't see any wildlife on the drive up there, but we had beautiful views of the mountains. Once we got up around the park we met up with Billy (my second or third cousin who is working in the Park for the summer) and had dinner. It was really cool to meet a cousin whom I had never met and spent some time with him. He is really a great guy and I hope I get to hang out with him again this summer.
On the way to the hotel from dinner we saw 3 different moose. Two were off a little ways on the side of the road. I got out of the car and took a picture of them because they were at a safe distance. Then, along the back road close to the hotel we saw a really skinny one that looked like he was going to dying or something on the side of the road. It was cool because he was so close, but sad because he was so skinny and looked so sick. :(
On Saturday we got up super early to get on the first shuttle bus into the Park. The bus left at 6, so I was up before 5. Yuck. But the trip into the park was AMAZING! We saw TONS of wildlife. I think we saw about 20 different grizzly bears. Two of the bears (a mom and her one year old cub) were actually in the middle of the street at one point so we were only a few feet away from them (but we were in the bus). We also saw some bears out on the tundra just playing. It was really cool to see them in their natural habitat where they weren't worried about people or anything. They looked cuddly. haha. But I wouldn't want to get too close to one if I wasn't on the bus. :) We also saw an entire herd of caribou (aka reindeer) which was neat because you saw the younger ones playing around the herd. We also saw two wolves. Apparently wolf sightings are pretty rare. The ones we saw were a golden color. If no one had told me, I would have assumed they were foxes, because that is what they looked like to me (given the fact that I have never seen a wolf OR a fox in real life before this). One was on the side of the road, pretty close to the bus and the other was a little ways off in the brush. We also saw bald eagles and golden eagles. After seeing the first bald eagle, I wasn't very excited for the birds anymore, but other people on the bus were obsessed with the birds, which was kind of annoying. Oh well. The loony toons on the bus were quite funny once I got past my annoyance at them. (We all know I get a bad attitude sometimes.) haha.
On the way back on the bus we got off and hiked for a couple of miles on the bank of one of the rivers that runs through the park. We didn't see any wildlife while we were off the bus (boo!) but we did see some rabbit parts, including rabbit feet. It was kind of strange to find single rabbit legs, but no other part of the rabbit. I wonder why the animals didn't eat that part too....
Once we got on a different bus to ride the rest of the way back, some people from Hollywood were sitting right in front of us. How strange...
We didn't see any moose in the Park, but on Wednesday, on our way back to Anchorage, a HUGE moose walked across the street in front of the car. It was the first moose I had seen that was that big. It also had a huge rack, which was cool to see for the first time as well.
Tuesday night after the Park we met up with Billy again to eat dinner. Again, SO much fun to get to know my cousin. I feel so lucky (blessed) to have the amazing family that I have.
Wednesday morning we got up and went to a sled dog demonstration. We got to pet the dogs before the demo, but it was super anti-climactic because the dogs just sat by their dog houses out of reach. It was a pretty warm day and I think it was just too hot for them. Their prime operating temperature is below 0 and it was probably almost 70 that day. The dogs were beautiful though.
Alright, I think that is enough for tonight. This weekend I will update you on the camping trip from last weekend as well as this past week at work. I will also try to organize my photos from Denali and give you all a link to them. This week has been crazy at work though and I am exhausted when I get home (which is why it hasn't happened yet). Sorry for the delay. I miss you all and love you!!!!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Hey everyone! I know it's been a while. Sorry. Nothing very eventful happened during the week, so there was no real reason to update you all.
During the week I started looking for judicial clerkships to which I can apply in the fall for after I graduate. It looks like I will be applying to a total of 3 federal clerkships in Wilmington and New Bern and then some state clerkships in South Carolina. I don't really want to clerk in Raleigh, so I probably won't apply to any North Carolina state clerkships. The best part of a clerkship (besides for being super prestigeous) is that it will give me an extra year to two to figure out what I want to do when I grow up and where I want to do it.
Friday at work I did another API (Alaska Psychiatric Institute) hearing. It was a girl who had just turned 18. It lasted almost two hours and I lost (of course). It sort of bummed me out. I know I shouldn't keep track but now I think I am about 0 for 5 and haven't even been successful getting plea deals for my clients. Sometimes it gets kind of frustrating, but that is the life of a defense lawyer. Everyday the book To Kill a Mockingbird seems more and more fitting. "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."
Yesterday (Saturday) was Oceans Fest here in Anchorage. There were tents for booths set up and a 5K and a live band and all sorts of stuff. It was a great time. I was there for about 7 hours and got SUPER sunburnt. I was wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt, so it is only my face. I also had big sorority girl sunglasses on so I have REALLY bad racoon eyes. It is really embarrasing and I hope I don't have to go to court tomorrow. haha. I tried to take a picture to show everyone, but it didn't really work. You can't really tell from the photo, but I will upload it anyway.
Dad and Pat get here tomorrow night and I am SO EXCITED!!!! :) On Tuesday we are heading up to Denali National Park, which should be absolutely amazing.
Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since I got to Alaska. It is crazy that it is flown by so fast. I am so happy I decided to seize this opportunity. So thank you to everyone who encouraged me to do it.
During the week I started looking for judicial clerkships to which I can apply in the fall for after I graduate. It looks like I will be applying to a total of 3 federal clerkships in Wilmington and New Bern and then some state clerkships in South Carolina. I don't really want to clerk in Raleigh, so I probably won't apply to any North Carolina state clerkships. The best part of a clerkship (besides for being super prestigeous) is that it will give me an extra year to two to figure out what I want to do when I grow up and where I want to do it.
Friday at work I did another API (Alaska Psychiatric Institute) hearing. It was a girl who had just turned 18. It lasted almost two hours and I lost (of course). It sort of bummed me out. I know I shouldn't keep track but now I think I am about 0 for 5 and haven't even been successful getting plea deals for my clients. Sometimes it gets kind of frustrating, but that is the life of a defense lawyer. Everyday the book To Kill a Mockingbird seems more and more fitting. "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."
Yesterday (Saturday) was Oceans Fest here in Anchorage. There were tents for booths set up and a 5K and a live band and all sorts of stuff. It was a great time. I was there for about 7 hours and got SUPER sunburnt. I was wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt, so it is only my face. I also had big sorority girl sunglasses on so I have REALLY bad racoon eyes. It is really embarrasing and I hope I don't have to go to court tomorrow. haha. I tried to take a picture to show everyone, but it didn't really work. You can't really tell from the photo, but I will upload it anyway.
Dad and Pat get here tomorrow night and I am SO EXCITED!!!! :) On Tuesday we are heading up to Denali National Park, which should be absolutely amazing.
Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since I got to Alaska. It is crazy that it is flown by so fast. I am so happy I decided to seize this opportunity. So thank you to everyone who encouraged me to do it.
Monday, June 1, 2009
proud of myself for once
I walked over 5 miles yesterday.
I got the rest of my grades for this semester today. 2 Bs and 4As.
I'm proud of myself.
I got the rest of my grades for this semester today. 2 Bs and 4As.
I'm proud of myself.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Another Alaska Weekend
Good week this week. I did my first arraignment hearing and my first API (Alaska Psychiatric Institute) hearing. Lost both but learned a lot. I actually had to cross examine a witness for the API hearing. And I had to do a mock opening statement for my boss. I kind of think he was torturing me, but I learned a lot and he said that i did much better than he had expected. He actually expected me to freeze and not be able to do it at all.
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. There has been pretty nasty weather for the past couple of days. But we went in the hottub in the rain tonight. Pretty fun. And it was actually really pretty to look at the rain falling through the steam from the hottub. I think about 6 or 7 people were over the house tonight. Fun group of people, but not really relaxing to be around.
I looked around some of the gift shops around here. There are some really cool things. If anyone wants anything specific, let me know. I know I am gonna get Steve's mom an Eskimo Yo-Yo (which I was very excited to find this week) and my mom some kind of figurine type thing.
Dad and Pat come up in just over a week. I can't wait. They will be able to bring me grocery shopping! yay! haha. Also.... DENALI!!!!
Alright, food time. Love you guys! :)
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. There has been pretty nasty weather for the past couple of days. But we went in the hottub in the rain tonight. Pretty fun. And it was actually really pretty to look at the rain falling through the steam from the hottub. I think about 6 or 7 people were over the house tonight. Fun group of people, but not really relaxing to be around.
I looked around some of the gift shops around here. There are some really cool things. If anyone wants anything specific, let me know. I know I am gonna get Steve's mom an Eskimo Yo-Yo (which I was very excited to find this week) and my mom some kind of figurine type thing.
Dad and Pat come up in just over a week. I can't wait. They will be able to bring me grocery shopping! yay! haha. Also.... DENALI!!!!
Alright, food time. Love you guys! :)
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