Crabtastic.

Wanna see the one ray of light in my bleak, bleak evening (okay, there were two) of writing this horrid paper for Hopkins? Here it is. If you wait around for a little bit on that page, a picture of my bridesmaid WEARING A CRAB ON HER HEAD pops up (she's the tall drink of water). It SO brightens my day/night. Yes...she ran the marathon. Yes...she's amazing and there's nothing she can't do.

The best part is...I totally stumbled upon that website by accident. Just futzing around on the internet trying to put off writing aforementioned paper...when BAM! Crabhead! Also: she wore the crabhat to school on Tuesday in a completely unrelated school thing we had going. That's two days of Crabhead in one week...good times.

Okay. Maybe I should stop overkilling the Crabhead and actually get back to work.

What an Oralist [snerk].

Before you string me up, let me preface by saying that I have been incredibly, incredibly busy these past couple weeks. Not going to bore you with details, but rather a very brief synopsis:

Hopkins Master's Project: 67
Melissa: 68

I came out on top. In overtime of course. But it's done for now...gotta present it to the board (as well as a million teachers) on the 31st...but I'm not really letting myself think about that right now. Suffice to say, I have been useless for the past few days. After turning it in I have had absolutely NO motivation to do anything remotely work-related. Too bad I am being evaluated on Wednesday.

Anyway, Friday I attended my very first (*cough* and LAST *cough*) Moot Court competition. Yes. My fiance reached the FINALS of the competition -- this is a big deal. He beat out all the other teams which had travelled from all over the country and whooped their collective asses. His team (he and one other woman) emerged in first spot after the semi-finals. The finals were actually against another GW team (go figure) and one of the guys was an HW alum who was in the same graduating class as my brother. Small world.

(This picture may not be completely legal. They were taken before we learned that photography wasn't allowed in the courtroom. As for them sitting in the justices' chairs...that's just plain wrong. Please don't arrest us.)

Sadly, Jamie's team didn't win...but second place is still amazing -- especially since it was their very first competition ever. The other team had lots of experience and the HW guy is notorious for being Mr. Moot Court around campus. Still, Jamie BEAT HIM in the semi-finals. I think they were Brokebacked, but the judges did have to deliberate for a long, long time to decide between the two it was so close. (I also want it noted that Annie Proulx felt the same way about the Best Actor nominations as I did a few weeks back. I like it when smart people agree with me...doesn't happen often.)

ALSO, Jamie won 2nd place for BEST ORALIST. Hee! He's such an amazing oralist. Also a big deal in the world of law and resumes. Very proud of the boy. Or should I say, The Man.


Yesterday, Jamie and I got up bright and early and ventured out to Virginia to look at some more wedding places. The first was a gorgeous vineyard -- it would be perfect...except that it's too small. CRY. It could fit 140 people, but everyone would be seated in two different rooms which is not what we want. The guy was awesome, though. I will totally recommend it to any person who wants a small wedding somewhere in VA. Sadly, I won't be walking through this blossom-lined (or so they say) pergola (Sound of Music Style) come 2007.

The other place was nice, but it would have needed to be perfect to merit it being so FAR. It took an hour and a half for us to get there and it's like an hour away from the nearest airport. I would feel better about not having to make people rent a car and drive a million miles. I have pictures of that place too, but Blogger is being slow and I have no patience. So those'll have to wait.

So it comes down to two places. The pops is coming this weekend to look over the options and since he's the one with the wallet I think we'll be decided come Sunday! Wee!

FYI.

I just listened to my downstairs neighbor (aka: SNORLAX) have a very long argument with someone over the phone. It went through phases like: "weepy", "angry", "shouty", and "cussy". It ended with him enraged and screaming into the phone that he was going to "kill you, you mothafucka!" because "I'm tired of your fuckin' shit!" and peeling out of the parking lot and bottoming out over the speed bump. I tell you this, in case the police need to know the exact time that all these events took place.

I kind of miss those screaming kids that used to be my neighbors now. ("I LOVE NOISE! I LOVE NOISE!"

P.S. mmmmmmm...pineapple.

Work Break.

Wolverines are open-minded. That is all.

Contender Number Two.

Yesterday one of my dear bridesmaids (aka: Eileen) took me venue shopping. Coincidentally, it is where she got married last summer and knowing how hard she is to please, the place definitely came with a very comforting stamp of approval. (Just kidding about the "hard to please" part -- she just learned about the blog and I wanted her to yell at her screen.)

Anyway, place number two was great! And I'm not just saying that because she got married there...it actually is great! Much more affordable and very high quality. I definitely feel like we would get a whole lot more for less there. Me, being a total doofus, left the camera at home...but they sent me home with a DVD. I will steal some pictures from Eileen and put them up (if she doesn't mind, of course. *pretty please*?) It is very different from the first place we looked. A very different ambience, but it is more what I envisioned for myself at first. I have a feeling that Jamie will agree when he sees it (the punk is in Minnesota right now).

Anyway, I'm sorry for the lack of posts -- I have been extremely stressed out about my Hopkins portfolio (our big masters project) that is due this month. But, once it's turned in (March 17th) and once I give my presentation on it (March 30th) I'll be back in full force.