A Look Back: UVA Law 3L Year 2007-2008

To celebrate the five-year anniversary of my law school graduation today, I've been reviewing my three years at UVA Law. I already did my 1L year, and my 2L year, and this post is about my third year and graduation!

August 2007
I was in New York City for my summer associate position at a law firm. At the beginning of the month we got job offers for work after we graduated and we had a farewell party-- no dinner, just drinks. Recipe for disaster!  Before I left the city, my parents and I went out for dinner and drinks.  After that, we had several weeks to vacation in Charlottesville and Cape Cod. When we returned to Charlottesville for good, Donald and Roger had an apartment-warming party.

Steph, Sarah, Donald, Jon at Roger and Donald's party


Roger making delicious drinks

Rob, Audra, and Jackie

September 2007

Some of Sarah W's friends threw here a big 23rd birthday party. Sarah H. B. and Donald started secretly dating, but we figured it out almost right away, and pretended we didn't know. A bunch of us went to the UVA v. Duke football game, and then Kevin and I had a big cookout at our new place.  All the while, Sarah and Donald tried to act casual. Ha ha. And then, one of my favorite events of the year: Fall Foxfield!

Sarah W's 23rd birthday party

Fall Foxfield 2007

October 2007
Donald and Sarah had now been secretly dating a whole month and the rest of us were still pretending we didn't know. Really! My parents visited me and Kevin at our new apartment. Brian and I went to a Maroon5 concert. A bunch of us went to the 3L Bonfire to celebrate our last year at law school.  We roasted marshmallows, and somehow Brian ended up going for a swim.

My parents on the Downtown Mall 2007


3L Bonfire 2007

November 2007
Brian, Roger, Katy, and I went to the Vermont v. UVA basketball game and sat in the student seats, while Kevin, Brady, Cory, and Chow went to the game but had to sit in the public seats. Going to games "together" like this was a regular occurrence.

Before my 3L Public Interest Law Association (PILA) auction and semiformal dance, we had people to our place beforehand. After two full months, we finally "officially knew" Donald and Sarah were dating and they went to the dance together. I got jealous when Kevin talked to Roger's date for too long (she was from Cape Cod).  Little did I know that Kevin had already bought me an engagement ring. Ha!

Before the semi-formal, 2007

Kevin planned a trip to New York, and took me to go see my mother at work first. She was in cahoots with him, and had picked up the ring delivery for him, and slipped him the ring while I was in the bathroom. Then he took me to the New York Public Library, where he proposed on the steps on November 21.

Proposal, November 21, 2007

December 2007
More finals. We were old pros at exams, so we didn't make a fuss anymore. Some of us celebrated the end of semester with wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. Yum.

Me and Roger


Jackie and Brandon

January 2008
We came back from winter break mid-month. Kevin and I had gone to the Caribbean to celebrate our engagement. Unlike some Januaries where I'd wear tank tops and marvel at the crazy weather, we had some pretty snow this year. Brian finished up his term as Student Bar Association President.

Snow at UVA Law

Brian working hard in the SBA Office

February 2008
Kevin bought Chris Long a beer at Mellow Mushroom. The chatted about his draft prospects.

A group of us went to our 3L Barristers Ball which is like law school prom. My parents co-hosted a little engagement party for me and Kevin in Charlottesville.  Sarah B., Sarah W., and I watched the lunar eclipse. A group of us had brunch at Professor Kitch's house, and that evening Sarah and I joined Audra on her bachelorette party.

UVA Law's Barristers Ball 2008

March 2008
My law school friends and I went to  Edisto Beach, South Carolina for Spring Break. We stayed at my friend Katy's beach house, and went into Charleston one night for dinner and walking around. From there we went to Audra and Rob's wedding.

Edisto Beach, Spring Break 2008

Audra and Rob get married!

 

At Audra and Rob's wedding

My 29th birthday came and went without a party, as I was busy playing an elaborate game of "Assassin" at law school. We threw a big party for the Latin American Law Organization. I finally won the  fundraising game of Assassin! My law school friends and I went to our last Libel Show together.

At the Libel Show in 2008

April 2008
My law school friends and I went out to celebrate Katy's acceptance into NYU's LLM progam. We went to a service at Roger's temple to hear him read. The 3Ls finished their year-long Seminars in Ethical Values. Some of us were lucky enough to have the 3L toast with Professor Leslie. Brian and I went on a 3L Vineyard Trip, and a UVA lacrosse match the next day with Kevin and Katy.

My Seminar in Ethical Values class

We love Professor Leslie!

3L Vineyard Trip- does it get any better than this?

My law school friends and I went to dinner at Maya Restaurant to celebrate our last day of law school classes. Brooke, Brady, and Cory came to visit and we went to my first Spring Foxfield.

Brooke, Brady, Cory, me, and Kevin at Spring Foxfield in Charlottesville

With newlyweds Rob and Audra (it looks like we all coordinated our outfits)

May 2008
I finished taking my last finals ever. My law school friends, Kevin, and I spent the week before graduation at Sarah's beach house in North Carolina. We even raced go karts!

 

Sarah and Donald at the beach house- I love this picture of them

We graduated law school!

 

We're law school graduates! Woo!


Ceremony on the lawn


After my graduation

Then we immediately started bar review classes to study for the state bar exams, in my case, New York.

Valentine's Day- A Retrospective

Happy Valentine's Day! This year is my 7th Valentines Day with Kevin, and my 2nd with James. Since I met them, love has rocked my world. Tonight I'm cooking a huge Cuban dinner for Kevin, and this weekend we're going to dinner and drinks in the Brooklyn neighborhood we lived in when we got married. And for your Valentine's Day gift, we're posting a Things My Wife Complains About this afternoon.

Our 1st Valentine's Day in 2007

Kevin and I had been dating about 6 and half months. He took me to the fancy Fellini's Restaurant in Charlottesville, VA for Valentine's Day dinner. Also got flowers the week before for our 6 month anniversary. I didn't take any pictures (what?) but I took him to my 2L Barristers Ball three days later and we took tons of photos.

6-month flowers

At Vivace restaurant before the dance, February 2007

Barristers Ball at the Omni Hotel 2007

Our 2nd Valentine's Day in 2008
Kevin and I had been engaged for 2 and half months, and we were living in Charlottesville together. I don't remember if we specifically did something for Valentines Day, but 4 days before Valentines we went to my 3L Barristers Ball. The following weekend, on the 16th, my parents hosted a little engagement party for me and Kevin in Charlottesville.

At our place before Barristers Ball

Dancing! 2/10

Dancing?

 

Our engagement party at our place in 2008, 2/16

Our 3rd Valentine's Day in 2009
Kevin and I were engaged and living together in Brooklyn, NY, with under 4 months until our wedding. Brady, James W. and I celebrated Kevin's Sunday birthday on the Saturday of Valentine's Day, with dinner at a Peruvian restaurant and drinks at Kevin's favorite Brooklyn bar. The four of us kept it sexy.

Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Valentine's Day 2009

Peruvian dinner at Coco Roco in Brooklyn

Brady, James W., and Kevin at the Brooklyn Inn

Our 4th Valentine's Day in 2010
Our first married Valentine's Day! I threw a huge multi-day celebration for Kevin's 30th birthday over the relevant weekend, so we celebrated Valentine's Day the next weekend. We were still living in Brooklyn, but we celebrated in Manhattan with Mexican restaurant El Centro for dinner and the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center.

Celebrating Kevin's 30th birthday, February 13th

Chelsea Market, February 15th

At the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center, February 19th

Our 5th Valentine's Day in 2011
By now, we had moved to Long Island and we were expecting our first baby in 2 months. We went out for dinner at Bob's Restaurant in Long Island when I was 31 weeks huge.

 Kevin's 31st birthday in Manhattan, 30-31 weeks pregnant with James

31 weeks along on February 14, 2011

Our 6th Valentine's Day in 2012
Our first Valentine's Day as parents! Which means, you have to figure out who wants to spend their Valentines Day babysitting for you if you want to go out together. Michele very generously came over to watch James. Kevin and I went out for dinner at Sushi Ya in Long Island for Valentine's Day, because  sushi is one of my favorites.  James was particularly happy about Michele's visit because he loves her, and she was his first ever Valentine's Day date.

James's first Valentine's Day at 9 almost 10 months!

Getting James ready for bed before leaving for our date


James and Michele ❤

Michele's Goodbye to NYC 2012

Before Superstorm Sandy, the worst thing that happened to New York this year was Michele leaving. In addition to trying to hang out with Michele as much as possible before she left (and becoming even more emotionally dependent on her than I already was) we decided to give her a big send off.  Her friend Kirsten lovingly and appropriately nicknamed it "Tears in our Beers."

Before we started drinking, we decided to do one last crazy thing in New York. Ash, Michele, and I participated in something called Accomplice New York, where you tour a part of the city in the guise of helping some mobsters commit a crime. You have to follow clues from one location to another, passing on messages and items to help the mobsters along. I was going to blog in great detail about it, but I decided that it might ruin it for anyone thinking of doing it. It was pretty fun, and we got along well with the tourists that were in our group. If you do it, I think I would recommend having a full group of 10 so that your group doesn't split up too much and you don't miss things.

Michele, me, and Ash in City Hall Park during Accomplice

One crazy thing about the fact that we did Accomplice on Saturday was that a lot of it took place in the South Street Seaport area, which was a Zone A flood zone, so there's been a lot of flood damage there since the Superstorm Sandy. Some restaurants and bars have had to be completely gutted because of the damage. Luckily, the bar we spent the most time in, Jeremy's Ale House, only had a little flood damage and is reported to be okay for the most part.

Our entire Accomplice team at Jeremy's Ale House in South Street Seaport

So then we went to Jadis wine bar in the Lower East Side to meet up with Michele's other NYC friends who wanted to come say goodbye. Things weren't sad, probably because everyone was in deep denial like me. Though there was some talk of getting back together for a support group when the reality of a Michele-less life sinks in. We all wore clever little name tags that said, "Goodbye. My name is ---."

Enjoying good company at Jadis

Michele and Yianice getting in some more snuggles

Some of my favorite ladies: Rachel, Ash, Michele and me at Jadis

Nina, Vinay, and Michele

Cutest baby ever and she has more attitude than Harper Beckham

After some drinks at Jadis we took the party to Loreley Beer Garden, where we had huge German beers and delicious German food. Some craziness ensued.

Yael watering Michele like a sexy plant?

From now on, I always want to wear matching lipstick with my girlfriends.

People always ask how I met Michele. We both went to GW undergrad. Freshman year, almost everyone lived in the large Thurston dorm with a 1000 plus students. There was a smaller freshman dorm on the other side of campus, called Adams Hall (and then later called Lafayette) of about 160 students, where Megan, Christina, Michele and I all lived. I lived on the 8th floor, and I knew Megan and Christina who lived on the 4th and 3rd floor respectively. But because Michele was one extra floor away on the 2nd floor, I didn't really know her. This is very detailed, but I think about it sometimes because what if you just walked by one of your best friends in the whole world on a daily basis and just didn't know her? And kept not knowing her for 11 years even though you had a close friend in common? Super super sad.

Rachel, Ash, Michele, and Janice in my dorm room when I didn't really know Michele

Even though I'm sure I met Michele and saw her countless times, I didn't really know her until I re-met her through Ash at Ash's 2008 Barn Party. I was a little jealous because she and Ash were so close and having so much fun. Luckily I got over it, and then we actually started hanging out about a month or so later. At first, we hung out mainly when Ash came to town, but eventually we were friends on our own, though we always still miss Ash when we're hanging out and she's not there. For the last 4 years, she's been there all the time, in good times and in bad. She's super fun, smart, and understanding. I basically feel bad for everyone who is not friends with her, especially for myself from 1997-2008.

  

Greenwich Village Bar Crawl, October 2008

Self-determined bar crawl in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, November 2008

At my bachelorette party in April 2009 (Shut up, my face is awesome.)

The night before my wedding, June 2009

This is when things started to get out of control. The rest is blog history.

I tried not to be too terribly sad when saying goodbye to Michele, because I plan on still seeing her as much as possible so I'm focusing on that. She officially drove a moving van out of New York City today, and now that it's super real I am having a little trouble coping. I can't hang out with Michele next weekend? And the weekend after that? No. No. Nooooooo.

I might have staged a protest outside her apartment, except that she is off to self-actualize in Richmond. She is starting a food co-op in Richmond, most likely with a clever name like Richmond Food Co-op. I'm not much of a risk-taker myself, but I can tell from the planning that she's put into this, from knowing her, and from hearing about the other people involved, that it will definitely be a huge success. Again, otherwise I would have chained myself to her moving van. Not. kidding.

Bonus picture of a super fun night in 2010.