Mimosas in the Sun

We got the news on Wednesday morning at 6am that we both passed the NY Bar!! Now we just have one more hurdle of paperwork to complete to pass the "moral character" portion of our application to the bar. We've already completed and passed the Ethics exam, and obviously the July exam was the biggest mountain to overcome. It's an incredible relief to have received this news and I have tremendous gratitude for so many of you that helped me accomplish it. I feel very emotional thinking about it. Thank you to those of you who fed me, helped me, encouraged me... All of it. Thank you the most for the prayers. God is good. Thank you. We did it. Together. 

All summer, my background on my computer was a Walt Disney quote, "it's kind of fun to do the impossible."

Sometimes at the end of a journey, it's easy to forget just how difficult the road was that got you there. This summer had a lot of dark days. I was doubtful, I was discouraged, I was beaten down. I was faced with memorizing literally thousands of laws. I wasn't scoring where I wanted to be; I wasn't improving like I thought I should. I had no gold star to show for my achievements even though I was working 10 hours a day. It was absurd. It was grueling. It was REALLY hard. 

The days leading up to July 28 and 29, I listened to "here comes the sun" about 2893748 times. The words "it's been a long, lonely winter... Here comes the sun, little darling, it's alright." I couldn't get over the irony of feeling that summer had actually been a long and lonely winter. But I had to hold on because the sun- the wedding, London, being an attorney- it was coming. 

Apparently, some study has been done where women polled overwhelmingly chose the Bar over pregnancy as the most stressful and painful thing they had ever endured. The women said they would do child birth again, but they would never repeat the bar. Besides that, you have a beautiful baby at the end when after the bar, all you have is 3+ months of second-guessing and insecurity. As Brian said, it would be like if on Christmas morning your parents said, "you know how you were really good for 3 years and you were always on the good list? Well, this year, you don't get any gifts. And all that time you were good was pretty much for nothing." 

Then, on top of THAT, I decided to have LASIK surgery. From which, I experienced very obnoxious and inconvenient complications. I also had wedding tasks that just had to be accomplished during our bar studying time. We also were trying to prepare the Atlanta house to go on the market. Oh, and, we had just moved from LA back to ATL and still had to prepare for our move to London. During the bar study months, it was impossible not to work on our visas, our flights, our honeymoon, etc. Literally, it was insane. And we did it. We did it. The wedding was beautiful and an amazing day. And now we are in London, settled in, employed, and we passed the bar exam. What?! I mean, what?! 

I catalog all of that to remember. To remember just how hard it was; and that if I can do it, you can. And that it really is "kind of fun" to do the impossible. The sun is here and it's shining and it's just lovely. 

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

I travel for people...

Its been an incredible blessing to be surrounded with some of my favorite people in the entire world this summer. Just to give you the correct image - I have about three incredibly precious friends from when I lived in Madrid that I am still close to today. Two of the four, I lived with at an apartment on a street called Rios Rosas. Cande, one of those roommates was my roommate nearly the entire time I lived in Madrid. Cande now lives about two streets over from where we used to live, and she lives with another Argentinian, who happened to apply to a program in Paris for the month of July. So, like something perfectly designed by the stars, I am living in her roommate's room and we are roommates again. Cande is leaving to return to Argentina in August and so I will be her first and last roommate while she lived in Madrid for three years. Wow, it gives me chills. 
The other one of those two, Gabriel, was in Madrid to complete his masters and now he works back in Brazil for Google (no big deal). I have been incredibly lucky to see Gab in Los Angeles last May, and to see Cande in Barcelona in October. But the three of us haven't been together since 2012. Until last Saturday. It was an epic reunion, and I want to cry just thinking about how incredibly beautiful and sweet it was to be reunited, in our city, at our favorite restaurants, discussing our favorite things. To add icing on the cake, Cande's boyfriend and my boyfriend were also there basking in the happiness and hearing some of our greatest adventures. Wow. 
The third, Melania, who I visited in Rome in October comes to Spain in another week. 
Other than arranging my living situation, Gab and Melania is completely coincidence and God's plan being far better than mine. 
I just LOVE it when a plan comes together better than in my wildest dreams. 
Through these great people, I have continued to meet more great people who are like minded and like-hearted. People who love the world and love the people in it. We've had great discussions over Rioja over the future, the gray areas, and hot-topic debates. It further reminds me that I travel for the people I have the privilege of sharing the travels with. I travel for those who travel with me, and for those I meet along the way. 

Gab and I at our old metro stop home

Brian and I at Retiro, Madrids equivalent of Central Park

REUNION

If its love, and we decide that its forever; no one else can do it better

If its love, and we are two birds of a feather 

and the rest is just whatever

We can be them, two birds of a feather that flock together.

Love, love, got to have something to keep us together. 

Love- that's enough for me. 

We can travel to Spain, 

it sounds insane, cause it is. 

We can laugh, we can sing, have ten kids and give them everything. 

Love, love, got to have something to keep us together. 

-If Its Love, Train