the times, they are a-changin'

October has slipped into November.  70 degrees has changed to 40.   The general law school attitude has changed from distant thoughts of finals to panic because finals are now only a month away, and a month cannot possibly be long enough.  I want the break to come quickly so that I can see my brothers and sisters in Mississippi, go to Maine, celebrate the holidays, and rest.  But at the same time, I am scared of what I face until then, and while I would consider myself more emotionally stable than a lot of people at this point, I'm just saying.  If I could get a hold of Hermione's time-turner, I would be totally down with that.  

But the times, they are a-changin', and if I have been in denial about that at all, I have had this tree to remind me.  I pass it every day, on the way to school and back.  And it's as good an example as any that 

The leaves have changed,

changed some more,

and finally fallen.

Can a girl get a pause button around these parts?  Where does the time (and the leaves!) go?

But that's the challenge, isn't it?  We want life to speed up, we want life to slow down, but regardless of our personal desires and wishes life goes on.  The only real choice is to go on with it.  So here's to embracing the changin' times - the new month (although I will always and forever mourn the end of October), the colder weather, the barren trees, even the studying.  It will all be beautiful in its own way, regardless of what anyone tries to tell us.

Even still - if you want to find me a time-turner or a pause button for the sake of my Contracts exam...  I'm just throwing that out there.  This may be the hardest month and a half of my life to date, but tonight, at least, I think I'm feeling up for the challenge.  Outlining, flashcard making, tea, and apple pie await...

come gather 'round people wherever you roam

and admit that the waters around you have grown

and accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone,

if your time to you is worth savin', 

then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone

for the times, they are a-changin'...

[bob dylan]

lately

I'm not going to lie.  This week was pretty rough.  I thought school was already in high-gear.  Apparently, there is turbo-gear, and it is scary.  But a bad week of class does not equate a bad week of life.  Especially this month.

Fall in Kentucky is beautiful.  And while this state is so different than Mississippi (more on that later), it has its own grand adventures that I have been fortunate to take advantage of lately.

 More time at Keeneland

Red River Gorge last Saturday.  Absolutely breathtaking. 

And of course, leaves falling everywhere.

I still feel kind of out of place here, but I definitely love it.  And I think the water must be getting to me or something, because the Bluegrass music is rubbing off on me too.  This song, on repeat, all day:

No action-packed activities planned for this weekend (besides the ridiculous law school Halloween party I just got back from) - it's time to sleep and study for a day or two.  I love October adventures, but I think I can stand to handle a little rest for a change.

october (week one)

Keeneland on Friday all day, spontaneous Page CXVI concert road trip Sunday night, quality friend time and conversations, changing leaves, sunny weather...I'd call the first week of my favorite month a success.  With research assignments and oddly timed makeup classes all week it could be hard to top, but still hoping for an equally as good if not better week 2 from here until the weekend!

[Extra note about Keeneland: It is awesome.  I appreciate having grown up liking horse racing, but actually being able to go to the horse races is infinitely more exciting and beautiful.]

Thought for the day #1: "Anyone can do the possible.  Add courage and with a bit of zeal, some may do the phenomenal.  But it is only the Christians who are obliged to do the impossible." [A.W. Tozer]

Thought for the day #2: "What do you call two bananas?  A pair of slippers!" [Sean Courtney, whispering to me during class as we discuss slip-and-fall torts liability claims.  Timely, agreed?]

list the happiness

"Life belongs to the living." (Goethe).  

Also, the goal is not simply to survive each day but to live it to the fullest.  

Even further, I do not have to go to law school.  I get to go to law school.  

Just a couple of phrases I've been repeating to myself during the times when I start to get frustrated with my confusing Contracts homework, the tricky dial on my cheap combination lock, and my rescheduled late-afternoon Civ Pro class.  If you're having a rough day, repeat those phrases.  (Substitute law school for wherever you find yourself.)  It works well.  Trust me.

Despite the intensity of school, there are a lot of small things making me happy today:

September weather
new Avett Brothers CD
Square Table Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins
the fact that tomorrow AND Thursday I finish class at 2:00
NFL Sunday football is back
Monday night UK Wesley Foundation time
1 Corinthians 1:8-9
making lists - like this, and not of the thousand things I have to read :)

Along the same lines of my last post, here are some muy interesante links for you to check out:

Saturday Down South article - SEC football feature about the economics involved in small schools like Idaho playing SEC teams like LSU, Ole Miss, Florida, and Bama in coming years

ISideWith.com - In case you haven't yet, it's time to inform yourself on the ever-looming presidential election.  This website has you take a quiz and matches you with the candidates who share your views. Very helpful in determining who you might want to vote for as well as making you think about a few of those tricky policy questions you've just been ignoring... (Ex: "What do I think about the citizenship of illegal immigrants?" or "Does the national debt really exist?")

Southern Living's 20 Best Apple Desserts - Oh yes.  I got this email around 3:00 today and it totally brightened the 1L seminar I was stuck in.  I love fall.  Apple desserts are in many ways the epitome of the season.  I can't wait to start making some!

I liked posting the Coldplay video so much last time, here's another one.  Mumford & Sons this time, "I Will Wait."  New album coming soon. :)

And also, can't go without saying - eleven years have passed.  Remembering heroes today.  #9/11.  #NeverForget.

If you're busy, stressed, whatever this week, try to focus on the little things.  List them out, and soak up the happiness.  And always remember - we are more blessed than we think we are.

quote of the day

Some strange things have been going on lately. I stop and ask myself why but remain entirely unable to come up with an answer. Besides this: it's October, and "any wonderful unexpected thing might be possible..." Enjoy the quote of the day!

After the keen still days of September, the October sun filled the world with mellow warmth. Before Kit’s eyes a miracle took place, for which she was totally unprepared… No one had ever told her about autumn in New England. The excitement of it beat in her blood. Every morning she woke with a new confidence and buoyancy she could not explain. In October, any wonderful unexpected thing might be possible. As the days grew shorter and colder, this new sense of expectancy increased and her heightened awareness seemed to give new significance to every common thing around her.

– The Witch of Blackbird Pond

do you remember...

Also. September is an excellent month, and the roommates and I are celebrating as often as possible by firing up Katherine's karaoke machine and dancing around the kitchen to the following. September 21 itself is Wednesday night, start the countdown!

Enjoy. :)

october.

October is my favorite month, and with only forty-six minutes left of it, it's time to say why.

I put this off because I cannot accurately express it. Unless you've been where I've been and walked in my shoes, you can't quite understand. But some of you will somewhat understand, and others of you simply deserve an explanation for why I act especially ridiculous during this particular month every year. All I know to do is to tell you what October is, to me. Maybe that will shed light on the situation.

October is:

family traveling in from out of town
brand new journals
cleaning the house
Chamberlin Holiness Lectures
motor homes
long-sleeve shirts
Votivo red currant candles
cream puffs that are still slightly frozen
football
fresh air
leaves that start to fall in the wind
apples
Christopher Columbus
black cats
street lights that, without fail, always flicker out

October is assorted fall candy in leaf and pumpkin-shaped dishes spread throughout the Smith house. More, October is searching all of those dishes for a Reese's cup and finding that there are no Reese's cups left; instead, there are bunches of candy wrappers left in the Reese's cup's place.

October is finally getting settled. September is chaotic because you're still trying to figure out school and how to balance everything. By October, you've gotten the balance and are ready to soak up the fun.

October is when things happen. You think I'm making this up, but the craziest things, the best things, the most unusual things all always happen during this month. Maybe it's a Halloween thing? Maybe it's in my head. Maybe it's just a bit of fall magic.

Essentially, it all traces back to October 1998 and Dad's inauguration as WBS President. That month was chaos, but I remember it so well for only being in the third grade. That month kicked off all of the crazy adventures that have happened, consistently, every October since.

This October has been a blur, but, like all other Octobers, it's been great. I'm excited about a new month starting tomorrow - or, I guess, in twenty-four minutes now. I just had to acknowledge my obsession with these past thirty-one days first.

finally the weekend.

One of my favorite things about Ole Miss is this: the weekend starts on Thursday afternoon. Really, it does. I left logic class at 2:45, made some phone calls, and called it a week. I have two classes tomorrow morning, and I'll go to them (probably). But they matter little, and the fun starts tonight.

October is my favorite month; one of these days I'll tell you why, but for now you'll have to get used to hearing me talk about my obscure October obsession. These first seven days have been excellent but exhausting. I'm excited for these next couple of days and an opportunity to soak up the fall weather and have some fun. For example, my friends and I are most likely going to Memphis tomorrow afternoon to hit up some shopping and enjoy each others' company. I tried to tell myself that I would only go if I get my work done today and tomorrow morning, but that's obviously a lie. I'll go anyway when it comes down to it; how could I not? I'm responsible, but not responsible enough to miss a day of randomness with best friends. That's why I find myself typing this post right now instead of making lists, reading mail, or calling DG alums. You'd think the fact that rush is 13 days away would help me focus... I guess some things never change. And, after all, it is the weekend.

Go do something exciting to celebrate the fall, and how good the weather is, and how good life is. And when you go, bring Bob with you. I'm not kidding - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is October music. Hope you enjoy this album, this weekend, and this month as much as I do.

dancing in september

Today is the first day of fall! It is also the day of the Harvest Moon (which unfortunately did not look quite the same as I hoped it would but is exciting, nonetheless).

I like all seasons, but I especially like fall. October is my favorite month, but September is wonderful too. Maybe I like it so much because it leads to October. I can't believe it's already the twenty-second day...I think it's going a bit too fast for my liking. Anyway, I've kind of pretended that it was fall since the first week of school. Glad it's finally official.

Obviously, leaves like this are still far away. But I'm going to soak up every day until they get here.

it is time.

The mood has hit. (Told you it would happen in a couple of days!). It is officially time to go back to school, and, now that I'm ready for it, I can't wait. I'm not saying that I'm ready for hours of homework and waking up early and never being able to find a parking space. I am saying that I'm ready for campus to be full of people again and food to be readily available and, most of all, for my friends to all be together again.

It's the same every year - two things trigger my back to school mindset. Two of my favorite things in this world, at that. Number one: school supplies. You're laughing, I know. I don't know what it is, I just like shopping for school supplies. I'm very specific about it too. (Ask my mom, who patiently waited in WalMart for far too long while I searched for a red notebook. It had to be red. I was just in the mood for red that day. I have no idea why.)

Number two: Harry Potter. Nothing makes me more ready for school to start than reading Harry Potter. I read some every August, just to make me excited to go back. I've read them all far too many times, but a few days ago I picked up seven again. Seriously, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a masterpiece; J.K. Rowling is brilliant. (I could go on about this for days, but I'll spare you, for now at least.) Something about the fact that all of Harry's adventures take place at Hogwarts makes me excited for my adventures that are on the way here at Ole Miss.

Ridiculous as it sounds, these two things have entirely put me in the mood to be back in school over the course of the past week. Now that I'm officially back in Oxford for the fall, I'm having a difficult containing my excitement for all of the things that are to come. With friends arriving any day now, my adventures just might be beginning sooner than I think...