Grades!

Well grades are finally in!! And even though not all of us (meaning Ross) are happy with the results, I think he still did an amazing job for his first year of law school. We still don't know what his overall ranking in his class is but we at least have grades. So....after a long wait here they are! All the grades are out of a 4.0

Torts: 3.6
Contracts: 2.6
Criminal Law: 3.4
Civil Procedure: 3.5
Property: 3.9
Legal Writing: 3.5

Overall Cumulative: 3.49

There is about 3 weeks left of summer classes and then he will officially have nothing to do for the summer. Unfortunately we have no house projects or anything like that for him to work on so I think he is going to get quite bored very quickly. I guess one thing he can look forward to is having lunch with me since I work 5 mins away from home! And it breaks up his day and forces him to see the outdoors, even if it is only for the 30 seconds it takes for him to walk to his car.

In two months we get to go on a much needed vacation to Las Vegas! Even though we will only be gone for a 4 day weekend, it's going to be a lot of fun! Not only are we staying in a suite in one of the fancy hotels on the Strip, we are going to a show as well. And if that doesn't top things off, we get to see my parents!! We are going to be celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary and my dad's birthday. The last time we saw my parents was back in November! It's been way too long...especially with all these holidays that have gone by. So that is the next big thing we are looking forward to.

We hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend! It was nice having three days off, especially since I spent these last two weeks fighting off a cold. Other than the non-stop coughing, nothing new and exciting has come up.

We are still waiting on Ross' grades to be posted. Apparently there were some problems with the company the school uses to grade the multiple-choice questions which has delayed the posting of grades. Right now he has only gotten a few back and we aren't sure if those grades represent the second semester only or are cumulative of both the first and second semester. So once all the grades are posted and we know whether they are cumulative or not, I will post them.

So far summer classes for Ross are going good. One class is Constitutional Law and the other is another writing class. This second writing class involves A LOT more writing than the ones he has taken so far, which is one of the main reasons he took it over the summer. In this class he has been learning about all the other types of documents that he is required to know how to write when he becomes a lawyer...like your contracts between your clients, acceptance letters and the such.

Work for me has been good. I'm starting my sixth week there and I am already busy working on various projects. Still getting to know the ropes and fully understand everything but it is definitely enjoyable. Last Wednesday I had to drive up to Los Angeles for work to have some papers certified at the Secretary of State office. Thankfully Ross was able to go with me and be my co-pilot which made the trip not only more enjoyable but it took away a lot stress.

Other than summer starting (which means hot weather...yuck) and waiting on grades from last semester, things are going great with us.

Finals are Finally Over!

We officially made it through the first year of law school. Friday we went out and celebrated Ross becoming a 2L (second year law student) and then enjoyed our first weekend without studying since Christmas. Now it's just the anticipation of getting the final grades back. Once those grades come and we figure out how they are figured (second semester only or cumulative) in I will post them on here. Needless to say both Ross and I are glad that finals are over so we can both relax a little. Even though summer classes start this Thursday, 2 classes is better than 5.

To enjoy our first weekend of not having to study or read or write papers, we relaxed all morning on Saturday and enjoyed our evening at Disneyland. Sunday was also very relaxing with just a few errands to run. To help enjoy our time of doing nothing, we added to our collection of games with the recent purchase of Phase 10, Sorry, and of course Candy Land. I'm sure you can guess which one is Ross' favorite!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Ross and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day! Being the first year away from family during all the holidays has definitely been a hard one. We are always thinking of everyone back home and how much we miss all the excitement. But you can be sure that we are staying busy and creating our own excitement out here.

This is the final week for finals for Ross. He has 3 left for the Spring semester...Mon, Wed, and Fri. After that last final on Fri, everyone goes out to celebrate! After that celebrating, Ross only has a few days to relax because Summer classes start next Thurs the 20th. Thankfully he is only taking 2 classes and the Summer semester is only for 7 weeks. So he will still have some time to relax before Fall starts.

The new job for me is still going good. Slowly starting to get a better grip on my responsibilities. This coming week I will head up to Los Angeles with my boss to get some documents legalized at two of the international consulates located up there. Something I am looking forward to doing.

This weekend was pretty nice weather wise so instead of being stuck inside the house studying or sitting out on our back patio, we decided to go relax by the pool while I read legal flash cards to Ross to help him prepare for finals. Minus the loud kids in the pool, it was a pretty relaxing afternoon (at least for me).

But Happy Mother's Day again and we hope all the Mom's had a very enjoyable day! We love and miss you all!

Finals Week

This week marks the start of finals! 5 all together. Today was the first final, the second one is on Wednesday and the last three are next week. Thankfully today was the most stressful one so now things for Ross will be a little bit easier. Still hard none the less but at least the stress level should reduce some. And then after the finals are finished, summer classes start the following week along with volunteering at various public interest centers.

This week also marks the second week at my new job. I'm still getting into the swing of things and still learning all the responsibilities I will have. After the first week, I learned that my job entails making sure any and all changes that are made follow both domestic and international regulations. On my first day, I got a tour of the entire company which includes offices as well as a manufacturing facility. This company manufactures medical devices used in cardiac surgery. Once they are made, the devices are packaged and shipped out to various distributors. I will also be working with the distributors. When these distributors, both domestic and international, contact us wanting to create a contract to do business, I make sure all the paperwork is legalized in the US to where it is recognizable and legal in these other countries. As of right now there are over 30 countries and just within the last week I was given 5 new ones that will need documents researched and legalized. I think this job is going to keep me very busy and I am going to learn a lot. A huge change from the call center atmosphere that's for sure!

One Amazing Week

This past week has definitely ended on a good note. It actually started out good and ended even better. Since we moved out here in August, I have been sending out resumes every month if not almost every week looking for a new job. So sending out resumes last Saturday night wasn't anything out of the norm. But last Monday morning I get an email asking to setup an interview for Thursday morning. I was very shocked at this email since I had just applied for this position Saturday night and here it was 9:30 Monday morning. Anyways, I was able to setup an interview time around my work schedule with no problems, so that was a good thing. I interviewed with the Vice President of the company and at the start of the interview, the position was actually only for part time with the hopes of becoming full time in 3-4 months. As you can imagine, my heart sank and I thought to myself I just can't get a break. But as the interview continued and we talked about my current situation of being the only one working in the family while Ross attends law school, things started to change. By the time the interview had ended, the position had changed to being full time from the start and I was told that he wanted to make me an offer but had to wait for my background check to come back, which would take 2-3 days. On Friday, the very next day, I got a call from the Vice President and was offered the full time position and asked if I could start in one week! So starting Monday, April 26, I will the Regulatory Affairs Associate assisting the Vice President of California Medical Laboratories. They are a company that manufacture cardiovascular products used by heart surgeons. These products are not only sold in the US but world wide. All of this excitement took place in one week...talk about amazing!


Besides the news of my new job, things are still hectic around the Wood household. Ross has one more week of classes and then it's "dead week" (studying time with no classes) and then it's finals time. I have also been slowly starting to study for my GMAT test that I have to schedule to take in June for my masters degree application. Plus I have to complete all the necessary documents that are needed for the actual application to the school. So one more week of classes for Ross and one more week of working at my current job. I feel this coming week is going to be a long one.

Barrister's Ball

The excitement of last week all landed on last Friday when we went to the Barrister's Ball at the Hyatt hotel in Newport Beach. Even though it was a slow start to the night it turned out to be tons of fun. Not only did I get to get all dressed up and enjoy a relaxing manicure, I got to spend the entire night dancing with the man of my dreams. I even got a corsage (just like in high school). It was a lot of fun and we had a great time.

Now that our "fancy" weekend is over, it's back to the grindstone for Ross with finals just around the corner. And for those of you that don't know yet, I have decided to go back to school and get my masters starting this fall. So, now I get to join Ross with studying so I can get a high score on the GMAT (it's like the SAT for graduate school) in June. Not much else going on out on the west coast. Below are some pictures from the Barrister's Ball.

I know this picture is a little dark but I wanted to show the decorations at the enterance.

My beautiful corsage that Ross surprised me with!