The last two weeks

have been quite unspeakably overwhelming.  What with the ever-approaching trial team competition in Florida (from Oct. 22 - 26; am on the fifth draft of my opening!), a 30-page paper for my Criminal Theory seminar and a 10-page paper for Family Law (due at the end of November, with a presentation on the Crim. one set for Nov. 4), finding time to continue the summer job search, keeping up with daily reading for my four other classes, and - my God! - wedding planning, I've kind of reached the end of my tether.  

To give you an idea: on Friday morning, I woke up before six and walked to the BART station so I could have two and half hours of working time in the library before my first class. And I will continue to do that at least until the second week in November just to break even, work wise.  And every night - every single night, now - I have trial team practice. Sometimes, it ends at seven, but more often it ends at 9:30 or 10.  And there are always weekend practices too.  It's still fun (even rather a lot of fun!) and interesting, but it's pretty terribly exhausting too. 

I manage to have about three non-protein bar/ trail mix/ cold sandwich meals - lunch or dinner - a week.

HOWEVER.  There are a few times - even now - that have been terrific, and that have helped me to keep everything happily in perspective.

Exhibit 1:

Our excursion to Walnut Creek on a weekend afternoon two weeks ago:

After exploring the town, we drove up into the mountains and came upon a nature preserve criss-crossed with trails and complete with an open-to-visitors farm!  We came upon several sheep, two terribly frisky goats, and one very fluffy Rhode Island Red (chicken).

Exhibit 2:

Thanks to the extreme generosity of Todd's Uncle Mike and Aunt Sandi, we are now the proud owners of a Cuisinart Convection Bread Machine! (Incidentally, the exact same type Todd and I gave to Alison and Saul for their wedding!)

So far, we've made pizza dough with it:

And a honey-oatmeal loaf:
Both delicious! And it's so easy to just put a few ingredients in the pan, pop it in, and pull out a warm loaf a couple of hours later!

Exhibit 3:

It's Fleet Week in San Francisco, which means the harbor's filled to capacity with tugboats, sailboats, and yachts, and the skies are filled with perfectly coordinated teams of airplanes, swooping and swerving with all the grace and timing of synchronized swimmers.

We got to see the air show first hand today down in the Marina district, where Todd went to watch the USC game before heading to work, and I went for my first wedding dress fitting (more on that later!).

The planes were alternately loud and close, and silent and so far away that they just looked like oddly metallically-glinting birds.  We watched teams of two, four, and eight planes fly past the Golden Gate Bridge, go low over the water, and arc up again in a crescendo of sound right over Crissy Field.  I'm glad there's still some genuine spectacle in the world.  Things that make you just stop and gape in wonder.  And make you forget for a moment about all that you've done and all that you still have to do.