The Training Wheels Came Off...

After a 10.5 mile bike ride through a monsoon, I am much more confident on my road bike. :) However, I conquered my fear of the road bike in true Jen fashion. I have a small cut on my hand, a scrape on my arm and leg and got completely drenched by a Lexus (not that I wasn't already completely drenched... but it was icing on the cake.) But all that to say, I am learning how to ride a road bike!!! Yea!

The full story begins at 11am this morning with Mel and I driving over to Annie's parents house for a leisurely bike ride. There is a great bike trail right by Annie's parents house and in training for our triathlon we decided to bike today. The three of us have never biked together before so we were all kinda excited. They both had hybrid bikes and I was on my road bike. I loosened my petal straps a little so I could get my feet in the petals a little easier, but I still took a while to get started.

We managed to bike for about 2 miles before it began raining. It was a light sprinkle that was quite refreshing and none of us wanted to go back, so we kept going. Then it stopped raining and it was wonderful (nice and cool) for about half a mile. Then the monsoon started. It started raining harder and harder and harder. It was very fun but we got drenched to the bone and my bike does not have much traction so I skidded a few times but never completely fell off my bike. Anyway, it was an enjoyable hour and a half and my writing skills cannot do the story justice so I am going to stop there... But I will leave you with a few few pictures to prove the extent of the drenching.

P.S. That is my bike in the pictures... So pretty. :)

Road Bike (with Training Wheels?)

I rode a road bike for the first time on Tuesday. WEIRD! I am not used to it at all. I am going to need A LOT of practice. I am fine once I am moving but getting going looks pretty funny. I have these straps that I put my feet into. Well I cannot do it quickly and I practically fall over every time I try to get my foot into the strap. Then there is the little issue of having to bend down when I ride. This is not something I am used to and it feels very uncomfortable. I have been told it is a better position and I will get more used it it, but it was unusual to say the least. Hopefully I will get the hang of it quickly. I am supposed to bike 8 miles next week... That should do the trick. :)

As far as how I have a road bike to begin with... On Tuesday, after getting off work at 5, I went to 2 stores to find my bike (the first store was sold out), bought my bike, brought it home (in the back of my civic I might add), aired up the tires, fixed the petal straps (they are trickier than they look), adjusted my helmet to ensure proper fit and was ready to ride at 7:30... I managed to get 2 miles in before it got too dark and I decided to call it a night... But I did sign up for the triathlon online on Wednesday... So I am doing it for sure. Mark your calendars for September 30th. :)

Clerkship Update...

Having started both of my jobs this week, I am confident I am going to enjoy my work this summer. I think both jobs are going to be extremely informative, educational and, most importantly, I will be able to better determine whether I want to do Corporate Law, Estate Planning or neither.

I like everyone I work with at both firms. The attorneys took me out to lunch at both places and I have been feeling very welcomed. What's more, I already feel like I am doing something beneficial to the firms! It is great to feel useful and I am learning! I could now set up a corporation or a limited partnership pretty easily. Scary, I know! :)

I am enjoying being done at 6 and being able to do whatever I want. I feel like a normal twenty-something person. The income stream is pretty nice too... A girl could get used to making money. :)

Cinco Ranch Here I Come!

With T-minus nineteen weeks and counting until the Cinco Ranch Triathlon, I boldly proclaim to bloggerville that I am going to be a triathlete!!! Today I begin training for my very first triathlon. It will be on September 30th at Cinco Ranch and I am pretty excited! It is a 600 meter swim, 15 mile bike, and 3 mile run.

So far triathlon prep has proven to be quite expensive. I bought new running shoes from Fleet Feet (they look at your feet and tell you which shoes will be the best for you), I am in the process of picking out a cheap (relatively) road bike that can get me through training and the triathlon, I purchased new goggles and still have to buy a new Speedo. But all of it will be used to kick my butt into shape before September 30th. :)

A few of my friends are doing the triathlon with me and I am trying to convince more. :) You should do it with us.... You know you want to!!! ;)

I will keep you all posted on my training progress. Today I am supposed to swim 300 yards and jog/walk for 30 minutes. I am going to jog/walk for 45 instead because I don't want to drive all the way to the pool and I am much more worried about the running than the swimming.

FYI- I started my Business/Corporate Firm job today and loved it! I start the Estate Planning job tomorrow and am optimistic that I will enjoy it as well. I plan to post about work later this week... :)

Work

This weekend was a little intense. I went to bed at 1:30 on Friday night and woke up at 5 to study before my Evidence exam at 9. I studied for a while then took my test. Afterwards I came back to my apt to help Laura finish moving out... except she was already done. She got everything moved out by 11:30! I was impressed!!! I then spent the afternoon helping Amber move into the apt. It was a fun day but I was absolutely exhausted by 9pm... Something about 3 and a half hours of sleep and an afternoon of manual labor makes me ready for bed. :) No insomnia this weekend!!!

Anyway, then on to work on Monday. I am finishing up my job from this semester before I move on to my two new jobs next week. I went into the office for the first time in 3 weeks and it went about as I expected. I don't particularly love my job but I want to do a good job at it none the less... So I tried to psych myself up for my last week in hopes of being as productive as possible while in the office.... Except I work in the craziest/disorganized office ever…

When I get to my office I am amazed and excited to see that they FINALLY set up my computer (It had been in another office because they were giving me a new desk) and when I sit down to start working I notice there is no keyboard. So I spend 10 minutes looking around for a keyboard and finally find one. Then when I try to log into my computer the password has expired… No biggie… I will reset it… Except I don’t have access to reset my password so I am locked out of my computer. I call my boss on her cell (she still has not come into work at 9:45) and she tells me to call IT. So I go find someone who can tell me IT’s extension and then I call IT… No one picks up. I leave a message. It takes him 10 minutes to call me back and reset my password… To the exact same thing it was before it expired. So long story short 40 minutes after I get to work I can finally start working!

But you will be happy to know that once I did start working I had a very productive day. ;) And I had a very enjoyable night. I got to see Jacki and Jessica tonight! I babysat for John and Jacki so they could have a date night. Jessica is walking very very well. I took a video of it and I will try to figure out if there is any way I can post it... Stay tuned... Until then, here is a picture! :)

Finish Line in Sight

With two days and counting until my last final I can almost taste the freedom! The last three days were INSANE. I don't know what I was thinking taking 3 finals in 3 days. But I got through it and summer is in sight. I have so much planned for this summer... Catching up with friends, catching up with friends, and catching up with friends... okay well maybe not "so much" planned but I plan to do a lot of socializing. WooHoo!!! I also am training for a triathlon (much more to come on this later), going to Las Vegas (and hopefully California) and New York. Fun Stuff!

As far as what is new in my life... Nothing much. I have been studying pretty much non-stop this whole month (well all 10 days of it at least). However, this Saturday is a big day for 3 reasons:
1- I have my LAST final of the semester (as mentioned several times before ;)
2- My roommate Laura is moving out. :( She is an amazing woman of God and a true friend and I am going to miss living with her very much. Sean, I am jealous that you get to live with her soon.
3- My soon to be roommate Amber is moving in. She is also an amazing woman of God and I am blessed to get to live with her! Lessens the blow of losing Laura.

And I know what you are thinking... Smart thinking Jen! Having your roommate move the day of your final... so you don't have to help her... Yeah... it wasn't intentional... And I hope to help as soon as I am done with my final. :) Though Laura will probably be all moved out by then. Darn... Again, I promise it was not intentional. ;)

Summer Clerkships!

Having finally solidified my plans for the summer, I wanted to take a break from studying and share what I am doing with all of you. :)

I will be working part time at 2 firms for the entire summer. I am not really sure if it will look like M,W,F at one and T, Th at the other or half days at each. Either way I could not be more excited. One is an estate planning firm, Sam Miller, P.C., and the other is a corporate (both litigation and transactional) firm, The Fettner Law Firm. Since I am interested in corporate work or estate planning when I graduate (as of now at least) I am thrilled to get further insight (hopefully) into what I want to do with my law degree.

This has been a long and tedious process and I feel like the Lord has brought me through the fire. I dislike not knowing what I am going to do next. I also dislike feeling unintelligent and this year has had its fair share of both. God has been so gracious to me and I could not be more excited, but the process was hard for me. Mainly because throughout this year I have learned just how far I have to go in this process we call sanctification. I realized I very often want things MY way and not the Lord's. I very quickly will ask for the Lords will, but when it does not match my will I get disheartened and confused... I don't find this to be a very attractive quality in myself and I am confident the Lord is continuing to work on it in me... Which probably means more discomfort at some point, but I will take it (hopefully with grace and humility but most likely with grumbling :P ) if it means becoming more like my Savior!

Gal 2:20; 1 Thes 5:23-24; 1 Cor 2:1-5; Eph 3:14-19