The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Working Downtown:

So I'm working downtown this summer in the federal courthouse. It's an awesome job and I get to do lots of interesting things but there are definitely perks and downfalls to working in the center of Cincinnati. Here are a few of them:

• Good: it is close to just about everything and that means if I ever need anything it is just a quick walk away



• Bad: it is not close to my house



• Good:I can go have lunch with people from UC, etc without anyone having to travel.



• Good: Fountain Square is literally right outside the courthouse so Andrea (the other extern) and I can have lunch outside everyday



• Bad: Fountain Square is literally right outside the courthouse so I hear a lot of street noise



• Bad: along with street noise a person drums on a plastic bucket everyday outside of my window for a couple of hours a day and another person plays a saxophone on the corner



• Ugly: the saxophonist apparently only knows 12 bars of music which he plays over and over and over again



• Good: the courthouse is very pretty



• Bad: the courthouse has security so I have to walk through a metal detector and have my bag x-rayed everyday



• Bad: parking downtown is a pain and the cheapest lot is 3/4s of a mile away from my office



• Ugly: so I walk over a mile and a half everyday in heels

Sometimes I Get to Do Cool Stuff at Work

So for anyone who doesn't know, I am working as an extern for Judge Weber this summer. He's a senior federal district court judge and so far I am loving my summer work. I do a lot of research and writing, but I also get to sit in on pleas, meetings in chamber, basically anything that happens in our courtroom. Well today I got to sit in on something especially cool: a naturalization hearing. A naturalization hearing is essentially the ceremony where people become American citizens. There were 70 people from 39 different countries at the ceremony today and each of them stood up and said their name and where they were from - it was absolutely amazing how many different places were represented. The ceremony felt like a graduation with speakers and congratulations and then everyone's loved ones taking pictures as they said their oath. It was actually a very moving experience and a wonderful way to finish up the week.

The Summer so Far

Since getting back from Italy we've gotten into the swing of the summer and are enjoying both our summer work and our more relaxed schedules. This summer I'm working for Judge Weber, a senior federal district judge, and Jed is getting started on research for his PhD and is studying for the boards. Other than that we have been going out to dinner with friends, planting new flowers, and watching movies ... in short all of those things that we weren't able to do under the crunch of finals.

Buongiorno

Last week we got back from an amazing trip to Italy with my family and I figured its about time I put some pictures up. Out entire trip was absolutely wonderful: we started by spending a week in a house in Tuscany and taking day trips to different cities in the area then we spent our last two days in Rome. Get ready for a lot of pictures . . .

Our first day we drove to our house in Panzanno and stopped at the Ferrari museum on the way. I don't have any pictures from there on my camera yet though so here we are in Sienna on our first full day enjoying a lovely view of the duomo (cathedral). It was one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have even seen.

Enjoying some gelatto (this would become a daily occurrence) in the Piazza in Sienna.


Our second full day in Italy was spent in San Gimignano a beautiful little city in Tuscany that was absolutely picturesque.

The next day we took a tour in beautiful Florence.

We spent the next day close to home. We went on a hike to a tiny monastery, then we went to the neighboring city of Greve and later explored the olive groves by our house.

Danielle and I in front of the house.

The olive grove.

Day 5 we went to Pisa and Lucca. Here's Jed and I in front of the famous leaning tower.
We also walked up the tower which was kind of crazy - those stairs were wonky!

Riding bikes in Lucca.

The next day was another great day in Florence.

After an amazing week in Tuscany we packed up and headed to Rome.
Here's Jed and I in front of some cool ruins. Ruins were everywhere in Rome. You would literally look down an ally and there would be some ancient columns sitting there.

Our final day we explored Rome some more. Here's Jed in the Roman Forum.

And this is everyone in the Colosseum.

Well there you go. That's our vacation in a whole lot of pictures. I hope you enjoyed and weren't too jealous :)

4 Years

Yep, it's true today Jed and I have been married for four years. That's a long time! I still feel like such a newlywed that it's weird to think that it's already been four whole years and not just a few months. At the same time it feels like we've been together forever. Kind of like when you are looking back at the semester (give me a break, I'm still a student so this is how I measure time) and it feels like you just started while at the same time feeling like it's been going on forever.

Sadly both of us are in the middle of tests so we will have to celebrate a belated anniversary later. Regardless though, here's to a whole lot more great years!

Rochelle's Graduation

A little over a week ago was my sister Rochelle's graduation from college and it was so fun to be there. Not so much the actual graduation - it was fun when she crossed the stage and all but I had to listen to a lot of unknown people's names get read to reach that point - but getting to see my family and hang out and celebrate with everyone was great. It was also an occasion to take some pictures, which I realized when I was going through my camera is something that I haven't done much of this year. So here are some pictures from graduation. I can't wait to see all of these people again in a couple more weeks!

Rochelle with her (not an actual) diploma

Danielle, Rochelle and I

Rochelle with Mom and Dad

Rochelle and Matt

Super Excited

Tomorrow I'm flying out to Utah to go to my little sister Rochelle's graduation from BYU. I'm so excited to see my whole family (other than Jed of course who's staying home because med school is an evil life sucking force) and to celebrate Rochelle's graduation. If only I didn't still have to pack . . .