These Are A Few of my Favorite Things: the finals edition

Seeing as my life is so one-tracked right now with finals, I am glad that I am an easily pleased person who appreciates the small things in life. Because if I didn't, I'm not sure how sane I would be right now. In honor of the 12 days until Christmas, here's a list of my 12 favorite things, in no particular order, that have made my first set of finals a little more bearable:

1. Swiffer Sweepers: Anyone who knows me knows that I love to clean when I get stressed out. And if you haven't tried it yourself, I highly recommend. When the world around you seems chaotic, you can at least put your apartment in order. Yes, instant gratification. So as a little "reward" for a days worth of studying, I got the swiffer sweeper I always wanted and cleaned our kitchen. Talk about a great invention. I may sound weird, but don't knock the cleaning until you've tried it.

2. Craigslist: Admist learning about offer and acceptances, I put my contracts learning to work by reviving my love of web-window shopping on Craigslist. Since it is the end of the year and a lot of people are moving, my roommate and I capitalized on some great deals. For example: 2 nice barstools both for $15, a humidifier for $15, a toaster for $5, and a blender, mixing bowls, and frying pan combination package for $15. That's a lot of saving for all very pracitcal purchases. If there's anything I love more than shopping, it's great deals.

3. The smell of pumpkin: Oh yeah, we bought a muffin tin too from Craigslist so I was naturally inclined to make some healthy pumpkin cranberry muffins for my roommate and my study group. If you're going to be stuck in your apartment studying, there's nothing better than opening your oven and having your whole apartment smell like pumpkin and spices.

4. TV: After every final, I have decompressed my brain infront of the televsion. Nothing like watching a few episodes of Law & Order to remind you why you wanted to go to law school.

5. Our front desk people: It's always nice to come back to your apartment and be greeted by familiar faces of nice people. My roommate and I like to try to piece together who these people are, especially from listening in on their conversations when we're downstairs filling up on the...

6. Free Coffee in the Lobby: Thank you to Charles E. Smith apartments and your free coffee in the lobby. Even though I try not to drink too much, it has been there when I needed to battle study fatigue. And I also rekindled my love for the smell of coffee.

7. NYTimes Wedding Page: This is going to make me sound like I want get married right now but I don't (not until I'm at least 25), but I love reading this NYT page. I might not come off as a lovey-dovey romantic type, but I'm a total sap for reading stories about how couples met. They're very cute, and very appreciated and unexpected change of pace from leading casebooks all day.

8. Electronic Communication: I get really excited when I get a little message in my inbox telling me that someone wrote on my facebook wall. Or sent a facebook message. Or sent a text. Or instant messaged. Or even emailed. Basically, I'm longing for human contact, even if through an electronic medium. As much as I love Judge Learned Hand and Judge Cardoza, they're just not as loving or funny as my friends and family.

9. Christmas lights: I love the way they twinkle, especially the white ones. A little reminder that it is the holiday season.

10. The Humidifier: I may sound like an old woman, but I love mine. And I'm in company too because I know a lot of people my age who have purchased or looking to purchase humidifiers. It's just really dry over here and turning on the heat in the apartment zaps away all of the moisture. Moreoever, there's something nostalgic about them since I used to have one for a kid.

11. Study Group + Rommate: I'm pretty lucky that I found people that I can study really well around and make lots of dorky law school jokes with. I swear, sometimes it feels like we're speaking in another language. And I'm even luckier, that I like just hanging out around these people in a non-studying context (even when we say we're having a study group) because it has really kept me calm.

12. Winter Break: Need I really explain why? Only days away from family, friends, California, Vietnam, and nothing law school. Just the thought of it makes me smile.