vdp on people.com!

as you all may know, my fabulous cousin vanessa designs women's accessories and distributes them exclusively to her best friends, the owners of Jake. yesterday, at the recommendation of john mayer, ms. jessica simpson dropped into Jake in chicago and bought one of vanessa's obi belts and wore it out of the store. people.com is reporting it now, and mentions vanessa by name. it seems us and the chicago sun-times will also be carrying the story.

take a peak here.

go vanessa!

it's a fight to work at my desk.

but a pleasant one.

heat wave.

we hit 39 today baby!!!! get out the coppertone and go tanning.
i cannot remember the last time it was above freezing.
wait. it was almost six weeks ago...

dakota. 1L and constitutional law aficionada

can we say yummmm?

did you see sting open the grammy's with the police? yum, yum, yum. reunion tour? i am soooo there.

and three cheers for the dixie chicks. winning song of the year and record of the year and album of the year... as far as i am concerned a nice f*** you to those who do not believe in free speech.


Not only is it extremely cruel to persecute in this brief life those who do not think the way we do, but I do not know if it might be too presumptuous to declare their eternal damnation. Evelyn Beatrice Hall

and it continues....

snow yesterday. snow today. no end in site. at least we are back in the 20s, and not the single digits.

someone needs to explain this to me.

i live in michigan. what do you think of when you think michigan? snowy cold winters, right? me too. one would think that an extension of that would be snowplows and clean streets. one would not think the streets would be like our nation's capital. (in case you did not know, it takes about a week after a snowfall in the greater washington, dc area to plow every road.) well, in this way, i have not left dc.

chicago, oh that paragon of snow removal, please teach michigan the way. chicago, you are brilliant! you plow as it is snowing. there is no accumulation. snow is constantly removed. salt is constantly laid down on the road. there is no waiting until after the snow, when it is already packed onto the pavement and there is no such thing as removal. please, send michigan your snow removal guide. the state is definitely in need.

Personal Jurisdiction

in civil procedure our professor had a contest to make deciphering personal jurisdiction a breeze.
check out the winner here.

the supreme court.

there is a great pbs series currently underway about the supreme court.
check it out here.
judicial review... thank you, chief justice john marshall.

it's... another boy!

my first undergrad friend had a baby this week!

kristen and sergio welcomed little landon xavier on january 22.
little tike came in at 7 lbs. 11 oz. and 20 inches long.
he's a looker!

check this out.

have a little fun at wee world.

baby boy has a name!

his name is asher.
i love this name.
in case you did not know, my favorite book is my name is asher lev.
i highly recommend it.
it was part of my sophomore year reading in high school and i instantly fell in love.
i still have the copy that i used that year, with all of my notes and doodles.
in fact, i reread the book once a year.
i have since also bought a first edition hardcover.
read it. enjoy.
and welcome to the world little Asher O-S!
we have been anxiously awaiting your arrival

your assistance is requested...

i have taken to calling my friend raz by the nickname of wheeler. he has yet to get the reference. anyone out there care to venture a guess to the reference?

shaking in our boots.

okay, so if it would actually snow in michigan, we may literally be shaking in our boots.
our torts professor gave out some harsh grades in her civil procedure section.
understandably we are all very, very fearful of our torts grades. gulp.

no official name yet, but we have a nickname.

yes, thanks to the magical words of baby boy's brother and auntie anne, the newest member to the gp is affectionately known as....

cheetah maccool.

cheetah because big brother owen thinks his little brother's name should be cheetah.
maccool is after the irish legend fionn maccool.

back to it.

back to it tomorrow.

guess what is first up?

wish me luck. been a long time since i have studied the constitution in any way, shape, or form.

marbury v. madison anybody?

we have another boy!

there is another boy in the o'connell-strasberg family. yes!

no name, but he is 8 lbs, 6 oz and 21 inches long!
i have been told he has some black hair on his cute little head. he was born shortly after 11 pm on 3rd january.

new baby on the way!

one of the girl posse is in labor as i write! cannot wait to meet the newest and littlest member! will keep you all posted.

babysitting.

so a good friend of mine is babysitting his two little nieces. he told me the following, which i would never have expected to hear from him. oh to be a fly on the wall. i would pay - a lot.

i bought them a princess jewelry board game.

i dress up with them.

i almost won twice; had the ring, necklace, earings and bracelet but not the crown

priceless.

a little belated, but...

happy new year!

the best to each of you in 2007!