Endings and Beginnings

Endings and beginnings are strange to write about because I'm never sure what to say and I always feel like whatever I say should be profound. Usually I skip those posts - I put them off long enough that they become past tense and don't get written about at all.

Driving away from the office in Windom for the last time

But, I do feel like I have to write about this. I have never ever left a job for another job. I left my first after college job because I was going to law school. My first summer law clerk position during law school was a term thing - it ended so I left. The second law clerk position I had I loved for almost two years and it ended because I graduated and it was policy not to keep law clerks on after graduation - so I left.

But this is the first time that I have left one job voluntarily for another job. I worked with human resources people on both ends to coordinate the leaving and arriving, I arranged end dates and start dates and after a few weeks of insane activity and decision I am just waiting. Waiting. Waiting to show up for work on Monday. Waiting to meet new co-workers and set up in my new office. I'm waiting to meet new judges and files. Waiting.

At least I get to wait with this guy

On the subject of waiting - you, dear reader, may have to spend some time waiting for blog updates in the next few weeks, until we find our own house and get the internet going. Until then, I will do my best!

The Bergen Bar and Grill

My co-workers seem to be very focused on my food. I feel like we are always talking about food which is strange because we rarely eat together because someone needs to be available to help at the counter all the time. Sometimes I feel self-conscious when this interest results in someone peering into my lunch bowl that's filled with poultry bones, but mostly this Minnesota-nice interest in your food ends up in some fun recommendations that I wouldn't know about otherwise.

When we moved here way back in October we would get restaurant recommendations all the time, and one of the places that was repeatedly recommended by everyone we've met in the area is The Bergen Bar and Grill in Bergen, Minnesota. Everyone said it was the best place around for steaks - but I personally think Calhoun cooks the best steaks so we've been putting off the Bergen Bar. 

But this past week we got some news that means that we needed to check some things off of our southwest Minnesota bucket list, so we decided to go to the Bergen Bar!

The most important thing to know about the Bergen Bar is that it is SMALL and has a serious reputation around here for being a place that's hard to get in to...if you eat dinner at 5 o'clock sharp. When the Bergen Bar was first recommended to me it was December, and we were warned that we needed to be there at 5 o'clock sharp or we needed to be prepared to wait in our car for them to call us because the restaurant wasn't big enough to wait inside.

But no one knew what would happen if you went for a later dinner. Who in this town eats after 5? Apparently just us!

So we went for "late" dinner at the Bergen Bar and didn't have steak. I'm afraid we missed the epic story of waiting in our car for an hour for a seat and ordering a hugs slab of meat, but we had a great time anyways.

First, we drove into Bergen seemingly without warning to find a bunch of trucks parked outside of what appeared to be a house. We figured it was the spot and it was. No wait (dinner about 8 seems to be the key) and some great burgers, each has a beer and spend under $20!

Second, this mural was on the old Bergen Store. Love.

Third, I got a new job and we're moving! It is crazy to be checking things off a bucket list.

Jason D. Smith over at the Flensburg Files does Bergen much more justice than I have, check it out. 

Nine Days in June

Nine Days in June, hosted by the Minnesota State Bar Association

Although I say it to Calhoun all the time, I'm not sure I've said it here because I like the blog to be a positive place. But, to put it mildly, being a new attorney here isolating. There just aren't many attorneys around and there aren't any other new attorneys to grab a happy hour with. Like I've said before, I loved going to school and working in Minneapolis - there were always people around to talk shop over a cocktail. 

Sometimes it's salt in a wound when event emails arrive in my inbox inviting me to the New Lawyer's Section Happy Hour on a Thursday afternoon or a Minnesota Women Lawyer's lunch on a Wednesday. I have attended a few Continuing Legal Education ("CLE") sessions remotely, but you just don't get the same experience or conversation when sitting alone in your office after hours. 

So, I was thrilled when I heard about "Nine Days in June," the Minnesota State Bar Association's traveling statewide convention. It's actually kinda cool - they bring a full day of CLE sessions to each district, ending with a statewide day in St. Paul. I think it's great that they travel to the districts, even though I still had to drive for an hour and a half to get to Mankato, the location made it possible to attend a CLE I might otherwise have had to miss. And I will say that one incredible thing about my job is that not only am I encouraged to attend CLEs and given time to do so. 

I was pumped to go (I kinda love CLEs and terrible lawyer jokes) and was even more happy that once I arrived I saw a bunch of people I knew! Yay for social interaction! Yay for peers who do what I do! YAY!!!

If Nine Days in June has yet to come to your district you really should try your best to attend.

I had a great time. I enjoyed every cheesy lawyer joke and I learned some great stuff. It is undoubtedly isolating to be a new attorney in outstate Minnesota but I'm coping and attending every CLE I can! Is it wrong that I'm already excited about the next one?

p.s. I met Chief Justice Gildea today. She's pretty awesome.

October by the Numbers

It's been crazy.

celebrated 28 years young

attended 3 beautiful weddings

drove more than 1,200 miles between the old and new house

worked 9 days at the new job

became 1 of the newest members of the Minnesota State Bar

Chief Justice Lori Gildea: The Twin Cities is Not "Real Minnesota" from City Pages

Mike Mullen, at City Pages, published this incredibly awesome article about Chief Justice Lori Gildea insulting the Twin Cities, suggesting that they are not "real Minnesota."

Then, they illustrated Justice Gildea's statement.

I think Minneapolis and St. Paul are real Minnesota, but this article is such an excellent overlap of things in my life I had to share it with you here on my blog.

Another thing that's so wonderful about this article is that it comes at a perfect time in our lives! Writing about this article is the great way to break some huge news - we are moving out into "real Minnesota"(which is not what I'm going to call it) because I got a job! This has all happened really fast for us, but I'm excited to have a job and I'm thrilled that it's in Minnesota - although just barely. More details to come!

For another read on Justice Gildea's visit to Brainerd, here's another article from Minnesota Lawyer - much less sassy.

I Passed the Minnesota Bar Exam!!

The state of Minnesota, like most states, post the bar exam results online and sends out letters to the takers. This year, the letters were sent on a Wednesday and results were scheduled to be posted at 9 am on Thursday, October 6. That means that, if you're in the metro area, your letter probably arrives the afternoon of the 6th, but you can view your results at nine - and most people do. So, naturally, I hardly slept Wednesday night and was nervously sitting in front of my computer at 8 am pretending to read any moderately interesting news I could lay my eyes on waiting for the results to post.

All the while I was refreshing the Board of Law Examiners Website where they were going to post the results. Then, a little before nine, seven hundred three-digit numbers appeared on the site. Unlike some other states that post names, the state of Minnesota posts exam results online in accordance with your exam number. So not only do you have to remember your exam number - thankfully I kept my ugly little badge - but you also have to remember hose numbers work and hope that yours is there!

And then, there it was. My number. Listed as a number that was the number of a July 2011 Successful Examinee!

And that's it. Three numbers and the months of waiting nervously were over. I passed! I PASSED THE MINNESOTA BAR EXAM!

A Minnesota Graduation

I graduated on Saturday! In real Minnesota fashion, the weather this Saturday was absolutely miserable! Although it was May 14, it was chilly and drizzly and a little too windy for my graduation hairstyle to hold up. But, I enjoyed it, and pending actually getting all of my work in I will have my J.D.! Now only the Minnesota Bar Exam stands in my way!