Five Things

Time for another five things that aren't quite big enough to deserve their own blog post... 1. The Craft Room I'm LOVING the craft room. It has everything I need for studying/crafting/sewing, and it's so cozy! I need to finish up the last few little things (hanging stuff on the walls, doing curtains, styling the bookshelves), but I can't wait to take some "after" photos and share it with y'all.

Jeff took this the other day... I'm obviously loving the comfy purple couch! 

2. I Painted Again I went to another wine & painting event, this time at Pinot's Palette. This one was a work event, so Jeff didn't get to go, but I painted a nice little beach scene. 

I never quite figured out the technique for getting the waves to look like waves, but other than that I'm pretty happy with it.  So now we have three of these amateur paintings (this one and our two breadsticks-and-wine pictures from last time)... what on earth are we supposed to do with these things?
3. First Day of School
Yesterday was my first day of school... I'm actually pretty excited about the classes I'm taking this time around, and my Law Review responsibilities are much less time consuming this year, so I think it ought to be a good semester. Here's the lineup for this semester:

1. Genetics & the Law (I'm taking this solely because I think it sounds fascinating! It's SO liberating to take a class just for fun!)
2. Real Estate Transactions (This is a combination of useful-for-work and useful-for-general-life.)
3. Secured Financing (Useful for work + Bar exam prep)
4. International Business Transactions (Useful for work)
5. Writing Center Tutoring (I get to be a writing tutor for the 1Ls, and I get class credit for it! No grades and no final = awesome!)

The best part of classes this semester? My grades aren't so vitally important now that I have a job lined up, so I can focus on really learning rather than just trying to get the highest possible grade (unfortunately, the two don't seem to be the same in law school). 

4. The Craft Room Desk Chair Speaking of things I need to finish up for the craft room, I'm having the hardest time with painting this chair.

I've tried every shade of purple spray paint there is, and they all just look so ridiculous to me. I wanted a moody sort of eggplanty color, and I just can't seem to find it. At this point, I need to either find a paint color that actually works and paint it by hand (rather than spray paint), or just paint it white and call it a day. I think the problem is that the Ikea couch is really a weird shade of purple, and I'm afraid I'll never match it well enough that it will look okay. I'm leaning towards white, but I'm so frustrated that I've spent so much money on spray paint that looks silly. C'est la vie, right?  5. The Perfect Planner
Okay, am I the only person in the entire blogging universe who can't justify spending $50 on the Erin Condren planner? I mean... FIFTY DOLLARS. For a planner. Sure, it's pretty and personalized and all, but it costs half of a hundred dollars. 
I've been using the same planner for three or four years now (in different colors/designs each time) - it's this one from Blue Sky, and it costs $9.99. 

They have like 5-10 pretty options each year, and it has big full-month calendars as well as the two-page weekly calendars, and it has plenty of notes pages, and it holds up really well even though I drag it everywhere with me. I just ordered a new one, and I can't wait for it to get here! 
So let's chat... anyone else starting school? Please tell me I'm not the only one who refuses to pay $50 for a planner! Have you been to one of those painting places? What do you do with the paintings?