One of my favorite things to do when I was younger was watch design shows, especially the ones that had episodes that discussed how to deliver a one-two punch of functionality and form in a small space. From those shows, I learned that in small spaces – and especially in studio apartments – you need to define areas based on their functions.

Apparently, doing so will make even a teensy space feel big.

I’m not sure exactly what law school will bring when I get started at orientation next Wednesday. I won’t get my schedule until then. I don’t know what to expect of the teachers I get. I don’t know if I’m going to kill myself over the work load.

The only thing I do know for certain is I’m going to be well caffeinated during the course of the next year.

Teenie me is like me only smaller. Much, much smaller. In all other regards, we are strikingly similar.

We both wear glasses on occasion. We both have an affinity for messenger-type, cross-shoulder bags. We both love ginormous dogs. We both love chocolate, cheese and the TV show “Chuck”. We both think penguins – or “pengins” as Teenie calls them – have an evil, secret plan to take over the world.

After a bajillion and a half trips to Target, three local Goodwillls, Walmart, Ross Dress for Less and Marshall’s, and after sanding, priming and painting at least three pieces of old furniture, I have finally settled into the humble abode I will be calling home for, hopefully, the next three years.

The closest I’ve ever come to going to a circus was on the frequent childhood “family trips” to Las Vegas, when my parents would hand me and my brothers $20 to go play in the arcade. Between two boys and one girl – and despite the keen money management of said little girl – the cash lasted all of 10 minutes.

After that, one of our parents or other responsible adult would take us out to the Midway Stage where we would be dazzled by any number of free circus acts

According to the Orange County Register, the principal of Orange High School in Orange, Calif., stopped the distribution of a student magazine because it had a “gang-looking” tattoo on the cover and because of a Top 10 list of things to do before graduation that included a clothing-optional swim in the school pool.

I understand where maybe the Top 10 list could be seen as encouraging students to break school rules. But even when students volunteered to tear out

It’s a difficult and sometimes dangerous world out there for journalists.

Just this past year we’ve seen Sri Lankan editor Lasantha Wickramatunga gunned down, U.S. journalist Roxana Saberi detained and tried in Iran, and, more recently, Current TV freelance reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee tried and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

It’s infuriating that the North Korean regime chose to pursue legal action against these Americans on vague grounds, but what’s even more maddening is how little we’ve heard from Current TV or Al Gore, who founded the independent news network.

This weekend, the Blawgirl and the Boyfriend went to local shopping center South Coast Plaza to watch my friend (and former boss) take part in a makeover/runway show hosted by “What Not To Wear” host Clinton Kelly! After seeing all the awesome transformations, I remembered that there are tons of videos online that could help even the most clueless of us or even those who want to look like their favorite celeb achieve a professional look. Here are a

If you’ve read this blawg in the past, you’ll know that the Blawgirl, besides referring to herself in the third person on occasion, loves her some cute. Which is why I was thrilled, to say the least, when the White House finally announced that Pres. Barack Obama had made good on his promise to his daughters and had adopted Bo, the FDOTUS.

Here are the Blawgirl’s favorite photos of Bo so far!

In order to close the state’s budget shortfall, California’s Governator has proposed steep cuts to many of the state’s programs, including cutting $1.9 billion to the University of California and California State University systems and $5.2 billion to the state’s K-12 schools. This could mean very bad news for the U.C. Hastings School of Law, which would lose $10 million in funding under the governor’s proposal.