First things first: if you recognize the source of this post’s title, you’ll be delighted to know of the existence of Everything In Transit: Strings Attached, an EP with strings versions of several songs from Everything In Transit. It came out just last Friday and I love it, especially “Dark Blue.” Here’s the Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/7JJXHjsryD8ZX05Wub4OnE?si=8WhC8J7HRo2GA5ujZXqk8w
Yesterday I started classes, which means I’ve wrapped up my last-ever real summer vacation. (Next year once I graduate I’ll be studying for the bar exam, which is most definitely not a vacation.) I spent the summer working at Madsen Prestley and Parenteau, which is an employment law firm in Hartford that represents workers.
I absolutely loved the work! I got to work on some fascinating cases. MPP does a lot of “whistleblower” cases, where they represent workers who have spoken out about unsafe or unethical things happening at their workplace and been illegally fired or retaliated against, and I got to learn a lot about those cases. I also took on employment discrimination cases, which happen when someone has been fired due to age/race/sex/disability/etc. (also illegal!), and wage and hour cases when employers haven’t properly paid their workers overtime or the minimum wage (the former being more common).
The team around me was really great, too. I was a bit nervous about this before starting - everyone I’d interviewed with had come across well, but in the fall of 2024 I’d had a couple of bad experiences with part-time work for law firms and was initially worried about repeating that. I didn’t need to worry, though. The firm is a small one, with 6 attorneys and 4 support staff across 2 offices, and I had the chance to get to know just about everyone and they were so kind and welcoming. I got really helpful feedback on my work so I could grow my skills, but they were also quick to praise me when I’d done something well. They also did their best with work-life balance, both for me and for themselves. A private law firm will always involve some long or weird hours - sometimes you’ve got a trial or other big thing coming up that needs a ton of prep work, or you need to meet with workers outside of their usual working hours - but they had a good amount of flexibility on hours and location as long as everyone got the work done.
So summer work was going swimmingly right up until early July, when the compressor on the office building’s central air conditioning unit went out, and the HVAC company told us that because the part was in high demand and they’d need to send a crew up on the roof to do the replacement, it would be several weeks before it was fixed.
The building sent us some portable AC units and we put as many fans as we could into the office, but that could only go so far. The office would still reach over 80 degrees most days, especially with the hot weather we had almost all summer in CT.
With the office conditions, we started working from home as much as we could. I didn’t have quite the same remote work setup as the rest of the office, so it was a bit of a hassle, but I could do most of my work remotely and would often work from my air-conditioned apartment 3 days a week during the second half of the summer. Fortunately, everyone was very understanding of the situation (and in fact actively encouraged me to work from home on hot days), and they told me they appreciated me being a good sport about the whole thing. Of course I was - it wasn’t their fault the AC died on us!
I also appreciated having a proper 9-5 and tried to make the most out of the free time on evenings and weekends. I had a few fun dinners out with friends, went to a great Hurray for the Riff Raff concert at Space Ballroom in Hamden (a great little venue with an excellent craft beer selection), did yoga at Castle Craig, made time for visits with family, and generally enjoyed getting to relax when I wasn’t at work.
In June, I also started Zepbound, which is a GLP1 similar to Ozempic, to help with weight loss and sleep apnea. So far I’ve had a really good experience with it! I’ve lost 26 pounds in two and a half months and found that it worked exactly as well as advertised when it comes to appetite reduction and reducing cravings/”food noise” (that little voice in my head telling me to eat junk food). The side effects have been mild - very little nausea, usually just a bit for an hour or two on the day after I do a weekly shot, and no vomiting.
And I have to share two pieces of truly incredible news, in order of importance:
At the end of my summer job, Madsen, Prestley, and Parenteau offered me a full-time position as Associate Attorney starting in the summer of 2026, after I graduate from UConn Law and take the bar exam. After thinking it over a bit and negotiating salary (always do that!), I accepted the offer. I couldn’t be more excited to get to do the kind of work I came to law school to do with a great group of people!
And…drumroll please…I’m going to be an aunt! My sister Mary is pregnant with her first child and due right around New Year’s Day 2026. I’m planning Mary’s baby shower as we speak and I absolutely cannot wait to spoil my nibling (Mary and Ben want to be surprised by the baby’s sex) when they arrive. I’m already planning on spending most of winter break in Rhode Island to tend to the new parents’ dogs while Mary’s at the hospital and to lend an extra set of hands once the baby comes home. They’re going to be great parents and I’m so excited to have a new addition to the family!