36 is the new 21

Happy Monday everyone! It's a short week here and I cannot wait for 4th of July!!! Someone turned 36 er 21 this weekend, and we celebrated in style.

Friday night we headed out to The Local, literally a local bar in the West 7th area of town. We also celebrated Brad's 32nd birthday, so it was party all around!

Steve on the left, Steve on the right!

Party Boys

Saturday I was up early for a run and cake baking! I made a double layer, oreo cookie cake. Its super easy, super yummy, and well, just yummy!

I also made him a HUGE omelette and toast, its what he wanted! Oh and I bought a french press for coffee. We are obsessed with press pots at dinner, so I researched the heck out of them, and went with the Espro one by Williams Sonoma. It's stainless steel and just makes coffee better.

For dinner, to was a treat! I made reservations for The Capital Grille. A steakhouse in downtown. OMG, talk about delicious. First, his brother and sister-in-law had a bottle of wine sent to the table. It was complete with a card.

Then, we started with prosciutto wrapped mozzarella. Yup, bacon wrapped cheese people. No pics, sorry, we ate it too quickly. Then, a warm spinach salad. For the main course, steak oscar for the guy, and sea bass in a broth for me. Sides of au gratin potatoes and haricot verts.

Followed, by dessert.... cheesecake and a flour less chocolate cake. Yummo

And that my friends, was a wrap! Someone was passed out about 9pm, we will blame the bottle of wine he consumed single-handedly.

parson the awkward fat arm in this pic...

Sunday everyone recuperated from the weekend, even the pups.

rough like she leads

Hope your weekend was as wonderful, as mine, and promise the cake recipe will  be up tomorrow!

Life Ain't Easy: 31 Days of Lessons

Today is hard for me. For the first time in 7 years I will not celebrate M's birthday with him. I can recall every birthday from his 26th to today, his 33rd. I remember every card, every present, cupcake and brownie with ice cream.

It reminds me how different my life is from one year ago today, or how different it will be in 12 days when I celebrate my birthday. Yes, this year will be different. Holiday traditions will change and I will be reminded in January that my marriage ended. I admit I texted him this morning just to say hello. It seemed so cruel not to, but at the same time, a reminder of what has transpired in the past year.

So, in light of this past year of change I have decided to participate in 31 Days with Nester.

The point? 31 days of writing about something that you want to write about. I thought about this a lot... 31 days to share with you all something about me. I thought about my faith, my daily laughs, food, working out, etc... but instead I decided I would share with you 31 things I have learned over the past year. The good, the bad, the funny, the hard, here is 31 Days of Lessons.

Day 1: It's Ok to Cry

I have always cried.  I have cried when I am happy, sad, upset, frustrated, etc.. you get the point. But I have learned its ok to cry with others. Let them see your pain. I am not good at letting people see me hurt or not "perfect." I had to learn that crying helps you let go of the pain and hurt.

9/11 & A lil Rant

Today is a day we will never forget. Everyone has the story of where they were when the towers fell, or the loved ones they lost, and how they were affected. I have these too. I was a freshman at TCU, my brother was in the Army stationed in Korea, and they cancelled our home opener that weekend against Marshall. Yes, today will be a day we will never forget. But, this day is also a day to celebrate, two very special people  in my life have birthdays!

Happy Birthday V & my Big!! So, I celebrate today and celebrate two special women in my life who have had such an impact. V, well y'all know I would not be where I am without her. Lord, woman is ah-mazing and has a heart of gold. And my Big, well she is just about the sweetest, coolest mom ever now. I have so many great memories of parties, her doing my hair, her wedding and now watching her boys grow up.

On another note....I'm a lawyer, true people I am. I know I have not talked about my oh so glamorous lawyer life of late so I decided today was time for a quick True Life: I'm a Lawyer.

This is my desk. Its organized chaos (promise I know where 99% of things are when I need them). I am currently knee-deep in about 5 different projects and at last count had my hand in over 30 litigation files. I spend my day toiling away at my computer typing. No Law & Order courtroom displays for me. In actuality, I rarely see the courtroom. In fact, I see it more when I drive downtown than I see it for work.

People often like to engage in random, so-called witty legal banter with me. Guess what people? No one uses words like they do on TV! Nope, not what we do all day. In fact, when you use those words, or attempt to "on-up" me with some random legal jargon I get really annoyed and tend to tune you out. I do not walk around all day objecting to things, or using the words wheretofor. I do not find it funny when you "Object" to my  opinions, questions, etc.. I don't walk around using jargon from your world. So, just stop.

And the last thing I want to talk about when I go out after work or on the weekends or any other time other than work is the law. I'm 30, I want to go out and let loose! But no... there you people are wanting to ask my stuff.  Don’t you think George Zimmerman was guilty?  They can’t charge someone with a crime if they don’t read them their rights, right?  You must love watching Law & Order, SVU, right?  The practice of law is little more than a source of entertainment to many people.  To me, its that thing I do every.single.day.

And, guess what? You probably  make more than I do. Yes, you sitting in the cubicle all day long. I know you think make six figure, well guess what? I don't! Nope, not close. No I work long hours and make less than you and owe a crap ton more on my loans. Oh and bonus? what's a bonus? Yes, there is potential, but I have to wait til years 7-9 to even know if I make partner and even then some of those first year partners have gone paycheckless at first. So, yeah when I tell you I'm broke I mean it.

And while we are on the subject, not all lawyers are lying scumbags. Yup, I know hard for you to believe that we don't all sit around thinking of people we can sue. Nope, me I defend people, businesses, etc.. I am rarely on the plaintiff side of things. Oh and that gets me too... I do civil law people, civil. I do not find people guilty or innocent, I represent the Defendant or Plaintiff, not the Prosecution or Defense... I deal in terms of liability, not guilt or innocence and my trials, well they occur years after the fact of the accident, incident, loss etc... Not days, weeks or months, YEARS people.

And last, but not least, I work hard. I do not sit around thinking of ways to bill my clients, or rack up hours. I actually I am afraid to bill sometimes. I know I should, but I find it hard to bill for that 2 minutes it took me to email you or Google the answer to your question. I try to do my best to work for my client in the least amount of time. I do not play golf instead of working, charge clients for fancy meals or drive a luxury vehicle at your expense. No, I still all day long banging out research, motions, discovery, letters for you. I deal with jackass opposing counsel, clients who do not understand that I have more than just their file and sometimes partners who expect me to juggle 12 balls at one time and do it all with a smile, perfectly coiffed hair and no typos or grammatical errors.

Yup, I'm lawyer, and my life is not so glamorous.