The Start of Something New

Happy Monday ya'll! Notice something new around here? Yup, ye ole blog got a facelift! And speaking of new things... I promised you news Friday. Drum roll please...
I have accepted a position with a new firm. After about three years with my current firm, I am sad to leave as I have learned so much and made some amazing friends. However, its time for me to move on. This is a great opportunity for me and my professional goals. Downside and the created of much agony? The job is in downtown Dallas. Oh, did I mention I live in Fort Worth? Yeah.... so I'll be adding a rather crappy commute to my life. Oh the things we do for our careers. My last day is the end of the week and then I will begin my new adventure in August!
So much newness around here!
As for the weekend? Well, it was a mix of celebration and resting. As in I celebrated and the pups rested.

Dinner at Lily's

Cocktails at ProPer

lazy puppy....

I also baked some muffins, tried my hand at a steak salad (recipe to come) and had some great chats with friends! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and here's to a great last week of work for me.

Making Time

See, I did not disappear, go missing, stop blogging or have some catastrophe of life. I merely did not have time! The last three days have been pretty busy for me at work. I had a response to a summary judgment motion due Monday, a summary judgment motion in federal court due Tuesday, plus a mediation, and today I had the dentist and catching up on a plethora of things that went untouched last week due to writing! See, I work! For those of you who know nothing about the law, summary judgment involves a lot of writing! And in federal court, a huge appendix of evidence... aka time consuming, tedious, but I love it! I love legal writing, mostly because it can lead to oral argument, and that is what I want to do.

But in between all the work and writing some fun did occur. I did have girls' nite Friday! There was wine, pizza, giant homemade PB rice krispie treats, dominoes and Frozen. And then we were all home and in bed by 11pm. I know old balls. Saturday was a combo of work, a run, some yard work... Oh yes, yard work. Funny lil story here.

So, I wanted to mow the lawn before I met CT for lunch. So after my run, I pulled out the mower and proceeded to rev her up! Nothing. Nada. So I phoned a friend and proceeded to try again. Nope. Not.A.Thing. So, I phoned a friend again. We went over like 3 things and then he said: does it have gas? Gulp. Well.... ummm (as I fidget to get the gas cap off) Yeah, well ok thanks for your help (not a drop in that thing). Total blonde moment, but hey I mowed the lawn: all by myself!

I also headed to the Fort Worth Food & Wine Festive, Burgers, Brews & Blues event Saturday night! Fun was had by all! Including photos in the rad photebus (yup, as in VW bus)

mini burgers from like 20 different places

beer tastings, which I  had none

And then Sunday was a run in the morning along the Trinity followed by lunch with one of my best friends from high school. We hadn't seen each in a couple months, and it was so good to catch up with her. Then it was off to the Container Store and Target! Project: Closet organization! Let's  just say, my shoes have new clear plastic boxes, and my purses their own little cubby! I finally took my rug home from my office into the house! And then had some spaghetti for dinner, nothing fancy, but just right!

Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday kinda flew by. But I got to be the lawyer Tuesday, to the tune of filing the motion and brief all by myself and handling my first mediation solo! Small inside joke, by one of the partners I work for likes to tell me to "be the lawyer" which scares the bejesus out of my sometimes, but I guess this proves I can do it when I need to!

Let's just say that all work and no play, makes one tired Sophie.... Seriously, pup slept like this for 2 hours Tuesday night! One little paw just hanging out there.

Icemageddon 2013

I know I have not blogged in like a couple days.... and I have very good reason. I had mediation Wednesday til late, and Thursday, followed by the beginning of icemageddon Thursday night. So, there I was driving home from my photoshoot for Fort Worth's Most Beautiful Women and was being pelted by sleet. Yes, sleet, coming at my every which way. I finally made it home, bouffant hair and all. I coaxed the dogs out and then bundled up for bed in hopes of something warmer the next day. No dice people, no dice.

I woke up Friday to this: (don't mind the creepy house across the street)

And to my heater that pooped out, as in would not get above 55 in my house... Yeah, 55 inside 30 outside, gee golly it was grand! So, we braved the ice and headed to a place with heat! And our weekend looked like this:

chicken chili

puppies in clothes!

napping

cozy socks

a trip to mmm's office Saturday so she could work

snuggling

more napping

We also, slipped on the ice about 3 times taking the girls out, Sophie decided she didn't want to hold it until the "grass" and pooped on the driveway and Chloe would only go on the only spot of uniced grass... It was life for death taking these two out. And we went stir crazy!! Finally, Saturday I needed to get out and get stuff from the office. So... le guy drove us (and by us  mean Me, and Chloe and Sophie). We grabbed some work, then headed to check on my house and hit the gym. We needed to move out limbs! It was all dandy until we made the stupid decision to take the bridge shortcut to my house and slid all the way down.... I think I prayed more in 5 minutes than in my whole life! We took the better way home.

And then we were in the count. We watched TV, ran around the coffee table, played fetch, napped... Basically the girls did nothing. Mommy, err I mean, I managed to get some good work done and only slightly annoy le guy. (he was probably ready to get the girls out of his house).

And then we finally came home Sunday. Played outside in the snow and hit the gym up again.

downtown Fort Worth

And then had mexican food, along with everyone else in the Fort who needed out of the house. Mi Cocina was packed! I was informed the office is closed again tomorrow, but I will make the trek because I 1) have work to do and 2) need OUT OF THE HOUSE!.

So, hope you all had a great week and weekend and I am happy for the end of Icemageddon 2013. And just for a sneak peak... the girls and I are excited for our Christmas cards this year.... !!

When Work Attacks {Again}

Have you ever had one of those weeks, ya know where you're so stressed you are eating Tums like tic tacs, want to pull your hair out and contemplate jumping out of your office window? Yeah ya know one of those weeks? Well this is shaping up nicely as one of those weeks.

I admit I may be a tad at fault, I tend not to say no and convince myself I can do it all (well I can duh!). I love the people I work ( I cannot repeat this enough, I seriously have the best colleagues) but man oh man sometimes I just wanna thumb them. I mean, inevitably when they go out of town, the world attacks and I have no clue what to tell clients that call. Secretaries give you cold calls for clients that have hearings oh tomorrow (as in today, at 9:30am); and your loving work brother comes in your office to talk about nothing at all and you just want to tell him to go work (and he wonders why you are uptight and high strung...).

So in the midst of writing witness bios, answering discovery, prepping for a hearing and hand-holding a contractor, I got news floors installed in my humble abode. As much as I loved my original 1920's 2-inch plank floors, they were dangerous. I had no subfloor, cracked boards, a gaping crack in the bedroom and some water/rot damage in places. So at 830 yesterday 6 men arrived in my home and got to work. (Super sweet guys and a great company if you need floors in the DFW area I highly recommend Final Touch Flooring & they may or may not have hit on me... eh oh well). So here is the floor in pics:

yup, that was holding up the floor

 

Needless to say, I was in total need of my workout last night, as well as a relaxing evening that involved cake and Suits! I mean who can go wrong with chocolate cake and Suits (mmmm Harvey Spector....) But I digress.

So say a small good luck prayer for as I do this hearing on the fly today, deal with some clients and discovery and try to put my house back together.

When Work Follows You Home

I packed up for the day, locked my computer and turned off the light to my office. I walked to my car and headed toward home. I cursed at the traffic, and rolled my eyes at the people who just don't get how to merge. Got home, changed my clothes for kickboxing, kissed hubs and was ready to blow off steam. And then I saw it, work, curled up right there in my backseat... a stowaway!

I tried to ignore it as I punched, kicked, and burpeed my way through Turbo Kick. But it wouldn't budge. Daubert, Robinson, and sneaky TRE 702 latched on like bees on honey! Crescent kick did not phase them. Motion to Strike blocked my upper cuts and back kicks like Bruce Lee! Darn that work.

 When the class was over and I limped to my car, [work] followed. No amount of water or powerade could flush work from my system. Guess that means I'm a lawyer.... We all experience it at some point in our lives and some of us can avoid it and others let it take over. Those who find a balance between work and home are the better for it! Meanwhile, those of us who are fledgling associates will wear work on our shoulders for now.

Happy Hump Day all. ~The Illegal Blonde

Loving What You Do

Someone told me recently that you if you love what you do, then it's not work. Well, I can't say I love what I do everyday, but I do love the challenge of what  I do. I get asked what kind of law I practice, or what my specialty is almost everyday. Newsflash: I'm an associate, I practice whatever law the partners give me, but that is what I love! When someone walks in my door to give me an assignment or task I never know what I'm going to get. (It's like the law grab bag in my office).

Walking into my office is like going through the salad bar of law: a little wrongful death here, a helping of discovery requests, sampling of insurance defense, the little taste of business transactions, and the odd research assignment thrown in for pizazz. Do I necessarily love all these helpings, no, but who can honestly say they love everything, everyday of what they do. I do love, however, that I never know what I'm going to get. Each day brings a new project, challenge, and learning experience. I have gotten to explore so many avenues of the law in such a short time. So, as much as I may not love drafting discovery, I do love the feeling when I come up with the perfect RFA that gets to the heart of the element of the cause of action (without copy & paste).

So, while you may not love every single thing that you do everyday, I do believe that if there is something about what you do that you love, its job work! ~The Illegal Blonde