My laws v. the In-laws

I definitely have a case of the Mondays! 5am came way too early for my workout today, and honestly, it may be a 2 cup day!

How was your St. Patty's Day? Did you drink a lot of green beer, shake your groove thing, get some green beads? I may not have done all that but I have a great weekend full of family! Attended my sister's bridal shower & lingerie shower, and D's birthday! Which leads me to my topic today: my laws versus my in-laws.

So, Saturday was D's birthday so we headed to the house for his birthday celebration. Got to see the "niece & nephew" and lots of V & D's friends.... might I add they have the coolest friends. We talked, drank, and ate the evening away. They caught up on my life as a newlylawyer and protruded about when babies would arrive in our household. (hubs slightly cringes at this topic). I learned about flowers (did I mention these ladies are bona fide members of the garden club?), wine, life, and love! Their house is always full of people, good wine, and yummy food. It's like a game of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?!

How can you not love that face?

Post party, we headed over the the in-laws to spend the night. Now, don't get my wrong, I have great in-laws... and they LOVE Chloe (the closest thing to a grandchild they have), but they are the furthest thing from my family. No parties, no wine-induced giggles, no hummus & pita, shrimp, or omelets in the morning. The in-laws are pretty routine people, they go to the same places, order the same thing, and keep it pretty safe. The house is usually quiet, and you do not have the random neighbor dropping by.

It's just quite different the families that my husband and I have, but how theses different backgrounds have managed to bring us together. We have both learned new things, and hope to meld two worlds into one. Though we have had our moments of who's family is better than whose (which normally revolves around Holiday food), we both agree each has its pros and cons. Ah, marriage and families, ain't it grand?

Have a Marvelous Monday all! ~The Illegal Blonde

P.S. In law news, my email has been dinging all morning in a game I like to call, "what case is this?"

Friday's Letters

OK, OK, so I know its Saturday, but here would have been my letter from Friday:

Dear Chloe: Thank you for being a sweet pup this week and NOT digging any new holes in the yard, thus avoiding the wrath of Daddy Man!

Dear Hubs: Thank you for letting me snuggle in bed on Thursdays and watch Grey's Anatmoy and Private Practice every week even though I know you think the shows are silly and dumb, and I confess they are, but I love it! Also thank you for yummy date night dinner!

Dear DFW Drivers: You drive on the same highway everyday to and from work, so please let's remember that the road has not changed, the sign still says exit only, so do not drive on the exit only lane and then get extremely mad that no one will let you squeeze over!

Dear Skin/Hormones: Yes I know I am nearing thirty. Yes I know its humid and muggy outside. Yes I know that my skin will not look like it did when I was 12, but seriously this dry one day oil slick the next must stop! I am running out of patience, moisuirizer, and concealer!

~The Illegal Blonde

P.S. Mr. Parnter at work, thank you for saying thank you for all my work! Made my little day.

Awkward/Awesome Thursday

Awkward

• getting hit on a 5am at the gym - There I was, sweaty, no make-up blasting away on the elliptical, when man interrupts me to introduce himself....
• competative men doing hot yoga - Guys, its ok that your cannot master Tree or Eagle
• spilling Thai chicken soup all over yourself at lunch, and then smelling like it all day
• drinking tons of water pre-yoga and subsequently passing the same secretary on your way to the bathroom like 12 times

Awesome

• sister's bridal shower & bachelorette party this weekend!
• St. Patty's Day and D's birthday!
• warmer weather (not a fan of the humidity though)
• finally liking my haircut once I learned how to "fix" it!
• Spending last weekend with some of the most awesome women I know! They are mentors, friends, sisters, family!

Have a great Thursday 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

Sports Widow

It's that time again ladies: March Madness. Husbands disappear from after dinner dish duty, the trash will magically walk itsself to the curb, and every question you pose gets the same garbled answer: "ah yeah sure." You become a sports widow.

Though I have only been married for a little over a year, I knew this was coming. After you date someone for 5 years you tend to see a pattern. August - early January and mid-March are those sad times when your man is MIA, and he can be found in front of a TV... for hours! In the past I have tried to fight this syndrome they have, one year I even gasp ... suggested he DVR a game (you would have though I asked him to get a vasectomy!)

So this year ladies I vow not to fight it. I will embrace widowness for a few short weeks this month and use it to focus on myself. Uninterrupted naps, running the dishwasher, and long runs! I will enjoy the break from the hubs while he takes in endless hours of basketball because I mean how often do I get to shop and have no one asking me why, or how much? ~The Illegal Blonde

P.S. For you ladies that say you love basketball... you are probably not married because believe me at one time I "liked" it too.

An Apple A Day: Childhood Obesity

I literally eat an apple everyday. Yup, that's right, every single day. (at my old job, my co-workers laughed that you could set your clock by my apple snack time) Whether its my morning snack or a part of my lunch, I adhere to the old adage, you are what you eat. I've not always been a huge health, but, for the most part I was a good, healthy eater as a child. Even when we did not have much money, my mom had to feed my fruit and veggie habit (I was the child who could eat a whole can of green beans for dinner). So, it shocks me when I see children today hopped up in caffiene, sugar, and fast food.

In 2008, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese, and the number is growing. This is evidenced by my recent early morning coffee run where I witnessed two teens order something akin to a milkshake paired with muffins and cake. Seriously, their dailey caloric intake was right there disguised as coffee. Not only was I annoyed by the amount of time it took them to decide what they wanted and realizing it had coffee in it, and "oh I don't like coffee..." (THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE!!!! I screamed in my head), but I was shocked that a parent would allow their child to eat this crap. I mean its one thing if you as an adult eat it, but your kid has a chance!

Children and adolescents who are obese are likely to be obese as adults and are therefore more at risk for adult health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.  One study showed that children who became obese as early as age 2 were more likely to be obese as adults.

Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risk for many types of cancer, including cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, ovary, cervix, and prostate, as well as multiple myeloma and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

I was again shocked this weekend while judging a competition. Here are athletes, honing their sport, while chugging down sugary sports drinks, redbulls, and pretty much junk food! I have never seen more candy bars, energy drinks, and inhalation of stuff in my life. How are you supposed to fuel your body to perform your sport if you are feeding yourself junk? Crap in, crap out.... (no pun intended).

Now, I'm not saying that we need to teach our children or teen girls that they need to be on a constant diet and starve, but they do need to be taught to eat healthy. They need to learn that eating right now, makes it easier to eat well later and avoid those pounds when your metabolism slows down. It may seem easy to pull through the drive-thru or microwave dinner, but what are you teaching your kids? I know its hard, I know kids are picky, and stubborn, and would rather die than eat something green, but something has to be done.

Eating right, and healthy can be just as tasty as fast food, and you feel much better after an apple than an apple pie! Eat right, get fit, live longer. ~The Illegal Blonde

5 Things

I'm teaming up with my friend Jessika over at Stand Still Look Pretty and giving you 5 things I'm loving right now!

#1 So I have up sweets for Lent, so that means no flavored lattes. I'm loving a nonfat latte with 2 splendas & a dash of cinnamon!

Love that my name is spelled "lin"

(I'm not loving the annoying high school girls who come to Starbuck's 

and have no clue what they are ordering and take 10 minutes to order some ridiculous "dessert!")

#2 Hot Yoga! Can't really show you a picture of this one... sorry guys!

#3 That is got cold for a couple more days in Texas.

I know blasephmy, but I feel like I was cheated out of winter!

Note that it will again be warm come Monday!

#4 Daylight Savings! Spring forward everyone!

#5 That Kris Humphries would like to be his own attorney in the divorce proceedings... I mean come on! Oh to be a fly in that courtroom.

Happy Friday all! ~The Illegal Blonde