NEW BLOG!!

Time for spring cleaning, so I have a new blog. It's at missyraffy.wordpress.com. So time to change all those bookmarks because I'm moving. :)
NOTE: It's at wordpress.com, not blogspot.com. Though I did take missyraffy.blogspot.com just in case I get bored with wordpress in the future. :)

Prayers Please.

Okay, so I know not everyone does the whole prayer thing, but thoughts are appreciated too, as are good vibes, chants, incantations, potions or the sort.

My cousin was seriously injured this morning in a car versus bike accident. Unfortunately, he was the bike. As in bicycle, not motorcycle. Here are the news stories: WTXL, WCTV, Tallahassee Democrat.

So please keep his health and recovery, as well as my aunt in thoughts and prayers. As I sure you can tell by the photo, I'm sure they can use them.

As a small soap box as an aside, this whole getting the public involved in the news by allowing them to comment on news stories in insane. I was reading the comments to these stories (very very bad idea) and they were infuriating and the ignorance just brought tears to my eyes. One guy actually said: "Someone needs to get the drunk homeless people off the streets!!!! They are always hanging aroung lake ella and it's a pain trying to drive. They walk wherever they feel like!!! Why don't cops give them j-walking tickets?" WHAT THE HELL!??!? Are you f'ing kidding me?!?! He was NOT drunk, is NOT homeless (while his home right now is the ICU at Shands), and he was NOT walking - he was riding a bike! These people are just insanely ignorant, and mean and horrible. Everyone is all for the world being more "green" and encouraging us to drive less and bike more and then they make comments like this. Stupid.

I swear. . . .

Another one bites the dust. Yesterday I was sworn into the Illinois Bar. While I had every intention of practicing in Illinois when I signed up to take the Bar Examination (my firm and my boss does IL work), between signing up and taking the examination I got a new job (which has nothing to do with IL law) and at this point the chances of me doing anything in IL are none and zero. But I'd come that far so might as well get it while I can.
So yesterday Cody and I took off work early and drove to Collinsville, IL for a cute little swearing in ceremony. The ceremony was what you would expect. Two fairly well-known, though boring, speakers on their thoughts and ideas for our futures, a mass "I swear" oath and then we were presented our licenses in alphabetical order. The speakers mainly spoke to "new" attorneys right out of law school, a category I no longer fit into, so I felt mildly out of place, though I would guess most of these people were working in Missouri and Illinois and taking both bar exams. After the ceremony there was a little punch and snack reception but we left that early because the most wonderful husband in the world had put together a celebratory happy hour.
While I know Cody is proud of me and loves me, he's not always the most verbal of people with his accolades or affection. The good thing is that's 100% okay with me as I'm not overly needing in that regard. But yesterday he was like a proud little parent. He was just tickled pink and so proud that I was getting sworn in and just went on and on with how happy and proud he was. So he even got together this happy hour thing. We had a good turn out - got to hang out with a lot of friends and catch up. The only drawback - the 8 hours of drinking. We got there around 4:30 and left around 12:30 - making for an 8 hour "happy hour." Needless to say neither one of us are on the top of our game today. Hence, I'm blogging instead of doing more intellectually challenging activities - like the practice of law. We're old enough to know better but it's still fun to hang out and let loose every now and then and I certainly appreciate Cody's overwhelming pride in something I found somewhat trivial - it's cute.

Things that annoyed me this week.

1. They are raising the price of postage stamps - AGAIN. Unlike much of America, I enjoy writing and I enjoy sending things in the mail. I make every attempt to send my Grandma at least a postcard a week. While the raise is, of course, mere pennies, it's the principal - and that they do this far too often!

2. I get all my local news on one website (I use a consortium for national news) and they changed the website. While I'm sure they think it's "improved" I think it sucks and can't find anything I want. Basically I think they made news a lower priority then the "entertainment" and flash of the site, and moved up all the crap stuff (everything not real news) to be more prominent. It sucks.

3. I saw the other day a a judge that I've worked with for over three years who's always sort of given me no credibility (it's the young female thing). I told her I was leaving my current job and told her where I'm going. She said something to the tune of "That's a really hard to get, prestigious, coveted job - I didn't think you were that smart/bright/good enough. Wow." Then I suddenly gained all sorts of credibility and she wanted to chat when for years of practicing in front of her she hasn't given a darn about me. I apparently went from dumb and incompetent in her mind to intelligent and worthwhile. Annoying.

4. Rain. It's been chilly and rainy all week. Where's my sunshine? It's May! Don't "April showers bring May flowers"? Where are my damn flowers? Why is it still raining? On weather.com we've been under a Severe Flood Watch/Warning for 2 months now! Blah, stupid rain.

FOUR Years.

Boy is this weird to say - something I certainly never would have imagined coming out of my mouth - I have now been in St. Louis for FOUR YEARS (as of May 3rd)!
I absolutely cannot believe how fast time has passed these last four years. I've now lived in St. Louis longer then I lived in Gainesville. I still tell people "I'm new here" and "I just moved here" - I guess that needs to officially stop since often I know more about STL then the locals because we really make an effort to investigate and find new areas and new things, much more so then you would if you were from a particular area (for instance, even though I was raised in Tally the newbies probably know about a lot that I don't because they're exploring and I never really needed to or took the time because I kept to my same old things).
Four years ago I loaded up most of my belongings in a storage unit in Tallahassee and Cody flew down to meet me. My brother graduated from FSU on Friday so I wanted to wait to leave until I saw his graduation - not only because it's a great accomplishment but because I still felt bad for missing his high school graduation because Cody and I were out of town that weekend boating in Tampa with friends. He graduated on Friday, we said our good-byes on Saturday and left Sunday morning - me with my necessities packed in my little car (clothes, turtles, fish, etc. - left the cats with my mom and grandma for the time being) and him on his motorcycle that he was driving from Tally up to STL. After a day of on and off thunderstorms (when I was constantly frightened of Cody on the bike), we stoped for the night in Cadiz, Kentucky when it was so dark I couldn't tell Cody's motorcyles lights from the semi-truck lights in front of him. Upon getting the fish and turtles out of the car and in the hotel, we realized that during the drive one of the fish had babies (until recently we still had some of the babies but then with the winter power outage they all died). Fish eat baby fish so we had to scoop them out and put them in a water bottle for the remainer of the trip.
Monday afternoon we saw the Arch rising in the distance and shortly thereafter we arrived to my new home - Cody's smallish two bedroom apartment in the burbs. We had expected it to be fun but somewhat difficult adjustment moving in together, but it wasn't at all. It was fun, but the adjustment wasn't at all difficult like we had expected. We expected at least a few space disputes and stuff, but it was actually very natural and easy.
I got a job doing retail in May (had to pay that car payment and I hated the idea of Cody (or anyone) having to support me) while I studied for the Bar Exam in July. The cats moved up in September (Cody's been in love ever since) and I was sworn into the Missouri Bar in October. I got my law job in December and started in January. After paying off debt and saving every extra penny, we finally bought a house in June (I still consider this a great accomplishment) and I moved my storage unit stuff up here (furniture, etc.). The house has been a project, but a joy since. We got engaged that fall (still one of the coolest days of my life), went to the World Cup the next summer, and married the next spring. Marriage, while some say it's a lot of work, has been an absolute joy. Since then Cody's started school and has finished about 1/4 of his MBA. I've now got a new job, my dream job, that starts next month. While it seems like the four years have flown by, we've managed to fit a lot into them, I guess. On the other hand though, we've missed the birth of a niece and a nephew, haven't been there for any of their birthdays or milestones, haven't even met our niece (who turns one next week) and have missed a number of family events and celebrations. Everything's a trade-off in life.
I never in a million years would have guessed that we'd end up in St. Louis Missouri, but it's all worked out very well and I certainly can't complain about life (except the winter - I can always complain about winter). :) Four years down, how many to go . . . . .????

Baby Bird Update

Remember the baby birds that were flung from the warmth and security of their tiny nest in my hanging flower pot when I went to water the pot, took it from its hook, was scared when I saw moving fuzzy stuff and dropped the pot? Well, I'm incredibly happy to report that the mommy bird did return and did continue to sit on her kids. So much so that now the little bald, fuzzy creatures the size of my thumb are now growing actual feathers in with the fuzz and they are almost the length of my pointy finger. I am pleased they are growing and I did not kill them, though am also looking forward to the day they fly away so I can water my plant because it's looking rather dry and it doesn't get wet when it rains (which, I suppose, is why it makes an attractive site for a nest/house for the birds).

Multi-tasking

As our lives continue to become busier year by year and we seem to have less and less time to do all the things we ¨need¨ and ¨want¨ to do, I think we have all found ways in which to multi-task our lives better. Cody and I are masters of the multi-task. Since we don´t see each other as much now that heś in school we have to find new times and ways to keep in touch - for instance, we both try to leave work at the same time so we can talk on the phone on our way home/to school (yes, the highway patrol is going to be mad about this - but weŕe good driving on the phone - but doesn´t every moron cell phone driver say that?) because we hate to use work time chatting when we have work to do. Then we try to run together a few times a week - while Cody hates to run, itś a way to get in exercise and catch up on the day´s/week´s events and thoughts at the same time. We also don´t watch TV in our house. So when we do it´s a multi-tasking event. For instance, I am insanely addicted to ¨Gray´s Anatomy.¨ In case you haven´t seen it: (1) don´t start because itś addicting and (2) it´s basically an evening soap opera. So if I plan to watch Gray´s Anatomy (Thursday´s at 8 pm - if you call me during this time I will NOT answer my phone), I plan to either work out during that time (during the show I bike and during commercials I do weights) or do ironing. This week since I had already ran on Thursday, I tackled the ironing. I realized something about ironing - I really really really really suck at it. My aunt can iron like a professional - she´s even been known to iron blue jeans! I, on the other hand, did not get that trait and it´s all I can do to not wrinkle a shirt more when I attempt to iron it. Anyone have any good tips/websites on how to learn how to iron. I don´t think my mom ever ironed so I never really learned and there is no class at the community college on ironing (I checked - but there is belly dancing, basket weaving, golf, yoga, drawing, etc. - just no ironing). So my multi-tasking this week was pretty much a failure. By the time the show was half over I had given up, thrown most of the clothes that needed to be ¨ironed¨ in the dryer to get the wrinkles out and spent the rest of the show mending clothes (buttons, eye hooks, seams, etc.) - that I CAN do!

p.s. I told my girlfriend how happy I was that we had found all these ways to multi-task and she just shook her head and remarked that I just had no ability to relax at all and I didn´t know what I was missing by not taking a day to sit on the couch and watch a nice TV show or just nap or something else ¨relaxing¨ - while I certainly do not fault her at all for that, I told her I thought she was missing out on doing other things by not making ¨better¨ (in my universe) use of her time. So, to each her own, I suppose.

Pure sweet indulgence

Four hours. Four luxurious, indulgent, wonderful hours. Would have been more but Cody showed up and got antsy because he wanted to get to his take-home final (how fun is that?).
The only thing I ever spend four hours on these days is work, sleep and house projects. I don´t have too many four hour bike rides, four hour hikes, four hours of laying in the sun, four hour movie marathons, etc. But today I took a long, lovely four hours to check out one of St. Louis´s best events - the Metro St. Louis Book Fair. They shut down the ground floor of a parking garage at a huge mall, get over a million (per their advertisements) donated books and sell them cheap - most paperbacks (and a lot of hardbacks) are $1, though some are .50 and some are $2. I spent hours walking up and down all the aisles of tables reading all the titles and authors - and that was just the Fiction section. If I had a photographic memory I´d be insanely smart right now and could tell you almost any book in the English language and its author. I promised myself I would be in no rush and would really take my time and really enjoy looking at all the titles, see who has written what recently, look at the book art, look at the awards and who they went to and really enjoy all the books. I was on a mission, not only to find the regular good books that I´m always searching, but to expand on my collection of Pulitzer prize winning books. So I came prepared with my alphabetized list of Pulitzer winners and went searching. I actually found a good number of them and a good number of Oprah´s Book Club books. Before I am tarred and feathered for alleging to be an intelligent reader and also looking at Oprah books (which one would assume are stupid for the masses), theyŕe not as bad as you might think. I´m certainly not a ¨Itś 4 o´clock whereś everybody gone? Oprah´s on!" fan (does anyone remember that commercial?). I hold no special feelings for her nor do I hold any ill will to her. She comes on while I am at work, same as Judge Judy and The Price is Right. BUT I must say she (or more likely her staff of intelligent writers, producers and special ¨book club¨ marketing employees) does pick some pretty good books. Sure there are some ¨for the masses¨ crappy reads, but I think there are some of those on every book list ever. But for the most part, she does pick good books, with good social redeeming values (not John Grisham - while heś a nice, fun, easy read that I occasionally indulge in myself, I am certainly not a more intelligent or better person for having read those 600 pages). So, yeah, I found some new Oprah books too - she has Faulkner on her list for heavenś sake!
Anyway, after about four hours of my peaceful rambling, Cody showed up, helped me look for a few books (I put him on the hunt for Updikes´ ¨Rabbit¨ books) and then he drug me out of the cavernous Fiction section and we wandered the other 300 sections. He found some great business books and a few German books, as well as an entire Learn German tape set for $10 (more then I would have paid but he has a tape player in his car still). We came away with a ton of good finds - for CHEAP! Overall, it was highly motivational, relaxing and energizing all at the same time. So then, of course, I had to come home and rearrange our book shelves to fit the new books. One of my life goals is to have a ¨library¨ in a house one day. We sort of have that now - we have a living room that doesn´t have a TV so we just have couches and bookshelves - like an old formal living room or a sitting room - but I like to call it my library too. So the big issue tonight was what book to start on. I fail to mention that I have a miniature bookshelf on my dresser in our bedroom with about 12 books I am ¨currently¨ reading. I still picked out a new one for today. Itś not an Oprah book or a Pulitzer - itś The Memory Keeper´s Daughter by Kim Edwards - some lady that I was talking to looked at my books and said I might like this one so I bought it. We´ll see. . . . :)

Cannot wait for Monday!

Cody has his only sit-down final yesterday and now has two more take-home finals this week (hence I have time to blog because he is glued to my computer (I have to use his crummy keyboard so if my typing sucks, blame the keyboard)). One is due Friday and the other due on Monday. Then he has a whole week of no school! While I am 100% supportive of him being in school and I think it is the absolute best thing for him and our family - it can be hard at times. I cannot even imagine how people do it with kids. He works 40 + hours a week and then has over 9 hours of class per week at night. Then there are the homework assignments, projects, group meetings, tests, and of course, finals. Heś such a trooper though - more so then even me at times. Heś handling it fabulously and doing so well in the classes, really learning a lot and enjoying the material, but I don´t handle it so great at times - though I´m working on it. Itś hard not to see him as much and it severely limits our ability to travel or go out of town because he can´t miss school - it´s actually easier to miss work then school. Then it´s hard to see him so run down and working so hard, I feel like there should be something I could do to make it easier on him but I can´t do his work or his school. Then I feel guilty since I have it so ¨easy¨ in comparison, so I try to do as much as I can around the house so he doesn´t have to worry about all that but I still feel bad for him. But then he gets to talking about his classes and how much he´s learning and how great they are and how much this is going to help his/our future and all the sacrifices of time together seem worth it. I still can´t wait for Monday for a week off and then finally graduation (though that is no where near). I´m really proud of him though - heś a real trooper with it all. Looking back it makes just going to school full time seem like cake walk - and we thought that was hard!

Those were the best days of our lives?

Cody and I went to a trivia night on Saturday night with some friends. I don´t know if this was a phenomenon that I missed when I lived in Florida, or if they just don´t do this sort of thing there (probably because there is much more to do in FLA then here - like be outside 12 months of the year). In any event, itś actually a pretty cool set-up - they are usually set up by charities or groups trying to make money so you get a group of friends together (about 8) and all bring whatever food and drink you want (we brought chocolate covered strawberries and beer), pay an entrance fee and play 10 rounds of trivia against all the other tables. There were probably 20 tables there so thereś a good crowd of people. Then they read out the questions and your group writes the answers down and you turn in the answers at the end of each round. So itś a fun little thing to do with friends, usually for a good cause. So, anyway, we had this trivia night on Saturday and on the way home we started talking about math competitions - not sure how we went from trivia to math competitions but we´d had a few beers. Anyway, as most people who know me know, I was a total math geek - but I really wouldn´t call myself a geek because I thought I was a damn cool math club girl - at least in my little teenage head. So we started talking about math clubs which got us talking about middle school (when Cody was on our schoolś math club and I was not - see, he was a geek first). So when we got home we pulled out our old yearbooks - all six of them (we started going to the same school in the 7th grade even though we didn´t meet until the 8th grade). It was really funny to look through them all together after all these years. I think one of the things I love most about Cody (amount a zillion other things) is our history together - itś just fun to look through those things and laugh at the same thing. Anyway, we were talking about high school and how so many people see those years as the best years of their lives. While we didn´t fiercely hate high school (at least not every single day), we didn´t love it either and certainly wouldn´t consider those the ¨best days of our lives.¨ So we got to talking about what time period we would describe as the ¨best days of our lives¨ - our childhoods running around before jobs and responsibility? high school when you learned to drive? turning 18 so you can finally go out to clubs? turning 21 and not worrying about cops all the time? going to college and doing all those fun college things? grad school? So after going through all those things and laughing about stories to go with each of those (we met before we were 18 so we got to go through all those together) we really decided that right now is the best time of our lives. Honestly, not just trying to be trite. We can legally drive and drink (not at the same time), rent cars, get cheap car insurance (we´re over 25 AND married - and neither of us have a red car), we own a house and our own cars (finally paid them off!), we finally have enough money to not check the bank account every time we go grocery shopping and to travel on occasion, we have close family but also have our independence, we´re old enough to know enough about retirement and finally be able to speak intelligently about the options, we not only have good friends but throughly understand the value of good friendships - both his, mine and ours, we are slowly but surely paying off our debts without adding more to the list, we´ve had the opportunity to both grow individually and as a couple living in STL ¨by ourselves¨ and having to figure out a lot of things on our own, wére close with our families but not dependent on them or excessively intertwined, the wedding hell is behind us, we know that we really understand each other well, but also know that we grow a little more each day so there is always something more to learn. Basically, weŕe at a good spot and feel that this really is as good as it ever has been and hoping it just keeps getting better. Oh, and we know all about insurance (which when youŕe younger couldn't care less about) and we actually have earthquake insurance - in case you haven´t heard we had an ¨earthquake¨ a few weeks ago. People swear they felt it here - we didn´t feel a thing.

Sigh.

Ahhh.... A nice sigh of relief. Winter is finally leaving us and I couldn´t be happier. While we still had frost last weekend, the highs are now out of the 40s and solidly into the 50s and 60s - today we even got into the high 70s. I cannot even explain how good this feels - my skin can soak up sun for the first time in ages, I can walk around outside without 15 layers of clothes and my shoulders hunched up to my ears because I´m cold (my shoulders are slowly returning to normal level), I can wear shoes that aren´t boots and I can see the sun and a blue sky (winter in STL is 6 months of gray skies). All of this is very very very happy. I totally have spring fever too. At work I just sit and stare outside at how nice it looks and marvel at all the green coming back into the trees and grasses and how blue the sky is and just wish I were outside. At home I can barely keep myself inside long enough to cook dinner - I want to run, play in the veggie garden or just mess around with my little plants in the front yard. So I am super happy spring has arrived.
One sort of funny/sad/cute/yucky spring story from today though - When I got home from work today I noticed that my hanging potted plants were looking a little dry and needed some water. Since they are hung well over my head I just push up on the bottom of the pot to unhook it and then bring it down. So I did that and saw a mass of gray fuzz in my plant as I brought it down - so I did what any wimpy girl would do, I screamed and dropped it. I swear it looked like there was a rat or something in my pot and I was freaked out. Well, it wasńt a rat - it was a nest of baby (and I mean itty bitty baby) birds - in my pot! There were now five of the little things (no feathers yet, just skin and that gray fuzz stuff) on my front porch. So I freaked out and called Cody and he said to pick them up with a spatula (because if you touch them the mom may not come back for them) and put them back. So I got a spatula out and tried my best to gently scoop them up, deposit them back in their nest and hung the plant back up (stupidly without watering it first). So I really hope the mommy bird comes back or I´m going to have a dry, dying plant and five dead baby birds. And I don´t think I can deal with that.

Damn can they be annoying!

I love kids as much as the next guy, but damn can they be annoying! I work on the 10th floor of a large office building in downtown St. Louis. While we occassionally have to listen to jackhammers busting up the sidewalk for new streetlights or the saxaphone guy playing the same incessant tunes, or the beep of the underground garbage collection, the sounds are relatively tolerable and you get used to a certain amount of background noise. And then for some reason today an Allied moving truck has parked itself right outside my office building and is letting an entire busload of kids honk the horn. Over and over and over again. First, why is there a moving truck on my street? Makes me think first World Trade Center bombing. Second, why is there a busload of school children on my street? The Arch, obviously a popular school children destination, is still several blocks away and has plenty of parking closer then over where I am. There is nothing, unless you count Hooters or stories and stories of boring offices, that could possibly entertain children. No clue why they are even here. I rarely even see people in shorts or jeans in my daily life - suits, suits and then some regular "business casual" - that's about all that is downtown.
Anyway, back to this noise. It is not like a car horn. It is like a barge horn or a train horn. If a car or even large truck honks its horn on the street I can barely hear it and rarely would even notice it. THIS horn, however, sounds like a barge is coming or a train is about to barrel into the building. But it's not just one toot of the horn and the offending annoyance moves out of the way. It is this horribly loud, irritating noise over and over and over again. Why do kids find that amusing? Or funny? Or anything other then insanely annoying? I just don't get it!!

Word fun.

I love words. I like learning new ones, looking up definitions to old ones and learning new definitions and finding the "right" definition for words I've always used. Some I just like because they sound cool or they are not used often, though they should be. And as days all melt together and are overtaken by the mundane, the most I can hope for is to see a new or fun word once a week or at best, every other day. But today, so far, I've had FOUR. They're all just fun. A newspaper article termed something "quixotic," a blog I read discussed "heuristic" traits, a doctor used "pejorative" in a deposition and another medical record used "ubiquity." Four fun words all in one little day. None of them are exceedingly special, but they're something then the mundane stuff you read all day, every day. I'll take all I can get, okay? :)

Bonus Parent Fun!

As mentioned earlier, Cody's parents came to visit this weekend! It was awesome. It is always great to see them and even cooler when they come here because we get them to ourselves and they get us to themselves. They flew in Friday morning so we picked them up from the airport. Amazingly enough their flights were on-time - this is unheard of in STL. This is the first time they flew up here instead of driving so it was good that everything went smoothly. We hung out Friday mostly inside because it was really rainy and yucky and chilly. We went to Fitz's for dinner - it's a rootbeer factory/brewery. They have awesome rootbeer floats - even if you hate rootbeer they're good.
Saturday we hung around and then helped a friend move a washer (the joys of being the only one with gas prices these days with a bigger vehicle) into his new apartment (which looks just like a Hobbit House). Since the washer was in Illinois we had to make a stop by Fast Eddies for some cheap burgers and beers. Then since it was another crummy day weather wise, we just hung out with each other. That's a great thing about Cody's family - you don't have to "entertain" them - they honestly just want to hang out with us - and us with them- so there's no pressure to "entertain."
Sunday was an absolutely amazing day weather-wise. They had never been to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, which happens to be a mile from our house and which we happen to be members (i.e. we get in free), so we finally got to take them there. Everyone is always hesitant about going to a "garden" thinking it will be lame and stupid but it really is a really fabulous place and not just a bunch of flowers (though the tulips were unbelieveable - the one good thing about living in the north). We walked all around the garden and had a good time moving around and talking and hanging out. After the gardens we came home, got out the lawn furniture, set up the table and chairs and just sat outside on the sunny afternoon, talked and drank beer. It was about as perfect as a day could be. It was so nice to feel the sun on my winter parched skin, talk with people we love, and have a few beers. It was a really great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Then we went to eat at another restaraunt in the Loop and headed home.
They left this morning unfortunately. I also learned something about myself about leaving. I purposely scheduled a doctor's appointment this morning so I could avoid the airport because I am NOT a good good-bye person and I am an even worse good-bye person at an airport. So I told them good-bye at the house and let Cody take them. I was a bit upset in the car on the way to my appointment but did better then I normally do. So I was thinking that I may be doing "better" in this department. Until I came home to a totally empty house. Cody was at golf and they were gone. It was so sad. So I learned that it's not the actual good-bye part that I'm really bad at but the returning to something empty (when they drive away after having driven here I always break down in the house because it's so quiet after having guests and the same thing in the car after dropping people at the airport - the car seems so empty). So I learned that about me - for better or worse.
But we had a great, albeit short, visit with them. I could literally blog for hours on how much I think of them as people. They raised two amazing kids - confident, self-sufficient, but not bratting or snotty. Their children are kind, compassionate and super smart but not nieve or unrealistic. They went through a lot to get where they are and to get their kids where they are and they did a great job of it. They are awesome parents and even awesomer (is that a word?) Bonus Parents. One of the reasons they are so great to me is because they don't have to be. No one expects in-laws to be fabulous so the fact that they are makes it even that much better (just like my step family - they are so great even though they don't have to be). They are always down to earth and give the best advice ever. In all the years I've known them they have never told Cody or I what to do when we ask for an opinion on a decision - they just give you tools to make the decision for yourself. Sort of the old teach a man to fish story. Anyway, they are great and I love them to death and miss them already. Now we just have to find time to plan a trip down to see them (and the rest of the fam)!

The cat is out of the bag.

So, I guess I can finally post this on my blog though I was going to have to wait another few weeks until I could "officially" notify everyone (even though I've alluded to it on here before). I got a new job! I actually found out back in February (right before I took the Illinois Bar - so in the end, it really didn't matter if I passed or not because I won't need Illinois in my new job) and absolutely cannot wait to start! I don't start until June 3rd because the other person I'm replacing doesn't leave until then.
I'm leaving the land of billable hours, clients, and constant bickering between clients, claimants, attorneys and judges for no billables and interesting work. I'm trading in strict policies and office politics for a fabulous small group of people. I'm trading in the law firm for a court house. Without being too terribly specific (because it is the government) I am going to work for a judge in one of the courts here. It's honestly my absolute dream job. I would give up almost anything (professionally) for this job. I won't be litigating and arguing all day but instead working with the judge on his cases, researching case law and writing papers for the judge. That's really what I love about the law - doing the research and writing. While I thought for a while I would like litigation - it's exciting and something is always going on - after doing it for over three years I'm really ready to move on - and away from litigation. So this job is perfect. I really can't say enough how perfect this is for me professionally and for Cody and I personally. No more crazy stress about clients or billable hours or competition - but now it's a team atmophere where we're all working towards a common, unified goal. I gain a lot in flexibility and leave the rigid office world. There are literally so many good things about this job that it would take forever to mention.
So, how did the cat get out of the bag? Beats me. Sort of. Like I said, I've known about it for a while and kept very very hush hush about the whole thing (for obvious reasons - I need my current job to pay me until I start the new one). Until last week when out of nowhere someone stopped me in the hall at work and said "So, Melissa, I heard you got a new job." I looked like a deer in headlights and my jaw dropped. I had no idea how she heard or what was going around. Turns out that STL is a much smaller world then I even imagined and one of our partners was somewhere and ran into someone at my new job and they talked and our partner learned of my new job. I wasn't going to give two weeks until May so this was obviously much earlier then I planned to tell everyone. So, instead of coming to talk to me and see what was up and what my plans were, this person just started telling everyone in the firm - without talking to me first. So I was more then a little annoyed that someone would start spreading personal information without at least giving me the courtesy of a heads up, but that's life in office politics and that is why I'm thrilled to be leaving. So, while it wasn't when or the way I wanted it to happen, everyone now knows at work so I can start telling everyone else.
I am soooooo...... happy!

I am NOT a serial killer!

As I think I've mentioned before I took the Illinois Bar Exam back in February and found out I passed a few weeks ago. Most people would think that is enough to be admitted into the bar. Well, it's not. In every state, not only do you have to pass their ridiculous exam but you have to jump through 725 hoops for your "character and fitness" application. They want EVERYTHING about you. And you can leave NOTHING out. You have to give every job you ever had, every address you ever lived at, school references, work references, court references, every credit card/bank account/money account you have ever had, any checks that ever bounced, any credit cards that you ever paid one day late (and why), all traffic and parking tickets, etc. You get the point - it's insane. On top of that you have to sign every waiver known to man so they can get everything on you from all the agencies and give a fingerprint card. It's a pain but usually not that big a deal after you've gathered all the information. And since I gathered most of it for Florida (and thankfully saved it all) the other two weren't that bad. Until last week.

For months Illinois has been sending me things like "we need a better adddress for the grocery store (Bruno's) that you worked out in 1996 that is now nonexistent but we still need to talk to the manager" and crap like that. I ever so impatiently send it back (repeatedly) saying Bruno's is closed and I have no clue who my manager was - oh, and yea, it was TWELVE years ago. So last week I get a letter from the Bar people saying my application was turned over to a Committee Member. It sounded ominous and scary but friends said it was standard. So I call said Committee Member and he calls back on Thursday wanting a meeting/hearing on Friday. Mind you, I have painstakingly moved everything off my schedule for Friday because Cody's parents were in town last weekend and I wanted every blasted second I could get with them because we never see them. But, no, Friday it was.

So Friday I march my happy butt (sarcasm is dripping onto my keyboard) to fabulous Columbia, IL (don't know where that is? you don't need to. Ever.) to have my hearing/meeting. I thought it was going to be laid back and have a talk. It was brutal. By the time I left I felt like I was the leader of a Columbia drug cartel that laced some cocaine with poison, fed it to a village of small children, killing them and then I dismembered their tiny bodies. That's how they acted. They really acted like I was some sort of career criminal. Now let me back up. What were they so angry and testy about? Some other stuff too, but mostly traffic tickets. Yes, that's right - traffic tickets! Who here does not have ANY traffic tickets ever? (okay, actually, don't answer that because I happen to know some crazy people who have managed to evade those blue and red lights) Anyway, I'm not saying I've been always perfect or that I was a model citizen at the age of 19. But then who was? (Again don't answer that because I do know some model citizens at age 19.) So I happened to have a speeding "problem" and I happened to get a lot of speeding tickets. And by "a lot" I mean A LOT - as in problably more then the rest of my friends and family - combined. But I wasn't denying any of them - I admit that I was young, reckless and had no respect for the law and sped everywhere I went because I was young and always late. But they wanted to go through every single one of those tickets in my hearing/meeting. So I went throgh them (this took a while), attempting the best I could to remember which each particular incident entailed. I expressed a good bit of remorse and humility, described my reformed ways and essentially begged for forgiveness.

When I left I felt like some kind of hardened criminal and it was unclear whether I would be "certified" or if I had to go to the next step in my quest to prove my character fit for an Illinois attorney. Thankfully I have been notified that I am now "certified" and that Illinois has found me fit to join the ranks of their esteemed lawyers (and as Melanie put it, when she finds one of those esteemed lawyers, she'll let me know). So I, allegedly, will get sworn into the next, and hopefully last, bar on May 8th. And then be done with all this!

Wow.

Lots to post on so in the interest of not making some obnoxiously long post (and risk losing it because my computer crashes half-way through), I'm going to break it up into a few different ones. In any event, there have been some crazy ups and downs this past week but everything has sort of worked out now, so that's nice.

Another 13th birthday - Jessica.

My cousin, Jessie (which is what we called her growing up - though she is now going by ¨Jessica,¨ I still call her Jessie), also had a birthday on the 13th. For her privacy (many women over 25 do not broadcast their age) I won´t say how old she is but she is over 25 and younger then me. Anyway, she was really my only cousin growing up since I only have three cousins, but she was the only one on my momś side, which we saw more. We grew up spending a lot of time together because our grandma watched us a great deal (thanks G-ma!) and had a great time. There are so many stories I can´t even begin to recite them all. I still have trouble with her and my brother (they are the same age) growing up every year because I still see them as 8 year-old kids. :) So, happy birthday Jessie - hope itś a great one!

Happy Birthday Kennedy and Preston!

So, I´ve been meaning to do this for quite some time now and I actually think about it often so now I´m finally going to start it the best I can. What, you ask? A birthday ¨tribute¨ of sorts. All these birthdays pass and I really want to give a nice ¨shout out¨ (to use a super annoying phrase coined somewhere during the 90s that is obnoxious and, well, annoying) to those folks.
So, first in this ¨series¨ is Kennedy and Preston. They turned one yesterday. Codyś awesome cousin, Trish and her fabulous husband, Joe had twins - a girl and a boy last year - unfortunately, quite early. To back up, Trish and Joe are two of the greatest people ever and are an absolutely adorable couple. You can just tell they are wild about each other. I´ve rarely met a guy who is so head over heels for a girl as Joe is about Trish - he adores her and you can see that in everything he does. Anyway, they were pregnant with twins last year during our wedding and, unfortunately, at that point Trish was on bed rest. She was so cute and felt bad for missing the wedding, but made her dad come to the wedding even though she was potentially due any minute. Well, the kids hung on six more days, in enough time for her dad to get back to Wisconsin, until they made their entrance. Unfortunately they were early so were in the hospital for quite some time. When we went up in May for a wedding they were still in the hospital but we got to stop by and see them. While they were super tiny, they were adorable. It was so cool to get to meet them. They are now both home and doing good. And a year later, here they are celebrating their first birthday. So happy birthday Preston and Kennedy - hope you have a great celebration!!!

Sigh

We have floors. You have no idea how happy this makes me. It seems like forever ago that we (meaning ¨I¨) tore out the carpet upstairs in the beginning of this insane quest to rid ourselves of old nasty carpet and update to more wood and new carpet. Well, the long, seemingly endless, journey is finally complete - sort of. Last Tuesday they started the floors - lots of installing new floor in a spare room and sanding the stairs (they were in pretty rough shape - they are, afterall 100 years old). Unfortunately, they were unable to start the painting of the stairs that day because they were not done sanding. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday they put the three coats of polyurethane on the stairs, meaning we couldn´t go upstairs at all until Saturday morning. All in all it wasn´t TOO painful. They usually called on their way here and I ran home from work for a little bit while they painted. They called on Friday while I was in Jefferson City and Cody in a meeting so they had to come back later - so much for giving us a heads up. Anyway, the spare room is gorgeous - absolutely love it. The stairs look better - much much better - but still old - but in a cute, antique sort of way. I still have a good bit of painting of trim and installing quarter round around the new wood to do (wood people charge an arm and a leg to do this so I figured I can do it myself) but I´m getting there. We spent the ENTIRE weekend moving EVERYTHING out of the bedroom (where it was living while they redid the spare room) and all into the spare room -same with the Boy Room - everything out into the dining and living room. We actually slept on the futon in the dining room last night - that was certainly a first. So today they came (insanely late as always) and put in the carpet. Now itś the race to get things as put back together as possible before my bonus parents come on Friday. While they totally would´t care what the house looks like (theyŕe that sort of people), they only see our house a few times a year at best so we really want to show its best side. :) Thankfully Cody was home today (no school on Mondays) and this weekend (no group meetings - thatś a first) to help out - after today itś all me until his folks get here. But I really think I can get a good bit done -hopefully.
Honestly, that is all there is in terms of news. Not too exciting for the rest of the world but has been turning our world upside down and back again. :) I´ĺl be glad when our house is back to somewhat normal mode.

No kidding.

Rain / Snow Showers

This is what weather.com has listed as our forecast for Saturday. Sounds great, huh? I think the Weather Man forgot it's APRIL!

Hanging with the flooring people.

PTO (paid time off - the replacement in corporate america for sick and vacation time) rocks - at least sometimes. While in an ideal world we would only use our PTO time for fabulous vacations to far away exotic lands, given the strength of the dollar, I'd like to meet one person who can afford such vacations to far away lands at this point. So I've got the next best thing going today. Nothing. That's right folks - today I am doing nothing (not really true but in the grand scheme of things it's nothign). While this morning I woke my happy butt up, got dressed, drove all the way to work only to realize I left my garage pass at home, drove back home and got said garage pass, went to work, turned on computer and prepared for morning court, I then got the call from the wood people that they would like to start the installation/refinishing today instead of Thursday. While this is fabulous in many ways (get it done sooner!!) it was certainly not in my "schedule" for the day.
So I finished morning court, went home to let them in and I am now babysitting the wood installation people. While I briefly considered leaving them to their own vices while I saundered back to work, they have twice now opened the basement door (no clue why) where I have the three cats stashed (we have a lock on the kitty door for times like this) and they have run out the front door (luckily it is "mild" outside because the front door has been open all day for ventilation - lots of dust from sanding) and I have had to run down the street finding them because they are scared to death of the noises in the house right now. So no leaving them unsupervised anymore. So I had to take a half day today - and I get paid for it. Thank you PTO time. Something is just fun about not being at work and being paid for it. :)
Well what am I doing with my time? Napping? Watching daytime TV (shoot me if this ever happens)? Painting my nails? Nope - because I am compulsive and absolutely have no clue how to relax and do nothing and get very angry if I am not "productive" in some sort with every day, I am rearranging the basement. Sounds fun, huh? I am going through every single box (we have 5 Atari's - anyone want one?) and throwing away crap/junk. I have a "keepsake" box from middle school, one from high school and one for "beyond." I am combinging them into one. One keepsake box is enough. I am throwing out all sorts of old crap, that while it is cute and has memories, has no physical place in my life - it is bascially taking up room in my overflowing basement. For instance, old playbills. Wow - memories. But what in God's green earth am I going to do with them? Nothing - except keep them in a box which I never go through unless I want to throw some stuff away. So I am keeping mostly pictures, notes (written by and to me), and writings (journals and notebooks of thoughts/drawings - yes, I suck at drawing but I used to do a lot of it) - and the rest is going in the garbage. So if you ever wanted to know a lot of juicy secrets about me and all sorts of embarassing tales, your best bet is to go through my garbage can tonight. :)

Opps. . . almost forgot.

I found out today that I passed the Illinois Bar Exam. I'm honestly not sure what to think about that. Basically I either feel like I bull shit way better then I thought or that the lawyers of Illinois are a lot stupider then I thought. I am shocked they let me pass that exam. I seriously seriously blew that test. And while I'm happy I didn't fail, I'm not particuarly happy I passed. Does that make sense? I'm glad I didn't fail because as much as I say it wouldn't have bothered me, it would have stung somewhere that I failed at something that I wanted to achieve. So I'm glad I don't have to explain to the world why I failed. But on the other hand, I'm also not really happy like I should be that I passed because I don't feel the sort of accomplishment that comes with studying for something, doing your best and achieving an objective. Normally doing something like this feels really good but I don't feel accomplished at all because I know I did so bad and I don't feel I really deserved it. I feel like I totally bombed on the test and only because everyone else must have done so bad that somehow I passed. So, while I passed and thus didn't waste all that money I don't really feel accomplished either. It's like if you interview for a job, know you did horribly and have no business getting the job, but get the job anyway because you were the only person they interviewed that passed the drug test - yeah, you may have gotten the job, but not because you deserved it, only because everyone else was so stupid.
Anyway, hopefully that will be one of the last I ever have to take. The whole process is really getting old and is not enjoyable in the least. But at least I can add another state on my resume. Not that I will be working on my resume any time soon. . . . . hint, hint, hint. :)

Happy 366 Days!

Well, I guess our first anniversay is extra special. While most people only have to wait 365 days for thier first anniversary, we had to make it one extra day thanks to Leap Year. But lo and behold, we made it. We were really sweating that one extra day. :)
Today is our very first wedding anniversary. Aside from being really cool that we have a wedding anniversary now it's very convenient because for years we've had all sorts of random anniversaries - our first anniversary (1996), our getting back together anniversary (2004), me moving to STL anniversary (2004), our engaged anniversary (2005), etc. Now we just have to worry about one. That's just cool. It's sort of a symbol of taking all those years and all those special days and all of a sudden wrapping them up into one big package - our wedding anniversary.
Cody and I are pretty laid back about celebrating things like our anniversary, birthdays, etc. We really make an effort to make every day a celebration, so we don't want to blow those "special" days out of proportion and make the rest of the year somehow less special or important - plus we're just laid back folks. But today we really wanted to take in the first anniversary and how cool and really special it was. So we went out to dinner and had a really good time hanging out with each other (we spent most of the day moving furniture and pulling up carpet tack strips for the floor people to come put in new wood - great bonding time). I was so touched by the people who called, emailed or wrote to wish us a happy 1st - I didn't think anyone would remember except for us! It really made us both feel so blessed to not only have each other but also those around us to share this with. While the wedding planning was not the most fun part of any of our lives, the wedding was priceless and the memories we have with our friends and family are totally irreplaceable.
Since we've had so many "special" days and anniversaries over our years together I didn't really expect to feel that much different about today, but it really is so much more special then I would have expected. We got to chat about our zillion years together and how things have come together for us where we are now and all our thoughts on the past, our present and our future. While what we do with our lives certainly wouldn't work for everyone or every relationship, I really think what we do works so well for us and I'm so happy we've had the time together to develop our lives into a place where we are both happy and comfortable. It's certainly taken a lot of trial and error and a lot of experimenting on what works and what doesn't work for us but we both are really enjoying where we are right now and are just blessed that things have turned out the way they have.
So, happy 1st anniversary Babe. As we've said so many times before, only 99 to go! You really do mean the world to me and there's not anyone else in this entire world that could ever even come close to making me as happy as you do. We really got it right this time and I am so thankful every day I get to spend my life with you. You rock!

Baby Bash!

Saturday Cody and I threw our first baby shower! Actually it was an "anti baby shower" - our friends are way too cool for a "regular" baby shower. Plus we'll find any excuse to have a keg party. So, we gathered the troops, got a keg and food and had a good old fashioned party - with some baby stuff. I actually made two things I had never made before in my life - a turkey and a diaper cake.

First - the turkey. Back at Christmas when turkeys were on sale we bought one thinking there would be some reason at some point to make a turkey. Well this was the perfect occassion. So we got all excited, took the turkey out early enough to dethaw (this took about a half a millinium) and were ready to cook our turkey. Only one problem - Cody left to get the keg and left me with a raw turkey. While I am not a vegetarian, I'm just not a huge fan of meat. Most of what we eat is already cut up beef (though we rarely eat beef - mostly because I don't know how to buy or cook it) or chicken breasts. I don't really buy anything that needs any more man-handling then that. I thought I would be okay with the turkey - just take it out of the bag, put it in the pan and pop it in the oven, right? I was wrong. That was the grossest thing I had ever seen or touched. For some reason I'm okay with a cooked turkey but I got really freaked out by the dead/raw turkey. It was disgusting. I seriously thought I would throw up after looking at the raw bird and the cavern that is its insides - so super gross. But I managed to close my eyes, put the bird in the pan, put the pan in the oven and close the door - the rest was up to Cody. In the end it tasted very good and we made cute little turkey sandwiches, but I will never look at turkey the same again. I'm going to stick with a ham at holidays.

Second, my diaper cake. You always see those cakes made out of diapers and they always look so cute. So I thought I would try my crafty hand at making one for our friends because they are just that cool and worth it. I thought it would be a quick and simple process -I was wrong. But in the end, and with a lot of help from Google, I made a darn cool looking three layer cake out of diapers and burp clothes (or wash clothes - I can't remember and can't tell the difference). I was quite proud of myself.

So, all in all the party was awesome. The keg was floating by the end of the night - always a good sign -and the happy parents to be had a lot of cool loot. We're very happy for them both and can't wait to meet the little girl. :)

Been a while.

How can there be "so much going on" at the same time there is "nothing going on"? I have been basically going crazy these last few weeks with flooring people. To add to our already indecisive natures and our insane mission to get the absolute most out of our money, the flooring industry in St. Louis is crap. My current wrath is at both some local flooring companies (that either quoted us outrageous prices to refinish old floors or put in new ones or that just didn't show up several times) or a national chain, that rhymes with Dome Mepot, that just can't seem to figure out what a floor is. I have gone around and around trying to get some prices - a seemingly easy process that has lasted weeks. So today, weeks after ripping all my carpet out of upstairs, living with (very sharp) carpet tacks on the stairs and the rooms, living downstairs with the upstairs completely torn up and moved around, I finally have a floor contractor. We went with a local company that I absolutely LOVE. The lady calls me back, is super nice and understanding and has been so kind in working with me and my seemingly endless concerns and questions (this is a big deal for us and thus I have put a LOT of thought and energy into it) - plus I wanted to support local business since I am about ready to burn down our local Home Depot out of frustration. So we should have new wood next week. Still have to figure the carpet out. Home Depot acts like I'm the first person in the history of the store to want carpet. Go figure.

In other news/thoughts:

In case you haven't seen this yet, you should watch this. While I'm not usually one to awe over anything on Oprah or get all giddy about things floating around on the internet, this is pretty good. If you watch the abridged Oprah version (that's what the link is to), you can link to the original, much longer, version that is just as good. Pretty moving stuff. It's all about achieving your childhood dreams and all that stuff. This guy had dreams, went after them and did a good job getting them. Cody and I discussed this and are still debating what our childhood dreams even are or were. I guess we can't ever reach our goals or dreams without figuring out what they are - gotta work on that.

I've stopped drinking on the weekdays - at least for a while. I know, I'm lame and old and no fun. But I think it's a good thing because booze has a lot of calories (and I'm trying to drop my "Midwest Middle") and I was drinking not a ton but often so we've taken up hot tea instead. How old and lame, huh? Instead of coming home and relaxing with a beer, we now come home and relax with a cup of hot herbal tea. :) But no worries, we're still fun enough to drink on the weekends. :)

I'm sort of running again. Had a numbing shot in my knee (oww!) a few weeks ago and was able to run great - meaning something is wrong (duh). But I've been taking it pretty easy and building up and I did 40 minutes today with only very little pain so I'm very encouraged. My goal is the STL half marathon in September and the Chicago marathon in October. We'll have to see. :)

Other then that, I do have some really cool news that I think I will be able to officially post about soon. It's over the moon great. :)

Gators in the Final Four!

Or, as Cody likes to say, they're going for a Back to Back to Baby Back. I thought that was pretty cute. Get it? Baby back? NIT? Pretty funny, huh? Anyway, now we're resting all our hopes for a season that was pretty dismissal in a tournament that we are still relatively embarassed to play in. Being the Gators - with the Back to Back Championships - people give you a lot of crap. Around here I've heard more then once "so, where are the Gators in the tourney?" I assumed they were asking this because their team (usually University of Missouri) was actually in the NCAA tournament (since the Gator's aren't in it I've pretty much ignored it). Well, NO! Mizzou (that's what they call the University of Missouri) isn't even in the NIT! If only I had checked this out I would have had such a great retort with all the Gator jokes about not being in the Big Dance. Well, at least now we have some hopes for a Back to Back to Baby Back and I've learned that there really are teams that don't even make the NIT (I sort of assumed everyone made it). :)

Aside from this, life is, as usual, nutty. More rain and storms. We lost power for a bit while Cody was at school (which is where he lives - over 9 hours of school a week plus working 40+ hours - doesn't sound like fun - better him then me) and I was freaked out and he wasn't here but now we have power (hense the computer and internet to post this) so life is good again. I'm just curious to see what floods next.

The flooring saga continues. You would think you'd just decide what you want, go to a store and buy it. Well, not us. We are obsessed, as always, with getting ALL available information, getting the best people to do the project for the best price (we refuse to overpay for things - okay, so we're thrifty (read: cheap)) and absolutely tormented by options. But we are moving forward. :)

Better start building the Ark!

St. Louis, being a river city, tends to have a tenacious relationship with water every spring. Every so often (by "every so often" I mean at least once a year, sometimes twice) it rains and rains and rains and rains and then combined with some sort of snow melting or rain upstream causes all the rivers around here to flood. Obviously the Mississippi is pretty well contained by a number of locks, damns and flood walls but there are still portions that are "allowed" to flood. The Riverfront is one of those. Cody and I drove down to the Arch and the Riverfront yesterday to gawk (with the rest of St. Louis - obviously there is just SO much to do here in the spring) at the rising water.

This is a photo of a statue of Lewis and Clark. Can't see the statue? See the thing poking out of the water? That's the top of the head and the arm of either Lewis or Clark waving a hat in the air. The rest of the illustrious statue is under the water - that's just an example of how deep the water is.

I just thought this was funny. Follow the sign for Arch/Riverfront Parking. If you have a boat.

Anyway, while the Mississippi wasn't terribly flooded (while this looks bad, it's not half as bad as it could be) the Meramec was, causing whole roads to be shut down, a major part of an interstate to close and several feet of water in homes and businesses - one Steak and Shake had 7 ft of water - not that I could care less if Steak and Shake floods.

Anyway, that's most of the excitement around St. Louis. Oh, and it SNOWED on EASTER! I think the weather man must have gotten Christmas and Easter confused because this was just not right. There is an old saying in St. Louis that if you don't like the weather to just wait five minutes and it will change. :)

Happy Spring Equinox!

12 hours of sun. And 12 hours of night. That's sure better then 18 hours of night. :) There are some days I just like and this is one of them. I like the feeling of spring on its way (even if we're still lucky to see a day over 60 degrees). It's just a happy thought.
When we were younger my brother and I were convinced that you could balance and egg on its end on each equinox. Whether or not this is true is still speculation but I think he claims to have done it one year. I think my mom and brother even have a photo where they claimed to have balanced an egg on its end. If it were me I would attempt for 30 seconds to balance a Cadbury egg and if I couldn't do it then I would just eat it. :)
Happy Spring everyone! One day closer to summer. I really think I could live in St. Louis forever if I could just discard winter.

Runner Up University

Okay, so this is really mean and I try really hard not to be a really mean person but this is just too funny. So everyone knows UF beat Ohio State for the 2006 Football National Championship. And then beat them for the 2007 Basketball National Championship. Well, this year neither UF nor Ohio State made the big dance and both have been relegated to the NIT (which people fondly refer to as the ¨Not In the Tournament¨ bracket). Anyway, as luck would have it for good old Ohio State, if both UF and Ohio State continue to win in the NIT (both won their respective first round games) they could face in yet another championship. As they say in Gainesville, ¨The Ohio State University - Property of The University of Florida.¨ :)

Cody's Fur Coat

Now I know why Cody is comfortable leaving the heat at 58 degrees - he always has a nice warm scarf around his neck. This cat is seriously obsessed with my husband. One day her and I will have to have a nice long chat. If I go over to sit by him she will swat me away - crazy jealous cat. :)

Why Gators and Roadtrips Rock.

This past weekend our local University of Florida Alumni Association group - the St. Louis Gateway Gators - went on a road trip to Kentucky to watch the Gators play UK in basketball in Rupp Arena. We don't get to see many Gator games being so far north and none of us had ever been to Rupp - plus it wasn't impossible to get tickets as usual because neither UF or UK are that good this year.
The trip was fabulous. We had such a great time. There are so much funny stories to tell there isn't even enough room. We left here Saturday morning with one car and one rented minivan (me driving since the rental was in my name) for a total of 11 people. The car ride, as usual, was hilarious enough in itself and then we got to talking about what we missed about Florida - which led to Chick-fil-A. We have one Chick-Fil-A in STL -it's in a mall that is about 15 miles from us and now that they have a huge stretch of the interstate shut down until 2010, there is absolutely no good way to get there - for any of us. So a recent Gator addition to STL called her brother and found out there was a Chick-Fil-A in Louisville Kentucky. Another recent Gator addition to STL got out his GPS (aka Bitching Betty) and found the Chick-Fil-A on there. We were psyched. So we got off the interstate - in the cold, snow and ice (in Kentucky where they are NOT prepared for such things) - and kept driving and turning and driving and turning. Finally it tells us to turn left and we realize that the Chick-Fil-A is in a mall - so that was funny. So we got out and ran our hearts out into the mall food court - but no Chick-Fil-A - apparently Betty was no updated and the Chick-Fil-A had shut down and had moved. In any event, the Gator Club finally found Chick-Fil-A and we were happy. It was just a really really funny event - especially since by that time the van had finished about a half a bottle of Segrams 7 (not me- I was driving).
There were just all sorts of funny stories - Cody fell twice pretty hard on the snow because he was drunk. Then we got back to the hotel and Cody had found himself a bottle of A1 and was eating it on his salad that he had leftover from Chick-Fil-A. A group got kicked out of the hotel bar for trying to bring in beer and then some 12 year olds asked them to buy them some beer. All sorts of fun stories - it was a great time by all. I forgot how much fun roadtrips can be. :)

The Ups and Downs of Living in an Old House

Living in an old house in the greatest thing in the whole world. Living in an old house is also the biggest pain in the butt in the whole world. The current trials and tribulations: flooring.
We moved into our house close to three years ago. Downstairs we had beautiful super old wood floors (original wood) except the addition which had carpet (it was put in the last 15 years or so) and the bathroom and kitchen. Upstairs we had the same carpet - carpet that I HATE. Absolutely hate this stuff - it's super gross because the lady before us never cleaned it and had a really dirty dog so I never feel comfortable even walking on it - for three years. Since we moved in it's been one excuse after another as to why we haven't finished the flooring the way we liked. But now I'm done with excuses - we've been here three years and while it will be an absolute pain to deal with the floors, it either needs to get done or I need to accept that it will never get done and get it off my darn "to do" list. :)
So I talked Cody into jumping off the perverbial flooring cliff with me. There are a number of issues - for instance we have carpet upstairs but know there is at least to some degree old hardwood underneath the carpet. We have stairs that are currently carpet (I cannot stand carpet on stairs - while it is gorgeous in other people's homes it is WAY too much work for me to keep clean) and are unsure if underneath is hardwood or plywood or plywood painted (and likely with lead paint). So tonight we got started figuring all this out. We went all around upstairs with a razor knife and just started cutting the carpet up all over the place. The verdict? Our spare bedroom is 90% good old hardwood that just needs to be finished and 10% plywood where they had to fill in places for old vents, etc. The hallway is hardwood - yeah! The stairs are wood - but not the same hardwood or plywood - but a wood that I think they can "finish" and while the size won't totally match the rest of the wood I'll be happy enough with it because it will have a runner over it. Our bedroom on the other hand looks like it is about 50% hardwood and 50% plywood - basically they used the bedroom hardwood to fill in spots in the downstairs wood when they rehabbed the house. So the good news is we get a new hardwood room and hardwood stairs (two less places with yucky carpet!!), but we will still have two carpeted rooms - but I guess that's okay because we are getting the hardwood rooms really cheap because they don't have to put anything new in, only finish what is already there.
So the next few weeks are an exciting dance of contractors and us painting trying to get it all right at the right time. We are going to try to get the wood guys out first for the spare room while we finish painting our room and the hallway. Then the wood guys can do the hallway and lastly the carpet people can do our room after the painting is done. This is a lot of things that have to happen perfectly in the right order - I'm crossing my fingers. :)

Who is this man?

Do you ever look at your mate/spouse and wonder who in the hell that person is? Well, I usually don't. While I by no means of the imagination know everything about Cody, or ever will, we know each other pretty darn well and can foresee a lot of what the other one does - at least to the point where the other's behavior is ever "shocking." Well, today I had two "shocks."
First - while I was in the bathroom changing out of my workout gear and into my going to Home Depot gear (which includes the first pair of pants I can find on the floor and a shirt that doesn't have too much cat hair on it) Cody came in and was looking in the mirror. He said "I think I'm going to take my earring out." Just like that - all simple, calm and matter of a fact. But back up a minute - this kid has had this earring in longer then I have known him. When we first met he actually had another earring and then I lent him one of mine that he lost so my grandma actually got him the earring that he has been wearing for 10 years now. I seriously don't even notice it at all anymore - I've never know Cody without the earring. People ask him all the time when he is going to take it out and he snarks back "when you stop asking me" or something equally "leave the hell alone" attitude. Which I adore - he's his own person and everyone should just leave him alone about whether he likes the earring or not. People asked if he would take it out for the wedding pictures and I hadn't even thought about it. Anyway, I thought the day he took it out would be this big event, but no, just like that he took it out, put it in the jar with all my earrings and said that he was going to try without it for a bit. I just stared blankly at him, like "WHAT? Are you kidding. That was it? Just like that?" My jaw dropped. He had just changed something that he had been holding onto as "his" in just a split second, just like that. I'm still a little floored.
Second - and this one is equally "shocking." Cody and I cannot make decisions. Everyone knows this. We cannot pick dates, where to eat, what movie to watch, what game to play, where to go on trips, etc. We typically procrastinate until the choice gets made for us - and usually that is just fine by us. This is why almost three years after buying our house, it is still not all the way painted- we could not pick a colour for our bedroom. First we wanted it a nice blue, but then I got over that. Then we were going to paint it generic tan like the rest of the house - plus we had that paint already. But then during the wedding planning process I really fell in love with the colour green. No clue why. I had never been particularly fond of green over any other colour - but all of a sudden I loved it. And I still really like it. So on a number of occasions we have looked at dozens of paint swatches and tried to find a perfect green. No success yet. So while we were at Home Depot buying our "greenhouse" supplies, we took a trip through the paint department to get some more paint for our hallway (Cody's parents are coming to visit - YEA - and people visiting always gets me moving off my butt to get things done - in a very good way). While we were waiting for the hallway paint (same tan as the rest of the house) we started looking at green. I kept saying "look at this one," "what about this one," "do you like this one." I never really expected us to actually pick a colour - after all we had done this dozens of times. I figured we look at a few, kill some time and maybe take some home to hold against the wall and then eventually throw away. So he looked them all over and then I showed him one and all of a sudden he said, "yeah, let's get that one." I was floored. "You're kidding? Just like that? Let's get this one?" Yup - just like that. A process that has been dragging on for three years now was over just like that. He just picked one. That was it. Since a decision had just been made and I would potentially have a painted bedroom shortly I was all about this - I grabbed the paint, we took it to the guy and ever so confidently said "we want this one." Just like that.

I am still sort of floored. He (and 'we' and 'me') never makes decisions like that. We're so insanely annoyingly overly cautious so many times. But, nope, not today. Just like that my husband has no earring and I have a bedroom paint colour. Just like that.

It's not what you think. . . .

It's not what it looks like - seriously. Cody and I have become totally nuts. It all started when we first moved into our house. I've always wanted a house so that I could have a garden and when we finally got a house I couldn't wait to start one. The next spring (since we moved into the house in June) I forced Cody to the stores around town looking for veggie plants. So we both picked out a few - me some tomatos and an eggplant and him a lot of peppers. So I sort of forced him into helping me plant them and then it just took off from there. He loved to check on them and make sure they were okay and then when they started producing fruit you would have thought we hit the lottery.

So last year he couldn't wait to get the garden started. We waited until we got back from the honeymoon (I cannot believe we have been married almost a year - damn does time fly!) and then went on our hunt for plants. We planted a few different varieties last year -some worked great, others not so much.

So when we were at the store the other day we ran across the seed packets. I told him seeds are a pain in the butt and we'll just wait until April/May like everyone else and buy our little saplings to plant directly into the ground. Well, apparently that was just not good enough. He thought the idea of planting seeds was just fabulous. So we each picked out some seed packets, bought our little peat pots and went to town. We got them all planted in their little pots and got them set in these little tin things to make watering easier. Our theory was that we would put them in front of a sunny window and let them grow until spring. Little did we realize that we live in MISSOURI and there is no sun here in the winter. So for the last few days our seeds have been sitting on the ironing board by a window but with no sun. So we did what all inteligent people do - we got on the internet. And we found that most places (Missouri included) do not get enough sunlight through windows to support seedlings. But "sun lights" do.

So off we were to Home Depot where we found a balast and two "grow lights." We already had the set of shelves so we went to town. We took the treadmill downstairs (we were meaning to do this anyway because when Cody runs on the treadmill it shakes the chandelier and walls downstairs) and set up the shelves where the treadmill was. Then we set up our light and loaded up our seedlings. We made the bottom two shelves "cat friendly" in the hopes that would entice them to stay off the shelf with the seedlings - we'll see if that works. So anyway, our plan is to rotate them daily, raise the light as the plants (hopefully) get bigger and bigger and if all works out right, by the time spring ever comes the plants will be ready to move outdoors into the veggie garden area (bigger and improved from last year). Cross your fingers or else I'm going to have a very upset husband on my hands. But we are really learning a lot about all this and are having a hell of a time with it. Plus we get yummy veggies. :)

A few photos.

Here is my own personal "winter wonderland" -

This is our backyard - or it was before someone covered it in cotton balls. That little house looking thing is our garage - we debate back and forth whether that was an old house back in the 1800s or something (our house wasn't built until the late 1800s or early 1900s). Anyway that thing on the right is my raised flower bed I built - except you can barely see it - and the snow hadn't even ended by the time I took this photo. The little arcs are the border to our vegatable garden - barely visable under the mass of snow. READY FOR SPRING!

Winter Wonderland My Butt

Snow, snow, snow. When I first moved here it was a novelty. Even back in November/December it was neat - the first snow of the season, sledding, snowball fights, snow angels, getting exercise shoveling the stuff. But itś MARCH now and I´m gosh darn tired of the stuff. People say itś so pretty and itś a ¨Winter Wonderland"- maybe if you live in the North Pole and Santa is your neighbor, but not in Missouri. I´m just plain tired of the stuff. Yesterday it started ¨icing¨ - yeah, like on a cake, but not as sweet. Rain turned to freezing rain turned to sleet which later turned to ice. I now know more about the process of precipitation freezing then I ever wished to know. Anyway, it simply involved some elbow grease and a ice scraper. Then over night it started snowing. And snowing. And snowing. I think the weather failed to switch its calendar to MARCH (Have I mentioned itś MARCH and itś supposed to be not crappy anymore?). So it was snowing. And of course we all have to go to work because us making Corporate America money is more important than our lives. If we die in the snow/ice they just find someone else in Corporate America to take our places - we are not indispensable. Anyway, so we mosey into work. Where it continues to snow and snow and snow. Finally I make it home in the ice and slush and dirty nasty snow/slush/water stuff in a car barely a foot off the ground so it gets stuck in snow very easily. When I got home I fell only twice (which is an improvement over the last few months) walking from the street to the house (not a far distance). I brought out my handy dandy ruler stick and measured the snow around the house - between 6-8 inches. Not too bad for MARCH.
Anyway, it really is pretty if youŕe inside and don´t have to go to work and can sit under the covers, watch Oprah and sip hot cocoa (spiked with Baileyś preferably). I´m just getting really tired of the winter. I tried to be patient and understanding. I tried to feel blessed by having all four seasons (people ask me if I was sad in Florida not having all four seasons - the answer is NO - I was not sad - we had quite enough change of season for me - plus when your supposed one ¨season¨ is good, why do you need three more?!?!?). So I´m doing my best to grin and bear it but I really wish spring would get here already!
In other news, I´m back to normal at work - no more being sick or bar studying. While the worst part of being a lawyer is billable hours (that and spending your entire life getting yelled at) it was actually sort of fun to be back in the billable hunt these past few days after such a crummy month in February. I´m sure that exciting feeling will wane by the end of the week though. :)

In like a Lion, Out like a Tiger.

I know it's March that is in like a lion, out like a lamb but it felt like February was in like a lion and out like a bigger tiger. The month started off bad with a foot of snow, got worse with the worst sickness I have likely ever had (other then having pnemonia when I was younger), then proceeded with crummy because I was behind at work and had to study for the bar, then it ended with the worst bar exam of my life (granted it was only out of three - but still, it was pretty crummy).
But now it's March. So far it's been the best weekend of the year. Aside from the unseasonably warm temperatures (we got into the 70s for the first time since September - I even had on shorts and a tank top!) it was just so nice to relax and hang out with Cody. Friday night I was invited to see the new Court of Appeals judge in Missouri get sworn in so that was awesome - got to meet the governor (he's much shorter then I thought - and young) and the mayor and a ton of other judges and congress-people. Then went out with some friends afterwards. Saturday we just relaxed. As in really really relaxed - for the first time in a very very long time. We didn't jump up in the morning screaming "we've got so much to do! Get up now!" We lounged. And hung out. We picked up the house and then ran some errands. We didn't really even "run" errands - we honestly leisurely went about the things we need to do and enjoyed ourselves ("enjoy ourselves" and "shopping" usually are not in the same sentence). Today since it was so nice we worked in the yard- for the first time since we finished the tomato harvest back in October!!! It was the most fabulous thing ever. It felt so much like spring I wanted to sing. But alas, it will only last a day as tomorrow it will freeze and we are to get a ton of freezing rain, ice and snow. Not kidding. But we had a great time in the garden. We turned over the veggie garden and actually even expanded it. I worked in my flower bed a bit and was thrilled to see a lot of my spring flowers coming up (tulips, narcissus, paper whites, etc.). We just had a good time playing around outside. Then we started all our vegetable seeds inside in those cute little seedling cups - since it's March we started onions, bell peppers, jalapenos, brussel sprouts and spinach. So that will be fun in the next few weeks to watch those start to grow. Then we grilled out - well, Cody grilled out - and made delicious pork chops. He's really a great cook -and fabulous with the grill.
Anyway, it was so amazing to really get to relax. My life really is wonderful right now. The bar is over, another HUGE project that I've been working on is now over so now I can really enjoy life again. I'm thrilled - except tomorrow is Monday. :)

Sometimes you need to sweat the small stuff.

I know we're not supposed to sweat the small stuff. First off, I'm pretty bad about that in general - I sweat everything. Except apparently what I need to sweat. Like the Bar Examination. So here's the deal. I busted my butt the last few weeks studying - really - that's all I did was study and go to work - fun life, huh? So by the time I walked into the exam on Tuesday morning I felt pretty good. I was feeling okay. This was my third one, I felt I had studied well enough and I was ready to go. And then the exam was passed out. And I thought to myself "what in the hell is this?" You see, historically there are two topics on the morning essay exam and six questions on the afternoon essay that can be pulled from a list of about 12 subjects. Then on the second day (all multiple choice questions) there are six more subjects. So you study the day two subjects different then the day one topics because one you have to do multiple choice on and the others you have to be able to spit back verbatim what the law is. Well, apparently, unknown to me, they changed the examination. Now the second day topics are fair game on the first day - obviously I did not know that. I swear I did a "due diligence" (a nice legal term for you there) search for information on the bar exam and got myself a list of topics together. I was using bar study books from 2003 (I borrowed then from a friend because the bar study course is about $1500) but as far as I knew the test hadn't changed. But it did. So needless to say I was pretty upset. I felt like I paid a lot of money for this, put a lot of time into it and really put my life on hold to study and prepare myself but because of my own negligence (legal terms everywhere) I'm likely not going to pass. There is still some hope if other people didn't know either, but most lawyers pay a bit more attention to that stuff then I do apparently. So I'm pretty bummed but I guess it's one of those lessons learned in life. I'm happy as hell to be back in St. Louis and out of freezing cold Chicago (never ever ever go to Chicago in February if you can at all help it) and done with the exam and back to my normal life, but I'm bummed I really blew this and I have no excuse. If I had studied and then didn't make it because my flight was grounded that would suck but it wouldn't be because I'm an idiot. If I had gotten really sick and didn't do well, then again, it would be beyond my control. But this really wasn't. And while I swear they hid the information deep on the website, I should have made a better effort to find it. So that's the bar news. I don't find out until forever, but I'm not holding my breath. I can still hold onto some tiny hope but it's not looking good.
Good news is I'm back home and can get back to life. I kept promising my friends that Stupid Lame Studying Missy will be gone soon and Fun Missy will be back. I'm back. :)

Three Days and Counting.

Saturday. Sunday. And Monday. Then the big test begins. Three days to learn over 20 subjects to such a degree that you can answer any number of questions on those subjects at moments notice. You have to memorize all the little nit-picky things because they don't test you on the broad topic (which you better know better then you know your name) but on the minute little exceptions. You recognize in a question that something is hearsay - then you realize that it's admissible because it's not hearsay because of an exception - but you better know if it is really an "exception" to the hearsay rules or something that is classified as "nonhearsay" and you'd better know whether or not that "exception" requires the "declarant" to be "unavailable" or not. So no matter how much you know what hearsay is - you'd better memorize the 18435 exceptions. One of the worst subjects is "Secured Transactions." I don't understand this subject to such an extent that I don't even understand what the name of the subject means. For instance "Constitutional Law" - I know that has to do with the laws surrounding the Constitution. "Evidence" deals with the laws of evidence. Etc. But "Secured Transactions"? What in God's green earth is a "secured transaction"? That's what I hope to learn in the next three days because apparently you've got a 90% chance of having one of those questions on the bar. My only real hope at this point is to hope and pray I get lucky and there is not a Secured Transactions question.
On another note, isn't it funny as you get older you just know yourself so well? On one hand I've been totally freaking about about this exam for the last few days but on the other hand I know that I go through this process before every Bar Exam (or any big stressing event). I know that I'm lazy and put it off thinking it won't take half as much time as it really does- and then it takes three times as long. Then I go through a good bit of freak out mode - nobody talk to me, try to communicate with me or otherwise distract me from my mission - learn this crap as much as humanly possible. Then I go through a study as much as I can but realize there's only so much to do and you've only got three days left. So that's where I'm at now. I'll do my best the next few days but the real freak out is over. Then I'll sort of freak out before I get on the plane on Monday thinking "I'm totally going to fail this" (because while I am working really hard on the enjoy every day thing, I am still really really failing on the positive thinking thing) but by the time I get to Chicago I'll have a nice sense of peace. At that point I'm like "bring it on." I am ready to go, ready to get it over with and cool as a cucumber. I'm not insanely nervous shaking or cramming, I just want it over with. For the first time in weeks I'll really be able to laugh again and I truely will get to a point where I don't care one bit if I pass or fail, but just that it's over with. Then I focus and get throgh the exam. I do this EVERY time I do anything that takes preparation - and exam, a test, an interview - same process. So now at least when I go through that freak out phase I know that it will be over soon and I can make it through it. It's cool how the older you get the more you realize how predictable you are (at least to yourself).
p.s. While I have this whole "process" figured out when it comes to scholastic/professional things, it obviously doesn't always apply to personal matters - case in point: the wedding - there was no amount of convincing me that I wasn't going to be indefinetly stressed about it and that I had a chance of enjoying the day - but had I paid attention to my history I should have known that come the big day, I would be cool as a cumcumber, ready to go and just want it over with. :) Almost to one year already!

When Pink is Bad . . .

When it is ice and it's coming your way. Last night, during my brief 30 minute break from Bar studying so I could clear my head and run on the treadmill, I was concurrently watching the evening news (two birds, one stone). Mr. Weather Man said that we would be getting ice/snow/hail/sleet mix beginning at 1pm today and getting heavier overnight and then taper off tomorrow. LIAR! It came early so this morning my car, the sidewalk, the steps, the roads and any other stationary object was covered in ice. But we perservered because we have to work regardless of the risk to life or limb. It took Cody over an hour to get to work because of traffic and me almost 30 minutes (much longer then my typical five minute drive) - the roads were treachorous - they were icy and slick and the entire time you're just slip sliding around. But we both made it to work under the assumption the worst had passed. Again, wrong! As you can see by the pink (by the way, Florida people, since you never see a map like this, the pink = ice) we are in for a bunch more where that came from. Lovely. Did I mention ice is slippery? Because it is and it's darn near impossible to walk more then a few feet without falling. Sounds fun to you? Then move to Cold Corn Country (Missouri). :)

Word for the Day.

Pejorative. I just think it's a neat word and I aim to use it more. Just a heads up. :)

In other news, while Bar studying totally and utterly sucks and I really fear I will fail, life is otherwise all rainbows, sunshine and kittens (three to be exact) - by the way, I totally stole that phrase from Melissa - I also steal her phrase "hampster sized snow" when it snows big fluffy flakes. I just couldn't be any happier then if I won the lottery. Life is just turning out the way it should. Speaking of - my mom often quotes things that as a kid you get tired of hearing by the 254th time - but one of those is from Candide (Voltaire for anyone who hasn't read it - if you're bored it's actually a decently good read) - it's something like "all things happen for the best and this the best of all possible worlds." Basically - don't bitch about anything because life is evolving exactly as it is meant to be and you'll realize how and why later. For once I actually see how this plays out perfectly.
However, even today, after I've lived more then a few years and in certain areas of life I feel like I've figured out where I stand and what I really "believe" and can really stand on my positions - destiny is still one I debate within myself. In some sense I do think we have a destiny but on the same note, I also think destiny is a bunch of crap, it's a big excuse for stupidity and we all make our own destiny by the decisions we freely make each day. I think blaming destiny for laziness or otherwise lack of initiative or desire is a big cop-out - in case anyone was interested. So still wrestling with that one.