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.