So much news! Sorry it's been a while.

The first and most exciting news is that Rob just practiced law in the Supreme Court of Illinois!!! Okay, okay, I have to put some qualifications on that and explain the context, but it is still a 100% true statement, which is so cool! This morning I finally got sworn into the Illinois Bar. Long story short is that I didn't get sworn in with the other July '06 Bar Exam passers because I hadn't taken the ethics exam yet. I knocked that out in November and was told I'd hear from the Supreme Court of Illinois as to when I could be sworn in. I kept waiting until Rob made me call the court a couple weeks ago. Turns out my letter had long ago been misdirected and I was able to schedule my swearing in for today.

Justice Fitzgerald presided over the swearing in. There were seven candidates for admission there and a smattering of guests, including Rob. Justice Fitzgerald asked if any of the guests were attorneys, so Rob raised his hand. (No one else did.) Then the Justice asked Rob if he'd make the motion to the court to admit the candidates. How cool is that?!?!? Rob made a very nice and short motion from the podium in the courtroom, with a Justice-approved shout out to me. The Justice asked Rob if I was worthy for admission, to which Rob replied, "She's worthier than I am." Ha ha. The Justice then took the motion under advisement, gave us all a nice little talk about being honest and good thinkers, mentioned that we're now colleagues of Abraham Lincoln (bonus!) and that was it. So although the Justice didn't explicitly rule on Rob's motion, it still looks to me like Rob is batting a thousand in Supreme Court practice! :) And yes, I'm glad to be an attorney officially.

In other news, we bought new running shoes last night. Rob made me get expensive ones that are actually good for my feet instead of my normal way of picking shoes -- buying the coolest-looking cheap ones. But it's all so we're in prime shape for the Teb's Troops 5K in July, for which our friends have already generously supported us to the tune of $450, almost halfway to our goal! We've got another 5K a week from Sunday as part of training so we can have not just our best run in July, but also an objectively great run.

Rob and I also both took weekend trips last weekend. Rob and his dad went to Arizona for the weekend while I went out to visit my mom in Portland. Rob got to see a Diamondbacks-Giants game on Friday night, where he saw the brilliant and amazing Omar Vizquel in action. Although Rob's not allowed to watch Omar in person any more because he had an error in the game. I guess he was nervous playing in front of my husband. Rob has pictures that we'll post soon!

My mom and I visited a tulip festival. It was the end of the festival, so a lot of the fields were empty, but the giant field of purple tulips was still in bloom, which was fantastic because those are my absolute favorite flowers. We also hit a couple wineries on Saturday. Everything at Bethel Heights was great. And the 2005 and 2003 wines (but not as much the 2004 wines) at Cristom were excellent. Portland itself was also very fun, including the awesomely huge Powell's Books, where I dropped $60 on some great used books about feminism, poverty, and politics. I had to leave several other tempting books on the shelves. It's good for my wallet that Powell's is not in Chicago. My mom also bought a nice present for me at a cute store called The Dapper Frog. It's a wall plaque called The ABC's of Life that I just loved when I saw it. So I'll sign off with those ABC's:

Accept Differences
Be Kind
Count Your Blessings
Dream
Express Thanks
Forgive
Give Freely
Harm No One
Imagine More
Jettison Anger
Keep Confidences
Love Truly
Master Something
Nurture Hope
Open Your Mind
Pack Lightly
Quell Rumors
Reciprocate
Seek Wisdom
Touch Hearts
Understand
Value Truth
Win Graciously
Xeriscape*
Yearn For Peace
Zealously Support A Worthy Cause

*I admit, I had to look this word up. So for those with less than perfect vocabs like me, it means "environmental design of residential and park land using various methods for minimizing the need for water use." Cool!