Thankfulness

The week of Thanksgiving kept me pretty busy. I'm still busy. But I have been meaning to post about what I'm thankful for at this time of thanks. Better late than never, so here goes.

I am thankful to be married to the world's greatest husband -- someone who values me, gets me, cracks me up, shares my passions, and loves me... and also happens to be the best and hottest and awesomest ;) guy I've ever met.

I am thankful for my family, who I love through everything, and I am thankful we are all healthy. I am especially thankful for my mom, for everything she always does for me. I am thankful to have brothers(-in-law, or -almost-in-law) for the first time. I am thankful to live in the same city as one of my sisters. I am thankful that my family-in-law is so awesome (and I continue to be more and more thankful for this when I hear others' in-law stories :). I am thankful for being an aunt.

I am thankful to have a job that I love, including challenging work and brilliant co-workers.

I am thankful that our country still has a wealth of freedoms. I am thankful for the right to dissent publicly. I am thankful for Justice Ginsburg's dissents and Dahlia Lithwick's columns.

I am thankful for my wealth of friends. I am blessed beyond measure when it comes to friends. I am thankful for shared passions with friends. I am thankful for heated debates with friends. I am thankful my friends don't mind that I'm terrible at keeping in touch.

I am thankful (and rather surprised) that even though I rarely exercise and rarely eat well, I'm not terribly unhealthy.

I am thankful to be a homeowner and a not-falling-apart car owner. I am thankful to be financially secure.

I am thankful for television. I am thankful for books. I am thankful for football season. I am thankful for lazy Sundays at home (which I really miss these days).

I am thankful that I am emotional. I am thankful that I am happy.

The subject will come as no surprise...

I got a Letter to the Editor published. Very exciting. :)

The Post folks were really great and printed the letter almost entirely as I submitted it.

Success

Most of you know I'm away on trial right now in New Jersey. My first case as a practicing attorney. It's an exciting endeavor that I can't say much about, for obvious reasons. I can say, though, that the experience has gotten me thinking about my career quite a bit.

The thing about litigation, at least trial work, is that there is only one acceptable option. As I stare down what I hope will be a long career as a litigator, I realize that there's no way I can live up to my typical perfectionist standards. When I get to the point of second-chairing or first-chairing a trial, winning 100% of the time might not be possible. I wonder how I'll navigate that.

Well, tonight I heard a great random quote on television. "Success all the time tells you nothing except that you're very lucky." It put a smile on my face. Failing every now and then can be an advantage if you're willing to learn from it, right? Although I also subscribe to the wisdom handed down by another lawyer at my firm: "If you do your best, you will win. If you do your best and you don't win, no one could have won." A little more ego there, but I like it. :)

So I am doing my best. We'll see how my career goes. Can't wait to be back in touch with everyone once I get home!!!!

Is Santa anti Katherine?!

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

Oh! You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm telling you why

Many if not all of you may know that this is the chorus to a very famous Christmas jingle. For years I had never really thought about the lyrics. But now that I am married to Katherine, I have to say I am appalled. Katherine is the world's most accomplished pouter. If you have not had the pleasure of seeing this, make sure you ask her to pout for you. It's perfect! And now it appears that Santa has a long standing vendetta against Katherine, and I for one will not stand for it.

So I'm starting a campaign to repel this onslaught of anti-pouting. I don't know exactly how I am going to do this, but I'm certain it requires me to stay up on December 24 to have a little chat with Mr. Kringle. Don't worry, I'm not going to get violent, but I do anticipate the exchange to be heated. If this causes any of you to not receive your gifts on the 25th, I apologize. But I cannot allow Santa to continue with this reckless and ill informed rhetoric. Katherine deserves better ;)

(You see, this is what this blog is reduced to when Katherine is too busy to post.)

*Legal disclaimer: All threats made or percieved to be made against Kris Kringle, or any of his many aliases, are satirical in nature, blah, blah, blah (and yes, that is a valid legal term, at least in the Unified North Pole Court System).

Do you have good taste? I knew ya did!

If you're reading this blog, that means you have good taste. Since you have good taste, it also means you're a NY Giants fan. So me telling you that the NY Football Giants are 6-2 and playing the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday with first place in the NFC East on the line is old news... because you're a NY Giants fan. Get it, it's voodoo circular logic. Which basically means that all things center and return to the NY Giants.

Katherine probably thinks I should be saying this on my NY Giants blog. But I have given up that blog for the time being because I haven't blogged on it for quite some time and the Giants are on a 6 game winning streak. Since it has been established in the above paragraph that you all are as big a fan of the Giants as I am, you understand that my non-blogging is the sole reason for this win streak. So why wreck a good thing.

And that leads me to the point of this post. Everyone was focused on the Colts/Patriots game last week. I don't really understand why. Last time I checked, the Giants weren't playing in that game... which means it was... how should I say this... not as important as it would have been had the Giants been playing. Since the Giants will be playing one of these teams in the Super Bowl, I guess it did provide context for the inevitable matchup.

Go Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still MIA

I'm off being a lawyer, or some other nonsense.

In the mean time, here's some reading I'm sneaking in when I have a (very rare) few free seconds.

Interesting article in light of the current AG nominee. Follow the links within to take it all in.

I've read a lot of the reviews of this book, but this one has resonated with me the most. Although I'm not a fan of the picture.

The dissent in this case.

And as a twin married to a twin, this hit home a bit.

A couple more pics from Rox's wedding

Towards the end of the night as it got a little chilly.

Before the ceremony, Roxanna and I posed for pictures. This is definitely one of my favorite pictures with Roxanna of all time!

Heading out

In the not so distant future, I'll be shipping off for trial. To get ready, I hit the local CVS drugstore to buy a new set of toiletries. Rob and I share lots of things, from soap to toothpaste to shampoo, so I figured I'd buy a new set of everything, throw it in a box and put it on the truck heading off to our trial site. No other way to describe my bill at CVS except WHOA. I've got some expensive habits. I think I'd rather live in ignorance.

Anyway, I don't have a lot of free time, but I thought I'd post some belated pics in lieu of writing a long update. Not much to say anyway. I will post more soon though... or I'll make Rob post.

Tim and Emily came over (as did Resa and Nick, but we don't have a picture of them) for the ALCS Game 5. It didn't go as hoped. Check out our lovely new couch, though, and our lovely new dining room table behind. The table expands to seat eight. How married-couple-ish of us. You can also get a glimpse of our stalled home improvement projects. You can see the yellow walls we still haven't painted and the mirror we don't want to hang until our walls are painted.

Rob and I put on our rally caps in the final inning, but still it was not to be. At least we have this comfortable new chair.

I was a pumpkin for Halloween. Resa and Nick have an annual Halloween party, so we made a quick appearance last night in between memos. It's a challenge these days to find a female adult costume that doesn't involve quite a bit of cleavage. Rob was an Old West bandit, but alas, he didn't model for a picture.

And in other news...

Go Rockies!!!!

Tears were flowing last night. I wish they'd been tears of joy, but it wasn't meant to be.

Wembley Week

On Sunday, the NY Giants will be visiting the Miami Dolphins in London's Wembley Stadium. Therefore, Katherine and I will be celebrating everyday of this week leading up to the game. Each night we will feast on food that represents some portion of the game. Tonight, we kick things off with thin crust NY style pizza (not as difficult to find in Chicago as you might think... if you know where to go). Other celebratory feasts will include English Pub food, Cuban food, Indian food, and whatever I can think of that celebrates either London, NYC and Miami.

For those of you who have followed this blog, you know that I have been planning a trip to London to see this game. Alas, I pulled the plug when I realized it would cost several thousand dollars to pull it off (don't worry though, K bought us tickets to see the Giants at Giants Stadium in December... she's awesome like that). So, I am finding new and better ways to celebrate. Luckily for Katherine the Giants are on a 5 game winning streak, so I have been in good spirits (win number 1 was a comeback win against the Redskins, which makes it that much sweeter).

Go Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO TRIBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight I came home, opened my computer, and got right back to work. Lots to do. Fortunately, I had a lovely sight to keep me company -- the Cleveland Indians winning Game 4 of the ALCS. I was close to having an even lovelier sight to view tonight, as I actually had tickets to the game. But duty (aka work) called, so I handed over my tickets to my Uncle Jim. He lives in DC, but he was planning on making the round trip to and from Cleveland just for the game. I hope he did in fact make it because the game was SO AWESOME!!!! My eyes were brimming with tears as the game reached the top of the ninth.

Now that my work is done for the evening, it's time to wax poetic. The Cleveland Indians are my first sports love. I grew up going to games at the old stadium in the 1980s when it was just me, my family, and a smattering of fans. Back then I thought that it was normal for a foul ball to land in the middle of rows and rows of empty seats. My dad and my uncles would race off to grab it, and they were pretty fast, so I also thought that it was a pretty typical day at the ballpark to leave with a foul ball. Ah, the good old days.

By the 1990s, I had a better understanding of the game and by 1995 I was in jaw-dropping awe of the Tribe shortstop who could catch line drives with his bare hand. My love for Omar has never faded, even though he's now a Giant. (Thank god he's never been a Yankee.)

In 1995, the Indians were on a roll and landed in the playoffs. My then-boyfriend was a Red Sox fan. When the Indians knocked the Sox out of the playoffs and headed to the Series, my boyfriend became a Braves fan just to cheer against the Indians. I'm not sure he realized how bad an idea that was. I was livid for weeks. Probably also due in part to the Indians' loss.

The Indians had another shot in 1997 against the Marlins. Game 7 was on a Sunday night but my improv comedy group did a show every Sunday night at 11pm. I had to show up for pre-show warmups at 10pm so I reluctantly wandered out of my sorority house late in the game. (Somehow, I'd managed to turn a handful of my sisters into not just baseball fans, but Indians fans, so it was pretty awesome that they kept watching the game when I left.) I doubt I was very funny in my show. As soon as it was over, I asked everyone I knew in the audience if they'd caught the end of the game. Wrong crowd.

I raced back home, knowing the game was over and praying for the best. I ran into my friend Kwesi and asked him about the game. "Go FLOR-I-DA!!!!!" he yelled. I'd forgotten he was from Florida. Maybe that's why we're not in touch any more. I walked into my sorority house to see my sister Cara with tears in her eyes. She and some of the other girls jumped up to comfort me. Pretty adorable. But I was crushed.

By 1999, I knew everything about every player for the Indians. I could also make a relatively decent argument why Omar Vizquel was more valuable than Derek Jeter. (I admit, part of that argument has faded over time. Grrr.) I could tell you the order and batting averages of the entire starting line up. I proudly wore my Tribe gear to Yankees stadium when Cleveland was in town. My then-boyfriend Mark was a Yankees fan. (Mark, do you like "then-boyfriend" better? :) Mark was also Jewish. So we decided that if we ever got married, I'd be okay raising the kids Jewish as long as they were Indians fans. They could not be Yankees fans. Anything but that.

Well, also that fall, I started working at McKins-y in NYC. As luck would have it, I got sent to Cleveland just as the playoffs kicked off. Somehow we scored tickets to the game, where I embarrassed my co-worker with my "Omar for MVP" sign. We were only 20 rows back a little past third base. During warmups, Omar and Kenny Lofton were in the outfield, so I raced down to the front of my section to wave my sign. There I stood, Vizquel jersey on my back, Vizquel sign waving overhead. Lofton and Omar walked back towards the dugout when Lofton spotted me. He nudged Omar and pointed to me sign. Omar looked at me, half smiled, and nodded. Right at me. Yup, Omar knows me. The Indians won that night. A Colon vs. Martinez pitching duel ending 2-1. I was ecstatic. The Tribe took game 2. And then... they imploded. They scored more than 15 runs over the next three games, but Boston scored about 40. Seriously. I cried as I watched the last game from a television in one of the lobbies at work.

Management started chipping away at the team. The Indians flirted with glory again in 2001, but faded in the ALDS against the Mariners. They've been "re-building", sans Omar, ever since.

Until now.

Is it too much to dare to hope for a Cleveland Indians World Series championship in the same year as an Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl victory? Probably. But please let it happen anyway. Forty-nine years is too long to wait for this! I can't believe the Tribe is this close but work will prevent me from going to the Series. But I will be there every second in spirit. The Tribe keeps breaking my heart, but I know it's not their fault. Thank god the real fans have shown up for the playoffs... unlike the fans from August!

Welcome Sophie!

Yesterday, our friends Heather and Blair welcomed to the world their daughter Sophie Jacqueline! Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations to the whole family. :)

One More Thing...

I should also say that we had a blast when Kyle and Taber (and Taber's sister Vanessa) were in town for the marathon. On Friday, some co-workers invited me to a happy hour, but I declined, saying my in-laws are in town. The co-worker asked, "In-laws? Is that good or bad." "Good!" I replied. And it's absolutely the truth.

Kyle and Taber are not just family, but two of our best friends. We were especially happy to treat them to hospitality in our hometown because they were our saviors while I was in law school. They live just 30 minutes from Philly, so whenever Rob and I needed to get away, we'd invite ourselves over. I still remember one time when we showed up for a visit out of the blue. Kyle opened the door, saw it was Rob, and threw her arms around him. It was awesome. That is the enthusiasm with which Kyle and Taber have welcomed me into their family. And it's also why it's no surprise that Rob married someone with so much in common with his twin sister. Felicity forever, Kyle! ;)

Life is Busy, Work is Long

On a brief hiatus from a short work project I want to finish tonight (er, this morning) since I've got a long list of other work projects to get through this weekend, so I thought I'd check back into blog world. This means I'm only a step away from starting to return friends' emails again soon... hopefully.

Things have been busy, which I suppose is not really new. Now that I'm a practicing attorney, I can't talk too much about the work aspects of life that are keeping me busy.Too bad actually, because there's a ton I'd love to talk about. Everything is so new. Suffice to say, there's a lot going on.

The rest of our life has been jam-packed as well. Our brother-in-law Taber finished 18 miles of the Chicago marathon last Sunday before it was called off by race officials due to the extreme heat -- record highs! We are very glad he's okay and that he made it so far and that he raised another $2400 for cancer research. He's off to the NYC marathon in November and it looks like Rob and I will be at the finish line for that one.

Unfortunately I didn't get to see this marathon. I hit the road on Sunday morning to DC to go to my law school friend Sarah's wedding. Sarah is not only a great friend, but has also been a great mentor to be through law school and beyond. The wedding was gorgeous, with two very moving poems read by friends of the happy couple. Probably the best wedding readings I've ever heard. My law school friend Mark and his wife Mary, two people I love love love, were at the wedding, so it was great to catch up with them. They live far away in Brooklyn. I think this was also the first wedding I've been to without Rob since Fall 2002! I definitely missed not having him with me on the dance floor.

My trip to DC was a bit of a whirlwind. I left Chi-town at 10am on Sunday, arrived in DC, checked into my hotel, raced to the mall to buy a dress to wear at the wedding, ran back to my hotel to get ready, headed out to the wedding, partied it up, went back to the hotel to do some work, went to sleep at 1am, then woke up at 4:30am to make it to the airport on time. When I got on the plane coming home on Monday morning at 6:30am, I noticed it had the same flight crew as my flight the day before. I think that means my stay was too short.

Back to work I go, but since I've used the blog to complain about bad service from random companies from time to time, I should share one more thing. I called T-Mobile the other day because we had a random $17 charge on our last bill. After explaining the issue, I was put on hold for a few seconds. Then the operator came back, apologized profusely, said there was no excuse for the charge, and removed it.

Whoa.

Who knew companies could be nice?

No, we're not ignoring you...

I know it's been forever since we've blogged. Life has been crazy. My new job is keeping me particularly busy, but I'm truly loving it. The team of lawyers I'm currently working with could not be more welcoming. The work is challenging. I've got a ton on my plate. But I'm happy, which is what it's all about.

I've also neglected to blog about all the amazing meals we've had lately. Our friends Ali and Eddie have cooked two divine meals for us lately -- one this past weekend and one the weekend before. Duck two ways, cog* au vin, homemade dumplings and more. My waistline best expresses my appreciation.

The weekend before last, our friends Tim and Emily made us a phenomenal braised (I think) pork dish. Oh my gosh it was great. We don't deserve our friends' amazingness in the kitchen!

This past weekend we were also so happy to have my beloved law school friend Cobin visiting us. He's in his last year of med school out in Utah (yes, he took time off from med school to go to law school). He had a test to take in Chicago, so he got to spend four days out here hanging out afterwards. I can never say it enough -- having good friends around is perfection. I haven't seen Cobin in more than a year, so it was fantastic to catch up. Cobin and Rob took part in cooking the fabulous meal we ate on Saturday night. The two of them and Eddie were a sight to see in the kitchen. I swung by Eddie and Ali's around 6pm to see them chopping and searing like mad. I helped too -- I set the table. :)

As if that weren't enough fun, Saturday during the day, my little sister Resa and I went wedding dress shopping. She's getting married in April. We hit a few stores and found lots of nice dresses. Not that I'm biased, but my sister is gorgeous, so everything looked fantastic. The last dress she tried, though, a Romona Keveza gown at Macy's, was beyond stunning. As soon as she put it on I started crying. Then she started crying. We were a mess. I think we may have found a winner.

Then on Sunday Rob and I bought some new furniture for our place. A couch and an oversized chair. So comfortable. We can't wait for them to arrive... although that won't be for a couple more weeks.

Tomorrow Rob's sister Kyle, her husband Taber, and Taber's sister Vanessa arrive in town. Taber's running the Chicago marathon on Saturday, which I think will be about his sixth marathon. He's raising money with his run for Lance Armstrong's Live Strong Foundation. Pretty awesome.

I guess the last thing I should say is that I'm pretty devastated by the U.S. Women's National Team's loss in the World Cup this past weekend. The loss to Brazil... there still are no words. But the third-place game against Norway was truly inspired. Hopefully it'll set the tone for the future. I'm hoping I can find some free seconds this weekend to write an article for ASN on how it all turned out, especially the goalkeeper controversy. We'll see.

Back to work I go. Trying to finish a few small things tonight. I promise to post something more entertaining soon. And some pictures. I'm trying to get Rob to blog more since work will be a bit hectic for the foreseeable future as I get settled in. Thanks for not giving up on us!

*I'm leaving this typo in because it's particularly amusing to me. :)

Oh. My. God.

It has been a tough World Cup for the U.S. team. Right now it's halftime in their semi-final match against Brazil. To say things are going badly is the understatement of the year. They are down 2-0 and their veteran midfielder just got sent off with her second yellow after she was fouled by a Brazilian player. It's always rough to play the Brazilian women in that regard because they tend to take dives at a higher rate than the typical soccer team. That means the other team gets unnecessary fouls called against them.

This is just crushing. And I have to go on record and say that switching goalkeepers in the middle of the World Cup is extremely risky. I just don't have a clue how Coach Ryan justified that in his mind.

Off to work. I'm almost glad to stop watching this game.

And Meet Zippy

The Panda

In all its glory...

Bye, bye Panda

Those of you who are local may have met our Panda. No, we don't have an endangered species for a pet. We have a 1997 Nissan Altima. It was originally (and still mostly is) white. My grandfather Frank (my mom's dad) bought the car ten years ago. When my grandfather passed away in 2003, the car went to my sister Resa. Not long before Rob and I moved to Chicago, Resa bought a BMW. Needless to say, she didn't need the Nissan any more, so it became ours as of May 2006.

Some time in between Resa inheriting the car and her passing it along to us, the two front side panels were replaced by unpainted, black panels. I believe this involved some kindof crazy New Year's Eve story that ended with a banged up Nissan, but I'm not entirely sure. The result was a Nissan that looked quite a bit like a certain Asian bear. It quickly became known as the Panda.

We have loved the Panda very much... mostly. When we got it, the taillights didn't work. The dashboard still only lights up when it feels like it. Then last December it broke down a couple miles from home after Rob kindly picked me up from a late night in chambers. So we got a little annoyed with the Panda. Starting this past summer, the Panda got very noisy. You could hear it coming from quite a distance (although its volume still paled in comparison to my 1986 Toyota Corolla of yesteryear). On a run to Target a couple weeks ago, we realized that we couldn't run the AC any more lest we risk shaking the Panda to death. We stopped driving it more than five miles from our house for fear that some or all of the rattling parts might fall out and leave us stranded too far from home.

This weekend, Resa and Nick were headed out of town for a wedding. They picked us up Saturday morning so we could leave them at the airport. So we took the Saturday with a free car to head out to the suburbs and test drive cars. Always fun to go car shopping in a BMW.

We didn't go unprepared. Rob has been researching economical car choices for the past three years. At the top of the list was the Honda Fit, followed by the Honda Civic and the Toyota Prius. We tried them all and loved the Fit. It turns out that most Fits in Chicago are pre-ordered and they aren't often in stock. When we returned to the Honda dealership from the Toyota shop down the street, they'd already sold the Fit we'd test driven and had just one left. Fortunately it was exactly the one we wanted -- the sport model in black. So we bought it.

A pretty huge moment, I must say. I have never in my life owned a new car. In high school I drove a 1984 brown two-toned Toyota Camry (shared with Libby, naturally). At the end of my time in NYC, the previously mentioned 1986 Toyota Corolla hatchback fell into my possession for literally just a few dollars. It was severally lacking in the muffler department and couldn't reach above 55mpr. It ended up costing me $250 to get rid of it two years later. So even though the Honda Fit is one of the least expensive new cars you can buy, it is an enormous splurge given my car ownership history.

We are very happy with the new car, which we've named Zippy. We hope our neighbors appreciate it too. Our condo association has a shared garage for the six units. The Panda parked in there always looked like a bad game of "which one of these is not like the others."

Now the Panda is parked in Resa's garage as we prepare to donate it to charity. It served us well, but its time had come.

Checking back in...

I'm almost done with my first week at my new job, so life's been a little busy this week. I was up until 2am on Sunday night/Monday morning taking care of a few last things before I started work, and this week has been nonstop running.

For likely obvious reasons, I can't (and wouldn't anyway) talk much about my new job. But I can say that is very nice to be a practicing attorney. It's nice to put a different set of legal skills to work. It's nice to not just be writing opinions and bench memos by myself all day. The attorneys and staff at my law firm are all incredibly friendly and great to be around. So it's been a good - but hectic - week.

Life in all other aspects is good as well. Last night Resa, Nick, and my dad (who was in town visiting) came over and we had a belated birthday dinner for my dad. His birthday was on Monday. Rob made goulash, which was delicious. Resa brought pastries, also delicious. And a good time was had by all. This weekend we're loaded up with socializing plans, which is kindof unusual for us lately, so we're looking forward to it.

In other news, our trip to California was excellent. There is something about spending time with old friends -- even when it's hectic time, it's still relaxing because you're just so comfortable. That's definitely how I feel about hanging out with Roxanna and Dave.

Rob pointed out that in my quick posts about Roxanna's wedding I neglected to say a word about her new husband, Pavlos. Roxanna and Pavlos have been together since 2000 (maybe earlier?) when they met in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where they were both working for the NBC affiliate there. So I've known Pavlos for a very long time (I met him when he and Roxanna still had undisclosed crushes on each other) and can honestly say he's one of the few men in the world who could be worthy of Roxanna. :) (I said as much in my toast at their wedding -- maybe I'll post part of that this weekend.) I was really thrilled that Rob and I were in attendance when they made it official!

I will definitely try to post some more pictures soon and get back in the swing of blogging regularly. Rob's also promised to blog about his wine touring in Napa, since he and Dave got to play tourists while I helped Roxanna before the wedding.