Overheard

I've been meaning to update for a while, but I've fallen off the face of the planet. I decided to take the bar exam, so my days consist of 8 hours of work, an hour of commute/dinner on the go, and 3+ hours of class, to be followed by collapsing in bed. Apparently 3 years of law school wasn't enough torture, so I signed up fora few more months. Most people who take the bar don't work full time while studying. For some reason that didn't stop me from signing up. Regardless of what I was thinking, I can't be as bad off as the girl who said this while walking into class: So I thought the bar was on the 27th and 28th but I guess it's on the 28th and 29th?

Ha! Anyhow, I'll think of something interesting to say eventually. In the mean time, just keep holding...

Pretty Happy

Things have been going fairly well lately. TT agreed to let me buy some plants finally, which made me happy. Better yet was when he agreed to go to the nurseries with me! We picked out a couple trees that would work for the back yard, but put that on hold for now since we have company coming in. Instead I bought a bunch of phlox for my front yard. I wanted to line the steps, and TT volunteered to help me prep the bed so the whole strip was dug up for me, old bricks and concrete chunks and all! (Our builder is really lame and didn't bring in enough good quality fill... Don't really wanna talk about it...) Anyhow, here is the finished product (notice TT and Merlot helping up at the top):



I also found out that work wants to try to get me some management experience. So on top of getting a raise and a promotion in this economy, they are really supporting my development. That means I have to learn how to delegate better, which is really difficult for such a control freak. (Is that the lawyer in me???) Regardless, I got my first "practice" today when my boss asked a coworker to help me out with some stuff. I got to actually "assign" the projects, which although I've definitely trained people on things before, I know my boss wants me to report back on how this goes relative to my ability to manage and lead. They're not looking to make any real moves too soon - the timeline is before the end of the year. Should be interesting...

And finally, if you know me, you may know I never took the bar. This is partially because I needed a paycheck to qualify for our mortgage, and partially because I just didn't want to (I don't need it for my finance job, so there was no pressure). It made me cry. Just thinking about it. Seriously. Cry. Not fun. Big baby. Right here. Anyhow... I mentioned to my bosses that I wanted to take the bar soon (I passed the ethics part, so I only have another year to take the rest or I'd have to take the ethics part again - boo), but I was going to have to self study because I don't have $3K for Bar/Bri. My manager asked my director if the company would pay for it, and my director said that they could cover it out of our "Education/Development" budget. Suh-weet! I was so nervous to take the Bar without the class, because I know I won't actually study for it if left to my own devices... Now I might have a fighting chance. Woohoo!

Now, just for fun, some puppy shots:

Honeymoon

We've been back for almost 2 weeks now, but as with most vacations, there was no shortage of things to do upon our return. Here are some pics from the Dominican Republic:

This week

Things have been going pretty well for me. I'm still busy at work, but I just keep reminding myself that busy is better than bored, and I'm thankful I have a job! I think in these last 2 weeks there have been more birthdays and events at work than usual, because I definitely ate some of this at least twice this week:



So tasty... It definitely doesn't help me lose any weight before we go to Punta Cana, but frankly, I don't think anyone will be looking at me when we're here:



We leave next Saturday, and I've been going through my summer clothes to make sure I have enough "resort attire." I used to have the perfect straw sun hat, but I think I left it in Mexico one time I was there. So I've been searching for the perfect replacement. Unfortunately, I didn't think ahead, because it's Derby season and the only hats you can find are $500 Derby hats:



I think it's time to look around online. The only thing I can't decide is color - I've always had straw, but I'm considering branching out to black or white. I have fabulous white sunglasses, so I'm considering getting a white hat, which reflects the sun better anyway, but I'm just not sure... Oh, life is so hard.

Busy Bee

Man, have I been busy!  I am working on a big project for my VP - he has a "deck" of reports that I generate monthly.  I inherited the deck when I started, but with the new year starting we wanted to clean it up.  The clean up project turned into starting a new deck from scratch.  Hopefully things will slow down after next week's big meeting and debut of the new deck.

In the mean time, I've been up to a couple of things.  A friend of mine just turned 30, and her sweet husband came up with the idea to make her a book of letters from her friends.  He emailed us and asked us to write a letter to her about what it means to turn 30 (if we have experienced it) and what her friendship means to us.

I've been known to scrapbook and be quite crafty, so I couldn't send him a plain old letter.  This is what I came up with:

I didn't have quite as much time to spend on it as I would have liked, and I just pulled from paper/supplies that I already had, but I think it turned out nice!  I'll get to see her tomorrow for a girls' spa day and dinner, so I'm sure I'll get the scoop on the book then.

It was a lot of fun to pull everything out and work on the book - I did a lot of my own projects for the wedding.  I'm sure I would have done more, but the wedding was too far away.  Here's a sample of each of the things I did:

Clockwise from top left: bride/groom signs for our chairs, monogram letters for cake table, card box with engagement pictures, save the dates, boxed invitations, layered programs, reserved signs for pews (which I didn't end up using), menus, table numbers, sign with instructions for wish bowl guest book, seating cards, and tears of joy tissue packets for the ceremony.

And this is my favorite:

Those things go for upwards of $60, and I made mine for under $30!  Yippee!

Ok, it's clear that I miss being crafty.  It must be time to start on my wedding scrapbook...

Fantastical Fantasticness

TT is sick today, so he's been camped out on the couch.  I pumped him full of Emergen-C and Zicam, got him settled down with his laptop and the TV remote, and then ran!

A coworker had told me about a store a while ago that sounded amazing, but I hadn't gotten up the courage to go because I was scared I would spend too much money, being on the decorating/furnishing/gardening/landscaping kick I've been on lately.  It's called Garden Ridge - I think it's kind of a Southern thing.  Think Home Goods, but HUGE - bigger than Costco even!  This is a picture of the warehouse it's in (or about 1/3 of the warehouse - the website says 3 football fields big):

I convinced a friend of mine to go there and play for a while.  We were there for a couple of hours I think.  After we'd been there for a bit my eye started twitching - my friend said it's because I wasn't buying anything.  Ha!  Aside from the obvious gardening goods, Garden Ridge has everything from art to furniture, and everything seemed just perfect for meeeeeeee.  My friend found so much stuff she wanted that she called her husband to come take a look too, in hopes to increase her budget, I think!  I escaped without buying anything more than a Diet Coke (phew!).  There's always next time...

On the way home I stopped by the grocery store to get some basics, and picked up a half-gallon of chocolate milk, TT's ultimate comfort food (well, drink, but you get the point).  I just put some chicken and rice in the oven and Old School just started on TV.  Overall, it was a pretty good day!

Paint!

When I was a senior in high school I had enough credits to allow time for 3 free periods.  My advisor, who was also the head of the upper school, told me that was not a good idea, and 2 was the max I should have.  I was already taking a bunch of random credits, and just about the only class left to take was painting.  That wasn't exciting at the time, but I ended up taking the class again!

Anyhow, something must have stuck with me, because I had lots of fun painting the house over the last week!  Tater Tot got a Spicy Cayenne and pink primer heart for Valentine's Day:

Here is the Dolphin Fin hallway and Spicy Cayenne dining room wall:

We didn't fight once, and everything turned out great!  Now I just have to find some things to hang on the walls...