joyeux noel!

i hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas holiday. while the best part of the holiday season is time with family and friends, i do want to share a few of my favorite prezzies that i received:

1. tiffany's! my bff has made it a tradition, so to speak, to always buy me something from tiffany for Christmas and my birthday. check out the pretty box complete with red ribbon:

here's what was inside - a beautiful amethyst necklace!

2. a cafe frappe - now i can make frappachinos at home anytime! love it!

3. iDog - too cute!



4. fun coffee mug - cute for the office!

hope everyone had a happy holiday. here's to 2010!!!

bonjour! it has been forever since i've been on here. seems facebook and, now, twitter are taking up more of my time. oh, and also that thing called work! i finally saw new moon over the thanksgiving holidays and l-o-v-e-d it! granted, there were very cheesy bits and i felt more than a bit guilty making my boyfriend sit through so much sap, but i guess even after all my education i'm still just a teenage girl at heart. :) i really do wish there were vampires and werewolves in the world and they were both in love with me. lol!

anyway, don't know about anyone ele, but time since thanksgiving break has flown, as usual. i know i say this all the time, but i really can't believe that 2009 is practically over. there was so much i wanted to do, but didn't. i'm really trying not to be too negative about that. what i am happy for is the holidays - time off work, visiting my family in houston, seeing old friends, . . . hopefully, i can get through the next week until then!

eclipse

my mind is aswirl! so many things going on and not enough time to sit and think (probably the reason why i have been sick now 2 times in 2 weeks, no bueno). being involved in 2 non-profits while trying to put myself in a position to be promoted at work by this time next year is trying. the good thing about being sick and having to stay home is that i can finally take the time to catch up on some much needed reading. can you believe i finally started reading eclipse, the 3rd book in the twilight saga? i didn't take long to get hooked again in the whole vampire vs. werewolf drama. :) it's sad that reading a book is my only release from an overly stressful time, but there it is...happy reading!

the rest of the story

so, my friend survived! on sunday, he jumped out of a plane in san marcos and made it to the ground safe and sound - even with a smooth landing. after lunch at a tacky place called bikinis (he picked), his wife and i visited a local winery we passed by called three dudes winery. the name sounds a little sketchy, but it was actually a nice little niche on the river. it might possibly become a refuge after a long day. i love finding places like that.

is everybody sick these days?

sick...again. i ended up leaving work at lunch on friday because i couldn't take it anymore. today, though, i was a trooper and did a bit of do gooding promoting my non-profit organization at a local health fair. it amazing the people you meet at events like that...always learning something new and unexpected and always leave loving the non-profit work i do. with a full time job, it's hard to juggle the time, but i make it work and love it. someday down the road, i'd love to be an executive director of a non-profit. it's a tough job, but one of the most rewarding.

anyway, tomorrow i'm watching a friend jump to his death, or, as he calls it, skydiving. eesh, i don't know if i'll be able to watch.

a new week.

while there is so much going on that is causing stress, frustration, etc. (esp. at work), i'm trying to spend more time focusing on the good things that are going on because that's what matters, right? so, since i'm a visual person, i have to write things down so i can see them (and, hence, remember them!). here are some that immediately come to mind:

1. i FINALLY finished a book, in the time of the butterflies by julia alvarez. sadly, i have had the worst attention span for like a year, but i'm hoping that is coming to a close because reading is one of my favorite hobbies.

2. the movie Coco Before Chanel will be coming to my town in less than a month - CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. another week means more lunchtime pilates. totally my new favorite thing to do.

4. my fav yoga studio is moving into a new, fabulous building. can't wait to take class there.

5. this week i'm chopping off my hair! time for something short and cute for the fall. may even go lighter with the color.

anyway, just a few things to keep my mind positive while work is overwhelming.

le weekend

after a whirl-wind week of too much work and too much sickness (boo), i started my weekend at a local community resource & health fair. it's events like these that make me feel so blessed that i do the work that i do and have the opportunity to participate in things such as this. this fair was at a local church in the less affluent part of town. local vendors, doctors, dentists, etc. participate and do free screenings of this and that. just an awesome do-gooding thing. i, along with two other ladies, were there on behalf of a local non-profit that we belong to. finally, a truly beneficial way to start a weekend (plus it got me up at 8:30 in the morning on a saturday rather than noon or 1:00). afterward, i holed myself away at a starbucks while much needed rain poured down and made my way through the joy diet. just a good and lazy day.

today, my sweetie and i ventured to Gruene and had yummy mexican food and then stopped by a new, totally adorable coffee shop. we also drove by the new home of my local yoga studio. it's so amazing seeing young entrepreneurs grow, especially when they do something i support so much. then again, it starts making me feel like i did when i first stumbled onto kimberly wilson's blog oh so long ago. on one hand, i absolutely loved everything she was doing and i was immediately hooked. on the other hand, i was sad that someone else was doing all the things i had thought of doing myself but just never took the leap. it makes me feel like i'm wasting my life doing something that i'm not 100% committed to. UGH - this is my daily struggle.

victory!

after searching through literally every bookstore in my town, i finally found a copy of the joy diet! i'm so glad because i'm not a big fan of ordering online (i think it's that instant gratification need). so, i'm well into chapter 1 and am loving it, but i have some catching up to do. tomorrow will be my first foray into doing nothing (i may just decide to do it in court - ha!). we shall see how it goes.

nothing - literally

when it comes to participating in the joy diet's first chapter - nothing, this past week was an utter failure.

problem 1: no book - i've literally been to every bookstore in my city and the book cannot be found. looks like i'm resigned to ordering online.

problem 2: the past week was chock full of problems, stress, and chaos. while it was certainly the most needed week to take a few minutes to do nothing, i have to admit that i spent it enjoying a few cocktails instead. sigh...

last week was supposed to be a little break away from life while our entire office went to corpus christi for a work conference. i had planned to leave for the coast on tuesday, but for some reason i decided to work in the morning and then leave in the afternoon. thank goodness i did! while i was doing some prep work on a huge case that is quickly approaching trial, i discovered that the detective had not sent extremely important dna evidence to the crime lab to be tested. i cannot begin to express how big of an error that is, so i got to spend tuesday writing memos (aka - hate mail) to the officers on the case and contacting the defense attorney about the mistake. the silver lining is that i discovered this before trial and not during. can you even imagine how stupid all of us would look when the jury learned that the evidence was just sitting there, never tested??? UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! needless to say, the trial will have to be reset and i have the distinct joy of explaining this to the victim. anyway, this situation was the biggest impetus for me to head to the bar rather than do nothing. probably not the best reaction. breathe in...breathe out...

the rest of the trip was nothing to complain about, but i ended up leaving on friday completely exhausted and so happy to be home. so, my first entry is way too negative. next week will be better!

when can i slow down?

so i finally joined 2009 and converted my page to the new layout feature. thank god! it's now so much easier to pretty up my page. unfortunately, my old template is no more and instead of a pink space it's become more of a peach and brown, but whatever. it's all pink in my head. :)

seriously, though, september has been a month of sheer craziness for me. hence, my absence from blogging or tweeting or just communicating in general. i already posted about our SANE room cutting ceremony at the beginning of the month (complete with paintings done by moi!). my artistic inclinations were put to the test again when i volunteered to participate on one of the judge's bbq cook off teams. i'm not particularly fond of bbq, but it was good to socialize with work peeps and i delegated myself to the booth decoration committee rather than actually cook any meat. so, me and two other girls spent all our after work hours last week literally creating a ring of fire. check out the picture - an entire fence of plywood that we sawed flames out of and painted. out of 80-ish teams, ours was one of four that received a showmanship award. holla!

in other news, i also got to be on stage with george strait last week! he was emceeing at a local fundraiser (for the love of kids and harleys) and i not only got a free VIP ticket, but i also got to stand on stage while he did his thing. like 2 feet away from him! eek! didn't get to actually meet him though, which bummed me out, but oh well.

with all the craziness that has been going on this month (including prepping for 4 upcoming jury trials and getting sick) i haven't been to good to myself physically. but today i finally went to a lunchtime pilates class and ate a healthy lunch, but boy am i sore now. better get it together because tomorrow i'm heading down to corpus christi for the rest of the week for a work conference. a much needed break!

doing good

this afternoon, we had the ribbon cutting ceremony for our new SANE (sexual assault nurse examiner) room at the local hospital. amazingly, this day has been many years and tears in the making. it's hard to believe that professionals are so difficult to convince that sexual assault is actually a problem, but i suppose many prefer to bury their heads in the sand than acknowledge it. but, we finally have our dedicated room and multiple nurses in training to become SANEs. as we were preparing for the ribbon cutting, somehow i got picked to create the wall art for the room. so, the past 2 days have been spent in my garage creating "art." i don't paint very often, so i was seriously nervous about how this would turn out, but i really surprised myself. the canvases looked fantastic and everyone was so excited about how the room looked. i felt fabulous...plus, i get to say that my artwork is hanging in a hospitals. how cool is that?!?

so, august is over and so i looked over my goals for the month and sadly came up short.

1. Cook dinner at least twice per week - 1 weeknight and 1 weekend. FAIL, didn't cook dinner at all (but did see Julia & Julia and was very inspired by cooking) :/

2. Attend lunchtime pilates class at least once a week (LOVE lunchtime pilates). I haven't been at all in the past 2 weeks, but the first half of the month i was good. I'll try to keep it up in September.

3. Finish reading Living Artfully by Sandra Magsumen. Ugh...fail. Lately, I have not had the attention span to pick up a book and finish it. So not me.

4. Create a nighttime routine that includes yoga, walking my dogs, a healthy dinner, etc. FAIL, especially since I've recently become addicted to the TV show Dexter and have spent all my non-work hours watching Seasons 1-3.

Looks like I need to do some major work. On a high note, though, I've spent the past 2 nights doing a fun little (or not so little) art project for a non-profit organization that I'm a board member on. Basically, I've taken it upon myself to decorate our hospital room, which currently consists of stark white walls, filing cabinets, and a gyn bed. Instead of shopping around trying to find the "perfect" art work that will appease both adults and children, I decided to do it myself. Yikes! However, I have surprised myself because it is actually turning out well and I've recruited my sweetie to help so we've had lots of fun hanging out in the garage painting together. So much better than our typical vegging in front of the TV. I'll post a picture when we're done.

living abroad

ok, one of my big fantasies for a long time has been to move to europe (preferably france, of course) and live and work there for several years. i could fully immerse myself in the culture plus have the rest of europe to explore much more conveniently. but, i always kind of dismissed it as a pipe dream because i just couldn't see how an opportunity like that could open up for me and i don't think i'm ambitious enough to just move over there and hope to find a job (plus, don't you have to have a work visa or something before you move there?). anyway, it all just seemed too complicated and too unrealistic to seriously consider...until now!

a dear friend of mine is in the process of applying for jobs with the department of defense in such places as germany and italy(!). she hit her breaking point at her current job and so she and her husband have made the decision to move out of the country with their 3 year old son. they have lived in germany in the past when her husband was in the military, so this isn't some spur of the moment crazy decision. plus, can you imagine the opportunity living abroad will have for their son? so, i've been listening to her as she goes through this process and have asked TONS of questions. seems like the possibilities are there as long as i'm willing to take a chance and think a bit outside the box. i'm pretty content where i'm at right now, but i'm seriously looking at the possibility of moving abroad while i'm in my 30s. can you imagine???

friends, fun, and g.i. joe (seriously)

so excited about this weekend and am so sad that it is over. friday evening my sweetie and i met up with another couple at their tavern (aka, their fabulously decorated garage) for a late night of playing games, drinking, and just having a good time. saturday, we headed over to a co-worker/friend's house for her margaritaville party, and today a big group of us went out to see g.i. joe (yes, i know everyone else is seeing julie & julia, but don't worry, i'll be dragging my sweetie to see it soon) and then had dinner at a yummy italian restaurant. honestly, i don't know the last time i have been so social in one weekend and i have say that i'm loving it. normally, the bf and i bum around all weekend and before i know it it's time to get ready for monday and i haven't really done anything special. so glad this weekend was a change.

speaking of change, i started looking around the house this weekend and noticed that i have NO personal pictures up anywhere. is that not bizarre??? i guess it's because i don't like things to look cluttered, but really, no personal pictures? so, i started by buying one of those collage picture frames and filled it with old pictures of my bf and me from college. boy, do we look young in them! i then started sifting through all my pictures picking out the ones i want to frame and i can't believe the wave of nostalgia that overcame me. some of those memories seem so far away; many of my dear friends in those pictures i haven't spoken with in years. it's just so hard to believe (it's also hard to believe how much i've changed physically since college, but i'm trying not to go there!).

july into august

tonight i'm sipping a glass of wine, cuddling with my 3 puppies, and catching up on my fav blogs and podcasts. some how july snuck past me. i'm getting kind of annoyed for always finding myself at the end of a month wondering where the time went. seriously, at some point, i want to reach the end of a month and really feel pleased at everything i accomplished (outside of work) or did for myself.

but july wasn't without its high points. my bff turned 30 (but i'm still working on finding the "perfect" present to give her when i visit her in september), this weekend my sweetie and i drove to odessa (okay, not a high point) and attended a baby shower for his sister, i got to shoot some guns, and we had a couple of fun toobing trips.

but, august can be better. it's been a couple of months since i've made a formal monthly goals list, so...

August Goals:

1. Cook dinner at least twice per week - 1 weeknight and 1 weekend.

2. Attend lunchtime pilates class at least once a week (LOVE lunchtime pilates).

3. Finish reading Living Artfully by Sandra Magsumen.

4. Create a nighttime routine that includes yoga, walking my dogs, a healthy dinner, etc.

we'll see how i do!

bang, bang

this afternoon involved a very unexpected trip to the firing range! our chief set it up as an initiation/welcome aboard for our new attorney (our civil section is entirely female and we all seem to have this desire to do "tough" things). i shot a .45 and a .380 and we had a great time despite the overpowering heat. i can't ever imagine carrying a gun in my everyday life, but it sure is nice to release some frustration every now and again.

monday, monday

another fun start to another week. my bench trial that was set this morning was continued because the defendant decided not to show up. i enjoy nothing better than getting warrants issued for people who waste my time.

AND, i'm so proud of myself because i went to pilates class again during lunch. this is the second monday in a row - a major accomplishment during my overly excessive exercise drought. i've found it is so much easier to just make the time during lunch rather than drag my tired body to class after work. so, looks like every monday and wednesday i have a lunch date with my pilates instructor.

my rant

you know, i have a hard time understanding how i can give so much to my job and to others that i work with and still be treated like crap by someone who is never there, who has no authority or control over me, and who simply doesn't take the time to make sure that her employees are doing their job. i also have a serious problem with anyone who deems it appropriate or professional to try to accuse, gripe, or berate someone via e-mail. are you kidding me??? are you that spineless??? oh, i also have a serious problem with anyone who deems it appropriate or professional to cc a million people on these hate e-mails. again, are you kidding me???

i fell victim to such a person today and, given the drama that happened a couple of weeks ago, i just about threw in the towel. do i really have to put up with crap from someone who doesn't bother to properly supervise her employees, thereby making my office and other offices do more work in order to correct all of their mistakes? do i really have to be the bigger person and not respond in kind?

unfortunately, i do, and i did. i'm not going to fall victim to some immature e-mail war. all it will do is make me look like the irresponsible one (funny how that works). instead, i responded by telling her that we should set up a time to meet in person to discuss the issues, which is something i get to look forward to next week. UGH!!!! i don't hate much, but i hate hateful people.

sunny days

had a blast today toobing on the guadalupe river with my sweetie and some good friends. what was supposed to be a 3 hour float turned into a 4.5 hour float thanks to the slow moving river. so, suffice it to say, i got lots of sun, drank a few more beers than expected (though not nearly as many as the poor guy who ended his float puking in the river - yes, in the river), and just generally got some nice relaxation time. even though i've lived in the area for over 2 years now, i've only just discovered the joys of river floating - very relaxing and cheap way to spend a sunny saturday. afterwards, we had a yummy bbq dinner at cooper's (complete with blackberry cobbler - yum!) and now i'm ready to change into some pj's and veg out on the sofa. yea for a good day!

last night, a co-worker of mine and i went out after work hours for the first time in the two years we've worked together and we had a blast! first, we had dinner at the melting pot (she had never been - for shame!) where we had a cheese fondue and a to-die-for white chocolate fondue. then we headed to the movie theater to watch bruno. it was pretty much as vulgar and tacky as we expected, but also hysterical and we both needed to see a mindless film that would make us laugh.

no idea how i plan to spend tomorrow, but it's probably about time to do a bit of yoga, a bit of reading, and hopefully not have to nurse to bad of a sunburn.

no sleep

i don't know what is with me this week. i'm not typically a morning person (gosh, that's putting it lightly), but this week has been especially difficult. as in, i've been SERIOUSLY late to work each and every day. i even had to call my assistant one morning and give her a lame excuse that i had forgotten something at home and had to turn around and go get it because i was so late. and i'm supposed to be focusing on getting a good night's sleep this week for my work's wellness program. sigh...

i'm so ready for friday, though. i keep wanting to go up to austin and maybe take a stroll on the hiking trails around town lake. i need to do that before august hits and the heat becomes really unbearable. i also keep getting the urge to play tennis and golf. really? i'm not an outdoors person, but maybe that's my body's way of telling me that i need serious exercise (along with the insane case of the blahs). but, it's 11:30 now and it's time to get some sleep.

happy friday everyone!

sleep

so, in my pay stub envelope was a Fit For Life 9 week program sponsored by the county's wellness committee. normally, i don't pay much attention to the junk mail included with my pay stub, but this actually sounds really cool. each week, we'll be focusing on a different wellness issue - sleep, volunteering/community involvement, organization, nutrition, physical activity, social/relationships, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. this week, the focus issue is sleep and here are some suggestions made to create good sleeping habits:

1. develop regular sleep habits
2. slow down and unwind before bedtime
3. get up at the same time seven days a week, no matter how long you have slept
4. your bedroom should be a comfortable resort for sleeping
5. breathe deeply to induce drowsiness
6. exercise daily to promote good sleep
7. accept occasional nights with less sleep (boo)
8. if your sleep is consistently disturbed, ask for help

next, i'm supposed to pick one of the following tasks to do three times this week:
1. keep a sleep journal
2. try to get 8 hours of sleep
3. try increasing your amount of sleep by one hour three nights this week.

i know i don't get enough sleep and that i don't get "good" sleep, if that makes sense. i'm thinking i'm going to go with task 3 and maybe task 1. we'll see how i do!

artist date

thanks to the lovely carolyn of hang on little tomato, i had a lovely little artist date this evening with all the goodies she sent me (including an awesome cd mix of fun, creativity-inspiring songs). while sipping a yummy glass of wine, this is what i made. thank you, carolyn, for being so sweet. i'm going to have to think of something to send you in return.

here's the spot i found for it on my wall in my pink space. :)

happy birthday to me and other drama

good news - today is my birthday! even though i have now hit the 31 mark, i'm still such a kid when it comes to my birthday. i love surprises and attention, so it's all good. my office buddies decorated my office with pink and black decorations (love!), took me to a great restaurant for lunch, and bought me a gorgeous cake. my bff send me a bouquet of flowers. all in all, it was a fabulous day...

until...

about 10 minutes til 5:00 my supervisor calls me into her office for my annual review. all is going well - mostly very high praise with a little bit of constructive criticism - until she blurts out that i need to talk to my legal assistant because one of my probation officers told her that i said that she is too involved in my cases. what??????? any attorney will tell you that they live and breathe by their legal assistant. a great one makes life smooth and a sloppy, inattentive one can make your life miserable (and sanctionable, for those in private practice). my jaw just dropped. i can't believe this person would say such a lie to someone so important to me. i can't believe she would intentionally be hurtful to a person as vital to her job as she is to mine. so, i got to finish my day by having a heart to heart with my assistant. she told me that when this girl first said those things to her, she got so upset that she seriously considered quitting. it hurt me to know that for a minute she actually believed i would say those things. so, even though we finished our talk well, i still have mixed feelings about all this.

anyway, i didn't have much time to dwell on that because my sweetheart and another good friend of mine surprised me and took me to dinner. my friend also bought me a totally awesome present - roller skates!!! i've been wanting to have an 80s roller skating party for the longest time, and now i have the kicks for it!

my week

another month has passed way too quickly. the last week of june has been an eventful one for me. last tuesday was my sweetie's b-day which we celebrated by him treating me to see the musical wicked at the majestic theater (which i TOTALLY loved, by the way). we had dinner beforehand at a little cafe in downtown san antonio and i realized how often i forget how cute and historic downtown sa really is.

on thursday, me and some gals from the office treated ourselves to a yummy dinner at a new seafood restaurant in new braunfels called mcadoo's, which was F-A-B!!! we're so lucky to have incredible restaurants in such a small town (my hips aren't thankful, but my tummy sure is). their cocktails were probably the best part - i had a fun little drink called the macadoo, which had vodka, champagne, and pineapple. YUM!



friday evening, some friends and i spent a slightly inebrious evening at tavern on the gruene, which in turn meant that i spent all day saturday passed out on my living room sofa nursing a headache and mindlessly watching tv. yeah, those drunken nights probably were better left to my college days. :)

sunday i finally went toobing for the first time on the comal river and, in spite of a slight case of heat exhaustion, I had a BLAST! yes, i've worked in new braunfels for 2 year and never went toobing before last weekend. but really, i'm not much of an outdoor person and i always know that, try as i might, i can never prevent a sunburn. yesterday was no exception. despite dousing myself in sunscreen, i spent today in pain. sigh...

i'm so glad for the short week. john and i plan to drive to h-town to visit my parents and hopefully check out a good fireworks show.

oh, and tomorrow is my birthday!

hung over

yes...i've been hung over all day today, reminiscent of my college days (except the hangovers didn't hurt as much). it's 6pm and i'm still feeling badly. that's what i get i suppose, but i can say that i had a really good time letting my hair down with some good friends. very much needed.

i'm off to double dave's pizza to hopefully get something in my stomach. then i'm planning to finally watch confessions of a shopaholic. :)

death

i'm at a loss today. farrah fawcett, michael jackson, and ed mcmahon. deaths always happen in groups, don't they. i'm especially blown away by the announcement of mj's death because it was so unexpected. and while it is sad when anyone passes away, he was such a gifted and tragic person that it is just depressing all around. plus, it's just always unsettling to be reminded that one day someone may be here and the next day they're gone. everyone remember to hug your pet and tell your loved ones how much they mean to you each and every day.

sunday afternoon

it's sunday afternoon and i'm trying to decide what i want to do - read one of my many books that i have started and not finished, work on my knitting, walk my dogs, go to a bookstore (and buy yet another book - probably not a good idea). too many good ideas and not enough time to do them all.

friday and saturday i spent in Corpus Christi with my BFF who now lives in dallas. we met while working at a Corpus lawfirm about 4 1/2 years ago, and for some reason we got the urge to take a short trip there this weekend to see what's changed. little did we remember that NOTHING changes in Corpus other than businesses closing. fortunately, our favorite restaurants were still around so we obscenely stuffed ourselves with yummy asian food and spent friday night at a fun little club called havana. after making the rounds to our fav little boutiques, getting pedicures in our fav nail salon, and picking up some brownies from the gourmet brownie kitchen, we hit the road back to san antonio yesterday afternoon. as we were driving back, i have to say that both of us were very content with our decision to move away from Corpus. :)

today we had a yummy breakfast at fork & spoon in new braunfels and then she was off on the 4-5 hours trek back to dallas. sigh...it sure sucks that she lives so far away from me as she is truly my bff and i have yet to meet anyone who lives close to me that i connect with like her (and who isn't completely tied up with their family and children). oh well. it might be easier to meet someone like that if i didn't just work all the time. funny how that is. well, time to stop feeling sorry for myself and get out there and enjoy my sunday afternoon!

grrr!

ever been frustrated with the people you work with? well, the people i work with happen to be judges and that makes it a bit more complicated to be upfront with how i feel. but, it has come to just that. i've got to figure out some creative way to pass along what i need to say, but in such a way that doesn't immediately offend or piss off the judges. i try to remember that i actually have a very good job. the people i work with in my office are amazing and, for the most part, my day to day work, while busy, is pretty bearable. but, i just find it increasingly difficult to work in a system where the judges don't hold people (kids) accountable and are too afraid to make the tough decisions. i just finished a long day arguing with a judge about just that. it left me with a headache and a strong desire to give up. but, i'm really hoping that eating something sweet and a good night's sleep with help make things look better tomorrow.

keys and witches

yea, what a fun day. didn't get nearly enough accomplished today at the office, but my bff from dallas visited me in the afternoon and hung out until 5 (hence, the reason why i didn't get anything done). anyway, afterwards we shopped at la cantera and she gave me my b-day present early. i am such a sucker for jewelry from tiffany & co and she did not fail to surprise me by giving me the these two key pendants. one is big and the other is itty bitty and totally adorable. they look absolutely precious on one necklace and i can't wait to wear it to court tomorrow. we then had dinner at a yummy italian restaurant and then called it a night.


i also found out what my b-day present is from my sweetie - tickets to the musical wicked at the majestic theatre. having never been to the majestic (so much prettier than bass hall in austin) and having wanted to see wicked for, like, ever, i am SOOOOO excited!

MIA

gosh, i have been missing in action. june is already halfway over, it officially feels like summer here (meaning it is H-O-T!), and i am insanely busy. we have been short 1 attorney in my office and the rest of us have been working major overtime trying to cover. this is the main reason for my absence here. fortunately, the new attorney will be starting june 24, which still feels like eons.

so, i'm approaching my birthday (june 30) and the daunting task begins of recapping my past year and trying to figure out how to do things better. i already know without having to think that my biggest short coming is the fact that i do not take care of myself. it is a constant battle taking the time to do the things that really matter to me - yoga, reading, walking my dogs, riding a bike, getting some sun, etc. so, once again that is going to be my focus. time to stop letting petty things like jury trials, yucky criminal defense attorneys, and juvenile delinquents get in the way of my personal time. :)

long story short, i'm officially in a mindset to get off my tush and get my life in gear (maybe this had something to do with kimberly wilson's quote she posted today.

tomorrow is another day

must come up for air! my work life has been insane (as usual). all last week, i was the only attorney in the office. while i was able to hold the fort without mass chaos ensuing, it was still stressful and long and i'm so grateful the other attorneys will be in the office tomorrow.

i spent memorial day weekend in dallas visiting my bff. inevitably, we had to spend a few hours on sunday at her office. ahh, the joys of litigation. the rest of the time, however, was pretty fun. we saw the new terminator movie, which i really liked. christian bale is such a little hottie! we also ate at asian mint and a really yummy italian restaurant and, even though we stopped by tiffany and lv, i'm proud to say that i kept my spending to a minimum.

yesterday, i went to a shooting range with some law enforcement guys and got to shoot an automatic rifle for the first time (think "rambo" - ha!). i'm such a badass now! i'm not a big fan of guns and i don't ever see myself packing a "piece" in the future, but i'm always proud of myself after a fun day at the range (i've only been like 3 times).

after running boring errands, like getting my car inspected, john and i headed up to austin for dinner and we met up with another couple for drinks at a place called waterloo. today, john took the 8 hour drive back to his hometown to attend a funeral and will be back tomorrow. i really feel bad for him having to make that round trip in less than 48 hours.

i'm dreading the upcoming week (ok, month to be exact). there is so much going on at work that it is, as usual, becoming overwhelming. i'm trying to take things one step at a time, but the bad thing about being a lawyer is you really can't do that. you always have to look well into the future because trying cases takes lots of prep time. sigh...

but, for now, i'm enjoying a nice glass of wine, am doing some much needed closet organizing, and plan to finally finish my SARK book. tomorrow is another day. :)

hats

still on my list of things to do is go to the kentucky derby. not that i'm big on horse racing; i just love the hats!

i mean, why can't we wear these everyday?


(from hats in the belfry)


(from maggie mae designs)


(from maggie mae designs)


(from maggie mae designs)


(from hats in the belfry)


(from hats in the belfry)

sunday

once again, i'm getting overwhelmed with my job. dealing with juveniles who steal, smoke pot, take pills to school, etc., i can deal with. but these sex offenders are becoming a real nuisance and it is growingly becoming a real struggle to find the passion to deal with these cases. the attorney who recently resigned took a job at a non profit adoption agency and will be practicing, as she puts it, "happy law." i think i'm starting to truly understand what she means. i guess that is one of the perils of being a prosecutor and in order to maintain sanity i have to figure out a way to deal.

but this weekend was a nice break from it all. one of john's friends came down and we went to a small party on friday night. on saturday, we ate at one of my fav restaurants, and then we spent the day shopping. while i do have to to go to the office for a little bit today, i did get to spend this morning vegging in front of the tv. just need to gear up for this week...

today

another long but productive day. fortunately, we are starting the interview process next week to replace the attorney who recently left us. things will be so much better once we have the replacement on board. also, this evening i attended my first upstarts board meeting. this is another organization i'm interested in becoming involved with because of the intense work it does for at risk youth (something i'm quite familiar with given my job). the organization's goals are very similar to what i'd like to see happen in our community so i'm hooked.

work is keeping me busy, busy and i cannot wait until memorial day weekend when i plan to drive up to dallas to spend the long weekend with a good friend. seriously, i'm counting down the days.

such an ugly fat

this is not me . . . yet.

have you ever had one of those days where you look at yourself in the mirror and think, "wow, i have really become a fat-ass?" well, that was me today. i am sadly not the same size i was in law school. my first lawyer job kept me skinny because i spent all my time crying and no time eating. but since then, i've been relatively content in my work and the effect of this is i'm no longer skinny. sigh. most of the time i think i block it out but today i saw myself as i truly am. and i absolutely refuse to go down like that. the reality for me is that i work so much that i don't leave any time to work out. i also don't take the time to think about what i eat. both of these must change, starting this week. wish me luck.

overwhelmed

i'm sitting at home today starting to get a bit overwhelmed as i look at my calendar for this week. tuesday i have a trial, wednesday i have grand jury and am teaching a class to local law enforcement all day (yes, i'm supposed to be in 2 places at once), thursday i have another trial, and i have smaller hearings scattered throughout the week in addition to my growing intake box. ugh!

fortunately, i will be squeezing in some time to FINALLY get my hair done, which is so overdue. i also need my nails done, a pedicure, and a massage, but the hair must come first. i hate how quickly time keeps passing by - i'm shocked that it is actually may. i feel like my mind just keeps swimming. i really hate that.

on a high note, this month pink martini is coming to san antonio so i will finally be able to see them. yea!

my bed is calling

this week has been grueling. but in a good way, i suppose. monday started off with meetings. tuesday i was at the capitol ALL day waiting for another bill i testified for (this time for the senate). the cool thing about that was this committee meeting was actually in the senate chamber rather than a little hearing room. the capitol is really so beautiful. why don't they make buildings like that anymore??? the other cool thing was that this bill received a lot more support and optimism from the committee members (but i do love the challenge of dealing with people who don't agree with me). the not so cool thing was that i did not get home until almost midnight. yes, we were at the capitol until after 8pm waiting to testify.

today i had to scramble to finish a grant application for a non-profit i'm on. i was glad to do it because i have never written a grant app before, but it has eaten so much of my time. my intake pile of new cases has been growing and i have trials next week that i need to prepare for. AND, today was the last day for one of the attorneys in my office and i am sad. i don't think i've ever been this sad about someone quitting, but this time i really am. she was such an awesome person and a GREAT lawyer. and considering we haven't hired her replacement yet, things around the office are going to be insane. ugh. i'd better go home and catch up on some zzz's while i still can.

pretty pictures

i love it when i'm actually ahead of the fashion curve. miss dior cherie has been a favorite perfume of mine since 2006 and the recent (well, not so recent) ads for the perfume really are amazing. from what i understand, sofia coppola (yes, the amazing genius who created marie antoinette) was the mastermind behind these.

ha!

i just noticed that i already blogged about the blue dress. guess it shows how much i love it. :)

wine, friends, and knitting

what a weekend! john and i were pleasantly surprised yesterday when one of his good friends gave us a call and said he was in town. soooo...we headed to one of my new fav restaurants in new braunfels, the gruene door, and then headed to a local bar to watch the spurs/mavericks game. i'm not a sports fan by any stretch of the imagination, but with 2 guys around you have to be flexible sometimes. we did have a good time (and a lot of good beer) despite the fact that the spurs lost. we then girlied it up a bit and walked over to one of my favorite wine bars, kork, and spent the rest of the evening trying foreign beers and yummy wines. i love these kinds of laid back days.

oh, also this weekend i bought this adorable little blue dress from target.



i also found 2 interesting books called the cool girl's guide to knitting and the cool girl's guide to crochet. i had dabbled a bit with knitting a couple of years ago but kind of fizzled. maybe these books will help get me back on track!

new dress

check out this adorable dress i just got from target. love, love, love it!

lazy, lazy day

another lazy weekend day in my world and i have to say that i'm not complaining, nor do i feel at all guilty. with last week being so busy, i'm grateful for the down time. today i slept in, put a ball cap on, and had yummy mexican food with my sweetie for lunch. he, unfortunately, had to catch up on some work, so i had the afternoon to myself. i caught up on some old shows on the handy dvr and later met up with sweetie again at barnes and noble where we split a yummy cupcake and an amazing slice of neapolitan cheesecake (HIGHLY recommend it). while at b&n, i purchased my first sart book, succulent wild woman, and am already addicted. i first heard about her on a kimberly wilson podcast and since them i have been wanting to read her books. like i need another book to read, but i just can't help myself! so, i'm off to bed a bit earlier than normal so i can dig into it.

mmm...my lazy day ended on a lovely high note with a delicious dinner prepared by my sweetie and a fabulous bottle of wine. i'm kind of frustrated with him right now, but the dinner was a nice thing for him to do. boys are okay sometimes. :)

busy bee sleepy

what a week! i was so exhausted by the end of it that I slept in until noon today and i have no other plans but to be lazy, read a few books, and take the puppies for a walk.

making changes

yesterday was such a LONG day! after a hectic morning in court, a few of us headed up to austin to testify to the state legislature in support of a proposed bill (hb 2789, if you're interested). i have never testified before the legislature before, so i was quite nervous, but i was so proud of our effort and i think we did a pretty good job. the proposed bill is a bit controversial - any attempt to prosecute women who give birth to babies testing positive for an illegal substance seems to really upset some people. go figure. sure enough, we did have some opposition testify against the bill (ACLU, texans care for children, and the texas criminal defense attorneys association), but i wasn't too impressed with their performance. i'm not sure if the bill will go anywhere this session, but at least we are laying the foundation. gotta think baby steps.

so, we celebrated just a little bit after we got done and i didn't get home until very late. i'm regretting that a bit today since i am super tired. but it was totally worth it to get to spend the day with some fabulous people all working to make changes. :)

brochures

so, i guess i have found a new creative outlet - brochure-making. yep, i just finished creating 2 brochures, one for my juvenile cases regrading sealing of records and one for the children's advocacy center's baby moses project. it's actually pretty darn fun and is a creative use of my time that also still constitutes work. it's a win, win. i've been struggling for years to find creativity in my life, which i always assumed was something other than work. i suppose my little brochure-making rendezvous is my way of trying to find creativity in the day-to-day. go me! plus, everyone now thinks i'm super talented even though it's just a word brochure template with some clip art.

repetto

i've been dying for a pair of repetto flats for a few years now, but it's always so hard to find them online much less anywhere in my neck of the woods. a couple of days ago, i was at their website, which has been awesomely revamped, and found this pic of their store window in paris. such lovely tributes to the company's ballet roots. SIGH...i need to hop on the next plane to paris. but when to take the time off???

fredericksburg

woo hoo! what a fabulous day! john and i hit the road at 8:30 this morning and made it to fredericksburg at about 10:00. our original plan was to have breakfast on main street before hitting the wineries, but of course we couldn't find the restaurant. we always have bad luck with directions, which was fine, because i really was more interested in starting the wine tasting. we visited the grape creek winery and torre di pietra. two tastings and 6 wine purchases later, we headed back into town for lunch at the fredericksburg brewery company, where i had some pretty tasty beer and a traditional german sausage plate (of course!). yes, as you might can tell, the both of us consumed more alcohol by 2pm than we generally drink in a month, but that was fine because next on the agenda was SHOPPING! main street is just full of cute stores, cafes, restaurants, and sweet shops. oh, and lots of german-speaking people too. we ended the day by cheering to our 10 years together at a sweet and romantic little restaurant, the fredericksburg herb farm.

i'm in love with little fredericksburg. next time i'm definitely staying at least one night in a bed and breakfast and checking out more wineries. who needs france or italy when we have it all in good ol' texas? :)

good friday

after getting stood up by the sprinkler repair guy this morning, i finally ventured out on my day off and got a fabulous pedicure at a new braunfels nail salon (the lavender pedicure, to be exact!). now my toenails are an adorable shade of pink. john dragged me to kohls afterwards and i found 3 so so so fab handbags, all for the total sum of $24 dollars. i've mentioned before what a handbag snob i am, but these were too cute to pass up. i'm not completely against cheap handbags, as long as they don't LOOK cheap. i found 2 cute little clutches and 1 super structured handbag a la grace kelly. gotta love deals.

tomorrow we are off to fredericksburg for the day. we plan on visiting 2 wineries, a brewery, and, of course, main street. not the extraordinary plan i had for celebrating our 10 year anniversary (paris would have been so much better), but i think we're going to have a great time.

tyc and crack babies

what a day. literally spent the entire day in the courtroom handling a juvenile case. the judge ordered the kiddo to TYC which was very hard for the family to hear. despite my competitive streak and desire to win, i'm always a little bit sad at tyc cases. typically, when a kid is facing tyc, they bring everything out in terms of family history and it usually in't a very happy one. regardless, sometimes the tough decisions have to be made and this kid was not going to be successful by remaining at home. he's luckier than most, though. he has a supportive family that will be there for him while he's in tyc and after he is released.

anyway, i am super excited though because my civil chief invited me to come testify with her next wednesday at the state legislature. the proposed bill addresses criminal penalties for mothers who give birth to children who test positive for penalty group 1 controlled substances (meth, cocaine, heroine, etc.). the sad reality of our current laws is that a mother can knowingly use drugs while very much pregnant, give birth to a baby with drug addiction and the horrible mental and developmental problems that go along with that, and the most we can do is have CPS remove the child. that mother is free to get knocked up again and start the process all over without ever having to answer for it criminally. it is mind-blowing how irresponsible some women are and how little they actually care for the one person they should care the most about.

anyway, thank goodness tomorrow is a holiday, even though i have tons of work i plan to do at home. any work is much more enjoyable when done in comfy pajama pants and t-shirts.

sweetfest

just got home from sweetfest - the annual fundraiser for the comal county child welfare board. this was my first time to attend, and let me just say that it totally earns its name. there were tables upon tables of nothing but cupcakes, cookies, pies, cakes, and candies - all donated by some very talented local baking queens and all for the taking. john and i gorged on yummy sweets and we had a good time watching the entertainment (cute kiddies dancing traditional german dances, more cute kiddies showing off their karate skills, and a young man who spent 10 years in CPS care and is now a musician). i actually won a couple of fun things at the silent auction, including a pink koozie from one of my fav new braunfels shops, princess be, and a beautiful blue stone necklace from a shop in gruene. all in all, a great way to spend a sunday afternoon. i just love supporting local non-profits that focus on such important social issues. unfortunately, there just seem to be so many and not enough people or money to always go around. as a board member of such a non-profit, i know how that goes. sigh...

anyway, i am determined to go to bed at a decent time tonight so i can start the week off right. lots of big things that i have to deal with this coming week, so gotta get my crazy sleep schedule back on track.

april

for those who don't know, april is child abuse prevention awareness month and sexual assault awareness month. this is a busy time for me since i'm on the board of our local non-profit sart (sexual assault response team) foundation and i'm heavily involved in child abuse issues as a juvenile prosecutor. wednesday i, along with a few other fabulous board members, did a presentation to a local rotary club about sexual assault and the forensic sexual assault exams that our organization provides. giving a presentation to about 60 well-respected local figures was so stressful, but i was prepared and it went off without a hitch and we got some ultra-positive feedback as well. probably the most moving part of the experience was when a young woman approached me afterwards and told me a bit about her experience - tears and all. visit www.taasa.org if you want to learn more.

friday was the child abuse prevention kick-off luncheon hosted by one of our county commissioners. while we had a great time honoring some important local people who are committed to the cause, the sad reality was that the majority of attendees were law enforcement, prosecutors, cps workers, and others who deal with this issue on a daily basis. there really wasn't anyone there from the "outside" - those who aren't involved in the day-to-day prevention but who care enough to honor those who do. i don't know, child abuse just really isn't one of those social issues that many people get insanely passionate about, which boggles my mind. show someone a starving animal, and he or she will get fired up and probably start donating money or doing something (myself included), but talk about the magnitude of children who are starving, have no parental support or supervision, and who are physically beaten on a regular basis and many people seem to think the problem is exaggerated. it really is such a horrific state of things. visit here if you want to learn more.

oh, and i totally wore my new hot pink suit to the rotary club presentation. i looked SO fab!!!

tired...so tired.

preppy

so, for some reason, i've been regressing to my high school preppy days of yore. lilly pulitzer dresses have been beckoning, i had to make a run to the closest lacoste store today for a new polo, and i'm a mere seconds away from popping my collar and donning a ribbon belt. i guess this is due to the coming of spring and happy pastel colors, but seriously how can you not love little dresses like this:



or this:



i'm even eyeing these loafers from brooks brothers.



but what i did actually buy today (other than my adorable pink lacoste polo) was a hot pink suit. yes, you heard right. only the jacket is hot pink, the skirt is black, and it is absolutely fun. and while at the outlet mall today, i saw this:



it would have been more fun if it had been operational.

last night, john and i had movie night at the house. we watched my best friend's girl and jumper (hayden christensen is so hot). today, we did a bit of shopping where i got a couple of handy things from the container store, including this for my scarves:



and this for my gift wrap stuff.



we also continued on my cupcake escapade by visiting kate's frosting in san antonio. it's an adorable little shop in the monte vista area and had pretty awesome cupcakes to boot.

oh, and this evening i enjoyed some tv for the first time this week. i gotta say that eliminating the tele from from my weekdays opens me up to so much more, like reading. i think i need a cozy reading chair like this one from ikea:

ugh, my dogs are giving me such a headache right now. i can't stand the barking for no reason that they do sometimes. drives me NUTS! anyway, do you ever have those days where your mind is just a constant influx of ideas? that is how i've been for the past couple of days and it is exhausting! too many things that i want to do that i just have to write them down and hope to someday follow-up on them.

so, i had to take a break from this blog entry to clear my head. it really is so hard to believe how fast time is flying. march is practically over, my 10 year anniversary with john is in april, i have court hearings galore coming up fast, and i will be spending the month of may in junior high schools talking about abstinence (always a fun endeavor) and putting on a clinic with local law enforcement to draft their wills. i just can't get my head around everything i need to do. it's overwhelming, but in a good way, i suppose. i just bought the book bitter is the new black so i'm off to bed to read and relax.

a nice day

today was a refreshing little break. it's never enough time to do everything that i want plus get the rest i so desperately need, but it was nice nonetheless. i spent a couple of hours at a coffee shop reading mary carlomagno's book and i even squeezed in a little shoe therapy. check them out below. yes, i have pretty conservative shoe tastes, but when i find what i want it is kismet.




yes, i really did take these while lying on my back with my feet in the air. what can i say, shoes really make me giddy.

oh, and i haven't watched tv all day, even though i know dancing with the stars is on and it is one of my fav shows. yea for day one!