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.