Quick Answers

I have an almost finished post addressing Anonymous's excellent questions about babies, law school, and potential career effects, but I can't give it the attention it deserves at the moment- hopefully tonight. For now I want to answer some of the "quick" questions; I'm going to fight the (very strong and almost overwhelming) urge to turn each answer into a long-winded essay, but it's going to be hard and I'm probably going to have to steal candy from the employment office as a reward when I'm done.

The Bar: We get results next Friday the 7th (although the rumor is they usually come out on Thursday afternoon at 2:30). My stomach is already in knots, though I am significantly more nervous about the election results on Tuesday as I would rather fail the Bar than see a McCain/Palin presidency. Next week will be a difficult one for my stomach, I already have Tums on standby.

Breastfeeding: This could of course be a full post, but it won't ever be because I have learned through the reading of other blogs that the internet is never, ever a good place to talk about this unless you did in fact breastfeed for an acceptable amount of time, and even then someone is going to beat you down for some reason or another. But I will answer in short that I do not believe Landon's medical issues had anything to do with his not being breastfed. I've read the studies about breastfeeding and decreased chance of ear infections, but I had five when I was a baby and JP has had hundreds and still has tubes to this day because of malformed Eustachian tubes which the ENT believes Landon has inherited- the kid was doomed. And the reflux happened because he was premature and his stomach valves weren't fully formed. And with the initial feeding tube, breathing trouble, two weeks in the NICU, reflux, digestive issues (also common in premies), fussiness, and general insanity of his first year, I truly cannot imagine the stress I would have been under, both physically and emotionally, had I also been his sole source of food. Both of us feeding him (super expensive hypoallergenic lactose-free) formula was the best thing for our family. I have zero regrets.

Favorite Celebrity: I have to confess that I kind of love all celebrities- well, all the real ones. I've never seen The Hills or a few of the other shows that now have their "stars" gracing the cover of magazines, but if you're an actor, actress, or musician I probably secretly love reading about you and seeing pictures of you dressed up in outfits I either covet or hate. I am also eternally optimistic for all of them and am genuinely sad when it turns out that negative rumors are true (like impending divorces, bad parenting, bad behavior, etc.).

Who does Landon take after? Physically he definitely takes after JP- their toddler pictures look so alike, and now that his eyes have officially turned hazel there's even less of me in him (they stayed blue like mine up until a few months ago). I like to think he inherited his sunny disposition from me and his stubborness comes straight from his dad (well, okay, maybe a little from me too).

Dream Vacation: (I'm making this plural because how can you pick one?) African safari, South American tour, Mediterranean cruise, Australian cross-country tour (with scuba diving), Skiing in Banff (skiing anywhere!!), returning to Europe to show JP my favorite places (especially Germany, Italy, and Greece), China, Israel, Russia, Alaskan glacier cruise... We're hoping to take on the world over the next fifty years, which should be helped by the fact we'll still be in our mid-forties when all our kids are off to college.

Where would I live if I could live anywhere? Internationally: Amsterdam. Domestically: Denver or any biggish ski town in Colorady. Really I'd just love to move around more (yeah I know, this from the girl who hates moving, but I do love being in new places)- I'd love to live on the West Coast for a few years, go back to Chicago for a few more (sometimes I miss it so much it hurts, like this morning when we finally got a taste of fall weather, I nearly cried as it sharply hit me that we really don't live there anymore), and of course someday come right back here to Austin. Unless my family will also relocate to Colorado or Chicago, then we can all live there forever.

Blonde.counsels' offer for Houston dinner/drinks: Absolutely! I'm sure I'll be in Houston for business again soon. I had a trip next week that was canceled, but there's another coming up on November 20th. I'll keep you posted. And I'll definitely show you around Austin should you find yourself here.

Swimming scholarships: To Rj, athletic scholarships are generally an undergrad thing but there's no rule prohibitting you from continuing your eligibility into graduate school should you have any left. You only get four years of active competition eligibilty, all of which JP used up in undergrad. The scholarships are given for a full year the first year and then by semester and are assumed renewable at each term. If you are injured you do generally lose the scholarship; mine continued through my first year even though I quit in November when it became clear my hip surgery did not bring about a full breaststroke-ready recovery and then was not renewed for sophomore year. Luckily I already had a healthy mix of academic and athletic awards, so I just threw myself into applying for more academic money.

Austin litigation: I already wrote "Matt" back personally but yes, the litigators at my firm definitely seem happy :)

Favorite Austin restaurant: For those who know Austin, you know this is a nearly impossible question to answer. The food and restaurant scene here is phenomenal, especially for a city of its size. Our favorite fancy place is Shoreline Grill (it's next to the Four Seasons), we got engaged there and celebrated many other milestones there over the past 7 years. My favorite BBQ is County Line, my favorite cheap tex-mex is El Arroyo ($1 Margaritas on Thursdays, you can't beat it) or Chuy's, my favorite expensive tex-mex is Fonda San Miguel, my favorite steak place is Sullivan's, my favorite fancy Italian is Carmelo's, my favorite breakfast place is Kerbey Lane, and my favorite breakfast tacos come from Red River Cafe, Juan in a Million, or Taco Deli. There's a million more wonderful places, but if we eat out it's almost always for Tex-Mex or breakfast. Mmmmm, now I want a breakfast taco.

And that's all for the quick stuff! Back to my diligence list.