9 Things, with bonus Wedges

My busy-ness remains all consuming, and but I need a break. I feel chatty and have no outlet because everyone around me is also busy and with bullets 1 and 8 below, I fear I should not use my new tan wedges, which just arrived from DSW.com with the last gasp of my birthday money (thanks Grandma and Grandpa- you know I love any excuse to be 6 feet tall), as a conversation starter with my office neighbor.

A colleague who I assure you, would ordinarily give them at least .25 billable hours of praise and commentary. She would also fully appreciate how great they will look on the weekends with the jeans I wore last Friday cuffed up a little. These are the things I look for in an office friend.

This wedge-focused intro should really be bullet #1, but that's okay, we'll just start here:

1. My cheerful outfit has been postponed until tomorrow because I remembered that we were hosting a lunch today for the two firm-wide heads of my section who were coming in from Houston and Dallas.  Sadly, attorneys in Houston and Dallas don't wear jersey dresses with peep-toe wedges to work, so I'm wearing a suit.  I've probably worn a suit in the Austin office less than a dozen times in 2.5 years. When you do, people assume it's because you have an interview elsewhere. 
2. On the positive side, since I divide the price of any outfit (or pair of shoes) by the number of times I wore it, the cost of my new suit has already been cut in half twice.  Also, wearing a suit makes me feel like a lawyer when I drop my kids off at daycare.  Sometimes, that's fun.
3. On the negative side, that dress is really cute and I would have been more comfortable wearing it after eating the large slice of triple chocolate cake I had with lunch. 
4. My little Clairebear/baby Biscuit is turning 9 months old on Friday.  I never thought I'd want babyhood to last any longer than necessary, but I'm really quite sad about Claire getting any older.  But then I look at Landon and remember that 3-year-olds are pretty freaking awesome, so maybe aging is okay.
5. I've embarked on a month-long plan of personal and professional development.  If I didn't have so much work to do, and didn't have a husband or children, I feel that I would do a much better job of growing both personally and professionally.  But even with all that, it's still going well.
6. I love the beginning of the month because I'm not behind in my time yet.  I loathe entering my time. 
7. I realized the other day that while I have had many projects that I did not love, and quite a few that I actively hated (including one I'm working on right now), I have never once dreaded going to work. I think that's pretty good.
8. I love the Katy Perry "Firework" song more than I should.  It's playing on my pandora station right now and the only thing stopping me from singing out load is the fact that one of those visiting partners is sitting in a visitor office directly across from my open door. 
9. I went birthday shopping with my mom this past Sunday while I was home and my shoulder is still sore from carrying around my purse for that long.  My mom is a dynamo of discount shopping (or diva, given that she did it all in 3.5" spike heels; I caved to flip flops).  I was foolish to think I could keep up with her- by our 6th stop (and our 2nd stop at a TJ Maxx), I needed a large diet vanilla coke from Sonic just to keep functioning.  But despite what I fear is some sort of permanent shoulder damage, it was a great day.  I purchased several cute new things for Spring, all for a very small amount of money because my mom is also made of bargain hunting magic.  I look through a rack at Ross and find nothing.  My mom looks through the same rack and pulls out 6 things that I love and fit perfectly and all cost about $14.99.  If I worked out, we could go shopping more often. 

That's all I've got. Now, sadly, it's back to work.