Inspired

I went to a lunch talk today with Maureen Mahoney. She's the head of the Latham & Watkins appellate practice group in Washington, DC and one of the top Supreme Court advocates out there. She's argued 18 cases in front of the Supreme Court and won 16 of them (including the famous Grutter v. Bollinger decision on the University of Michigan Law School's affirmative action program). She talked about a few of her big cases, played sound clips of oral arguments, and gave us lots of inside info about arguing in front of the Court. She was bright, funny, and engaging. I actually teared up when she played the opening line when the Court begins its sessions- what an amazing thing to have in your memory (eighteen times!). I want absolutely nothing to do with litigation, and yet I walked out of the room wanting to be her.

One of the best things about this law school, besides the professors, is the absurdly accomplished pool of alumni that students group can draw from for speakers. I have attended some incredible lunch talks and round tables over my nearly three years here, and I think I'll take away as much from them as my classes. Especially this year as my classes have increasingly become an afterthought...

Distractions

Rather than bore you with details about my stress level, impossibly long to-do list, and the phone call I just had filled with the mind-numbing logistics of our cross-country move, I offer you this video clip of Landon. I took it on Saturday when he got up into the crawling position for the first time ever. He didn't actually go anywhere, and he succumbed to the weight of gravity pulling on his belly pretty quickly, but it makes me smile every time I see it.

Videographer's note: I hate the way my voice sounds on videos and voicemails. And Landon sounds like a baby velociraptor, but a happy, cuddly velociraptor who doesn't want to eat you.

The Quarter-Century Mark

Today was the official birthday. It was pretty anticlimactic since I'd already celebrated it with my friends on Thursday and JP on Saturday. I actually forgot it was today until I checked my email about an hour after Landon woke me up (no, he did not let me sleep in) and saw an inbox full of "Happy Birthday" messages on my Facebook Wall. It took me a second to figure out why so many people would be writing me when I hadn't updated my profile recently.

And I'm glad we celebrated early because today ranks pretty low on the birthday hit list. I started coughing last night and woke up with a swollen throat- I can't even complain much about it, I should have gotten sick weeks ago. Landon also coughed last night, woke up much earlier than we'd hoped, and was so fussy and stuffy this morning that I called the pediatrician and begged to be worked in. We got a 1:20 appointment- smack in the middle of the day, guaranteeing I wouldn't get any work done. I dropped Landon off at Maya's once his stuffiness calmed down (or, more accurately, drained all over his first outfit). I felt bad doing it because he was sick, but I needed thirty minutes to get my fingerprinting done for the Bar Exam. If I didn't get it in the mail today my application would be rejected. After the finger printing (not nearly as stressful as the last time I was in a police station), I scrubbed my already dry and damaged hands for fifteen minutes to get the ink off, ran to Subway, inhaled a sandwich, and rode the bus to pick up Landon. We saw the pediatrician for the millionth time this month and left her office with a diagnosis of a cold virus and some medicine to help with his congestion.

For the next six hours after we got home Landon expressed his general unhappiness with the world, resisted the nap he so desperately needed, and refused to let his mom talk to the nice people calling her on the phone to sing Happy Birthday. I spent the six hours eating a pound of Robin's Egg Easter Whoppers, trying to quietly entertain Landon while on the phone, and sending polite instant messages to JP asking him to COME HOME NOW BECAUSE IT'S MY BIRTHDAY AND I DON'T FEEL GOOD AND LANDON WON'T GO TO SLEEP AND I'M SO TIRED AND YOU MUST DO SOMETHING. He came home, bearing pizza, at 7:30.

It's now 10 and I'm going to bed despite not having done any school work since last Thursday. I'm so behind in my reading that I'm starting to have nightmares about it. School doesn't stress me out much anymore, but I realized today, when I heard my voice sounding shrill during a phone call with JP, that I am stressed. My first final is two weeks from tomorrow. The quarter system sucks.

So I really did have a wonderful 25th birthday, it just wasn't today.

Baby Beluga in the Deep Blue... Aquaruim

If you didn't start singing along with that title then you need more Raffi in your life. I love his silly songs and "Baby Beluga" was always a favorite growing up. Last night JP and I had a delightful dinner at Quartino, an Italian tapas-like restaurant "where the wine is cheaper than water and the pizza is the finest". We love ordering lots of different dishes and drinking lots of cheap wine, so this place was perfect. I wore a very sexy dress loaned from a friend and felt like an almost twenty-five year old woman rather than an almost twenty-five year old mom. We spent 2+ hours eating way too much and drinking just the right amount. It was wonderful.

(Yes, the title does relate to the post, I'm getting there.) Yesterday afternoon JP surprised me by taking me ice skating (so fun!) and promised that my big birthday gift was also something unique to Chicago (well, unique as in we couldn't do it in Austin). When I opened my card at dinner I found out I was going to be a "Trainer for a Day" at the Shedd Aquarium! I am SO excited!! I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was little and have remained fascinated with the ocean and sea life. I'm a licensed scuba diver but haven't been since high school because JP has broken ears (well, there's a more technical name for the problem, but that's what I take away from his explanations) and can't handle the underwater pressure. But on March 8th I will be reunited with a few sea creatures. I'll arrive before the Aquarium opens, don rubber boots and a special "trainer for a day" t-shirt, and follow the real trainers around for four hours. I get to feed the belugas, dolphins, and sea lions and take part in the Oceanarium show (JP and Landon will be in the audience). I think I'm the girl who throws fish to the animals when they do what they're supposed to do- yay!!

Landon and I went to the aquarium this past Friday to check out the fish and hopefully he'll find it more interesting when his mommy is one of trainers.

Actually he had a good time, but dancing with joy in front of the penguin habitat for thirty minutes completely wore him out. Think he'll be generous and let his mommy sleep in past 5 AM on her birthday tomorrow? Based on his runny nose, fussiness, and potential third ear infection this month, I think probably not.

But I get to pet a beluga in two weeks!!!

End of an Era

My mom called this morning to tell me that my high school 100 breaststroke record was broken yesterday at the State meet prelims. I think she sounded a little more sad than I was. It's been so long since I've thought of myself as a swimmer, and I'm so happy and fulfilled with what I do now, that I was just excited for the girl who broke it (a junior who, according to everyone, is an all-around awesome girl). Swimming was an absolutely fantastic time in my life, and I'm lucky to have memories of traveling to big meets, winning races, standing on awards stands, and sharing it all with my teammates and best friends. Records are meant to be broken and eight years is a pretty long time for one to stand.

So congrats to you, breaker of my last high school record, and kick ass at finals tonight!

Have Whine, Need Cheese

I'm trying to keep this blog from turning into a complete whine-fest, but this has not been a particularly good morning. We got the DCFS investigative file last night and reading through it was horrible. I'll probably have more to say about it later, but reading a blow-by-blow of the events (and my reactions) through someone else's eyes was really hard. The nightmares I hadn't had in a few weeks came back and I slept terribly last night. Then I got a $100 parking ticket this morning when I left my flashers on at the end of a bus zone (half of my car was legal, the other half was illegal) to run Landon up to Maya's. I was gone for 3 minutes and now I have to divert my birthday money to a thoroughly crappy expense. I have no idea where I'll park when I do the pick-ups and drop-offs, I've always used the bus zone. There's no parking at all, so it's either block a bus (I wasn't really blocking a bus, the "zone" is as long as 3 buses) or block a fire hydrant. I guess I'll go for the fire hydrant.

The day is going to get better though. Tonight is my birthday party with girlfriends at a wine bar. I'm very excited to get dressed up and eat and drink with these girls whom I'm getting more and more upset about leaving in June. And the next several days are going to be really good. Tomorrow includes a dental appointment (okay, that won't be good, but I'll be downtown which is always fun), lunch with a possible future UC law student mom, and the aquarium with Landon and a few friends; Saturday brings a birthday surprise from JP (no idea what that could be, he's not usually big on the planning of things) and dinner out while friends babysit; Sunday includes an Oscar party I'm hostessing; and Monday is my actual quarter-century mark. JP is feeling better, I'm not feeling worse, and Landon kind of slept through the night again (woke up at 5 AM, not quite 6:30, but I'll take it). Things could be worse... though I'm still mad about that parking ticket!

Getting Up Early, Coming In Late

Landon woke up at 6:30 this morning*, so I woke up at 6:30 this morning. I have class at 8:30 on Wednesdays, so this should have worked out perfectly- we need to be out the door at 7:30 and one hour is usually plenty of time to make that happen. But then it took a while for Landon to eat his breakfast, and JP is really sick so he was in bed and no help at all, and suddenly it was 7:10 and I hadn't even changed out of my PJ's, and then I was dressed but Landon wasn't, and then we were both dressed but my backpack wasn't packed, and then I had to make up Landon's lunch and bottles, and then I remembered that it was negative fifty degrees outside (or maybe it was 3 degrees, but at that level of coldness, the difference is negligible) so I put on warmer shoes, and then I had to wrangle Landon into his coat, mittens, and hat, and then I started walking out the door wearing my backpack and a Landon but no coat, so I had to take everything off, set down the Landon, and put on my scarf, coat, and gloves... and then it was 8:26 and my class was going to start in 4 minutes. Maybe we'll make it next week.

Mornings like this make me think how different life will be when JP can help out with the daycare drop-off and pick-up. Right now we live near the middle of our two jobs - he drives 30 miles Northwest, I drive 15 miles Southeast. It would be ridiculous for him to drive an extra 30 miles, in terrible traffic (his 30 mile commute usually takes 75-90 minutes, my 15 miles usually takes about 35 minutes in the morning and 45-60 minutes in the evening) just to drop Landon off, no matter how much of a help it would sometimes be. Help with the pick-ups would be even better. I leave school at 4:40 to get the little guy, and while most days that's just fine, there are days when I really need another hour or two to work, or attend a meeting, or take a seminar. The other downside to JP's commute (besides our high gas bills and his occasional crabbiness) is that even when he leaves work at a reasonable hour, he doesn't get home until at least another hour after that. I love Landon, but evenings are a fussy time and by 8:30 I could really use another person to hold and entertain him while I make dinner or dare to sit down for a few minutes.

Most of the time everything works fine, but the commute is really wearing on JP and I'm getting really behind in my reading (and finals are 3 weeks away- gulp). I just keep reminding myself that in a few short months, I'll be the one working (5 miles from the neighborhood we're hoping to buy in), JP will be a student (only 12 miles from our hopeful home, in the same direction I'm going), and Landon will be at a wonderful daycare right in the middle. On the mornings when I have an early call or meeting, it's going to be so nice to say, "JP, can you drop Landon off?" And of course, there won't be the coat, hat, and mittens nonsense to deal with either...

*I'm hesitant to even announce this, but Landon slept from 8:30 PM to 6:30 AM without waking up once. I think he knew his daddy was really sick, his mommy was well on her way, and we really, really needed some sleep. He may be the dictator of our little apartment, but at times, he can be a benevolent one.

Restaurant Research and Reaction Papers

I love birthdays- they're like little holidays sprinkled throughout the year and offer a great excuse to eat cake, be spoiled, and go out with friends and significant others. I turn 25 next Monday. My girl friends are taking me to a wine bar Thursday night and JP and I are going to dinner on Saturday while two friends dote on Landon. I have a reaction paper due at 4 PM on a scholarly paper I still don't understand enough to "react" to, but I've spent the last hour perusing restaurant reviews online for our dinner out on Saturday. I feel so much pressure! I love trying new places, I love researching, and I love reading menus, but there's too much information about too many restaurants! And we're leaving Chicago in a little over three months and there's so many restaurants we haven't tried yet. I'm torn between going to a tried and true favorite and trying one of the million other great restaurants in this city. And I want to go somewhere nice where we can have a long, multiple course meal, with drinks, but I don't want to spend all of my birthday money on one night. We both love Latin American food, but we just went to Carnivale to celebrate JP's admittance to business school (definitely one of the best meals I've ever had), so I'm thinking we should branch out to another type. There's just too many fantastic places to eat in this city!

Sigh... I suppose I should return to working on my Law & Politics paper that's due in less than 3 hours. I've read all 53 pages of the paper being presented, twice, and I still don't understand it. The authors are proving a theorem that seems completely intuitive to me and they never explain why this theorem matters or needed to be empirically proven at all. So far I have two pages rambling about my belief that all papers should have a point and this one does not. You should be able to answer the questions, "what is this paper about?" and "who is going to (want to) read it?" after reading the introduction (or at the very least, the entire paper) and I still can't answer either one. I'm not sure my professors are going to like it, and I'm not sure how I can possibly expand on that any further to reach the length requirement, but I'm armed with a diet coke and chocolate chip cookie, so I'm going to try. I wonder how many times I can get away with using the word "understand" in a single paragraph...

Maybe Moving Down South Isn't So Bad...

Today our temperature spiked up to a toasty 42 degrees, causing flash floods as the ice melted all around the city. My car was standing in about 8 inches of water when I went out to run errands this morning (thank goodness I have an SUV)- I had to jump in the passenger door and crawl over to the driver's seat. When I came back and tried to parallel park in front of my building, my car slid along a huge sheet of ice into an illegal spot by the stop sign. I couldn't leave it there overnight, but my two front wheels were in a deep puddle and the two rear wheels were stuck on ice. I called for JP and he pushed with all his strength (and he's really strong!) and the car wouldn't budge. We tried to put mats behind the two rear wheels for traction, but the car still wouldn't move. We called our landlord who lives down the street to help push, but he was out in the suburbs. Then I thought of boiling water to melt the ice (it was the kind of super compacted, super frozen ice that you can't break with a shovel). So we filled our big pot and tea kettle with water and took trips running outside to pour it on the ice blocks. After three rounds of walking down the sidewalk in oven mitts holding a giant pot of boiling water, ten minutes of JP hacking at the ice with a hammer, and five minutes of JP pushing the car with all his might while I hit the gas- I was free!

This has been a ridiculous winter.
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Full Fat Delicious

Yesterday JP had some work to do at his office way out in Schaumburg, so Landon and I decided to come along and run a few errands in the suburbs. (Side note: I'm scared of moving to the suburbs. There's so much more STUFF out there. Stores, lots of stores, full of stuff we don't need but start thinking we do- and there's parking lots for your cars so you can pile the stuff inside. When I shop in the city I have to carry everything home and this greatly limits my purchase power.) Landon got to try out his Evenflo Titan in JP's car while we were stuck in traffic for an hour and he seemed more comfortable than in his Britax. I'm thinking about making JP switch with me.

Anyway, while we were at the office "helping" JP bind some books for a meeting, I opened his desk drawer to discover original Lays Barbecue chips. I haven't had a full fat chip in years- it's baked only for me. I switched forever ago and had myself totally convinced that I didn't like the regular kind. But I was hungry, so I tried one, and oh my goodness, it was delicious. So light, so crispy, so full of barbecue flavor! I immediately ate 50 more. I tried my Barbecue Baked Lays when I got home and they were SO not the same. Then I ate a giant slice of triple chocolate mousse cake leftover from our sushi and champagne Valentine's dinner. If you add that to the creamy corn chowder soup I had at California Pizza Kitchen, and the Mike and Ikes I ate with breakfast, it was a full fat delicious kind of day.
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