Size Does Matter

As an attorney, I own many boring, grey, black, and dark brown work clothes. I have skirts and pants in these drab colors all with nicely coordinating neutral tops. Totally boring. Today I knew I would be in the office all day working on a pleading so it did not really matter what I wore. I decided to be sassy and pulled out a colorful, print, cotton skirt from my closet. Then I thought, wait this skirt is really old, I bet it doesn't even fit anymore. I looked at the tag, size 8. I thought nice try, this is never going to fit, better pick out a grey skirt. I stared at that size 8 tag for a while and decided, what the hell, I'll give it a try. I pulled it on, zipped it up, and it fit! Oh happy day! I stared in the mirror, thinking I cannot believe I am wearing a size 8 again, yes! For a while I have been consistently wearing a size 12, even, oh the horror, a size 14 (hey H and M runs small, its not my fault, I swear!). So even though I am stuck in my office all day working, every now and then I am going to get up and do a happy dance because I am wearing a size 8! Plus my happy dance might burn some calories, size 6 here I come!

One of My Favorite Wedding Pictures

I love this picture of my husband and me from our wedding. It was taken right after the ceremony when the bridal party was congregating to take our group shots. I love that the photographer captured such a candid moment, especially because it is so representative of me and my husband. I look like I am spouting off some crazy, random thought, and Brady looks like he is telling me to shut up. Love it! You have to be able to laugh at little things like this, especially because I am often spouting off some crazy, random thought.

Mexican Lasagna and a New Website

Here is my recipe for Mexican Lasagna. It is a casserole dish consisting of layers of tortillas, beans, salsa, spinach, and lots and lots of gooey cheese. Its awesome! I have made it many times for many different people and it always gets great reviews. It is also a good way to sneak in some healthy veggies hidden under all that cheese.

I posted the recipe on a new website which is so much fun, www.tastykitchen.com. I can't wait to try out all these new recipes!

P.S. Please do not make this on a Saturday night, go out and have a margarita!

Mexican Lasagna

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My Neighbors Think I'm a Bitch.

There is a couple that lives across the street from me, we'll call them Bob and Jane. They are an older couple, late 40s - early 50s, no kids, just the two of them. Almost every day they hang out in their garage and drink coors light. Sometimes they sit on the back of their pick up truck and drink coors light. Every time I drive home from work, no matter what time, there they are drinking coors light in front of their house. Needless to say, I do not have a whole lot in common with these people. In fact, I think its pretty strange to stand in your driveway and drink coors light for hours on end.

When we first moved in, I would wave and smile, I even talked to them a couple of times and it was fine. However it became awkward because every damn time I pull up to my house, there they are, drinking coors light. I really have nothing to say to them and I could never think of any conversation topics, so I started just waving and running into my house to avoid an awkward conversation. Now after a few months of this, I can tell, I can just feel, that they think I'm a grade A bitch. Don't get me wrong, I can be bitchy, oh I can bitch with the best of them. But I swear I'm not really a bitch. Even though, I try to smile and wave to show that I am nice and friendly, they still stare me down, coors light in hand, looking at me like I'm the queen bitch.

I suppose I could be offended, but these people hang out on their pick up truck at all hours drinking coors light, so I don't really care. Besides, this is not the first time that someone has thought that I am a bitch. I have heard many times, the following statement, "Oh when I first met you, I really thought you were a bitch, but now that I know you, you are really nice." I can be painfully shy when I first meet people. Eyes to the ground, runaway to a safe place, kind of shy. This does not make sense to people who have known me for years because, when I am comfortable, I am extremely out going. But when I first meet you? Oh wow, I'm a bumbling mess of nerves. I try to remember that people often equate shyness with bitchiness and that I need to be more assertive when I first meet people. This is especially important in my line of work as I am always meeting new people or having to face nerve rattling situations (i.e. a judge yelling at me).

So while my neighbors may think I'm an evil bitch, I thank them for reminding me that I need to ditch the shyness and just be myself from the very onset of meeting new people so that they can see the real me and not the bumbling, nervous, running away, shy me.

Pay Attention!

Today, at work, I was in a complete and total fog. I was in a daze all day from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. A complete, deer in headlights, stare off into space daze. I could not understand why I was in such a fog, I slept well the night before, I ate breakfast, I drank coffee and diet coke, yet I still could not shake it.

Today was not the day to be in a daze. I was working on legal research for a Supreme Court case, a United States Supreme Court case. I have only been an attorney for 2 1/2 years and I am working on a Supreme Court case. This is huge, this is monumental, this could be one of the most important cases I work on in my career. Yet, for some unknown reason, I spent the majority of my morning starting out my window and reading blogs.

After lunch, I figure I better snap out of it and focus. I had been working on this research project for days and needed to get something, anything, to my boss. So, I bust out an hour of actual productivity and email him my results. This next part may not make sense to you, but my boss emails me back and says he doesn't recognize the reporter listed in one of the cases I had cited. (Sidebar: when a court issues a decision and it is certified for publication, it is included in a volume called a reporter, there are reporters for state and federal court and by region, when you cite a case you list the volume, the name of the reporter, and the page number.) So, I look at the case citation and I don't recognize the reporter either. I pull up the case again and look at it. Right at the beginning of the first page, in all caps is "NOT CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION." OMG, OMG, I actually submitted a non-published case to my boss as my legal authority for a particular issue. Crap, crap, crap. I am a moron. Again, this probably does not make sense to a lot of people, but one of the first things you learn in law school is that if a case isn't published, it has no precedental value and cannot be cited to as legal authority. So here I am working on a Supreme Court case and I make this boneheaded mistake by submitting a basically worthless case to my boss, argh.

Then my boss asks me about another research project I am working on, again for the Supreme Court case. The research project I completely forgot about. Um, crap again. So I say I am still looking (despite the fact that I have not even started looking!). I find the answer quick and send it off, sweet, I rock, finally. Boss emails me, tells me I'm wrong and I am looking at the wrong rule. Ugh, this is getting old. I realized that in my haste I had picked the wrong rule because I could not be bothered to actually read the rule and think about it, because I'm rushing because I forgot about this assignment. I find the right rule of law that I'm looking for and send it off in an email, crisis averted. I still have a job, despite forgetting basic legal principles, rushing through work, and finding the wrong answers.

I start thinking, this research was important, why did I drop the ball so horribly? This day made me think of an article I recently read about self-sabotage. Basically, the article said that when a person is under a lot of pressure or very anxious about something, they subconsciously begin to self-sabotage as a way of dealing with the pressure. They might oversleep and go to work late, lose interest in things that matter, or engage in self-destructive behaviors such as alcohol and drugs. The article said that cases of self-sabotage were on the rise in this economy were people are nervous and anxious about their jobs, supporting their families, keeping their house, etc.

I decided that I was not going to fall victim to self-sabotage. I am going to relax, remind myself that I can handle the pressure, snap out of it, focus, pay attention, and do my job well. I went to the gym in an attempt to prove that I was in control of my life and I had control over my actions. Then I accidentally punched myself in the face during my kick-boxing class. Doh.

You Dirty Dog

Here is a brief lesson in how to wash a dog. First you need a dog, a dirty dog. Frank has kindly agreed to be my model and he is quite dirty.



Next you need dog shampoo. I love this stuff, it smells like oatmeal cookies and is very gentle. Frank has very sensitive skin so he appreciates this. I found this shampoo at Petsmart.



You will also need old towels and peanut butter. Peanut butter?



Yes, peanut butter! Today was my first time trying this trick. I smeared a bit of peanut butter on the tub where I wanted Frank to stand so that I and the water could easily reach him. He loved it and I had him right where I wanted him.



Now begins the actual bath, rinse your dog and get him all nice and sudsy. This process was much easier today with the use of the peanut butter.



After you are done with a thorough sudsing, rinse your dog completely. It is very important to get all the soap out of his fur, any leftover residue could cause skin irritation. Again, this was so much easier with the peanut butter. Frank just stood still the entire time and did not try to escape from the tub.



After your dog is completely rinsed off, towel dry! Some people use a blow dryer but bulldogs have very short coarse fur, so a blow dryer does not really work. Plus the noise scares the heck out of them.

And there you go, an easy dog bath. Well, I still had to heave 60 pounds of bulldog into the tub and then repeat the whole process with my other bulldog Mickey. So it really was not that easy for me. Which is why I'm enjoying a glass of wine now. The dogs got peanut butter, I got wine, everyone is happy.