Having Our Cake and Eating It Too

Brady and I recently celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. In keeping with tradition, we saved part of our wedding cake to eat on our anniversary. It has been sitting in my parents' freezer for over a year. This past weekend, we finally got around to eating.

Here is our cake in all its original glory. It was a very simple white cake with chocolate mousse and fresh strawberries. The cake topper is the one that my grandparents used for their wedding, over 55 years ago.



Yup, I went there, I smashed cake in Brady's face. I couldn't help myself. He deserved it for taking all those jager shots before the ceremony.



How's that cake up your nose, Brady?



Here we are, a little over a year later with our cake. I must say I do photograph better when my hair and make up are professionally done.



Brady claims that he didn't eat any cake at our wedding except for the piece I shoved up his nose, so I let him go first with the cake tasting. He looks a little nervous about eating year-old, frozen cake.



And it's confirmed, year-old frozen cake is pretty awful. Actually it is downright disgusting. But we ate it, does that bring us good luck? A long, happy marriage? Or just a slight case of food poisoning?

Slimy

I hate lawyers, specifically male ones. Yes, I am aware that I am a lawyer and that I am married to a male lawyer but there is just something so slimy about male lawyers.

I had a trial today, it was the continuation of a trial that started last week. Last week the parents of the special education child were unrepresented, and that was fine. Sometime in between last Wednesday and last Friday, they got a lawyer. I talked to this lawyer and his associate over the phone a couple times before today. I was assured that they were not going to recall witnesses. We get to the courtroom today, and the first thing he does is recall a witness. So I object, tell the judge that I was informed that witnesses were not going to be recalled and this slimy lawyer basically calls me a liar. But he is the one that is lying! So the witness ends up getting recalled for rebuttal purposes and it was fine, but I cannot believe how slimy and untruthful this guy was!

The special education legal community is very, very small. It is the same group of lawyers that pretty much handle everything so you see the same people over and over again. You would think people would want to be nice and courteous because you know you are going to see the same people over and over again. This is the first time I met this particular lawyer, you think he would at least be professional and um, I don't know, not lie! This is particularly egregious in this area of law, this is all about the kids, kids with special needs, parents dealing with kids with special needs. Slimy lawyers who lie have no place in this area of law. They all need to go represent tobacco companies. That's where slimy lawyers who lie belong.

And that is the end of my rant. I rest my case.

Oops

Today I had lunch with a friend, and I pigged out. I had half a ham and swiss sandwich with dijonaisse and a bowl of beef chili. This is definitely pigging out by my standards. But I was hungry, no starving, and if I didn't eat something big and comforting I was going to die, seriously.

So after lunch I send this text, "I had lunch with [friend]. I know she was judging what I ate." But, I sent the text to the friend I had lunch with, it was meant for someone else, but I accidentally sent it to her.

She texted back, graciously, that she was not judging me. Feeling very embarrassed, I confessed to her that I felt really guilty about what I had eaten and that I know she wasn't judging me and I need to not worry about what other people think of me. We then had a very interesting conversation about eating, healthy eating, worrying about what other people think, jealousy, etc. What was originally an accident, turned out to be a very fruitful conversation of the pressures we feel in dieting and in everyday life. We lamented the fact that girls just worry about what others think of them and that boys are lucky because they just have technology envy and you can buy electronics.

So here are my life lessons that I learned from this little incident:

1. A good friend will, and does, understand all your insecure feelings and confessing these feelings makes you feel not so alone in the world.

2. Everyone, at some point, is jealous of someone else for something be it inconsequential or not. We are human, these feelings are going to happen and we should not beat ourselves up about it.

3. My friend really does not give a damn about what I eat for lunch.

Later in the day, I recounted this story to my sister and told her what I ate for lunch. Her response was "Damn!" So much girls not judging each other!

Housewarming Party

This past Saturday, Brady and I hosted an all day open house style house warming party. We had lots of friends and family over and it was loads of fun.

Here is all the food I cooked, breakfast hasbrown casserole, macaroni and cheese, baked beans:





Here is the awesome meat I got from Johnny Reb's:





Here is the gigantic University of Michigan wolverine that Brady blew up and stuffed into a corner of our house:





Here are friends and family:





What? You can't see the pictures? What happened? Oh yeah, I didn't take any pictures. Not one single picture. We had a totally fun party with tons of people that we don't see very often and I didn't break out my camera once. I, who takes pictures of absolutely everything, did not snap a solitary photo. In my defense, being a hostess for an all-day party can be pretty exhausting. Between talking to everyone, making sure the chips and salsa was well stocked, keeping the food warm, watching the bullies, I never got a chance to take pictures.

Despite the lack of pictures, I'm so glad we finally got around to having this housewarming party. We've lived in this house since last January so it was about time. I stayed up till 1am on Friday night getting everything ready, cooking, cleaning, etc. I had a crazy week at work and had done nothing to prepare for Saturday. It was a lot of work but totally worth it because it was a lot of fun. The Brady says, "let's have a Halloween party." I don't think so buddy, two parties in one month is so not happening!

Just Some Dogs

I am tired, so very tired. This week at work has kicked my behind. I have no energy to attempt to write anything witty or poignant. So here are some pictures of dogs.

This is Jack, he is Grandma Brady's dog. Brady's mom and his other grandma found him wandering the streets, all alone, when he was about 3 months old. He didn't have a collar or a microchip. After contacting the pound and not finding any record for him, Grandma Brady took him in.



Jack is crazy. He is crazy hyper. Mickey loves him. Frank just gets really tired around Jack.



It is really hard to take a picture of three dogs together.



Jack is such a sly little devil.

Spaghetti Pie

Today I had a very long, very tedious, very aggravating day of trial. Trial makes me hungry, like really hungry. But I had lunch with my client today so I couldn't really pig out like I wanted to, it's not very professional.

On my drive home I started thinking about the leftover spaghetti with meat sauce I was going to eat for dinner. And while that sounded good, it just wasn't enough. And that's when I had the idea to make spaghetti pie.

Here's what you need, leftover spaghetti, leftover spaghetti sauce, Italian blend cheese, and Italian bread crumbs. So deliciously simple. I love reworking leftovers. It's so yummy and economical.



I took a casserole dish, spayed it with olive oil Pam and spooned some of the sauce into the dish. Then I layered the leftover spaghetti, more sauce, cheese, more spaghetti, more sauce more cheese, and then I covered the whole thing with the breadcrumbs.



I baked it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes covered in foil, then uncovered for like 10 minutes, then I put it under the broiler for 5 minutes to get the top nice and crispy.




It was so yummy and comforting. A little spaghetti pie and a little wine and the stress of the day was melted away.



And now I need to get back to work, blah.