End of 2010

No big plans for this evening... just putting on a pretty dress and drinking champagne with a few close friends at a hole in the wall dive bar.

2010 was a rollercoaster for sure... so much to be happy about, so much to be proud of, and so many things to cry over.

I ate a lot, drank a lot, slept a lot, and laughed A LOT.

Thank you so much for being here to share all of my adventures with me.

My new year's resolution is to laugh more in 2011. That's all. A lofty goal, but I have no doubt I can do it.

XOXO,
LF

Priorities

I-L-L!

back tomorrow to talk about other stuff.... but SO SO SO excited for my Illini!




it's a great day to bleed orange and blue.....

we're loyal to you Illinois......

we're orange and blue Illinois....

Heading back to Chicago

I'm heading back to Chicago tonight.... leaving 50 degrees and sun shining Dallas to head back to the frozen tundra. BUT it actually isn't that frozen! The high on Friday is 50 degrees in Chicago, which is VERY welcome news for all those who plan on donning a skimpy sequined frock to ring in 2011.

(I currently have no plans for ringing in the new year, but I have several friends who are in the same boat so if it comes down to it I might have people over to my place (yay for not spending money on cabs!))

While I'm sad to leave home, I'm ready to get back and get my life in order. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I've gained at least 5 pounds while home for 4.5 short days, and I'm eager to get back in the gym tomorrow and get it off. I'm not thrilled about getting back and studying for the bar exam, but I do love a nice routine, and having work/the gym/studying in combination with not drinking much is a situation I thrive in (yeah yeah yeah... I know. Think about how together I'd be if I stopped drinking altogether! Or even just one last night a week! Or went out and stuck to a two or three drink limit instead of 8 or 9 drinks and 3 or 4 shots! But how boring would that be? So boring!).

So while I'm excited to get my butt in gear... today is not tomorrow yet, so for now there is one of these combo meals calling my name....

Mmmmm.

I'll be back with a Christmas recap later this week!

Dear Santa, You already know.

A good family friend posted this on facebook today... it's the letter her 7 year old daughter wrote to Santa.

In case you can't read it, it says:


Dear Santa,
 I know you know how I have been this year and I am very sorry about all that I have done wrong. 
Love, Chloe




This is especially hilarious because my mom comes home from work (Chloe's mom works for Daddy Fabulous and has worked for him for as long as I can remember)(my mom also works at my dad's office in case I've never mentioned that before) and tells me all sorts of stories about Chloe getting in trouble at school for talking out of turn and being a busy body etc etc., and my mom always laughs and says how much Chloe reminder her of me at that age. 


So yeah... Santa.... sorry about all that. Hope I get some good presents anyway? 
Ha!

New Year, Same Traditions

Merry Christmas Eve!

I am re-posting this post from Christmas last year, because while the boys are a year older, the tradition is still the same.

Read til the end for old and updated pics of the boys. :)

From December 2009:

I know a couple of you have posted about your family's Christmas traditions... my family doesn't really do anything special, but I have a fairly recent Christmas tradition that's pretty special to me, so I figured I'd write about it.  I'm sort of obsessed with my neighbors. S is 7 and D is going to be 4 in 2 weeks. I started babysitting S when we moved into our house across the street from them, in 2003, when he was 1. I always watch him when I'm home over breaks and summers from school, and got to be the first person besides family to meet D the day he was born (I kept S all that day while they were at the hospital). S has been my little buddy forever (we've had "sleepovers" and love to go swimming!), and D is no different! I cannot even believe he is going to be 4 in two weeks.

So anyway, about 4 years ago, the boys and I started our Christmas shopping tradition!We go to the Dollar Store on December 23rd or 24th and I help them pick out their gifts for each other, mom and dad, Nanny and G-Daddy, Uncle, and the dog and 2 cats. We have so much fun picking everything out... I absolutely adore watching them decide what to get everyone (and hear their reasons why!). Kids are SO funny. Also I think it's sweet to see young, innocent kids get excited about giving their gifts to their loved ones. I know they couldn't sleep waiting for Santa, but they were also SO excited to give their gifts. And that's half the fun!

So here are some pictures from our adventure:

Here is sweet D, in the car, ready to go!

D at the dollar store, pondering his decisions

The brothers making their decisions

After the shopping was done, D wanted McDonald's and S wanted Chick-Fil-A, so of course we had both! (Am I a good babysitter or what?!) Drove through McDonald's and took it in to Chick-Fil-A so they could play there.

Then later that night I babysat again while their parents went out to do some last minute shopping... here are the boys "helping" me wrap the presents.

So helpful, huh?

When the movie was over, D did want to help though! Here he is holding the ribbon for me. :)

And this is S's idea of help:

St has turned into such a goober.

He cracks me up. He chose a ceramic bird from the dollar store for his grandmother (lucky Nanny, huh?), and as we were wrapping it up he looked at me, dead serious, and said "I picked that for Nanny because girls like breakable stuff and birds." Haha! Kids are so funny.

The goofy boys and all their wrapped gifts, ready to go under the tree!

Here is another picture of them at church for their Christmas pageant... how cute are they?!

And then one more picture... Baby D got a Puppet Theater from Santa that I helped put together at midnight on Christmas Eve. Can't wait to see how excited he is when he gets it!

So there is my favorite Christmas tradition!

What's your tradition?!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 2010 Update:

And for their 2010 Christmas card (which seriously? how adorable is this?)

(how much is he going to want to KILL his Momma for making him wear a turtleneck and a corduroy blazer in the pic when he's older?! haha)

And can you believe that the older one was ever so little? He used to LOVE me (seriously we were best buddies), and now he is just too cool to even be bothered with me. :( 

this is one of my favorite pics ever.... we both fell asleep on the couch after a long afternoon swimming while I was babysitting! haha! (don't worry moms, I am a very responsible childcare provider, promise! my boyfriend at the time was also with us and he is the one who took the picture)

And us on Easter, before little brother came along!

And of course not to leave the baby out of it... HOW is this kid going to be FIVE in just a few weeks?!?!?

Melts my stone cold grinchy heart! :)

Home for the Holiday!

Today is my last day of work before Christmas, hooray!

My plan is to cut out of work an hour or two early so I can get home and get the car loaded up (something I swore I was going to do last night but didn't, shocker), so I can get on the road....

Yes, you read that right. I am DRIVING home to Texas for Christmas. By myself.
I know that sounds totally insane, but I'm taking Elle home, and she's too big to fly (discrimination!), so the only way to get her there is to put her in the back of the car and haul her myself!
If I was just going for a short visit I'd leave her here in Chicago, but I'm actually going to leave her, and my car, at home at my parents house in Texas for a couple of months until the bar is over.

I love her and while she kept me sane throughout law school and was always a good study break, she drove me INsane while studying for the bar the first go around, so this time I'm going to try to minimize distractions as much as possible. I'll also save quite a bit of money by leaving my car at home (parking in my building is 200 bucks a month, ick!).

My mom usually makes the drive with me, but this time it just didn't work out to have her fly up here and drive back with me. So to make the long drive a little more manageable, tonight Elle and I are going to drive to St. Louis and have a slumber party with the blogger formerly known as Mrs. Everlasting.  Elle will finally get to meet her blog boyfriend Charlie! Maggie/Mrs. Everlasting has also added a new puppy to the mix, Gus... I have a feeling the three of them will get along great and Elle will have lots of fun.
Fingers crossed that traffic isn't too bad tonight and I can get to St. Louis with plenty of time for Elle, Charlie, and Gus to run around like idiots and beat each other up!

So for now I'm off to pack up and get my life in order,
Adios amigos!

Seasons Greeting from The Fabulous Family

My mom sent out Christmas cards to friends/family last week. She re-used the Christmas cards we sent out in 1995... Guess she thought a "flashback" Christmas card would be cute.  That year she had my brother and I draw the card. Pretty lame, but whatever.

She also included, as she does every year, a letter detailing what's been going on in the family for the past year.
The letter starts off with an explanation of the card... where she says "This is the card from 1995. When Daughter Fab was 9 and Son Fab was 7 years old."

uhhh...

Then she goes on in the letter to talk about what happened over the last year... mentioning that she got cancer again, but it's gone for now, that my dad's business kinda sucks but we're still fighting through it, that my brother graduated from school and got a job hates it he's gonna go to grad school next year... and then she gets to me. Where she mentions that I graduated from law school. And failed the bar exam. And I'm still in Illinois but she wants me to move to Texas.

WHAT THE HELL.

Honestly?! Was it really necessary to include to extended family and family friends from grade school/middle school/high school that I failed the bar exam!?!?! Could we not have just skipped over that?!

Merry Fucking Christmas.

Good Samaritan

Found an iPhone in the snow by the bus stop this AM.
considered leaving it there but decided to be a Good Samaritan and keep it with me and try to get in touch with the owner... Good karma, right?

I'm currently exchanging texts with the last
person the owner had texted... And I'm pretty sure based on the "text speak" that this person is a 13 year old girl.
She makes absolutely no sense and despite the fact that she's been texting back and forth with the owner of the phone for the last several weeks, has no idea WHO the owner of the phone is.


This is what I get for being a good Samaritan...
Is there a lesson to be learned here?

Last Free Weekend

Well, it's finally here.... The last weekend of freedom.

Bar review classes start again on Monday. So this is going to be my last weekend before I have to get my act together and stop binge drinking/start studying. (well next weekend is Christmas so that doesn't count... I will probably definitely not be studying but I also won't be drinking my face off, raging all night, and sleeping all day, as per usual).

This time around I am enrolled in barbri again, but I have no intention of going to the lectures. I didn't really find them that helpful the first time around, and everything is online anyway so I will just watch them at home if I think I need to figure something out.
I am going to keep my same work schedule throughout studying (three days a week, six hours a day) throughout studying. It's only 18 hours a week, I don't have any more savings so I don't really have a choice. However I'm also one of those people who functions better when they are busy and have a structured schedule, so I think it will be really good for me to continue working. Less free time = less dicking around for sure.
As an attempt to look on the positive side this means I will no longer drinking thousands of calories worth of booze/ eating fast food to tame my vicious hangovers every weekend, so hopefully between that and sticking with CrossFit (which I'm LOVING by the way - will post about it soon), the numbers on the scale will continue to venture downward. So YAY, I actually AM excited about that.

Goals for 2011: be a licensed attorney and stop having a fat ass. Progress begins now.

Any second time bar takers out there with any advice for how you approached studying the second time around?
Anyone want my address so you can send me booze and money because you feel sorry for me?
Anyone not feel sorry for me at all because I should have gotten my act together and studied properly the first time around?
Anyone really pissed that you have to see me blogging and tweeting about the bar exam again?

Seriously though, who the hell is Irmo?

So I work for a solo practitioner in family law.
He's super old school, and doesn't even have a computer... I type up everything for him, answer and draft e-mails, etc. So part of my job is to check all his incoming e-mails... sometimes from clients, sometimes from opposing counsel, etc.

Usually when an e-mail comes in from opposing counsel (the lawyer representing the person divorcing the person my boss represents, for you nonlegal types), the subject line will read the name of the case, and whatever the email is about.

So let's say my client Elle Woods made the terrible mistake of marrying Warner instead of Emmett. Let's also pretend that Warner took Elle's last name (just for story purposes). Obviously Warner and Elle are going to end up divorced because she's meant to be with Emmett (duh). So a typical e-mail from Warner's lawyer (probably a jerk) is going to have a subject something along the lines of "Woods: Financial Records", or maybe "Marriage of Woods: Financial Records", or maybe even just "Woods"... after all, lawyers are busy people.

However some lawyers like to be very specific with every e-mail, including the full case title and even the case number. So an e-mail from a SUPER type A attorney might read "Woods v. Woods, 2010 D 1000", or "In re the Marriage of Woods, 2010 D 1000".

For weeks now I've been getting e-mails from an opposing counsel who puts the subject of her e-mails as
"IRMO WOODS"

And every time I'm thinking, WHAT THE HELL?! Woods's first name is ELLE, not IRMO! Who the hell is IRMO?!

And then I finally realized...
IRMO

In

Re

the Marriage

Of

In re the Marriage of Woods. Not Irmo Woods. 

Ooooofff....

and people think I'm not a natural blonde?

Tis the season

As one of my nearest and dearest said to me via email this week:



'Being a "true Christian" means when people say "Happy Holidays" you don't  assume it is because they are trying to take Christ out of the season. It means they are wishing you good cheer no matter your beliefs.'


Aaaaamen.
Tis the season for good cheer to all my loves, no matter your celebration.

NOH8

NOH8 is a campaign started by photographer Adam Bouska and his partner as their way of protesting Proposition 8, the California Amendment banning same sex marriage. 

Lots of famous people have had their pictures done... including my favs, Cindy and Meghan McCain! 

If you follow me on twitter you may remember a couple months ago the NOH8 campaign was in Chicago taking photos... I had mine taken and they finally were posted this week!

For more info on the NOH8 campaign: www.noh8campaign.com

Party Potatoes!

Last night some of my gays and I had Christmas dinner. We ate too much, laughed too much, and then brought out a scale and took turns weighing ourselves to see who was the fattest.*  

(no I'm not joking)

(yes I weigh the most)

(no they don't call me fat, we still call Koz "Fat Koz" even though I weigh more than him, they are well-mannered gays and know that you don't call a lady fat. duh.)

My contribution to the dinner was a Fabulous Family holiday staple - party potatoes! We have party potatoes at everyyyyy family gathering where cooking is involved... everyone loves them.

I got many requests on twitter for the recipe, so here you have it!

6 medium potatoes, boiled with jackets
1/2 cup green onions, tops and all, chopped
1/4 cup  melted butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
cornflakes or crackers, crumbled
3 tablespoon melted butter

 

Boil potatoes with jackets on.  Cool, peel and grind in large side of grater.  Mix potatoes with chopped green onions (top included). Blend 1/4 cup butter (melted), cream of chicken soup, sour cream and cheddar cheese together and add to potatoes and onions.  Put in greased casserole (9 X 13 or larger) crumble cornflakes or crackers on top.  Add 3 tablespoon melted butter on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Serves 16 to 20.  May be prepared ahead and frozen.  If frozen, leave off cornflakes until ready to reheat.  

Before adding the extra butter and crackers to the top 

And with crackers: (Granny Fab prefers to use cornflakes, 

I didn't have any on hand so I just mashed up Ritz crackers. yum!)

And after 45 minutes in the oven 

(it looks exactly the same but I swear I cooked it and took another pic!):

And now for the best part? Instead of messing with the potato cooking and peeling... I use frozen hashbrowns. Thaw them out and pretend that you cooked and grated potatoes. 

Officially the easiest recipe ever. And sooo good. 

Oh also? I just about doubled the amount of cheese the recipe calls for. Because can you ever have enough cheese? Absolutely not. 

Merry Christmas, Kevin! Clean House for you!

I started this puzzle in May of 2009.

I worked on it really hard for a long time, and then I just stopped. But I left it. Because it was funny.
So it sat on my coffee table for the last 19 months.
My mom would get so mad any time she would come in town but I told her I was never taking it down.

It was a great conversation piece... anytime people came over they'd ask me all about it... sometimes would want to work on it.
Then I started working on the puzzle again last night. And I got really frustrated.

So I did what I said I wasn't going to do.

And now we have a coffee table again. Merry Christmas, Kevin!

CrossFit, Day One

I have been wanting to try CrossFit for a long time, and decided to finally bite the bullet and am starting tonight. The CrossFit location closest to my house does a three times a week for four weeks "intro" class, and I signed up to start tonight.

For those of you who don't know - from www.crossfit.com:

CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.

The only time I've ever had any real success with weight loss over the years has been when lifting weights with a personal trainer.  I say with a personal trainer because I never lift weights on my own. I know how, I just won't do it. I don't know why, since I know that's the only thing that works for me, I just don't do it.

SO I signed up for CrossFit. It's a lot of money - this intro month class is $225, in addition to what I'm already paying for my regular gym membership per month. But I think it's going to be worth it, especially if I lose some weight! And when you think about how much a personal trainer costs, it's really not that much money at all.

I weigh and measure myself every Wednesday (I used to post about it but just keep it to myself now), but I will definitely be reporting if I have any successes while doing CrossFit!

Anyone ever tried CrossFit? Love it? Hate it? Love/Hate it?

(if I don't blog tomorrow it's because I either died at CrossFit or my arms are so sore I cannot type)

Cover letters are for ugly people

A round up my best g-chats as of late:

me:  i hate cover letters

 Justine:  i just want to be judged by my flawless face, big boobs, and winning personality

 me:  i agree.

Justine: J:  cover letters are for ugly people

 me:  completely agree.

Lindsay:  because i didn't do a cover letter for this job i now have

i will assume i am pretty

 me:  lol

 me:  you are correct

 Lindsay:  well good to know

i can put that on a dating profile once i start online dating

J: my dipshit friend just sent me an email asking if i could draft an application for a K1 visa for his stupid fucking mexican girlfriend to come up here and birth their bastard child

J: i was like "i am completely unqualified to do that"






me: my neck is sore.

Kevin: prob from whipping your hair last night at the bar.

Sweet baby girl

So apparently I'm a toddler because this week I had my second ear infection in four weeks.. miserable.

For the most part Elle has been so good the last couple days. Even though I've been a big ole slug (seriously ear infections are awful), she hasn't done too much complaining about the fact that I haven't spent much time anywhere other than in my bed.

But I think her cabin fever reached its breaking point yesterday afternoon and she just couldn't take it anymore so she started bitching at me...
I know that sounds ridiculous, so I took a couple videos of it in case you don't believe me.

K so here's what a bored and feisty great dane who wants to go play sounds like.



I think this one is the funniest... She gets so mad when I flip my hair in her face, so of course I did it. Antagonizing a crabby dog... worst dog mom ever? Maybe.




(just in case you think I'm totally evil, I did get out of bed after this and take her to the dog beach. She was much happier after that but videos of her snoring are not AS funny.)

December

Wow, I cannot believe it's December.
I feel like the first half of 2010 was great... well, it wasn't great, but there was so much HOPE for all the GREAT things that were to come.
And then the second half of 2010 came. And it sucked. No need to re-hash the details of that if you've been reading the blog for more than.... oh a day?

So, I'm pretty damn excited about the fact that it's December. Because that means that in a month, this year is over. And that is just fine by me.
 It also means that in a month I actually have to be studying for the bar. And that sucks. But it will go quickly. And then I will spend January and February studying. And that will suck. A lot. But it will be over quickly. And then hopefully I can quickly get a big girl job. WITH A SALARY! AND BENEFITS! And cool stuff to do so I'm not bored to tears all the time like I am right now! YAY!

So anyway, something exciting has happened!
A bill allowing for civil unions in Illinois passed the Illinois House and Senate yesterday, and is now just waiting to be signed by the Governor, who has already said he will sign it. A very exciting step towards marriage equality!

So of course I'm gchatting while this news breaks (shocker), and happen to be talking with my friend M, who is a lesbian. (sidenote: I had already asked 3 other friends to have a civil union with me and they all turned me down. ouch.)

me: hi

  wanna get civil unioned?

2:46 PM M: holla

  what's in it for me?

2:48 PM me: hmmm

  nothing

2:51 PM M: no insurance?

  I am not sure I can take this offer...

2:54 PM it's not legal yet is it?

2:57 PM me: passed today

  i'm a better lesbian than you.

 M: you sure?

 me: yes.

 M: hmm

  liek just now?

  brigette said earlier it hasn't

 me: yes bitch. do you think i would lie about being a lesbian?

2:58 PM M: hahah

 me: just waiting on gov quinn to sign it

  and he said he would.

2:59 PM M: nice!

 M: well I will consider your offer

 me: alright

  thanks

Considering my offer is a good step, right???
I'm gonna find me a mate if it kills me.
When you've been single as long as I have you have to expand your horizons.*




too bad I really like dudes.