Long Time, No Talk.

Hello. 

Obviously I haven't been the best blogger.  And you know what, I'm ok with that.  I've had a bunch of things going on at home and work that have kept me from blogging.  So rather than spreading myself thinner than I already was, I made the decision to forgo blogging.

On the work front, we moved offices, which has been crazy.  And oddly enough, they still expect you to work while you clean out/pack/unpack!  You don't realize how much crap you accumulate over the years, but it's nice to get a fresh start at getting organized and sprucing up my office a bit.  And I'm digging my new view . . .  

And on the opposite wall, I put one of these beauties in my office.  The larger one is in my office and the smaller one is at home.  I don't have the greenest of thumbs, so I'm hoping I can keep these fiddle leaf figs alive.    

On the home front, we are hosting my firm's summer associate welcome party at our house this month, which means we've been busy trying to get everything in order around here.  There's nothing that motivates you to get things done faster than the thought of 35+ attorneys from work coming over! It's good news and bad news -- there's been lots of progress around here, but we are super busy, I haven't had time to document all the changes.  But as soon as the party is over, you better believe I will be sharing all of our hard work (can I just say I am totally loving our formal sitting room?). 

Hope all has been well! 

5 things . . .

5 things about my blogging break . . .

1.  Our hotel was terrible.  I usually stay in some very nice places when I travel for work, especially when a partner is around (much less 4).  However, there were slim pickins and we wanted to be within walking distance of the courthouse and our local counsel's office.

I could dedicate a whole post to "funny" stories about the hotel, but I will just mention two.  My hotel-provided hair dryer tripped the circuit breaker every time I used it.  On the third day, I went to the public ladies room (that did not have A/C) to blow dry my hair.  I learned that tip from a partner in our Chicago office who had to do the same thing.  It became comical to "meet up" with wet hair in the public restroom in the morning before we headed to court.  Good times.

This was the "closet" in my first room:

Literally, that was at the foot of my bed.  Awesome.

2.  I'm tired.  In addition to not resting well because of the uncomfortable hotel, last week alone I billed over half what I normally bill in one month.      

3.  The weather there was crazy.  This picture was taken about 30 minutes after a hail storm rolled through.  Look at that sky.  Crazy, huh?  I am pretty sure Reed Timmer should have been there.  If you look closely, you can see white patches on the ground -- that's the left over hail.

Our rental cars looked like someone took a hammer to them.  Our client's back windshield shattered completely into the car.  Oh, and the lights went out in the courtroom during the trial.  That was a first for me. 

4. I lost 5 pounds last week! I was so busy, some days I didn't have time for dinner (or breakfast).  But our local counsel's office did have haagen-dazs single serve cups a couple days for dessert after lunch.  They were one of the highlights of the trip. I'd never seen them before, but I am now slightly obsessed.

5.  It's good to be home.  I am still catching up on my sleep and spending time with Justin.  I hope to be around more now that this massive trial is over!  Thanks for bearing with me! 

Blogging break.

I'm afraid my blogging and following along with what's happening on your blogs will have to continue to be on the back burner. I am out of state for a week-long (maybe longer) trial. Dang work! At least it's someplace with cooler temps and lower humidity!

I will be back as soon as I can. I have an ever-growing list of posts I can't wait to share with you guys. Hope you all are doing well! Catch you later, friends!

Tiny Break.

I don't know why I haven't mentioned it before, but I am hosting a party for my office this Wednesday to welcome our summer associates.  Needless to say, we are busy around here making sure everything is just perfect.  I am going to sign off for a bit and focus on things around the house. 

So in honor of the office party, here are some pretty amazing offices (which sadly look nothing like my office at work).

(photos: decorpad)

The good news is that we've made some little changes that I can't wait to share with you!  I will be back to blogging and visiting your blogs shortly. In the meantime, have a fabulous weekend!

Holiday Party Dresses.

It's that time of year again where I try to find the perfect dress for my firm's holiday party.  It's cocktail attire, but since it's with work people (hi, Ellen!), I tend to favor more conservative-cocktail dresses.

Anthropologie is generally the first place I look because it usually has fun dresses, and most people from my office don't shop there.  But this year nothing there caught my eye, so I headed over to Nordstrom, which I feel always has a great selection.

Here are a few of the ones I considered:

Taylor Brocade Sheath Dress

Taylor Dresses Bengaline Party Dress

Marc New York Draped Skirt Metallic Jacquard Dress

Eliza J Jewel Waist Taffeta Sheath Dress

 J. Crew Dress

(But yeah, I am not spending $525)

So which one did I get? . . . None of the above!  I actually bought two dresses because I couldn't decide at the time, but I can't show them to you because Nordstrom doesn't have either one of them online!  At this point, I am pretty sure I have decided which one I will go with.  So that I don't completing leave you hanging, I will post a picture of the winner (and the runner-up) later.

Great (work-related) News!

This week I received some wonderful news on a pro bono case I've been working on.  My client, a woman from Africa, was seeking asylum in the United States.  Over the last thirty years, she has suffered horrible persecution for opposing the unequal treatment of women in her home country.  After a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride, we found out that she was granted asylum!!  Now, rather than being forced to return to Africa, where she faced almost certain torture and death, she can remain in the US.      

The timing of the decision was amazing -- in addition to exigent circumstances, she happened to be at our office when we received the call from the asylum office.  I can't even begin to describe what a wonderful feeling it was to see our client's reaction and share that joy with her in person.  So that I could look back at that moment and remember how I felt, I went back to my office and wrote down the first things that popped in my head: overjoyed, elated, thrilled, relieved, jumping for joy, ecstatic, thankful, grateful. 

I wish I could share more details about my client and her story because she is truly an inspiration.  My life has been enriched having gotten to know and help her.  It was totally worth going to law school just to be able to help her. 

And my sweet mom brought me a super delicious red velvet cupcake from the newly-opened Sprinkles to congratulate me. (yum!)   

(photo: sprinkles)

Dallas Hotels.

During a two of my recent trips to Dallas, I stayed at the Warwick Melrose Hotel.  The hotel is very charming, and I enjoyed my stay both times (even if it was for work).  The rooms were nice and spacious, comfortable, and decorated beautifully.

How great are those crystal lamps and mirrored-top nightstand?  And the chair and ottoman were so cute.  

One of my favorite pieces of furniture was the mirrored dresser.  I wish it would have fit in my carry on! :)

Both of my rooms had nice bathrooms.  Here's the first one: 

and a portion of the second one.  I loved the scones.  I didn't get a good shot of the whole bathroom in my second room because the natural light wasn't cooperating.

I don't know if my favorite part of the room was the glass doorknobs . . .

or the ceiling fan (which is really a must in Texas).

I loved the lanterns that lined the entire hallway.

The staff was also extremely friendly and the bar there was great too.  Overall, two thumbs up.  I would definitely stay there again. 

I also stayed at the Fairmont during another one of my trips to Dallas.  It was nice, but nothing super special.  I was also in my room for all of about 8 hours, 6 of them spent sleeping.  The room was big and had a large closet as well.  It just didn't have the charm of the Melrose.

But I did have some great views of the hotel pool and of the city from my room:

(Pardon the quality of my pictures, they were all taken with my blackberry.) 

Despite staying at nice hotels and eating delicious meals, my favorite part of every trip is coming home to my wonderful husband and the cutest dogs.

Office Inspiration.

I must have offices on the brain given my crazy work schedule recently. But how great is this office?  It seems very soothing.  Love the wallpaper, light green desk, and of course, the amazing chandelier! 

(photo: decorpad.com)

I am headed back to Dallas for the fifth time in 15 days . . . glad it's a quick flight!  

Dreaming of Time Off.

I have billed almost 150 hours in the last 2 weeks.  Needless to say, I am super tired and haven't had time to do much else besides work. 

Maybe it wouldn't be as bad if my office looked like this . . .

(photo: traditional home)

Unfortunately, this coming week isn't any better. I'll be in Dallas for most of it for more depositions. I'll be back in a week or so . . . 

Back Home.

I left Monday morning and headed to Denver for an oral argument we had before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.  The courthouse was absolutely beautiful.  From what I understand, the building was recently restored.  There's a lot of marble and gorgeous architecture.  Unfortunately, they do not let you take cameras or phones with cameras past security.  Of all times I wanted to take some pictures!  But I found some pictures on the court's website. 

This is the actual courtroom where we had our argument.  It was so grand for being so small.  You can't see all the beautiful details in the picture below (I sat there for 15 minutes just admiring everything before the arguments started), so take my word for it!

This is the lobby area.  The arches were so pretty.  They also had these cool U.S. seals in the ceiling. 

 (photos: here)

Once the argument was done in Denver, we headed straight to Cincinnati for another oral argument before the Sixth Circuit.

(photo: here)

We stayed at the Cincinnatian Hotel, which was originally built in 1882.  It was a pretty neat hotel.  As a side note, their mini-bar peanut M&Ms were the perfect treat while I was working in my room all day!   

(photo: here)

Needless to say, I am way past tired.  It is great to be back home. 

The Deep End.

So The Deep End premiered Thursday night on abc. The show is about first year associates that begin working at a large law firm. As a mid-level associate at a large law firm, I felt that I was obligated to at least watch the first episode.



One thing is for sure, the show is not an accurate portrayal of associate-life at a law firm. Who talks to partners like that? Who goes to court during their first week? Who doesn't run a conflicts check before accepting a case? Who has time to go to some swanky bar with a pool multiple nights a week with their co-workers? On the other hand, I guess I should be thankful the show is not representative of my day at the office -- or it would be a huge snooze.

The show was disappointing overall, but I will probably watch it again next week . . . and wonder why I wasted my time (again).

A Big Thank You.

Dear Judge,

Thank you a million times over for granting our motion for summary judgment in full today. It was the best news I have heard in quite some time. So great, in fact, some of us had to apologize to the others in our hall for shrieking in delight after reading your order.

I would like to say I am going to miss drafting all those briefs for you, but really and truly, I am looking forward to a little bit of a break after billing over 500 hours in the past 2 months.

Thanks to you, I can now have a life again. I no longer have to worry about being out of state for a 2 week trial at the end of the month. Instead, I can think about going out of state for a lovely vacation!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Emily

My recent schedule:

6:47 a.m. - get out of bed

8:15 a.m. - leave for work

8:26 a.m. - let the madness begin (and continue unless otherwise noted until 9:30 p.m.)

9:45 a.m. - eat breakfast at my desk

10:16 a.m. - decide what form of caffeine to drink (chai tea, earl grey lavender, or coffee)

11:21 a.m. - wish it was 10 degrees warmer in my office

12:30 p.m. - eat lunch at my desk

2:30 p.m. - talk to Justin for 2 minutes to say hi, I love you, and am too busy to talk

4:45 p.m. - eat a 100 calorie pack of m&ms

6:00 p.m. - eat dinner at my desk

7:56 p.m. - attempt to convince myself I love what I do

9:30 p.m. - leave work

9:49 p.m. - put on pjs

9:55 p.m. - check e-mail, the news, and google reader

10:30 p.m. - reluctantly work from home and pray that my blackberry doesn't go off

10:45 p.m. - wish ERISA, the ADEA, and pension plans never existed

11:00 p.m. - try to keep from falling asleep

11:30 p.m. - work, have jeopardy on in the background, and attempt to remain awake

12:03 a.m. - decide enough is enough and go to bed

(repeat)

Back from Denver.

Sadly, I wasn't able to do much exploring in Denver. We went to a few great restaurants (Palace Arms in the Brown Palace hotel, Panzano, Capital Grille, and the Trinity Grille) for dinner, but otherwise my time was spent working in my hotel room or the conference room. However, I had a view of the cutest little church outside my hotel window.

(photo: flickr)

I was glad to get home on our fifth wedding anniversary! Another post on that later . . .

Off to Denver.

I leave today for Denver until Friday for work. Not that I have been blogging a lot any way, but I am almost positive there won't be any new posts this coming week as the majority of my time will be spent in 4 depositions.


I have never been to Denver before, so I am hoping to have a break to explore the city a little bit. Hopefully my trip recap will include something other than how the depos went!

SmashBurger.

Typically my bad eating habits are positively correlated with the number of hours I bill. (Can you tell I am in the midst of working with statistical expert reports? I am slightly worried that the phrase "positively correlated" came out like it was second nature. I need another vacation stat.)

Well after billing 70 hours last week alone, I splurged tonight and tried a hamburger and rosemary fries at SmashBurger. It was SO delicious. I love a good hamburger, and this one was well worth all of the calories. We will definitely be going back.



I hope my workload decreases soon for numerous reasons, one of them being for the sake of my expanding waistline.

Overwhelmed.

Add about 6 more binders, a glass of water, a bigger cup of coffee, and my computer . . . and this is me at work:

Today's Important Meeting.

Our group received an e-mail from our boss this morning asking us to come down to his office for a meeting. Things have been a little tense around the office recently with all the law firm layoff news, so I always get a little scared when I see an e-mail calling for an unexpected meeting with the boss.

We all get down there (of course, I have my paper and pen), and he says "this is a very important meeting." Again, I am a little worried about what is about to happen. He then gets up and passes around NCAA brackets and tells us to fill them out by noon.


What a relief! We all had fun filling out our brackets this morning. Too bad I left my picks on my desk and can't see how well I am doing so far tonight.

The City.

Things have been crazy at work (for example, leaving around 11:30 p.m. and getting back up to the office at 3:00 a.m.), hence my lack of blogging. Any free time I have had has been spent napping or vegging in front of the TV. Hopefully things will slow down a bit, but I am not overly confident they will anytime soon.

Anywho, I watched The City's season finale tonight and have 2 comments:

1) I cannot believe Whitney said goodbye to Jay. I was shocked when I heard her say "too little too late." He was so sweet and seemed so sincere coming back and telling her he loved her. I do give her props for wanting to pursue her career, but my heavens . . . he was so cute and so charming.


2) If Whitney can stand up to Jay like that, she has got to do the same with Olivia. Her little passive aggressive comment about needing more credit for the work she is doing is BS and won't get her anywhere. She needs to say "look chick, you are totally taking credit for what I did, and I am not going to let it happen again." (She could omit the "look chick" portion if she wanted, but I wouldn't recommend it.)

This week around the office.

Once a year, all of the partners in our office go out of town to attend several days of meetings. While there is still a lot of work to be done, them being gone also means we can have a little more fun at the office.

We can normally wear jeans on Friday, but this week we could wear them Wednesday through Friday. I don't know what it is about wearing jeans to work, but I love it. Yesterday afternoon's event is hands-down my favorite part of the week. We had an ice cream social! The firm gets the lovely folks at Blue Bell to bring their ice cream cart, umbrella, and soda shop music. The have about 5 flavors and tons of toppings -- oreo bits, m&ms, jimmies/sprinkles, all kinds of syrups. This year they forgot the whipped cream, but I am not complaining. It was delicious.

For lunch tomorrow, the associates are going to a Mexican restaurant that happens to also serve tasty margaritas. Many won't make it back into work. It is always a blast. Tomorrow will be an extremely low billing day for our office.

Unfortunately, Monday will be here before we know it and all the fun will have to come to an end.