Where to Go?

Made tartar sauce tonight! Used this recipe. Have not tried it, because I hate tartar sauce. Made it for Kurt and did not make seafood tonight, so it is chilling in the frig and I will post if it's good or not upon consumption. ;).

Bought two books at lunch today. We are trying to decide where to go on Lori's Annual Birthday Adventure.....I think we are leaning towards either Guatemala or London. I bought books on both. The London book is really overwhelming. I guess I never realized how much stuff there was in London to see! There is enough to explore for like a freaking month! Crazy. either place would be kewl though. Guatemala looks like it would be similar to Nicaragua. So, Jenn, if you have any ideas on London, PLEASE email me so I don't feel so overwhelmed. No idea even where to start on that trip.

The last few weeks have been crazy with travel and work and the working out kinda fell to the wayside. I started again this week though and it feels really good to be in my gym every night again. I like my time down there alone...I think it relaxes me, oddly. I can read (if biking), watching The Gilmore Girls (I am on Season 6 now), and get a workout in. I always kinda feel at peace afterwards and it was really annoying me with working so many hours that it got cut out for a couple weeks or so.

New Secret Post...

Thinking.....

Read about my thoughts

Party with the Office

**Jessica, Misty and I

Friday night, Misty had the go ahead to go out for the night, so everyone from the office decided to go out to Malarkey's for dinner and drinks. It was a fun night, although jessica could not stay long since Matt was coming down to visit for the weekend and she had to get back to her apartment.

**me and Kurty

I did one shot at the start of the night, but that was the extent of my drinking. The shot was called an "alcoholic jolly rancher" and it was super yummy. Kurt drank a few too many rum and cokes, and Misty was totally cracking me up. it's weird how we have worked with her for so long, but never really been out on a social level (prob because she has three kids and does not go out very often at all). We played darts for a while, and Kurt and I left at 1030 p.m. to go home.

**Jessica, Misty and kory

I got pulled over on my way home near our house, LOVELY. I kinda lucked out though....I had no seatbelt on for some reason (which is weird, since I always wear my seatbelt), did not have my insurance on me, was going 15 over (60 in a 45), and had a light out in my license plate (that I did not know about). The cop only wrote me up for 5 over.....I am still going to fight the ticket though because I have a perfect record and want to keep it that way.

**Pic above is of Kory's "strip tease" while playing darts. He was hot, and was taking off his button down work shirt to reveal his Shimek Cherry Orchard t-shirt.

One thing I learned tonight.? The iPhone takes really crappy pics, LOL.

Saturday, we got a huge storm here, so Kurt and i stayed in the entire day and night. It was nice. I needed a day to just chill, we have been going out a little too much lately. Today, we worked most of the day and did not get home until dinner time. Worked out, made dinner, and am chilling out now. Really need to do some more laundry though.......

Philadelphia Trip Report

As eveyone knows, Kurt and I went to Philadedlphia for his bday over Valentine's Day weekend. Below is the trip report and link to pics from that trip! :).

Day one--Thursday

Flight to Philly was pretty short. It only took about 59 minutes of air time to get there. The end of the flight was a little bumpy because of a wind storm in Philly, but it was fine. (which after the fact was somewhat freaky because that night around after we landed, a plane crashed in Buffalo, NY, from windy/icy conditions). Got there and our luggage came out right away. We then grabbed a taxi to the Omni. Love the hotel to pieces (although this as shortlived because of a bad experience later in the trip). We are Omni Reward Card members, and they upgraded our room since it is Kurt’s bday. It is soooo nice. They left dessert for two in our room with a bday card. Our room’s bed is really comfy, and has a flat screen TV, couch, desk, and other kewl stuff. We have views on two sides of our room into Independence Park, and can see Independence Hall from our room. I love it. Anyway, the first night, we basically got here and explored the hotel, then went to bed. We were both pretty tired from work and then the travel.

Day Two--Friday

Slept in, and grabbed the orange juice, coke and newspaper that was left outside our door FREE. Part of the Omni Loyalty Program. Chilled and watched the news, then got ready and headed out to Independence Park. We did a lot of walking today, and saw Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Franklin Court, Physick House, Betsy Ross House, and the US Mint.

Independence Hall was VERY kewl. It had the area where the first Congress was, the first Senate, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and where the first Supreme Court held sessions.

The Liberty Bell was very kewl to see in person as well. It was smaller than I anticipated for some reason though......The museum leading up to it was really informative and since I am not a history buff like Kurt, I learned a LOT.

Stopped into an actual Quaker house too, and it was really interesting. They do not have a "leader" in their house. They are all considered equals. Anyway, this house we went to was one of the oldest in the area. The seating was all original, from the 1700s.


Franklin Court was where Ben Franklin's house "used" to be. It was all about him, and it had this ADORABLE movie at the end about a mouse called Amos that I loved.


The Physick House was a very old mansion that housed the first surgeon in the US, who also invented soda pop. The guy who did this tour was very friendly and seemed to really love the house and it's history.


The Betsey Ross House was neat too. Her grave was there, as well as her history. And, the US Mint was kewl to go to. We got to see money being made, and a museum with a lot of money history stuff. Had dinner at an Indian Place called Café Spice. Had lunch at a place called Cosi, which was awesome. I wish we had the place near the office. Awesome tuna melt. My legs are killing me now……….We were on our feet about 7 hours today. Almost nothing involved sitting down today, LOL.

Day Three--Saturday


Started with a tour of the Masonic Temple Tour where the free Masons meet. This place was GORGEOUS and the tour was really informative, although nobody filled me in on the "secrets" of the Masons, which I really wanted to know, haha.


We then headed to the Franklin Institute museum where we saw an Imax movie on caves, a 3-D movie about bugs and walked the museum. This museum itself was kinda lame, but the movies were kewl. I think it is more a museum for kids, I think we went to the wrong one by accident.


Off to the Mutter museum about medical oddities. This place was SUPER kewl. I could not believe some of the stuff they had in there. Prob not a place to take the kids.....And no cameras allowed, so boo on that.


Dinner with Sher and Patrick at Moriarty’s for Valentine's Day. It was awesome to meet them (this was Kurt's friend from high school). Kurt got slightly, OK a lot, trashed, but hey, it's OK! We were not driving, LOL. Had lunch at an Irish pub as well called Mace's Crossing Pub, and the place had AWESOME food. I had a tuna melt and cajun fries. The place was SO small, a total hole in the wall, but I loved it.

Day Four--Sunday

Had brunch with Heather at The Continental. The place was super cute, and the food was really yummy with interesting meals and way too big portions. It was awesome to finally meet Heather in person. She is super funny, smart, and so easy to talk to and be around. So much so that we had dinner with Heather at Raw, her fav sushi place, and went to her place to hang out afterwards. The food at Raw was INCREDIBLE. I always say Crave tops my list of sushi places, but this place is a CLOSE second. Plus, it is more laidback then Crave. The Capitol Roll i got was amazing. Earlier in the day, we got a massage at Topper’s in Rittenhouse. it was nice to relax, but the massage itself was average. I am used to my therapist here, or Rebecca, and most people just do not use enough pressure for me.


Went to the Anthropology and Archaeology museum at Penn. This place was really kewl as well. I loved the Egyptian portions, and the African special exhibit.

Oh, why I got pissed at the Omni. I scheduled massage appointments at the spa, Lux Spa and Salon. This was in the hotel. I then cancelled the appointment, because I decided to try a different place that was recommended to me. I cancelled the appointment FAR ini advance of the 24 hours notice required. On Sunday morning, I get this call from the spa asking where I was at. I told them I had cancelled my appointment. They proceed to argue with me about this, telling me I had not, etc. Kurt was right there and heard me do so. After about 10 minutes of being rude to me, they offered me appointments for later that day, but if I did not take them, I would be charged. So, i went downstairs to complain to hotel management. Well, the girl working the front desk, the "front desk manager", was rude and unprofessional. She was not the General Manager of the place, as he does not work weekends or something. Anyway, she was NO help, basically told me that there was nothing she could do, as the spa is separate from them and SOMEbody has to pay, and it was not going to be them. She told me to just dispute the charge with my credit card company. We were livid. I would have checked out, except we paid in advance with Expedia. Anyway, once we left, I called my credit card company and cancelled my card and they automatically too the charge off my account sinc it was still pending from the hotel. I could not believe how horrible I was treated by the front desk and the spa. **since we got back, i filed a complaint on the Omni site. That SAME day, I got an email from the hotel, the front desk manager girl. Of course, in her "I'm sorry" email, she was still being snotty and rude and telling me I was wrong. My guess is she got yelled at by corporate, because there is no way this girl would have voluntarily been nice to us. She offered me a free stay, and offered to take the spa charge off my card. I was like, it would have been nice if you did that WHEN I ASKED instead of after I complained to corporate. It would have made everything better. Now, I never want to stay at their hotel again. Lame, but I am glad it was taken care of.

Day Five--Monday

Checked out of hotel, headed to the National Constitution Center. Saw a show and toured the place. A lot of kewl legal stuff was there, which I liked. In one part, you could try on a Supreme Court Justice robe.


Went for a walk in Elfreth's Alley, which is one of the oldest streets in the country. The colors and buildings and road were really kewl...


Went to the Seaport Museum on the water. This place was neat too, it had replicas of all kinda of older boats and yachts and such.


Went to the Eastern State Penetentiary. This may have been my fav part of the entire trip. The place was a photographer's dream, and the history and tour was incredible. but, it was COLD. No heat and all colder than outside. They did have hot chocolate half way through the tour, which warmed me up. Had lunch at Brownie’s Irish pub. After the prison tour, we walked through some shops in Phily, and I got to go into a 1154 Lill store for the first time! That was awesome, but I did not want to make Kurt suffer, so I did not buy anything. It is kinda a time consuming process and I did not want to rush.


Stopped and saw the old Philadelphia Hospital, which I think is the oldest hospital in the US? Had dinner at airport, and then got home around 10:00 p.m.

Overall, this trip was great. I loved exploring a new US City, and it was very relaxing and low key. One odd thing was, people in Philly seemed surprised that we would pick there to travel to. I dont think people realize how BAD Detroit is. They were comparing Philly to Detroit, and I would say "HELLO, Detroit does not have spa, nice restaurant, and luxury store every block". Philly is so much nicer than Detroit. Anyway, I wish Detroit was as nice as Philly. It is sad that ou city cannot be as built up as other major cities in this country. It just shows how poorly run Detroit has been for a really, really longtime.

Best Parts of this Trip

1. Meeting Sher, Patrick and Heather

2. Eastern State Penitetiary

Worst Part of this Trip

1. Weather was kinda cold for parts of it, which was expected

2. Ordeal with the hotel

Here are the rest of my pics from the trip. Getting to use my camera for the weekend was so nice as well......I miss it!

The Red Door

Too tired to post much, so I will leave you with a pic. It's sad that I go away for two days, and it feels like I have 2 months of work on my desk. We will work one day this weekend and catch it all up, but still, I am exhausted. Ugh. And I had two board committee meetings tonight, and on top of all the work at the office, I am super tired.......

Not Much New

Still working on Philly pics......So many, and so little time at home since we have gotten home!

Worked late last night, and then tonight, Jessica insisted that everyone go to Happy Hour, so off to Malarkey's we went.......Misty surprised us and stopped in with her husband later after they had their taxes done, which was super fun. Everyone was there from the office......Everyone pretty much got drunk besides me, LOL. Well, and Joe only had two, so I doubt he was drunk. Anyway, nice night out.

Went to the chiropractor today, and I am already feeling better. Yay. Kurt went to the doctor today for his ear, which has been bothering him for a couple weeks now, and they used some watergun like thing on his ear which cleaned it out, and I guess he had this HUGE ball of wax in his one ear. How that happened, i don't know......Anyway, now he thinks I am yelling at him when I talk, haha.

Wanted to quickly say CONGRATS to Sarah and Matt! :). While in Philly, I saw my phone ringing with Sarah's name and it suddenly came to me! She was engaged. I knew it. I answered, even though I could barely hear in the bar, and asked her what she had to tell me, and she sounded SOOOO excited. Kinda drunk, but excited too, LOL. I am beyond thrilled for her. So freaking kewl. And the proposal and all that were very sweet and so well put together, I really think she had NO idea it was all coming that day. Can't wait to hear about the wedding and details.....

Exhausted

So, we got home last night at like 945 p.m., then worked 12 hours today. AARGH.

Anyway, I am working on editing pics, and a trip report and will post as soon as I finish and have time.

I will leave you with this pic, so y'all can be super jealous that I met Heather, and had brunch AND dinner with her! It was awesome to meet her, and I also got to meet her super sweet kitty cat, Manders, and see her place! :).

Overall, awesome trip. I loved Philly, and had a great time exploring and relaxing, and will post more soon. Night!

The Day

Even though I personally do not celebrate the holiday, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day from Philadelphia! Thus far, we are having an awesome time, and the city is very kewl. We have seen a lot of sites already, and Kurt is marking off what he wants to see today in my Philly book.

Hope everyone has a nice day today. Even if you don't have a significant other, call your Mom, or a sister, or whomever, and tell them you love them! :).

Off to call my Mom right now!

Told

So many things to do.....

This trip crept up on me so quickly! I can't believe we are leaving tomorrow after work. And, we are leaving straight from the office, so i have to pack everything tonight. So, tonight has been BUSY.

Did not leave work until 720 or so. Kurt had a mediation that went kinda late and we had some stuff to finish up for tomorrow morning. Stopped and picked up dinner and a prescription at Kroger that I needed before we could leave. Came home and ate and did the following:

1. Folded and hung up laundry, put laundry from washer into dryer and put another load in washer. Brought three hampers from my bedroom into the laundry room and an empty one returned to the bedroom.

2. Picked up a bunch of work clothes in bedroom and hung in closets.

3. Picked up random stuff in bedroom and bathroom.

4. Took dishes out of dishwasher and loaded in again.

5. Brought suitcase up from basement and cleaned it (really dusty). Took backpacks and life jackets to the basement from the Galapagos trip that were STILL sitting near the stairs to be taken down.

6. Emptied garbages in three of the bathrooms, put new Kleenex in two of them and changed refilled toilet paper in two.

7. Other random crap I can't remember.

I am exhausted, and I have not even finished. Ugh. Sitting here taking a break.

So, I told Kurt this morning where we are going. On accident. AGAIN. it's OK though because I wanted him to look at the Philly book I had to decide what attractions he wants to see. Gave him the book as soon as we got home to read through.

Had lunch today with an attorney friend of mine, Michelle, and the new person she hired in her office, Tracy. She hired Tracy at the same time we hired Jessica. So, the four of us had lunch, which was super fun, but too quick. Jess and I had to get back to prepare for an afternoon mediation. She was going with Kurt and I had to hurry up and finish the Brief beforehand. I was so slammed all afternoon too with appointments. It was craziness with only me there and Kurt and Jessica at the Mediation.

Anyway, off to do more stuff for tomorrow. I will be taking the computer with me, so I may post late at night, or I may not. If not, everyone have a nice weekend and I am sure I will be back with pics and a trip report early next week! :).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Relieved.....Exhausted

So, this morning, WAY TOO EARLY, was Kurt's procedure. We had to get there at 630 a.m. in Dearborn, which is like 40 minutes from us. So, we left the house at like 545 a.m. Got there, checked in, waited a half hour, finally someone came out and got Kurt. They called me back a few minutes later to see him, then like 2 minutes later, they took him into the surgery room and I went back to the waiting room. Read a Cosmo and had a Coke, and like 17 minutes later, the doctor called me back to tell me everything was fine, no cancer, no nothing. Yay. Got to go see Kurt next, and about 15 minutes later, we were out of there. Drove him home and got there around 9:10 a.m., so I took a shower, threw on a suit and headed to work. Had court at 11 a.m. andd was SLAMMED the rest of the day, worked late and got home around 700 p.m.

Needless to say, I am exhausted now. But, relieved everything went well. I get so worried with anything when it has to do with Kurt.....

Thanks everyone for your positive vibes, thoughts and/or prayers. I appreciate it and realize I get worked up over nothing..................:).

Girls' Sunday

Friday night, Kurt and I went out for sushi. Super yummy. Had our fav roll, and discussed some of the future of the business. Which I posted about the other day on the secret blog.....

Saturday, we worked past of the day, and went to Sam's looking for a new microwave. I am going to buy one for the office so we can heat stuff up there. The frig died at the office, so I am going to take in the one from the gym downstairs since I never seem to remember to use it down there. Did not find anything at Sam's, but we bought ahi tuna and flour tortillas to make tuna tacos with. Came home and made dinner, and played Gin Rummy. We tied--one game to one.

Today was fun. Rebecca set up a "girls day" with lunch and a movie. Met her at 130 at her house, and we headed to lunch at Azteca with Becca, Gina and Colleen. The food there was awesome, and since the staff barely spoke english, I practiced some of my Spanish. Love that. Headed to the movie next, where we met up with Heather, Keith, Jennifer, Julie (I think that was her name). Saw "He's Just Not That Into You". It was really funny, i really liked it. Oh, and before the movie, we stopped at DSW because i really needed new boots since mine died, and I found a pair on the clearance rack! Whoot! You can see them here. They are comfy and I can't wait to wear some that are not falling apart! Sad that I never have time to go to a store and buy stuff......

Anyway, off to bed because I have to get up early to take Kurt in for his procedure. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Cutest Nephew Eva

I have not posted many pics of Nick lately, so here are some for your viewing pleasure.

Nick is now 11.5 months, and is standing up and crawling super fast, so I imagine walking will be any day now. He is at my Mom's this weekend.

The first pic below is of him before bedtime, making a pouty face and trying to get my Mom to pick him up (which of course she did after taking the pic). Too cute.

I guess in the second pic, my Mom was cooking dinner, and Nick decided to go into her cabinet and grab a bottle of Popov. I saw what pic and was like OH NO! he is taking after his Auntie Lori her freshman year of college! haha. that bottle looks HUGE next to him.

New One

Lack of Secrets.

RBG--My Hero

Probably the person I idolize the most in life and want to be like is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. For those of you who are not in the legal world like I am, she is a Supreme Court Justice, and is extremely liberal in her viewpoints. Probably the most far left on the Court right now.

She has been my hero since I started on this legal journey of mine... I think if I ever met her, I would burst into tears because I would be SOOO excited. I looked for her when we were in DC last year, but court was not in session at that time, so my chances were pretty much zero, LOL.

And today, i read this article, about her fight with pancreatic cancer, and it made me really sad. :(. I am glad they caught it early, but I am still worried about it.

Even though I know they would appoint another women most likely, nobody will ever be like Ruth for me. I have seriously thought about naming my future daughter after her, but I don't really like the name Ruth, LOL. That is how much I look up to her.

So, everyone, please keep Ruth in your thoughts and hope she gets better! :).

randomness

I really do not have much to say, but felt like blogging, so this will be kinda random. This week has been busy with work and board meetings. I have not had a lot of free time, and my desk is piled with work to get done. AARGH. We had an interesting custody trial this week that Kurt did, and I stopped in to watch some of it. I love watching Kurt in trial, he is really in his element, even though he hates the prep and getting ready for it. I have literally not seen another attorney, in our area of law, who comes close to being as good as Kurt in trial. He is a total natural. or acts like it anyway, LOL. We find out the results in a couple weeks. We reprensent the mother and it's just another of those cases where the father wants more time to avoid paying more money, which is sad. So many fathers WANT the time, and guys like this one make a bad name for Dad's everywhere. Jessica said after the trial that she does not see at all how Kurt could have lost, but you never know in family law. It's very unpredictable, so we will see.

I made a new mac and cheese recipe that I cut out of a magazine last night, from a chef named Alan Ashkinaze. The recipe was below average comopared to the Martha Stewart mac and cheese, but it was a lot easier to make. I guess the recipes that require more effort are just better sometimes. Oh well. It was OK.

Today, we walked outside to another gorgeous MI day (note heavy sarcasm). It was negative 5 degrees. I seriously am sick of this crap. I hate cold weather and I am getting really restless not being able to go outside, with my camera, and walk or hike. I know I could in the snow, but I hate cold weather, and it has been just brutal here. I need some time away in NICE weather. Badly. It is supposed to warm up some this weekend, so hopefully that helps me.

So, I need new boots. Not the knee high type, more like just over my ankle for wearing under dress pants. Any suggestions on brands you like, or sites to use? I have been looking online, and am just not finding what I want in a reasonable price. I don't want to spend $100s of dollars on a pair. I really liked my last pair, but they were cheaply made and only lasted part of last winter and part of this winter.

Happy Birthday, Baby

***Me, and my favorite husband eva.

So, today is Kurty's 38th bday! His "present" will come on Valentine's weekend, when I am taking him on his surprise trip. But, I did not want the day to pass with NO celebration, so at the last minute, the "office" decided to go to dinner, minus Misty, since she wasa visiting her uncle in the hospital. So, we decided to go to Crave. Until we got there and realized that they were closed on Mondays. So, we went two doors down to Annam and had Vietnamese.

**Soooo, for all of you wondering, this is Jessica, our new associate! :). She fits in fabulously at the office, and likes to socialize with us outside of work, so I guess we have not scared her away with our crazy personalities, LOL.

Food was great, and we had an awesome time. Kurt filled Jessica in one some classic stories that she does not know yet of his "younger, rum and coke filled days", and we closed the place down, LOL. Which is not saying much since they close at like 9 p.m.

So, hard to believe that I have been with Kurt through his twenties and part of most of his 30s! Each year just gets better, and I feel blessed every day to be married to my bestest friend and kewlest person I have ever met. I love you baby! :).


**Kurt telling a story about his younger days......

Took a few more pics, which you can by clicking here.


**Jessica and kory

Weekends Fly By....

Friday night, Rebecca came to the office and we (meaning her, kurt, kory and I) went to dinner. We went to this new place by the office that is Japanese, and has hibachi tables. We decided to sit at the hibachi table, and i had shrimp with rice and veggies, which was awesome. we sat and talked for a while then headed home. It was really nice to see Rebecca. :). i was glad she made it down, even though it had started snowing AGAIN.

Saturday, we got up and went into the office for a short time. after that, stopped at Sam's Club and Men's Warehouse (Kurt desperately needed new shoes and bought a new tie as well, which was NOT needed, LOL). Stopped at Kohl's so i could buy my Grama her bday present, and while looking, found a ring for myself marked down to $4! gotta love deals. Headed home then to my Grama's in Westland for dinner. My Dad, Auntie, Carl, Grama, kurt and I were there. We went to Max and Erma's, and I had a shrimp pasta meal, which was yummy. since Kurt's bday is tomorrow, it was kinda a joint celebration. Kurt got some nice gifts, a couple dress shirts, tie, cuff links, etc. which I still need to unpack from the car.

Today, we did pretty much nothing. Well, I did do some things around the house. Made a Super Bowl dinner of tuna tacos with mexi rice, and made chocolate chip cookies. Had a nice night watching the Super bowl andd playing Sequence with Kurt and kory. kory won, even though he was the newbie to the game.

Kurt and I were watching a dog show at my grama's, and saw this dog that we both fell in love with, that is NOT a pug. If I was in the market for a dog right now, I would so be buying one of these. Anyway, it is called an Affenpinscher, and it looked like it had a personality a lot like a pugs. Super cute. we do not need a fourth dog for sure, but I may look at one in the future. Anyone have any experience with the breed?