"Sweet Tea Proper" - Shameless plug

Since I haven't been very good at posting on what it's like to live in the South, let me refer you to a good friend of mine from here, who has started a lovely blog about Southern living: 

Sweet Tea Proper

Sweet Tea Proper is "Designed to bless your heart, home, and life, Sweet Tea Proper is filled with faith, photos, recipes, ideas and inspiration to share and highlight the beauty and charm of Southern living."

I really enjoy her blog, and while I think I have a personal bias, since I do know that she is a lovely person and great example of the ideals found in a Southern young woman, I can also vouch for the authenticity of her site and the earnestness with which she presents her favorite aspects of where she lives. 

Also check it out on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

Final Four Trip + Auburn

You might have heard, Syracuse Men's Basketball was in the Final Four and I went with my parents to it in Atlanta.  They were in Mobile anyway, so we took the 5-hour drive to the ATL. 

We got there, dropped off our stuff, and caught the closest subway into Downtown, where we attended a Syracuse pre-game party. 

Band, Cheer and, of course, Otto, were there. 

The cheerleaders thought my mom's 80's cheer jacket was pretty awesome. 

I insisted on taking a picture in front of the "C" in "NCAA," a monument to the biggest Sham/Scam in US popular culture. 

I couldn't help but take a picture of those ridiculous Louisville Cardinals Pants. 

Our seats were not cheap, but they were pretty good for the price.  The guy behind me threatened to call security when I stood up at the beginning of the game (an SU tradition) ... that was nice. 

We lost, but it was worth the trip, it's a great event if you ever have the opportunity to go. 

On our way back from Atlanta we stopped at Auburn University. You may have heard of Toomer's Corner and Toomer's Oaks, they're the trees that are covered in toilet paper after major athletic wins and other events (they rolled the corner on election night last year).  Anyway, because a crazy Alabama fan poisoned the trees a few years ago, they were finally taken down about a week ago.  We were able to go see them just before that, and I got a picture with what was left of them after being ravaged by poison the last few years: 

The campus itself is beautiful, and our weather was pretty awesome for the visit. 

Jordan-Hare Stadium

The Cam Newton Statute

We also made a stop in Montgomery to see the Martin Luther King Church and Alabama State University.  One nice thing about this trip was the opportunity for my parents to see more of what the state looks like, how rural it really is once you get outside of the cities. It was a quick trip, but very fun.  

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Yo-Yo Ma in Mobile

Curtis and I had the unique opportunity to see Yo-Yo Ma perform with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra ("MSO") last Wednesday.  The MSO is not very old, but was fantastic.  It performed the first half without Ma, first playing a Verdi overture which was impressive, followed by the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra.  I wasn't crazy about how it sounded, but it certainly sounded technically difficult and the MSO did a great job of it.

Then after the intermission Yo-Yo Ma came out, looked so pleased to be performing, and first did the Schumann Cello Concerto in a minor, opus 129 with the MSO, and to be honest, he clearly had it memorized and while he was enjoying himself, it sounded like something he's performed often (not unlike the Bach that he plays in The West Wing, which he did not play for us that night but had performed the night before in Mobile).

Then, I think we had the real treat, because, in honor of John Williams birthday, he performed an Elegy that Williams wrote for Cello and Orchestra, which was BEAUTIFUL.  Seriously, I was blown away.  It also has a unique history:

ABOUT THE PIECE

Elegy for Cello and Orchestra

John Williams

DETAILS:

Composed: 1997-2001

Orchestration: 2 flutes, oboe, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet , 2 bassoons, 2 horns, harp, strings, and solo cello

A few years ago, an acquaintance of mine, a brilliant young violinist, lost her two young children in tragic circumstances. For the memorial service for little Alexandra and Daniel, a group of composer colleagues and I each contributed a small piece to mark this occasion, which was not only heart-rending, but also one that was suffused with a great deal of love.

A short time before this event, Yo-Yo Ma appeared as soloist on my soundtrack recording of Seven Years in Tibet. The score included a short melodic fragment which I thought might be expanded, so I shaped it into the form of the present Elegy, always with the cello in mind. The original version of the piece was for piano and cello and was beautifully performed at the memorial service by John Walz, an outstanding Los Angeles cellist. When the opportunity to record a CD with Yo-Yo Ma emerged, I decided to orchestrate the Elegy and Yo-Yo kindly agreed to record it.

— John Williams

After that, it was the end of the MSO program, and Ma then proceeded to delight the audience with 3 encores of solo music.  Even Curtis, who has very little musical background, enjoyed his performance and was impressed with his ability.

I was concerned going into the concert that I would be overly emotional - I had a hard time getting through the beautiful music at my Grandpa's service since he loved music so much.  But I was prepared and did well, and had a wonderful time listening to the beautiful music.

Our view from dinner tonight :-)

Delta cruise

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Yay!

Dear Christine Harding Hart: We are indeed pleased to advise you that your name is being certified to the Alabama Supreme Court today as having successfully completed all of the requirements for admission to the Alabama State Bar. The Supreme Court of Alabama will mail a Certificate of Admission to you within a few days and you may begin the practice of law upon receipt of said Certificate. The formal Certificate of Admission will be presented to you at the Admission Ceremony to be held in the Montgomery Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, May 30, 2012. In order to participate in the ceremony, you must register with the Young Lawyers’ Section of the Alabama State Bar,http://www.alabamayls.org THIS IS THE ONLY NOTICE YOU WILL RECEIVE ABOUT YOUR BAR EXAMINATION RESULTS! CONGRATULATIONS on this most significant achievement! Sincerely, David G. Hymer, Chair Board of Bar Examiners

So what's new?

- Work is super busy. I will be there for part of the afternoon today. 

- Curtis and I will be in the Bay Area next weekend for Juls' wedding. I'm very excited to be back and to see friends. 

- I finally got Instagram, so I'm playing around with that.  See my twitter feed for links to pictures (if you're not on Facebook).

- The weather here has been AMAZING. As in, 80 degrees and sunny, but not too humid.  We're crossing our fingers for another month of this before the humidity kicks in. 

- I officially dropped a pant size, have lost just under 20 pounds, including 10% of my starting weight, feel comfortable wearing shorts for the first time in years and am feeling good, strong and healthy. Looking forward to losing the next 25-30.

- I just bought a foam roller a few weeks ago and have been using it after most workouts, particularly on my legs and lower back.  I think it has really helped mitigate the day-to-day pain. 

Have a good week! 

The Hunger Games

One of these days I'll have to make a list of the movies I've seen at midnight. It's getting quite long (Harry Potter, Spiderman, Pirates, X-Files 2, more Harry Potter).

I saw Hunger Games last night - I think it's the first movie I've seen since moving to Alabama.  I saw it at this cool 100-year old theater in downtown Mobile called the Crescent, where they serve beer and wine in addition to the typical popcorn and candy and the owner talks about the movie before he begins the screening (for this one he talked about how it's getting great reviews, unlike Twilight).

The movie was great (I loved the book), but I'm too tired to go into it more than that for now except to say that the casting was actually quite brilliant, and it was definitely worth the fatigue this morning.

Have a good weekend! Curtis gets back tomorrow evening.

Alabama Voting and Politics

In case you were actually born yesterday, you should know that Alabama is not politically similar to California...

First, the voting experience. I arrived at Rockwell Elementary, just down the street from my house, and was immediately asked by the ladies checking me in after I gave them my ID, "how did you find yourself in Alabama from California??"  I explained that we got jobs here, yada yada yada.

Then, I was asked if I wanted a Republican or Democrat ballot. In Alabama you don't register with a party, but rather choose a party when you show up to vote (one of the few things about Alabama politics that I like).  But the way they asked me was funny, it was like "Republican. Or, Democrat?" as if they knew that everyone was voting Republican (anyone who votes with a Democratic ballot shouldn't even show up, all the candidates, left or right, except for Obama for President, run as Republicans).

Then I sat down at a table, with these wooden dividers to make sure we had "privacy", and I stared at my ballot for about 3 minutes to figure out what I was supposed to do (it was one of those where you have to draw the line from the arrow to the box of each candidate you want, at least that's what I hope the instructions meant). I then waited in line to put my ballot through an optical scanner that looked like it was lucky to have survived the 70's.  Then of course I got my sticker and was excited that I had just voted for the first time in a place like Alabama, for republicans.

Turning to the results, some folks in the office here felt ashamed that our state went for Santorum.  Thankfully it's proportional so he didn't actually gain any ground on Romney (the only sane electable one I think is still in the race, who won Mobile County).  But the bigger news is that the Republican winner for Chief Judge of the Alabama Supreme Court is crazy. And, the "democrat" (who isn't really) that will run against him in November is just as, if not more, crazy.  Here's what he said about undocumented immigrants:

[Harry] Lyon said if elected, he would sponsor a law to get all illegal immigrants out of the state within 90 days, or be hanged in public. “It would only take five or 10 getting killed and broadcast on CNN for it to send a clear message to not set foot in Alabama,” said Lyon, a Pelham lawyer. “Anybody that breaks into my home is a threat to my life. I remember the Alamo.”

So there is quite a bit of concern among the lawyers here about the state of our judicial system.  If I wasn't already careful about not finding myself on the wrong side of the law, I am now. 

Done!

I felt okay, we'll see at the end of April if I passed. I got home around 7:15 last night from Montgomery, and Curtis and I went to a fun dinner. I'm taking my time this morning before going into work and jumping back into the fray, unpacking so that I can repack tomorrow for our firm retreat in Florida this weekend.

Kenny is very funny this morning - I think I'm going to keep him home from daycare today since I'm going in late, but when I woke up at 7:45, Kenny was in the den, sleeping on the futon, with the door almost closed, and has no interest in moving from there. He's just crashed.

happy leap day!


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Watching NASCAR, no joke

You may have heard that I'm a bit of a sports fan. Well, I was watching ESPN this afternoon in my hotel and had heard that the Daytona 500 had been postponed to tonight because of weather. I ended up turning it on since there was nothing else on, and after the nasty wreck during lap 2, I was hooked. I am a bit of a Danica Patrick fan, although unfortunately she was knocked out of the race in that first wreck, along with Jimmy Johnson (another recognizable driver) and later Jeff Gordon because of engine issues. (I probably sound like I know more than I actually do, I know who the popular drivers are, but I know absolutely nothing about racing, except that there is this whole pit stop thing where they get new tires and more gas - otherwise its all Greek)

Anyway it's about halfway done and I have to say that, southern accents of the commentators aside, will all the cameras on and inside the cars, the audio from the drivers, the sound of the cars going 195 mph, it is actually somewhat interesting to watch, and I've been pleasantly surprised. I might even watch until the end.

Anyway, in other news, I had the first part of the Alabama Bar today, 3 hours of Alabama Civil Procedure. It went okay, I felt like I had a good handle on the questions but we'll see. I took a nice nap today which helped me catch up on the 6 hours I got last night (I couldn't help myself, I had to see who won best actress). I had some delicious lunch from Dreamland BBQ, which is a block away from my hotel, and I've probably eaten more in the last three days than I've eaten in the past 2 months, but I'll deal with that on Wednesday.

After getting the lay of the land this morning, I realized that I don't have to get to the convention center as early tomorrow, so I'll get to sleep in. I forgot my earplugs, but I actually don't need them because there aren't very many people taking the exam and half of the people are handwriting it. Most of the people I've spoken with have already taken an exam in another state like me. Anyway, enough with the boring stuff, I'm looking forward to going home tomorrow night, back to NASCAR! (lol)


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Here we go again...

I'm settled in my hotel room in Montgomery, AL, after a 2 hr, 15 min trip up highway 65 from Mobile, to take the Alabama Bar Exam for the next two days.

I've had some notice that I would be doing this, in fact, I knew when I was taking the exam in CA that I would get this experience again, but it really didn't feel real until I packed up my stuff yesterday and today. And let me tell you, I hope this is it for me. There has been some suggestion that I take the Florida Bar, but I think I will wait at least a year, because this is really annoying.

Here's the schedule:
Tomorrow (Monday): 3 hour essay exam in the morning on Alabama Civil Procedure and Remedies
Tuesday: morning is the "Multistate Performance Test," for three hours, and the afternoon is the Multistate Essay Exam, for three hours.

I'll drive back to Mobile Tuesday evening and head back into work probably around 11 am on Wednesday.

In the meantime, I will be studying (I didn't have three months without work this time to prepare), watching a healthy share of tv (the oscars! The All star game! The NFL combine! All the weekend before the bar... :-/), enjoying a few days without makeup or dress clothes, and hopefully performing well enough to pass, so that I (maybe) never have to do this again.

Have a good week.

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Location:Montgomery, AL

Stay Tuned for Mardi Gras Posts!

We're in full-swing with Mardi Gras here, and we went to our first (and only this year) ball last Saturday night. We had a great time and have enjoyed the season so far.  Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras Day is next Tuesday, and then it is all over when Lent starts the following Wednesday. So at some point (maybe before the Bar, maybe after) I will recap our first Mardi Gras season in Mobile.

Mardi Gras Ball(s)

We have been invited to one ball so far in Daphne.  We might go to another in Mobile that "everyone goes to."

(now that Wikipedia is available again, thank goodness, here's a good explanation of Mardi Gras in Mobile)

We're going easy on the Balls this year so we can enjoy the parades and I can pass the Alabama Bar Exam, which takes place one week after Mardi Gras Day, which is a holiday for my office (perhaps the start of Lent will make everyone solemn, creating a good last-minute study environment for yours truly).

I got my first Mardi Gras Ball gown in the mail yesterday.  Bought it from David's Bridal on Amazon for about $85, including shipping.  It's purple, and it fits. Yay :-)

(Now I just need to take it to the tailor to get 3 inches chopped off the bottom)

(And we need to rent Curtis' White Tie tux....)

(And I need Shoes...)

Have a good weekend!

11/20 I am thankful for...

I am thankful for our temperamental weather. It definitely keeps life here in Alabama interesting. Today is a warm and humid high 70's. I am also thankful to have a nice apartment with enough space for family when they arrive in 2 days.

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11/17 I am thankful for...

I am thankful for frogs.  Two nights ago Curtis was out with Kenny and they came across a pretty big frog (or, "Fowler's Toad" possibly). Well apparently Kenny went for him but luckily he was on leash so Curtis stopped him, and eventually the frog hopped away.  I was kinda sad to have missed the frog. 

Then last night, when Curtis went to take Kenny out, I heard this strange smacking noise near the door. I went down there and discovered that a tiny frog, size of a quarter, found its way into our house! Super cute, and he seemed scared. I was able to get him in a Tupperware and when i went to find Curtis and Kenny outside, I came across the same big frog from the night before (his body was the size of my fist)! Anyway, I released the little frog near that big frog with the hope that they were related and its home was nearby.  It was a cold morning today so hopefully they're okay. First time I've really had an interaction with frogs in the wild, and I am thankful because it put a smile on my face (plus I've heard they're good luck!).

Tonight I'm going to take my camera out with the hopes of getting a picture of the big frog. 

First Sunday at Church

I finally went to church last Sunday! I went to Spanish Fort United Methodist Church. Growing up in the UMC, I'd love to be able to just transfer membership to a UMC here, but I'm also very open to many different kinds of churches. This church actually has services taking place simultaneously at two locations, a traditional service and a contemporary service. The pastors seem to rotate around the services. I found myself at the contemporary, which was nice, but I'm used to traditional services so I'll try that as well.

It was similar to a modern UMC service in CA - it was a little over an hour, and there was praise music (although not much singing by the congregation, and the songs were good!). And the sermon was on the Good Samaritan, so pretty standard, not controversial. My biggest concern in finding a church is that it not be too conservative. So far so good. This church seems particularly dedicated to service, which is something that I liked. I picked up a newsletter on my way out, and thought it was funny to see a Nick Saban (head football coach at Alabama) reference in the Pastor's article.

One thing that I loved being there for was a baby's Baptism - it's hard for me to go to church here because this is a mostly independent endeavor for me - I know practically everyone at my church in Mission Viejo, and so being by myself in a new place with no one I know was a little tough. But to see that Baptism, to think back on camp in August, when we reflected on our baptism, really helped me to connect with God and to find purpose in what I'm doing in trying to find a church here. It made me realize that while it's important to find a congregation that I will feel comfortable with, I also need to remember that that is inferior to my need to have a relationship with God and to worship God. I think it took some of the pressure off, and I think it will make the process a little easier.

I haven't decided where I will go this weekend, possibly back to Spanish Fort UMC, or possibly Daphne UMC - we'll see! 

I'm a little worried...

I had my first interview today - which went really well, I don't want to go into the details but it was a good experience. 

I got home and decided to start really taking a look at what I need to take the Bar here in February - and it turns out that the deadline (with no opportunity to file late) is October 1st. Thankfully, I can postmark on October 1st (although, I can't, because I'll be traveling back to CA for the UCLA-Stanford game).

But good thing I looked - that's what happens when you decide to not care about important things like this for the month and a half that I wasn't studying for or taking the Bar.

Anyway, I've already reached out to USC to get the ball rolling on their part. My biggest worry is that I apparently need affidavits from attorneys in Alabama who have practiced for 5 years who know me, and I don't think a 20 minute interview counts. So I sent an email to the office of admission (really to clarify the whole process), I might call them tomorrow too to make sure I can use California folks, which of course means asking attorneys that I haven't seen or spoken to in awhile to write under oath that they know me and that I'm a good person, AND have their affidavit notorized... UGH.

And I apparently need to fill something out that calls for two witnesses and a notory allowing that my criminal records be obtained, as if that is something that they really need my consent for, or that isn't implied by the fact that I am APPLYING FOR BAR MEMBERSHIP IN THEIR STATE!

okay, rant over - time to watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and tackle the rest of this tomorrow.

Oh and they're coming to pick up the empty boxes tomorrow morning, which means we will finally have a second bathroom and a balcony, which has been otherwise been used for storage of said boxes. Yay.

Kenny after going out in Tropical Storm Lee + update

You might have heard that upon my arrival in Spanish Fort, Tropical Storm Lee has come in. No need to worry- we have water and candles and matches and cookies in case we lose power, and we're watching the weather reports closely, but we are affected in that we have a dog that needs to go outside to go to the bathroom. Normally we can go in-between the really hard rain but tonight he needed to go immediately, so I put on his raincoat, grabbed the umbrella and headed out. We were still soaked, but not too bad. We made him stay on a bath mat to dry out a little, and then he went to his bed snuggle and dry up more.




In other news, we're mostly staying in, we did go to the gym, and I got my car (yay!) and I went to the dollar store for some random stuff we needed and got us some frozen yogurt - both stores just down the street. We unpacked the boxes in the bedroom, I'm hoping to do some more work on the kitchen tonight, but overall it's coming along. We're watching lots of football today and am just enjoying being together :-)

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(no I'm not pregnant...)