50 Things

Kristen and Meg did this and I am home alone since Tim lives in Fort Worth now, so I thought I'd do it, too!

50 Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now? A jacket, umbrella, some of Tim's law books he left in my car when he cleaned out his office here in Waco, a Hobby Lobby bag full of trash that I put my water bottles in when I drink them in the car, and a box of cookbooks I am taking to Half Price Books for my Nanny (that's a lot for what's usually in there!)

2. What's your favorite curse word? Shoot! ;)

3. Name 3 people who made you smile today? Tim, John (my "boss" at work), and Lauren (another co-worker)

4. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Getting dressed for work

5. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Painting my nails and toenails for New Year's Eve! (Pompeii Purple, which is actually hot pink, and I got it all over my fingers because I didn't realize the top wasn't on when I turned it over to look at the name - nice...)

6. What will you be doing 3 hours from now? Sleeping, I go to bed early

7. Have you ever been to a strip club? No

8. What is the last thing you said aloud? "What have you been doing?" to Tucker

9. What is the best ice cream flavor? Cake Batter from Cold Stone

10. What was the last thing you had to drink? Water

11. What are you wearing right now? The robe I got for Christmas from Nanny and Papa

12. What was the last thing you ate? Mrs. Freshley's light brownie bites

13. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? As a matter of fact, I just bought three dresses to choose from to wear on New Year's Eve. All from Forever 21, for less than $40 :)

14. When was the last time you ran? Yesterday. About three miles with the Waco Striders for half marathon training

15. What's the last sporting event you watched? Texans football on Sunday

16. Who is the last person you emailed? Missy

17. Ever go camping? H-E-double hockey sticks NO! I do not like sleeping outdoors - much to Tim's disappointment!

18. Do you have a tan? A tiny one - I tanned today (bad me...it's free at our apartment complex!)

19. Do you drink your soda from a straw? Only if it's a fountain drink

20 What did your last IM say? I have no idea...I think it said "bye! you too!"

21. Are you someone's best friend? I don't know, actually...

22 is missing!

23. Where is your mom right now? At the duck/deer lease

24. Look to your left, what do you see? Side table with lamp, clock, and the flag Pete gave me that he flew for me in Iraq :)

25. What color is your watch? Stainless/Silver with blue face

26. What do you think of when you think of Australia? The accents and beaches

27. Would you consider plastic surgery? Yeah. I've had a small amount of plastic surgery to remove a scar, but I'd consider it for other things

28. What is your birthstone? Ruby

29. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive-thru? Depends. If I am in a hurry, usually pull through. If I am eating lunch with someone, go in.

30. How many kids do you want? Four!

31. Do you have a dog? Yes, just little Tucker

32. Last person you talked to on the phone? Tim

33. Have you met anyone famous? Umm...Pat Green (twice!), Roger Creager, and Wade Bowen. I saw the main guy from CSI:Miami in Houston once but didn't meet him

34. Any plans today? It's almost 8:00 PM, so just eating dinner, watching some TV, and drying my hair

35. How many states have you lived in? Just Texas

36. Ever go to college? Yes. A&M (WHOOP!) for undergrad and Baylor for law school

37. Where are you right now? In the living room

38. Biggest annoyance in your life right now? School

39. Last song listened to? Sugarland, Already Gone

40. Are you allergic to anything? Cats and I think I am becoming allergic to all non-hypoallergenic dogs

41. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? My black flats from Nordstrom...Sechilles or something like that?

42. Are you jealous of anyone? I am jealous of people who are not in school right now. And, sometimes I get a little jealous of people who have babies...but it's not the time for that right now!

43. Is anyone jealous of you? Not that I know of

44. What time is it? 7:51 PM

45. Do any of your friends have children? Just one couple - Rose & Drew

46. Do you eat healthy? Try to. Moreso lately

47. What do you usually do during the day? Sit at work and do work things or look online. Or, sit in class.

48. Do you use the word 'hello' daily? If I answer the phone

49. How did you get your scars? Chin: falling off a bike in 4th grade, Nose: cutting it with a knife when I was three and trying to cut my own apple; Left-Side of Face: Jaw surgery

50. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? 24

Hope everyone has a good night!

Christmas Sum-Up

We did a lot of travelling this Christmas! As I mentioned in a previous post, we celebrated Christmas with my dad's side of the family on December 21st. Then, we celebrated Christmas at my dad and stepmom's house on December 23rd. The 24th, we went to Crockett and stayed there until the 27th to have Christmas with my mom and her side of the family. The 27th, we went to Beaumont and had Christmas with Tim's mom, brother, and his family, and then had Christmas with his dad on the 28th. We came back to Waco yesterday so Tim could pack everything up today to move to Fort Worth. He starts his new job tomorrow!

We got lots of great stuff - too much to mention here! Tim got some new clothes for work and a giftcard to get some more clothes, we got some skillets we had been wanting (mine are stainless so stuff sticks to them, so we got some nonstick ones), some books, a bag I wanted that I am going to use for a briefcase, the stable part for my Willow Tree nativity, a small decorative lamp, some giftcards, and more stuff! We had a wonderful Christmas.

Tim is leaving this afternoon to go up to Fort Worth. For the time being, he will be staying with his friend Tennessee. Tennessee and his fiancee, Lauren, have a mother-in-law house in their backyard that they agreed to let Tim stay in for very cheap for a while! We are going to go look at houses to rent this weekend. Tim kind of wants to wait a few months before we rent anything since I won't be moving there until May (our lease here in Waco is up the last day of April). I told him we should keep our options open and if we find something we REALLY love that is well-within our price range, to go ahead and rent it now. I'm just anxious to get something because I am excited about moving there ;)

I'll be going up to Fort Worth on Wednesday after I get off work and we're going to Dallas to celebrate New Year's with my friend Kaitlin, her boyfriend Beau, and another couple. We're going to go to Pappadeaux's for dinner and then to Blackfin bar in Addison. I love going out on New Year's, so I'm really excited!

Hope everyone had a great holiday and has a great New Year's!

Heartwarming Story

I thought this was a great Christmas story. Hope everyone else enjoys!

Life of Reilly
There are some games where cheering for the other side feels better than winning.
by Rick Reilly

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."
And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3789373

God is Good!!

I just found out that I got the internship job in Fort Worth!!! I was getting really anxious yesterday since I hadn't heard anything so I went ahead and e-mailed them this morning just to ask for an update and tell them that I was very interested in the job and enjoyed meeting everyone (I already sent everyone a thank you note, this was just a follow up). I got an e-mail back from the lady telling me 'congratulations!' and it had a letter attached that they were going to send me in the mail that told me I got the job!

I will start after I take the bar and graduate. I could start on August 3rd, but they told me in the interview that they usually like to give people a couple weeks off after the bar. However, I just heard from the lady again and she said she would mark my tentative start date as August 1st. So, I guess I might be able to start the 3rd. They used to last into October but she told me they had a policy change and they now end September 30th. That would mean I would work there for about 8 1/2 weeks. I get my bar results somewhere around the first week of November, so hopefully after that it will lead to getting a full-time Assistant DA job with them.

Anyway, I just wanted to give an update since I just found out! I will post about what department I will be working in when I know more about it. Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts from everyone!

Have a great holiday!

Christmas Travels

I haven't heard about the job, yet. I will definitely post as soon as I know something.

We started our Christmas travels this weekend and visited my Mammaw and Pappaw (dad's parents) in Crockett for family Christmas. I always love going to see them and eating some yummy food. Before that, on Saturday, we ran with the training group and ran a little over 5 miles! That was the most I've ever run.

Christmas Eve we are going back to Crockett to my Nanny and Papa's (mom's parents) until Saturday. We haven't been to their house in a long time, so we can't wait to get to visit for a few days! Saturday, the 27th, we are going to Beaumont to see Tim's mom and dad for a couple days. Then, we are coming back to Waco and Tim is leaving for Fort Worth. He starts his new job on Tuesday!

We are spending New Year's Eve in Dallas with my friend Kaitlin, her boyfriend, and some other people. I really love New Year's Eve so it is fun for me to get to be in a big city and have a big time :) Hopefully I will have good news about the job by then.

I am so nervous about the job. I feel sick when I think about it because I am so nervous. I know that I will be able to find a position somewhere else if this doesn't work out, but the Tarrant County DA has such an amazing reputation and I have heard so many wonderful things about the office that I just want to work there very badly. We are going running again tonight in the freezing weather. I cannot stand cold weather! I know it makes it more like Christmas, but it does not bother me if it is 70 degrees at Christmas - I just want to be warm!

Hope everyone travelling stays safe and has a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah/Holiday in general!

Great news!!

TIM GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!

Yayyyy!!! We are so excited! I haven't posted this week because he had the interview on Tuesday and I didn't want to post about it and then him not get the job and have to post sad news. So, I just decided to hold off on posting until we knew something. He got the call at lunch today that they want him to work for them! It's a relatively new firm - made up of three attorneys that have worked for several years at other firms - called Judd & Vural, PLLC. It is in Fort Worth which is even more awesome because we really wanted to live there. I am just so excited I can't even begin to try to express it!

I also had an interview today at the Tarrant County DA for an internship after I take the bar. I thought it went pretty well. It was only a 15 minute interview, which I couldn't find a parking spot and ended up going into the wrong building at first so I was 5 minutes late :( Luckily, the lady knew I was coming in from out of town and it was bad weather and the guy who was going after me was already there so he just went before me. I hope that that doesn't hurt my chances but I felt like I did well overall. I guess we will see...They are supposed to let me know next week.

We are about to go to Tim's current job's Christmas party. He is starting his new job shortly after Christmas and will be staying with a friend until we find a place. Our lease at our apartment in Waco is up at the end of April, so I will probably move to Fort Worth for my last quarter and just come into Waco for my one class everyday. If that doesn't look like it will work, we will try to figure out something else but that seems like a great option for now.

I'll try to write more tomorrow to update on the past week. Hope everyone has a great night!

Christmas Decor

Okay, I finally took pictures of all of it! I tried to put them in some sort of order.

I know I posted this a couple months ago, but for those of you that weren't reading them or didn't see it, here is the wreath I made for the front door.

We don't have a mantle so I found this cute stocking holder on the internet.

I have also made it double as a Christmas card holder on the back of it since we only have three stockings to put on it and they all fit on the front.

Tim's mom gave me this beautiful set of ornaments. They all kind of go together, so I decided to get a small tree to put them on so they could all be around eachother. I don't have lights for it yet so it is kind of hard to see them. But, there are 12 ornaments and each has a meaning. The collection is called the Bridal Collection and it is a set of good wishes for new couples to begin their lives together. Angel - God's guidance in the home; Bird - Happiness and joy; Fish - Christ's blessing; Flower Basket - Good wishes; Fruit Basket - Generosity; Heart - True Love; House - Shelter and protection; Pine Cone - Motherhood and fruitfulness; Rabbit - Hope and faith; Rose - Beauty and affection; Santa- Unselfishness and goodwill; and Teapot- Hospitality

Here is my Willow Tree Nativity. I LOVE all things Willow Tree. If Tim hadn't objected, our tree would also have Willow Tree ornaments. I asked for the actual stable thing that they sit on for Christmas this year from my Nanny and Papa.

Kitchen table decorated...

Close up of the centerpiece. Flowers and ornaments from Hobby Lobby, bowl was one of our wedding presents. It's a really beautiful crystal bowl.

Christmas trees I made...

Here's a closeup of the tree. It's a cardboard tree with tiny little glittery balls hot glued onto it. They had some similar to this at Target that I really liked but they were $30 each. I decided I could make them for less than that. I ended up making them for about $20 for both of them!

My bobble-head Santa with his Christmas tree. You obviously can't tell he is a bobble-head and this picture really doesn't do him justice, but he is just about the cutest thing ever.

Jack Frost potpourri with Jack Frost scented candles in the pretty wooden holder. My mom bought this for me when she was in town from this great store we have here called Spice. This is on the coffee table.

Little bit of a close up on the Christmas tree. My pictures do not make it look as pretty as I think it looks. We went with a red and gold theme with a little bit of silver mixed in.

Here's a full view of the tree with the star. It took us FOREVER to get the star on and make it stand up. I ended up having to use a wooden spatula stuck inside of it along with the branches to keep it from falling over. The lights are actually on but the flash made it hard to tell. I think I will add a couple more strings of lights next year to make it light up more.

That's it! Sorry the post is so long! We're heading to Boerne tomorrow so I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Tucker & Swearing In

As I have mentioned in a few posts, Tim and I have both been sick the past couple weeks. We have a lot of drainage, so we have been blowing our noses a lot. Tucker likes snotty Kleenexes (awesome, I know). Usually, we leave the bedroom door open for him so he can sleep on the bed while we're gone but we close the bathroom door. Well, we forgot to close the bathroom door the other day and this is what we came home to...

And this is Tucker hiding after we discovered the mess...

Also, I never posted pictures of Tim's dad swearing him in to the Bar. Here is a picture of the actual swearing in.

And here's an "after" picture with his dad.

That's all for today. Stay warm - it's windy and cold outside!

Ornaments!

The last ornament exchange on The Nest was this month and I got some great ornaments from dangerkitty102!! Here is a picture of them:
They are perfect for our tree :) Oh, and by the way, that little thing isn't our main tree. That was just the best way for them to show up for a picture.

Weekend

Ok, so I still haven't taken pictures of the Christmas decorations. I swear I will this week!

Friday we had my office Christmas party. It was really fun! We had dinner and a White Elephant exchange at one of the ADA's houses and then went out to this place called Crying Shame in Waco. It's a somewhat seedy bar but they always like to go there after the Christmas party every year. You can dance there, probably won't see anyone you know, and it's interesting to see all the people. We left about midnight because we were starting half marathon training on Saturday morning.

We got up EARLY on Saturday at 7:20 to go running with the Waco Striders - the group that is doing the half marathon training. Tim complained the entire way to the place we were meeting because he was tired, he didn't feel good, it was cold, etc. etc. etc. We ran a 5k on flat ground and did 3 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking. I thought that would make our time slower but one of the guys was telling us that it really doesn't add much to your time because, if you were to run the whole way, you actually slow down as you run. So, walking every four minutes actually helps you keep your speed up. I think he was right because we ran that same amount a couple weeks ago and it took us 30 minutes running the whole time. Yesterday, it took us 30 minutes and 44 seconds. Anyway, it was freezing outside when we were running - I think about 27 degrees - so my nose was running a lot. We came back home and got back in bed about 9 AM and slept until 1 PM!

Last night we had our monthly supper club. This one was Chinese Christmas themed so we had Chinese food for dinner and took saki bombs. It was fun - they usually are! We slept in again this morning (bad us, not going to church) until a little after 11:00. I think we haven't been sleeping well this week because we have been sick, so we needed some catch up time on sleep. My nose is running a lot more today but I don't feel bad.

That's about it! I think we are going to go to Boerne this weekend. My interview with the Tarrant County DA for the internship position is on December 18th at 2:00 PM. Oh, and please make sure to pray this week for Sarah. She is the one I talked about a couple weeks ago that is in the process of trying to adopt and the adoption calendar is going to help with she and her husband's expenses. They may have an opportunity to adopt a baby girl that was just born this weekend. Please pray for the biological mother of the baby who is making the decision and also pray for Sarah and Jamie that this works out for them and they have a smooth process.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Storm!

I got a new phone yesterday!! I got the new Blackberry Storm, which is RIM's (Blackberry maker) version of the iPhone. It's a touch screen and I L-O-V-E it!! It was my Christmas gift from Tim but it wasn't supposed to be in until December 15th or 16th so I was very excited when I saw that I had a package from FedEx yesterday when I wasn't expecting anything.

I'll try to give a better review of it once I use it for a while, but so far I really, really like it.

Ornaments

I forgot to put up pictures of the ornaments I got in November's Ornament Exchange on The Nest. They are really pretty and look great on our tree! Thanks sethsgal :)

Mistletoe

Onion

Blog Update and Weekend

I don't know how I feel about my new background, but I was trying to get in the Christmas mood on the blog and it's the only one I could find that I liked the way it looked with our Christmas card (the header)! I'll keep it for now and think about changing it. If something is hard to read, please let me know and I'll change the colors. I have the apartment all decorated but it isn't exactly like I want it, yet, so I am going to wait to post pictures until I get it just right.

On Friday, we went shopping in Beaumont and got most of our Christmas presents bought. We just have about 6 more people. We also went out with some of Tim's friends to a bar. It's funny going out in Beaumont now because, since I had jaw surgery, no one I went to high school with knows who I am - unless they are friends with me on facebook. And, some of the people on facebook don't even recognize me in real life. I sort of enjoy this because I can sit back and watch and see them without having to actually socialize with people I didn't really socialize with in school in the first place. The only time I don't enjoy it is if I see a sibling of one of my classmates and I want to ask how that person is doing but I don't feel like trying to explain to the sibling who I am. I know it doesn't seem like it would take that much effort, but most of the time I just don't want small talk :)

Saturday, we came back to Waco and just kind of took it easy. I felt like I was getting sick about the time we were going to bed so I took some Nyquil but, sure enough, I woke up in the middle of the night unable to breathe and with a TERRIBLE sore throat. It's been all downhill from there. Today I am very achy, my throat is still scratchy, and my nose is realllllly stopped up. I kind of feel like I have fever, but the thermometer says I don't. I don't think it's the flu because I got a flu shot but I hope I don't have strep throat. Kate, our neice, was sick this week so I think maybe we got it from her. Tim also doesn't feel good but doesn't feel as bad as me. Today we went to Target and the grocery store and that's about it. We didn't go to my dad's for dinner because I didn't want to get them sick.

This week, I have two Christmas parties at work, we have Supper Club on Saturday, and we are starting half marathon training Saturday morning. It should be a busy but fun week. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Good News and Sort of Bad News

We are in Beaumont right now for Thanksgiving, but I wanted to give a quick update. First the sort of bad news...I heard from the Harris County DA today and I didn't get an offer. I'm really not upset about it, although it would have been awesome to have gotten an offer. I found out at my last interview that I would likely be worked 7 AM to 7 PM during the week and several weekends a month. This does not sound very appealing to me - especially for the amount of money I would be making! They told me they were very impressed with me in the interview and if they had had a few more spots, I would have gotten an offer (I don't know if they might say this to everyone!) and they encouraged me to apply after I take the bar if I haven't already gotten a job. I wouldn't have to go through the interview process again, I would just have to have one interview with the Hiring Committee.

For the good news... I received an e-mail from the Tarrant County DA's Intern Coordinator today telling me that she had been asked to contact me about interning with them after I take the bar. I think I told y'all in the post about my interview with them that they encouraged me to intern with them after I take the bar because they give first preference on jobs to their interns. In the interview, they told me to contact the intern coordinator about interviewing for an internship. I hadn't contacted her yet because I was trying to figure out what was going on with Tim's job situation. So, I'm really happy that they obviously liked me enough to tell the intern coordinator about me and get her to e-mail me! I am hopefully going to interview with the intern hiring committee on December 18th. As I have probably made really clear to a lot of people, we VERY much want to live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, so this is such a blessing to have the possibility of an internship with the Tarrant County DA that could lead to a job offer. They are known to be one of the best DA's in the state, they pay really well, and it has an outstanding reputation as a great place to work. Now, we just have to find Tim a job in the DFW area so that we can be sure to live there!

Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!

Adoption Calendar

A Nestie and facebook friend of mine, Sarah, and her husband, Jamie, are in the process of trying to adopt. As this is a very expensive process, they have put together an adorable calendar of little kid's pictures to raise money to help them with the costs associated with adopting.

I'd like to invite y'all to purchase the calendar to help them. They are great people and really deserve the happiness of bringing a child into their lives. The calendar is just the cutest thing ever. If you look to the right on this page, you will see a link to the Adoption Calendar so you can purchase it. If you would like to know a little about Sarah and Jamie, here's the link to their blog: http://bunchesofburches.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

Weekend

We didn't have a very eventful weekend. Friday, Tim went to Beaumont for his mom's office Christmas party. She won two $100 Shell gas gift cards (she works for a company that owns Shell gas stations) and she was generous enough to give them to Tim. That definitely helps us out!

Saturday morning, I went to my brother's basketball games and took my little sister, Emily, to lunch. Tim came back around 2:00 and we just hung out the rest of the day. I decided to make chili (my first time) for dinner. I used the recipe from Confections of a Foodie Bride (http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/). It is under the "October" recipes. My mom also made it the same night and both Tim and my stepdad said it was the best chili they ever had. It was delicious! We also watched The Happening, which was really stupid and very disappointing.


Today we went to church and went to eat at Cracker Barrel. Then, we came home and took a long nap and then went running. I ran for 30 minutes straight, 3.29 miles. I was pretty excited because that's the most I've run since I hurt my knee and I felt great! We went to my dad's for our Sunday dinner with them to complete the weekend.


Uneventful, but pretty relaxing! We are going to Beaumont either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning for Thanksgiving. Tim is going to be sworn into the Bar by his dad on Wednesday afternoon. Since his dad is a judge, he is allowed to do the swearing in ceremony to officially make Tim a lawyer in Texas.


Hope everyone had a good weekend and has a great Thanksgiving!

Ridiculously Good Recipe

I think I actually got the idea for this from someone on The Nest, but I have to share it with everyone. I made it for a work luncheon a few weeks ago and people at work are STILL coming up to me and talking about it, someone has already made it at home, and someone else is making it for Thanksgiving for their family. It is delicious, but not healthy :) Worth the calories, though!

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes

Ingredients
Cake:
1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
- To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.
- Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Interview

The interview with Tarrant County went well, but they pretty much told me from the beginning that they wouldn't have anything to offer me since I haven't taken the bar yet. They told me to call and interview with the internship committee and to try to get an internship for after I take the bar and while I am waiting to get licensed. They give first preference on jobs to people that have interned with them, so they said that would be a good way to help me get a job once I do get licensed.

I would like to ask all of you to please, if you aren't already, say a little pray for Tim to find a job. We are getting by now because of his job as a law clerk, but it is so discouraging for him to keep applying for jobs and either get told that he isn't what they want or just not hear from them at all. I know the economy is bad right now so it is a hard time to be looking for jobs, but people are hiring - we just really need someone to hire him. I would very much appreciate all the prayers you could spare for him. He is keeping his hopes and head up about it but I am starting to get extremely discouraged and pessimistic about it.

Hope everyone is having a good Wednesday. I am going out for my friend Sandy's birthday tonight. Tomorrow is my Friday, so that's exciting!

Interview and Kate-ism

I had my interview today. It went okay. I felt kind of like I did the last time, which isn't great. But, I guess I did well enough the last time, so we'll see. There were eight people interviewing today and six of the eight are either currently interning at the Harris County DA or have interned there recently. I don't think that is very good odds! I had to do a voir dire and a closing argument. I hope I get an offer but I won't be heartbroken if I don't since we don't know if we really want to live in Houston. My interview with Tarrant County is in the morning at 10:40 at the law school.

Funny extra note: Brian, Tim's brother, was telling us a story last night about Kate, his 3 year old. She has a CD of Broadway music that used to be her mother's that she really likes. Apparently, she has memorized the order of the songs on the CD. They were listening to it in the car and Brian thought she wouldn't like a particular song so he changed it to the next song. Kate was very distraught by this and said "WHY would you do that to me?!" to Brian, as if he had just killed her dog. Hahaha. It reminded me of the Shelbyisms from Meg's Blog.

That's all! I'll update about the Tarrant County interview tomorrow.

Crazy Eights

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. House
3. Fringe
4. Criminal Minds
5. Law & Order
6. NCIS
7. Without A Trace
8. Army Wives...but, since it's over for the season, Cold Case

8 Favorite Restaraunts:
1. Carrabba's
2. 1424
3. Baris
4. Texas Roadhouse
5. P.F. Chang's
6. Fraelos (in Leon Springs)
7. Pretty much any Mexican food -- La Fiesta here in Waco
8. Carino's

8 Things that Happened Today:
1. Woke up
2. Took an affidavit at work
3. Went to two classes
4. Mailed a check for my physical therapy
5. Ate a snack (Diet Dr. Pepper & 100 Calorie Cheez Its)
6. Checked my e-mail
7. Looked up info about the new DA in Houston
8. Texted Tim about leaving for Houston

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Thanksgiving
2. Christmas
3. Decorating our apartment with all the awesome Christmas stuff I have
4. Graduating law school
5. Buying Christmas gifts for everyone - I'm obsessed with finding the perfect gift
6. Getting done with my interviews
7. Figuring out where we will be living
8. Trying to train for a half-marathon

8 Things on My Wishlist:
1. For Tim to find a job
2. For me to find a job
3. The new Blackberry Storm (that comes out on Friday)
4. To know where we will be living, at least for a few years (looking forward to it but also wishing we could get it figured out)
5. New underwear (haha)
6. For all our law school debt to be magically paid off
7. For everyone to be happy and healthy
8. Whenever it is the right time for us, to have at least one healthy baby

I'm not going to tag anyone because I saw it on two other people's blogs. Just do it because it's a fun way to pass the time!

Weekend

My mom and my Nanny came this weekend to visit Tim and I in Waco. They got here Friday night and we went to Baris, this really good Italian restaurant in Waco. Saturday, we got up and went to this place outside of Waco called Heritage Homestead to eat lunch. It is a 510-acre homestead where these non-denominational Christians live. They are self-sustaining and grow their own vegetables and fruit, make cheese, milk, and desserts and various other things. They have a restaurant you can eat at and then a store where you can buy things they make as well as a pottery shop and woodworking shop to buy things. It was pretty cool but the shops were extremely expensive - like, there was a rocker that was a size for a toddler that someone that lived there made out of wood and it was $1,800!! It was pretty, but I can't imagine spending that much. The people can leave when they get older if they want to, but apparently a lot of them stay because they like the lifestyle. They were sort of Amish-looking but didn't wear bonnets or drive buggys. http://www.homesteadheritage.com/

After that, we went shopping at various places around Waco. My mom got some pretty stuff at this cool furniture store here called Spice. Saturday night we went to 1424 (the restaurant I talked about last week that Tim and I went to). It was just as good as the last time!

Today, Tim and I tried to go to about 5 different restaurants to eat breakfast, but they were all either too crowded or we got there just as they were stopping serving breakfast. I was very sad because I was really craving breakfast!

That's about it - not too much exciting stuff to talk about. I have my interview with the Harris County DA on Tuesday and the Tarrant County DA on Wednesday, so please keep me in your thoughts!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

More Job Updates

I found out today that I got an interview with the Tarrant County (Fort Worth) District Attorney! I am really excited about this one. It will be next Wednesday, November 19th. So, I'll have Harris County DA on Tuesday, November 18 and Tarrant County the next day. Luckily, Tarrant County is coming to interview at Baylor so I won't have to be driving all over the place two days in a row.

Tim is hard at work applying for jobs, so please keep us in your thoughts these next few weeks!

Happy Monday :)

Weekend

Tim and I were very excited for the weekend because of all the things we were celebrating. After I finished my final on Friday, we went and had lunch and then I came home and took a nap. That night we went to 1424, a restaurant we love, for dinner with some friends - Aaron, Clint, and Athena. We just came home and went to sleep after that because we were so tired.

Saturday, we went to the Zoo! I love the zoo and I haven't been to the one here in a really long time. Tim has never been except for our reception and he didn't see any animals then! Here are some of the animals we saw and I took pictures of. We actually have a lot of video and pictures, but I'm tired today so I just decided to put a few highlights.

After the zoo, we went to get ornaments for my ornament exchange this month and went to Hobby Lobby for me to get some stuff for another Christmas project I am working on. Then, last night, we had our monthly supper club. Our friends Lindsey and Justin, who got us involved in it, were hosting this month and it was at Justin's work. He works at a game ranch a little bit outside of town. It was so much fun and the food was delicious! We had some really great dinners this weekend!

Today we just went and got Wing Stop for lunch, I worked on my project and we watched football. We are going to go to my dad's in a few minutes for dinner.

I start school again tomorrow :( But, luckily, I don't have Friday classes this quarter, which is very exciting!! Hope everyone else had a fun weekend!

The Bar

TIM PASSED THE BAR!!!

YAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now he never has to go to school again :)

I finish finals tomorrow so much celebration will ensue for the end of finals, our six month anniversary, and passing the bar!

Quick Update From the Finals Dungeon

Just wanted to pop in and give a quick update...

The Harris County DA just called me to let me know that I impressed the attorneys in my second interview and so they would like me to come for a third interview with the Hiring Committee!

My interview will be on Tuesday, November 18th. I have to be there at 10:00 AM to watch a Misdemeanor Docket so that I will know what I will be doing if I receive a job offer from them. That will last for about an hour or hour and a half, then I will have a quick lunch break and have my interview at 1:00. The interview will last for 30 minutes.

They told me in my second interview that they were planning on letting everyone know BEFORE Thanksgiving whether or not they got a job offer. That would be less than a week for them to decide because they are interviewing people on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday so I don't know if that will still be the case, but they decided relatively quickly this time and they have already called everyone's references so hopefully I will know when they said I would.

Based on the number of interviews, and assuming they are filling up every slot, they are going to be interviewing 30 people. Out of those 30, I was told they were planning on hiring between 8 and 10 people. It seems like they have narrowed it by about half everytime, except for after the first interview they narrowed by about 3 times (from approximately 300 to 60 people). Anyway, that means I have to "beat out" about 20 people in order to get a job offer. It may or may not happen, but I am excited for the opportunity to get some interviewing experience and that I have done well enough so far to keep getting more interviews.

This turned out to be a little longer post than I thought! Thanks to everyone who has been keeping me in their thoughts and prayers.

Back to the dungeon until Friday at 11:15ish....

Six Months of Bliss

Tim and I have been married six months today! We aren't doing much celebrating since I am right in the middle of finals, but we are planning on celebrating this weekend by going to dinner at a restaurant here in Waco that we love, going to the zoo (where we had our reception!) and FINALLY picking out the pictures for our wedding album.

Warning: Sappy post to follow...

I have to say that these six months have been all I could have hoped for in a marriage. We have not had any surprises that we did not know about eachother that made things difficult, we have not had any really bad fights - just a little arguing here and there, we haven't gotten sick of eachother (at least as far as I know!) even though we are together almost all day every day, and we have a lot of fun with eachother. It is exciting and fulfilling to wake up next to my best friend each morning and go to sleep with him each night. I could not ask for a better man to call my husband and I am thankful every day that I found him. In addition to being my husband, he truly is my best friend.

Here's to the next six being as great as the first six :)

Fall/Thanksgiving Decor

After my final this morning, I spent the day going to Hobby Lobby and then decorating our apartment for Fall/Thanksgiving. I wanted to show everyone what I did!

Wreath I made for the door

Kitchen table

Close up of cornucopia in the middle of the table

Side view of cornucopia. It's hard to tell here, but it actually has metal leaves making the sides of it and I filled it with small pinecones, gourds, moss, and leaves that were also on the wreath. Then I took some of the leftover leaves and wrapped them around it.

Centerpiece for the coffee table. The pilgrims are actually in the middle of one of those things you can put at the bottom of a candle for decoration. Then, I added some of the leaves from the wreath and cornucopia as well as some of the other decorations I used on the wreath. Behind them are a couple more gourds and pinecones.

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend! I'm pretty tired now - I probably should've taken a nap instead of decorating!! Oh, and Gig'Em Aggies!!