State Fair ot Texas 2016

It's been a long time since I posted on this blog, but this morning as I was getting ready to upload some pictures to Facebook from our state fair visit yesterday, I felt like writing a little more than usual.  So here we are.  Dusting off the old blog for a little more chatty writing.

So yesterday was our 16th year at the State Fair of Texas.  We started coming the first year we moved to Texas, when Breighton was not even a year old.  We always make the trip with my brother Robert and his family and over the years we have really become silly obsessive about it.  Robert and I start emailing links to fair foods and new attractions about 2-3 months in advance.  As soon as the dates are posted, we scan for the best weekend to go (by the way... here is our formula: not the first weekend, not the last weekend, not the Texas-OU football weekend.  That leaves one weekend. You will find us there on that Saturday every year!).  Once we pick our day, we anxiously look forward to it like kids going to Disneyland.

Side Note: Please know that when I use the word "we" I mean Robert and I.  Although Breighton also looks forward to it, he just doesn't show it as enthusiastically.  I am not sure how much Robert's kids are looking forward to it and both our significant others begrudgingly allow us our day.

Everything is bigger in Texas! Including the ferris wheel!

With our info books in hand, we began mapping out our journey of delicious, innovative, totally bad for you fair food.  We really are masters at this.  Even Breighton was navigating us this year, although unfortunately we never found the Dr. Pepper Chocolate Chip ice cream he was looking for.  I didn't take as many pictures this year so I am going to steal a few from the internet.  But here is a run down of some of the best:

Fried Jello
It was the winner this year.  It won Best Tasting.  Although, I would have thought it would win for Most Creative. Regardless, it was the winner so we tried it.  It was much better than Fried Beer fiasco of 2010. The insides just sort of ran out and became more of a syrup that you dipped in, but the breading was yummy and overall it was a good desert.  I don't know if it was the best tasting thing I ate, but it was good.

Deep Fried Pulled Pork "Funyon" Dings
Even the name is a mouthful!  These were yummy. I didn't know how to describe them, but I found this on the state fair website:

A “FUNYUN,” the traditional crunchy snack, is stuffed with pulled pork, pepper jack cheese, pineapple slices and bacon. It is then dipped in a flavorful batter and deep fried and served with a multilayered sweet BBQ sauce.

Bottom line: It was good. It was Robert's favorite, and I might agree with him - at least my favorite "savory" dish.

Injectable Great Balls of BBQ

So these are basically balls of brisket breaded and fried.  They were tasty.  The gimmick (there always has to be a gimmick!) was the little injector.  So you buy the balls (it's funny... the lady at the counter yells "3 balls!" when you order) and the little injector is stuck in one of them. But it's empty.  I think I have defective balls, but then they explain that I have to go over to their seating tent to find the BBQ sauce.  I then squirt that into my tray, use the injector to suck up the sauce, try to jam the flimsy plastic injector into the hard crunchy crust, to "inject" a millileter of BBQ sauce.  Let's just say we dipped the balls into the blob of sauce we had squirted into the dish.  So, good - yes.  Original - no.  Save your tickets for a fried twinkie or something.

Deep Fried Bacon Burger Dog Slider ...

ON A STICK

This really wouldn't be a proper State Fair blog if it didn't mention at least one food with the words "on a stick" in the title.  So here you have it.  This was sort of excessive, and not really anything amazing, but it was just so many things together that you had to try it.  Here's the official description:

A miniature, handmade seasoned ground beef patty is stuffed with shredded cheddar cheese, bacon, and an all-beef hot dog on a Hawaiian roll. It is then placed on a skewer topped with a pickle, dipped in a tempura batter and deep fried to perfection. 

Southern Fried Chicken and Dumplings

These were yummy.  I think the insides were a little doughy and it maybe could have been fried a little longer - but coming from someone who is always around to steal a bite of raw dough from the pasta maker, I still enjoyed it.  The little potato looking things were actually fried "biscuit bites" and were really good dunked in the country gravy sauce.

Cookie Fries

We had the ones with the rainbow sprinkles and the strawberry dipping sauce.  They were a nice treat.  Nothing amazing, but again - a cute gimmicky fair food.  They come in the little french fry container and in terms of number of fries based on number of tickets, it may be one of the most "generous" items you can buy!

Fried Cannoli Bites

These were delicious!! The batter was light and fluffy.  The insides were not too sweet.  Again, probably not that original (pretty sure you can get some variation of this at any good Italian restaurant), but the kiddo wanted them and I am glad we gave them a try!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Funnel Cake

All day long we had not stopped to take pictures of our food.  Maybe because we had not been overwhelmed by the visual presence of what we had up until we arrived here.  But then, we got this.  Now - we are a family who grew up eating peanut butter on pancakes (thanks Paw-Paw Landry for that addiction!) so this was no brainer for Robert and I.  This was hot and melty, and OH SO DELICIOUS.  I almost wish (or maybe not) that someone had videoed us eating this. We had to look like vultures swooping down on a feast.  

It was well worth the tickets - - and the slight tummy ache that followed!

Nick grabbed this great shot of the World's largest grill - look at all of those turkey legs!!! Of course there was a turkey leg in our day. And a Fletcher's Corny Dog.  But we all know what those look like... and they get devoured so quickly you can barely snap a picture.

As the day was rounding down, we passed through one of the auto pavilions and snapped this picture.  That's right... I met a Kia Hamster and took a picture.  What a better way to wrap up a fair day than that!  Until next year...

I'm a Lawyer!!

Surprise!  In case you didn't know that already...  Haha!

I have been "meaning" to write... I have been "thinking about" writing...  I thought I HAD written more recently than last August!  Yet... I have not.  So, in case you have lived in some far away land where I couldn't contact you or you could hear me screaming from the top of my lungs... I passed the Texas bar exam and I am a licensed attorney.  Weeeeeeee!

Oh, and I also decided to take the leap and open my own law practice.  So, I am officially a business owner.  I am officially a lawyer.  I am officially working my butt off to become a success.  I officially don't get a regular paycheck.  I officially pray that my old car lasts another year or so to allow my business to grow.  I'm officially tired... and exhilarated... all at the same time.

I want to promise to write more, but we all know how that works out.

Till next time...

Playing Catch Up after the Bar Exam

Well, hello there friends and family!!  Sorry I haven't posted sooner.  My last post was two weeks prior to the bar exam.  As most of you know, I sort of dropped off the planet those last two weeks.  Let's just say that shortly after that last post that I had what I would call an "emotional breakdown" complete with a frantic email to my bar study adviser and my friends who had already taken the exam - convinced that I was in no way ready to take this test.  After spending your entire summer studying it is a very scary feeling to still feel so unprepared with only two weeks to go.  But, I am happy to say that the fear motivated me and that somehow in those last two weeks I managed to grip the reigns and do everything I could to feel as prepared as possible going into the exam.  So here is how it all went...

The day before the bar exam: They tell you not to actually study that day.  To take a day off and reboot.  So I did.  I had a pretty rigorous couple of days before that so I had the feeling that there was nothing more that I could absorb that day.  So, the day before the first day of the exam I went and got my hair done and got a manicure and pedicure.  I had not seen my stylist since before graduation.  My hair grows fast.  There is NO way I will post a picture of what my hair looked like when I walked into the salon on that day, but lets just say that there were a lot of roots showing and a LOT of grays showing.  So I went in, chopped off about 7 inches of hair and got a new color.  Here's the fresh new 'do!

The Bar Exam: It's three days long.  I won't bore you with the details, I have already rehashed the nightmare over and over to the point that I am not sure I want to rehash it again.  Let's just say that it's three days of trying to recall everything you have read and reviewed for the past 4 years of law school and bar preparation.  It's not easy.  It's not fun.  I never, EVER want to do it again.  Every one says that when you come out you will feel like you failed.  When I came out of the exam at the end of day three, I headed straight to Baja Grill for a perfect margarita and it was there that I came up with my standard reply to the question "how do you think you did?" - The answer: "I don't feel like I screwed up anything so badly that I will fail."  How's that for a positive answer??  I met someone the other day - another lawyer- and when I said that to him he said, "well then, you are already ahead of the game!"  I take that as a good thing.  There were things on the exam I felt really good about and things I felt not so great about.  But when you add it all up, I think I SHOULD have reach the necessary minimum of 675 points out of 1,000.  That's all I need - to pass - I don't need an A or a B, just to PASS.  The results will be posted online on OCTOBER 31st - Halloween.  That's an easy day to remember.  They are not released earlier.  I will not know anything before that day.  They are posted "some time" during that day - but no telling when.  Likely in the afternoon.  Don't ask me before then, I won't know.  Don't call me that day - I will be a big ball of nerves and not capable of talking to anyone.  As soon as I know, I will blog, email, text and call as fast as I can.  You will hear - don't you worry.  Unless I fail.  If you don't hear from me... I am probably drinking myself into depression - in which case... you should call by Friday morning to make sure I am not just packing my bags to change my name and run off to a far away land where I will never be seen again.  But seriously... I should pass.  Right?!?!

After the Bar.... VACATION!!!!!  About three weeks before the bar exam Nick and I planned our post-bar vacation.  I needed something to look forward to.  A light at the end of the tunnel.  I was very clear on what I wanted.... Basically it was three things:  Beach, Books (fiction, senseless novels), and Booze.  I didn't want to schedule things, I didn't want to "work,"  I didn't want to do anything but lay around and relax and wash away the memories of the summer.  I wanted to get the tan I had not gotten all summer.  I wanted to read books for FUN again, I wanted to have a cocktail and relax.  So we booked our trip and headed out to Fort Myers Beach in Florida.  It was WONDERFUL.  It was "off season" for them so the beach was quiet, the restaurants were not crowded and the weather was mostly beautiful (with the exception of the rainy afternoons which are just the norm there).  Here are a few pictures:

After a couple days on the beach - notice the sun kissed skin. 

We were sitting in a bar, having an ice cold draft beer at noon.

I LOVE VACATION!!

This was the view from our hotel room balcony.  

We could walk right down onto the beach.

This is me, on the beach with a thermos bottle full of mai tai.

You can't see it because of the lighting, but I had this 

stupid smile on my face for most of the week.

Again, I LOVE VACATION!!!

Vacation is over, now what?  I had to start "working."  By working I mean networking.  I touched up my resume and cover letter, started applying for jobs and attending networking events.  I haven't lined up anything specific yet, but it's really hard to have any serious conversations before I am actually licensed.  People are worried about investing in you because there is a chance that November will roll around and you won't be licensed to practice.  So, I have had lunches and happy hours, emailed back and forth with various people and I am keeping my calendar fairly full.  I just started doing some intern work with a solo attorney and that is going to help keep me busy and get me some good experience really quick.  I am excited about that opportunity and it may well be an avenue for employment after I am licensed.  Overall, I am optimistic about the road ahead.  I think it will all turn out great.  I am excited about beginning the practice of law!!

What? Another Vacation??  Why not?  After a couple of weeks of networking, I hit the road again!  I just got home from a four day road trip with my little brother.  I am sad to say that it has been four years since I have seen him (Thanks Law School!!) and so we had a lot of catching up to do.  He flew in from San Francisco (which apparently is called "SF" by the locals) and we hit the road to South Louisiana to visit family and spend a little time in the French Quarter.  We managed to spread out our time pretty evenly but still there were people we were not able to see and so to those people - I apologize.  I will come back again soon when I have more time and will make sure to catch up with everyone.  Here are a few pictures from that trip!

My very best friend and my beautiful goddaughter 

came to visit us at my mom's house.  

I love these girls!!

Blake, Mom and I played a few games of Rummikub.

(I won.  Don't let them lie to you.)

Mom made this ENORMOUS serving of crawfish fettuccine.

YUMMY!!!!!!  

Headed out to Covington, LA where we visited my Aunt Susie and 

got to play with my cousins beautiful kiddos.

My beautiful, all grown up niece Cayce came over to visit us as well.

We headed into the French Quarter where we stayed in a little apartment 

just one block from Bourbon.  Here is the view from our balcony.

Blake got his picture taken with one of those guys who 

paints himself like a statute.  I still can't figure out how they

don't sweat all of that paint off in that NOLA humidity! 

As you can see, Cayce, Blake and I were definitely

sweating in that NOLA humidity!!  

Founds some girls putting out some nice tunes in the 

French Quarter.  So much talent to be found here!

Had an AMAZING dinner at NOLA.  This is an Emeril Lagasse 

restaurant in the French Quarter.  I could write an entirely separate blog

on this place.  The food was phenomenal.  If you visit the Quarter, try it!!

What now?  Well, I am back home.  My brother is back in SF (see what I did there Blake, I used "SF"!!) and life is returning slightly back to normal.  But not completely.... I am planning to sneak out to see a midday movie today.  Why?  Because I can!!!  So, I guess that's it.  You guys are all caught up now.  Sorry this one was so long - but you see what happens when I have something interesting to talk about!! Not just "studying, studying, law school, bar exam, blah, blah, blah!"  Hopefully my posts will be more frequent now that I feel like things are worth talking about.  

Hope this post finds everyone doing well.  As a reminder - if you want to email me about this blog - don't reply to the email you receive.  Start a new email and write away!  Or, go directly to the blog (CLICK HERE!) and post a comment under the blog post.  Remember, comments are public for everyone to see.  

Until next time...

Two More Weeks To Go!

Two weeks from today I will be on day 1 (of 3) of the bar exam.  (Notice the lack of "!!" at the end of that sentence.)  I am exhausted, frumpy, cranky, badly in need of a pedicure and a hair color (you should see how many gray hairs I have... I am blaming law school).  I pretty much wear pajamas every day and I "usually" force myself to stop long enough to shower every day.  I wake up, make coffee, sit down to start studying and then it just goes on all day long...  Every day of the week....  I am so ready to get this exam ver with, but I am so not ready to actually take it... (if that makes sense).  So, what I am saying is that this SUCKS!!  But I just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive and that the end is near.  I just booked my post bar exam vacation... so that's exciting.  I can not WAIT to be sitting on a beach...

Anyhow, I have to get back to work. Before I go, it has been brought to my attention that a few people have responded to the email they get when I post a blog (thinking that they are responding to me).  In case you have done that, I am not being rude and just not answering... I don't get those emails.  If you would like to respond to a blog, you have two options...  scroll up to the top of the email you receive and click on the title to the blog (or look at the bottom for a link to the blog site) and post a "comment" on the blog - that's public for all blog viewers to see... OR, just start a NEW email to my email address (you all have it!) and email away.  I am slow to respond right now, but I usually stop around midnight and email people... or sometimes during the day when I just need a change of pace.

And now... back to studying...

This is My Brain on Bar Prep

Just thought I would let you all know how my brain is beginning to look... 35 days to go....

The Bar Prep Life

Well, hello there faithful followers!  As is usual, it has been WAY too long since I posted a blog!  I don't feel nearly as guilty as I usually do however because at least I feel like I have had some communication with a lot of you since my last post.  Several of you were able to celebrate (in person or in spirit) with me as I graduated from  law school in May.  This last semester was strange... that is the best way to describe it.  I was excited about the end being so near.  I was super diligent (maybe in a way to prepare for bar prep studying??), I was overly emotional (every time I thought about graduating I nearly burst into tears), and I was anxious... All. The. Time.

But, alas... I made it.  I graduated.  I walked across the stage.  And as of this past Tuesday (ONE MONTH AFTER GRADUATION), all my grades finally posted... so it is official.  I have a J.D.  (a Juris Doctorate... or a Doctor of Jurisprudence)  I just like writing that out... because, well... it sounds cool :).

So, I graduated... then what? I had TWO, count them... TWO glorious weeks where I didn't have to do anything but go to work and come home and have happy hour or enjoy a good book or lay prone on the couch and watch TV.  It was what "normal" people do.  And it gave me a glimpse into the future.  I remember what life was like when I got to enjoy hobbies and sports and time with my friends and family.  I can't wait to do that again!!

But first....

There is this pesky little matter of the Texas Bar Exam.  You know... that measly little test they make you take so you can take your J.D. and actually practice law with it.  (The "measly" thing is sarcasm... this test scares the crap out of me.)  So, just in case I haven't told you all... I have taken the entire summer off from working so that all I am focusing on is studying for the bar (which is all I can really afford to do anyway since I am not getting a paycheck for two months).  So, I wake up every morning and sit at my desk in the spare room and stare at my bulletin board that is quickly filling with index card reminders of things I need to focus on and read, watch lectures, and practice, practice, practice all day long.  Most days I sit down about 9am and don't really shut it all down for the day till about 9 or 10 at night.  Don't worry... I do goof off a little during the day.  Take a break to take Leo out for a walk and chat with a neighbor, sit down for dinner with Nick, etc.  But mostly... I am studying.  There is so much to remember! It is truly insane.

For those of you who are curious what I am walking in to on this exam... I stumbled across this blog the other day of a woman who does a MUCH better job of regular blogging than me... who took the exam in 2008.  She made a great post of what the exam is like, and since I am typing as fast as I can at 10:45 at night to get this posted so I can get back to studying, and because I an not a fan of "reinventing the wheel" - I am going to give you a link to her blog and you can read the details of the test if you are so inclined.  So - CLICK HERE!

Anyhow, I just wanted to send a quick update to let everyone know I am alive.  I live in pajamas most days and my hair stays in a constant ponytail.  On the upside, my skin feels GREAT from never putting on makeup and I have decided I much prefer cozy socks over high heels.  But I have also decided that working from home every day would make me fat... as I am really struggling to keep a good workout routine going.  All in all, it's not so bad.  I feel like my brain is just soaking up knowledge like never before.  So, I am 46 days from the first day of the exam and I am going strong.  I can't promise I will do many updates between now and then, but I promise to THINK about doing updates.  :)

Okay... back to the books. Till next time....

Remembering Youth While Getting Older

Well, it's official.  I turn 35 tomorrow.  For some reason, this one is bothering me.  The last one that bothered me this badly was 27.  I can't tell you why that one bothered me, it was such an odd number.  I remember that I was feeling restless in my life.  And maybe that is why... and maybe that is why this one is bothering me.  Because once again, I am restless.  I am 110 days from graduation.  190 days from the bar exam.  Approximately 280 days from the bar results being released and me (hopefully) celebrating passing and starting the next phase in my life.

Looking back, I don't think this is where I thought I would be at 35.  Not when I was a kid for sure.  And definitely not when I was 18 or 19 years old.  I felt like I was flying through the world, accelerating to places and surely by this time I would be somewhere great.  And so the hard reality is that my own life choices slowed me down.  I know we all have our own place we are supposed to be, and I definitely feel like I am heading towards that place, but this slap in the face with another birthday is just a reminder that I am arriving to that place much later than I thought I would.  And for a person like me - who is always racing to the next goal marker - arriving late is not something I am a big fan of.

So, instead of being all weepy about getting another year older, I thought I would post a blog I have been meaning to post for about a month.  I missed posting a few things, and I may go back and write about them later, but for now I am going to share a Christmas gift I received with you.

As a child, I remember when we would take the family vacation to Tennessee and stop along the way for food and especially as we visited our favorite restaurants in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg... there was always a bottle of Tabasco around and when I was really young, those bottles had the city of New Iberia, Louisiana printed on the label and it was my dad's favorite thing to point out to our waitress "That's where we are from!" It was like we were famous!  As famous as anyone from New Iberia, LA could be, that is.  Then, sometime as I entered the teenage years, the labels on those bottles changed to say "Avery Island, Louisiana" which was not far from where I grew up, but not the same thing.  As a kid, it didn't really bother me that much, but as an adult I sort of went on a mission to find some memorabilia with the New Iberia stamp on it.  I was hoping to find an old Tabasco bottle or maybe a poster that I could frame.

I have looked around on a few different occasions and never had much luck finding anything for sale.  Which is why I was very surprised when I opened one of my Christmas gifts from Nick to find this:

It's a pewter Tabasco bottle holder.  It holds the larger Tabasco bottles and right there it is!  New Iberia, LA!!  It was such a small reminder of my childhood that I love.  Something unique that reminds me of happy memories from when I was a kid.  Something that reminds me that I have been blessed in my life and that I still am - to have someone to seek out a gift like this for me.

So, to good memories of the past, not fretting over the present, and anxiously awaiting the future...

Cheers my friends!