Pics from Day One

There aren't many, I promise, nothing like those late-seventies slide show horror-fest of your youth.

Kids, ask your parents.

This is proof that I was in Ohio.  You can tell I didn't steal this picture from the internet 'cos it's sideways:

And this is the juxtaposition of pretty trees at a rest stop on 271 just about fifteen miles from where we stayed.  Momma and I were both amazed by the colors.  We were even more stupified by the cleanliness of the bathroom at a rest stop.  We recommend this rest stop.

Midwest Extravaganza - Day 2

Most people would balk at spending an entire day in Cleveland.  I know I used to mock endlessly this town, and thought it even lower on the food chain than Birmingham, Alabama, which is still pretty low on my food chain in terms of aesthetics.

In terms of awesome martini bars built into the sides of mountains, well, Birmingham gets the prize.

We left this morning after a restless night for me which included watching Project Runway: Behind the Seams (clever!) three times and sleeping through all three viewings of Project Accessory.  I guess this is because I wanted to see Project Accessory.  Alas.

Anyhoo.. we went first to my old apartment building:

It was a nice place to live, and if you'd like to live there, here's the number:

But before you decide for sure, let me show you the driveway of doom.  Once you're headed in or out, you cannot exit the car until you either are in the garage or at the street.  This doesn't seem like a big deal until the driveway is covered with snow and ice and you're sliding and there's no escape and oh, SHIT, you forgot your phone:

That was about the time that Momma and I moved on to the law school.  Since my shower this morning, I'd been building up the law school into something bigger and bigger, a giant behemoth of a school designed solely to destroy my (pitiable) self-esteem.  My plan was to go in there and take a picture of the school's name, my bar card, and my middle finger.  Instead, I chose this shot:

Clearly, cooler heads prevailed.  So we walked around and I had my flashback moments and the school looked exactly the same and I didn't see any of my former professors so we just left.  But not after noticing that the ASTOUNDING tuition that I and my former cohorts paid allowed the school to replace the nasty, termite-ridden, wasp-attracting wooden benches with these:

Money well spent.

After all this we went to Nordstrom and bought me some essentials, like three pairs of pants and four shirts and a cashmere (cashmere!) sweater and four unmentionables that were so sorely needed that I actually lost fifteen pounds once I put on my new lady necessities and three new pairs of shoes.  We left only when Momma gently reminded me that we had just spent her monthly pension check on clothes for me.

Midwest Extravaganza - Day One

Momma and I left yesterday morning on our trip through the midwest.  Nashville wasn't too bad, traffic light, although I will never, ever figure out how to navigate the various interstate changes there.  I've must've driven through one hundred times and still end up flummoxed.  How did I ever survive without Mandy?

Mandy is my GPS.  She's named after an article in the Washington Post from 2007.  Go ahead, look it up.

We headed out toward Lexington, because my longtime internet friend JMT lives in Danville and after over ten years of online friendship, we'd never met in person.  It was time to fix that.  Mandy gives good directions, although she got confused in the areas where the cows outnumber the people.  Well, cows, horses, and llamas. 

(Trivia aside:  Apparently coyotes are scared of llamas.  Take that, natural selection!)

The bluegrass is very pretty and there are some astounding mansions which were probably built using horse money.  Danville is a personable town - reminded me a lot of Paducah.  JMT is even better!

OK.  I was walking back to my car to get my phone, when I fell off a curb and landed pretty much on my right elbow and my knees.  For I am a graceful ballerina.  It hurt like hell, and took me about two minutes to even consider lifting my body off the pavement.  During this time, Momma and JMT were kind to me and didn't laugh or anything.  Finally we made it into the restaurant where I wasn't sure that I wasn't going to be sick.  (Shock affects me that way.)  JMT was gracious about me clearly not feeling too hot, and instead of asking over and over whether I was OK, he just ignored it and talked with Momma.  I really appreciated that as I hate having any sort of weakness pointed out to me, even out of concern.

He got Momma an awesome antique book and bought us lunch, and off we headed to Cincinnati.

Cincinnati wasn't too exciting, but the pain pills, really, really good cable TV offerings, and clean bathroom were just what I needed.

Now we're in Cleveland and I'll tell you more about it tomorrow.

The Long Road Home

The other day in the local paper there was an article about the increase in carjackings in my area.  I read it over, looking for some kind of proof, but all that was there was information about how to avoid being car-mugged.  I kinda ignored it because I spoke with a cop a few weeks ago and he told me that the only real danger in my area is gang members who are targeting the local CVS.

Who tags a drug store?

But Tuesday night my parents return from their jaunt in Vegas and I had to pick them up quite late.  Like, almost the next morning late.  When GPOM sent me on my way, he told me to be careful, because, "It's been raining and no-one in this town knows how to drive."

How sweet, I thought, and went along my merry way.  Yet, when I was driving home from my folks' place, his words came into my mind, and I drove the freeways to get home, which takes longer, rather than taking the side streets, which are much more efficient.

Now I've got someone who cares about my safety.  I owe it to him to take better care of myself.

Sittin' At The Rents

So my folks are officially in Vegas, having a perfectly lovely time (I hope).  They're there with my siblings to celebrate a belated fiftieth wedding anniversary, since the two siblings couldn't be arsed to get out here by the folks to do something nice, less expensive, and closer to home.

But that's just my opinion.

For a while now I've been craving some alone time.  A block of time where no-one else is around, where I can hang out and watch TV and sit on the deck and not feel like I owe this time to someone else, or that I'm being watched.  I've been so looking forward to this time, and have in fact brought enough clean clothes and supplies so that I could conceivably stay here until Tuesday, when they return.

So why am I so lonely?  I can do what I want when I want, no-one's around to judge me, yet it's only been four hours and I've already texted GPOM to ask if I can come home tonight.

Maybe it's nostalgia for the old days, when I was alone a lot of the time, and I could sit and do whatever I wanted and could deliciously anticipate the sound of the phone when GPOM would call from Seattle.

I don't know what it is, and I don't know yet where I'll stay tonight (and the next few nights), but I guess what I'm figuring out is that I'm damn hard to please, even to myself.

Operation Get GPOM A Decent Job

Jobs are scarce these days.  Trust me, we know.  (Paying clients are as well, but that's a sob story for another time.)  While GPOM is working now, we need to find him something that has a salary, rather than an hourly, wage, benefits, and an unchanging schedule.  We need this because he needs it and he's a really good person to work with, and for the most important reason of all (to me):

I want an office.

This law-in-the-clouds thing is neat, occasionally really convenient, and not necessarily the best way for me to practice law as I function much better in a more structured environment.  An office would force me to work more efficiently, would create more work-life balance, and would make me feel better about myself.

So if you hear of anything good and/or interesting, do let us know.

Also, if you know of a reasonably-priced office space near the Square, preferably one stocked with attorneys already, let me know.  I'd really like to start researching space.

Chocolate

Today Wade and I were discussing friendships, discounts, and chocolate.  Let's get to the important part.

As a person with ovaries, I have a love/hate relationship with chocolate.  That being said, given the option, I prefer Nestle Milk Chocolate to Hershey's.  No offense to Hershey, and I do love its as well, but Nestle's is creamier and milkier and, well, better.  Even though I visited Hershey, PA, when I was a child.  Even though Hershey is more ubiquitous (can something be more ubiquitous?)

There was a sale on Halloween bags of candy at the store today.  I may or may not be the owner of two bags.  I might've only had two Twix bars yet.  So far.

Send on the Whatchamacallits!!!