Hey guys. I've had a week from hell...straight from HELL. I won't bore you all with the details. Instead I'll say that I missed fandom like WOAH. I feel horribly disconnected from you all and I hate that. *sobs* *clings*

The only way I know to show my love and affection these days is to share my gorgeous, ingenious little nephew with you all.
( step inside for pix! )

I've been feeling like crap for the last 4 days, which is so very unfair because I just got my computer working and I actually had some free time. BLAH, stupid sinuses. Today was the first day in 4 days that I didn't wake up with a headache.

I've been so busy with work lately and it looks like I'm officially moving into an office with a colleague. I'm super stressed about it, mostly because change is difficult...well that and there's a lot of pressure to earn more $. LOL

So I guess I've sort of felt like my life was in a bit of a state of flux. It's funny how little changes seem to have such profound consequences on one's life. ~~deep thought for the day~~ LOL

Onto the fun.

My nephew is getting huge and he's a crawling machine so I'm told. My sister is a sweetheart to send me pictures and little vids every week. I miss him so!

I've started the CF entries, but OMG, there's so many it will take me forever to get through them all.

HEY go play in the AUGUST ANNIVERSARY post at qaf_comingout

Have I mentioned lately that my new favorite pastime is shopping for my nephew. I should own a piece of TARGET, which can I just say is such a fun place to shop. I picked up some t-shirts for him, a bucket cap (to protect his baby skin from the sun) and some bath toys.

.

I also picked up a toy for me: Seasons 3 and 4 of ANGEL (2 seasons for $19.99 - see how cool TARGET is. lol).

I was having a great day. I mean, HARPER'S ISLAND starts tonight (please, please, please let it be well done). I haven't been this excited about a tv show in a long. I hope I'm not disappointed but all the hype is typically a bad sign. Anyway, my day took a turn for the FUCK when my dad called me. He was in a car accident. Some idiot ran a stop sign and t-boned his car on the driver's side. He seems fine besides a sore shoulder and a smashed car.

You Are Cinnamon

You are intelligent and complex. You are both mild mannered and intense. You are passionate to the point of being overpowering. People can't ignore your presence. You are always questioning and learning in your life. You're on a bit of a spiritual journey. You are drawn toward power and success. You are never quite satisfied with your achievements.

Huh...that sounds sort of like me. Don't remember where I snagged it from.

I saw SUNSHINE CLEANING this weekend. I laughed and I cried. It hit a little bit too close to home in a couple of different ways.

I also talked chet_lemon into her first couple of pairs of expensive shoes from Nordstroms.



Let's see, what else...I'm busy working and stuff, so I know I haven't been around much. HOWEVER, I will be finishing both the original fics and the amnesty fics at qaf_challenges over the next several days.

It's NEVER too late to leave a comment, so please, if you're just getting to them, remember to show the authors your appreciation...or if maybe you forgot, go back and leave them a little something.

Afterall, it's love that makes the world go round. ♥

I must confess. I was super busy last week having a life...both professional and real (and that will continue next week) and I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

( i love being an attorney )

( omg, i do have a life... )

Finally, let's talk fandom. I finished all the entries at bj_action and I can now say WOW...those were all great, the stories, the graphics, the vid. If you haven't played over there, you're missing out and I shall pity you. However, if you have played over there and you haven't left massive amounts of fawning, I'm very disappointed in you!

Also, pfodge made some FUCKING AMAZING icons. 100 Brian icons & 100 Justin icons. Go check them out and snag many!

I jinxed myself yesterday by playing hooky. I ended up feeling like crap by the end of the day and my head is still stuffy. sighs.

I'm home for like 40 minutes between dockets and errands. Just enough time for me to freshen up. BLAH.

Wish me luck at my hearing this afternoon. I'm fighting to have my clients (3 boys) returned home. It's a long story but this case has been adjourned twice before & it's a huge mess. I'll be fighting the removal which is something that is rarely done. It's the first time I've done it but after doing my homework (and trust me, I did...by the time this case is over I'll probably get paid $10/hour for all the work I've put in) I'm convinced that removal was premature.

I haven't had a chance to read ANY of the fics or played with any of the goodies at bj_action yet so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE FLIST DO ME A FAVOR AND GO CHECK THEM OUT AND SMOTHER EVERYONE WITH LOVE.

I know I sound like a broken record but participation is what keeps fandom alive!

It's time for Auntie Bunny to show off her beautiful, happy nephew again.

My sister wanted me to tell of you that gave her advice or shared your story about breastfeeding thanks and that while there have been some setbacks, things seem to be slowly improving and Reason is now at 9lbs 5oz. :D

I DARE you not to smile back at him.


( click for more precious )

Here's the thing, my sister needs some people to talk to about breastfeeding and I don't have any kids, our step-mom is insane, and we're not at all close with our real moms sisters. Bottom line: our family is fucked up.

Plus, my friends all used formula.

Here's the thing: My sister (mommy_to_be) wants to breastfeed and she has some questions about that, nipple shields, feeding patterns, and bottles. You all know that Reason was in the hospital for losing so much weight and that he's doing better now, but he's using a nipple shield and my sis wants to wean him from that but she has some questions.

If anyone has any suggestions or doesn't mind chatting with her, I'd so appreciate it if you'd comment here. She's going to track the post and she'll come in and respond when she can break away from Dracula Reason.

Thank you so much dear flist! ♥

Ugggg, I just need a bitch a minute. Lucky you guys.

I'm so annoyed with clients right now that I am wondering why I even bother sometimes. Two clients (plus my brother but that's a WHOLE other story) didn't show up for court and I had to call them both AND WAIT AN HOUR for them to show the hell up. Come on people, I have more important things to do like play with pictures of my nephew, update files and complete billings (all from waaaay before I went out of town).

Anyway, then they're both nonchalant, like HELLO, I just saved your ass from a bench warrant. ~grrrrrr~

Ok, enough about that. Reason is doing so much better, so I thought I'd share another picture of him.

Yes, that's one of the outfits I picked out for him. :D

Hey guys. I feel like I haven't posted in a long time and yet, I know I have. LOL

I've been super swamped. I FINALLY finished a brief that I've been pretending to work working on for a few weeks. It's late, but it's done and tomorrow I'll mail it out and that is a HUGE load off of my mind.

It seems like every time I've been in court this week, nothing gets done and everything gets adjourned until next week. This is bad because next week was already busy as I try to cram everything in before I leave on the 13th. I've sort of felt like crying for days now. However, I feel better now that the brief is done and I mailed out my Christmas cards today. wheeeeeeeeeeeee

I miss you guys a lot and I'm going to try to be around this weekend to play. Will anyone else be here?

OMG, I CANNOT STOP BUYING BABY STUFF.

SOMEONE PLEASE TAKE AWAY MY CREDIT CARD!

I sat in Court all afternoon, thinking about what I was going to buy Dracula next. And boy oh boy, did I have a LOOOONG time to think because the prisoners from the jail weren't brought over for over 2 hours (and I had 2 in custody clients plus I got roped into standing in for an old colleague.) I was trying to think of ways to trick my sister into thinking the gifts were from someone else because she thinks I'm out of control. OMG, if she only knew.

Then, I get home to find out that she carefully read all your kind advice from yesterday (A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO COMMENTED. She was touched by all the good advice and so was I. I seriously love you guys so hard!)

♥

How did I know she'd read the advice? Well, she'd added things to her registries (her MIL is giving her a shower in VT this weekend). L;FAJDFLKJA;LJFD;LAJSFSDLJA;LSF

I sooooooooo want to buy the bassinet/playard thingy that so many of you suggested. So now I need to think of another trick to get her all the stuff that I want to buy.

Perhaps I need an intervention.

The online baby shower for my sister was successful. There weren't a ton of people but those of us that were there had a good time. You guys are the best for listening to me whine about it for ages. I'm just so excited...less than 2 months to go. squeeeeeeee

I found my earring. double squeeeeeee It flew into the neighbor's carport. It was unscathed but weirdly still hooked when I found it. *shrugs* When I told my friend, being the sweetheart she is, she said she would have give me her's. *kisses*

I've been having a blast watching these Barack VIDS.

I have a bunch of Court stuff crammed into the beginning of the week and then, it's...HALLOWEEN. I have a HUGE bag of candy and I can't wait to see all the trick or treaters.

What are you dressing up as? What costumes are your kids wearing for trick or treating?



I couldn't resist...these cats are so similar to Charger and Champ.

This was a weekend filled with great friends and pumpkins.

Xie and I carved OBAMA-LATERNS over the phone together tonight:

( yes we carve )

You can go to www.yeswecarve.com for more pumpkins and lots of stencils if you're interested.

Friday, I carved pumpkins with more great friends and my sister...I did the spider one:

( more traditional pumpkins )

Hello all! I had a very busy weekend.

Late Friday night, I was researching registering homeless people for the election when I decided to check and make sure I was registered to vote. I did it on a lark and guess what? I wasn't registered on the secretary of state's website. Somehow I had become unregistered. (Mind you, I've been registered to vote for 20 years.) Needless to say, I was VERY upset and pissed off.

I woke up early Saturday and packed up everything for the picnic and then rushed up to the Secretary of State. Of course, it was packed, packed, packed. SIGHS. Of course, they couldn't tell me anything and they were rude as shit. SIGHS.

They're lucky I didn't have time to mess around.

I picked up chet_lemon and we rushed to the picnic on Belle Isle. It was freezing and I forgot a jacket. I also caught a cold. SIGHS. I registered 2 people to vote. It would probably have been more but the homeless vets didn't come because the bus driver was a no show. SIGHS. By the time we found out and offered to go pick some up, they were out and about for the day/weekend on passes.

This was very distressing to my dad because he worked hard to get the extra funds from the VA so the guys could come. So, I called and made arrangements to drop some of the food off. We packed up my car, trunk and backseat. There was no room for chet, lol, but my dad and I took the food to them and the guys were so grateful. I seriously wanted to cry. They were shocked to receive anything and couldn't believe that we'd brought Coke. It made me so sad and the guys that helped bring the food in were young guys...these were vets from this war and the Gulf War. I hate the Bushes. It broke my heart.

One of them commented on my Obama pin. He seemed surprised that I had one on asked if I was voting for him. My response: BIG SMILE. "Is there anyone else?" He laughed.

My dad felt much better after we dropped off the food, so I was glad we'd done it. They're the forgotten ones. :(

The Obama board was a success, lots of people at the picnic checked it out and the majority of people were already voting for Obama and were registered. It was very encouraging.

As for whether I was registered to vote. I called my township clerk's office this morning and was told that I was never NOT registered to vote. GRRRRRRRRRRR

I immediately called the Obama campaign and reported the problem because if someone look to see if they're registered to vote and it doesn't come up, then it might discourage them from voting or pursuing it since today is the deadline for registration, when it reality they are registered. GRRRRRRRRRRRR They're looking into it.

Hello all.

I haven't been feeling very well lately. I've woken up each day this week with headaches. Here's how it goes. I wake up super early with a pounding headache. I take a bunch of drugs and snuggle with the heating pad. I usually doze for about an hour then I'm running late for court (and of course I've had court super early 2 of the 3 days so far this week and tomorrow too). SIGHS. Then I'm drugging myself again in the afternoon. While it's not unusual for me to have sinus problems this time of year, this is sort of ridiculous and extreme.

What this all translates to is that I'm exhausted by 8pm so that's why I'm not around a whole lot right now at night.

I'm working on a couple of things but my schedule is all messed up between the headaches and work so it might take me a while to finish them. One more crazy day tomorrow and then I can catch up on some paperwork and things on Friday.

OMG, I've become so boring. Hang with me guys, I promise to bask in teh love with you all very soon. ♥

Oh, anyone up for some crack on Friday AM?

I've been busy all over the place!

I finished my ficlet for qaf_scavenger's KISSING CONTEST.

I feel good about that because I'm trying to find more time to write and that's been hard lately.

I spent yesterday with my Dad, he's officially 60 and old. hee, at least that's what chet_lemon and I teased him with. Here's a cute story. We usually go to dinner at the local CHILI'S. It's pretty much mid-way between our homes. Yesterday, chet_lemon and I beat Dad there, so we got a table. Our normal waitress comes up and says, "How did you guys beat crabby?" BWHAHAHAHA Then she noticed the presents and said, "Is it his birthday?" It was super sweet. My sister and I laughed about it the whole way home. "Mr. Crabby"...so appropriate. LOL

Since then, I've been holed up working on a super-sekrit project.

I've seen some really awesome graphics around lately and it got me thinking about the asylums. I love the banners that silent_seas made but they've been up for over 2 years so I thought I'd ask you guys what you think, therefore, I did a poll.
Poll #2287 ASYLUMS
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Do you think it's time for a makeover for the asylums?

My drive to Stowe, Vermont and my sister was uneventful and I made great time. We were both so excited. I got in around 8pm and they had dinner ready (my brother in law is great with the grill).

( image heavy tale )

*passes maple candy around*

Hello my beloved flist and fandom, I'm home.

I had a wonderful and relaxing visit with my sister and I wished I could have stayed longer. Alas, I had to come home to my life. lol

I'll post more of an update later or tomorrow because I'm going to spend some time reading my flist and all the wonderful Vermont drabbles. (loves you all like crazy)

I missed you guys!

I'm leaving early Friday morning for snowboarding in Vermont. I was going to leave mid-morning but seriously, I cannot wait to get the fuck out of Dodge.

I can't wait to practice for the next Winter Olympics relax with my sister, giggle, watch DEXTER SEASON 2 with her and play with baby stuff.

I have an ugly court hearing in the morning and then my hair appointment (LONG story short...I couldn't get my hair done yesterday so my stylist is coming in early for me tomorrow ♥ her) and then no more work for ONE FULL WEEK. OMG, I don't even know what that feels like because I won't have files with me or near me and I'm leaving my phone off for the most part. flajsdfljaljdsf;ljasd;fj;alsfa It's important to not be distracted by the mundane when you're aiming for a gold medal.

Also, stop giving xie_xie_xie a hard time about her Ethan/Auerbach fic. It's a brilliant story and you should be grateful because she left out the part about Ethan being a strolling violinist at the party and the part about their paunches rubbing together. bwhahahahah