Holy Frijoles

Wow, people. So much stuff has happened, that I don't even know where to begin. I think I'll go chronologically backwards.

1. Stephen and I are all moved to Columbus, Ohio! So long, Texas. Your winters were good to us. Now, the only problem is, what the hell do I call my blog? It started out as a law school blog, but I suppose it's now going to be about updates and family pictures of vacations and stuff, so... give me a name. I'll put it up, I swear.
1. Also -- we got Mario Kart on Wii. Which is pretty addicting. Rainbow Road is impossible.
   
2. I graduated! That's right, as of last Saturday, I am Lizett, J.D. Or perhaps Esquire. Or I think it's Goodwife for ladies. I don't really know. Do I have to pass the bar to be an Esquire? Hmmm...
   
3. On another graduation note, here's a totally super sweet professional headshot of me after graduation. You know you want to hire me
4. Oh yeah, I got a haircut! A major one. Like, seven inches? It's taking some time to get used to, but I rather like the feeling of short hair. I may keep it up, depending on how it decides to freak out in rainy weather.
5. Ummm... we got married? Yeah, that happened...
   

So there you go folks. I'm not making any promises about updating, but you should keep checking back. And also, name my blog.

Probably the saddest thing ever

more cat pictures

Proof

Honeymoon shots!

We up and got married. More pictures of that to come soon, check it out on Goat's blog for now. But here are honeymoon pics! Or at least the ones I wanted to post. There's about 10 shots of sea turtles and 30 iguana shots, but we decided to spare all of you. Enjoy.

You're welcome

Your life will never be the same again

Update to the max

Wow, when I lose track of the blog, I really lose track. I just wanted to inform the public that wedding invites are out, and if you're deemed cool enough by us, you'll be getting one in the mail soon. Also, I'll post some pictures soon. BONG.

TURKEY

The first Mexican Thanksgiving in Houston.

BAM!

Me with my new second cousin, Melissa (3 days old).

Wurstfest

It was the best of times, it was the... blurst of times?? You stupid monkey!

Mal and I went to Wurstfest yesterday, and the motto on the novelty cups says "The best of times are wurst times". Hence the Simpsons quote. Wurstfest was pretty fun. We got there after 3pm on the last day, so we got free admission, which was key since we spent so much cash on sausage and carnival games.

First, we had a sort of sausage-kebab which contained five different types of sausage. Sadly, the sausage went from most delicious to least delicious, so it was a disappointing ending. We also sampled a couple of beers, including Paulaner and... something that starts with a W. Dunkel version, which apparently just means dark. It was pretty tasty, but the Paulaner was just okay.

After the sausage overload, we decided to take a break and digest over some carnival games. Mal very nearly won me a giant useless stuffed animal on a shooting game, but the dude conned us. Never trust carnies, people. Thankfully, Mal did win me a slightly smaller useless stuffed animal by destroying the lives of about five six-year-olds and winning a sort of skee-ball type game where the further back your ball goes in, the further your guy goes. First to finish wins a Krusty doll. I chose a dog instead, and his name is Hervis. He destroys children's lives. Also, Swarley wants to eat him, but we don't let him.

After that, it was a little more beer, a lot more sausage and turkey legs, and a few German bands. There were lots of small children doing extremely cute and slightly uncoordinated dances in leiderhosen and... whatever the girls wear. Followed by a few beer anthems. There are only so many German songs, and apparently they're all about beer. I fell asleep on the way home. It was sooo worth it.

Today's game

We got our asses handed to us by Air Force. This is the first season ND has ever lost 9 games. My pee pee hurts.

How many X's do you think are on CW's sweatshirt tag? Three? Five?

On a more cheerful note, Mal and I will be going to Wurstfest tomorrow, the ten-day salute to sausage. Mmm, sausage!

Picking up some slack

I've gotten some comments from people about how much my blog sucks, and some revelations that more people read my blog than I once suspected. Never underestimate a bored law student, because they will find anything to read.

Things have been chugging along well recently. It's November - holy crap! Wedding planning is going fairly smoothly, but as always, there is still lots to do. No, Swarley will not be in the wedding. I don't know why everyone wants the dog to be a ring bearer or something, but I guarantee you that if Swarles is in any vicinity of people, he will just run around in circles, then roll on the ground, then probably poop on the priest.

We managed to find a Franciscan monk who will perform a Catholic ceremony outside. It sounds a little shady, but this dude is the real deal. He's even offered to wear his brown friar robe, complete with rope belt and hood. I told my mom, and she made a yuck face. Maybe we'll let him wear the more traditional clothes.

Stephen and I went to Houston last weekend to see my family, and we had a pretty good time. My cousin Mario and his wife Mayra are set to pop out a baby in about two weeks, so she has ridiculously fat belly for her tiny, tiny frame. Stephen and I went to the Museum of Natural Science and saw the remains of Lucy, a 3.2 million year old fossilized hominid of the species Australopithecus afarensis. Wow, we're nerds. We also saw a show about black holes in the planetarium! It really took me back to the days of elementary school, except now they charge like $20 an exhibit. Boo, museum, boo. Thank goodness for college discounts.

We lost to Navy. I'm so ashamed.

Get out the checkbook and pay Grandma for the rubdown

Get your cowboy boots ready and mark your calendars for Wedding 2.0 Electric Boogaloo. It's going to be wild. March 8, 2008 marks the day we will cease to be living in sin.

I cannot wait

Quality. Television.

Comedy Central late night viewings

Did they call?

My computer died, but is now back from the dead

Independence Day

Hello, my friends. Today is the day our country celebrates its freedom. In honor of our nation, let me enlighten you on my own tale of living the American dream.

As some of you may know, I like food. Like, really like food. And of course, ice cream is one of the finer foods that I enjoy. Ben and Jerry's in particular has always been a particularly big draw to me. It started out with Chocolate Fudge Brownie (AMAZING) and took off from there. Many a conversation has been had about the glory and the wonder of B&J's flavors. There is Black and Tan, a flavor that frightens and confuses me; and of course, Half Baked, with combinations such as Neapolitan Dynamite and Brownie Batter. Truly, B&J's has forged the landscape of ice cream. But Nation, when I first heard of Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream, I knew I had to have it. Vanilla ice cream with fudge covered waffle cone pieces and a caramel swirl. Doesn't that sound glorious?


Alas, a quick search on benjerry.com revealed that Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream is only sold at 3 grocery stores in the greater Austin/Round Rock area, with the closest one at least a half hour drive away. My dream seemed further from reach. Then, one fateful Friday night at Super Target (that's right, I spend my Friday nights at Super Target), there it was! Glowing from the frozen food aisles was my dream. And it was every bit as delicious as I'd imagined. Tastes like America. And now, Nation, I can truly say that I am living the Americone Dream.

New desk + someone else taking out my trash

Somehow in the process of moving, our old FutureDesk exploded. Now, I wasn't here when this supposed "explosion" happened, but I'm assuming it's just a story Stephen made up so he won't have to admit he couldn't lift the desk. Apparently, while carrying out the glass desk top, it simply "shattered". So, last weekend we made the hike out to Round Rock to Ikea to find a new desk. We ended up getting the stainless steel desk, so now we have the ULTIMATE FutureDesk. It's so clean and futuristic, I don't even want to put anything on it.

In other news, our apartment complex just began Valet Trash Service. Meaning I no longer have to go down a flight of stairs in order for the filth of our apartment to be gone forever. Which helps when it's rained for eight days straight, with no end in sight.

Special delivery

So, it's officially been two weeks since I began working at the Travis County Attorney's Office, and the experience has been going rather well. I started off hired in the Transactions division, which, from what I could tell, would have involved sitting in a small room (which contains a small fan that actually takes about a half hour to start up) with three other law clerks and researching things on Lexis. On day 2 and a half, I was whisked down to the third floor to start working with the Family Violence division. Things there have been much more interesting, in that I've mostly been watching prosecutors strike deals with defense attorneys and sitting through most of a jury trial.




Today was a particularly exciting day in Court 4. Fridays are pre-trial days, in which the prosecutors either strike deals or give defense attorneys discovery on the cases. First, not one, but two male attorneys came in wearing seersucker suits. I guess it is officially summer in Texas! Second, and less exciting even, was that a woman in the lobby of the court room went into labor while waiting to... do something. Oh, it was quite the commotion. EMS was called, the sheriffs were attending to the lady in the bathroom, and one other prosecutor was set in charge of caring for the woman's 2 year old son. That's totally part of the job description. Anyway, this kid got a sticker in the shape of a sheriff's badge (AWESOME), and from what I am told, also got a balloon, a stuffed dalmatian and a ride on the fire engine, so I think he came out on top of the whole situation.

As far as my duties go, my main job has been to watch the prosecutors and nod my head every once in a while. Sometimes I look over the files and tell them "what I think", which I am sure they value greatly. Finally, I wrote up subpoenas for a couple of days, so I actually feel like I might be contributing something.

In other news, Crazy Mexicans from Upstairs are gone. The apartment manager ran into me and Stephen outside our apartment on Wednesday, and she sang "They're goooone" with great glee. Now, it's our turn to move to the other side of the apartment complex. It'll be a hassle, but our new place has a balcony that faces a field, as opposed to the parking lot. Apparently we're not supposed to grill on our balconies, but now that our apartment will face nothingness, they'll never know of our covert grilling practices! Mwahaha.

Ay, yi, yi! We're probably moving yet again!

First and foremost, thanks everyone for the support and kind words re: previous post. Don't worry, things are going better and no, Philip, I am not suicidal.

My friends, I have previously been on the side of the law that dispenses justice (albeit in very short, uneventful spurts at summer jobs, etc). But now, I come to you on the victim end. That's right, we've had a break-in! As scary as Century was, with its homeless men living in the laundry room and reading porn advertisements, at least no one attempted to break in at any point. I'll break down the scene for you, as best I can.

Friday night, around 7:30 I was hanging out in the bedroom while Stephen was in the living room watching TV. Suddenly, Crazy Loud Mexican Neighbor who lives above us unlocks our door and walks into the apartment and starts heading down the hallway towards the bedroom. At this point, Stephen, in shock and awe, gets up and makes some sort of "What the hell is going on" noise, our neighbor turns around and says "Oh, sorry man", and walks out. At this point, of course, we are pretty much freaking out, call the apartment management and first things first, got our locks changed the next morning ASAP. Throughout the course of the past few days, we've talked to the cops, who first said "Well, there's not much to be done yet, but report it anyway", and apartment management who is pretty much evicting them, and giving us a new place. You know, so they can't stalk and kill us for kicking them out. Apparently this guy is saying that his key somehow worked in our lock. No, now he's saying that the door was unlocked. Now he's telling apartment management that Stephen tried to hit his 3 year old son. Whaaaaat?

It's quite an adventure being on this side of the law, but it seems like apartment management is being pretty helpful and our new place may actually be cheaper than this one. So now all we have to do is worry about our safety for about two weeks! BONG.

Blarg

So, a lot of stuff has happened lately, and I've kind of dropped off the face of the earth, with no explanation. I know I owe it to all my friends for me to actually call them like I say I'm going to, but this seems like a more efficient method. Trust me, once I build up the cajones, I will actually call all of you individually and you can each give me your wag of the finger.

I suppose the main thing to talk about is that yes, Stephen and I are not only postponing the wedding, we are no longer engaged. Blarg. There's a lot of reasons behind that, but we both essentially decided we're not ready. I suppose the more accurate description is that I'm not ready. We're still living together, and working on things, so I guess we'll see how it goes, but I think the next couple of months are going to be pretty key.

Second, I've decided to stop drinking. Through law school, I sort of kept going with the college lifestyle, which got me into all sorts of problems, and the best thing to do is to completely stop drinking. This may make future social gatherings (tailgates, etc) a little awkward, but I know I make some horribly awful decisions when I'm drunk that I invariably regret, so the best course of action is prevention. So, there you have that.

Thirdly, I am not, in fact, working for the Big Firm I was supposed to be working for this summer. The job was in San Antonio, which was fine, but once Stephen moved, I decided to commute, and then, considering the above decision, I decided it probably wouldn't be wise to go to a job every day where there are scheduled happy hours, wine tasting events, etc. Blarg. So instead, I'm working for the county attorney's office and taking summer school. Law school summer school. At least this way, I'll get some hours out of the way, but also I won't be making fat cash and instead paying the school fat cash.

So that, in general, is what has been going on in my life lately. Blarg.