No Rain Saturday! No Rain Saturday!

My current mantra is “No Rain Saturday, No Rain Saturday” Really it would be nice if we had a pretty day for Amanda’s Bridal shower. Well I suppose it’s better for Mother Nature to get it all out o her system now than to have a down poor on the wedding day (every bride’s worse nightmare). I am at least ahead of the game. All of the favors are put together (And are adorable if I do say so myself) and then tomorrow or Thursday I have to buy the cupcake mix and the ceviche ingredients. Friday night I am going to be a cupcake baking, ceviche mixing machine.

Sunday my sister and I made a fantastic three course meal. First course was marinated artichoke hearts, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto and fried zucchini. Second course was a roasted leg of lamb with rosemary, tomatoes, onions and potatoes, which was very good but could have stayed in the oven just a little bit longer. Finally, the third course was a chocolate lava cake with whip cream and drizzled caramel. Last night, as part of our Valentine’s Day tradition, I made seafood alfredo. Alfredo Sauce can be pretty tricky. Your technique has to be perfect with just the right mix of parmesan cheese, heavy cream along with attention to stirring and heat. Mine, was fantastic.Tonight though, it was Ryan's turn to cook. So we went out to eat at a nice Mexican Restaurant.

The big dilemma facing Ryan and I at the moment is moving. Our apartment complex wants to raise our rent to a grand total of $1700 a month. That’s going to rough to swing if we stay here. As with many in the current economy, we’re afraid our credit score is going to keep us from being able to get something else. We love living in Huntington Beach. It’s the perfect mix of So Cal Beach and Urban life. Plus there is no way in hell I want to give up my 10 minute commute. I don’t even have to get on the freeway! It makes my 12 to 15 hr days when I have other daily commitments seem much easier because I can go home for a little bit after work. We have found an apartment that looks like it is going to be a good fit. It’s within a mile of the beach, 2 bedrooms, washer and drier in the unit, about the same distance to my office as our current office and is going to be $400 cheaper than what our current apartment wants. The only down side is that there is no patio which means that the hockey gear and no free reign for the pups. However, we are a few blocks from an off leash dog park. If we get the place we will be able to throw an awesome 4^th of July party.

On the writing front, I got this great idea to write an advice article on keeping outdoor reptiles safe from predators such as coyotes, hawks, raccoons and cats. My only problem is finding reliable sources. At least my work in OCPA is going much smoother and in my next post I should be able to post some cool things going on.

Pumpkin is adjusting well. We discovered her two favorite things are hoodie pockets and her hiding rock. She’s getting used to the dogs being around but doesn’t really care for them. Bella is getting over her curiosity about her. Bocce on the other hand is annoyingly jealous and throws a fit whenever either of us is giving pumpkin any amount of attention.

CLA vocabulary word of the day: Amicus Curiae (friend of the court: as an amicus curiae brief filed with an appellate court)

In Which I Blinked My Eyes and Realized it was Thursday

It really doesn’t seem that long ago that I was enjoying “il dolce far niente” and then I blinked and it was Thursday. So what have I been doing to make myself feel like the time traveling Dr. Who you might ask? Well besides working, which by the way, it’s officially been a month and I love it. Bad days and all.

I started off my week at my CLA class. I have been studying so hard that I have had dreams about estate planning, I have yet to decide if that is a good or a bad thing. This past Monday was the communications section. I found it to be a little frustrating because it wasn’t as clear and as structured as I would have liked. It’s one of the reasons why I decided to read “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” to supplement my studying. I swear that after May, I am going to take a break from studying (famous last words, I know). I’ll always be learning and taking continuing education to keep up with my certification but I think that’s going to be it for the time being.

Tuesday was our annual herpetology association meeting. I have to say that I am very happy to find such a great group of people. I am excited about the work in the community. May 1^st, we are bringing out all the critters for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation. It looks like it’s going to be a fun event and putting a smile on sick children’s faces is rewarding, for some it may be one of the last laughs they have. While we’ll be hanging out in the festival area there will be a bike tour and a 5K marathon. So I recommend for you bikers and runners out there should check it out. Well, even more exciting was that we added a new family member. She is a sweet little Corn Snake that we named Pumpkin. It was truly love at first sight. We never imagined ourselves as snake owners between their food choice and general bad reputation. We always thought of ourselves as preferring herbivores. Pumpkin has certainly changed that. She’s has got such a sweet disposition and the cutest little face. I’m going through withdraws of not being able to hold her because she just ate on Wednesday. She already has me already wrapped around her tail. Pumpkin is adjusting to her new home, she not quite sure how to take them. They on the other hand are extremely curious about this new little creature that is taking attention away from them.

Wednesday was the first General meeting of the year for OCPA. Throughout my paralegal training my professors only talked about it generally there were never thorough lessons on it. Last night Judge Thrasher really gave an interesting lecture on the specifics of ADR. One great story was that in a slip and fall case, the defense wanted to settle for $275,000. The plaintiff wouldn’t take anything less than $300,000. They were at such a stale mate that they ended up going to court. The Plaintiffs lost and got nothing. If they had settled they not only would have gotten the money but would have saved their client from a long drawn out court battle. Also, let us not forget that this was most likely a contingency case for the plaintiff so when their client lost, they didn’t get any money for the man power that they spent.

This weekend isn’t going to slow up either between teaching my friend to cook trout, helping my friends move and cooking up a storm with my sister. In between all of that I will studying and doing some research for my next examiner article.