Processing

Today was a hard day for the Lewis family. Chunky, the K-9 member of my family for the past 14 years, had to be put down. He was an exemplary dog. My dad often joked about cloning him because he was the perfect companion. I am processing but it is hard to believe he is gone.

I was 12 when we got him and have lived more of my life with him than without him. We got him after I BEGGED my parents. One of my friend's dogs had puppies and I HAD to have him. He was the fattest (and cutest) of the litter so they named him "Chunky." We kept the name because my dad liked it and I was so shocked that he actually agreed to let us have a dog that I didn't argue.


I tried to find a picture of Chunky as a puppy but this is the earliest picture I could find. We got him in '95, long before digital cameras, so finding a picture took some time. Sorry for the poor quality. I love the picture though because I see his personality in it.

My tribute to my first puppy:
Thank you Chunky for freeing me of my fear of dogs. I was scared of you (traumatic experience when I was three... tell you about it some other time) when we first met but your faithful, lovable personality soon won me over to K-9 kind. Thank you for giving my dad a reason to get out of the house every morning and for going on so many walks. Thank you for your insatiable curiosity, I know my dad thoroughly enjoyed walking with you. Thank you for always comforting me when I had a bad day. Thank you for giving my parents something to do while they were empty nesters. You kept them sane. Thank you for sleeping with me when my parents were out of town. I would have been scared without you. Thank you for your constant companionship, love, joy, playfulness, desire to be the center of attention, protection and faithfulness. You will be dearly missed.

Pizza Party

This year I was lucky enough to celebrate my birthday with 11 of my friends. Thank you again E for planning everything for me. You are the best. We went to Fireside Pies. I had a great time and felt very loved. I was taken aback by the Lords faithfulness to me over the last year. My biggest fear in leaving Houston was leaving most of my friends. I have friends all over the country, but I had built a community in Houston. I was confident in my decision to move back to Dallas but authentic community is rare. Well, almost a year later I am surrounded by women who challenge me, encourage me, make me laugh and love me well. What a blessing Lord.

26 Things in my 26th Year

Last year I blogged about 25 things I did before my 25th birthday. I liked making the list because it was a rare moment of introspection for me. This year, I am keeping with the list but only noting things I have accomplished this year. It is mostly for posterity sakes so read on if you are interested but if not, you have my express permission to stop reading now.


1. Graduated from law school
2. Moved back to Dallas
3. Painted my room orange (Daring... I know)
4. Donated my hair to Locks of Love
5. Endured a summer of studying at Eddie Dean Ranch
6. Took the Texas Bar Exam
7. Visited Tiffany and David for 16 glorious days in Hawaii
8. Climbed the Stairway to Heaven/Haiku Stairs
9. Rambo-ed through the underbrush avoiding the police after said Haiku Stairs
10. Learned to surf
11. Night snorkeled in a cove (thrilling to the point of terror)
12. Learned to kayak (after losing a contact lens... who needs depth perception)
13. Ventured into a Kmart (I didn't know they still existed)
14. Joined Watermark
15. Agreed to lead a group of 6th grade girls for the next seven years
16. Visited Amber in Nashvegas
17. Learned to canoe and discovered that low water is no bueno ("Just around the river bend")
18. Joined an amazing community group of authentic woman that truly challenge and love me well
19. Waited and waited and waited for my bar results (I distinctly remember learning something about patience being a virtue)
20. Passed the Texas Bar Exam!
21. Road trip to Austin with the rents to get sworn in (I'm official now)
22. Got my first full time job (working is overrated)
23. Worked for a minor celebrity (provided great Christmas party conversation)
24. Gave my first maid-of-honor toast at a reception which was surprisingly nerve-racking
25. Got a part time job I actually enjoy (working is still overrated but manageable)
26. Got duel monitors at said part time job (I have arrived)

Roommate Reunion

This weekend was my college roommates annual Roommate Reunion. We headed to San Antonio for the festivities this year. San Antonio is one of my favorite cities in Texas. I always enjoy the hill country and the river walk. It was the perfect setting for our get together. It is crazy to think how much has changed in the last four years. The farther removed from College we get, the more I enjoy catching up with my dear friends.

We all arrived in San Antonio by 7pm on Friday night and headed out to the River Walk for dinner. We ate at a Mexican food restaurant and were serenaded by a mariachi band. They played us "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." If you look closely, you can see them in the background of the first picture. I could not stop laughing while they were singing because they were all right in front of Kim (rightmost girl in the first picture) and she looked so horrified the entire time. I wish I had a picture for proof, but sadly I was laughing too hard to take one.

On Saturday we ventured out to Sea World. I have not been to Sea World since I was a child. The shows have changed a little but it is as I remembered for the most part. I can't really watch the killer whales perform without feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness. Seeing their fins bent over makes me want to stand up and shout "Free Willy!"

I really enjoyed the roller coasters at the park. I have not been on a roller coaster since high school and I was afraid they would have lost their charm. I have heard that the older you get, the less you like them so I was nervous going in. But apparently 26 is not my breaking point because I had a blast and am looking forward to going to a theme park again. Anyone up for Six Flags this summer?

The theme park also had a Budweiser Clydesdale's Exhibit (not really sure about that one) that included pictures with a live python (also not sure). But when else were we going to get the chance to be photographed with a snake?! Do we remind you of Brittany Spears?

After Sea World we headed back to the hotel to relax for an hour before heading to Fiesta. I don't really know what Fiesta celebrates but after this weekend I decided it is whatever you want it to be. There were a ton of people everywhere but it was worth seeing once. The highlight for me would have to be Nacho Libre running the 5K.

After Fiesta (or rather during the parade) we headed back to the river walk for dinner. We could see the floats going by on a nearby bridge, which was cool, but our waiter had to be one of the creepiest people ever.

On Sunday morning we headed to the Magnolia Pancake Haus for brunch (a Reunion tradition) before heading back. The food was amazing (which is saying a lot because we all know I am not the biggest breakfast person). If you are in SA, I highly recommend it.

All in a Days Work

In the past two days I have ventured to the courthouse three times to copy some files from the records department. The court is a mile from my office and both days my boss has had me drive her car instead of walking.

Yesterday I drove her car:

Mercedes Benz SLK Hardtop Convertible

And today I drove her husbands:

Lexus RX400h (Hybrid)

I was so nervous. Thankfully I didn't wreck either. One of them is my dream car. Can you guess which one?

PC or Mac?

My laptop is on its last leg and I am researching its replacement. All of my previous computers have been PCs but I am seriously considering getting a Mac. Congratulations Mac for winning me over with your ingenious advertising. I bought into the cool factor. Shameful but true.

Everyone always says how much they love their Macs, but I have never minded my PC. Are Macs really that great? Are they worth the extra money? Is it hard to go from a PC to a Mac? Does anyone actually prefer a PC? Input would be much appreciated.

I am looking into a MacBook but am still in the preliminary stages and could be swayed.

Grammer Goddess

I have never professed grammatical proficiency as my blog entries may attest. Though correct comma placement is a dream of mine, I never quite know if I am punctuating right. So when I was asked to consider being an editor for The Journey, I was skeptical. In a moment of inflated confidence I agreed to attend a meeting tonight for editors and aspiring editors.

I rarely feel so out of my element. I was surrounded by lawyers, authors, editors (not the volunteer kind... professionals), seminary students and English professors. I realize I am an attorney (and I was thankful to be able to say so) but the meeting was intimidating. One man actually used the word penultimate in a sentence. PENULTIMATE! I had absolutely no idea what the word meant. I didn't even know it was a word.

Incidentally: pe'nul'ti'mate 
adjective
1. next to the last; "the author inadvertently reveals the murderer in the penultimate chapter"; "the figures in the next-to-last column"
noun
1. the next to last syllable in a word [syn: penult]

No one else seemed fazed by the word so I tried to play it off. I politely laughed with everyone as I jotted "pinultimate (sp)?" down so I could look it up and blog about it when I got home. The conversation functioned at a higher level than I am used to and though I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I kept thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?!?"

Hopefully as I critique others I will gleam some insight and my professional and personal writing will improve. The editing process does not begin until September so don't be too hard on me until then. But by November, I hope to be a grammar goddess. Fragments, run-ons, dangling participles, subject verb disagreement and unnecessary punctuation, you have been warned.

Minty Fresh

I am addicted to budgeting. I don't necessarily love following my budget but I am fascinated by where my money goes. I have been a faithful Quickenite for a few years now but didn't want to buy the new software in '09. Of course that meant my Quicken got quirky. My accounts stopped linking correctly and for the last three months I have been manually entering my data for one of my accounts. I finally hit the breaking point last week. However, crisis was averted when I read about Mint.com on Kacie's blog.

I quickly signed up and have been oh so impressed with Mint. It is a free site so you have to deal with credit card and other advertisements but they don't bother me too much. I can track my finances and set up a budget but Mint also has a nifty section that allows you to compare your spending with people in your city (or any other city if you choose). Mint also sends me weekly emails with my summarized financial activity and budget updates. I have been riveted (and yes, I realize I completely divulged my nerdiness). If you are looking for free financial/budgeting software, I recommend it!

A New Car!

Sadly not my own... But it is a new pretty car regardless. On Monday, my father and I took the day off work to go with my brother to buy his very first car. He has had a '92 Mercury Grand Marque since he was 16 and now that he is a working man, he was ready for an upgrade. Boy what an upgrade. He bought an '06 Infiniti G35 and I was ever so proud and a tiny bit jealous.

I have not purchased a car since I was 18 (and then I paid cash which apparently makes a world of difference in car buying time) and somehow in 8 years I forgot what an ordeal it can be. We got to the dealership at 8am and we did not have the car until 4:30pm. Luckily we were not at the dealership the whole time, but the day was exhausting.

But look what he has to show for it.


I am trying to cope with my younger brother having a much nicer car than mine by reminding myself: 1) I don't have to make monthly payments. 2) My car is still running quite well for having over 200k miles on it. 3) I am getting a new(er) car before the end of the year. 4) A vast majority of the world's population does not have a car and I should be (and am) grateful for what I have.

It is sort of working.

Rock & Worship Roadshow

On Friday night my co-leader Melissa and I took our girls to the Rock & Worship Roadshow at American Airlines Center. We had 4 girls riding with us and 1 meeting us there, which meant we got to pimp out my dad's Expedition. I have never felt more like a soccer mom.

Once we got to AA Center it was insane. The lines were out the door of every door. We got there about 10 minutes before the concert began and apparently we were cutting it close because they eventually began turning people away. The stadium held 18,000 people and the concert sold out.

Trying to get and save seats for 5 girls and 2 leaders was quite intense with restroom breaks and food runs. At one point I was saving 4 seats while Melissa and three of our girls were getting food. Two ladies tried to sit in the seats and I told them they were saved. One of the ladies looked at me quite rudely and said "I don't care. You can't save seats. This is sold out. Your friends should be sitting down. We are taking their seats." I only managed to stay calm because 2 of my girls were watching me. I politely mentioned that the girls were in the stadium and had just gone to get food. I also mentioned that my co-leader and I had five 6th grade girls from our small group and were really hoping to watch the concert together. Somehow this worked and she rolled her eyes and said, "Fine. Take your seats. But ONLY because it is your church group." Then she stormed off. I was in shock. I couldn't really enjoy myself again until my co-leader and our girls were safely back in their seats.

After the brief drama the concert went off without a hitch. The girls had a blast and I really enjoyed my time with them. We saw Tenth Avenue North, Hawk Nelson, Jeremy Camp and Mercy Me. I was surprised at how well they all performed live but I guess they tour the country regularly. It was definitely worth $10. Check it out at http://www.therockandworshiproadshow.com/. I would go again. Though hopefully next year there won't be any seat drama.