Monkey Empress

I came home from DC on Friday. It was a very productive trip. We had an excellent conference. There were about 150 people there. We did not eat at Ruth Chris this time. We ate McCormick and Schmicks. It is always good. I had crab cakes. We were at Ruth Chris's and it was not open yet. We were about 5 minutes early. While we were standing there looking at the menu, the majority of our little group was not going to eat steak, but instead were going to have seafood. I thought that it would be silly to eat at this great steak restaurant and order seafood. So, I yielded my vote for M&S. I could have had a steak there, but the talk of seafood made me want crabcakes. I think our night out eatting is the highlight of our trip. The night before, three of our group ate at Gordan Biersch's. We usually always eat there as well. They have excellent garlic french fries.

I did not get a picture of the Mandarin Monkey Empress. I did however take a picture with my cell phone of the book in my room with the Empress on the cover. That is what is posted above. I have decided the picture is so disturbing to me because it combines several of my fears. I was always frightened by the monkeys on the Wizard of Oz and I am still frightened of wide open high spaces. The Empress is swinging above the city. You can't get more wide open than that. Anyway, look at it and decide if you think this is not the strangest picture you have ever seen hanging in a hotel lobby!!

I am glad to be home and am trying to catch up at my desk. I should be cleared up by Friday. I think Joe and George are happy to have me back home as well.

Washington DC

Lovely room
View from the seventh flloor
Bath

I am in Washington, DC for the week. My office always comes up in October for our annual Labor and Employment Law Conference. I am staying a couple of extra days to work with my counterparts in our office up here. This year's conference has the highest number of participants, about 125. We have judges from both MSPB and EEOC to speak and take questions. That is like a dream come true, when you get to question the judge. The food is even being catered. It is all good.

I am staying this week in the Mandarin Oriental. I can walk to our office from here. Believe it or not, they have rooms at government per diem. Actually, it is $2 below per diem. I love my job. How many times in my life would I get to stay in a 5 star hotel? There is also a 5 star restaurant called City Zen. I will pass on the restaurant. I hear you have to have reservations months in advance. I walked down the street to Pot Belly's and had a sandwich and malt. The sandwich was just OK but the malt was wonderful. We always have one nice meal out while we are here. This year we are eatting at Ruth Chris. In all the years I lived in New Orleans, I never ate there. I am very excited about it.

I posted some photos I took with my camera phone of the room. The bathroom is bigger than my kitchen at home. It has a giant deep soaking tub and a separate shower. There have a scale that is set to tell your weight in metric. I love to weigh in metric. I feel so light. But I want to know who weighs when they are on vacation. I brought my laptop but alas, there is no free internet at the Mandarin. But, I love being connected while I am away from home, so I am paying for using their internet. There is something that I have not taken a picture of and I don't know if I can do it without seeming like the country mouse has come to the big city. There is this giant painting of the Empress. She is all dressed in typical Chinese garb and she is swinging on a vine swing. The bizarro part of the painting is the monkeys. There are those little old man face monkeys leaping all over as she swings. It is truly out there. I would love to discretely take a picture. I will watch for the opportunity.

One last thing, then I will go. There are lots of families with little grade school age boys all down my hall. I don't know why they aren't in school. Then when I went to get my sandwich this afternoon, there was a girl in a crown, very tall heels and sash ( but without monkeys) standing in the lobby greeting some group that was having a formal event. I guess the Mandarin is for all groups. Oh, just in case you are in Geneva or Boston, they have just opened hotels there!

Swearing in ceremony

Oil well at Capital steps.

Oklahoma City 1889 - 7 days after the land run

I participated in the swearing in ceremony today. I am officially an attorney. I have an official looking license that Joe has said about six times now that we have to get framed right away. I will frame it, but no, I have not decided on the colors and yes, I will look for a coupon to use.

The ceremony was very nice. We sat on the floor of the House of Representatives. We sat at the desks of the representatives. I was really tempted to look in the desk drawer, but I behaved myself and did not open the drawer or press the yea or nay buttons on the desk. The board of law examiners representative called our names individually and we had to stand. Then we all stood and took the oath of office. We also signed the roll and received our license. Joe sat in gallery with the other family members and took pictures. It was very nice.

The Oklahoma State Capital is a beautiful building. There is an oil well in front of the capital steps. Joe remembers when the well was actually working. There were beautiful paintings hung all over. My favorite was of Oklahoma City in 1889 a few days after the land grant. I took a picture with my cell phone and it is posted above. It is not as pretty as the actual painting. It had mules and dogs in it. There is a little tent that said attorney on it. You can't see it in my photo. But, what a great time in Oklahoma history. I need to see Far and Away again. There were little wooden stakes in the ground with numbers on it where someone had staked their land. It was an entire history lesson in one painting. If I had a wall to hang a 5 x 10 painting on, I would want this one.

Stand when name is called before the court. Taking the oath of office.

Group swearing in.

Signing the roll

The license
Linda and Tommy
Linda and Joe on capital steps

It was a wonderful day. It is at the top of my wonderful day list!

More scrapbook retreat photos

Breakfast is served
Terry and Vicki
Kalen: MC of the Oscar ceremony
Princess Vicki of Genovia

M/D: Debbie and Kalen
M/D: Kathy and Lashelle
H/W: Todd and Debbie
Terry
Terry's daughter, Erin

Scrapbooking heaven!

The Sisters Hideaway
One half of scrapping area
More scrapping area
Beautiful, peaceful scenery

I enjoyed a wonderful weekend of scrapbooking this weekend. My scrap group from my home church went on a retreat to the Sisters Hideaway. It was wonderful. The location was away from the noise and distraction of the world. It is located in Gunter, Texas. The sister who runs the retreat took very good care of us. The food was delicious and the beds were so soft.

Kalen and Vicki from our group planned the retreat. They did a great job. The theme was Hollywood and we watched movies while we scrapped and tried to fill in the answers to a list of movie hints. I never watch movies, so I did not know many answers. I think I saw more movies over the weekend than I have seen in the last three years. We each received Oscars for our great performances over the weekend. It was so fun. Todd created this great layout to hang on the memory board and we all signed it.

I shared a room with my friend Terry and her daughter, Erin. Unfortunately for them, I snore. Then my cell phone made noise during the night. I was not the best roommate. I did bring ear plugs for my roomies to use. Terry and Erin did some power scrapping. They created two giant books with 5 years worth of Erin's photos and memorabilia in it. They were a scrapping machine. Erin helped us find our way in and out. If it was not for her, Terry and I may still be wandering around the Gunter countryside.

There were three sets of Mother/Daughters on the retreat. They all had such a good time. I would love to scrap with my daughter, but I am not sure she is ready for that yet. I did make her a little scrapbook of pictures of her fur baby Finn. I think we all felt like family over the weekend.

I want to go back again and I would recommend this location to anyone who wants to plan a retreat. It was a wonderful weekend.

I PASSED!!

I am thrilled to say that I passed the bar exam. There were a lot of times when I thought I would never be able to say that, but today, it is all true. I have rechecked the list on the website about 20 times and my name is still there everytime I look, so, I guess this is the real thing.

Thursday night and Friday morning were really tough. I knew the pass list would be posted on Friday. I stayed up until midnight Thursday night to see if it might post then, and it did not. I slept terrible that night and got up at 6:00 a.m. to check and still nothing. I kept going back and looking all morning, and it still was not there.

I had taken the day off work on Friday because I knew that I would be a nervous wreck. I did not want to embarass myself at work if things did not go well. Plus, I was going on scrapbooking retreat this weekend. So, I told my friend Terry that I would be at her house at noon to pick her up and go eat lunch and then head for the retreat site. I was sitting at the computer just playing and going back and checking for the pass list. Finally at 11:30 a.m. I thought I would have to leave without knowing the results. I emailed my husband the link to the website and told him to keep checking. Then, I checked one more time and it was there. I saw the heading July 2008 bar results and I was literally paralyzed. I could not move the screen down to look at the names. I slowly moved down, and not wanting to see but curiosity was killing me and there on the second line was my name.
Thank you Jesus.

My precious husband has encouraged me all through this long process, and my wonderful family has been my cheering section and support group. I would not have been able to accomplish this without their encouragement. Joe, who has never struggled to pass any test, just kept on encouraging me. He was often more sad than me when my name would not be on the pass list. He just kept telling me that he knew I could do it and he did not allow me to wallow in defeat. I really love this man. He truly is my reward.

I have a very special friend who had a big part in my passing the bar. Gayla and I started law school together. I did not have a clue what I was in for and she was up for the challenge. We formed an unofficial group called the "WIT Club" WIT stands for Whatever It Takes! She would make up outrageous nmeumonics for remembering elements. I would not have made it passed the 1L year without her help. Gayla moved to Oklahoma the second year of law school and I moved to night school and struggled to work full time and go to school at night. Gayla sent me her bar review books to study this summer. Gayla's daughter, Katie, gave me an angel charm for good luck at exam time first semester of school. I still have that charm and I took it with me to take the exam. It sat right on my table. Gayla and Tommy and Katie and the most precious grandchild you have ever seen and Katie's boyfriend took me dinner on Monday night of the exams. I just can't tell you how much it meant to me to see these wonderful friends during what is probably one of the most stressful experiences of anyone's life. Thanks Gayla for your help and encouragement and support. I love you all.

I am not sure what will happen in the future job wise. I love my current job and would love to stay there, but the hiring decisions are now made in Washington, and they hire people who attended well known schools. My school would not appear on any top 20 list, but I think it was the perfect school for me. I am sworn in at an admissions ceremony on September 25, 2008. Then, I am officially an attorney!

I will tell you about the wonderful scrapbooking retreat on my next blog. Joe has my supper ready!

Linda

My daughter had a dream!

My Katie called me yesterday to tell me about her dream. She dreamed I passed the bar exam and she was running down the street telling everyone she saw that I passed. She said it turned into a musical.

I will find out the results of the exam on Friday, September 12, 2008. I don't know exactly how the process works. I think it will be posted online. I feel more confident about this exam than any other I have attempted. I don't know if I passed, but I know that I can pass this exam. It is great feeling to know that it is within my grasp.

Katie and I are wishing her dream comes true. Thanks to everyone who has prayed for me and encouraged me. Listen carefully when the list is posted online. You will hear me screaming and it will suddenly become my own musical!