Hmm

I'm getting really bad at blogging regularly. Bad Lindsey. I really have to work on that. I guess I just don't have much to blog about lately.

Here are the highlights of my past week.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

Yes, I'm a big Harry Potter fan. I loved the books and the movies, and I finally saw the last movie with a friend Friday night. I loved the movie! I saw it in 3D (my first 3D movie!), and it was fantastic. Made me want to read the books all over again.

Catching Fire

Alright, you've probably figured out by now that I'm a fan of young adult fic, but sometimes a girl just needs something a little lighter to read and a bit of an escape. Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series is definitely an escape from reality (if not quite light reading). I started the second book in the series, Catching Fire, today, and I can hardly put it down. I went ahead and ordered the third and final book, Mockingjay, this morning so I can read that too. If you're looking for an excellent series to read, I highly recommend picking this one up.

And that's about it. There was work, work, and more work. Hopefully this upcoming week goes a little more smoothly, but for now, I'm going back to reading and vegging on the couch.

Better

Friday was the first day at work that I felt in control of things and like I actually knew what I was doing. Yay! I know not every day will be like that and that I just have to give this transition time, but I finally feel like I'm moving in the right direction. I know there will be frustrating moments/events/people, but that's life, right?

This weekend I watched the movie Convicted starring Connie Nielsen, Aidan Quinn, Kelly Preston, and Tim Daly.

The movie is about Charlotte Cory (Nielsen), a convicted murderer/kidnapper on death row in Oklahoma. Frank (Quinn) is a disbarred, criminal defense attorney who has taken the habit of writing various death row inmates, befriending them, and selling their letters to newspapers upon their deaths. Frank and Charlotte have been writing one another (Frank posing as an old friend of her father's and not telling her the real reason behind his writing), and Frank ends up going to Oklahoma to visit Charlotte the week of her execution. While there, Frank (along with her defense attorney played by Preston) realizes things are not as they seem, and an innocent woman might have been convicted.

The movie is fantastic. It's not one of those death row-political agenda movies. It's just a simple 'did she or didn't she' kind of movie. The twists are extremely interesting and numerous, and the movie's never dull. I give it 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

I also finished reading Lauren Groff's The Monsters of Templeton this weekend. I'd heard of the book but didn't know much about it (okay - I didn't know anything about it) when I picked up on a whim at the library last week.

This is one book I would LOVE to see made into a movie. The characters and storylines are just that good. The book is about a young woman (Willie) searching for herself in her hometown after a disastrous affair with her college professor. Willie arrives home at the same time that a 'monster' is found dead in the town's lake. While the scientific community tries to sort out what the 'monster' is, Willie searches through her own family's past to discover who her biological father is after her mother reveals that her real father is a current resident of the town. The book goes back and forth between the current day with Willie and chapters told from the perspective of Willie's ancestors, giving us insight into what research Willie actually finds. It's a very original book full of scandal and endearing characters. I suggest you pick it up for a weekend read.

Frustration kicking in...

Frustration is just a part of life, right? I know we all deal with it, and you just have to keep going but today was just one of those days where you feel like you take one step forward and three steps back. I keep trying though. That's all I can do. The transition from defense attorney back to briefing attorney has been much harder than I expected, but I'm sticking with it. I'm determined to make this career move work for me.

On a lighter note, Twenties Girl was an excellent read. The book is about a young woman named Lara (who is also facing plenty of frustration of her own) who is haunted by her recently deceased, great-aunt Sadie. Sadie passed away at the age of 105, but she went back to her 23 year old self, a crazy, free-spirited, 1920s girl.

Sadie has one last request before she moves on, for Lara to locate Sadie's beloved dragonfly necklace. The request turns out to be anything but simple. The book is full of humor and life lessons and will having you smiling throughout. I highly recommend it.

Here's hoping the rest of the week lightens up for me. You might hear me yelling if it doesn't. =)

Been Away...

So it's been awhile since I've blogged. What can I say? Life's been crazy. It's been tough adjusting to my new job. I definitely like it, but it's just been a big change. I've been practicing only criminal law so I've been having to switch mindsets working with criminal, civil, and family cases now. But I'm getting there.

I finally bought some bookshelves for my apartment but not enough. Perhaps I have too many books, but is that really possible?

I've been reading Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl.

I've always liked Kinsella's books, but I haven't heard very good things about this one. Despite the reviews I've read, I'm loving the book so far. I'll have a full review when I finish.

Well, just wanted to check in and let you all know that I'm still alive. =)

First Day

I started my new job today and to celebrate I decided to buy myself a beautiful, new pair of shoes. Yesterday on my way home from spending Father's Day with my parents, I stopped at DSW to see what I could find. For anyone who doesn't know, DSW is an amazing store that any shoe lover can appreciate and must check out. DSW has great deals and an awesome selection of shoes. Yesterday I found these beauties.

I adore Nine West purses, and I love Nine West shoes. I now have three pairs of Nine West heels, and they're the most comfortable brand of heels I've ever worn. They never give me blisters, they're always stylish, and they're made to last. My feet felt as great at the end of the day as they did at the beginning, and any high heel wearer knows that's a very big deal.

Library Drama

Yesterday I went to the library to drop off some books and pick up some new ones. As tired as I was after getting back from Austin and as anxious as I am about starting my new job on Monday, I knew I wanted this to be a quiet weekend full of Law and Order episodes (my current addiction) and reading. Thanks to my DVR and TNT, I had/have plenty of L&O episodes to keep me busy this weekend, but the trip to the library was necessary if I was going to read this weekend. 

I love going to the library. I love being surrounded by books and can wander around in a library and bookstore for hours. Usually the experience is relaxing to me. Yesterday not so much thanks to a rude librarian and her stupid wooden goose. That's right. A wooden goose ruined my library experience yesterday. 

I walked into the library and set my books on the return counter just like normal. The librarian was even standing there when I set them down. As I started to walk away and head over to the books to look around, the woman turns around and tells me I should have set the books on the other side of the computer at the counter. I replied that maybe they need to put up a sign explaining that if that's where they want the books. The woman proceeded to tell me that's what the wooden goose on the counter is for. Not a sign or anything with words, but a wooden goose. 

Apparently I missed something in all of my years of education and living in the real world. Apparently someone forgot to tell me along the way that a wooden goose translates to 'place your books here'. Are you kidding me? Puh-leeze. 

Annoyed by the woman and her wooden goose, I went on to tell her that no normal person would know her wooden goose is a signal to place books next to the goose and walked away. Maybe I shouldn't have said that, but I didn't appreciate being treated like the crazy one in the situation. She's the fruitcake talking with wooden animal cutouts, not me. 

Anyways, I got my books and feel much better after venting. I'm reading Deborah Harkness' A Discovery of Witches right now and enjoying it very much. 

Maybe I won't see crazy goose lady when I go back to return it. 

Getting back in the swing of things...

Being gone for an entire week was much more draining than I expected and much less of the vacation I had hoped for. Don't get me wrong, I had fun, but it was a long week. If I had just been doing vacation things and things I wanted, that would be one thing, but I was in class every day from 8:30-4:30 and did not sleep well at all. You know something's wrong when you can't fall asleep on a hotel's "heavenly" bed.

The best parts of my week were getting to catch up with my college roommate one night, getting to know the other coordinators from my county better, and all the great dinners I had, which are thankfully being reimbursed by the conference group (yay!). Monday I had amazing Thai food, Tuesday I had dinner at Kerbey Lane with my roomie (gingerbread pancakes), Wednesday I had an insanely good burger with the other ladies at the Daily Grill (and it needed to be good for the $14 they charged for it?!?!), and Thursday I had awesome sushi with one of the girls. Being on a budget, it was nice to get to go out every night and know it'd be taken care of. I definitely enjoyed it while I could.

The hotel was very nice and relaxing (even if I couldn't sleep), and I loved the room and the bathroom.

Nice, right?

It was nice to get home though Friday afternoon. This weekend I'm all about relaxing and gearing up for my first day of work on Monday. I'm super excited about starting my new job and this new phase in my life. I know it's going to be great.

A Week Off

Since I'm not taking my laptop with me, there won't be any blogging from me until I get back next Saturday from Austin. I'm looking forward to the break. It's definitely a working vacation and just what I need before I start my new job. Once I get back and start at work, I know it's going to be crazy so I'm going to enjoy every second of this week away.

I never know what to pack when I'm going somewhere. I always pack too much, but I'd rather be prepared. Originally I planned on just bringing a hanging bag and a laptop bag (minus the laptop) for the paperwork I have to bring to the conference, but that's impossible for 5 days out of town. I'm still bringing way too much with me, but I'll feel better knowing I have too much instead of missing something I really need.

Besides packing today, I caught up on all the Real Housewives of New York episodes on my DVR. I don't even know where to begin about the ladies' Morocco trip. It wore me out just watching.

Tonight my plan's to get a good night's sleep, to finish reading Many Bloody Returns (a book of vampire short stories by the best vampire writers in the business, including Charlaine Harris and Rachel Caine), and to watch a little basketball. Go Mavs! Hope you all have a great week.

My Not So Great Choices

Apparently this is my weekend for confusing things and crappy entertainment choices. Books, movies. Maybe someone was trying to tell me something.

First, I stayed up Friday night and watched Good with Viggo Mortensen. 

Good is about a German literature professor (Viggo) in Nazi Germany. The professor is a "good" man, hence the title of the movie. He writes a novel advocating compassionate euthanasia, and the Nazis use the book as a tool to push their own agenda. The professor gets swept up in the Nazi madness, leading to devastating events. The movie was alright but very confusing. The message the movie was trying to teach, that good people can get caught up in and by bad things, was interesting, but the movie was so abrupt and choppy that it was hard to follow. Unless you're a big Viggo fan, I'd skip this one. 

Second, Saturday I finished reading Brunonia Barry's The Lace Reader. The book started off well enough, but it turned into a confusing, frustrating, dull read that just irritated me and made me wish I hadn't wasted my time. Bad books drive me nuts. I have little enough time to read as it is so I hate wasting my time on crappy reads. This one just had a twist that was unforgivable and enough to turn me away from Barry's other books.

After finishing The Lace Reader, I decided it was time to watch another movie. I'm a sucker for horror movies, even the really bad ones. I decided to watch Dark House from the Fright Fest collection. 

Dark House is about a woman who witnessed the mass murder of foster children in a house as a child herself. The woman returns to the house as a college student to film a horror movie and face her fears as the house is reopened as a new horror attraction, but she's not alone as the ghost of the women who killed the kids also returns. 

And it's just as stupid as you'd expect. So much for my "great" entertainment choices this weekend. Maybe tomorrow I'll do better.

Last Day

Last night I watched Hall Pass, one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.

Starring Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, and Jenna Fischer, we're talking laugh out loud funny for the majority of the movie. I haven't seen Hangover 2 yet, but Hall Pass is definitely as funny as The Hangover. And after a long, emotional week, laugh out loud funny was exactly what I needed last night. The movie's basically about a married man who gets a hall pass from his wife, granting him a week off from marriage and a chance to do whatever he wants for the week with no consequences. Things obviously don't go as planned, but they also don't happen like you'd expect either. I thought the movie was going to be stupid, but it was actually really, really good and I'm glad I stopped and watched it. 

So today was my last day of work at my current firm. It was sad, but it went much better than I expected. Other than dealing with a very crude defendant (why wouldn't my last client be over the top rude and crazy???) and a fellow lawyer who doesn't seem to have a filter from his brain to his mouth (and can't seem to shut his mouth to save his life and doesn't mind telling everyone everyone else's business no matter what it is), I'd say the day went pretty smoothly and quickly. 

And so I close the door on one thing and open the next one. And I can't wait to see where it takes me.