It's just business, baby

When I got to my office today, I saw that I had a really sweet email from a prosecutor friend of mine that made my day.  My friend said that they had recently been talking w/ an member of law enforcement in the county that I used to work in and that the officer said that they had only had pleasant and nice interactions w/ me and that I don't make things personal when I do my job. 

That was an awesome boost to start my first day back at work after my vacay.  I try to be nice and polite and friendly when dealing with people and when dealing w/ officers and prosecutors because, it's just business, baby.  I have a job to do and they have a job to do.  At the end of the day, we're all the same: we all just want to go back to our respective houses and take off our pants because fuck wearing pants kick back and relax.  

It's my Dirty 30!

Yeah, I don't actually know what that means, but it rhymes so I like it. It's mah birthday today and I'm officially the big 3-0.  I feel like I should start being more...like...adult-ish?? But that's probably not going to happen, so whatevs. 

What was awesome today was that I realized this afternoon that today was the happiest that I've been in a very long time.  The happiest I've been since September 20, 2011.  I've been happy since then, but there was always a tinge of sadness somewhere in my brain.  But today I was just happy. 

And that was a nice change.  That was the best birthday gift ever.  Finally feeling really happy again. 

I'm not even going to deny it

I freaking love "Thrift Shop" by Macklamore.
I find it awesome to hear a rap about shopping at Goodwill, since most rappers talk about how rich they are and how much bling they have.

Merry Christmas!

Hope all your holidays are filled with naps, kitties, family, food, joy, happiness, peace, and everything else you are dreaming of this season.
Xoxo,
PDgirl, Hubert, and Ward

Overheard

While sitting in the hall lobby of church, I overheard the following conversation between a dad and his two year old daughter.
Daughter: I wanna go in the hall.
Dad: We are in the hall.
Daughter: But I wanna go in the hall.
Dad: I know. We are in the hall.
Daughter: Can we go in the hall? I wanna be in the hall.
Dad: (sigh) We are already in the hall. See? We are already here. We're in the hall. Right now, we are in the hall.
Daughter: Can we go in the hall?
Dad: (sigh, no response)
Daughter: (very excited) We're in the hall!!!
Dad: I know, that's what I've been saying...
Daughter: Daddy, do you know what? We're in the hall.
Bwahaha!! Kids are hilarious sometimes. A conversation between an adult and a two year old is delightful to overhear.

Sounds about right

A prosecutor today said to me that he was only going to call people by their last name and then starting calling anyone around him by their last name. (He was in a silly mood). So, I immediately informed if that was the new thing he was doing, I was changing my last name to Murderawesome.

Awwww, yeah!!!

And now, here's this stuff

I got the "corrected" divorce paperwork today.  Guess what?  Still not correct.  Including--once again--my name.  Even after notifying YKW's attorney that there were errors, there are still errors.  This is never going to be over...ugggghhhhh...  Again, this just continues to drag on and on and on and on...can it just be over?!?!  I just want this to be over... 

My book is done!

My book is officially finished!!

It's currently being reviewed for formatting, etc. by Amazon.com and then it will be available for purchase in approximately 12 hours.  

So that's happening now...

Just got back from Chi-town, visiting RV and her spawn and her husby.  I'm pretty proud of myself bc this time I taught Spawn to say, "I'm not a terrorist!" and "That sounds like communism!" Just for funsies. This is probably why it's a good thing I don't have kids. Although it was super adorable when I got there and Spawn saw me and jumped out of her chair, calling my name, and threw her tiny, midget arms around my legs in a hug. Awwwww...cute...she is super funny and adorable.

Ben Franklin knows what I'm talking about

My recent win of my suppression motion that resulted in a dismissal of 14 felony counts has been met with uncertainty from some of my friends and family. Most frequently, people ask me something along the lines of whether the dismissal is really a good thing and/or if I'm actually happy that the defendant "gets off" on 14 counts.
My answer to that is a pretty solid "YES." Here's why I say yes, and why anyone who thinks otherwise should reconsider.

Yay, I won!

I checked on a motion I had in before trial/vacation that I figured the judge's order would come out when I was gone on vacation and saw that it had. And that I won! The evidence was suppressed and as a result, 14 felony counts were dismissed!! I'm really excited! This is definitely my biggest pretrial win of my short legal career.  I had 4 different arguments and the court agreed with three of them, which was neat to see that. It's cool when the courts agree with my arguments, because then I feel like I might actually know what I'm doing! Lolz!

Next stop...

Taos, New Mexico!
I'm pretty excited. I love my friends for inviting me along on this trip.
This has been a tough last 10 months to live through, but things like this make me realize that even with the sadness and bad things that have occurred, I'm very blessed in many ways.  Having friends who are thoughtful enough to invite me along to help keep my spirits up, having a job where I can take time off for vacations, having the financial ability to save up some money to go on this trip, and being able to see this beautiful, breathtaking area of the world are just a few of the ways I've been blessed even in times of great sadness.  Recognizing these things makes it easier to pass through the dark times in life.  Plus, it's hard to feel sad when I'm surrounded by such incredible beauty in such a majestic place. I'm more relaxed and stress-free than I have been in the last 10 months.  I definitely needed to get away and be in a place where it's impossible for me to feel sad.
This is the first time in 10 months I've felt really truly happy, really content with things. I'd forgotten how wonderful that feels. Even if it doesn't last, even if the sadness creeps back in once I get home, I'm very grateful for being able to feel that contentment and happiness for right now.  Because at least I know it's possible to feel that way again, something I wasn't sure of before.

I love this

It's from a movie but I really liked it.
"Everything will be all right in the end. If it's not all right, it's not the end."

Yep. There it is. That's why.

I had a sentencing hrg at the beginning of May for a client who I had lost at trial with. We were asking for a departure and my staff and I had put in a lot of work into it. We ultimately didn't win (although the judge did tell me after the hrg that it was a really nice presentation, which was really awesome) and my client was sent to prison.

Funny stuff

Sometimes my job makes me crack up.  Yesterday, I had one of those funny moments in my day.  I have a case where the most serious count is a presumptive commit case (for non-lawyers/people who don't live in MN, that means that if convicted, the sentencing guidelines recommend a prison sentence, not probation).  There's also like 4 other charges, too.  The offer letter that was sent over to me for the case is an offer to plead to a gross misdemeanor and a misdemeanor--dismiss the other charges.  No felony charges, no prison sentence.  So, that's a remarkably awesome offer.  It's such a good offer that when Golf came into my office one day and the offer letter was sitting on the top of my inbox, Golf saw it and exclaimed, "You get offers to plead [the most serious charge in the case] down to a gross misdemeanor?!  I'd never get that in my county!"  

So, I went to go talk to the prosecutor on that file, to go over the specifics of it and to see if we could agree as to any potential sentence he'd serve on the gross misdemeanor.  The prosecutor got his file and came and sat down to talk to me.  As he was looking through it, I was reminding him on what he'd offered and I said, "So, he's charged with [most serious offense] and you offered to have him plead to a gross misdemeanor."  As he's flipping through the file, listening to me, he looks a little surprised and says, "I did?  I offered that?  Why did I do that? Was there a reason?"  Then he flips to his copy of the offer letter and reviews it, saying, "Hey, I did offer that.  I wonder why I did that.  I don't remember why I offered that.  Why did I do that?"  This made me laugh pretty hard.  He was so confused about his own offer, I couldn't help but laugh.  Especially when he also started laughing and then said, "That's a really good deal.  Your client should take it."  

Why I love my job

On Wednesday, I was lurking around the courthouse waiting in between hearings, just sort of milling around in the common area.  There was a man there waiting around, too, and he came up to me and said, "Hey, you're a lawyer, right?"  I told him that I was and he said, "I can't remember your name, but I think I've heard of you."  So, I told him my name and he said, "Yeah, yeah, I've heard about you. I've heard you do a lot of good work for people.  They really like having you.  You're a really good lawyer." 

I was really surprised because I'd never met this guy or seen this guy before, but it sure was awesome to hear that.  Definitely made my day.  Actually, I think it even made my week. 

I just won a contested omnibus and got a felony case dismissed! I'm on fire lately!!

I get to see Cider on Sunday!!!!!

Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm the big 2-8 now.  It was a pretty awesome birthday.  I played video games for most of the morning, then watched the Twins game.  They won, which was exciting.  Then I went to JoAnn Fabrics because I wanted to try to sew some more since Hat got me this sweet sewing box as my birthday present: 

Since it's now a whole lot easier to move my sewing stuff around, I feel like I will be much more inclined to sew.  I didn't have anything transportable to keep my sewing stuff in so I would have to make several trips back and forth to get everything.  Not anymore!  Hat even made sure to purchase all the thread that is in the second picture, along with a seam gauge, a pair of scissors, and a seam ripper.  Plus a gift card to be able to take a class at JoAnn's.  Very thoughtful! 

After JoAnn's, we went to the place nearby that sells pottery that you can paint.  That was a lot of fun.  I had an after-hours get-together, so it was all private and no one else could come into the store.  Very cool!  And my friends all had fun, which I wasn't sure if they would since not everyone's into painting pottery.  Then, they came over to my place to eat some delicious, Hat-made food and chill.  

It was an excellent, relaxing birthday.  Just what I needed!