Today more of our bulbs opened, so I had to take a few shots. I guess this is the reward for being patient and cold during the long winter, but it makes me all the more antsy for summer.  Enjoy!

Our growing garden, Scott Stuff | 3 Comments »

After much debate and procrastination, Scott and I finally settled on a road trip destination for Spring Break. We decided to drive from Columbus to Asheville, NC (about 7.5 hours) and tour the Biltmore House. After spending the night in Asheville, we drove along the Blue Ridge Highway, through the Smoky Mountains National Park, and into Gatlinburg where we spent the night. We spent the majority of our time in the National Park hiking to waterfalls (which we decided are the only hikes worth venturing on), touring old homesteads, and taking in the amazing views of the Smoky Mountains.

All in all, though, this trip wasn’t really about the sites we would see, but rather about the pictures we could take of the sites. Since he claims not to have had a “proper” opportunity to take good pictures with our new camera beforehand, Scott was rearing to get some good shots of our trip. We came fully prepared: batteries charged, tripod in hand, camera manual on hand, and empty SD cards. We had to prep beforehand too. This involved reading the camera manual from cover to cover, watching informational videos on all the camera’s features, and playing around with the apparatus in anticipation.

I will say that all this hard work paid off. We got some good images. Of a variety of subjects. Here’s our waterfall portfolio:

MINGO FALLS

Distance: less than 1 mile

Duration: 1 hour

Challenge: Easy

Elevation Change: 100 ft

This was by far the easiest fall to get to, in terms of hiking, but was the most spectacular in terms of the distance it falls. At 200 ft, it’s the largest fall in the area. Actually, it’s not really in the National Park, but just outside of it on the Cherokee Indian Reservation. Scott and I decided it was a good place to begin our quest as amateur photographers.

People were a bit overwhelmed when Scott handed our camera over to them, but we tried to get an image of ourselves at each fall. Some turned out better than others.

GROTTO FALLS

Distance: 2.6 miles round trip

Duration: 2 hours

Challenge: Moderate

Elevation Change: 350 ft

After a rather harrowing journey along a very windy and narrow road, driving at a faster-than-recommended speed (Scott was in a hurry to get to the falls in time for “good” light), we arrived at the trail head. The hike wasn’t the most joyous—it was all uphill—but the view at the end made it worth the while.

You walked along the creek for quite a ways, and were confronted with a number of smaller falls and beautiful waterways, before you reach the main event.

My favorite part of the falls though, was that you could walk back behind the water and splash yourself with freezing cold mist, while Scott tried to achieve a slow shutter speed! The view was awfully beautiful.

ABRAMS FALLS

Distance: 5 miles round trip

Duration: 3.5 hours

Challenge: Moderate

Elevation Change: 200 ft

This was the most enjoyable hike by far. The ground varied between uphill and downhill, providing some nice variety. You also walk along the river which was rather pleasant (unless you really need to use the restroom on the way back, and then it was just an unwelcome reminder!)

But you do get to cross the river a number of times and this provides for some good picture-taking opportunities. The muddy spots throughout the hike reminded us of treking through Thailand. We enjoyed recalling our earlier journeys there.

And sometimes, I even managed to snag the camera and take a decent picture. Here’s proof; it didn’t happen all too often though.

And other times, you can pause your car along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, and take some stolen images of water passing under the bridge.

All in all, the Smoky Mountains offers more waterfalls than it is possible to visit in just one trip. Scott and I were happy to visit (and photograph) three of them in the day and a half we spent there.

Road Trips | 9 Comments »

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I need my sleep. I’ve always been a sleeper—my mother even claims I slept through the night from the time I got home from the hospital. I’ve always been the one who’s out as soon as my head hits the pillow and doesn’t wake up till the alarm goes off. I sleep in the land of the dead; my family would always joke that I could sleep through the fire alarm. Lately, I’ve been needing my sleep more than ever; apparently pregnancy makes you tired. Who knew?

Unfortunately, I’ve been getting less of it. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve slept through the night in the past few months. It seems that with the revelation that I was actually pregnant came the inability to get a good night’s sleep. I find myself inexplicably wide awake at 3:00 in the morning. Sure, sometimes I need to go the bathroom or get a drink. Other times I’ll wake startled from the strangest dreams. Yet, there have been countless times when I find myself wide awake, still tired though, without any particular reason why.

This morning my eyes popped open at 4:53 am to find an empty bed. Scott apparently had left me to go sleep in our other bed in the guest room—he does that at times, either when I kick him out for snoring or he just can’t sleep. My lower abdomen didn’t feel so empty though. I could feel a fluttering around and every once in a while a small tap. After thinking about it, a realization dawned on me. No, my stomach wasn’t just rumbling, I must be feeling my little baby.

That was a rather powerful moment. No longer do I need the doctor’s magic wand to see a bleeping little peanut on a fuzzy black and white screen. No longer do I need the doctor’s magic microphone to hear the thump, da, thump of the baby’s little heart. I know, just because I am his mother, that my baby is down there alive. Suddenly, this pregnancy seemed real. Sure, my clothes are starting to tighten and my waist isn’t so much of an hourglass, but I suddenly realized that this is for real, not just an over-indulgence in ice cream.

With these thoughts spinning around in my head, I left bed to join Scott in the other room. I snuggled in for some warmth and laid my head on his shoulder. A minute passed and I realized I could hear a heart beat loudly thumping in my ear, but I couldn’t tell whose it was—mine, Scott’s or the baby. Now I understand that you can’t really hear the baby’s heart beat, but at 5:00 am, everything was a bit believable. Somehow, it all seemed right. Here I was with a fluttering in my lower belly and a heart beat pounding in my ear.

Today, driving down the street I was waiting behind a bright blue car with neon-green racing stripes down the top. I watched three teenage boys bop around inside the car with their hands in the air and their heads bouncing like a Saturday Night Live skit. They were having such a good time with their music, the entire car was rocking. I remember when my mom would get us to rock the car on the ski lift all the way to the top of the mountain. I remember a van full of kids, my mom cranking up “Pretty Woman,” and titling from one side to the other trying to get the car to rock along with our mood. And I realized something else. Here these boys were, celebrating the start of spring break and a week of freedom from school, obviously happy to be out on their own. Someday my own little baby will be that big.

Perhaps, this morning my little baby was just as excited. Thumping around inside me, bopping to his own soundtrack, happy to be growing and springing forth into life. I think someday, I’ll have to teach my own children how to dance, enjoy life, and swing like crazy on the ski lift.

Baby Stuff, Lonica Stuff | 8 Comments »

Back in November, I expressed my gratitude about Scott’s summer clerkship. As the economy has continued to plummet down the drain, my sense of great fortune has only continued to deepen. Honestly, someone up there has definitely been looking out for us.

Scott has kept me apprised of the falling law market, mostly through e-mails that contain links to news articles. Apparently, large firms have been laying employees off right and left. So many employees in fact, that one particularly Thursday has been dubbed “Bloody Thursday,” by nerdy legal followers, because a large number of lawyers were told to take a hike on this particular day.

Obviously, if paid, educated, experienced, and ‘barred’ (that’s my possibly made-up term for a lawyer who’s passed The Bar Exam just so that I can take advantage of this opportunity for single quotes, Jenny) lawyers are getting the boot, poor, less-educated, and groveling legal students looking for a summer handout don’t even stand a chance.

This rather unfortunate set of circumstances has led to a number of horror stories circulating around the law school. Third year law students in the top 5% of their class, with excellent job prospects find their anticipated law firm suddenly a non-entity. Months before graduation, students are randomly selecting a state on the map, studying for a the bar exam, and keeping their fingers crossed that one day they will find a job in that locale. Second year students who had dreams of working on Wall Street and making the big bucks, are now aligning their stars in the hopes of a landing a much-lesser paid government option. These first-hand accounts have soon-to-be lawyers shaking in their boots at the rapidly declining legal market.

Upon perusing the listing of law firms laying off willing employees, Scott has discovered that nearly every firm he interviewed with this last fall has laid off a portion of their work force. This fate has seemed to escape the Texas legal market almost completely, and San Antonio is among the best markets in Texas.

In fact, San Antonio is reputed to be one of the most stable markets in the nation, according to one news article Scott was kind enough to send my way today.

Despite the horror stories, we maintain hope that Scott’s position will hold out. We take today as proof. I came home from work to find a rather large and unexpected package on our doorstep. Curious, I opened the box to find a selection of Texas salsas with a rather complimentary note proclaiming the firm’s excitement of having my husband as their employee. Clearly, not only is the firm willing to invite Scott for the summer (and potentially retain) as a valued employee, but they are still willing to fork over bonus salsa collections in order to keep us in their good graces and sell us on the fact that Scott should come work for them—as if we needed any enticement not to go searching for alternative employment. I certainly had no qualms with popping open the salsa and finishing off our bag of Tostitos. I’m starting to not even mind the cliché of Texas-slang-inspired advertising. Companies like “Buckeye Dry-cleaning” and “Brutus Catering” are making me a little numb to the cutesy, localized titles.

Law School, Lonica Stuff | 5 Comments »

If you’ve talked to me for more than a few minutes you probably know how much I love Mythbusters.  When heard Kari Byron and Grant Imahara from the show were coming to OSU on my birthday, I knew it was a sign.  I found out this week via wikipedia and twitter that Kari Byron is also pregnant.  When she came on stage it was apparent she is farther along than Lonica because she had more of a “baby bump.”  Come to think of it, these might be the first pictures on the internet of Kari Byron’s baby bump because she told us this was her first event with the news public.  Man, I should work for TMZ or something.

It was really interesting to hear them talk about how they got on the show, some of their favorite myths, what it was like to be filmed all the time, etc. Grant also played some never-shown-on-tv bloopers (off his own computer) that were absolutely hilarious, he had the place cracking up. He has a pretty impressive resume which I’m not sure I fully appreciated before. I knew he was a BattleBots champion but I didn’t know he was one of the actual R2D2 drivers/designers (yes, from Star Wars) when he worked at Industrial Light and Magic.

The RPAC was packed with people and they fielded questions from students.

In addition to Mythbusters, Lonica and I went to dinner at Cap City Diner. 

My birthday was also great because our good friends Tony and Jenny (and Seth) took us out to an awesome Greek restaurant for lunch today.  Thanks everybody for making it a great day, it was really special. Kendee, hope you had a happy 29 today as well…

Scott Stuff | 6 Comments »