Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Hubs friends gave him tickets to the Red Sox Yankees game last Thursday and he wanted to go with me! I am not particularly into sporting events so I thought he'd prefer to go with someone who'd care more and would be more involved in the game. But no, he wanted to go with his wife.

It was spring in Boston and there were flowers
and pollen. Spring has not yet come to Maine.

We headed down to Boston that afternoon. (I planned on street parking and I found some! But Hubs doesn't keep quarters in the car for meters. So I sat in the car while he found some change and a meter maid came by but I didn't have to move and Hubs came back with some quarters.) We met up with one of my high school friends at Algiers Cafe in Harvard Square. I ate some delicious fries and she told me about how her life's been going. It was good to see her since I hadn't seen her since my wedding and we didn't really get to talk then.

We sent a snapchat selfie to a friend who
just found out he passed the Bar!

After catching up we headed over to Fenway and got stuck in a tunnel in traffic. One of my law school exams involved a traffic accident in Boston's big dig that turned into a disaster with explosions and collapsing tunnels. Ever since that exam I've been so afraid of all the tunnels under Boston and I was so nervous sitting there in traffic.

It was all okay though! Nothing happened that would give rise to a law suit and we got to the game an hour and twenty minutes before it started.

My OOTN

We found our seats and got our dinner. Always one for novelty food items, I could not resist the foot long hot dog. Where else can you get them? Not at your average grocery store. FYI the Fenway franks are delicious and they're a close second to my beloved Vienna Beef hot dogs. I also got cotton candy to save for later (I managed to wait to eat it until the game started). There was a cute baby at the game near us who kept giving her cotton candy to her parents. She had no idea what she had apparently.

I beg to differ. America's most beloved ballpark has ivy in the outfield.
#WrigleyPark #LetsGoCubbies

I got hungry again during the second inning so I went to get more foods. While looking for the pizza Hubs requested, my coat and I got hit on a man who asked if there was room for him to warm up in my coat. I gave him an honest answer of "no" and he politely ambled on.

We could have gotten Clam Chowdah from a vendor. I guess only in
Boston. We didn't indulge because I have bad memories involving
Yosemite National Park, carsickness, and clam chowder.

After that encounter I waited in line and got Hubs a pizza slice. The line at the hot dog place was so long I just went back to my seat. So between the next inning I went to go get myself another foot of hot dog. It was also delicious.

The game went horribly for the Red Sox. I tried to give them pep talks from my seat but I wasn't terribly good at it. Going into the 8th or 9th inning I observed that they'd need more than two grand slams just to tie up the game. I also enjoyed booing at Ellsbury. I used to like him but not anymore.

It kind of reads like a Menu, "Carp Tonight."

But, since the game went so horribly, a wonderfully horrible thing happened. Mike Carp, a position player, pitched to close the game. I love novelty so I was happy to see something so unusually occur. We were trying to figure out what was going on with the score board while he was pitching. Carp threw a variety of pitches including knuckleballs and we weren't sure if the person naming the pitches was just making things up or if Carp was actually trying out every type of pitch possible. I wish we could have listened to Don and Remy's commentary during that last inning!

It wasn't very cold but we were sitting in the dark for hours and it was
so windy. I needed to fasten my hood to keep it from blowing off.

The game ended well after ten. We stopped at Dunkin to get coffee before heading home (Starbucks was closed). We got to our car a little before midnight and I got us home by 2 AM. There was a package on our front step. Hubs had ordered a birthday present for his friend. The mailman left it there around 2 PM and it was still there 12 hours later. Maine where people don't steal packages off your front porch even if they sit there ALL day. We slept in so late the next day.

April Thankful Thursday

Things I'm Thankful For
3/28 Hubs was so nice about cheering me up when he got home. I had such a rough day for no reason in particular but he made me feel better. I am so thankful that he's a part of my life.

Alumni Dinner OOTN

3/29 It was sunny and warm and we went for a walk and got Frosty's Doughnuts! I sold over $1,000 worth of stuff on eBay in the past two days.
3/30 The vegan red beans and rice were delicious

No Socks for the First Time this Year

3/31 I learned a lot at the mortgage regulations CLE and it was great to see some of my classmates.
4/1 Free slushie!
4/2 I did a lot of work for the freelance project I have.
4/3 My job interview didn't go horribly.

4/4 We are making more on the side than I thought so I can take that into account in our budget and get more contact lenses this year. I caught up on my social media stuff!
4/7 Discovered Call the Midwife! Such a good show (I love my BBC period pieces)! It's on Netflix.
4/10 Alumni Dinner. I am proud of how much personal growth I've had in the past couple of years. I am a grown up.

4/11 I tried a new coffee house in town. I wore sandals for the first time ever this year!
4/12 Hubs has a new suit that fits and isn't black! I couldn't stand him wearing his black suit to weddings.
4/14 I have two job interviews this week! One over the phone and one in person.
4/15 I went to a carrer developing networking session.

#aprilinmaine It snowed on the 16th.

4/16 I thought my phone interview went well!
4/17 I had my in person interview.

Easter OOTD
Busting out My White Jeans Before Memorial Day

4/18 I went to a brown bag lunch with other attorneys, Judges, and Justices! I felt so good to go to meet people and learn a lot.
4/19 I started seeds for our garden.
4/21 I wasn't able to give my blood but that mean I could hang out with our friends that afternoon.

4/22 I have a job offer and I accepted!
4/23 I had a great time at the Junior Leauge Meet and Greet for Prospective New Members. Plus I found Cadbury mini eggs and Starburst jelly beans for Hubs!

New Years Resolution Updates
April was a tough month for me for some reason so I haven't been good at challenging myself or minimizing my envy. I didn't do a good job of sitting down and writing what I've been thankful for everyday, as you can see. I didn't get much exercising in but I had been doing a better time logging my food consumption. I have been having such a hard time drinking enough water!

How was your month? Are you excited for May?

Good News Everybody!

Guess which blouse I wore for my winning interview!
Posted this to Facebook looking for help deciding what to wear.

I got a call about an hour ago! I have a job! Hubs was so excited he was literally jumping up and down! It's complicated though. It's a job I want but not the job I want most. I heard that my interviewer had called my references for the job I wanted most! So I've got a call out to that person to see if I am still in the running for that position before I accept this position.

But, this news is an enormous relief! I have a job and it's one that uses the JD! It's also a job where I thought the interview didn't go so well. I was almost kind of late and I didn't think I did a good job selling my lawyer abilities. In retrospect my husband was right, they already knew I had the skills needed for the position, they just wanted to get a sense of the applicant's personality.

Interview Advice

So! I had two interviews this week. Last week I reached out to my school. I had interviewed for a position at my school and didn't get it. But I knew everyone who interviewed me so I reached out to one of my interviewers and asked her if I could sit down with her and talk about how I did in my interview and how I could do better in my next interview.

We had a really great time talking.  I was a shy child and I never grew out of that so I am a quiet and reserved grown up. I like sitting and thinking but not necessarily talking with people. So she invited me to give her a call so that she could help me practice for interviews. Well on Monday I found out I had two interviews and I sent her an email on Monday and I popped into her office on Tuesday to practice interviews with her and another school employee.

It was great. Practice really does make perfect and they pointed out things I had never thought of doing in order to prepare for interviews. The two most helpful thing they told me to do was to read the job description in the mirror and pretend that each bullet point or sentence was a question for me to answer and to practice describing past work experiences. Looking in the mirror when I was talking helped me make my face look more confident. Practicing saying what I had done and what I could do helped put me at ease and feel like I could do the work!

What do you do to prepare for interviews?

Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits

So I've been afraid of making biscuits because I don't have quite enough counter space in my tiny kitchen to roll out biscuits. But one day I made a split pea soup but we were out of bread so I looked in my How to Cook Everything cookbook for a quick bread recipe, I saw the drop biscuits, decided I'd try to replicate Ruby Tuesday's Garlic Cheese Biscuits. I think these are a close success! I believe the Ruby Tuesday's ones are a bit saltier but Hubs was incredibly happy with these. And, despite Bittman's warnings that they're best eaten right out of the oven, I thought they tasted great for breakfast reheated in the toaster oven the next morning.

Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits

1 cup all-pupose flour
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoon canola oil (or butter)
1/2 cup milk (I use skim)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder (8 cloves fresh garlic minced/chopped)

Heat oven to 450º. Mix the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter or mix in the oil. Mix in the milk and cheese. Drop tablespoons of dough onto a greased baking sheet. Bake for 9 minutes.