Winter Break

One thing I was really excited about when I started at my current job last January was that the office is closed from December 24 - January 1. This meant that I could take a nice break. I took a couple extra days off and spent them with my family in Michigan.

Walking on Woodward Avenue with the beautiful Christmas lights

The Detroit Opera House - Stunning!

Parents ready to see Wicked

We made "fairy princess crowns"

My mom bought a portable ping pong table for my dad for Christmas. I'm pretty sure she likes it way more than him!

Santa's helpers

Sweet Home Alabama

When I told my coworkers and my friends that I was going to vacation in Alabama with my family, everyone just looked at me funny and gave the obligatory, "That sounds fun" statement. No one said, "You have to try XYZ restaurant," or any touristy place to go for that matter. I understand that not many people probably vacation in Alabama, but I definitely got the "In-all-the-places-in-the-world,-why-would-you-go-to-Alabama?" look. 

After a week in Gulf Shores, Alabama, I'm pretty sure that none of my friends or coworkers has ever been to the Gulf Coast of Alabama before, because it's absolutely beautiful.

I assume that everyone was envisioning Alabama like this:

Or even like this:

But Alabama truly has some beautiful beaches and a ton of stuff to do an explore. Here is an aerial shot of the Gulf Coast of Alabama:

Here are a couple of sunset photos I took with my cell phone at the beach that is a 5 minute walk from the condo where we stayed:

The sunset was truly beautiful.

The Alabama Gulf Coast has a ton to offer!

Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge

Kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, boating, jet skis, parasailing, dolphin watching, Fort Morgan, tons of seafood, outlet mall, and museums (we went to USS Alabama, Naval Air Museum, Mobile Mardi Gras Museum, and the Pensacola Light House Museum).

We also found the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge just a few miles from our condo. We walked the 1.5 mile trail to a white sandy beach that was surrounded by preserved sand dunes and not a single other person on the shore. It was gorgeous and we saw the Blue Angels fly by us a few times.

Top 5 Reasons I like the Gulf Coast so much more than any of the beaches that I've been to on the East Coast:

1. It's not crowded. 

2. The Gulf of Mexico water is so much warmer than the Atlantic Ocean.

3. It's gorgeous.

4. It's not as expensive. (this may have something to do with vacationing with my family, though...)

5. There is not as much traffic.

So if you're considering a beach getaway, I highly recommend Gulf Shores or Orange Beach, Alabama. You won't be disappointed!

Hiking Memories

I needed to get out of the city for part of a day, so I felt like the best place to go would be to Shenandoah National Park. I was able to drive through the park for a bit last fall to see the beautiful foliage, but this time I wanted to be able to do some hiking.  

Stony Man Look Out

Lynn and I enjoying the view

As we continued to explore areas of the park, I started recognizing things. Not from memories, but from a scrapbook I made when I was probably 14. My family went on vacation to Shenandoah National Park when I was about 12. Like I said, I don't have many actual memories of the vacation, just memories of myself and my family in the photos. The memories I do have of the vacation are pretty basic: I remember it was a fun vacation and I was able to ride a horse.

Dark Hollow Falls

 I have a photo of my brother and I climbing dangerously on these rocks of this waterfall. I decided not to recreate that photo.

Fisher is a family name, and I remember the photo of my Mom standing by this sign from our previous vacation here. I actually sent this photo (with the caption "Look Familiar? At Shenandoah") to my mom who called me and said "Yes, where is that?"

I chuckled since I had captioned it, but surely she was too excited in the moment. 

I need to text more photos to my parents because their responses are always funny.

The final hoops

 

When you try to become a lawyer, you have to jump through a bunch of hoops.

You know - go to law school, listen to professors try to confuse you and back you into a corner of their Socratic Method of questioning, take a bunch of exams on stuff that you'll never use in practice, then apply to take the Bar Exam, take the Bar Exam, which is miserable, and then once you pass, you still have to show up in court and motion the judge to let you practice law.

Well friends. I finally finished all of the hoops. I was hoping that I could get sworn in from D.C., but that was a no go. So I visited Michigan to get sworn in. I can now officially practice law!! :)

 The judge and I after I'm official.

I'm kind of a big deal in my family.

 

 

Now I'm on to happy lawyering. 

The Only Advice I Need

My family went to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan to check out the "Holiday Nights" events. As we strolled through the gift shop, I spotted this gem:


Not that I really need any advice to be the best at everything, I thought I'd flip through the pages. That's when I saw this:



I thought this was absolutely perfect. I often convince people of many things without even knowing what I'm talking about. All I need to add are some oxymorons.

Greenfield Village was a blast. And now I can improve my "being the best at everything," so all in all, a good night.

Family Dinner

My family generally prays before we eat dinner. When people tell stories about funny prayers, they usually stem from a child's innocence and beginning understanding of prayer. In my family, the funny prayers are pretty directly related to my mom.

"Please bless us that we might be fulfilled."

What? Fulfilled? As soon as we said "Amen," I burst into laughter. The entire dinner, tears were streaming down my face because everything we talked about made reference to being fulfilled.

I'm sure my parents hate the fact that I'm very critical of their language now, curse that statutory textualism training I've received, but I'm still hoping that I am fulfilled after a hearty meatloaf. (I hate meatloaf)