WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

That there is the audible sigh of relief, emanating from every fiber of my lawyerly being, as I hand off to my secretary for formatting the last of the SEVEN appellate briefs I have drafted and filed in the past four weeks. I have another one to turn to now, a big and complicated and, I think, really interesting one, but I have a few weeks still to focus on it. So, WHEW, for the moment.

In addition to brief writing, time in blindinsightland has been occupied with the following:

• Cooking, cooking, and more cooking. Plus a wee bit of baking. I’ve always been a foodie, but now I’m a foodie armed with AllClad, KitchenAid, Cusinart, Wusthof, and oodles of other brand-name toys and tools that make it all the more delightful to play in the kitchen. I will be taking advantage of Friday’s federal holiday to whip up the very first "real" dinner party of our married life, and am eagerly looking forward to making Ina Garten’s chicken with 40 cloves of garlic (because how can a dish with 40 (!!) cloves of garlic be anything short of heavenly?), among other tasty bits.

• Trying to get over my crushing disappointment with our professional wedding pictures. I still can’t bring myself to communicate directly with the photographer, as I am too hurt and angry over her work product and general lack of professionalism in dealing with us. As I look at the photos, I do see that many of them are great, and we will end up with an album full of terrific photographic memories. But the number of shots we specifically asked her to take that she just . . . didn’t, and her utter failure to take pictures of the vast majority of our wedding guests who were not her friends or people she knew (like my family members, and Steve’s, and our wedding party, for example!), and the number of poor-quality or ruined shots (like the ONLY ONE she took of us exiting up the aisle, which is ruined by front-lighting), and the sheer incompetence of her assistant (who, among other gaffes, didn’t even bother to take pictures of Steve getting ready), have me seething and shaking. I need to move on, but I’m still grieving for the fabulous wedding photos of my dreams. (What? You want to see them? Fine.)

• Realizing that there is no way in hell we can afford to remodel our teeny tiny kitchen quite yet. Or, most likely, for the foreseeable future. This realization, however, has motivated us to impose an austerity budget and more aggressive savings measures, and I feel really, really good about our new not-spending habits. Foremost among our money-saving steps is to avoid eating out, and we both agree that almost everything we’ve been making at home is better (and far, far cheaper) than almost anything we’ve had in a restaurant recently. Steve has also become the Peanut Butter Baron, filling the freezer with sandwiches for us to take for lunch. Yummy!

• Preparing myself to turn 35 two weeks from tomorrow (yep, on Turkey Day). I am quite surprised at how hard 35 seems to be hitting me, as I had expected any "damn I’m old" worries to dissolve in the sweet salve of newlywed bliss. Alas, no. I feel old, tired, washed out, achy, old, and old. My adorable (and young!) husband is doing his part to countermand these silly sentiments, but something about 35 is really kicking my butt. I suppose it’s because the American media treats 35, for women anyway, as some mythical age after which our fertility vanishes, our bodies sag, and our health erodes. Feh. I’m looking forward to The Day After, when 35 will be my new reality, rather than a dark and scary place looming before me.

• Reading, a lot. It’s the best thing about my commute. I am almost finished with Rohinton Mistry’s beautiful, if depressing, A Fine Balance, and am just getting into Anthony Swofford’s gritty and compelling Jarhead. I highly recommend both (though I will be skipping the movie version of Jarhead, based on Salon.com’s negative review).

Comments

[The Happy Feminist]

I just passed the 34 1/2 mark (less than 6 months to go until 35) so I know how you feel. You sure look a lot younger than 34 in your wedding pics!

[gretchen]

Your flowers and cake were absolutely gorgeous at the wedding. Seriously. Just beautiful.