To the DMV with Love!

I feel like I have so much to blog about (mainly wedding stuff) but all I really wanna write about it LAME stuff that is going on with everyday life. So once again I give you a look into my life.

Today I figured was a good day to go and get my Arizona registration figured out. I needed my mom (yeah she owns my car) to make me power of attorney so I could handle all the necessary paper work for her. Well when I first walk into the DMV they ask me if I have the power of attorney paper work and I hand it to the woman (mind you the DMV has 2 women sitting behind one desk giving out numbers – seems like they only needed one but I guess the job is keeping the other off welfare). So the first woman says I need it notarized and I said it is. She asks me to point to where it was notarized and I explained to her since the lovely DMV did not have a specific place for the notary to actually notarize the form she stapled her own notary form to the DMV’s form. So this woman hands it to the other woman sitting at the desk (I guess she is useful) and asks if this was ok and the second woman say “I don’t see why not.” So than they go have you gotten your car wellness check? My car’s what check? I say no and they point me in the direction of outside. Before leaving I ask do I need anything else and the woman asks if the car is paid off. Wondering what this has to do with anything I say “yes” and she says well than you will need the title as well. So add bank to the list of places to go so I can get the title out of the safe box. So I take my car to the “wellness check’ area pull up shut my car off like instructed and get out (it gets warm in a car when the AC isn’t going). So another lovely DMV employee comes outside and yells at me to get back in my car. Umm ok because I look so intimidating in my pink Ralph Lauren sweater and work pants. So she is writing down all info and gets to the VIN number area of my car and goes “there is something blocking it” so of course I shoot off a smart ass comment that goes to the effect that I don’t know what she is talking about because I can’t get out of my car to see it. Yeah I know not the nicest thing but come on had she not yelled at me I would have not given so much attitude. Anyways she goes “Ok your done” and I ask “Is that all, I don’t need a SMOG test or anything like that?” And with all her attitude in the world she proceeds to tell me yep I do need a SMOG check and would need to go to another place to get it. I ask for directions and ask her to clarify what street it was on for a second time and of course she gave me wrong directions – can you see why I am really loving the DMV at this point.

So to the SMOG place I went. Waited in line for a half hour and out the door I went $40 poorer but with my certificate that my car passed her test. I felt like a proud parent waiting in line to pay because some cars didn’t pass and I am sure the bill for those parents will be much higher.

Back to work for a few hours, waiting to met Barry at the bank so I can get into the safe box to get the title out. Lunch time arrived and the bank went flawlessly and back to the DMV to get my new Arizona title and my registration taken care of.

Get inline, get my number, get called, sit down, explain what I want to do, hand him all documents. He takes a look at them and goes I need to speak with my supervisor about this. Really? Come on. So he leaves for 10 minutes, comes back and all is well. Sign some papers as my mother’s power of attorney, pay my money, and I was out of there with a new shinny license plate and a new Arizona Car Title for my paid off car. Gotta love government agencies. Today I came to the conclusion they (the DMV) need checklists for customers and their employees for two reasons. The first being that their employees are really incompetent to fully explain the process that a customer needs to follow to perform a certain task for example register an out of state vehicle. And second they need a check list so it seems on the surface that their employees are not incompetent after all.

xoxo
britt

Oh baby, baby...

Yeah I know we need to get married first but with all the prego women in my office and than all the baby talk in blog land I couldn’t help myself. Many bloggers have stumbled upon makemebabies.com and well I couldn’t resist any longer. So after giving in to temptation I logged in and uploaded a couple photos of Barry and me and clicked submit. I let the computer pick the sex and the ethnicity (it claims to be 90% accurate which is good enough for me) and just named them Baby 1 through 4. I choose 4 for no specific reason but figured it was a good even number. So with that I give you our future children.

Baby 1 & Baby 2

Baby 3 & Baby 4

What scares me most is not that our first child looks nothing like the last three (don't worry no milk man for me). What I am a little scared about it the fact that the last three look almost identical like we might have some triplets in our future (I guess I could have labeled the last three A, B & C.) Now that scares me. Going from 1 to 4 in less than 9 months. WOW. It was fun to find out what our kids would look like if all we had to do was put a face photo into the computer and out popped some kids.

The site is fun. They even let you make babies with celebs. Now that is for a whole other day.

xoxo
britt

Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was so awesome. Having a four day weekend just because it is Columbus Day is one of the perks of my job. So Friday I took the free time to get to the gym early and get the work out done for the day. Speaking of working out it is getting easier and I don’t hate it as much as I did a month ago. Than I decided it was time to clean the house. It was so dirty that half way through I had to make a Target run to get more supplies (believe me I wanted to stop the cleaning right there but I push through). Than that afternoon we found out Jen and Matt passed the bar and the drinking started. We ended up at Merk Bar in Phoenix. The martini at Merk was beyond amazing and I can’t recommend it enough if you are looking for a yummy drink. Than off to the airport we all went. Topped the night off with some Los Betos (a better idea in my drunken state than it is now) and hanging out at Jen and Matt. Saturday we went to one of my favorite places – The Big Bang! I really love Michael and Julie. The other piano players just don’t compare. Sunday was a lazy day of BBQ time and dinner with family. Monday was truly and great ending to a wonderful weekend. We finally broke down and purchased a new digital camera. We are so excited to finally get back to documenting all the fun stuff we have been up too. Than Monday night was the NKOTB concert. It was beyond amazing. I was excited for the concert but compared to Jen and Barbie it was like I had no idea who they even were. I am sure Jen will be posting a full recap and photos but know it was an amazing concert and I would go again in a heart beat. With that my weekend was over but I couldn’t ask for more, I was surrounded all weekend by those who I love and who love me to.

xoxo
britt

Our New Camera -- Can't wait for it to come!

PS. once we get the camera I can start showcasing all the fun projects I have been working on.

I hope to NEVER need your services!!!

An open later to the best two lawyers in Arizona:

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I know I have said this before but I wanted to put it in writing. (Note for those who don't know yet: Yesterday Jen and Matt officially became full fledge lawyers in the state of Arizona.) There was never any doubt in my mind and I could not be happier for two people who will actually go out and do some good in this world with their status. The law profession should be honored to have you two among their ranks. Now the fun beings and I am glad to be here to enjoy the ride with you. Love you both. Oh yeah and I call dibs on the office manager position when you open up Elias & Elias, PLC.

xoxo
britt

One More Thing...

Not to undermine the other post, but if things do not work out, I have many reasons to be happy. To name a couple...

Barbie and Troy fly in tonight and I am really excited they came out to Phoenix.

Also, we are going to the New Kids on the Block concert on Monday night!! I seriously can not wait.

And Barbie is bring that famous NKOTB VHS tape we used to dance to (and eat mac and cheese). Thank goodness Matt and I still have a VCR player. :-)

Still LUV them. :-)

- Jen

Black Friday

Today is the day. It is not an ordinary day; today both of our lives will change. We will either become unemployed lawyers or we will be unemployed adults.

I have never been so nervous about anything in my life.

Point being, we will no longer be students. We have both been students since kindergarten. In the last couple of months, we have been trying to string out being a student as much as possible, but that life has ended.

Passing the bar is a huge accomplishment and I do not want the accomplishment played down. Getting into law school and graduating does not really bring a huge feeling of pride, but passing the bar would be the biggest accomplishment.

Matt and I will both feel blessed to pass the bar and I approach today with much humility. And it is stressful praying that we both will pass. Matt and I worked hard to get through law school - having a relationship of over 200 miles apart and engaging with new people and activities which we had never done before. Tonight it could all pay off. A long distance relationship, in law school in winter, was not fun at all, but it made our relationship stronger.

I have dreamed about being a lawyer my entire life, even my mom will vouch for that. I used to layout in the pool and talk to my mom about becoming a lawyer. I have memories as young as in the fourth grade, even though I was not exactly sure what a lawyer did, I knew they had power to do great things and that is what I wanted – to help people. Even though my actions did not always reflect that I wanted to be in the path of wanting to become a lawyer, I worked hard to overcome those set backs and went to law school. If I became a lawyer today, my lifelong dream will come true today and that is a really big deal to me.

In the end, I know we are blessed with each other and great family and friends, but if we fail, we take it in November and have to wait until May to get results (May being our wedding month). That is a full year after law school graduation. I had hoped to have a legal job before our wedding.

And with the title, I do not mean to make light of the real “Black Tuesday” as well as the days leading up to that terrible day when the stock market crashed in 1929. The economic downturn in this country is incredible and not to be joked about. It is historic. It is affecting every single American.

Time and time we learn, deregulation of the economy is not the way to go. Complete regulation is not the way to go. Nothing in the extremes is advantageous; we need to balance regulations with deregulating certain parts of the economy, although I am, as Democrats are, for more overall regulations.

The individual business person becomes selfish and starts making individualistic decisions with the business, which is why it is so important to have the federal government oversee the economy, often with regulations. The federal government is the most competent organ to regulate the economy, not the individualistic business person. Selfishness prevails and business people get caught up with the "leaky jar syndrome." Once they give in to needs and wants, one just wants more and more; can never "fill" the jar with a leak.

We need to elect Senator Obama (a lawyer). :-)

Lady Justice holding the scales of justice.

So here is to hoping for a better economy and good results tonight. I will be praying for both.

- Jen

Favorite Aspects

I came across a new blog which asked brides (or any groom or happened to stumble upon their site) what is the most unique or favorite aspect of your wedding. This got me thinking and I could not just give one but I did narrow it down to my top two. I know I just posted about Barry planning the honeymoon but it made my top two so this is was my two cents to this blog’s question enjoy…

I think I have a few great wedding ideas up my sleeve but the two that have saved my sanity in this whole wedding planning process are to A. Have a Monday wedding and B. Let the future hubby plan the honeymoon.

Having a Monday wedding is accomplishing a few things. First it is allowing us to SAVE tons of money. I feel like it is a Geico commercial ("I saved tons of money by switching to a MONDAY"). And since the economy is so bad we need to save as much as possible. Second it has allowed me to really think about each vendor. Since I have my pick I can take my time and really look around and most importantly negotiate for what I need and want (goes back to saving money). This has also helped us weed out some bad ones who have told me they have a few people already who want my date. Third it has allowed us to plan a weekend celebration with our family and friends. Yes having a Monday wedding might alienate some potential guest and every couple needs to look at their guest list to see if Monday is feasible but we are now having a welcome tailgate themed BBQ on Saturday night, a everyone is invited to the Rehearsal dinner Sunday night, a wedding on Monday, and a Adios brunch on Tuesday morning. So I am all for a Monday wedding if you think your guest list wouldn't be put off by the untraditional date.

Finally allowing my future hubs to plan the honeymoon is not only a huge stress reliever for me (as I don't need to worry about when payments are due or even need to research where we will be going or what we will do once we get there) but it has brought so much anticipation and excitement to this whole planning process. We have spent many of nights laying in bed me asking him where we are going, how are we getting there, do I need a visa, do I need some shots, what will I pack. And the whole time he just giggles and says you will love it. It also has allowed me to give up something and know that like the wedding it might not be perfect but it will be perfect for us because he planned it.

It was kind of fun to reflect at this point in the planning process and I am sure once the day has come and gone I will reevaluate what my favorite part of the day was – well besides being married!

xoxo

britt