Memorial Day BBQ

Well TomO decided he hasn't had a BBQ in a while and threw out the idea of having one on Memorial Day. I was VERY excited about this news. Not only has it been way too long since Tom has had a party or gathering of sorts at his place but it's also feels like it's been a while since I have seen the usual cast of characters that come out. We all start to get there around 2:00 on Monday and Danielle and I of course come with all the sides pasta salad, Broccoli salad, Asian Cole Slaw, Bean Salad, and my spinach Dip. Danielle made Red Sangria which was AMAZING and it was a typical afternoon at Tom's.

Trav and Jules were catching up and having a couple beers on the front porch. The rest of us are mingling between the front and the back. Rick's friend Pete came on his motorcycle and brought an extra helmet in case anyone wanted a ride. Quick little rant. Why is it that Memorial Day is one of three holidays a year that Liquor stores in MA have to be closed. I was shocked to find out I couldn't just grab a six pack on my way to Tom's and thank goodness for the Sangria because otherwise I wouldn't have had anything to drink. Of course you might decide later in this post that the Sangria was a bad idea. Well after we had all been hanging out for a few hours and I was hanging out in the front with Hynes, Jules, Travis and Jamieson Pete looks at me and tells me it's my turn and hands me the helmet. Now I just kind of look at him and I am like Hmmm. but somehow I don't argue. I don't protest at all I just put the helmet on and get on the bike. I don't know don't ask. Hynes of course takes this opportunity to take my camera from me and make sure to get a pic of me on the bike. Here you go in case you didn't believe me.
I know can you believe that I went on a motorcycle ride. What you can't see and I know some of you will probably kill me for is I went barefoot. Why? Jackie are you an idiot?! No actually I had on flip flops that absolutely would have come off at some point on my trip and decided I didn't want to deal with it. Pete knew that I didn't have shoes on and he didn't do anything too crazy to freak me out. You know what I had an absolute BLAST! I would definitely do it again. Of course part of why I would do it again is for some reason you just trust Pete can't explain it. If you don't believe me. Well I have one more thing to show you that will convince you that he is not an easy person to say no to. After I went he went over to Danielle and asked when she was going to take a ride and her response "in a little while." Now if you are familiar with Danielle speak you know that means NEVER but I don't want to fight with you so I hope you just forget to ask me later. Well about 45 minutes to an hour later he walks over to her and says it's later and hands her the helmet. She looks at me and I have a HUGE grin on my face and she does the same thing she puts on the jacket and the helmet and gets on the bike.

This is before they went for the ride and you can still see the fear in her smile. She can't believe that she is really about to do this. There is just something about Pete you just can't say not to. Once Danielle went all the boys all the sudden wanted to go too and Pete spent a good amount of time giving us rides on his motorcycle but he didn't seem to mind one bit. After the rides were over we all congregated around the grill in the back yard for some dinner and of course more beverages of course this is when the day starts to get a little hazy for me but I wasn't the only one having a good time at the BBQ.

I love this pic of TomO because you aren't sure if he can't really stand at this point or I caught him while he was walking somewhere but he looks like he is talking to that dude so I am going with Tom being drunk. Does this mean Tom was as drunk as I was that night. I doubt it. I have to say that Drunk Jackie definitely came out but considering she came out it was a tame evening. I was loud which of course is going to happen when I have too much to drink but I made some new friends which is always a plus.

Most of the people in this picture I either met on Monday or have seen them at other TomO parties but never really talked too much but we all had a GREAT TIME on Monday. At least from what I remember and what I saw in the 254 pictures that I took that day. I mean how can I be wrong, right? Well Tom thanks again for another successful BBQ at the Potomac Residence Inn. I can't wait for you to invite me back again for your next event at the Inn.

Karaoke Update

Ok so it's Thursday morning and yes I of course was at karaoke last night. I seem to remember starting this blog to let everyone know of my karaoke antics and any other good stories that might come of it. Well last night was just another Wednesday for me but I forget that for most people it would be a big night out. I met Leah at 9:15 and we started walking down to karaoke. We walk in and David was there hanging out at one of the long tables and Kev Jr. was setting up the equipment because his Dad was on vacation. I get Leah and I a beer and then we get a book and try to start deciding on a song.

Now my friend Gretel used to come to karaoke in her younger days a lot more consistently but this was also when Tom would still get a group of people together and he had a tendency to push more then I do. I send out an E-mail every Wednesday to those that have come but I don't really badger anyone I figure they will come if they want to. Gretel had been promising me for weeks that she was going to come out last night so in my E-mail on Wednesday I put something about a rumor that Gretel may be making an appearance and that you can't put stock in rumors but you never know it could happen. The best part is my friend Becky E-mailing me and asking who Gretel is. That is when I realized that my karaoke E-mail list has such a hodge podge of people that everyone doesn't know each other.

Along those lines last night Leah invited her friend Nichole who lives near us and she came later. Gretel had her new man Sanjon there and then there was the usual suspects of Laurie, Canadian Andrew, and Andrew. We were all talking and hanging out and because of the E-mail I look around the bar and there is a group of 10 of us which is a small crew and about half of them I know from that bar. I mean I am friends with them we hang out besides on Wednesday nights but we met at karaoke. It is a weird feeling to just walk into that bar and feel relaxed and at home. It doesn't matter if I get there before anybody else and it's just me. I will sit at the bar and talk to the bartenders or the bouncer and just feel so much better about my week.

As far as my song selection went I decided to through back to some of my music from Senior year of high school and college and I did a couple alternative songs. It was the first time in a long time that both of my songs were new songs that I haven't sung before. Not only that but would you believe that Gretel picked one of my songs. She picked the Gin Blossoms out for me and it was a lot of fun. Typically when Gretel comes I am the one picking out songs for her to sing and when I ask what I should do she doesn't know what to tell me. After I did my first song and was trying to decide what to do next she just pointed Gin Blossoms and I was like. I could do that. It's always fun to try out a new song and see how it goes.

My song list:
3 Doors Down - Kryptonite
Gin Blossoms - Follow You Down

Liam's First Communion

So this weekend was a bit of a big one for me. My nephew and godson Liam had his first communion. Now I know what most of you are thinking "Jackie you have a ton of nieces and nephews why is this any different?" Well I will tell you why this one was different for me Justin was born my Senior year of high school I have pictures of me before the prom holding Justin in my arms. Jack and Hannah were born while I was in college another time where you can rationalize way the fact that you were young when they were born. Now Liam is my brother Mark's first child. He was born the summer after I graduated college and when I was living in RI. I remember driving home to Medway because Carolyn was in Labor and finding out that Liam was born the next morning when I woke up at 6:00 AM. I made sure I got up early enough that I would have time to go to the hospital to meet my nephew before I had to head back to RI and get to work on time. Wow doesn't that make me sound like an adult when he was born? Liam is my first Godson and I was so touched when Mark and Carolyn asked me to be his godmother especially since Carolyn has a sister.


On Saturday I got to watch Liam who will be 8 in August walk down the aisle of the church in his khaki's and blue blazer, he had a speaking part which of course I recorded on a video. I just can't believe he is such a little boy now. My sister Jen is very pregnant with her third child she is due on Friday with her second little girl and I can't wait to meet her. Saturday afternoon at my brother's house seeing all the cousins and family and friends just take over the house it made me realize how lucky I am that I have such a big family and that we all get along so well. That we all decided to stick around and stick by our roots of where we grew up.

When someone asks me if I will ever move out of Massachusetts my typical response is I will give you 9 reasons why it would be very hard for me and once my newest niece comes it will be 10. Getting to watch the kids grow up and seeing their personalities really come to light it is just such a great thing to see. If I was only coming home for holidays or weekend trips I would miss out on so much of that and because of that I feel like I have roots here too. I am not saying never to moving out of Massachusetts but I can say that it would have to be an amazing opportunity and person that would get me to do it. Last weekend was just one of many of the things I might miss out on otherwise.

A week later

People keep asking me if it has sunk in yet that I passed the bar. All I can say is it's starting too. The past couple nights when I have been out I found the friends I am with telling the people around that will listen that I passed. It is a really weird feeling because for the first few days after I found out I didn't do too much to acknowledge it. I mean my family helped me celebrate when I got the news on Friday which was great but my weekend was planned before I found out so I wasn't really thinking about it I was still in disbelief I think.

When I got into work on Monday it was tough because my co-worker who graduated law school with me and also took the bar for the second time didn't pass. I remember what it felt like to get that letter that you didn't make it. To know that you had to go through the process all over again. I didn't want to make him feel at all uncomfortable but it is tough because I want to tell everyone I see that I found out I passed the bar. We had our staff meeting on Monday and no one even mentioned that I passed since then they would have to acknowledge the fact that he didn't. My boss is out on vacation right now and I am sure that when he gets back on Monday that he is going to acknowledge my accomplishment but it makes it hard. It made it not sink in so much that I am really done. I didn't get to walk around on cloud 9 all the time. I had to be respectful of the fact that I was done but he wasn't. I didn't seem real the no more tests, no more studying, no more memorizing random laws and facts.

So Wednesday I send out my karaoke E-mail to rally the troops to get everyone to come out and help me celebrate. I couldn't wait to get there and tell the bouncer, and the DJ I PASSED! I already texted the bartender since he gave me his number so I could tell him when I find out. I know I am way too attached to the people that work at my favorite karaoke bar but I don't care. It was a great night and the DJ went on and on telling the whole bar my good news before I got up to sing for the first time and everyone kept coming over and congratulating me even people I didn't know. Finally on Wednesday night it really hit me that I am done. That I made it. That I achieved something that I always wanted but never knew how I would be able to actually do it. I looked around the bar on Wednesday at these people that were out to help me celebrate this accomplishment and 95% of the people that were there to help me celebrate I knew from that bar. They are more then that though these people have become some of my close friends. I realized then that I am truly blessed. That I have this amazing support group of people that are there when I need someone to pick me up, that help me find the strength to keep going, and also come help me celebrate the big things.

So it has been a week since I have gotten that letter telling me that I am now an Esquire. Wow that still seems so weird to say. It feels good to know that I did it but I know I couldn't have done it without all of you. Thank you for all you have done for me and I can't wait to celebrate this weekend with everyone that can make it on Saturday.

I PASSED!!!!

So today has been a LONG day and it isn't even 1 in the afternoon yet. I woke up at 3 AM today since I knew that the bar results were coming in the mail. Of course I was not able to go back to sleep. I went into work this morning since I didn't want to just sit at home and wait for the mail. For a couple reasons 1) I stayed home last time and that didn't work out so well and 2) I would have driven myself nuts I needed to be busy and have things to distract me. I have to say that this morning I was in a really hopeful mood I couldn't explain it I just was in a REALLY good mood. When the time came to leave work and find out. OMG I was an indecisive MESS and you all know that I am never indecisive about things and I am like. Do I want to go home? I don't know I mean it's there but this is it. This is going to decide what my summer is going to look like and if using all my vacation time for the second year in a row for a test was worth it. Kathleen was nice enough to walk me to do the elevator and even offered to come with me if I needed someone. I didn't know what to say a part of me wanted someone there and another part of me felt like this is something I had to do on my own. I get home and I open the mail slot and there it is and I see white and it looks like there might be some color paper behind it. So I opened the letter telling me that I passed the bar at 12:10. Then I immediately called my Mom, booted up my computer to tell EVERYONE and then called my Dad. I still can't believe it. I finally am done with tests and studying and school. I really made it. It's over and now I can finally start my career as an attorney.

I am a flutter of emotions and I seriously almost cried tears of joy when I opened the letter and saw Congratulations! I didn't read anything else I screamed I jumped a little bit and I still can't believe that I passed. Wow. Thank you all of you so much for always being there I never ever could have gotten through this without all your support and understanding especially when I had to be antisocial and hit the books HARD to make sure that it got done. I mean you had to put up with me doing this not just once but twice and I know that I was able to do this because all of you kept telling me that I would do it this time and giving me the strength to keep going even when I wasn't sure if I had the steam to keep going. I get sworn in the end of June and then you will know another attorney. Wow. I don't know what else to say but I wanted to write this post while it was still sinking in.