‘Tis the Season, I Guess!

I always seem to say this, but the fall is crazy.

Not only do you have the start of a new semester – but this is the last law school semester Hubs will ever start! Yay! – but you also have a bunch of work events. We have the usual events that are every year plus new special ones that got added to the calendar that cause me to twitch a bit. At one of them a few weeks ago, I ended up pulling a shoulder muscle and didn’t realize it until I got home and Hubs went to hug me and I started to cry because it hurt so bad. He tried to give me a massage that night but it was clear that I needed professional help. The bestest mama in the world hooked me with a massage at a local chain and I felt MUCH better after that. Almost human, even.

Then we’ve got all the holidays coming up. One of my work parties includes a Halloween dress up function, so that’ll be fun! Then there are conferences and more events and then the big annual dinner and then Thanksgiving. Then before we know it, it will be Christmastime (and maybe a trip to Vegas). That means Hubs finishes up law school (oh my goodness, it’s really here!), does the non-regalia ceremony thing, and then starts studying for the bar. Yikes.

I’ll be a single lady until the end of February when the worst road trip to Jefferson City and the two day bar test for Hubs happens. I think I might even be more nervous than he is – if that’s even possible.

That’s why I’m really glad we’ve been able to spend time together…

Late night Ted Drewes run the other day…

An afternoon in the apple orchard in Illinois a few weeks ago…

And a weekend with my mama and brother in Texas a few days ago.

Best times ever.

I’m saving up the moments because come bar-prep and then (hopefully) full-time-job-land, our dates will be fewer and farther between. Not that I’m going to complain about my husband starting his law career and going to a job every day that he (hopefully) loves as much as I love mine. It will be hard – students loans scare me – but the idea that he can start up his career is really exciting to me.

So here’s hoping to more time hanging out on the couch, snuggling in the fall and into the winter, drinking new pumpkin beers, and enjoying our last semester as a law student husband and law school wife.

Who Am I, Anyway?

I feel like a totally new person.

I have become a beer drinker.

I’m not entirely sure when this happened. It probably started last year in September, when I went on the Weight Watchers program. While I was learning the ropes of managing my food intake, I decided to stop drinking because I’d rather eat my calories than drink them! Over the following months, I started doing some research on what alcohol beverages I could drink occasionally without totally blowing my point diet. The one thing I came up with? Budweiser Select. Not exactly the best or most fantastic tasting beer on the planet (I know, as a St. Louis resident, I should bite my tongue and not speak ill of the Brewery!). But it’s only 3 points and in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that awful.

But my husband kept thrusting beers upon me whenever he ordered one. “HERE! Try this one” he’d say as he put the bottle in front of me. He wouldn’t stop until I took a sip of whatever he had ordered. In the beginning, it was just gross. I didn’t like any of them. It tasted just like alcohol only and wasn’t very good.

Then… things changed. When he would order a beer, I wouldn’t wait until he offered it to me. I would grab it and taste it first.

Depending on which one he ordered, I would either love it or hate it. Love the lighter beers, hate the Octoberfest and stouts. Yuck. But slowly, I was coming to realize that beer wasn’t AWFUL. I actually… started to enjoy it.

A few weeks ago, we spent the weekend at a friend’s cabin and she introduced me to Leinenkugel Lemon Berry Shandy. OH MY GOODNESS.

I’m smiling in this picture because of my beer. See? Husband is not so sure.

So now when a server asks me what I’d like to drink and we’re at a drinking establishment, I ask to see their beer menu. I’m starting to learn about beer, which flavors I like and which types of beers don’t agree with me. I even want to attend a beer tasting to really taste the different versions and learn more about the process. Learning more means I find out more styles that I can drink – and enjoy while doing so!

I only have one question now, from a recovering girly drinker…

WHO AM I?!