There's No Place Like Home

I just had the one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. It started Friday with the Barrister's Ball which I have been affectionately referring to as the Law School Prom when people ask me about it. Really! It was a semi-formal dinner/dance complete with "prom" Kings and Queens and everything. Not gonna lie, I had mixed feelings about this thing beforehand. First of all...prom? In law school? I could have sworn we outgrew that kind of thing awhile ago. Come on. Second, we've heard stories of years past when this thing got completely out of control. As in, the law school has been permanently banned from hosting functions at every place its ever used to have the ball because the students have gotten so drunk and out of control that substantial damage has been done to these facilities. I like to have fun as much as anyone but I think at the point that you're destroying private property, its safe to look around and say that things have gone a little too far. But maybe that's just me being a party pooper, I dunno. Either way, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Before leaving for the prom.

The back was my favorite part of the dress.


The (hottie) significant others of some 1Ls.

Future lawyers.

I can say with completely sincerity that I was pleasantly surprised. We ended up going with (double dating if you will) some of our new friends from here in NOLA, and then we met up with several other couples once we got there too. Yes, it really was just like prom (with a suuuuuper cheesy theme no less--Enchantment Under the Sea) but in a good way. The food was pretty decent, the live music was good and for the most part, everyone managed to behave themselves. At least as far as I saw, no one broke, stole or otherwise defaced or damaged the building, no one starting having sex in public (yes, this really happened a couple years ago), and no one even got so slobbering drunk that they passed out or got sick. I'd call that a successful party! I mean, what more can you ask for, really? We left the prom around 11 and ended up hanging out at the Columns Hotel for awhile with a group of people, then just sitting around and talking to Chad and Ashley (our prom "dates") for hours after that. So yeah, all in all, it was a good night.


It was also, at least for me, a very long night. What I haven't mentioned on here because it was supposed to be a surprise is that I was going to fly home last weekend to surprise my mom for her 50th birthday! My Dad, sister and I have been planning this since...oh, about July when I moved down here, and I've been crazy looking forward to it for weeks. My flight left New Orleans at 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning, which meant that by the time we got home from prom I only had a couple hours before I needed to be at the airport. I don't know about you but I feel like death when I stay up late then try to sleep for an hour before getting back up; I'm much better if I just stay awake straight though. So that's what I did. Poor Zack got dragged out of bed at 4:00 a.m. to drive me to the airport.

I landed in Lexington around 11 and boy, did it feel good to be there. I was so excited I was literally bouncing up and down in my seat as we flew over Keeneland and all the horse farms. Yes, I looked like a four-year-old waiting to go to Disney World and yes, people sitting around me probably thought I was nuts. I didn't care. I know I've said I missed home, but it really hit me how much I love that place when I saw it for the first time in months. It almost, almost got a little dusty in the plane there for a second. It warmed my heart a little too when I got off the plane and there in the gate area probably half the people waiting were wearing blue Kentucky regalia of some sort. Sadly, I had nearly forgotten how much a staple Kentucky Blue is in most people's wardrobes back home. Down here everyone is either wearing black and gold for the Saints or purple for LSU (gag me on the latter of those two).



Dad had fabricated this elaborate story for Mom about why he needed to be at the airport on Saturday morning (basically, he told her he had a shipment of goat blood to pick up which, if you know Dad, isn't nearly as out-in-left-field as it sounds). He and Leah came in to meet me, while Mom waited out in the car completely oblivious to what we were doing. Needless to say, when I walked up to the car and knocked on her window she was SHOCKED! Success! We definitely managed to surprise her!

We headed to Louisville to spend the day with my grandparents, and then we all went to dinner that night at Jack Fry's in the Highlands. Friends of mine have been recommending that place for years but this was the first time we'd ever been. It was really good! Very cool old building with lots of history behind it. If I'm not mistaken, Jack Fry used to be a bookie and he ran his business above the restaurant. I guess he was as close as Louisville got to having a mafia, back in the day. We topped off this fantastic day by eating the molten chocolate lava cakes that Leah and I made, and watching the CATS beat Auburn. (In my mind, the Fight song is playing right now).

Sunday we got up and went to church at Calvary which is the church I attended throughout my college years and also where Zack and I joined when we got engaged. I've missed this place as much as anything else since being away and I loved being able to be there on Sunday. We had lunch afterwards as a family and then we spent a couple hours shopping (!!!!!) before heading back to the house so that I could get packed to head to the airport. Mom and Dad dropped me off and three hours later I was back in NOLA with Zack. It was an absurdly quick trip but I'm so, so glad I was able to make it. I was able to surprise my Mom, and I got to enjoy being home for a couple days.

Now if only I could click my ruby slippered heels together and make it be Thanksgiving already...