Single as a Dollar Bill

i got totally CBed by my co-worker. true story.

ever since my firm announced it was thinking about "downsizing" an interesting situation began to develop in my office. the day after the partners informed us of this predicament, the other 2 associates and i all happened to be staying late and for once, all the partners had left the office already. while we've always had a professional relationship within the workplace, we had never attempted to carry that relationship outside of the office.  since it looked like 1 of us would be terminated soon, we figured there was nothing to lose and decided we should all go out for happy hours together more often (or for the first time).

so the first Associates' Night Out was born.

one Friday night we found ourselves at the Famished Frog in Morristown.  it'd been my suggestion to go since Morristown is located halfway between my house and work. plus, no matter how many years have passed, i know it's a popular happy hour spot. how do i know that? back when i worked at Pressler & Pressler when it was still located in Cedar Knolls, we often ended up there after work.

it's been a good 5 years since i've been back there but the Frog looked exactly the same. and the people were all exactly the same. but the truly unnerving part was when i saw some of my old co-workers from my P&P days. who were still working at P&P. and still coming to the Frog.

there had been an issue with our dinner check; when the tables were being moved away to make room for the band, we got moved along wit them but then we never saw our waitress again to get a dinner check or pay for our meal. i stepped outside while my co-workers, the good samaritans they are, attempted to deal with it.

a conversation ensued with myself and a group of people standing next to me. who all worked at P&P. for all the gripes i have about having worked there, i've got to admit, their employees know how to have a good time. probably because they're all fresh out of college. 1 guy i was talking to was an attorney at P&P, having graduated from Seton Hall the same year i finished at BLS. i commiserated with him about working for P&P and he attempted to convince me stick around to have a few more drinks with him.

i was contemplating the offer. after all, he was cute. that's when my co-workers arrived next to me. i made introductions and things quickly went south. my guy co-worker started to give the CuteAttorney a hard time about working at P&P and how that's not "really attorney work. come on." and he didn't stop.

no surprise that the conversation was kiboshed quickly. i can't believe my co-worker CBed me.

Life Plans

i sometimes forget my age.

not because i'm senile or wish i was younger (ok, maybe the latter part). i know i'm getting older, but i tend to forget the actual number that quantifies my age because, honestly, not much has changed for me since i was 26ish. hmm, i don't know if that's good or bad. since i'm in a good mood, i'll go with the former vs. the latter.

aside from the fact that it takes me a full day to recover from hangovers and my growing aversion to clubs and the Meatpacking District, nothing's really changed for me. or at least, it doesn't feel like anything's changed.

but no matter how much i want to ignore or deny it, when one of my best friends from childhood gets married, i have to face the music that i'm getting old.

and i'm still single. *cue 60 minutes stopwatch ticking sound getting louder in the background*

*brushing aside fears and moving on* i've known IJB since we were in nursery school, although i don't remember her from then. i remember actually becoming friends when i began attending public school in fourth grade. or was it third grade? yikes. maybe i am becoming senile.

regardless, if you map the trajectory of IJB's life, it's been pretty storybook. it's the kind of life parents tell their kids to pursue. she attended Wellesley College and then med school at GW, graduating this past May.  Now she's at Brown University for her residency. phew, actually writing all that made me even prouder of her for all her accomplishments.

but academics and career achievements aside, IJB's also been blessed in love. before graduating in May, she got married to her also-a-doctor-extremely-tall-handsome husband. IJB's the first of my close, same-aged friends to get married which made it even more touching and surreal at the same time.

IJB had the wedding and reception at the Madison Hotel in Morristown which is a gorgeous and classic looking hotel and apparently a popular choice for NJ weddings (someone else i know had their wedding there about 8 mths prior).

IJB and Papa IJB father-daughter dance



the ceremony and reception was elegant and had a lot of IJB's personal touches. their theme was the movie Up, and instead of the traditional guest sign-in book, IJB had hand-drawn the house from the movie with various colored ink-pads for people to stamp their thumbprint and initial to represent the balloons that lift the house up. how creative is that?!

Yep, the bride DREW this.

another adorable touch was the centerpieces on each table: IJB had gathered quotes and wedding pictures from various couples and each table displayed a different couple and their quote as centerpieces.  

aside from celebrating and sharing in the joyous occassion that is the bride and groom's nuptials, the best part of weddings is the food and drinks. open bars have become a standard for weddings, and IJB's was no exception. as for hors d'oeuvres, there was a nice selection, although Mrs.VW was cracking me up the way she was chasing down all the waiters. i don't think a single hors d'oeuvre escaped her that night. the food at the Madison Hotel is good in its own right, and i loved that IJB's menu had a little Italian mixed into it with all the pastas and antipasto, although i'm not sure it was intentional but i like to believe it was.

Yum cake!

Holy Bananas Foster. I could've eaten 5 of these, if propriety allowed.

when it's the right crowd, it can be quite the party. IJB's wedding was the perfect balance of initimate and endearing while at the same time fun and rambunctious. i could wax on nostalgic about all the great things about IJB's wedding but pictures speak for themselves so i'll just share those instead.



I thought they were going to drop them!



Bridesmaids on the loose!





there's something fishy...

i'm originally from North Jersey (or at least, i consider it North Jersey; Creeper, who's from AC has disputed me on this) and so i know predominantly North Jersey towns e.g. Montclair, Parsippany, Livingston, Hoboken, Fort Lee, etc. My current employment is in Bridgewater, NJ, which i consider Central Jersey, and is thus out of my "comfort zone" of known NJ.

something i've noticed about Central Jersey is the reedonkulous prices for everything! the gas prices are a hefty .20 more per gallon and food prices are equivalent to a NY lunch (around the $8 range, and that's the cheap side!). i thought it might just be the town i work in, but i attended a deposition today in Morristown and was forced to stop to get gas and it was the same price! although, a caveat for Morristown is that it's a very business and yuppie-oriented area so they might just jack up prices because the population can afford it.

who does Central Jersey think it is? NYC? i don't think so.

while pondering this, i received the daily newsletter from one of the partners which references notable published cases in NJ. it's usually a good idea to skim them regardless of the content or relevancy to what our firm does, but today, one case really stuck out: Levinson Axelrod v. Heyburn, 09-cv-5627.

after reading about the substance of the suit, i just had to check out the actual website. as the article stated, the original link has been enjoined but the alternate one still exists: Levinson Axelrod Really Sucks. the contents of the site are, as the title states, all about bashing Levinson Axelrod. bashing sites aren't new and sometimes they're not even that entertaining, and i have to admit, i haven't really perused all of it. but i gotta admit, this former associate, Heyburn, has some real balls to do what he did. the legal community isn't that big so you never want to burn any bridges or be known as an "asshole" or "difficult". hence, no one really says anything really disparaging against anyone else (aside from personal discussions within a firm-you never really discuss personal opinions with other counsel because you never know who they know).

but Heyburn: BALLS. GIANT BALLS.

i'm not sure who i think is ultimately right but the concept of the case is interesting. there's no doubt that each side has valid arguments regarding the impact of the site and i'm not sure about the relevant legal arguments since i'm not familiar with that aspect of the law. but, once again, blogs are getting ppl into trouble.