Every year I keep thinking - "Wow, this year has been crazy, eventually things will slow down ." But they never do. When I started law school, I couldn't imagine being any busier. And then I got pregnant. It seems like just when I start thinking that I have everything planned out, when I think I have everything under control, that's when God throws another ball in there for me to keep in the air.
I just started to think that I had a workable plan for starting my own law practice, that I had a good idea of how I would progress, and I was starting to gain confidence in the plan. Now I may have a different kind of opportunity, and I have to decide what to do about it. It might be just what I need at this point, but it is hard. It is hard to change my plan, even if the change is good.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Starting a Law Practice
My husband and I are officially starting a law partnership in September 2011. In order to make this happen without going into even more debt, we will need to put some serious moulah in the bank before then.
This is where my new solo practice comes in. Yes, that's right. Grace S. Byrd, Esq. will be up and running, God willing, by February 1st. I'm writing up my business plan as we speak. I registered with the state and got a tax id number. I'm going back to TDBank tomorrow to finalize my business and trust accounts.
To start out I'm just going to advertise to do people's taxes to meet more potential clients. Then I'm going to go to every CLE class that I can afford to figure out how to actually practice law. (What? You didn't pick that up in law school?). Then I'm going to take every lawyer I know out to lunch and hound them for advice. Finally, I might end up taking some pool cases (the cases that the public defenders are too busy to take.)
Come hell or high water (or a baby who refuses to nap) I am going to practice some law!
God help me.
This is where my new solo practice comes in. Yes, that's right. Grace S. Byrd, Esq. will be up and running, God willing, by February 1st. I'm writing up my business plan as we speak. I registered with the state and got a tax id number. I'm going back to TDBank tomorrow to finalize my business and trust accounts.
To start out I'm just going to advertise to do people's taxes to meet more potential clients. Then I'm going to go to every CLE class that I can afford to figure out how to actually practice law. (What? You didn't pick that up in law school?). Then I'm going to take every lawyer I know out to lunch and hound them for advice. Finally, I might end up taking some pool cases (the cases that the public defenders are too busy to take.)
Come hell or high water (or a baby who refuses to nap) I am going to practice some law!
God help me.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Blog Promotion
Well, over the past 2+ years I've just been writing for myself, or to myself on this little blog. But at some point I would like to make a connection with someone out there on the interwebs,
I wasn't sure how to go about it, since I'm not really the self-promoting type, but luckily Courtney over at www.storinguptreasures.com has come up with a little "blogs of note" feature to introduce her followers to some new blogs. Here's hoping :)
I wasn't sure how to go about it, since I'm not really the self-promoting type, but luckily Courtney over at www.storinguptreasures.com has come up with a little "blogs of note" feature to introduce her followers to some new blogs. Here's hoping :)
Thursday, January 6, 2011
New Year's Resolutions
Of course there is almost no end to the list of things that I would like to accomplish this year. Like every other woman in America I want to lose weight and get in awesome shape. I want to be the best mom and wife I can be. I also want to continue writing and work towards my goals of finishing my novel and getting a short story published. On top of that I want to start my legal career, and improve my spiritual life to boot.
But I've learned from past New Year's resolutions' success rates that I do better with smaller, more manageable goals than a long list of very general desires. So this year I'm starting out simple, and plan on adding some smaller steps as the year goes on. I figure that if I establish one habit at a time it should be easier to keep up.
Greg and I both bought Bible-in-a-year Bibles, which divide the entire Bible into sections for each day. Each day's reading has a passage from the OT, the NT, Psalms and Proverbs. So far just reading the Bible has had a huge impact on the rest of my day. I find myself praying more during the day, and in general I just feel more in control and more aware of the choices I am making.
After three years of law school and a pregnancy I have become very inactive. So much so that I almost didn't know where to begin with a new exercise routine. So I decided that instead of trying to go running the first day (in the snow no less), I would start slowly and build from there. Since I've had back pain for a while (another gift from law school days), and I've always gotten fast results from crunches, I decided to start there, and have been doing just a few ab exercises before bed every night. I add a little bit every time, and as soon as we take down the Christmas tree (which is currently blocking the TV) I'll start doing my old abs of steel tape.
I want to make a goal for writing too, but it can be really difficult to find the time to accomplish what I want. I usually end up staying up late at night, and then I'm such a zombie the next day that I feel guilty for not being really present for Henry. I'll have to think about it some more.
What are your New Year's resolutions?
But I've learned from past New Year's resolutions' success rates that I do better with smaller, more manageable goals than a long list of very general desires. So this year I'm starting out simple, and plan on adding some smaller steps as the year goes on. I figure that if I establish one habit at a time it should be easier to keep up.
Greg and I both bought Bible-in-a-year Bibles, which divide the entire Bible into sections for each day. Each day's reading has a passage from the OT, the NT, Psalms and Proverbs. So far just reading the Bible has had a huge impact on the rest of my day. I find myself praying more during the day, and in general I just feel more in control and more aware of the choices I am making.
After three years of law school and a pregnancy I have become very inactive. So much so that I almost didn't know where to begin with a new exercise routine. So I decided that instead of trying to go running the first day (in the snow no less), I would start slowly and build from there. Since I've had back pain for a while (another gift from law school days), and I've always gotten fast results from crunches, I decided to start there, and have been doing just a few ab exercises before bed every night. I add a little bit every time, and as soon as we take down the Christmas tree (which is currently blocking the TV) I'll start doing my old abs of steel tape.
I want to make a goal for writing too, but it can be really difficult to find the time to accomplish what I want. I usually end up staying up late at night, and then I'm such a zombie the next day that I feel guilty for not being really present for Henry. I'll have to think about it some more.
What are your New Year's resolutions?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
HOLIDAYS
I haven't posted in a while because things have been really crazy around here, and because it's difficult to get the internet to work on my husband's computer, which is where I store all of our pictures.
This holiday season has been a bummer in terms of doing things the way we planned. Thanksgiving Greg and I both had a terrible stomach flu and spent about 36 hours in bed. On December 23rd I brought Henry to the pediatrician's office because he had been so lethargic after another stomach bug, and they had us go straight to the ER to have him put on IV fluids to counteract his dehydration. We didn't leave the hospital until the 26th. At midnight on New Year's Eve Greg and I were driving around downtown Lancaster looking for an open pharmacy to get some Nightquil for me. Between Christmas and New Year's we were snowed in by over three feet of snow.
But I have to look on the bright side, I got to spend Christmas with my two favorite guys. I got to hold Henry day and night, when he usually won't let us hold him at all. Santa came to visit us in the hospital, as well as an awesome service dog that Henry found fascinating.
This holiday season has been a bummer in terms of doing things the way we planned. Thanksgiving Greg and I both had a terrible stomach flu and spent about 36 hours in bed. On December 23rd I brought Henry to the pediatrician's office because he had been so lethargic after another stomach bug, and they had us go straight to the ER to have him put on IV fluids to counteract his dehydration. We didn't leave the hospital until the 26th. At midnight on New Year's Eve Greg and I were driving around downtown Lancaster looking for an open pharmacy to get some Nightquil for me. Between Christmas and New Year's we were snowed in by over three feet of snow.
But I have to look on the bright side, I got to spend Christmas with my two favorite guys. I got to hold Henry day and night, when he usually won't let us hold him at all. Santa came to visit us in the hospital, as well as an awesome service dog that Henry found fascinating.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Homemade Christmas Gifts
This year I had hoped to make some gifts at home in order to save money and expend a little creative energy. The point was not to go out and buy a ton of supplies, but rather to use up things I already have. My goal was to create gifts without buying lots of extra stuff. If I can get my act together these are the projects I would like to complete:
1) Doll T-shirt kit. I already bought fabric paint and some embellishments at Michaels on black friday, and am working on making little American girl sized T-shirts for Trouwbottom's daughter to decorate. All you need for the T-shirts is one or two old T-shirts and some velcro. We'll see how it turns out!
2) Husband quilt. This idea was born out of a bag of my husband's old clothes that I couldn't put in the clothes closet (what our church calls the room full of free clothes) because of small rips, stains, etc. Some of the clothes I had really liked and I hated to trash them, but I also knew that keeping them around indefinitely was totally crazy. And so the Husband Quilt was born! I bought an inexpensive twin sheet at Walmart for the backing, picked up some crib-sized batting at Michaels on black friday, and whipped up a lap quilt top out of 5 old shirts. Now all I have left to do is quilt it, and sew up the binding.
3) In the same vein, I would love to sew up some little stuffed animals out of the fabric I have lying around for my cousin's kids. I already have the stuffing, and plenty of embroidery floss and buttons for faces, and a ton of fabric scraps that would be perfect.
4) I also want to finish a pair of these little cross-stitch ornaments I've been working on FOREVER. They aren't really that creative (cross-stitch never is), but I would be making them out of supplies I already have, so I guess they count too. I'm hoping to get them finished before the 26th, so I can give them to my aunt and uncle who I'm visiting that day.
Hopefully I'll be posting pics of these completed projects soon! (fingers crossed)
1) Doll T-shirt kit. I already bought fabric paint and some embellishments at Michaels on black friday, and am working on making little American girl sized T-shirts for Trouwbottom's daughter to decorate. All you need for the T-shirts is one or two old T-shirts and some velcro. We'll see how it turns out!
2) Husband quilt. This idea was born out of a bag of my husband's old clothes that I couldn't put in the clothes closet (what our church calls the room full of free clothes) because of small rips, stains, etc. Some of the clothes I had really liked and I hated to trash them, but I also knew that keeping them around indefinitely was totally crazy. And so the Husband Quilt was born! I bought an inexpensive twin sheet at Walmart for the backing, picked up some crib-sized batting at Michaels on black friday, and whipped up a lap quilt top out of 5 old shirts. Now all I have left to do is quilt it, and sew up the binding.
3) In the same vein, I would love to sew up some little stuffed animals out of the fabric I have lying around for my cousin's kids. I already have the stuffing, and plenty of embroidery floss and buttons for faces, and a ton of fabric scraps that would be perfect.
4) I also want to finish a pair of these little cross-stitch ornaments I've been working on FOREVER. They aren't really that creative (cross-stitch never is), but I would be making them out of supplies I already have, so I guess they count too. I'm hoping to get them finished before the 26th, so I can give them to my aunt and uncle who I'm visiting that day.
Hopefully I'll be posting pics of these completed projects soon! (fingers crossed)
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Life Exploding
So much has been happening in the past couple of weeks, it's becoming hard to process.
The biggest change has been that my husband and I have decided to seriously consider opening up our own law partnership next year. Greg has always wanted to go into solo practice eventually, and I guess it's always been a back burner dream of mine as well, although until now I always felt that it was too risky of an idea.
Greg has been applying for jobs, but almost everything is very narrowly focused, meaning he would likely only get experience in one specific area of law, and not necessarily an area that he wants to practice in down the line.
The possibility has rocked my world. The plan before this was for Greg to work at a firm where he would probably never see the light of day, let alone Henry and me. A job this intense (probably one with a significant commute) would mean that I would be relegated to the house for another year, because sans full-time nanny, there would be no support for me to go back to work.
We've been running the numbers, and it seems like if we can keep the overhead down, he could definitely make as much as he is making now (which isn't much, but enough to survive). Not to mention I would probably be able to glean work from the practice if we were actively seeking clients. Even if I worked a couple of days a week and during nap time, it would make a big difference to us financially.
My level of excitement over the possibility of hanging our shingle is rising every day as I research how to make it happen. Of course, it's risky. In fact, there's a pretty good chance that we will fail. But I keep coming back to the fact that we have so little to lose at this point. We don't own a home, we don't have huge savings accounts or trust funds. And if we keep the investment low, (working from home, going paperless, utilizing the public law library), I'm confident that we'll be turning a profit in a matter of months.
Tonight we're going to a CLE class, and as I pull out my old suit and rummage through my bathroom for some lipstick, I can't help but get a thrill out of the rediscovery of the person I was before morning sickness and stretch marks. I know Henry is over a year old, and I've been clinging to those sweatpants and ponytails for far too long. It's time to get back out there and release the smart, business-savvy mama who's been hiding under piles of laundry and bangs that are down to my collarbone. Here we go!
The biggest change has been that my husband and I have decided to seriously consider opening up our own law partnership next year. Greg has always wanted to go into solo practice eventually, and I guess it's always been a back burner dream of mine as well, although until now I always felt that it was too risky of an idea.
Greg has been applying for jobs, but almost everything is very narrowly focused, meaning he would likely only get experience in one specific area of law, and not necessarily an area that he wants to practice in down the line.
The possibility has rocked my world. The plan before this was for Greg to work at a firm where he would probably never see the light of day, let alone Henry and me. A job this intense (probably one with a significant commute) would mean that I would be relegated to the house for another year, because sans full-time nanny, there would be no support for me to go back to work.
We've been running the numbers, and it seems like if we can keep the overhead down, he could definitely make as much as he is making now (which isn't much, but enough to survive). Not to mention I would probably be able to glean work from the practice if we were actively seeking clients. Even if I worked a couple of days a week and during nap time, it would make a big difference to us financially.
My level of excitement over the possibility of hanging our shingle is rising every day as I research how to make it happen. Of course, it's risky. In fact, there's a pretty good chance that we will fail. But I keep coming back to the fact that we have so little to lose at this point. We don't own a home, we don't have huge savings accounts or trust funds. And if we keep the investment low, (working from home, going paperless, utilizing the public law library), I'm confident that we'll be turning a profit in a matter of months.
Tonight we're going to a CLE class, and as I pull out my old suit and rummage through my bathroom for some lipstick, I can't help but get a thrill out of the rediscovery of the person I was before morning sickness and stretch marks. I know Henry is over a year old, and I've been clinging to those sweatpants and ponytails for far too long. It's time to get back out there and release the smart, business-savvy mama who's been hiding under piles of laundry and bangs that are down to my collarbone. Here we go!
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