The last few weeks in pictures

Maritza's baptism. Such a great lady. She gets a kick out of touching my tummy, and I quickly realized why she wanted me in this picture (so she had an excuse to pat it!!). It was a beautiful day and a beautiful baptism.

We had opera tickets to Lucia di Lammermore at the Met, and since Cliff had on his best suit and I had on my best dress, we decided to make a quick stop by the classiest eatery in NYC: White Castle. Cliff had never been, and truth be told, it wasn't even our faintest expectation to dine there. But the opportunity arose between the baptism, birthing class and the opera. He was a bit put off by the employee sloshing disinfectant on the door handles, the bullet-proof divider between the cashiers and customers, and the steam cooked burgers that were about the circumference of a golf ball. Anyone else out there eaten at White Castle before?

The ward Halloween party. Cliff was a Russian peasant, and I was a witch. We were in charge of the"haunted twister" station for the primary kids--kind of like regular twister, but with Halloween decals for dots. The spinner telling which body part to put where malfunctioned early on, so we just made up things that would twist them in fun positions (right hand on the ghost, left foot on the pumpkin, etc).

Columbia law had a 150th gala party at this swank dinner club down town. Keynote speaker: Justice Ginsburg. Her remarks: as boring as her dress was unattractive. Both deserve an individual comment: she went on and on for 30 minutes giving a play by play of dead Columbia alumni who served on the supreme court. Her dress: must have been purchased at a garage sale in the 1970s. But perhaps that's the joy of being a Supreme Court justice, you can get away with boring remarks, and no one cares what you wear (under your robe).

Yea; admitted to the CT bar. Just have to get my paper work together for the DC bar, then we can move anywhere, anytime (Warning: extremely limited meaning given to "anywhere" and "anytime"), and I can forget every bit of text-book legal knowledge, forever. Best thing about CT, absolutely no CLE (continuing legal education) requirements. The ceremony was funny--I am so obviously pregnant that although I thought I was pulling it off subtly by de-emphasizing it under my black blazer, you have to walk across this stage to receive your certificate from a CT supreme court justice. My 8 1/2 month pregnant walk/waddle was pretty obvious, and these ladies in the audience started cheering 'good for you!!' The ceremony started at 2pm, but we had to be in our seats at 12:30. Ummm, can anyone say a big NO to skipping lunch for very pregnant ladies? Although no food was allowed in the auditorium, at 1:30, I pulled a big bag of trail mix out of my purse and dared the ushers to try and boot me. Random people kept wanting to say congrats, ask when I was due, and pat my tummy at the reception and our dinner afterwards. At least I didn't go into labor in CT and that was my goal.