Birthday Balloons, Whiskey Cake, & an Introduction to Kassiblog, too!

Hi! Welcome to my new blog!

I've had Kassiblog for a few years now and it has been completely dedicated to the pro-life movement, particularly fighting euthanasia and the law in Texas that allows it. But there is more to life than that and one has to have balance. This blog is going to be the other side of Kassi. The people who I love and who love me; the things that bring me joy; the things I amuse myself with; the things that I think about; the adventures we experience; sometimes just the mundane things that I just wanted to write about. This is going to be my more creative and personal outlet. 

Often the posts on Kassiblog are dark because the issue of the Culture of Death is dark. It is literally life and death and our culture is too often choosing death. I cannot do pro-life work full time because I have a legal career that has called me in another direction, but more than that, because I simply can't. I cannot take it. It is too hard on my soul. 

But my day job is very serious as well and it deals in life and death. I am a dreaded "trial lawyer," the horrid, detestable "litigator." The type of lawyer everyone loves to hate until they have a crisis and then we're the ones they call. We don't take fender benders. We generally focus on "catastrophic injuries" which can be anything from amputations, paralysis, and, of course, death. Most of our clients are survivors of someone who died because of a defective product, often a vehicle. I view autopsy reports and talk to devastated family members. We strategize; I put in hundreds of hours into legal research and writing. Sometimes we take a med mal with the same unfortunate situation. I take my work seriously. I put everything I've got into it. I wake up in the middle of the night with ideas for my briefs. I work on arguments literally in my sleep. And, we do battle with the "big boys." None of us likes to lose. It becomes quite personal. A family has come to our firm and is relying on us to make it right. I take that very, very seriously. Everyone at the firm does. I also have my own little firm where I ghost write papers for other attorneys and consult with them. I take that very seriously. I usually get their toughest assignments and they want a solution and now. They want to win, too. They have clients to serve. Sometimes I get a call in the evening or an email in the middle of a Friday or Saturday night and have to jump to it. 

And, I am, by nature, a very serious person. I always have been. I've always been into politics and taken the long view and the road less taken. I take pretty much everything seriously, even too seriously, including myself. But I can laugh. I actually love to laugh. And, in recent years, I realized I was not doing enough of that. I was not experiencing enough of life. I spent too many evenings and Saturdays and Sundays immersed in my legal research and writing. It was necessary to get my career to the point it is now in some ways, but I missed out on a lot. Other hits have come in my life and in the last year and a half, I made some changes. We made some changes; that is, Toby and I. We started getting out more as a couple and I started making it a point to get out more with the family even when there was work if I at all could. We started traveling and having adventures. I discovered the work still gets done even if it takes a few more all-nighters. Time cannot really be replaced. And I do love my family something fierce. This blog is dedicated to this new realization of mine; this new Kassi; this is a side of Kassi, too. 

I love and adore my husband. He makes my world go 'round. Among many other talents, my beloved Toby is an avid photographer. He is just so excellent at it. I must confess, I used to get annoyed that we'd be walking and taking in nature and he'd stop for 20 minutes to photograph a flower. But I am way over that now. That was wrong of me. One day, I discovered that I enjoyed taking my own little pictures...of him taking pictures! Sometimes I'll take a little video or a few photos of my own with my simple iPhone. Then it's fun to see the - no doubt future award winning - photographs he took and line them up with the pictures I took of him taking them. I started posting them and it became a "thing" between us. 

Our children are our life. We chose to homeschool them and, while it has been challenging to do that and work, we've made it work. Toby has been the greatest help in that and has made everything I ever wanted to do possible. I am so grateful to him. Our eldest, Augie, is about to graduate and head to college. He's got quite the future as a YouTuber and journalist, we think. We are proud of the man he's becoming and the business and career he's building. Our middle child, Lucy, 13, is a unicorn lover extraordinaire, artistic, logical, and sweet and is a constant companion to her little brother, Anthony, who is 6. Anthony love vintage toys and "modding" (modifying) his toys, building creations with Legos and Magnatiles, and the outdoors. We love seeing what they come up with and listening to them and just learning from them. I've been very blessed to be able to carve out a rewarding career and still be a hands-on stay-at-home mother. That was our dream; but it was far from certain it would be a reality or viable longterm. 

I am not terribly creative, but I do love to cook, bake, arrange flowers, and embrace each season and holiday with Toby and with gusto. I love to make our house a home and a welcoming place for Toby to come back to after a business trip or just a day at work. He loves the holidays as well and we work very hard to make them very meaningful and fun for our family. We do them our way.

In 2007, I was diagnosed with a pretty severe gluten allergy and I needed to relearn everything about baking. Over time, I realized I had a talent for it and can recreate many recipes now on my own. I've often been asked to share my creations with others and even to write a cookbook. Kassiblog, too! is a step in that direction, perhaps. Toby enjoys grilling and we do enjoy eating out. Food is a big part of our lives. And beverages. Weekends are often spent creating culinary delights and enjoying each other's company. We like to post them and describe them. Perhaps we'll do some cross-posts. Maybe I'll review some places we've eaten out at, as we try to take in the food scene in the Metroplex as much as we can given my limitations. We've discovered some pretty neat spots. 

Recently, after 20 or so years as Catholics (Toby was born a Catholic, fell away, and then "re-verted"; I was a convert in 2000 from the United Methodist Church), we decided to leave the Catholic Church and convert to Russian Orthodoxy (via ROCOR). We've each written about that on our existing blogs (Tobyblog & Kassiblog). I don't want to repeat that here at this time necessarily. But some of that may come into various posts as we continue on this very spiritual, very enriching, and very personal adventure. It is so very different and the way you learn to think in Eastern Christianity is vastly different than Western. Suddenly, I have these epiphanies and I wonder if they might help others. I'm not a theologian and I don't expect to get much into those things (I will not argue about religion with anyone anymore), but I may share some of what we're doing and learning from time to time. Our Liturgical year follows the Julian ("old") calendar and so our holidays do not necessary line up with our non-Orthodox Christian friends. 

So that's sort of what this blog is about. I was not sure how to introduce it. Then today as I was leaving the local supermarket with some birthday balloons it hit me. A man called out to me, "Happy Birthday!" having seen my balloons blowing in the wind as they were tied to my basket. I thanked him and told him they were for my husband. Toby's birthday was yesterday and we are celebrating tonight once he gets in from his very late flight from California. But this man's kindness to a stranger  in the parking lot of a grocery store made my day. It's a little thing. But, as I've mentioned, I am in a serious world mostly and it can be harsh. Lately, I've been very concerned about the state of society and how people view and treat each other. This was a very clear contrast to that and I appreciated it more than this man will ever know. And, it hit me: This is what I want Kassiblog, too! to be about. The lighter side of life, the happier, more joyful side of life. And I wanted to introduce it that way.

Toby requested a Whiskey Cake for his birthday. He had one at a local restaurant, Mercy, the other night. It was not GF, so I could not taste it. I have had to go by his description, and its smell and its appearance. This is the end result of my effort. I hope he likes it. 

In the background is the beginning of a Gluhwein, which Toby also requested.

And, I hope you like Kassiblog, too! 

Thanks for reading!