Birthday Blog--What a year!

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33!

I sit to write this blog on the eve of my 33^rd birthday. For my birthday last year, I was going out to dinner in Seattle with Peter and our good friends Steven, Emily and Jules. Afterwards, we went to see the Pogues. This year, I am feeling a little homesick for my friends in Seattle—we are so new in Atlanta that we don’t yet have a gang with whom to celebrate our occasions like birthdays, so it will mostly be a family affair this year. (And, unfortunately, I will also be working some this weekend.) Now, don’t get me wrong—we have had an amazing year and I wanted to move to Atlanta to be closer to family, to be in a place where we could afford to buy a house and to be out of the cloudy, drizzly weather of Seattle. And, I have all of that. Still, I can’t help but miss all of our dear, fun friends there, especially at a time like a birthday.

Since I last wrote, a lot has happened in Peter’s and my lives. First, we bought a house and we moved in last weekend! We are delighted to be homeowners and the house is adorable! We even have some pictures up on the wall and have started to make it feel like ours. Plus, we are in a wonderful, neighborhoody part of the city of Decatur called Oakhurst, where we are able to walk to cafes, bars, restaurants, and the subway into the city. Neither of us has to have a car to get to work at this point, which is such a relief after our 1.5 hour commute each way for the last month from PTC.

Our journey to getting the house was a little fraught, however, in the week leading up to closing. Because of the crappy, ridiculous, totally unnecessary and preventable (if only we had had competent leadership these last 8 years!) state of our economy, Peter and I learned that the Federal Reserve had put a freeze on all federally-backed cash accounts, about two days before we needed to access ours to get our money for the downpayment! After a frantic appeals process, our financial advisor was able to free 90% of the amount we had requested—still leaving us short by about $5000. We ended up having to take out an additional, last minute loan from the bank to cover that shortfall. Crazy! We had the money and weren’t allowed to use it b/c the government was afraid that there would be a run on the banks! So strange that it was easier for us to get a loan than it was to access our own money. . . we did close on time, but not without a lot of stress—we were literally sitting at the closing table, 20 minutes after the closing was supposed to start, not knowing if the money would arrive in the closing attorney’s escrow account or not. Suffice it to say, I do not want to move again for a VERY long time. An amusing side note to this whole fracas is that I got to talk personally to GA’s republican Senator Saxby Chambliss on the phone because I had called our legislators to see if they could help us and he was nice enough to return my call. He couldn’t do anything, but it was fun to actually talk to a Senator.

Enough about finances and politics! After we got all of that squared away, Peter left for California to see our young nephew Ben, who had to have brain surgery to remove a tumor. He came through the surgery beautifully, thank goodness and we are all very much relieved. While in Cali., Peter also got to celebrate his sister Victoria’s fortieth birthday with her. Yay, Victoria!

After a week in the west, Peter then flew to Roanoke, VA, where he met me and my parents and the whole rest of my extended family on my mom’s side for my cousin Brian’s marriage to Olivia. We also got to meet Kyle and Annika, my cousin Vonnie's two twins who are just so fun and beautiful! My mom, dad, Peter and I then rode all the way back to GA smooshed into my mom’s tiny Saab, which was funny until it became almost unbearable.

Finally, when we moved into our house, we welcomed Pico the kitten into our family. Isabelle is still working on truly welcoming him, but Peter and I love him. I have never had a kitten and it is amazing how much energy and how little fear he has! At the same time, he is equal parts cuddly and clumsy and SO tiny. He has perfected the art of scaling my bluejeans and then climbing onto whatever piece of furniture or counter I happen to be standing next to. He does this to compensate for his almost-total lack of leaping ability at his age. I can’t wait to see him grow!

As for the rest of it, we are still settling into jobs and trying to find friends—let us know if you see any! So far, my job is fun and I even got to go interview witnesses in South GA by myself, which was a hoot. Who knew that there was a town called Santa Claus, GA (with streets named “Reindeer Way,” “Elf Drive”, for example), or that Waynesboro, GA is the bird-dog capital of the world?!? Now I do. Peter is still evaluating his. So far, it’s been frustratingly slow, coming from the public defender pace that he was used to. Hopefully, it wil pick up when the legislature is in session.

So, that’s pretty much it! I’m 33 today and am excited to see what shape our lives take during this next year in our new home. As always, please be in touch, visit, call, or email if you can! And, go vote November 4!

Xoxo, robyn:)

Pictures, top to bottom: Pico asleep in a packing box; Me, cooking in our new kitchen; Peter in the dining room; Peter and Ben, post-surgery; Happy 40th, Victoria, in Santa Cruz!; Me and my cousins Vonnie and Lauren; Our new dining room; Our new living room; Brian and Olivia--Just Married!; My mom and her two sisters Aunt Tata and Aunt Jan; We meet Kyle and Annika!; Pico perched.

The End of Vacation and Back to Work!

Since I last posted, we have been really busy, even if we haven't been working! Shortly after landing in GA, we made our residence official by swearing into the GA bar, applying for jobs and getting drivers' licenses. The local bar in Fayette County GA was so wowed by a husband and wife lawyer team, that they even ran an article in the local paper about us! We both applied for several jobs, but ended up hitting the GA market at a weird time for both of us. For me, the criminal defense options were few, as the GA public defender system is currently imploding. For Peter, immigration gigs were scarce because Congress has not authorized any new visas for immigrants recently. Fortunately, though, we both found good options and will start work tomorrow! I will be working at the GA Resource Center, where I will be working on habeas corpus petitions for people on death row here in GA--possibly my dream job. . .we'll see! I am very excited to be able to focus more on individual clients and researching their cases inside and out, rather than appearing in court every single day. I will still be in court sometimes, but only for select arguments--this frees me from wearing a suit on a daily basis--yay!

As for Peter, he will be working at MALDEF (the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund--kinda like the Latino NAACP), where he will be doing civil rights class litigation on behalf of Latinos in GA and lobbying the GA state legislature for better laws for Latinos. I don't think GA state law makers have yet realized what they are in for. . .:) Serendipitously, Peter is also starting work tomorrow and we will be able to commute together in the mornings on the train, which should be amusing.

In other news, we have filled our time while we were waiting for job interviews and acceptances with lots of fun stuff! We took a road trip in our Neon in July to Chicago for Randal and Megan's wedding, which was great, and then we continued north to Madison, Wisconsin, where we visited Peter's Grandma Betty. In the middle of July, we got a call saying that the Obama campaign was actually working in Peachtee City(!) and would we like to help? We were very excited and are now in our fourth week of registering voters here in my hometown and the surrounding counties, which I never would have thought would have a chance of going Blue. I have been really pleasantly surprised with how many closet Dems. there are around here! The beginning of August had us watching a lot of Olympics and starting the house hunt in earnest. We focused on Decatur, GA, which is 6 miles from downtown Atlanta and on the train line. Decatur is also the home to both Agnes Scott College and Emory University, which both contribute to an artsy, progressive vibe in the town. About a week ago, we found our house (see pictures above)! It is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths on top, which front and back porches and a gorgeous kitchen. It also has a 2 bedroom, one bath rental unit on the bottom with kitchenette and living room. We just think it's adorable and will give us a lot of flexibility to add to our income, if need be, while we are paying off our student loans. When we no longer need that income, it will potentially give us room to grow. It has big old oak trees in the back yard and is 2 blocks from the local park and about 4 blocks from a shopping area. We are very excited!

Finally, at the end of August, my brother Matt and his boyfriend Woody visited, bringing our cat Isabelle with them from Seattle. It was a momentous time because it was the first time Matt has brought a significant other home and all went well. Also, my dad turned 60 and they were both able to be here for the party--yay! We just took them back to the airport yesterday and the house seems empty without them, even though there are still four people a dog and a cat here.

So, thanks for reading! That's about it for now. ..my plan is to post about every month to keep people updated on what we're up to. We'd love to hear from you, too! Drop us a line at robynp88@yahoo.com or pisbister27@yahoo.com. Our phone numbers are still the same, too!

Have a happy September!

R & P

Sayonara Seattle!

Leaving Seattle was very hard. For almost four years, my husband and I had a wonderful life there, full of sincere, kind, and interesting friends. We really agonized over our decision to move elsewhere, but in the end, the value of living closer to family seemed worth the risk and we decided to make the jump while we were still young enough to have some flexibility. So, on February 1, I left my job as a public defender and on February 6, Peter also left his job and we spent the next 20 days furiously packing our apartment, saying goodbye, cancelling utilities, and studying for the GA bar! (When we had originally hatched the plan, we had thought we'd hire movers, which would have given us more time for study. ..unfortunately, we had to combine both activities after we found out how exorbitant professional movers are!)

All of this culminated with some farewell festivities on the 22nd of February and a flight out the next day. Once we hit Atlanta, though, we still had 48 more hours of study and 8 grueling hours of testing ahead of us. We don't know if we passed (and we won't know until the end of May!), but we are relieved that it is at least over for now!

Now, we're getting ready for the next phase of our plan. ..we decided that the transition and resulting unemployment would be a good time to travel together. Even though we've been together for five years, and international travel used to be a big part of our lives before law school, we have never travelled together. For the next three months, we will be exploring Guatemala, Mexico, Paris, Madagascar, and Tanzania--the idea was to show each other some of the places that were most formative to each of us and to have a big adventure together before we got a mortgage, new jobs, and all that that entails. . .

We're planning to update this blog frequently from the road with thoughts and pictures, so if you want to know where we are, please check here! We will also be checking our personal emails, so feel free to drop us a line with your news or write a comment here!