Billable Hours and Happy Hours

Where did yesterday go? It has been such a crazy week!

We still don't have the Expedition back so Chuck and I are carpooling to work. It actually works out pretty well because he helps get the kids ready and forces us to be out of the house by 7:30, then he drops me off first (because it takes too long to drop me off after we take the kids to school), then he takes the kids to school, and drives to work. In the evenings he retraces his steps by picking up the kids and then picking me up. It's been great for my hours at work. In at 7:35, out at 6:20. What a great week! But, I'm basically stranded here without a car so what else am I going to do? My billables are really up this week too since it has been a crazy week of depos; I've already billed 39.3 hours, and I have a full day to go before the weekend. I try to bill about 40 hours a week, but it doesn't always happen. Of course, my friend Caroline is preparing for trial so she probably is already up to 45 or 50 hours and plans to work all weekend. Those are the times that create a month of billing over 200 hours. I think last time she prepared for trial she had a month where she billed about 300 hours (she had to have worked every day of the month for at least 10 hours! (Usually, if you bill 180 you've had a solid month, so that should put it in perspective). Enough about billing - the bane of my existence.

I find it intersting that "billable hours" (which I hate) and "happy hours" (which I love) sound so similar and share the word hours. Curious. Plus, there is no way to mix the two events, at least not at my firm.

Speaking of happy hours, the lady attorneys in my office (all of which are associates - there is only one female shareholder and she doesn't really hang with us) have a monthly happy hour at someone's house. Last night was my turn to host and everyone got to see all the changes we've made to the house. We had so much fun gossiping about everything - family, friends, my kids (no one else has any), work, etc. It's a great time to catch up with one another and to vent any frustrations we may be having at work and in life in general. Last night I had a meat and cheese tray, crackers, bread, olives, fruit salad, cheesecake and WINE. Yum- I love finger foods. Wish I could have enjoyed the wine. It was fun and it was great to catch up with everyone. I work with such a great group of ladies. There are seven of us now, but we're adding two more next month. We'll have to ease the newbies into our craziness.

Gotta get to work.