Yes I'm Am A Lawyer

So now it's official.  I was sworn in to the Illinois bar yesterday by my boss.  My family is here for Christmas, so they got to join me.  

Christmas Tree

This week, we finally got around to putting up our new Christmas tree.  I think it looks pretty good for a cheap, fake tree.

We need to thank my cousin Pat Jordan for his contributions to this work of art.  Pat gave us these ornaments as a wedding gift.  Which is great, 'cause they're awesome.  Just like Pat.

A Cornucopia of Museums

Happy Thanksgiving! I am pleased to report that we had a great time in Houston over the long weekend. Thanksgiving dinner was a scrumptious feast at Gravitas Restaurant. We also went to see the Houston Ballet's Nutcracker where the Sugar Plum Fairy stole the show.

Of course, we managed to squeeze in a few museums...

• The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston where I enjoyed seeing American paintings which will soon go home to Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas and Claes Oldenburg's Giant Soft Fan.
• The Menil Collection surprised me by being the home of Rene Magritte's The Dominion of Light. The Menil Collection includes a stunning Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum, in which thirteenth-century Byzantine frescoes from a chapel in Cyprus are supported by a modern glass, concrete, and metal structure. The Menil Collection also encompasses an entire gallery devoted to color-challenged scribbler Cy Twombly and a chapel designed around several dark, monochromatic works by Mark Rothko. Moving on.
  
• The MFA, Houston operates Bayou Bend, the home of collector Ima Hogg, who acquired American decorative arts and installed them in her home in period-room settings. Miss Hogg is to Bayou Bend as Henry Francis du Pont was to Winterthur, so you can understand why I would want to visit. It was great to see the home and collections, as I had only seen them in catalogs.
  

Thus ends your museum-style tour of Houston, Texas. I want to extend a big thank you to my sister for putting together the weekend's schedule of feedings, ballet, and art sightings.