Tebow Love in the Offseason

Those of you who know us well know that we are a very Tim Tebow-friendly household. I know that we've really gotten this point across because my mother is still sending us Tebow-related articles now, in April...months after Tebow won the Heisman, and months before the 2008 football season actually gets underway. And we love it! The W. Family Hearts Tebow!

Apparently, Tebow makes news for more than just his athletic prowess. Eric emailed me today to inform me that in a debate about the NCAA's hottest athletes, Sports Illustrated thinks Tebow is a clear favorite. Eric also sent me this link to a picture of a very lucky Tebow fan who was able to get a picture taken with him. This fan "gushed" about how Tebow even touched her! That reminds me of myself, my freshman year of college, and my crush on then-Gator QB (and later "The Bachelor") Jesse Palmer (pictured on the right). One day as I was out and about on campus, I was lucky enough to cross paths with the football team on their way to or from practice. As they passed, I apparently was in Jesse's way, because he touched my back and politely said, "Excuse me." I swooned. He remained my main QB squeeze for quite some time. I even watched him on the Bachelor, the only season of that show I ever watched.

These days, I have to admit that my Jesse crush has waned, making room for Mr. Tebow. It doesn't hurt of course, that he is a good kid, with a high GPA, and always willing to sign autographs for his fans...that is, when he's not too busy spending his summers and spring breaks with orphans and sick children in the Philippines. Seriously. How can you not love him?

Girls screaming at Tebow like he's a Beatle or something.

Oh, who am I to judge? I'd be doing the same thing.

MAN, we're excited for Gator football this year! Go Gators!

P.S. For those who may be concerned, my dear husband is fully aware of my Tebow crush and he completely understands. In fact, he has a Tebow man-crush to call his very own. So no worries. :-)

It's Only One Game

Last night, Eric and I went to the Cavs v. Wizards playoff game. We generally try to see the Cavs when they're in town, and our love of playoff games in particular began in 2006. That year we went to two games: the first game, when the Cavs lost (if memory serves me), and then again for the Infamous Game 6, which resulted in a Cavs overtime win to take the series. That game is still talked about these days, because of Lebron's trash talking to Gilbert Arenas before he (Arenas) tried to make some very important free throws. And we were there to "witness" it! It was an awesome game.

Last night, however, was not so awesome. After winning the last two games against the Wizards (including the last one by 30 points), the Cavs lost last night by 36 POINTS. No, that is not a typo. They really lost by 36 points. It was outrageous. And surprisingly, Eric and I were essentially the ONLY Cavs fans in our section. We stuck out even more because the Wizards had orchestrated a "white out," which involved giving everyone white T-shirts to wear to "white out" the Cavs. So, Eric in his Lebron jersey and me in my vintage bright-orange Cavs shirt really drew attention to ourselves. (You can see all the white shirts in the picture to the left. You can also see how, um, "close" our seats were to the action.)

We were also surrounded by some of the most obnoxious, unoriginal, and rude hecklers I've ever encountered, and I've seen the Gators lose to FSU (not recently, obviously) in Tallahassee, so I've seen some pretty bad heckling in my day. It was non-stop and made the game even less enjoyable. People were even stopping in the middle of the aisle on their way to/from their seats to yell at us about how Cleveland/Ohio/Lebron James/Drew Carey sucks. However, we kept our cool, and rather than ducking out of the game early with our heads hung in shame, we decided to go out as the loyal fans who stayed until the bitter end. We didn't want to give our opponents the satisfaction of running us out of the game early. And, apparently that was the way to go, because at the end of the game the most obnoxious guy came up to us and shook Eric's hand out of admiration for the fact that we stayed until the end. Then, of course, he shouted "Cleveland sucks!" at our backs as we left. Well, that was fun.

So, it wasn't quite the game we were looking for, but at least we got free white T-shirts out of it. And of course, we know the Cavs will win big next time. Go Cavs!

The Verdict is In!

I just got word that the jury reached a verdict in the securities fraud case I have been working on since January! After just a little over a day of deliberation, they found our client NOT LIABLE! What a wonderful victory. This case has been in progress in one form or another for the last seven years (including this 8-week trial), so I know he was ready to put this all behind him. I really believe the jury reached the correct verdict, and I am so happy for him and his family. Now they can move forward from here, with his name completely cleared. I wish him the best. Congratulations, Kent!

To read an article about this verdict, click here (Washington Post) or here (American Lawyer).

No More School, No More Books (kind of)

CONGRATULATIONS, ERIC!

Today is officially Eric's last day of law school classes. Granted, there's still finals and the bar exam to go before school is completely over, but I would say this is still a very large milestone. Eric has worked so hard over the last three years, and I'm so very proud of him.

As law school draws to a close I keep thinking back over the past three years and how far Eric and I have come since then, both individually and as a couple. Three years ago at this time, Eric was getting ready to graduate from UF. He was not even sure yet where he would be going for law school. I was still planning to go to NYC for grad school, so we did not know what the future held for our relationship. We didn't know what we wanted to do, what to focus our graduate studies on, or what our future careers might be. Just three years later, Eric is graduating and will be practicing corporate law in NYC. I found something I love to do in jury consulting and am very much looking forward to a career in that field. Best of all, our relationship has continued to stand the test of time and now we have a long and happy marriage to look forward to. It is reassuring to me to look back and realize that so many of my questions about our future from three years ago were all answered, so perfectly and in their own time. I wonder what the next three years will bring for us?

Eric, I am so proud of you for all of your hard work. If you are even a fraction as good of a lawyer as you are a husband, you'll be an amazing success. I love you very much! Congratulations!

Eric and I at his UF Graduation, May 2005

The Cast of Characters

Just in case anyone reading this is not related to us (which I doubt, but I guess you never know who might be tuning in on the big ol' internet), I thought I'd do a quick overview of our little family. So ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I give you the W. family:

Me: Meghan W.

I'm originally from Cleveland, Ohio, but moved to Florida with my family when I was 12 years old. I went to the University of Florida and definitely think it's great to be a Florida Gator. I work as a jury consultant, which I find very enjoyable. I love: my husband, the beach, juries, Gator football, murder mysteries, mint chocolate chip ice cream, Chipotle, music, my family, a fair amount of bad TV, photo albums, summer, Cleveland sports, bubble baths, lilacs, and spoiling my dog (we'll get to him in a minute). I dislike: confrontation, inconsiderate people, cold weather with no snow, meatloaf, driving, feet, watching golf (sorry, Eric), rude tourists, not having a plan, and mushrooms.

My husband: Eric W.

Eric is a native Floridian, which means he loves hot, humid weather. Seriously, he even enjoys a hot car after it's been sitting in the sun with the windows up. It's weird. Eric is also a Gator, and now is finishing up law school at Georgetown. His NYC job offer is the reason for our move, and I'm very proud of him for it. Eric loves: his wife (or so he says), baseball, Fantasy sports, McDonald's double cheeseburgers (best value in fast food, he'll tell you), sweet tea, his family, the Rays, playing devil's advocate, financial stuff like economics and stocks and the like, Ronald Reagan,  playing football in the rain, tulips, running, clementines, the Wii, cooking, and golf. He dislikes: the bar exam, poor logic, mayonnaise, sticky hair-gel hands, wearing pants and real shoes (he prefers shorts and sandals), pie, and smoking. And did I mention that I adore him? Because I do.

The dog: Achilles

Achilles is a 4-year-old Chihuahua mix. We adopted him from a shelter in Gainesville, FL when he was a year old, and going by the name of "Tyson." We renamed him Achilles, which went straight to his head - being named after a mythological warrior seems to have made him think he's much bigger than he is. He has his issues, but overall he's really a great dog. Achilles loves: excessive licking, bones, his stuffed squeaky frog, cuddling in the morning, walks, Einstein Bros. dog bagels, playing hide and seek, apples, and sleeping on piles of clothes. He dislikes: baths, tall grass, having his nails clipped, the vacuum, being left alone, wet paws, long car trips, and wearing shirts with sleeves. 

So, that's the W. clan! For those of you who already know us - did you know everything listed here? Was anything a surprise to you?

Jumping on the Blogging Bandwagon

Hello all!

I have decided to give the whole blogging thing a go, for a couple of different reasons. Primarily, my new (and wonderful) husband and I have a lot of big changes coming up for us in the next few months: he's graduating from law school, we're moving to New York City, I'll be finding a new job, new apartment, new life. With all of this going on, I thought it might be fun to have a record of the whole process.

However, I don't plan to have the whole focus of the blog be the Big Move to the Big Apple. I fully intend on boring you with more minor details of our lives as newlyweds as well! As a more long-term goal for this blog thing, I'd like to keep up with it to shorten the distance between us and our families, in a way. Our families live in Florida and we miss them very much (and as far as we know, the feeling is mutual!). Hopefully this blog - both the moving-oriented posts and the more "off topic" posts - will help our families to feel more involved in our day-to-day lives.

So, that's my plan. We'll see how it all goes. :-)