Yesterday Lauralaw held their annual Staff Christmas party at their brand new gleaming offices! As a quick aside I wrote a post (which I lost somewhere in the Cloud) a few weeks back right before the big moving day saying a fond farewell to my old South Park neighbors and a welcome to the Higgins corridor; specifically the corner at 416 Higgins.
OK. Back to the party where a good time was had by all as we sat around in our new incredibly large lobby exchanging gifts and war stories with our fantastic new landlords; Lenny & Celeste whom we now consider part of the family. My husband Dean, owner of the Law Offices of Dean Morask made a lovely toast in their honor and the karma that enabled us to find them…(follow me here below for a minute! I know this is getting longer than my infamous rebuttal closing arguments back when I was an Assistant State’s Attorney…)
When I was desperately seeking new digs, I encountered my youngest son Jake’s little league coach, Lou-now a realtor who after showing us 3 awful spaces, made a call to Lenny & Celeste-owners of the Platinum Realty space who had not yet listed their vacant other half of the 416 building and in true “Six Degrees of Separation” fashion turned out to be the parents of Jake’s good friend two decades back in elementary school! That very day our group trooped over to these offices and a week later our new lease was done.!
So we owe our new home to Jake & the Kevin Bacon principle! OK-back to the party already! Food was courtesy of Morettis in Edison Park. Having a lovely in -office Cherry finished kitchen made our buffet so much easier. We toasted everyone a very happy Christmas while judging Celeste’s homemade cookie competition as to which was best-chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin? Ah, the age old debate. Believe it or not it was tied! In this time of far bigger problems and issues facing everyone these days, it was nice to have this most normal of moments in time.
After Jake & Tim modeled matching “Dwight from the Office” sweaters, all the food was divvied up, and everyone said their farewells as they trooped off into the night to finish the myriad of Christmas things they had left to do. I sat in my office reflecting on our chaotic last few months and my incredible team. With my feet firmly tucked into my brand new cat shaped vibrating foot massager gift courtesy of Maddy, I silently gave thanks to the “Kevin Bacon Six Degrees of Separation” which had brought us here but also to the Lauralaw Six Degrees of Togetherness which has seen my wonderful group of Maddy, Tim and Jake together for nearly the past decade. Our new “family” also includes a wonderfully talented defense attorney; Jeremiah Lewellen who helps Dean and our assistant Alicja Buch who helps ALL of us keep it going at home & office. I gazed at our lovely fresh Christmas tree and through many (Zoom) trials & tribulations, thought of how I was the luckiest person in the world at that moment.
LauraLaw wishes all of our clients past & present, all of our fellow friends, family & colleagues a very merry Christmas and Happy New Year! OOPs-almost forgot the snippet of law I promised. As many of our faithful readers know, marijuana legalization in Illinois has changed not only the legal landscape but as it turns out, the Park Ridge Higgins Corridor one as well! There is a huge construction across Higgins from our offices which it appears will be the first Park Ridge dispensary! Although not yet approved by City Council, it unanimously passed the PR Zoning Board. I think it’s near the rumored Chick-fil-A. Amazing location!