missing motivation.

28 May

Normally, my blog posts are upbeat (although insanely sarcastic) and my workouts reflect a combination of resistance training and intense cardio (well at least I think they’re intense). This entire week, I had absolutely zero motivation to work out. Sure, I got myself to the gym on more than one occasion, but there was something seriously lacking. I’m not sure if it’s related to finals being done and a change in my schedule, but I’m hoping I find some motivation this week – especially since I’m running the San Diego Rock n Roll Half Marathon on Sunday! Any tips?

Here are last week’s workouts:

  • Monday – Cardio Barre
  • Tuesday – 3ish miles on the treadmill
  • Wednesday – Off
  • Thursday – 30 min. treadmill, light weights
  • Friday – Spin class, NROLFW 2A workout
  • Saturday – Off
  • Sunday – 8 mile run (5 chill miles with my roommate, 3 miles harder). I had no desire to do this run – pushed it to Sunday instead of Saturday, and even still needed my roommate to do it with me or else it would have been uggggly).

See what I mean about the lack of “oomph?”

In other news, this week was largely spent in the library. Last time I’ll say that for a few months! I completed my write-on packet on Friday (due on Tuesday) so I have been able to have my first real weekend in awhile!

Here’s some highlights from write-on week:

view from my school’s parking garage.

Dinner at bld. with Jenn and her law school friends…

lamb + tzatziki burger.

Post-write-on celebratory dinner with Whitney at the El Cholo in Santa Monica, with a pit-stop at her office in Brentwood.

hey, getty.

table-made guac!

(not pictured, a margarita + beer…clearly I was living large, and BOMB “Annie’s Early California Enchilada”).

On Saturday, Jenn, Aviva her friend Jane, and I decided to venture up to Sunset to try a new-to-us bar, The Den. Loved the fire pit, the Lagunitas IPA, and the outdoor seating underneath the famous Sunset Strip billboards. Didn’t love our snooty waitress, but I’ll be back.

me, jenn, and jane pretending it’s valentine’s day?

jane and avivaaaaa.

We ended up sitting at a table with two tourists from Slovakia. After they toolishly made us guess their profession (personal trainers) I picked their brains. One of them took a look at the NROLFW website and told me it was a good plan if my goal is to “get stronger.” It was pretty funny, and my girlfriends were definitely annoyed that I used the term “deadlift” in a bar setting.

the canadian tuxedo: popular with slovakian dudes.

The night obviously ended with some D’Amore’s and this photo.

Sunday featured my friend Lily’s college graduation party over in Brentwood, and a much-needed catch up session with my good friends Amanda and Krisse from my sorority. It was so fun seeing everyone!

Anyway, hope everyone in the U.S. is enjoying the day off for Memorial Day. I’m going to try and be in the sun and a little bit by hiking over on the westside. I almost forgot the reason we have this day off but was reminded when I saw a former track teammate post an article about a hurdler from my year in high school who died in Afghanistan a few years ago. Definitely worth a moment or two of the day to remember and give thanks to those serving our country.

re-entering society.

21 May

Dang, it feels good to be done with 1L.

After going out on Thursday for Bar Review/celebrating/going to sleep at 3 am, my body still was up with its game-face on at 7. Cool. I wanted to spend the day relaxing and just enjoying not having to study for the first time in weeks.

This goal of “relaxing” also included not letting myself workout. That idea didn’t last long – I quickly convinced Jenn to go on a 5 mile walk with me. We enjoyed some Jamba Juice at the half-way point.

la brea + santa monica blvd.

caribbean passion + soy protein boost.

I got a little bit sunburned, it was that nice out. We joked about how lucky we are to live in a city that so many people seek out as a tourist destination.

Later that day, Jenn and I combined forces with Aviva and Armita for a little lunch/shopping excursion before Whitney and I headed back downtown to celebrate our friend Kelsey’s birthday.

Whitney and I headed out early for dinner at Urbano Pizza Bar. I’d been there once before,  and loved it, and my earlier post came in handy so I could remember which pie was my very fav.

Luckily our waiter helped us out by pointing to the Spicy Sausage one. Delectable. We also ordered the Prosciuto di Parma.

pizza urbano.

Our food took a little while to come (this is an important part of the story) but I passed the time by telling funny stories. (You’re welcome, Whitney). After dinner, we met up with Kelsey and her crew at The Yardhouse, after braving the throngs of Laker fans and waiting in line, we finally found her!

Kelsey is one of my best friends from high school. I ran cross-country and track with her for four years, and she was (and still very much is) one of my running inspirations.  She went to USC for college and now lives in San Diego, so it’s not often that we’re all in the same place, so it was so fun to celebrate her 24th! We also hit up Pattern Bar where I downed an IPA. Typical.

And for the sake of nostalgia…

dream team 05.

Whitney and I grabbed a cab back to our car (we parked at Urbano). As we were heading into the lot, I realized we forgot to get our parking ticket validated. So, since Urbano was closed, we figured the bar next door, Library Bar, would do it for us. We walked over to the doorman, who immediately asked us “where we went after we left Urbano,” and apologized that our food took forever to come. Dan was a character – and we will seek him out in the future. Fun fact: making friends with bouncers was one of my favorite things about going out in Berkeley.

Saturday morning involved some serious DIY. Jenn and I, along with her friend Megan and Whitney, painted a few walls of our apartment! Here’s a sneak peek…

Adds a nice little “homey” touch to our place!

After I scrubbed [most] of the paint off my body, my parents swung by for an early dinner. I love cryptic texts from my mom that begin “what are you doing?” and end with “can we take you to dinner?”

We walked to Tart. I’d been here once before and liked it, but this spring/seasonal menu was way more up my alley.

menu.

It’s adjacent to a hotel, so we had a blend of other dinner guests and people using the pool in the background keeping us company.

Our waiter was awesome – attentive but not over-bearing, and FUNNY. Wish I remembered his name.

I went with a good old fashioned Strawberry Lemonade and left the drinking to my parents.

my mom and her mango mojito.

We app’d it up with some fried zucchini…

fried zucchini.

And I went with a chicken cesar – with pine nuts!

It was fun having my parents make a pit-stop in my neck of the woods – glad they were up to the challenge even with the recent bouts of crime near my “hood.”

Sunday morning involved a 10-miler, followed shortly by this bad-boy:

Here’s where the depressing part of my weekend came in. I am working on my “write-on” packet for the competition to get on the Loyola Law Review. This is what our parking structure looks like on the Sunday after finals. Tear.

It’ll be over in about a week. One more week of “intensity.”

Sunday night, Whitney introduced Jenn and I to her favorite ice cream place – Sweet Rose Creamery. It reminded me of Ici (for all you Berkeley kids).

sweet rose creamery.

so many flavorsss.

I went with the chocolate and coffee which was delicious. We spotted Josh Brolin and Diane Lane there which was also sorta nifty.

chocolate + verve coffee.

And in keeping with tradition  last week’s workouts:

  • Monday – 3 mile run (pre-final tradition)
  • Tuesday – NROLFW 2A
  • Wednesday – Spinning (Andrew’s class)
  • Thursday – 5 mile run (pre-final)
  • Friday – 5 mile walk
  • Saturday – light weights + run
  • Sunday – 10 mile run + PM: NROFLW 2B

Felt strong this week, hoping to add in some more fun things this coming week.

 

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1L complete.

18 May

I am honestly in shock that 1L year is done. This has been the fastest year of my life. Sure, there were frustrating moments – Parol Evidence in contracts, the servitudes and covenants, midterms and papers, constant reading, cold-calling,  competition, stress, and the inevitable section drama. But I was also challenged, made friends with some awesome people, learned to really love LA, and figured out how to unpack an issue-spotter exam, what it means to follow IRAC, laughed at various LLS internet memes, and bonded with my classmates over beer at every possible opportunity.

This was a great year. And I am SO glad it is over.

My last final was Thursday afternoon – Intro to Intellectual Property. It was short and semi-sweet. Here’s a picture from a case I WISH we had read. Dang.

barbie girl.

As soon as it was over, Taylor, Aviva, and I grabbed din at The Fat Dog on Melrose. I enjoyed an Anchor Steam and their classic burger.

beer time.

Later, we met up with Armita and Blake and headed to Bar Review at an awesome club called Elevate with stellar panoramic views of the city. So cool.

DTLA love.

We chatted with our section-mates and just generally revelled in the fact that we finished what is considered the hardest year of law school. NBD.

fact: i would be 200% more of a wreck if it weren’t for this posse.

I took it SUPER easy today and am headed back out downtown tonight with Whitney to celebrate our friend Kelsey’s birthday! #runthistown. I am taking full advantage of this weekend, before I have to buckle-down for another week or so to prepare my submission for the Loyola Law Review write-on competition.

Happy Friday, everyone! :)

one more to go.

14 May

Today I completed my third final – Contracts. It was a beast – 30 multiple choice questions, and two fact patterns each with 3 sub-questions in 3.5 hours. We started at 11:30 and finished at 3, so needless to say I was starving starting around 1 and powered through. I think it went decently well, but it’s always hard to gauge these things until grades come out.

After the exam, I popped over to Yardhouse at LA Live with Aviva, Blake, and Taylor for some grub. I combined lunch and dinner and enjoyed a Lagunitas IPA. Nom. These tests are laborious, but it is so nice having something fun to do IMMEDIATELY after.

I thought all I did this week was study, and while that is mostly true, I realized I had some fun sprinkled in there as well. It’s hard for me to remember which day is which, what the date is, etc. right now since every day during finals is essentially the same. I have two full days of studying ahead of me, and then I’ll take my last final, Intellectual Property,  Thursday afternoon.

One thing that keeps me sane during finals? Working out. I took some pictures as I left the gym this week:

pretty DTLA.

My workouts this week were not as on-point as I normally like, and I chalk that up to, you guessed it, finals. I am trying to keep my workouts varied (my mom says that there is a term for this – called “hopskotching.” News to me, but I like it so I’m gonna go with it). My knee is feeling great, but I want to make sure I am doing enough non-running exercise.

Here’s what went down last week:

  • Monday – 3 mi. run (pre-final. This is starting to be a ritual).
  • Tuesday – 30 min. treadmill, no music.
  • Wednesday – Spinning
  • Thursday – 4 mile run
  • Friday – Spinning + NROLFW 2B
  • Saturday – 4.65 mi run
  • Sunday – 3 mi treadmill + light wights

I didn’t get a long run in like I’d hoped and didn’t do as much NROFLW as I would like, but once finals are done I can take my workouts more seriously again. I decided I am running the Rock n Roll San Diego Half Marathon on June 3 so I have a few weeks to get my mileage up! I’m excited about that.

–

I also had some good eats this week. On Thursday, after our Contracts Review session, I met up with my Dad for a quick dinner downtown. At his suggestion, we hit up The Redwood Bar and Grill for some classic bar grub. This place is an LA Times classic – and also happens to be the karaoke bar used in 500 Days of Summer, one of my favorite movies.

Pretty cool, huh? My dad and I both ordered the veggie burger, which was great.

And it’s hard to beat sweet views of this:

frank gehry’s walt disney concert hall.

On Saturday night, I headed straight from the library home to my parents’ house for some pre-mother’s day family time. My parents and I ate dinner at a local french place, Cigale Cafe. I had a warm spinach salad and my mom and I shared a clam pasta dish, along with my weight in bread. All were delicious.

The rest of the week has included tons of studying, intermittent lunch breaks, and at least 3 laugh-fests in the library or at other inappropriate times, like right before we’re supposed to be silent prior to when the test began, or during the exam (one of the multiple choice questions involved a student who offers to pay his obese professor $500 to run the LA Marathon, hoping he would suffer a heart attack. How does that not elicit a chuckle)?

And to round off this insanely random post, here’s my current house music song obsession.

Time to buckle down to study for this last one…Almost done!

What’s your favorite way to de-stress?

For me, it’s running and doing something fun after the test – going out to lunch or getting a beer, obviously.

Lastly – want to give a quick congrats to my friends Bryan and Katherine for graduating from UCLA Law on Friday! Such a huge accomplishment.

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everything is a tort.

8 May

But seriously. If there is one thing I learned in studying for my 4 hour beast of a final yesterday is that negligence is everywhere (strict liability, however, is harder to come by). My exam yesterday consisted of 2 hours of essay writing (2 essays, limited to 3,000 words total which is not enough, ever), followed by a 20 minute break, and then 50 multiple choice questions. In law school they tend to refer to these as “objective” questions but I swear there is often more than one right answer. Hmph. Overall I think it went okay, not loving my policy essay but felt okay about the other 2/3 of it.

In other news, while this weekend was largely comprised of me sitting hunched over in the LLS library, we made a conscious effort to squeeze in some fun. On Saturday (Cinco de May), Blake, Taylor, Aviva, Armita, and Jackie and I  took a (possibly too long) lunch break at El Cholo for some margaritas and mexican grub. Such a fantastic call.

jackie and armita getting in the cinco de mayo spirit.

As fratty as calling it “Cinco DAY Drinko” is, there is something undeniably fun about enjoying a margarita during the day. Sort of a mood killer traipsing back to the library to take a self-imposed practice exam, though, but what can you do.

I ordered the Green Corn Tamales. These babies are only in season May-October but were so delicious. I will definitely order them again the next time I come to El Cholo.

It is sort of remarkable how much a meal out with friends can brighten up a study-filled day. Breaks are the best.

blake, armita, and aviva

Even if you sit next to someone who decides to order fajitas. I am sure the library enjoyed the fact I came back smelling like steak smoke. Cool, Taylor.

Joke.

After our exam yesterday, we dawdled around for a bit, mostly laughing at the fact that the entire campus’ internet was down so our exams, while stored on our hard drives, were not submitted. Let me tell you, that is an unsettling feeling. Not totally sure why the internet is down, but it sounds like the sort of thing that doesn’t happen in the absence of someone’s negligence.

My posse bopped over to Los Feliz for dinner at Home. I immediately went with a Sierra Nevada (and later a Hef – it was celebration time!). The Chicken club sandwich I had was also delicious.

blake, me, armita, aviva, taylor.

there’s no place like home.

After dinner, someone got the random idea to go bowling. I am a terrible bowler (I am too aggressive on the approach and my release is terrible). Everyone else in my family is pretty decent, but I never got the bowling gene, probably because it requires patience and skill.  We hit up Koreatown’s lovely Shatto 39 Lanes. For $12 a piece we got shoes and 2 games. For a Monday night at 8:30 pm, the place was bumpin’. I also enjoyed the sign above the lines urging us to “Bowl for Fun and Health.” Not sure bowling qualifies as a sport, but that’s okay.

blake in action: someone who clearly knows what he’s doing.

I lost both games, surprise surprise. I joked that I need private lessons, but in reality that is pretty low on the “needs” totem pole.

please note my nickname.

Today is consisting of taking it easy before starting the studying frenzy for Contracts and Intellectual Property (I have a week before my next one). I’m planning on spending the afternoon starting to look over some things at an outdoor cafe, followed by an evening workout.

Speaking of workouts, here’s what went down last week.

  • Monday: NROLFW 2B + 2 mi. treadmill
  • Tuesday: 5.13 mile run
  • Wednesday: 30 min treadmill run
  • Thursday: Yoga. So sad my Groupon expired!
  • Friday: Spin
  • Saturday: 4.65 mile run
  • Sunday: OFF

I didn’t get as much spin or weights in as I would have liked this past week, but I am blaming it on finals. Goals for this week? 2 spin classes, a longer run, and 2 weight workouts. Let’s see what happens.

Have a wonderful week!


How did you celebrate Cinco de Mayo? 

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final-y.

4 May

Today was my first final of the spring semester – Civil Procedure. I think it went well: 45 multiple choice questions and one beast of an essay. We had 75 minutes to write an essay that was probably meant to be answered in 2-3 hours. Nice. Our test was bright and early – 8:30 am – so my friends and I quickly hustled out to Panini Cafe downtown for a post Civ Pro grub fest.

veggie panini and romaine and avocado salad.

We re-hashed the exam for a little bit and then tried to talk about something else…which ended up meaning we talked about our upcoming Torts exam and general silliness. Excellent. I went back to school for a few hours and did some studying [thanks to some caffeine fuel] and high-tailed it out of the library in time to make it to a 6:30 spin class, which was the perfect stress relief. We did over 250 “jumps” in and out of the saddle in a row which was intense.

torts raging.

As I was heading into the gym, my mom e-mailed me saying she was stuck at work and missed the train she normally takes home and had to kill a bunch of time until my Dad was done with work, so I picked her up and we grabbed a bite to eat at a Mexican restaurant a co-worker had recommended. It just so happened that this restaurant was named after my crim law professor last semester: Yxta Comida Mexicana.

my mango marg and my mom’s hibiscus-infused one.

We also enjoyed two delicious entrees that we shared: a chicken salad with avocado and strawberries and INCREDIBLE mole enchiladas.

mole mole mole.

We both loved the food and the vibe, and I was a fan of the gigantic parking lot (way hard to come by downtown). It was fun catching up with my mom at the spur of the moment, and nice for me to take a forced break from vicarious liability, products liability, and just, well, any sort of liability.

Happy Friday, errybody :)

[race recap] the color run.

30 Apr

Last Sunday, April 22, I hauled out to Irvine to meet up with my friend Riley [Whitney's college BFF] to run the So-Cal Color Run! We had planned to do it months ago, and the day sort of snuck up on us. It sounded like a fun concept for a “race” and I have never done an obstacle course or fun run like this, so I was on board to give it a go.

Whitney and Jenn had planned on running it with us, but the sign-ups ended before they could get a spot! If the four of us had done it together, our team name would have been JGWR: Jacked Girls Win Races. Drat.

before.

The race was at the Orange County Great Park off of the Jefferson Exit in Irvine. The course wasn’t much to look at – I think the park was a converted old airport or something.

I aimed to get to the park at 8 am for the 9 am start, but intense traffic funneling people into the park had me literally sitting in a line of cars for the mile leading into the park. That aspect was frustrating and is probably something the race directors will work out for next year. But, the good thing about this event was that since it was a completely un-timed fun run, if we had started the race at 9:30 it wouldn’t have mattered!

They set people off in waves of a few hundred people…

And we got doused in colored powder every kilometer! First up was yellow…

Then green…

Throw a little purple on there…

The pink was by far the coolest – LOVE this pic of Riley.

…my version is slightly more dorky.

We finished the run and then took part in a “color throw” – the race provided a bag of color powder for everyone to throw at the end. We took some photos and perused the expo (there were tons of vendors and we scored some samples).

Post race – colorful and dirty – what a combo!

Afterward, we trekked to our car and noticed all of the people enjoying themselves, taking photos with their groups, and in general just having a great time. We both had fun at this race and would do it again – and we agreed that it would be the PERFECT first race for a family with young children to do or for people who are new to road races to get their feet wet (and colorful – the color literally soaked through my shoes and socks!)

We hopped over to the local Starbucks post-race – I was craving their oatmeal and I thought it would be fun to make a public appearance in our colorful state.

The Color Run was my first “fun run”-style race and I liked it! Although I am used to running for a time, it was fun to do something literally just for fun and to enjoy running and being active, and that’s what this event was all about.

For our $30 entrance fee, we got a white T-shirt with “The Color Run” printed on it in a few different colors, a sweatband, a pack of color, and a tattoo – no medals, but having pink splotches on my face, a green neck, and dark purple “bruises” on my inner elbows for a day or two were enough of a souvenir :-) .

Has anyone done a color run before? What about a mud run or other obstacle course? What did you think? 

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