A Day in the Life...

Typical Tuesdays. I love it when bloggers post about their days. I think it's cool to look into the lives of other people and see their routines. It makes me realize we are all a lot more alike, even when we think we aren't.

Woke up at 7AM. I usually try to wake up 7AM every weekday morning so I can have about 40 minutes of "me time" before my day really starts. This is when I drink my coffee, catch up on blogs and morning news, and update my own blog.

At 8:00-9:00, I went to the gym. I attempted to run 3.5 miles, but I reallllly wasn't feeling it. My legs still felt like jello from my 6 mile run the other day. So I eventually stopped and lifted weights instead.

From 9-10, I walked back to my apartment and got ready for school.

At 10:05, I have to leave for the bus to catch it up to the law school in time for my 10:35 class.

This is the building where I spend most my time...

Selfie on the bus. Because duh. 

10:35-11:50 - Evidence class (my favorite class in law school thus far. Due in large part to the fact that my professor is amazing)

Creeper pic of my classroom (yes it's so ugly) 

11:50-2:00 - Lunch. I didn't have any food at all so I went to the best place to eat on campus (which is of course located at the business school) and had a salad. It was yummy.

As I walked past this part of campus, I realized that in 1.5 years, this is exact spot I will be when I receive my J.D. CRAZY!?

2:00-2:30 - I had a meeting with my evidence professor to go over my midterm and talk about study strategies for this semester. I cannot believe that finals are slowly creeping up on us. Ughhhh.

2:30 - 5:00 - I ran errands. I usually have class at this time, but it was cancelled this week. When I woke up yesterday morning, I knew that my day wasn't going to be as productive as I wanted. It was just one of those days. So I attempted to go run errands in order to be a little productive. I also sort of failed. I tried to look for a halloween costume but nothing came up. I did go grocery shopping though, so at least I have food again?

Pretty Westwood Village 

Trader Joes Staples 

5:00-7:30 - Drove to school again (lazy). And had class for 2 hours.

7:30-11:00 - Outlined for my business torts (again, ugh finals are looming)

Notice the wine and chocolate? Necessary

11:30 - Bedtime

Today I vowed to make my day more productive than yesterday! I'll update you :) 

1/2 Marathon Training Update

As I type this, my legs are still jello from the 6 mile run I went on 2 days ago. I was supposed to go to spin class yesterday, but that definitely didn't work out. Oops. This past week was busy because I had my first moot court competition and Brett's parents were in town visiting, so my training schedule had a few too many rest days thrown in there. But I'll be back at it this week.

Heres what my schedule looked like last week:

Monday - Spin
Tuesday - Easy 3.5 Miles
Wednesday - 4.5 Mile loop around UCLA Campus (aka hills of death)
Thursday - cardio
Friday - rest
Saturday - rest
Sunday - 6 miles!!!

The 6 mile run was actually one of the best that I've had. I was so nervous because 6 miles used to seem so daunting to me. But honestly it went so well. I timed it so I was running right before sunset in Santa Monica. I ran to Venice on the beach, while the sun was setting, with the most perfect playlist. I'm pretty sure I looked like an idiot the entire time because I was smiling as I ran. And there were so many other runners around that it motivated me to keep going.

I tried to take some pictures to capture the wonderfulness, but they didn't exactly turn out..

But OMG I WANT THIS DOG - 

Race Date = 14 weeks away!

PS - is anyone else shamelessly listening to Taylor Swift's new album? Cannot wait to add that to my runs this week :)

Wait, I can't stay in school forever?

School has been what I've done for the past 18 years of my life (going on 19). Once I graduate law school in almost a year and a half, 20 years of my life will have been spent in a classroom for 9 months of out every year. I can't even believe that - and they expect me to go out into the working world in full force? How will I ever survive??

I honestly don't know. Going to work every day, never having random breaks in my day for working out or running random errands or just watching Netflix in the middle of the day? NO NAPS? Most importantly...NO MORE SCHOOL BREAKS! The thought that I would have no more spring break, christmas break, summer break, etc. anymore is so sad! Thus, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make the most out of the 2 more winter breaks and springs breaks that I have. I also run on the mantra that the best strategy is to make sure that I have things to look forward to in order to survive the stressful times. So here is what is in the cards for the next few months:

Trip home to Seattle next weekend to watch the UCLA Bruins lose to my Huskies :). Gotta stay true to my alma matter (sorry UCLA).

Thanksgiving Break in Seattle with a possible road trip to the middle of no-where Washington (aka Pullman) to visit my little brother and watch the Huskies crush the Cougars at the Apple Cup

Christmas Break (or winter break...sorry I've been raised in Catholic School all my life) in Seattle

January Cruise with my law school friends to Mexico!! We got a super cheap deal and decided we needed to take advantage of the fact that our winter break is 1 full month long this year!

Spring break in NYC AND DC! I could not be more excited because I have never been to either city. Brett and I just bought our flights/hotels yesterday. We will be traveling on the biggest budget ever, but I cannot wait. I can survive on bagels and street hotdogs the whole time.

As you can see, it's hitting me big time that I will not have time to just take random, short vacations whenever I want when I get done with school. YOLO! (Nope I didn't just say that...) SO my advice to anyone who is coming up on the end of their years as a student, whether that be undergrad, law student, grad student, or something crazier like PhD, start planning!!

Training Update

The past two weeks were a 1/2 marathon training fail. I was so busy with school so I just took a 1.5 week break from exercise. Before my break, I was up to 4.5 miles. So to get back into it:

Sunday - 3 miles, 1 mile warmup, 6x45 seconds sprint, easy 1:00 in between, cool down 

Monday - spin class (where I DIED)

Tuesday - 3.5 mile run 

Wednesday - rest

Thursday - 4.2 mile run (treadmill) 

Friday - cardio & strength

Saturday - 5 mile run 

Today I ran 5 miles for the first time IN MY LIFE! I was so proud of myself. Next week is 6 and that is quite terrifying to me. 

This was how I motivated myself to run: 

I ran at the beach! As much as I miss Seattle right now for its seasons, running at the beach in the sun in October is THE BEST!

And this is part of the reason I felt so accomplished after my run:

As I sit here drowning my sorrows in pizza & beer (because UW is losing VERY BADLY to Oregon), I don't feel as guilty. Perks of running. 

Here's a picture to remind myself of how I felt last week at a football game, happy because we were winning....

Praying for a second-half miracle... 

Mental Health Day

These three pictures totally sum up my day yesterday - 

Sometimes, you just need to take a mental health day. A friend from grade school's mom called them this and it's stuck with me since. I haven't really realized the need for them until law school though. Yesterday I woke up and just wasn't feeling Wednesday. I had planned to wake up, go on a 4 mile run, and get a lot done. I woke up feeling hungover, even though I haven't had any alcohol since Saturday. So I woke up, got my coffee, and sat down on my couch. And didn't move. For 7 episodes of Gilmore Girls.

It started out with me doing citations and watching Gilmore Girls at the same time, so you know, I was being 50% productive. But 11:00am, my headache was getting worse and I was worried that it was the beginning of a migraine (ugh, something that also hasn't happened to me until law school started. I blame the law and genetics, aka my mom). If anyone has gotten a migraine before, you know how awful they are. And (for me at least) they are usually brought on by stress. It was at that point I decided I should just give up on my productive day and take care of my mind. No running, no going anywhere, and no worrying about the fact that I wasn't doing anything productive.

And it was amazing.

I continued watching Gilmore Girls well into the afternoon. I own every single season, but the fact that it's now on Netflix just makes me want to re-watch it with the rest of the world. So I started at the very beginning and made it through episode 7 (and I'm not even ashamed to admit that).

I then read a book (not law related) for about an hour. My current book is Boys on the Boat, which is about the University of Washington Men's crew team that won the Olympics and beat out Hitler's prized German team. Since 1) I went to UW 2) I love reading about WWII 3) I love learning about what Seattle was like 90 years ago, it's so far been amazing. I'm 200 pages in and would highly recommend it to anyone.

I did a little laundry (this was necessary because I had no clothes).

I made my favorite meal for dinner - breakfast for dinner! I made homemade breakfast potatoes on my new Iron Skillet (sooooo good), scrambled eggs, and a pumpkin pancake.

I never got out of my PJs.

All in all, it was an amazing day. I think mental health days really are necessary. Even though it can be hard to stop thinking about all the things you SHOULD be doing, your body needs rest. Your mind needs rest. By the end of the day, my headache had subsided and I felt good. I think it was my body's way of warning me that I needed to make sure that I wasn't stressing myself out to the point of exhaustion. School is important. Extracurriculars are important. Exercising is important. But taking one day off once in a while is perfectly fine.

I think I will start scheduling more mental health days into my future :)

My Los Angeles Bucket List

I moved to LA one year and two months ago. So far, I feel like I've done a fair amount of exploring (given the little time that law school allows for that). But there are still lots of things that I want to do. The boyfriend and I have a list of places we want to go and food to try, so I thought I would share. They include things in the greater LA area, but also around California

1. Disney at Christmas 
2. Burgers at Fathers Office 
3. Day trip to Santa Barbara 
4. Visit the LACMA 
5. Skiing at Mammoth or Big Bear 
6. Malibu falls hike
7. Go to Calabasas and find a Kardashian 
8. Visit the Ghetty Villa 
9. Go to a Lakers game @ the Staples Center (or a Clippers game, because I like them more) 
10. Go to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl 
11. Paradise Cove Beach
12. Visit the LA Arboretum 
13. Go get a sprinkles cupcake from the sprinkles ATM
14. Road trip to the Grand Canyon 
15. Shop on Rodeo Drive (so far, I've only driven down it. This one will probably have to wait until after I am out of law school thousands of dollar debt) 
16. Eat breakfast at Huckleberry 
17. Get up early enough to watch the sunrise at the beach 
18. Take a surf lesson
19. Go on a hike at Joshua Tree 
20. Go see an outdoor movie at the Hollywood Cemetery 
21. Go camping at Big Sur (northern CA) 
22. Road trip to Vegas 
23. Be an extra in a movie 
24. Go ice skating outside during LA winter (because does that even exist?) 
25. Try Korean BBQ in Korea town 
26. Go to Laguna Beach 
27. WB Studio Tour
28. Eat at the Farmers Market (adjacent to the Grove) 
29. Go to a movie premiere (since they happen in Westwood)
30. Try the Griddle 

Things that we have already done that were on the list:

1. Weekend trip to San Diego
2. Rent beach cruisers and ride along Manhattan Beach 
3. Go to Huntington Beach  
4. Go to Magic Mountain & Knottsberry farm 
5. Go to the Grove 
6. Concert at the Staples Center 
7. Eat at Pink Taco 
8. Hike Runyon Canyon 
9. Hike to the Hollywood Sign 
10. Go watch a football game at the Rose Bowl 
11. Go to a rooftop bar DTLA (downtown LA)
12. Ride the roller coaster on Santa Monica Pier 
13. Eat at Roscoes Chicken & Waffles 
14. Go to a Dodger's Game 
15. Go to an Angel's Game 
16. Check out Venice beach 
17. Go to Huntington Library (amazing) 
18. Go to the Ghetty (also amazing, mostly for the views)
19. Find a pumpkin patch in LA 
20. Try Diddy Reese for cookies & ice cream

So far, that's all I can remember. I'll keep you updated on my list. Happy hump day!!

2L Year, they "work" you to death

Everyone has told me 2L year would be better than last. Everyone knows that 1L year is the worst year of law school - even the people who never went to law school would tell me that! Heading into this year, I was honestly pretty skeptical. I wanted to believe that it was true, but I just had a feeling it might not be. School started August 25th - it's now October 8th. I'm not even two months in and I think I can say I will be EXHAUSTED once December 16th rolls around.

They say 1L year, they scare you to death

2L year, they work you to death

And 3L year, they bore you to death. 

I think this has held up to be true so far (obviously I can't speak for those 3Ls yet). It's not that it's intellectually harder. In fact, I do think it's a lot easier in my classes to understand what is going on. And at UCLA you take a lot less credits your 2L and 3L year than you did 1L year, so you have less class to go to generally. However, last week something switched and I went from having a pretty easy load to being EXTREMELY busy and wishing there were 40 hours in a day. 

It's not even my classes either. Some of it is, but 2L year you are more involved. This month, I have assignments for my journal, moot court (briefs are due this weekend) and oral arguments are in 2 weeks, an event that I had to plan for the American Constitution Society, a midterm (last Friday), and my proposal for my 20-40 page paper that UCLA requires of all law graduates. So it's definitely not all class - although the midterm did not help. It's because I have been more involved on campus. 

This week, I need to finish my brief by Friday (before I head to San Francisco for the weekend to visit Lilly & attend the UW v CAL game), start working on my paper outline and bibliography (which is about illegal immigrants and their access to prenatal care during pregnancy), start outlining my classes (wow hello middle of October, where did you come from), finish my second journal assignment, be the discussion leader for my .5 credit book club-ish class tonight, and attempt to learn the rule of hearsay for evidence. Yikes.

Oh and 1/2 marathon training? - it's slowed down a little bit. I'm going to run 3.5 miles today. But I'm not too worried seeing that it's not until February.

BRING ON THE COFFEE.

Weekend Recap - Visitors in LA

Last weekend, one of my besties came down to visit me. Lilly currently lives in San Francisco, but we met freshman year of high school in Seattle. Lilly came down because Melissa, our other best friend from high school, just moved to Los Angeles! So now the three of us are all in California and it's amazing! We had a lot planned for the weekend and it was so much fun. Here is how our weekend went:

1) REUNITE. Lilly got in around 8pm, so we immediately headed back to my apartment and Melissa headed over. We began our night catching up, making my boyfriend take 10000x pictures of us, and drinking our attempt at dirty shirley's (which turned out nasty).

2) BEACH. On Saturday, the Dawgs played Stanford. I forced Melissa and Lilly to watch the game because I truly believed we would win...sadly we did not. But now the Pac-12 is all messed up so it doesn't really matter anymore. But the UW bar we went to was in Manhattan Beach, so we rented bikes afterward! It was so much fun and the perfect California activity for a hot evening. 

It's so crazy that we all went to high school together, we have stayed best friends throughout college, and we are all now in California :) 

3) GO OUT DOWNTOWN. On Saturday night, we decided to show Lilly Downtown LA's rooftop bars :) I don't usually go out two nights in a row (I'm a grandma, it's totally fine) and we were all exhausted, but in the end we rallied.

5) HIKE. In every Buzzfeed article about Los Angeles, it always mentions that Angelinos love to hike. It's the perfect way to get in your exercise while walking and talking. Lilly wanted to hike to the Hollywood sign. We went the Bush Canyon Trail route, which is about 3 miles each way (but after the initial mile incline, it's pretty flat). 

All in all, it was the perfect weekend!