For starters, this happened:

Hooded and ready to go.

Last Friday my law school career officially ended with my law school graduation. I’m not sure I really have the words to describe the experience yet. Hands down, it was the greatest day of my life. Nerd alert: I’ve wanted to go to graduate school for as long as I can remember. Even when I was experimenting with other career tracks (including but not limited to psychiatrist, industrial organizational psychologist, social psychologist- sensing a theme there?) I knew I wanted a graduate degree. I’ve been working towards that moment for years, at least since the beginning of undergrad even though at the time I didn’t know I would be earning a juris doctor.

The day started with Clementine (scramble with American cheese, bacon, roasted tomato and avocado) and spent time beautifying and getting ready for the ceremony.

Ironically my graduations have become less formal as I’ve moved up the educational ladder. Blame it on my public high school that required us to wear white dresses and be escorted by boys while carrying a single red rose. The burgeoning feminist in me was slightly outraged at the time, and still kinda is. This graduation was awesome because it was super laid back. We leisurely walked in, got to sit with our friends and there was lots of cheering and yelling. The ceremony was long and we were sitting in the sun and I got a head ache half way through which was in no way related to the activities the night before so it kind of felt like a minor struggle, much like my whole law school experience.

What made the ceremony awesome was sitting with my favorite law school people.

See how sunny it was?

Before I knew it I was hooded and they presented us as Doctors of Law! It was a great moment I will never forget.

After photos and parents meeting parents my gang headed to an epic 2 hour dinner at Tavern. I was too busy being carried around on a metaphorical lily pad to take photos. I had two glasses of prosecco to ease the headache, artichoke with burrata and prosciutto, and duck confeit for dinner. For dessert I had a snickers bar because it’s what Barack would order.

Overall it was, like I said, the best day of my life. Thank you to everyone who sent me well wishes etc in the past week. I might not have replied to everyone but I read them all and they made my special day even more special.

My family was in town until Wednesday and we spent the rest of the time brunching, getting awkward tan lines at a Dodgers game, seeing Avengers, hiking in Runyon, shopping, and sipping Blue Bottle coffee in LA.

I have the rest of the week off and Monday I start my Bar Exam Prep Class. The bar exam is the end of July. I’m not sure what this means for LCC. Obviously, my focus needs to be on the exam. LCC has always been part of my life and I feel like blogging balances out my life and I need it for sanity sake. So that’s what I’m up to.

Also, I have made a decision regarding my fitness and running. I was diligently training for the Pasadena Half this weekend. I was doing well on my long runs and was feeling well. However, over the past few weeks I’ve been having some it band issues. Over spring break my left it band did something really funky which I never got into on the blog. I rebounded but with finals and then end of law school I fell off completing long runs and this further aggravated my right hip. I did a surprisingly speedy 8 miler a week ago. About 7 miles in my hip was really sore and the feeling stuck around for about a week. That said, I don’t want to hurt myself more and I will not be running this weekend. I really do want to best my half marathon PR but now just isn’t the right time. I’m going to keep running short distances throughout the bar (maybe a 10k or 5k thrown in there) and I’m going to dig into yoga more and give my body a little rest. I’ve been to yoga twice this week and I am really pushing my practice. It just feels good and I think it’s what my wants right now.

OK! So! With that, thank you AGAIN for all the love you all sent in the past week. Law school graduation is something I will never forget. If you want to read more about my law school career check out what I wrote about my law school experience.

On top of the mountain. Get it?

So last Wednesday I took my final law school exam and as we speak I am editing the final paragraphs of my Clinical Project. I will be completely and totally finished with everything associated with law school this evening. I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on my law school experience over the past few weeks and going through the normal graduation associated emotions: happiness at ending, pride in my accomplishment, apprehension about the future, and sadness to see several of my closest buddies moving away.

To be completely honest, law school was really tough for me. My 1L year was by far the most challenging for me in my personal life and it was equally challenging in my academic life. With my chaotic personal life it took me longer to adjust to law school than I wanted to. I’d always been a fantastic, near-perfect student and it was really hard for me not to do well immediately. I was very hard on myself for not being the perfect law student and I felt like I was failing at everything in my life.

Half way though first year I began running and started this blog. I am so thankful that I did. Left Coast Contessa gave me an outlet during 1L and something to focus on outside of school. I got healthier and more confident. I stayed in touch with my amazing support network of friends from undergrad. I was fortunate to have two fantastic summers at fulfilling jobs that I loved with excellent mentors to remind me why I went to law school. I eventually got a handle on classes and discovered that it’s totally acceptable to not be 100% perfect at school.

I think the biggest lesson that law school taught me was not to be so hard on myself. Law school also forced me to explore my identity outside being an overachiever. I’m probably the only person you know to have gone to law school and become more calm and less stressed out. Law school taught me that it’s ok to be an average student. In fact, after law school my ability to do great on an issue spotting examination really won’t matter. Law school confirmed for me that I get the most out of my work when it surrounds social justice. I discovered just how much I love that moment when I’m really able to connect and help someone improve their life.

Law school also taught me how special my undergraduate experience was. Simmons College really is one of a kind. Probably because I went straight from undergrad to law school I was acutely aware of the differences between the two schools. Simmons prepared me for law school because it made me the woman I am today. Simmons gave me self-assurance, confidence and transformed me from a girl into a woman. The friends I made at Simmons carried me though graduate school and were supportive sounding boards. Simmons nurtured me and I cannot imagine going to law school without the experience of Simmons. Frequently while at law school I would think about Simmons and the community there. It will always be special to me and there really is nowhere on earth like it.

Law school has also given me some fantastic friendships that I am very thankful for. I feel like I’ve been through a war with these people and no matter what we will always have that bond. I’ve also had the privilege to sit in classrooms filled with some of the most intelligent people I will ever meet. I am still blown away by my classmates on a routine basis. I feel lucky to be included in the same class as them.

There hasn’t been a day where I drive to school down Sunset Blvd and I don’t pinch myself. Graduating from UCLA Law is very honestly something that I could not have imagined in my wildest fantasy for my life. I remember looking at the prospectus on a bench in the Prudential Center in Boston on a warm June day in 2008 thinking “this is a pipe dream”. I remember driving by entrance to UCLA on Sunset when I was on my first trip to LA in August of 2006 thinking “I want to go to graduate school there”. The privilege of going to UCLA Law has not been lost on me and I would not be here without the teachers and advocates throughout school who made sure I got the help I needed to perform to my full potential. I would not be here without the mentor I had in undergrad who helped me network into internships, assistantships and fellowships. I would not be here without my fantastically supportive parents who literally would have done anything to help me succeed to my full potential. I would likely not be here without the absurd amount of economic and racial privilege that helped me go to superior public school and allowed me to not worry about financials during school (yeah I worked hard but I’m graduating with a specialization in critical race theory- I need to acknowledge that privilege has lead to many of the opportunities I’ve had).

These are the thoughts that I’ve been turning over in my mind over the past few weeks. My family arrives on Thursday. Graduation is on Friday and I cannot wait to walk across the stage, get my hood and become a Juris Doctor. Thank you so much, reader, for following me for the past 2.5 years on this blog. Like I said above, this blog really helped me navigate the waters of law school and it’s nice to know that there were people following along on the journey.

Anyways, back to the main point. Yesterday while I was perusing xojane I ran across this article about doing an avocado facial. Pat Cleveland does it and I want to too!

Here’s the deal: I love avocado but I have a thing about day old avocado. It starts to get brown no matter how I wrap it and then the magic is gone. Anyways, I have an avocado and my last law school final on Wednesday. Obviously after 1 hour of intense studying I was looking for something else to do besides study. Clearly the time had come for me to schemer my face with avocado.

Per the articles suggestion I took 1/2 an avocado which I wasn’t planning on eating and smudged it around in a bowl until it was it was mashed down a bit. Then I applied it to my face liberally.

I was going to study more while waiting for it to dry, see the Criminal Procedure Examples and Explanations in the back ground.

Instead I took photos of myself with avocado on face and tweeted about it.

After a while the avocado started to tighten like the article advised. I went and washed it off- in the kitchen for the record.

After I inspected my face in the mirror and applied a layer of bb cream. I’ve been obsessed with bb cream since February. BB Cream is part moisturizer, acne cream, with SPF and anti aging crap. It’s also tinted and I’ve been wearing it in lieu of foundation for a while now. I’ve seen an improvement in my skin over the long term and instantly when I apply it. In fact, when my Mom was recently in LA she called out how amazing my skin looked and I was only wearing bb cream. Anyways. My point is that bb cream is awesome and you should buy it immediately. I use Garnier, light/medium shade, and its available at CVS in the skincare aisle. I wasn’t wearing any other makeup because I was feeling lazy.

I have to say, there will be more avocado facials at my apartment. I was quite pleased with the results:

And again, instead of reading I took photos.

I would say that my skin feels softer, looks cleaner and had more of a glow to it.

Yay avocado facials!

My last day of school was last Tuesday and I have my FINAL law school final on Wednesday. Can you stand the excitement? I will for sure be doing an avocado facial the morning before graduation (which is May 11th!) At some point I will blog a real meal and not just about fruit I apply to my face.

LA pizza is a bit of a disappointment. I really enjoy the pizza at Masa in Echo Park. Probably because the owner of the restaurant is from Chicago and he and I have had a very intense discussion of Walker Brothers Pancake House. I also hear 800 degrees in Westwood is awesome (of course, opening right before I graduate) and I plan to hit it up over finals. However my favorite pizza place in LA is probably Mozza. I blogged it before but the waiter told me to “put away my camera” so I don’t really photograph my food there anymore.

HOWEVER, I was back at Mozza with my mom during spring break. We sat at the counter overlooking the pizza oven and was able to watch all the pies being made. The recipes are available from the Mozza cookbook so I don’t feel that bad blogging it. Obviously we jumped at the opportunity to order the Bacon, Leek and scallion pizza. I watched them make the pie and then I diligently attempted to recreate it. While not a total match I think I did a pretty good job.

Ingredients

Pizza dough (if you have the Mozza cookbook you can make Nancy Silverton’s dough. I used whole foods dough)

4 slices of bacon

Goat cheese

1 leek

3 scallions

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tablespoon of butter

Instructions

Pre heat the oven to 425. I let the dough sit out for 10 minutes to warm up and loosen. Then I used flour to spread it out and brushed the sides with extra virgin olive oil. I set it aside.

Then I took a pan and over low heat melted the butter. I also sliced the leek. The leek that I bought was legitimately longer than my arm. Fact: the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market is awesome. Please note my attempt to document the size of the leek below. I sautéed the leek over low heat until cooked though. Then I put them down on the dough as a base.

Then I sliced the scallions at an angle and scattered them over the leeks. I crumbled the goat cheese loosely over the top of the pie (as you can see, with space in between the cheese). I scatted sea salt and pepper over the top of the pie.

Finally I topped raw bacon on top of the pizza and popped it in the oven for about 10 minutes, until the crust is crispy.

Delicious! My only qualm or thing I would improve in the future is that the goat cheese at Mozza is more spreadable, clearly higher quality than whatever Trader Joe’s has to offer cheap and is used on the base AND on top of the pizza. Otherwise, this was a great pizza. Pizza is my go-to easy dinner and I plan to make this again. I especially loved how I could just throw the bacon on raw and it cooked all the way though by the time my pizza was done cooking. Highly recommended!

In other news!

• Today was my last day of school ever! I started this blog at a time when I felt law school would last forever. It’s amazing to me that it’s all over. It is very anti-climactic in a weird way. I have one exam and some clinical program edits to make and then it’s done forever. I have more thoughts which I may or may not blog here later depending on their content.
• I started a second blog. Basically I wanted to have a home for my political, race, gender, and popular culture. It will be progressive and critical, you have been warned. I’ve recently really wanted an outlet for those thoughts a little deeper than twitter and LCC didn’t seem like the right place.

In one of the more recent entries there was a description of Plan Check, a new gastropub in the Sawtelle area in Los Angeles. For those not familiar, Sawtelle is basically referred to as Little Osaka. The area is near the 405 and boasts tons of delicious restaurants featuring Asian food, specifically lots of Japanese food. There are two Japanese grocery stores and shops. I have come here in the past for noodles, sushi, and boba tea.

Plan Check popped up on some of the twitter feeds of foodies in LA I respect so it obviously shot to the top of my “must try” list. Obviously I enlisted my friend Kelly to check it out with me. She was in the second she heard that the former executive chef from Umami Burger was behind this bar.

Kelly and I went early on a Wednesday and had no issues getting in. We immediately plopped down in a booth and interrogated the drink menu. I decided on a Little Osaka Sour, which is a whiskey sour with sake!

I’ve probably been ruined by living in cities but $9 doesn’t seem that bad for a special cocktail. This drink was similar to a traditional whiskey sour and it was strong! I got my $9 worth.

Kelly had this one night only drink that I forgot the name of but it was pretty.

Kelly is more or less my dining soul mate. We like all the same things and we both like to split our dishes to maximize the food we get to try.

We started with the beet salad with whipped goat cheese, spinach and balsamic vinegar because, you know, whipped goat cheese.

Whipped goat cheese is the food of the gods. I highly recommend this dish. It reminded me of summer and it was light. Plus did I mention the whipped goat cheese? Yep. Delicious way to start the meal.

Kelly and I wanted to try one of the burgers and one of the entrees. I am not a huge fan of eggs but I took a chance and ordered the Chef’s Favorite burger. The burger is cheese two ways, bacon two ways, ketchup leather, sunny fried egg, hot sauce. Behold!

I feel like that parmesan crisp on top is a dead giveaway from Umami. This was delicious! I was quite pleased. It wasn’t overly eggy or hot saucey. It was super baconey and cheesy. These aren’t words but don’t worry about it. I would order this again. Once we cut into the egg the yoke went everywhere which I really liked. I would order this again.

We also tried the fried chicken.

Crispy skin, gravy and yams. This was also quite good. The skin was crispy and the meat was very moist. Note that when you order the fried chicken there is also a fried chicken sandwich which I want to try when I go back.

I gleaned from yelp that the fries aren’t that great but the veggie chips are delicious so that’s what we ordered as a side. They came with guac and were delicious. Perfect size for sharing.

For dessert there was only one thing we wanted to try: house made donuts.

I was overcome with excitement when they came out to the table and I ate them before I got a picture. Whoops.

Cinnamon sugar deliciousness.

I would totally come back to Plan Check. It’s near where I live, has great drinks and enough menu options that I want to have again, or try for the first time. I didn’t have one but there is a great local beer list for those who want beer and there are several other cocktails I still want to try. Definitely will be making a return trip to Plan Check!

In other news: I have a week and a half left of law school class. Who let that happen?! I also was a beast on my 10 mile run yesterday finishing it in an hour and 33 mins. The last time I ran ten miles nearly that quickly was in the Rock n Roll San Diego 1/2. Not sure I’ll be able to bust my PR in Pasadena next month but fingers crossed. These training times bode well.

These last few weeks the spring food has been coming in. That means fava beans and asparagus! I’ll try and contain myself.

Anyways, with spring coming in I decided to make one of my favorite winter recipes one last time for the season. This recipe has it all: potatoes, pasta and cheese. All of my favorites!

This recipe is quick and a good way to incorporate a lot of greens. I’ll be totally honest. I’m kinda like a child in that I want my green covered in cheese. What can you do? At least I’m eating them.

Penne with Winter Green, Potatoes, and Cheese

Ingredients

1/2 red onion, chopped

1/8 cup olive oil

1 bunch winter greens (swiss chard, kale or the like- I just threw in spinach this time because it’s all I had)

1 glove of garlic, chopped

1/4 lb brown penne pasta

1/2 lb waxy potatoes

1/8 lb gouda cheese

Sea salt and pepper

Instructions

Bring pot of salted water to a boil.

Chop your onion and garlic. In a large skillet heat the olive oil to medium heat. Add the onions and sauté over medium heat until translucent.

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 min. While the onions are cooking, wash the greens and roughly chop them.

Add the greens and some salt and pepper to the onions and garlic. Stir in.

Reduce heat to low and let the greens cook until they are tender, about 10 mins. Add water as needed.

Meanwhile, the water in the pot will be boiling. Add the pasta and potatoes. I like to chop the potatoes in half before I cook them. Cook until the pasta is al dente and the potato has been cooked through. Drain the pasta and retain 1 cup of pasta water.

Incorporate the pasta and potato into the greens mix and grate on the cheese. Turn off the heat and mix until the cheese is melted.

And serve!

This is delicious and one of my winter main stays. I’ll miss it over the summer although maybe I can recreate it for summer somehow. There isn’t a sauce but who needs sauce when you have so much cheese! As I mentioned above I like this because it’s a good way to sneak in a bunch of greens into my diet.

I have an awesome restaurant review coming up later this week from an LA hot spot that I checked out last week! Get pumped!

There was been some LCC radio silence recently but I have a fantastic reason, last week was my last spring break ever! I cannot believe that this is the last break I am going to have as a student. Graduation is looming and I really wanted to have a full week of relaxation and that’s exactly what I got!

Obviously, my mother came to LA to help me celebrate. We did our usual thing: shopping, starbucks drinking, going on long walks, eating, and (attempting) decorating.

I took the week as a FULL week off. I didn’t work out at all. I didn’t check my school email. I tried to scale back social media (successful on facebook, unsuccessful on twitter and google+ – hey a girl can try). I didn’t do any homework while my mom was here. I went to bed early and got a ton of sleep. I meal planned for after she left and took care of little things that fell by the wayside in March. It was glorious!

I didn’t blog and I didn’t take very many photos but I will share a bit of the adventures that we had (I have two recipes that are ready to go and a restaurant review pending tomorrow night, stay tuned!)

We ate at all my favorite places and some new places as well! This included: Susie Cakes, Vanilla Bake Shop, Tavern, Yummy Cup Cakes, Clementine, Father’s Office, Pizzaria Mozza, Pecorino, Huckleberry, Real Food Daily, Primativo, Farm Shop, Fig and Hungry Cat. Whew! It was a fantastic and delicious week.

Some photo highlights:

Caramel copetta with marshmallow sauce & Spanish peanuts at Mozza. Delicious! I recreated the pizza I ordered there and it will be on the blog soon!

Latte from Café Luxxe in the Brentwood Farmer’s Market.

My mom and I went on a walking tour of the secret stairs in LA. There is a book that has walking tours to follow all over the city but most of them are on the east side. We did one in Silver Lake that was mostly homes and such and one in the old Hollywoodland neighborhood (where the above photo was taken). Many old film stars lived there such as Charlie Chaplin and my Grammy’s favorite Jeanette McDonald lived. I snapped this shot of her old house JUST for her:

Nice pad Jeanette.

We also had a great view of the Hollywood sign and found a community of nuns who live in silent repose but sell pumpkin bread (random, I know).

Hey Hollywood.

Dinner at Hungry Cat was amazing! We had great service and the food was delicious. We had a smoked salmon with a salad with a Greek spin on it to start and I had a traditional New England lobster roll and it was hands down the best one I ever had. The bun was grilled and buttery, the lobster was fresh and had the perfect amount of mayonnaise and seasonings. I also had their fries with it which was great. We ended with a cheese, honey and almond plate with grilled bread. Delicious! I highly recommend. The cocktail I had was good too. It ended up being happy hour price but it would be worth the full price. It was called a Mia Farrow and had organic vodka (organic vodka confuses me but I won’t fight with it), a rosemary simple syrup and muddled orange and citrus. So good I had two!

My mom and I happened into a liquor store and found this mini sized bottle of St Germain! A must buy obviously. I used it to mix one of my favorite cocktails: st. germain, gin and tonic.

Treats at Tavern. No explanation necessary.

We also went to the Norton Simon museam in Pasadena. I ran by here recently. They have a nice selection of art and beautiful gardens. It was nice to mix it up with an art museam. I love impressionist art through early 20th century art (can I please go live in Midnight in Paris?) and they had some nice ones like this Monet:

Overall, it was a fantastic week! I’m sad that I don’t have any more spring breaks left but it was nice to have a quiet week with my mom especially with all the exciting events coming up in the next month. I’m excited to see what the next few months hold.

Obviously, I went to Vegas, partied it up and didn’t really sleep after what was a trying week for reasons my Vegas post explores.

The following weekend found me on a school trip to an Indian reservation in Northern Arizona. The trip was quick and very exciting. I’ve taken several classes in Federal Indian law and Tribal law. I had never been to a reservation before so that was an exciting experience. Before leaving there was a little bit of drama. My car battery died and Izzy the cat became rather ill. I rushed her to the vet where they hooked up a cat iv, injected her with a ton of stuff I can’t pronounce and did blood work. I was very scared and concerned at the time but she’s OK now. She gets to eat a fancy vet Rx diet which she loves. Girlfriend takes after her mother and loves the fancy.

Saturday I woke up early and took a professional responsibility exam I need to pass in order to practice law. It was an early morning and a long day. I also have a final exam in Federal Indian Law 2 this Thursday. So it’s been a busy few weeks. Running and working out has been on the back burner as well. I’m excited for things to get back to normal around here.

Thus, I was really glad that there was a fun event to look forward to on Sunday morning: Spectating the LA Marathon!

I knew that rain or shine I would be watching the marathon. The course runs two blocks from my apartment so I had no excuse. Plus, I love marathons and cheering so it was an easy decision to head down to the course early.

The weather was near perfect. Highs in the high 50′s, sun and clouds. No kidding, the night before it HAILED in LA. Well, it sounded like hail and I was too horrified by the noise to investigate further. I grabbed a coffee early and waited outside of Starbucks for people to start passing by.

Pretty soon the wheelchairs came cranking by.

Can you imagine doing that for 26.2 miles? I’ve run a marathon and I can’t imagine doing that for that long.

Before we knew it the lead elite women was passing us by!

The light is terrible in this photo and you can barely see her but she had a comfortable lead in front of everyone else including the men. LA does a “gender challenge”. That is, they start the women ahead of the men. Women’s marathon times are slightly slower than male times. The LA Marathon averages the time between when the men finish and when the women finish and then start the women that degree ahead with the idea that by the end it could really be anybodies game. Men win some years and women win others but YAY for the ladies for brining in a win. Fatuma left no one in her wake. We were stunned watching how big the lead was between her and the other runners. She almost hit a course record!

We had to wait a bit over 5 mins (which is a long time in elite marathon running I feel) before the elite men came though. I actually missed the lead man. He was running close to the left side of the road with a motorcade. I did catch the second place man, behind the biker.

Then the regular people started coming through and that’s when the real fun began! I was with my friend Chrissy who is a Boston Marathon cheering alum. We were prepared for the mass of runners. Things were pretty loose until the 4:00 marathon pacer passed us so we were able to call out many runners by name. Some looked like they were dying but many looked great and even were pumping up the crowd and yelling back at us.

I mostly stuck to yelling names but also yelled at people to tell them that they were headed to the downhill. One reason the LA Marathon is so appealing to me (besides being my adopted hometown) is the final three miles are along my usual running route. The way to the ocean is a slight decline, just enough to give runners that little something extra.

We also yelled names and cheered extra hard when we saw people run by in UCLA gear, encouraging on our fellow Bruins.

Several people had funny things written on their bibs, like “Forrest” (as in “Run Forrest Run” from Forrest Gump). Some had saying like “Run old man!” Those people were by far the most excited to hear us yelling their names. I also saw people in shirts of races I’ve run. I cheered extra hard when I saw them. I saw a guy in a Chicago marathon shirt and I yelled out “HEY CHICAGO!” and he winked and gave me thumbs up. It was fun!

More than anything, watching the marathon reignited my desire to run. Between everything I’ve had going on the past few weeks I’ve feel off running again. I’ve gotten some short and unsatisfying ones in but nothing long and not following my plan for the Pasadena 1/2 in May. Sunday reminded me how much I love to run. For me, watching was fun but I really wanted to get out on the course. I know I am going to run another marathon and I want it to be LA 2013. Time will tell and lots can happen in a year but that is my intention now.

Inspired by the marathon I went out for an easy 4.5 mile run. I held an easy 9:27 pace. It was great running in the footsteps of the marathoners and thinking over my goals. Like with the first marathon I ran, I know I can achieve them but no one is going to hand them to me. I need to put in work and I’m feeling energized and ready to get started again.

Also! There will be a delicious blog worthy recipe on LCC this week (I know it’s been a while). I made it last week and it has melted gouda cheese. What’s not to love about that?

Over the past weekend my law school friends and I took a much needed hiatus from school. We all had had craptastic weeks and the vacation was in order. We all were moderately sick from the virus that seems to live in the law school. I had a supremely crappy week because my family dog, Wally, had been put down. He was old and in declining health but it was still very sad.

Him and David, Christmas 2010. I might write more about it later depending on my mood etc.

ANYWAYS. A vacation was in order. My friend Chrissy and I had never been to Vegas before and an old friend of hers, and a Vegas veteran was also heading out there for the weekend. It was the perfect time to go. Thus, 3 friends and I packed up the car and headed east to Las Vegas. The drive was uneventful. Nothing interesting was happening in Barstow (shocking, I know). Before too long we arrived at the Palazzo Las Vegas.

We got a fantastic rate for a great room. We were pretty fortunate to have such a baller room.

And our view!

After we arrived we walked around a bit, toasted to our vacation and enjoyed dinner. Overall I think the food in Vegas was a bit subpar (with one notable exception that we will discuss later in the post!).

After dinner we spent an hour getting ready and then went to see trance dj Cosmic Gate at the Cosmopolitan.

The show was awesome. Probably the best dj I’ve ever seen. I haven’t seen many djs yet as I’m just getting my feet wet in trance/house music but the show was fantastic. Walking back to the hotel and seeing the strip at night was pretty special too.

Despite going out the night before I woke up early on day 2 and went for a long walk along the strip while my friends slept in. I explored The Forum and chugged Coffee Bean to wake myself up. Lucky for me there was a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf right underneath the elevators that lead to our guest rooms! As per usual, I was on a first name basis with the barista in under 12 hours.

My friends and I mellowed out in the hot tub and by the pool all afternoon.

My happy place.

We even sipped pina coladas poolside. I also finished reading Vogue with Adele on the cover. I didn’t check my email and my phone didn’t have reception. The lack of reception was frustrating but in retrospect was relaxing.

After pool hanging for 6 hours and working on my tan Chrissy and I went on a mission to the one restaurant I really wanted to check out: Bouchon Bakery!

OK, so we have a Bouchon bakery in LA but I haven’t been to the LA outpost yet and Amanda is always talking about it so I felt like I needed to check it out. I was not disappointed. The Bakery is located in the Venetian which is connected to the Palazzo so we didn’t have very far to go.

My other happy place. Ignore my damaged hair. Vegas is very dry and I had yet to dump an entire container of conditioner in it. SIDE NOTE: I was not prepared for how dry it is in Vegas. Within 5 mins my lips were chapped. I didn’t have chapstick or lotion and was completely unprepared. I swear, we had to leave due to dehydration and tiredness. Luckily I used bb cream on my face which is the only reason my face looks hydrated. This is kind of a random recommendation coming from this blog but I am obsessed with BB Cream. It moisturizes, has SPF, foundation, treats acne and prevents aging. Basically it’s a miracle cream.

I looked though the case but I only had eyes for one thing…

Macrons! I picked up coffee and pistachio to try. Both were delicious. Next time I want to try a croissant. They looked so good!

After snacks we went to dinner. This meal was pretty decent. We kept it simple and just went to a restaurant on the casino floor at the Palazzo: Zine.

After dinner we went out again (hey it’s VEGAS!). This time we checked out XS at the Encore.

Can I take a moment to say, despite being dehydrated and tired we all look extra pretty in Vegas? This is a not humble brag. I’m not sorry that I’m not sorry.

This time only the ladies got in (cover for the guys was crazy inflated and the line was very long) but we still managed to have a good time. The DJ wasn’t as fantastic as the night before but was still pretty good. We danced and had a good time. My only gripe about Vegas clubs (besides the insane cover the guys had to pay) was the fact that many people in the clubs didn’t really want to dance but more just wanted to take pictures of themselves in the club. It’s all well good in my opinion just don’t do it in the middle of the dance floor. Enjoy the moment, ya know? I did take one shot as we were leaving the club.

After we walked back to the hotel and got chicken and waffles. They were also delicious! The skin was so crispy which, in my opinion, is the mark of great chicken and waffles.

We left pretty early on day 3. We had a long drive back to LA and while I loved Vegas I was pretty tired and ready to be home again.

Chrissy and I did wake up early for a walk down the strip again.

It’s so weird seeing Vegas in the morning. There were some walkers and runners and people still making it home from the night before. We were able to see some more of the exterior of the casinos. I wish I’d walked around more but hey there always is my next trip!

On the whole, I really liked Vegas. I can see why people don’t come here for more than two or three days. I think in the future I would like to research more food options. I was thoroughly unimpressed by the food options. Perhaps I didn’t know where to go but I thought it was overpriced and just not that great overall. I also would like to check out some shows next time and come at a time when I can take full advantage of the resort amenities at the hotel. The pool at the Palazzo was very nice but it was a little cool to do anything other than lay in the sun and hot tub.

Have you been to Las Vegas? Any recs for the next time I go?

Previously….

Bathroom

Kitchen

Cocktail Cart

Living Room

Welcome to my bedroom!

Moving into this apartment was very exciting for me because it marked the first time in my adult life I would have a separate bedroom to myself with a door that closes.

Overall my bedroom is pretty simple.

I am a little obsessed with my closet. I have a shoe area, purse area and things hanging. I like to keep my closet doors open because it reminds me of the things I have in my closet. I am perpetually in a state of looking for new clothing but post weight loss I’ve gotten rid of many things that no longer fit me and I’m trying to replace them with special, more unique and colorful pieces. Let’s just say that my life in Boston lead to me purchasing a lot of navy. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with Navy but LA has changed my style and made it more colorful, more relaxed and kinda beachy. I use my pinterest style board as inspiration.

Also, Izzy loves to hang out in my closet amongst my purses and shoes. She’s such a girl! I don’t want to trip her in (it has happened before) so it just makes more sense to leave the doors open.

Across from my bed I have my dresser (a Danny find!), Izzy’s house, my scarves, race medals, reading chair, photos (art? Mom what do we call this?) and green sewing holder which I use to store books!

Izzy’s little house if one of my favorite things! She sleeps there from time to time and frequently naps there during the day. I let her sleep on the bed or she’ll go and curl up in the pink chair. I’ve been meaning to have the chair redone but it will happen eventually! The photos were put together by my Mom. She collected the frames at estate sales and filled them with blue and brown and gold wrapping paper. It’s a nice thing for my walls since they would be kind of sparse without it. I also love my dresser. Danny found it for me and it hold almost all my other cloths. The gold round mirror is a thrift store find. My mom found it too. Can you guess what we do when she comes to visit? If you said shop you would be correct! I also have my jewelry tray which I’ve already blogged about. Izzy sleeps in the pink chair and I also read there or sit there while talking on the phone etc. The green thing was a flea market find of my own (Fairfax High on Sunday’s). Normally it serves as extra book storage.

I hung my scarves up because, like my closet, I like my clothing hanging up where I can see it. I also have my race medals in the middle of my scarves. I have 7: two from the LA Cancer Challenge, Chicago Marathon, Rock n Roll Pasadena, Ventura Half of the Harbors, Rock n Roll San Diego, and Malibu. This photo was taken before Pasadena was added to the mix.

Speaking of things on the walls, on the opposing wall I have several photos from Boston. I like having these little reminders around of one of my prior adopted homes.

Brownstones, a Boston postcard, and the Public Garden.

On one side of my bed I have a little bed side table and on the other side I have this wire, mirrored two level table thingey. I’m not really sure what to call it but it holds photos and seashells.

I have some baby pictures of me with my dad and me holding my brother when he was a newborn. I also have various photos with my friends. As you can see I have another basket full of books. What can I say? I am attached to my literature. This basket is fun reading books. You can see the Mindy Kaling book (I’m convinced we’re soul sisters), the Hunger Game books (which I need to return to Amanda) and Game Change which was just made into a movie for HBO and I cannot wait to see it (nerd alert).

And this is my bed.

As you can see my other side table has a lamp, photos of Paris and other nick nacks I need for life (water, tissues, lotion, and my retainer- sexy!)

You can also see that Izzy loves the bed. She likes to nap there during the day and she sleeps at the end of the bed at night.

Napping.

One day I would like to get a headboard for my bed. I generally have always used my bed as a place to study. You’d think that there would be a more formalized process but there isn’t!

Oh and my bed doesn’t look like this anymore. Now it looks like this…

Three pillows! Family friend and blog reader Chris Johnson had two identical to the pillow I’ve had for years that she was going to return and instead she sent them to me! Thanks Chris! You can really never have too many pillows in my opinion. With all the time I spend working on my bed it’s nice to have the extra back support.

Thus concludes the apartment tour!

I have a general and various life update hopefully coming soon. This weekend I am making my first trip to Vegas! This trip is so necessary right now. The past week I’ve been sick and dealing with a lot of emotional life stress and I cannot wait to get to Vegas, enjoy some buffet food, drinks, and go dancing with my friends. No gambling will happen, I promise Dad. Just some non scandalous libations imbibing and dancing to a trance dj we’re seeing on Saturday (yessssss). The following weekend I’m going to the Grand Canyon. Lots of exciting things going on!