Author Archives: Katherine Swanson

The Santa Monica Day

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Vacation, sweet vacation. I love it! Today I took advantage of my car and drove to the Santa Monica library to open an account and get some books.

This library is ah-mah-zing! First of all, its super modern and clean looking. There is a little courtyard with a coffee shop and a beautiful water feature and gorgeous desert plants. It’s a total oasis. On the inside the library looks like a bookstore. There is so much light and the books are laid out so nicely. I have love in my heart for the Boston Public Library, but this is a pretty damn good replacement. This time I got several “light and fun” books. I love non fiction but I just can’t read them right now. My brain needs to detox from law school for a while. So I grabbed my books and hit the cafe:

It was so relaxing. Then I went to the Third St. Promenade and took a yoga class at Yoga Co.  I was a bit early so I took some pictures along Ocean Ave. More reasons I love California:

Now, that is a beach!!! After kicking around taking pictures I headed over to Yoga Co.

I loved my experience at Yoga Co! The last time I did yoga was 9 months ago and it was Bikram. I like Bikram but its really intense and expensive and isn’t that relaxing. I look a vinyasa flow class which was awesome. I really needed to stretch out after all the running I’ve been doing and this did the trick. Nice, slow, long poses. My hip seriously cracked 20 times.

Overall, the studio is amazing. The classes in two of the rooms are by donation, so I wasn’t sure how nice the studio would be but it was clean and well decorated. The studio themselves are some of the nicest I’ve ever practiced it. My teacher, Joey Soto, was so nice and so is the rest of the staff. I was in the earth room today and my class only had 5 students which was great. I love a small class because the teachers give more attention to the students and the postures. At the end we got to do a 20 min meditation which was relaxing. I haven’t done a full meditation in a long time and it was nice to take stock of my body and my breathing and just let go of any tension and worries. When I left I was so serene.

Even though I haven’t done yoga in a long time I fell right back into it. My teacher said that I have a good practice. I think it because Bikram is very focused on the postures and perfecting them which I was able to translate into my yoga practice. Plus, it totally strengthened my muscles. I can’t wait to do back to Yoga Co!

New Car!

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Sorry I didn’t blog yesterday, but I was busy getting this…

Yay! Proud owners of a 2006 Toyota Corolla! Yes, its used, but it’s in great condition and runs well. I went to carmax and it was super easy to get my car. Literally, test drove it and decided I liked it and drove it off the lot. I also went to Target and got a beach chair and stocked up on cat food. Bonus of having a car is that I can buy 24 cans of food at one time. The I drove home on the 101 to the 405 (I went 70, I felt like a 16 year old). I got off the freeway and drove directly to Susie Cakes.

Yum! I went on a run (which was something I hadn’t done for several days between finals and being hung over from celebrating finals). Then I enjoyed my cupcake. I got Mocha this time and it was really good. Super moist, but not as moist as the pineapple upside down cupcake.

Today I have a busy day planned: reading the New York Times, going to the library and donation yoga. I cannot wait to drive all over the city! This means great things for Left Coast Contessa!

#101 Finish 1L

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I cannot believe this year is over! This has been a challenging year for me and I feel so accomplished now that its over. Nothing matches the feeling of taking on a challenge, working hard, and finishing the task. Of course, yesterday was a gorgeous LA day:

Seriously, I’m never leaving. I love that its almost always going to be a perfect day is LA.

We had our final from 1:15 til 4:45, then we were shuffled from the testing room directly to the courtyard for this…

and this…

I knew when I got the email that there would be cake after the final that I picked the right law school. I love UCLA because literally all I wanted after the final was cake and champagne. And of course there were picture.

And there were drinks…   Car bomb and margaritas and champagne oh my.

I have to admit that I’m a little sluggish this AM but that’s OK because I have NOTHING to do today. Well, actually not nothing. I have a pool party in the Valley to attend. But nothing that requires brain power. I have to get going but, UCLA LAW class of 2012, we did it!!

3 done, ONE TO GO!

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Can you see it? The finish line is in my sights! There will probably not be any blogging here until Friday. I have my final final in two days (Civ Pro) and Thursday night will be a party night with no blogging. There are so many things I cannot wait to do after I’m done with finals:

  • Get a car
  • Read the Sunday New York Times
  • Go to the beach
  • Get a library card
  • Try a donation based yoga studio in Santa Monica
  • See my little bro, whose visiting LA a week from Thursday!

There is so much to look forward to, not to mention the huge feeling of relief when 1L ends. I mentioned getting back into yoga, and I definitely need to. My hips and knees have been really tight since I got back into running and are starting to hurt slightly. On my off running days I’m going to start going to yoga. Until I get my car I’m doing yoga from home. This presents a slight challenge:

Perhaps “play with Izzy” should be on my list of things to do. I get the feeling she is restless. And hungry. The past two nights she has started counter surfing and trying to eat a bag of bread. I almost always have some type of food on the kitchen counter and its never been an issue.I had to hide all the food!

As mentioned today I had a final. Then I went on an awesome run! My post final runs are always some of my best. After I had roasted brussle sprouts with multi grain pilaf. After I entered my calories into “Lose It!” I realized that with my food, minus the running and walking calories I burned, I still had 900 calories that I could consume. Obviously I went to the promise land:

And obviously I had no problem finishing it off:

Red velvet + chocolate = amazing. OK, I’m going to enjoy my night off because tomorrow it is ON!

Mint Juleps

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As some of you might be aware, today is the Kentucky Derby. I decided long ago that this was the year I would make my own mint juleps, the traditional Derby drink. I made a half-hearted attempt to throw a derby party, but apparently law students with a massacre-like con law final two days away aren’t that into day drinking. Shock! Or not. I wasn’t that into hosting people over. That would require cleaning my apartment, making a lot of drinks, and honestly I have a lot of work to do also. So I decided to mix a mint julep, keep the con law flash cards in front of me and enjoy the Derby.

My Grandfather’s family is from Kentucky. As a child we took a lot of trips to the Kentucky Horse Park and we even have water glasses that list the winners of the derby. There’s lots of family lore which my Grammy would regale my brother and I with while we were growing up and every year we pay attention to the Derby. I don’t exactly put my hand over my heart when they play, “My Old Kentucky Home” but I’ve always enjoyed the Derby. It should also be noted that attending the derby is on my bucket list.

So this year, I decided to make Mint Juleps. The traditional Mint Julep recipe includes bourbon, simple syrup and mint. For my recipe I deferred to my Aunt who is the family expert. The Old Family Recipe includes: crushed ice, mint infused simple syrup, bourbon, and a mint sprig. First I made the mint infused simple syrup several days before the derby.

I took equal parts water and sugar, one cup each, and heat it until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar has all dissolved, the syrup will be clear at that time, turn off the heat and let the syrup cool. After turning off the heat, let a container of mint sit in the syrup until the syrup has completely cooled off.

Once I let the syrup cool off and the mint “infuse” I put the simple syrup in a container and refrigerate until I wanted to use it today.

I was told when making mint juleps its important to use a short glass…

And, crushed ice is also important… and since I don’t have an ice crusher I did this:

Eh, It worked! Then you measure out simple syrup and bourbon. I used a jigger of each because I have to run later. Also, I bought the cheapest bourbon that they offer (whoops, 101 proof).

As mentioned above, I bought the cheapest bourbon that Trader Joe’s has to offer. Wild Turkey doesn’t scream “class and distinction” but it was cheap and whoops 101 proof. Seems like I’m going to have an interesting boozy run later. Yeah, not ideal, but I’m at the end of my loan money so I have a hard time justifying more classy bourbon.

anddddd Viola!

Delicious. That’s all I have to say. The syrup definitely tastes like mint but isn’t overpoweringly sweet or minty which is good. This is the perfect warm spring afternoon drink, and no wonder its a derby staple.

The horses are getting into their stalls so I have to stop blogging and pay attention! Happy Derby Day everyone!

Mad Sprint to Freedom

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We’re almost there!!!! Less than a week. Ugh, everything I’ve been eating lately has, sadly, not been blog worthy. But I have other announcements:

First, Happy May Day

Not only is May Day a day that raises awareness of important social issues, but it’s a major Simmons College tradition. Above you can see me with long hair my Sophomore year on the far left doing the may pole dance. The tradition involves running through the senior dorms way too early in the morning with pots and pans, waking up said seniors and then dancing around the may pole. Then we indulge in a strawberry breakfast. I loved participating sophomore year and it was great being woken up by the sophomores last year, about two weeks before graduation. May day is one of my many cherished Simmons memories. Plus, how New England woman’s college is this tradition? I love it.

Secondly, I have an urge to blog about issues again. I had a short lived blog on the Simmons College network where I talked about actual political and social issues. Maybe its the finals stir craziness, but I have an urge to write about the racist email that was sent at Harvard Law last week. BUT. I will NOT write anything until after finals are over because it would only serve to be a distraction. Yell at me to focus on my studying via blog comments if I post any sort of commentary. But check this article which I think does a good job of summing up several main issues related to the email. I’ve been appalled by the commentary on above the law and was glad to find another source of commentary.

That’s it for now. I promise to have something more interesting later.

Welcome to the Future

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Do you think this is what the skype people had in mind when they were creating their product? Today at the Constitutional Law review session my professor skyped in from France. Goldstein was a total champ for spyking in from France at 11 pm. If I were in France I would be eating a fromage course and drinking red wine, not leading a review session. Plus, the session its self was highly entertaining. Nothing like an older man with a headset and some prankster was sending a message across the screen that said “Antonin Scalia, ‘I am the law””.

After a highly entertaining review session I went on a run. It was a really hard run, and not in a good way. My legs felt like they were in peanut butter. I’m not sure if it was the wind, the fact that I’ve been sitting a lot, or the fact that I hadn’t had any protein but I couldn’t seem to “break through”. It was frustrating and I didn’t feel satisfied after my run so I did “yoga abs” on the On Demand. It was nice to do something not running so I plan to incorporate it more often. Yoga is such a great workout and really works your arms and abs. I really want focus on working yoga and abs into my workout on a consistent basis.

#21 Get a Driver's License

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Well, I did it! I passed my drivers test and officially am a licensed driver in California! Take it off the bucket list. What does one do to celebrate?

Obviously, a trip to Clementine for grilled cheese and a huge brownie. April is grilled cheese month and so this was the last opportunity for me to get one. I had a white cheddar with roasted tomatoes.

Gooey cheese is SO GOOD!

Of course, no meal is complete without an iced tea.

At this point I decided to decamp to the Coffee Bean because the vultures were swooping in for my table. But before I left I made sure that I picked up a little something sweet to celebrate my victory:

Victory never tasted so sweet. Now if you will excuse me, I have a hot date with civil procedure. Only 8 days left of 1L, oh god, so much work to do!

#21 Get a Driver’s License

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Well, I did it! I passed my drivers test and officially am a licensed driver in California! Take it off the bucket list. What does one do to celebrate?

Obviously, a trip to Clementine for grilled cheese and a huge brownie. April is grilled cheese month and so this was the last opportunity for me to get one. I had a white cheddar with roasted tomatoes.

Gooey cheese is SO GOOD!

Of course, no meal is complete without an iced tea.

At this point I decided to decamp to the Coffee Bean because the vultures were swooping in for my table. But before I left I made sure that I picked up a little something sweet to celebrate my victory:

Victory never tasted so sweet. Now if you will excuse me, I have a hot date with civil procedure. Only 8 days left of 1L, oh god, so much work to do!

2 Down, 2 To Go

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Well, finals are officially halfway done! Today I had my property final. It went as expected. I’ve never left a law school final thinking it was easy. If it was easy everyone would do it, right? The first part was particularly challenging. We had 33 questions and an hour, which is less than 2 min. per question. And the questions? About 90% of them were at least a half page long. Gah! And its curved so who the hell knows how you actually did. So basically, thinking about it is a recipe for driving your self crazy. When I got home I was preoccupied by the final but I decided to put it aside and go on a run. MAN! I felt good after! I just left all my anxiety on the pavement. Plus, my new mix totally came through in the clutch. What does one do after a final and a killer run?

A glass of Bordeaux obviously (check Iz out in the background. Totally interested obviously). And I had a pasta with my homemade sauce which I enhanced with roasted tomatoes. It made the whole experience so much more flavorful. Then I made a mango soda with the leftover mango compote from this morning and seltzer water:

Isn’t it pretty? Now mix…

It was SO GOOD. It was almost better than breakfast. The mango is refreshing and adds a bit of pizazz to otherwise boring seltzer water. You will have to excuse me now… I have to watch Glee.