Updates + Primitivo Wine Bar

 Dins with Priyah in Venice

  

So this week has been crayyyyyyyy. I started work on Tuesday at the LA City Attorney in the family violence unit, which covers child abuse, domestic violence, elder abuse, etc., both misdemeanor and felony cases. I've been working a ton, i.e. motions, order, briefs, manuals, points and authorities, and I got to go to court on Thursday and it's just plain amazing. The office is dynamic and high pressure and there are about 15 attorneys, I get to work with every day. Currently, I'm working on a points and authorities on when and how to serve minor witnesses when their parent/guardian is the defendant in a child abuse case. It may sound a little grim, but as an avid follower of Law and Order: SVU, this is dream come true.

This week, I also got to have lunch with my favorite journalist, Anthony, at the LA Farmer's Market - yummy BBQ chicken and I've fallen in love with the iced americanos at Groundwork. One day, I worked 11.5 hours with a 30 minute break for coffee, so those are going to be my saving grace.

Other fun things this week:

- The Gold Room with Evan and company for PBRs. So hipster-y and dive-y. Love it.
- Brunch at 26 Beach with Veronica last Saturday - S'more French toast with Nutella. I had two bites - it was so sweet, but soooooo good. And seeing V always puts me in a good mood. Plus she is moving to DTLA, so hopefully I'll get to see her more often!
- Yoga with Steph at Lululemon, lattes at Caffe Luxxe, and a beach day with Katie - it was far too wonderful of day; those girls spoil me with their amazingness.

- Memorial Day BBQ with Steph at Venice Beach - we had these phenomenal cookies and waded in the water

- Smoothies at Silver Lake Juice and Tea. I got the Hurricane Chuck with espresso, cacao nibs, almond milk, and a whole bunch of yummy vegan things.
- Apt hunting. I'm looking for a room or studio in Silver Lake or Echo Park. I saw three places this week - a house of artists by the reservoir (walking distance to La Mill); an apartment in Echo Park with two boys, walking distance to Thirsty Crow, but a little, um, decrepit; then a house a block from Stories, butttt too many people I think. All the places were super cute, but there isn't any rush. I want to find somewhere that I can see myself living for at least the next year with legit people, so wish me luck!

SOOOO, last night Priyah, Evan, and I hit up the Abbot Kinney First Friday. It was jam-packed but so fun. We ended up taking a break from humanity and having wine and tapas at Primitive Wine Bistro, which I had seen on Thrillist. We tried a South African syrah (Porcupine), which was spicy and fruity. And we also shared a hummus plate and cured meat platter. It was so relaxing and fun. The wine selection was phenomenal and the food was carefully chosen and prepared. The service was ridiculously good. And Priyah and Evan are two of my favorite people so it was a wonderful way to end my hectic week. I think I could get used to this whole working thing :-)

I don't know how to relax...

So I finished finals last Thursday. Partied that night. Did random stuff Friday, including interacting with Magic Johnson while eating cheese, walking around the beach, and meeting the new director of the LSE in Bel-Air. It was a weird day. Saturday and Sunday, I forced myself to relax, but by Monday I was in dire need of human interaction and was rather cranky. Thank god, on Tuesday, Evan dropped by downtown Fully for drinks at the Pint House, a tour of my high school (riveting), and then apple pie at Rutas - the best ever in the universe, so delish. My brother and I then made dinner (juice for me, orange chicken for him,) and watched Twilight: Breaking Dawn. That movie is even worse than I expected. Jesus.

Today, I met Aimee for tea at Tranquil Tea and split the lavender scone. I gymmed it up, then watered the garden. My mom is coming back from vacay tomorrow, but I have to do some stuff in LA, so this afternoon's agenda is mostly cleaning and polishing up the house for her and reading through my law review materials. I'm afraid I've been a handful for my family the last few days - I'm a bit anxious about grades and starting work: more scared of the former, more excited for the latter = crazy beeze. Aimee and I are gonna kick it more while she's in town, probs a joint study/work sesh; brunch with Veronica on Saturday; hopefully, the beach.

Also, I want to make my mom a lavender blueberry pie. Yummmmmm :-)

1L Over. Still Recovering.

Well that was quick. I can't believe my first year of law school is over. Crazy. Amazing. Busy.

After my immigration law final, Jennfer, Erica, Evan and I went to Wurstkuche for delish food and drink: I has the Sante Fe with Spicy peppers and caramelized onions with a white Chimay. Then I convinced everyone to have dessert at The Pie Hole (it wasn't a hard sell and its conveniently across the street) and we got Mexican Hot Chocolate Pie and the sea-salt caramel chocolate crostada. It was the second time I had the crostada and I think it's one of my fave desserts of all-time.

Then I headed home for a bit and we met up with Evan, Ladi, Casey, and Jennifer to have a bit of champagne before going to Elevate in Downtown for the bar review. It has an amazing view of LA and was a beautiful place to hang out with my section-mates without worrying about contracts.

More on yesterday later, but I've spent the whole of today relaxing with my family and sorting out some odds and ends.

Now listening to this: The Tallest Man On Earth, "1904" I didn't realize The Tallest Man on Earth was releasing anything new, so it was a wonderful surprise. Now back to watching the Lakers game with my dad. Some photos from Thursday:

Yum lunch:

Delishhhhhh pie:

Evan and Jennifer:

Erica:

This photo sums up our year I think:

{On the Town} Salvage and Edendale

Yesterday was a frustrating one. Although Evan and I worked all day at the DTLA library, my understanding of damages calculations went from um, zero to uh, zil. Irritating. I think we were just making it more complicated than our professor will. I hope. So then Evan and I tried out the Salvage Happy Hour and had Stone IPA. Thank god for Stone. We were on the patio which was perfect for the weather but all the smokers were a little much to deal with.

At which point, I toddled back to the libs and worked on problems till I met the old roomies, Alene, Aline, and Seds, at Edendale. Edendale is a chic gastropub type place in Silverlake off Rowena. Anthony recommended this restaurant to me a few months ago and it's centrally located for all us girls. First off, the ambience is tremendous - beautiful woods, lovely outdoor space, low-lit, and intimate. It would be a great date spot (you know if I did those,) yet it was also perfect for a group of four of us. And the food and drink? Like stop. So good. Alene and I both had the The Eden Dip, which was an upscale version of French Dip: oxtail, gouda, and a rich, rich, au jus. So delicious, but rich. It was perfectly prepared and the balance of flavors was en pointe. I'm glad I got the salad as a side instead of the fries, because it was already overwhelmingly rich. I also had the Anciano Reserva 04 tempranillo, which was on the sweeter side and full-bodied. I think the pinot would have been a better pairing, bc there were just a lot of flavors going on. Then we ended with a chocolate waffle with caramelized banana. It was as good as it sounds. But the best part is just being with my girls. I miss living with all of them, and the stories, and outrageous sense of humor. LOVELOVELOVLEOVELOVELOVLEOVLEOVLEO.

 Currently at the Silverlake Public Library with Evan, attempting more contracts problems and we're thinking of vegan food for lunch :-)

 Some good music:

Mini-Break from Finals

CivPro and Torts down. Contracts and Immigration to go. My brain is non-functional at the moment, especially because of my five hour torts exam yesterday afternoon. Afterwards, I hit up Octopus Sushi in downtown with 20 of my comrades and had the jalapeño poppers as a lil snack - yummmm. Then I went to my new hotspot, Misfit, in Santa Monica to have dinner with Alexis, Paige, and Steph. Paige and I split the bacon-wrapped, stuffed dates and a chili burger. My fave part was my spiked rosemary lemonade - So refreshing and much needed. I felt like we were in an episode of Sex and the City. My girls are hilarious. I want to start a blog of our love lives (or lack thereof in my case.) Also I realized that my writing style has plummeted after all my exam writing. I'm sorry. I hope it gets better. Until then, just deal with my lack of varied sentence structure.

 

On Sunday, Evan and I studied in Echo Park at Stories (lovely backyard patio with delish lattes and some hipster characters) and then went to Sage for a vegan soul bowl (I fucking love quinoa. and the creamy garlic polenta, mac and cheese, and roasted root veg made me so happy).

 Now I'm listening to the new Norah Jones. Love "Happy Pills." I plan on staying in bed and pinning all day. I might go to the gym. I also might make donut muffins filled with Nutella. Contracts can wait until tomorrow.

Stress Relief

I've been studying non-stop for the last week or so. I've studied at Profeta in Westwood, Young Research Library, Urth Caffe (both in Venice and DTLA), the Silverlake Library, the Marina Del Rey Loyola campus, my school library, various Starbucks, at home, in bed, on the patio, at the gym. I love the ritual of studying - the coffee, the little tasks, and realizing how much I've learned over the last year.

But of course, you can have too much of a good thing and after a long study sesh yesterday, I hit my wall and had a mini-meltdown that I cured with a few tears and black salt caramel dark chocolate and a great talk with my friend Rob. I think my major thing is that I LOVE SCHOOL. It's what I'm good at. It's what I love to do. But now I have to start making some real decisions about where my life is going to go and those have to be backed up with actual thought, logic, funds, and probably some sacrifice. Ugh. Also during finals, I get these massive urges to restructure my life and remember all the things I wanted to do by now and still want to do that I haven't quite gotten around to and then I get heart palpitations, blah blah blah. But then I take a breather and realize that I can still go to India, create an urban farm, become a yoga instructor, and write a novel in due time. Plus, revert back to vegetarianism, learn how to brew beer, go through my closet, and figure out my career/ if anyone knows an easy way to get a legal advocacy position with an international NGO, that would be greattttt. More on that later, but until then, I've been playing this on repeat. I've been listening to Oh, Daughter since my time in London and it quells my anxieties :-)

Jam in the Van: #savethevan

Last night, Priyah invited me to a backyard music fundraiser in Venice for Jam in the Van.

From Jam in the Van's website: 

"In short, Jam in the Van was created by a group of friends, each from a different walk of life and background, each with one common bond, the love of music. We built a Jam Van by turning an old Winnebago into a professional sound studio.  We invite musicians inside of the van to record intimate HD sessions to showcase the artists' live performances. "

Jam in the Van has had performers as Meiko, The Peach Kings, Vanaprasta, and Honey Island Swamp Band (which are coincidentally, some of my faves.)

Jam in the Van recently went to SXSW and the van went through a lot so they were raising money to make a new van, hence the #savethevan event last night. So for $10 each, we got to hear amazing music from The Dustbowl Revival (my folk love at its best) and got to meet the members as well as meet the bassist from John Wayne Bro (a little Black Keys-ish) and tons of other local musicians. (And there was beer.) 

This is a pretty amazing thing and I think everyone should donate to/follow Jam in the Van 

:-)

Overall, after a day of studying, it was an amazing end to the week - Thank you, Priyah for the invite!

Some music from last night: