Day 26 - Blah

I woke up this morning feeling like P. Diddy, assuming P. Diddy drank too many sugary drinks the night before and didn't want to go to trial team practice.

There's really not much to share about my day. The majority of it was spent at GU. After practice, I enjoyed a typical Hilen dinner of steak and potatoes. Gotta love when the hubs cooks! Dinner was so heavy that I needed a bit of time to digest before heading to the gym. I did 45 minutes on the stair machine and was ready to call it a night. I've got a few dishes to clean in the kitchen and then bed. I hope you have a great week!

Day 25 - Bad Choices

The day started out well.  I got up and went for a 3 mile run around my neighborhood.  Each shoe felt like it weighed 50 lbs and the cold air stung in my chest, but I finished.  I think I'll take a day off of running and do something lower impact to give my legs a break.  They felt like rubber by the time I got back.  I lost my balance when I kicked off my running shoes, resulting in the banging my "funny bone" on the wall... which turned out not to be so funny.

After some swearing and a shower, I headed down to GU for trial team practice.  We put on a full practice round, both plaintiff and defense presenting their full cases.  Our competition is now less than a week away and I am starting to feel more confident that we are, in fact, going to win.  Some (most) may call that arrogance, but I like to think of it as a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

If there is one thing that I've learned through this experience, it's that I LOVE LITIGATION!  For the most part, law school is awful.  I am certain, however, that being lawyer will be awesome.  Litigating is the perfect meld of my talents (exercising compassion and being argumentative while putting on a show for the jury).  Again with the arrogance, but I can't help it.  I've found my calling and am excited to see where it takes me.

Before my head gets much more inflated, I must also share the low points of my day.  I mad some BAD choices in terms of consumption.  After practice, I CRAVED pizza rolls.  Charlie and I lived on pizza rolls in college and for some reason I had to have them today.  They weren't nearly as good as I had remembered, but that didn't stop me from eating 2 servings worth.  I was starving (impatient), so while they were cooking I had three chocolate chip cookies.  Why three?  Because one wasn't enough and I am not a fan of even numbers.  It's fascinating how much less sense that makes now that I've written it for the universe to read, but at the time my logic seemed spot on.

Having gorged on pizza rolls and cookies, I decided to skip dinner.  Had I known then how much alcohol I'd consume later that night, I probably would have made a different choice.  One of Charlie's co-workers was celebrating his 30th birthday at the piano bar and since we didn't have a high school dance to attend we decided to go out for the night.  Charlie and I going out is about as rare as a Cougar football win (sorry Cougs, but it's getting ridiculous).  I don't want to know how many miles it will take to burn off the calories from the booze.  Don't get me wrong, we had a great time.  But the day after you start to think that three shots after two sugary mixed drinks and a glass of wine was probably a bit excessive.  Live and learn!

That said, I think I'm going to lay off the sauce until finals are over.  I rarely drink to begin with, but it's definitely time for me to buckle down and focus.  Plus, when I am struggling with each step on my way to summiting Mt. Rainier, I doubt I'll regret having skipped a glass of wine every now and then in exchange for running a few more miles.

Day 24 - TGIF

There were many reasons to be thankful today beyond just the fact that it was Friday.  Although I was EXTREMELY tired all morning, I managed to pull off a correct answer in my Evidence class.  VICTORY!!!  To celebrate and try to boost my energy, I treated myself to 12oz nonfat and no whip salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks.  I bumped into a group of classmates that I rarely get a chance to chat with and enjoyed spending a few minutes hanging out outside of the law school.

I then returned to the library where, THANKFULLY, I convinced myself to be productive.  I've got a 20 page paper due in a few weeks for my Comparative Women's Rights class and it has yet to write itself.  Looks like I'm going to have to write it after all.  So much for all of that darn star light star bright nonsense!  Apparently wishing on a star only works if you've been locked in a tower of a castle by your wicked step mother.  Anyway, I got a few hours of research done and am feeling much more confident about where the paper is heading.

This semester I've been working with a group called The Ministry Institute and have had a blast.  Catholic Fathers and Sisters from around the world come to Gonzaga to learn English or to obtain an advanced degree.  I've met several individuals from China, Kenya, the Philippines and Tanzania.  On Fridays, the group usually has some sort of social activity and today it was card making.  We spent a few hours making beautiful Christmas cards and socializing.  I am always thankful for the time I spend with this group, because they make me forget the stresses of school.  Despite some language barriers, we always find a way to make each other laugh.

This picture is of Sister Agatha (Tanzania) and I with our cards.  Try explaining the concept of snowmen to someone who has never seen snow...  "You do what with the carrot?"

I was most thankful today, however, to not have a trial team practice.  I enjoy my teammates, but we have seen WAY too much of each other these last few weeks.  We've got LONG practices scheduled this weekend where we'll put on a full trial and then evaluate what still needs work.  There's only one week left until our competition in San Francisco and having the night off will definitely go a long way in helping me power through the next few days.  In it to win it baby!!!

I probably could have taken the night off from physical activity, but then I would've had no excuse to watch the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Making the Team.  We don't have cable at home, so I walked the treadmill in our apartment gym for 30 minutes so I could watch one of my guiltiest pleasures.  I've got to be at school early tomorrow morning, but I am hoping to get up and do a quick three mile run outside.  Forecasts call for snow starting next weekend.  I am determined to run outdoors as much as possible until it is no longer safe to do so (or I get too wimpy and don't want to deal with the cold). 

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!  Peace.

Day 23 - Done

I did indeed get up and do 5 at 5. That's what I call starting the day off right!

After my first class, Charlie asked me to join him for an etiquette lunch for one of his business classes. Ironically, I stood up abrupdtly from the table to take a phone call. What could have possibly been important enough to be so rude? I took a call to schedule a lunch interview for the following week, during which I'll probably need the etiquette skills I missed while away on the phone. I ate a deep fried oyster. Scratch that off the list of things you only need to try once. YUCK!

My shoulder started to hurt as the day progressed. It's not too bad when rotating my shoulder in little circles, but it hurts like crazy to raise and lower my arm as if I were asking qustion.

I've fallen asleep twice trying to finish this post. Must. Go. To. Bed. Now.

Day 22 - What self-esteem?

Yikes, today was more than slightly demoralizing. It started with Pilates (with weights!) and ended with business slacks shopping. Nothing does more for a girl's ego than having a fitness instructor look you in the eye when she explains the "easy modification" or having to pass the sizes that used to fit and go to the back of the sales rack. I understand the rationalization for putting the clothes in size order, but how many 2's, 4's and 6's does one need to sort through before finding their size? Perhaps Macy's is trying to give us bigger girls a little more exercise during our shopping experience. Thanks for helping a sister out!

By the time I got home, in felt the need to go back to the gym and put in an hour or two on the treadmill. BUT, this was the first night in a long time that I could crash on the couch. It may be a really ugly and uncomfortable flower covered couch, but I've missed it and it's missed me.

I've got a full day tomorrow and will only have time to work out in the morning. If I snooze, I lose! I'm going to try for 5 at 5. That is, 5 miles at 5 AM. Night!

Day 21 - Boring

I've got nothing really exciting to share about my day.  It consisted of class, teaching my little dancers, trial team meeting and a workout.  The highlight was that one of my classes was canceled.  I do not find joy in my professor's poor health, but I applaud her decision to stay home and get well.

My trial team meeting was scheduled from 6-8, so naturally we didn't leave until after 9:30.  By the time I got home, I did NOT want to workout.  I even made Charlie get on the blog to see how long it had been since my last rest day.  Not long enough.  I wound up doing 30 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the bike.  I debated going home after the elliptical, but one of my good friends arrived just in time.  We were long overdue for some girl talk and gossip and the last 20 minutes flew by.

That's pretty much it for today.  Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to post soon.

Oh, and an Owl's favorite subject is clearly Owl-gebra.  Duh.

Day 20 - Not your Grandma's Pilates

So I have done Pilates-Relax at the dance studio and I tried Pi-Yo at the gym last week, but NOTHING could have prepared me for this morning's straight up intense Pilates class. The classes I've taken previously weren't easy, but they had nothing on this bad boy.

It was basically an hour of non-stop core work. We did every crunch, twist and leg lift known to man. It was the hardest workout I've had in a LONG time.  My muscles got so fatigued that I begged and pleaded with my legs to lift of the floor, but they just wouldn't budge.  Yet another reminder of how far I have fallen on the fitness ladder.

The icing on the cake was that after class, a bouncy brunette came up to me and said "I hope to see you on Wednesday, we do this same thing, but with weights!" I almost punched her in the face.

I'll give it another try, but I will not be using weights.  I will probably hide in the back so no one notices when I pass out.  I am working on convincing a friend to go with me.  Would you be sold based on this description?  I'm sure they're going to say yes.

The rest of my day was pretty much awful, but I survived it.  I'll spare you the sordid details and leave you with this riddle from a Laffy Taffy wrapper:
What's an Owl's favorite subject?

You'll have to tune in tomorrow to find out!

Goodnight!