No Restraint

Rachel Palley Split Back Mini Dress

• Rachel Palley Cape Mini Dress

Loeffler Randall. I didn't get these flats, but the heels I did get were very similar in color and style.

• These were from the last shopbop order.

A New Love

Recently, I realized I've bought seven pairs of shoes within the last year of school. After four years of college, a year in D.C. and two years of law school, I realized all my shoes were sadly out of date. I still had these black chunky heels from high school that I thought went with everything, but compared to my best friends sexy heels, they were quite shabby and juvenile.

And I did not have any fashionable work shoes! Who needed work shoes when you worked in a biology lab for the government? But now as a corporate whore, if I have to get up early to go to work, at least I can look forward to primping and wearing something nice.
























Banana Republic. They look nice, but these pinch at the toes after a full day of walking in the office.

Then flats became the rage and I didn't own any flats. I'm not even 5'2" so wearing flats was limited to flip flops and sneakers to avoid feeling like a shrimp everyday. Even sneakers have a slight raised heel though. But the flats this past year have been pretty cute and a few weeks ago I caved and bought a pair of Dolce Vitas from Urban Outfitters on clearance:

























I always liked the feel of Dolce Vitas because the leather is nice and soft. The flats didn't give me any bruises at all after wearing them for long periods of time.

The rest of my shoes recently purchased within the last year:



















Dolce Vita
Nine West - best work shoes because I feel so tall (at least 3" taller) and smart in them and they are still comfortable
Enzo Angiolini - bought these for Super Roomie's birthday in Vegas when peep toes started coming in
Linea Paolo - love their shoes. I always look to see what new styles Linea Paolo has in the Nordstrom's shoe department.



















Ballerina kitten heels from Tribeca, also from Nordstroms
Guess casual sneakers because my grungy workout shoes just aren't stylish enough when I want to go out but want aesthetics and comfort .

Today was a lecture on the performance essay portion of the Bar exam. It was half pep talk and half strategy and tips for the bar. The guy was personable and told us about all these people who had various difficulties during the exam but still passed: war veteran who was a slow reader because a grenade exploded near his head (he got extra time, but still could only read the first document in the library after 90 minutes) - he passed, a lady who just had a child the same year, someone who on the day of the exam got out of the shower, slipped, knocked her head on the counter and had a concussion but still took the test, a man who had to go to Russia for two weeks to pick up his adopted kid, a woman who rewrote half of her performance essay after her computer crashed - they all passed.

Practicing is obviously the key, even if I don't know a subject that well (I can always look it up later to brush up and I won't forget it again after seeing it as a test question), so my goal is to write at least one essay a day other than the one assigned, and if there's too much homework, then at least one portion of the prompt. I know my weak spot are the essays, so if I keep practicing and learning how to take them, I think I'll feel good on test day.

Shopping helps a little bit.

We've finished reviewing all the subjects on the MBE (multiple choice section) and now we're onto subjects that are only tests in the essay portions. I really do not like how the Bar examiners grade answers because we have to enumerate each and every element even if we know one element is dispositive.

Enough grumbling. Here's what I've bought so far as retail therapy, one of the few bright spots during these endless days of studying:




































Goldsign Lust jeans from shopbop.com. These are my favorite brand of jeans. Sevens and True Religions just don't fit me correctly. Super roomie was right: once you start wearing designer jeans, you can never go back. They just look so good and if you get the right fit, the jeans are still pretty comfortable.

















Hanky panky boyshorts on super sale for $11.90. I know you are asking, $12 for underwear?? But hanky panky makes the most comfortable thongs I know, so the boyshorts are probably fine and won't give me annoying wedgies. These are usually a ridiculous $40.00.



















A&F shorts on clearance. They are not super short like most of my other shorts so I can wear them later when I have to be more respectable and hide the inner hoochie-mama.

Workout update
Chest

1. 35 lbs dbs for chest press on flat bench.
   
2. 32.5 lbs for incline bench.
   
3. 65 lbs on each side for decline chest on the Hammer Strength machine. I get scared doing the decline chest press with dumbbells by myself, so I use this instead.

Back

1. 80 lbs for seated rows.
   

Biceps

1. 40 lbs (the bar plus small plates) for preacher curls!
   

Legs

1. Lunges with 27.5s dbs. I think I might start doing lunches with the squat bar now since it's a bit hard on the triceps to hold the dbs while I'm doing lunges.
2. 80 lbs for stiff-legged deadlift. These always kill me the next day.