on a peddle boat in Catalina

All smiles since the seasickness has not kicked in.

In other news, the fruit flies are gone, but now I have real flies. Internet, you did not warn me of this.

homemade fruit fly trap

Oh internet, what would I do with you. You can't see, but there are definitely fruit flies drowning in wine at the bottom of this trap.

Bonus, the internet taught me how to uncork a wine bottle (to supply the bait for this trap).

Fish fail

I went fishing for the first time last Saturday. My brother's friend, Jordan, just bought a boat. No one on that boat knew how to fish. No one knew how to launch a boat. Jordan had never driven a boat. Recipe for fun times.

We went to Huntington Beach early in the morning with sandwiches, coffees and a grill ("just in case we get lucky"- Jordan). Jordan and Greg attempted to launch the boat. They told us there were far more YouTube videos on how not to launch a boat than how to launch a boat. Objective: don't drag the SUV underwater.

Successfully launched the boat. 2 other friends were late/ got lost, so we did donuts around the port waiting for them. OC Sheriff's department asked if we needed assistance.

Went out to sea. Had an anchor but nothing to secure to the anchor. We floated toward the shoreline and had to drive back out every 20-30 minutes. Lifeguard tower warned us we were getting too close to the swim zone.

Docked the boat. They were total noobs at this too and I saw other groups staring at us. After that, we went to "Claws" in Garden Grove. Enjoyed seafood caught and prepared by professionals.

Vegas!

We headed out last Friday night. My cousin generously let us stay in her condo. We went to Encore Beach, Studio B buffet and Marquee. Silly me, I didn't know that there were "hot" clubs in Vegas. I guess those are always the new ones? My friend tells me Studio B and Gallery are the place to be. I felt bad, because Steph and I got comped everywhere and Kevin had to pay. =/ Next time, an estrogen only trip.

Here are the few pictures from my camera.

The girls:

The couples:

Boring posing.

She's giving the camera ferocious tiger.

My instruction: "Give me pensive. You're thoughtful. You're wondering where to put your money now that T-bills have been downgraded."

There's a lot of a dumb pictures of Steph and me dancing which have been omitted.

We left early Sunday morning. I got back and realized I was missing a BBQ. Sad.

I started my first week of work! I got a call from another tutoring place and I was at the courthouse, so I couldn't call them back right away. I'll be persistent this time.

Last night's dinner. I ate everything but the pasta. Gotta keep the stomach empty in preparation for Vegas gluttony.

clothing haul

Still don't have a tripod. Bear with me. I usually buy clothes piece by piece and never really do hauls. This is kind of a collective last month/ finally updating my wardrobe haul.

I LOVE these wedges. They were such a lucky find. $16 at Crossroads (my local thrift store).

Lace top from F21- $13ish

necklace from F21

belt from Uniqlo

shorts (originally Citizen jeans that ripped)

Dress from H&M- $20
necklace from American Eagle

I love that they are little bows! I'm glad that bows are still somewhat in style. I can see this dress paired with a cardigan and headband to make the look extra saccharine sweet. I also enjoy the pockets on this dress. All dresses should have pockets.

Vegas dress! I was determined to find a cute cut out dress, but I fell in love with this one in the store. After taking pictures in it, I started feeling a little buyer's remorse (it was final sale). I haven't really seen a dress like this and I like the draping.

clubbing clothes idea

Decided to do a quick informative post, since all my posts lately have been life, blah blah. If I haven't been clubbing in awhile, I always look up club clothes to see what the current trends are. I've picked out a couple here. This is by no means an exhaustive list. (I've excluded rompers for no good reason.)

For me, club wear is figure hugging clothes that kind of trails into trashy, but stops right at the dividing line. I'm not writing a post about looking "classy" at a club, because you're there to rub up on drunk dudes. How classy can that be? My rule of thumb is: if enough other women are wearing the same thing, you're not going to stick out.

club ideas by starlessnight

Tube dresses

These are the classic club staple. Drive by a line in Hollywood one night and you'll see these on 50%+ of the women. These are usually short. They may have a straight across tube or sweetheart neckline. I would recommend sticking to solid colors. Prints can look tacky, especially animal prints on stretchy fabric. I like the ones with ruching on the sides. The tiny folds due to the ruching will hide any dinner bumps on your belly. I prefer these styles to just straight up cotton, which is not very forgiving.

Bandage dresses/skirts

Love these. They suck everything in. I've been seeing a lot of these in addition to the standard short tube dress. The skirts tend to be high waisted. You can wear them with a flowy top or a tube top or tank with long necklace. These sometimes come in stripes. I think beige and black look great. Use caution with any other combo.

Color blocking

I'm seeing a lot more solid blocks of color rather than print + solid. It's a great way to play with bright colors without being overwhelmingly florescent, since you're breaking up the color with a neutral. You can see some cute color combinations on the models. You probably already have neutral pieces, so you just have pick up a bright top or skirt and mix and match.

Cut out dresses

I didn't think I would love this trend as much as I do, but it's grown on me. You've got a couple of choices when it comes to cut outs. Modest cut outs would appear on the arms (as you can see on the model at the bottom). Daring cutouts appear on the torso. This is where it gets tricky, because you don't want to look like a hooker. You just want to show a sliver of skin. I think Asos did a pretty good job with the placement of their cutouts, so it's not too much skin.

Another option is choosing a dress with mesh over the cut outs. You still want to keep it to a sliver though, because even though there's mesh coverage, it's still see through.

Well, that's it! Have fun clubbing.

Got a little overzealous with the job hunt

I got a call back today from a tutoring place, the tanning salon, and another clinic at Public Counsel. I switched over to the Federal Pro Se clinic, because I'll actually get to work at the courthouse and ghostwrite motions and answers. The supervising attorney sounded awesome. The only drawback is that I'll have to pay for parking (or figure out how to park downtown near the courthouse without paying).

I'm mad at myself for not listening to my phone messages until days later! I was looking forward to free tans/discounts.

Versailles dinner date with my little law clique tomorrow. Vegas this weekend. Catalina the weekend after next. Things are shaping up! The other great thing about the Federal pro se clinic is that I can start next week. That means another week of "summer vacation."

Day 7 of semi-employment

On Thursday, I heard back from a place that I applied to on day 2 or 3 of unemployment. They offered me a volunteer attorney position, and since they are a public interest firm, I am eligible for a grant from school. It's enough to tide me over and keep in LA until bar results come out. Then the real fun begins! (ha)

I had coffee with one of my licensed, but not full-time employed lawyer friends the other day. She doesn't seem like she's in a rush to get full-time employment. She seemed so carefree! Maybe I'm just so wound up because of the environment I was in (and the people I was around). I feel a little more secure knowing that I will have some income until bar results are released.

This weekend has been busy busy, which makes lazy Sunday afternoons even more sweet. Add Valen Dolce to the list of bougie places I've visited on the west side.

Caramel Macchiato cake

Romance cake

Perfection

Day 4 of unemployment

I love that there are friends around who are in the same boat. Most of them are going back home though until they find permanent jobs. I feel like it's one of those things where you don't really get it until you're in it, or maybe you don't get the humor of the situation unless you're in it.

It's strange, because when I am blithe, people act like I should be worried. If I reveal my panic, people try to be reassuring and tell me not to worry. So I retreat to my law friends, the people who understand what the last 3 years were like for us. Over sandwiches at Urth Caffe, Christine asked, "Should we have known? Should we have realized that the economy was going to crash? Were there other options? I ask myself, 'What did I do wrong?'" I found it funny, because it was just so absurd---how could we have realized coming in that the system would change so dramatically?

It's hard to explain your situation to anyone on the outside when 1/3 of your class does have jobs. The natural assumption is that it's a personal failure on your part, but there's really not much separating the bulk of us in terms of talent. Our fates were sealed by the end of our first year anyway---that they weren't joking about.

In the midst of commiserating, there's still an undercurrent of hope that maybe time will lead us to something we absolutely love. Despite all the griping, I feel lucky for having met some of the smartest, wittiest people I've ever met in my whole life.

Some of my favorite unlicensed, unemployed attorneys:

daily indulgence

It's part of my ladies who lunch lifestyle.
Sweet Lady Jane in Santa Monica.

Captain's log: day 2. Jk. I meant unemployment log.

Yesterday, I returned my pile of Barbri books for a refund of my deposit. My friend and I went to Urth Caffe and sat around like ladies who lunch (despite the fact that we are terrified about the whole no job thing).

I went to the gym with Steph for the first time in a long time. Then we went to Sweet Rose Creamery right after.

Today, I did a mediation for free. Maybe I wasn't pushy enough? Maybe I just suck at hustling. Lesson learned. This paying it forward thing better work.

Now? To the library to grab some books and apply for a job at the local tanning salon. It's going to be a torturous 3 months until bar results.