Jogging My Memory

Well friends, I’ve officially taken my first law school exam. But before I get to that, I’ll recap Friday.

Friday morning, I had a study meeting with Megan, Julia, and Brooke. I stopped at Noah’s Bagels on the way and picked up a half dozen bagels for the group.

When I got to Megan’s we spread ourselves out at the kitchen table and started going over the analysis of some old exams. While we studied, we ate our bagels.

I had a whole wheat bagel with veggie cream cheese. Megan provided the veggie cream cheese. I really liked the chunks of real veggies in it. The cream cheese had a really great flavor.

I was originally only going to eat half, but I was still pretty hungry so I had the whole thing.

I tried to use a minimal amount of cream cheese, and I was pleasantly surprised that I still enjoyed the bagel with a lesser amount of cream cheese.

We studied until about 12:30. After, that I headed home for lunch: Newman’s Own Organics Thin Stick Pretzels, baby carrots, and Tribe 40 Spices Hummus with some hot sauce for a kick.

I really liked this hummus. The flavor was really good, with and without the hot sauce. I also really like the Tribe Hummus texture, it is thicker and more dense than Sabra’s. I love Sabra’s Red Pepper flavor, but I dislike how thin it is.

I also had two Newman’s Own Organics Hermits for a sweet treat.

After lunch I headed to Staples to get some more ink for my printer. I also got some SweetTarts while I was there.

For dinner I decided to come up with a new recipe. Using the basics from Alton Brown’s recipe for Whole Wheat Pancakes, from “I’m Just Here For More Food: Food x Mixing+ Heat = Baking”, I created these:

Almost Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup(8 oz) soymilk
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin

Directions:

• In one bowl combine all the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt).
• In a separate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients (egg, soymilk, pumpkin).
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
• Mix the dry and wet ingredients just until they are well combined. *Do not overmix (there should be lumps).
• Using a 1/4 cup ladle pancake batter onto a hot greased (with butter or cooking spray) pan.
• Cook on one side until bubbles begin to form on the top of pancake, and the other side is golden brown.
• The flip the pancake and cook it until the other side is down.
• Serve! (I keep my pancakes warm by putting them onto a plate in the oven at 250°  until the rest of the pancakes are done cooking.)

Makes approximately 8 pancakes (1/4 cup pancake batter each).

I had 4 Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes for dinner, and put the other 4 in the refrigerator for another day.

I topped mine with 2 Tbs. Real Maple Syrup, and ½ oz walnuts.

These pancakes were amazing. The combination of whole wheat and white flour created a great consistency, not too dense, but slightly thicker than a regular pancake. The maple syrup and walnuts were a great compliment to the pumpkin flavor of the pancakes. This will definitely be my new go to pancake recipe! I can’t wait to make them for someone else to see what they think.

I spent the rest of the night studying for civil procedure. While I was studying, I ate another serving of Thin Stick Pretzels (no picture), and a roll of SweetTarts.

I headed to bed at 11, so that I could wake up early and have plenty of time to get to school for my exam.

I woke up at 6:45 this morning. After showering and getting most of my things ready to go, I had an easy breakfast, a Plain Chobani with 1 serving of Kashi Heart to Heart.

I also packed workout stuff and these snacks, in case I needed one on a break during the exam. (I didn’t end up eating the Clif Z Bar).

Once I had everything ready I left and drove to school for my first law school exam in Civil Procedure. I got to campus at 8:30 for the 9am exam, so that I wouldn’t feel rushed.

I unfortunately could not stop my nerves. My stomach felt like it had a brick in it during the entire exam. It didn’t help that when I tried to open the exam on my computer, it had a complete malfunction. I got the problem worked out before the exam even started, but it was really unnerving because I was not prepared to hand write the exam.

We started with the essay section. We were given 75 minutes to answer the question. There were 3 questions for the fact pattern, and tons of smaller issues within the 3 questions.

After the essay section, we had a quick break and then a 60 minute, 25 question multiple choice section. The multiple choice questions were very difficult, because a lot of the questions asked for the best argument, and included 4 options which were all viable arguments, but one of which was stronger than the others.

I honestly do not know how I did on the exam, and I hate to speculate about how I did and be completely off, so I won’t even go there. It’s for my own sanity : )

I chatted for a little bit after the exam, and uploaded my essay question. I also ate the tangerine I had brought for a snack. A workout was definitely in order following the exam. I convinced myself that an hour of cardio was the right thing to do. I did 25 minutes on the elliptical, 27 minutes on the stationary bike, and 8 minutes walking on the treadmill with an incline at a good clip. It was a lower intensity workout, because I was extremely worn out from the exam.

It probably sounds a little ridiculous that I was “worn out” from a 2 hour exam, when I can run a half marathon and go on half-day hikes, but the nervousness and tension that accompanied the exam really were exhausting. I hate to sound overdramatic, but I don’t think it is possible to imagine how intense a law school exam is until you have taken one, under the same circumstances as law students take them. Exams have such huge implications, from grades, to class standing, to scholarships, to law review, to future careers, a lot is at stake when we are taking these exams. In the long run, these things may not be all that important, but in this economy, and with the number of law students increasing every year, these are important factors in finding the ideal job, let alone a job at all.

Sorry to get all serious on you, I’ll step off my soapbox haha!…when I got home, I showered again, then made myself a serving of Trader Joe’s Chicken Gyoza Potstickers with Gyoza Sauce, and 1 ¼ cups steamed broccoli topped with 365 Organic Peanut Sauce. I also had 2 Newman’s Own Organics Hermits for some dessert.

I had an afternoon snack while watching shows on Hulu, the last half serving of Thin Stick Pretzels, and 1 serving of Kashi TLC Country Cheddar Crackers.

Dinner was the return of one of my recently favorite meals made from all Trader Joe’s products, 1 1/3 cups of Butternut Squash Soup, and a Michette Roll with 1 oz melted Gouda Cheese.

This dinner hit the spot. I prefer the Laughing Cow Light Swiss on the Michette Roll but I am trying not to eat my last wedges since I’m still in Sacramento for another 2 weeks, and have spent my grocery budget for the next 2 weeks. Ahh the joys of living on a tight budget. Oh well.

Dessert was exactly what I was craving, 8 SweetTarts and Newman’s Own Organics Champion Chip Double Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies.

These cookies were really good! They had a great mint flavor – think Peppermint Patty only in a cookie! They were sort of dry and crumbly like the other types of Champion Chip cookies, but I don’t mind it. I can’t wait to try them over some Soy Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream!

It definitely didn’t feel like a Saturday today, and I have a feeling that the next few weeks will feel very odd. Well probably the next month, since classes won’t start up again until January 11, 2010 (it is so WEIRD to say/write 2010!)

Well I hope you all had a stress-free Saturday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Tags: Almost Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes, bagels, broccoli, Champion Chip Double Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies, Chobani, elliptical, exam, law school, Newman's Own Organics, Potstickers, Product Reviews, Recipes, studying, Tangerines, Thin Stick Pretzels