Sabra

I had a hummus discussion in the grocery store the other day with some guy who was buying the hummus on sale. He was not buying Sabra. I tried to tell him, but he just wouldn't listen. Then it occurred to me -- the blond hair, the freckles. Not a Jew. Jews know Sabra is the best hummus there is. Creamy, not tahini-tasting. Delicious globs of [insert flavor]. And, they have a new flavor, Sun dried tomato. I know it can be a bit pricey, but a grocery store like Albertson's sells it for $3.99 (versus King Super's $4.99). It's worth it, people. Do not scrimp on the hummus. I'm just sayin', I have my priorities in line.

Sabra in Hebrew means 'A Jewish person born in Israeli territory.' In Arabic, sabr means 'aloe', 'cactus', or 'patience.' And, perhaps only related in my mind, in Spanish sabroso means delicious. And that's what Sabra is. De-e-licious.

www.sabra.com/

Shabbat Shalom

Shabbat Shalom!

I love how in Judaism Friday night is the beginning of the holy day each week - for me, it always truly is a day to celebrate! Speaking of Jews, check this out.

I'm totally beat this week. It took me 2 hours to putz around and get ready/make it into school this morning. Now that I'm here, I can't pull myself together to get real work done. Serious case of mushy brain syndrome. I think I'm going to roll with it -- do some easy work, print some stuff off to read later, and get out of here to take the afternoon off. I feel a wee bit guilty, but if I'm going to be uselessly inefficient, I might as well just rejuvenate myself and have good work days tomorrow and Sunday. All in all, I'd rather not fall apart in life, if it means I have to do less in well in law school. If taking an afternoon off is what I need to do to be happy, that seems worth it.

Dinner tonight at a prof's house. Very exciting! I feel like this sort of thing happened all the time in undergrad, but not in law school. I made mini cheesecakes - photo and recipe to follow!

A song to get you excited for the weekend.

Back at it

Oops, I didn't update for quite awhile. I'm back, though! There's almost too much to say, it's overwhelming. I suppose this is why I left it for so long.

Yesterday I saw a bunch of Orthodox Jews walking by the White house. They were wearing tall black hats, full-length black coats and suits underneath. It was 101 degrees. They weren't walking on the sidewalk, but in the street. I wondered if that was because women were walking on the sidewalk. Then, they were stopped at the crosswalk because cars in the other direction had a green light. One way was clear, so the Jews started walking across the street in a huge pack. But, then a massive truck came rumbling down the street. The Jews hesitated. Some took a step forward, others a step back. Most froze right there in the middle of a four lane street with oncoming traffic. It was like sheep, or a pack of freshmen girls going to a college frat party. Then a car came from the other direction. More confusion. One Jew reached the other side but the rest spread out in a line clear across the street. I thought for sure I was going to witness a Jewish Abby road album cover gone-wrong version.

I can tell the days are getting shorter, although perhaps it's the ridiculous humidity in the morning that diffuses the light differently. I'm not sad that summer is ending because I love fall. I am a tad bit sad to think that my life here in D.C. is ending. I love what I'm doing, have friends here, like having my weekends and evenings (mostly) free. I like being able to hop on a bus up to NYC to visit my brother. I love Trader Joe's and how curly my hair is on the east coast. I love walking to work and catching up with college friends. I like visiting my grandma every weekend.

(The Cuteness. Grandma, not me.)

I had lunch with my boss today. Just the two of us. He wouldn't let me pay, even though I invited him. The internship business is a whole other post, but I am really enjoying my internship and feel so lucky to be having this opportunity.

I've been reading various magazines at the gym. Harper's. The Atlantic. The New Yorker. I really like Harper's. What do other people think? Do you read magazines? Post a comment and tell me which ones you read and like!

May flowers

Here I sit at a vegan-only cafe in Philly with the hippest of the hipsters and the punkiest of the punks. I have let the bloggie fall to the wayside with the understanding that I would be blogging daily again in the summer. I'm not done with my Quarter work (1 paper, 1 final left), but I've left Denver, not to return until mid-August. The past Quarter was especially hard - law school politics and slaps in the face, grad school politics and less-than-stellar professors, and my internship took a turn for the worst. I have been battling plantar fasciitis and heel spur, so running has been iffy, slow, and painful, if at all. I haven't been dating or meeting anyone. All meals have been pretty much alone and, well, all of Denver has been pretty lonely. All told, I'm pretty much ready for a break from Denver and school.

... Thus! I'm in D.C. for the summer doing an internship. My generous friend, Elizabeth, has kindly let me stay in her Dupont Circle one bedroom place for the summer. It's a beautiful apartment with a twelfth floor view of the city, matching red kitchenware and plenty of books on Latin America. The JCC is across the street and gives 35% off to students. Monty, a big black woman - perhaps not Jewish? - sits at the front desk and takes good care of me. Work is 1 mile away (hellooo showing up sweaty to work!), and I'm excited to start on June 1. More on that later. For now, I hopped on a bus up to Philly for my dear friends' wedding. I'll be here playing with Andi, Uti and Oni (3 yrs) and Kai (4 weeks) for the week, while also working on my paper. Then, I head to Nashville to see Jessica and celebrate Ariel and Sam's wedding.

It feels so good to be back on the east coast. My mind can stop constantly figuring out what time it is ET. My hair is back to true curly with the humidity. There are black people around, and Indians, and Asians, and even white peo who look different from each other. There are people down the street who I want to look in the eyes, talk to, and smile at. I don't feel stressed, even though there are school things to do still.

I will miss the ability to hop on my Italo, my bike, and go for a 60 mile ride. I'll miss meeting Katie on the Platte for a quick 2 hour ride. I'll miss the births of 3 of my friends' babies. I'll miss dry, sunny trail runs until 9 p.m. and bananagrams at St. Marks with Tony and Gracie. I will miss those things. But, I'm looking forward to rejuvenating myself -- will I get to a point where I am excited to be back in Denver, where I feel proud again to be a DU student? I'll just have to see where I will be in 3 months. For now, I am pretty happy to be somewhere new, to be myself, and to be far away from Denver.

odds and ends update

Yom Kippur yesterday - fast was hard! I was doing fine through about noon. Then I started to get a headache. Then I started to feel reeeaally bad. Then I broke, went to a quirky little break fast. Ate. Then my stomach just hurt. Ow. I knew it was coming. I don't even think I ate that much. I think the whole thing about going to temple the whole day isn't the best way to spend it. You don't actually get time to think! I don't think I reflected enough :/ but I feel like life is already moving on (without me!). You should have seen the scene at Temple Emanuel, though. Everyone all done up. Moms who are all put together with the fancy suit, the bleached/blow-fried hair, bright power-red nail polish, skinny-as-anything. I seriously wondered if some of them actually were sick and that was why they were so thin.

I got a call from Ms. Ariel and am very excited to be one of her bridesmaids at her upcoming wedding in Nashville. Hurrah! It will be so fun.

I am desperately trying to work on a first draft but it's not going so well. I have a meeting tomorrow at 11 so I am getting up at 5 (ha, a mere 7ish hours) to get working on it. Sigh. It shouldn't be this hard. Grad school is so much more fun than law school, I hate to admit.

Oh yeah, can you believe (1) it's almost October and (2) it stays dark so long! Almost until 7 a.m. Sigh, and it's dark when I get out of class at 7:15 p.m. Fall is here; winter is coming. The amount of people working out/running/biking in Wash Park is diminishing considerably. Soon, I will be able to bike the wrong way around the park and see the sun rise from my favorite angle. I had to stop doing that once spring hit because people (ahem, who had NOT been out biking through the winter as I had) decided to come out and tell me what not to do. It's not like I hadn't biked the wrong way through the park, in the dark, early morning all winter long! Sigh. A slave to society.

g'night!

Ask and thou shall receive

Good news! As Vice President of the Jewish Law Student Association (JLSA) this year I am in charge of planning and running the Fall Speaker Event. Yikes! We wanted someone to give a talk who would appeal to a lot of people: Jewish law students, non-Jewish law students, DU students at large, and Jewish people in the community generally. So, we heard that a Colorado State Court of Appeals Judge is a practicing Orthodox Jew and thought that was a perfect match. We hope that he can talk about the overlap of American law and Jewish law; and, how does he live as a modern practicing Jew, while balancing the demands of a highly public, morality-related professional career?

One thing: I, the lowly law student, had to ask this important, highly-respected, and high-up Judge if he wanted to come speak at DU. What if I sound like an idiot? Or he laughs and says No Way Jose? After exercising expert Google skills, I cold called him this morning. Nerve-wrecking!! I was sweating. I introduced myself and asked the woman who answered the phone if I might leave a message or speak with the Honorable Judge Richman. The woman who answered the phone (Clerk? Administrative Assistant?) said something like, "Well, you can probably leave a message, what is it about?" I told her and she put the Judge on the phone - Success! Once he was on the phone, it was much easier. I explained who I am and what I wanted. He was friendly, pleasant and said Yes, he'd be happy to come and speak in October. Perfect! It was so easy!

We have an awesome Fall Speaker and I can now go on with the rest of the plans like booking the room, getting food, making posters, advertising in the community...

Honorable Colorado Court of Appeals Judge David Richman
Title: TBD
7:00 p.m., October 14, 2009
Sturm College of Law, Room 165
Refreshments served.