Half way there

It's official: I am half-way done with law school! There were times last year when I thought this day would never come. While learning about the legal system is incredibly interesting and mentally stimulating, law school itself can seem rather daunting. But, I did it; I got through another semester!

I did a lot of this:

And the day after my final exam, I did a little of this.

Not only are my way-too-long roots now blonde again, but I'm pretty sure I was able to get free cable for a couple hours.

And now, I shall get reacquainted with 8 hours of sleep. Nice to see you again, old friend.

Thanksgiving in Las Vegas!

This year, my mom and I decided to visit my brother in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving. Warm weather + no dishes > snow + dirty kitchen.

It was a quick trip filled with losing money and gorging ourselves.

On our first night, we headed to California Pizza Kitchen, which is surprisingly vegan-friendly. We ended up drinking fancy drinks and closing the joint. Oh, and we practiced posing for family holiday photos.

Here's my mom and brother doing it slightly less awkwardly.

When my mom and I headed back to our hotel after dinner, we played the slots for a while (read: lost money for a while). We also took full advantage of the $1 PBR special our hotel was having.

On Thanksgiving, our day centered around the Wynn Buffet. The owner, Steve Wynn, is vegan, so there are tons and tons of vegan options. If you go there (which I HIGHLY recommend), you can even take the vegan tour, where the chefs will show you all of the vegan items at the buffet, and all of the custom dishes they can prepare. Plus, you get the added bonus of the other customers looking at you like you're super fancy.

Here's just a sample of everything I crammed into myself:

That's sushi, chips and guacamole, some sort of curry rice, creamy tomato bisque with salad, cashew cream ravioli, pizza, and mint chocolate chip soy ice cream. Holy Lord.

I'm pretty sure I gained 7 pounds during that meal. In fact, I know I did since I'm writing this entry post-trip. To try to feel better, I convinced myself I'm just an overachiever and was simply getting a head start on gaining the weight I usually do during finals. I guess I know what my New Year's resolutions will be.

We waited for over two hours to get seated. And, despite having to practice more badder control than I ever had previously, it was totally worth it.

In line:

 

Just 1/4 of the line:

Happy to finally be nearing the end!

After eating for nearly as long as we were in line, we walked around the Wynn and checked out all of the decorations. So pretty!

 

We also took some post-food coma family holiday photos (note to self: next time, take family pictures when your face hasn't blown up three inches due to consuming enough sodium to season 500 packs of fries). Looks like that practicing didn't do us much good.

Yeah, probably not going on a Christmas card any time soon. Although, if someone is looking for blackmail material, I think this would be a prime candidate. 

After a whirlwind trip, I had to return to this:

Not happy about it, although I think my waistline probably is.