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Last night Mr. Mustard and I went to an Emmy Party for the Outstanding Picture Editing Nominees. It was on the top floor of the Hotel Angeleno, and had an amazing view of the city. It was muy swanky- lots of appetizers and cocktails. Of course, I didn't have any cocktails- just cranberry juice. Towards the end of the party, they brought the nominees up on stage and gave Mr. Mustard a certificate for his nomination. Everyone applauded- and when they did, the baby started moving up and down like she was applauding! It was very cool.
Earlier in the day, I went shoe shopping and picked up some last minute baby items from Target. I had absolutely no shoes to wear because my feet are so swollen. So, after I dropped my mom off at the airport, I went to Target and looked for some shoes that would be acceptable. Since I probably will only be wearing these shoes for another week or two, I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I am usually a size 7 1/2 or 8- and the only shoes that would fit me were a size 10 (snugly) or a size 11!!
My mom's trip was a big success. We got lots of baby stuff done- and also had some good mother-daughter bonding time. Last Friday was spent going to the doctor's office, and my mom was there to help me out- which was much appreciated! Over the weekend, we managed to set up the bassinet and rearrange the furniture in our bedroom to accomodate everything. It was a big job! Mom also did lots of cleaning, which was very helpful! Now, all we need is the baby and everything is complete!
In the past week, I've had three celeb sightings.
The first two were last week when I got my hair cut at the Beverly Center:
1) Eva Longoria from Desperate Housewives
2) Donatella Versace
The Eva Longoria sighting was pretty cool because it adds to my Desperate Housewives roster. When Ann was in town last time, we saw Felicity Huffman and ended up talking to her for awhile. But, we didn't realize who she was until after the conversation ended and someone came up to us and said, "do you know who that was?!" Well, neither one of us did until that point and then a light bulb went off...and then we ended up stalking her around the mall. Well, not stalking, but following just to make sure we were correct.
The third sighting in the last week came when my mom was in town and we saw Kelly Osbourne at the beach. Mr. Mustard happened to have out the camera to take pictures of me and my mom, so he snapped a few photos really quickly. Then today I saw online that the papparazzi had been there and had also taken pictures. http://www.thesuperficial.com/2006/08/08/kelly_osbourne_shouldnt_be_all.html
I met Jack Osbourne about four years ago (pre-weightloss) at a club on the Sunset Strip- so now I guess I just have to meet the parents to make this star sighting complete. Los Angeles is such a weird place. It's funny to see celebrities (even D-list ones like Kelly Osbourne) and know who they are, especially when they're not known for anything except being famous. It's very strange.
About two weeks ago, Mr. Mustard and I ran into a star of a reality show that never aired. Mr. Mustard edited the show- and I was there for a lot of it because I was working on the Bachelor at the same studio. So, Mr. Mustard and I both know a GREAT deal about this guy- I mean, Mr. Mustard and I have both watched countless hours of this guy's life- from his love life, to seeing his family, etc. Of course, no one else has ever seen the footage because it never aired. So, we saw him on the street and went up to him. He was exactly like he was in the footage. It was strange to know so much about a person and have him not know anything about us. For example, we knew all about his breakup with his girlfriend, where he was from, what job he had, etc. Instead of being freaked out by it, he was really psyched that we had worked on the show and wanted to know when it would air. It's a very strange world here!
Well- probably no one wants to read this but me (and not even me!)- but I thought I should document the Bar Exam experience just for posterity and so someday our little one can hear about the fun adventure her mommy took just prior to giving birth to her!
Monday, July 24, 2006:
All packed up and ready to go by 11:30 am. Walked Hauser briefly. Mr. Mustard came home from work on his lunch break and followed me over to the Radisson/ Marriot Hotels at the airport. I checked in and got the luggage upstairs with Mr. Mustard's help. After Mr. Mustard left and I had unpacked my things, I discovered that the refrigerator in my room wasn't working. I had packed enough food for all 4 days of the Exam trip- lunchmeat, cheese, etc.- so this was a bad thing. Repacked everything and moved to a new room...then went over to the testing center to get checked in.
The testing center was totally disorganized. I got to my room and there were only two other test-takers there out of the 11 that were assigned to the room. After waiting for the proctor to show up for almost an hour, she finally did. She took my name, then I left and went back to the hotel. Took a bath and studied for awhile. Ordered room service and went to bed early.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006:
Set the hotel's alarm clock for 4:45 am the next morning- the wake up call for 5, and all three other alarms I brought for 5:15. Made some oatmeal, started studying. My body felt like a train had hit it- so much physical pain from not sleeping well from being pregnant, my ankles were swollen, and the carpal tunnel was really really bad. Headed over to the exam site at 8:30 for an 8:45 scheduled start time.
The proctor didn't show up until 9:15 and then didn't get the exam started until much later than that-- I don't know what was going on. At this point, there were 9 total people taking the exam in the room. The girl next to me noticed that there was no air coming into the room and that the windows would not open. After everyone fired up their laptops, it got really really hot in the room- above 100 degrees. In the middle of the test, someone from the hotel came by to apologize for the heat and said it would be fixed by the next day.
Everyone was boiling, and I think most of us were considering taking off our clothes at that point. It was agony! I think I may have been delirious due to the heat at a few points and I don't know if I actually wrote anything coherent during that time.
Because we got started so late, we basically missed our lunch break and only had 15 minutes in between the morning and afternoon sessions. I dashed back to my hotel room and downed a drink box, some string cheese and a turkey sandwich. Then, back to the testing site for the afternoon.
That night I was so beat. I took a bath and tried to study for the next day, but nothing would stick. My back was killing me, and my ankles were bulging. Time for bed.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006:
Woke up early again- ate some oatmeal. My body was in pain, and I had a big big headache. Everything hurt- and I knew that more pain was in order as soon as the exam started.
The Multi-State test was administered this day and it was really quite difficult. Even though I had studied for it a great deal, the questions were not what I expected and many of them made no sense at all. My backpain was increasing, and I started having painful contractions. Oh great, I thought- this is just great...even so, I kept going- why I don't know!
On a brighter note, they did fix the air conditioning by the second day, so at least that was something to be grateful for!
We got a decent lunch break (about an hour)- so I went back to the hotel and laid down. By the afternoon I was really feeling so ill that I didn't care about the exam anymore, so it all of a sudden became much easier. I wasn't thinking so hard about each question, so I just sort of went on intuition. This may have been a bad move, but I really just needed to get through it and get back to the hotel room.
That night, I ordered a very nice room service meal of pork chops with a side of garlic mashed potatos and a salad. It was the best thing I could have done after having lived on turkey sandwiches, cheese, and granola bars for the past three days. I really savored it, and watched some HBO- the movie I, Robot was on with Will Smith. Even though I don't even like that movie, I watched it and thought it was really great. I think my mind was fried.
Afterwards, I took a bath and went to bed. My back was again in agony, and my whole body was just hurting. I couldn't imagine another day of feeling this way.
Thursday, July 26, 2006:
Slept in until 5:15 and then started going over the subjects I thought would be covered for the day. Turns out I was wrong- but I was happy to be wrong. The subjects we got on day 3 were fair and were not my hardest, most difficult subjects, so I was grateful for that. I did the best I could- and still got a little confused in parts. But, overall, I was just really glad that this was the last day of the test.
At lunch, I went back to my hotel room and ate lunch- then back to the exam site to finish up the afternoon.
At the end, I was so glad to be done, I cheered a bit!
In retrospect, I think the Bar Exam is tough- but not as tough as doing it 9 months pregnant. I would never recommend anyone taking it in the third-trimester with pre-eclampsia signs, carpal tunnel, extreme swelling, and all the other physical stuff going on. If I take it in February, I am certain it will be so much easier just because I won't be experiencing contractions during the exam!
Anyway, it's done. I am happy. I did my best, under the circumstances. Now I just have to wait until Thanksgiving to find out the results. Luckily, there is a lot to occupy my time until then!!! :-)
Today I am 37 weeks, 3 days- which is pretty darn close! I am enjoying being pregnant still, but the physical discomforts are doing a good job of helping to keep the end in sight. Even so, I've managed to be somewhat productive.Sunday, Mr. Mustard and I went to Babies R Us (BRU)- which is a baby superstore where you can buy just about anything "baby-related." The nearest one to us is in Van Nuys, which is about a 45 minute drive-- so not a trek to be taken lightly.We went to BRU in search of a carseat, a crib, and other baby-related items. I think we bit off more than we could handle in one trip. After a frustrating time of looking at all the stuff and weighing the benefits of each- and nothing really working- we decided to leave without buying anything. No carseat, no crib, nada!We got home and I realized that we have nowhere for the baby to sleep and no carseat- and time is running out.So, today I went to BRU by myself and made some hard decisions...well, not too hard really. I picked out an infant carseat that will work just fine for the first 6 months to a year. We'll have to switch to a bigger carseat later, but initally this one will be great because it doubles as a carrier, so if the baby falls asleep in the car, then there's no need to wake her up when we take her out of the car...excellent.I also got a bassinet- which will be great for the first 4 months- after that, we'll switch to a crib, but this buys us some time to figure out exactly which crib, which mattress, and all that other earth-shattering stuff. :-)
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