laughing with

hooking up with the variety magazine folks has really had its perks. aside from the fact that the entire staff is incredibly nice and friendly, they're totally plugged into the entertainment scene. i've gone to quite a few of their movie screenings at the arclight theatre in hollywood which not only include a free movie but also a q&a with cast members, directors, producers, etc. 

my favorite q&a was definitely the 'black swan' screening with natalie portman, mila kunis, vincent cassel and darren aronofsky. i swear, darren was stoned. the justin timberlake surprise for 'the social network' was pretty exciting, too.

last weekend the bf and i (yes, it's true, more on that later) were invited to variety's 'power of comedy' event at club nokia. russell brand was being honored and they had a slew of comedians. justin long was the host and while i loved him in 'ed' i wasn't into his 'this is a dress rehearsal' schtick that he tried to carry throughout the show. garry shandling was very funny, but i'm almost positive he was drunk. i feel like bob saget is trying to break away from his 'full house' identity by going with obvious perverted shock value jokes, but i wasn't feeling it. i was super jazzed about sarah silverman, but i don't really feel like she brought her a game. bj novak and aziz ansari were hilarious! aside from aziz, i'd say my favorite performance was from the comedian, nick kroll. he was great!

and who knew russell brand was such a wordsmith? he is also a superb performer. really. i know everyone has their own approach to stand up and a lot of people pretty much, well, stand still and maybe subtly mime a joke here and there, but russell brand is a very physical performer. his pacing didn't wear me out and he was able to tone down the shock value of his jokes by acting out the performance. he's incredibly over the top, but it works. 

and can i tell you who presented the award? helen mirren! she is absolutely amazing. i didn't take any pictures of the performers, but i had to snag a few shots of 'the queen.' pics will be posted shortly.

check out POWER OF COMEDY here.

turkey tom

my first thanksgiving away from the fam! okay, i lie. i did spend thanksgiving in chicago with my friend and her family my freshman year of college. i suppose you would call this my first adult thanksgiving. can i just tell you, it was lovely! i feel a bit guilty that i had such a wonderful time without my parents :/ not to say i don't enjoy spending holidays with them, but it was pretty cool having more than 3 people at the table.

the bestie was hosting the dinner and we all split up the list so it was pretty even-stevens. i brought the green beans (none of that nasty casserole nonsense, just classic green beans) and these tasty sweet potatoes topped with fresh rosemary, garlic and chopped walnuts. i need to thank mr. bob greene for that recipe! i also volunteered to bring the thanksgiving dessert. i will admit, i love baking. absolutely love it! i'm pretty confident in my baking skills, but why i decided to bring an apple pie when i've never made any sort of pie in my life is beyond me. but none the less, that's what happened. this one was pretty apple-liscious and i topped it with streusel. check out the before and after photos.

i tried to scale it with the recipe card and the tea kettle, so as you can see it was chock-full of apples. nom! and after all of my worrying, the pie came out perfectly and everyone had a piece and loved it. perfection!

with only 8 of us, we had quite a spread. and i didn't want to be rude and neglect anyone's dishes, so i tried everything! check out this mighty tasty plate.

 

happy thanksgiving!!

i'll be home for christmas...?

i'm slowly getting a taste of reality and i'm happy to say it doesn't taste as bitter as i had feared. the traveling thing has been a bit of a kick in the pants. i feel like i've been missing out on some really amazing moments that i delusionally (yes, i just made up that word, let's go with it) thought i'd be able to make, but thank goodness there's facebook! srsly. not to say that really replaces  personal interactions with friends and family, but i do enjoy living vicariously through photos and comments.

my dear friend from high school got married to his super hot girlfriend a couple of weeks ago. it was like a high school reunion, wedding-style. missed that one. boo :/


also missed my grandpa's 95th birthday party in minnesota. i'll be honest, that was pretty devastating. i'm just going to throw this out there, my grandpa is the best grandpa in the world. really. and that's not even a biased opinion. he's just amazing. how many 95 year old's do you know enjoy dancing, bowling and playing a mean game of 500? did i mention he's blind in one eye, but can still pick up the spare? you just have to tell him what pins are still up (he's pretty stellar at making strikes, though). i try to make it up at least once a year to see him. check out this pic from last november. my cousin's and i made some spectacular tacky christmas sweaters. grandpa rocked his sweater out on his birthday. loves!

thanksgiving is right around the corner, but i won't be going home. i thought it was going to be hard since i'll be missing a visit from my grandma and uncle, but i've come to terms with it. i'm excited to enjoy a potluck dinner with the bestie and some new cali friends.

i'm crossing my fingers that i'll be able to make it back to texas for christmas, but no job = no plane ticket. in wonder if another cross-country drive is in order?

houses of the holy

church shopping in LA is a bit overwhelming. there are SO many options. i will admit that i really haven't been putting in the greatest effort thus far, but slow and steady wins the race, right? 

i was raised lutheran but i'm pretty open to checking out other similar sects. i went to a local presbyterian church a few weeks ago. pretty building but definitely not for me. maybe i was put off by the fact that the average age was 70. or that they asked everyone to hug three people near them. hmmm... no thanks.

this weekend i set out for a lutheran church down the road. to my surprise the service is lead in spanish. you'd think they would mention that on their website?? i quickly relocated to another lutheran chuch closer to LA. with only 7 cars in the parking lot five minutes before the service i moved on. 

i decided to go further into town and found myself at a lutheran chuch in hollywood. i think they lied about their average 150 member attendance. more like 40. definitely a laid back environment and i liked the sermon, but the old lady next to me had some sort of horrible sinus leakage or something so i was a bit distracted with her constant back throat ticking. ew. i also wasn't really vibing with the 7 member choir, but they did have a killer saxophone player.

the search continues...

louder than ever

talk about a great week! no, not this week, although it's definitely unfolding nicely, but last week was pretty darn stellar. here's a quick play-by-play.

monday - met a new friend of a friend for lunch. she's also looking for her dream job out here in LA so it's nice to find someone with a flexi schedule like myself.
tuesday - i brought the bestie to a sxsw film mixer party in hollywood. so nice to see some friendly austin faces on the west side! we grabbed a couple free beers and mingled with some LA film locals. sweet. late-night dinner at umami burger. a little too pretentious for me. tasty, yes, but when asking to sub a veggie patty for a beef patty their response was 'we don't add anything, we only take away. if you want a veggie burger you have to order the (whatever).' meh. if you have a burger craving i recommend the counter or taylor's automatic refresher. yumz.
wednesday - hiking at escondido falls in malibu with new friend of friend. after we parted ways i headed up north with a cold mountain dew and relaxed at zuma beach. probably one of my favorite spots out here, thus far.

that evening i went to the sxsw music mixer at this beautiful hotel called the sunset marquis. i was told it's a major celeb hideout. taylor swift was there that morning. i did some music mingling and met some cool music industry kids who were also in their 20's. it was encouraging to see that it is possible to make it in the scene when you're still young. we (i took my friend from venice) ended up hitting it off with those kids and met them at sofitel hotel's stone rose lounge for a post-party cocktail. they have this crazy junk food platter that comes complete with ice cream, cookies, rice krispy treats, cotton candy, cracker jacks..... the list goes on. you'll definitely need a large posse to handle it.
thursday - i was able to get some down time with one of my sxsw friends and we grabbed a chillax lunch at real food daily. they're an organic vegan restaurant. i think even you carnivores would dig it. go in with an open mind :)
friday - one of my flashback friend's from my college days was in town so we had an easy afternoon on the coast. we went out to bay cities in santa monica (highly recommend for you serious sandwich lovers) and then up the coast, back to zuma. also meandered through topanga canyon. such an amazing drive.

 

that evening i grabbed my friend from the getty and we drove 55 miles east to pomona to catch the cold war kids at the glass house. kind of crazy that this was their closest show to LA, considering they're from long beach. great venue, great show. if you do check out the glass house, make sure you don't stand under the ventilation pipe. srsly. i was there all evening, felt like i was in downtown chicago in march. these cali kids couldn't take the chilly air so i didn't have people crowding up around me, but i did get a few goosebumps after an hour into the set. if you bring a sweatshirt, you'll be golden.
saturday - pet-sitting with chula!!! a true joy. chula is my bestie's sweet little boston terrier. we went on a lovely 2 hour hike in the santa monica mountains. perfect weather to boot. pretty easy breezy day.
sunday - back to the hollywood farmer's market. my favorite. caught the movie 'due date' with bestie and her boy toy. rdj + french bulldogs. what more could you ask for? highly recommend. 
oh yeah. we saw holly robinson at the arclight theatre in sherman oaks. i'm sure most folks remember her from '21 jumpstreet' or her recent stint on 'the apprentice' but i remember her on the classic 'hangin' with mr. cooper.' phenom.

i definitely have a few sweet plans in my back pocket for this week. i'll keep you posted on my west coast antics.


and no, no job to report yet. just trying to enjoy my free time out here while i still have it. *fingers crossed* for some good news this week! or next week! whenever really :)

famous

the weather finally cleared up out here, so i'm attempting to enjoy the cali sunshine. last week was bizarre, but by friday all was well with the sky. it's nice to be able to run outside. yes, i could run after the rain stops, but i'm clumsy and i know i'll slip. i have tripped on a flat surface before so i don't wanna take any chances with the elements. 

but speaking of friday... this past weekend was pretty darn excellent! started with a morning run followed by a lovely lunch on the ucla campus with the bestie. i was going to take a drive up the coast to explore malibu when my long-legged friend, lala, from austin called me. she was in town for work and happened to wrap early that afternoon. she was staying at the JW Marriot downtown. freakin' fly! so nice, in fact, that president obama was staying a few floors above us at the ritz carlton. the president. yes. so cool. 

i also experienced my first concert friday night. lala got tickets to the vince gil concert at the nokia theatre through the hotel so we went to check it out. i'll admit i didn't know who vince gil was and it really wasn't my style, but it was a cool little venue. 
 
some of our austin to LA friends met up with us for the show and then we went to a midnight dinner at this retro diner called cole's. that was, surprisingly, my first time in downtown LA. it's like a whole different world down there. the architecture is pretty amazing. looking forward to going back.


i hooked up with some variety magazine folks a couple of weeks ago and was able to take part in their event 'the power of youth' on sunday at the paramount lot. it was a pretty amazing presentation. tons of activities, stage performances, free food vendors and a huge red carpet. and everything was set up on the nyc backlot, where they film lots of movies and shows.

lots of celebs in the house, too. i knew they'd be honoring little bow wow and bieb's, but i didn't realize that lots of the young local celebs would be there. i'll be honest, i didn't know most of their names, but i recognized a lot of them from shows like 'parenthood' and 'modern family.' there were also a lot of wanna-biebers (copyright - ME :)) hanging around. even mark wahlberg was there! beib's is pretty freakin' adorable, though. i can't zoom on my phone, so it's kind of far off, but he's the little guy on stage in the orange flannel.

i had a sweet spot right in the thick of it. i was next to the stage and the dell sponsor activation. there was a press photog next to us, so every time a celeb would walk by he would grab them. can you guess who this is...?

i'll give you a clue. GLEE. for realzies! yes. chord overstreet, who plays 'sam.' he was actually hanging right next to us all day. see the popcorn machine in the corner. that was us! i tried to take a better shot, but i didn't want to be too obvious. my paparazzi skills need work. amber riley 'mercedes' was also there, but i didn't get a pic. sorry folks. 




and here's a special little treat to close with. seems fitting with the power of youth and the wanna-biebers. enjoy (hahaha!)

Big Time Rush - Famous (Official Music Video). Watch more top selected videos about: Big Time Rush

californication

i've had a lot of inquiries about florida bux since my last blog, so i thought i'd update.

monday - he walked into 'bucks while i was there, but no warm intro. just a wave. he sat at a different table and then left. i won! i think he was just peeved that i didn't return his phone call. if he did find my blog, then oh well. yes, i'm a horrible person.
wednesday - he was there before i got there! i saw him in the window so i turned around to head to a different location. after a 10 minute walk in the rain i decided to turn back and deal. he wasn't going to keep me away. once again, no major interaction. i did see him talk to a chipper young girl in close proximity. poor thing. luckily she wasn't as dumb as i was, and i didn't see any number exchange.
today - i really thought it was all in my head and a bit silly until this evening. heading back from a trip to the gym and grocery shopping, i turned the corner onto my street and i saw him just sitting there on the sidewalk. in the dark. alone. literally sitting on MY street, just a few houses away. again, probably just coincidence, but i will admit it was a bit eerie. i don't think he saw me and i don't think he knows my car, but that didn't prevent me from locking myself inside the house and closing all of the blinds.

i know i've been writing a lot of debbie-downers lately and i really don't want to give this creep all of the attention, so let's switch gears! aside from the weirdo, everyone else that i've met out here has been over the moon lovely! my friends of friends intro's have been pretty spectacular. i actually had a full day-o-fun last week with a friend of a friend. we had lunch near ucla campus, went to the getty museum and hit up a movie screening of 'secretariat' complete with a q&a from the director, randall wallace. my apologies to the bestie for not answering my phone that evening. after a few unreturned texts and a missed call, the bestie was a little freaked out about my day with a stranger and ended up taking a drive by over to my house to see if i was home and alive. glad to have her around!

and as annoying as this job hunt process has been, almost every person i've come into contact with wants to help me out. i've had lots of people pass along my resume and tap their resources for openings. it's like a have a huge group of cheerleaders, some of which barely even know me. it's pretty amazing. so much for those rumors of all LA folks being superficial ladder climbers. false!

i have some exciting weekend plans brewing, but mama p says it's not safe to lay out future activities with people like florida bux on the loose. guess you guys will have to tune in later. until next time...

ps: here are a few celeb sighting updates...

tia (or possibly tamera?) mowry at the getty museum


nathan fillion at aroma cafe. i will report he was sharing a muffin with another man. feel free to draw your own conclusions.

rex linn (apparently csi miami IS filmed in la) at 24 hour fitness

who are you?

have you googled yourself lately? omg, it's frightening! i found an assortment of things including my high school home phone number, my parents names and birthdates, my acl schedule from 2009, an old work email, my old personal cell phone number and other random tidbits of information about my previous employment. apparently google doesn't know that i've moved west, just yet, but give it time.

now why would i google myself, you ask? funny story! let me back track. i have been meeting an assortment of new people through friends of friends, but i've also just been meeting randoms at neighborhood places of interest. ya know, striking up convo's with people sitting in close proximity to you. i can't say that's a regular thing i used to do, but i find myself chatting it up with strangers fairly often these days. i think i may have finally gotten myself into a bit of a pickle. i am sorry mama p, i know you taught me 'stranger danger.'

as many of you know i have been planting myself at starbucks multiple times during the week, just so i can get out of the house and have a new change of scenery whilst knee-deep in the job search. on monday, while i was sitting by my lonesome, a boy my age (we'll call him florida bux) asked to share my table. totally cool, no worries. so after a bit we got to chatting and he said that he is from florida and he's also new to the area. he said he used to live here a while back and was into acting but he decided to head home for a bit and now he's just returned. he's also on the job hunt. further into the conversation he tells me that he used to be a motivational speaker and a physicist. kind of seemed a bit strange for a 26 year old to have such a diverse professional background and still have a hard time finding a job. hmmm... strangely enough i decided he seemed friendly enough and we swapped contact info.

the next day i worked from home. i usually sit in our dining room with the balcony blinds open. whilst typing away, i saw him walk right by the house. woah, i just met that guy yesterday! not totally weird, i guess, because we're kind of close to starbucks, but my street is strictly residential. i thought it was just coincidental, but i did remember that when he asked me where i lived i vaguely pointed 'over there.'

i'm back at starbucks on wednesday and here he comes. i really wanted to get some work done, so i pretended like i didn't notice him (yeah yeah, i'm a biatch, sorry). he ends up sitting at the table next to mine, facing the opposite direction. sneaky little devil! i keep my head down for a solid ten minutes while he just sits there. i figured he'd give up, but he's stubborn. i gave up and we chatted again. he started the convo saying he was in the works of creating a non-prof. 'a 501(c)3?' i ask. 'yes' he says. i wished him luck with that one, but thought it was totally random. we start talking about hobbies and i mention that i really like music and going to concerts. he says that he doesn't go to shows and the convo kind of dies. then he shouts, ' my favorite band is incubus!' wtf? for realz?? i honestly looked around to see if i had any incu paraphernalia lying around (very likely), but i didn't. then he mentions that he makes ringtones and he's written lots of piano music and wants to know how to sell his stuff on itunes. 

i usually believe everything people say at face value, but he was just a little off. idk. maybe it was the fact that he regularly sits at starbucks and just orders water. or that he was wearing shoes for crews with a white t-shirt and khaki shorts, very similar to a work uniform. or that he admitted that he always thought darkroom photography sounded erotic. who says that to a stranger?? 

now it's probably because i just watch those stupid criminal minds marathons or too much csi, but i started to get a little paranoid. i told my roomie about our convos that evening and she yells, 'maybe he's stalking you!' i will say that she's also into crime shows, so i guess that's just how our minds work. she guesses that he probably googled my name and that's how he knows so much about my interests. google search 'shannon' enter and viola! madness. the blog and facebook didn't pop up, but myspace did. while i'm discovering all of these creepy info tidbits available to any internet browser, my phone rings. it's him! i didn't pick up but he left me a message:
'hi shannon, it's florida bux. i was thinking about going to starbucks and i wanted to know if you wanted to join me. i'm just dropping off a movie right now, so i'm right next to your house. call me back if you want to hang out. or call me back if you don't want to hang out, you can just call me back. okay. bye.'

no, i didn't call him back. i decided to do some reconnaissance work. i went to starbucks outside of my usual window and asked my new barista friend about him. she had the same general info (florida, new, unemployed) but she did mention that he's super friendly. like overly friendly and maybe a bit socially awkward. i guess when he does decide to order something he'll stand at the order pick up area for a good 30 minutes and just watch them work. 

i haven't had any encounters with him since the voicemail, but i'll probably cut back on my starbucks visits. i'm sure he's just socially awkward and maybe a bit of a grand storyteller, but i'm posting this video just because i like it. i'll keep you updated on any new sightings. and yes, i am keeping my balcony blinds closed.

how do you afford your rock n' roll lifestyle?

i supplemented my acl experience for a local music festival called 'cultures collide' hosted by filter magazine. it was free and they had a decent line up, so it made sense to check it out. tokyo police club was awesome. definitely the highlight of the day. it was held right off sunset in a parking lot and side street in silver lake. i finally made it over to the hipster hideout! it was actually so perfect for that weekend. i felt like i was back in austin at acl. tons of golfer hats, tights, flannel, cut offs, mustaches, etc. just like home :)

i'm actually really jazzed about all the great music that's coming to LA over the next few months. it's pretty difficult to pick and choose. i would attempt to go to about half the shows, but i need to watch the funds. i'm actually on the fence about checking out INCUBUS this weekend. *gasp* i never thought i'd say that. they're playing in san bernadino, about 2 hours away. no big deal, as i do love a drive, but i'm not sure if i'll have a buddy. kind of makes for a long day. i must tell you that the name of the show is called 'smokeout festival' and while i don't really mind the cali-legal drug, i don't know if i want to hang around it all day. meh. on the fence. i really want to check out the local venues in the area, so i'll probably catch a show this week or next week. that's a promise!

take it easy

acl is this weekend and i'm not going to be there. weird. i've been fortunate enough to run the klbj fm broadcast for the past 3 years, giving me 3 day access to the fest. the best perk of it all would have to be the private potties, free water and snacks! i was really tempted to stay away from the lineup list since i knew i couldn't go, but i was just too darn curious! while i'm gutted to miss muse and m.i.a. i'm pretty stoked that most of the other bands will be heading my direction in the next month or so. 

if any of you kids are lucky enough to get into the fest but a bit confused about who to see, check out some of my picks. i especially want to highlight the morning benders, beach house, the soft pack, first aid kit, and lissie. they're all a buzz these days. enjoy! 

shannon's ACL 2010 sched

 hope you don't get pooped on this year!

but you picked me

i celebrated my one month anniversary of california living on sunday. i actually didn't realize it was my anniversary until the following day, but sunday was pretty darn nice. i want to say that i'm sort of falling into a weekend routine. i went back down to the farmer's market on hollywood and sunset. my weekly produce only totaled $7!! steal. i drove down to santa monica for a run along the beach. there's this really nice paved sidewalk in the middle of the sand that stretches maybe 20 or more miles from south of venice to north of santa monica. i haven't really explored the entire strip, but i will say that it's lovely to run next to the ocean. after my oceanside run i went home and made a lovely dinner. 

i think it's the routine that i'm missing. i would say that i'm a pretty spontaneous gal, but i think the familiarity of a regular routine would help me feel more at home. right now my usual is heading to starbucks for 5 hours and sending out job applications. i'm hoping that doesn't last too much longer!

i was curious to see if follow up emails/phone calls are necessary or tacky when applying for jobs. i posted the question on facebook and received an overwhelming amount of yes's. good to know. i guess at this point i'm not going to be shy about following up because they have either taken me off the list already or haven't even gotten around to choosing candidates. i wasn't quite sure how to scribe a follow up email without repeating everything i had said in my original cover letter. i decided to go for the upfront and comedic approach. here is a little excerpt from my follow ups:

"I am sure your Inbox is over-saturated with numerous applications, so to make the selection process easy for everyone I suggest you choose me!"

wish me luck!

weekend warrior

i'm two for two on the friend of a friend intros. one of my old co-workers hooked me up with her friend out here in film school. she's also from austin so we had plenty to talk about! super fun girl. she says there are a lot of other austinites out in LA. most of her group lives in silver lake. i heard there are cool little music festivals out in that direction, too. i also heard that most of the hipsters live there. i won't let their bright-colored skinny jeans intimidate me.

last night i went to dragonfly bar in hollywood to see 'point break live.' it's a low-budget live theatre show based on the classic early 90's film starring keanu reeves, patrick swayze, gary busey, lori petty, etc... omg, so much fun!! i went with the bestie and a group of friends. one of the guys in our group knew the patrick swayze character, so we got the hook up. it was great! i highly recommend spending an extra dollar on a poncho because there's lots of fake blood, water and man juice. it does get a bit messy, but so worth it.

let's get physical

the gym scares me out here. it's like an extreme makeover hot spot. i can't tell if there are a lot of transgendered people or just women with extreme plastic surgery. full hair and make up. check! a foxy workout wardrobe. check! even the boys are guilty. i've seen guys wearing top hats in the gym. i know, i know, i shouldn't be one to judge. i'm sure i look funny in my oversized paint t-shirt, bright shorts and colorful socks. if i could just control my facial reactions then i think i'd feel a bit more comfortable. 


i guess another thing that puts me off is the location. the gym is inside of the galleria mall. you have to park in the parking garage and you're only able to validate for 2 hours. not to say that i usually go over that mark, but i am definitely rushing in and out. i guess it's also the inconvenience of walking through the entire shopping center and up the escalators to get to the gym. i'm not going to complain that i don't want to walk a far distance to work out. just more of a hassle. i'm sure i'll get over it. i think i just need to find the right timeframe. 


in the meantime, i've started back on the p90x train. another scary plastic surgery face! well at least i can react to tony horton's face in the privacy of my own home.

hungry like the wolf

i am really starting to feel at home out here. not so much with recognizable landmarks or anything like that, i definitely still get a little confused on the 101 N-->S / W-->E nonsense. i finally put up my posters and pictures and it's definitely made all the difference. i am not a fan of unpacking, probably because i had to do it so much growing up, and well, most of my adult life too. but i'm done! phew. here are some before and after's for you.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

so yes, needless to say i've been spending most of my days unpacking and job searching. well, mainly job searching. i've been pleasantly surprised to see there are a lot of positions that have been posted within the past month. i'm really hoping that they're looking to hire someone sooner than later. i know that the best way to get into a company is through a current employee, so... if you cats know anyone at the big boys like universal music group, sony pictures, paramount pictures, mtv networks, fox entertainment, discovery communications, warner brothers music, etc, etc... help a sista out!

i'm taking off my networking training wheels this week. i'm meeting with a friend of a friend of a friend tomorrow for lunch in venice! yes, i may arrive early to scope out the top model house and i'll be sure to keep an eagle eye out for b boyd. the gal i'm meeting with used to work with lincoln park and i hear she's really clued into the music scene so it'll be nice to hear her take on the LA entertainment scene and hear any reco's she may have in way of companies to check out. i'm also jazzed to have a new potench concert buddy. you can never have too many.

i guess i should explain my three degrees of separation. so it's a small world, yadda yadda and two of my austin friends ended up getting married and moved out to LA. i went to the hubs bday party on saturday (filled with salt lick bbq and texas football!) and met lots of fun new people. most of the partygoers were his colleagues from his tv show, so many young 20 something's also interested in the entertainment biz, to say the least. i struck up a convo with 2 fun gals (one from texas, of course!) and we got onto the subject of why i'm out in LA and then they told me about their fab music friend and there you have it. the end. i'll let you know how the 'meeting' goes.

i had another texas flashback this weekend when i went back to chick-fil-a (but this time it wasn't a sunday) to get my waffle fry fix. i'm excited that they're launching out here, but a little bummed that they all seem to be in shopping strips w/o parking (ie - the hollywood location is planned for hollywood and sunset, boo :/) guess it's good to keep that delicious golden chicken far, far away from me. 

and speaking of food... (again), went to the hollywood farmer's market with the bestie and her bf on sunday. it was pretty phenom. unforch i had just visited whole foods the day before so i was all stocked up on produce, but i'll be sure to fill myself with veggie delights all week so i can buy some fresh, local produce. i tested out some local tamales, from vera's tamale express, while i was there. definitely didn't have the spice that i'm used to, but they were decent. i would love to find some tasty tex-mex food out here, but i hear it just doesn't exist. is there such a thing as cali-mex? ew, that sounds like it would be some weird flaxseed tortilla with bolo-no and soy queso. i'll pass.

and on that note, that's a wrap folks. hoping for sunny skies at the beach tomorrow!

smells like teen spirit

what an eventful weekend! i must say that i feel so much more productive after my week-long lethargic slump.


my pod arrived at 9:30am on saturday morning, and with the help of my roomie, we were able to empty the entire 300 cubic ft space by 11am. did i mention there are stairs? can't say i jumped on the unpacking train right away. the bestie wanted to have some down time at the nail salon that morning so it was pod, shower, go!


after i was all painted and pretty, i got a surprise phone call from my hollywood starlet friend. she was in town shooting a movie and had some down time between scenes. we grabbed lunch at a cafe around the corner and ended up chatting for a few hours. paying homage to our texas roots, we walked next door to a local pizza pub to catch the longhorns game. apparently college football isn't very popular in la. i guess it's because they don't have any good teams around here so no one really cares....? but seriously, i had to ask the pub to put on the texas game and once the game started most of the place cleared out. bizarre. about halfway into the first quarter the bestie joined us. it was fun having most of the place to ourselves, but i felt a bit silly yelling 'texas! fight!' i'm definitely interested in finding a hopping spot to watch the games, so if you have any suggestions i'll take 'em.

after a severe victory over wyoming (btw, did anyone see the old, topless man in the foam wyoming barrel? what was that about??) i went back home to an apartment chock full o' boxes. boo. as much as i wanted to get started on my room i didn't think it would be fair to the roomie to leave the kitchen in such a disarray. there were so many boxes in there you honestly couldn't open any of the cabinets. after a solid 4 hours of unpacking boxes i was beat. unfortunately i hadn't started on my room and i was pretty wiped so i ended up throwing my plastic-wrapped mattress on the floor with my sleeping bag on top and called it a night. 


my hollywood starlet friend didn't wrap her shoot until the wee hours of the morning, so she came over at 6:30am. we slept for a few hours and then chowed down at jinky's for brunch. the bestie actually took me to this place last weekend. it's pretty fabulous and really similar to kerbey/magnolia minus the queso. after stuffing our tummies we headed back to the casa and started working on my bed frame. oh it's so exciting to have a bed again! the starlet had to get back on set shortly thereafter and i continued on the room. after a couple of hours i hit a wall and ran over to target (that'll be trip #4 thus far) to grab more miscellaneous items. i seriously bought 100 hangers (only $5, holla!) and i STILL ran out. totally bonkers. guess i have to go back tomorrow :)


wrapping it up, the room is almost complete. i'll post some pictures once i have everything set and my posters up. i'm hoping to continue riding this productivity train well into the week. finish unpacking, job hunting, car maintenance, etc. wish me luck!

the way the lazy do

i must admit that i have felt pretty lame upon entering california. i attempt to find my way around the area, but i notice myself mostly puttering around my apartment waiting for my pod to arrive. while i am not entirely amused that it won't be arriving until 9am tomorrow morning, i definitely feel a huge sense of relief knowing that i will see my bed again. as fun as it's been to stretch out 3 t-shirts and gym clothes over a span of 10 days, i'm really looking forward to some familiarity.


so what have i been doing this whole time instead of unpacking? i'm glad you asked...


- 3 trips to target: what sort of hold does that store have on me? i swear i could spend each and every day there. they always seem to fill their end caps with those items that definitely aren't on my list but somehow seem oh-so necessary.


- 1 entire day at ikea: thank you mama p for taking me on a trip to ikea prior to my california arrival! my goodness that place is overwhelming. and just when you think it's over you enter their cardboard metropolis filled with every item you never wanted to self-assemble and their never-ending checkout lines. while i was amused to be retracing the steps of jo-go and zooey d in '500 days' i was ready to get home and work on my new projects. had i known it would have taken me close to 6 hours to put together a desk i may have nixed the entire purchase. so that's why their prices are so low! what tricky swedes.


- multiple trips to the grocery store: cripes, it's tricky to rebuild a pantry. just to make it amusing i've been going to completely different stores and locations. ralph's, trader joe's, whole foods, other whole foods, target (there it is again!). can't say i've picked my favorite yet, but i'm leaning towards target which is just plain sad. ralph's has that horrible big brother card that i hate, but if you don't let them track your purchases then you end up paying $14 for milk. trader joe's definitely sold me some raunchy chocolate milk, watermelon and turkey breast. all 3 tasted like old socks. i tell no lies. whole foods and other whole foods were great, but i'm not 'so la' just yet and definitely can't afford $6 granola bars. 


- 1 exciting interview: shout out to my pal seanmac for hooking me up with his music placement connection. i was definitely excited just to be in the good graces of her highness, but holy moly! if i could be her right-hand-gal then i'd definitely be living the dream! good vibes definitely encouraged :)


now while most of my days sound fairly dull, i have definitely been enjoying hanging out with my bestie. props to her for even giving me the courage to make the move and hooking me up with a place and a super cool roomie to boot! did i mention that the bestie is just 1 mile down the road? bonus! she's been kind enough to let me share a few meals and errands with her and the bf and even lent me said air mattress. definitely owe her a big THANK YOU dinner once i start to earn some cash money.


omg, i almost forgot! i spotted my first moviestar on labor day. forest whitaker and fam at urban outfitters. an oscar nominee as my first celeb sighting? i think that's a good sign. in closing, i will leave you with a juvenile whitaker in the classic 'fast times at ridgemont high.' did you know the mall they used in the movie is the sherman oaks galleria? thank you wiki.

going to california

1400 miles is pretty easy, but i was in no rush to get to cali so i thought i'd play it safe and split it up into 3 days. it also gave me an excuse to stop in phoenix to visit one of my fab gal pals. 


true to my usual form, i left everything to the last minute. i wasn't able to find a driving companion so i decided to rent a u-haul pod so i could pack my stuff and leave the transport up to the professionals. seems convenient and cost-efficient, but i've been sleeping on an air mattress for a week straight, so i'll let you weigh the pros and cons on that one. moving on.... pod packed (big thanks to my dearest 4' 11" friend) and ipod charged, i took off on wednesday, september 1st. i was hoping to hit the road around 8a, but as i mentioned before, i'm a bit of a procrastinator so 10:30a was good enough for me. 


day one was definitely the toughest stretch since i was going 620 miles that day. it didn't help that i was going to be traveling within the state of texas for 95% of the day so there were no state line celebrations to enjoy until the very end. another con was being stuck behind TWO double-wides for a lovely 20 mile stretch. gotta love those texas county roads! luckily i had peacho's, a great playlist and an icy cold mountain dew on hand, so it made the country congestion a bit more bearable.

i must admit, west texas is pretty flippin' beautiful. i definitely noticed a lack of clouds once i breached the boarder. 

once i got onto i-10 i was making great time! did you know that the speed limit in texas is 80 mph!? thank you, lone star state! and as much time as i had made up thanks to the speedy speed limit, i decided not to meander in mexico but stay on track towards las cruces. here's a shot of juarez, mexico.

i rolled into las cruces around 7p mst. nothing too exciting to report. food. shower. bed. the end. the next day was pretty exciting because i was off to visit my dear friend at her new college campus. easy breezy drive. still pretty scenic through new mexico to arizona. there was this really cool rock formation in dragoon. apologies for the poor picture quality. it's pretty tricky to drive and shoot at the same time.

i thought i was going to meet my friend a bit later than i had anticipated, but thanks to arizona's refusal to acknowledge daylight savings, i was right on time. another fun fact for you.... an early september evening in arizona = 113F. dry heat or not, it was outta control hot. temperature aside, my phoenix cameo was short but sweet. good food, drinks and convo. muchas gracias for the hospitality!


day 3 was early, and lackluster. at one point my big highlight was passing through the city desert center. for realz. solid desert until you hit palm springs. i was lucky to roll into la when i did because half the city was getting out of work early for labor day weekend. i must admit that most of them seemed to be going in the opposite direction, away from the city, so that definitely worked in my favor. grabbed some essentials and a welcome to cali drink with the bestie and called it an evening. so far so good.

in transit

there was no life changing experience or message from a higher power that led me to pack up my bags and move from austin to la. i hate to be cliche but it was definitely an adventure that this twenty-something had to try out. i've had my fair share of friends attempt the 'la lifestyle' and while some were definitely successful in their 3+ years out in the big city, there were many others that still crinkle their noses when i mentioned los angeles. either way, i had to try it out.

a few reasons behind the madness...

- los angeles music/entertainment market > austin music/entertainment market

- austin lease ending 

- open room in my friend's apartment

- bestie living down the street from me again

- better weather

- opportunities for surfing

- brandon boyd and jo-go (ha, i'm kidding! kind of...)

- sense of adventure

and the big underlying factor why i moved to la...

- los angeles is just one step closer to australia!

i've always seen myself living in australia and i think la is just one natural step closer to fulfilling that dream. i'm sure my kiwi friends will hate hearing me say that, but i honestly fell in love with australia the moment i landed in the country. geezy peets, i even adored the sydney airport! yes, australia does have the great barrier reef directly off its coast along with multiple surfing hotspots and wicked accents so it's pretty easy to see why i'm in love with the country. i guess i always thought it would be fun to be the quirky foreign chick. *sigh* another cliche. i'm on a roll!

jumping back to the states, or rather texas for that matter, i feel like i had a big wake up call when my 3 year lease was coming to an end. i was definitely happy living in the most adorable little blue house in hyde park with one of my best friends from high school, but i started to feel like i was just going through the motions. i wasn't in love with my job and i didn't really feel like i was going in the right direction. heck, i didn't feel like i was going in any direction. just complacent. so when our lease was coming to a close and the apartment opened up in la, it just kind of made sense. 

i will admit that i always had an la move on the back of my mind, so when the 'stars aligned' i had to just take the plunge and do it. i didn't really want to sit down and write a pros/cons list or analyze my decision because i knew i'd back down and i didn't want to. i wanted to be ballsy and i wanted to make a big change, so splash(!) into the big pool of life i went. i'm definitely happy with the decision, granted it's only been a week. i'm sure i'll face a few stumbling blocks along the way, but for the moment i will enjoy the ride.