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.