Guest Posting

Today I'm guest posting over at my sister's sweet blog, Letters for Lucas. It's a weekly series, Letters for You, that she started a month or so ago where you write a meaningful letter to someone in your life. It's such a perfect series for her blog since a lot of Tonya's blog are like letters to her own 2 year old son, Lucas.

For my letter this week, I decided to write to my parents. Indeed, I would send it to them if there was a way. Thank you Tonya for asking me to be a part of your series. It felt good getting those words out. Please hop on over to her blog and read my letter, Since You've Been Gone. Bring some Kleenex.

Uninspired, Busy, Tired

So, why the sudden absence in my blog? Well, I'm sorry but I've been feeling uninspired, busy and too tired to blog lately.

First things first, why oh why, do I feel like I have to apologize for being inactive on here?! Is this normal to feel bad about not blogging? Like borderline guilty even? Geesh! What's wrong with me? Do other bloggers out there feel this way when they haven't blogged in awhile? Are we really letting anyone seriously down if we don't blog all the time?

1. Uninspired- Two things here, one, I haven't felt very inspired to write about anything.. And two, while I have a ton of cool things going on in my life right now, for the first time in awhile, I don't have this incredible urge to put it all out there on the internet for the world to read about. I want to keep it private for awhile.. at least for a little bit longer. : )

2. Busy and Tired- Life has gotten busier and blogging is the first to get knocked off my list of things to do. In the past, I've used my nights to blog but lately I'm so tired at the end of the night that the last thing I want to do is sit in front of my computer for another hour and create a post. I can't even tell you the last time I read my book. Before turning off the light at night, I barely have time to take off my glasses! I guess we are all always tired, huh? It's the never-ending quest for more sleep that everyone seems to be searching for. Will we catch it? Probably not...

While I'm on the topic of blogging woes, can I just say how frustrating it can be sometimes when I see most of my fellow bloggers getting these amazing and insightful posts out each and everyday! How do they do that?! Where do they/you find the time?

I guess that I have officially decided that from now on, I'm only going to post when something neat or interesting happens to me. That's totally fair, right?

Can we say 'blogging burnout' or what?!

The Kindhearted Blogger Pledge

Every once in awhile, I think we all need to reevaluate why we blog and who we blog for. I recently saw this badge on the left on someone's blog and just had to write a post about it and of course, officially take this pledge myself.

I discovered that the kind hearted campaign began way back in July because a fellow blogger was involved in a hurtful blogging situation and she wanted to turn that negative experience into a positive one. Well, thanks to her for being brave and not letting the experience bring her down.
So here we go. I, LA, take the kind hearted blogger pledge today in front of you all. I couldn't agree with any pledge more then I do this one. : )

AS A KIND-HEARTED BLOGGER I PLEDGE TO:

• create, inspire, and admire rather than compete with fellow bloggers
• be understanding of each other-- in the blogging community, as well as in the world
• stay away from internet/blogging bullying
• speak my opinion freely, while still being mindful of other's feelings-- be tactful.
• make an effort--no matter how big or small the gesture, to spread kindness or joy to others
• acknowledge that I will make mistakes, (I am only human) but remember to learn from them
• know that at times I will post about the negative stuff in life, and maybe even some complaining (I am only human) but I will always follow up with something happy/positive too.
• believe that this world is a good place, filled with good people.

Curling Irons are Evil!!/Wonderful World of Mini Tripods

This post is about the evils of curling irons and this awesome mini tripod on the right that I got in the mail recently to review on my blog. Yep, I have turned into one of those shameless bloggers that will review products! But, in all honesty, I really have been needing one of these so it came at the perfect time. As you all know my roommate and I make these awesome YouTube videos and usually we have to prop the camera against a book, a TV, a tree, really anything that we find so this tripod will make things a lot easier for us.

Now back to the evils that are curling irons for a bit... Last Saturday as I mentioned in a previous blog this week, I attended a fabulous 80's Prom Birthday Bash.

It was a lot of fun getting into my 80's wardrobe which of course means breaking out the hairspray, mousse and the dreaded curling iron.

I don't use my curling iron very often, especially not around my bangs! I'm not really entirely sure the proper technique to use a curling iron and therefore my curls usually end up looking rather messy and undone. Thanks to plenty of hairspray, I was actually somewhat impressed with how my hair was turning out this particular night. Perhaps I was getting too ambitious and cocky..who knows... I had been watching YouTube videos earlier in the day on how to do 80's style bangs and I thought I had it nailed down and could totally accomplish it. So, I went for it, I sprayed hair spray on my bangs, grabbed the curling iron and proceeded to 80's curl my bangs. I didn't go slowly like I should have and pay attention to the proximity of where my forehead and curling was. Thus, I burned my forehead. Not once. But twice. It was bad.

At the time, I cried out in pain but I knew I had to get ready and didn't have the time to really investigate the damage I had done. So, I finished my hair and thankfully, my huge 80's bangs covered any evidence of self-mutilation. However, the next day I soon realized what I had done to myself!!

These photos were taken two days ago so of course the two burns have slightly faded since last Saturday. It's pretty intense, right?! I still can't believe that that second I left the curling iron rest on my forehead was enough to cause all this damage! Thanks to aloe vera, they are looking and feeling much better now but a few days ago, they really hurt and looked like I had some kind of a skin issue on my forehead!

I took those pictures above with this really neat mini tripod I was sent. Yay! I received it from BudgetGadgets.com. They are an online retailer/wholesaler located in Shenzhen, China, dedicated to selling quality electronic gadgets and great service at wholesale price with free shipping to anywhere since 2003. I got an email from their PR manager several months ago and she asked me if I would be interested in reviewing a tripod and I told her yes, yes, of course!

Their online store sells accessories for iPods, iPhones and iPads, Cellphone Accessories, PC/Laptop Accessories, Video Game Accessories, Car Accessories, Sport, lasers, Toys and Hobbies, watches, etc.

So, anyway, back to this particular tripod, it's their portable flexible tripod for digital cameras. It's item #4652 and it sells on their website for $11.23. Their description on the site definitely accurately describes this tripod. Let's see, it enables extra security to ensure your camera is safely attached to it. I accidently dropped the tripod and the camera certainly stayed nice and snug in the tripod! Yay! This also proves that it stays connected to your camera for nearly instant setup. It is made of hard plastic, which is very strong and flexible. It can bend and rotate 360 degrees to form multiple shapes to best fit your tripod needs.
So, if this all doesn't sell you on this guy, nothing will! : )

The company also awesomely created a coupon for my visitors! The coupon code is leahainla5OFF. So when you shop on their website, BudgetGadgets.com, use this code at checkout and you will be given a 5% off discount site-wide. Pretty cool, huh? I certainly never thought that I would be given a discount code for a gadget website to offer my followers when I started this blog about a year ago! Too funny!

Touching Post

My sister and I share many blog followers but in case you don't follow her's yet, I wanted to share with you her post for today entitled Mysterious Ways. I shed a tear and I laughed a little this morning as I read what is a beautiful piece of writing. Please drop by her blog and check out this post. I couldn't agree more with you Tonya, Lucas and my future children will always feel like they know our parents. I promise that.

Being Happy

I just found an interesting post on my fabulous friend Lori's blog just now at Life and Style Madrid. She is currently living in Madrid and blogs about all things awesome and totally Madrid-the fashion, culture and lifestyle of the capital of Spain.

In this particular post, she discusses how we can all be happy and the reasoning behind why we aren't sometimes. It's a sweet happy post so I just had to share it on here.

Month of Awards!

This must be the month of awards because I've had the wonderful pleasure of receiving two more awesome awards last week: The Versatile Blogger award from Samantha at A Place I Call My Own and the Memetastic Award from Jen at What Would Jen Do. Thanks ladies!

In order to accept both of these awards I have share a few things about myself, so here goes:

1. I really like going on long road trips by myself. Is this strange? I haven't gone on too many but the few that I've gone on, I have enjoyed them a lot.

2. Despite not caring who wins in a lot of sporting events, I somehow will always find myself caring by the end of the game and really getting into it. Take the Super Bowl for example, I didn't really care who won or lost but half way through it, I was hooked and began rooting for Green Bay.

3. Finishing a long run gives me the best high ever! Seriously! It's an incredible feeling knowing you've gone such a long distance.

4. I honestly miss the days where we called each other instead of texting.

Now, I'll go ahead and pass both these awards to Tonya at Letters for Lucas and M at An Officer and a Lady.

Another Blogging Award?!

Well, obviously, I now know that I for sure have at least one fan of my blog, my friend M, at An Officer and a Lady. She has blessed me with yet another blogging award! Woo hoo-The Honest Scrap Award. Well, I can say for sure that if my blog is anything at all, it's 100% honest all the time. I absolutely never exaggerate or embellish anything ever! Ok, perhaps a little sometimes...but don't we all? Haha!

Now for the tough part, who do I give this award to? Hmm..

1. Awkward Sex and the City- This blog never ceases to crack me up with it's more than honest account of life in a big city. She certainly never shy's away from the tough issues. If you haven't stopped by her blog then you are definitely missing out!

2. Stilettos & a Fishing Pole- This Southern Belle has a sugary sweet blog that is always so lovely and full of sweet pictures of her with her friends and soon to be husband. It's a very touching and honest blog.

3. Adventures in Yayaland- This lady gave me an award not too long ago so I felt like I should return the favor and give her an award. Her blog reminds me a lot of mine and I can always count on her to leave me sweet and honest comments on my blog.

There you have it! So go check out these three great blogs!

Wordless Wednesdays

As I was on a walk yesterday afternoon with the little boy Jake that I nanny for every once in a while, we came across an amazing tree with these beautiful pink flowers. Sadly, I know very little about flowers so I'm not sure what these flowers were called. Got any ideas? This photo was taken with my phone so it's not the best quality so hopefully, someone can discern what kind of a flower they are.


This post is for Wordless Wednesdays. I heard about this posting idea from my sister and she learned about it through Alicia at A Beautiful Mess. Her blog is full of beautiful photos so be sure to check it out.

Guest Blogging is Fun!

I've only guest blogged on my sisters's blog a few times so when Meg over at Sunshine and Cool Breezes asked me to write a guest post for her blog about my life here in LA, I jumped at the chance! Check out the post here: Coffee Chats: Leah of LA, California. It was a lot of fun and I hope to guest blog for someone again soon. Hint, hint guys! : )

A Sweet Award! Yay!

Thanks so much to my dear friend "M" over at her new fabulous blog, "An Officer and a Lady" for giving me this very cute award, "The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award". She gave it to me over two weeks ago but I've been seriously behind on all my blogs so I just discovered she gave me the award tonight! Crazy, I know!

In order to accept the award, I must share the love with 6 other bloggers and fess up to 4 guilty pleasures.

Awardees

1) Letters for Lucas - My sister Tonya never ceases to brighten my day with her adventures with my nephew Lucas.

2) Confessions of a 20 Something - While Pink Lou Lou's blog does have a lot of sweet cutesy blog posts, she is also a real woman and that means she goes through real-life issues. Her most recent post touched me.

3) Running in High Heels - Brittney's blog title alone got me to follow it! Gotta love a runner with a fashion sense: )

4) In Pursuit of my inner Pin-Up - If you've been following my blog at all, then I'm sure it's pretty obvious why I enjoy this blog so much. Who can resist a blog about pin-ups?

5) What Would Jen Do - Not only is Jen's blog super sweet and honest, she is also always the first one to comment on just about each and every one of my own blog posts. I absolutely love her for that!

6) In the Meantime - Jessica's blog is a lot like mine, it's random and full of good times with friends and family. She recently gave me a style award so I must officially thank her for that here! Thanks!

4 Guilty Pleasures

1) Old episodes of 90210 and Saved by the Bell, preferably watching them on my computer in bed.

2) A bowl of cottage Cheese and a grilled cheese sandwich. Yum!

3) Long hot showers and bubble baths too! Aaaahh, Calgon take me away or Mr. Bubbles works too. : )

4) Target runs and getting a bunch of new toiletries.

I'm Alive!

Sorry I've been missing on here.....

Just so you guys don't think I've been swallowed whole by LA, I thought I would quickly post that while I have a billion blog posts all written out, I just haven't had the time to put them on here. Honestly, I really miss my poor neglected blog and while I've thought about it a lot, I just haven't had the quality time that it so deserves.

I promise that soon and very soon I'll be back to my regular blogging. I'm very excited to share with you all the details and pictures from my exciting trip to Germany.

So, stay tuned for much, much more!

Blog Face-Lift?

So I'm considering spending a little money and giving LA 'n' LA a little face-lift. For those of you that have done this, got any suggestions? What blog designers have you used? What is the average amount I should spend? Is it based on the time they spend working on your blog? I've heard that Designer Blogs is good. Anything that I should make sure to add onto my blog or things I shouldn't bother spending money on? I have absolutely no idea so any and all help is greatly appreciated.

All I know is that it's time for a change! I'm definitely in need of a new layout, a new color scheme, new fonts and more. Heck, maybe I'll even create my very own blog button. Even though I'm still not sure what the purpose of having your own button is. Can someone enlighten me on the reasoning behind those?

How long did it take till you were ready for a fancy new blog upgrade? If you haven't done so, what keeps you from going to that level?

Happy 1 Year Blogoversary

Happy 1 year Birthday to my beloved blog, LA 'N' LA! Wow!

This blog has been incredibly useful to me and I can't imagine life without it now. It really has become my open journal to the world. Ok maybe not to the world but you get what I mean. I love that my friends and family have been able to get this intimate look into my life here in LA through this blog. Of course I love all the new blogging friends I've made through this crazy blogging world too.

I look forward to the next year of blogging! I hope you'll stay here for this rollercoaster of a ride!

Tagging Myself!

So, I know I'm supposed to be tagged in order to do this but I figured why wait for that?! I'm tagging myself, so there!

1. Four shows that you watch:

(I watch them all online)

(1) One Tree Hill (Don't judge me!)

(2) Grey's Anatomy

(3) Lost

(4) Office Space

2. Four things you are passionate about:

(1) Music

(2) My sister and nephew

(3) My friends

(4) Sleeping

3. Four phrases you say a lot:

(1) Really?!

(2) Totally!

(3) That's super cute

(4) How's Piggy doing?

4. Four things you've learned from the past:

(1) Things are going to happen in life that aren't fair, but you have to pick yourself up and move on

(2) If at first you don't succeed, try, try again

(3) Choose carefully which friends are in your front row and who shouldn't be allowed in

(4) Don't take everything so personally

5. Four places you would like to go:

(1) Paris- I lived there for a Summer and would love to return for longer this time.

(2) Hawaii- I've never been and have really wanting to for awhile now.

(3) Italy-What can I say, "Eat, Pray, Love" hooked me!

(4) Pakistan- I was born here and would love to go back and see where was I born.

6. Four things you did yesterday:

(1) Called a bunch of bakeries about donating desserts to our big Pin-Ups For Vets event.

(2) Ran 4 miles at the gym

(3) Set up a job interview for Monday! Yay!
(4) Babysit at night

7. Four things you are looking forward to:

(1) Going to Disneyland next Thursday with my sister and nephew!

(2) Getting a much needed hair cut and color on Friday.

(3) My drive to the Bay Area for Christmas.

(4) My trip with Gina to Tampa, FL in two weeks! Crossing off yet another city and VA Hospital visit off my list!

8. Four things you love about winter:

(1) Hot chocolate

(2) More time with family this time of year

(3) Scarves!

(4) The leaves changing color

9. Four bloggers who should share their list of fours:

(1) M

(2) Tonya

(3) Coreen

(4) Elle

100 Followers!!

OMG, I've hit 100 followers! I cannot believe it!! This is so awesome! I couldn't be happier that people are reading my blog and actually enjoying reading about my emotional roller coaster filled life here in the City of Angels. Thank you to all my new and old followers! I really appreciate you being a part of my blog. As my sister says, "The Best is Yet To Be". : )

Enjoy these few sweet blogging quotes:

"A blog is in many ways a continuing conversation" -Andrew Sullivan

"Blogging is a communications mechanism handed to us by the long tail of the Internet." -Tom Foremski

"The heart and soul of blogging is the individual and/or the group of individuals opining on the fly and responding post-haste to one and all." -Michael Conniff

"Your blog is your unedited version of yourself." -Lorelle

A Stylish Blogger Award?!

Well, my blogging slump is officially over and I am completely rejuvenated and happily ready to tackle my blog as well as comment on other people's blogs again. This week I've really been able to brainstorm blogging ideas and I think I've gotten some good things out there.

Last night I discovered that I received an awesome blogging award from my real life and blogging friend "M" at Misadventures of M: Dating & Other Shenanigans. Yay! This definitely made my day and inspired me to keep up with this blogging stuff. Thank you M! I wish that I could give this award back to her as I love her honest and hilarious take on dating through her blog. She really cannot get more real and true. I especially love that I feel like she is sitting right there talking to me since I miss my college buddy so much.

Anyway, her post instructed me that in order to accept the award, I need to reveal 7 bits of personal information and pass the award along to 3 other bloggers.
So, here I go:

1. I wouldn't really describe myself as being stylish or fashionable. I do think that I have my own unique look that's unlike most people. I don't care about labels and I'm in fact struggling a little with carrying around that Coach purse. I'm definitely not afraid of color and I'm good at matching things. Just ask any of the roommates that I've had or any of my friends, really. Thanks to my mom, I can't help but match my earrings, shoes, purse and shirt somehow altogether. Usually it all makes sense.
2. I'm not the biggest fan of high heel shoes. I love the looks of them and totally respect any girl that can wear the really obnoxiously tall ones out at night. I just can't wear them. My feet were not designed for heels. So, unless I know that I'm just going to a sit down dinner, I won't wear heels. Having said all that, I do own about 8 or so pairs of fun heels. Consider yourself lucky if you've seen me wear one of them out. : )
   
3. I spend way too much time on Facebook and I've even thought about closing my account just for awhile. This probably won't ever happen but it's a good exercise to consider doing it. Right?
   
4. It's starting to annoy me that some people follow my blog all the time but NEVER comment. Why not? Just say something! It's nice to know that there are people out there reading this stuff. I'm not going to lie, while this is great therapy for me, I also enjoy sharing my thoughts with others and hearing their feedback.
   
5. I don't care that this makes me sound like a wuss but I seriously get cold when it's under 75 degrees. For this reason, I probably can never live anywhere but California or Arizona.
   
6. Despite being 26 I still have a stuffed dog and monkey sitting on my bed and probably will until I live with a boyfriend. I've had them forever and they have a lot of sentimental value. I also admit that I put them away with people over at my house.
   
7. Even though I love a ton of indie bands and up and coming artists, I still love me some good ole fashioned radio pop music too.
   

And the awards go to:

1. Leanna @ OMG I moved to NYC- Like my blog, she shares all her adventures in her new big city NYC. It's incredibly random and varied and this is why I always enjoy reading it.
   You never know what you're gonna read about next.
2. Jill @ Life After College- Her blog reminds me a lot of mine. It's got a little bit of everything for everyone. There's music, there's family and mushy stuff, there's Youtube videos and there's hot pictures of men! What could be better than all of that?!
3. Newlywed Coach's Wife(I cannot find her name anywhere on her blog!) @ One Mile at a Time- Another fellow new runner so I have to give her support and props! While the main focus of her blog is about her new running life, she still talks about other important life things and I totally appreciate that. She also inspires me with her amazing recent weight loss.
   

Please go ahead and check out these blogs as they are fun and so down to earth.

Overwhelmed with Blogging

For the first time since I started blogging almost a year ago, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. For starters, I'm not sure why, but I feel pressured to write a new exciting post everyday. I've certainly stayed up way later than I should in order to get a new post up on my blog for the next morning. When I do occasionally skip a day or two, I always feel guilty. I almost feel like I didn't turn in my homework or something... Weird, right?! Why do I do this to myself?! UGH! Ok, I'm an interesting gal and do a lot of awesome things here in LA but come on, there are days when it's hard to post something. I don't do something cool every single day. Perhaps, I have totally unrealistic expectations... Maybe I should only blog when the mood strikes me or I do something uber LA fabulous. Right? What do you think? What do you as my wonderful followers want to read about? As a blogger, when do post? If you are posting something everyday, how do you find the time?

I'm also struggling with finding the time to comment on all the blogs I follow too. There are so many amazing, funny, inspiring, sweet and crazy blogs out there that I adore reading but I just don't have the time to read them all. How can I possibly keep up with them all? How do you keep up? What are the tricks of the trade?

Whew! Well, it definitely felt good getting this off my chest and blogging about it. There, now Tuesday's post is done and I can go to bed now! Haha! : )

Fun Follow Friday

This week I decided to be apart of Fun Follow Friday hosted by Simply Stacie and My Wee View. The goal of this hop is to simply be introduced to new blogs to follow and make new blogging friends! It's super easy to join. All you have to do is add your blog link to their blogs and start blog hopping and following! You aren’t required to write a post for your blog for Fun Follow Friday unless you want to.

When you visit a blog that you like and want to follow, leave them a comment with your link telling them you are following from the Fun Follow Friday.

The main goal is to have fun and follow the blogs that interest you! Enjoy!

When Private Goes Public

This week's Mama Kat's Writing Assignment that I chose to write about is Why are you burned out?

How personal is too personal for a blog? Where is that invisible line that shows us when we've divulged too much information? What exactly is off limits? Should our blogs be solely about our own lives or can we talk about other people? Our friends, our families and our co-workers? Do we have to ask permission from these people in our lives? Don't we have to care how other people are going to be affected by what we discuss on our blogs? And what about free speech? Is that really all that this is about?

Since starting my blog back in January, I have struggled with all of these questions. I think I have done my best to make sure that I am never revealing too much about anyone other than myself. I've made sure that each posting that talks about my friends or family is kind-hearted and doesn't rub anyone the wrong way. Most importantly, I have vowed to never paint anyone in a negative light on my blog. Simply put, this blog about ME and my life. Sure, there have been some rough days where I wanted to talk about how mad I was at this person or how annoying this other person was being. However, I stopped myself from going through with it. I knew those words could have potentially been hurtful to those people.
On 3 separate occasions, my roommate has asked me to remove a line or two from a post because she thought it revealed too much about our home address. She is particularly careful about stuff like that. Despite the fact that sometimes I disagree with her, I still immediately delete those sentences she was unhappy with. This was not a problem at all for me. I would NEVER put my blog before the people in my life. Sorry to say but my blog will never take priority in my life.

Another issue to deal with is the fact that many of my close friends and family read this blog. How awful would one of them feel if they had to read on my blog how I felt about them. Personally, I would hate that. Not only is it TMI but it's also none of the blogging communities business. Am I right? Putting something like the inner-workings or the problems in your relationships for all the world to see just seems so detached and juvenile. Why not reach out to that person instead and work it out between the two of you face to face? There is definitely no need to publically slander them or your relationship with them.

Perhaps it comes down to why we all started our personal blogs in the first place. We are sharing makeup tips, college help, mothering advice, daily humorous anecdotes, diet tips, amazing shopping finds or in my case my adventures here in LA. I know for certain that we have all struggled to find the perfect balance of too much information and just enough to interest our readers. When too much information starts to hurt and really negatively affect other people, it's just not worth it.

I'm burnt out from all this.

Something that recently struck me is how we take for granted people's wishes when it comes to our blogs. Everything SHOULD NOT be up for grabs. If I tell you not to disclose something and you do it anyway, knowing full well I'm not going to be happy, what does this say about you? It's a complete lack of respect and a full dismissal of someone's feelings. Why do that? Sure, you may feel strongly about something but this does not give you the right to publicize it. There are other ways.

When did our blogs become our platform to tell the world how we feel about each other? We need to step down from our soapboxes and really understand how our actions or in this case, our words, affect other people. We should remember that a blog is public knowledge on the internet. I really think we all need to be more self-aware and sensitive to other people's feelings. It's time to put our egos aside and truly focus on what's important and good in the world instead of putting others down.

So, if you ever see something on my blog that makes you feel embarrassed, hurt or angry, please tell me. I'll respect you enough to remove it. Free speech means nothing when you are hurting people you care about.

Alright, I'll stop this long-winded rant but I really do believe all this and felt that I needed to get it off my chest. In the end, blogging is all about sharing our lives with friends, family and our new blogging world. With this comes the moral responsibility to be cautious and aware of how we express ourselves. I think that this balance can most definitely be achieved.

Here's to more future self-aware bloggers out there.