I'm a Celebrity!

I'm a celebrity. . . OK, not really but it's definitely fun to get mentioned in newspapers. Check out this link for the short newspaper article about my roommate Gina and my visit to a Marine Base in Honolulu, Hawaii about a week ago for Gina's project, Pin-Ups For Vets. Gina is for sure the true Pin-Up girl celeb, I'm just her Pin-Up assistant. : )

Wordless Wednesdays/Picture Recap!

Two Saturdays ago, my roommate Swati and I went downtown to the Conga Room to see the French R&B Duo, Les Nubians perform. While they sing mainly in French, anyone can enjoy their relaxing music.




Here are my favorite pictures from my trip to Hawaii with my roommate Gina!






Oh and I got an iphone last week!!!!! Yay!!!!! It's awesome!!

Shameless Plugs!

Time and time again, I'm impressed by the talented people in my life and the amazing things that they are doing.

1. One of my roommates is an incredibly talented writer and she recently wrote a very interesting and fun article for The Daily called "Grumpy, Dopey, Risky and Walt". The Daily is "a tablet-native national news brand built from the ground up to publish original content exclusively for the iPad." Please go to that link and read Swati's article for yourself! If you enjoy it as much as I'm sure you will, stay tuned for more as I'll continue to let you know of her of next published works.


2. Of course I've blogged numerous times about my roommate Gina's awesome non profit organization, Pin-Ups for Vets. Pin-Ups for Vets is World War II style calendar that Gina created and models in. All the money raised from these calendars goes to help support VA and Military Hospitals around the US. She then hand-delivers these calendars to the hospitals. I've been to 7 different hospitals with her. Our last trip together was to Germany and Florida. I am excited to go to Hawaii and Arizona next month with her for two more visits.


3. My old boss's daughter in Phoenix is in a very cool band called Super Stereo. A couple weeks ago I was excited to discover that they were going to be in Los Angeles playing at a bar right by where I live. Of course I went and saw them perform and was delighted by what I heard. They have such a fresh and new sound that's hard to get out of your head. They call their genre 'future pop' which is really so accurate. Please check out their Facebook page, Super Stereo or their own website. Their music can also be purchased on iTunes. My favorite songs are "Go On" and "Life Passed Me By".


4. Todd, my brother in-law co-owns a car showroom called European Collectibles on PCH. I finally got to see it this afternoon and was in awe of all the stunning cars in there. They have a 1960 Fiat, 1965 Ford Mustang, a 1986 Ferrari, a 1956 Ford Thunderbird, a 1958 Jaguar and many others. You almost feel like you are walking back in time in this showroom. If you aren't in the market for one of these beautiful cars, just go check out their inventory for fun! EC on PH is very easy to find as it's along the Pacific Coast Highway, in the city of Newport Beach across from the Balboa Bay Club.

Prince!

P-Powerful R- Riveting I- Interesting N- New Wave C- Creative E- Electrifying

Prince has produced 10 platinum albums and thirty top 40 singles! He has won 7 Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. Whoa!

On Friday night I had the immense pleasure of seeing the legendary artist, PRINCE in concert. Yes, be jealous, be very jealous! : ) In a word, the whole show was electrifying! (Thanks SP!)

I will admit that honestly I've never been his biggest fan and have many friends that have wanted to kill me for saying that. But I just never really understood him or most of his music. While I still think he is incredibly eccentric and even odd at times, he puts on quite a show and his songs are timeless. I am so grateful that I got the chance to see him perform live. I believe that you learn sooo much from that opportunity. Plus it was fun to transport back to the 80's for the night! : )


First off, he sounds exactly like he did back at the height of his career. Some of my friends would say that he will always be at the height of his career but you get what I mean... I can say for sure that this 52 year old still has all the musical talent, the confidence, the moves and more. He is in LA doing a 21 Show 'Residency' Concert Series. The concert I went to was at The Forum in Inglewood but apparently he'll be performing in a few other spots as well. If you haven't seen him yet and you are in LA, I highly urge you to go. It feels almost ridiculous to pay only $25 to see such a musical icon at work.
One of the first songs he performed is my personal favorite, "Raspberry Beret" so I was absolutely thrilled from the beginning to end.

Before he took the stage:


He lit up the stage literally and figuratively! : )


Here is my roommate Swati and our good friend Amina half-way thru the concert.


Alicia Keys was his special surprise guest performer! I was freaking out when I saw her appear from the hole in the stage floor! I love her and never expected to see her there. They sang an awesome duet of her song "How Come You Don't Call Me?"


Have you seen Prince in concert? What musical legends are you dieing to see? I would LOVE to see Madonna, Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera and so many more! : )

Tasty Soup Tuesday

Last Friday night, my roommate Swati and I were feeling adventurous in the kitchen so we decided to make dinner together and by make, I mean that we didn't quickly throw something into the microwave. No, we actually used the stove AND the oven AND the blender even too! Haha! Swati had the genius idea of using her frozen spinach to make renown food journalist's Mark Bittman's super easy Creamy Spinach Soup. When I say easy, I really mean EASY!
Check out the simple recipe below:

Creamy Spinach Soup

Put 1 chopped onion, 2 peeled garlic cloves, 3 cups water and salt and pepper in a pot over high heat. Boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer until the onion is tender, about 10 minutes. Add 10 ounces chopped spinach and 1/2 cup parsley leaves; cook until the spinach is tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 cup Greek-style yogurt and purée. Garnish: A spoonful of Greek-style yogurt and chopped parsley.

Swati is lovin' our soup!

Two other easy similar recipes:

Squash-and-Ginger Soup
Substitute 1 tablespoon minced ginger for the garlic and 4 cups chopped butternut squash for the spinach (it will take longer to soften). Skip the parsley and substitute half-and-half or cream for the yogurt. Garnish: A spoonful of cream.

Curried Cauliflower Soup
Substitute 1 tablespoon minced ginger for the garlic, 2 cups cauliflower florets for the spinach (they will take longer to soften), 1 tablespoon curry powder for the parsley and coconut milk for the yogurt. Garnish: Chopped cilantro.

For more on these recipes go to this New York Times Page.

To go with the soup, we also made breaded Parmesan Tilapia fish, green beans and Parmesan couscous! Yummy!

Wordless Wednesdays

So, I've been pretty busy lately doing all kinds of different things and have taken some fun pictures so here's what I've been up to......

The roomies and some other friends and I spent a few glorious hours at the beach on Sunday afternoon. It was beautiful and sunny for awhile and then....


it got dark and kind of eerie looking so we put on our clothes and played games at the beach instead! Hey, at least we stuck around!

Valentines Day Wine & Dessert party with my roomies!


Me with the Valentines Day hostess with the mostess, Corinne!


My roommate Swati and I at a friend's pub crawl.


My roommate Gina and friend Jennahway and I at a Pin-Up Pageant show!

This was my favorite dress of the show. I just love polka dots!


On Saturday I ran a 20 mile training run!! Woo hoo!! It went really well and I can honestly say that I think I'm ready for the Full Marathon next month! Wow, I can't believe I just said those words!

Florida Visit-Vets, Pelicans and Art!

Since Sunday I've been in Tampa, Florida with my roomie and Pin-Ups for Vets founder, Gina Elise. We have visited two VA hospitals here and gave out 200 of her awesome 2011 Pin-Up Calendars.

They were two great visits and I'm once again blown away by the bravery these men and women Vets have and the pride they take in having served our country. Our time with each patient in the hospitals may be brief but I like to think that the calendars and our presence stays with them long after the visit is over.

Today, one man in particular touched me and I would have liked to have spent more time with him. We were saying goodbye to him after having given him a calendar and he was thanking us for coming in to see him and he started to choke up. The, the tears started to flow. I wanted to give him a big hug. It really affected me and I couldn't help but wonder how many visitors he has gotten lately. He was just so appreciative of us that it really hit me how important it is that Gina and I make these visits to VA Hospitals. Veterans need to know that young people out there care about them and are grateful for their service.

We also visited a Hospice care unit today which was very difficult for me. These men and women know that they don't have long left to live and are just doing what they can to get through each day. I watched as a mother and daughter held their father's hand as he struggled for each breath. It broke my heart to see that. However, as soon as Gina and I walked into the room, their faces lit up and gladly accepted the calendar on his behalf and thanked us for coming in. Even in such despair, these people acknowledged the good coming into their lives.

Fortunately, we've made time to do a little sightseeing since we've been here. So, after the hospital visit, we spent a few hours in St. Petersburg or St. Pete as the locals call it, it's about 30 minutes south of Tampa. While it was fairly overcast for most of the afternoon, it was still nice to hang out at the beach with the pelicans and relax for a little bit.

After taking some fun pictures at the St. Pete Pier, we headed over to the interesting Salvador Dali Museum. I wouldn't ever necessarily call myself a huge artsy person but I think that this man was an incredibly forward thinker. He is known as being a Spanish Catalan surrealist painter. As an artist, he broke the boundaries of the time and created some very striking and bizarre images. There are some that are a little too strange even for me but still some interesting pieces of work to look at. I certainly have a new-found appreciation for this unique man.

Gina and I really liked this painting of Dali's the best. It's called "Three Young Surrealist Women Holding in Their Arms the Skins of an Orchestra" and it was painted in 1936.

My First LA Dinner Party

"One cannot have too large a party." -Jane Austen

Last night my two roommates and I threw a little dinner party at our house. There were 7 guests. When I moved in, I brought a large nice dining room table and matching chairs so it was fun to finally put all of that to good use.

I wanted it to be simple so I just made tacos. We had a ton of veggies, ground turkey, falafel for the vegetarians, black beans, lentil soup and my roommate Gina's amazing guacamole. There was plenty of wine, soft music in the background and mood lighting provided by candles.

If you weren't at this dinner party, you'll be at the next one as the girls and I plan to do this much more often so stay tuned. : )

The funniest thing happened before any of the guests even arrived...

So I was cutting up a few jalapeno peppers (some people like to experience pain during dinner), I threw them into bowl and then went to itch my nose-BIG MISTAKE! Within seconds, my nose felt like it was on fire! I've never felt this kind of stinging pain before ever. I tried to ignore it for awhile, as I had a dinner to get ready and didn't have time to worry about my 'hot' nose! But it kept getting worse... my roommates quickly started offering me advice and then resorted to checking Google. The first thing that popped up that sounded reasonable enough was to dunk my nose into a bowl of milk which is exactly what I did. Of course, this moment just had to be captured on camera. It totally worked so if you ever find yourself in a similar situation then I highly suggest doing this.

TV!

Brace yourself for what I'm about to tell you. Ready?
Ok, I don't have cable, satellite or even basic local channels at home. When I moved to LA, my new roommates didn't have it set up at our house so at the time it felt like a lot of hassle to get Directv or something else hooked up so I just didn't bother.

It's now been 10 months since I moved here and I honestly don't really miss it. I learn about what's going on in the news and I catch up with celeb gossip all online. Most major networks have their own websites so I technically never have to miss anything. Sure, I'm now SO behind all on my favorite shoes since I have to watch them all online. I haven't had the time to do that in awhile. In fact, I haven't seen one episode of this season's "Grey's Anatomy". I can say for sure that I don't miss all those awful and annoying commercials. I also can say that I'm thrilled to not be bombarded with all those terrible reality shows that are on TV now. "Jersey Shore" is definitely not for me!

Of course we do have a great big TV in our living room. I get Netflix movies every week so I watch those, other movies and lots of other TV shows on DVD. However, when I'm around a TV at a friend's or at my sister's home, I definitely do sit down and enjoy whatever happens to be on at the time. I guess you could say, I have a deeper appreciation for watching 'live' television now.

All in all, I really don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. What about you? Could go without all those channels?

Happy Veterans Day!

With it being Veterans Day today and since I have wonderfully gotten so many new followers in the last few weeks, I thought it would be the perfect time to tell you about my roommate, Gina's incredible project. It's called Pin-Ups For Vets. I'll talk about it a lot on my blog.

When I moved to LA in January and began living with Gina, I immediately was so impressed with Pin-Ups for Vets and wanted to do anything I could to help her out. She was more than happy to take on an assistant! : ) This amazing calendar project does so much for our Vets and I am so proud of Gina. She tirelessly devotes just about every waking hour to this project. Instead of me rambling on about what I think the project is all about, I thought it would be nice to hear it straight from her. She recently wrote the following letter to some her Vet supporters.

To Our Brave Heroes,
Some of you may have heard about my project “Pin-Ups For Vets”, or have my pin-up calendar or poster hanging up in your living quarters where you are deployed. I have always been a huge fan of WWII nose art, and in 2006, came up with the idea to produce a WWII style pin-up calendar that would raise money for Veterans and Military hospitals across the US. My grandfather was a WWII Army Veteran and my project is a tribute to his service in the military. He passed away when I was younger, and never got to see this project, but when I hold his dog tags in my hand, I know that he is up there somewhere, smiling.

My 2011 calendar is about to be released, and by the end of this year, “Pin-Ups For Vets” will have donated $50,000 to help improve health care programs at our Veterans and Military hospitals across the US. In addition to raising money, I also travel across the US dressed as a 1940s pin-up girl, delivering donated calendars to our hospitalized Veterans to help improve their spirits during hospital stays. As of November 2011, I have been to 19 different VA/Military hospitals in 12 different states (this includes 3 separate trips to Walter Reed and trips to Bethesda Naval Hospital, Brooke Army Medical Center, San Diego Naval Medical Center, among many others). Finally, I ship thousands of donated calendars to deployed units to boost troop morale and bring a “touch of home” and some fun to you!

I have to admit that helping serve you has changed my life. To all of my brave heroes out there, both men and women, you are my inspiration. I have met thousands of you at VA/Military hospitals and on bases across the US. I have firsthand seen your service to your country, your patriotism, your generosity, your kindness, your hospitality, your intense work ethic, and your courage in the face of extreme circumstances. I have never met such incredible people as you. They say actions speak louder than words. You are all about actions. Your perseverance has shown me how to be determined in my own life. Your courage has shown me how to be strong in difficult times. Your sacrifices have shown me that life is about giving to and helping others. You are my role models.

There is a quote that I love by Winston Churchill: “You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.” You have dedicated yourselves so unselfishly to serve our country and do not ask for anything in return. I often hear service members say, “I do this so others don’t have to.” You do what you do so we can have our freedom, and there are no words to express my gratitude to you for your service and what you do on a daily basis. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you do.

Please send me an e-mail at pinupsforvets@aol.com and let me know if you would like some calendars for your unit and I would be more than happy to send some to you! I autograph them all, and please let me know if you would like any special messages on them. It is the least I can do for you.

From a very thankful Pin-Up Girl,

Gina Elise

XOXO

Pretty awesome, huh? Please check out her website, Pin-Ups For Vets for more information on the project and/or if you would like to purchase a calendar or two. We are headed to Chicago next week to hand deliver T-Shirts and posters to a VA hospital there. : )

These are just a few of my favorite shots from her previous calendars.


And these are some favorite shots with Gina and I. Notice that my hair is different in each picture! Ha! Oh how I love living with a pin up who owns lots of wigs!