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!

Downtown Cinco De Mayo

While in college, Cinco de Mayo was pretty much just a huge excuse to go out with friends and get kinda drunk, now it's a fun chance to spend time out and about with friends and relax. Last night was no exception, Swati and I had a blast in downtown Los Angeles. I'm excited that I got to meet a few new people who I can surely call my new LA friends. I even got the chance to ride the subway here for the first time which was super easy and half empty. Too bad it doesn't go through all of LA, that would be awesome! Oh well, let's save the subway riding to the other big cities. Anyway, here's to more fun nights out on the town!!

Angels Flight

Last night my roommate Swati and I rode the infamous Angels Flight in downtown Los Angeles. Swati saw it and immediately suggested that we ride it up Bunker Hill. It reopened recently so we were excited to ride it. Besides one other man, we were only ones on it so that was neat!

Here's a little history about it:

Angels Flight is a landmark funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. The funicular has operated on two slightly different sites, using the same cars. The first Angels Flight operated from 1901 until it was closed in 1969 when its site was re-developed. The second version opened nearby in 1996, and closed again in 2001 after a fatal accident. This second version adjacent to California Plaza began operating again on Monday, March 15, 2010 after being out of service for nine years. For just 25 cents you can board one of the two orange and black rail cars and ride "The Shortest Railway in the World". This funicular dates back to 1901, when Bunker Hill was L.A.'s most fashionable neighborhood and the cars, the Olivet and the Sinai, ferried prominent citizens up and down the 350 foot slope between Hill and Olive streets. As short as it is, this train is an essential L.A. experience.

Home Alone

This weekend for the first time since I moved in, I have the house to myself. My roommates are both headed out of town, one to Redlands, CA and the other to Joshua Tree, CA. Yet, I'm excited that I have a pretty jam packed weekend planned. Tonight I'll be home alone and just plan on perhaps opening a bottle of wine, taking a bath and getting to bed early with a new book.

Tomorrow morning at 8 am my official marathon training begins!! Woo hoo! I'm kinda nervous but anxious to meet other runners and the coaching staff too. There will be a few clinics and then we'll run a mile altogether. I am really hoping that I can get through the mile without too much of my pesky calf pain.

Then after the training session, my friend Courtney, her bf and I are headed to a ASU baseball game against UCLA. I never thought that I would be attending an ASU sporting event. I mean, as a U of A student, we sort of hated the dreaded ASU folks..but whatcha gonna do? I feel like I gotta support any and all Arizona peeps now that I live here in California. After a fun afternoon of baseball watching and all that comes with that, beer, hotdogs and general fun in the sun, I am going to babysit at night. I think it will be the perfect relaxing way to end the day.

On Sunday, I have a double date planned. So, all in all, a very busy weekend so I won't really be able to take advantage of an empty house.. Oh well... I'm glad that I won't be sitting at home alone wishing I was out enjoying the weekend in LA.

“This is my house, I have to defend it.” –Kevin from Home Alone

Gotta Love TV

So, I enjoy relaxing in front of the TV just as much as anyone out there, but I feel like it just might be getting a little out of hand. Unfortunately, I tend to easily get sucked into most TV shows. Just give me a few episodes to watch back to back and I can usually find something about the show to get involved with. I guess I just love the characters and following their sometimes crazy and sophisticated lives. I'm also fascinated by the love stories in these shows. Who is with who and why and what love triangles are there? It's all just so juicy! Gotta love the drama!

Perhaps I get a kick out of all these shows because they are so far from my own life. I've certainly never had an affair, slayed a vampire, has plastic surgery, worked in that kind of office environment, gone to a high school in Beverly Hills, lived in the 60's, worked at a hospital, murdered anyone or spent any time in the Tudor dynasty. Wow, my life is so uneventful compared to all these shows... What can I say, I don't like conflict. Maybe I need to stir up some drama! : )

This week, I have to add two more shows to my list... One of them I have my roommate, Swati to thank for and I'm not so proud of this one, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". After several mis-hits for me, I have finally gotten into it. Swati owns all the seasons and last week we watched season 1 in about three nights and then started season 2 and sadly, I am already hooked and am eager to find out what happens from one episode to the next. I should have known I would enjoy this show since I'm a fan of all things vampire-related. The next show is "Mad Men" which I just started watching tonight. Thanks to Netflix, I can add any and all TV shows to my wish list and just today I received the first two discs of season 1. I'm already in love with it, the fashion of the 60's, the culture and of course the hot leading man. What's not to appreciate about all that?

I will say one thing that I have going for me is that all these shows have incredible soundtracks and that really hooks me to a show. Music is another character in most of them and I absolutely love that. I almost always find myself checking out the soundtracks on iTunes after an episode. Take "Nip Tuck" for example, for every cut and slice on that show, there is an awesome song to match it. Some of my favorite sweet and sappy songs come from "Grey's Anatomy" and "Felicity. I've learned about a lot of new artists through "One Tree Hill" and "Weeds". I've even been exposed to Latin music through the Miami based, "Dexter" and "Sex and the City" has fun party music.

The Internet just makes it so easy to watch any and all shows so I can't help but stay caught up on them and start watching new ones. I was really sick this past year for about a week with the flu and I stayed in bed and literally watched like three seasons of three different shows! Yikes! Where does the time go?! Well, I figure as long as I'm not hurting anyone with these TV watching, then what can harm can it all do? Right? They are certainly my perfect escape.

Many of these shows I connect to people with. I loved staying up late in the summers with my mom, watching old episodes of "Sex and the City" and my dad was fascinated by "90210". I got my sister hooked onto "One Tree Hill" and Tracy and I spent many late nights watching"Felicity". So many memories go along with these shows that I find comfort in watching them today.

In all honesty, currently, I am only really keeping track of maybe two shows. I just don't have the time or energy to keep up with them all. Plus, several of them are off the air now-thank goodness! : ) So what are your favorite shows? Any guilty pleasures?

Taking it back to the 50's and 60's!

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love dressing up. I love Halloween for that reason alone. I mean, come on, I was Lady Gaga last year, red bodysuit, disco stick and all! Theme parties are my absolute favorite. I've had the most fun at these kinds of parties. People really let loose and for one night, they can become someone else and really get into the mind of a different character.

My favorite Halloween ever was my senior year in college. My best girlfriends and I dressed up as each other for a night. It was hilarious! We all were bored with our costumes from the night before but didn't want to go out and spend money on another outfit. So we wrote each of our names down on a piece of paper and put them into a hat and one at a time, we drew names. We were all very creative and totally got into it, even imitating each other's personalities throughout the night. I'll never forget that fun night!

So anyway, after our wonderful dinner last night, Gina, Swati and I got all dressed up in late 50's and 60's style clothes for a Mad Men themed birthday party. The birthday girl was Rebekah, her parents taught with my parents overseas many years ago in Pakistan and then again in Myanmar. We got re-connected thanks to facebook and have been more in touch since I moved here. She lives not too far away in Santa Monica.

Well, the roomies and I seriously got into this theme. Because of Gina's project, Pin Ups for Vets, she has tons of wigs and accessories from different eras so I definitely took advantage and wore one of her great blonde wigs and an awesome red hat. I also wore short black gloves, had on bright red lipstick, a pearl necklace, clip on earrings and a black clutch purse. I had bought the dress earlier in the week at that vintage store. So, I was head to toe decked out in this decade. We looked fabulous!

We had a fun time at the party and then proceeded to go to a couple nearby bars after the party ended. We were quite entertaining wherever we went and got lots of stares but we didn't mind because we looked awesome! We even told a few people that we had just felt like dressing up and that there was no specific reason! : ) I look forward to more theme parties in our future!

To see our entire photo shoot, opps, I mean party pictures, check out my facebook page. : )

One Month Anniversary!

Wow, I've been living here in LA for exactly a month today! That's crazy! It's going by very fast-too fast almost.

Here's a list of all the things that I've done here so far:

• Hiked Runyon Canyon
• Shopped at the Beverly Center
• Gone to a music industry book signing
• Joined LA Fitness
• Had a personal workout with a trainer
• Attended a cardio-kickboxing class with Gina
• Had lunch on Sunset Strip
• Been in one minor traffic jam
• Went to the actual Bikram Yoga studio with Swati
• Hung out in Westwood
• Enjoyed lunch in Culver City
• Watched a UofA game with other alums at a bar in Hermosa Beach
• Enjoyed mimosas at a Hollywood bar
• Drove to Torrance to get a bookcase
• Got an awesome haircut and manicure on Wilshire Blvd.
• Learned exactly where the nearest grocery store, gas station, Kinkos, Target and Post Office is to my house
• Had several great conversations with my roommates. They are awesome and I am so lucky to be living with them!

In the words of my sister, "the best is yet to be". : )

Damn, this is good"

"Damn, this is good." This is what I exclaimed after getting a whiff of the perfume to the right, it's called Nina by Nina Ricci and it's absolutely amazing! It's the perfect combination of fruits and flowers. The bottle is appropriately in the shape of a sweet red apple. Gina was wearing it the other day and I told her that I was in love with either her own scent or her perfume. She then told me about this wonderful perfume. So, thanks to Gina, I have a new scent! If you haven't already smelled Nina, I demand you go and do so now! I hope that you love it as much as I do. But not too much, I don't want us all going around smelling like this. I want to stand out a little.

Not only does Gina smell good and have great taste in perfumes, this girl can cook too! Tonight, she made yummy chicken enchiladas-her specialty! They were so good and were a great meal to end this very busy and active day. It was so sweet of her to make so many for us! Thanks Gina! Feel free to make these again whenever you feel like it.

Tonight I attended a book signing by Donald S. Passman at a small funky book store on Sunset Strip called Book Soup. Thanks to my roommate, Swati, for letting me know about it. I am familiar with Donald S. Passman because he wrote All You Need to Know About the Music Business. It's a great book full of tons of useful music business information. I've learned a lot of it in classes in college but some is new and great to learn coming from someone currently in the industry. He is one of America's top entertainment attorneys. He practices law with the Los Angeles-based firm of Gang, Tyre, Ramer, and Brown, Inc. Having specialized in the music business intensively for over thirty years, his clients include major entertainers, publishers, record companies, managers, producers, and others. He is even responsible for the record-breaking "mega" deals for both Janet Jackson and R.E.M. and he has also worked with a number of other major artists. Too bad none of them showed up to share some wisdom at the book signing.

I am glad that I went to hear him talk about his book and the music industry but sadly, I left feeling a little depressed about my job future in the music industry. I should get a job with itunes. They are the # 1 retailer right now, beating out even Walmart! He said that the music industry is in a very awkward stage right now and it will take a few years before things settle down. Everything is digital now and the need for large recording labels is getting smaller and smaller. Musicians can simply go online and put their music on sites like Myspace all by themselves. But on the bright side he did say that the music industry will never die out completely. People are always going to want their music and there will still need to be a way to get it to them. He is sure that in about five years, Cd's won't be made anymore and I totally agree with that. I cannot even remember the last physical CD I bought in a store.

I may be nervous about this business but I also know that I am a passionate person who just loves music and I am fascinated by the general music-making process that musicians go through so I know that I will be an asset in any record company. Hear that guys?! : )

The following are two questions from an interview that I found on his website:

What do you feel is the biggest issue currently facing the legal community in the music industry?

The biggest change in the music industry is going to be what's happening with the Internet and the potential for piracy. We're going to get it first, because audio products will be the first to be downloaded, as MP3 has already proven. It's a serious threat to the industry. Handled right, in the long-term, it becomes a plus, because it's a new way to distribute music. But in the short-term, we're going to have some serious security issues.

How are you advising your clients with regard to the Internet and online music distribution?

The way the world is set up, the record companies control the rights to the recordings, and therefore the only time it comes up is if you're renegotiating with a record company - none of which are willing to give up online rights - so the artists don't end up controlling them, unless they're smaller and are going to put the music out on their own label.

Most of the companies are paying 80-100% of the rate as if it were sold as a CD, and then there's a right to re-negotiate after a period of years or if it becomes a certain percentage of the marketplace, but they try to put a cap on it of 100% of the CD rate, which is probably not fair, because there's no manufacturing, no shipping and no inventory risk, etc.. But it takes time before these things sort themselves out. It's still in its earliest stages; nothing has taken form yet, where they could care less about copyright law. The answer's going to have to come technologically, because the law is going to work as a theoretical matter; but as a practical matter, it's very difficult. It has to be an encryption, where you can only read the music if you've got a key to it - There are some competing ways to do it, but nothing's taken a dominant position yet.

I ❤ Saturdays!

This Saturday can only be summed up with three simple words: shoes, food and beauty. That's all a girl really needs, right?

Today, my roommate, Gina and I spent the afternoon together. We took a very long scenic drive down Sunset Strip, which I really enjoyed. I love it. There is just so much to see on this mile and a half stretch. There is really something for everyone; bars, clubs, restaurants, cafes, fancy hotels, boutiques, comedy clubs and Hollywood nightspots. All are definitely on the cutting edge of the entertainment business. I will have to let you know what the places are really like inside when I start going to them. Here's something interesting that I just learned, the Las Vegas Strip was named after the Sunset Strip.

Anyway, after this mini tour, we began our shopping extravaganza. Gina introduced me to the wonderful store called DSW, it stands for Designer Shoe Warehouse. It is row after row of amazing shoes at great deals. In other words, my heaven! I purchased three pairs! They are fabulous and I do not regret buying any of them at all! While my partner in crime bought, shall we say, a few more than me. ; ) In the picture above are two pairs that we bought today. Mine are the black ankle boots which I absolutely adore! I've been wanting a pair forever and now thanks to DSW, I finally have a pair. Yay!

After an exhausting (NOT!) hour or so of hunting for shoes, we ventured back out into the daylight for lunch. Gina recommended we eat at Aroma Bakery Cafe. It was in a word, delightful. We ordered a deliciously flavorful Greek plate that had everything from hummus to grape leaves on it which I now know that I really like! We also split the House Sandwich which was equally as tasty with avocado, baked mushrooms and egg in it. My appetite was certainly satisfied! Fortunately, we have lots of leftovers for tomorrow's lunch! Is it wrong that I am already excited about it?!

Later on in the day, I made my way to my first beauty salon experience here in LA and let me tell you, it was phenomenal! All week I've been telling myself that I desperately need to get my hair trimmed, my eyebrows waxed and my nails done so finally on Thursday, I went to one of my new favorite websites www.yelp.com and quickly found a nearby salon. The reviews for Julie's Beauty Secrets were by far the best that I read so I figured that I would give it a shot and I am so happy that I did. Not only is it super close to my house but they also have their very own private parking lot which is a HUGE deal here in LA. The service was amazing and something that I love is that they continued to call me by my name the entire time I was there. I really appreciate that. I was very happy pleased with my manicure and the fairly painless eyebrow wax. I had an amazing neck and head massage while they were washing my hair which then continued before they started trimming it too. Bonus! And I am very happy to announce that I love the final product. My hair feels and looks so much healthier. I think it's so funny that despite getting a little cut off, hair seems to always feel longer after getting a trim. Why is that? Well, whatever the reason is, I like it cause I am trying to grow my hair out. Certainly not as long as the girl in the picture above but you get the idea.

So, yeah, that was my busy Saturday! Tonight I just watched a movie at home with my roommate, Swati, and her friend. Tomorrow, I'll be going on another fun adventure but I don't want to spoil the surprise so I'll keep my FOUR avid followers in suspense..haha! So, stay tuned. Good night!

Getting to Know you...

Last night after my roomies and I got home from our different nights out, we spent about 4 hours in our living room catching up on each other lives and then we decided to play this game, TableTopics. It is very simple; each card has a question on it and you just take turns answering them. They are so much fun and I encourage everyone to get them. Thanks to my sister for getting them for me a few years ago. There is still so much that my roommates and I don't know about each other and these sometimes insightful questions are a perfect way to learn more.

Some of the highlights we had last night were:

- What do you miss about childhood? Gina and I miss the freedom and innocence and Swati doesn't really miss childhood! Haha

- If you had the means how would you address the problem of homelessness? Swati talked about a genius method that I guess they are working on in Santa Monica, to actually give these people homes to look after and then jobs that will pay for them.

- What language would you like to speak fluently? Gina said Hebrew, Swati said Hindi and Arabic and I said an Asian language like Japanese or Chinese.

- Would you be likely to survive in the wilderness? We all answered "Hell No!"

- What is your favorite book and movie? Swati loves "Lolita" and "Apatow Oeuvre", Gina loves "The Giver" and "My Fair Lady" and my answers were "Lovely Bones" and "Moulin Rouge"

- What do you most enjoy about being single? We all love the freedom to do whatever we want whenever we want to do it.

"It’s the things in common that make relationships enjoyable, but it’s the little differences that make them interesting."

-Todd Ruthman

Unpacked and Put Away near Palm Trees

So I am proud to say that it took me only two full days and I am officially all moved in! I do still have two boxes of books that need to be unpacked but I am waiting till I get my book case made. I am happy to announce that I have found plenty of space for everything. I think it just looks like I have a lot of stuff but really its average. Really!

My awesome new roommates, Swati and Gina did an amazing job of clearing out a few cupboards and drawers throughout the house for me. There really is a lot of storage space in this house! You should see the kitchen cupboards! It's incredible! The three of us will never have enough stuff to pack it.

Now I can focus on the details of my room, putting up pictures and artwork. My bathroom is kinda small so I need to organize it better too. While I may have a smallish bathroom, Swati and Gina share one, and I would much rather have my own bathroom so I think I lucked out on that.

Oh, here is my first LA observation which isn't so much solely about LA but something that Arizona did not have and that is lots and lots of green plants everywhere! I love all the beautiful green palm trees outside my window. They are healthy green, not dry and thirsty green. Real grass in all the lawns is a treat to see too. Our backyard is really nice. There is a huge umbrella and under it are a couple lounge chairs and a grill. I look forward to sitting out there in the summers and catching some rays.

I am sure that eventually I'll miss seeing cactus and the desert environment but probably not for awhile.

"There are two modes of transport in Los Angeles: car and ambulance. Visitors who wish to remain inconspicuous are advised to choose the latter." -Fran Lebowitz

Well, I am not a visitor anymore and I certainly do not plan on ever getting on an ambulance here either. So, here's to staying safe on these big bad LA streets!