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.

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.

Fill in The Blank Friday- Holiday Edition

So, I'm not in the Holiday mood at all yet so I thought this might help.

1. The Holiday spirit is very slowly creeping up on me. Slow...ly. Today, in fact, I listened to one entire Christmas song in the car on the way to the gym. The month of December really just got here too soon and I'm not ready for it at all. I plan on doing a little Christmas shopping tomorrow. Wish me luck braving the mall! To me the Holiday spirit is really about giving and appreciating those people around you that you care about most.

2. The holidays are incomplete without my family and friends. Of course there's also yummy food, the incredible Christmas music, the colder weather, the bright lights, the fun decorations, tall Christmas trees, and the colors red and green everywhere.

3. My favorite things to do around the holidays is finding the perfect gifts for everyone. There really is nothing like knowing you hit it on the nail. I love knowing that the person is going to be so delighted with whatever you picked out. I also really enjoy baking around this time of year.

4. A holiday tradition my family and I have is going to a movie on Christmas Day or the day after. My parents, my sister and I loved going after the food in our bellies settled on Christmas night. Now, my sister and I continue this tradition on our own. We look forward to picking out "the Christmas movie" every year. It's our time to just be alone and be sisters. Not sure what this years movie will be yet. Got any suggestions?

5. Holiday music is wonderful. I love it all. However, I can't handle it too soon. I'm usually only good for about two weeks of it. So, yep, I still won't succumb to those all day Christmas radio stations quite yet. A couple of my favorites are "Last Christmas" by George Michael, 'Wonderful Christmastime" by Paul McCartney, anything off of Natalie Cole's Christmas album, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Vanessa Williams and so much more.

6. This year, I'll be spending the holidays in the bay area with my sister's family and her sweet in-laws. It's always been very nice and drama-free. Since my parents passed away, Christmas will never be the same for me but I am blessed to still have loved ones to spend the holidays with.

7. Holiday wish list: Can I put my dream music job on this list? That, the 10th season of 90210 and another small bottle of Nina Ricci perfume will do just fine. : ) What's on your list this year?

Love this Song!

"Dog Days Are Over" is the second single released by Florence and the Machine from their debut album Lungs. I'm not quite sure what it is exactly about this song but I absolutely love it.

It's one of those tunes that I could listen to over and over again and not get sick of. Check out the very cool video here on youtube. I hope you enjoy the song as much as I do. Oh, and I would like to say for the record that I've been loving this song LONG BEFORE Glee covered it recently! : )

The Times described the lead singer, Florence Welch as "the most peculiar and most highly acclaimed female singer of the moment" and "the latest in a line of great English pop eccentrics".

Here are the awesome lyrics to one of my favorite songs at the moment, "Dog Days Are Over":

Happiness hit her like a train on a track.
Coming towards her stuck still no turning back.
She hid around corners and she hid under beds.

She killed it with kisses and from it she fled.
With every bubble she sank with a drink.
And washed it away down the kitchen sink.

The dog days are over.
The dog days are done.
The horses are comin' so you better run!

Run fast for your mother; Run fast for your father.
Run for your children, all your sisters and brothers.
Leave all your love and your longing behind.
You can't carry it with you if you want to survive.

The dog days are over.
The dog days are done.
Can you hear the horses?
'Cos here they come!

And I never wanted anything from you.
Except everything you had.
And what was left after that too. Oh!

Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back.
Struck from a great height.
By someone who should have known better than that.

The dog days are over.
The dog days are done.
Can you hear the horses?
'Cos here they come.

Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father.
Run for your children, all your sisters and brothers.
Leave all your love and your longing behind.
You can't carry it with you if you want to survive.

The dog days are over.
The dog days are done.
Can you hear the horses?
'Cos here they come.

The dog days are over.
The dog days are done.
The horses are comin'.
So you'd better run!

Ok, now your turn, what are some new songs that you are loving right now?

Reliving a Moment

This week's Mama Kat's Workshop writing prompt that I chose to answer was #5. - "If you could relive any moment in your life, what moment would you choose? Write about it."

Well, honestly there are few moments that I wish I could go back to and alter the outcomes but the one that stands out the most in my mind right now would be going back to college. And no, not to party less! : )

I wish that I could go back to that very first day of Freshman orientation and instead of choosing "Undecided" as my major, I wish that I had picked "Music Management". Instead, it took me 3 years to finally decide on that major. I tried 5 different majors in college: Undecided, Communications, French, Elementary Education and finally Music Management.

I wish that I had known from the very beginning that I wanted to work in the music industry. It would have saved me years of stress and ultimately in the long-run, I believe that it would have sped up my career into this tough industry. But no, I messed around for 2 and a half years switching majors and being undecided for so long. I truly think that if I had known what my dream job was at that time, I would have started the process. I would have tried moving to Los Angeles during the summers and interning at record labels. Gosh, now that I think about it, I could have started interning in high school even! Wow! All that experience would have been amazing! All that precious time was wasted because I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life yet. Yes, of course, that's what an 18-22 year old does but why couldn't I have figured it out a little sooner?!

In college I was always jealous of all those people that knew right away what they wanted to do and were well on their way to that profession. I didn't understand how you could start your freshman year of college already knowing that you wanted to be a journalist, a nutritionist, an English teacher or even an opera singer. I had a lot of interests and hobbies. How are you supposed to pick just one thing and base your entire college experience on it?

I do know that what is really important now is that I did indeed graduate and am working hard now to get into the music industry. It's still fun to think about how different my life might be today if I had known all along what I wanted to do with my life.

Silver Lake

Last night I ventured over to east LA to the very hipster and hilly neighborhood, Silver Lake. I had never been there before and was surprised to learn that it is one of the most artsy areas here in LA.

Silver Lake is located east of Hollywood and northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. According to my research, "it's known as an eclectic gathering of hipsters, the creative class and a significant LGBT community." As of the census of 2000, there were 30,972 people living in Silver Lake. It's one of the most socioeconomically and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in LA.

I just found this quote and it totally describes the area perfectly, "Silver Lake has a reputation for it's vibrant bohemian flair combined with a neighborhood atmosphere, and was especially popular in the 1990s for its dynamic community. It is truly a remarkable experience to walk down the main street of Silver Lake and meet the breadth of people and witness such a breathtaking palette of talent."

Here's a few interesting facts about Silver Lake:

• Silver Lake contains some of the most renown modernist architecture in the US. Well known architect Richard Neutra has designed many homes and various other buildings all over.
• In the 1930's, Walt Disney built his first large studio here. For this reason, Silver Lake is sometimes referred to as the birthplace of Mickey Mouse and the other characters in the Disney gang.
  
• Many popular films have been produced by Mack Sennett Studios which is located in Silver Lake.
  
• Since the 1990's, Silver Lake has become the center of the alternative and indie rock scene in LA. Two major street music festivals take place here every year, the Silver Lake Jubilee held in May and the Sunset Junction Street Fair held in August. Both attract top musicians.
  
• At the center of the district is the magnificent Silver Lake Reservoir. While it is beautiful, builders have been wanting to tear it down for years.