Help Me.

As you may or may not know, I'm wildly in love with the Olympics. I'm not quite sure what it is about it, but I get the super warm fuzzies during the theme song, love watching opening ceremonies, and get so amped about the games and the competition. I have VHS tapes of games when I couldn't watch it (due to school/work/time zone differences) and consequently have applied to like 18 different positions for the 2010 Games in Vancouver. It would be so bad ass if I could work for the Olympics. The next best thing is going to the Olympics. I sort of had the opportunity a year ago (Whoa.. the last Olympics were only a little over a year ago!) when some of my family members were going. Except I was working like a crazy person and didn't get to go. Super. Freaking. Sad. Face. I even contemplated flying to China for a weekend just to go. *sigh.


Anyhoooooo... I know while I could go, Microsoft is having this contest for a student blogger and a female blogger to be on their blog team for the games. How neat would that be?!?! I debated telling you all about it, because I don't need any more competition than there already is - but hey - if you win, you totally have to bring me along. But before you enter, I need help. One of the things you can submit is a photo of yourself, in your blogging environment. I spent a few hours taking pictures of myself in my room (it is WAY harder than it looks) and don't "love" any of them, but kind of luke warm like. So, if you were a judge and the criteria was "featuring you in your home/personal blogging area. The photo will only be eligible for bonus points if it features the entrant (and no other people) AND is the environment where you traditionally blog." I also can't include any third party logos - so besides the Macs (which I'm sure Microsoft will love to see two of them in the wide shot pictures) if there is anything glaringly obvious let me know!

The picture above is just them arranged on my desktop. I uploaded them to a set in flickr so you can examine them closer. Which one do you like best? Which one should I enter?

Time Traveling

Okay, time for a real post about our adventures, because there have been a few.

Last year, there was an 80's Prom Party and I missed out. Partially because I was working like a fiend, and partially because I avoided it. I HATE dressing up in themes and I HATE costumes. It's all this effort to look stupid. Or Awesome as my roommate would like to call it, but really, along with Karaoke and not wanting kids, these are things that she and I will disagree on. This year, she made 80's prom her birthday party, so I "had" to go. We went thrift/online/Urban Outfitter shopping for all the neon, sparkly, outdated but currently in, huge poofy things we could find. Andrea came over, helped me crimp my hair, poured half a water bottle full of vodka in her "starter" drink and we amassed ourselves with bracelets and rings. And this was only the beginning.

After the shady cab driver - we finally arrived on the scene. We were greeted by Finding a Way Back into Love and Alex P. Keaton... or what he may have started out as... The 80z All Stars are a band that plays at Disneyland and I hired them to play at a Halloween Party and it rocked. Andrea found out they were playing here, and my roommate (who looooves the 80's and dressing up) decided to make it her birthday party - and that's how we find ourselves here. and Andrea being too cool for school.

You want to know why Drea thinks she's hot shit? Cuz she is. And she's wearing a GIANT BOW on her ass. You might not be able to see it too clearly here, but it's totally awesome, for sure.

I posted pictures of the night and Andrea comments "wait, I drank that?" - yeaaaaa... that probably led to the picture on the right. And my shoddy shoddy framing of it as well... which, to be honest, I barely remember taking this picture... and the other 5 like it.

=

There was good music, lots of dancing and singing, people's fun outfits, vodka shots in honor of Dorina's birthday, more dancing, photobooth pictures, late night cabbing to Denny's (the disappointment of no potachos was an EPIC FAIL), and the day after - trying to regain composure from the night before and get the hairspray out of the hair. You want to know what Andrea remembers?



Thank goodness for cameras.

Like a Fat Kid Loves Cake

From LAist featured photos

Literally, No Subject

Hi, I don't have shit to say. Mostly because it's SO. FUCKING. HOT. And I want you to rip my limbs off and fan me with them.

I cannot wait for this summer to be over. Any day now, People.

OC Super Fair

Hi, again. Long time, no see.

Just wanted to share this picture that Jean took at the OC Fair last month. Because it's pretty and doesn't it look like fun!?

This is why, when I invite you somewhere, you really should come along. BECAUSE WE ARE FUN.

The end.

Brought to you by Bacon Salt

Yup.. this is what we do for fun on a Saturday night. You know you're jealous. I'm still waiting to try this on top of Fries... or Popcorn. mmmmm...

http://www.baconsalt.com

I'm Your Huckleberry

Okay.. cheesiest title ever. Sorry. But it seems... fitting. Plus - this place can be my Huckleberry anytime it wants. I'm okay with that. What is this place? Huckleberry in Santa Monica. (brought to us by the people behind Rustic Canyon, which is another place I've been meaning to try...) Way back when on some drunken night, Andrea, Kirk and I had noticed that "hmm.. this place is new" and pondered what exactly it was, and thought "maybe it's a furniture store".. or something like that. But then I found my UrbanDaddy emails and saw a new breakfast food place in town! They don't just do breakfast, but they're a day cafe, and for some reason, I feel as if they were advertising it that way. So I excitedly email them and say that we need to try this place. 2 months later, we actually did - but it was worth the wait. I wouldn't say that the food was OMGSOAMAZING, but it definitely was good and not something that you just say "oh.. I could make it better", because while food is really hard to get amazing, it's really easy to screw up.

The second we stepped in we ogled over their decadent display of sweets and pretty much said "yes" to one of each, in our heads. We ended up having the bread pudding and the coffee cake, both of which were great. (*Side note, my frame of reference for bread pudding isn't great because I'm actually not the biggest fan, but Andrea seemed really happy about it and is probably more of a bread pudding expert.. so we'll stick with "both of which were great".)

The greatest part about eating with friends [who like to share] is that you get to try more than just your dish. This is why you have to be choosy about who you go to eat with as well. Friends who don't like to share food generally don't get invited back - unless it's by other people who don't like sharing food either. That's not me.

So, for Sunday (not particularly Easter) Brunch, I had a Turkey Meatball sandwich (with gruyere cheese!), the Fried Egg Sandwich (mm.. niman ranch bacon) and the Green Eggs & Ham sandwich (the green was pesto). All three dishes were quite tasty and I wouldn't hesitate to go back, for breakfast, or lunch, or to stop in to get one of their take home shepherd's pies or $4 cinnamon sugar croissants or MONSTER donuts. I've heard only stories about how crowded it can get, but we went on the late-ish side, so it was actually really nice. Too bad it wasn't warm enough to eat outside, but we've got a whole summer [of next day brunch post late night drinking nights] ahead of us.

Huckleberry www.huckleberrycafe.com
1014 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica CA, 310)451.2311
Wed-Fri 8am-7pm, Sat/Sun 8am-5pm, Open on Tuesdays starting in May!

News at Blu Jam Cafe

I have some good news, and some bad news, and some more good news!

The good news is, Jean and I got together this morning and had an adventure!

The bad news is, at some point during that adventure, Jean admitted that she was terribly pissed off that I didn't blog at all the entire time she was in Ireland! She knows I was having adventures without her, and I didn't share any of them, which is, frankly, incredibly disappointing.

The rest of the good news is, she's not actually pissed at me! She's mad at Kirk. (Hi, Kirk!) Because, naturally, this is ALL HIS FAULT. Naturally. Because he makes me "boring." Right? Right. That is how that works. (Mission: Be not boring.)

To make up for it (because of course I don't want Jean to be mad at Kirk) I picked up our brunch at Blu Jam Cafe on Melrose. And I even took pictures so I could blog about it. I fucken love brunch, by the way. It might be my favorite thing about weekends, even more than drinking a lot (mostly because I like to do that on weekdays) and sleeping in (mostly because I sometimes wake up really early for no Goddamn reason, like today.)


Jean had the Kamil's Breakfast (Kamil being the chef de cuisine) on the left. It was eggs scrambled with bacon, cheddar cheese, garlic, chives, and elbow macaroni. Whoever thought to throw pasta into their egg scramble is a genius. Or was incredibly hungover that morning. And a genius. I had the Eggs Bohemia, which was 2 eggs fried over bacon and black forest ham and topped with chives, served with their home potatoes and [wheat] toast. Sometimes I forget how good eggs and bacon are. And, because of that, I am retarded stupid. Also, the potatoes? Really good. I hate it when you go to a breakfast place and the potatoes are an afterthought.

At some point or another during the meal, I found myself asking, "Nice brunch with my workBFF? Could this get any better?"


GUESS SO. Crepes with strawberries, bananas and Nutella. Don't you get dessert when you have brunch? No? Well, do you get a third entree for two people? Again, no? Never? In that case, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. Let's make it a point to never have brunch together.

Well, three entrees for two people is a lot of food. Per Jean: "You win, breakfast." (And that was before the complimentary teensy chocolate chip cookies.)


Blu Jam Cafe
www.blujamcafe.com
Open daily from 8:00am - 4:00pm and
Friday nights from 7:00pm - 10:30pm for various "International Bistro Nights"
7371 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 951-9191

Addendum...

Yay for adventures! And here is Andrea being a Bohemian, and cute coffee designs in our lattes. Let me just clarify... I wasn't really REALLY mad, but I can be if that involves more people picking up checks. (Thanks Dre!)

*Also... boring = not hanging out with me - so let's rectify that ... constantly. It's not just a one time thing, but an eternal thing you are striving for. And this isn't just to Andrea, but everyone. Got it?

*And lastly, breakfast made a really good dinner. Nuking it a little bit took some of the liquidy grease out of it (or maybe it was just draining on the bottom of the leftover container).. but it tasted really good a little drier. Oh, and leftover crepe was AWE.SOME. God I love Nutella.

It's Been Awhile

Hi world, what's going on? It's been awhile, and Andrea and I haven't been on many adventures lately.. so there hasn't been too much to say. At least not in coherent sentences. I'll try to pick a few shots from Europe to post, but I took over 1400 shots, so when I pick a "few" it ends up being a few hundo. But let me tell you about something more current.

Last Wednesday I went to Hotel Cafe, which for those of you that don't know is a really great music/cafe/bar venue in Hollywood. It's really good it you like seeing the acoustic/folky/singer/songwriter types, and very often have people they play on KCRW and what not. Back in San Diego at the height of my coffee shop heyday, I would go to Twiggs or Lestats all the time to see certain people play, or sometimes to just hang out with friends. Yup, I made friends through the internets. Mostly through my love of Jason Mraz - right before he blewed up. It nice to see some of these people at Hotel Cafe, and that's really the only reason I go now... I don't know why I didn't keep up my whole indie streak in LA. Maybe it's just too hard to follow every aspiring artist out there cuz there's so damn many. And it, for some reason, seems harder here. ANYHOO.. this is not about that.. this is about people I like. Lots.

This very talented girl is Annie Bethancourt. I "discovered" her in my college dorm (sounds kind of like the start to a really "fun" movie).. but this isn't that kind of show.. keep moving people. We're friends from college, but that's not the only reason I like her. She's kind of got a voice like an angel, not that I'm biased or anything. The best description I think was I look at you and then think "how does that voice come out of there?!" And it's kind of true. I hear her sing and I'm always blown away. Apparently now she's living in Portland, OR for part of the year and in Costa Rica for the other part (see: adventurous), but working on her 3rd CD and playing shows throughout. Actually one in San Diego tomorrow and one in Fullerton on the 18th. Here's a snippet - check out more on her site! www.anniebeth.com



I got a double dose of goodness that night as I discovered that Tristan Prettyman was playing that night, along with every Wednesday this month. Whee! Tristan isn't a friend, but someone that I started listening to in San Diego and she's gotten moderately big. She's had songs in several TV shows and most recently (that I've heard) in He's Just Not Into You. I think she has a really infectious songs and her voice can be really soulful. She's also really cute, and funny, has great stories on stage (last week she talked about going on a date with the guy she lost her virginity to... where else are you gonna get that?) and I always really love her hair. I wish mine did that.. but uhhh.. anyways. www.tristanprettyman.com

See.. the place is cute right? (Sorry picture quality is not super fantastic...) You have to be 21+ because they are a bar now, but they also have food which is pretty tasty. Except if you order the Pastrami Panini, they put mustard in it too (doesn't say that on the menu!), so get it without if you're a mustard disliker like me. The roomie and I might check out the show tomorrow - along with another guy Tavis that I saw once and enjoyed. Should be for a fun time and then maybe we'll hit up Big Wangs afterwards or something. Or come home... but definitely NOT go to the Beauty Bar. haha.. I'm boycotting that place. But that's a story for another blog.

Gjelina

So, this is a post that really should have happened a month a half ago. I'm trying to be better about this, I swear. Anyhoo, I was meaning to do this this weekend, and didn't, and was talking to a friend about this place - so I figure, that's my motivation. It's kismet. (Kind of like me ending up at the WeHo Target and getting a WiiFit today... Squeeee!)

In late December, my BFF came down for New Year's. We planned half a week's worth of good times - most of them revolving around eating or drinking. Based on the recommendation of my ex/Dre's current co-worker, for our "nice meal" of that week during BFF's visit: Andrea, BFF, BFF's future husband, and I ended up at Gjelina in Venice.

I'm just gonna say Yum. And it wasn't too overly priced for a "nice" meal. We all came out spending less than $100 and were really f*cking full by the end of it. It's been awhile, so I can't remember quite everything we had (which really just means I need to go back soon.) There was oysters, mussels, fried egg (over asparagus?... was that it?), truffle pizza, flank steak, two bottles of wine with *gold foil* (you know it's special then!), and probably a few more dishes I was too busy stuffing my face with to take pictures. Then there comes dessert. We really didn't need it, but that's never stopped us. I forget what exactly it was.. like butterscotch creme brulee? See that tasty little looking thing in the coffee cup in the third picture down there? To. Die. For. I'm pretty sure we had to stop ourselves from looking totally crass and licking the cup, but we probably all wanted to. Mix it with the flourless chocolate cake, and I was pretty happy girl.

It was super cute, and I highly recommend it (for anyone who's asking.) It's definitely got that Venice/Abbot Kinney vibe, and we sat outside in the back patio (yay Southern California). We also sat next to this raging fire place that roasted my arm until I made BFF Future Husband switch. hehe :) There's also really cute couchey/comfy dining areas that would be really fun for a nice grown up birthday dinner, or just hanging out and chilling. It's open air in the back with snazzy architecture and decor throughout. Which makes it cool, modern, hip, comfy, cozy and intimate all at the same time. I started reading some reviews, and as always, they can be kind of mixed. But I was never one for listening to reviews by strangers anyways so - If you can't tell by now, we all had a really great time. Thumbs up, Gjelina.

Redundant.

I was going to post pictures from new years, but then I realized that there's no one who reads this who hasn't already seen them on Facebook. Am I right or am I right?

Whatever. They're here, okay.

P.S. I've had a severe cold pretty much since 2008. Should I be worried? I just sneezed about 17 times in 90 seconds. It's getting kind of embarrassing.