Reading Rainbow

I'm jumping on the Jodi Picoult bandwagon a few years late and I don't exactly know what took me so long but I'm hooked. After seeing the trailer for My Sister's Keeper (and consequently balling my eyes out through the entire thing) I decided I had to read it before the movie came out. I've probably picked up this book up at Target fifty times only to put it back down. Maybe it looked to sad or something, but hey I like sad things and I love a good cry.

I'm reading the book now, and falling in love with Jodi's writing style and character development and this family's story. One of my favorite things in the whole world is getting lost in a book, and that's exactly where I plan to be for the next few days... maybe with a glass of wine and a big plate of pasta. Heaven on Earth I tell you!

Girl's Guide to Movies

The Soloist was an all around amazing film. I absolutely loved Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx in this film. I don't want to give too much away but the gist of the story is an LA Times writer (RDJ - who I love and have loved since his Ally McBeal days, did anyone else watch that show?) meets a homeless man (Foxx - who is so talented, in my opinion) and discovers he is an amazing cellist who attended Julliard. They become friends and both learn life lessons along the way. Sounds hokey but it is truly a beautiful story about friendship, forgiveness, music, and grace. It also heart-wrenchingly displays skid row and poverty in Los Angeles. 90,000 people in LA are homeless, and I'm complaining about the size of my apartment and the fact that money is tight right now? Reality check!

Girls Grade - A

You SHOULD see this movie.

Sicky

I worked at a preschool for a year and a half and during that time I was constantly sick. Little children breed illness and would cough, sneeze, and breathe in my face all day long. It was a long year of feeling like crud and doing everything I could think of to be healthy.

Then, we moved to Los Angeles, and I stopped getting sick! Wow, what a great feeling, I am healthy, not surrounded by sick kids, and I don't have a drippy nose anymore because the air out is here so dry.. freedom!

This week I've been suffering from a scratchy throat and the feeling that sickness was approaching and this morning I woke up feeling like death warmed over. I'm sick for the first time in almost 6 months! No, it's not the swine flu, and I'm over hearing about it. So, I'm spending the day in bed hoping to feel better soon. If I had a personal assistant (I WISH!) I would send her out right now to drive half an hour and get me some Panera* but I don't have an assistant, and I don't want to drive, so it looks like no Panera for me today.

Tomorrow I will hopefully be back to my regularly scheduled programming and my movie review of The Soloist and a discussion of the latest cast-off from American Idol.

*Oh how I miss Panera, the closest Panera's are well, not close to me at all. They are driveable distance but not ever worth the drive. I need my you pick two.

Weekend Recap!

I had a super busy weekend filled with fun and being spoiled by my mother-in-law with shopping, eating out, beaching, and movies.. what more could a girl in LaLa Land ask for?!

I got three beautiful shirts from my new place of employment (yayyy!!) that I am absolutely in luuuurve with.

We ate some yummy meals out and I got to have a break from cooking (double yay!!!) which made me extremely plump and happy.

We saw an incredible film, The Soloist, which I will provide my full review of either later today or tomorrow.

We visited the Santa Monica Pier (a staple for LA visitors) and took some fun pictures.

Here are some pictures that Peter and I took at the Pier.





On an incredibly side note; my throat is sore and I'm feeling rather lethargic. Are those warning signs for the dreaded swine flu? I sure hope not. I'm considering purchasing a mask.

On Why I Hate Birds

We have a problem that wakes us up at 5:00 am every morning. It's a bird, I think a crow, I'm not entirely sure what type of mongerel it is. It squaks at such a high decibel for a good 3 minutes EVERY morning at 5:00 am. This awful creature wakes us up with it's singing howling and I've recently remembered that I despise birds. In seventh grade we were forced to watch The Birds in English class (on a sidenote, why did we watch so many movies in English class, weren't we supposed to be reading?) I think this movie is scary, people! Crow's pecking my eyes out, no thank you.

I really dislike flying rats, also known as seagulls, too. The seagulls in Florida are vicious, let me tell you! If you bring food to the beach those rats will stalk you and then they'll call over 20 friends to help and suddenly you have like 50 seagulls surrounding your pleasant picnic at the beach. And they're all, "give me your food, beach-goer's." I've learned that if you want to eat a sandwich at the beach in Florida you have to protect your food at all costs. How did I learn this, you ask? Well a wonderful afternoon in St. Petersburg enjoying lunch on the beach with my family my sandwich was slightly in the air as I was telling a story when the flying rat swooped down and stole the entire sandwich out of my hands. You can imagine my anger and the choice words that came out of my mouth. (In all honesty the choice words were, "JERK!" I'm not as cool as I think I am.) So obviously, from that moment on, I hate Florida seagulls. They're not quite as stalkerific on the California beaches, thank God.


Anyway, back to my original rant, this morning in my 5:00 am stupor I said, I think we need to shoot it. I think I may have given my darling husband an idea. So, to my neighbors, I would not be surprised if tomorrow morning my husband is sneaking outside at 5:00 am in his underwears with an air-soft BBgun to shut up this loud creature that is disrupting our slumber. Please don't be alarmed, we just really like our sleep.

Earth Day 2009

Happy Earth Day!

The LaLa Land house has gone GREEN (and so has the blog!) We've replaced all of our light bulbs, turn off the lights during the day time and let in the natural lights, open the windows for fresh air, and use re-usable bags for all of our groceries. There's a lot more that we can do to protect our earth and we'll keep trucking along.

What are YOU doing to protect our Earth?

Work? What's that like?

So, I got a part time job! This obviously isn't ideal, but hey, it's money and it's a job and right now I can't complain. The job is retail and the store shall remain nameless for now so I can have some sense of anonymity here. I've worked retail before and I enjoy it because I love fashion. I love the clothes at this store and I get a pretty hefty discount which I'll have to be very careful with. Peter's happy I'm going to be working, I'm happy to work, and maybe I'll even see a bunch of celebs since they really like to shop at this mall! Wouldn't that be exciting?!

My job search doesn't end here, I'll still be applying to full time jobs but this does ease some of the financial burden. Many thanks to everyone who has been praying and thinking of me.

On a side note, I'm going to one of my favorite restaurants in LA tonight for dinner, Toast. We'll sit on the patio and enjoy dinner and a delicious cupcake and I'll be happy.

And on another side note, today is free scoop day at Ben & Jerry's. I don't pass up any opportunity for free ice cream, in case you were wondering.

I'm burnin' up for you baby

I quote a classic (HA) from the Jonas Brother's in my title beacuse it is very hot out today and I'm literally burning up. Apparently, this is un-seasonable for southern California in April but I can't really comment on that since I've only lived here for about five months. My car thermometer is not the most accurate "weather reader" but it just said it was 108 degree's in the parking lot of Trader Joe's. My weather widget says 98 degrees and weather.com says that it's 100 degree's in my zipcode. I'm going to find the mean and say it's 102 degrees right now in Los Angeles. (Was that too much math in one sentence? I think so.. my apologies!) By golly, folks, it's hot out and I kinda like it..

Let me explain to all you mid-westerners/southerners/Floridians 102 degrees in California is different than 102 degrees where you live. There is not humidty people! It's strange, it's definitly hot out, and when you go outside it's hot but you're not sticky and frizzy and all around uncomfortable because there's no humidty! For a curly (read: frizzy) haired girl like myself, this is a great thing!

I've been to the beach three days in a row. I could get used to this..

Magical

Almost a month ago we attended the world famous, ultra exclusive Magic Catle. The Magic Castle is a private club. You must be a member or have a guest card from a member to gain admittance. How did we get so lucky, you ask? Well, Peter's boss is a member and a magician! He invited us to come for the night, and it was truly, magical!

The castle (which is more like a huge old mansion) sits above Hollywood. There is a strictly enforced dress code which means - suit & tie for the boys (my hubby looked so handsome) and cocktail dress for the ladies (what fun!) I loved dressing up for the night and felt very elegant and special to be attending the club. We saw several magicians and explored the many rooms of the magic castle. And let me tell you, these magicians are amazing. They did card tricks that I have been thinking about for weeks and just can not figure out how they did it! There's even a ghost that plays the piano and if you tip her she'll play you any song you want.. We chose "Hang On Sloopy" to represent for our Ohio State Buckeyes.

Can you believe that there's a Magic Castle in Hollywood? Neither can I! Oh the things that you can find in the this city!

Eulogy

This is my favorite video of the week. How cute is this little girl? I hope my children are funny like this someday. I also hope that we tape them a lot so I can show people funny videos of my awesome kids. I hope my kids are awesome.

(Don't worry, Mom, I'm not planning on having children any time soon because I know that's what you're thinking.. I just think funny kids are cool.

This video is kind of long but I promise you, it's worth watching!

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

ETA: The embedded video was messing up my layout, I hope it's working okay now?

American Idol

Have I mentioned that I love Idol's Kris Allen. Because I do, I love him, and tonight I love him even more. Okay well maybe I mention it every week, but he seriously blows me away. The song he sang this week is from a beautiful but rather unknown film called, Once. Not only do I love the film, the main song that Glen Hasard sings in it is called Falling Slowly and is truly one of my all-time favorite songs. It's one of those songs that I can listen to on repeat and it moves me every time. I am so happy that Kris chose to sing Falling Slowly tonight, I think he did a beautiful job and it was the perfect song choice for him. I don't usually purchase Idol songs on iTunes but I think this week I may have to (along with the entire Kris Allen library, perhaps) because I want to listen to it 25 times and swoon over how wonderful he is.

Anyway I'm going to add the YouTube for Kris's performance. It may not mean as much to you as it does to me. You may not even enjoy the film Once because it's pretty slow, but to me.. this song is brilliant. Well done, Kris.

Help Me Plan A Trip

Our one year anniversary (has it really been a year!?) is coming up next month. I am very excited to celebrate and get over the one year hump. On that note, we are looking to do something very inexpensive (and I mean, VERY) for our anniversary weekend. We obviously live in California so there has to be millions of fun, inexpensive, getaways for couples but I don't know any. We're willing to travel and would love to drive up the PCH but I can't find anything that's very reasonable for us. Has anyone ever done Priceline successfully? I'm nervous to try it!

So I need advice! Have you ever done anything fun and cheap in California? Comment or email me ali.in.lalaland@gmail.com

These are our puppy dog faces saying, puh-puh-puh please help!

They All Fall Down..

I have an embarrassing problem. It creeps up at the most inopportune times. It also strikes from the comfort of my MacBook. Some of my other family members also deal with this difficulty and are embarrassed by it often.

What's my problem?

My inability to hold it together when another person falls down in my vicinity.

People falling down is the number one more hilarious thing to me. When it happens, I can not control myself. There have been times when someone falls down and may actually hurt themselves and I can't help but giggle. I'm not talking a little giggle under your breath, I'm talking full out hold your belly, can't breathe, rolling on the floor laughter. I have been embarrassed by this many times in situations where it is completely inappropriate for me to have a laughing fit but I just can't help it.

A few weeks ago I attended a comedy show at the famous Comedy Store on Sunset Blvd. There were about 20 comics to perform. The most memorable moment of the night? When a random audience member bit it behind me and the entire crown turned around to see her flat on her face. I am laughing right now as I think about this moment of hilarity.

This problem that I have becomes even more a issue when I mention that I am one of the clumsiest people I have ever met. I have no balance and I trip over my own feet quite often. You'd think I would have sympathy for people falling around me but consequently, I don't. I'm the one pointing and laughing in the corner.

This video on YouTube reminds me of myself when I see someone fall:

Orange Mocha Frappuccino!

Have you tried this yet? It's delicious. I've always been a Coca-Cola drinker, no not Pepsi, Coke!* Ever since I was a little girl we always had Coke in the house and my entire family loves it. In the past few years I've made the switch to Diet (because hello it's SO much better for you) and now I can say I'm pretty much a DC & Coke Zero addict. Recently I found this delicious new treat.. Diet Cherry Coke! I've always loved Cherry Coke (yum!) and now it comes in diet form! (Thank you DC God's!)

*I'm not sponsored or paid by Coca-Cola. I just love it. But if Coca-Cola would like to sponsor me or give me a job, I would take it. Thank you.

Hope you're having a great Saturday!

P.S. This post has nothing to do with the title, it's just my favorite like from the awesome movie Zoolander and when I was saying Diet Cherry Coca-Cola it made me think of the line. I tried to find it to share it with you on YouTube but apparently my YouTubing (is that a word?) skills suck because I can only find it in German.

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend and if you're spending time with family, enjoy every moment! I'm missing my family lately...

We have a very relaxing weekend planned, and Peter does not even have to work! (gasp!) Saturday we plan to relax together all day and on Sunday we'll go to Easter service at our church and then spend the day at the beach for a cook-out with friends. It should be a great weekend and beautiful weekend.

On Holidays like this I always stop and think, what a year! Where was I last Easter? Almost married, wedding planning like a crazy person, living and teaching in Ohio, and celebrating Easter with Peter's family. Oh what a year...

Disaster's and Ugg Boots

Have you ever noticed that when you're out of town everything goes wrong? That's how I felt this week when I was in Ohio and my darling hubby was left home alone in LA. Peter had a bowling night with his company on Thursday, he came home got in bed and heard a strange dripping noise. He got up to check it out and found that water was pouring all over our clothes closet in our bedroom (OMG). He removed everything from the closet and hung it out to dry, called the maintenance department and went to sleep. Keep in mind that this happened around midnight LA time which would be 3 AM Eastern time so he didn't bother me with a phone call. The next day I get a phone call from a LA area code and immediately answer hoping it's some wonderful company offering me a great job with tons of money sadly it's not, it's our apartment complex maitenance man (M.M.) asking for permission to enter our unit to fix the water leak. At this point, I'm all "what water leak are you talking about" and M.M. says "I don't know, we got a request to fix a leak in your closet." So I let the dear M.M. into the apartment and immediately ring my darling Peter.. "um, hi babe, what's leaking in my closet??"

Long story short, the hot water pipe burst in our clothes closet! Did you know hot water pipes burst in southern california when it's 75 degrees everyday? No? Neither did I. I'm home everyday but of course the pipe would burst when I'm out of town for five days! Of course! None of my clothes ended up being too ruined except for my precious Uggs which I will be making a claim about to the complex and hopefully recieving some $$. I also need them to foot the bill for the dry cleaners that I will certainly be attending soon. Kudos to my hubby who took care of everything while I was away!

Vote or Die!

So my dear friend Lauren who posted here needs your help and I'm recruiting all of you! She modeled (oo la la!) for a nursing magazine called Working Nurse. They are having trouble picking a cover for the magazine so go here and vote for which one you think is best. She is the most adorable little nurse, don't you agree?

Remember click here - Working World Blog to vote!

Home Sweet Hollywood

I'm back to LA and so happy to be here. My guest blogger hubby never showed up! I'm sorry if you were disappointed, maybe I can talk him into a post sometime this week. I had a great time in Ohio with my girlfriends and the wedding was perfect. The weekend was a whirlwind of non-stop wedding fun! While Ohio feels homey, I really missed the beauty of California, it's seriously so beautiful here! Today I'm detoxing, resting, catching up on blogs, and cleaning up after a minor household disaster that struck while I was away (more on that later). I didn't take any pictures this weekend, but I will try to post some once they start trickling in on Facebook. Happy Monday!

Lauren in LaLa Land

My first guest blogger is my wonderful friend & blogger Lauren, thanks for sharing Lo!

holla from la-la-land! this is lauren, one of ali's buddies out here on the west coast, and let me just say i'm thrilled for my debut as a guest blogger! what an honor :) since ali's delightful blog is about all the excitement of living in this great entertainment city, i figured i'd follow suit and write about a fun, uniquely LA experience. so here goes...

as i'm sure most of you have read on here before, our lovely church (see ecclesia @ www.churchinhollywood.com) is in the heart of hollywood, right on hollywood boulevard, which was definitely weird at first. now it's equally weird how accustomed to it we've become. passing people dressed as spiderman, tinkerbell, and darth maul every sunday morning is no longer unusual...weird. aaanyway! it's not even unusual to see celebrities (as i know you're also used to here on al's blog!) around town and at church. this past sunday, i handed out church bulletins to both tony hale (an ecclesia regular) and to kristen bell (heroes, forgetting sarah marshall, veronica mars). where else can you do that!?

here's kristen in all her cuteness. she was just as adorable person--no makeup, bundled in funky layered clothes, and all of about 5'1"!! she was teeny tiny, of course!!



and, here's tony (aka buster bluth):




and, i just had to include this additional pic of tony hale, a) because i think it's hilarious and b) i just watched this episode of arrested development last night, and it was legit (**i highly recommend this show**).



i knooow they're just normal people, and i'm even out here pursuing acting, so i promise i never act weird around celebs, but it's still exciting and fun to see them!! i especially like knowing that they are at church. tony always seems to be the nicest guy, and he's one of our elders. it makes me happy that actors can stay grounded in this crazy industry. hooray, there's hope for the world!! you should come out for a visit and do some celeb-spotting of your own!

anyway, it's been fun writing--hope this was a fun quick read while ali is away, and maybe we'll meet again soon!

Wedding Weekend Craziness!

On Saturday one of my best girlfriends from high school is getting married! I'm going home to Ohio for 5 whirlwind days of wedding. I fly in tonight (Wednesday), Thursday is the Bachelorette party, Friday the rehearsal, Saturday the wedding, and then Sunday afternoon I fly back to LA! I am excited to see all my girlfriends from home, because I haven't seen most of them since November when we moved. I'm also happy that I get to spend 5 days with my best friend, Christie, and her family since I'm staying at her parents house! Next week I'll fill the blog with pictures from my weekend in Ohio (how am I going to deal with the cold, people? I'm used to 75 and sunny now!) and details from the wedding.

In the meantime I have a few guest bloggers lined up for your reading pleasure. One of those guest bloggers lives in the same house as me, yup, you guessed it Peter is making an appearance on the bloggy! Also, my friend Lauren is going to tell you about her life in LaLa Land as a starving artist (actress!) she's amazing and you'll love her.

Here's a picture of Toledo and the good ole' Maumee River!



Oh my, I'm having fun with the photos today! First here is a picture of the bride to be (she's actually a blondie but her hair was brown for a summer in Spain!) and myself at the hotel for my bachelorette party in Canada! The next picture are all my best girlfriends most of which will be at this bach party too. Oh the hilarity that will ensue!