Tag Archives: friends

A Weekday Show (or A Pre-Broadway Adventure)

Posted on February 21, 2024 | Comments Off on A Weekday Show (or A Pre-Broadway Adventure)

Since I started getting season tickets for the Pantages, my tickets have been on Sunday evenings. The group that I joined at first previously had done Sunday evenings so when I was added to the group things just stayed the same. And while the group has changed multiple times over the years, we’ve always just kept the shows on Sundays. Even when we’ve had to change the date, they usually stay on Sundays. It’s just easiest to do that and keep the routine the same since that’s what we’ve gotten used to.

I’m sure that there has been another time that I’ve seen a show at the Pantages on a weeknight, I just don’t remember it. So when we had to change our most recent tickets to a weeknight, it felt like something new. We had to change from a Sunday to a weeknight for a few reasons. The show we were seeing was “The Wiz”, and this production was a pre-Broadway run. So the cast was the cast that was expected to be on Broadway, which meant we had some names in the cast when we usually don’t get that. So all the dates were a lot more crowded than normal. So for us to change our date (which we needed to do because of my schedule), we had to search for a night that would have tickets for us together in our section. And we had another friend who was going to join us, so we needed to find 3 seats together. We ended up finding 3 tickets in the last row of the balcony, but it was in the center so they were actually considered a higher level of seating than we normally have. And being in the center was nice since normally we sit off to the side.

Before the show, we met up for dinner at RDen. I’m so glad they reopened so we could return to our pre-show tradition. We had looked at other places to eat before the show, but no other place has good reviews, decent food/prices, or is so close to the theater. It’s honestly the best place I can imagine going for dinner before the show. It was a bit more of a rush for me to get there since I was working before the show, but I made it work and wasn’t late. But I do prefer going on a Sunday when I don’t have to stress as much about rush hour traffic. But once we were all seated for dinner, it wasn’t a rush and we were able to have a nice dinner before going across the street for the show.

I don’t think I’ve seen a pre-Broadway show before. I know others who have but I think they have all seen brand new shows that were doing a tryout before going to Broadway to see if they needed to change the show at all. This time, the show was an established show so I can’t imagine they would make many changes at all. They wouldn’t change the script or the songs, but there were a few moments that I think weren’t as strong as others so I hope those are fixed before their premiere in New York. But the actors were incredible and I thought the actress who played Dorothy was so good! The closing number of the show was so powerful and that had the show end so strong! I think because I’ve seen so many shows over the years, I just notice the little things so the things I picked up on that I hope will be fixed were not things that others would notice. For example, the way the screens were used as a background was awesome in the second act, but I didn’t like how they were used in the first act. But it was still a good show and I’m so glad that we were able to find another night we could go and we were able to bring another friend with us.

The next season for Pantages will be announced in a few days. I can’t imagine that we won’t be renewing our season since my friend and I both agree that we just like having a reason to get out and enjoy theater. We might change where we sit because now we have been able to experience what it’s like when you are closer to the center of the theater. We won’t be doing super close and center tickets since those are out of both of our budgets. But upgrading a bit depending on cost might work.

But before we worry about the next season, we still have a bunch of shows this season! It’s pretty much a show a month from now until August. That’s a lot of nights out to look forward to!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailAnother Round Of A Repeat Musical (or Seeing A Show A Different Way) Default ThumbnailBurgers And Broadway (or Another Musical) Default ThumbnailNot Exactly A Musical Night (or Continuing To Be Spoiled With Our Pre-Show Dinners) Default ThumbnailFunko and Frozen (or The Last Pantages Show For A While) Default ThumbnailMore Musicals! (or Another Season At Pantages) Default ThumbnailBroadway Sings Disney (or A Fun Adventure With An Awesome Friend)

Comments Off on A Weekday Show (or A Pre-Broadway Adventure)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , , ,

A Social Weekend (or Spending Time With Friends)

Posted on January 31, 2024 | Comments Off on A Social Weekend (or Spending Time With Friends)

I’ve said many times that I need to work on being more social and leaving my house. And I finally had a nice and social weekend this past weekend. I didn’t plan to have back-to-back friend hangouts, but having a few opportunities to see friends and not be as isolated at home after work was nice.

I had my traditional cheesecake hangout on Friday with my birthday twin, Joanna. It was a bit later in the month than we normally do (in the past, we had it much closer to New Year’s), but we also had to coordinate when it would work for both of our schedules. And it might have worked out nicely to go later in January because when we got there we didn’t have to wait for a table! We’ve had times in the past when we’ve had to wait an hour or two, but this was the first time I remember that we could be seated right away.

And we had our usual hangout that we get to do twice a year. We caught up on each other’s news and the craziness of life. I got to tell her about finding a new agent and the new headshots that I took recently. She was telling me about the trip that she was planning with her boyfriend. We both talked about random industry news that we’ve been hearing since the strike ended. It was a really nice and chill dinner and that’s exactly what I want these hangouts to be. And of course, we got cheesecake to share between us. It was an indulgent meal, but totally worth it and something I had been looking forward to all month.

Then the next day, my friend Robert and his boyfriend had a party to celebrate their new apartment. They just moved in together into a really great new place. I had been helping Robert look for apartments when they were searching and sent him so many links to different places. But this place is the perfect one for them. It doesn’t have as much square footage as they were originally looking for, but the layout makes it feel so much bigger. The apartment is brand new with great appliances and a washer and dryer, so I think those are better things to have than more space. And I learned from my last place that the technical square footage doesn’t necessarily represent how big or small a space feels. Nobody seemed to believe me when they found out my last place was only about 400 square feet because the layout and how I put my furniture made it feel much bigger.

I had only seen photos and videos of their new apartment, so I was excited to see it in person. And it was a nice party too. A lot of people who were there were people I knew, so I didn’t feel like I was surrounded by strangers. But there were also some new people I got to meet. But all of us just hung out and had a nice time talking about all the randomness of life. It was very chill and low-pressure, which is exactly how I like parties to be. I am an extrovert, but also a bit of an introvert when things get too overwhelming. But I never felt that way at this party so that was perfect.

I did have a bit of an extrovert hangover the next morning, which is probably something I should have expected since I don’t usually have social events 2 days in a row. I know I used to live life like that, but I’m out of practice. In a perfect world, I think I would have one party or friend hang out a week just so I could be more social. But it’s ok when they are back-to-back every so often since I really don’t get to do these that often.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailSocial Days Off (or Finally Seeing Some Friends) Default ThumbnailMore Friends More Fun (or Still Building My Social Circle) Default ThumbnailBeing Social Outside Of Workouts (or Making OTF Friends) Default ThumbnailFitting In Social Time (or Taking Advantage Of My Weekends) Default ThumbnailAnother Union Holiday Celebration (or Being Social And Working Social Media) Default ThumbnailStill Not Feeling Like We Are Post-Pandemic (or Continuing To Struggle Being Social)

Comments Off on A Social Weekend (or Spending Time With Friends)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged ,

My 2024 Goals (or Things Already Might Need To Change A Bit)

Posted on January 3, 2024 | Comments Off on My 2024 Goals (or Things Already Might Need To Change A Bit)

Happy 2024! I hope everyone had an amazing New Year’s and the year has gotten off to a good start already. I had a pretty chill and low-key New Year’s (except for one thing) and that’s exactly how I like to do things. Before I went out to celebrate with friends, I set aside some time to work on my goals for 2024 and I came up with 4 that I really want to focus on for this year. But I might have to make a few modifications already.

My first goal for 2024 shouldn’t surprise anyone who has seen my goals over the past few years. I want to do at least 200 workouts this year. This is the same number I have had as my goal for a few years, and I don’t expect that I will ever change this since 4 workouts a week at Orangetheory feels right to me. I know I’ve had random weeks when I’ve done 5 workouts in a week, but I can’t imagine doing that regularly. I hope that I will do a few more than 200 this year, but this number allows me to have some missed classes if I get sick or something else prevents me from getting to a workout. But as long as I get to at least 200 workouts in 2024, I’ll be happy.

My second goal for 2024 might need to be changed. The original goal I had for myself was to find a way to save money so I could finally go on a vacation. I still want to see if I can accomplish this goal this year because it’s been a very long time since I’ve had a vacation. I think my trip to Catalina was my last vacation, which was awesome, but I’d love to get away from LA for a fun trip this year if possible. But on New Year’s Eve, my car was hit by a firework and has some pretty decent damage on the door. My car is drivable and the lock and door work, but it will need to be fixed. And I know that any work I do on my car will be pretty expensive. I’m going to work on getting some estimates soon and I’m going to look into whether I want to go through my insurance or not (going through insurance might end up being more expensive if my premiums go up after making a claim). But the amount that I was hoping to have for a vacation may have to go into fixing my car instead and a vacation might have to wait another year. I’ll just have to see how expensive the repair will be.

My next goal is a continuation of one from last year. I want to go as full force as possible with my acting career this year. I am starting the new year in a good place with a lot of things happening for my acting career. I have a new agent, I’m getting new headshots, I’ve re-edited my reel, and I’ve worked on updating my online casting pages. There are other things I haven’t had a chance to do or look into just yet, but I’ve made a lot of progress in the last month that will help to support things moving forward this year. I know that getting auditions and booking jobs aren’t fully in my control, but I’m doing whatever I can to make sure I’m ready for opportunities and I hope that I see some new progress in my career over the next 12 months.

My final goal for 2024 is another one that I feel like I’ve kind of done in the past, but it’s still important. I want to find the time to enjoy life. It’s so easy for me to wake up early, go to my workout, work my day job, make dinner, go to bed, and repeat. Week to week my schedule is pretty consistent, which isn’t a bad thing, but it also makes time go by without me realizing it at times. I want to enjoy my life as much as possible because that is the point of life. I do make plans with friends when I can, but I need to be more active in reaching out to friends and scheduling things. I have some days that are really difficult for me to do things after work, but that’s not every day. So I should take advantage of the evenings when I do have more flexibility and do things that aren’t just sitting at home and doing nothing.

I know these goals aren’t anything crazy or extreme, but I think they are good goals for me to focus on so that I can make the most of 2024. I still will have my monthly challenges that will push me to do more than just these goals throughout the year. But I think these main 4 goals are things that will really benefit my life in the long run. And I hope in a year, I will be reflecting on these goals and proud of what I have been able to do.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailMy 2016 Goals (or I’ve Got Some Big Ideas This Year) Default ThumbnailMy 2023 Goals (or Some New Goals and Some Repeats) Default Thumbnail2020 Goals (New Year, Not All New Goals) Default ThumbnailMy 2021 Goals (or Preparing For A Year With Lots Of Unknowns) Default ThumbnailMy 2017 Goals (or I Know This Year Will Be Amazing!) Default ThumbnailWhat I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals)

Comments Off on My 2024 Goals (or Things Already Might Need To Change A Bit)

Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Saving

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Starting To Wrap Up The Year (or Fitting In Friend Time)

Posted on December 20, 2023 | Comments Off on Starting To Wrap Up The Year (or Fitting In Friend Time)

It’s so crazy that it’s almost the end of the year. I don’t think it will fully sink in until I have a random day off later this week for the holidays. And I’m very grateful I get some time off from work. I will only have 1 extra day that doesn’t have any work because one of my jobs doesn’t have any days off for the holidays because I already get Sunday and Monday off. But I will still have other days that I don’t have to be up as early as normal to work, so that will be nice.

And with the end of the year and the holidays upon us, I think a lot of us do some reflection on how the past year went and how we feel about how we spent our time. I will be doing more of an end-of-the-year post next week when I recap my goals, but I’m still taking time to reflect on this past year. More specifically, I have been reflecting on my friendships and social life.

It’s always tough to find time to hang out with friends. I make an effort, but often one of us will have a crazy schedule and things get delayed. It’s not that we don’t want to hang out, it just doesn’t happen and before we know it, months have slipped by before we try to reschedule. But I do try to stay in touch with friends even if it’s not necessarily happening in person. I think staying connected with my friends through text and social media does help to maintain a friendship, even if it’s not enough to keep it going forever. But when you do have that virtual communication, it helps to make those in-person hangouts feel like you haven’t missed a ton of time together.

I was able to have brunch with a friend recently whom I hadn’t seen since the beginning of the summer. But we had stayed in touch regularly so when we had our brunch, we were able to pick up like we had seen each other just a few days ago. And it was so great to have that face-to-face time with a friend. I know I need to do that more often, but it’s tough when so many of my friends don’t live in LA anymore. And many of my friends who are local live very busy lives. I don’t blame any of my friends who have been too busy with work or family to hang out, but it’s always hard when you realize you haven’t seen someone in person in years because you just don’t have similar lives anymore. But I still do what I can to keep those friendships going because I never know when I will be able to rekindle a friendship that may have slipped away in the past.

That’s why I do things like sending out my holiday cards each year. They aren’t anything fancy, but I like sending something to people who are friends of mine and who I want to keep our friendship going. It’s not that expensive to do them, especially since I send postcards now instead of regular cards so postage is cheaper. And I hope that my friends who receive these smile when they get something fun in the mail from me.

I think I will always try to be more social and focus on my friendships each year. It’s something that has to be worked on or else you will realize you have lost touch with someone you used to talk to all the time. I think I’ve done a decent job this year with meeting up with friends and keeping my friendships going. It hasn’t been perfect, but I have been able to reconnect with people this year that I hadn’t been able to in years. And I’ve already started to make that effort for the new year by planning some more brunch hangouts since brunch seems to be one of the times that I can usually meet up with someone and not worry about how late I’m going to be out.

Hopefully, whatever things happen with my friendships and social life in the new year will be positive! And then in a year, I’ll be having the same feeling about the end of the year and I’ll only have the best memories of what I was able to do with my friends in 2024.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailStarting To Wrap Up 2017 (or Getting In All My End Of The Year Things) Default ThumbnailFitting In Social Time (or Taking Advantage Of My Weekends) Default ThumbnailThinking About My Relationships (or Starting My 2018 Reflection) Default ThumbnailA Special Birthday For A Special Friend (or Celebrating A “College” Friend) Default ThumbnailAn Unexpected Friend Hangout (or Helping Out And Getting Social Time) Default ThumbnailLast Mentoring Group Brunch For The Year (or Switching Things Up For Next Year)

Comments Off on Starting To Wrap Up The Year (or Fitting In Friend Time)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged ,

Another Low-Key Halloween (or Still Doing Punny Costumes)

Posted on November 8, 2023 | Comments Off on Another Low-Key Halloween (or Still Doing Punny Costumes)

I’m always so grateful that not only do I have a fun group of friends to celebrate Halloween with each year, but the party is always both low-key and creative. Some people go all out with their costumes and it’s so fun to see what people come up with. But not everyone does that so if you go without a costume or in a simple costume, you don’t stand out too much. So it’s perfect no matter what your mood might be with a costume.

I usually do a simple costume since I have a bit of a drive to get to the party. I know I could wear regular clothes to drive and then change when I get there, but I like having something that is easy to put together when I get to the party and to remove when it’s time to drive home. Since I do simpler costumes, I tend to have a costume that has some pun to it. I have a fun time figuring out what to be and how to accomplish it. Sometimes it’s easier to make a plan than others, but I always enjoy what costume I come up with.

This year, I was stuck for a bit with what I should do for Halloween. Nothing was really jumping out at me or inspiring me, so I just kept looking online to see what I would connect with. It took a bit of time, but I found the perfect punny costume. I dressed as a third wheel.

I actually don’t remember how the person dressed that I was inspired by online. I just remember that their version of the costume wasn’t something I could do or wanted to do. So I had to think of my own version of it and I was pretty happy with what I came up with.

It’s not super easy to tell from the photo, but what I did was print out a picture of a wheel and attach it to a headband with a zip tie. Then I made little stickers of different celebrity couples and I put those all over my shirt when I got to the party. I liked how it turned out and I was happy with what I was able to create. Especially since I didn’t have to buy anything for the costume so it was nice to save money.

The only downside to my costume was that not everyone got it right away. I guess it was an easier costume to guess when you knew what it was. But I got some interesting guesses from friends when they didn’t know what I was. The one I got the most was the paparazzi. I guess I can see how the wheel looked a bit like a flash and I had photos of celebrities on me. But it was funny how many people guessed that. Once I said what I was, everyone thought it was really clever.

As always with these parties, the main focus while I was there was catching up with my friends. I saw most of them at my birthday party, so it hadn’t been that long since we had a chance to hang out. But it also seemed like so many people had a lot of things that happened in the last month or two. I’m glad I was able to be there and catch up face-to-face instead of just online. I know I’ve always appreciated the time I’ve been able to spend with my friends in person, but I appreciate it even more now after the isolation of the worst of the pandemic. And I try to take advantage of the time that I do get with my friends more because I never know if something will happen where we won’t be able to be together in person for a while. I never thought like that before, but now it’s something I think about quite a bit.

Normally, I’m at the Halloween party for the costume contest to see who wins. I know I won’t place since other people have much better costumes, but I like to see how my friends vote. But this year, things were a bit later than normal because a lot of the people who go to the party were in a play that was happening that night. So they weren’t going to be able to be at the party until after the show was done. I wanted to stick around as late as I could to see everyone and see the costume contest, but I got really tired at the time I normally leave and had to head home before I was too tired to drive. I’m sad I didn’t get to see everyone or see who had the best costumes, but I’m glad I got to see some of my friends and have a fun night out!

And now, I have about a year to think of my next funny and punny costume to wear to a Halloween party. And hopefully, that costume will be one that will be easier for other people to guess.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailLow-Key Halloween (or A Work In Progress) Default ThumbnailLow Key Halloween (or Costume Flashback) Default ThumbnailHaving To Explain My Costume (or An Almost Normal Halloween) Default ThumbnailBeing A Word Nerd (or A More Normal Halloween Celebration) Default ThumbnailA Halloween Outing (or Dressing Up As Me) Default ThumbnailOscar Night (or A Very Low-Key Award Show)

Comments Off on Another Low-Key Halloween (or Still Doing Punny Costumes)

Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,

Birthday Twin Dinner (or Probably The Last Birthday Celebration This Year)

Posted on August 30, 2023 | 1 comment

I only have a few birthday traditions that I do every year, and one that I’ve been doing for years now is my dinner at Truxton’s with my friend (and birthday twin) Joanna. We’ve been doing this dinner for over a decade now, and even though things have changed over time, we still celebrate with their birthday deal.

The deal was a free entree and dessert when we started doing our birthday dinners. That allowed us to have a totally free dinner and we basically tipped what the cost of the dinner would have been. After a few years, the deal changed to $20 off your meal, which was $40 for us since we both had $20 to spend. We have tried to do a free dinner with that deal, but it became more of a hassle to try to figure it out. So now, we just get an appetizer to share, an entree for each of us, and a dessert to share. It’s not free, but it’s pretty cheap. And we can both tip $20 (which is almost the amount of the cost of the dinner) and feel like we are getting a great deal.

The original restaurant is over by LAX, so that’s where we started going for the birthday deal. But once they opened a location in Santa Monica, we switched to there because it was easier for both of us to get to. And that was our plan again this year. For whatever reason, I felt the need to look at the menu the day we were supposed to go and I’m so glad that I did. Because there was an issue with the lease for the Santa Monica location and it had to close shortly after we were there last year. If I hadn’t looked, we would have driven there for dinner and had no idea that wasn’t an option anymore. So I let Joanna know that we would have to switch back to the location by LAX. And going forward, we might adjust our tradition to be a lunch or brunch because it was crazy for both of us to get there with traffic.

But the traffic was worth it so we could have our birthday meal. And even though I know we both try to meet up more often than our birthday and cheesecake traditions, we are both busy and never seem to be able to plan a lot of other hangouts. So having these traditions something we make sure we do our best to keep up really helps us have regular hangouts/check-ins with each other.

We both knew what we wanted to eat quickly, so we were able to put in our order and focus more on our catch-up. And as it’s been the last several times, most of what we discussed was about our dating lives and our condos. And Joanna gave me some great ideas for the closet in my bedroom which I have been wanting to change up, so I’m glad we had our random chat as always.

And since the focus was on catching up, I also didn’t think too much about taking photos of our food. But I did get a photo of the dessert we split. We had this apple tart in the past and it’s always been good. And the waiter knew that it was both of our birthdays because we let him know in advance about us using the birthday deal, so he put 2 candles in it for us! I think this was the only birthday thing I had with a candle in it this year. It was really the perfect way to end the meal.

Because we went to a different location this time, our dinner was a bit later than normal so we were done later than I was planning. But we did this dinner on a night when I didn’t have to be up too early the next morning so it was ok. And it was worth it to get our birthday dinner. I think both of us would do whatever we can in order to make this dinner happen. Even during the height of the pandemic, we still found a way to have our dinner together even if we were eating in a park instead of the restaurant.

I’m seriously so lucky that we’ve kept this tradition going for as long as we have and that we both see it as such a great way for us to maintain our friendship even with our crazy schedules!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailAlmost Free Birthday Dinner (or Spending My Birthday With My Birthday Twin) Default ThumbnailContinuing The Birthday Celebrations (or A Birthday Twin Adventure) Default ThumbnailBirthday Twin Dinner (or Zero Dollar Bill) Default ThumbnailBelated Birthday Dinner (or We Don’t Mind It’s Not Totally Free Anymore) Default ThumbnailAn Almost Free Dinner (or Continuing The Birthday Tradition) Default ThumbnailAn Evening Of Cheesecake (or Just A Calm Dinner With My Birthday Twin)

1 Comment

Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

It’s My Birthday! (or Being A Bit Overwhelmed By Love)

Posted on August 9, 2023 | 2 comments

I’m 40 today! I’ve said it before, but I’m not that worried about being 40. I know it’s something everyone says, but age really is just a number. Nothing has changed about me because yesterday I was 39 and today I’m 40. I also think that where past generations were at 40 is very different from where my generation is at 40. And a lot of my friends are older than me, so I have a lot of examples of what a 40-year-old could be like. Some of them at 40 were married with kids and others had similar lifestyles to what I have right now. And I’m lucky that none of my friends or family pressured me to feel like I had to be at a certain phase of life at any age.

I also have said before that my 30s were so much better than my 20s, and I think that things will just continue to get better. A lot of this feeling is not caring as much to fit certain stereotypes or what others may think about me. If I want to enjoy my life a certain way and it’s not hurting anyone else, I should be able to do that without shame. If I want to spend a day reading, that’s fine and I shouldn’t feel embarrassed that others might see that as a wasted day. And the sense of freedom I’ve had as I have gotten more confident about not caring has been amazing.

I’m not really doing much to celebrate my birthday today. I have my workout, going to the picket line, and working my day job. I might end up doing something after work, but I have a feeling I won’t be up for much since I tend to be tired after work. But that’s ok because I had a small birthday party thing this past weekend!

I haven’t celebrated my birthday with friends for a while, but I figured I should do it this year for a milestone birthday. I didn’t want anything too crazy, so I organized a hangout at a lounge attached to a bar near my place. I invited a lot of friends because there are so many people I hadn’t seen in a while and about 15 people were able to come.

I didn’t take any photos because I was busy talking with everyone, so I’m grateful for a friend who was there that took these candid ones. And it was such a great birthday hangout!

I had friends that were there from different friend groups, and it’s always crazy to see how people know each other when I had no idea. For example, one friend I have known since I was in college knew another friend I know through union service from an acting class they were in 20 years ago! And another friend from one friend group knew another friend from a different group but they hadn’t seen each other in about 15 years. There were several moments when I just sat back and watched my friends talking to each other. It was so awesome just seeing new friendships being created and old friendships catching up. I didn’t need or want to be the center of attention, I just wanted everyone to have a good time. And I think everyone who was there did.

I didn’t think to tell people to not bring presents because I honestly wasn’t expecting them. And I was surprised how many people brought me a card or a gift. I felt so loved, and a little embarrassed that I didn’t think I deserved so much fuss. But I also know how much I love to give my friends gifts, so I appreciated the time and money others spent on me and finding the right gift to get me.

I don’t really have any other big plans for my birthday. There are some birthday traditions that I need to schedule still, so I will still be celebrating turning 40 for at least a few more weeks. And I think being 40 is something I will be celebrating for a while because I really am excited about this next decade and I really can’t wait to see what will be coming my way and what my future has in store. I know that I have built a life that I really enjoy and have surrounded myself with people I love. And whatever happens for me in my 40s will just be adding upon that. I know it won’t all be amazing and positive, but I have a feeling there are some incredible things ahead for me!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailHappy Birthday Rayshell (or I Love Casual Hangouts!) Default ThumbnailA Milestone Birthday (or I Have A Feeling 35 Will Be Awesome) Default ThumbnailBirthday Countdown (or Taking Suggestions On How To Celebrate) Default ThumbnailAnother Birthday Outing (or Seeing My Birthday Twin) Default ThumbnailCelebrating The Love In My Life Today (or There Is More Than Just Romantic Love) Default ThumbnailA Busy Birthday (or I’m Not Sure What I Expected My Birthday To Be Like)

2 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , , ,

4th of July Fun (or Continuing The Traditions)

Posted on July 12, 2023 | Comments Off on 4th of July Fun (or Continuing The Traditions)

I think many people felt like having a holiday in the middle of the week was a bit odd. I have to agree. I only had the 4th off, so I worked Monday and Wednesday. Some people had an extra day off, but I was just happy to have an extra day off in the middle of the week. But that made things a bit harder to plan to celebrate the 4th, but fortunately, I could still have some fun.

The party that I go to most years for the 4th was the weekend before the holiday. But that was perfect for me since I didn’t want to stress about how early I might have to be up the next day. And that gave me some time to prepare something to bring with me. I don’t always have the time to make something, but I was grateful I did this year because I was able to bring drunk fruit again with me. This is something that I like to make since it’s easy, and it’s also something that people seem to love. And I had time the day before the party to get everything together.

I usually make it more than a day in advance, so this time they weren’t quite as potent as they have been in the past. Maybe since I was making them later, I should have added a little extra tequila, but normally the pre-made one is perfect for this. I still think everyone enjoyed them and I liked the combination of strawberries and watermelon.

The party was pretty low-key as they have been lately. It was a nice time to hang out with friends and have some good food. It wasn’t too hot, so we were all mostly outside during the party. And of course, my friends and I had to get our traditional photo done. We were missing one member of our group this year, but we still took a photo to add to the collection.

We’ve been doing this for almost 10 years now and only missed 2 years (one year due to the pandemic and one year due to my friends having a new puppy and not having a party). It’s so silly and ridiculous, but we also love it! And I think our other friends who are not in the photo but at the party get a laugh out of us acting a little crazy to get the photos done. But it’s such a fun thing to have to remember my friend group over the years. Also, considering how long we’ve been doing this, I don’t think any of us look like we’ve aged about 10 years!

I was at that party a bit later than I planned, but that was ok since I was able to sleep in the next day. And then I started my normal work week with work on Monday.

On the 4th, I slept in a bit and then went to a workout. I was debating about trying to make some plans to go watch fireworks or something else, but I ended up just hanging out at home and enjoying a day without work. I think a lot of my friends did the same since nobody really went out and did much. Maybe that’s a sign of us getting older or maybe that’s because it wasn’t a weekend and a few of my friends had a regular work day the next day like I did. But just having time to relax and not worry about doing much was nice and a luxury. On my days off, I’m usually trying to get errands done or other things I can’t do during the week. As much as I try to do all of those things on Saturdays so I can relax on Sundays, it doesn’t always work out that way for me. So I took advantage of this free time and didn’t stress about doing anything. It might not have been the most social holiday, but it was perfect for me.

I’m glad that I had the party the weekend before, so I had some nice social time and got to feel like I celebrated a holiday a bit. And I was able to take the day off work to make sure I was ready for the rest of the work week and feel a bit more refreshed when I have been a bit exhausted lately.

You Might Also Like

Default Thumbnail4th Of July Weekend (or An Early Holiday) Default ThumbnailFinally Seeing Some Friends (or Having An Almost Normal 4th Of July) Default Thumbnail4th Of July On The 1st (or Another Awesome Party With Friends) Default ThumbnailFabulous 4th Of July (or Fireworks!) Default Thumbnail4th Of July (or Hot Dogs, Fireworks, And Rooftops) Default ThumbnailNot My Typically 4th Of July (or Taking Advantage Of A Day Off)

Comments Off on 4th of July Fun (or Continuing The Traditions)

Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,

Fitting In Social Time (or Taking Advantage Of My Weekends)

Posted on June 21, 2023 | Comments Off on Fitting In Social Time (or Taking Advantage Of My Weekends)

Since the start of the pandemic, I feel like my social life has taken a big hit. At first, it was due to trying to be safe during the worst of the pandemic and staying isolated at home. I slowly started to see friends again, but so much had changed just a few months into the pandemic. Many of my friends moved away so they weren’t around to hang out with. Once I started my social media job, I worked a lot more hours than I used to and didn’t feel like going out after work. I was used to being done with work at 3pm, and now I was done at 5 or 6pm. That’s a big difference with free time after work. And since I get up so early in the morning to work out, I don’t like to go out after work because I know I need my sleep.

I’ve tried to be more social in the past year or two, but it’s still not easy. It’s never easy to make new friends as an adult, but it seems even harder now. I’ve been working on making the most of the friendships that I already have or seeing people that I felt were acquaintances more so they become friends, but my social circle does feel pretty small. It is still better than what it was like at the beginning of the pandemic because at least I have my workouts in the morning and that gets me out and around people. And because I usually see the same people every week, I have gotten to know them. It’s better than nothing, but still, I know I need to be with friends more.

Since I don’t really like to go out after work (although I have been trying to do so when something has to occur then), I’ve been trying to do more over the weekends. I know I need to take some time over the weekend to relax and reset to be ready for the next week, but I don’t have to do that for the entire weekend every weekend. And one of the easier ways I’ve been able to make time for my friends over the weekend is to go to brunch on Sundays. I’ve been able to do this a few times over the past month and it’s been really great for my mental health.

Brunch is so casual and easy, so I don’t have to stress too much about planning it or making it a big event. And most of my friends feel the same way about brunch so we don’t dress up to impress each other. It’s nice to be able to fit that social time in between other errands that I have to do on the weekend, but I’ve also been trying to make an effort to do as many errands as possible on Saturdays to keep my Sundays free for more fun things.

Not only have these brunches been a great chance for me to catch up with friends that I don’t see that often, but it’s been fun exploring new places around LA. I didn’t set out to do this, but all the brunches I’ve had recently have been at restaurants I haven’t been to before. When I do go out for meals, I tend to go to the same places over and over again. So finding new places has been something I probably needed to do and these brunches have been a great excuse to do just that.

I know that I can’t just expect to have brunches with friends planned and I have to make an effort to make them happen as well. But I do feel a bit more motivated to do these since they fit into my schedule a lot better than other things I have been trying to fit in. I’ve been trying to make myself be better about going out in the evenings when I knew I didn’t want to. And I finally feel like I found a good option for friend hangouts that fit into my schedule and my life. And maybe this will push me to be more social in other aspects of my life, but I’m just happy with finding something that gets me out in the world more and feel a bit more like the old me.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailMaking Condo Hunting More Fun (or Taking Advantage Of Ways To Be Social) Default ThumbnailStill Not Feeling Like We Are Post-Pandemic (or Continuing To Struggle Being Social) Default ThumbnailTaking Advantage Of Having Extra Space (or My First Overnight Guest In My Condo) Default ThumbnailHaving More Virtual Movie Nights (or Still Trying To Be Social) Default ThumbnailBeing Social and Nauseous (or Taking Some Inspiration From My Workouts) Default ThumbnailSocial Days Off (or Finally Seeing Some Friends)

Comments Off on Fitting In Social Time (or Taking Advantage Of My Weekends)

Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,

And Another Season Of Musicals (or Continuing My LA Tradition)

Posted on April 14, 2023 | Comments Off on And Another Season Of Musicals (or Continuing My LA Tradition)

Seeing musicals at the Pantages has been a tradition for me for several years now. I’ve been so happy every year I’ve gotten season tickets, even if I’m unsure about some of the shows. There have been very few shows that I haven’t enjoyed, and even if I don’t love a show I usually have a great time there and it’s a fun night out. It’s been a great way to have regular hangouts with friends and to feel connected to LA and the entertainment industry.

I’m so glad that I’ve been able to get tickets for the season each year, even if the people I’ve gone with have changed over the years. I wasn’t sure who was going to go with me after my friend Dani moved away from LA, but I’m so happy that my friend Jodi decided to join me for the shows this current season. And we’ve been having a great time getting dinner together before each show and seeing the variety of shows that have been happening this season. It’s one of the few regular things that I did before the pandemic that I continued doing since it reopened.

Every year when they are getting set to announce the next new season, I wonder if it will be a season I want to see. I usually feel pretty certain that I would want season tickets again, but if a season was mainly shows I didn’t want to see or that I’ve seen before and didn’t enjoy, I would probably consider not getting a full season and just getting a couple of shows. And I also have always wondered what the person or people going to shows with me would think as well. I know the tickets aren’t horribly expensive, but they aren’t cheap and it’s not worth the expense if you know you won’t be enjoying the shows. I’m always so happy when it’s worked out for me and I haven’t had to stress too much about what I want to do next.

So when the 2024 season for the Pantages was released about a month ago, I was excited to see that it looked like a pretty fun season.

It’s a 7 show season since we aren’t going to be doing the add-on shows, but that’s a good number and more than what we have in the current season. I checked with Jodi, and she was interested in doing another season as well. So we just renewed our tickets so we are all set for the next season!

In past seasons, once we set up our season we rarely changed things. Sometimes we would have to change the date and we would end up with different seats. But we wouldn’t make plans to change our seats for the same night. But Jodi and I have been having fun finding better seats than what we have in our current season. I think we only will have 1 show out of the 6 this year where we sit in the seats we originally got. And I have a feeling we will be moving our seats around again for the next season. We couldn’t do that when renewing since you have to renew for the same seats each year, but it’s simple for us to change them online whenever we have time to see what our options are. And once the regular ticket sales are open, then we can see where we can move around to for each show. We don’t really care if we sit on the same side or in the same section from show to show, so that gives us a lot of flexibility to get better seats.

I’m so happy that I’m continuing this tradition since it has brought me so much joy over the years. And I’m so glad that I also will be having a lot of fun nights out with a friend already planned for 2024!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailKicking Off Another Season Of Musicals (or A Really Impressive Start To The Season) Default ThumbnailAnd Another Season Of Musicals (or The Next Season Will Be A Bit Different) Default ThumbnailMore Musicals! (or Another Season At Pantages) Default ThumbnailHaving A Season Of Musicals (or Finally Enjoying Something I Haven’t Done Since I Moved To LA) Default ThumbnailAll Set For Another Musical Season (or I’m Glad I Can Continue This) Default ThumbnailThe End Of My Musical Season (or Finally Enjoying Phantom)

Comments Off on And Another Season Of Musicals (or Continuing My LA Tradition)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,