Tag Archives: girls night out

A GNO Reunion (or Taco Tuesday Without The Tacos)

It’s been a while since my GNO has gotten together. The group kind of fell apart when other GNO groups were created and we stopped being as active in setting up events. I’m hoping that one day we can get the group up and running again, but since we are all so busy it’s tough to know who would be able to do it. But we’ve all been able to stay in touch through social media so we always know when each other has awesome news to share.

Recently, my friend Brandi shared that she won a writing fellowship with HBO! That’s such amazing news, but I’m not surprised as Brandi is an incredible writer. I love all the work that she’s done and I know that she has won awards for her writing in the past. But besides announcing that she won this fellowship, she told us that she would be coming to LA for a week to participate in the kickoff for the program!

I hadn’t seen Brandi in over a year, since she moved to Atlanta. So I was so excited to get to see her again and get to celebrate her success. I knew she’d be busy, but fortunately she organized a casual dinner in West Hollywood so we could see her while she was in town. And I had a feeling I’d get to see some of the women from my GNO group again so I was pretty happy to get to dinner!

The dinner was held at a Mexican restaurant that I like, but my stomach was not having the best day. I had taken some of my anti-nausea meds before going, but I couldn’t seem to want to eat anything other than the chips. I was excited to get some of the Taco Tuesday specials that they had, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be that day for me and I just had water and chips.

When I got there, my friend Danette was already there. Danette is also a big fan of musicals and has season tickets for the Pantages this season too. She goes on a different night than I do, but we had a lot to talk about with the shows this season. She and I are pretty much on the same page with which shows we have liked and not liked and we are both pretty excited to see “Hamilton” soon! Danette has actually seen it in NYC already but knowing how excited she is to see it again makes me even more hyped up to see it!

Brandi got there shortly after I arrived and it was so great to get to see her! She looked so happy and I know that this fellowship is exactly the right thing for her right now. She didn’t start out as a writer, but it’s pretty clear to me that she is thriving as a writer and she truly shines when she is able to write. It makes me so happy for her that she is doing something that she loves and is getting so much positive recognition for it.

She was telling us a bit about the fellowship and the work that she’s been doing since it started this week. She’s gotten to meet some amazing people in the industry and it’s really a program to prepare those in it to be in a writers room on a tv show soon. She mentioned how the people who were in the program the first time they did it are all on staff on a show and I hope that she is on staff soon too! Mainly so she has an awesome job, but also so she moves back to LA because being at dinner made me realize how much I missed getting to see her in LA!

There were other women who were a part of the GNO group at dinner too and it was nice to catch up with everyone who was there. Everyone was enjoying the food there and I felt a bit bad that I wasn’t joining in with eating. But I guess if I’m trying to save money it’s best that I didn’t eat. But it was tempting to just get something to try to see if my stomach could handle it. I’m glad I didn’t because it would have been horrible to get sick there.

I was able to stay about 2 hours and then had to head back home to get some more work done. I wish I could have stayed longer to hang out with Brandi and everyone else some more, but I know that Brandi had a lot of people she wanted to catch up with and I didn’t want to take up too much of her time. It was so great to get to see her even if it was only for a few hours. And I have a feeling that she’ll be back in LA pretty soon to interview for writing jobs and then hopefully moving back because she has a writing job!

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Magic Castle Fun (or Girls Night Out)

I’ve been fortunate to be able to go to Magic Castle twice in the past. It’s a really fun place to go to and since you need to be invited it’s not something that everyone gets to do. I don’t know members, so it’s not something that I can be invited to that often. But through a friend of a friend, I was able to get an invite to Magic Castle and I organized another girls night out there!

I had a great group of friends with me when we went this past week. In that group, I had my friend Shey (my Evil Twin), my workout buddy Dani, and my friend Camber who I met through my WIF mentoring group. Shey also invited her roommate and one of her roller derby friends to round out the group. I think it was a really great group and we were all so excited to be at Magic Castle.

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The rules are that you cannot take photos beyond the lobby, but the entire place was decorated for Halloween and I totally loved that! The only photo of the decorations I could get was in the lobby, but you can see the fun stuff that they put out to celebrate.

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We arrived at Magic Castle a bit before our dinner reservations, but they opened the dining area a bit earlier than expected so we were able to get in for dinner pretty quickly. And it turns out that our server was a friend of Shey, so that was fun! The dinner that they serve is pretty delicious and I was excited to have a nice splurge meal. I didn’t drink any alcohol (I wanted to save the money and calories for food), but I didn’t miss drinking at all. For my dinner, I had a steak (and it was cooked perfectly!) and I got some banana pie for dessert. It was a bit more food than I’m used to, but it was really good and I was glad that I didn’t try to restrict my food too much!

All of us had a great dinner and we enjoyed discussing tons of random stuff over dinner. Considering that most of the people in the group didn’t know each other before that night, it was awesome to see everyone get along so well. You never know when you create group outings like this if things will go well, so I’m so grateful that it turned out perfectly!

After dinner, it was time to see the main stage show (we get tickets to guarantee seats with our dinner). We got there a bit close to showtime, but we found 3 seats in one row and 3 seats right behind it toward the front of the room. We were off to the side, but we had a great view and the tricks that the magicians did were pretty incredible! I knew how a few of them were done because of a show I’ve seen on how to do magic, but there were so many tricks that I couldn’t figure out how they were done!

After the main stage show, our next stop was the close up magic room. We ended up being in the front row for the show so we were super close to everything happening. Usually the close up room is my favorite, but the magician that we watched seemed to be a bit nervous and their hands were shaking really hard. It started to make me nervous, but he was still able to do some great tricks and everything was impressive.

Our next stop was to try to see the last stage show at Magic Castle, but we missed the show we were hoping to see. We figured we’d wait an hour to see the next showtime and were trying to figure out what to do. All of a sudden, a man at the bar asked us what we were doing and we said we didn’t know. He responded that we were his audience for the show he was about to do. There was a card table near the bar where we all sat down and he did a bunch of different tricks.

He was so impressive! The fact that he didn’t have time to prepare since he just found us while he was eating at the bar was amazing. And the tricks blew all of our minds! We kept trying to figure out what was happening or how he could do it, but none of us could figure out anything! I’m so glad he was willing to put on a show for us because it ended up being the best show of the night!

We made it to the last stage show after our private show, and that was really fun too. There were some great rope magic tricks as well as some disappearing money ones. And the magician was very animated and kept everyone’s attention even though it was close to midnight on a weekday when we were at the show.

By then, we were all pretty tired (we had been there for over 6 hours) and most of us had to work the next morning. So it was time to say goodnight and for all of us to head home.

This was just a really great night out with my friends and I’m so lucky that I was able to get to Magic Castle again. I’m hoping that I might be able to get another pass at some point next year because there were a lot of friends who wanted to come but couldn’t due to scheduling. I’d love to have a chance to share this amazing place with more people soon!

A Goodbye Dinner (or My Friend Is Becoming A Georgia Peach)

While I love celebrating all of my friends‘ accomplishments, sometimes those accomplishments are a bit sad too. My friend Brandi announced recently that she and her family are moving to Atlanta and she had her goodbye dinner the other day. I’m happy for the new adventure that she’s going on, but I’m sad that a friend is moving away.

Brandi and I have been friends for a while. I actually can’t remember exactly how we met. I think it might have been through The Actors’ Network but we’ve known each other so long that I can’t be sure. Ever since we met, she’s been an amazing friend to me. She’s the one who started our Girls Night Out group and because of that I met so many of my other friends. She’s helped out with the Inside Acting 200th episode celebration by making custom cookies for us, and then she inspired so many of us with her amazing story when she was interviewed on the podcast. She has accomplished so many things in her career and I only hope that I can have similar successes to her some day.

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Brandi’s move is going to be a really good thing for her. She’s got family near there and there are so many opportunities for actors there. I’ve already told her that I’m expecting that it’s just a matter of time now before she is cast on “The Walking Dead”. While I wish that she was staying in LA, I know that her move to Atlanta is the best thing for her and her family. Plus, I know she’ll be making trips to LA every so often (and this gives me an excuse to go to Atlanta for the first time)!

Brandi’s dinner was technically also a Girls Night Out gathering, but since Brandi wanted to invite some of her guy friends too we made it co-ed. It was the same night as the rock opera screening, so I was a bit late arriving to the dinner but that was ok. As soon as the screening was done, I got into my car and drove over. I was only about an hour late, but because there was horrible traffic everyone was late too.

The dinner was held at Kitchen 24. Originally I was totally going to stay there for dinner and hang out with Brandi and everyone else as much as possible. But because I got there late and was exhausted that evening, I was only able to be there for about an hour an a half. All the food there looked amazing, but it was a bit late for me to eat and I knew that I needed to be out of there by a certain time. I wish I could have ordered something because when everyone else started to get food, it smelled so yummy. So I guess I’ll have to go out there another time to try it out.

Since I wasn’t eating while I was there, I spent my time chatting with my friends. Some of them I haven’t seen in a long time, but since we are friends on Facebook it always seems like I know what they’ve been up to. It actually shocked some of us when we realized it had been over a year since we had seen each other! So even though we were virtually caught up, it was nice to catch up for real. And we all started planning our next Girls Night Out since it has been almost 2 years since our last real one. So we are working on scheduling the next one (and making sure that we FaceTime Brandi in so she can be a part of it) and hopefully we get a good turnout for it.

Before I knew it, I had to head back home. I’ll see Brandi one more time for sure before she moves because I am giving her some of my old suitcases to use for moving. So it wasn’t a big goodbye when I said goodbye, but it was still sad. I know with Facebook, twitter, Instagram, and other technologies that it won’t be that hard to stay in touch when she moves; but it won’t be the same. And I think having to say goodbye was also a lesson to the rest of us that we have been slacking on seeing each other in person and we need to remedy that now.

But for now, it’s bon voyage to Brandi and the amazing adventure she’s going on. I have no doubts that this move is going to benefit her career so much and before we know it she’ll be back in LA again accepting an amazing award or something!

A Bonus Musical (or Having Two Sets Of Seats For Matilda)

I’ve really been enjoying my season tickets to the Pantages. I’ve still got one more show to go there, but since I didn’t renew my tickets I know that I won’t be seeing as many musicals as I have in the past year. I’m hoping that even without season tickets, I’ll still get tickets to one or two shows in the next season.

And I’m also trying to get to more theaters than just the Pantages. So when I saw that Matilda the Musical was going to be at the Ahmanson in downtown LA, I knew I wanted to see it again. I loved seeing it in New York last year and I was curious to see how the touring show would differ from the Broadway show.

The run of Matilda is coming up to a close so I was worried that I wouldn’t get a chance to see it again (I’m not bold enough yet to go to a musical alone but I’m working on it). I got an email that they were doing a promo for 4 balcony seats for $99. So I posted it on Facebook and my friend Erin said that she’d love to come with me!

Erin thought her daughter would love the show and then also invited one of her daughter’s friends, so that was a group of 4. I bought the tickets online and managed to find some pretty centered seats in the middle of the balcony.

We went to the show this past Tuesday (while I was working on getting over my cold). Sadly, Erin’s daughter’s friend ended up having a fever and couldn’t come to the show. We couldn’t find someone to come with us at the last-minute, so we were just a group of 3.

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Our seats were pretty much at the top of the theater (there’s the orchestra level, then the mezzanine, then the balcony). But since the seats were similar to stadium seating, we had a pretty great view of the stage.

Matilda Seats

The show was just as great as I remembered it from New York! And it was so impressive how much they were able to do unchanged from the Broadway show. I really thought more of the sets would be changed (and the sets were one of my favorite things in the show), but it was pretty close to what they did in New York.

While the show was great, some of the audience was pretty horrendous. There were 3 people in front of us who spent a good majority of the first half of the show on their phones. Erin had asked one of them if they could put their phone away, but he ignored her. I don’t know if they were in a group together or not, but they all were doing the same thing. They were constantly texting, checking Facebook, or commenting on Instagram. One person was also taking photos, but that was actually less annoying because the screen wasn’t as bright.

At intermission, Erin asked again if they could please not use their phones during the show. One of them said that it was business and he had to take care of it. That’s just ridiculous to me! If you can’t go an hour without checking your phone, maybe you shouldn’t go to a show. Or if you do, sit in the back corner so you can turn away from everyone. Or maybe watch from the lobby.

Erin decided enough was enough and went to go find an usher. Then she came back to get me and her daughter and said that the usher was moving us to new seats. Sadly, their policy isn’t to talk to the people breaking the theater rules because of fear of confrontation. But at least we were getting out of that situation so we could enjoy the second half of the show.

Funny enough, a few days after this happened to us, there was an article about Patti LuPone taking away an audience member’s phone because they were texting during a show. I wish she was in the audience with us!

The usher moved us to the last row of the mezzanine. So we were a bit farther back, but not nearly as high up.

Second Matilda Seats

The second half was much better since we didn’t have the glaring cell phone screens right in front of us. The only issue was since the show was so late, Erin’s daughter was getting pretty sleepy at the end (it was way past her bedtime).

Erin and her daughter loved the show and we had a great girls night out! I’m hoping that we can go to another show together soon, but maybe we’ll make it a weekend matinĂ©e.

A Birthday Brunch (or Celebrating With Some Fabulous Ladies)

Recently it was my friend Brandi’s birthday. Right before her birthday she sent me an invite to her birthday party which was a brunch at 26 Beach.

I love when my friends have casual birthday get together like this. There are always a lot of people who can attend and it’s a relaxing time. I was so excited to hang out with everyone.

While 26 Beach might be famous for their French Toast, I’m trying to be good even on splurge days. So while a lot of the girls ordered some delicious sounding French Toasts plates (some of which came with ice cream), I tried to have a healthier splurge.

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I got eggs, bacon, and breakfast potatoes. It was super yummy and not too horrible of a splurge.

Most of the afternoon was spent just catching up with these ladies. Everyone has been up to some fabulous things and I loved hearing about them! Brandi, along with some other friends, won a film festival recently for her short film “Muted” and will have her film airing on HBO soon! It was awesome to hear about the adventure that winning that festival has taken them on.

This gathering made me miss doing more stuff with our Girls Night Out group (many of those girls were at the brunch). We are going to try to make an effort to have an outing every few months so we can make sure that we don’t go 6 or 7 months without being together as a group.

And of course, since this was a celebration of Brandi’s birthday, there was an ice cream cone with a candle in it and everyone in the room sang Happy Birthday to her.

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After that, I had to head out. I had a lot to get done that afternoon/evening and I needed to start my preparation. But before I left, we got a group picture (or an almost all group picture since some girls had to leave before we could take it).

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I love getting to spend time with these ladies. They are going to be the leaders in the entertainment industry soon, I just know it. Everyone is so motivated and talented and they inspire me to do more and push myself so I can feel like I’m catching up to all of them.

I’m just so lucky that I get to call them my friends.

FOX Girls’ Night Out (or Getting To Meet Women I Admire)

This past Monday I was invited to go to the FOX Girls’ Night Out event that was being held at the Television Academy. I of course said yes!

Things were a little tough driving over to North Hollywood (there was a shooter incident very close to the Academy and there were street closures I wasn’t expecting). The event started at 7:30 and had advised everyone to be at least 30 minutes early, but I didn’t even park my car until about 7:20.

Luckily for me, I went to the event by myself and managed to find a single seat free pretty close to the front. Thank goodness for people wanting to have a one-seat buffer around them!

I’ve been to the Television Academy before many years ago. I actually went to a screening and Q&A for “Brokeback Mountain” there before that movie was released. But I’m still in awe over how cool the theater is (and how awesome the giant Emmy statues are).

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The event was pretty amazing with some of the most incredible women in television on the stage.

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On the stage is Jane Lynch (from “Glee”), Chelsea Peretti (from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”), Mindy Kaling (creator, writer, and star of “The Mindy Project”), Liz Meriweither (executive producer of “New Girl”), Heather Kadin (executive producer of “Sleepy Hollow”), Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa on “The Simpsons”), and Alex Borstein (voice of Lois on “Family Guy”).

I mean, seriously, this is a dream team of women!

The Q&A covered some background on everyone’s stories as well as advice that they wanted to share with all of us. That lasted maybe an hour and then the Q&A was over and there was a reception with appetizers and champagne in the lobby.

But I noticed that some of the women were standing at the stage saying hello to people, so I headed up there to try to thank some of the panelists for coming and sharing their wisdom.

I had a brief second to talk to Jane Lynch. She shook my hand and asked my name and I told her how I admire her and her career so much. I didn’t get to take a picture with her, but that’s ok.

Next, I went over to Yeardley Smith. I have loved “The Simpsons” for forever and wanted to thank her for coming as well. I did get a chance for a picture with her.

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After that, we were all told that we had to head out to the reception. But once I got out there, I noticed that Mindy Kaling was still saying hello to people and taking pictures. So I lined up like a crazy fan (which I am, I just try to play it cool more often). The picture is a little blurry, but I’m so glad I got it.

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Again, I got to thank her for coming to the event and tell her that I think she is an amazing role model for other women trying to make it in the entertainment industry.

After my pictures, I was walking around to see if there was anyone I knew hanging out in the lobby, and my friend Porter Kelly called my name. I hadn’t seen Porter in a while and it was awesome to get to catch up with her! I loved taking her commercial class a while back (which if any of you actors want to take, Porter said that any of my blog readers can get a discount!).

Before I knew it, it was getting late and I wanted to head home so I could get a decent night sleep before working the next morning. On our way out, we noticed that the step and repeat was still up so Porter and I got a quick picture in front of it.

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On the other side of the red carpet, they had the signs for all the various entertainment shows to know where their reporters could stand to do interviews. They don’t give each show a lot of space.

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I had such an amazing evening that night and felt more invigorated than ever that I’m on the right career path and that one day it will be my turn. Hopefully that day comes soon, but I’m willing to wait it out.

Margaritas and Mexican Food (or Girls Night Out!)

My Girls Night Out group hasn’t had a get together for a long time (pretty much since the Magic Castle). Life kind of took over and we just couldn’t seem to organize another gathering.

About a month ago, we agreed that we would meet up for dinner on Cinco De Mayo. I wasn’t in charge of planning this gathering, but I was super excited to see that El Cholo was the restaurant that was chosen! I usually go to the one in Santa Monica, but this one was in Koreatown. It was still pretty easy to get to, and I lucked out finding some free street parking a block away (valet is not in my budget right now).

I had seen many of the girls from the group more recently than the Magic Castle outing, but we all hadn’t been together for almost 2 years! So of course, as soon as we sat down, we had to get a group picture!

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Of course, we all had to get drinks as well. I got the Borderline, which is a half regular blended and half strawberry blended margarita.

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And for my meal I got a combo plate that had an enchilada and a pork tamal on it.

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The food and drink were great, but the best part of the evening was the company. I’m so lucky to be in such a great Girls Night Out group. Even though it had been a while since we were all together, once we were sitting down, it was like no time had passed.

We updated each other on our lives, shared crazy stories (I’m such the loud laughing from our table annoyed the tables around us), and just had fun being together as a group.

I’ve agreed that I would help to plan our next outing, which will be going to the Hollywood Bowl. Some of the girls in the group have never been to the Bowl, so I think that it will be a perfect Girls Night Out event. We just have to figure out what show and when.

Even though the specifics of our next gathering aren’t figured out yet, we did promise that we would make Girls Night Out happen way more often. And I’m super excited for that!

Girls Night Out (or How to Find a Cute Dress When You Are Bigger Than a Size 18)

Last night, my Girls Night Out group got together for an evening at The Magic Castle! It was awesome! I had been there one time before, but that was with my parents, so this was a whole different type of evening!

Two of the girls in my group were chosen to be volunteers in the main stage show, so that was awesome. And we met some pretty cute guys there too!

One of the rules of The Magic Castle is the dress code. Guys have to be in a coat and tie (which might make them look cuter!), and ladies have to be in dresses.

I love a good excuse to dress up. In LA, an evening out normally means jeans and heels (or Uggs if it’s under 60 degrees out). But this was a formal evening!

In general, there are not too many places that I can find clothes at my current size. It seems most stores either have old lady clothes or slut wear. I have found one amazing store for dresses (Kiyonna), but unless I have the time to drive down to Anaheim to try on the dresses, I have to order them online, which I hate.

But somehow, I found a super cute dress for last night at Torrid, and of course I got a new purse to go with it. But to find that super cute dress, I tried to find a dress at at least 6 other stores first with no luck in my size.

I know it’s a struggle to find things to wear right now, and hopefully I’ll be able to change that soon. But I think every girl can agree that when you find a dress that you love, you feel beautiful no matter what size the label says.

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Why a Bombshell? (or Yay, I’m Still Blogging)

Why do I want to be a bombshell? Well, the idea started from watching “Smash” and Megan Hilty. Megan Hilty has the bombshell body that the characters want to play Marilyn Monroe.

So I started thinking, what bombshell body do I want to have? Then it hit me, I don’t need to have a bombshell body, I need to have the confidence of someone with a bombshell body. And that’s how I came up with the idea of becoming a bombshell.

One of the things I need to have this confidence is better health. I know that I’m not healthy at my current weight and I wish I could do more things than I can. Some of my limitations are due to my bad hips (that’s a story for another blog post), but I know that I can do more if I get healthier. So that’s what I’m focusing on for now.

My goal this week, is to eat only what I’ve prepared at home or at a nice restaurant (my Girls Night Out group is going to Magic Castle this week so I have to allow for that restaurant). Every day, I’ve been eating breakfast and packing my lunch to take to work. When you only get 30 minutes for lunch, it’s so much nicer when you don’t have to go out and get your food somewhere.

That’s it for today! I’m off to make my lunch for work.