Tag Archives: happy hour

Another OTF Hangout (or Having Fun Being Social In Normal Clothes)

Posted on September 4, 2019 | Comments Off

I feel like since the Culver City Orangetheory location opened, I’ve really been taking advantage of the different social events and hangouts. While the Brentwood location was not far from my house, I didn’t want to drive back over there after I went home after a workout. And if the hangout was a day I wasn’t over on that side of LA already, I usually didn’t feel motivated to go over there. But now that most of the Culver City hangouts are within minutes of my house, I try to make it to them as long as they fit into my schedule.

There have been a few different events like hikes that take place on Saturdays when I am working, so I can’t go to those. But there have also been beach days and happy hours that either are after I’m done with work or a long enough event that I can go after work. I have never been a part of a workout community like I am a part of at OTF. I have made some great friends in class since I take the same classes each week, but also just having the general community around the workouts has been special. It’s always fun getting to hang out with workout people outside of workouts. I especially get a kick out of it because people seem to always be surprised that I have long hair. I guess I hide that well by putting my hair up for the workouts.

This past Saturday was another Culver City OTF hangout. This was at Kay’n’Daves which is pretty close to my house. Even though it’s near my house, I haven’t eaten there at that location before. They had a location near an old job of mine over 10 years ago and I remember having it once then. But it still felt like a new place for me. We had the back patio reserved for us, which was nice because we knew everyone back there was a part of OTF and we didn’t have to wonder if we were bothering someone who was just at the restaurant on their own.

I got there before the event was supposed to start because my friend Andie was there early because she had to leave for work soon after it started. But that worked for me because we were able to sit at a table right in the center of the patio and enjoy people watching while others arrived. And some of the staff arrived right after we sat down so it didn’t feel like we were there before things started.

Kay’n’Daves was pretty awesome and allowed us to order from their happy hour menu while we were there. I didn’t order anything (I wasn’t that hungry and I didn’t want to spend money if I didn’t have to), so I just had water and chips. But everything that everyone else ordered looked so good and it was tempting. But I’ll just have to go back another time to try things.

The patio quickly filled up with OTF people. There were some that I recognized from class, but I also don’t know that many people who are in different class times. If they are in much earlier classes I take or the afternoon and evening classes, I don’t see them. But that’s one of the benefits of going to these hangouts. I get to know people who are a part of the community even if I don’t see them in class. And it’s nice to have that because there are random times I have to take a class that is a different time than I’m used to. And hopefully, I’ll know at least one person in class that I met at a happy hour event.

It was also fun getting to hang out with one of my coaches there. Even though our coaches get to know us well since they see us every week, it’s different when you get to spend real time chatting and getting to know them. Again, anything that builds up the community feels like a real benefit to me.

I stayed at the happy hour later than I was planning on staying. I had some work things I still had to finish doing so I knew I couldn’t stay forever. But I was there for about 3 hours which allowed me to relax and spend lots of time getting to talk to the people who were there. I got to know the people I know from class better and I met so many new people. It really was the perfect event and I felt even more connected to OTF when I left.

I know there will be more social events coming up and this gives me more motivation to keep trying to make it to as many as I can.

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged fitness, friends, hangout, happy hour, Orangetheory

Saying Goodbye To A Workout Buddy (or Hanging Out In Normal Clothes)

Posted on March 14, 2019 | Comments Off

I’ve been very lucky with finding amazing people in my Orangetheory classes. In every class time that I take regularly, I’ve found a group of people who have become friends. Sometimes we only see each other in class, but we still are more involved in each other’s lives than just seeing each other for that hour of the workout. I find these workout friends one of the reasons why I’m always so motivated to go to class. I don’t want to miss my time with the people I only see once or twice a week. And when someone isn’t in class, it does feel like something is missing.

Finding friends in my workout classes isn’t something that happens right away, but it naturally happens over time. But I feel like my bond with my friends in my Wednesday and Friday Culver City classes happened faster than most. There was something about us that just clicked and we’ve been a pretty strong group for a while. We have a texting group that we use for workout related texts, but we also text each other random stuff throughout the week. It’s been amazing having them in my workouts and we were so sad when one member of the group announced she was moving to NYC.

Of course, we are excited for her because it’s an amazing career opportunity, but we will totally miss having her in class. So we had to have a goodbye outing because it was feeling like the end of an era. Since we all live right by downtown Culver City, it was easy for us to pick a place there. And we let the guest of honor pick where to go and she wanted to go to Public School 310. We were there during happy hour so we got a couple of different things to share among us.

We were having a great time just hanging out and eating delicious food. It was also the first time we were hanging out without having a workout so we were seeing each other in non-workout clothes for the first time. It was a nice change from our usual hangouts and it was fun just enjoying time together.

We were giving the friend moving away a bit of a hard time and joking how she shouldn’t be moving, but we all know it’s a good thing. And she’ll be back from time to time so we know we will see her again soon (she mentioned that she should be back in the next month or so for a weekend and we will all hopefully work out together then).

And of course, we had to get a group photo together. We asked the waitress to take one, and we did get a few normal ones. But this one happened after one person knocked into our dishes and I think it is much better (even if I look like a bit of a goober).

Our dinner lasted a few hours and then we all had to go our own ways. But it was a nice hangout for us and a nice way to celebrate the amazing friendship that we have been able to form just from being in a workout class together. Hopefully we can have another epic hangout the next time the 4 of us are in the same place.

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Posted in Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged friends, happy hour, Orangetheory

A Quick Happy Hour (or Making Myself Be Social)

Posted on April 26, 2018 | Comments Off

I know there are times that I write about how I wish I had more fun stuff in my life or how I need to work on doing more when I’m not working. And I’ve gotten pretty good at scheduling stuff and finding things that I like to go to do. But then there are times where I just want to sit on my couch and watch tv. But I know if I just do that, I’ll feel like I’m missing out on something and I’ll regret it later.

This week I RSVPed to go to a happy hour that was hosted by the NextGen Performers committee of SAG-AFTRA. These happy hours are really just a good excuse to get together with awesome, like-minded people and to have fun. There is no agenda for the event, nothing is really scheduled, and everyone is usually in a great mood because there is free food (the key to making lots of actors happy). And I was excited to go because I knew I’d have some friends there and since it can be tough to find time to see them, these events are sometimes they only time we get together.

When I RSVPed for it, I assumed I’d be looking forward to the event. And I was until the day of. It had nothing to do with the event, I just was not feeling up for going out. I was dealing with nausea, I was tired, and I just didn’t feel like getting myself together and being social. But I thought about it and realized that I would regret it if I didn’t go. So I took my time getting dressed and ready and headed over to happy hour.

It helped that it was held at Rush St. which is super close to my house. I would have walked, but I don’t like to walk home in the dark alone so I drove there. But it still was very nice to have it be minutes away so I didn’t really have any excuse not to go and make an appearance. And I was hoping that once I got there, my mood would improve and I would feel better and I would spend a good amount of time there.

Unfortunately for me, my nausea wasn’t going away while I was there. I didn’t have any food because I didn’t know how my body would react to it, but things just weren’t getting better for me. I tried to focus on talking to a few of my friends who were at the event which was fun. We all always have lots of random updates on our lives to share. And many of the people at the happy hour were attending their very first union event so it was fun to talk to them about what other opportunities are out there for them to participate in. I always want to help union members (whether they are new or not) to get more involved if they want to do so. There are a lot of opportunities for members even if they don’t want to be involved in the politics of the union. And some people do want to get involved in the politics and I’m glad I can share my experiences with them so they know what to expect and what they need to do to run for an office.

Even though I was having fun talking with people, while I was there I just kept thinking how I really didn’t feel up for being social. It had nothing to do with the people I was talking to. I think almost anyone can relate to just wanting to be home and by yourself when you don’t feel good. I can’t let this be an excuse for me since I seem to feel nauseous 2 weeks out of each month, but I also don’t want to push my body too hard and then make things worse for me. So after being at happy hour for about an hour, I made my rounds of saying goodbye to my friends and headed back to my car to go home.

I wish I had been able to stay longer because I was having a good time there, but it just wasn’t meant to be. And I was also a bit worried that some of the new people I was meeting might think I was being annoyed by talking to them or something because I know I was a bit distracted. Again, it had nothing to do with who I was talking to. My body was just distracting me. But I think making myself go out to happy hour was the right choice because I did get to have some fun and I never have regrets about going out and having fun.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, friends, happy hour, union

Another Friend Happy Hour (or We Both Know We Need To Do This More Often)

Posted on March 9, 2018 | Comments Off

I’ve definitely been focusing on trying to have more time with my friends lately. I’m aware how crazy all of our schedules are and when we can figure out a time to meet I make it a priority. My friend Rayshell and I had made a few attempts to have a happy hour dinner, and things just kept happening to make us reschedule our plans. I was probably more at fault because of schedule changes and then being out-of-town. But we both understand that neither of us are rescheduling because we want to. Life just gets in the way. But fortunately, we were able to figure out a time to meet up this week.

I originally offered to drive to the valley because we try to alternate which side of town we meet on. But Rayshell offered to stay on my side of town after work and we went to Westside Tavern. We both were having a craving for the food there so that was fine with me! I had some time after work before meeting her there, but I underestimated how crazy traffic would be in my neighborhood and ended up meeting Rayshell a bit late.

Since I had been craving Westside Tavern I had been checking out the menu and picked out a few things that sounded good to me. And Rayshell had looked at the menu before I got there and picked out some things too. Somehow, we both picked the same things! We ended up splitting the burrata to start, I had a chicken sandwich (Rayshell got a burger which was something else I was thinking about getting), and even though we were a bit full we split apple bread pudding for dessert.

It was a lot of food, but it was so delicious! But as with all our hangouts, even though the food was awesome the company was even better! Both of us have had a lot of things and a lot of nothing happening in our lives. It’s weird, but it made a funny hangout with us each remembering random things to update each other on.

Rayshell is one of my friends who loves to hear all the craziness going on with online dating. She asked me about a story that I posted on social media about a guy who basically stood me up. He never showed up where we were supposed to meet and when I texted him he told me he was home which was just around the corner from the coffee shop we were supposed to meet at. I told him no and left because I knew something was fishy about the situation. Rayshell and I were joking about how he probably was some sort of weirdo and would wear my skin or something. I know it’s not good to joke about things like that, but I’m pretty careful with my safety so I know I wouldn’t be put in an unsafe situation.

I also have gone out with a few new guys lately and have had some good and some bad stories about them. A lot of it is about self-discovery and me allowing myself to express my opinion and not feel the need to conform to what someone else wants me to be. It’s a weird thing, but I think all of my friends get a kick out of hearing about the random guys I’ve met and the weird profiles I’ve found online.

Rayshell was telling me about the series that she produced that is currently in post-production. I can relate to wanting something to be done in post-production quickly when you don’t have control over it. I just hope that her project is completed soon because I really want to watch it! And Rayshell is also now a regular OTF person (but she works out at the studio by her), so we were talking a lot about our workouts and what we’ve been enjoying about them.

We were at dinner for a good chunk of time before we decided we should head out so she could get back to her side of town. It was just so nice to have a couple of hours to hang out with a friend one on one and be able to focus on them. We both agreed that we will do another happy hour dinner soon, but we also both know that even with the best intentions that doesn’t always happen. But at least we both put in an effort to make it happen and when it does we always have an amazing time!

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged dinner, friends, hangout, happy hour

Not Quite Happy Hour (or Making Time For My Friends)

Posted on September 26, 2017 | Comments Off

I’ve been busy lately and I know I’ve been neglecting my friendships. While I’ve seen friends at various events a lot lately, those aren’t always conducive to catching up. And even at my birthday party I wasn’t able to catch up properly with most people because I was trying to talk with everyone there.

My friend Rayshell and I have been pretty good about doing happy hour hangouts, but lately we’ve both been bad at trying to schedule them. It had been a while since our last one and we tried several times to schedule one. But finally we both decided we needed to catch up and we figured out when it was a good time for both of us and put it on our calendars. I usually don’t go out after an afternoon workout, but I realized that I need to start doing that in order to make more time for my friends. So after my workout on Wednesday, I went home and showered and got into my car to drive to the valley to meet Rayshell for dinner.

It wasn’t during happy hour since we couldn’t figure out when we could both meet for happy hour, but that’s ok. We met up at MidiCi which is a pizza place that Rayshell had been wanting to try. She said that it was normally crowded when she thought of going, but since we were doing dinner a bit later she thought maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. She got there before I did and got us a table. It wasn’t too crowded, but because you have to go up and order at the counter we wanted to make sure we had a table before ordering.

I had checked out the menu before we met up and everything looked pretty good. And fortunately Rayshell and I like a lot of the same things so it was pretty easy to pick some food for us to share. We ended up ordering some burrata, meatballs, and a truffle pizza to split.

The food all arrived at about the same time which was tough because we had a small table, but we managed. And everything was delicious and I want to go back to try some more of the awesome things they had on their menu.

But obviously, getting good food isn’t the main reason I go out with my friends. It’s a great way to catch up one on one with someone and I know that Rayshell and I were both missing that. We see what each other posts on social media and we text, but it’s never the same as hanging out in person and having a real conversation.

And since it had been about 6 months since our last proper catch up, we both had a lot to share! Rayshell has been working on a lot of different acting projects lately. She’s got a web series that should be coming out in the near future that she’s been working really hard on. I can’t wait to see it because a couple of friends of mine are a part of it and I love having the chance to support their work.

And all of my random online dating adventures happened after the last time Rayshell and I had a hangout so she wanted to know all about that. I wish I had more positive stories to tell her, but at least she found my weird and negative stories funny. I still find it so funny that my friends are getting a kick out of all the craziness I’ve been encountering, but that does help me keep a positive mindset. If I didn’t have a reason to look forward to bad dates, I think I’d be too worried that I was going to have a bad date before even meeting a guy.

We also had general catch up stuff to talk about too. Both of us have been busy with work, acting, and life and it’s always good to talk about that stuff too. And since it had been forever since we had a happy hour hangout, we talked about how we both felt bad that it had been so long since we were able to talk! We know that we are both equally guilty for having busy schedules so we understand how we could have let so many months go by without figuring out when we could go to dinner.

Both of us had busy days the next day and I still had to drive home, so we didn’t stay at dinner too late. But just getting to hang out with Rayshell for an hour or two was awesome. She is such a great friend to me and I want to make my friendships more of a priority. It’s not easy to do that and I’m lucky that my friends understand that it’s not that I don’t want to hang out but I don’t have the time to hang out. But I want to stop using that as an excuse as often as I have and work on building up my friendships with my friends some more.

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged dinner, friends, hangout, happy hour

Overdue Happy Hour (or Trying A Neighborhood Restaurant)

Posted on March 21, 2017 | Comments Off

I remember when I was little and hearing how adults felt like time went by so fast. I never understood it then since it seemed like each day would take forever (especially when it was a standardized testing day at school). But now it totally makes sense to me. Sometimes it feels like something wasn’t that long ago when it really was a few months ago. That’s what happened with my hangouts with my friend Rayshell.

We have been making an effort for a while to try to get together for happy hour every month every other month. We both have busy lives that seem to be on opposite schedules, so if we don’t make an effort to hang out a lot of time can slip by. Rayshell was recently on a trip and I had told her than when she got back we had to do a happy hour. But I didn’t realize then that the last time I had seen Rayshell was back in November! So much has changed in both of our lives since then so we quickly got to scheduling a time to meet for dinner.

We try to alternate if we meet on her side of town or my side of town, and Rayshell decided that it was her turn to come to my neighborhood (plus, her job is kind of toward where I live). I was trying to figure out a good place for us to meet that had a fun happy hour menu and I thought of Public School 310. I’ve been to Public School before, but only to the location in the valley. It’s weird that I hadn’t been to the one near me before since it’s walking distance from my house. But somehow it just never happened. So this happy hour seemed like the perfect time to check it out!

Rayshell and I love a good happy hour menu, and this one seemed pretty amazing to us! The drinks were super cheap, but since I can’t drink right now I had to skip that. But Rayshell got a $5 beer that was huge! And we decided to each get one of the little plates and then split something too. I got the meatballs and we split the hummus.

The food was really good and it was all a great deal! Between the beer and the 3 plates, our dinner was under $25! That’s really cheap, even for happy hour! And with this being so close to my house I feel silly that I hadn’t been there before. It’s totally going on my list of great places in my neighborhood.

Besides having great food, it was great conversation. Like I said, it had been a while since I had seen Rayshell. We see each other’s posts on Facebook and text from time to time, so we were a bit caught up on each other’s lives. But it’s very different to catch up in person than it is online. And as we caught up, we both realized how much stuff had happened since we saw each other back in November!

Rayshell was telling me all about her trip, but she has also been working out at Orangetheory! She doesn’t work out at the same location as me since there is a location walking distance from her house (I’m jealous since I have to drive almost an hour home in rush hour traffic from the studio I go to). But she’s been going twice a week for a while so we wanted to talk workout stuff. I love that I have so many friends who work out so we can all talk about our workout wins and totally understand what the other person is talking about.

And even though Rayshell knows about my surgery next month, she wanted to hear about what was happening and what the plan is. I’m sure that hearing that I have a big tumor that will be taken out can be overwhelming for my friends. I don’t feel too worried about it because I’m not in pain and I feel very confident in my surgeon. But since nobody else knows that I’m not in pain and nobody else has met my surgeon, I can see why other people are worried about me. But I do want to make sure all of my friends know that I’m totally ok with everything that is happening so I’m more than happy to explain it all to them.

I also had to update Rayshell about getting a new car! It’s still a bit weird to me that I have a new car, but it is feeling more and more like mine and not like a rental or a temporary car. It helped a lot that I now have my personalized plates on it. I’ve had those plates on every car I’ve ever had and it makes it feel more like mine and not someone else’s. And it is really nice having a car that doesn’t have a bunch of things that I need to fix or that doesn’t want to play my podcasts from my phone. My old car was fine, but this one feels like such an upgrade. And while I wasn’t actively looking for a new car before, I know Rayshell knew all the issues I had with the old car so I think she’s pretty happy for me that I have something that works and doesn’t need thousands of dollars in repairs.

Our happy hour was pretty short because Rayshell had to deal with traffic to get home, but it was the perfect quick catchup for us. I know that she is hoping to come visit me when I’m in the hospital or when I’m recovering with my parents, so I’ll be seeing her again soon. And even though I might be in pain when we hang out then, I know that Rayshell is going to do what she can to make that still a fun hangout and feel like one of our regular happy hour adventures.

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged dinner, food, friends, hangout, happy hour

A Happy Hour Mixer (or Being A NextGen Performer)

Posted on March 10, 2017 | 2 comments

As much as I’ve wanted to get involved more with SAG-AFTRA, it seems like it just hasn’t been working out well with my schedule. I’ve wanted to attend various gatherings and meetings, but they seem to always be when I’m working. So when I do see an event that I can attend, I try to do whatever I can to make sure my schedule stays clear so I can go.

The NextGen Performers Committee is a committee within SAG-AFTRA to help unify those in the union between 18-35 and to help them get more involved. It’s a great committee and I have several friends who are a part of the leadership of that committee. They do a lot of great work especially since many younger union members don’t realize how important the union is. They haven’t known any other time and sometimes don’t realize when something is something that the union had to fight hard to get. It’s one of the committees that I’ve wanted to get involved with but hadn’t had a chance just yet.

But when they announced a mixer this past week at Rush Street, I knew I had to go! I had that evening free (except needing to pick up a friend at LAX at 11pm) and Rush Street is so close to my house that it wouldn’t take me long at all to get there. So I RSVPed and was excited about getting to spend some time with my fellow union members. I had ever intention of walking over there since it’s so close to my house, but I decided to dress up and wear heels. I don’t have to wear anything other than workout clothes normally, so I took advantage of this mixer. And since I was wearing heels, I didn’t want to walk over. So I drove over and found a free parking space!

The mixer was upstairs at Rush Street where we had a private space. I’ve been upstairs at Rush Street before for dinner, but never on the back patio where we were this time. And there was some free food (which always gets actors excited) and postcards promoting the upcoming Los Angeles meeting for SAG-AFTRA right when I walked in.

By the way, if you are a member of SAG-AFTRA and are free on Sunday, I highly recommend coming to the meeting. It should be a really educational afternoon and you will get to meet many leaders in the union. I’m excited to get to be there to see some people who I haven’t seen since either the holiday party or convention.

I wasn’t sure how many people I would know at the mixer, and there were a ton of people I didn’t know. But I did keep running into friends there including the friends who are a part of the committee. Some of them I had seen within the past month and some of them I hadn’t seen in over a year. Either way, it was awesome to get to catch up with everyone. And while everyone was busy saying hi to everyone who was there, I felt like I did get some great quality time with the people who I wanted to see while I was there.

And since this committee is focused on millennials (and those of us a bit older than that), they had a challenge for us for social media. They had different signs and if we could take a photo and post it on Instagram, we would get a free water bottle. I’m never one to turn down a free water bottle, so I took a photo with 2 friends to post online.

Since this mixer was a casual event, there was no agenda or timeline of anything. It was just a good time to get to hang out with other union members and talk shop. And that’s exactly what I got to do. It was perfect and again made me feel the pull to want to be more involved in the union. I know there isn’t a ton that I can do right now, but with elections happening this year I know that I want to do more than I have in the past.

I would have loved to have stayed at the mixer for a while (even though it was supposed to end at 9 it was still going strong at 9:30), but I did need to get home to get stuff done before my late night run to get my friend at LAX. I was trying to leave quickly, but of course it was taking forever to say goodbye to everyone that I wanted to say goodbye to. But I eventually made it out of there and was on my way back to my car.

With this mixer this week and the meeting coming up this weekend, I’m just feeling so excited about everything happening with the union. There have been some really exciting announcements lately (including the official union app and that residuals can be direct deposits now) and I can’t wait to hear what might be announced next!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, happy hour, mixer, SAG-AFTRA, union

Last Happy Hour Of 2015 (or A Speedy Catch Up)

Posted on December 23, 2015 | 2 comments

My friend Rayshell and I have been trying to do monthly happy hours, but our schedules lately have been so busy and conflicting. We wanted to make sure we got in one more happy hour before the end of the year, and we both happened to have Monday evening free! So we scheduled a happy hour hangout immediately before either of us ended up booking something else we had to do on Monday!

We met on her side of town (which sadly took me forever to drive to due to rush hour, holiday traffic, and the rain), but all that driving stress was gone when I got there. We met at El Torito Grill (we go there a lot) and while I was a little bit late, Rayshell didn’t seem to care too much since I drove to her side of town.

I had brought her holiday card with me to happy hour (it saved me a stamp) and Rayshell gave me a bottle of wine! I was totally not expecting a holiday gift, so that was a pleasant surprise!

As soon as we ordered our food, I got to hear all about the trip that Rayshell and her fiancée just went on! It sounded like she had an awesome time and it made me start thinking that I should plan another trip soon. We also discussed her wedding and the upcoming bridal shower and bachelorette party. She’s got so much about her wedding already figured out and under control, so I know that it’s going to be an amazing party! There’s only a few more months before her wedding, so I’m getting really excited for all the festivities and to be celebrating Rayshell and Paul (her fiancée).

When Rayshell asked me about what was going on in my life, I had some things I could tell her about Thanksgiving and work. But I really didn’t have a ton of fun updates to talk about. I really wished that there was more going on in my life right now, but my days are pretty full and I’m not focusing on the fun things as much. I’m working on fixing that and I’m thinking that next year will be filled with more fun adventures.

We didn’t stay at happy hour too late. It was raining and while the patio we were eating on had space heaters, it’s was pretty cold. And I had told a friend of mine that I could get them at LAX and take them home after they returned from a trip.

I’m so glad that even though Rayshell and I didn’t manage to do happy hour every month, we did do a pretty decent number of them this year. Both of us are busy with our lives and since we live on opposite sides of town (a big deal in LA), we don’t always get to see each other unless we make the effort. I know that we will continue our happy hour tradition next year as well (the next happy hour will be on my side of town) and I’m looking forward to having more exciting things than work to update Rayshell on!

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged dinner, friends, hangout, happy hour

Happy Hour Birthday Dinner (or Just Having A Nice Catch Up Chat)

Posted on July 24, 2015 | 1 comment

My friend Rayshell’s birthday just passed. Instead of doing another big birthday party, she decided that she wanted to do a couple of one-on-one dinners with her friends. Since Rayshell and I do fairly regular happy hours, we combined our happy hour gathering with a birthday dinner!

We usually alternate meeting on my side of town and Rayshell’s side of town. But since I had to be on my side of town pretty late in the afternoon, Rayshell was awesome and agreed to stay on the westside.

We met up at Bossa Nova. It’s a Brazilian place that I’ve passed a million times but have never gone to. I thought at first it was a Brazilian steakhouse, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was more sandwiches, salads, and pastas.

We started off with some yummy cheesy bread (that we ate so fast that I didn’t get a photo of it) and we each got a sandwich.

It was a nice chill hangout. Of course, we talked a lot about her wedding planning. I really loved hearing about what she’s got set for her wedding so far. I already know that it’s going to be an amazing event and I’ve been trying to plan what I want to wear even though it’s months away!

Beyond the wedding discussion, we really had what most people would consider a boring conversation. We discussed our day jobs (we both have had a slower summer at work). We talked about random acting stuff like new headshots and a film that Rayshell just booked (that wasn’t boring to hear about!). And we talked about random stuff that is happening in our lives.

While it is fun to go out and do adventures with my friends (I’m going on one with Rayshell this weekend), it’s also so nice to just have a simple dinner and chat with a friend as well. I feel like these chats are what help keep my friendships grounded and strong. We all live such crazy lives and it’s easy to either let a ton of time pass without connecting or forget that we haven’t had a catch up chat in a while.

I know that I need to make this effort with more of my friends (especially my LA based friends). There are some friends who I feel like I’ve seen lately because we are connected on social media but when I look back at my calendar I haven’t seen them in months or even close to a year! I know that this isn’t their fault or my fault, it just happens. But now that I’m aware of it I’m going to work on fixing that.

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged birthday, dinner, friends, happy hour

A Happy Hour Celebration (or Looking Forward To Another Wedding)

Posted on June 2, 2015 | 2 comments

A couple of weeks ago, I got a text message from my friend Rayshell that her boyfriend proposed! I was so excited to hear this news from her because she and her boyfriend (now fiancée) had been together for a while and I knew that they had been discussion marriage for a bit.

A little later I got a text with a picture of the ring.

It’s such a gorgeous ring and the photo doesn’t do it justice! Rayshell had shown me this ring in a photo before she got engaged and the moment I saw the picture I knew that this was the perfect ring for her. It’s really classic and unique at the same time. And I love that it’s in rose gold since most people have white gold rings nowadays. Even though I know Rayshell told Paul that this was the ring she loved, I think he did a great job following instructions and getting such a great ring (and I think he did it without any help).

So of course, Rayshell and I had to do a happy hour outing to celebrate her engagement. It took a few weeks to get together because I ordered engagement presents online and it took some time getting it to me. But we were finally able to meet up this past week.

Rayshell got to pick the happy hour place and she chose her favorite, El Torito Grill.

I got there first (I gave myself a ton of time in case there was horrible traffic) but Rayshell got there shortly after me and we got to have some really quality catch-up time.

It was so nice to be able to congratulate her on the engagement in person. And I love giving presents to my friends. I got her a wedding planning notebook and a personalized garter (I get those gifts for all my bride-to-be friends). And I think Rayshell really liked both gifts.

Our happy hour hangout was really fun. Technically, we didn’t order anything off the happy hour menu, but I always have fun with getting a dinner out.

Rayshell shared with me the details for the wedding that they have figured out already. They have a really amazing venue on the beach in Santa Barbara picked out and the wedding will be next year in the spring.

I’m super excited for this wedding. I know it will be fabulous and I’m so excited to celebrate Rayshell and Paul with all their friends and family.

I know that some single people dread weddings (I guess it reminds them that they are still single), but I’m not like that at all. I have so much fun at weddings and all the weddings I’ve been to have been so unique and perfect for the couple that is getting married. So I’m just excited to see how their wedding will reflect them as a couple.

And of course I’m already thinking about what I want to wear to the wedding and hoping I might be able to lose more weight before then. But I don’t want to set a really big weight loss goal again. I feel like when I don’t reach my goal it’s really tough on me and I don’t want to have to deal with that disappointment.

But I’m really going to work hard on my exercise and diet and see where I can be by next spring. No matter what, I’m excited to have another big event to look forward to.

2 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged engagement, happy hour, wedding

Tag Archives: happy hour

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