Tag Archives: Los Angeles

The Rest Of ENMNCon (or Learning How To Improve My Blog)

Posted on September 16, 2015 | 4 comments

While going to KOA and having an adventure day was fun, the main point of ENMNCon was to learn about blogging and how to make the best blog you can. When I won my tickets, that was the part that I was most excited about. While I have been blogging for a couple of years now, I still consider myself a newbie blogger. There are so many things that I don’t know how to do (or don’t know that I should do) and I want to learn as much as I can!

I’ve already talked about the first session that we had while we had lunch at KOA. The other session that we had on Thursday was in the evening at the PJ party we had at Dave & Busters at Hollywood and Highland. I’ve only been to a Dave & Busters once (I think) and I didn’t have time to check this one out too much, but I have it on my list of things I want to do around LA!

At the PJ party, Genevieve Goings (from Choo Choo Soul) taught us how to do a 5 minute face. I’m totally not a makeup person (I really wish I was!), but the instructions that she gave were pretty simple so I think I might be able to manage it! We also got some really great stuff from Pur Makeup!

The next day was a pretty full day of sessions. We were at the Hard Rock Cafe at CityWalk and I was there so early that CityWalk was basically empty (I’ve never seen it like that before!).

It was so nice of the Hard Rock to open up early just for our group! We had the entire upstairs to us and it was nice and quiet so we could hear all the speakers.

I learned so much that day! We heard from some people who work with affiliate marketing. I haven’t really ever done that before but I think it might be something great to add to here. I’d love to be able to share with you all products and businesses that I love and think you would all love too!

We also heard from some bloggers who have gone the next step with their blog. One woman has sold her blog (don’t worry, I don’t plan on selling Finding My Inner Bombshell any time soon!), another has created her own conference and has worked with legislatures, and the last one has written a book!

We also learned even more about travel blogging (I really need to look more into that!) and finally there was an expo where we got to meet with some vendors who want to work with us bloggers! I think I’m going to have some great things to share with you all very soon about some of these vendors!

The last day of ENMNCon was at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood and Highland (where I was for the Hard Rock 5K event last year). I didn’t get a ton of pictures because I was so busy with my note taking! There’s one speaker we had that I’m going to be sharing with you tomorrow (you don’t want to miss it because I’ve got something special for you all!), but everyone who spoke was awesome! My friends Leah and Helenna were there as part of one panel so I got a quick photo with them between sessions.

After all the sessions were done, there was a tour with Starline of filming locations. I ended up missing that part, but I heard from my fellow attendees that it was amazing!

But even though I missed the last activity of the conference, my afternoon wasn’t spent sitting around doing nothing. First, I hung out at Hard Rock Cafe with some new and not-so-new friends. We had drinks and dessert (and maybe over-ordered desserts) and discussed our blogs and things that we learned over the past few days.

I also got to hang out with my new blogging buddy Jana at the host hotel. We hung out at the pool and planned to have an epic adventure the next time she comes to LA!

Overall, I’d say that my first blogging conference experience was a huge success! I learned so much and made a ton of new friends! I don’t know how many conferences I could afford to attend (especially if they aren’t local) and right now my job isn’t the most flexible one. But hopefully I will be able to do more and more of these in the near future and continue on working on bringing you all the best Finding My Inner Bombshell that I can!

Thank you again so much to the Entertainment New Media Network (especially Erica and Margaret) for putting this all together! Thanks Ventura Ranch KOA, Dave & Busters Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe CityWalk, and Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood for hosting us! And thanks to all the sponsors who helped to make sure that we all had the most amazing time those days!

4 Comments

Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged blogging, event, Hollywood, Los Angeles

Ventura Ranch KOA (or Maybe I Am The Camping Type)

Posted on September 15, 2015 | 7 comments

A little while ago, I won tickets to the ENMN Conference through my friend Mindy who blogs at Budget Fairy Tale. I was so excited for a couple of reasons. First, I feel like I never win anything! And second, this was going to be my first ever blogger conference!

Fortunately, this conference was going to be in LA, so I didn’t have to make any travel or hotel arrangements. I knew I’d be driving a bit around town, but I’m used to that. But to have my first blogger conference to be where I live made things much less stressful for me.

The first day of the conference was actually going to be off-site. We were going to take a bus about 90 minutes outside of LA to Ventura Ranch KOA. We were going to have some time to explore there, have some lunch, and have our first session. At first I was pretty nervous about this being the first event. It was going to be very hot out there (and I don’t do well in the heat) and I’m not really an outdoorsy person. But I wasn’t going to miss it so this past Thursday morning, I was at the meeting place at 7am to get on the bus!

I only knew a few people at the conference before it and the bus was pretty big, so I ended up sitting alone for the ride. I listened to what the conference founder, Erica, had to say and spent a lot of the ride checking out the view.

As soon as we got to KOA, I knew that this wasn’t going to be what I had expected.

Our first stop was the pool to learn a little about KOA and the Ventura Ranch KOA.

KOA is all over the US. There are some locations that are mainly for people who want to camp in a tent or in their RV and then there are some locations (like Ventura Ranch) that have much nicer and less rustic accommodation options if you are looking for those. This location in particular has the RV or tent options, but you can also stay in a teepee, a glamour tent, or a cabin (which has bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and my new favorite thing a/c). There are also a ton of activities that everyone in your family can take part in there. There’s the pool (they are working on adding a huge water slide right now!), a climbing wall, crafts, and a zip line. But the first activity that KOA wanted us to see was the jumping pillow.

The jumping pillow was so much fun! It’s like a giant trampoline that is filled with air and you can bounce really really high! Toward the center you are off the ground quite a bit so I had a bit of trouble staying standing. But then I discovered (like my friends in the picture) that the best thing is to sit down while everyone bounces around you!

After that fun (and it was like a workout too!), we toured one of the teepees they have at Ventura Ranch.

It was really nice inside and pretty spacious too! It’s hard to tell in the picture but there was more than enough room for 4 of us to be standing in there. The teepees are all on raised decks so you don’t have to sleep on the ground. While there aren’t bathrooms inside, the bathrooms are pretty close by.

After that quick tour, they asked to see which of us wanted to go zip lining. I have zip lined a few times in the past, but it’s been years (or decades) since I’ve done it. I decided that this was the perfect time to do it again!

There were two sets of zip lines we could do. The first (pictured above) was a less scary zip line because there wasn’t really a drop off at the end of the platform, just a slanted drop. I was one of the last ones to go down this, but it was amazing! I wish I could have done it again.

After the first zip line, there was a second one that went farther and had a real drop off at the end of the platform. It wasn’t really that scary on the zip line, but I turned around during the ride and ended up coming in for the landing backwards so I couldn’t see when I was going to stop! Even with that small amount of scariness, all of us who chose to go on the zip lines had so much fun!

While we were zip lining, others in the group were checking out the Glamour Tent option at KOA. I sadly didn’t get to see the inside of those, but from the picture on their website they look pretty amazing!

After zip lining, I was able to check out some of the cabins that are available at KOA. I think that these look amazing and I’d love to stay in one!

These cabins are seriously incredible! They are even nicer (and probably bigger) than my house! They are decorated really well and they made as many of the walls windows as they could. Why wouldn’t you if this was the view from the kitchen?

After touring the cabins, a couple of us went back down to the pool to cool down a bit (it was pretty hot out) before heading back to where the nice cabins are for some lunch and our first session.

We got to learn a lot about travel blogging and how to approach different PR people to help you with your posts. I don’t really do travel blogging so this was very informative to me. I took a lot of notes and hopefully I’ll have some great travel posts to share on here in the future.

After lunch, it was time to head back on the bus to try to beat the LA traffic back to the host hotel (where the bus got us). The ride back was pretty quiet since a lot of people took naps. We did a lot of activity in a little amount of time, so we were pretty exhausted.

I never thought that I’d have fun at a campground, but obviously I’ve been going to wrong types of campgrounds. I’m already thinking about going to KOA for a fun weekend sometime soon. We are lucky here in LA because our KOA is open year-round (some of the locations where it gets cold and snowy are only open seasonally). Maybe I can organize my friends for a weekend adventure. I know that they would all love the zip line and pool and it would be fun to camp (in a cabin) and have s’mores by the fire.

Thank you so much Ventura Ranch KOA for hosting us for the day! You’ve converted this non-camper into someone who is dreaming of going camping soon!

7 Comments

Posted in Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged adventure, blogging, Los Angeles, outdoors

Out Of The Heat (or Finally Getting A/C!)

Posted on September 10, 2015 | 7 comments

I’ve been complaining about the heat in my house since my very first summer here. Because my house is so old, the insulation is pretty bad. So when it gets hot in LA, the heat gets trapped inside even if it cools down outside in the evening. There have been plenty of nights where it’s over 90 degrees inside my bedroom when I was going to bed.

I have never really lived in a place with a/c (my last apartment had it but it was facing a wall in the kitchen so it was useless). And I wanted to get some sort of a/c for my house. But there were issues from the beginning. Until recently, my house had fuses and there wasn’t enough power to run an a/c. Then when I got circuits, I was told that I would have to still watch how much power I used because there is still very little power in my place.

Next was the issue of trying to find a portable a/c unit that wasn’t a swamp cooler (because it does get too humid in LA to use one) and didn’t use a ton of power. Once I found that, then it was the issue of finding one that wasn’t insanely expensive. I never found anything that seemed right to me so I never got a portable a/c unit.

I was talking to my landlord last month and we were making small talk about the heat. I mentioned the lack of a/c and he said that because of my house set up I was pretty limited in my options. I said how I really wanted to put a window unit in my dining room, and he said that it couldn’t block the communal driveway (my dining room looks onto the driveway and there is about a foot of room between my wall and the driveway path). With that new restriction, I started to do some research again.

I actually found a low profile window a/c that doesn’t stick out that far and is energy-efficient so it doesn’t go over the power limit I have in my house! And since I hadn’t asked for anything for my birthday from my parents, they agreed to buy it for me!

Once I knew it was on its way, I had to figure out how I’d install it. Fortunately, the directions were available online so my dad and I both researched them. And when I was at brunch with my friend Jane a week ago, I mentioned the new a/c unit and she said that she had installed one before! So she agreed to help me out when it was here!

This past Sunday was installation day. Prior to that, I had made a trip to Home Depot because my dad discovered some fine print in the directions that would require me to drill a piece of wood onto my window sill. And my dad and I had multiple FaceTime calls so he could look at what I was doing.

It was actually pretty funny when we were on FaceTime trying to figure this all out.

On Sunday, there were dozens of phone calls/FaceTime calls to my dad while Jane and I were working and then we also had to make another Home Depot run. But after a couple of attempts (and thanks to my power drill and saw that my dad got me years ago), we were able to install it!

I’m sure this sounds silly, but even in the couple of days that I’ve had it this a/c unit has made a huge difference in my life! I got it installed just in time for another heat wave in LA and I’m finally getting to work in my house in reasonable temperatures.

I’m still super nervous about how much more expensive my power bill will be, but there was a little guide on the a/c unit that said if you ran the until 8 hours a day for 3 months it would only cost an extra $48 a year. Hopefully that’s true.

I’m so glad that my parents were generous enough to get me this a/c unit. I’m so happy that I was able to install it and that Jane was willing to help me (and we did this in the heat since the a/c wasn’t in yet!). And I’m so excited that I will not feel as sick inside my house during a heat wave and feel trapped since I have to work in my house.

Hopefully when I eventually move one day this a/c unit is as easy to uninstall as it was to install. This thing is totally coming with me wherever I go!

7 Comments

Posted in Family, Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged birthday, heat, home, Los Angeles, parents, presents

Another LA Anniversary (or What Will Year 15 Bring?)

Posted on August 21, 2015 | Comments Off

14 years ago, I moved to LA. My first LA home was my dorm room at Loyola Marymount. My parents and best friend drove down with me (my parents in one car and my best friend and I in the other). We carpooled for the 6 hour drive down and used walkie talkies to stay in communication (although I still wonder why we didn’t just use our cell phones). I remember that as soon as they drove away, they called me to make sure that I wasn’t crying because they left. But I was just too excited about the adventure that was ahead of me.

My college years weren’t the best, but I made them the best that I could. And that meant doing as much away from school as possible to experience all that I could in LA and work hard at my acting career from the moment I got here. I was lucky enough to have a car here from day 1, so I was always driving around and exploring the amazing city that I was living in.

My first 3.5 years in LA were college years. And after college I knew that I would stay here. LA felt like home from the day I moved here and it has never stopped feeling like that. Even when I went home for winter break my freshman year of college, my parents’ house didn’t feel like home anymore. Every place I’ve lived in LA has felt more and more like home to me. And the house I live in now is somewhere that I see myself living until I one day buy a place. I’ve always dreamed of living in an old studio bungalow (I love the idea of the history behind one of those bungalows) and that’s exactly where I live now.

I’ve managed to build a wonderful life for me here in LA. Yes, I wish that I was making more money and my acting career was fully supporting me. But I look at the riches of my life in other ways. I have great friends, a support system that I can count on at any time, and get to live my dream every day.

There have been some hardships too in those 14 years. Like I’ve mentioned, college wasn’t the best time for me. But I managed to get through it the best way I could. Some of the friendships I’ve lost have been very tough on me. Dealing with my mom’s cancer while I’m not near her wasn’t easy on me. And there have been times that my loneliness was horrible and all I wanted was to find a place to express myself without fear (which is what this blog has become for me).

I don’t take advantage of living is such an amazing city as often as I should. I’m so close to the beach and I haven’t really been at all this summer! I haven’t gone into the hills or to any amazing scenic viewpoints lately. And I haven’t been to any concerts at the Bowl this summer (I’m hoping to still make it to one eventually). But it’s nice to know that I have all those things here for me when I have the time and money to do it.

In my 14 years in LA I’ve gone to college, performed with improv troupes, studied with multiple acting coaches, held a couple of “real” jobs, held dozens (if not hundreds) of day jobs, made lots of friends, lost a couple of friends, attended red carpet events, had lots of acting jobs, gone to Disneyland more than I could have dreamed of, and had so many other amazing adventures! I’m not sure I could have asked for more in my life.

Now I’m wondering what year 15 will be for me. I’m in a very different place in my life than I was in the past and feel like this is going to be a wonderful year for me. I have such a positive mindset on where I am in my life and I no longer have fears about where I am not. I feel like that really is going to help make this year the best year I’ve had so far!

Soon, I’ll be coming up to where I will have live in LA for a majority of my life. It’s so crazy to think that my entire adult life has been spent in a city that I spent my entire childhood dreaming about.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged anniversary, Los Angeles

The End Of My Musical Season (or Finally Enjoying Phantom)

Posted on July 21, 2015 | 1 comment

This past Sunday was the final show in my season at The Pantages. I’m sad that I can’t afford to get season tickets for the upcoming season, but since I don’t care to see all of the shows that are going to be playing, I’m happy that I can pick and choose what I want to pay for (and since I’m only going to see select shows I might be able to get better seats).

The final show of our season was “Phantom Of The Opera”. To be totally honest, I wasn’t too excited about this show. I’ve seen it many many times and haven’t really enjoyed it. Almost every time I saw it it was because someone decided that we would go and I didn’t have a say in it. I also saw it once in middle or high school where we were sitting so high up that I got very light-headed and thought I would faint. So the show has never been something I’ve been enthused to see.

Even with not loving the show, there was no way I was going to miss the last show of the season. We had a bit of an adventure getting to the theater. We had no idea that the train that we usually take in wasn’t going all the way to the station we needed to transfer at. So we took a train, a bus, and then another train. Fortunately we gave ourselves plenty of time so we weren’t late at all.

We originally were supposed to see the show about a month ago, but we changed the dates on our tickets. And by doing that, we ended up sitting a couple of rows ahead of where we usually were (at The Pantages your season tickets are for the same seats for each show). I tried to have an open mind about the show and was feeling a bit excited when the lights went down.

I’m glad I tried to have an open mind. This production was really great. Yes, I knew everything that was going to happen and all of the songs. But honestly the set was the most incredible thing. It opened and closed and folded in on itself throughout the show and really became its own character. And when it’s a show like “Phantom Of The Opera” where the opera house is so important, the set being a character really helps to draw you in.

The cast was amazing and there were some fun pyrotechnics as well. Overall, I really had a great time at the show and I think my friends enjoyed it too. Even though I won’t probably get to see as many shows in the next year as I did this year, getting to have season tickets this past year really helped me to get to know some great girls. I knew them a bit before we got tickets together, but now I can really call them my friends. And I know that in the future if there is a season that has some great shows we will probably get season tickets again as a group.

In the meantime, I’m on the lookout for some good musicals that I want to see. And now that my brother and sister-in-law live in Santa Barbara, my sister-in-law can join me for some shows too!

1 Comment

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged Los Angeles, musical, Pantages Theater, theater

A Non-Exciting Life (or Trying To Not Feel Left Out)

Posted on July 17, 2015 | Comments Off

My life is relatively routine and boring. While I do get to go to fun events and have friends who throw awesome parties, I haven’t really gone on a big adventure in a while.

I’m usually pretty ok with this. While I can take time off of work, I’d rather not do that because then it means I’m not getting paid (unlike my old box office job where I made commissions while I was in Maui). So I pretty much have to be at my computer Tuesday-Saturday.

But a lot of people in my life have been doing some awesome things and I’m really wishing I could do the same. I had dozens of friends at Comic Con this past weekend. I applied for a press pass but didn’t get one. And I really don’t have the money to spend on a pass. So I watched everyone’s tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram pictures over the weekend and kept wishing that I was there. I’m planning on re-applying next year for a pass and hopefully I’ll get one.

I’ve also know a lot of people going on vacation. It’s summer and it seems like everyone takes at least one awesome trip. I was hoping to make it out to Tahoe this summer, but after my grandpa passed away my mom and I forgot to plan it (I only remembered when I saw the dates with a question mark in my calendar the day I was thinking of going). I might get to go to Tahoe in the late fall or winter, but the summer trip isn’t going to happen.

I haven’t done regular summer trips in a long time. I usually don’t feel too left out. But when I see awesome pictures from people traveling, it really makes me wish that I had the time and money to go too.

That picture is from a family member who is in Alaska right now.

I’m trying to stay focused and realize that right now is the time that I need to work on making money. Eventually there will be time (and finances) to go on fun trips. I might get to do another trip to New York soon with my sister-in-law, but that’s still up in the air so I’m focusing on the little trips I know I’ll get to do. I’ll be back at Disneyland in about a month (and that’s something that a lot of people don’t get to do). I’ll be going down to San Diego next month to see my grandma (and parents) and again at Thanksgiving where I will spend a few days with 4 generations of my family. And at some point later this year will be my Tahoe trip.

I’m not sure why everyone going on vacation and to fun events is affecting me so much. Maybe it’s because I’m getting serious about my money situation and have realized how out of reach a vacation is for me right now. Last time when I went to New York I used money to pay for it that I probably should I put toward my credit card debt (I also put more debt on my credit card to pay for the trip and I’m not proud about that). If I do get to go back to New York, there’s a good chance that I’m going to have to do a similar thing, but at least I’ll be conscious about making that decision.

Even if I don’t really get to go anywhere for the summer, I live somewhere where I can go to the beach pretty easily and there are lots of fun (and free) things around LA that I can do.

I guess I’m going to have to have an awesome staycation for the rest of my summer!

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Travel

Tagged Los Angeles, vacation

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

Posted on July 10, 2015 | Comments Off

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.

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.

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.

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 matinée.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged girls night out, Los Angeles, musical

Finally Going To Staples Center (or VIP Status)

Posted on June 17, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve lived in LA for almost 14 years now. I’ve done a lot of stuff in those 14 years of living here. But until this past weekend, I had never been inside of the Staples Center. I’ve been near it and have gone to LA Live and the Convention Center. But I’ve just never seen anything at Staples Center.

So when one of my TIU friends shared online that they had box seats for a Sparks game, I jumped at the chance to go! My friend had gotten the seats through her job, she’s an assistant at CAA (for those of you not familiar with CAA, they are an agency that reps a lot of actors, musicians, and athletes). So I knew that the seats would be pretty awesome!

I took the light rail to Staples and my friend met me near by so we could drive in together (we didn’t want to not be able to find each other). We got there early since we were told that the doors opened 90 minutes prior to the game and lined up outside.

We kind of got the run-around by several employees of Staples Center. We switched where we had lined up 4 different times. And then we were told to finally go back to where we started, but we weren’t allowed in. They ended up opening the doors a little less than an hour prior to the start time and we headed up to the A-Level Suites.

There, we met Cruz, who honestly was the best employee at Staples Center! She gave us a little tour of the suite level and some of the different places we could hang out (sadly, many of them were closed since the game wasn’t that crowded). Then she led us to the suite we’d be sitting in. And I was shocked by how amazing our view was.

We were pretty much dead center with a perfect view of the court! And we had the option to sit in regular style seats, at the bar seating, or a couple of different couches (there was a tv near the couches so you could still watch the game).

My friend and I were the only ones in the suite at that point and we knew it wouldn’t be catered, so we went in search of lunch. We ended up going back down to the main entrance where there was a CPK. We got a pizza and salad to split and went back up to the suite.

Eventually, a few other people joined us in the suite, but in total there were only 8 of us and I think the suite is meant for about 20.

Besides being my first time at Staples Center, this was my first professional basketball game ever! I have been to multiple college basketball games but never a professional one before. So I was pretty excited to watch the game. I’m still not 100% sure on all the different penalties, but I still enjoyed it.

Plus, we got some pretty awesome hats as a giveaway for attending the game. We had to search for the hats because they didn’t give them out at the VIP entrance, so we went to the main entrance and found some hats for us.

I think we looked pretty good in the hats.

In the end, the LA Sparks lost, but they played a good game and were winning until the last few minutes.

I had such an amazing time at the game. It was so nice being in the suite and having space without feeling like I was in the middle of the crowd. We were able to stand up and walk around if we wanted to and not worry about getting around other seats or blocking other’s views. I joked to my friend that by getting to sit there really did ruin me for any other events that I might go to in the future.

I’m so glad that I was able to go to this game with a friend, plus I got to know my new friend better. We had a really nice chat about the entertainment industry and her job at CAA.

This has motivated me to start making a list of other LA things that I haven’t done yet. I don’t know how many things I haven’t done yet, but I’m going to start looking around at lists of things to do in LA and see what I’ve missed that I really want to do (I think I’ll skip those bus tours of celebrity houses).

Maybe I’ll be able to create a nice LA bucket list that I can start checking things off of!

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Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, Los Angeles, sports

Almost The End Of The Musical Season (or Watching An Audience Fall In Love With An Actor)

Posted on May 12, 2015 | Comments Off

I had my second to last show of the season at the Pantages this past weekend. The group that I have gone with this season has looked at the offerings next season and we’ve decided not to buy the entire season for 2015-2016. There are a couple of shows that I’d like to see, but it will be more cost-effective for me to just get the few I want instead of all 7.

I am sad that this season is wrapping up and I won’t have as many shows to see this coming season, but I’m also super grateful that I splurged and did a season this year. It was totally worth it and I’ve had a great time.

The show this past weekend was “Motown”. I knew a bit about the show and that it was going to be filled with musical numbers. So when we got to the theater, I was pretty excited.

I know that some of the reviews for this show aren’t too great. The guy who it is about wrote the musical, so it really does portray him in the best light possible (even if that might not be the truth). And there’s not a ton of plot in the story.

But the songs were worth it! There were a handful of songs that were written for the musical, but there were over 40 songs that were songs that were done by Motown Records and even I knew pretty much all of them.

The audience was singing along most of the time (and there were a couple of people who were a bit obnoxious about it but I think that they might have been drunk). The show was more of a concert feel than a musical to me.

But the most magical moment came in the second act. There’s one young actor who plays Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson as a kid. In the first act he played Berry Gordy and Stevie Wonder. And while he was cute and a good actor, it was nothing compared to the second act.

That’s when he played young Michael Jackson and his true talent shined. This kid (Nathaniel Cullors) was magnificent! When he started to sing as Michael Jackson, you could hear almost the entire audience gasp in wonder at the voice he had. A few moments into the song everyone was rooting for him as a performer and ready to give him a standing ovation.

After his first song, I thought that maybe that was the end of seeing young Michael Jackson, but we got to see (and hear) him again. And again, the audience ate it up.

As an audience member, it was such a fun moment to watch. But as an actor, it was truly breathtaking and special to watch an entire audience fall in love with an actor. You could feel the energy in the room and it was giving me goosebumps.

That’s a moment that as an actor you dream to have happen to you. To witness it happen for another actor was almost better.

After the show ended, we all agreed in the group that that kid really stole the show and was one of the most talented performers in the show. And the cast in general was the most talent cast vocally of any of the shows that we have seen. So many cast members played 3 or 4 incredible real people and none of them seemed to be pretending to be them, they just were them.

I highly recommend everyone going to see “Motown”. I don’t believe that it got the praise it deserved on Broadway because it is not really a traditional musical. But as an entertaining show, it was one of the best I’ve seen.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, Broadway, Los Angeles, musical, Pantages Theater

Being An LA Tourist (or A Fun Saturday Night Out)

Posted on April 22, 2015 | Comments Off

One of the reasons I missed the Festival Of Books was because I had plans on Saturday night.

I had dinner plans with some friends to celebrate a birthday. We had dinner reservations at Loteria Grill. I had never been there before, but I checked out them menu online and it looked quite yummy! And the location that we were going to was in Santa Monica, so it wasn’t too far for me to go (and there are parking structures all around that area so parking isn’t too horrible). It was actually located super close to my old day job, so I’m surprised that I had never been there before.

I ended up being the first one getting there (I knew that was going to happen), so I pursued the menu while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. After everyone else arrived (and doing some table moving), it was time to order and have fun.

I didn’t take any pictures of the food, but I had a burrito and it was delicious! It wasn’t a crazy sized burrito (like so many places serve) so I ate it all and it was perfect! We had also ordered chips and guacamole for the table. The guacamole was really good, but the serving size was a little small so that was disappointing.

After dinner, we decided to walk around Santa Monica for a bit. I love how they have the twinkle lights on the trees at 3rd Street Promenade up all year round! It makes it look festive all the time.

We then decided to walk down to the pier. It’s not too long of a walk and I was happy to add more steps to my steps for the day. The pier was pretty crowded and there were a lot of street performers there. But it’s still fun to get to be out by the ocean.

We thought about going on to the ferris wheel (I’ve never done it and have always wanted to), but the line for tickets was crazy long and the ride would have cost $8. So we settled on watching it light up over the water instead.

We headed back before it got too late. The crowds were a bit overwhelming and it was starting to get a bit cold. I actually had forgotten my jacket at home so while we were at dinner I went across the way to Old Navy to buy a new hoodie (which will now live in my car as an emergency hoodie).

I don’t do a ton of touristy things in LA. It’s usually very crowded, there are people trying to sell you things or get you to pay them for something, and many touristy things aren’t that interesting to me. But the pier is something that I still love and am willing to play tourist for.

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged birthday, dinner, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, tourist

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