Tag Archives: Los Angeles

After-Work Adventure (or I Love LA)

Posted on May 12, 2014 | Comments Off

After I finished making calls for my recruiting job on Friday, I knew I had to get out of the house. I hadn’t been good about doing things after work most of the week, so I needed to force myself to put some shoes on (I do get dressed to work at home) and leave my house.

I asked around to see if any friends were free on short notice, but nobody really was. So I decided to take myself on a little adventure and go watch the sun set from the Griffith Observatory.

Since I was driving up there during rush hour, it took me a while to get there (not exactly sure how long, but it was over an hour). And then to find parking was a whole other issue. But I did the parking lot stalking thing long enough to finally get a space in the observatory parking lot.

It wasn’t the clearest evening, but it looked more like haze than smog from up there. And the observatory looked awesome.

And it was surprisingly crowded there. I’m not sure if that’s a usual for the after-work crowd or if something special was going on that evening. But I had to squeeze in by the railings a few times to get some pictures. And of course, as soon as I got there I realized that I left my nice camera at home and only had my phone. So while I tried to get the best pictures I could, I know that with my real camera they would have been better.

The Hollywood sign and the city were so beautiful. Even though I’ve lived here for almost 13 years, those views never get old. I still get excited when I’m close to the Hollywood sign. One day, I’ll have to do the hike to it, but I’ve heard that it’s not an easy hike to do.

I also checked out the moon, which was so bright in the sky even though the sun hadn’t set yet.

I ended up watching the sun set from one of the side views where you can also see the Hollywood sign, but of course the camera on my phone could only get either the sunset or the Hollywood sign, not both.

I stayed until the sun was completely gone and then I headed back to my car. I had wanted to take some awesome nighttime city pictures, but I’m going to have to go back with my real camera (and tripod) to do those.

Even though this was only a short adventure, it really revitalized me. It made the workday seem shorter (since there was a definite end to when I was sitting at my computer) and it made me appreciate my city even more. I have loved living in LA since I moved here (I wanted to move here as a kid). But sometimes I don’t really think about how lucky I am that I’m working on living my dream while living in my dream city.

But seeing everything from up at the observatory and realizing that below me were all people living their dreams and I was one of them, that was an amazing moment.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged Griffith Park, Los Angeles, sunset

LA Times Festival Of Books (or Realizing I’m Only A Minor Book Nerd)

Posted on April 16, 2014 | 1 comment

This past weekend was the LA Times Festival of Books at USC. I’ve always wanted to go to it each year, but I always seem to be working. A month or so ago, I saw something online about media passes for the festival and I decided to apply for it.

I had totally forgotten about applying for the media pass until last week when I got an email saying that I had been approved for one! I was already scheduled to work on Saturday, but I decided that I would go on Sunday and finally check it out.

I took the light rail there because parking was expensive (and I’m sure not too close to the event). When I sat down, I saw the perfect ad for my trip to the festival.

The light rail stop was right across the street from the entrance to the festival, so that was very nice. I was able to find the media check in pretty easily and got my fancy media pass.

I met up with a friend after getting my pass and she showed me around the festival. It was a little overwhelming, so I’m glad I had a friend guide me around. We checked out a bunch of the booths and the books for sale.

My media pass got me into any of the lectures that I wanted to go to, but I ended up not making it to any of them (plus all the ones I wanted to go to were on Saturday). There were also various stages with authors speaking that I didn’t need my pass to get in to.

I went to the young adult stage to see one of my favorite authors, Marissa Meyer, speak along with some other authors who specialize in young adult science fiction/fantasy.

That was pretty awesome. I didn’t know the other authors but they were all amazing to listen to. I’m not usually a science fiction/fantasy fan, but Marissa Meyer’s series The Lunar Chronicles really got me. The books are science fiction retellings of classic fairy tales in a dystopian society.

After the authors were done speaking, they were all signing books. I got in line so I could meet Marissa Meyer and I noticed how unprepared I was for the signing. Almost everyone in front of me in line had suitcases full of books to be signed. Multiple copies of each book from every author. Since all my books are pretty much on my Kindle, I didn’t have a physical book to have signed (and I didn’t want to get my Kindle signed like some people in front of me in line did). I realized that I was a pretty poor book nerd not having anything to get signed.

But I did have my media pass so when I got to the front of the line I asked Marissa to sign the back of my pass.

The line for the signing took a little over an hour. And once I got my pass signed I was feeling pretty tired from being out in the sun for so long (and it turns out I got pretty badly sunburnt as well). So I headed back onto the light rail and headed home again.

I had a really good time at the festival even though I wasn’t there for too long. But I will totally be returning next year (and making sure that I don’t have to work that weekend)!

1 Comment

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged author, book nerd, festival, Los Angeles

Back To LA (or Reflections On The NYC Trip)

Posted on March 28, 2014 | 3 comments

On Sunday last week, Krystle and I headed to the airport to get flights back to LA (for me) and San Francisco (for her). We had pretty early flights, so we were up at 5am that day. I was exhausted, but still didn’t sleep much on the flight.

I still can’t believe that this trip is over! Even though we only planned it for a few months, it seemed like we had been looking forward to it for forever!

On our last day in NYC, Krystle and I chatted about what we were able to check off our NYC checklists and what we need to do the next time we go (and we’ve already decided that this trip will be a somewhat regular adventure).

I’m so happy that we got to see as many shows as we did. We thought at first that 4 shows in 4 days was a bit ambitious, but it ended up being perfect! And we saw a good variety of shows (2 family friendly and 2 adult only).

There were other shows that I would love to have seen, but I also just got a season at The Pantages (the Los Angeles theater that does Broadway tours) and most of the other shows I would have wanted to see are those that are in my season. But I’ve already said that if “Heathers” moves to Broadway, I will be back to see it again.

We didn’t really get to go into Central Park, and I don’t know if I’ve ever done that before (I don’t remember doing it, but maybe when I was little we went). Also, there are so many more museums that I want to see, but those are expensive and time-consuming. And money and time were a bit tight on this trip.

And there are also a lot of restaurants that were on my wish list that we didn’t make it to. But again, we can only go to so many dinners.

But we did manage to take the subway system for most of the trip, and we didn’t really get too lost. Sometimes we were confused what direction we needed to walk once we got out of the station, but that’s not too bad. Fortunately, we had both phone apps and a good paper map to use that helped us so much in our navigation. I also successfully hailed several cabs (I think that’s kind of awesome).

And finally, something that my mom said before we went on the trip was that she hoped that this trip would bring Krystle and I closer together. We’ve only seen each other a handful of times, and pretty much never just the two of us. So this was a real bonding experience. We got along super well (even in our really tiny hotel room that we shared) and we have planned to do more trips in the future. So I think it’s pretty safe to say that Krystle is not just my sister-in-law, but also a good friend of mine as well now.

It was tough to get back to life after this trip. It really felt like something magical with all the shows and seeing several friends. But I did have to get back to reality quickly because this past week, I started a new day job! But more on that next week.

3 Comments

Posted in Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged airplane, Broadway, flying, Los Angeles, New York, vacation

Attempting Snow And Sand In One Day (or A One Day Road Trip)

Posted on February 20, 2014 | Comments Off

Recently in Los Angeles Magazine, there was a list of things that everyone who lives in LA should do. Some things on the list were easy like eating at Pinks Hot Dogs or seeing a celebrity. But others were a bit tougher.

One thing on the list was to see the snow and beach in a single day. It sounded like a fun challenge, so I decided that I wanted to try it.

I asked around to see if anyone would be up for the adventure and my friend Kate said she wanted to come too.

So yesterday morning, we technically started by the beach (or at least pretty close to it). We got into my car and headed up to Mt. Baldy, which is the closest ski place to Los Angeles. It’s under an hour and a half away, so it wasn’t a bad trip (I’m used to the 2 hour long drives to San Diego).

It was an interesting drive. Lots of city stuff in LA, then we got into a rock quarry area, and finally got off the freeway in a nice little community. It didn’t seem like a mountain area, but we were trusting my GPS.

We finally turned onto a road that looked much more like what I’m used to seeing in Lake Tahoe. There were lots of log cabins and signs that talked about the snow plows coming by.

The only thing missing at that point was snow. But Kate and I both said that maybe the snow starts up much higher. We kept climbing in elevation and finally saw the sign for the ski resort.

But sadly, due to the horrible drought here in California, there was seriously no snow anywhere to be found. There was some snow showing on their webcams, but I don’t think it was anywhere we could have walked to.

The parking lot was a little creepy. There was only one other car there besides us. We both thought it looked a little post-apocalyptic when we looked around.

Even though it was a little creepy and there was no snow, it was still a gorgeous day and we both enjoyed our little adventure out of LA.

We started to head back after a little bit since there really wasn’t much for us to do up there. Our original plan was to head straight to the beach and hang out there for the afternoon, but we ended up changing our plans because last night was Drag Queen Bingo (more on that in tomorrow’s post!).

So we didn’t quite make it to the snow and the sand on the same day. But we did make it from 0 feet elevation to 6500 feet elevation and back in one day.

That should count for something, right?

And hopefully next winter will be better and I can make another attempt at this adventure.

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged beach, Los Angeles, road trip, snow

Quick Family Visit (or My Extra Long Lunch From Work)

Posted on December 9, 2013 | Comments Off

My parents were driving down to San Diego this past Thursday. Originally, the plan was for me to go back down to San Diego again this past weekend and spend time with them there. But my schedule wasn’t going to allow me to be there for too long, so the new plan was for my parents to stop in LA for lunch with me.

My boss at my day job okayed me taking a long lunch that day (as long as I was back by 6pm because I was running a table at the show that night). My parents got to my work around 2:30 with my dog. I was so excited to get to see Dante again! After his diagnosis, I wasn’t sure how many more times I’d get to see him, that’s why I took the quick visit home a few weeks ago. And of course, I was excited to see my parents again.

We went to lunch near my work and had a nice chat. My parents wanted to know all about the film festival and other things going on in my life. And of course, my dad and I chatted about my spin class.

After lunch, we drove down near the Santa Monica Pier and took Dante for a walk. He’s doing so much better compared to the weekend I was home. His incision is healing nicely and he can walk properly again. You can see the tumor on his leg growing again, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting him. And every time we passed another dog, Dante perked up and wanted to play with them. It was nice seeing him act like his old self again.

Before I knew it, my parents drove me back over to my work so they could continue the drive to San Diego (it should only take 2 hours from my work, but it ended up taking them 4). But before they left, we exchanged Hanukkah presents. I got my mom tinted lip balms (I use them and she tried mine and liked it when we were at my brother’s wedding). And when my dad was visiting me a few weeks ago, he mentioned that he needed to buy a new belt. Right after my dad left, I got an Uncommon Goods catalog and saw this belt that was made out of recycled bike tubes. So I got him that and I think he loved it! I also got my brother and sister-in-law presents but I haven’t giving them their gifts yet so I can’t share what they are.

And my parents got me noise canceling headphones! I had mentioned after flying to and from Hawaii that my ear buds weren’t that great on the plane. I could barely hear my movies and that I really should invest in better headphones. I’m so excited to have my new headphones and I’m planning on using them on my flight home soon!

Even though I only got to spend a few hours with my parents, it really revitalized me. I got to see that my mom and my dog are doing great. And it helped me get over the weirdness that I felt over Thanksgiving. I’ll be seeing my family again in about 2 weeks and that time I’ll get to see them for a few days. I’m already looking forward to that!

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Posted in Family, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged cancer, dog, family, Los Angeles, lunch, San Diego, visit

The Pie Hole (or Discovering Deliciousness in Downtown LA)

Posted on August 30, 2013 | 2 comments

I was very lucky this past week to get to try out some pies at The Pie Hole. I’m usually not in downtown LA, but on this particular day, I was out there to help out with an interview for Inside Acting.

I knew that we were all meeting at The Pie Hole to interview Lindsay Hollister. What I didn’t realize was that Lindsay was one of the owners of the bakery! It was a little too noisy to do the interview in there, but we did make a stop afterwards to try out some pies (and do a little recording to review the bakery for the podcast).

First of all, I have to say that Lindsay was so generous to let us try all of these pies. I would have been more than happy to pay for them, and I know that I’ll be going back in the near future to purchase some (I’m thinking of getting one and bringing it to Thanksgiving this year).

I was a little too focused on trying the pies, so I only have one picture.

Starting in front and going counterclockwise we have a chocolate crostata, mushroom and spinach pie, mac and cheese hand pie, maple custard pie (slightly hidden), and a side salad (the guest co-host can’t have gluten).

I didn’t try the side salad, so I don’t have a review on that, but I have lots of yumminess to say about the other pies!

The chocolate crostata was so rich! It was like a fudgy chocolate brownie on top of a pie crust with caramel and sea salt on top of it! I really loved the crust on it, it was so nice and flaky.

The mushroom and spinach pie was a really great savory pie. I didn’t try much of the crust on this one (I was sharing it with a couple of people and just dug into the filling). The mushrooms are so nice and chewy (like a perfect piece of steak). It wasn’t too rich but it was nice and filling.

The mac and cheese pie was my favorite of the savory options. The crust reminded me of the nice crusty top of a mac and cheese casserole (my favorite part to eat). The pasta inside was perfectly cooked and it wasn’t runny (a problem I’ve seen before). When I go back, this is something I know I will be getting.

And finally, the best pie (possibly ever!): the maple custard pie. This is seriously the best pie ever. It is like a creme brulee inside of a pie crust. It’s not overly sweet and the maple flavor is a wonderful touch. Even though we were sharing all of the pies, I know I ate a good portion of this one! It was addicting! I really want to go back to have this again, but since it is a bit of a drive away, I won’t be going too often.

I highly encourage all of you to go and try The Pie Hole. It’s seriously a gem in downtown. And no, they aren’t paying me to say this. They don’t even know I’m writing a blog post about this. I had no idea that when I was going to work at the interview that we were going to get a tasting too. But I’m so glad that we did because now I’ve discovered my new go-to place for desserts!

2 Comments

Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged dessert, Los Angeles, pie, podcast

Pushing Myself (or This Will Make Me Feel Better If I Only Get 9 5Ks Done In 2013)

Posted on August 29, 2013 | Comments Off

I’m really pushing to try to do 10 5Ks in 2013. I’ve done 5 so far, and I’ve signed up for 4 more.

In October, I’ll be doing the LA Cancer Challenge 5K. This is a Halloween themed race and will be my first time doing this one.

I’ve got 2 races in November. First will be the Hard Rock 5K. This is going to have a similar course to what I did for the Hollywood Half 5K, so I’m not too nervous about it. After that it’s the weSPARK 5K at Universal Studios. I’m super excited for this race since it will be the 3rd year in a row for me. Although I can’t say that I’m looking forward to the giant hill.

And in December I have the Santa Monica-Venice Christmas 5K. This one was recommended to me by a couple of friends and I might have a friend doing this one with me. I’m already thinking of a cute outfit to wear for this one (I’m thinking red tutu and red and white striped socks perhaps).

I don’t know if I’ll find a 10th to do. I don’t have too many other weekends available when I’m not doing something else.

And I realized that my 3 races in October and November are only 14 days apart! I’m doing one on Sunday 10/27. Then 6 days later I have another one on Saturday 11/2. And just over a week later, I have my 3rd on Sunday 11/10! That’s going to be crazy! I’ve never done so many races so close together!

If I don’t make it to 10, that’s ok. My goal has already been conquered. And I’m thinking ahead to 2014 now. I’m thinking of doing the New Year’s 5K on January 4th.

If I don’t make it to 10 in 2013, then I’ll do it in 2014. I’ve got races from this year that I know I’ll do next year. And I’m getting way more adventurous with my races as well. Both of these things will help me reach whatever goal I have for 2014.

If any of you out there would like to join me for any of these 5Ks, let me know! I’d love more buddies out there on the race course!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged 5K, goals, Los Angeles, race, resolutions

LA Actors Tweetup (or My LA Family)

Posted on April 17, 2013 | 2 comments

On Monday, after hearing about what happened in Boston, a lot of people I know wanted to spend time with their family. None of my family is very local (I couldn’t drive down to San Diego after working an 8 hour day and then needing to work the next day), so spending time with them wasn’t an option.

Fortunately, that night was the LA Actors Tweetup. I think I’ve mentioned the tweetup before, but it pretty much is just a fun group that gets together every month or so. Yes, most of us are actors and are on twitter, but everyone is welcome.

The tweetups starting back in 2010, and it was at a very weird point in my life. It was right after my friendship with my college best friend ended, and I kind of lost all my friends and social life when that happened. So I went to the tweetups very open to meeting new people and making new friends, and I’m so glad that I did! Some of my best friends now are people I’ve met through the tweetups!

So Monday, after my shift at work was over, I headed out to Busby’s East, where pretty much all the tweetups happen. I had a really great time that nights, and it was exactly what I needed after reading everything that was going on in Boston.

I got to see Gedaly, who I’m pretty sure I met through the tweetups (sometimes it’s hard to remember!), who gave me some great advice about this blog and my actor website.

He’s actually checking out the blog in this picture.

I also got a chance to catch up with Ben, who is one of the creators of the tweetup event.

I stayed as late as I could, but I had to get home so I could get up early enough the next day do get everything I done that I needed to do before my work shift started (I already miss unemployment!). But Ben promised to wear my name tag to promote my twitter account after I left.

This was exactly what I needed to do on Monday night. Good friends, good conversation, and a lot of fun.

And if any of you are in the LA area and want to come to the next tweetup, check out the website. The tweetups are about every 6 weeks and the next one will be on June 3rd. I hope to see some readers there then!

2 Comments

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, bar, friends, Los Angeles, tweetup, twitter

26.2 (or No Marathon For Me)

Posted on March 18, 2013 | 1 comment

It was the LA Marathon here in LA yesterday. I had a bunch of friends running, so I had the news coverage of the marathon on my tv this morning hoping I’d catch a glimpse of one of them running (sadly, I didn’t).

I’ve never done a marathon (the farthest I’ve ever done was a 5K and that’s walking), and at one point in my life, I dreamed of being able to say that I ran a marathon. I even had a personal trainer at one point who was training me to run. That stopped pretty quickly due to my hip hurting. So I gave up on that dream for a while.

Then they started doing marathons on The Biggest Loser. Some of those people were in much worse physical shape when they started and they could do a marathon. So I tried starting with the Couch to 5K program. And I had to give up on that again because of my hip.

I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of running. I know that high impact workouts are not the best for me.

And then one day, I came across this post on Daily Garnish. And it made me realize that it doesn’t matter if I never get to do a marathon one day. That shouldn’t be an end goal for me. For some people, all they dream of doing is a 5K. I have lots of friends who don’t think that they could do one. And I do it. Sometimes I’m a lot slower than I’d like to be, but I still cross the finish line.

And running isn’t for everyone. For me, it’s just not something that I should do because of my health restrictions. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be healthy or that I don’t get good workouts in. I push myself so far in spin class. I drip sweat and I know that even though I’m not do all the standing work, I’ll get there one day.

So maybe I can take the approach I wanted to take with doing a marathon to spinning. Doing a 5K is the same as being able to do an entire class without a break. Doing a 10K is like not taking a break and making sure I use all the resistance that the instructor is saying. And finishing a marathon is being able to do the entire class, standing up work and all, exactly how the instructor wants it to be.

I might not be able to do a traditional marathon, but I can make my own marathon with what I am able and love to do.

1 Comment

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged 5K, bike, Los Angeles, marathon, Spinning

I Saw Jesus and Pat Metheny (or How I Spent My Weekend With My Dad)

Posted on September 25, 2012 | 1 comment

I’ve been living in LA for just over 11 years now. And for the first few years, my parents didn’t visit too often, mainly because I was in school. After I graduated, my parents visited more often, but many times it was just my mom because my dad was busy working.

Now that my dad is retired, he has more time to do anything. He was looking at the schedule for the performing arts center where I work back in July, and he noticed that Pat Metheny was coming in September. He’s a big Pat Metheny fan, so I got us some tickets and my dad came out to visit me for this weekend (it was his first time coming to visit me by himself).

When he got in on Sunday, we started off with brunch at Truxtons (home of the free birthday meal) and then we were off to the Getty Center. My dad had never been before, only to the Getty Villa in Malibu. It was a pretty warm day, so we spent a lot of time inside at the exhibits and didn’t really make it down to the gardens.

After the Getty, we weren’t sure what we were going to do, and then I suggested taking the Expo line from Culver City to Exposition Park to look at the Rose Gardens. I’ve never taken the Expo line before, so I was excited to check it out. We hung out in the shade at the Rose Gardens for a while, and then we saw Hollywood Jesus. It was pretty funny. I think my dad found it entertaining too (especially when Hollywood Jesus took out his glasses so he could read something on his iPhone). Hollywood Jesus ended up heading to the Expo line at the same time as us, so I got this picture of him from the other side of the tracks:

On Monday, my friend Kate joined up with us for the day. We started out by going to Huntington Library in San Marino. We got up there around 11am, only to discover that it didn’t open until noon on weekdays. I’ve never heard of any place in LA not opening until noon.

We killed some time at Starbucks, and then checked out the gardens and book collections after Huntington Library opened up. This place was amazing! I had never been, but I will definitely be returning a lot. I didn’t get a ton of pictures there, but I did get this one at the lily pad area:

And then finally last night, it was time for the Pat Metheny show. I wasn’t able to get free seats for the show, but I did get us some amazing seat pretty much right on top of the stage.

We were on the side of the stage that Pat Metheny performed on. It was a great show with an amazing band, and I think that my dad had an amazing time at the show as well as a great weekend.

(Here he is showing off the t-shirt he bought to remember the show)

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Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged family, Los Angeles

Tag Archives: Los Angeles

After-Work Adventure (or I Love LA)

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LA Times Festival Of Books (or Realizing I’m Only A Minor Book Nerd)

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Back To LA (or Reflections On The NYC Trip)

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Attempting Snow And Sand In One Day (or A One Day Road Trip)

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Quick Family Visit (or My Extra Long Lunch From Work)

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The Pie Hole (or Discovering Deliciousness in Downtown LA)

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Pushing Myself (or This Will Make Me Feel Better If I Only Get 9 5Ks Done In 2013)

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LA Actors Tweetup (or My LA Family)

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26.2 (or No Marathon For Me)

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I Saw Jesus and Pat Metheny (or How I Spent My Weekend With My Dad)

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