Tag Archives: party

An Evening Of Fabulous Women (or Getting More Involved At Women In Film)

Posted on January 20, 2015 | 2 comments

Last week, Women In Film had their annual membership summit. I had been to this summit once in the past, but the past 2 years it was held on an evening that I couldn’t attend. But this year, since I’m not working in the evenings anymore, I was able to make it.

Ms. In The Biz founder (and my friend), Helenna, just joined WIF so she and I went to the event together. The summit was being held at the Arclight movie theater in Hollywood and fortunately there are a bunch of great restaurants right there. We met up at Stella Barra which is right next to the theater. We had some dinner and got to catch up a little. The Ms. In The Biz book launch is coming up soon and we got to talk a little about that.

Soon, it was time to head over to the theater for the meeting. Check-in was little crazy, but soon enough we were at the theater where the meeting was held. And of course, we had to take a few pictures in front of the step and repeat.

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Because the check-in was a little slow, we were some of the very first people in the theater. So we got some pretty primo seats right up front and by the podium.

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The idea of the membership summit is kind of like an overview of everything that WIF has to offer. There have been many changes in the past few months so the person in charge of each of the different programs within the organization got up and spoke. They each shared what their program does and if they are looking for volunteers (and what they need volunteers to do).

It was a pretty short meeting because there was a little party afterward. As soon as the meeting was done, the different programs that were looking for volunteers had sign up sheets so we could get more involved in WIF. While so many of the programs seemed amazing, I signed up to help with the annual awards banquet auction and the film screening series.

I haven’t heard back from those programs on what they need me to do, but I’m super excited to be more involved in WIF. While I’ve been a member for several years, outside of the mentor program and various film screenings, I haven’t really taken advantage of my membership. I know that there is more to WIF than what I’ve been doing and hopefully volunteering for those programs will help me feel more comfortable with joining other groups and programs within the organization.

The party was held downstairs at the theater. As we walked in, we were handed hats with the new and updated WIF logo (it now includes TV, Digital and Media as part of the logo).

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There were food and drinks passed around. I didn’t get any photos of those because Helenna and I were busy meeting other WIF members. I also ran into one of my fellow mentees from my old mentoring circle. She didn’t apply for a new mentoring circle like I did so we won’t be in the new mentoring circle together again (I was kind of hoping we would be).

I didn’t stay too late since I had work the next morning, but I did meet a ton of new people at the event (and a lot of non-actors which is awesome!). I’m so excited to see what I can do this year with WIF and what new opportunities will come my way because of that.

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Default ThumbnailWomen In Film (or Brunch and Ghostbusters) Default ThumbnailLess Networking More Socializing (or Another Evening With My Fellow Mentees) Default ThumbnailMentoring Circle (or Women Who Support Each Other) Default ThumbnailEnd Of The Mentoring Circle (or One Final Lunch) Default ThumbnailGetting Ready To Get Mentored Again (or A Evening With WIF) Default ThumbnailAnother Evening Of Mentees (or Advice and Socializing)

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Ringing In The New Year (or Fun With Glow Sticks)

Posted on January 2, 2015 | 1 comment

I spent the evening of New Year’s Eve at Chris and Marie’s house. They always throw the best parties and I had a great time celebrating with them last year.

It’s been cold for LA lately (cold here means in the high 30’s/low 40’s at night), so I tried my best to dress cute but warm. Fortunately, their parties take place both inside and outside their house.

I got there a bit on the early side since I knew I would be leaving right after midnight. It’s always so wonderful arriving at one of their parties because there are always friendly faces to greet me and so many people to catch up with.

We spent the beginning of the party outside. They do have a heat lamp as well as a fire pit, so it wasn’t unbearable. Just really really cold.

We did throw some cinnamon into the fire pit again this year like we did last year to make sure that 2015 is a sweet year. But we didn’t burn our wishes for the new year.

After a while, most of the party guests were inside the house. But a couple of us hung out outside. There were some glow sticks that someone brought so we opened those up and started to crack them so they would glow. I started with a couple of glow bracelets and Marie and I decided to get a picture together showing off our new jewelry.

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And then I wanted to get a group picture of a bunch of us glowing in the backyard.

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Of course, I couldn’t stop with just glow bracelets, I had to make myself a headband as well.

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Once we felt sufficiently styled in our glow bracelets, we decided it was time to get out of the cold and go into the house. There were a ton of bracelets to pass out to other guests, so I made Marie a glow belt to hang the extra bracelets off of.

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Yes, we were that silly at the party (and I hadn’t had a single drink).

Once inside, I found a nice spot on the couch near the tv so I could warm up. Most people had gathered around there since it was getting closer to midnight. It was really just a chill party where we were all having fun catching up with each other and discussing the movies we had seen lately (since it’s awards season, movies are on everyone’s mind).

Just before midnight, I made sure to get another picture with Marie and one with my friend Robert.

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And before I knew it, it was time to count down to midnight. We all had some champagne and noise makers and once it hit midnight everyone at the party was cheering. I didn’t have a special New Year’s kiss, but I got a kiss and a hug from all of my friends at the party.

At about 12:15, I had to head out. I hate being on the freeways during holidays like New Year’s Eve when there are a bunch of people who have been drinking. And since I figured most people would probably stay out later until the bars closed at 2am, it was a good time for me to leave.

I wished I could have stayed later, but I had a somewhat early morning (more on that next week). But I really had an amazing time at the party. There’s nothing better than spending a holiday with your chosen family (aka your friends). I felt so loved by everyone and that’s exactly how I wanted to start 2015.

Thanks to Marie and Chris for throwing another epic party! The next one will be the Oscars party (and I haven’t even started to think of my costume yet!).

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An Evening Of Makeup (or Besame Cosmetics)

Posted on December 17, 2014 | 1 comment

Right after Brandi’s birthday brunch, I had to rush to get to my next event for the day. I had been invited to check out Besame Cosmetics and the launch of their latest product. But since I’m not great at doing makeup, my in between stop was here.

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A new friend of mine from Orangetheory is a makeup artist for Smashbox and she offered to do my makeup for me before I headed to Burbank for the Besame event. I said yes right away and was so excited to have my makeup done.

As soon as she was done, I was shocked at how I looked. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so pretty!

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While it seemed like a lot of makeup to me, it was the perfect amount and I couldn’t have been happier with my look!

As soon as I got to Burbank, I found a parking spot in front of the store and headed inside.

I hadn’t heard of Besame Cosmetics before this event, but their makeup all has a vintage theme and has fewer ingredients than most companies (making them better for sensitive skin). Their store was so cute!

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The launch party was for their new Vanilla Brightening Face Powder.

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It’s a translucent powder that can be used with or without foundation. And it seriously helps to brighten up any dark spots or circles on your face (sadly, I forgot to take a picture after I tried it out). The Vanilla Brightening Face Powder is for light to medium skin but they also have a French Vanilla Brightening Face Powder for darker complexions.

What I loved the most about this product was it is pretty much fool-proof (a necessity for any makeup that I use). It also smells super yummy!

I checked out all the various products that they had at their store and then starting chatting with some other bloggers. The women I met at this event were so friendly and happy to give me some pointers on what I can do to make this blog better. I’ve met so many bloggers who have the attitude of “I had to learn it all on my own so you have to do it on your own too.”. It was so nice to meet bloggers who really wanted to help others not make the same mistakes that they have.

After chatting with the bloggers, we decided to get a drink. There was a bar in the back with a couple of speciality drinks. I tried the Vanilla Snow, and it was so delicious!

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It was made with vanilla vodka, Godiva white chocolate liquor, milk, and crushed peppermint candies! I might have to try to make this if I end up doing a holiday-time party this year!

It was getting late (at least late for me when I had been up at 6am that day), so I got ready to head home. On my way out, I was presented with a gift bag.

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Inside was the Vanilla Brightening Face Powder and a bottle of their 1950’s perfume (I got to choose my perfume and I liked the 1950’s scent the most).

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I have to say that know that I know about Besame Cosmetics, I definitely want to test out more of their products. They have some amazing lipstick colors! And if you want to check out their new Brightening Powders, they will be for sale at Sephora in the New Year!

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An Evening Out With Friends (or An Excuse To Dress Up)

Posted on November 25, 2014 | Comments Off on An Evening Out With Friends (or An Excuse To Dress Up)

On Saturday evening after my 4th workout of the week, my friend Rayshell was throwing a party.

The party was because she and her boyfriend had an out-of-town guest visiting, but Rayshell is such an awesome hostess that I think that she could use any excuse and make it a fabulous party.

I haven’t been going out a lot lately. My days are filled with working (and looking for work) and then going to work out.

On days that I work out after I’m done at my day job, I never wear “normal” clothes. When I wake up, I change out of my pajamas and put on my workout clothes. I see no need to wear another outfit while I’m working from home.

After my workout, I come home and shower and then just put my pajamas back on. All I’m usually doing after a workout is eating dinner, watching some tv, and doing any work that still needs to be done. Again, no need to wear another outfit while doing that.

So each week when I do my laundry, it’s pretty much all workout clothes and then 1 or 2 “normal” outfits (I repeat things since I’m just wearing them while I work from home).

So when I have an excuse to dress up, I take advantage of it!

I was super exhausted after the workout, but I wasn’t able to take a nap. Right before the party, Rayshell sent me a text that she forgot something at the store and was hoping that I could pick it up. So I left and got the supplies she needed and made the drive over to the valley.

I was the first one to arrive at the party, and that’s what usually happens. Mainly because I am not a late owl so I’d rather be there early and get a chance to hang out with my friends than show up late and only be able to stay for a little bit.

It was a pretty casual party, but so much fun. There were several people who I knew there and a bunch of new people who I met. I was there for a few hours before I started to feel really tired. I knew that I needed to head home before I was too tired to drive home safely.

So I made my round of goodbyes and made the drive back (at least there was no traffic). Pretty much as soon as I got home, I fell asleep.

Having fun events like this to break up my week really help to revitalize me. And I had another fun event this past weekend as well. But that will be for another post.

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Halloween Hangout (or I’m Just A Regular Puppet)

Posted on November 5, 2014 | Comments Off on Halloween Hangout (or I’m Just A Regular Puppet)

With Halloween being on a Friday evening and my earliest work shift being on Saturday morning, I had to do some planning so I could enjoy going out that evening.

The first step was to switch my Friday workout to Thursday so I could have time after work to get my costume ready (and not have to shower and change after a workout). Then I made a plan to go to the party early and try to leave on the early side as well.

Not all of my plan worked.

The party was held at my friends Chris and Marie’s house (where all the best parties are!). It’s about an hour drive away from me in traffic so since the party started at 7, I had a plan to try to leave around 6.

I spent a lot of time getting ready. I had seen a marionette costume on the Party City website, and after trying to figure out if I could build the headpiece on my own, I ended up just ordering it (this was about a month ago). Then I did a lot of research online about marionette makeup. I’m not a great makeup person, so I tried really hard. And this is what I came up with.

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I know that a lot of the makeup tutorials online were more detailed, but my makeup supply isn’t too extensive and I didn’t want to have to buy a ton of makeup (I did have to buy that eyeliner to make the mouth lines).

My costume was impossible to drive in, so as soon as I parked I got into my costume and headed inside. Everyone seemed to love my outfit.

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I don’t always go really elaborate with costumes (due to a lack of creativity and money), but this one seemed to be a winner with everyone.

The only thing was every kept asking me if I was some sort of special puppet or just a regular puppet. I wish I had worn a shirt that said “I’m just a regular puppet”.

The party was a huge success and there were so many people in awesome costumes there. Even the rainstorm didn’t affect the party atmosphere.

For the costume contest, I didn’t make the top 3, but I did get some votes. So that’s better than most years.

I had a plan to try to leave by 11pm, but the costume contest didn’t really start until after midnight. So I left a bit later than expected, but there was no traffic coming home and somehow I managed to get to bed quickly so I wasn’t too exhausted working in the morning.

Thanks again to Marie and Chris for being the most amazing hosts! They seriously do such great parties that I would be scared to have a party at my house because I know that it will have no chance at being as great as what they do!

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I only got a picture with Marie that evening, so sorry Chris that I don’t have a picture of us to put on here. I think you were too busy being a great host and making sure everyone had an awesome time!

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How I Spent My Actual Birthday (or Friends, Friends, and More Friends)

Posted on August 13, 2014 | 1 comment

Originally, my plans for my actual birthday were pretty up in the air. I had no idea what I was going to do, and there was a good chance that I would just spend the day hanging around my house reading and watching movies (which would have been awesome).

Instead, I got to spend a lot of time with lots of awesome people!

It started at brunch. My friend Kate and her boyfriend Nick just happened to be in LA that weekend (they had a wedding to go to the evening of my birthday). So Kate and Nick took me out to brunch that morning! They asked me ahead of time where my favorite brunch spot was, so they made reservations at Rush St. Rush St. is just down the street from my house and I’ve always thought that they have had one of the best brunches in LA (and they don’t have crazy lines out the door like some places).

I was trying to be good with my food choices (even though brunch was going to be my main meal of the day), so I got an omelet with tater tots on the side (I have to be able to splurge a little on my birthday!).

It was a nice casual brunch and I got to catch up with Kate and Nick which is always nice. Plus, Kate got me a super awesome birthday card so that made me happy!

After brunch, I just hung around my house for a little while. While hanging out and being lazy at home, I did get an awesome flower delivery from my parents.

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And before I knew it, it was time to head out again.

About 2 weeks before my birthday, my friends Marie and Chris put out an invitation on Facebook about another one of their awesome house parties. At first, I thought that maybe I’d end up making other plans for my birthday evening, but since I already had my outing to Bodega the night before, I figured why not go and hang out with a ton of my friends!

Of course, I wore the sparkly headband again.

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It really was the perfect way to spend my birthday evening. Lots of good friends, good food, and just a good time. There wasn’t anything special, but that’s ok with me.

And when I was heading out to leave at about 11pm (I was trying to leave at a responsible time), Marie and Chris led everyone in singing “Happy Birthday” to me.

That was pretty awesome.

I got home just before midnight and enjoyed the last few minutes of my birthday catching up on all the awesome Facebook messages I got during the day.

Even though it might seem like I didn’t do much for my birthday, honestly it was the perfect way to celebrate for me. Big parties and events stress me out and that’s not what I want to have for my birthday. Casual get-togethers where everyone is having fun is the best option for me.

And I’ve still got a few more birthday celebrations to go. Coming up next (most likely) will be my birthday meal with my birthday twin. And that’s one of my favorite traditions!

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Celebration Time! (or Ending My Dirty 30 Year)

Posted on August 12, 2014 | 1 comment

I had decided to have my birthday party on the day before my birthday.

This was for a couple of reasons. First of all, at Bodega, they require a minimum tab for parties on Saturdays. I didn’t want to have to deal with that (everyone has to pay on 1 credit card so that’s annoying). Also, there were a few friends who didn’t know if they could make it at all, but if they could it would only be on Friday. Also, I wasn’t quite sure what I really wanted to do on my birthday day, so I wanted to leave that evening open.

My day started with my workout at Orangetheory. After doing that, I knew that I had burned off enough calories to enjoy a few drinks while I was out.

I had a little bit of time at home to get showered and dressed before I headed out to DryBar. I went to the same one I went to last year for my birthday, and it was a better experience than the year before. But I have to say that the DryBar in NYC was still way better!

I decided that I wanted to have curls in my hair for the evening. That seems festive to me and it’s something that I can’t really do on my own. While it was getting done, it looked pretty great and I was happy while I walked out the door.

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Sadly, the curls didn’t last even though the hair stylist used 2 rounds of hairspray (which I later hated because it made my hair impossible to brush). But my hair still looked better than anything that I could do on my own.

Next it was time to head over to Bodega. I was a little worried that not a lot of people would show up, but I went with the mindset that I would have a great time with whoever was there.

And I’m glad I went in with that mindset because only 3 people could make it. Lots of other people wanted to come but had work/traffic/lack of money/lack of time issues.

But the 3 who were there (Rayshell, Rayshell’s boyfriend Paul, and Sarah) were awesome and I had the best time with all of them!

We ordered food and drinks and just chatted about whatever. It was so low key and chill and it was exactly what I wanted. I don’t know if it could have been the same vibe if more people attended.

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Rayshell and Paul had to leave around 10 but Sarah and I stuck around until about 11. It was the perfect hangout with friends.

Before I knew it, it was time for me to drive home. And yes, I did stay up until midnight so I could enjoy the first minutes of my actual birthday.

And there were fun things ahead for me on my birthday and I’ll share that with you all tomorrow!

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An Elopement Reception (or Enjoying The Sunset And Gluten-Free Vegan Cake)

Posted on August 5, 2014 | Comments Off on An Elopement Reception (or Enjoying The Sunset And Gluten-Free Vegan Cake)

A friend of mine, Sarah, got married last week. She and her now husband decided that they didn’t want a big wedding and eloped. I think the only people in attendance at the wedding were her parents, the officiant, and the photographer.

Even though they didn’t want a big wedding, they did have a small party celebrating their marriage this past weekend. And I was honored that I got an invite to the party!

I had some fun picking out a present for the bride and groom. I got them a photo farm to use for one of their wedding photos (they already opened the gift so I’m not spoiling the surprise). And I do work hard on wrapping gifts as nicely as possible.

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That is all my handiwork. Even the flower which I made from tissue paper. And yes, I’ll do a blog post soon about how to do the flower (I’ve already gotten requests to do that and I just need to get more supplies before doing it).

The party was held in a house in the hills near Silverlake where the bride’s parents were renting a house while on vacation here in LA. Sarah and her husband actually got married in the backyard of the house.

And as soon as I got there, I was blown away by how gorgeous the view was from the backyard.

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It was a pretty casual party, so that was really nice. There was Mexican food brought in from a restaurant (whose name is escaping my memory). It was really yummy food and we all ate in the backyard. There were different decks and seating areas to be in, so I was in a small group sitting in this little covered deck area and we all had fun chatting and goofing off while eating.

Before we knew it, the sun was setting and the view got so much better!

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After dinner, we headed back into the house for some dessert. There was vegan and non-vegan ice cream and a gluten-free vegan cake. I’ve had some bad experiences with gluten-free vegan cakes, but I have to say that this one was actually really good. I might not have known it was gluten-free or vegan if people didn’t tell me.

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I enjoyed a small scoop of non-vegan Oreo ice cream as well!

Before I knew it, it was getting pretty late and I needed to head home (I had some things I had to do early on Sunday morning). Before I left, Sarah made sure I took a favor from the wedding.

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Everyone at the wedding got to take a little pot of flowers home with them. Mine is sitting in my living room until my parents are here to visit me later this month. Since my dad is the one with the green thumb, I’m going to let him tell me what I should do with the flowers.

I’ve been to many different types of wedding over the years, and I have to say that every wedding I’ve attended really fit the people involved so perfectly. While eloping and having a very small reception a few days later might not be for everyone, I think it was so perfect for Sarah and her husband and I had the best time at their party.

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4th Of July (or Hot Dogs, Fireworks, And Rooftops)

Posted on July 8, 2014 | 1 comment

I spent my afternoon and evening of 4th of July over at my friends Chris and Marie‘s house. They really do throw the best parties and this was the first time I’d be over there for 4th of July.

I’m always a little wary about driving on 4th of July (or any holiday where there is a lot of drinking) so I tried to time my drives for when there wouldn’t be a ton of traffic. So I headed over there around 5pm and got to their house pretty quickly.

Everyone was hanging out in the backyard and just relaxing and catching up. Definitely my type of party (I’m not a fan of crazy parties). After being there for a while, the sprinklers came on in the backyard. Marie and Chris just got new grass for their yard and they had to water it a lot so the grass would grow properly.

Since it was pretty hot out, I decided that I wanted to run through the sprinklers. I wasn’t really wearing the best outfit for that (I wore jeans), but I didn’t care. And I didn’t want to run through the sprinklers alone, so I decided to recruit some other people to join in.

Marie was the first person to say yes, and then 2 other party goers saw what we were going to do and they took off their shoes to join us.

I have to admit, even though I didn’t like that my jeans got soaking wet, running through the sprinklers was pretty awesome and a perfect activity for the party.

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After the sprinkler adventure, Chris got the grill fired up and started taking orders for hot dogs. Ordering was necessary because he and Marie and gotten 7 or 8 different types of hot dogs for the party! I wish I had taken a picture of the sign they made because they gave all the hot dogs really clever names.

I ordered a cheddar dog mainly because I had never had one before and it sounded good. And it was! Sadly, no photos were taken of the food because I was too busy eating it (I was hungry after my workout earlier that day).

We all spent time just relaxing and enjoying each other’s company while waiting for the sun to set. Even though having fireworks is illegal in Los Angeles County (unless it is a professional show), Marie and Chris said that last year plenty of people near their house set off fireworks.

So once the sun was down, a bunch of us climbed a ladder to hang out on the roof of their house to watch the fireworks. And since they were being set off so close to us, the fireworks were huge in the sky!

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We were up there for a while until someone complained that they were just hit by a piece of fireworks shrapnel. We didn’t know what had happened until we used the lights from our phones to look on the roof. We found a marble sized hard ball that must have been part of one of the fireworks (maybe it held some sort of propellant to make the fireworks go into the sky?).

After that, we all got a little nervous about being on the roof, so we headed down to watch the rest of the fireworks safely in the backyard (where I guess technically something could still hit us but we had the overhang from the roof to protect us).

I hung out at the party until about 11pm. I had figured that 11pm was a pretty safe time to leave. People who went to firework shows had already left and bars were still open so a lot of people were hanging out there. Thankfully, my plan worked and not only did I get home safely, I got home very quickly as there was no traffic on the freeways.

Even though this was a pretty low-key 4th of July, it was really a perfect way to spend a day off. I was around great friends, great food, and great conversation. What more could you want?

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Happy Hour Party (or Getting To See Co-Workers Again)

Posted on June 19, 2014 | Comments Off on Happy Hour Party (or Getting To See Co-Workers Again)

This week was the end of the year party for the theater I work at. We had a party last year at the end of the season, but that was when I was still working in telesales and I was working 6 days a week.

Now that I’m in the box office, I’m lucky if I’m there 1 day a week. And even though I’ve been back for a while, some people didn’t know that I was back until a staff meeting that we had last month. Everyone works in an office building across the street from the theater except for the box office staff. We, obviously, work in the box office that is attached to the theater. So unless someone is coming over to the box office for some reason, they never see us.

I’m still getting used to being back. It’s weird to work in a job that is so similar yet so different from what I’m used to doing. While I do know some things, there are so many things that in telesales we couldn’t do. So I’m still learning a lot every day.

Also, I’m used to this time being the busiest (and most profitable for me) time of the year. But in the box office, we maybe get 1 phone call over a 3 hour shift. We don’t have tickets on sale yet to the public, so we don’t have a ton of work we have to do.

Anyway, back to the party.

Before the party, there was a staff meeting and then we all headed over to Bodega (yes, where my 30th birthday party was last year). Bodega is only about 3 blocks from the theater, so it’s super convenient. I used to go to Bodega all the time. But that was also when I worked in telesales until 5:30 on Wednesdays and wanted to wait out rush hour traffic. Since being laid off from telesales, I haven’t been back.

It was free food and drinks for everyone, which made it pretty fun. I only had 1 cocktail since it was only 2pm and I knew I had work to do at my house later.

We played some random games like get-to-know-you BINGO where it turns out I’m the only person who works at the theater who has been to Africa. But honestly, it was just a nice time to get to chat with people who I don’t really get to see at work. Again, some people forgot that I had been brought back to work in the box office. I’m the only person from the telesales team who is back.

After 3 hours of hanging out with everyone, I headed back home. It’s nice to be social with co-workers and I feel like the fact that I was social before is one of the reasons that I was asked to come back to work. Building relationships with people always helps and I’m glad that when I was let go I had left a positive enough impression for them to want me back.

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Comments Off on Happy Hour Party (or Getting To See Co-Workers Again)

Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff, Work

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