hotlanta

made it home! hooray. georgia overall was a good experience...observances: not too hot or muggy, gas hasn't quite hit $4 yet, waffle houses as prevalent as starbucks are around here. i must say i never saw any 100-calorie pack anythings or even "light" food items, except my healthy wrap at the hotel one night -- those people like their pork rinds, deep-fried and fatty items.

i did find the thick southern accents slightly endearing but also annoying. seriously...do you think it takes effort to talk like that? i wanted to hear them try dropping it for a while. it was pretty cute to hear everyone calling each other "ma'am" and "sir." and atlanta was a cool city...made me want to study the civil rights movement a little more.

my creepy little friend from the previously-mentioned horror hotel. YUCK! three inches, i'm not kidding.

georgia has gorgeous trees, vegetations and mountains. i definitely had a scenic drive.

and the mark of my return to civilization...i was really so delighted by my meal last night that i had to take a picture. for some reason i will never tire of room service, even at an embassy suites...maybe because it's so ridiculously expensive i'd never get it on my own.

only one slight delay on the flight home today, but who am i kidding -- i slept pretty much the entire way (albeit uncomfortably -- i hate sleeping on airplanes. i don't know how i'm going to survive the 14 hour trip to germany). time change is rough, especially when you're only going somewhere (somewhere that's three hours ahead and you have to wake up when your body thinks it's 2 a.m.) for two days. i came home and took a big nap :) so glad to be home.

100%+ improvement

okay so after i re-read last night's post i realize i was overreacting a little...but let me tell you i made it through the night just fine (although i didn't sleep much). thanks for all your concern but really i'm just a wimp.

and basically it was all worth it because now i'm comin atcha from my lovely embassy suites room...vh1 and room service (turkey-and-veggie wrap with a side of french fries...mmm). simple pleasures. i fly home tomorrow...let's hope there's no fog in SF.

p.s. on "i love the new millenium" (i hope vh1 never stops making these shows...i love them) they just did clay aiken in 2003. he was SO CUTE. remember how much we loved him, erica? too bad now he's gay and gross looking and randomly impregnates women. boo.

OMG

omg. that's really the only word i have right now, thanks to this trip. i could start probably 12 different horror screenplays from the place i'm staying right now -- we're talking bates motel, middle of nowhere, no outdoor lighting, it's been a long day so i tried to go to sleep at 12:00 a.m. but of course couldn't because my brain was telling me it was 9:00 p.m....so i woke up and decided to read blogs etc. until i felt tired (i have to get up at 7 a.m. so i wanted to assimilate to the time change asap) and GOOD THING I DID because i was just sitting here watching scrubs on youtube and saw a THREE INCH crawly, multi-legged little worm crawling on my bed!!!!!!!! YUCK!!! i HATE bugs. hate hate hate. especially when they're on my BED. i freaked out, jumped up and grabbed three kleenex (pausing only to take a picture for the blog of course -- it'll be up here this weekend :), picked it up, squished it, threw it in the trash can, and then dumped the contents of the trash can in the toilet and flushed, just in case. bleccchhh. how am i supposed to sleep NOW?? (1:20 a.m., if you're keeping up.)

and just because i will never sleep and feel chatty but i have no cell reception, i will tell you about the rest of my day. got off to a great start when last night my sleepy, post-yoga brain decided to set my alarm for 6:30 a.m. -- the time i was supposed to leave for the airport, not wake up! i showered and threw on clothes and booked it to the burbank airport but luckily made it. oh and another highlight -- at least one thing kept me entertained: the fact that erik estrada was on my originally scheduled flight.





i looked him up on imdb but didn't recognize a lot of his stuff (besides CHiPs and his lizzie mcguire cameo of course)...i swear he did a cameo on scrubs or arrested development once. anyone help me out?

then i learned my flight to san fran was delayed so i'd miss my connection to atlanta, the only flight out today, so i rerouted to denver to either make stand by for a 1:30 p.m. flight or wait till my newly scheduled 6:30 flight, which would get me in at 11:30 (and now i'm kind of wishing i had). luckily i got the stand by, made it to atlanta (which is very hot, wooded and full of waffle houses and chik-fil-a's...that's really all i know about it so far), picked up the rental car and drove here. to the scary place with bugs and no sleep.

and that is all. now i'm even more uneasy and really have never wanted to see an embassy suites more in my lifetime. eek...let's just say i've said a lot of prayers today, and i think that will continue.

p.s.

i'll be in the backwoods of georgia for the next 48 hours (work research trip).

pray for me.

we're talking hardcore appalachia, and if you read the glass castle you might have some idea of why i'm afraid.

i'll have my camera in hand with a complete report when i return :)

reality show shortage

so with all my fave shows currently between seasons (except jon & kate, still going strong -- did anyone catch the hair transplant episode?? i almost puked when they cut off that strip of skin from his head) i've been searching for new stuff. then i heard that a fellow byu alum, kelsey nixon, was going to be on "the next food network star." i never actually knew her but we were comms majors at the same time and have mutual friends, and who am i to not support a fellow mormon AND cougar??

so brandon and i tuned in to the first few episodes and at first i was definitely non-plussed. it's definitely not the highest-quality reality show out there (nothing compared to my beloved project runway, returning JULY 16!! woo!), not to mention that kelsey's overcaffeinated TV-cheerleader personality really bugged me at first. apparently it bothered the judges as well because last week they basically told her she was annoying -- and this week she toned it down and i actually really liked her. now i must admit i'm getting sucked in -- i do think kelsey could win and i'm fully rooting for her. and i think i will continue to watch that dumb show. you should too (come on, support the mormons) -- sunday nights on food network :)

home decorating.

we're still trying to spruce up the new apartment (and all the newfound wall space that didn't exist at the other one), so on saturday i went to kirklands, a fantastic home decorating store (not the place that makes costco stuff). i was quite happy with my purchases and decided to share :)

we got a fantastic 2-foot clock (for only $20!!! i was super stoked about this one because i've seen similar ones for $80 at the cheapest)...

and a lovely set of "three exotic vessels," according to the box...in reality they're just lovely little vases. they were on sale and i couldn't resist...i'm a sucker for anything you can put on a shelf or a table, and since i DO have those two lovely end tables now i needed something cool. the red one is so awesome i almost want to redo my house just so i can have a red-themed room.

that's all. the house is almost complete now, as soon as i craigslist that pile of junk i have still stuffed in the corner. hooray for consumerism.

open wide...

today i went to the dentist. i never really have a good experience there because i have some jaw issues so it hurts me to keep my mouth open wide, but ever since i got married & got my own insurance things have been especially crappy. we have the cheap version of dental insurance through work (i always forget this difference between the two, but i think we have a DMO...whatever type is crappy, that's what we have) and last year i went to some weirdo in culver city whose office was wallpapered in 70s wood paneling -- and i kid you not, the man was so non-tech that he did not even have a spit-sucker wand. YUCK. that whole experience scarred me enough to wait almost 18 months before my next appt (saying a lot, coming from someone who went to the dentist every 6 months without fail until age 22).

i went back to the pasadena dentist today, the one who said it would be $545 for my wisdom tooth removal, to get cleaned. it was still kind of lame but not as bad, although i am 85% sure the hygenist called me a "juicy patient" (sorry that i have a lot of spit, people!). i didn't particularly love them but at least they cleaned my teeth. then they racked up all these other future costs at my orthodontist consultation to discuss the production of an invisiline retainer to keep my other teeth in place so that we don't have to remove my baby teeth right now. three years of braces did make me a little weary of anything mouth-related, but this is lame. it's like $900 for the wisdom tooth + retainer. but now i'm wondering if i wait till the end of the year and switch dental insurances to the one that covers more, will it end up saving me more money? aren't insurance peeps supposed to pay for wisdom teeth? (mine is only signed up to pay about $121 at this point.) are these people trying to pull something over on me? dentists are lame. i wish i could find one that i liked and trusted and who could answer all my questions.

to my pops

i was late on my mothers day post also but hey, better late than never. just wanted to give a shout out to my amazing dad.

i'm lucky enough to get along really well with both my parents but i've always been a little bit of a daddy's girl. except that i was never really an outside person so i wasn't into wrestling, swimming down to the bottom of lake powell for hours, etc. etc. like my other sibs. but my dad has always been my biggest fan and told me my whole life how special i was and that i (as the oldest child) changed his life for the better when i was born. because of my dad i love to quote movies, play rummy, and eat cookies and milk. he let me watch the x files with him every sunday night, ride on the back of his dirt bike and hold his hand during scary movies. he was always my hero, and he still gives me great advice and listens to all my problems. i love my daddy.

thoughts on humanity

i have been known to say things like "i hate humans." this is usually while i am driving/walking and someone cuts me off, when i see parents letting their children run wild in stores, etc. etc. i realize this is a completely blasphemous generalization and pretty much goes against all the teaching of my church (not to mention the fact that yes, i too am human) but sometimes i am just disgusted with our population.

today was a rare opportunity to witness humanity at a low point. i left work at a normal time today and was quite happy about it, so i did the usual brisk walk from the subway through union station. when i got to the stairs to the gold line i figured something was weird because there were crowds of people all around, where usually there are none. when i got to the top of the stairs i saw literally hundreds of people just standing around. problem with the train? yes.



this was a nice reminder that i will be utterly stranded in downtown los angeles if something ever really DOES happen to the train. regardless, i heard snippets of what was going on (electrical damage, shot brakes, a fire at the lake station, etc.) but about three minutes after i got up there a rescue train arrived. i just stood back and watched to see what was happening -- there was no way i was going to shove my way onto that ridiculously packed getaway train. ten minutes later another train came, i made my way onto it (standing room only of course, but i actually got a seat two stops before i got off) and the huge crowd started to abate.

but this got me thinking. i dont really like to be in large crowds like that because it's all a little too disaster-scenario for me. people start being mean to each other and the base of human nature pops out. i stood in the hot sun at the platform for maybe 15 minutes, but that was more than enough time to see people pushing, dropping f-bombs, fighting with each other. yuck. i hope i never have to be in a situation like that where it is actually life and death, because i hate the way people don't help each other and just look out for number one. like on war of the worlds where hoards of people surround tom cruise's car because they want to take it. scary stuff.

and then, while i was thinking all these deep thoughts about mankind, our train drove through one of the "bad" parts of town and i saw a boy, not older than 8 or 9, riding a scooter in the street and gleefully flipping off the train as it drove past. how lovely. yes, let's teach our kids that there's nothing wrong with vulgar hand gestures. i have so much hope for the future. blecchh.

everlasting love

so brandon is a really great guy. not only did he bring me three mini reeses peanut butter cups at 4:15 p.m. today (my hungriest time of the day -- he knows the way to my heart is definitely through my stomach :) but he was still nice to me after i almost blew up our house.

yesterday was a rough day for me. after i was bratty most of the day and complained about a lot of things and even cried a little on our lunchtime walk, brandon was still trying to cheer me up (even though last week, when he was whining about the same things, i basically told him to buck up and take it. shows you what happens when you need to learn empathy and humility).

then i came home and started cooking dinner at 8 p.m. and couldn't figure out why my awesome teflon pan was smoking so much -- and then realized it was because my PHONE CHARGER was between the pan and the freaking burner. luckily i grabbed it before the whole thing burned through or exploded into flames -- and, miracle of miracles, it actually still works. and my nice husband just laughed at me, said he'd have to buy some electrical tape, and that it was all okay.

i guess the moral of the story is that i need to learn to handle stress better (and of course be more patient & empathetic to brandon) -- but hey, at least i didn't leave my car at the church or anything :)

date night in old town

<3

lesson

two days ago i called a reporter to follow up on a story he was supposed to write like four months ago about an event we flew him to. nothing had ever run and my client kept asking me about it. i felt like i had already nagged this guy multiple times but still hadn't found anything, which was weird because literally it should have been printed in february. so i sent a last ditch email attempt to see if i could get some info out of him.

turns out that in february, shortly after the event, this guy's wife suffered congestive heart failure and had to be rushed to the hospital to have a defibrillator/pacemaker installed. then it turned out that the pacemaker was defective so she had to go back to have it worked on. they still don't know if she's going to make it through all of this.

some things are definitely more important than work. i felt sheepish for even sending him that email when obviously he had so much more going on. but do you know what he told me? "i'm really sorry about the delay. i've been on personal leave from work but i'm trying really hard to finish my projects and your story is at the top of the list." work doesn't matter as much as some people think. REAL LIFE is what matters. i definitely think people get that a little backward.

two weeks late...

so just last night we finally finished the season 4 finale of LOST.

granted, i still stand by my utter disdain for that show post-season-two, and i did sleep through two segments of the finale on abc.com, and i haven't really paid much attention to what's been going on, but was anyone else totally thrown off?

i don't want to give anything away (i am aware that some of my friends are just NOW watching season one...lol) but if you saw it...let me know what you think. i thought the deaths were very sad, that (per the typical storyline) nothing made sense, and i basically just got more mad/frustrated again.

and claire in the bedroom scared the crap out of me...i literally jumped two inches off the couch. that is all.

stressed.

is it weird that when i feel like my head is going to explode, i deal with it by calmly reading blogs? at least it's not cocaine or something.

discovery

thanks to doris, this week i found out i live about four blocks from THIS house:




10 points if you can name the movie!

nice little friday

last friday was the GH offsite, or basically a summer outing/staff retreat rolled into one for all 70 of us. we took over a posh santa monica hotel, right on the water (and yes, i was on the planning committee for this as well...like i didn't have enough to do last week!).

we did a team building training session with the groundlings, a comedy troupe here in LA where a bunch of SNL actors including will ferrell got their start. let's just say i won't be turning up on who's line is it anyway in the near future -- improv's not really my thing. or maybe i'm just too shy.

anyway, after a delicious lunch, we set everyone loose on a digital scavenger hunt throughout the area -- santa monica pier and 3rd street promenade included. since i was a judge of the event i couldn't participate, but i walked down to the pier with a few other girls and we had a grand time. not a horrible way to spend a friday, now is it?

the bonus question on the scavenger hunt was an extra 100 points for any celebrity you saw. we seriously doubted anyone would get that, but we actually had three valid celebs! one group saw kevin connelly from entourage, another group saw virginia madsen from sideways, and a last group saw some random character actor who only merited points because we looked him up on imdb via blackberry. who knew so many famous people hang out at the pier on a friday?

as for me, i got to see these awesome guys:

kinda hard to see cause i took it on my camera phone, but these guys are official sumo wrestlers. they were in town for a big tournament and definitely looked out of place with all the beach bums. good times.

deep breath.

can i just say it feels SO GOOD to have life slow down a little. man, i swear i don't intentionally place myself in situations where i have to do a million things a minute, but it always seems to happen to me.

today was the first day of work in sooo long that i could take my time and get stuff done (including almost $10K worth of expense reports...i was way behind, yikes!). not going to lie, moving slowly basically makes me want to just read blogs and stalk people on facebook all day, but it's definitely a refreshing change of pace. i'm looking forward to the future when i can choose to be online all day, not because i'm forced to be.

family feud

one thing about me and brandon -- we love "the office." we've been huge fans since the beginning of season two and never miss an episode.

so when our friends heather & tyson suggested we go to the taping of celebrity family feud which featured cast members from the office, we were all over that. brandon even skipped the last hour of his GMAT class to go, which NEVER happens.

yesterday we went down to hollywood for the taping and ended up sitting in the second row right behind the stage (it's a weird set -- they have the regular audience seats but also some at the front, right behind the main screen). i was pretty pumped because the people who play oscar, phyllis, creed, kevin and meredith were all there -- we cheered for the cast every time they came out and did anything, and they'd smile and wave at us. actors from my name is earl and american gladiators were also there. anyway, we ended up getting to talk to oscar for a while as he waited for a game, and then when they won the whole thing (oops...now you don't have to watch it, i guess :) they walked off the stage right next to us and we got to give them all high fives and shake their hands and talk to them for a little while. they seemed so cool and fun, and were super nice to us.

i've been to more than my fair share of tv show tapings, and as far as shows go this one was pretty boring. it was totally worth it, though, just to meet these guys. not a bad way to spend a saturday afternoon, right?

another highlight though -- when we arrived, i saw a couple people i knew from NBC. i interned there the summer before my senior year in the publicity department, so i assume these peeps were there representing the shows. so random to see them again after all this time.

today we both spoke in church, and then i taught YW, and then my parents came for dinner. whew! what a week, i tell ya. luckily this week things will actually slow down a little -- i need a vacation or something. haha.

making a living

so i have this personal policy where i don't blog about specific work things (never know how those things can pop up to bite you in the professional world) but i wanted to share one cool thing i did this week. mainly because it has been consuming my life for the past few weeks.

the motorcycle company i work for debuted a new cruiser on tuesday (it was all very top secret until the embargo lifted just yesterday) on the deck of the USS Midway in san diego. this involved me working long hours to organize catering, DJs, AV, Midway contracts, equipment rentals, shuttle services, air travel, hotel reservations, press kits and various other event logistics.

in the course of the event i bought numerous drinks for all media and staff (i'm always so amused when i get to sit at a bar and pass around alcoholic beverages...), stayed at a fully swanky hotel which oddly had a glass wall in the bathroom (and where they were filming real housewives of orange county...in the hotel, not my room), and get less than five hours of sleep. good times.

view from my window

half of my lovely hotel room; sadly, i'm always too busy while working to really enjoy the awesome places they put us up. see the glass wall on the left? that's the corner of the shower. yeah, weird.

perks at the ivy: free voss water, full-size hard liquor in the "mini bar" (i guess that's a perk for some people, but not for someone who doesn't drink!), an actual CAN of jelly bellys, ipod stereo system, my own vanity fair magazine, SUPER comfy bed and cheneille robe, and "relaxation" room spray at my turndown service. if only they had free cookies at night time...

anyway, if you don't like my cryptic review of the event you can read media reviews of our work here, here, here or here.

update

yes, it's a wisdom tooth, which will cost me personally $545 dollars to have removed. hmm.

more posts to come soon...you know, when i'm not at work :)

brownies = furniture

so my boss is having a baby, and she and her husband are trying to clear out some furniture to make room for baby furniture. conveniently, part of this furniture was two end tables -- which just happens to be THE exact items i've been searching for in my garage sale shopping pretty much since i got married.

i offered to take them off her hands if she'd make me a deal, but she's so fantastic that she gave them to me for free. then, to make it even better, she not-so-subtly suggested that she and her husband would deliver them to my apartment if i baked something for them in return. um, free delivery of perfect end tables and all i have to do is BAKE? this was basically a dream come true.

not having a whole lot of time on my hands i had to go for something semi-homemade, but i wanted it to live up to my high standards of delicious treats. enter ghiradelli brownie mix. this stuff is the BOMB. for real, best brownies ever. so i mixed it up, baked it and gave them away when my tables arrived. i highly recommend picking up a box for yourself, whether you're making them as a barter item or just to eat at home.

the great tables in question:

close up

not too bad, right? if only every weekend were this great.