The End of a Chapter

Here goes my last post!

Thursday we left Illinois for our short day of driving and went on to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. Once there we set up our tent (in the least crowded campground we had been in yet, likely due to the fact that there was a hotel attached to the Visitor's Center) and picked out which hike we wanted to do. There were so many to choose from, and so many of them sounded fun! Some were super intense (like you needed specific shoes and pants to even go on them) but others there were only a couple like that. We chose to do the Historic Tour, and our guide was awesome! He was the fourth or fifth generation of his family to be giving tours of Mammoth Cave (which is the longest cave in the world, 300+ miles of discovered cave), so he really knew his stuff. The tour was about 2 hours long and took us through the four biggest rooms in Mammoth Cave (in which church services were sometimes held because there was so much room) and through a stretch of cave called "Fat Man's Misery, Tall Man's Agony," during which we literally had to crawl through at parts because the ceiling was so low and the walk way was so small!

Even though both of our cameras died about half way through, we had a lot of fun exploring the cave and we both agreed it was someplace we wanted to return to some day.
After the tour we ate dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel, but since it didn't fill us up and we didn't have cell phone service anywhere in the park, we decided to drive to the next town over to get ice cream & make some calls. Gotta love Dairy Queen!

Friday morning we were going to do this hike along the water, but it was raining and we figured we were going to loose another hour with the time change anyway, so we decided to get on the road.
We stopped and had brunch at a Waffle House because UD had never been to one, it was the only chain restaurant/food place we stopped at during the whole trip other than In-N-Out Burger (which doesn't really count because it's a west coast thing) the whole trip! So we were pretty proud of that because we really wanted to experience the different local cuisine in each place.
After getting into Ohio we stopped at the US Air Force Museum. We got there two hours before it closed and there was so much to see we missed an entire room, but it was still really awesome. I learned so much and got some really great pictures, so I was glad that UD wanted to stop there because it was definitely a place I wouldn't think to stop at if I was traveling on my own.

That night we stopped in Zanesville, Ohio. Seeing as though it's an hour east of a big city (Columbus) there wasn't a lot of options food wise so we went to Tumbleweed Southwest Grill for dinner. Afterwords, we stopped over at Steak & Shakes to get a milkshake. The only disappointing thing about the evening was that my Peanut Butter Milkshake was just a vanilla milkshake with a few Reece's PB Cups in it...haha.

Saturday morning we got up and made our way to where UD lives in Stewartstown, PA. The day went off without a hitch (except for when we almost lost the ticket for the toll road, but no worries, we found it under the seat) and we got to his house around 2:30. The rest of the day I caught up on some shows and hung out with my Aunt Lori and their two little chihuahua dogs.

This morning I got up and headed home! It's great to be back and I am so blessed to have had two successful trips across country and an amazing semester in Los Angeles! :)

Halfway Home!

Uncle Dean (UD cause it's a hell of a lot shorter to type) & I are about half way done with our journey home to PA. I can't believe it's already Wednesday! The trip is literally just flying by. It has been a ton of fun so far and we have seen some pretty amazing stuff.

Friday after picking up UD at the airport we went to the Thai place to try to see the Elvis impersonator AGAIN (plus UD loves Thai food). Too bad he WASN'T THERE! Apparently he had a stroke last month and hasn't been in for awhile. If this is actually the case I feel really sorry for him, but since he is definitely one of the reasons that place has had as many customers as it has, they should really make it known that he hasn't/won't be in for awhile so people aren't continuously disappointed!

Saturday we got up pretty early & got the car packed to head out on day one of our trip!
For dinner, UD wanted to stop at an In-N-Out after spotting one as we drove through Vegas, but we pretty much gave up hope after that because we didn't spot one for awhile. Eventually though we did find one randomly in Utah at about 3 in the afternoon, haha!
Later, we got to our destination, Zion National Park in Utah. We literally got the last campsite (since we didn't get there until close to 5 because we lost an hour), but it worked out that we had just enough time to set up camp and go for a hike through the park. It was literally the most beautiful and most amazing hike I have ever been on in my entire life. Utah is just so massive and the stone formations are just incredible.

At 9PM we went to this ranger information/ceremony thing which is apparently different every night. That particular night it was a seminar/info session on the mountain lion. The lady was really enthusiastic, and had a lot of interesting stuff to say so though it sounds kinda lame, it was actually really interesting.

Sunday we got up and drove through the rest of the park (which was an incredible ride thanks again to Utah's landscape) to Colorado. Along the way we stopped at the Navajo National Monument in Arizona and did a little hiking there to the lookout to see some cliff dwellings in a nearby mountain. Near the Visitor's Center, there were fossils containing actual dinosaur footprints, which was random, but incredibly awesome because I don't think I have seen anything even related to dinosaurs in person before.
We stopped briefly at Lake Powell, where there is a giant dam similar to the Hoover Dam. It was super windy, but still incredibly beautiful.

Finally, we stopped at the Four Corners (Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, & Colorado) National Monument so we could stand on the T and officially be in 4 places at once! Super cool! Though it was just a little plaque on the ground, it is probably something I'll never do again, so it was definitely worth stopping at.
That night we stopped at Cortez, Colorado and ate (not) Mother's Day Dinner at the Main Street Brewery.

Monday we got up and headed to the Mesa Verde National Park near Cortez to see the cliff dwellings there. Despite getting pelted with rain/snow/sleet/anypresipationyoucanthinkof and it getting progressively colder (I'm talking 40 degrees) as we went up the mountain, it was one of the coolest things I think we have done so far. The cliff dwellings were so cool! It's crazy to think what people did with their bare hands back in the day because they didn't have any other choice versus how technology has made us less skillful and more dependent on aids & tools.

After our morning exploring the dwellings we headed to our next destination, The Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. After getting our campsite there, we drove back to the closest town to go to the True Grit Steakhouse for dinner, since UD insisted that we have steak at least once (and because the little town of Alamosa didn't have much else to offer...)

Yesterday (Tuesday) we got up and hiked out to the dunes to do some exploring! I literally felt like I was in the movie Aladdin the entire time while the wind just blew sand everywhere, I have never quite seen anything like it! We talked about hiking to the top of the tallest dune, but after discovering how hard it was to hike up one of the smaller ones at the base and realizing it would take a couple hours to hike up and then come back down the dunes, we decided against it. Never before have I had so much sand in my shoes that it felt like they were too tight on my feet!

After that adventure we decided to push on to our next destination, Wichita, Kansas. It took quite awhile on the Kansas back roads and we lost another hour so we didn't get to Wichita until pretty late. The most exciting thing we saw amongst the endless farmland and small towns that make up Kansas, was outside of this one little town there were all these metal & rod iron, handmade statues, wheels, scarecrows, & creature things on posts surrounding one person's property. It was cool to see them all lined up like that and if we had more time I think it would have been cool to walk around the property to examine them all.
That night we went to the Red Rock Canyon Restaurant for dinner. Everything was quite impressive, from the food, to the atmosphere, to the service. Definitely our best meal thus far.

This morning (Wednesday) we decided to go to the Botanical Garden in Wichita before heading out. It was really pretty and had some pretty interesting plant life in it, but there was a lot of construction going on and it wasn't as well maintained as I expected it to be, but oh well! It was still a nice, spontaneous little stop along our travels. There were also some cool statues throughout the garden of people enjoying nature, so I thought that was a nice touch.

After that we pushed through Kansas & Missouri, with a brief stop at the St. Louis Arch so UD could check it out/touch it in person. He had about the same reaction that I did the first time, sheer wonder/amazement/awe at such a massive structure. (Massive seems to be the word of the week here, everything we see is so awesome & impressive that you can't think of any other word to describe it than massive!)
After that, UD wanted to push on a little more so that tomorrow we can take it easy, so we continued on until our current location, Mt. Vernon, Illinois. For dinner we ate at this cute little mexican restaurant, El Rancherito. Our dinners + half a pitcher of margaritas were only $31 and change, so I would say it was definitely the best meal for the best price so far....haha.

Kentucky tomorrow! Update for the last time (ahhh! :( ) once I'm home.

LA, you were good to me

Well, the Elvis impersonator wasn't there. But, I did get to have a good dinner with friends, so that was nice.

Saturday Mia and I went to Torrance, CA to see Buffy's house & the high school that they used to film Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though we felt extremely weird creeping around a residential area (because people actually live in the house...super jealous), I am so happy that we went and that I got to physically walk around where they filmed the television show that made my adolescence. Going around the school was a lot of fun too because it is REALLY big, so as we walked around and saw different spots of the school we were literally just recalling scenes that we remembered that were shot in those specific locations.

Afterward we looked in my GPS for a place to eat in the area and we found this place called Buffy's cafe, so of course we went thinking it was this awesome cafe completely dedicated to the show. Yeah, it was just this creepy diner with dolls and blankets in the show case window that had absolutely nothing to do with BTVS. So, we ended up going somewhere else. Surprise!
On our way back we stopped at this place called Famous Cupcakes because I had a Groupon that I spent $9 on to get 1/2 a dozen. We got 6 different flavors and then when Ginny was around we split all of them three ways so that we could try all of them. It was a fun little roomie bonding experience.

On Sunday morning I met with my group so that we could finalize and prepare our pilot pitch for our Writing for Series TV final. We timed it perfectly so that when it finished we could go right over to the end of the semester Luau for the ICLA program. It was a really nice, final little get together where we all got to see each other and eat dinner on the RA's budget...haha.
I left the luau pretty early though to go see West Side Story that was being shown at the Grauman's Egyptian Theater as part of the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) Film Festival that was taking place in Hollywood for the weekend. They had a discussion before hand at which the producer of the movie, Walter Mirisch, the woman whose voice was actually used as the voice of Maria (they claimed Natalie Wood had a good voice, but they wanted a great voice), Marni Nixon, and the guy that played Bernardo, George Chakiris, were all there answering the commentator's questions and just going over aspects of making the movie. George looked like he hadn't aged a day since they filmed the movie (which is incredible!) and I was literally in awe to be standing (or rather, sitting) in the same room as such talented people. Also, seeing the movie on such a big screen with the color restored was insane! Great LA experience.

Monday I did a lot of work on my presentation for our final later, and I typed up my notes for our Government and Media final on Tuesday. The actual presentation went pretty well, our group didnt get first or second place, but the judges said that our show had definite potential to be picked up had it been an actual pitch, so that was pretty cool.

Tuesday I took my car to get serviced and started packing up some stuff around the apartment. After our Government and Media final (which didn't go as well as I hoped, but oh well) a bunch of us went to Menchies for frozen yogurt because it was Mia's last night in LA.

Wednesday my Uncle Jim was in town so I took him to Santa Monica to see the Pacific Ocean and to see the Hollywood sign. That night Ginny, Danny, and I watched all but the last two episodes of season two of Friday Night Lights! We were planning on watching the last two episodes today, but it didn't work out so it looks like we will be watching them in Ithaca in the fall... :(

Yesterday I went to The Counter for lunch with my friend Anthony because we both heard good things about it and wanted to check it out before we left. It was pretty cool because you got to custom build your burger, even though I put too much on mine and had to eat it with a knife and fork.

Then we stopped by Paramount so that I could get a couple movies at the Paramount store (they are only $4 there with your Paramount ID). Anthony wanted to see the set of Community (or what is left of it since they are on hiatus) and I wanted to go say hi/bye to Josie one more time. I am so glad to have worked for someone as sweet as her and it is a relationship I plan on maintaining regardless of whether my life brings me back to LA or not. Awe.
Last night a bunch of us went to dinner in downtown Burbank (we tried to go to El Torito because it was Cinco de Mayo so we figured going to a mexican restaurant was fitting, but apparently everyone else had the same idea and the wait was ridiculous) as our last hurrah. It was really a lot of fun, definitely one of the best nights I have had out here because it was a good time with good friends. Also, the girl that was singing/playing guitar was AMAZING, not only in her performance ability but in the extensive collection of awesome songs that she could cover.

This morning Ginny and I took a box full of stuff to the Pendelton Center that we are leaving for Kelsy and her other roommates that will be out in LA in the Fall. While there, we also said goodbye to Jon & Holly. I didn't get as sad as I thought (or probably should have) because I felt like I would definitely be seeing them again, even though I don't plan on returning to LA after graduation. That being said, the staff at the Pendelton Center are truly the nicest, kindest, most caring faculty members I have ever encountered at Ithaca College and they and their helpfulness alone were worth coming to LA to study. Awe, again.
Then Ginny and I went to one of the stores on Hollywood & Highland so she could get some souvenirs for her family. I didn't get anything for my family because they picked out their own souvenirs when they came out here, however I did help her pick some stuff out and I bought some shot glasses for a few friends back home.
After that it was time to pick my Uncle Dean up at the airport! Actually picking him up made me realize that I am actually going home tomorrow. It is starting to feel real for the first time, even though I have been packing all week and one of my roommates is already gone. However, it also made me super excited for our trip home because we are planning on seeing a lot of cool stuff. I suppose I will keep this blog through the week and end it when I am finally home so that the LA experience can be documented in its entirety!
Thankfully his flight got in before rush hour traffic started, so we weren't in the car as long as I thought we would be getting back. After we got back Ginny and I went through the fridge and freezer to get rid of all the stuff we didn't want, then Uncle Dean cooked the food we were keeping so that we could eat it for lunch/dinner (he even ventured to say breakfast) tomorrow.
After a random discovery that Uncle Dean likes Thai food, we decided to try out Palm Thai to see if the Elvis impersonator would be there this time. I was also excited to go again because I didn't really like what I got the first time and I was ready to get something actually enjoyable. Unfortunately, the impersonator wasn't there AGAIN! One of the ladies said he had a stroke last month, so he had only been coming in spontaneously the past month or so. If that is true, I feel bad for him but it sucks that he is one of the main advertising pawns to get people to come to this restaurant and he is never there. However, it was a much more successful experience than last time, so I guess I do like Thai food!
Afterwards, we went to Yogurtland (of course) so Uncle Dean could have his first frozen yogurt experience, which it seems like he enjoyed. It is just one of those things you HAVE to do in LA apparently...haha

Tomorrow morning I'm getting up really early to take Ginny to the airport and then we are gonna head out! Update along the way when I can. Goodbye Los Angeles! Thanks for the memories.

FAMILY VISIT + EASTER = AMAZING TIME

Wow, I started writing this post on Wednesday and I am just finishing it now. Guess a lot has happened the past 9 days!

Sooo last Wednesday was a ridiculously long day at The Doctors. We taped 4 complete shows and 2 stand-alone segments, making it a 12.5 hour work day. Maria Menounos (an actress who has done a lot of random stuff, you would probably recognize her if you saw her) was on one of the shows, so I got to meet her. She was really nice and stayed to sign a copy of one of the younger guest's book after the taping even though she was already late to her next job.
Ginny totally cleaned the apartment for me while I was at work because Mom & Matt were arriving the next day and I didn't think I was gonna have time to do it so this is a big THANK YOU to her for that. She has been an amazing roommate and I really appreciate everything she has done for me this semester.
After work I went to the Pendelton Center to finish up my 'Modern Family' spec script and I handed it in early because I knew I would be late for class the next day.

Thursday was our last day of shooting on The Doctors! It was really sad to see the end of a great season. :( However, Paramount did get us an ice cream truck at which we all got free ice cream sandwiches, so that was awesome. We also had to move EVERYTHING from the hair and make-up rooms into the talent office, so in the process of doing that we came across a lot of random stuff. Josie gave all the interns a 'Doctors' mug, so that was pretty neat AND since there were 6 flower arrangements sitting around the office Josie gave me one to give to my mom. The only upsetting thing about the day was that I couldn't go to the wrap party following the taping, but it was ok because instead I PICKED MOM & MATT UP AT THE AIRPORT! AHH!
It was actually really funny because there was no where to park all along the Delta terminal so I just half parked in this really small space and I was freaking out because my car was sticking out into the road and I looked up and there they were! So that worked out well. On our way back to Oakwood we stopped at In-N-Out for dinner. I had sent Matt the secret menu before hand so they all knew what they wanted to order. We all ordered off the secret menu, so we were feeling pretty badass, however we had to rush so that I could get back for class (that I was already late for). Matt really liked it though and after we left he was already planning what he would get if we got a chance to go a second time.
So after dropping them off at the apartment, I went to class where we got put into groups for our final project. Not really looking forward to doing a final project at all, but that's just how it goes I guess.
After class, Matt, Mia, & I went to Yogurtland for Matt's first FroYo experience. He seemed to like it.

Friday, my family, roommates (+ Danny), and I went to The Griddle for breakfast, where they have the biggest, dessert pancakes, waffles, and french toast I have ever seen in my life. Ginny & Mia got red velvet pancakes, Danny got some kind of carmel apple pancakes, I got these pancakes with butterscotch chips and walnuts in them, Matt got some sugary banana pancakes, and Mom got Nutella french toast. Only the french toast was finished completely, and she had help from me and Matt. The other portions were so insanely huge and rich that we didn't even come close to finishing them so we ended up taking home quite a few doggy bags. Mom treated us all, which was really nice of her. It was definitely a place I am glad we went to, but not a place I would go to again anytime soon. I think I may still be trying to digest some of that pancake...
Then, I took the family to Hollywood to see the stars, footprints, Kodak Theater, and Grauman's Chinese theater. I also got these tickets for Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum for $10 on Groupon that comes with a free wax hand, so we went there after walking around a little on Hollywood. We had a lot of fun posing with the celebrities. There were tons of figures there! Some I would have never expected to see, however the one I WAS expecting to see was (of course) Elvis, and HE WASN'T THERE! Oh well. I think they also rotate which celebrities are at which locations, because I know there are Madame Tussaud's all over the world, so maybe he is somewhere else for the time being.
Also, getting wax hands was really cool. It was interesting to see how they are made and how they are colored. For example, because Matt wanted two colors on his hand, after it was molded the guy took the hand off of Matt and dipped it in the two colors himself. However, because I wanted only one color on the whole hand, he dipped mine in the colored wax while it was still on my hand. The color got brighter the longer it was exposed to air, so it literally faded from white to pink, which was pretty cool.

(from left: Mom's, Matt's, mine)

After that we walked around a little more on Hollywood, and Matt discovered some pretty awesome deals on clothes at H&M. At that age, it is always a struggle to find clothes in style that everyone else doesn't already have because everyone shops at the same stores in the Poconos and since we don't have an H&M very close to us, I think he was happy for the opportunity to get some clothes in a different location.
Then we walked over to where we parked near Intuition and I showed my family the office. We got lunch at Umami burger because it was voted best burger in the country (and probably most expensive). It was really good, definitely one of the best burgers I ever had. However because of the price and the popularity of it, again it's a place I am glad I went to once but not necessarily a place I will be going back to. Then we walked over to Amoeba music and got a couple really cheap CDs. I have walked by Amoeba a lot of times, but this was my first time inside and the place is huge! Everywhere you look there are boxes of CDs or DVDs, truly the biggest collection I have ever seen. I got two CDs for $6 too, which is always a good thing.

After that we drove over to Olvera Street, near Union Station. I had neither been to nor heard of this place before then, but Mom read a story about it to her kids because it was in one of her reading books, so she wanted to go there and take some pictures of it to show her class. It ended up being one of the coolest things I think we did. It was just this little stretch of Mexican stands selling all kinds of merchandise, surrounded by restaurants and more shops. People mulled about everywhere and there were different mariachi bands competing with each other all along the strip. It ended at this giant tree that is probably thousands of years old, with a surrounding promenade area where (I am sure) events and festivities are held on a regular basis. Matt got a drug rug and some bracelets (probably some other stuff too, but I can't remember everything), Mom got a cute new bag, and I got some rings and a pretty felt flower hairclip. It was lots of fun, good addition to the trip Mom!

After such a long day, we were all pretty tired so we went back to the apartment and I cooked Mom & Matt my famous Chicken Pot Pie. They seemed to like it a lot so I guess it is fair to say that I can actually cook now. I've come a long way since the summer when I didn't even know how to cook a burger on the stove! Then we (plus the roommates & Danny) died Easter eggs! Us kids had a great time because it has really been years since any of us died eggs. I also felt like our eggs came out better than any I have ever died before, most likely because we have more patience for the process, haha!

That night, I took the fam to Millions of Milkshakes. Unfortunately some big event/bar outing/who knows what was going on in the area, so I just let them out at the place and drove around until they were ready to be picked up because there was absolutely no parking, anywhere. Despite that being a big bummer, and that by the time we got home it was wayyy later than we hoped it would be, I think they enjoyed their celebrity-created milkshakes.

Saturday we got up way early and went to DISNEYLAND! We got there shortly after it opened so the crowd wasn't bad, which allowed us to basically walk on a lot of the bigger rides like Space Mountain, Toy Story Mania, and California Screamin'. I was worried it would be a lot busier than it actually was, the longest we waited in line was for the Indiana Jones ride and even then we only waited about 25 minutes! We also got the see the Aladdin show, which wasn't playing the last time I was there, so I was happy about that (even if Matt wasn't). Toward the end of the day, we all started dragging, but we had to stay because we had fast passes for the new water show there: World of Color. We tried to watch it last time we went, but because we didn't have fast passes we couldn't really see anything. After seeing it this second time, I am really glad that we waited to see the show in its entirety. It was really beautiful and of course, colorful. Definitely something every girl that grew up a Disney princess should see.

And we got to see Mickey!

After our 14 hour day at Disney, we decided to (sort of) sleep in the next day. However, it was EASTER SUNDAY, so we did get up and stuff our Easter baskets with candy and Matt made us the best omelets ever! I was so happy to have (most of) my family in LA for Easter with me. :) We went to an Easter Sunday service at a church I had gone to a couple of times, which was nice. Then we went to an Easter brunch buffet at the Smoke House Restaurant in Burbank. The food was really delicious, the only problem was I felt like it was the only brunch buffet in all of Los Angeles, there were SO many people there! We waited a while to get a table, then they ended up splitting a bigger table in two for us and another party, so it was a little difficult getting up to go to the buffet, but I would say it was worth it in the end. 

After brunch we went to this place Ginny recommended to us called Whimsic Alley, a Harry Potter themed store. It immediately took me right back to my years as the biggest HP nerd known to man when I would hole up in my room and not come out until every book was read cover-to-cover for the 80th time. In addition to all their cool merchandise, they also had a set recreation of the Great Hall & platform 9 3/4, which was really cool. There was an egg hunt going on while we were there (it being Easter) so we got to collect 4 eggs and if there were "gallons" inside we got a $1 off for each one, which was neat because we ended up getting $3 off our purchase. I took the Easter egg hunt to the extreme and started collecting as many eggs as I could find, only to find out that we could only keep four. Embarrassing? Yes, but what are you gonna do.

Then we headed over to Venice beach, with the intention of doing some tanning and taking our Christmas card picture there, however it was way too windy and cold to even stand on the beach. Sand was just flying everywhere, it was not good timing at all, probably the only flop their trip encountered. We did walk up and down the boardwalk a little, and Matt got his friend something from one of the stands along the way, so I guess it wasn't a complete waste of time...

After a small dinner at my apartment (we were still pretty full from our brunch) we went to the Griffith Observatory to see the sunset. It ended up not only being an amazing view and sunset (which we expected), but also it had some awesome displays and diagrams and stuff inside too. We spent quite a bit of time there going through everything, and I actually learned a lot. Yay for education. Matt bought his teacher a placemat with the periodical table on it (to suck up) and Mom was looking around for stuff for her class. Very fun outing!

Matt & his future mentor

That night Matt and I went to Shitty Jobs at UCB. Even though Donald Glover wasn't there, it was still really funny and I'm glad I took him. I could tell he liked the show because he kept quoting it the next day, always a good sign!

Monday morning, I took the fam to the Paramount lot and gave them a tour. They got to meet my boss Josie (which I was really happy about because I love her) and see where I work, which is equally as awesome. There's not really a lot filming on the lot right now, so it was pretty easy for us to just walk around and not be questioned by security.

Then we went to Beverly Hills so that Mom & Matt could have their first experience at heaven on earth, also known as Sprinkles cupcakes. Also seemed to be enjoyable on their part.

And finally, we drove to the best location to see the Hollywood sign (Matt searched it on his phone) and took some pictures there. It was actually a much better view than I was expecting! It was on the same hill that we hiked up when we first came out to LA, just a different part of it, so I guess it would make since that it would have an equally awesome view.

That afternoon, we went to a Jay Leno taping that T.J. scored us VIP tickets for. Christina Aguilera was on promoting The Voice, which was cool because I still have her entire first album memorized...haha. However, at the end of the taping the stage manager tells us we need to stay in our seats because they are gonna tape a segment for Tuesday night's show because the guest can't make it on Tuesday. Okkk. Then we find out the guest is Linday Lohan! A little more exciting! So she comes out and she's talking about how she was just in court on Friday, and Jay points out that her attorney is married to the lead singer in his studio band and they show a picture of Lindsay and her attorney. Turns out, her attorney is sitting right next to my mom! So that was pretty awesome. She was also talking about her support system in her family and how her brother was just at her house for a few weeks and how he went to college and whatnot. At that point, I was about to yell out ITHACA! because Mike Lohan did in fact graduate from Ithaca College last year, but I restrained myself because the last thing I wanted was for Lindsay Lohan to see an IC student get thrown out of a Jay Leno taping.

On the way back we again grabbed some In-N-Out (Matt insisted) and they went back to the apartment to get their stuff together and repack while I went to our last Media Industries class. The panel was made up of three older gentlemen, so because they had been in the industry longer they have done a LOT of stuff for some really big projects. They also were in school with one of my teachers, so it was fun to see the dynamic between them.

After class we went on our last family outing to Yogurtland since Mom didn't go the first time. The time Mom & Matt were here was easily one of my favorite weekends out here, and I am so glad that they had a chance to come see my home for the past four months. Apparently all the stuff we did wore them out too because they were both REALLY tired and stayed home from school on Wednesday to catch up on sleep!

Tuesday morning we got up ridiculously early and I drove them to the airport. It wasn't really that hard saying goodbye, since I will be seeing them two weeks from Sunday. I went back and went to sleep since I took off Tuesday at Intuition because I wasn't sure what time their flight was in the morning. Thank God I did that because there is no way I would have been able to wake back up and go to work. Once I did wake up for good, I caught up on some TV shows and did some laundry.

Then I went to the earlier section of Government and Media for the review for our final. 

I did this because James, Danny, and I have tickets to see a Jimmy Kimmel taping that night. I was really excited for the taping because Mark Ruffalo, Jamie Oliver, and the most recent castoff from Dancing with the Stars (who turned out to be Chris Jerico :( ) were going to be there. However, what I wasn't prepared for was Danny was picked to come down on the stage and sing right before the taping started! He went with a song that he figured the band was bound to know (Moondance) so it was pretty epic when they joined in right behind him. It was almost like seeing a friend perform live in concert (ok..maybe that's going a little too far...) but it was still really cool!

Wednesday I went into the production office for The Doctors to do the last bit of paperwork. It was so incredibly sad to be on the Paramount lot and in The Doctors office for the last time. Josie took me to lunch (after writing me the BEST review I have ever read, I literally cried a little while reading it) on Larchmont Blvd, which is just full of cute little shops and restaurants. We also found this store in which all the clothes were under $15 and the accessories were less. I literally had to limit myself while in the store by reminding myself that I don't have a job and I need to make it across the country in a week with the limited money I have because this was literally the best store I have ever shopped in because of the combination of insanely cute stuff for amazing prices. I will definitely be doing some online shopping from them when I have more money!

Then, I went to my last work study shift, during which the phone rang three times! I actually had to take a message one time, it was crazy. Possibly the most I have worked there all semester, haha.

Yesterday I went into Intuition to make up for not going in Monday and Tuesday. Patrick filled out the other review form for me and he also gave me a great review. It just makes me really grateful to have two completely different, but very informative experiences with my internships and I will miss both the places, people, and experiences equally when I leave LA.

Thursday night was our last Writing for Series TV class, and we had a small class debate based off of two pilots that we saw. I got emotionally invested in the debate (surprise, surprise) so I yelled a little, but our team ended up winning so I guess no one took it too personally!

I got up a little earlier today to watch some footage on the royal wedding. I kept going back and forth between amazement of the extravagance of it all and surprise at how a) in love William and Kate seemed (I guess they are getting married after all!) and b) how well Kate seems to be adapting to the fact that she is now royalty. Bravo William & Kate, bravo. I also really liked her dress, even if no one else did.

Now I am currently at my last day at Intuition! Unfortunately, I spent most of the day alone at the office, which was kind of depressing. However, since it's my last day Patrick didn't give me a new project to start so I have mostly been doing clerical stuff and writing this blog post. Haha!

A group of us are going to this thai restaurant later called Palm Thai, where there apparently is this awesome Elvis impersonator, so I am pretty excited about that! Also excited for this weekend, which I am hoping will be epic because it is our last full weekend in Los Angeles! 

Man has the time really flown by! Leaving LA is bittersweet for me because I have really enjoyed my time out here and the people I have met and the places I have seen. I feel like you could live in LA for years and still not do and see everything the city has to offer. However, I am ready to go home and I am really starting to look forward to my trip back across country with my Uncle Dean.

New post before we start out trip!

A weekend full of memories

Soooo on Wednesday we had a two show day at The Doctors. Jillian Michaels was on again as the 5th chair for the 'B' show. I got to drive her back to her car again afterwords so that was pretty cool. Since we finished around 2 o'clock, the two heads of the talent department, the other intern, and I got lunch at the Water Tower on the lot. It was pretty nice that we could all have lunch together without having to eat in shifts or someone having to run and pick someone up or deal with something else.

Thursday there were some pretty big people on, Danica Patrick brought along not only a huge entourage, but also her car, in which all the doctors tried to fit into for the 'A' show.

Lisa Bloom (Gloria Allred's daughter) was also there on the 'B' show promoting a new book she recently wrote and I got to hang out with her most of the day. She was really sweet and really laid back, not at all what I was expecting from a daughter of such a well known lawyer. Caroline Manzo from The Real Housewives of New Jersey was also on that same show. Compared to the preparation and pandaemonium that in sued when Adrienne came a few weeks ago, Caroline's time with us was a piece of cake. She had two other people with her and literally just spent a lot of the time in her room hanging out. I didn't get to meet her, but she seem really sweet..
I left a little early to go to a taping of the Ellen DeGeneres Show, so that was super exciting! What I didn't know, was that Ellen recently threw out her back so even though we did a lot of dancing, she didn't do much dancing with us. That was a little sad, but it was still a lot of fun. Tyler Perry was on promoting his new Madea movie, an activist against dog fighting, puppy mills, and the cruel treatment of animals was also on and we all got a copy of a book that he just published. I'm pretty pumped to read it, I have a feeling that it is going to be one of those books that changes the way you view an important issue. MARK BALLAS and CHELSEA KANE from Dancing with the Stars were also on the show! They did their Vietnamese Waltz from last week's episode (which I am super behind on and still have yet to see) which was to the Harry Potter theme song, so because it was them dancing to that song it was pretty much my favorite thing ever. I said when coming out here I really wanted to see at least one person from season 11 and now I have seen two! Florence & Mark, both a celeb and a pro...so I GUESS I can go home happy, even though I still haven't seen Andrew Garfield. That would make my life. :)

Friday, Kym Douglas, an unconventional beauty and health guru (who is on Good Day LA quite often) was on the show again. She, like the dermatologist Dr. Ava Shamban, is on the show at least once a week, and she is literally the sweetest woman I have ever met. She is a ton of fun, and she adapts to literally anything we could throw at her with NO qualms about it. Everyone in our department is in agreement that if Kym asked us all to come work for her, we would do so, no questions asked. I absolutely love Kym and I can't wait for her to come back next week!
The talent & wardrobe interns also got to take our semester pic with the doctors on Friday, the only difference between our pics and pictures of past interns is that ours was taken on stage, in between segments, in front of the audience! It was kind of awkward and a little mortifying, but the picture came out great and I am really glad we got it!

Community was also doing sound bites across the hall, so I saw Yvette Nicole Brown (who plays Shirley) and talked briefly with Danny Pudi (who plays Abed), so that was pretty cool.
That night, the ICLA program went to the Dodgers vs. Cardinals game! It was SO much fun to go to a major league baseball game in LA! It was Jackie Robinson Day, so all the players from both teams were number 42, which I thought was such an awesome tribute to Jackie. The only disappointing thing the whole night was the complete blowout of the Dodgers, they lost, something like 9-2. After the game they had this firework display and you could go down and sit on the field to watch it. A bunch of us decided to stay in the stands, and it was so overwhelming watching the massive amount of people running around on the field below. The firework display was literally the best I have ever seen in my life. It was timed to the music perfectly and every single firework was freakin beautiful. So, so great.

Saturday, Ginny, Danny, & I got up early and drove to San Diego! First we went and walked around the Gaslamp District, which was really, really cute. We wandered in and out of cute shops and just explored the town for a little.

Then we went to La Jolla Beach, which apparently is one of the best beaches on the coast. It was packed with people; swimming, surfing, & hanging out, but it was a great time. It was also the first time it was actually hot when we decided to go to the beach, so Ginny and I were excited that we actually got to lay out and tan while Danny went in the water.
After that we checked in at the motel and went to Ginny's cousin's house because she invited us to dinner. It was the first time Ginny and her cousin, Rachel, had seen each other in years, so it was a good reunion for them. Rachel, her husband, and daughter were super nice, and her cooking was incredible! It was literally the best meal with the best company I have had since coming to LA. Her daughter is 7 and she is the cutest thing in the world. She also plays the violin (really well for a 7 year old!) which completely blew me out of the water. It was such a good time! It made me miss home a lot though. There is nothing that can compete with a good family dinner. Good thing my mom & Matt get here in two days! :)
At night we went to Mission Beach, where there were a lot of amusement park rides and games. We mostly just walked around, but it was cool to experience that fun, pier vibe on the west coast. Apparently Mission Beach is another of the three beaches in SoCal that allow you to have bonfires on the beach, because all along the coast there were people sitting around fires, so that was cool to see. Seeing the ocean at night always blows my mind because it is so different looking and such a different experience. It is almost eery, but calming at the same time. Deep stuff!

The next day we went to Coronado Island (on recommendation from Rachel) in search of the 50's diner where they have great breakfast. We finally found it after a little searching. It was a really cute little place! Not only do all the table have jukeboxes on them, but unlike at Johnny Rockets, if you put a quarter in and select a song it actually plays!

Afterward, we walked around the island a little. It was the cutest place I have ever seen, definitely something I would recommend to anyone going to San Diego. There was also a ton of stuff going on too! There was an old antique car show that we walked by, a flower show that we didn't go to because it costed money, and a book sale that we, of course, stopped at. It is insane how many books I am going home with when I came out here with one. Buying cheap books at sales like that is literally my one true weakness. I cannot help myself.
Afterwords, we were also recommended to go to Old Town, which is this really old Mexican area with neat little restaurants, shops, and other older buildings. It was really cool to see the different area and culture right smack dab in the middle of modern, San Diego.
Then we drove to Laguna Beach, to of course, see the legendary beach made famous by the horrible reality show...haha. We actually parked right by Laguna Beach High School and one of the doors were open so we peaked around the school a little. I was surprised to see a high school that actually has a court yard for kids to sit in during lunch or any other downtime. I thought those types of schools could only be found in movies. My high school sure as hell didn't let kids outside unless they were with a class for fear people would just leave. After that we hung out at the beach a little, but didn't stay very long because it was overcast and a little bit cooler. The area of Laguna was really nice, definitely a good vacation spot for anybody that likes the beach, whether it be a couple on a honeymoon or a family looking for a place with activities for all ages.

Finally, on the way home we drove through Newport because Ginny wanted to see the area that The OC was filmed in. Unlike Laguna, all there was to Newport was the beach, so we definitely made the right choice at stopping at Laguna instead of Newport.
That night when we go home we just hung out and watched a little Friday Night Lights, the perfect end to one of the best weekends we have had so far!

Yesterday was another normal day at Intuition.
Last night was our last meeting for the mini-course and we broke into groups and took turns pitching the movie idea for the 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' script. It was really neat to see how an actual pitch would go and what people fall into what roles on both the creative and executive ends of the pitch.

This morning, after I refilled my prescription at the Rite Aid on Sunset, I am pretty sure I passed Rob Lowe in his car on my way back to Intuition. I can't be completely sure because I didn't get the best look at him, but I really think it was Rob, so that is super exciting. Especially because I have been watching season 3 of Parks & Rec! Now I guess I better get back to work. After class tonight I am gonna go shopping for the rest of the groceries I'll need for when Mom & Matt are hereeee! CAN'T WAIT!

Less than a month to go!

Wow, it has been awhile since my last post! Good thing I remember every single thing I did last week...or at least, I think I do! Here it goes...

Monday was a typical day at Intuition...but that night I had the first of three meetings of a mini-course I am taking, Feature Film Development. It is taught by an IC alum that I feel like has done a little of everything, and there is only 6 of us in the class so it was pretty laid back. We really spent the whole time talking about our internships and interests in the field after he did his bit about what he has done and how all his jobs helped him figure out what exactly he enjoys doing. For homework we then had to do coverage on a script he emailed us that is actually being made into a movie called Crazy, Stupid, Love. The trailer of the movie actually looks better than the script did, but I always think it's pretty exciting to know what a movie is about from reading the script, or a treatment, or something and THEN going to see it in theaters. Makes me feel like I am actually in the movie industry, haha.

(a scene from the movie, you know it's going to be funny with these two as the leads!)

Tuesday I wasn't feeling that well so I stayed home from my internship and got some work done for my Government and Media class. Later a group of us went to a taping of "Conan" where Tracy Morgan and Charlyne Yi were the guests. I can't remember who the musical guests were, some local group. Now I don't really watch Conan, but I can definitely see the appeal in watching it every night. It was really funny! I was also excited to see Andy Richter was a great edition to the show as co-host because I've seen more of his work than Conan's and I think he is a great actor. For one of their bits they had Larry King up in the rafters above the stage, saying that he was going to start a talk show up there, and we could actually see the camera man and stage hands and everything through all the lights and beams and stuff, so that was cool. Larry King was basically sitting right above us though, so all we could see of him was his arms, haha. Definitely something I was glad I went to. We got back just in time for Government and Media where we took our midterm, even though it is no longer mid-term. However, since we got to pick 25 out of the 40 questions to answer, I am hoping I did a better job on it than the quiz he gave us earlier in the semester.... :)

Wednesday I went into the production office for The Doctors and did more paperwork there. We hit a snag about half way through because we were missing some releases from one of the shows, but apparently they just had to get the talent to resign them later in the week because the originals were never found. :( At least everything is squared away now thought!

Thursday morning I decided to be adventurous and go roam around West Hollywood. I went to see Kat Von D's Tattoo Shop, but it was closed so I didn't even have to work up the nerve to go inside and check it out.

That afternoon I went to another taping of "Conan" (it just worked out that way!) where Jack McBrayer and Colin Quinn were the guests. Because these guests had both been on the show before, they had a little better of a history with Conan, so the dynamic between them was a lot funnier than that during the Tuesday show. The musical guest was Hanson! I was super pumped to see them since I am as big of a fan as any of their hit single Mmm Bop, however they might as well have been a different band! They sound different, they look different, their music has a different feel. I guess that's what you get when you take like 10 years off between your albums and go through puberty...

Friday I went out to lunch with two friends from Ithaca, Anna and Lauren, who were in LA because the documentary they made for Video Workshop got nominated for a College Emmy! So that was pretty exciting for them! I believe they came in 3rd place, and their professor and parents were all at the award ceremony, so we all thought that was pretty awesome for them! We went to Aroma Cafe, where I literally had one of the best meals I have had so far in LA. Definitely going to go there again!
That night a bunch of us went to Miceli's for dinner. The whole restaurant was very cute and Italian and the food was really good. My favorite part however was the singing waitstaff, everyone knows I'm a sucker for some serenading. I liked this place though because I am used to Ellen's Stardust Diner in NYC where they mostly sing show tunes, and here they sang more classical songs, which was nice.

Saturday I went with two other ICLAers, Connie and Francine, to SCU's Relay for Life. I was really upset to have missed Relay at Ithaca this year, so this helped make up for it, though I must admit, IC is a smaller school but has a much better attendance because we make Relay so awesome! We all bought luminaria bags, but it got really cold around 5 o'clock and we decided to leave before luminaria because there wasn't much to do other than walk the track. Instead we bought balloons at the dollar store and released the bags over their balcony from Oakwood. It was really moving to watch the balloons drift over LA and disappear over the mountains. It's moments like that, that make life worth living. Awe.

Sunday James and I went to explore downtown Hollywood, mainly because I wanted to find the bench that is Tom's favorite spot in 500 Days of Summer. Not only did we find the bench, but we found a lot of other cool spots in LA, like Pershing Square and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Gotta love a good exploration!

That night we went to Yogurtland with Anna, Lauren, and a few others before the two had to go back to Ithaca. It was definitely great to see them again over FroYo...haha.
Later that night, a bunch of us went to see Shitty Jobs again. Tyler's job got picked so he got to be interviewed on stage and then his job (being a waiter/bouncer at Benchwarmers in Ithaca, NY!) got reenacted on stage. Definitely cool to see all the crazy Benchwarmers employees come to life. Ben Schwartz wasn't there this week however, so that was a little sad.

Yesterday I kept pretty busy at Intuition, so that was definitely a plus.
Last night we had the 2nd meeting of our mini-course so we went over the coverage that we had to do and discussed what we liked and didn't like about the script. We then got into a pretty heated discussion about high school movies (mainly Easy A and Juno) and went over what we need to do to prepare for next week. We are gonna take turns being the creative team pitching the script and being the production team who the script is getting pitched to, so that should be interesting...

Now I am at Intuition and my lunch break has been over for 33 minutes, so I should probably get back to work. Until next time!

A Week of Work...?

For the first time since coming out here, I actually felt like I was going to school due the the incredible amount of school work I had to do this week. Huh, imagine that, a student doing school work!

Monday was a pretty typical day at Intuition, seems like I say that a lot on here. Guess a development internship just isn't as glamourous as one in production.

That night we had our second class of Media Industries. This time there were only 3 alums on the panel, and 2 out of the 3 now basically work in marketing. Because of this, we had a challenge to complete after they discussed what they have done since graduation. We were supposed to break up into groups of 10 (even though ours had 6) and come up with ideas to market a movie coming out that is based off of the hit game Angry Birds. After 15 minutes of discussion, we had to present out ideas to the panel and they would then select which group's ideas they liked the most. We had a really long list of ideas, some better than others, and a decent presentation. I thought other groups were more creative with their approaches, but I guess the panel liked our ideas more than the others' because they picked us as the winners! Because one of the girls on the panel now does marketing for the Menchies Frozen Yogurt chain, we all won $10 giftcards to Menchies! Yummm!

Tuesday morning I got a text that I didn't need to go into work until 11, but since I was already on my way to Intuition I decided to go to the public library in Burbank to get some print sources for my research paper. 

After work, there was a workshop at 6 on the exact requirements of the paper because a lot of people had questions about the details of the assignment, so I left work early to go to that. I was really glad I went because Holly and Steve Tropiano (my advisor out here in LA) handed out a more precise requirement sheet and completely explained the assignment. I realized at the workshop that I needed to narrow down my topic a little, so I was really glad that I went to it.

Wednesday was another production day at The Doctors, but we only had two shows and a couple segments to shoot instead of a third show, so we got out a decent time. I also had my interview for Orientation Leader for this summer during work and it went really well! However, Michele (who is one of my references for the position and ironically was the one to interview me) said that over 100 students applied for the 22 spots and that they receive the most applications from the Park school, so I face the most competition, so we'll see how it goes. I hear back about it this Thursday so atleast I don't have to wait forever to find out!

After work I went back to the public library to pick up a book I ordered and look around for more references, then I went to my workstudy shift at Pendelton. Holly had me come in half an hour early because she had to leave, so I got paid an extra .5 of an hour! I'm rolling in the dough now, hahaha.

That night Ginny, Danny, Mia, her friend Ali (that was visiting for the week), and I went to El Torito for dinner/happy hour for Ali's birthday dinner! I was excited because I thought she was turning 21, turns out she was turning 22 so it wasn't as exciting of a birthday as I thought. She seemed to enjoy herself though, so that's good. The happy hour prices literally couldn't be better I paid $15 for my meal, a glass of wine, and a 1/4 of Ali's meal- doesn't get much better than that!

Thursday Paul Stanley (from the band KISS) was on The Doctors. At first I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but his publicists got there really early and were triple checking to make sure everything was ready for him before he got there so they kind of psyched me out and by the time we were downstairs waiting for his arrival, I was actually nervous! The minute he stepped out of the car, I didn't even have to recognize him to know he was a rockstar. He just has that look about him, I guess that of an aged rockstar...haha. He was on the show talking about how loud rock concerts can damage your ear drums if you don't wear ear plugs, so I thought that was pretty cool. We only had guests for the first two shows, so we got to leave really early!

Also, because Paul's dressing room was on the other side of the hall, I was standing around the Community audio booth (which is also across the hall). Half way through the day, Ken Jeong (who plays Chang on Community and is also in The Hangover) was standing around outside the booth waiting to go inside and I talked to him a little. Then later I saw Joel McHale (who plays Jeff and is also the host of The Soup) leave the audio booth! I was super excited to see him and I wish I was at the other end of the hall so I could have said hi. However, there is still two more weeks of shooting for The Doctors so I could see him again! I don't know if I mentioned this on here already but because of our close location to community I also met Chevy Chase (who plays Pierce) minutes before he literally walked out onto our stage in the middle of a taping because he "loves The Doctors," and saw Danny Pudi (who plays Abed) and Alison Brie (who plays Annie and is also on Mad Men) at their trailers when the show was still filming. I guess this list of people would be more exciting if I actually watched Community, I should get on that!
Thursday was also the day I hit 360 credit hours, so aside from my internship log I don't technically need to work anymore, even though I will because I am not about to quit either internship.

Friday there were no guest on the A show so I got to sleep in (until 7 as opposed to 5:30)! It was weird having such short days on The Doctors this week, I told my dad that "a girl could get used to a schedule like this," he got a kick out of that. The lady that does the guests' hair put two feathers in my hair (one is bright red and the other is more natural looking and striped) that stay in until your hair grows out, so that's pretty cool! On the show was Jay McGraw's (Dr. Phil's son & one of the executive producers of The Doctors) wife Erica (who is one of three triplets) and daughter Avery, were on the show because Avery just turned one AND Erica is pregnant again so they did this like check in thing with the family. Her sisters were also there because they all had babies within a year and then put out a workout DVD for working moms. It was insane seeing three tall, blonde, beautiful women that all look exactly the same up close. I don't think I have ever seen triplets in person before, so that was pretty cool.

Friday night we went to this comedy variety show thing that a lot of IC alum were at, but it was kinda lame so we left pretty early.

Yesterday I stayed in most of the day to work on my paper, clean, and do laundry. Super exciting, I know. I didn't even get that far progress-wise on my paper because I was still trying to organize my references and write my outline. However I finished the outline and got 2 pages on my paper finished, so it was a start!

Last night Ginny and I went to see Hop at the theater in downtown Burbank. It was honestly, a really weird movie. There were parts of it that were funny, and the ending was cute, but a lot of it just didn't make since. It did make us really excited for Easter though, which is three weeks from today! And Mom and Matt will be here then so I literally cannot wait!!

Today I worked on my paper ALL DAY. I literally only left the table to go to the bathroom. However, my 10 page research paper, outline, and bibliography are FINISHED! All I have to do now is the methodology, abstract, and key words, which shouldn't take me too long. Then I can start studying for the midterm (even though it is no longer mid-term) that we also have on Tuesday. Having a ten page paper due and a big test on the same day is pretty poor course timeline planning (especially in a program that is primarily internship based) if you ask me, but I guess that's life!

I am definitely excited for this week because The Doctors is dark, I find out about OL, Relay is next weekend, and it is one more week closer to when Mom & Matt get here! Whoooo!

I almost feel like I actually live out here...

Hmmm, not the most eventful week since my last post.

Monday at Intuition was a pretty average day. I am racking my brain to remember what I did, which probably means nothing exciting. I kept pretty busy between two scripts Keri needed me to read, so that was good. It's just funny how that works out because I took work with me for my class to work on and I didn't have time to do it and other days I don't take work and I end up not having anything to do all day. The parking garage where I park in was completely flooded from all the rain we got last Sunday, so that was an interesting start to the day. Other than that, not much was really going on.

Tuesday I was the only intern at the office, so I was pretty busy that whole day as well. Keri heard about this Adidas shoe sale happening across the street from our office, so her, Patrick, and I went to check it out. The sale was incredible, brand new Adidas sneakers for $15, 2 for $20. They also had a lot of clothing there too, but by the time we got there everything was pretty much picked over, so none of us got anything. Afterward Keri bought us drinks at Cafe Etc. because we were right there, so that was nice.
Tuesday night was also the first night we had class since Spring Break was over, and we found out we got an extension (one week) on the research paper we thought was due this Tuesday, so that was good because up until that point I hadn't started doing any research for it yet....

Wednesday I worked at The Doctors because someone somewhere along the chain of importance has decided they want the season to wrap before Easter instead of in May, which was what was originally scheduled. Because of this new decision, we are now going to have a bunch of three day weeks to finish in time. At first I didn't care, but by the end of the day on Friday I was completely exhausted and I am not really looking forward to doing it all again this week...
No one exciting was on the show Wednesday, and we wrapped at the perfect time because I have to leave at 4 on Wednesdays to make my work study shift at the Pendelton Center.
That night we went to Millions of Milkshakes because Mia's friend is here for a few days. I was surprised to see they completely redid their menu! They took off a few items (from what I remembered) and added a lot more. Now they supposedly have every single shake ever made by a celeb at any of the Millions of Milkshakes locations available there, but the menu isn't that big so I feel like they are missing a few. Oh well! It was really good, as usual, but the shakes there are so thick they always make me cough a lot while I'm drinking them.

Thursday we had two celebs in back-to-back shows, so it was a pretty busy day for us. Adrienne Maloof, from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, was there with her husband because he is a doctor. I don't watch the show, but a few other people in my department do and they say she is the best one because she stays out of all the stupid drama, so I guess that's pretty cool! The entire Bravo crew was there taping her every move, so all the people that had to talk to them about one thing or another were asked to sign a release. I pretty much stayed away because I have no interest in being on the show, still pretty awesome that I could have been though!
Michael Waltrip, a Nascar driver, was also there talking about the safeties of driving (surprise!). Now living near the Pocono Raceway made me think, "why have I never heard of this guy?" turns out he is no longer racing. But the interesting thing about him is, that he won the race in 2001 that Dale Earnheart was killed during. He was pretty good friends with Dale & Dale Jr. and the three of them were in first, second (Jr.), and third place when the crash happened during the last lap. All I keep thinking is how hard it must have been for Michael to have his name on a trophy for a race that will only be remembered as the race that killed his friend. Didn't get to interact with Michael much, but I did drive his dad back and forth to the parking lot on the golf cart and he was really nice. We talked a lot about Pocono and, surprisingly, Ithaca. It is crazy how many people are interested in what I am doing out here, where I go to school, and what I want to do when I get out. I mean, maybe they are just making conversation, but it is still nice that people ask.

Friday was my boss, Josie's birthday, so we did this thing called "Fun Friday" where everyone brings something to share with the group to munch on throughout the day. No one exciting was on, but it was a pretty easy day so it was a perfect type of day to have all kinds of food.
Friday night we went to see Danny in a comedy show at this place in downtown Burbank called, Flappers Comedy Club. It was a cool little place and most of the comedians were actually funny, so that was good. Danny was the only one, from what I can tell, that was still in school, so it was definitely a good opportunity for him. There were some IC alums there as well so it was nice to see some familiar faces.

Yesterday was the ICLA Volleyball tournament here at the Oakwood, so Ginny and I went to watch part of it. It was really cold and started raining at one point so we decided (after Danny's team lost their second match) that we would go work on our research papers a little at the Pendelton Center. After the tournament was over, there was a cookout (which turned into cold-cuts because of the rain) for everyone so we went back to the clubhouse for that.
At night we had some people over, and I guess between the amount of people that were here and the fact that our sliding door was opened, our "neighbors" complained that we were being too loud, so we got our first noise violation. Apparently all that happens is that we get a warning letter in the mail because it was our first time, so we just have to make sure it doesn't happen again. When in Los Angeles....right? haha

Today I went grocery shopping and I am about to write some more pages for my spec script. I wanted to get to the public library in Burbank today, but that doesn't look like it is going to happen before Tuesday because we have Media Industries tomorrow. Once this paper is out of the way, I need to seriously start thinking about who I am going to interview for the assignment for that class. Next Monday starts the only other Mini-course I signed up for, so it looks like I can kiss my Monday nights goodbye for a little while. Hopefully the class will be as interesting as it seems so it is worth it!

Another thing worth noting is that I have my skype interview to be an Summer Orientation Leader on Wednesday during work. I already asked Josie about it and she said it would be fine for me to stow away in a vacant dressing room for half an hour, so that's good. I'm really nervous about it because I have pretty much banked all my plans for the summer on getting the position AND it is something that I have wanted to do since I went to Orientation myself three years ago. Man, time has certainly flown by since then....