My First Ultrasound!

So, I never thought I would be getting an ultrasound at the age of 23, but today I did! And no.. it wasn't a baby ultrasound, but one of my heart!

I've been having weird irregular heartbeats lately, and even though it's nothing too serious, it's definitely unusual and my doctor told me to get my little heart checked out! So I went to see a cardiologist this morning and got some tests done. They tested for the most serious conditions, all of which I passed with no signs of anything abnormal. First, I got the ultrasound done, and got to lay on the bed and see my heart beating as I felt it beating! It was really, really cool. The technician said that I had a "beautiful heart" :)

After my ultrasound I sat down and talked with the doctor for a bit, then he decided he wanted to see what my heart looked like when the beat is elevated (since the problems I've been having have been mostly dealing with random increases in my heart rate, like it will start beating like I just ran a marathon for no reason!). So, I got hooked up to a dozen electrodes, (which, mind you... they stick directly to your skin AFTER they rub your skin with sandpaper and let me tell you, it stings like a bitch!!!!) and was then told to run on a treadmill. To just add to the ridiculousness, I had to take my shirt off, so I'm running in my bra and a little paper vest thing, with wires all over my chest and stomach and a monitor around my waist, a blood pressure thingy around my arm, and in my dress pants and work shoes! I had to run for 8 min, which was about a mile. The whole time I'm running the doctor is asking me questions and I'm huffing and puffing and beeping and then every minute it took my blood pressure, making my right arm useless, as I'm running... in my bra with wires everywhere... let me tell you, it was pretty funny! Especially since the cardiologist is an older brother of one of my really good friends from high school! I definitely felt like that Russian boxer (Ivan Drago!!) from Rocky IV. I wonder if anyone who reads this will get that reference. Anyway, so it was pretty funny, but after I was done running/ panting/ sweating and put my clothes back on, I talked to the doc some more and he said for now, he doesn't see anything wrong.

The next step is to get hooked up to a heart monitor and wear it for 24 hours so they can hopefully capture one of these episodes when my heart kicks itself into high gear. I asked to not do it today but this weekend instead, since a sure way to trigger these episodes is for me to have a few drinks, and I try not to make it a habit to booze on weeknights! So I will have more answers next week!

I really wanted to ask for a print out of my heart ultrasound, but didn't know if that would be tooooo awkward and weird. I also asked the tech what the sex was, but she said she couldn't tell at this time (haha). I think I may ask for a print out later, and put it on my fridge... because isn't that what everyone does after an ultrasound? I will even make a little frame that says something like "Mommy Loves Me" or "I Am Beautiful." :)

Resurfacing

I think it's appropriate that my last post was about my car accident.  That was 2 months ago, and was just the beginning of a string of unfortunate events that have happened to me.  I don't really want to focus on those negative things, because I am doing really well and having a good time.  I guess I should mention that Bret and I broke up, further confirming my 3-out-of-3 theory, but then I realized... if I really HAD IT ALL at the ripe age of 23... what's the point of growing old?  Aren't we supposed to grow and make mistakes and get hurt and roll around in the dirt a little?  I have a little dirt under my nails right now, but I like what it's doing for my character.

It was bound to happen eventually...

Yesterday, I got into a car accident. Yes, it was super scary and I cried like a baby for 2 hours, but I am ok. My car, is not. I will find out probably either today or tomorrow if my car is fixable or completely totaled. Every time I think about it I want to start crying. Basically I was trying to turn left from one busy street to another. The light was green so I went into the middle of the intersection, waiting for traffic to clear so I could turn. The light turned yellow, then the light turned red. I saw that there were still cars coming in opposing traffic, but they werent going fast and I figured that SINCE THE LIGHT WAS RED they would stop at the crosswalk. But, as soon as I started to turn I see one of the cars NOT stopping, and of course this all happened in a second, but I slammed on the gas to get out of the way, but she hit me anyway. She hit my back passenger door with her front left bumper. Neither of us were hurt, but her lip was cut from her airbag so the paramedics came, spoke with us, and then a policeman came and took our info for us. I am SO grateful to the policeman because the woman that hit me barely spoke english, and I was in no state to deal with that. So then they determined my car wasn't driveable (since the back right rear wheel looked crooked) so they got it towed. The tow guy was the BIGGEST douche in the world and kept telling me that I should just scrap my car now because there is no way it's salvagable. He said "this car, a 2002? MAYBE it's worth $2000." So of course I looked him right in the face and said "That sure is a nice thing to tell me right now. Please be quiet. I don't appreciate your comments and truly, I don't think you are qualified to make such judgements." The policeman smiled at that. (really, you would have been shocked at how level headed I was during the whole ordeal. I called 911, took pictures of my car, introduced myself to the other driver, moved my car out of the intersection, all before the paramedics came). Anyway so they towed my car to some random shop in Hollywood, and I had to call Bret's mom to call me to pick me up. Of course coming east at 6pm from the beach to hollywood... well... let's just say there is NO WORSE traffic probably in all of LA. It took her 2 hours to get me, and in those 2 hours I sat outside a Vons and cried like a baby. I talked to my dad and my brother, who both gave me tons of tips on how to deal with this, and my mom kept texting me "honey, it's just a car. It's just a car". When I got home I called my insurance company, and now I just play the waiting game until I find out if my car will get fixed, or if I will have to start looking for a new one. Oh, and I looked up the value of my car. It's actually $6000, thanks a lot tow-guy-a-hole. (My dad told me "don't ever listen to those guys, they are all high school drop outs... classic Dad). Anyway, so Bret's mom (bless her heart) is letting me use Bret's car for the rest of the week, and this weekend my parents are going to bring me my mom's old car. It's a temporary fix, since her old Honda has like 250,000 miles and is going to die soon. But it gets me in the clear for the short term.

All in all, I'm obviously super upset that this happened but at least I'm ok. I'm not hurt AT ALL. Not even a buise. I am a little teeny bit sore, but I think it's from the fact that I was shaking for 2 hours straight after this all happened.

In other news, Transformers 2 made over $60 million yesterday, so everyone at work is rejoicing.

All I've been doing lately is watching movies

So since I am now a bona-fide member of the "entertainment industry" (hahaha) I have found myself seeing lots of movie.  And as your only resident movie expert (since I'm in the biz and all) I feel it is my duty to bestow my opinions on to you, my faithful readers.

State of Play 

Starring Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdams, the movie definitely had potential from the beginning, because even though Affleck hasn't put out a good movie in years, Crowe and crowd favorite Rachel McAdams definitely got me interested.  (Side note, yes Rachel McAdams is a great actress, but the reason I like her is because when I was a freshman in college, after an unfortunate hair-dying experience that left me red-headed, I was told I looked like her character in The Notebook.  I know I look NOTHING like her, but she is super gorge so I like to tell everyone that I was once compared to her. )  ANYWAY, on to the movie.  The plot starts off with a very public death of a young woman, and it is soon uncovered that she is the mistress of a prominent congressman (Affleck).  As some of the details of her death are unearthed, two journalists (Crowe and McAdams) discover that there is a whole government conspiracy behind the woman's death and work around the clock to break the story.  Sounds cliche, but overall it was really well done.  The acting was good, it wasn't TOO violent (I hate violence) and the plot was easy enough to follow.  There was a new twist every 5 minutes, and I usually find myself having a hard time following movies like that, but this one did a great job of logically leading the viewer to the next twist.  I would (and have already) recommended it. Favorite part:  Russell Crowe being a super slobby and chubby journalist that drives a really ghetto car and eats tons of cheetoes. 

Terminator Salvation

Yes, I am sure you are wondering WHY on earth I saw this movie.  Well, the short story is that it was the only way I would convince Bret to go see The Proposal with me next week (yeaaahh Sandra Bullock RomComs!!).  Anyway, this movie basically sucked for numerous reasons.  1) I haven't seen any of the other Terminator movies, and this one didn't even try to explain WHY John Connor is searching for his father, who is a teenaged boy.  Wtf?  2), The movie was just CONSTANTLY throwing freaking robot machines at you, and they are PISSED OFF!  You get about 3 minutes of dialogue, then BOOM BOOM BOOM here come the machines!  Followed by a 20 minute fight scene with about 200 rounds of bullets going off between the men and the machines.  I dont even GET why the machines hate humans so much.  Like seriously??  And where the hell do the humans get all those bullets??  Let's get real here.  Long story short, I was LITERALLY biting my nails during the whole movie, because it stressed me out so much.  So if you recognize that you have empathy issues (like myself) and will feel the emotions of the characters in movies you see, DON'T see this movie.

Favorite part:  Whoever the actor was that played Marcus (the "Salvation") was freakin hot. 

Angels and Demons

To all the haters:  I don't want to hear it, because I LOVED this movie!! It was SO GOOD!  I LOVE Tom Hanks, even though he always does this weird thing with his neck when he is playing Robert Langdon that totally distracts me (he tucks his chin into his neck, effectively giving himself a double chin, yeah it's weird).  Anyway, I read the book years ago, and though I really enjoyed the story, I thought the ending was really hokey.  The movie changed the ending, taking out all the hokey BS but still came to the same conclusion.  I love all the lore/myth of the history of the Catholic church, and was fascinated even by just the outfits.  I mean, let's be real, the Cardinals look pretty ridiculous in their red dresses with the little white lace overlay.  I loved the action, and the frantic feeling of the clock (and bomb) ticking!  I would def recommend this movie!  Especially if you are interested in religious history, even though the majority of the facts are actually NOT true, it's still soooo interesting.  (Sidenote, I watched this thing on the discovery channel that analyzed Angels and Demons, and every scientist said that that quantity of anti-matter is totally impossible... so we're safe for now!)

Favorite part: Ewan McGregor, wearing a full length dress/cloak/ whatever thingy throughout the whole movie, yet still looking super sexy.  And let's just say his exit was pretty epic.  

*****UPDATE****

I just got back from the movies (that makes three movies in three days!) 

Star Trek

I don't have much time (I have a major headache because I got hit in the face with a baseball this evening, but that's a story for another day) so I will make this short.

1. Believe the hype.  This movie is GREAT

2. Go Paramount!!!

3. Chris Pine... yes please.

4. Easy to follow and intelligent plot

5. NOT geeky at all

6. Even though it is set in the future, you don't question it.  It all is very believable.

7. I am regretting sending my sweet Star Trek shirt that I got from work to my brother.  I would rock that with pride!

8. Good action... they did a really cool thing where they balanced really intense action scenes with moments of complete silence.  It gave a great effect, seeing as this is all happening in the middle of space

9. Did I mention Chris Pine?  Too bad the guy grows up to look like William Shatner.

10. Those Romulans seriously need to take a chill pill

11. Loved all the integration, taglines, and jokes of characters from the old show

12. I haven't heard of a single person that hasn't liked this movie.  And the theater was literally full... two weeks after its release on a Sunday night.  That speaks for itself.

A Haiku about week 1

Job is going well

Tons of swag and free movies

And making coffee

(I'm not complaining!!)

Approaching 3 out of 3??? Let's hope I didn't just jinx myself!!!!

So I've had a hard time writing in this thing lately because the irony has just been killing me.  Brittanie was sweet when she named my blog "just an ordinary desk job" because she knew how much I hated my job, but my recent lack of a job (ordinary or desk) was just too depressing for me to handle.  Anyway, I guess i can OFFICIALLY announce now that I have a new job! I started yesterday working for Paramount Pictures! I am an executive assistant to the Senior VP of Strategy and Operations in Theatrical distribution.  So, I am doing lots of assistant stuff (making tea, ordering supplies, etc) but I am also going to be responsible for generating several reports.  They are kinda boring and detailed, and since I don't even know much about them, I will save you the details.  But yeah, I get to work on a movie lot, in the center of Hollywood, and it really is cool.  I am making pretty good money and I have these really weird things called "benefits" that I've never experienced before.

And now a List of all the stuff I did during my recent 6-week vacation (otherwise known as "unemployment"):

Went to Venice Beach every Monday for lunch with Bret

Went to Disneyland TWICE

Took a Girlfriend's Getaway trip to Utah for 4 days

Saw one of my favorite bands, Keane, in concert (amazing)

Went to the beach numerous times

Shopped a LOT

Finished my scrapbook thus far

Walked to the grocery store 3 times a week 

Watched more Bravo than I would like to admit

Slept till 10:00 most days

Made my sweet calendar

Read 2 books (would have been more without all the tv)

Moved into my studio

Went to San Diego for a weekend

Celebrated Hillary's birthday

Got a few pedicures

Went to two Dodger games

Played tennis

Tried fondue for the first time

Saw a friend's band play at a Hookah Bar in North Hollywood

Saw Hillary, Brittanie, Brittany, Nicole B, Nicole V, Barbara and Lana

And how can we forget the tranny bar in Koreatown??

Looking at it this way, I was pretty prolific!  At the time it really felt like I was in bed all day, but I guess I sell myself short.

Surprisingly, today actually IS Saturday

One of the worst things about unemployment (besides the whole "no income" thing) is that I am completely losing track of the days.  You see, my life consists only of Saturdays, since I never have to worry about waking up at a specific time the next morning.    But nonetheless, I have been realizing lately that I need a calendar.  I didn't need one when I was working because I was always ACUTELY aware of what day of the week it was (more specifically, how close I was to Friday).  Well, it's like the end of April and I still don't have a calendar, because I had my eye on one online months ago that I LOVED, but I was like,  "No way am I spending $35 on that, I could totally make it."  So, I finally made it!  

This is the original (duh)

This is my version (totally copied, or as the lady at my favorite scrapbook store would say, it's "scraplifted."  Anyway, I made mine on 8 1/2 by 5 1/2 white cardstock, and all of the designs are cut out of colored and patterned paper and glued with spray-mount.

Not bad, eh? 

In other news, my good friend Russell, who works for Disneyland but has been gone the last 8 months at Army training camp, is now back at the park and can get me and up to 2 friends into the park for free on weekdays.  Any takers???

This last month has been full of the MOST change I have ever experienced in my young life.  

I think of my life consisting of three main components, and everything else is a detail.  Those three pillars are: home, love and work.  I've felt in the last few months that I can't have all three in happy unison. If my love life is great, something will be wrong with my living situation or my job.  As you all know, I hate my job and have been having a REALLY tough time finding a good (really, even just ok) living situation in Los Angeles.  So, my job was going ok (no worse than normal) and I was FINALLY moving out of my awful living situation with the roommate who decided to stop paying his bills (and ended up owing me almost $2000. Now he owes me about $600).  I was moving into a super cute studio  and everything seemed to be heading towards peace and balance in my life, then OF COURSE.. because heaven forbid I get 3 out of 3... on March 20 my boss freaking lays me off!  I really shouldn't be surprised- it just goes with  my theory that I haven't yet earned the right to have a great boyfriend, a peaceful living situation and a decent job.

Anyway, I'm not that angry, just frustrated.  I hated my job and am very glad of spirit to be free of it, but of course I got no severance and now I am facing the... no less than daunting task of finding a new job.  I have fairly low standards, I just need to make almost as much as what I was making before (which wasn't much, so it won't be too hard to find) but everyone knows that there are very, very few jobs available right now.  

My only solace comes from the fact that my boss has already recognized how utterly STUPID it was to lay off his ONLY sales/marketing person when he has no work for production (yet kept the entire production staff) and he has a warehouse full of merchandise that is now not selling.  I guess the silver lining is that I don't have to work for such an intelligently inferior person anymore.

So my life now consists of a LOT of time and effort applying for jobs, and almost instantly getting an email telling me "thanks for your application but we are looking for more experience" or whatever kind of BS that companies are saying.  Ugh.  So I have started broadening my search even more.  I am looking into becoming a leasing consultant for an apartment building either in West LA or in Downtown, those jobs make about what I made before hourly, plus commission.

Other than that, my apartment is fantastic and cute and cozy and Bret and I are better than ever.  If I had to have 2 out of 3, at least I have my own space and an amazing boyfriend.  Now I just need to find some source of income.

In other news, I did something I NEVER thought I would do and embraced my inner democrat and applied for unemployment today.  To show how shitty my job was, on government assistance I will be making 60% of what I was making before.  So insulting.

And that's about it for now.  

Haiku

I'm still alive, just
Busy making adjustments
Without internet.

Inspirational Design!

Www.ApartmentTherapy.com is one of my all-time favorite blogs.  I was introduced to it when I started working at my company, because the site has featured our products several times (like here and here if you are interested).  Basically, it's a blog that features inspirational design, DIYs, good use of color, etc.  They also focus a lot on space-saving solutions, which is obviously a concern for most apartment dwellers.   Anyway, so I am making a BIG move in the next few weeks.  I am going from a condo, where I fully furnished and filled my bedroom, living room and kitchen with stuff.  I am moving into a one-room studio, and if it’s 250 square feet I will be surprised.  The studio is very nice, newly remodeled and in a good area, and I am just relishing the idea of living alone.  But, besides being small, there is hardly any storage room! I have no access to a garage, or even a deep closet (like I have now) so I am trying to be extremely strict with myself in downsizing my possessions.  The idea of surrounding myself with ONLY the things that I cherish and truly love is so appealing to me, but proving to be difficult!  So, today I turned to apartmenttherapy.com for some inspiration.

 

This studio in Santa Monica is bigger than my place is going to be (if you can even imagine that!) but the woman that lives there did a truly WONDERFUL job with not only space planning, but with her use of color and minimizing her stuff.  Nothing there looks cluttered or overwhelmed.  I can only hope that I will be able to minimize like that!  Not surprisingly- it's the top rated house tour on the whole website (and they feature one a day!)

 

This house in Austin, though not similar to my situation in terms of space, is my DREAM color scheme.  I LOVE the white/green/orange/yellow that she used.  Love love love.  I also love how she took the pattered material from the table by the window and then has 2 picture frames framing the same material across the room.  It is a great use of repetition- but I don’t think I could ever do it.  I have so many pictures that I would rather hang- and I don’t want to cover every single inch of the wall!

 

So, I hope I will be able to get to this level someday.  Until then, I am ruthlessly categorizing my stuff into 5 categories:  KEEP, SELL, DONATE, STORE IN PARENT’S ATTIC and GIVE TO FRIENDS.  

My fun Saturday Night :(

Saturday afternoon I was minding my own business, in bed reading an amazing book (called The Shell Seekers) when I get a call from Bret.  I answer and he said "can you come over and take care of me?" and I thought he was just being a baby so I was like, yeah ok sure, do you want frozen yogurt too? (I wanted some for myself, so I thought I'd offer).  So I went to get him froyo, and went to his house.  I go in and low and behold, Bret is sprawled out on the couch, with his whole left arm covered in ice packs.  I asked what was wrong and he said he fell playing basketball that day and felt it pop and now even the slightest move hurts like hell.  His mom (who used to be a chiropractor) was in a movie and couldnt get back for 2 more hours.  As soon as she got home, she looked at it and immediately called Bret's dad (who is also a chiropractor) and talked it over with him, and they decided Bret needed x-rays.  LUCKILY I didn't have to take Bret to a hospital- we just drove to his dad's office in Santa Monica and Rick (Bret's dad) met us there and took the x-rays.  He took tons of "pictures" as he called them and concluded that Bret broke one of his forearm bones and will have to get a cast this week :(  I feel sorry for him but the Big Baby is milking it for ALL ITS WORTH!  "Suuussiiieeeee can you make me some teeeeaaa???  It hurts too much to get up."  Good thing I love him!

And yes, he made me feed him his froyo since he couldnt hold the bowl himself.  Such a baby :)

Tahoe!

I tried to upload pics of my Tahoe trip, but YET AGAIN it didn't work.  So, no pics.

Long story short:  Weather on Saturday was perfect and we had an amazing day, complete with a gondola ride and cocoa on the gondola sky deck!!  It snowed like CRAZY on Sunday so we quit early and Bret and I went to Harrahs and gambled.  He lost all his money in craps and I slowly lost $20 playing slots, but it took me like 3 hours to lose so it was actually almost fun.  On Monday it was snowing again but it wasn't very cold, so we toughed it out, to be blessed with about 1 hour of beautiful sunshine.  As soon as we went in for lunch it started snowing like crazy again so we called it a day around 1pm.  It was snowing so hard we couldn't even see 30 feet in front of us.  Monday evening Bret and I flew from Reno back to LA.  Taking off, we had really bad turbulence and I almost lost my MIND.  It was SO SCARY!  But, it was fun flying into LA for the first time since I've moved here.  Now I know what everything was that we were flying over, and I even saw my apartment (literally the last building you fly over before you are over the airport- pretty nuts!).

If maybe someday figure out how to upload photos to this thing, I will show you some of the amazingly beautiful pictures.  

Yeah!!! Internet is back!!

Currently listening to:  Kanye West "The Good Life"

"Come on y'all, let's go on a livin' spree!!"

I'm in a great mood for a few reasons:

-Yesterday was my 2-year anniversary with my sweetie :)

-Today I gave my 30-day notice to move out of my apartment with my laaame roommates

-Yesterday I found a way cute (but small) studio in my budget that I am moving into on March 15

-I am THISCLOSE to being truly independent and the master of my own domain!!

-I spent Saturday- Monday in Lake Tahoe with my favorite people in the world- my parents, my brother and my boyfriend.

-On Saturday I rode the Heavenly Gondola, one of my favorite things in the world to do.

-Tons of NSYNC came on my ipod today- talk about an instant pick-me-up

-Hillary is going to help me clean out my closet soon (please???)  :)

I don’t have internet, I might as well diiieeee

So I haven’t blogged in forever because the internet at my apartment mysteriously turned off.  Luckily my iPhone has kept me updated with my email, Perez Hilton and all the other blogs I read- I just couldn’t update my own blog.  I called Time Warner like 10 times, and FINALLY got through after being on hold for hours it seemed.  Anyway, so it turns out that our modem decided to self-destruct.  The good news is though, that Time Warner is sending a repairman on Thursday and we will get credited for the time we didn’t have service!! The bad news- I have to wait till Thursday!  Until then I will have to sneak in blog posts at work... shhh!

 

Anyway, so I have lots of updates.

 

I went to SLO last weekend, and had a blast as always!  That town is my Happy Place.  I went because Bret was in Berkeley visiting his brother (my birthday present to him!).  I got to see some of my favorite people (Jessica, Marsha, Brian, Katie S, Big Red & Billy at McClintocks, Ali, Kayla, Mike, Lauren, Katie R, Monica, Phil, Alex, Brett, etc this list goes on and on!!) but it only made me miss them MORE when I left!  I stayed with Ali and Kayla and it was Kayla’s birthday so we threw her a party Friday night, which of course featured the VIP wine bag that I brought (long story, but those kids LOVE boxed wine!) and lots of beer pong.  On Saturday I met up with some girls that live in the new housing complex on campus (Poly Canyon Village) and I was totally jelly that they didn’t have that nice of housing when I lived on campus!!  Then I went to lunch with Mike at the Shack (mmmm chicken fingers!) and topped the night off at my favorite place on earth, McClintocks.  Katie and I went to visit two of our favorite people, Big Red and Billy.  Needless to say we got pretty sauced.  Billy supplied us with Dunbars, Strawberry Lemon Drops, Pomatinis and White Gummi Bears.  We also had a “shot for the road” but of course I don’t remember what it was because all these drinks we had in like 2 hours!  Then Katie and I went to Buffalo (our favorite bar in downtown slo) and drank water for 3 hours waiting for Big Red and Billy to meet us downtown.  We met some random dudes in the meantime, but they were suuuuch losers.  Like, such the stereotypical SLO d-bag who hangs out at bars to meet girls.   Anyway, Buffalo got so crowded that we called it a night around midnight (We started at McC’s at 6, so it was still a long night).  Sunday was a bit quieter, started off with breakfast with Marsha at Linnea’s, then lunch with Monica and a quick visit to Brian and Chris’s.  All in all, an amazing, yet exhausting weekend!!

 

Last week wasn’t nearly as great as my weekend.  Basically, work sucked.  Like, more than normal, if that’s possible!! But I will leave that at that.  Oh, one thing to mention. Thursday was like the worst day EVER.  Really, top 5 worst days.  I texted Bret asking him if we could hang out that night because I was really having a hell of a day and needed to relax and cuddle.  Literally, I was close to tears of frustration and misery half the day.  At about 2pm, the lowest hour of the day (boss yelling, scowling, insulting, etc) a delivery man came and brought flowers for me!! Bret sent me flowers at work (miniature roses in lavender, white, whisper pink and coral!)!! I don’t know HOW he did it, but literally, they couldn’t have come at a better time.  I was so happy and it truly made me realize how much work DOESN’T matter in the grand scheme of things.  Thank God for amazing people like Bret J

 

Towards the end of last week I started to get sick, and I’m surprised I even made it to 5:00 on Friday.  I don’t get sick often so when I do I am a HUGE baby and have a really low tolerance for pain and discomfort.  I really just shut down until I am better (but, I usually get better in 2 days so it’s all a wash).  After work on Friday I went home, and literally slept from 6pm till 8am Saturday morning.  14 hours!! I don’t think I’ve ever done that in my life!  I went over to Bret’s Saturday morning to make him breakfast (scrambled eggs and peanut butter toast!) and then when he went to basketball I treated myself to a trip to the scrapbook store, followed by a few hours of scrapbooking my parent’s ski trips (I have to finish this week, their anniversary is on the 19^th!).    For Valentine’s Day Bret took me to one of my FAVORITE restaurants, called 26 Beach in Venice.  I also got to wear my brand new super cute dark purple dress from Banana!!  We had to wait over an HOUR for our reservation, but they had heat lamps outside and it was worth it.  They make the most amaaaazing chicken parmisian there, and I was sure to only eat 1/3 of it (don’t worry, it was huge) so I can enjoy it for lunch today and tomorrow!!  I wasn’t feeling well so I was a total V-Day dud and had Bret take me home after dinner, and I was asleep by 9pm (I even skipped dessert!!!).

 

Sunday (yesterday) was a lazy day, I got up early again and went to Bret’s for breakfast and some Sunday Morning Tivo (The Office and 30 Rock) before I went home and climbed in bed for a day of healing.  I watched Amelie (AMAZING MOVIE! I’ve seen it before but the 2^nd time was even better!) and Closer, which was a truly depressing movie, I wouldn’t recommend it!  It was basically about two couples who cheat on each other with each other and no one ends up happy.  But, Natalie Portman was in it and she was EXCELLENT.  She’s up there with Kate Winslett as my favorite actresses.

 

So that’s about it! This upcoming weekend Bret and I are flying to Tahoe for some winter fun! We will be gone Friday night through Monday night, and I am just antsy in my pantsy!   Tahoe is getting TONS of snow right now, so the skiing should be great! Bret, David and I are also going to make a trip to Harrah’s for some blackjack (fingers crossed for a big win, though I’ll probably stick to slots!!) 

10 Reasons why today is going to be a great day:

1. It’s FRIDAY!
2. I’m going to SLO today
3. I’m leaving work at 2:30
4. Driving to SLO with my good friend Matt who I am going to grill about getting a job at his company

4.5      Matt just BCC’ed me on an email where he told his boss how awesome I am!!  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

5. I just drank cofffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!
6. I am going to see all my lovely little wowie babies tonight!
7. Tons of beer pong domination tonight!!!
8. It’s my Bret’s birthday
9. I kicked ass at work this week and have already met most of my monthly quotas (my boss will never acknowledge this, of course, because he thinks I am a dumb young girl, but I know in my heart that he has no other way of explaining why sales are so good)
10.  When I drive through Camarillo tonight I am picking up a bunch of new clothes that my mom bought for me at the huge Banana Republic sale.  YAY!

I'm so micro-bored!

I've been praying to my iphone for weeks, and they've finally arrived!  I give you:  2009's "Buzzwords."

Personal

Co-rumination: Excessive chattering about problems, real and imagined. Leads to the amplification of real anxieties, and creation of new ones. Has increased markedly in recent years, as email, messaging, texting, and Facebook have given the self-obsessed a multitude of outlets.

Junior moment: Flip-side of a senior moment. Can be committed by adults, with a sudden lapse into immaturity; or by youth, displaying the lack of thoughtfulness, sense or self-preservation we oldies associate with them.

Extended financial families: Several generations of the same family living in one home. Love and devotion might be the glue that keeps them together, but it's more likely to be the need for care or child minding, with the added benefit of cash savings.

Micro-boredom: What we used to call downtime, now increasingly filled by fiddling with mobiles or BlackBerrys. Those who market these devices, or the services they use, see it as an opportunity to sell us something. Potential victims of this can be recognised by their adoption of the:

BlackBerry prayer: The hunched-over, self-absorbed pose adopted by those fingering their Blackberry, or texting on their mobile. Often accompanied by facial expressions to match tenor of the message being sent.

Digi-necker: Driver who, when passing a road accident, whips out their mobile and takes a picture.

Environment
Nano-solar: Sunshine absorbers that don't need expensive, silicon-using panels, but use a thin film of solar cells that can be applied to any inorganic surface - windows, roof tiles, even metal. The predicted effect is that the cost of solar power will be reduced to a third of the cost of coal.

Energy dashboards: Control panels that monitor performance of your heat, light, and power use, in the same way a conventional one does for your car. Will be net-enabled so you can see what energy you're using, and at what cost, and come into their own when you have full device convergence, and you can talk to your appliances, and they can 'talk' back to you, and to the power source.

Negawatts: Latest word for energy efficiency, coined by the public utility commission of California. Greenies also use the term fifth fuel.

Edible estates: Phrase coined by US campaigner Fritz Haeg for digging up your lawn and growing in its place something you can eat. After all, we did it in the war, when the Dig For Victory campaign increased the land used for food production by 80 per cent. For examples, see any traditional cottage garden, or back yards in Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany - where grass is for sport or ruminants, not something to be made a fetish of.

Eco-embedded: The idea that business and government adopts eco-friendly practices that leave the consumer no choice. A ban on plastic shopping bags, for instance, or other plastic-free zones (such as a shopping centre in Balgowlah, New South Wales), carbon emission laws, or 'green' credit cards where consumers pay a little extra to offset the carbon cost of their purchase.

Technology
Geo-fencing: What you do when, via a GPS system or mobile phone, you set a physical boundary to where someone can roam. If they exceed it, you get a warning. Used by delivery companies to be notified when drivers stray off designated routes (which sounds Big Brotherish, but could also alert a firm to a hijack). There are also geo-fencing services that can track your child's mobile, sending you a message if they deviate from their usual haunts.

Cloud computing: Use of the huge capacity of corporate computers by individuals or small businesses.
Corporates have sophisticated software, and you have broadband that lets you connect with this computer 'cloud' floating above you. In other words, software will not be something you buy, but rent and access.

Telepresence: Fancy word for video conferencing. A few firms now have special rooms where life-sized images of off-site participants allow a meeting that satisfies every sense except that of touch. Not to be confused with teleporting, which only happens in sci-fi movies.

GRIN Tech: Genetic, Robotic, Information and Nano Technology. Mostly it means those breakthroughs which have yet to find a practical, cost-effective application. But, we're told, they're coming. Er, probably.

Consumer
Austerity 2.0: What we're all about to experience in 2009, if those dubious think-tank predictions come to pass.

Flexenomics: Our word for the economy growing up to support the need, in times of far greater uncertainty, for people to keep their spending and consuming flexible. More of us will rent homes, white goods, TVs and entertainment systems, or lease cars. It also covers contract working, and reduction of all but essential financial commitments - which will help relieve that already established condition: debt stress.

Brickor mortis: Property market where few homes are being sold.

Upcycling: Recycling disposes of things that might (repeat, might) be reconstituted rather than left to rot; upcycling gives objects a new use. Its American advocates cite an example of chair cushions made out of old ties, which doesn't bode well. For examples of less frightening upcycling, visit etsy.com. The concept is popular with Imbys, who favour anything local, until, of course, it threatens their space and privacy, whereupon they become the far more familiar Nimbys.

Staycation: A vacation without the travelling. Or the expense. Or the tan.

Enoughism: The creed that holds that we over-consume, amass far too much "stuff" that only ever provides a fleeting pleasure, and ought to cry "Enough!". Experts like John Naish and Oliver James argue this incessant acquisitiveness leads to dissatisfaction that can develop into mental illness. Been around for a while, but fast gaining currency.

Unplugging: Technological wing of the above, where someone realises that the time they spend online, on the mobile, curating the Facebook page, etc, is no substitute for living. So they put themselves on a digital diet, and possibly even cultivate an interest in things without keypads. Like other people. What we all need, probably, are more islands of tranquillity, or thinking time, as it used to be known.

Business
Instapreneur: Instant entrepreneurship, via online shops and selling services, allow anyone with something to sell - even a design or idea - to go into business right now. The online service takes a rake-off, but the instapreneur does not even have to invest the financial, or time, cost of making or buying stock. Via lightningsource.com, you can even submit a book manuscript to Amazon.com and start taking orders almost immediately. There are also sites for T-shirt designers (spreadshirt.com), and much more.

Crowdfunding: Financing of ventures or projects by a number of individuals brought together, usually via the net. Disaster relief funds are a form of crowdfunding, and this old concept is now being used in new ways, especially in the US. Examples include ArtistShare, where musicians can raise cash via online micropayments (four years ago Maria Schneider became the first ArtistShare beneficiary to win a Grammy); BeerBankroll, a brewer managed by its online community (membership as low as $50); and greedyorneedy.com, which allows people to submit a need or wish, with participants then voting which ones get the donated cash.

Pinkwashing: The dark art favoured by certain companies (you know who you are) of using ostentatious support for breast cancer research to promote your products or services.

Perkonomics: Small add-on benefits offered to you by firms to get or retain your business. Examples include fast-track guarantees for theme parks or car hire, and mobile network Orange giving users access to concert tickets 48 hours before they go on general sale.

And finally...
If buzzwords enrage you, then write a book about it. You will thus contribute to the rising tide of books about things that make the author angry, known, of course, as Wrath Lit. There is, it seems, a buzzword for everything.

God Bless iPods!

Well, really, God bless those little white ear buds. Wearing them at work (not even listening to my music!) has made my boss completely ignore me. It’s AWESOME. Now when he wants anything, he just emails me (mind you, he sits 5 feet away from me). It’s amazing. I don’t even have to look at him.

Aaahhhhh.   :)

And I get to listen to non-NPR! (we listen to NPR on the radio all day). Trust me, I appreciate NPR but you know how it’s annoying when you listen to a radio station all day and they replay songs? Try having to listen to the same depressing news stories all day.

On the Subject of Jobs..

There are few things that stress people out more than looking for and finding a job.  I know that job hunting is right up there on my "Things I Love to Do List" right next to getting surgery and  watching High School Musical.   Anyway, it's painful and we all know it.  In "this economy" (the most loathsome phrase of 2009) it's not only painful, but damn near impossible.  Companies just aren't hiring.  Many people close to me have been laid off in the last few weeks (my brother, and my good friend Nicole both are mechanical engineers and both of their projects got cancelled due to lack of funding, thus they are out of jobs).  To think someone with a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering can get laid off... well shit.  I have just a run-of-the-mill business degree, and though I am pretty safe in my current job, I don't want to stay there.  You all know how much I "dislike" my job (to use a nice word) and I have been looking for a new one for weeks.  Now how the hell am I supposed to get hired by companies that keep announcing that they are laying off 1000, 2000, 5000 workers???  I guess I can't.

I have applied for a job at Anthropologie, but I don't want to say anything more about it until I at least have an interview.  Let's just say my desire for this job burns like the passion of a thousand suns.

 

How did they know I wanted to watch Chick Flicks???

So in the last seven months, I have barely watched TV at all.  All I every get around to watching is usually Tivo-ed political commentary at Bret’s house.  Well, my boyfriend and all his friends went to Vegas this last weekend (I wasn’t invited, then at the last minute I was invited, but then said no out of principle because the only reason they invited me was because someone dropped out and they wanted to keep their costs down… long story) anyway where was I... oh yeah, Bret was in Las Vegas.  So, in my current friend-deprived state, I stayed home Saturday night.  This is, of course, after a trip to Pinkberry, where I got a medium instead of a small because I was treating myself.  Anyway so I went home and plunked down in front of my roommate’s giant flatscreen.  I was expecting to have to watch the Real Housewives of Orange County marathon on Bravo, but lo and behold!  Cable TV panders to single women on Saturday nights!!!!  I was fully occupied from 6pm to 1am with an appetizer of  A Cinderella Story, the main course being The Devil Wears Prada and the sweetest most delicious dessert of The Notebook.  Mmmm so filling and satisfying.

 

But then I realized, oh my gosh, if I were single this would be my Saturday night every week!! In my current situation, if I didn’t have Bret I would have seen the Notebook at least 50 times by now!!  So long story short, thank God for boyfriends that always spend time with you so you don’t end up eating ice cream every weekend watching sappy chickflicks for 7 hours straight!!

 

Lesson #2:  Make more friends that don’t bartend.

Yay I love these things!!!

5 things I was doing 10 years ago...

1. Meeting my best friend Hillary in 7^th grade

2. Going through my “rebellious” phase by not doing my homework and getting Bs instead of As

3. Struggling with math for the first time in pre-algebra

4. Straightening my hair a LOT

5.  Thanking God that middle school wouldn’t last forever

 

5 things on today's "to do" list...

1. Buy a small cute chandelier for my room

2. Paint an accent wall in my living room purple (because I can!)

3. Set up a time to see Hillary

4. Put together Bret’s birthday present

5. Finish my parent’s ski scrapbook

 

5 Snacks I enjoy...

1.  Kettle Corn

2.  Fresh fruit (watermelon, pineapple, green apples, etc)

3.  Ritz Bitz with peanut butter

4.  most candies (I have a terrible sweet tooth!)

5.  cheddar cheese and wheat thins

 

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire...

1. Buy a house and vacation homes and fill them with amazing things

2. Travel the world

3.  Buy a vintage porche like the ones Steve McQueen’s girlfriends always drove

4.  Completely materialistic shopping spree! All the most amazing clothes

5.  Never work a day in my life again (unless it was something fun that I wanted to do)

 

5 places I have lived...

1. Ridgecrest, CA

2. Virginia Beach, VA

3. Camarillo, CA

4.  San Luis Obispo, CA

5.  Los Angeles, CA

 

5 jobs I've had...

1. Sales girl at Express

2. Blender’s smoothie extraordinaire

3. Cal Poly Admissions student assistant

4. ADP sales intern

5. MashStudios Marketing Manager

A Week in Review

 Survived another week of commuting.

Won Balderdash with Bret’s family

Job hunting.

Got a new roommate (Becky. Awesome.)

Bought curtains (white) and new kitchen towels (jewel tones)

Finished 2008 scrapbook

Another car accident outside my office

Finished Fall on Your Knees (sad, but excellent)

Got a new water heater (helloooo scalding hot showers!)

Indulged in protein-style In n Out

Raided Target’s clearance scrapbook stash!

Made Belgian waffles from scratch

Oops!

So yesterday I read an AWESOME article and then I posted it here... actually I ended up positing a link to the web stats for my work website- oops!  Here is the article:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,477434,00.html

Enjoy!

Happy 2009!!

Check out my sweet hat!!

New Year's kiss!!

Shots with Jennifer

The Christmas Tree at LA Live

At the Eastern

First I want to wish everyone a WONDERFUL New Year!   2008 was pretty great and I can only hope that 2009 will be even better :)

I had a really awesome New Year's Eve.  Bret and his friends and I went to Downtown LA.  We hung out for a few hours at Bret's dad's loft (which is in an amazing Art-Deco building called The Eastern downtown... soooo awesome).  Then around 10:00 we walked to LA Live, which is this area of downtown with the Staples Center, Nokia Theater, Lucky Strike and some other cool stuff, that is kind of like a smaller, west-coast version of Times Square.  So we went to a few bars there, had some drinks and hung out, and then at midnight they had a countdown. Afterwards we went back to The Eastern and hung out at the roof-top pool.  That's where the details get a little fuzzy because all the champagne & shots caught up with me.  All in all, a great night.

Now I just need to figure out how to put the pictures AFTER my post, not before.  Ugh.

My Resolutions

1.  Move into a 1-bedroom apartment and live ALONE

2.  Eat healthier/ more often (haha)

3.  Explore Los Angeles more

4.  Go on a trip

Did I miss any?  I can't remember.