where to begin?! i just recently returned home from a fabulous trip to glitzy las vegas!!! a couple months ago, parker's dad, charlie, suggested we get a group together for a fun little getaway to vegas, so i'd been looking forward to this trip for awhile. it turned out that parker and i were the only la-ers to go, and we were going to meet up with charlie, and parker's aunt kathy. we packed so much into the three days we were there, so i know i'm just going to be skimming the surface of trip details!

on sunday, parks and i made the 4ish hour drive to vegas, where we met up with his dad and checked into the retro-futuristic (isn't that what you called it, parks?) bally's hotel and casino. it was perfectly situated right on the center of the strip, which was convenient for charlie's plan of walking opposite directions each day to explore the other casinos. i was really excited about my room--it was almost the size of my whole tiny apartment in la, and i had it all to myself!! aaah! i never knew a king-sized bed could bring a person so much joy! shortly after settling in, we three hit the pavement. we walked half the strip, basically, weaving in and out of the casinos to see all the sights. each time i've been to vegas, i've been amazed at how much money goes into creating such intricately themed hotels. i felt like i visited multiple foreign countries over the course of the weekend! we saw the paris,



planet hollywood, the mgm grand, the excalibur, the luxor, and mandalay bay. my feet were pretty tired by the end of the afternoon! i'd never been in a few of these, and i was impressed. i'd seen outside the luxor, for example, but the inside was crazy--this vast open space with all the rooms right around the pyramid's edges...

later, we ate dinner and then headed to see penn & teller's show.



it was funny, but not at all what i expected. i thought it'd be an elaborate magic production, but it was instead a stark stage with mainly just penn talking (teller's a mime, basically). they debunked a lot of psychic's tricks, and showed how common magic tricks were done. it was cool. after the show, parks and i headed upstairs in the rio to voodoo, a lounge on the top floor with an outdoor area that has the best view of vegas. it was amazing up there, and i felt very grateful to get to soak it all in with parker by my side. wah wah wah, i know, i know...ok i'll move on...to monday!

monday was parker's aunt kathy's birthday. she flew in and i got to meet her for the first time. much to my (and parker and charlie's) surprise, park's two sisters, molly and brynna, had flown along with kathy to vegas!! i was happy to finally meet molly, and to see brynna again!! what a welcome surprise!!



we spent that afternoon heading the opposite direction up the strip, going in and out of the casinos and shops. we had a celebratory birthday lunch in venice (complete with gondolier's serenades)...




we saw tao nightclub, which may be familiar to any of you who follow tabloids...sorry this picture is blurry, but you can see the extravagant entrance of orchid, filled bathtubs...



then we got yummy gelato from a place that had an elaborate chocolate fountain. i felt like i could dive in it and be augustus gloop from willy wonka...ok, it wasn't that big...




more than anything, i loved getting to spend time with the wilsons. they're a pretty sharp bunch, wouldn't you agree?! next, we wandered over to the bellagio and had an ocean's 11 moment as we watched the fountain show:



then, we all got dressed up for the evening ahead, which included a delicious dinner at SW, a restaurant in the wynn (which i think i've decided is my favorite hotel/casino in vegas!!). besides the incredible food, and outstanding company, the highlight of dinner was they wynn's bi-hourly show that's projected on the fountain just outside the restaurant. i can say without reservation it was possibly one of the most bizarre things i've ever seen. we got to see three separate, approximately 4-minute vignettes during the course of dinner. what made them so strange was that they were so unexpected--this ultra-trippy, completely odd show in contrast with our calm, upscale dinner. below, are some pictures, and a youtube video that someone else filmed of one of the shows that we saw...apparently more people than just i think it's beyond weird...







aaah, so crazy!!!! we still can't stop singing: "bow bow, chicachicka!" haha.

next up was a trip to the mirage to see LOVE, the beatles themed cirque du soleil!!! i'd never seen a cirque show before, so i didn't really know quite what to expect. from what i've heard, this one was less astonishing, in terms of it's acrobatic feats, but more on the commercial side, which i was fine with. i thought it was spectacular, creative, and entertaining. there was so much going on, it added to the already sensory-overload vibe i was experiencing in vegas! there was a ton of symbolism, which makes me want to research the beatles' music. but, yeah, overall i loved it! they incorporated a variety of styles of dance, and elements like trampoline and skate ramps, along with the traditional cirque bungees. highly recommended! and of course, the musical selection was superb!



after the thrill of the big show, we decided we should at least try out hand at the tables on our last night in sin city. the girls and i played some slots, to no avail, and parker spent some time at the roulette table. i actually ended up playing roulette, too, for a bit, and it was so fun!! we both felt out of our usual scene, but it definitely made for an exciting evening. luckily i only spent (and sadly lost) $15--that's right, big spender right here...

after just about stuffing in all that we could in las vegas, we had a fat tuesday breakfast at a cafe in the bellagio. then we packed up and headed back westward towards home. we made the trip in good time, again with surprisingly little traffic, and had fun conversation in the car with parker, charlie, and me. when we got back in town, we capped off the excellent weekend with a trip to ever-popular pinkberry!!



so...as you can tell, it was a lovely trip!! and, believe it or not, it's taken me until now to finish this post, because i had an equally eventful rest of the week post-vegas...charlie stayed for a visit in la, so we had some more good times, and you can look forward to another new post hopefully very very soon!! whew!!

i've been very fortunate to learn about many new musical artists since moving to la. i have friends who are pretty tuned into the indie scenes of many genres, and i'm learning a lot. along with funny concerts like hanson, i've gotten to see bands like mates of state (love 'em!), anathallo, gavin degraw, and of montreal. i'm forewarning you that this post is a sappy homage to an new favorite artist of mine...so if you're a music connoisseur, enjoy. otherwise, read at your own risk.




i'm completely taken by andrew bird. (a musician i saw in concert last night) i was just recently introduced to his music, and luckily listened to some of it during the week before the show, so i felt somewhat familiar. but, i had no true idea what i was in for.

we arrived in downtown la, at the orpheum theater. it was spectacularly ornate, and i was immediately nostalgic for days when they actually built theaters like this.




a band called loney deer (yes, loney) opened, and they were great. i'd recommend checking them out. then andrew came on, and i was blown away. i was enthralled, captivated. i just sat there, letting the music surround me, and basked in it. he is the definition of reaching potential. nothing i could write even comes close to describing it. it was by far one of the best concerts i've ever been to, if not performances as a whole. andrew bird's voice was flawless. the harmonies between him and his band made me ache. he whistled like no one i've ever heard, and played the guitar, violin, and incorporated looping, which was so organic and fantastic.

stringed instruments have always been my favorite. i played the violin as a child, and i suppose i feel a certain emotional connection to the strings. to see the amber hued light illuminating the broken hair of the bow, the bursts of rosin clouding the warm golden air--UH!!! so much passion.

it was inspirational. i wanted to write love letters and travel and experience life. i felt spurred to create something beautiful--something that matters. isn't it funny that music can move a person to feel such things? :) it was just a phenomenal evening.

a less mushy sidenote: tally up two more celeb sightings at the show.

1) james spader--80s heartthrob, boston legal star. i saw him in the lobby before the show.



2) jake mcdorman--"evan chambers" from the tv show greek--saw him after the show, just chillin outside with a group of his friends...



it seems i always spot male celebrities, never the women...what's that about...? oh well, i guess all of us la chicas look so similar with out over-sized glasses, they'd be hard to spot...

ok, have a great day, take care, and check out andrew bird--you won't be disappointed!

so, lately i've realized my dear blog was extremely out of date. i had kept the same tired template since my blog's birth, which was, gosh, 3 years ago?! was this laziness or an aversion to change? i'm not exactly sure...but i AM sure that i'm quite pleased with it's refreshing face lift. bear with me while i make some ongoing changes, but never fear, i'm still here and hopefully improving all the time...

take care!

i had the greatest v-day, how was yours?! this post is probably going to end up being one big brag on my boyfriend, parker, which is sort of rare (not the bragging-i gush about him all the time!), since i don't like to post a ton about my really personal life on here, and make it, well, less "personal." but i suppose valentine's day is a good excuse as any to gush, right? :)

parks and i had tossed ideas back and forth about what to do for v-day, and never really landed on anything. we both felt like we didn't want to buy into the over-the-top, ridiculously expensive and extravagant consumerized version of v-day. it seems so silly and frivolous to spend three times as much money on going out to dinner one night when you could do the same thing the next day for so much less. ok, i'll stop preaching. anyway, so we decided on getting up and going to breakfast, with no other plans for the day.

it was great. i put on a hoodie and no makeup and we headed down to main street in santa monica for delish omelettes at the omelette parlor. the weather was sunny and crisp, which we got to enjoy from the back, ivy-covered patio. having no schedule at all, we decided to go for a walk on the venice canals, which are so quaint with an eclectic variety of houses, gondolas, beautiful flowers, and footbridges. it was lovely. then we made a couple pit-stops before hopping in the car to head up the coast and attempt to go to the getty villa (a museum by the same guy as "the getty"). they were filled to capacity, i guess all the valentine's lovahs had beat us there. since we were on a spontaneous kick, though, we just hit the PCH again, going north, enjoying time for conversation and the gorgeous sunny day on the coast. we stopped off at point dume, a rocky beach north of malibu, where we got out an hiked lightly for a bit. then we settled on the rocks for awhile and watched the sunset.







with the sun gone, the chill night air prompted us to head back to the car. as we made our way back down the dirt trail, we happened to have another little celeb sighting! we passed emilio estevez (and his either fiance or wife, i'm not sure)!! i was so tempted to start chanting "quack, quack, quack!" but, i didn't want to ruin their peaceful valentine's date ;)



by this point, our stomachs were growling, so we decided to head back south to grab burgers at this restaurant called father's office. i'd heard of their amazingness, but had never eaten there. it's a casual place, so it wasn't busy due to the holiday. we got right in, and i experienced literally the best burger of my life. please make the trip here just to have this burger. i'm not kidding. my mouth is watering just thinking about it right now. ok i'll move on...after you see this picture (see, this place is so good, someone else had posted this online--i didn't take this)



oh i forgot to mention, that parker brought me flowers and an adorable stuffed bear that he had dressed like him, all the way down to his little chucks! so cute. he's such a catch, may i just broadcast that for a second?! not because of the gifts or anything, just he's amazing :)

after dinner, we got pinkberry--yum as always--and then rented a movie. unfortunately, this was the one negative thing about the day (but the day was so amazing, it definitely didn't even leave a tarnish at all). we watched nick and norah's infinite playlist, which i do NOT recommend. just didn't really like it. but eh, you can't love 'em all, i suppose.

anyway...it was the perfect valentine's day for me. low-key, spontaneous, active, and of course, with parker. i would have gladly just sat around with him all day, done nothing, and been just as happy :)

hope yours was equally as good, and i'd love to hear your gushes too!

i've decided i'm going to blog more. a lot of times i feel like i wait around for something really exciting to happen before i write a post, then it ends up being very rare that i blog. i'm not saying i'm going to scrap all quality for the sake of quantity, but i think there are little overlooked tidbits from my life that might actually be interesting to read!

with that in mind...let's talk celebrity sightings! when people talk to me about living in la, they often ask about what celebrities i see around town. they're usually surprised to discover that real life is not like the tabloids, where celebs are seen all over the place, 24/7. i mean, i've seen a few--some on set (tom selleck, josh duhamel, christina applegate), some in real life (rachel dratch, ellen pompeo, tom arnold)-- however, in the past two weeks, i actually had a couple legitimate celebrity sightings!

probably my best sighting yet was this sunday night. i was leaving the 3rd street promenade, walking back to my car, and i crossed a crosswalk with only one other person in it. guess who it was! only one of my very favorite actors--tom hanks! yeah, really! pretty sweet, right? we made eye contact, and i was very tempted to say "you're a great actor; i love your work!" slyly, under my breath. anyway, i was thrilled; i mean, he's a big movie star!!



a few nights earlier, my roomie and i went to blockbuster to rent a movie. as we were waiting in line, in walks devon sawa. now, if you're not a girl about my age, this may not mean much to you. if you ARE...you may be slightly freaking out right now. devon sawa was a 90s heartthrob, who acted in movies like now and then, casper, little giants, and final destination. let me just say--he looked exactly the same as he did back then! it was truly a blast from the past!



this one isn't quite as recent, but a month or so ago, i saw emile hirsch in pinkberry. he looked the same as on the big screen, except he was a lot shorter than i expected. just a little bit taller than me, actually. (devon was pretty short, too. they always are...)




speaking of emile hirsch...this week i got to watch milk (which he's in) and the reader. i saw the curious case of benjamin button and slumdog millionaire in theaters, so now i'm just one frost/nixon short of seeing all the academy award nominees for best picture this year. i don't think i've gotten to see so many of the nominees before, and i'm really grateful that i did this year, because i found them all to be inspiring. it would be tough to vote on a winner. of the four i've seen, i think i liked the reader and slumdog millionaire the best. but, i recommend all of them!

ok, that's all for now. check back for more hopefully sooner than later!