for your consideration

i hath neglected thee

2011-01-10T18:33:00.000-08:00

i feel as though i'm sending this out to the void. if there are any readers left out there (hi mom and devoted grandparents, i love you!), bless your hearts. i should be more diligent in keeping this up, i really should. i guess sometimes i just don't feel like there's much to say, but i guess there actually is...maybe i can revive this poor blog with a little TLC?

i like lists, so i'll start there! no rhyme or reason to this particular one, except that it is nice for organization...which i also like...

which brings me to...1. being organized is a good trait. especially for a producer. which i am now. parker and i are working [as of now on a trial basis] with a production company in atlanta. see: greentricyclestudios.com. parker is senior editor, and i am production manager, but it's a verrry small boutique company, so we get lots of opportunity for creative input--i love brainstorming meetings!! i'm really liking the job so far, and we're enjoying exploring the city, aaand being with each other 24/7 :)

we are making fun new friends [i crave hangout-time, MISS YOU friends!], but we're also watching a lot of movies, tv online, and dvds...did i mention we don't have cable (probably a good habit to kick)

2. the king's speech: lovely story, great acting, colin firth: painful yet adorable, geoffrey rush: you're so good
3. TRON: cool to look at. the plot? ehhh, not so much.
4. the tourist: how in the world did this get nominated for actual golden globes?!?! pass.
5. MAD MEN. 'nough said.
6. my new friends complete series DVDs. yessssss.
7. modern family. of course. top chef allstars. best season yet?

8. one fun moment of hotlanta exploration was a visit to the world of coke museum! we went with our friends, steve and mel, and had so much fun! there's a willy wonka-esque tasting room, where you can sample over 100 flavors of coca-cola drinks from around the world. beverly=woof.

9. today we had a SNOW DAY! a real bonafide snow day. the public schools and our office were closed, so we holed up inside and worked from home. it was a beautiful winter wonderland outside. complete with palm tree.!

aaaand 10. crystal light peach flavored green tea. i've never liked peach flavored things. peachios? gross! but the dear gal from whom we're subletting left a lot of that stuff, and it is just delicious! i recommend.

welp, that's the list for today. hope that was a quick little update on life here. call if you want to catch up. and i'll try to be better about keeping this thing up...

our wedding feature!

2010-10-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

hey all!

our wedding is being featured on With This Ring Weddings!!

not going to lie, we feel pretty cool :)

check it out!

http://with--this--ring.blogspot.com/2010/10/real-wedding-santa-monica-california.html

:) L

the home sweet home post

2010-09-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

i'll spare you my usual word count on this one, so get ready for some photes!

i've had a couple requests to see our lovely home, and we've finally [almost] finished decorating, save for a few finishing touches. we love our home, and are always so happy and peaceful to be here--just the two of us, or entertaining our wonderful friends. we're very blessed indeed by our own little 700 square foot slice of space.

p.s. i hope you get some sort of curiosity craving satisfied through this...i'm officially obsessed with HGTV, so i know how it feels...

:) L

living room...

kitchen table...

view...

bathroom...

bedroom...

photos of each of our shoes, from our wedding :)

and now the piece de resistance...our office!

and lastly, this was our honeymoon souvenir for ourselves, a vintage map of kauai, where we went. tres chic, no?

what does your home look like? i love to chat decor if you're up for it!!

the life of mrs. w

2010-08-19T18:04:00.000-07:00

ok ok, enough IS enough!

after 4 delightful months of wedded bliss (no throat clears here, i'm not exaggerating!) i'd say it's about time for me to write a blog entry. apparently i do go on these few-month hiatuses, but even though i may not think my life is the most exciting sometimes doesn't give me an excuse not to keep you guys updated!

so...let's have a whirlwind update from the past 4 months [wow!].

1. marriage is so amazing :) i'll spare you all the mushy-gushy details by saying that all is well, parker is the best husband, and i've never felt so loved. it's so fun to live with your best friend, too! (parker is working on a honeymoon compilation video, so hopefully i'll get to post that sometime soon).

2. on the job front. things have been continuing on the same path as they have been going for the past three years, which is the jagged path of career randomness, sprinkled with acting, voiceover work, hand modeling, personal assistance, and writing. i'm definitely getting itchy though now for a more steady gig, i think. i'm just having trouble making up my mind which direction to choose! any suggestions?

one fun foray i recently made into a side job is through...

3. Etsy. Etsy is like ebay, an online marketplace, only etsy has to be vintage or handmade. i love garage saling and thrifting, so i decided to turn that into a little moneymaker and find things to sell online. it's been great to unload some left over wedding items, too. i've only posted and sold a few things so far, but it's really fun. check out my store (it's a little bit bare right now) here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/missellepea

4. DQ. after connecting with a couple of producers through friends, i got in as a project coordinator (producer's helper) on a shoot for a dairy queen spec commercial. it was a great two weeks. i had the pleasure of working with a few wonderful people, from whom i learned a ton about producing. i like to think of it as a crash course. i'll post the final product, or a link to it, as soon as it's finished, hopefully in a couple of weeks! but i'm very proud of the finished product, and hoping to pursue more work in producing.

5. during those two weeks, my brother, cody and his friend were in town. we had so much fun spending time together and doing lots of LA activities. here were are hiking at solstice canyon in malibu!

6. my hubby has a new website and blog. at least check out his reel on the main page. he's very talented, and that's actually unbiased. www.parkerwilson.com

7. we fostered a dog for a week recently. his name was huck, and he was the perfect dog for us, but it just wasn't the right time, unfortunately. so, we gave him a great home for a week and then he got adopted by a lovely family!! isn't he adorable though?

8. backtracking a bit...for 4th of july weekend, we decided to rent a house in palm springs with some friends. because the desert is super hot (we're talkin' 110 degrees!) in the summer, that's their off season, so you can get really good deals. anyway, we got a killer 4 bedroom house with salt water pool and tons of other amenities. it was a perfect mini-vacation, and made summer feel more legitimate, since LA has been sort of chilly this year. we already can't wait to plan another trip! if you're ever going, let me know, and i'll give you the info for this particular house since it was such a good deal.

9. also while in palm springs, and to make use of our sleek, modern abode...parker and i shot another commercial for the next MOFILM competition. it's for dove, and i'll definitely post it when the competition rules allow. we're hoping to enter a few videos by the september deadline, so wish us luck!

10. i just returned from a quick missouri/indiana/kentucky trip where i got to spend time with my sweet family and have a mini-reunion with some college besties at our friend, jaclyn's wedding. it was so much fun! but after all the humidity and missing parker, i was ready to come home to LA!

11. i have a sort of top secret project in the works. i hope that something comes of it, so that i have exciting news to broadcast! if nothing else, i've spent my free time being very productive, so i'm happy with that! stay tuned...

and lastly...12. i've been getting requests for a home decor post (especially since parker and my latest project is decorating our office!), so hopefully that will be the next one coming soon.

love from the west coast!

L

TriBeCa

2010-04-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

well, it's been awhile!! please forgive me, as a couple important things have happened in the past two months of my blogging hiatus: parker and i got married, went on our honeymoon, and are now roomies in our lovely new apartment! needless to say, but i've been just a little busy...

more photos from those events later, but for now...let's talk more about YOPLAIT!

after winning third place in the MOFilm contest to create an ad for yoplait, parks and i were awarded a budget for film equipment, which we used to buy a camera (that's called reinvesting in our careers, folks). MOFilm and the yoplait team also personally extended us the offer of flying us to NYC for the MOFilm awards events and partnered events with the TriBeCa film festival. So, after a restful 48 hours at home in LA after getting back from hawaii...we flew off to the east coast for 3 days in the big apple...

as soon as we landed, we were rushed to our hotel (the tribeca grand), where we did a quick wardrobe change into "smart casual" and popped down to a MOFilm mixer. let me tell you: for those three days they treated us right! wined and dined, meet and greets with MOFilm/Yoplait/major brand's marketing chiefs, and even a Q&A session with susan sarandon (who was there to encourage brand partnerships with important social causes.

we screened the very creative winning commercials from the NY MOFilm competition (ours was actually entered into the previous Barcelona contest, so it wasn't shown here), and we even voted on the grand prize winner out of the first places from each brand. we had a great time networking with all the marketing people and befriending the MOFilm executives (who are all super personable), and the fellow young filmmakers, who we look forward to keeping in touch with!

see the top tribeca videos here (lamasil was the overall winner):
http://www.mofilm.com/competitions/tribeca2010

the next day, we met with the yoplait marketing team, a couple of their agency's creatives, and the other 2 teams who made the 1st and 2nd place yoplait commercials. the yoplait team was so complimentary of our spot, and immediately recognized us as "jane" and "fiance," which was fun! they were so interested in hearing the back story of how we came up with the ad, our real-life relationship, the film's tiny budget, etc. they also talked about how to use all these viral ads and fresh ideas in the future for this brand and others. we feel like there's definitely a new wave of advertising/creative filmmaking/young filmmakers beginning, and this experience made us really a part of it.

that evening, MOFilm sent us to the premiere at TriBeCa of a film called "Beware the Gonzo." not my favorite new movie, but it was fun to see, and the acting was actually pretty good. the most fun part for us was the whole experience, though, because we actually walked the real red carpet, spent time in the green room, and attended the after party with the cast and MOFilm people!!! check out all the photos!!! we just ate it all up!

new york newlyweds

morgan and pia: 1st place yoplait team from australia

the paps loved us! haha:

we mingled with some of the actors at the after party...

i told jesse mccartney how i still unashamedly listen to his pop hit "beautiful soul:"

judah friendlander from 30 rock:

we're both very excited about the prospects of working with MOFilm and it's amazing brands in the near future, and are already brainstorming some new commercial ideas! so look out for those hopefully soon. it's great to have an outlet for our creativity and a product to show for it in the end!

Yoplait: WIN!

2010-02-22T12:08:00.000-08:00

in case you haven't yet heard, we finally have the results in from our yoplait project and...WE WON 3RD PLACE!!!!!!! not too shabby out of several hundred entries!! parker and i are so stoked, and can't wait to get more details about what'll come next. details to follow, i'm sure!

here's the video if you'd like to watch it:

Yoplait: Meet Jane

hope you enjoy it! let me know what you think! maybe we'll start pushing out more of these puppies soon!

lp

our first home!

2010-02-17T16:36:00.000-08:00

even though the wilsons aren't official until april, we decided to go ahead and find a place so parker could begin settling into our future home. that way, the stress of moving wouldn't occur at the same time as the wedding.

aaaand, i'm happy to report--we found our first place, and are already in the process of nesting! i can't wait to move in (but don't worry, i am waiting)! and parker's loving it already. anyway, here's a preview of our colorful little Californian apartment! isn't it adorable in all its salmon-pink glory?! love love love it!

any suggestions on what we should call it?

yoplait

2010-02-04T18:52:00.001-08:00

a lot of major companies are getting smart. they are realizing that instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to make one commercial, they can hold an online video submission contest and enlist consumers/amateur filmmakers to create hundreds of commercials for prize money (which to them is chump change, relatively).

enter yoplait.

a few creative friends of ours had recently entered an online video contest and actually won! not to mention, they had a great time making a short commercial. so...parker perused the contest circuit, and came up with a site asking for submissions for companies including at&t and yoplait. it's not like we have anything else we're really working on right now (ahem. yeah right!!), so we both decided to write a couple scripts. a couple of scripts turned in to...writing, producing, directing, acting in, voicing, editing, and submitting two whole commercials--(with the help of a few friends) start to finish--in less than two weeks. phew!!!

we had so much fun working together as a creative team!! i wish i could show you our final videos, but due to contest rules, we're not posting them for the public yet. as soon as we can, you'll be the first to know, of course! even if we don't win anything for either contest, we loved the experience and already can't wait to do it again sometime...i already tried to get parks to brainstorm another video concept, when he lovingly reminded me that we're also in the midst of planning this little event in april, so we may not want to get too ahead of ourselves ;)

expedia. DOT COM! it's here!!

2009-12-30T11:04:00.001-08:00

MY HANDS ARE EVERYWHERE!!!

TOOTH FAIRY

2009-12-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

well...it's not the BIG break, i don't think, but it definitely is a start! december 2009 has been pretty exciting for me! first the expedia.com hand modeling gig, and now this...

tooth fairy is a really cute film coming to theaters in january 2010, and stars dwayne "the rock" johnson, julie andrews, billy crystal, and ashley judd. the movie looks really cute actually--you can check out the trailer here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/thetoothfairy/

evidently, dwayne johnson has a foundation called the dj rock foundation, and their mission is to "educate, empower and motivate children worldwide through health education and physical fitness." so, naturally, he wanted a special feature on the tooth fairy dvd that promotes fitness for the children viewers.

in the course of just a couple days, i auditioned for, booked, and filmed this special feature! so this means that when the dvd comes out, yes, i will be the main character on the special feature, WOO!!!! i was cast as a tooth fairy fitness instructor for a workout. it was SO much fun, right up my alley! i loved working with a teleprompter, improving, having hair/makeup done, working with kids, and being the main character of a really professional production! you guys are seriously going to crack up, because of all the hilarious exercises i have to lead, in a tooth fairy tutu with wings, nonetheless!! and i'm playing to 6-8 year olds, so i'm sure you'll think i'm oh so funny.

here are some photos from the shoot:

i'm assuming the dvd will come out a few months after the film, so probably around summertime! if you need a good laugh, i'd highly recommend it. who knows, maybe some kid somewhere will think i'm really cool, and (fingers crossed), maybe this exposure will lead to other work!! what blessings!?!?!

Commonwealth Christmas

2009-12-23T19:25:00.000-08:00

my lovely roomies and i hosted a Christmas party at our house a couple weeks ago. we decided to set up a photobooth and see if we got any fun photos, i think it was quite successful, what do you think?!

to see the whole album, check out the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2437156&id=15902030&l=2815643ee4

hope you have a Merry Christmas!!!!

the turkey blog!

2009-12-01T11:07:00.001-08:00

happy december everyone!!! i can't believe it's here! time continues to fly. but i have to say, i'm already ready for it to be 2010, no reason in particular ;)

anyway, this is the official thanksgiving blog!! we had a lovely potluck thanksgiving meal at my house this year, and (grandmom, i hope you're proud!) i helped make the turkey!! josh and i actually made it, and as you'll see, it turned out GREAT! we were so happy! it was lovely to celebrate being grateful for all our blessings with our wonderful friends. i hope you had a thankful day, too!

enjoy the delectable photos!

josh "chef boyardee" sneider

a dancing turkey!

we stuffed butter and garlic cloves underneath it's skin--YUMMMM!

boys being boys

hooray ali and her delicious pigs in blankets!

SUCCESS!! look at that bird!

turkeyyyyy!

nice plate, parky!

my plate's not so bad either!

ahh fun! please check out josh's face, he looks beyond full!

i am so thankful for friends, family, a wonderful house, an amazing fiance, provision to live where i do, sigh...just everything really! what are you thankful for this year?

expedia. DOT COM!

2009-11-20T13:39:00.000-08:00

well hello!!!

this has been a really fun week! let me tell ya bout it...

first off, last night, i got to see a screening of the final version of love naturally! parker came with me to the film school:

it went really well. for a student film, i think it turned out great! i wish there was a way to put it up here, but hopefully i'll have several parts of it on my reel, and that i'll post on here eventually. it was fun to see myself on the big screen again, and i think darlene was a success!

secondly, i had a BIG week because i auditioned for, booked, and shot a NATIONAL COMMERCIAL for expedia.com!!!!!!

now, don't get too excited, you'll only see my hands...ok, yeah, go ahead and get excited!! so, i booked the commercial as a hand model, and spent this past wednesday morning at the paramount pictures lot filming the 30 second spot!

it will air nationally, regionally, online and as an industrial for expedia. i'll definitely let you know when it comes out, but start watching in a little over a month from now, the main visual of the spot is my hands moving blocks around, and the storyline is going on inside each block! it's cute!

being on set was so great--i seriously got treated like a star--custom breakfast and coffee orders brought to me, on set manicurist (who has done the nails of a ton of celebs: gwen stefani, lindsey lohan, jessica simpson, vanessa hudgens, etc. etc.)

so much fun!!! i really hope that i get to do more hand modeling work soon! not a bad job, i'd say!!

thirdly, things in general are still swell! wedding planning is a lot of fun, and i get more and more excited to marry parker every day :) other than that, i'll be looking for more hand modeling work, and i'm still working with my ladies on their writing projects, so no complaints here!

november already!!

2009-11-01T21:33:00.000-08:00

my goodness!!! i can't believe it's almost the end of the year. wow! i ALSO can't believe that i turn 25 tomorrow!!!!! yikes! no more of this "early twenties" business...

so on the eve of my quarter century, what is there to write about? lots, actually.

a) wedding planning is going well! we finally picked a date and secured the location. it'll be in april 2010, and we're getting married here in the la area! neither of us can wait! :D our wedding website is currently under construction, but when it's ready, i'll surely post a link to it on here, so keep an eye out for that! we took a few engagement pics with our friend, jer, but the weather was bad, so we plan on taking some more. here is just a little taste, though...

b) last weekend, parker and i went to visit his parents and family in virginia! it was just the perfect dose of fall that i always crave this time of year (especially since living in la, where seasons don't exist). we did a ton of hiking, eating, and good old-fashioned hanging out. it was so crazy and wonderful knowing that i was sitting around a table with my future family-in-law!!! i couldn't be more blessed, though--i've said it before, but i'm inheriting the best family!

there are more pictures that i haven't gotten ahold of, but it was just beautiful and we were so spoiled! also, parker's older sister, molly got engaged to jesse, while we were there!! so wonderful to be a part of that!

c) i just made some changes to my professional website: laurenparrent.com. i added a bunch of links on my reels page to videos that i've done the voiceover work on! i've also been doing weekly improv with monkeybutlercomedy.com and i'm LOVING it! i've only been taking the class for about two months and i just got word that i'm getting promoted to the next level! i've always loved comedy, and feel that it's my forte, so it's exciting to see another route of acting being set in my path. hopefully there will be updates on this front soon!

d) we just finished celebrating one of my favorite holidays--halloween!!! i LOVE dressing up and trick-or-treating was always a huge deal for our family growing up. anyway, parker and i had two halloween parties, and thus, two costumes! let me tell you, we used a TON of cardboard! anyway, here we are as 1) the geico gecko and the money you could be saving with geico, (along with jon who was the geico caveman), and 2) ms. pacman and inky the ghost!

e) my mama is here for a visit!!! i can't wait to do a bunch of fun wedding and non-wedding things with her! hooray family!

ok, more soon i hope! take care!

my cute roommates.

2009-10-14T17:26:00.001-07:00

you've seen pictures here and there since may of my adorable roommates here at the commonwealth house. one of these lovely ladies, whitney, has a friend, paige (paigenewtonphotography.com). paige and her boyfriend (musician, david ramirez) were in la on a "folktography" trek, playing music and taking pictures across the country. they stopped in and stayed with us for a couple days, and paige did a commonwealth photo shoot for us!

we were going for a funky, fun, anthropologie, tea party in the park sort of vibe. here's a preview, but check out the link below for the rest of my gorgeous, smart, creative roomies!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paigeann/sets/72157622538472208/

it's fall!!

2009-10-07T13:14:00.001-07:00

i can't believe almost a month has passed since i last blogged, AND since i've been engaged! wow, continued proof that TIME FLIES! we've begun wedding planning, which makes me so glad that i don't have a conventional, full-time job. it's going really well, but i don't have any details to report as of yet! i did buy my wedding dress, but SORRY, can't post that! ;)

in career news, check out the video below!!! my good friend, peter, was commissioned to make this video for MyEnergyTax.com, and i was hired to do the voiceover!

more news coming sooner than this past sabbatical...i had my first kogi bbq, which you'll learn more about, and we have a second annual apple orching trip very soon, not to mention engagement pictures, birthdays, a trip to virginia, and a visit from mom. aah, the fall is the best!!!!

the future Mrs. Wilson!

2009-09-14T11:46:00.001-07:00

yes friends, it's true, I'M ENGAGED!!!!!!!

my sweet fiance (aah, crazy!?!), parker, proposed to me last wednesday, september 9, 2009, fittingly around 9 pm. we're not obsessed with the number 9, it just happened to work out that way...

to make the story short and sweet, we went to dinner at a french restaurant in santa monica, and then planned on walking down by the beach, before heading back to parker's to play the newly released beatles rock band (which was a total ruse, but don't worry, i did get to play it finally and it's pretty sweet!). walking on the beach at night is a usual event for us, so it wasn't weird, but when we made it there, there were hundreds of people at the pier celebrating the 100th anniversary of it, and watching fireworks. parker knew about these but played it off so well. so, we walked and watched the fireworks, and made our way to our typical spot, a lifeguard stand where we had our first serious relationship conversation. we watched the end of the fireworks, and people on the beach started to walk towards their cars. once it was pretty empty, we hung around and talked, and then started to leave. as soon as i turned to go, white lights came on making a lovely glow atop our lifeguard stand. at that point i thought, oh man, this is IT!! parker then said some very sweet things, and got down on one knee, pulled out a ring (which i didn't even pay attention to until 5 minutes later, and it is perfect!), and asked "will you marry me?" i think i first said "mmhmm!!!" through my tears and hand over mouth excitement, but then said a clear "yes," and gave him a huge hug. turned out, our two friends, matt and jon, were staked a few yards away, warding off other beach-goers, and ready to take photos of us! (below is a link to the whole album in case you want to see more!)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2406820&id=15902030&l=21c9c923d5

after all that, we stopped in a hotel lobby right on the beach to "use the bathroom," which turned out to be an engagement party with 30 of our friends! parker went all out, and i felt so loved the whole evening, and since then, too, with all the congrats, calls, emails, and everything. we feel so elated and supported by our wonderful friends and family--so thanks to all of you for making this exciting time so special! no details yet as far as the wedding, but i'll keep you updated so check back! and, we're so grateful for many of you keeping us in your thoughts and prayers as we excitedly prepare for our marriage!!

ireland and the deep blue sea

2009-08-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

well folks, prepare for a media rich post!

first off, instead of posting all my ireland photos here, i'd love for you to check out the whole albums that i posted on facebook. you can see them on the links below **even if you're not a member of facebook:

Part One:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2400307&id=15902030&l=535bfb92db

Part Two:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2400320&id=15902030&l=dbef25b826

the trip was incredible and sharon and i adored the scenic hillside country drives through southern ireland. we saw dublin, killarney, kerry, cork, shannon, bunratty, and many other strikingly green places! i'd love to go back sometime, independently of a tour, and stay at scattered bed and breakfasts throughout the countryside. ireland: recommended!

secondly, i'm so grateful to have the most wonderful, fun, creative friends! they're pretty much the coolest friends ever. as you probably know, parker and i went sailing for my birthday last november. he loved it so much that he and his roomie, matt, took sailing lessons to become certified sailors. we rented a sailboat this weekend and went out for the whole day. it was SO awesome! i just have to brag on my friends as friends, and also as crazy talented video editing machines...and pretty rad dancers, as you'll see in the short video that my friend, josh, made of our trip. check it out below!!

Sleepyhead Sailing from Josh Sneider on Vimeo.

awesome, right? and my boyfriend is a pretty amazing gangsta. all is well in la la land. now i'm just settling in after these fun trips. as the summer winds down, i'm expecting a few guests this week, and enjoying life as always. take care and talk soon!

so, yeah, i'm a voice over artist.

2009-08-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

it's true! i'm officially a paid working voice actor. it's not like i've hit the big time or anything, but it's so great to actually be working in the industry in a real way. i'm so grateful that my life is very blessed.

most of you watched the jamin fund video on a recent blog entry. as you know, i did the VO for that. parker's boss heard it, and without knowing it was me, asked about it. turns out, his company, the famous group, needed several case study promos to be voiced for their website, and i had just the "buttery" voice they were looking for!! haha. i did VO for case studies with the following companies...you may have heard of a couple of them ;)

it has been so much fun going in to record the past week, and they're finally putting some of the videos up on their site. so, without further ado, please check out my voice on most of these videos put together by the fabulous famous group: http://www.thefamousgroup.com/2009/site/portfolio/

let me know which one's your favorite...i happen to like barbie, but that's probably because i'm a girl! :)

colorado!

2009-07-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

after going nonstop this weekend and waking up at 4:45 this morning, la time, you'd think i'd be looking for any free time to nap, however--i have too much to share to not blog at least a little bit before my head hits the pillows! so, what was all this excitement over the weekend, you might ask? well, i went with parker to his hometown (denver, co) for a friend's wedding. besides getting to spend time with parker (which i obviously loved), it was so fun to see more from his life growing up, meet some more family and friends, and to explore some of colorado!

instead of boring you with a ton of text, i'll just post several pictures with short captions so you can get a gist of our weekend itinerary! enjoy :)

our first night in CO, we drove up to vail to stay with parker's sisters. molly's boyfriend, jesse, took us jeeping up vail mountain where we had a gorgeous sunset picnic! it was so silent and secluded and wonderful! and we could even see stars! (i love you, la, but i needed this!)

the next day, parks and i rode bikes about 4 miles into vail village. the ride was spectacular--colorado in the summertime is beautiful!

later, we took a gondola with molly and brynna up the mountain to "friday afternoon club," which had breathtaking views of the backside of vail. the weather was perfect and it was such a treat to see real skies and clouds!

on saturday, we spent the day touring around parker's stomping grounds, and having some down time with parker's grandmother and aunt kathy, which was great. that night we went to the wedding, which was up in the woods near denver. it rained all afternoon right up until the ceremony, which was outside, so it ended up being perfect! the bride and groom were lovely, and parker got to see a bunch of high school friends, including chris, who made a special appearance with some fire torches!

our final full day in town, we ate a delicious breakfast with some other family members, and then walked around downtown denver, which i'd never done. here we are at a few of the capital's sites!

making nice with the colorado bear

last but absolutely not least, we took a group dinner trip to the white fence farm-parker's family's restaurant. i was SO excited about this, and yet my expectations were exceeded! the food was amazing (fried chicken, steak, cole slaw, corn fritters, mashed potatoes and gravy, beets and cottage cheese, mmmmm) and the restaurant and grounds were so cute! i have to say my favorite part, though, was this picture of baby parker feeding a cow--tell me this isn't the cutest thing ever!!

us at the farm (for those of you kentuckians, it's similar to patti's at the lake):

the americana barn with live music and a slide for kids!

the barn

and, i can't think of a better way to end this post, or any post really, than with a chicken truck...

it was a perfect weekend, and i can't wait to go back for another visit!!

the jamin fund

2009-07-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

hello everyone!

the past few weeks have seemed to fly by with lots and lots of busyness! our friends had a really fun and creative video scavenger hunt one weekend, just for some nice, clean, free entertainment! if you're bored, let me know and i'll pass along some of the fun things we had to find--it was a great time! i got to actually go behind the mcdonald's counter and take someone's order!!! ever since i had mcdonald's fisher price toys as a kid, that was a life-long dream of mine...check that off the bucket list!

i've also been busy with work, class, and some agency meetings...buzz buzz...recording some VO stuff for a potential viral video, and planning for an upcoming trip (more on that later) with one of my author bosses!

BUT, the major project that i am proud to share with you now is the following video. it's for the jamin fund, an education foundation in memory of my boyfriend, parker's brother, jamin. parker made this amazing video when his family was in kenya last year, helping build houses with the foundation. you may even recognize the voice... ;) please check it out!!

The Jamin Fund: School Building at Pimbiniet from Parker Wilson on Vimeo.

HARRY POTTER 6!

2009-07-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

for those of you who know me well, you probably know that i have a ten-year long love affair with a little series known as HARRY POTTER! i've read all the books (i won't tell you how many times), and seen all the movies, of course. the sixth movie Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, comes out in theaters this wednesday, and as expected, i have tickets to go see it that night. however--i also happen to have a wonderful roomie who works for WB, and got passes for a screening of the film this saturday morning at 9 am. so, of course i had to go to that!!

i definitely don't want to spoil anything for any fans, but i'll just that it is absolutely worth seeing (duh), and that yeah, basically i loved it--no surprise! beyond the fact that it's always amazing to see some of my favorite books come to life on the screen, i really do think this is a well-made film, and, if you have a muggle friend (HP lingo, google it...) i still think they'd enjoy seeing it, as long as you gave them a brief overview of the main points of the series so they're not completely in the dark.

the screening was at mann's chinese theater in hollywood, which i'd never seen a movie in, so that was a cool la landmark to experience. and we got free popcorn and sodas. but the whole experience, and as you'll see from the pictures below, i shamelessly wore my homemade harry potter shirt and scarf, and holland even brought us a couple of "wands." please go see the movie, and definitely leave me a comment of how you liked it!!!

what a weekend!

2009-07-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

well friends, it is FINALLY summer! as i said in the last post, there's some crazy magical LA force that changes overnight when june turns into july. and it did not waver this year. it's now sunny as can be, as i'm typing here in beautiful venice, california. i'm spending the day doing some housekeeping things and recuperating from an amazing, albeit busy weekend. i'm sure you all are in similar boats, as most of you probably had fun plans celebrating independence day!

let's have a weekend recap!

fourth of july

i love being in a place that is amply large enough to host a big party. we had about 50 of our collective friends over on the fourth, and grilled out, played games, ate waaay too much food, and then walked to venice beach to watch fireworks. it turned out to be a huge success! here are pics of my gorgeous roomies, and of parker and me:

sunday night
we had almost forgotten about our plans for sunday night, but luckily not totally! a group of friends and i went to the hollywood bowl (an incredible outdoor amphitheater venue in the heart of hollywood) to see a death cab for cutie concert. it was spectacular!! the opening bands were entertaining, and then death cab performed alone and then with the la philharmonic, which was so awesome! the best song in my opinion, was tranatlanticism (one of my favorites of theirs anyway...), but with 19,000 people outside among the hills and trees in complete silence, mesmerized by the light displays, rocking music, and even surprise fireworks--oh man, it was awesome! here are some pictures:

as always, even though things in the career realm are driving on at a regular SLOW pace...i continue to feel blessed by so many things in life. my wonderful ladies that i work/write with are still doing well, and provide enough money to pay the bills (i seriously always scrape by, by the grace of God!) and free time to enjoy the rest of this season of my life. my new home and roomies are also still such a blessing. and of course, my other friends and family are increasingly wonderful, and i still love living in la and enjoying what it has to offer--from free concerts on the santa monica pier in the summer, to the neighborhood organic coffee place, to my sunny, flower-filled back porch--i wouldn't change a thing. as for career, though, i do have an audition for an improv troupe this week, which should be fun, so we'll see! consider my fingers forever crossed...

CELEB sighting: on our way back from fireworks on the 4th. just standing on a corner in venice, we passed none other than hilarious comedian norm macdonald (my favorite role of his is as turd ferguson on snl's jeopardy!! "it's funny. it's a big hat. it's bigger than normal.") he was just chillin out, celebrating america's freedom, even though he's canadian i believe...not gonna lie, though, norm was lookin old! and scruffy! i think he was in town for his recent appearance on the tonight show with conan.

and for a final random fun couple of pics...these were just from a game night with our friends matt and alana, but if you ever want to take funny pictures just shake your head back and forth and you'll get some of these little gems! doesn't it look like we're really taking a hard punch?!? (p.s. i promise matt and alana are actually both beautiful!)

what a lovely end to a post...

june gloom

2009-06-24T14:51:00.001-07:00

hello all!

not too much to report, actually, but i just felt like it'd been far too long since i'd last posted. la has been a bit overcast in the past month, a season known to angelinos as "june gloom."

i wish i had pictures of this to show you, but i haven't gotten them yet. we had a sunny saturday this past weekend, and luckily got to go for a nice long hike up in malibu and then a picnic trip to el matador beach with friends. i've actually been on a couple hikes lately, another one that was a three hour hike at temescal canyon with my friend alana. i've always heard that many celebrities hike in the canyons for exercise, and we actually ran past sal masakela, the host of E!'s daily ten. funny enough, he was one of the first celebs i saw when i came out to la. so this was my second encounter with him.

other than that, i've been working, going to acting class, and just overall enjoying life. i've been settling into my new house, which i'm loving! having my own room is such a blessing. and my roommates are becoming quick friends. here's a picture of the beginnings of my new room (with decor help from my missouri friends when they were here for a visit):

i've had a few auditions lately, hand modeling and acting, and a couple opportunities with some agents that my acting coach recommended. i feel very grateful, as always, to be doing what i'm doing where i'm doing it. below are a couple pictures i took one day walking back from an audition. not a bad commute, right?

so much to blog about!

2009-06-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

life has been absolutely filled to the brim the past few weeks, hence my absence from the blogging world! that's a good thing; i'd rather be busy really than virtually :) although...some of my business has been virtual. if you saw my last post of announcement, my official website finally went live. check it out if you haven't already at: www.laurenparrent.com

my friend, matt, and i sat down for a few days and put together the footage that i'd filmed last year to have a hosting reel. that's on the Reel tab, so definitely have a watch at that, too. matt did a really great job on it, and if you're an actor or someone who wants some kind of reel, let me know, i can hook you up with him!

in other career highlights:

1) i participated in a performance for the young storytellers foundation, an organization that my friend, alex, volunteers for. i'll hopefully be able to write more about this in its own post, complete with pictures, but for now, just a brief overview. al asked me if i would act in the "big show," a final performance of screenplays written over weeks by about 10 aspiring 9-year-old screenwriters and their mentors. um, duh! yes, please! i was excited about it, because stars like dustin hoffman, jennifer aniston, and rachel bilson had acted in it in past years, and i thought it would be fun. even though there were no big names associated with this year's show (well, a couple you may recognize, but you may have to wait for pictures!) it turned out to be one of the most fun performing experiences of my life--no exaggeration! it was basically two hours of improv. we got the kids' scripts, and with no preparation, they cast us and we had to act them, reading them as we went, of course, on the spot!! SO much fun! and it was a major workout! i can't wait to do it again!

2) unfortunately i did not end up booking this job, however, i did get a callback for a major national television commercial!

yes, my hands could have been featured in a national pyrex commercial--how funny is that?! the auditions were hilarious; i had to pick up baking products in slow motion and sketch whisks and measuring cups. :) ahh, the jobs i have...anyway, i made it to the final 6 actors, so that's good! someone recently told me, i should thanks every person for their "no" on a part, because i'll need about a hundred more and then i'll get my "yes." this crazy business!

when i was at that first audition, i also had the fun experience of crashing another audition. it was casting out of the same waiting room, and so i just asked if i could audition, and they said yes! it was for a .com company, and it was a mockumentary-style commercial spot. it sounded funny, so i had a good time auditioning for it! no word on it, and i doubt i'll hear anything, but it was fun nonetheless!

let's see, what else...ah! i moved! don't worry, i'm only about a mile away from my old place. i haven't thrown in the towel for the west coast yet ;) but i'm loving my new house (yes, a real house!). i've got 4 great roomies, and get this--my OWN ROOM!! aaah! definitely a step up from living the last two years in a shared bedroom in a loft bed! this house is such a blessing that fell into all our laps, and we're so grateful. meet the roomies (and see a glimpse of our adorable backyard!):

i could go on forever...there's so much to update! i hope to write posts soon about my trip home to indiana for my brother's graduation/memorial day weekend, AND about my best friends' from college visit out here!! so many pictures, so little time!!

hope this finds all of you well! take care, enjoy the beginnings of summer...i'm off to the beach! :)

www.laurenparrent.com

2009-06-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

MY WEBSITE IS LIVE!

check it out:

www.laurenparrent.com

:) yay! LP

darlene and dodger dogs

2009-05-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

friday marked the last day of filming for love naturally. i'd not been around the other cast and crew or darlene for the past couple of weeks, so it was really fun to have an afternoon and evening to revisit them all for one last time on set! i can't wait to get the footage and put together my reel-finally!

as far as reels go, i've been working with my friend, matt, to get together my hosting reel, which will hopefully go up on youtube/here/my almost live website pretty soon! i'm actually really excited about our progress on it. hope you all like it, and hope i'll get some hosting work from it!

let's see, what else is new? ah yes, last weekend was full with two concerts, the avett brothers, and the shins, and a dodgers game!!!

we got so lucky with our tickets for the dodgers game! parker works for a company that does lots of sports graphics, and he actually edited the dodgers' opening video! anyway, so we got to sit in box seats this game. we were on the third row, which was actually the first row from the field. and, we got to eat as much food as we wanted from a special buffet, pictured above. now, that's the way to go to a baseball game! too bad we lost, though :(

busy busy next couple of weeks. i'm headed back home for my brother's high school graduation, yay! and then some of my best girlfriends are coming out here for a visit! then, i'm moving!!! (more on that later, don't worry, it's just a mile away to venice. nothin crazy!) oh, and, this wednesday, i'm performing potentially with some celebs (to be mentioned later) for a young screenwriters performance group! can't wait to tell you all about it!!!

my identity

2009-05-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

after finishing up some online work from home this afternoon, i began to reminisce about the multitude of jobs i've worked since i moved to los angeles almost two years ago. i even have close friends here and back home who still gape in shock when i casually mention some type of work i was doing--not even realizing it was one of my 800 types of employment. i really have been very blessed to not have to resort to a full-time job; my hours are still flexible, and i really still enjoy the variety. it's amazing how random odd jobs have just fallen from the sky, and allowed me to keep up this very unique lifestyle. with all that in mind, i decided to make a list of my many employment identities throughout these 21 months--it's actually not AS long as i predicted, but i guess it's still more than normal). here goes... (italics denote a current job)

-personal assistant for a voice over artist
-myspace page manager for my comedian friend
-dog walker
-cat sitter
-actor
-model
-barista
-writing partner
-writing assistant/life organizer
-hat shop special event worker
-movie/tv extra
-acting class secretary
-legal staffing firm temp
-yet another personal assitantship for an aspiring screenwriter

and finally, who could forget my work as a cover girl?! the much-anticipated (ha, i'm sure) may issue of working nurse magazine has finally hit the presses, and below is an image of the cover!! unfortunately it's subscription only, otherwise i'd tell everyone to go buy it, but i'll let you know when i get a copy of the magazine, and probably be a nerd and post a picture of the tangible one on here, too...i'm a cover girl, whatever, i can do what i want!! :)

looks like they went with the rosie the riveter cover image. i think i'm making a goofy, scrunchy face, but, eh, it's still exciting!

the darlene post

2009-04-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

as promised...a post devoted entirely to my recent days filming the short film, LOVE NATURALLY! in this film, i play the lead role of darlene harris, "a small town Southern girl who, in order to avoid her fate as an old and very alone cat lady, begins her search for love. Her dysfunctional family and quirky best friend lend their helping hands to Darlene’s dire situation by setting her up on blind dates. Darlene goes through these men like a knife through butter, to no avail. Finally giving up on love, Darlene accepts her destiny as a librarian spinster whose only friends are covered in fur and lap milk from a bowl. BUT, then along comes a Stranger who has the power to change all that if Darlene will only be brave enough to give him a chance."

intrigued? shooting the past two weekends has been so amazing, and i can't wait to have some of the footage and of course to eventually see the final product (which will most likely be in a couple of months)! the rest of the cast and crew members are such a pleasure to work with, and make the long days on set totally worth it. it's just been great to be a "working actor," and i feel very fulfilled and affirmed doing what i love to do. plus, i love being darlene, she is a wonderfully rich character, and i'm happy to get to "be" her so much lately! she's pretty great :) although, without giving too much away, i've basically sworn off powdered donuts and iced tea, considering i've eaten and drank so much of both of those in recent days on set!

below are several awesome stills from the footage and some behind-the-scenes photos! for more, check out the LOVE NATURALLY facebook page HERE and become a fan!!!!

darlene and her bff, sara sue, stamping books in the library

some....ahem...interesting dates?

movie stars (amelia and me)

darlene all done up!

i'm so excited about the potential that this project has! i'm very proud of it so far, and can't wait to watch its progress (and darlene's progress from frumpy to fabulous!). again, i'd really appreciate if you check out the rest of the info on the facebook fan page. and let me know what you think!!!

el compadre

2009-04-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

after a long day of shooting yesterday (look for another post very soon, with photos and behind-the-scenes details of my film, "love naturally"), i went to night church at mosaic with parker and friends. due to a celebration downtown, church was "on location" at the key club on sunset in hollywood. so, after church, we went to a little hole-in-the-wall mexican restaurant just down the street called el compadre. unbeknown to us...this restaurant must be a haunt for the actor crowd, because in our short dinner, we saw three name actors!! crazy, that might be an off-set record!

1) Leslie Bibb--The Skulls, Popular, Iron Man, Talladega Nights, Confessions of a Shopaholic

2) Sam Rockwell (also at the booth with Leslie Bibb. I recognized him, but didn't know his name. Thanks to Johnny for that!)--Charlie's Angels, Frost Nixon, etc.

3) Daniel Franzese--Mean Girls

again, these celeb sightings don't happen thaaat often. it's just right place, right time, so if you come to la in hopes of that, it doesn't always happen! maybe someday, people will say, "ooo, is that lauren parrent?!" :) here's to hoping!!

MY 100th POST!

2009-04-21T23:04:00.000-07:00

i was just about to try and come up with a catchy, clever title for this post, and as i signed into blogger, i noticed it said i had 99 posts! so that makes this very post my big ONE HUNDREDTH! i feel like that is a milestone worth noting, right? kind of a big deal. a nice, even number at least. i'll sing a song of centennial celebration and pretend that i have streamers and noisemakers and i'll even throw a little imaginary confetti in the air. woo hoo! congrats to "for your consideration" for having such a great run so far! and thanks to all you dedicated readers, of course, for making me want to keep writing :)

so...now that that's taken care of! i actually have quite a meaty post!!

the biggest news of the day was an unexpected celeb sighting! on our way to our usual tuesday night book club (see more below), karla and i were driving up wilshire through beverly hills (same ole, same ole, right?). i rolled the window down, looked out at a restaurant called "the blvd," and said to karla "i just love beverly hills..." and right at this exact moment--we were stopped at a light--i saw ryan seacrest sitting outside at one of the cafe tables!! he was in a suit and looking very tan! i've since been informed by my american idol fan friends that he must have had just left tonight's taping of the show to be there for dinner at the time we saw him. what a busy guy! but, a pretty cool sighting--pop culture relevant, at least!

so back to life before seacrest...as you may already know, i meet weekly in a small group with my girlfriends that we fondly call "book club." we all go to church together, and our little gathering has morphed from just a group of friends to now a sort of bible study. tonight, however, we had two members missing, so the four remaining girls decided to meet up for dinner at a restaurant in hollywood called "toast." it's a trendy little bakery that's evidently been featured on shows like the hills, and often a hot spot hit up by some celebs. the food was yum (which i love! do i post about food too much? lol). i even had a mini red velvet cupcake (one of their specialties) for dessert. it was tasty, with mmm mmm good cream cheese icing (although, not even in the same league as my grandmom's red velvet cake!). here are mj, karla, ali, and me at toast.

after dinner at toast, we decided to head to the grove--an outdoor shopping area that's super cute, and often a prime location for celeb-spotting. we've been having a heat wave in southern cal the past few days, so the nights have been retaining some of the warmth, which made it a lovely evening to stroll along outside with the gals. we decided it couldn't be a legitimate book club meeting without a book, so naturally we stopped in at barnes and noble to pick one out. i know it's a slight departure from our usual read, but it was clearly endorsed by "parker," so...

that's all for now. check back for an update soon about my role as darlene in the student film. i've been collecting photos from on the set, so hopefully after this weekend, i'll have a lot to blog about...shooting is going well so far!!

alright, bedtime. parrent, out!

wine country and bEaster

2009-04-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

i was supposed to be on set all this weekend shooting "love naturally," the student film in which i have the lead. however, today the crew ran into some speed bumps with our location, so we rescheduled. we shot yesterday and it went really well, so i can't wait to give you a complete blog update after we wrap next weekend!

so, as unfortunate as this was, it allows me some blogging time this morning to write about my fun easter weekend last weekend!

last saturday, we took a group up to santa barbara and its surrounding wine country--a trip long overdo for me, since i'd missed the last couple tasting trips that my friends took. the weather was perfect and the countryside was so beautiful. yet again, california's natural beauty astonishes me! we started the trip off with a stop at stearns wharf in santa barbara, where we had a picnic of bay cities italian deli (a famous deli in santa monica scoped out by planner justin!) which was YUM!

roomies

justin and seth

chowing down on some "godmother" sandwiches

after lunch we made our way farther north to our first stop, sunstone winery, a quaint gardenesque vineyard overlooking lush green hills. we tasted a few wines and soaked in the scenery.

justin stealing me from parker

then we went to gainey vineyard, where we enjoyed the scenery and exploring the winery. here's a pic of the whole group of us!

we had another big day, because sunday was obviously easter, and we had decided to encore last year's successful day at manhattan beach. we had a wonderful easter church service at ecclesia and then went to the beach! here are some pics of our bEaster-day antics! the second annual bEaster was just as lovely as the first!

parker riding the cooler down to the beach

a greek god, i tell you!

matty

zak and his polaroids

cute ali

josh

jon

pete and puffer giving a glimpse of the gun show

fun group. fun day. here's to next easter!

upsides of the downer economy

2009-04-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

hey guys! well, sorry this is belated now, but hopefully some of you guys got a chance to go online and vote for which cover photo of me working nurse magazine should use. the photos, as well as the voting, and a video blog about the decision is still up on their site at: http://www.workingworldblog.com/ so check it out if you interested and can't wait until the may cover! thanks to all of you who did vote!

in other exciting career news--i got the lead role in a student film! yay! the industry, following other economic trends, is very slow right now, so i'm grateful for even little things like this, to keep getting experience, and footage for my ever-growing reel. i film all of next weekend, and i play darlene, a librarian in a small southern town. i really like her and i think the script is cute and poignant, so i'm really looking forward to it. i'll let you know how it goes, of course.

speaking of the bad economy, i'm enjoying having a roommate who got laid off, and happens to now be pursuing her own photography career. holland and i get to do photo shoots pretty much every day if we want to and have the time--some for fun, some headshots. below are a few pics (and i included some lovely outtake shots, heh heh) that we've done so far. if you want to see more of her stuff, check out her photography blog at hollandmichaelphotography.blogspot.com.

pretty good, right?

al in la-la land

2009-03-31T17:37:00.000-07:00

hello faithful readers! i have a good friend, ali, here in la, who is also a fellow blogger. although she's not in the industry, she's a transplant from the midwest, too, and so she often writes about her experiences of living in la.

she's going out of town this coming weekend, and asked me to be a guest blogger on her blog, fun!! so...check out her site, and i think my post (which is pretty fun--it's about seeing celebs at church...) will be up this thursday!

her blog is: http://ali-in-la.blogspot.com/

enjoy!!

cover girl

2009-03-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

hey yeah, that's me! as of may 4th (i think?) i'll officially be a cover girl! my friend, beth, is an editor of a couple of magazines, one of which is working nurse (see http://www.workingnurse.com/). she got to set up a cover shoot for the may issue of the magazine, which is themed, "building a healthier america." and, she asked me to be the cover model!

so we had our photo shoot today, and i dont have any of the actual pictures yet, but i did have one from my iphone where you can see one of my lovely gigantic scrub outfits, and tool belt (per the issue's theme). who knows how it will turn out--hopefully cute! and, if i get anymore of the photos, i'll post them so you can see what all went on! but, it was fun, and i'm super excited to be able to say that i'm a cover girl--woo hoo!!

on the lot

2009-03-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

i know i constantly boast about how wonderful la is and how many free, fun things there are to do in this city, but i only do it because it's true! in keeping with the theme of 2009: best year ever (B.Y.E., for future reference), i took advantage of an afternoon excursion to the warner brothers lot in burbank. my friend, mj works for the ellen show there, and she recently told us that she could get us walk-on passes to the lot, and even take us on a free tour of the WB museum, which has an entire floor devoted to harry potter! now that was music to my ears (the harry potter theme song was actually stuck in my head all day)! so, holland, ali, and i met mj there this sunny thursday afternoon and our adventure began...

first off, i just love being on the lot; i feel so at home--like i just know i want to work there. secondly, we had some free time before going to the museum in which we sneaked around, peeking in and out of sound stages. we got a kick out of tour carts driving past us as their passengers whispered to each other and looked past our big sunglasses to see if we might be celebrities. :) here are some fun pics from around WB:

they were filming a new pilot for the on-screen adaptation of the book, "the witches of eastwick." if you're a gilmore girls watcher, this small town may look familiar because it's downtown of star's hollow, along with the following photo.

ali and me

hooray! we sought out the sound stage where they filmed friends! this is where i want to work someday :)

we even took a little detour to chicago during our afternoon out...ok, just the whole chicago portion of the lot, which was surprisingly realistic!

a street from the dog pee scene in bruce almighty

who said la doesn't have public transportation?!

only at a hollywood studio (well, burbank, really) could you find fake speed bumps painted on the roads...

the set of ER. apparently george clooney (and paul rudd!) was on the lot today, but we didn't catch a glimpse...curses!

when we finally made it to the museum, it was equally as fascinating! unfortunately, you couldn't take anything in with you, so there are no pictures. but, basically, they had props and costumes from a variety of WB films. i actually made a list of some of the exhibits so i could remember to tell you all...on the first floor we saw the following things (there's more but i just put some highlights):

-*dark knight--joker's suit and nurse costume, the bat costume, scary clown masks
-wardrobe selections from gossip girl, chuck, the departed, and supernatural
-sweeney todd--helena bonham carter and sasha baron cohen's costumes, meatpies
-matrix--about 10 creepy life-size dopplegangers of some character i don't know
-corpse bride--puppets and a miniature set used in the film
-*willy wonka (original 70s version)--costumes for charlie bucket (he was TINY!), willy wonka, veruca salt, an oompa loompa, boxes of chocolate bars, a golden ticket!, decorations from the candy room (i love this movie, so this was one of my favorite parts of the exhibit!)

then...we took a trip upstairs to "privet drive," where we saw the harry potter exhibit. is it sad that this may have been the most captivated i've ever felt at a museum? i think i read all the fine print on all the display cards! what we saw:

-(well, first we got sorted--boo, i was in hufflepuff!)
-the actual cupboard under the stairs set piece with props inside--ali and i kept remarking at how amazing all the details are that go into making a film. there were cobwebs, an old vacuum, action figures, wrapping paper, and even old dress patterns in there...it was incredible
-the dursley's fireplace, complete with letters spewing out
-costumes galore--robes, quidditch uniforms, yule ball gowns, hagrid's cloak, voldemort's cloak, umbridge's haughty pink dress suit, ron's R sweater
-wands
-mini dragon figurines from the triwizard tournament
-pages from the program of the quidditch world cup
-the egg
-the triwizard cup, itself!
-the goblet of fire (which, ironically is made of wood--intricately carved)
-the boot portkey
-weasley's skiving snackboxes
-the time turner
-life-sized petrified hermionie
-aragog
-the monster book of monsters
-the actual marauder's map!!

ok, i was elated!! it was seriously so cool. apologies to any muggles (non-harry potter folk) out there, for i'm sure the above appeared as nonsense... :) i encourage you all to read it, of course! highest recommendations!

after a long and hot afternoon's walk, we headed over to jamba juice--a california staple that i'd surprisingly never had. i ordered up a "strawberry wild" with extra 22 vitamin boost, and it was as delish as i expected. the perfect end to our exciting day! thanks again to our delightful tour guide, mj! (and, if anyone ever comes to visit and wants to go on this little tour, oh, we'll make it happen!) :)

mammoth

2009-03-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

this weekend i experienced a big first, and oh, what a fun one it was! i got to go on a snowboarding trip up to mammoth with a bunch of friends. now, i'd been skiing twice before, but never boarded, and so i was very nervous, considering i didn't have much experience on the slopes at all, much less riding a board. little did i know that i'd love riding waaay more than skiing! it was super athletic and strenuous, but it was so much fun, and i feel like (even though i fell a TON, and am bruised and sore as crap!) i did pretty well for it having been my first time!

we have several friends that board, and so i was definitely intimidated. i was the only rookie out of about 10 of us that went. parker, who is a talented boarder (he's so good, seriously! and so cute out there!) could have gone down double blacks all weekend, but was so sweet and spent a lot of time riding green and blue runs with me. he was an exceptional teacher--so patient and gracious! i couldn't have had a better first boarding experience. i seriously would like to get my own gear and try to improve, going at least once or twice a season. it's so cool that here i am sitting amongst the palm trees, by the beach, and yet the snow was only about 5 hours away...ah, life!

anyway...we stayed at a really cute condo, had an amazing time hanging out with our friends (old and new), eating at yummy restaurants, and bundling up on the mountains (both june mountain and mammoth). and, i'm honestly just pleased that i'm back happy and in one piece (albeit a still very stiff piece..)

below are a bunch of the fun pics from the weekend!! have fun perusing :)

the ski bums at convict lake: brent, me, nate, parker, yuko, matt, graeme, and jer (thanks jer for this shot and the first one above, as well)

parks and me the first day at june

i'm a burnt little ski bunny!

everyone predicted this is how parker would feel after a day of teaching me how to board:

and, lastly, a new friend, tracey, and me taking a break on a run:

the getty

2009-03-05T10:33:00.001-08:00

last saturday, a bunch of my friends and i went to the getty museum. i appreciate it almost more for the grounds and it's architecture than any of it's art exhibits (although they did have a couple neat ones this time, including an old exhibit of california photography and some impressionists--which i love). but it was such a glorious day outside, that i have to post some pictures from the excursion! we went with charlie, parker, and jon, the book club girls and our regular guys, and a few other friends thrown in the mix...

(most of these shots were taken by parker, so credit to him)

(i took this one of our friend, jer, and i was proud of it so i'm including it!)

here are two of the impressionist paintings i like, a cezanne and van gogh.

a year and a half later, i still say how much i love this city and all the unique (and free--hooray getty!) things it has to offer!

go out and have a great thursday, people!

viva las vegaaaas!

2009-02-26T21:15:00.000-08:00

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!!

a little birdie told me

2009-02-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

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!

face lift!!

2009-02-17T12:31:00.000-08:00

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!

valentine's day

2009-02-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

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!

celeb alert!

2009-02-11T18:39:00.000-08:00

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!

B.Y.E.

2009-01-30T16:28:00.000-08:00

my friends and i have dubbed it the best year ever. i'm starting to think we may be on to something :)

so far, 2009 hasn't disappointed. between auditions (keep 'em comin!), work, friends, themed parties, a visit from dad, (and ok, maybe the slight hiccup of a little bout with the flu), the past couple of weeks have just been lovely! can you believe we're already 1/12 through the year? gosh...

although i haven't landed any roles from my several recent auditions, i'm chalking it up to the old actor's statistic--for every 100 auditions, you land one part. bleak, but hey, i'm racking them up, guys!! (i should start a tally and see if this adage has any value at all...). but, it's good to be getting out there, at least. i go in for something tomorrow, not sure if it's actually the shoot or just an audition, but i'll let you know.

last week was very patriotic for me! i enjoyed an MLKJr holiday at the beach with my "book club" girls! don't have photos from that quite yet; maybe i'll post them at a later date, at which point they'll be cool and retro! the next day, we had a book club/the western union (i think that's what some of my guy friends are calling themselves these days...?) gathering at my friend's ali & peter's house in hollywood. we decided to have an inauguration partay to celebrate president obama (whoa, that's crazy to say!). there were very american hot dogs and apple pie, some intense catchphrase, and lots of good old red, white, and blue! we did watch the inaugural television programming, and i have to admit, either i'd never watched an inauguration before, or there really just had never been one like this!! i'm pretty curious and excited to see what obama's run as president will bring to our country. i feel very optimistic; he's got a lot of good people supporting him, and that collaborative energy and sense of change and progress will prove to be extremely positive, i think. here are some fun pics from that evening:

my book club girls! (ok, so in case i haven't already mentioned this on here, we're not really a book club...i know i know, the name's a bit deceptive. but, these are some of my great girlfriends from out here...we all go to the same church. you'll be seeing more of them, i'm sure.) starting with me, going clockwise: me!, mj, holland, karla, ali, and alex :)

all of us striking karla's signature pose

karla and i take our themed party outfit directions VERY seriously...

later last week, i got a phone call from dad with a surprising and spontaneous suggestion that he come this week for a short visit! he'd never been to la before, so we were both very excited! he came and stayed with me for a few days, and i luckily switched my schedule around to show him a bit of my life out here. he really got the behind-the-scenes tour, because he sat in on my acting class, met rita (the author i'm working with), and got to see all the daily life places i frequent. it was really great for both of us!! the weather wasn't the best we've ever had, but i think he got to thaw out from the freeeeezing indiana ice storm they were having while he was here. if you know me at all (which i'm assuming if you're reading this, you probably do), you know that i love food. so...several of our excursions were food-related. we had the california staples: in-n-out burger, alley dogs downtown, zelda's donuts in venice, and pinkberry. here's some evidence of the damage done:

it must've been sunny--dad was super squinty!!! anyyywayyy...we had a wonderful week just getting to spend time together! he's already back east in the ice and snow, and i'm at home today recuperating from being sick, fun fun.

hope everyone else is staying well and warm, and that you all have a relaxing yet sporty weekend, especially if you're watching the super bowl! (shout out to parker, the lucky duck, who is currently in tampa, FL, and gets to go to the super bowl!!! he and his company did the in-stadium graphics and videos for the big game--so cool, right? watch for him on tv!!!)

ok, that's all i've got--goodnight and take care!

new year

2009-01-18T18:41:00.000-08:00

i can't believe it's taken me this far into the new year to post a blog entry! sorry guys! but i'll update you on what's been happening in 2009! (i looked back at my first post of january 2008, and i had literally typed almost the exact words i was going to type for this post! apparently i seem to start off each new year with a similar attitude, but hey, they've been great years, so no complaining from this end!!) "i decided that when i came back out to california, i really needed to hit the ground running," and i feel like i've been pretty productive so far! also, i've made a list of fun things to do this year, and i've already begun to do a couple of them: like a hiking trip up to the malibu waterfalls i took yesterday, eating in chinatown, and seeing some award-winning films (please go see slumdog millionaire!).

to backtrack a little bit...my new years celebration was fantastic!! i hung out with several friends at a very chic little la lounge called xbar. it was a fun way to ring in 2009 in style!!! we had party favors and they showed the ball drop, but the best part was everyone having an excuse to get all dressed up! here's a picture of most of the group!

as for acting: i am consistently submitting myself for auditions, and have been called into several! one of which was for a sketch comedy showcase. i didn't end up getting a part in it, but the audition process was mainly group improv, and i really enjoyed just "playing" around with other creative people! so it was definitely worth it. in fact, things are in a period of really picking up--which may or may not last, of course!! but, i have three auditions already scheduled for this week-which is great! also, i've gotten some work done behind the scenes on my official website...don't worry, you'll be the first to know when that goes up...you can check it out at laurenparrent.com, but now it's just under construction. also, exciting news of a career baby step is that i finally got my first credit on imdb.com. for those movie buffs out there, i'm sure you're familiar with this site, but for others not familiar, it's a site that lists everyone involved on films and television shows. anyway, i got put up for a student film that i was in. and i know i'm just credited as "nurse," but hey it's a step!!!

i'm also really enjoying the new year as i'm working for three separate women in santa monica. many of you know about my life in california, and how i've paid my bills through a series of many odd jobs, and a couple stable ones over the year-and-a-half i've been here. but the ones i'm working on now are amazing. they've come to me via word of mouth, like pretty much everything so far has, and they're just incredibly creative and enriching. i'm assisting two writers and a sculptor/painter, sometimes just with things like helping out on the computer or getting stuff organized, but also, i'm pretty sure that i'll be ending up with a co-authorship on a book i'm writing with one of the women. more about this later, i'm sure, but i had to include at least a snippet about this because it is a pretty huge part of my daily life!! a fun and surprising detour from acting, but one that has become so special to me.

anyway!!! hopefully i'll have some good news post-auditions from this week. and i hope you are all having wonderful beginnings to this new year!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

as my time in indiana winds down, and i prepare for my return trip to the city of angels, i thought i'd take some time to sit down and document my annual holiday pilgrimage to the midwest. it's been a wonderful Christmas spent with friends and family, where i've visited several of my "homes," and traveled through missouri, indiana, kentucky, and tennessee--when i head back this way, i really try to make it count.

my holidays began before i left los angeles, with some presents, parties, ice skating (outdoors in santa monica, complete with palm trees!), it's a wonderful life watching, and verrrrry serious apartment decorating, evidence of which you can see below...

my flight to st. louis was thankfully uneventful, and i loved the subsequent car ride with my good buddy, kyle, and the frigid wintry air biting at my nose!!! spending a few days at my first stop in missouri was amazing. i love my cape families, and my best friends from high school--we always seem to pick up right where we left off! we celebrated with a baby shower for kelly, and got some cute pictures. i know i'm probably a little biased, but i think we're all aging quite well ;) here we all are with kelly and baby!!

then, of course, we had to take our signature staircase picture at meredith's house. if you've known me since my high school days, you may have seen our almost full decade of pictures on these stairs. if not, maybe sometime i'll scan a series of these. that would actually be pretty hilarious--proms, Christmases, bad hair, babies, spice girls...these stairs have seen a lot, let me just tell you...

after the shower, mom and i headed to evansville, where i spent the next few days relaxing and enjoying having television and my huge queen sized bed, and staying inside to avoid the inclement weather! hanging with the family was, of course, a favorite part of my trip. and, i had fun with my "5/3 family" at my mom's work Christmas shindig (shoutout to all you guys!). next came Christmas and KY with extended family, delicious food, and spirited board games, to name a few fun things! here's a little family pic for ya:

another fun outing in kentucky was our annual Christmas trip to the movies...except this year was sort of more exciting because i had my "big screen debut," haha! ok, so not really, i was just an extra and barely even saw myself, but! we went to see adam sandler's "bedtime stories," which i was VERY briefly in earlier this year. if you go see it, i'm in the pier/beach scene riding by on an orange bike. blue tank top and red shorts. i seriously had to strain to find myself. it was a bit like "where's waldo," so good luck! maybe this time next year i'll have been in something where i actually have a line or something (gasp!), but until then, thanks to my friends and family who joined me in the trek to the theater to see even my blurry premiere.

all in all, the holidays have been excellent, and i'm relishing in my last moments here, while also looking forward to going back to california. i hope you all had blessed Christmases (or other holidays), and were able to escape the craziness of the season to experience the heart of the holiday. this will most likely be my last post of 2008 (wow), so i wish you all a great last few days, and an even greater 2009! something tells me it's going to be another good year...

take care.
lp

thankful

2008-12-01T13:42:00.000-08:00

i just experienced the most beautiful thanksgiving of my life. i have about 500 photos i would love to post here, but i know that's much, so i'll refrain, and just post a few of my favorites. and, i'm going to try to post a couple videos later (courtesy of my flip camera from ellen!) this post may be extensive, so be forewarned! ok, here are the highlights of the trip:

cambria, ca
on thanksgiving day, parker, holland and i drove up the coast to cambria, california. we met up with about 30 people from our church at a hostel, where we had an amazing potluck meal (complete with post-meal food comas), met great new people, walked around the quaint town, and played some rousing rounds of taboo and phase 10.

monterey, ca

after staying the night in cambria, we split from the rest of the group, and the three of us headed farther up the coast on our way to monterey. my cousin, brad, is in air force intelligence training there, so we made it a stopping point on our journey. it was great to see family for the holidays!

the weather couldn't have been more ideal the entire trip. it was sunny and fairly warm each day, and brisk at night. as you'll see, the scenery in northern california is breathtaking. we were so blessed by God's gift of nature. on our way to monterey, we stopped to take pictures at some vista points, and to see the famous elephant seals, which were both incredible and disgusting!! as you'll see below...

we met up with brad for lunch, and then headed to big sur to set up our camp.

big sur

we camped friday night at fernwood in big sur. this region is filled with redwoods, creeks, the beach--it's just gorgeous. we enjoyed our camping, cooking dinner and breakfast on the fire, playing cards, and hiking to a waterfall. holland really got to put her new camera to good use on this trip-all the photos are from her and park's cameras--they're both talented photographers!

south on highway one

we stopped to see the elephant seals, yet again, as we headed back south on saturday. and, we took a tour of the hearst castle, which, again, was stunning! it was william randolph hearst's estate, and it was massive!! kind of like the west coast biltmore estate, if you've ever been there. then, we made the 5-ish hour trip back to la, home sweet home. it was certainly a very full three days. we experienced so much, i feel like. i ended the weekend grateful, tired, and enriched.

i hope you all had equally enjoyable thanksgiving holidays, and i hope you like all the pictures! take care ~lp

sunsets and sailing

2008-11-23T18:33:00.000-08:00

the past week has been very busy here in la la land! holland's friend from home, stephy, was in town, so we got to do lots of fun things! we tried a really nice new restaurant in santa monica, went out dancing, and saw a movie, among other things. here are some pictures that holland shot down at the santa monica pier with her new camera. they were too pretty not to post. i'm consistently amazed at how time continues to pass and i still find myself saying "wow, i actually live here."

this was also an exciting weekend for the ole box office! some of you may have heard of the twilight book series. well, the first film came out this weekend, so a bunch of us (readers and non-readers) got all dressed up to go see it. i've read most of the books, and, i liked them, but i'm not obsessed. they're pretty entertaining...but the movie, well i don't want to ruin it for anyone, but i'll just say this: it was hilarious! (unfortunately, not intentionally...). no, but we had a fun time making an evening out of it.

holland, stephy, and me representing our respective twilight characters! (go jacob!)

rivals!

parks had never read the books, but willingly came along! what a sport!

all our twilight shirts. nate (what an amazing artist!) hand-drew his shirt! and there's me, the lone supporter of team jacob cowering away from edward's team.

after twilight on friday, i had a busy saturday, too! park and i went on a sailing lesson! isn't that the best birthday present!? we had fabulous fall weather in marina del rey, but not a ton of wind, so we didn't go out onto the open seas. we both had an amazing time and learned so much. it was the two of us and our instructor, craig, on a 22 foot sailboat. the lesson was so hands on; we both steered, worked the sails, perfected our new skill of knot-tying, and learned the proper vocabulary for the anatomy of the ship. it was really fun, and i can definitely see enjoying sailing as a hobby! the evening was capped off with a gorgeous sunset, that looks almost too beautiful to not be photoshopped--i know it looks like a green screen, but it's real, i promise!!

and, here's me steering the ship through the marina!

well, hope everyone has an excellent thanksgiving week!! eat lots, be grateful :) i'm heading with friends up to cambria, ca, monterey, and big sur for camping...i can guarantee there will be lots of pictures, and perhaps even some video from my new flip camera (courtesy of ellen!)!! check back soon, goodnight all!

ellen 2

2008-11-10T14:46:00.000-08:00

well well well!! a lot to write about indeed!

i'm hoping that some of you might have seen the previous post, and tuned into today's episode of ellen. it's actually pretty funny and kind of exciting (wow, what will happen when i actually get a real role on tv!?!) to get calls and messages from people who saw me on the show! friends of friends who were watching at home or at the gym have called their friends that know me to see if lauren parrent was indeed to tv. what a globalized world--news travels so fast!

anyway...if you didn't get to watch ellen today, the video is actually already up online on her website! i thought i'd have to wait to watch it on a friend's dvr, since we don't have cable, but luckily i got to see it online! if you go to her site: ellen.warnerbros.com, and then click on gallery, then video gallery, right now it's the first video that comes up. although, i'm sure that will change very soon (i.e. tomorrow), so you may have to search for a video about musical chairs...that'd be my guess anyway.

the whole story

my friend, mj, was able to get tickets for my roomie and me to be in the audience of the ellen show last week. so, we went on thursday and while we were all just waiting with the other audience members to be let into the studio, a p.a. (production assistant) from the show came and asked me to come with them. after being reassured that i would still get to sit with my friends, i followed her, shortly joining a group of about 25 young women in another room. we were asked our names, and i guess they were checking our appearances and confidence, because somehow they dwindled the group to about ten. next, we each told them our occupations and where we lived. without going into too much detail (i'm probably releasing confidential information here, and the ellen poice will be showing up at my door any minute!)...we were asked if we'd all be willing to be potential audience participants, and we even got to practice our reactions for if we got called on. the just wanted to make sure we were up for anything, and were spunky and energetic!

when the show started, as many of you have or will see...ellen came out and announced that for starters, she was going to have a game of musical chairs, but not just normal musical chairs, a version with "hunks" sitting already in the chairs, to go along with her naughty november show theme. i'll let you all watch the video for yourselves and i won't spoil the ending!

i will however tell you i won a flip mino camcorder! and, we also got other gifts just for being in the audience: the ocean's dvd trilogy boxed set, and a gift card to a certain chain of malls. not bad!! the guests on the show were heidi klum, seann william scott, and susan lucci. holland even had a nice long conversation with seann william scott at a restaurant near the studio just before the show!

so, please go have a look at the video, i definitely ham it up, there's lot of dancing, laughing, and musical chair action, so i highly recommend it! AND, i think i'll use my new camera very soon to post a video blog :)

let me know what you think!!

~lp

ELLEN! (part one)

2008-11-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

i'll definitely write more later, but watch ELLEN tomorrow, monday, november 10th (i think it's on at 4ish).

I'M ON IT, making a complete fool out of myself, but yeah check it out!!!!!

more later...

halloween and my birthday

2008-11-03T16:12:00.000-08:00

this is my favorite time of the year! i love the fall already, and, i love getting to celebrate halloween and my birthday all within the course of a few days!! i had a couple of halloween parties this year, one where i actually committed to dressing up. my roomie, holland, was going as a fairy, so i decided to parade around as her dark counterpart. we went all out with glitter and makeup, haha. these are definitely not the best pictures, but i was just trying to at least capture the make up and wings.

we've been having some fallish days, in terms of weather--clouds, even some rain, which is great, on occasion. it really puts me in a wonderful mood! it's such a blessing to have some change in the weather as a little birthday gift! i get bored with routine.

my birthday weekend was so much fun. i celebrated with several friends on saturday, by going out to eat at this really casual seafood place in malibu. we had a really great time. here are some pictures from that:

talk about weather--it was a gorgeous night!! check out the drive up the coast.

and, here's the restaurant

here are a couple pictures from throughout dinner, and afterwards with our rainboots (because it sprinkled for 5 minutes that afternoon!)

and, to top off the already wonderful evening, i made a successful trip to pinkberry and then the beach (which, by the way, the beach at night is one of my favorite places to be) with holland, justin, mj, and our new buddy, dave (from my church, ecclesia, www.churchinhollywood.com). YUM!

then, my actual birthday started off with some wonderful happy birthday calls, including a very special one from parker, all the way from africa :) to all of you that wrote me notes of birthday wishes, or called and i didn't get to talk with you, thanks again so much, it meant a lot to me, and made my day even better! i can't believe i'm 24! mid-twenties--crazy! i feel old and young at the same time. but, all in all, my birthday was a day of reflection of how blessed i am with life, its experiences, and all the incredible people God has placed in my life. i'm really at a place of contentment and peace, and true gratefulness that i continue to have you all to share it with each passing day.

chi-town!

2008-10-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

so...my big 2-4 is coming up soon, and as sort of a birthday adventure, my mom and i decided to meet in the windy city last weekend! she and her friends, linda and kathy, and linda's daughter, kate, were already planning on making the trip, and i just tagged along--meeting up them from the west coast!

three things you should know about me: 1) i love to travel, 2) i love the fall, and 3) i love my mama! so, basically the trip to chicago was pretty golden from the start!! we just went for the weekend, and spent the time at our hotel on michigan avenue, as well as at linda's son, miles', apartment in hyde park, where he goes to college (coincidentally, he lives two blocks from obama's house, too, which is just funny to me).

but, the weekend was great! i loved spending time with my mom and friends and we had a lot of fun in the crisp, autumn weather, walking up and down the magnificent mile, shopping, and looking at the fabulous architecture of the city. i love chicago. i think i could live there. i especially loved the smell of crushed up fall leaves everywhere. we don't get a whole lot of that out here! mom and kathy went to see wicked (which i loved, and i couldn't wait for them to see!), and the hopgood's and i went to see a performance by second city called, "no country for old white men." it was obviously a political satire, and it was really funny. it was neat to be at second city, where so many talented comedians get their starts.

anyway, it was an amazing weekend, and i loved the escape from routine, since i usually need a change from the norm every once-in-awhile! ok, without further ado, here are some pictures:

cannonball-eyes, bear, and may moger (their high school nicknames!!! isn't that hiliarious?!) at the university of chicago.

this was my first night there, and mom was out past 9:30pm and chugging her root beer!!! craaazzyyyy! joni, we're such party girls...

kate and me

trump's new building, along with some lovely gothic architecture

the rest of the gang left a day before i did, so i wandered the city streets, listening to music, and just all-around enjoyed myself! here are some pictures from that day--they're from my phone so they're not the best quality!

apple orching 2008!

2008-10-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

A brisk wind
Meets my skin
Turning my cheeks and lips
A rosy shade of pink.

Like the blood-orange pumpkins,
Glossy and round,
Squatting amongst their vines
As they litter the landscape.

The brown ground
Sifts through my pale fingers,
Leaving light, dusty prints
On my deep denim jeans.

An unmatched blue sky
Breaks only for white wisps
Of weightless cotton clouds
And the orchard ceiling

Where tree-lined rows
Grow green for miles
And sweet red apples
Fall to rest at their feet.

the girls: mj, alex, holland, liz, and me

wow. what a face. we had fun playing dress up at the riley's farm general store. i love colonial times...grandmom, do you remember the bonnet you made me that looks eerily similar to this one!?

our orching crew: all the girls, plus justin and seth

holland taught me a tumbling stunt to get me on her shoulders, so we could get the best apples!

our apple buckets...

by far, the best picture of the day. it captures so much action--i just love it! seth was trying to teach us how to juggle, and clearly CLEARLY i had mastered it...

apple face has a whole new meaning.

ah, snow white and her poison apple...

holland, lizzie, and me by a picturesque, old truck

there were HUGE pumpkins!

holland and justin, two of my favorite people :)

APPLE ORCHING PART TWO

after our long and "fruitful" day of orching in oak glen, california, (in absolutely perfect, crisp, fall weather, i might add) we headed back to good ole santa monica to justin and seth's house. there, we had a huge group over to enjoy the "fruits" of our labor. we baked apple pies and made caramel apples, and enjoyed a delightful evening of conversation and laughter around the fireplace. oh yeah, and i had a major sugar rush from sampling throughout the baking process...it was a lot of fun!

mj and me working on pie filling with our apples hand-picked from the orchard!

lizzie concentrating intensely on her lattice pie crust!

holland's friend, yuni, making a delectable caramel apple!

below are the full albums on facebook, again. courtesy of justin ladd, event planner extraordinaire!!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016472&l=e4492&id=135000032
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016473&l=d6696&id=135000032
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016474&l=a0ace&id=135000032

next weekend, i embark on another fall excursion--meeting my mom in chicago...i'm sure there'll be much more blogging to come!! thanks for reading.

bees and the blues

2008-10-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

tuesday night, i got an invite to go to a screening of the new film , the secret life of bees, with my friend jess, who works for an actor's trade publication. the film comes out october 17th, and i give it major stars and recommend you go see it! anyway, it's based on a book, but the film is great.

sidenote: i love that it's over a year later, and i still can't get enough of living in this city. there are always exciting things going on, and it's also within driving distance of so many awesome places (including up north, where i'm going this weekend to an apple orchard!) and, even though i've done lots of work/spent a good amount of time on studio lots, i still get that sense of hollywood magic every time i set foot on one! which, brings me back to the secret life of bees...so, jess and i went to the fox lot in century city and went to a private screening of the film. it is beautifully made, well-acted (some actors include: dakota fanning, queen latifah, paul bettany, sophie okonedo, jennifer hudson, and alicia keys), and the story is touching and poignant.

after the film, there was a q&a session with the writer/director and two actors, dakota and latifah. i'm not going to lie, it was cool to see them in person. dakota is so bright and intelligent, and latifah seemed really warm and kind. it was great to hear insights about acting and their anecdotes from behind the scenes of the film. times like those just always solidify my desire to keep chasing this. i know it's what i want to do. :)

then last night, holland surprised me with random tickets to a gavin degraw concert!! i'd seen him in concert once before, my freshman year of college in st. louis. last night, he played at the house of blues in hollywood, which was a fun venue. his brother opened for him, along with this band, charlotte sometimes. i liked their music, but the lead singer came across as pretty arrogant, so i didn't care for her much. but, gavin was fabulous live; he has a really rich, smooth voice, and is talented with piano and guitar as well. we had a great time, and i'm posting some pics below for you to peruse!

like i said, this weekend, i'm going apple "orching" with some friends up north (there will most definitely be pictures!). and then next weekend i'm meeting my mom in chicago, which i'm sooo excited about!!! i can't wait for these two very fallish experience, it still feels like summer here, so i need an autumn fix!!

MEXICO!!!

2008-09-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

so...the ominous "exciting thing that i might be doing this weekend" did indeed happen on saturday, and i'm more than excited to post about it!! two friends and i took a day trip to meh-hee-coh!!!! after living here for over a year, i'd been talking about wanting to go south of the border for awhile, and i couldn't believe i hadn't done it yet. it's so close, and so easy to take a spontaneous trip out of the country. i love where i live!!

basically, the pictures are the most telling part of our adventure, as you can imagine. we drove down to ensenada, mexico, also stopping at puerto nuevo, a lobster village on our way back to la saturday night. justin, holland, and i had 18 hours of conversation, music, laughter, culture...it was outstanding!

the day made for several funny stories, including getting stopped in a 3 hour stand-still traffic jam, which ended up being one of the highlights, because we stretched our legs and enjoyed the view, as you'll see in the pictures...we also ended up on a couple of highways that randomly just ended, which proved to be hilarious (which you'll also see pictures of). ensenada was a cool town, with a bike ride festival going on, so people were milling about, and we found lots of colors and textures to take pictures of (we even made a parody of "satan's alley," which will make sense if you've seen the movie "tropic thunder"). then, our dinner stop at the tiny village, puerto nuevo, was amazing. it was a very warm, authentically mexican place, with family-style restaurants and jovial shopkeepers selling hand-painted pottery and local fruits.
the lobster we ate here was also my first lobster ever, and, oh man, it was delicious!! i couldnt believe how much i loved it...all slathered in butter, yummmm. ok i'm making myself hungry...moving on!

mexico, although very dirty, disorganized, and impoverished, was naturally beautiful, colorful, vibrant, full of friendly people, culture and life. it was an energizing experience all around--we had so much fun.

ok, below are the public links to the full albums from our trip. these pictures have captions, and you can click through them all easily, so i encourage you to do that. seriously, these are some of the best trip pictures i've had, so i'm thrilled to share them with you all. i will, however, post a few highlight pictures below, in case you can't access the full albums, for some reason... it was such a blessing of a day for my friends and me, and i really hope you enjoy it vicariously through the pictures!!

album 1
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016260&l=ea799&id=135000032

album 2
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016261&l=ff387&id=135000032

album 3
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016262&l=448ee&id=135000032

a few highlights...

dodgers, part deux

2008-09-25T23:26:00.000-07:00

finally some fun new pictures!! my roomie, holland, got some dodgers tickets from her boss. not just ANY tickets, either; they're really up close, just behind home plate, basically. so the two of us, and our close friends parker and justin attended tuesday's game against the padres. it ended up being a blowout--we won 10-1 i think--needless to say, we had quite the time documenting our experience at the game, almost more than actually paying attention to the game :) heehee. but, no, it was a lot of fun, and another highlight was going to applebees afterwards. seriously, it's so hard to find traditional chain restaurants like that out here, so it was a treat to go and order my favorite oriental chicken wrap and fries--yum!! so worth the trip! enjoy the pictures...probably no captions needed, as most of them are just us goofing off!

park and me (and his amazing new pearly whites!)

justin and holland

i guess something was thought-provoking...?

celebrating a home run!

the four of us

applebees?!?!

oh yeah, we're goin there!

last weekend, i also did something really unique and enjoyable...a couple friends and i went to an outdoor amphitheater and saw a theatrical reading of two radio plays. one was alfred hitchcock's "lifeboat," the other, john steinbeck's "stangers on a train." i felt like i was in such another time and place...it forced my imagination to be so active, because all we saw were the voice actors reading the plays, and then you're just left to visualize it. such a cool experience. i love trying new things!

stay tuned, because i think i'll have an exciting event this weekend to post about very soon!

this week...

2008-09-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

...was very productive! i don't really have pictures that correspond to the new postables from this past week, but i'll post them nonetheless!

and, hooray, because a couple of them are actually career-related for once! :)

i met with my acting coach, anthony barnao, on monday before our regular weekly class. anthony is now a good friend, but i originally met him at an actor's bootcamp last year, and then worked with him on forming Stage to Salvation, his idea for a Christian theater group. anyway...he had told me awhile ago that he would like to see my work, and watch how i progress, and potentially manage me in the future. so, after months of classes, he told me monday that he liked what he saw, and he would like to be my manager! so, this is great career news! when i tell people this, the first question is usually "so what's the difference between an agent and a manager?" good question. consider me a brand, lauren parrent. a manager generally helps to shape the overall image of the brand, help get it all together, and an agent promotes the brand. they often overlap, though. so, i'm very excited about this blessing; i feel great that i have someone who i know and who knows me to be on "my team." he has a couple other clients, several that have had some really good gigs, so i'm confident in his ability. i look forward to having work of my own to blog more about. we'll see where it goes from here...

also, on wednesday of last week, i stayed after work at kris' and had an amazingly fun recording session!! my mom reminded me this week that when i was little i watched a special about the voice actors from beauty and the beast and told her "wouldn't that be a fun job? I'd love to do that someday." so, i guess i fulfilled my recording destiny this week! it was great! i'm so grateful that kris gave me the opportunity to use his recording studio and his talented direction, of course. i recorded stuff for a regular voice over reel, and then i'll do a character reel sometime soon. those will be fun to post!

lately, i've really been aware of the wisdom that comes from age. i feel like i'm really learning to listen to people and their life stories. you can learn so much that way! anyway, my friend, chelsie, has worked for a lady, rita, who needs help organizing and getting some of her writing together. i'm now going to be helping her out. she lives really close, and she has amazing stories, so i'm really stoked about it.

also, fun sidenote, when i arrived at rita's house, i parked on the street and noticed a guy standing by her neighbor's fence. he turned towards my direction to walk away, and we made eye contact. i thought his charming grin was familiar, and indeed it was. for those of you that might be fans of "lost," it was boone! i recently started watching the lost series on dvd (i'm on season 2, and i love it!). so yeah, ian somerhalder and i had a nice moment :)

that's all for now. isn't it amazing how time flies? it's already almost mid-september. my goodness...

the best day of summer.

2008-08-31T18:49:00.000-07:00

yesterday was the best day of summer. it's funny that it came just in the clutch. almost september, which i can't believe.

a group of us packed up the ole cars and made a trip up the coast. first stop was malibu, where we hiked a trail to the ruins of a huge burnt down house. then, we continued up and climbed around on this amazing waterfall. i felt like such a kid, being out in nature. after climbing up a good way, we found this hidden swimming hole, formed by the waterfall, where we all jumped in and swam around.

after we hiked back down, we drove up to el matador, one of three "secret" beaches north of malibu. it was absolutely gorgeous! there were tons of rocky cliffs, and the weather was perfect. what a great labor day weekend!

here are some pictures of the wonderful day!

anna and me at the ruins

all of us climbing on the rocks by the waterfall

there were tons of frogs that were perfectly camouflaged to their surroundings...see him?

here's me gazing out over the glorious trail. haha

and here's the swimming hole! (chelsie and me half in, nate and jon taking a dip in the background) it was like something from a adventure novel. so cool.

the breathtaking el matador beach

here's chels, anna, and me apparently struttin our stuff!

and, finally, here's our adventurous labor weekend group: alec, jon, chels, anna, brian, me, and nate, with parker manning the camera. a fine group, i'd say!

in other news, i actually got another job last week. another random personal assisting gig that i found out about through a friend in acting class. just some other work to keep me busy and pay the bills. still nothing worth mentioning on the acting front. but we'll see... :)

on the year of your passing

2008-08-21T00:27:00.001-07:00

You’ve been gone now for a year
And, yet I sense you’re somehow near.
It’s often that you’re on my mind;
Easy words you help me find.

I can’t forget those blue-grey eyes,
That twinkled upon each surprise.
Treasured toys with pennies bought,
Each chosen after careful thought.

And, if I had but one more hour,
To simply be your Prairie Flower,
We’d shoot lead pellets at tin cans,
And feed the chipmunks from our hands.

You and I would mow the yard,
Catch lightning bugs in glassy jars.
You’d squeeze my hand with yours so strong,
Through dry creek beds lead me along.

We’d pick up leaves, and take our time.
I’d learn of saving every dime.
You’d tell me stories of the sky,
And how you taught brave men to fly.

So, on this day, I can’t be sad,
With all these memories to be had.
Instead, I’ll on this sweetness dwell
In comfort, knowing you are well.

happy one year to me.

2008-08-12T12:35:00.001-07:00

i just realized that i really didn't do anything for my official one year living in la anniversary. one year has been great, and it's gone so fast! but i still really love living here, and can't wait to see what excitement the next years bring...so i felt a need to acknowledge it, i did, and now i can move on :)

so, speaking of how time flies, i apparently i've let almost a month go by without blogging. my apologies! i keep meaning to do it, but i wanted to wait for pictures, and never got them, so i kept putting it off. what has happened...? well, first off, i lived through my first real earthquake! i'm sure you've all heard about it, but we had a 5.something a few weeks ago. yes, i did feel it. it felt like i was on a rocking boat, and it lasted for about 30 seconds. very strange, but kind of cool, considering no one was really harmed.

as for acting, i had a pretty legit audition for a new show on animal planet. i auditioned for the role of a waterski babe (haha), but never heard back. but it was good to get back out there, and i'm hoping that the lull of summer hiatus is coming to an end, and that things might be back full swing in the coming fall.

the main recent event for me was my former roommate's wedding. it was gorgeous, and i was waiting on getting pictures from that to post, but i guess i'll have to put those up at a later date when i get them. but, it was a big event, and i really enjoyed being a part of all the surrounding festivities. actually...here are a couple picture s from her bridal shower that i helped throw. one of kim and me (the co-party planners), all the girls, and then the three now-former roomies:

let's see...what else. oh, my friend, stand up comedian, kvon moezzi, had a screening at a really cute place called blue 32 in hermosa beach. he was the lead in a ridiculous horror spoof called the "gingerdead man 2." oh man. here's a picture from that event...

after that, holland and i spontaneously went to a late movie and saw the dark knight. just a plug for it in case you haven't seen it--go, it's amazing!

i'm a big fan of themed parties, playing dress-up, the whole shebang. obviously, that's kind of what i've decided to do for a living! anyway, our friends had a "jock jams" themed party last week, and it was so much fun! we all came dressed as athletes or in ridiculous 90s gear, blasted the classic 90s jock jams cds, drank capri suns (please tell me you remember those!), and played in tournaments ranging from ping pong, to darts, to nba live. it was a lot of fun! i love when everybody really gets into it...here's a picture with holland, her friend lynnette (who was visiting from ohio), and me, and then me and my mad dart-throwing skills!

finally, one of my best friends from home, chris, and his family were in san diego visiting family, and came up for an la day yesterday. i really enjoyed spending time with them, and i think they liked seeing the city, and some little snippets of my life. i did have a big "first," while they were here, too--i rode my very first ferris wheel ever! i know, crazy, right!?! but, i've never been on one, and have always wanted to, but i'm so glad that my first one was on the santa monica pier, because it was the best view, and perfect weather. it was so relaxing and lovely. here's a not very clear picture from my phone that totally doesn't do it justice, but...

well...i think that's about it for now. once our place is slightly more decorated, i'll take pics and post those up soon!! as always, thanks for reading :)

july.

2008-07-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

hello all!! i know it's been awhile, and i thought it was definitely time for an update. yes, i'm still alive! the past month has been crazy!!

my parked car was hit and totaled, my best friend came to visit, i moved, and i went to indiana to visit the fam; not to forget 4th of july and a bridal shower thrown in there too! whew, see, that was a busy month! luckily, things worked out with the car situation, i had an amazing time with whitney in town, i found an awesome new house, and my trip home was refreshing as always! summer is slow on the acting front because several productions are on hiatus. i did attend a couple casting director workshops which were great! i made some good connections, and got to put up some good work, so i hope something comes from them eventually!

as for the new place, we majorly lucked out and found a house on the same street. we're just about 2 blocks away from our old place! the new place was available right away, and we felt like it was such a good deal, we couldn't pass it up. so, we rented it starting at the beginning of july, which was a bit of a bind on the ole pocketbook, however, it's been amazing, because we've been able to move our stuff in gradually, instead of cramming it all into one weekend. our new residence is a two unit apartment in the backyard of a house, which is similar to our first place, being that it's not this huge complex, which i really like.

here are a couple pictures, one is the front house, one is the backyard/courtyard, and the last is our front door! once we get it all organized inside, there will be more where these came from! enjoy :)

headshots part deux

2008-06-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

below i'm posting a few unedited photos from a little impromptu photo sesh that my roomie/photographer extraordinaire, holland michael, took a couple weekends ago. we are both creative types, so we figured it would make for a fun afternoon to galavant around santa monica scouting fun locations and taking pictures. and, we were both happy with the turnout, i think. once i choose my favorites, and have them edited, i'll use these for my current headshots to submit for acting jobs. let me know your favorites!! hope you don't get sick of looking at my face :)

tv land

2008-06-09T11:12:00.001-07:00

i was invited by my friend justin (aka jladd) to attend the tv land awards show red carpet. the event was held yesterday, and it was my first official red carpet event-well sitting in the bleachers, not actually walking the carpet, of course :)

anyway, we had a great time. as always, it was cool to be behind all the hollywood glamour, and see the backstage details of the event. we also got to see several celebs, some from older shows (the ones that actually deserve a spot on tv land!), some from newer ones. let's see...we saw most of the cast of the office (rainn wilson, andy, oscar, meredith, stanley...), a few golden girls (rue mcclanahan, betty white, bea arthur), roseanne, john goodman, jodie sweenten (aka stephanie tanner), ed asner (lou from the mary tyler moore show), vanessa williams (she was hosting), robert verdi (also hosting), kathy griffin, kinicky from grease, the dad and the fonz from happy days, doris roberts (everybody loves raymond), sarah chalke (elliot from scrubs), garry marshall, and greg brady.

here are a few pics-enjoy!!

flying is fun

2008-06-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

so...my vague ending to yesterday's post is now going to be revealed! i know i bet all of you were just chomping at the bit-haha.e

at my boss, kris', memorial day last sunday, i met karen, who worked my job for him about 15 years ago. she and her husband, attila (yes, he was actually born in hungary, so he is sort of attila the hun) were really sweet people, and we ended up talking all afternoon. before we left, we found out that attila has his pilot's license, a 1939 luscomb prop plane, and loves an excuse to take people for a flight around la...so of course, in keeping with my plan to conquer as many exciting la experiences as possible, i jumped on the chance to take him up on his offer. so, holland and i met up with him today at the santa monica airport to each go on a flight!

let me tell you, it was amazing! we had so much fun, wow. the weather was perfect for flying, clear and sunny. we flew over the ocean, malibu, bel air, downtown la, hollywood, and a few other places. he took each of us up for about an hour; i was amazed at how smooth the flight was, too, in such a tiny plane. one of the highlights for me was seeing multi-million dollar mansions (literally some there were some that looked like versailles, or other european castles-it was crazy!) from the sky. i mean, i've seen some ritzy houses driving around in malibu and the hollywood hills, but none of them compared to these compounds that were all gated and could only seen from the sky. we also flew really low, since it was such a small plane, sometimes even as close as 45 feet above the water...

the plane, "lusky," he's just a little guy

lauren on a plane

the santa monica pier, with new ferris wheel!

a view of the coast

a modern malibu mansion. britney spears perhaps?

the getty museum of art

another mansion...craziness

dodger stadium and downtown

oh the glorious los angeles freeways

downtown again

a smooth landing...

camping without bugs.

2008-05-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

did you know that you can go camping without the hassle of bugs!? it's called southern california, my friends. i know, revolutionary, and i sound like i'm doing a commercial for the state of california department of tourism, but seriously, this is the way to camp!

although acting continues to be on the slow side, fun random opportunities continue to make themselves available to me. last night i went beach camping with a few friends north of malibu at a place called point mugu. it was just off the pch (pacific coast highway that runs all the way up california's coast), right between gorgeous canyons/mountains and a rocky beach. we had perfect weather both yesterday and today, which made for a really pleasant trip! here are some pictures from the campout, if i get more exciting ones from friends, i'll definitely post them. but these are the beautiful views of and from the campsite as well as the campers (justin, holland, scotty, parker, and me):

and, for a little backtrack...i went to a memorial day party at my boss' ("the voice") house...here are a couple pictures from that fun event! me with rebel, kris manning the grill, and me lovin on his ferrari!

i have another fun outing tomorrow, that i'll post about later. and, hopefully more career news in coming posts...

missouri.

2008-05-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

so, i've been back in california for just a couple of days since my week-long trip to missouri. and, may i say, the trip was just wonderful! it was bittersweet having to say goodbye to my best friends from home, but it was worth the trip, and i'm excited to hit the ground running back on the west coast.

my week was spent in kansas city, columbia, and cape girardeau missouri. i did lots of traveling, saw several friends, and made sure to eat at a bunch of my favorite restaurants, of course!! i was also blessed to attend two graduations--one for one of my best friends, andrew guthrie, who graduated from mizzou. the other was my best friend's little sister, lindsey, who graduated from central high school. congrats to both of you, i'm very proud of your accomplishments, and was so happy to share in your big days! :)

as luck would have it, murphy's law hit me on my first full day in missouri. and, i just knew it was going to happen that way! i was sitting with guthrie at shakespeare's pizza, when i got a phone call from ruth, a casting director i met in my acting workshop about 7 months ago. turns out, she had kept me in mind, and thought a commercial role was perfect for me. my agent had submitted me for it, but ruth said she had also just remembered me from months ago. i would have read for the part of a young mom in a dollhouse commercial, haha! hey, i'll take it!! however, the kicker was , the audition was the next day, and clearly, i wasn't in town. so, i had to pass up the offer, but, it made my day because it showed me that my name is out there, and the connections i've made in the industry are starting to come back around! so hopefully, things will continue in this direction!!

ok, it's picture time!!!!!

here's guthrie and me at his graduation

the five of us bf's at sophias (the restaurant where i worked after college for a semester) after graduation in columbia. YUM, it was so delish. aw the five of us together like old times-so much fun!

haha, we happened to be in town on the night of a mizzou baseball game. as we were riding the golf cart up to the stadium, whit, guthrie, and i decided to take a picture. the cart jolted, and here's what we got. totally unposed! it makes me laugh.

the weather at the game was glorious! and mu won 8-1!

whit, jaclyn, and me. i can't believe we're real adults. whit's all grown and married and refinishing a basement, and jac has a real job and apartment and everything!

guth and me. seriously we could be siblings!

here's meredith, kelly, whitney, and me--some of the ole high school bf's on the pingel trampoline at lindsey's graduation party!

the four of us: chris, me, whit, and ryan, with linz the chs grad!!

a final thing i'll share with you all is this...i was so pleasantly surprised to talk with a few of you all and realize that there are actually several blog readers! i guess it just really means a lot to me that, even though i don't get the chance to talk with you all regularly, that you are keeping up with my life. i appreciate your support more than you know :)

rushforth

2008-05-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

for all you avid laurenparrent blog-devotees out there (thanks to all 6 of you! ;) haha) a throwback to a couple posts ago. if you remember dean, my fellow burn victim, from the filming of the austin golden hour pilot...dean is a part of a production company (www.rushforthproductions.com), and they had a short film festival last night, that i attended.

it was a great cultural experience, and something spontaneous, which i always love. the event was held at artshare, a renovated warehouse in downtown la. very cute. the films were all really artsy and beautiful, even though not all of them were super entertaining or even understandable! such is art, though. i think my favorite was a film by an improv group, the 313, called "film noir." it's a spoof of old film noir movies, and i just thought it was so clever...

it's funny, living here, because i often see people that look really familiar to me, but it's hard to distinguish how i know them. are we friends, have we met somewhere prior to la, are they an actor that just looks familiar? this happened last night, twice, at the festival. sarah utterback, a member of the company, played the redhead nurse olivia on grey's anatomy. and (huge nerd alert) billy aaron brown was there; he played this surfer guy in the masterpiece mary-kate & ashley movie, "holiday in the sun" lol. (don't worry, i'm not THAT big of a nerd that i knew their names offhand, i had to imdb them)

just another night in the city of angels.

what's new

2008-04-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

some days are really busy, and some days i feel kind of unproductive, but end up really enjoying the down time.

so, last weekend, i had a great visit from a college friend, beth, who spent a long-weekend in town from kansas city. it was great because she'd already been to la a couple of times, so she was really content to just chill, hang out with friends, and have a great time. we spent time in malibu, venice, hollywood, griffith park, and in santa monica-it was great!! here is some proof by picture...

another highlight of the week was going to see a taping of the tonight show with jay leno. he was great. it was short and sweet, unlike many other show tapings, so i can't complain. i'd definitely go see him again. his guests included some animal trainer, norm mcadonald (the comedian i mainly know from SNL, aka burt reynolds in jeopardy wearing "a big hat, it's funny because it's bigger than normal, it's a big hat"), and ashlee simpson (is she or isn't she preggers!?!) it was a fun show!

next...i had the exciting privilege of going to see WICKED!!!! it's been running at the pantages theater in hollywood for a couple of years now, and my friend, cal, had tickets and invited me to go. oh man, it was awesome!! if you love musicals, i highly recommend it. i mean, it is really a great show. a) i want to play elphaba, one of the lead roles, b) i've got to get the soundtrack, and c) i definitely want to go see it again!!!!

finally, yesterday, my acting coach, anthony, called to see if i could help him out casting a feature film. he used to be/still is sometimes a casting director, and he was helping out a friend. so, i was sort of the associate casting director, which was really cool!! i liked being on the other side of the camera. i think it gave me some good perspective and will change my approach to the whole audition process, so that's good. we rehearsed, read with, directed, filmed, and commented on 25 7-11 year-old girls. they were so cute :) boy, there parents were starting them early... i bet i would've loved it then, however i'm glad i got to grow up having a "normal life" and then deciding on my own to come out and pursue acting...it's a whole different lifestyle if you grow up in it, i'm sure...

hopefully more exciting stuff soon? thanks for keeping up!

a big week, wow.

2008-04-13T21:49:00.000-07:00

disclaimer: this post will probably be another pretty visual one. less writing, more pictures, which i'm quite fond of, and i hope you are, too.

well, i have fairly big news for you all. i've taken a big step in my acting career this week, actually it's been a busy week, in general. but, i am thrilled to report that i signed with my very first agent!!!!!! i got the call last wednesday, april 9th! i was riding bikes on malibu beach, perfect weather, it couldn't have been a more ideal day to get such great news!! (here's a picture almost at the exact moment when i got the call, actually)

i'm now officially represented across the board with daily talent agency!!! it's still sinking in, but i am so excited to have an agent working for me, and i really hope it turns out to be a lucrative relationship for us both. i'll definitely have more access to higher quality projects. i can't wait to see where this will lead, seriously, i am so excited about it. feels like things continue to fall into place :)

i was told about my agent (haha, so weird to say!!!) by a friend, cal, who also threw me a couple other connections. one of which was a hand modeling gig i submitted for. it was funny, because i've been told i should hand/foot model before, but since there was an actual gig to apply for, i finally went and got a mani/pedi and had my friend emily take some shots to send in. needless to say, at the end of that day, i was so sick of looking at pictures of my hands and feet. but here are a couple of them for your viewing pleasure. so weird that this is a part of my job, right?!?

my friend cal, who also referred me to my agent (heehee, that just doesn't get old! ok i'll stop!) anyway, cal invited me to go to a red carpet event for a dvd release the other night. i was all excited, and got ready to go, then we got there and it turned out to be a different night, however, we got to hang out and walk around hollywood, which was fun. we also stumbled upon the arclight (a really fancy movie theater) where they'd just had a premiere for a lifetime movie starring dermot mulroney (from: my best friend's wedding, the wedding date). so i got my red carpet picture one way or another! here it is...

finally, i had a really busy yet fun past couple of days. i did extra work for a new pilot called "austin golden hour," a medical drama in the real-time style of "24." it was so much fun. as i've said before, i always enjoy meeting great people on sets, and it usually solidifies my desire to work in the industry. i just love it, despite the 13-15 hour average days. but, anyway, i worked friday and saturday as a club-goer. however, it was a bit more complicated. one day was filming a club scene where pyrotechnics go wrong, but the first day, we filmed the aftermath of the club explosion. at first, everyone got some makeup applied to look like we'd been burned by the fire, which was so fun! exhibit a:

then, they said they were going to pick a severe burn victim, which ended up being me!!! so, i was sort of featured. i got to spend several hours in makeup (the hair/makeup people were awesome, by the way; and i felt like i got the star treatment, including them spending about an hour taking off my face and shampooing all the rock-hard blood out of my hair at the end of the day...), where i got more airbrusing done, AND had prosthetic blisters and burnt flesh applied to my face, hands, and arms! i spent most of the day with dean, the episode's guest star, who was the only other person to get the full workup of burn prosthetics, although his face seriously looked like it had been through a meat grinder; DIS-gust, i know. we had a really great time!! i also got to ride on a gurney and in an ambulance. if the pilot airs, you'll see me grab the main character's arm as she rushes past my gurney--she's an EMT.

but yeah, it was an exhausting, yet great two days. today the temperature was in the 90s, and i was productive, but also tried to rest and recuperate. i'm hoping that i hear from gail, the new agent!! about some auditions this week. i'll definitely keep you updated!!

sunrise to sunset

2008-04-04T16:04:00.001-07:00

since i've been writing more infrequently, these posts tend to be pretty lengthy and content-rich. hope that's ok with you all. this one is certainly no exception...

yard sales
first things first, i can't recall if i already blogged about this, but i don't think so, AND even if i did, it is notable enough to reiterate!! scott, holland, and i went yard saling a couple weeks ago, and i have never had better luck! i found several things for great deals; things that i've been thinking about getting for months!! including: a $3 pair of chucks, a $2 camping pad, some cute clothes, and...a BIKE!! a basically new one for only TWENTY dollars! i've already used it several times, and it's so wonderful to have for exercise, transportation, and just for beach cruising. in fact, i'm pretty sure i passed owen wilson on the bike path in venice the other day...

and here it is in all it's pink glory!

easter
i had an excellent easter this year!! i got to see the sun both rise and set on easter sunday, which i've never done ever before. and both the beginning and end of the day was on a beach with gorgeous weather. i can't complain. a bunch of people from our church went to a sunrise service on the beach, to celebrate the resurrection of Christ with about 20 westside la churches. it was super early, but it was definitely worth it!

after that, i took a nap :) and then was treated to a delicious easter brunch (my first eggs benedict-so good!!) at liz's house. we dyed eggs the night before, and then had this wonderful meal with several friends! here's a glimpse of some of our colorful eggs (complete with bobble-head Jesus!), and then liz (our lovely hostess!), holland, jd (holland's friend from college who now lives here), amy (liz's roommate), and me (in my $1 yard sale easter dress)!

as if that weren't enough fun for an easter sunday...holland and i then party hopped on down to manhattan beach, ca, just a few miles south on the coast. holland attended asbury university in kentucky, and a lot of her fellow classmates relocated to the la area to use their media degrees. so...they all got together for an easter beach cookout, and i tagged along. like i said, the weather was amazing--it was about 90 degrees that day, but not stifling or anything! we had burgers on the beach, juicy watermelon, and sat around until the sunset that evening, just hanging out and chatting. it was the perfect end to a really full day.

here we are on our way to the beach.

manhattan is adorable. it's a very wealthy town, so there are nice houses, and the beach was beautiful.

these are all the asburians (holland's college pals) getting together for a little photo shoot to send home to their alma mater.

me on the beach, and our friend, parker, in the background, braving the freezing ocean waters!!

next...my family came for their visit!
my mom, cody, and his friend, tyler came for about 5 days at the end of march. we had so much fun! i think the highlight of the trip for the boys was that they got addicted to the best frozen yogurt place in the world-pinkberry! it's only in nyc and california, i think, but if it ever comes your way, definitely give it a go. we spent time on the beach, in venice, and breezed through tourist spots like hollywood and the fashion district. they got to experience a lot of culture, and i really enjoyed their company! oh, and we saw the movie "21," which i recommend!! it was so great to have them here...it was a first big trip west for my brother (and i was happy to share that with him), and my mom was really glad to see how i had settled in, since last she left me, all she had seen was an empty apartment and a car full of possessions! below are some pictures from their excursion. one at my house, some on the beach, and one with the skyline.

i bet you thought that was it, right? wrong-O! :) just a couple more things.

one, this past tuesday, i did extra work on the tv show "ghost whisperer." it's jennifer love hewitt's show, however she wasn't in any of the scenes that day, only her co-star jay mohr. it was fun, and as always, i met some cool people. on guy, joe, is a really creative photographer/graphic designer, and i think he and i might meet up to do some themed photo shoots for fun in the near future...

and finally...

futbol
last night, i lucked upon an extra ticket to the opening home game of the la galaxy soccer team (yes, david beckham's team). so, holland, nate, jd, and i made it a thursday evening roadtrip, which turned out to be loads of fun! we were in the car most of the afternoon and evening, since we had to all get together from various parts of the greater los angeles area, and then drive down south to the home depot center, where the galaxy plays. we saw a great game, too! the galaxy beat the san jose earthquakes 2-1. and, there were fireworks afterwards, too, as a special season opener treat!! for all your harry potter fans out there, when i got to stadium, i seriously felt like i was at the quidditch world cup! i loved it, and i really want to go to another game!

here's me playing around with the camera on the way

here's becks. and some pics of the stadium and scoreboard.

and here are the four of us diehard roadtrippers! so much fun and laughing, i love it!

after the game, we had to make an honorary stop at sonic. it's the closest one to us, so anytime sonic-lovers from la go near where we were, it's basically a requirement to at least get a lemonberry slush and some onion rings!!

ok, i lied, there is one more thing. i have been feeling very nostalgic for good ole mizzou. well, really just my friends in the mid-missouri area, lol. and, so i decided to plan a trip to missouri for mid-may. if you're reading this and you are one of those friends in that general area, then know that i really hope i get to see you when i make that trip! more details to follow, i'm sure.

congrats to those of you who made it this far. thanks for your diligence, readers :)

~lp

march

2008-03-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

hello everyone!

so, i have a few things to blog about, and i was waiting for some pictures to make the post more interested, however then i noticed that i only had one march post, and thought i was due!

so, what's been keeping me busy? march is a crazy month, we've almost had a house guest every single day, or at least one of the roomies had some friend or relative in town. last week, i got to hang out with one of my best friends, meredith and her mom and sister. what a treat! [waiting on pictures...check back later!] it was great to spend time with one of my surrogate families from cape! we had so much fun, did lots of shopping, and got to celebrate mer's birthday, which was great! next week, my mom, brother, and his friend are coming! i am SO excited!!! i can't wait to see them, and share my daily life stuff with them! and do touristy stuff, too, i'm sure... :)

on the acting front: i'm getting ready to head out to go to another agency open call. we'll see how that goes. my weekly acting classes are going great, i love my coach and the other guys in my class; it's a great environment, and it's good to stay loose. i did some background work two weeks ago for the feature film "bedtime stories." it stars adam sandler and keri russell (both of whom were standing about 10 feet from me during the shoot!!). the day i worked, it was filming on santa monica beach, and i was a bicyclist! so, i just borrowed my roommate's bike, and rode down to the set-it was great!! met some awesome people, and enjoyed getting paid for riding on the beach!

i also very generously was allowed to borrow my former neighbor and friend's camera while she was out of town. i wanted to shoot some more footage to compile a hosting reel. so, i enlisted my friend scott, and he and i went out on the town and filmed a lot of good stuff-hopefully the reel will have enough stuff soon, and i'll be able to post it!! i have lots of stuff going on in terms of sending out more mailings, researching agents, etc. so, i feel like it's finally getting back into the swing of things.

deal or no deal update:
for those of you that watch "deal," i thought i'd post a way for you all to see which episodes i'm in the audience...so far, i don't believe they've aired, but it should be soon, i think.
#1) the models wore red dresses with braided straps. the contestant was a pakistani woman, and tyra banks was her idol...
#2) the contestant was a 28ish year old guy from california, and they made a big to-do about his dead grandmother helping him psychically...the models wore aqua dresses...
#3) the models wore salmon colored dresses, and the contestant was an older woman from massachusetts

we got free passes for a screening of the movie "traitor" this past week. it was crazy because it doesn't come out until august 29th, so we saw a really raw, almost unedited version of the film. at the end, we had to fill out an extensive survey, that they use to judge audience reactions and then do a re-edit before the actual release date. the crazy innerworkings of hollywood...who'da thought? but, i will say the film (starring don cheadle!! and guy pearce!) was really good. i'd definitely recommend it!!

during this Easter season, i'll post more after Easter, because i have several festivities coming up to celebrate...our church celebrated passover with a Seder. last night, we had a real Seder service at one of the church member's houses, and it was so cool-i've never really celebrated passover, and it was just really organic, feeling like i was doing pretty close to what Jesus would have been doing at the same time years and years ago...if you've never had a passover seder, i highly suggest doing one! lots of food, stories, friends, and traditions...very cool.

other than that, i've been working quite a bit, hanging out, sewing a yoga mat bag with my buddy amanda, and yeah, trying to remain content in all my circumstances. what can i say, i feel very blessed, and quality of life continues to remain excellent :)

hopefully i'll have pictures and more stories to post soon...Happy Easter everyone!!