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!!

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!

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! :)

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!!

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.

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!!!

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...