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?

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!

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... :)