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...

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?

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! :)

MY WEBSITE IS LIVE!

check it out:

www.laurenparrent.com

:) yay! LP

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!!!

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!