A New Year Means . .

more blogging. I've left Los Angeles and have been back living amidst the real world for several months now. Obviously, no one knows this because I haven't blogged since April. EPIC FAIL. I just noticed that my last post took place on April 1st. Among the first lines, I promised to blog more often. Now let's take that little line as an April Fools Day joke. Happy April Fools Day!! Its just taken me a few months to let everyone in on my little secret.

You may notice that I have revamped the blog. I figured with the end of my time in Los Angeles, the time came to redo not only the look of my blog, but also the entire premise of what I was going to write about. Los Angeles was both good and bad to me. I learned a lot about my myself, my potential career, and about the entertainment industry. Most importantly, I learned that I really do love the world of public relations and am extremely pumped to get my career started.

I took the summer of from interning for a much deserved break. I worked full-time at BU Fitrec (shout out to the Fitty and buddies), had loads of fun around Boston with good friends and came to realize that I couldn't wait to get back into the world of PR. Whowouldthunkit? I've felt inspired since coming back to school and Boston. Since classes began, I've come to appreciate the opportunities that we are given to learn and discover all that is going on in the up and coming world. As young students in 2010, we are on the verge of new and exciting premises that will forever change the fields in which we want to work. Cheesy, I know. But it is very true.

I just want to finish by saying that I can't wait to publish all of my thoughts about things happening in my life and in the crazy, ever changing world of public relations and marketing. I hope everyone is prepared because I promise to be back soon!

"You Got Ya Hand On Ya Fro-Yo, Fro-Yo on Ya Mind"

Naturally I should be doing coverage on a somewhat good novel right now- it would actually make for a fantastic beach read- but, I've decided to spend some quality time with my dear old neglected blog. I didn't realize how neglected this has been until I logged onto my account and my last post was on February 17. It's been a long time.

March was one insane month. My apartment was a revolving door of people. All of the roommates had guests along with all the peeps that came to visit me. Hence, I was slightly distracted from spending some one on one time with Karissa Marie Explains It All. Anyways, two of my best friends from home, good ol' Dublin, OH, made an appearance in La La Land. What I love about having people come visit so late in my semester is that it gives a me a solid excuse to do all those touristy things in SoCal and spend a ridiculous amount of money. Kati and Lauren spent a week with me living the dream (no work, no commitments, and days full of sunshine) and I wish they never had to get back to gloomy O-H-I-O. That was for the buckeye fans out there.

I introduced them to the California curses. Otherwise known as cupcakes and frozen yogurt. Now these two things aren't the biggest trend on the east coast and the mid west, so ever since arriving to sunny Cali I've come to LOVE a cup of fro-yo from Yogurtland and a good quality sugar high resulting from a trip to Crumbs or Sprinkles (better known to my roommates and I as Crummies and Sprinks). Now, someone riddle me this. California is the land of the insanely rich, tan, skinny, and beautiful- how do these people maintain their waistline when they stuff their faces with giant Oreo cupcakes, chocolate dipped cookies, and tubs of fro-yo topped with every type of fruit, candy, nut, and cereal concoction known to man? The only answer I can think of is that they spend hours hiking Runyon Canyon and Griffith Park. Which I have also done much to the horror of my granny knees.

One of my favorite things about my friends being here is that we all happen to be major foodies. So while we tried to stick to some sort of budget eating and making food at the apt, this failed when we referred to a spreadsheet that held all the restaurant names that needed to be visited. Granted, since my bffs made this list, the visits were mainly to devour the most delish dish off the dessert menu. Two of my favorite places: Fraiche and Luna Park. Both were highlighted on the Food Network show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" and held true to their word.

At Fraiche, we were the luckiest people in the world. We arrived just before the lunch service ended and announced that we were there for dessert. The maitre d was one of the nicest men I have ever come in contact with. (Note: I might be biased because he gave us one of their other desserts for free.) The subject of our afternoon: The Chocolate Hazelnut Purse. If there was some sort of chocolate and hazelnut heaven, I reached it that day. The three of us might just be Nutella's biggest supporters, so place a pastry filled with warm, molten "nutella" in front of us with a side of chocolate glace and you've got fans for life. Torta Della Nonna- the pleasant surprise- was also utterly amazing. It wasn't too sweet and the side of caramel ice cream was absolutely delicious. It was composed of a marscapone cheese in the middle of a pine nut shortbread with fuji apples. Their latte's were also amazing....I could use one right now.

Luna Park is located right next to my apartment complex and their lunch menu is the perfect size with something that promises to appease you, no matter what mood you're in. I ordered the Turkey Burger with a side salad and a delicious lemon aioli. The burger was not dry at all and was topped with a delicious Gruyere cheese. Kati and Lauren both ordered the Cheezlit and Tomato soup. Essentially a humongous grilled cheese with a generous blend of cheeses. The tomato soup was also quite good. But the piece de resistance of this meal was the make your own s'mores we had for dessert. Luna Park makes their own graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate sauce. They bring everything out for you and you build your own dessert. BEST s'mores of my life!

When I finally leave L.A., I am going to be quite sad to leave all of these amazing places behind. The May 1st date is coming up way way to fast.

Drop, Duck, Cover. . .

Don’t worry, if there’s ever an earthquake in southern California I am officially prepared. After seven hours of orientation yesterday with at least 2.5 of that time spent on being prepared in an emergency situation. In case your wondering, in the event of an earthquake 1) Don’t go running outdoors 2)DONT stand in a door jam- the door will shut on you and more than likely smash your fingers (this is news to me cause I was always told that standing in one is a safe place to be. I guess I’ve been lied to for the past 20 years) 3)Back away from any windows and things that may or not fall on you. . .blah, blah, blah.
I can tell you right now that if a severe earthquake ever hits Los Angeles all of this knowledge won’t matter. I’m the first one to admit that in the event of an emergency, I will freak out, have a panic attack, and more than likely break out into hysterics. Forget about thinking straight and using common sense. Though BU has prepared us with the staples, including a giant jar of peanut butter (not to be used for making PB&Js we’ve been told), several cans of tuna and spam, and two giant bottles of water. My question is, what in the hell are we supposed to mix the tuna with? And I don’t think in any type of situation will I ever even consider opening a can of spam, let alone placing a bite of that spiced canned pork substance anywhere near my face. Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love peanut butter. . .but how’s a girl gonna survive off of that? Hopefully, I will never need to find out.
Best part about the entire orientation is when we were taught about directions including which way north, east, south and west are. Now I actually considered this to be slightly helpful because despite having a father and mother who both have a great sense of direction, I apparently lack one (as learned on the first night in LA). One thinks they have it all figured out. Downtown LA is east of PL. Beverly Hills, Century City, and Santa Monica are all west of PL. While most of the studios and the valley are north through the mountains. But then you start driving the streets of West Hollywood and get all confused, that is after you finally find your way out of PL. Thank the lord for my new BFF, Lulu. Lulu is my somewhat dependable Garmin GPS system. Some what dependable meaning that on my way to 9000 Sunset Blvd this morning, Lulu decided to be a bit of a whore and not find the correct address which led to me to utilizing the map app on my blackberry.
Driving in LA is nothing like driving in Boston. Try making a left turn onto a street, it will take about 20 minutes to do it. I guess Los Angeles doesn’t believe in left turning lanes and green turning arrows. Traffic is crazy, but everyone knows that. It’s led the girl who absolutely hates using her horn (me) to become well acquainted with the lovely sound of a blaring, ugly tone. For part of the orientation we were taught about driving. I felt like I was 16 again, sitting in the smelly, boring Top Driver classroom watching outdated movies about drunk driving. Apparently it’s not common sense that when one is switching lanes, they should turn their head and look into their blind spot.
So after 7 hours of learning about earthquakes and common sense, I finally felt like I was ready to take on the roads and weather of LA.
Speaking of earthquakes, everyone should take a moment and pray for those affected by the one in Haiti.