Brass Monkey That Funky Monkey

Right now I am on my way back home after 2 and half months of the best summer I have and probably will ever have. I am so sad to leave and will miss everyone so much. To end my time, we went out in the classiest of fashion (would you expect anything less), we hit up the Brass Monkey for some good ole karaoke! I began the day with a stop at Rodeo Dr. for like half an hour because there isnt much to do unless you have a bit of money obviously. Then I met up with John and Kane at the American Vintage store on Melrose, loved Melrose so cute, anyways we spent a couple hours in there searching for a ridiculous ensemble for the later performances. If I had more time and money I would have loved to do a little "sweetest thing" montage because all the clothes there were AWESOME! We recruited a few gay men to help John assemble the right outfit, I got that on video, Kane just sat there instigating the ordeal "oh what about his accessories? or glasses maybe a belt?...After decided on his outfit I found a pretty great wind breakeresque jacket which belonged to Dino apparently who worked for Marks Charter Buses. Paired with a set of square white rimmed glasses and I was ready to rock out! Arriving at the Brass Monkey at 6 mind you, we were the first to arrive out of our group then around 10-15 came later. John looking like a dapper Urcle got up first and sang "Black" by Pearl Jam. He has a great voice and just really put his performance on the line, it was so great watching him. Kane put in a request for Pantera's "walk" which i said i would accompany him (aHH why IDK?) Of course everyong was there by the tiem I got up to sing and I think we rocked it! Luckily my Pantera knowledge is large so I knew all the words and could really belt it out while I wasnt laughing of course. Matt arrived, the Karaoke King himself, I was so excited to see him perform because there was a lot of talk going around that he really hams it up. He began the night with 867 5309, and instantly became a crowd favorite. Oh we cant forget about LIZ! it was her 31st birthday, she reached her mid -30s (according to her drunken announcement before the attempt of ACDC back in black, I think she hit about 4 words - not correctly but just actual words that one could understand, what a great time!! She loved our Pantera. Veronica and Arun were lame and didnt sing though Veronica put on the spectacle of dancing (especially with John-which to some, Arun, maybe considered a bit "vulgar" <-- we will get to that in a minute) . It was great because we didnt care what anyone else thought and just let loose and started dancing and singing along to everyones songs. Geeta went up and coulde tell she was about to faint with butterflys before she attempted "Lets Get It On", since thats another one I know, I swallowed my pride and left my dignity aside and joined her for our oh-so-sexy version of the great Marvin Gaye classic. It was a lot of fun though very liberating. I apologize to everyone that had to put up with my singing though. Matt made another performance with "Word Up" and NAILED IT. (while wearing Johns white rimmed rayban type galsses) Adorable. But right before him John made is second debut and no one and i mean no one was prepared for what we endured. It started out kinda talking about baking and sugar and such, I was trying to figure out what it was then Kane offered me a front row seat saying this songs for you kid, oh no! So I sat there awaiting the chorus, then it came..."suck on my salty chocolate balls.." apparently I missed that Southpark episode and was completely caught off guard while he is up there in his Gay Urcle outfit parading around belting "suck on my chocolate salty balls...etc (you really should look up the lyrics to engage yourself even more). I think the best was turning and looking at Arun's face during his performance, it was PRICELESS! He had almost a disgusted shocked look as he couldnt look away in disbelief that he was actually friends with this guy who picked this song to sing in front of all of these people. BOLD MOVE John, You definitely have chocolate salty balls to pulll that one off. Everyone was cracking up and just encouraged it, afterward Arun told John "man that was really vulgar" haha So Arun! John finished up his trifecta karaoke debut with A Bjork song and then had to leave because he had a early call in the morning. Before he left the boys (Arun John Matt and Kane) presented me with a gift 2 books one of Now and Then LA and a Yankee Stadium book...I loved it! That was so sweet of them and they each wrote a message to me in it, I love them all so much and am so happy I got to get to know them and hang out with them this summer. I will be keeping in touch with all of them for sure. We continued dancing and taking photos embracing my last night in LA. Right before the night ended Josie and Carina came and joined for a little, so glad I got to see them they are so much fun. I also met 3 boys on the USC tennis team one foreign who I was sure to talk up and dance with and snap a photo with! Very cute! Estonia I believe he said he was from. All in all the night was a perfect end to a perfect summer. I have had so much fun and met so many cool interesting kind people with the biggest hearts . I will be back as soon as I can just knowing that I have great friends out there that make me feel like I am home and have known them for years. What a great experience this has been, and to think I was a little unsure of how it would go 10 weeks ago. Well we are descending into Albaquerque and then I will write up another blog about the last week of my summer. Much Love <3>

Party Bus

Ok so there is now way I can actually explain the party bus, so I will do the best I can and maybe upload some photos to get an idea. As a last big hoorah Arun and Veronica rented a party bus, no not a charter or limo type bus, but when you think of party, this bus had it all. We started the night at Yxta mexican cocina, awaiting about 30 people to join us for our journey. We had planned to hit up a few actual bars on the pub crawl/bus event, little did we know what was actually in store for us.

Everyone had arrived and with few delicious margaritas already in them we hopped on board the colorfully bright interior of the party bus. First stop griffith observatory..err ok bathroom break at Jaslene's where she grabbed some music mix and there was a ryan goseling sighting, ok now onto Griffith. The cooler was filled and mixed drinks were making their ways to the front of the bus. Everyone (who began the night sitting calmly and chatting in the couches) was now standing and beginning to get their groove on to the new tunes. The sun began to set as we climbed the mountain to Griffith and BUZZ ON! Michelle and I got out and explored a bit while we were still functioning and took soem awesome pictures with a Einstein statue. We made our way back to the bus which had become the popular picture site to tourists passing. Next stop...Cheetahs? ooorrr not. That was really our only stop stop, while making our way to the Arc Light for another pee break. Things were getting silly on the bus, music was blaring, lap dances, bustin moves, drinks pouring, cameras flashing...FORETY FLY!! (yes the fogerty fly part deux made its appearance thanks to Lauren) Honestly we could have been in a parking lot jsut sitting there and no one would have cared or for that matter even known. Peoples faces as we partied through hollywood blvd were pricless and Arun at one point handed out beers to some kids following our bus. I know everyone must have been jealous as we were screaming to them from out of our colorful graffiti hoppin bus. We ended up the night Cirque Berzerck after party, dancing the night away with the live band and circus "freaks". Funny how our crew were the only ones front row and dancing. We debo'd some popcorn and peaced out while calling it a night an probably a week...at least until karaoke on Friday (my last night). Our pub crawl was so much fun and everyone got to see me "enjoy" the night for the first time drinking wise which they definitely all enjoyed. I had a great time and cant thank Arun and Veronica enough for organizing that. Best night by far!! I am going to miss everyone so much!

Peace&Love&PartyBus

Last Day @ Chiat

Today is my last day at TBWA/Chiat/Day! ahhh its sad, I dont want to say bye to this place and all the people. Everyone here, especially my team has been super nice and helpful. Its been such a fun experience. I have learned so much and now have a better understanding of how things work. I guess we will see where my path takes me, because as of right now I really couldnt say. Yesterday the gang took me out to lunch, we went to The Counter, a build your own burger place. It was so delicious, I got chicken ha but still it was awesome!! They gave me a thank you card and a gift card. :( I am going to miss them a lot. What will i do at my next job when I dont have Peditto belting out Lady GaGa across the aisle. I saw the rough cut of the commercial though, I think it is coming together fabulously, the pudding girl is adorable. Cant wait to actually see it air. Also another big day for the agency yesterday, the new CMO of Pepsi came in and they had presentations ALL day. It was weird to kind of see everyone dressed up Pepsi and Gatorade were both nicely dressed. We all had to clean our areas up and make everything in the agency all spick n span for our special guest, everyone in the office also got an email from Lee Clow himself, saying we better clean up. It seems like they were pretty nervous about it but I think that it went well, so I have heard. Last time eating at Chaya Playa too, making my own delicious salad!! :( aw man, this is sad. I will be sure to keep in touch with everyone here and ya never know where I may end up. perhaps we will all cross paths again. Though my internship has ended, I still have a little more than a week left in LA and it will be nothing short of crazy awesomeness. We still have the pub crawl on Saturday and I have some "shopping" (window looking) to do, also the Pier, in N out burger (we are hitting up after work today). I was able to check another thing off my list last night when John called and invited us to the Dodger game with his "incredibly handsome" friend Sam. They were a riot and so much fun. The seats were amazing, about 15 rows up from the Dodger dug out. They lost, which I dont really mind. It was great seeing Torre though, I miss him and his sensible coaching ways. I was treated to an 8th inning Manny Ramirez sighting when they pinch hit for him in hopes to regain the lead, but he failed, I cant root for Manny, EVER! but it was cool to see him in person, crazy guy! The night before that, Veronica and I hit up Thai Town for some good ol spicy Thai food. I had green curry chicken eggplant and bamboo shoots, it was like a soup with coconut milk and just the right amount of spice. We went all out and ordered Thai Iced Tear which is iced tea and cream but very delicious, especially with the spice, but also dessert - coconut ice cream with jack fruit jello stuff peanuts and red bean which was surprisingly  great. red bean and ice cream - who would have thought that combo...good job asian cuisine! I guess I will check in later to let you know how my in 'n' out experience goes...Pe@cE

Only 2 weeks left!

So I have entered into my last 2 weeks in LA and LAST week at Chiat! :( A few weeks ago I was ready to come home but now I don't want to leave. I am definitely going to miss this place and all the people, they are such nice people and have been so helpful. Thursday last week I worked some more on the taste + nutrition deck before we headed out to Pinkberry in honor of Meghan's birthday. That was a nice outing. This weekend was a lot of fun! thursdya was book club at the loft, so much food and drinks for a small crowd but a nice evening. Friday I went to third street promenade in Santa Monica and shopped and looked around with Nicole. I love Santa Monica, its so cute and a lovely little beachy town. I still need to hit up the pier but I want to do that at night. Later on John Veronica and I went to the Arc Light to see 500 Days of Summer. LOVED IT! What a FABULOUS movie, so well written and produced, I thought. The soundtrack is also just great, I borrowed the cd from Nicole and have been listening to it every day. Joseph Gordon-Levitt did a brilliant job as Tom capturing your love and sympathy for him. I felt you could really relate to the entire situation because it wasn't the every day hollywood love story, more realistic. Zooey was adorable as well. Saturday Nicole and I went to Abalone Cove to check out the tide pools and sea creatures and beach. That was quite the experience, we had to try and get over to the other tide pools but, it would have been impossible to get back with the tide rising. All in all it was a great little trip. Later that night I met up with Michelle K, YES SHES BEEN IN LA THE WHOLE TIME!! We went out downtown, wanted to hit up the Standard but there was a DC Shoes event and was sold out, so we went to the Library and later 7 Grand. Nicole and David met up with us too. I am so happy Michelle and I were able to go out and hopefully have 2 more weeks of fun. Sunday was my asian filled day! Woke up and met Veronicas friends Guy and his sister for Dim Sum, an authentic chinese brunch. It was over in Chinatown and probably one of the more unique cuisine experiences I have ever had. You are seated in this large dinning room ballroom and waitresses come by with carts of food, fried shrimp chicken pork rice seaweed biscuit things boba mocha drinks, green tea, custardy desserts, you really have no idea what you are eating but try and stay clear of the chicken feet, yeaaah barf! but everything was so delicious and not too much I loved it! Later that evening my asian cuisine experience continued down in Culver City at K-Zo sushi bar. My first actual sushi experience! Had crispy tuna rolls, salmon terpura roll, yellow tail (my favorite), salmon, tuna, eel, and monkfish liver, and all of it wasnt that bad. I really enjoyed it all, minus the prices but I will definitely do it  again. Oh and the GREEN TEA! I understand why everyone loves original chinese green tea. Its delicious, not like the store bought crap. We headed to Guy and Cindi's place after for a little dessert and conversation. It was a lovely weekend. Gomez is tonight @ the Willtern! :) So excited. 

Peace.

Hillshire Farm Shoot

So today I got to go to the Hillshire Farm commercial shoot. It was in Santa Monica, pretty close to the office so Meghan invited Kristin and I to come by for lunch and watch the remainder of shooting. It was awesome being on set and seeing how everyone interacts together, with the director and the kids and the client. Really cool to see it all come together. There was even a pony! So adorable, I cant wait to see the final product after all the edits. Also everyone raves about craft services food during shoots and they are so right! It was delicious and there is so much food that you just stuff yourself until you basically are unhappy. They wait on you hand and foot, need this? more that? Starbucks run? grab something? trash? Its a little weird to have someone that attentive but all in all really cool!. Im so lucky I got to go because that is what I really am interested in, the whole production process and getting to witness it first hand was a great learning experience. Other than that, today MAL had Regina Spector come perform on the patio, Im sad I missed it but definitely not over being at the shoot. I heard it was good and she sung about 6 songs. I love her style, no freebies like with Mayer Hawthorne but they did have a an ice cream bar at the beginning. So all in all today was an excellent day. Tomorrow I get to shadow Justin and Katie, which I am pretty stoked about, even if they say there isn't much going on, I know I will get a lot out of it picking their brains and asking questions and what not.

Until next time-

Tweens/Spamalot/Getty/Rebelution

ooh man its been a week so lets see whats been going on...well this week at work was slow through Tuesday then I started doing some tween research and looking up ads and such...still..yeah they are a hard market because no one targets them. So i was busy with that Wednesday and Thursday and next week ill be finishing up with that project...an then I have one more week after that!! CRAZY! time has just flown by. This week we had print production come in and talk at our intern breakfast. It was a cool process and sounded like something I would enjoy doing but i don't know if I could only do that as a career. as far as other events its been quite the productive end of week. I made chicken parm and garlic bread this week, it was delicious! Friday we went to Spamalot. J Peterman played King Arthur. very funny, I really enjoyed it. Saturday was a full day - got the car checked, went to apartment 3 clothing sale then goodwill. I got a jacket and shirt for $9...hell yeah! some of the clothing was so awesome! (in every awesomely bad way possible) you kind of wonder what prompted these people to say..."hmm maybe i should give this away, I probably wont wear it (again)." After that we headed to the Getty Center, Cut Chemist was performing (DJ). I got to check out some of the amazing art work in the galleries. Monet, Renoir among many other famous paintings, it was unreal actually getting to see them up close. So beautiful. This one artist, Jan Van Huysum, there were no brushstrokes and the art was so incredibly detailed it was immaculate! We went to a roof top party downtown after the Getty, it was a pretty cool space with a very close view of downtown LA. Went home and crashed. Got up sunday hit up Trader Joes, and a cute little breakfast joint, The Coffee Table. I headed out to Nicoles so we could trek down to Hermosa for Rebelutions free show by the pier. What a cute area Hermosa is...we walked around the town shopping for a bit before we got back in the car to find longer parking before the show...which we did like 20 minutes later way out in BFE. Luckily the walk was on the bike path and we had the opportunity to pass all the unbelievably amazing houses built right on the side of the beach. These places were so sick! I was filled with envy each step we took, they were each so unique and personalized. I should have taken pictures of them all but I'm sure you can google them or something. Ugh if only someday...20min later we arrived by the pier as kids began o get their spots for the concert. Hungry, we grabbed a bite at Sylvios Brazilian BBQ. Best decision ever because my BBQ chicken sandwich was to die for and even the side salad was one of the best side salads Ive ever eaten. SO satisfying. We met up with Sarah Vrinda and Sarahs coworker. We managed to get 2nd row standing in front of the stage surrounded by high school kids who were too cool for school sneaking in their bud and bottles of liquor...rockkiinn...well the show began and i have never seen rebelution before and I was loving it, having done shows with slightly before, I knew I would enjoy it but they were awesome so now they have a new fan. =) After fighting our way out of the crowd a few songs before finishing, we looked out on the beach and realized exactly how jam-packed it was. holy cow! you could see nothing but hoards of people gathered around picnicking and enjoying the music. Good time for sure. I am however a little bummed, scratch that VERY bummed, I missed the US open of Surfing...Slater, Irons, Wilson (yes the beautiful Aussie Julian Wilson) were all there and the waves were topping out at 20 feet this weekend. That doesnt happen but every couple year, I think I read somewhere that it hasnt been that sick in a decade. :( I would have loved to have seen that, even if thousands of people were there and it was at least an hour away...I should have not listened and just gone because once we parked and arrived I know I would have had a great time. Oh well it happens every year so maybe some other time! 

Peace, Love, Surfing BRAH!

San Simeon/Big Sur

This past weekend Veronica, Lauren, Nora and myself all packed the car up and tripped up the coast to San Simeon for a nice weekend filled with tours, food, wine, and beautiful views. We rose early Saturday hopped in the car to pick Lauren and Nora up and begin our 4 hour journey along the 101. It was a great site for me, seeing the mountains and vineyards and oceans all in one trip, definitely puts the 4hour Tallahassee drive to shame. About 3 hours into our trip we stopped off in Solvang, an authentic Danish town. We grabbed a quick coffee and danish at a little coffee and danish shop, go figure. Delicious! The town was adorable with windmills and Danish designs on all the structures, there was even a Christmas shop!! I wanted to go in but I didn't have time, or want to drag everyone else in there with me. We hopped back in the car and unknowingly followed Glenda's (GPS) horrible trip advice. But I enjoyed it, getting to see more of the state and inland views of farms and mountains. We drove though Buttonwood Vineyard, and Quicksilver Miniature Horse Farm!! Awesome. About an hour or so later with our fill of Brit Indie Rock/Pop, we arrived at The Morgan Hotel in San Simeon. Such a cute little hotel almost right on the coast, about a 5 min drive from Hearst Castle, our later destination. After settling in we headed for our 3 o'clock tour at Hearst. Snapping plenty of videos and photos along the way up the gigantic castle, we learned all about William Hearst and his empire he built up in the mountains. This castle was huge and so european, with so much artwork and inspirations from all over the world, I was in awe just walking around. The pools were both sparkling surrounded by stark white marble sculptures. He even had zebras that you could catch a glimse of among the grazing cattle while driving on the freeway. The parties that Hearst had sounded amazing, that time period was just unreal! The footage they showed us made me kind of wish I had a chance to experience that sort of life style. After the tour we headed up the coast about 2 hours more along winding coastal roads Highway One, to Big Sur for dinner at Nepenthe Restaurant. Nora got a little dizzy from all the turn, it reminded me a bit of Italy's highways and coast, absolutely stunning. Once our destination was met, we ordered some drinks and appetizers and ate them awaiting our table while overlooking the Pacific Ocean and high rise mountains as the sun set. Yeah...pretty perfect. One of the appetizers was a grilled fennel and artichoke bruschetta on grilled sourdough with lemon aioli and baslamic. I need to learn to make that because it was sooo good and I know my dad would love that. That food was great, the meals however were a little pricy for what you got, not impressed but the atmosphere was spot on! If only it didn't take so long to get there. The way back to San Simeon felt shorter. The next morning we woke and got breakfast at the hotel and headed back home with a few stops along the way. Our first stop was The Madonna Inn. I didn't know what to expect, I automatically think Madonna the singer so ya know I wasn't sure of this place or how cool it could actually be. Well to my surprise, we walked in and BAM! You are surrounded and blindsided with as much pink as ones eyes could take in. The dinning room was so gaudy and awesome with gold figurines and giant pink flowers with pink booths for seating. Though we weren't able to see them, all the rooms at the Inn are themed from Jungle to Captains Room and many more. What an experience! After lunch there, we headed for a winery for some tastings, we first stopped at Santa Barbara Winery, the oldest winery in Santa Barbara but we weren't impressed and were hoping for more of a vineyard like experience. We headed to Summerland winery, yes THE Summerland where the TV show took place. That didnt register in my mind till I realized that Summerland was an actual town and not just a beachy name. (Thats also where  I first came to adore the lovely Mr. Efron as he had a recurring role on the show...none of this HSM junk!)  We tasted probably 8 or 10 wines, I enjoyed almost all of them, especially the dessert wine. Mmmm so tasty and sweet. I got a bottle of Merlot for my mother knowing her love of wine! Though it wasn't the true wine tasting experience they were all hoping for, I had a great time (like I have been). Our trip concluded around 8pm and I loaded my 300 +videos photos on my computer and pretty much crashed! Such a great weekend! 

/Peace/Love/