California Christmas

"Twas the Month Before Christmas"

"Twas the month before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there..."

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!..."

"He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!..."

"He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

CHRISTMAS TREE TIME!!!
So since the weather in Los Angeles does not tell you what season it is,
you must tell yourself by decorating for the holidays!
Yesterday I went to home depot and bought my very first Christmas Tree-
here's a look at my cute little tree!

And we are off!

Now its set up and ready to be decorated

Getting there...

All the lights are on!

Now Santa Claus can come to town!

Holidays Away From Home

Thanksgiving in California

So this Thanksgiving marks the first holiday that I've spent away from home (except 4th of July, but I don't think that really counts). I knew it would be a great day when I got on the interstate to drive to Santa Monica, and there were literally 2 cars on the interstate (see below). Normally traffic does not move on the 10 in the mornings, but on Thanksgiving it only took my 15 minutes to get to Santa Monica! Normally it takes me 45 minutes, at least.
While I missed my family at home, I ended up having a really great time in San Diego. I joined some family friends who live in Santa Monica, and we went down to San Diego to join their brother's family for dinner.

It just so happens that we are all from the South...

Unfortunately, I did not perform as well at Hearts as I did with the gun (I nailed the coke can my first try!), but I didn't lose so I guess that counts for something.

And what a feast! I loved meeting new friends and eating great food!


I love how colorful Thanksgiving food is :)

When I got back to LA, I went to my friends' house, where they had a fire going out back and were making S'mores. It was a day full of great food and good friends, and I am extremely thankful for all of the friends I have made here.

As far as holidays away from home go, it was pretty great!

Its Getting Cold Outside... Kind Of

A lot has happened in the month since I gave you and update-

I did flowers for a wedding, I started a new job, I became a Young Life leader, went to Young Life camp, and spent my first holiday away from home.

My friends Desiree and Jeremy got married on October 29, and I did their flowers! She is the Hollywood Young Life area director, and when I told her I would love to help, I was so excited that what she asked me to do was flowers! Anyone who knows me well can attest to my love of arranging flowers :)

In LA there is an area of downtown called the Flower District, and it is just as amazing as it sounds. I was like a kid at Christmas when I got to go buy all the flowers. So many to choose from! Des wanted a colorful wildflower look, so here are a few 'before' pictures...
Whites
Yellows and Oranges
Purple and Blue
Greenery
And Pinks!

Here are some 'after' shots. A couple of them are just while I was making them, but you can get a little better of a look in the last one with Des and Jeremy!



And then there was Halloween...
I went to the West Hollywood Halloween parade, because everyone said it was a "must see." And it sure was- mostly it was overwhelming and cool, but there are just some things you can't un-see. Like the flasher that was standing on the sidewalk in a cape... Yes, I mean a real flasher- you know, the illegal kind. Wow- I guess people are getting bolder and bolder with their costume choices these days.

Here are my friends Audrey and Chrissy dressed as the ballerinas from Black Swan

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I've also gone to a couple concerts and gotten to know some of the music venues around town. As you already know, I went to Keith Urban at the Staples Center. I also went to see some of my hometown favorites- Steve Moakler and Andrew Ripp- at Hotel Cafe. Most recently I went to see Parachute and Kate Voegele at the El Rey, which is right around the corner from my apartment.


I am pretty stoked about Mat Kearney coming to the Music Box in February. Lady A is making their stop in LA in March, and I am hoping to somehow get tickets to that show as well. Maybe my friends at Warner Bros. have connections to tickets...
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Now, for some BIG NEWS. Well, kind of big news, but noteworthy nonetheless. As you know, I am working at Warner Bros. Records in publicity. But about a month ago I started another job (in addition to WBR, so now I have 2) at Josephson Entertainment. They are a film and television production company based in Santa Monica. They produce the TV show Bones, along with films like Enchanted, Life As We Know It, and the Men In Black movies. I really love it so far. I read scripts and books for development, and I write script coverage. It is really cool to read something with the expectation that the product is visual, not written. It is a completely different way of reading something because with books, you must show something, whereas with scripts you can just tell it because so much of it is up to the actors/costuming/set/editors/etc. It has been a great learning experience so far, and I am really loving it.
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My Tennessee relatives will find this strange, as I did. The following picture was taken in a CVS Pharmacy. Can you believe that they sell liquor at a drug store? It took me by surprise the first time I saw it.
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Okay, I have to share with you the most bizarre and hilarious task I have been assigned at work (WBR) thus far. We had three artists on the Breaking Dawn Soundtrack, and so I was given a list of the top 30 Twilight fan sites, and I had to get their contact information for my boss. If anyone had looked at my search history that day, I would have seemed like quite the Twilight stalker. Most memorable moments: 'lionandlamblove.com', 'hisgoldeneyes.com', 'edwardsmeadow.com', and the list goes on.

But it gets worse. I was driving to USC later that week to hang out with a friend, and I had to drive by LA Live to get to his apartment. Nokia Theater is in LA Live, and there were thousands of people camped out for 5 days to go to the Breaking Dawn Premiere. 5 days! That is nuts! And the next weekend when we went to young life camp, I found out that one of my young life girls was one of them :) She said that she doesn't like the franchise, but she went for the experience. She also went for 'her husband' Kellan Lutz.
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One of my favorite things to do is go to new Young Life properties, and I got to check out a new one last weekend! I went to Oakbridge, which is in the mountains outside San Diego, and it was beautiful. It was a fun-filled weekend, complete with skit characters, good food, messy games, scavenger hunts, and awesome Jesus-time. Hollywood YL represented well with about 40 kids, and we went to camp with the rest of the Los Angeles region (Chino, LAX, South Central, Pasadena, Burbank, Malibu, South Bay, West Valley, and a few others that I forgot). I loved getting to know all the girls, and it was nice to get away for the weekend.
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Today I discovered the Hollywood Reservoir. It is the only place in LA that I have been so far where I was alone. It was kind of nice to sit on top of the hill, overlooking the Hollywood sign and the Reservoir, completely alone. I have felt alone in LA, but I have always felt alone amongst thousands of people. This was the first time that I was by myself, completely alone, but I didn't feel alone at all. It was so peaceful.