TREAT YO-SELF Tuesday: Jan. 31

This week's TREAT YO-SELF is brought to you via being truly stressed out at work and wondering if I should switch careers. It's also brought to you by the per diem (which has a similar feeling to Monopoly money even though it's mos def NOT) I was given while filming up in the mountains yet again.

I realize that by openly posting this picture that some of you may wonder if I'm a borderline alcoholic....and truth be told, I wondered it when I bought everything knowing that it would likely be gone within 2 days. I also see the need to switch careers in this photo. More on that later (and by later I mean through out the year).

To counter balance my alcohol binge in your minds I will also openly admit to paying for 2 episodes of "It's a Brad, Brad World". Seriously, anything Bravo puts on the air I join the cult of and I have no clue how they trick me every time.

Did I need to buy all that booze and binge on some Brad Goreski? Most definitely not. Did I write a letter of apologize to my liver after the weekend? Painfully yes. 

How did y'all TREAT YO-SELF this week?

Keeping Up With Resolutions: January 2012

Alright, so the month is now coming to an end. Have I kept up with my Resolutions? 

Read a book every month:

Check! And I loved the book. But how can you go wrong with Jeffrey Eugenides? Seriously. It's impossible. The man is my personal Mick Jagger of the literary world. I pity the book that follows this one up.

Also, this is the book that was STOLEN from me when I blacked out on an airplane earlier this month. I went out and bought a new copy the next day. THAT'S how hardcore I loved this book!

Learn a new art form/technique:

Yeah....didn't even attempt to do anything with this one....unless you count doodling during work.

If I must eat pizza, only one a month:

Ok, I realized after the fact that I didn't think if I meant a whole pizza or just a slice. After this month, I decided a WHOLE pizza. Gotta be realistic, y'all! 

I did keep up with this resolution for the most part. I ate a personal pizza at the airport during my layover  after blacking out on a plane. I figured TREAT YO-SELF! 

Also, I ate 2 slices of pizza at work....I figure that a personal pizza and 2 normal slices basically equals one medium pizza. Right? 

More leafy greens:

I've done fairly well with this one. I'm a bit surprised actually. I love green veggies but tend to hate eating salads mostly because being a vegetarian means that most people ONLY give you salad as a meal option. Check out this post....see all the leafy greens?

Cook/bake 2 new recipes each month:

Failed. I only cooked garlic mash potatoes for the first time this month. I have high hopes for next month because I joined Pinterest and have become addicted to hunting down recipes.

                                                          Keep in better contact with my Mother's friends:

This really only applies to one person who was also my grandmother's best friend. So....I'm basically keeping in contact with a 89 year old woman.

I sent her a Christmas card but haven't sent anything since. I plan on sending her a king cake once I get back to New Orleans so she can celebrate Mardi Gras in Pennsylvania though.

Travel to at least 2-3 new (to me) cities in the US by the end of the year:

I did return to California this month but I came here last year so I'm not counting it.....but I will be traveling to a new city next month. Stay tuned :)

All and all, I think I did a bang up job. I truly thought I'd fail at a lot more than just a new recipe slip up.....honestly I thought the pizza one would be the hardest. Yeah. I'm THAT addicted to pizza.

Were you able to keep up with your resolutions? 

It's only January and the injuries have already started. I didn't have my first injury in 2011 until March so clearly 2012 is "WINNING"!

I must say though, I'm really grateful it's not my foot like last time. While I can still work with a sprained wrist I know it will only get worse in the upcoming months because I do a lot of heavy lifting all day long (hence how it happened).

Oh well. Here's to praying it doesn't turn into a break!

On a happier note: I can't get enough of this song......more so, I can't get enough of the bearded man on the far right.

Happy Friday, y'all! What are you doing this weekend? I plan to ice, sleep, repeat!

Are We There Yet?

I totally feel like a ADD child at work because my mind keeps wondering away to knowing that when I return home it will be Mardi Gras time!

The season truly kicks off next Saturday for Krewe du Vieux in my opinion. I'm sad I shall miss it but I'm very thankful I'll be there for the main events!

Last night John and I spent a good deal of time talking about what our costumes will be this year. I really want to have a matching theme and not have to miss parades because I'm at home sewing my costume together last minute. I also know that I do NOT want any tinsel on my costume this year. That was a bitch of a "material" (if you can call it that) to work with last year.

Have any of you come to town for Mardi Gras? Better yet, are you coming this year???

Carry Me Home Tonight

Is it just me or does this song make you just want to dance in the most epically emotional sense with all your besties?

Note: This song should be playing when looking at the photos below

I may or may not be truly missing all of my friends from every walk of my life right now. Why can't they all live in the same city with me?!?!?

Where do some of you besties live? What recent songs make you long for dance parties with your besties?

Laugh It Out

This weekend was my first full weekend in Los Angeles since traveling back and forth to the city for work. The only thing I had on my budget list to do was to see as much live comedy as possible. When I mentioned this to someone at work they said, "Oh, so you're a comedy junkie?"....I like the sound of that. Yeah, I totally am. It's what I'm "into" right now. 2 years ago I was obsessed with traveling around and finding street artists works that I knew (and I still do this), now I have added seeing up-and-coming comedians. More so women comedians.

Of course I had to start my comedy adventure night right with Upright Citizen Bridgrade.

I went to a earlier show in the day where it was two improv groups "graduation" performance. The second group was mos def the shining star but both were pretty humorous. After the show ended we went to the bar right beside the theatre and hung out with the newly graduated group of comedians. Turns out the friend I went to the show with was friends with some of the performers.

In between shows my friend and I went to Saddle Ranch Chop House. 

Anyone remember the episode of "Sex and the City" where the girls go to L.A. and ride a mechanical bull? Yup. This is the place.

The biggest perk is roasting marshmallows and making s'mores while on Sunset Boulevard. To ridiculously bizarre to not laugh about.

Later in the evening we moved onto The Comedy Store.

The show had some pretty good comedians.....and some that truly bombed. I love the fact that I got to see a full 3+ hours worth of mixed comedians. Sarah Tiana, Chris D'Elia, and Bobby Lee were by far my favorites. In fact, I feel like I pulled a muscle in my neck because I was laughing so hard at Bobby Lee. Truly. I'm not even kidding. I'm icing my neck as I'm typing this post.

There are still a ton of comedy places I want to go to in town but I have a strong feeling I won't have time until I come back in June. Here is to starting the new budget list now!

Anyone else a comedy junkie? Who are some of you favorite new comedians?

I can't believe it's already Thursday! This week is slipping by so quickly.....which I kinda like because I'm totally looking forward to the weekend. I estimated currently with the fact that work has sucked up my whole life leaving me about 5-6 hours to relax before having to go right back to work. 

While I'm looking forward to this weekend I thought I'd share what I did on my last weekend in New Orleans this past weekend.

1) Sipping on some simple wine with John 2) spending time with the pets 3) Eating at Il Posto Cafe 4) Enjoy every moment of walking Jackson around my lovely neighborhood.

1) Malick has kept up with her New Years resolution to be more friendly this year! 2) Best fruit parfait at Cafe Freret 3) My go-to at Juan's Flying Burrito

1) Watching the Saints sadly lose in the French Quarter 2) snuggling up and watching movies with John while gorging on cheese 3) Dinner at 

Finally a feast of a dinner on my last Sunday night in town before flying back to L.A. I was a tad to nervous to each much of it but John did an amazing job!

Kahlo opted to join us for dinner too :)

Hope y'all are having an amazing week!!!

Alright, y'all!

I'm heading back to Cali! Hopefully I don't have any vomiting/passing out in the aisle of the plane like my recent experiences.

As soon as I land I'll go straight into celebrating a friend's 26th birthday. I met her at summer camp when we were 17....when did we get so old!?!?!

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend!

Update: I made it safely to L.A. and did NOT black out/vomit on the plane. Pretty proud of myself :)

The Calm Before The Storm

It's finally hit me that I leave to fly back to LA in less then 3 days. These 5 weeks have seemed to fly by. I filled them with working on 2 other film sets, visiting friends in other states, holiday celebrations, catching up with friends, and lots of lounging around.
Now that I only have a few days left I feel like I need to fill them with as much New Orleans love as possible. All my favorite restaurants, bars, and seeing friends. It's weird but it's almost like I'm treating it like it's my last days EVER in the city.
I also have a MILLION errands I need to run that I really don't want to but I know I need too. I won't have time to do them for at least a month if not longer. Must. FOCUS.
I'm fairly nervous about the upcoming months to be completely honest. I knew when I started the film back in November that I'd have a holiday break to look forward. Now, much like when I was in high school, all I have left to look forward to in a form of a break is the wrapping of the film (or end of the school year).
I am so grateful for the opportunity I have been given to work on this amazing film though! I just know that it will drain me both emotionally and physically until at least mid-June so it's pretty hard not to freak out. While most people think working on big budget movies are all fun and games they tend to be stressful and sleep deprived. We, the crew who work on sets, have to have some weird unexplainable masochistic gene in order to keep coming back for more film after film. Or maybe an addiction gene.....
I rarely talk about what I do for a living on my blog solely because I'm scared I may slip up and reveal something that would get me fired/never hired again/taken to court. I actually enjoy not talking about it because I like to keep my blog life very special and different from my work life. I feel most bloggers are like this too.
 I've been asked, via comments, what I do for a living and I'd prefer to leave it simply that I work in film. I work on films that make millions of dollars. Films that employ actors who make more than I could ever imagine making in my lifetime for just one movie. It's a very surreal world I work in and it's impossible to not pinch myself daily and think, "Is this real" but still, it's a job. A very hard job with work hours that average no less than 14 hours a day (normally more). A job that keeps me from seeing my friends from months on end. A job that you can work constantly for 2 years straight and then have problems finding work for 6 months. There are extreme positives and negatives.

This post has turned into a rant I wasn't expecting but have been meaning to write for some time.
I guess it mostly stems from the fact that I've been very happy posting on this little blog of mine, reading all your comments, and getting to know you through your blogs. I worry with these upcoming months that I will slack in the blogger-world department. It's my little creative outlet and I don't want work to get in the way. Perhaps this is my apology in advance if I start to slack in my posting. Perhaps....

Note: The image above is fairly old. I took it when I first came to New Orleans for a semester to work on a Post-Katrina photography project for school credit. It's also when I met John!

Sarasota Trip Pt. 1

My trip to Sarasota last week was not a overly crazy trip while visiting a college friend but rather chill and relaxing. I love the little life that my friend Chelsea has made for herself, her husband, and new baby girl. For only being 24 (2 years younger than me!) they seem to have their shit together more than me. 

Our Saturday was spent simply and perfectly. We went out for sushi and to the local farmer's market.

My favorite stand had to be the candle guy. Not sure if it was because he had some unique and amazing smelling candles or the fact that Chelsea and I watched Our Idiot Brother the night before. 

"Trust me man, I used to be a lot of candles!"

Baby Celeste sleeps best in her Ergo/baby wrap/I'm-not-a-Mom-yet-so-don't-know-what-they're-called thingy. We took a long walk on the beach before heading home to cook dinner. And by "we" I mean Chelsea's husband who is an amazing cook. 

It really was a magical day. Just like every time I visit her :)

Ever watch a wedding scene in a movie and wonder where all the flowers go that they use for set dressing?

They go to the girlfriends/wives of all the crew members.

And I love it :)

TREAT YO-SELF Tuesday: Jan. 10

This week's TREAT YO-SELF is brought to you by my astrological sign.

Yup, I'm totally blaming my birth date on the fact that I spoil myself with taking mini-trips all the time to visit my friends.

I booked a trip fairly spur of the moment to visit a friend who recently had a baby. I knew, even when I was looking at the ticket prices that this probably wasn't the best idea. While having 5 weeks off of work is fun it's not financially fun. But I am the first to say, I'm not good at self-decipline. More so when it comes to visiting my friends.

While visiting my friend I saw the book "The Secret Language of Birthdays" and looked up my sign. I found a section that fit me a tad to well:

"Spoiling themselves can become a way of life for those born in the Scorpio III period - particularly satisfying them are the pleasures of vacations and travel....."

Did I need to see my friend at this given point of temporary unemployment? No, not at all. Did I end up splurging on some cute baby cloth as soon as I booked my ticket: perhaps. Was holding little 2 1/2 month old Celeste in my arms amazing: yes.....or as the Visa Card commercials say: priceless

How did y'all TREAT YO-SELF this week?

You Win Some, You Lose Some

This weekend proved to be quite eventful. Not only did I get to see some friends (old and new) and a new baby but I also had two vastly different plane experience.

The Trip There:

Other than having to wake up at 4:45am to make my flight the trip to Sarasota was pretty pleasurable. I lucked out with not have to sit next to ANYONE. Forget paying for a business class upgrade, clearly the flying Gods kept me under their wings for this trip

The Trip Back:

This may rank as my all time most epic plane experience yet and I tend to have alot (see here, here and here).

Less than half way through my flight I started to feel somewhat light-headed. I figured it was because the dude I was sitting next to was wearing a cologne that smelled like it was a mix between Axe and something R. Kelly would make to seduce little girls. Very quickly I realized it was something more and I asked if I could squeeze past him and the man beside him to get to the restroom. I'd like to give a shout out to the man on the aisle seat because I totally stepped all over him frantically when I realized what was about to happen.

What was that?

I was going to black out if I didn't get to the bathroom ASAP and I knew it.

I stumbled to the bathroom and OF COURSE it was locked. I looked down to where the other bathroom was and saw that the stewardesses were passing out drinks thus making it impossible to get passed them. I knew time was wasting and staggered down to the closet stewardess and slurred, "I'm gonna black out".

I don't remember alot after that but I do know that I ended up at the front of the plane with a copious amount of wet paper towels all over me.

Quite the dramatic moment. I like to pretend that this happened instead:

To add icing on my nausea-invested flight someone stole my book while I was busy making a ass out of myself. Yes, a book. A book which has been an amazing read thus far but still, who steals 1) a book and 2) a book from a person who is blacking out and losing all sense of dignity while on a airplane?

Anyone else have crazy experiences like this on a plane?

Off to meet a new little one...

I'm off to Sarasota to visit my beautiful friend Chelsea who recently had a baby. It's the first time I'm meeting little Celeste and I'm so flippin' excited! 

Hope y'all have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend!

Ramble, Ramble, Ramble

Random Thoughts During my 5 week Hiatus:

-Why can't I stop watching "Felicity" on instant play....damn you Netflix!

-I need to read more

-My cats are so cute

-My cats are really annoying

-I should eat better

-Having a new bed makes me want to get out of it even less

-For 3 weeks my car was in the repair shop... I feel like I don't know how to drive anymore

-I need to get a new car

-Damn, another Will Arnett show is on instant play

-Must NOT watch instant play, must read more

-Am I going to suck at work after being off for 5 weeks?

-I miss college

-I am so bloated
-Is it bad I've worn this sweatshirt for 3 days in a row?

-Why does John only have off ONE week?

-Damn it, Felicity, why did you chop off your hair

-Focus....do something creative!

-Baking cookies counts? Right?

-How am I getting sick again?

-I can't wait to visit my friend in Florida

-Should I have gone home for Christmas....but it's so cold.

-Money sucks when you don't have it

-Whole Foods tomato soup: I love you

-Must. Do. Something. ANYTHING. Productive.

-WHY am I still watching "Felicity"? SHAMEFUL!

TREAT YO-SELF Tuesday: Jan. 3

This weeks TREAT YO-SELF is brought to you by a New Years Day hangover and not wanting to search the internet for a free alternitive to watching an amazing TV series I can't watch when it actually airs due to not having Showtime.

(run on sentence much?)

I love Diablo Cody.

I love Toni Collette.

I love shows where mental illness is basically a co-star.

This show fills so many TV show voids for me and somehow I forget it's around until a whole season passes and then I go on one epic binge day of watching it. Those days are normally reserved for 1) sick days or 2) hangover days. 

Did I really need to buy it on amazon: No. Will I even re-watch it now that I own it: It could happen. Am I regretting not searching out a free way to watching it instead of just glaring at the computer screen for 3.5 seconds and saying "F*ck It" and clicking buy: yes, very much so.

But whatever, I had a hangover to nurse and only the sass of Diablo Cody can cure it and I sure as hell wasn't rolling outta bed to go see "Young Adult". That meant moving and dealing with people. Also, I already saw it on opening day. Y'all should go see it NOW!

So there is my weekly (regrettable?) treat. 

Note: I just found out this show was cancelled. What's up with Showtime ONLY canceling the good shows!

New Years Day Feast

Growing up in Central Pennsylvania most families have the New Years Day tradition of eating bratwurst and sauerkraut. It's a tradition I have continue (minus the real meat factor) even after moving down south where everyone eats black eyed peas and cabbage instead.

 John and I like to throw a little party each year where we combined the southern and northern tradition and make both meals. It's one of my favorite yearly parties we throw.

Just the right amount of people showed, the weather was perfect, the Saints won, I got to meet new babies of friends, and after drinking a tad to much we finished the night off by sitting around watching bad (but you have to love them) music videos.

A surprise guest was my cat Malick who normally is the most anti-social bitch. Perhaps her New Years Resolution is to be more sociable. 

Do any of you have a New Years Day food tradition?