my ‘brush’ with a celebrity

Now that I’ve moved to Los Angeles I get the constant question “How many celebrities have you seen?” The answer is now one and it wasn’t human. I live by the beach so the chances a big time celeb will be visiting Hermosa is slim to none. I’ve only been out in Hollywood once and even if I am at the same club as a celebrity I probably won’t recognize them unless they are on Brangelina level.

Right now there are many movies being filmed in Boston. I get a constant stream of bragging from friends…”I saw Ben Affleck” I saw “Kevin James” I saw “Tom Cruise” I saw “Sandra Bullock”…yada, yada, yada. I recently flew back from Boston to LA for the first time and I was hoping a celeb would be on the flight so I too could brag. I looked around the gate & didn’t see any famous faces, but I was in luck – after boarding the plane I looked around and noticed a Golden Retriever sitting in the seat directly behind me. Turns out it was a celebrity dog named Angel! She had been shooting the new Kevin James movie Zookeeper and was flying back home after a successful wrap. Throughout the flight Angel’s tail would wag through the seats and brush my arm waking me up from my Dramamine induced sleep. A couple of times when I was looking out the window I looked back to see Angel enjoying the view as well. I’ve never seen a dog taking up a seat on a plane. I was surprised that it was very well behaved, maybe that is why it is a celebrity…

Do’s and Don’ts of CA…so far

In no particular order…

Do’s
- go to Taco Tuesdays
- walk the beach frequently
- live with a group of crazy/fun guys upon your arrival to Hermosa
- go to Karaoke with Jack Mangin and Robert Engelson
- pretend to be sleeping when the cops enter the place you are staying
- hit up Patrick Malloy’s for unlimited mimosas under their breakfast specials
- befriend all bar staff at the pier – even the creepy ones – because they will hook you up, that is until they get fired for hooking people up
- buy bottles of champagne and sip them while in the hot tub
- frequent The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf – the regulars are pretty cool and the freaks are even better (saw a guy popping prescription pills, listening to music and watching a psychedelic spiral for hours on end)

Don’ts
- give your number to a drug dealer named Sasquatch – you will receive repeated texts and voicemails from “The Blessed and Highly Flavored Sasquatch”
- when invited to a VIP table at a Hollywood club, do not pretend you own it and proceed to consume all alcoholic beverages provided – your roommate will leave her phone on the table & you will need to pick it up from a random guy’s fathers house. she will also fall out of the cab and skin her knee
- drink with Jack Mangin after a Yankees loss – you will black out
- ruin your new friend/neighbor’s carpet with charcoals from the hookah
- just because you are bored does not mean you need to go to Chipolte by yourself, stuff a burrito in your face and walk to Manhattan Beach in the wrong footwear

To Be Continued…

Crossin the USA

Its been one whole month since I packed up my South Boston apartment and left for my West Coast destination – Los Angeles. My life has literally been turned upside down or better yet right side up.

Let me start with some highlights from Todd and I’s trip across the country.

Saturday, September 19th
So we began around 1pm – me being very emotional from saying good bye to my family and friends – Todd ready to hit the road full speed. We started jammin out to Jay-Z’s BP3 and around the Framingham area on the Mass Pike (20mins into the trip) I noticed a look of shock on Todd’s face and his hands frantically searching his pockets. He turned to me with a look of disappointment. He had forgotten his wallet at his apartment. “Set backs” like this only humored us – instead of completely frustrating us – so we calmly turned around, retrieved his wallet and began our journey again. This actually gave me the chance to really take in Boston for the last time for a while (since the first time I was frantically looking for my cell phone).

We continued down the Pike – stopped at the Westborough rest area quick to meet Todd’s Dad for a supply of popcorn balls, a gift for his family in Denver. The popcorn balls became our friends throughout the trip as they didn’t quite fit in my over packed car and seemed to overflow into our personal space.

Todd continued the drive – fast – in upstate NY we were pulled over by the nicest state cop in the history of state cops. He asked us where we were going, informed us we were off to a pretty shitty start, joked and finally came back with a mild fine for an unlawful speedometer instead of a hefty speeding ticket. Thank god for the “I’m going to get famous in LA” line.

Niagara Falls – we stopped fast to see the falls in the lights at night along with a gazillion other tourists.

We arrived in Cleveland, Ohio around 1am and crashed in our first hotel the Howard Johnson Cleveland Airport. Never stay there. It is grimy.

Sunday, September 20th
When we woke up we had planned to go straight to
Sandusky, OH – Cedar Point Cedar Point Amusement Park to ride amazing roller coasters, however, we felt that standing in line all day was not conducive to our road trip. We were free spirits, wanting to hit the road and cover ground. We spent the morning driving around Cleveland which was pretty much a ghost town for a 10am on a Sunday morning.

We decided to take a run through the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. There was a great Springsteen exhibit and some amazing Michael Jackson relics (including his glove & Thriller costume).

We hit the road again to our next destination Chicago, IL. Pulling into the city we were stuck in a lot of traffic and I almost peed my pants. It was raining so our sightseeing was put off till the morning. We sprung for a nice hotel – Central Loop Hotel – in the financial district. We went to the bar downstairs to get drinks and apps. Since it was a Sunday night, the place was pretty dead, but the bartender, LeighAnn, made it her goal to get us wasted. Goal accomplished, our tab was less than $100 (hoooked uppp!), but we were feeling good.

Monday, September 21st
We woke up really early the next morning surprisingly sans hangover and way too excited to explore the city. I had already been to Chi-Town, but it was Todd’s first time & he fell in love. We took a water taxi, and walked all over the city. The weather was cloudy, but thankfully it stopped raining. We tried to go to the top of the Sears Tower, well now the Willis Tower, but there was no visibility, so we cut our losses, got in the car and continued our journey.

Our next stop was St. Louis . We both wanted to see the Arch and we made it in enough time to get a quick meal before going to the top. The view was cool and the history of the pioneers crossing the Mississippi through St. Louis and on to the west – “The Gateway to the West” – pumped me up for the rest of the trip! We returned to the area called “Old Saint Louis” where there was a Casino (not so old) and a row of different bars. We popped around experiencing each one – Todd had a drink at each, I had to drive to our next hotel the Days Inn St Louis At Airport which wasn’t as scummy as our Cleveland experience. All in all I didn’t think there was much to St. Louis since you don’t hear many people gabbing about the nightlife, but the historic area proved to be a good time.

Tuesday, September 22nd
We woke up early to being our second 12 hour span drive of the trip to Denver. We had to drive through the entire state of Kansas. Lots of corn, billboards about Jesus and it rained the entire state. Needless to say we were pretty bored and miserable. We made good time and arrived in Denver around 6:30. We met up with Todd’s “cousin” at a cool spot with a ton of different beers. All the staff were super down to earth, very “Denver” and most of the clientele were hippies. I love hippies. Actually, Todd struck up a convo with two guys who wanted us to change our trips path so we could experience these Hot Springs & stare at the stars. Todd loves nature, so found this to be very appealing, but I was pretty set on traveling on to see our friend Lauren in Phoenix. We came to the conclusion that although the springs sounds nice, we should stick to the itinerary. We dropped the popcorn balls off at Todd’s cousin’s house and went to our hotel for the night The Curtis. I highly recommend this hotel – very funky atmosphere, the decor was made up of comics and superheros, it was near Coors Field and not too expensive.

Wednesday, September 23rd
Our third and last “long drive” began on this day, and we would later find out it was in fact the longest stretch. We woke up in the VERY early morning, and I plugged Lauren’s Phoenix address in the GPS. Somehow from the direction we were going it was taking us through the Rocky Mountains – it was snowing & we were fearful that my car would not be able to handle the terrain, so we turned around. Another wrong turn later, we ended up on a road called 285 – the one highway everyone in Denver told us to take. We were in for a real treat as we were about to discover the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Since it was so early in the morning, it was dark and the section of road we were driving on showed us ugly pine trees. We did encounter a HUGE ELK cross the road directly in front of our car. Then all of the sudden as the sun was rising we went around a corner and the view was just breath taking – Rocky Mountains in front of us. I put in Moby’s Play and that became the soundtrack to the drive on through the mountains. So amazing. Pictures do not even do them justice.

After the mountains were behind us, we continued on our journey on to Arizona. We actually got to pass through the “Four Corners” which is the intersection of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado aka a booth with people charging $3 a person to look at nothing but desert. We pulled over to switch drivers, but refused to pay the fee. This stretch of our trip was in the middle of the desert – I killed a bird that swooped too close to my windshield and almost killed us trying to pass a slow moving bus while a tractor trailer was coming straight at us. I was happy when we hit Scottsdale as the highway was an actual 3 lane highway and I felt we were coming into civilization. The GPS had us very confused though, as we thought Phoenix was on Denver time & it kept saying that we would arrive at 6:30. Todd turned to me and said uh I don’t know how to tell you this…but we have another 2 hours of driving. (We both were prepared for only one). After a screaming session, there was nothing left to do but DRIVE. Finally, we arrived at Lauren’s at 6:30 like the GPS said. So great to see familiar faces – Lucia, another friend came over, we showered, and got drunk! Todd even got to set his firework from Ohio off in the desert. Even though the 13 hr drive was brutal – it was worth it!

Thursday, September 24th

We woke up at a leisurely time of 8:30 to continue on our quest, went to Starbucks & got on the road. Our next destination was the Grand Canyon – West – where the Skywalk is located. The road our of Phoenix proved fun for Todd as we were crusin down a mountain at a speed of 95 over small hills making our stomach jump. The road to the Grand Canyon Skywalk – not so fun – as we had to drive 14 miles on a dirt road. A car spun out in front of us, forcing intense concentration and sweaty palms. Excited to see the Grand Canyon and walk out, and look down over the 4,000 ft pit, we coughed up the money for the bus ride out & Skywalk experience and were on our way. It was yet another amazing experience and again pictures do not do the Canyon justice.

After taking it all in we got into the car yet again to go to Las Vegas pulling into the city blasting Jay-Z and driving down the strip just as the lights were coming on was such a rush. Vegas is just out of control. We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel And Casino, ate at ESPN Zone and gambled a little bit. I hit the sheets pretty early because I was beat!

Friday, September 25th
We ended up leaving Vegas pretty early and headed on to our final destination Los Angeles!!! We made it in 4 hours flat. Jack welcomed us with some champagne & we celebrated!

I’m so lucky that I was able to experience the cross country drive, thankful Todd put up with me for hours on end in a jam packed car and we had the time of our lives.

Do the pencil!

this kid is hilarious:

unemployment tale 2

One of the perks of being unemployed is not having to set an alarm and waking up for the day at ungodly AM hours. This morning I was leisurely waking up and stretching around 9 only to be startled by some aggressive doorbell ringing. I bolted out of bed, the ringing paused and as I was making my way downstairs thinking maybe I was hearing things the ringing happened again, more aggressive than the first. I open the door to a Boston Police officer, not what I expected at all. “um, Hi?” I said. “Sherilyn?” BP said. “No, she’s upstairs. Can I help you?” BP goes on to explain he’s going to tow her car if she doesn’t move it ASAP. I run upstairs only to learn that Sherilyn was in the shower, so I fished through her things, found her car keys and ran to save her car from a $100+ tow.

I arrive at the car to find that it was parked in a spot with signs saying “No Standing 8/28/2009.” It is blocked in by a huge moving truck so I cannot whisk it away to safety as quickly as I wanted to. The BP calmly walks over and places a nice ticket on the windshield.

Me: “You are going to give her a ticket?”
BP: “Well, yes.”
Me: “I’m sure her car was parked here before the sign went up. What are we supposed to do check our cars every day? She’s a nurse and works till late at night. Was she supposed to check it then?”
BP: “I’m a cop, I work nights to.”
Me: “I understand that, but it does seem pretty unfair.”

The BP walked away without a word. At that moment a dirty old man driving a pickup truck stops and starts talking nonsense about how he has a garbage truck coming from the high school that will be coming down the street in a few minutes and for it to fit down the street the moving truck needs to get out of the way. He reiterates that this is happening very soon. I calmly explained that the movers will move the truck out of the way once I can get the car out of their way. Finally, he stops gawking and slowly drives up the street.

At this point I’m getting impatient that I cannot just get into the car and drive away and hide in my apt, instead of being the center of a hell of a lot of commotion on East Sixth Street for a 9am on a Friday. The movers yell to the guy who can drive the truck to pull it up so I can sneak Sherilyn’s tiny Corolla away. He does not come out soon enough, as the bitch who is moving out of Southie walks up and decides to have her say in the matter:

Bitch with baby: “This car has been the problem for the last 2 hours. I have a moving permit it should not have been parked here. I should have had it towed and out of the way.”
Me: “It’s my roommates car. When did you post the sign?”
Bitch with baby: “Wednesday night.”
Me: “Probably after she had parked it. Well, it will be moved right now.”
Bitch with baby: “Good.”

Finally, the movers move the truck, I freed the Corolla and drove away. At that point, I was scared about my own car since I too haven’t checked on it since Wednesday and took a little cruise to make sure it was ok. It was.

Who knew that one little car and a moving permit could stir up so many talking-tos by random strangers – Boston Police, dirty old man, bitch with baby – they all need to calm down.

In this a lesson: someone who is unemployed, like myself, should start a car checking business. Weekly fee of $5 for a daily check making sure its not being captured by a towing company for street cleaning, construction or now the newest violation, a moving permit. Anyone, anyone?

no sleep for Boston

I’ve come to the conclusion I cannot sleep in my South Boston apartment anymore. I’m thankful for the month of August, full of traveling weekends with friends and almost a week down the Cape with the family – allowed me to catch up on some much needed sleep. Now that I’ve been back my my apt for a couple nights, I find myself struggling to keep my mind from running and my eyes from opening.

As I sit here and wait for my lottery numbers to cross the screen and my life/sleep problems be solved, I can’t help but wonder what I can be doing right now to be proactive about solving this sleep problem. Perhaps its the mattress, or the fact I only have a fan instead of AC (I hate AC) in this summer heat, or maybe it’s just the stresses of life keeping me up at night. Whatever it is, I know I need to be making a change.

That change is going to be moving to California next month. Extreme isn’t it? I’ve had many conversations since June with many different people about this move and obviously each dabble from each end of the spectrum. Today 3 different people told me not to do it.

This is pretty hurtful, as I feel like I’m at a crossroads of sorts. If I were to stay in Boston, my career goals along with my quality of life goals, and dream of living in California would not be fulfilled. I guess you could say I’m being very selfish – leaving my AMAZING family & friends. I know everyone can survive without me though and I just need some time to improve myself. But I’m so sad about leaving everyone.

As my plans firm up, I’ll update the blog. I’d love to document the cross country trip. I’m excited, passionate and hopeful about my life in California!!!!

PS I did not win the lottery haha!

AWOOO

Gotta love the dance moves in the begining of Shakira’s hot new jam, She Wolf. Addicted to this song – there’s a She Wolf in your closet, let it out so it can breathe.

Sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare

Sitting here thinking too much…that’s what a relaxing vacation with the family will do to you. Tonight’s subject: relationships.

I know, I know. Weird for me to talk about and even weirder for me to write about. I’m more thinking about the future of relationships than anything else.

Sometimes when I look at couples I think…that’s nice, I want that. Other times I’m thinking thank god I don’t have to suffer like them!

So, I’m told, that the point of being in a relationship is to find the person you are going to love and be with forever and ever and ever. Sure. How long is forever? These days nothing seems to last…not your job, not your living situation, not your friends, maybe even your favorite bar gets bought out, gutted and changes it’s name (I’d be devastated if this happened haha).

But then again, a constant that I am very lucky to have is my family. I’d like to think that this remains constant in many other people’s lives too…even through divorce, feuds, additional hardships…family is still blood. And how do families form? Through relationships…

Even though I’m a huge disbeliever, I want everything to last. I hate change. I don’t let go of ‘relationships’ for a long ass time. I’m talkin’ years. Pretty much push it to the limit. Then both parties realize the “unhealthiness” of the “relationship” and shed light on the reality that it isn’t really nor should it last forever. I am completely fed up with this cycle.

I’m realizing that when I am in a relationship that matters it will be everything I am, sensitive, intense, caring, hilarious, crazy, fun, emotional, amazing, creative, loving. It will happen…someday…

Am I invisible?

Sometimes, I think I am. Even though I’m a not too quiet, not so small framed, 5′8″ girl, I’ve realized twice this week that people don’t see me. Weird.

The first time occurred on Wednesday when I was having coffee with Julie at Sidewalk. We were sitting & chatting when the Ice Delivery Man rolled in 3 huge bags of ice on a metal pushcart. I was sitting near the entrance of the door he was wheeling the ice into and as he heaved the cart through the doorway he elbowed me really, really hard. Julie just looks at me and whispers…did he just hit you?…I just laughed because it was obvious I just took a huge blow, and the Ice Man was not going to acknowledge me or apologize. Julie got up to, ironically, get more ice for her coffee and whispers…are you ok?…the answer is yes, I was fine, just confused as to why Ice Man couldn’t see me.

The second time happened on the #9 Bus with Sherilyn yesterday. We were going to Fenway to meet a bunch of people after the Sox game and chose to take the bus to Copley and Green Line rest of the way in. We sat in the third row of forward facing seats, Sherilyn on the inside and me on the out. Halfway through the ride, someone from the back of the bus requested a stop *ping*. I didn’t even hear the footsteps of the person making their way to the front of the bus to exit. The next thing I knew I was slapped on the arm with a huge pink bag carried by a small Asian woman. It’s ok, Lady, I didn’t need that arm anyway.

So I ask the question…am I invisible?

Dreamin…or is it?

What Jack Mangin would do with $146 Million and more…

“Well, I think about this more often than not.

The very first thing I’d do once I got the money would be to get a limo and pick up my boys at their jobs or at their houses. I wouldn’t tell them I won until I got to the joint. I’d have Rolex’s for all 4 of them. I’d present them with the watch look them in the eye and inform them that their life was soon to change. They’d either quit their job on the spot or get off the couch and follow me to my stretch Bentley limo.

Once I picked up the 4th friend we’d hit the Beverly Center for a quick suit shopping tour. Then we’d obviously go to LAX and fly to Vegas wheras we’d go straight to the baddest suite at the Hard Rock, Wynn, Caesars or the Bellagio depending on the mood of the group.

I’d ration my boys with $10K once we got there. We’d go our separate ways to do whatever we want until we met at a place for dinner and drinks whereas all of us would have women with us cause that’s how we roll. I, personally, would hit that spas with my free time; I’m sure my boy, Rob, would be with me. Then I’d go shopping for a dope outfit for the night. After dinner we’d do Vegas big time.

If I dug the girl I f’ed that night I’d take her shopping, for real shopping. Then we’d hit that airport and fly to an island in the Carribean for quite a few day to make love and relax. I’d get in touch with my realtor friend back in LA and have him start looking for property on the beach for me upon my return to LA. I’d fly my little bro out to LA while I was gone to get himself settled in and start the car hunt. I’d work on that during the day while on the sand with my brand new Macbook. At night I’d enjoy romantic dinners with my lady (if I didn’t dig the Vegas one nighter, I’d call Nelly) and we’d F all night.

Once I found a house, bought my Bentley and took care of my family, I’d put it out to my boys to come to me with business ventures they’d like to pursue. We’d tweek any business plans that needed and I’d invest in their futures. I’d make my money work for me, always. I’d always want to see the numbers grow, always. I’d travel, I’d love, I’d relax, I’d play, I’d gamble, I’d do everything that I do now, but on ridiculously larger scales. I want this, not just the lotto, Bizzie, I want fortune. I will get this.”

-Jack Mangin