Proud to be an American!

Hello Everyone! 

Next week is the 4th of July (mimicks hands raising the roof), and to commemorate this beautiful country we call home (and if you don't call it home, come visit!), here are some photos that show the splendor. These are entrants into The National Geographic Traveler Magazine photo contest, and as you can see, this country has such variety and quite a bit to offer. 

I feel very fortunate to live here in this country of glens, and swamps, mountains and skyscrapers. Here's some of it for you.

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Daytona Beach, Florida, USA

East Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Florida, USA

Hygiene, Colorado, USA

Moab, Utah, USA

Okeefenokee Swamp, Georgia, USA

Pullman Highway, Washington, USA

South Carolina, USA

Yosemite National Park, USA

Geek Chic

Ladies! I found out where the boys are!!

I don't know how many of you are Nerds-- or more affectionately Geek Chic Ladies/ Gentlemen-- but for those of you who are, I attended CES (Consumer Electronics Show) a week ago in wild Las Vegas on some company dime. Holla at your girl. I figure I'm officially a grown-up since my work is sending me places for free. Especially Vegas. No lame corporate weekend bonding trips in the mountains for me. I'm a city girl, I is. 

Now, I'd never been to CES before so I had no idea what to expect....I should have expected everything. ALL THE THINGS. Everything that we buy was there. Everything that has a battery or plugs in or contains any form of energy whatsoever was there. There were computers and cars and radios and iPod accessories and 3D gadgets and headphones and washing machines. Literally. Everything we buy. So it was overwhelming and huge and impossible to soak in (even over 4 days of walking and staring bug-eyed).

Here are some pictures from my days there. And like any responsible blogging girl, I FOUND THE ONE PAIR OF SHOES AT THE ENTIRE EVENT. I think they're made of plastic....silicone? Rubber? Not quite sure on the deets. But I guess cubify.com has a little machine that makes them right in front of your eyes. I filmed a video of the process (see below), I've rewatched that video, and I'm still a little fuzzy on the science of it all. Perhaps, ya'll are a bit more tech-y than I. 

Oh yeah, Xzibit and 50 Cent were there. I was mere feet away from both of them. I got a pic of Xzibit, but unfortunately not Fiddy because his entourage was composed of 10 guys, each over 6'5''. Little Lauren couldn't see over their heads. Sad day. Plus they walked really fast. So there's that. 

"Why were rappers at the nerd convention?" Good question. 

Also, Bieber was there. But I missed the little man and his hair (that keeps getting shorter). Twelve-year-old girls' heads are exploding that I could miss such an opportunity. But frankly I was a little bummed. Apparently last year GAGA was there. THAT would've made my head explode.

Enjoy the Geek Chick Fest:

This is that Cubify video (above)! It made those shoes and chess pieces you see in the pictures above. 

Thanks CES! It was a delightful time!

Off I Go!

IT'S MOVING DAY, PEOPLE! I'm off to California! Los Angeles to be specific. I'm so excited. And scared. And anxious. And happy. And relieved. And I have no idea what's going to happen. It was all so fast, this move, and I don't know about any of it. Frankly, I'm as curious as the next guy as to how it will turn out. We'll see. I might miss my family too much and want to come back. Or they'll visit, and I'll go home for the holidays, and it'll be enough. I hope I'll see that I can live my life how and where I want to live it and be really happy. I'm like Liz Lemon, I just want to have it all.

So wish me luck! It's anyone's guess how it'll turn out.


Painting by Ann Sullivan

Navy Men

I'm not sure I mentioned this last week, but I spent the weekend in San Antonio. It was the Navy Ball--haha, blue balls--ahem (composure), there on Friday. I gotta say, I had a great time! I felt like Cinderella emerging from her normal everyday boring clothes into pretty diamonds and expensive shoes. That was, by far, the most dressed up I've been since my high school prom, and it was nice to spend the afternoon getting pretty.

I think every girl needs to go to a ball in her lifetime. Frankly it's kinda sexy. All those men in uniform. Hoo! Plus, there are times during the dinner when all the men stand up and recite their various pledges to the Navy. It may not sound like a big deal, but when 200 men stand with big muscles and booming voices (and they're all very passionate about what they're saying)...oh man, it looks good on them.

Here's some pictures of my night. My biggest regret of the night is that I didn't get a picture of the back of my dress. It was the best part of the dress! It had a open, swoop back (technical term) with a string of diamonds (real, of course) that lined the seam of it. I feel like a fool for not doing an over-the-shoulder picture. What can I say, you don't win 'em all.

I wore Celine shoes with a White House Black Market dress and vintage earrings. 

Los Angeles Adventure Day

People, people.  It is time to explore the diverse land that is Los Angeles, California. I'm a California girl for life, and I'm still finding out new things about this wonderful and terrifying city. These pictures were taken on one day of my trip, so you can imagine how busy I was on the rest of the days. 

We will begin this tour at The Americana in the Glendale portion of Los Angeles--a lovely shopping area with grass where kids can play and there's more rich people than you can shake a stick at. Sounds like a great time to me! 

 Next we had a lunch appointment at Cafe Gratitude. And so we (me and my mother) left the beautiful Americana. We thought it would take a while to get to our lunch restaurant--more on that later--, so we left early and then had a half hour to kill. Alas, we took the time to shop! It was a really rough day. 

Near Cafe Gratitude on Melrose Ave. was a little antique gallery called Melrose Gallery and Antiques--emphasis on antiques. It was not terribly impressive from the outside. Just glass windows and some chairs out front. But then we walked in, and it was one of the most beautiful stores I've ever been in. And I've been to the Galeries LaFayette in Paris. If you don't know what that is, then you'll just have to take my word for it. There was gold falling from the sky. Literally. (Sometimes I like to use "literally" incorrectly.) Fairies were dancing on my feet. Literally. It was so pretty we decided to have an impromptu photo shoot. Take a look.

Doesn't that make you happy? I couldn't afford/ didn't have a pressing need for a chandelier at the moment, but I came across the only home decor accessories in the entire store. Some deer. Is "deer" the plural form of "deer"? "Deers"? Wikipedia says it's "deer". I believe it. 

Cue deer photo shoot:

Oh man. Normally Marilyn looks serene on this cover, but with the deer on her, she looks scared it's going to eat her hair. Ahh...comedy.

After this, we went to lunch at Cafe Gratitude. Maybe if you're a vegan, you'll like this place. Jason Mraz is a partial investor, and it was run amok with hipsters. But--and this is a big BUT-- I was unimpressed. I liked the menu; the names of the food were cute and clever. But the food was too much for me to handle. For example, I'm a meat girl. I've always liked it. I like steak. It tastes good. A burger? Delicious. Some chicken? Get in me. Salmon? Swim into my mouth. But I'm also a vegetable girl. I like a good salad with my meals. We go to the farmer's market every week. I choose organic, if you will. So while I eat beef, it's from grass-fed, kindly-treated cows. A happy cow makes for better meat. Word. 

But I was willing to expand my eating horizons and check out this vegan thing. Until I saw the menu. They had a BLT on their menu. "Why?", I wondered, considering they don't eat meat. And what I saw shook me to my very core. Instead of bacon, they used maple-flavored toasted coconut. I cannot abide by that. Coconut is no replacement for bacon. It just isn't. Try as you might, it will not compare. But I wasn't hungry enough for a BLT so I continued on down the menu to the hummus. That's vegan-y, right? Wrong. Apparently hummus--made of garbanzo beans--is not vegan enough. It was almond hummus which contains no garbanzo beans but is instead almonds crushed up. I tell you now, ALMOND PASTE IS NOT HUMMUS. You cannot take out the main--and practically only-- ingredient of a dish and still claim it's that dish. Almonds crushed up is NOT garbanzo beans crushed up. It isn't! It isn't!!

Phew. That was exhausting. Anyways, I will step off of my soap box for the moment, and say that the atmosphere of Cafe Gratitude was lovely, the drinks were good, and if you're a vegan, I'm sure you will enjoy their coconut bacon substitute.

Walking. Walking. On up the mountain. Next we decided to go on up to the Griffith Observatory which has a beautiful view of the city and a cool little movie to watch once you get there. On the way up the mountain, we saw this adorable little side street cafe on Fern Dell Dr., The Trails, and we had to make an impromptu stop. It was just too cute. I'm glad we did! I got a hot chocolate and some strawberry-rhubarb pie; both of which were delicious. I highly recommend it. Plus the atmosphere is incredible. You feel like you're in the middle of the forest in a quaint town, when in reality, you're in the center of a metropolis and the 101 is just a few miles away. It was a nice reprieve from the bustling city. There's lots of mountain trails and things up there, so you can go get some exercise and then come back to the cafe for a post-hike cup of coffee. Perfect!

After our little stop, we continued on our way up the mountain to Griffith Observatory. My mom wanted to take me there because they show movies there. These movies are in a room with leaned-back chairs, and they show movie about the sky IN THE SKY. It's really relaxing. I think the lady next to me fell asleep. I don't blame her one bit. Those chairs were comfortable. 

This is the view from the observatory:

So not too shabby. We ended our very long day by going to Casa Bianca. Now, I almost don't even want to mention this restaurant because it's so good that people happily wait an hour outside in the cold to get a table. So I'm afraid if I tell you, the line will just get longer and longer. Lucky for you, I have journalistic integrity up the hoo-ha. So I will tell you about my favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. I've been going here since I was a kid. It's my Cali equivalent to a big plate of comfort food. Don't take my word for it, this once was Obama's favorite italian restaurant. NAME DROPPING.

All in all, a fine day spent in the city of Los Angeles with my ma. Had I known I'd be taking a lot of pictures, I would've spruced up a bit, but you don't always get to look good on your days of adventures.  Words of wisdom. Quote it. 

The City of Los Angeles

Alrighty folks! I'm visiting Los Angeles, California for the next few weeks, and I've been reading Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey--which, by the way, is a total commitment considering it is a book made up of 501 pages of very small font--and it's all about LA. One of the chapters (so far...I'm about 300 pages in) has "tons and tons and tons of fun" facts about Los Angeles. Here's a few of the ones that caught my fancy:


It is illegal to manufacture pickles in the industrial zone of downtown Los Angeles.

The economy of the County of Los Angeles is larger than that of forty-six of the fifty states in the United States of America.

For some reason that, despite extensive scientific research, remains unknown, potato chips weigh more in Los Angeles than in any other part of America.

There is more pornography produced in Los Angeles than in the rest of the world combined.

In 1886, the official slogan of the Los Angeles Travel Bureau was--"Los Angeles is the Chicago of California!"

The average citizen of Los Angeles consumes 250 tacos a year.


Isn't is interesting the things you learn that have no real application in your daily life? Unless you play very specific trivia games. Then, you. are. welcome.

Pic from Numero #123 with Eniko Mihalik by Ben Hasset

I went all the way to san antonio and all I got was this lousy picture of the alamo

For reals. I being the highly advanced creature that I am I FORGOT TO BRING MY CAMERA. And I don't have a fancy iPhone like you people, so this is LITERALLY the only picture from the entire weekend. I went to visit a friend, he took this lone picture, so there are no pictures of the two of us from the entire trip. I feel like a failure. So, I suppose all you can do is bask in the simplicity. I was unencumbered with technology. Womp womp. It was such a waste. 


But I'll try to give a quick overview of the trip anyways. It was great! There was BBQ, and a drive-through alcohol stand where they sell the drink in bags (apparently that's less illegal?),  and bowling, and a pizzeria movie theatre where you eat while watching the movie, the River Walk (which wasn't really worth all the hype), and the Alamo (which is where the only picture was taken).


Two things I will recommend, though, because they were probably the coolest things we did: 


Numero Uno: Rudy's BBQ--dubbed "The Worst Bar-B-Q in Texas" and is ironically plastered all over the restaurant-- is the BEST barbecue. So yummy! We ate there twice in the span of four days. I couldn't get enough.

Plus it's cheap. And if you know me at all, those are the magic words. You buy your meat by the pound which hopefully gives you an indication of how much Texans love this place.


Numero Dos: Howl at the Moon is an awesome piano bar near the River Walk in San Antonio. 

I guess they have locations all around the U.S. and if you're lucky enough that there's one in your area, GO. I've been to other dueling piano bars before, but this one easily took the cake. It opened at 5 pm on Saturday; we happened to be in the area, so we just waited til they opened, and slowly but surely a HUGE line formed behind us. At FIVE. I'm not sure if I've ever waited in line at five in the afternoon to go to a bar, but clearly I'm the only one. These people believed this bar was worth it. They were right. When we got in, they gave us 4 tickets for 1$ drinks (again, "cheap" is my favorite word ever) and we got wristbands for half off drinks til 8. So this whole alcoholism during the day thing really paid off. Might do that more often. 


All in all, it was a great trip! I'm happy I went. It was nice to catch up with an old friend. Next time I must remember to bring a camera. Rookie mistake.

Big Bears

Hey guys!

It seems I've been doing a lot of vacationing lately... my life is so very difficult. I have a trip to San Antonio, Texas planned in a few weeks, and a trip to Tucson, Arizona in the works. And this past weekend, I spent my time in Big Bear Lake, California. Not IN the lake, in case you were curious. I'm not an animal. But we did some hiking, listened to some great music provided by my hippie uncle, and drank. A lot. Like I said, I live a troubled existence. NAHT.

Here's some pictures of the family time!

Modeling some hats we bought in Big Bear by Hatley. Mine says "Make the Moose Out of Life" with a canoeing moose and Macy says "Tree Hugger" with a pic of a bear hugging a tree. Cheeky.

Alpine Slides. Not just for kids.

Look who we met! Scott Disick--aka "guy who lives off the Kardashians".

Just some of the lovely ladies in my family.