Eat A Cupcake, Hike A Hill, Take A Nap!

So my first week of work has come and gone, and I have to say, it’s a lot more draining than I thought. Monday (besides feeling like I got hit by a bus) after work I took a trip over to Sprinkles Cupcakes to pick up a dozen cupcakes for some of us interns! It was such a treat and truly a gift that kept giving this week!YUM

Cupcakes!
Red Velvet, Lemon, Coconut, Vanilla, Choc. Banana, Choc. Banana, Black & White, Milk Choc, Cin. Sugar, Choc. Marshmallow, Mocha, German Dark Cho.

Katy's cupcake Face

Things got so much better on Tuesday and the rest of the week when I knew what to expect. It’s only been a week but I already feel like I’ve learned so much from both of my internships. Wednesday I actually had enough energy to cook a real meal to eat for dinner instead of pizza and chips.

I’ve been getting this particular question lately from family and friends… “are you the girl that does coffee runs? Or are you doing interesting things at your internship?”

I have not once been sent out to get coffee or lunch and I don’t think I will be.

One of my internships has been giving me CD’s DVD’s and Movie posters this week which is AWESOME! Now I can decorate my temporary apartment with free movie posters and then recycle them when I leave!

Driving to the sign

So Saturday Shannon and I hiked Mt. Lee to the Hollywood sign! So here is a series of pictures of the sign as we got closer and closer. Also, the view during the hike was amazing, which definitely kept us going when the "going got rough".

Shannon and our first photo op. on the trail!
Downtown, I've heard you get good pictures of the skyline the day after it rains. I'll keep that in mind!
We're so close!
Victory!!!

Yay to being a tourist!
<3 Caity

"Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego"

So besides the fact that I had my first day last Thursday

This weekend I was invited by my roommate to take a trip to San Diego to visit her sisters!

Saturday we went to the San Diego Zoo which I’ve heard is one of the largest and most progressive zoo’s in the world. It was so much fun! Most of the animals were really friendly so I took a bazillion pictures.

Lounging

Exhausted

Elephants

Meerkats

"Pink Shlamingo!"

Can't be bothered

Later on we hit up Old Town San Diego, which is considered the "birthplace" of California. San Diego is the site of the first permanent Spanish settlement in California. We stopped for appetizers and drinks at this Mexican place, then walked around until dinner which was sushi! Delicious delicious sushi! We finished the night back at home watching Indiana Jones 1 & 2.

Sunday we headed out to El Coronado with the dog, a massive Great Dane named Nantucket. We spent a fair amount of time outside walking and enjoying the warm weather, took the dog to the dog beach for a while and then headed home for the football games.

As exciting as that may seem…..I was reading my Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets book

So the weekend was a success and the best part is it’s a really nice getaway when I start to get rid of the city and want a homier vibe.

The worst part of the weekend was that I realized from now on I will only get to see the light of day from Friday-Sunday. I wish I could just be in the sun all day everyday.

<3 Caity

Stroll Through The Neighborhood

My Life

So It’s official, I’ve confirmed both of my internships out here in LA.

The first is Sony/ATV Music Publishing and the other one is Weinstein Company.

Weinstein has done music Blue Valentine, The Kings Speech, among many many others.

So I start on Thursday! I have today and tomorrow free, so today I decided to take a stroll through my neighborhood to see what’s around. Here are some pictures a took around my area!

One of the buildings I'll be working in

It’s going to be 84 degrees today, It’s about 78 now! I might just go lay somewhere and soak up some rays! I sat outside at Starbucks earlier today, not to rub anything in... :)

I’m chomping at the bit to hike Mt. Lee, where the Hollywood sign is, but my roommate doesn’t have her tennis shoes yet, so I’m thinking if I get everything I need to get done today then I will just go do it!

Palm tree! <3

Anyway, that’s all the news I’ve got today!

<3>

Don't Stop Me Now

view from our window

So! As I previously stated, we went to see George Lopez Tuesday night. It was really exciting except we waited in lines for a really long time. Once we got in we were seated in the second row which was awesome. I claim it’s because I was wearing a really bright sweater that probably looked really good on TV. We were really close to George and some of the crew which was really cool. The guests he had on the show were Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Mary Lynn Rajskub. The only bad part about sitting so close to the stage is that we had to look like we were in utter amazement at everything that was happening… fake laughing, clapping so much your arms and hands hurt, yelling, fist thrusting, etc etc..

Unfortunately it’s against the rules to take pictures at these events, but take our word for it, we were definitely there.

Another epic thing happened Tuesday night. Not only were we in the audience of a late night television AND on TV, but after we left the taping we swung around to the nearest In N Out we could find. It probably would have been a better experience if we weren’t starving and didn’t inhale all our food, then get stomach aches, but I did enjoy it and BONUS, I ordered off the secret menu like a true California native.

We also went to see The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday, BUT in between these events, on Wednesday we had orientation. Pretty standard stuff, got to hang out with almost all the other interns. The most exciting part of orientation was getting our long awaited FlipCams….Now I knew applying for the internship that if I were excepted I would receive a FlipCam. Once I was excepted I was pretty much the only one to remember we would be receiving these beautiful new toys! Weeks went by and I though…”where’s my FlipCam people?” Luckily, our mentor passed out the VERY existent FlipCams! We were all really excited it wasn’t just a ploy, so here is a fun video we took using our new FlipCams. We also went to Yogurt Land for some nom nomy frozen yogurt and our new friend/ intern participator Katy came along while our other new friend and Intern, Alex went to buy us a DVD player to use for the semester. Yay!

FlipCam excitement

Here's a link if you have a hard time viewing it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvzJmiPjoWM

Anyway, back to Jay Leno, his guest stars were Cameron Diaz and Eric Stonestreet (from Modern Family <3) We were in and then we were out! It was a great and less stressful experience because Shannon and I were sitting in the back row and didn’t have to pretend we were having the most amazing epic time of our lives. So it was definitely more fun to sit and watch.

Anyway, still securing internships.. I’ll be taking on 2 sites this semester, which is really great experience, and those will be starting later next week. So I’m still just hanging out in LA and have a bunch of free time. What should I do??

<3>

January, Get A Tan

Well, I’m pretty much settled now, took a few extreme shopping trips but I’m finally settled in comfortably. The apartment is nice, we have a real table to sit and eat at, which we didn’t have in Boston. Shannon and I are rooming together in LA, we’ve been living together for almost 2 years so I’m really grateful we’re still together out here in LA. It makes everything more comfortable because we already know how to live with each other. We’re sharing a room, which we’ve never done before, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem because our closet is outside the bedroom so we don’t have to disturb each other when we wake up, WIN!

Sunday morning as I was getting into my car at the top of the parking garage I noticed a little something!!!!

HOLLYWOOD SIGN!! Still makes me giddy like a little kid at the zoo.

Hollywooooooood

Monday I had two interviews for possible internships. They both seem like really great places and I would love to intern for both so lets all cross our fingers! Since my interviews were far apart in time I got to drive around and explore a bit. I drove right through Beverly Hills! And just to set the record straight (thus far) the driving is NOT that bad. I haven’t run in to crazy traffic yet, and most of the drivers are nice and let you in. (Potholes galore, not so sweet.) Maybe I have to drive during the morning or evening rush hours to really experience the traffic. All I know is that I was terrified that it would take me FOREVER to get somewhere and it hasn’t. Fear overcome!

The houses out here!

Every night I’ve been like a grandma and I’ve been going to sleep around 10pm, but in my defense, I wake up at 7am everyday. No real reason, just to jump-start the day instead of burning daylight.

Tonight I got Shannon, Elliot and myself tickets to see a taping of Lopez Tonight! YAY!!! I looooove George Lopez! When I used to work as an usher at the Rosemont Theater and Allstate I worked one of his comedy shows, he’s so great! I’ll be blogging all about that tomorrow!

Cool car I saw at Ralphs, our grocery store

Orientation’s tomorrow, Everyone (which is 8 of us) involved in the Berklee Internship program are meeting with our mentor for dinner. I can’t wait to sit down with everyone and start talking.

More exciting things on Thursday and this weekend, forecast for the weekend, high 70’s!

Skipping Chicago and Boston winter never felt so good!!

<3>

I Have No More Legs, Good Thing This Was The Last

I have successfully arrived in LA! Dad and I took off at 6am again MST and drove through Arizona which eventually became California. I was too excited to take my early morning nap in the car. I couldn’t even eat, I just wanted to get there.

I tried my best

Today was much more of a chill day. Instead of taking 500 pictures of rocks and the side of the road I just enjoyed the view for the most part and listened to my Ipod. The coolest part of today was that at an elevation of 4,000ft we drove right through a cloud!

I also spotted my first cactus and palm tree which was equally as exciting the closer we got to the city.

My skyline

YAY YAY YAY!

We got to my apartment around noon PST unloaded, said hi to my roommate and friend then took my dad to the airport where a very nice policeman let me take a picture of the big LAX sign!

After we dropped off my dad we headed to Target and the grocery store for some odds and ends. By the time we got back to the apartment it was almost 5pm and we were soooo exhausted that I ate leftovers from last night and my friend Elliot and roommate Shannon made a frozen pizza. Then we cuddled up on the couch and watched the movie Easy A, had a glass of wine and now, at 9pm are calling it a night.

:)

I will definitely blog more about the trip and show pictures of my place, but that all awaits for tomorrow! Which, speaking of tomorrow, I do have an agenda, however, I am falling asleep at my computer. I just wanted to let everyone know I am alive and safe!

PS, I finally saw the Hollywood sign after we went shopping, and freaked out!!! I was very excited... but my view was a lot better than my picture. I will make sure to take a better picture of it soon. I will most likely hike there sometime soon!

just a blur

Can’t wait to get more than 5 hours of sleep!

<3>

Don't Worry Guys, I Found All The Birds

Our route!
click on the pictures for a larger view, all pictures taken by me and my dad of course

Day 2 down!

We’re in Flagstaff Arizona which has an elevation of 6,910 ft (2,106m) which is more then 4 ½ Sears Towers I guess. The day started off on time at 6am!

Texas

Dad drove till 9:30am, stopping in Texas then I took over for a whopping 6 ½ hours, feelin’ like a champion, thanks to the magic of cruise control (which was the first time I’ve ever gotten to use it), Monster Energy drinks, and some great music. I drove through the rest of Texas, then conquered pretty much all of New Mexico which was A DRIIIVE!

Lovin' the peppers!

New Mexico!

Dad took over for the last 2 ½ hours of our drive taking us to Flagstaff Arizona! (MST)

Lots of exciting things happened today on the road. For one, It was definitely more scenic than yesterdays drive. I saw rolling tumbleweed, how cool is that? I was definitely WAY too excited. Then we saw a series of road kill including two deer, a skunk, raccoon, and a coyote, they’re in a better place!

Arizona, I missed the sign for Arizona because I was on the phone with my mom because....

I received an interesting call from my mom today telling me the bank left a message at the house due to some mysterious charges… Clearly Bank of America is not reading my blog. I had to call and verify my entire life and then let them know that I was taking the semester in California. I’m sure I have put the bank through a lot with all my traveling in the past 2 ½ years.

Arizona Mountains!

SO CLOSE!

We’re about 6 ½ hours from LA and with the time change we will most likely arrive sometime between 11:30 am and 12:15pm (PST) at my apartment. I’m extremely excited, as soon as we enter California I will be playing every song known to man about California or that has the word California in it.

Yes hotel!

I can’t believe we are soooooo close. This has been such a great experience to drive to LA and see so much even if it all looked the same for a long time.

I can’t wait to get there tomorrow and blog all about my new place and neighborhood.

The end is near

<3 Caity

Who Shuts Down A Highway??

St. Louis Arch -IL

First day on the road was pretty good, I saw my first hitch hiker ever in Missouri!

We drove from Illinois, through Missouri and into Oklahoma. We’re stopped in Oklahoma City for the night and will start up again early tomorrow morning. I’m just glad we didn’t drive through Iowa, I probably would have yelled a few profanities for a personal grudge against Iowa. But all in all, it wasn’t so bad driving today.

On our way I spotted many billboards for Jesus and Politics, we also found a lot of billboards for Fantastic Caverns, whatever those were, we passed that opportunity and a precious moments museum up. I drove 4 hours today between 10am and 2pm, about 275 miles all on the same road, with no real special view. Luckily I had a couple CD’s to keep me energized. We each took 4 hours, but my dad took the first 4 and the last 4 so he’s pretty wiped out.

Oklahoma! Whooo

Probably the most exciting and interesting part of our day is when they shut down a highway (I-44 West) for a good couple of miles in Oklahoma because a semi was on fire…good thing we avoided that one. (except it set us back about 45 minutes.)

A cool picture I took in Oklahoma

Tomorrow we’ll finish driving through Oklahoma, enter Texas for a while, hit up New Mexico for a very long time, then stop in Arizona for the night! I’m very excited about Arizona for no real reason except maybe that It’s a lot closer to California than Oklahoma is, and quite possibly more exciting. We’ll arrive in California Saturday afternoon, get me settled and then my dad will fly home back to Chicago and I’ll be on my own.

The other satisfying part of my day was the finish line flag on the GPS as we entered our hotel tonight… it’s truly the little things…

Nothing like a little finish line flag to feel like a winner!

I’m thinking of making a little video and compile some footage and pictures from the trip once I get to LA… so be on the lookout for that sometime after Sunday.

Tomorrow's another new and exciting adventure!

<3 Caity