happy halloween!!! X 3.

When our uber-original idea for a Halloween costume was aired on the Today Show + in a window display at American Apparel, Carly + I decided that maybe the once popular, iconic Troll Dolls were making a comeback this year so we abandoned our nude unitards + inspired by a boy scout shirt Carly found in a vintage shop in Echo Park, we came up with these lovely costumes:

 Carl Fredricksen + Wilderness Explorer Russell 

 . Friday night we went to a bar in Hollywood rented out by Harvard alumni/people in the entertainment industry so the combined intelligence + vested interest in the film industry made our costume(s) a huge hit! 

Last night, we went on a mini pub crawl in Santa Monica with these hooligans (the guys Carly works with dressed up as wrestlers .... here is 7 of the 9 of them!) + needless-to-say, we had a lot more explaining to do as we were not "sexy einstein/sexy old man + sexy girl scout/sexy balloon boy tied together with balloons - Happy Birthday!!" as some intoxicated people thought.

Perfecting my perpetual scowl + Carly's alarmingly sunny disposition

 in the back of a cab with our balloons that floated above us in the bars all night ....

When your routine for getting ready to go out includes glueing on eye lashes, spray painting your hair grey + stopping at a costume shop to buy a fresh bouquet of balloons, it really is a lot of dedication but it's not stopping us from celebrating a third night in a row.  Tonight we are headed to West Hollywood to watch the infamous parade + hang out with some of LA's finest drags. Happy Halloween (weekend!)!!!  =)

it's saturday night...

...which can only mean one thing ... You can find me in Hollywood eating yummy yellow curry with special brown rice at Toi before attending Carly's super amazing sketch show at Sierra Bonita Theatre. 

off the record.

One of my favorite parts about Los Angeles is when celebs do things off the record ... and I am there to witness it. If I am at the Improv watching a comedy show and Adam Sandler just decides he wants to show up in character and do a set to promote an upcoming movie ... I didn't mind. Or Teri Hatcher wants to light our local Christmas tree. Or Natalie Portman and Jessica Biel want to play with the kids at my hospital... whatev. But my favorite things to experience "off the record" are acoustic shows that lead singers of bands do just because they feel like singing... Back in December, I went to a benefit for Invisible Children where the lead singers of Switchfoot (Jon Foreman), Saves the Day (Chris Conley) and Thrice (such an amazing musician... Dustin Krensue) all played an acoustic set in a really intimate venue and it was incredible. Last night, I experienced amazing acoustic again when Ed Kowalczyk (lead singer of one of my all-time favorite bands Live) played at Hotel Cafe and it was unreal! Lightning crashes, overcome, dolphin's cry ...Ed played the perfect set and it was awesome. 

Super Bowl Sunday.

The best part of Sunday was leaving our S.P.I. meeting to cleverly serve cocktails at Carly's cousins' Super Bowl party that afternoon. When the jerseys the guys ordered us didn't get delivered in time, Carly and I had to throw together some impromptu outfits consisting of black and white stripes. Fashionably late (although we were there before kick-off!) to our first moonlighting gig, everyone (including the slightly older women) were super excited to have referees serve them drinks throughout the game ... combined, we made a total of $165 ... Nothing beats getting paid to watch commercials!! Creative juices still flowing from our previous meeting, we served red Cosmo shots for the Cardinals fans and black Rum & Coke shots for the Steelers fans. At half time, we even served touchdown tequila shots that really got the tip tray filled... Do I even have to say it ... okay, today was so LA!! =) {This is a picture from a Cardinals game I went to in Phoenix earlier in the year ... I didn't even know AZ had an NFL team at this point... who would of thought they would go on to play for the championship?!}

opening night.

I always knew Carly was a badass but she reached a new level of awesomeness at the opening night of her sketch comedy group's show "Girth, Wind & Fire!" Performing every Saturday night in a theatre in Hollywood, the 7 troupe members write and star in all their own (somewhat raunchy) hilarious sketches. Here is Carly giving her acceptance speech for winning the award for Best Girl on Girl scene in her outstanding performance in Drowning in B*tch Juice (like I said, kinda sorta raunchy). Love it!!! 

Whales and the Rossdales.

Carly and I had an awesome Sunday together hiking to Point Dume along the Pacific Coast in Malibu... I laughed when I returned home from the gym and Carly exclaimed "We're going whale watching!" She had found a trail and since January falls right in the middle of what season, she was excited at the chance to see a whale... I never thought it would happen until we saw this like 20 feet from shore... a whale. Waving to us none the less, swimming amongst a pod of dolphins! To top off the day, we later saw Gavin Rossdale, Gwen Stefani and their two kids shopping in the Malibu Country Mart.. today was definitely a day that could only happen if you lived in LA...

josh & katherine

Aren't they happiest?! Carly and I went to hotel cafe (our favorite venue in LA) to see Josh Kelly play last night! He is possibly the most talented musician ever. Hotel cafe is a really intimate venue with velvet curtains and cool lighting that keep it dark and personal. It was the perfect show when his wife (Katherine Hiegl) rocked out with all their friends to his songs because they're all about how amazing he thinks she is... so friggin cute!! =) 

cold. dead. sparkly.

This summer I was completely captivated by the Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer. Possibly one of the greatest love stories of all time, the hopeless romantic I have accepted I am was dying to be bitten by a vampire and experience that forbidden love that tempted Bella throughout the series. I am currently searching for a man as dreamy as Edward: cold, dead and sparkly. Where do you find a guy willing to give his life to protect the one he loves? Begs to spend the rest of your life with you? Carly and I set out to find him on the red carpet of the Twilight premiere Monday night where we saw all the cast of the movie which comes out this Friday. 

"Edward"

Jacob

Alice

Jocelyn and Carly

Carlisle and his wife, Jenny Garth

If you could live for forever, what would you live for?

you know you live in LA when ...

I wish I could say that I knew my recently acquired personal trainer was going to be on the syndicated episode of Two and Half Men tonight because I was randomly channel surfing and recognized him in his short role as a detective but let's face it, I undoubtedly stalked him... but not in the conventional way.. you know... Facebook-- because the word convention is about as compatible with Los Angeles as I am with dating or driving or cooking or any other skills of domestication, really. While people in other parts of the country spend countless hours creeping through myspace pages and FB profiles, here in LA I have learned that the internet movie data base (imdb.com) is a lot more efficient in uncovering juicy details about new acquaintances met in and around Hollywood. While you won't find incredibly embarrassing videos of these new friends doing keg stands wearing a tutu in college, you will find a montage of head shots and them attending premieres. And while you won't find useless information like your activities, interests and favorite movies, you will find a list of all your favorite movies that they've had roles in. IMDB gives you just about as much sense of their character (more so in the literal sense as in what kind of roles they play... hot guy? Detective #3? Bodyguard 14? and not so much in the figurative sense... genuine? funny? romantic?) as any of the other leading stalking-enablers. For instance, when Carly had a coffee date with a working actor a few weeks back (http://carlyhallam.blogspot.com/2008/09/lesson-from-starbucks.html), it was imdb that gave us the (predate) knowledge that not only is he really good friends with Casper van Dien but he also attended Duke University on a full athletic scholarship where he earned a degree in Psychology. Oh ya, and he has a lead role on TNT's Saving Grace. It is imdb that informed me that my trainer was not only the Valedictorian of his class but also studied in the same acting class as Zach Braff at Northwestern University. Oh ya, and has appeared on hit TV shows like Cold Case, Reno 911! and Zoey 101. You know you live in LA when you stalk the people in your life on movie databases... 

unreal.

The last time Carly and I were on a double decker bus together, not only did we have much longer hair but we were also galavanting through the streets of London. Our hop on-hop off tour took us to the historic Big Ben,  for fish and chips on Carnegie Street and to the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Last night we boarded another double decker but this time it was chartered by a friend of a friend of a friend and turned into a pub crawl.. or more appropriately pub ride. The sights this tour bus frequented were the historic Cabo Cantina, margaritas at The Pink Taco, and schmoozing of the guards, I mean bouncers, at Red Rock.  While these are not national monuments, last night was definitely monumental. Much like the bus in London, I also didn't know any one of the 75 people that were along for the ride but this random group of twenty-somethings instantly became my new best friends as we stumbled on and stumbled off at local hot spots all around LA. I repeatedly had to ask myself throughout the night if it was really happening but after dining with James Denton in NoHo Friday night, eating breakfast with the Beckham sons Saturday morning in Beverly Hills and grocery shopping with Jared Leto at our local grocery store Sunday night, I've officially decided life in Hollywood just can't possibly be real.

Celebration of Babies

When I first began the job search in the LA area, I contacted a woman from the March of Dimes who was familiar with the NICUs in this area. She recommended CHLA to me and because I absolutely love my job, I feel indebted to her. To begin paying her back for finding my "dream job," if you will, I volunteered last weekend at the Celebration of Babies for MOD. Held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, it was a fabulously fun event! Beginning with a silent auction of possibly the cutest baby accessories ever and little shops set up by all the high-end baby boutiques in this area, my job was to register all the 300 guests ... some of which you may know (including Jennie Garth, the Master of Ceremonies, pictured above). Also in attendance was Melissa Joan Hart, Jodie Sweedin, and Kellie Martin and a few other random celebrities. Once the live auction began, my job was to swipe all the black American Express cards to charge everyone for their purchases... All together, we raised over $200,000 for premature babies! It was a fabulous day! =)

So You Think You Can Dance!

Carly's love for dance got me hooked on the show So You Think You Can Dance! 2 summers ago when I was trapped in Gainesville taking care of psych patients and she was in LA taking care of celebrities needs at Last Call. She called me raving every week and looking for a mindless escape from the nursing school summer from hell, I decided to see what all the hype was about. Finding ourselves a million miles away from each other again this summer, SYTYCD became the only constant in our lives, yet again. It gave two unemployed college grads something to look forward to every Tuesday and Wednesday night and because Carly is awesome.. she surprised me with tickets to their live tour at the Nokia Theatre LA Live (where the Emmys were just filmed) for my birthday!! My bday present became even more exciting when her boss (who knows someone at FOX, because everyone knows someone in this town) got us backstage passes to meet the entire cast! Probably the highlight of my night was when we happened upon Adam Shankman (one of the judges) canoodling by the bar with Lance Bass, former member of NSYNC. When we interrupted their lovefest and took this picture with the two of them, Adam snickered and said "2 girls, 2 gays. How funny."