Tales of a Thirty-Something

journey

i have several stories from my travels--or as i like to call it "my journey across america."
so many that i don't know where to start.
like..
seriously.
i don't really like to give travel logs.
too boring.

so...i'll give you the condensed version.
i say "condensed" fully aware that i can be long-winded sometimes.
but..
here goes...

• chloe and i drove from utah to new york city, stopping in colorado springs, co (thanks to katie), tonganoxie, ks (thanks to jen, sungti & oliver), and cincinnati, oh (thanks to jenny & her super cute fam).

• the colorado mountains were gorgeous.
  
  

• the worst part was the colorado to kansas transition.

• kansas has a lot of jesus billboards.

• i saw fireflies in cincinati--my first firefly sighting ever. loved it.

• elk grove, wv is a funny little town with a dairy queen that only serves ice cream and hot dogs.

• pennsylvania has a lot of trees (reminded me of the village) and tunnels.

• new jersey has pretty parts (gasp!).
• attempting the lincoln tunnel on the friday before the 4th of july around 7pm was insane.
  
  

• spent a few days in nyc, helping chloe get settled (we installed her ac unit without any help...we rock).

• went to a yankees game with chloe, kelly and her bro matt.
  
  

• went on a match.com date (details soon...teaser: red lobster).

• finally went to the high line with kelly.
  
  

• stumbled on the sorcerer's apprentice world premier in times square and saw nicholas cage. too bad i don't like him at all or that would've been exciting.
  
  

• saw part of a movie in bryant park...people watching was what we mostly did. including see this guy who we think wanted people to recognize him because he kept standing up a lot.
  
  

• ate at the shake shack and got crumbs cupcakes.

• played 1, 2, 3 (bikers version) with kp in riverside park.

• watched the 4th of july fireworks by pier i off 72nd street on the hudson.
  
  

• saw american idiot on broadway (2nd row--woot! woot!) the same night as idina menzel & taye diggs.
  
  

• met up with my friends from 108th street for pinkberry.

• flew to burbank and hung out with my brothers & sisters in law.

• went on runs all over LA with drew for his work on the glades.

• sarah & i went to the tar pits, LACMA, eclipse, famous cupcakes and the coolest bookstore ever (not to mention, i felt my first earthquake ever when we were at her apt...crazy crap).
  
  
  
  

• saw in the heights at the pantages with sarah, drew & rachel. met lin manuel miranda. he was nicer this time.
  
  
  (blurry pic...sorry)

• drove down to san diego for my cousin's wedding (memorable drive...lots of singing).
  
  

• headed back to LA and went to church with my fam.

• sat in the burbank airport for way too long after a delayed flight.

• rerouted to las vegas...sat some more.

• home 2 hours later than i was supposed to get home. but home. at last.

it was great! but so glad to be home. in my bed.

the last few weeks

• drove across the country with chloe, staying with friends along the way
• spent a few days in steaming hot nyc
• saw a few celebs (namely idina menzel & taye digs)
• ate good food, saw fireworks, hung out with besties, and caught a show
• flew to the left coast
• went to in the heights and met (again...ish...) lin manuel miranda
• hung out with fam, saw eclipse, ate a lot of mcdonald's
• drove to san diego
• sitting on hotel bed, tired, and hoping i won't be a zombie at my cousin's wedding tomorrow

details to come...

thoughts from today

• i might have to make ron artest's song "champion's" my new theme song. i mean, don't get me wrong...i like queen being my family's theme song provider...but it's 2010!! gotta stay up with the times.

• schooooooool's out for summer...tomorrow. and not a moment too soon. probably my worst semester, grades wise, yet...i don't care. my apathetic-ness is my survival technique. as long as i pass...all is well. i'm awesome!

• cannot wait to get out of utah!! road tripping it to nyc next week with chloe. get to see friends on the way and friends in the city. just what i need!

• i get excited when famous people reply to my tweets (or at least they're famous to me). yes, i'm 12. but for some reason it just makes me feel cool! especially because i'm not! that happened twice today and i practically peed my pants. ask kelly. i nerdily emailed/called her about both.

 

• being on match.com is getting easier. i have plans to meet a few more guys which is good. so far, no solid leads but you never know. i'm not getting my hopes up about any of them because i can't do that to myself. so...we'll see.

• had a slight brush with the television industry today, helping my bro with something. it was exciting! part of me really wishes i could work in film/tv. maybe someday.

• saw killers with chloe and candice last night and much to my surprise, i actually enjoyed it! ha! it helped to go into it with low (or no) expectations. and come on...looking at ashton kutcher for an hour and a half ain't that bad. he's hot.

• having a yard sale this weekend. perfect time to work on my tan. and by "tan" i mean "burn." and by "work on" i mean "sit in the shade." yes, it's hot in utah but i'm a little scared to be back in nyc with the heat + humidty. ay yi yi.

• even though i won't get paid vacation, the two weeks off work sounds nice. i'm really looking forward to it. i need a vacation. or a really long road trip. with a few days in nyc. and a jaunt from east to the left coast. with a smaller road trip. and a quick flight home. yes...that sounds perf.

california : the wb

my older bro does tours at warner brothers (which my younger brother used to do) so naturally, i had to take his tour! luckily he was working monday morning so i got to go with my sister in laws, sarah & rachel, and we had a grand time. of course.



my bro, doing what he does best: talking about movie making. this is the new york street set used in many a movies.





true blood fans, does this look familiar? it's the exterior of merlotte's!!
i've only seen, like 2 episodes so this wasn't super special to me. but i'm sure it is to someone.





this house, i swear, is on an episode of gilmore when chris' dad dies and rory goes over with milk and cookies and then lorelai comes over with grown up milk and cookies. in reality, it's an office. there's a whole street of cool houses that are really offices. like this one:

(if you can't see it says "the mentalist writers" --this is where they work)



the art department where they paint large scale things. it's huge. and colorful. love it.



where they make things out of plaster. like the large oscar statues at the oscars.



me with said oscar. photo taken by my tour guide. aka my brother. he cut out my leg kicked up behind me. and it's blurry. i'm gong to apply for the official tour guide photographer so this doesn't happen to someone else.



the creepy, life-sized harry potter in the car museum part. i smell a nightmare coming on...it smells like wax.



a little blurry...but it's in the prop dept and it says "pretty little liars" on it. they're using the mirror in the show. i have no desire to watch the show BUT it's filmed in stars hollow so it has that going for them. we didn't get to go to stars hollow cause they were filming. boo.



the friends central perk set. it was relocated in it's entirety to a space just off the props dept. pretty cool. i've been here twice already.



the friends stage. and formerly where full house was filmed. all the good ones.

it's a great tour--i highly recommend it. and not just cause my bro works there. but if you do go, take his tour. he knows pretty much everything. it's awesome.

thus concludes my california trip. it was so good i didn't want to come home. sad.

california : the getty

i was so glad i got to go to the getty! it was about time.



















it is such a gorgeous museum. and the art was pretty good, too.
my fav part of museums is the museum store. sad, but true.

california : beachy

this is zuma beach in malibu. it was cold/windy with ginormous waves, but it was still really pretty.

we stopped here for yummy fish & chips. we ran into someone my brother & sis in law knew and she told us that after we left and she went in to order, that matthew mcconaughey was in line in front of her. we missed seeing him. shoooooot. i had even joked on our way into malibu that i hoped we would see him running on the beach with no shirt on. so close.

this was as close to lounging on the beach that i got. but it was still pretty awesome.

california : around

could've spent hours and hours at amoeba. will have to go back. for sure.

this is a billboard of the show my little bro is working on. he didn't know it was up and was so excited when we told him. luckily i snapped a pic of it. too cool. you should all watch it when it starts.



and my fav musical is coming to l.a.!!! it was so weird to see ith banners all around town. especially since i've met the guy who is on them. weird. but cool.

california : living

this is where i stayed. in the pool house. it was so great. if he put in a shower and a kitchenette...i'd move in.

a huge thanks to the other sarah champion and to wg for letting me stay there. it was awesome!

things i've been thinking about

1. it was really nice to have candice in town a few weeks ago. i miss having besties near me. we did fun stuff like eat cupcakes, go to movies and eat yummy food. twas great.

2. i never, ever, ever, ever have wanted to go to grad school but lately i've been thinking about it. but not in graphic design. something totally different. the wheels are turning...

3. i want to make a poster that says, "let it go!" and hang it on my wall. i need to let things go. but i need a reminder. this one is cute (from here):

4. my family is connected. in the weirdest ways. and i'll take any opportunity i can get to brag about my amazing, talented, smart family.

5. i am still sad that gilmore girls ended. you'd think i'd have gotten over it by now, but i'm not. and i want to marry max medina. maaaaax medina.

6. people feel the need to declare things. like, "i'm never going to do..." or "when i have kids i'm going to do..." but sometimes i think it's dangerous to declare things. often those things actually do come to pass. i'm trying to declare less, do more.

7. being in school is making me not like what i'm doing. which i'm sure is the same for other majors. hopefuly my break in july/august will help because i'd almost give anything to teleport into a different profession right now.

8. i need a mani pedi like it's nobody's business. cause it's not. don't you look at my nails. i just need to get off my keister and go get one.

9. i miss nyc so much it hurts. i wish that was some sort of understatement. but being in l.a. this weekend made me think of nyc and reminded me so much of what i missed.

10. i love mcdonald's chicken mcnuggets way more than i should. i'm scared to watch "food, inc" but i think i need to have a self intervention and make myself watch it.

11. i love this ad because i love magazines and don't want them to die:

and it made me tear up a little when i saw it because i have professors that keep saying, "print is dying!" and all i've wanted to do was work for a magazine. so, when i saw this, it made me happy.

12. sometimes i think, i don't ever want to get famous because there are pictures from my early years that i'd appreciate no one on earth ever seeing. luckily, i'm pretty sure they're safe in my scrapbooks.

13. i am so behind on some things but i know that i am and it's bugging the crap out of me. i just can't find the time to do them. like send out my once a month cd's to my friends. i am SO behind. and no one is really holding me to it except myself. but it's driving me crazy. this weekend i will do it.

14. i'm tired, but i'm finding a million reasons not to go to bed. i always do that. i'm crazy.

15. i want to go to england so bad. but i'm so nervous that i'd copy their accents like oprah does when she's talking to an english person. she can't help it. and i don't think i could either.