Birthday..Thanksgiving..Texas..Andee's visit

It's been a busy couple of months to say the least. Tonight its pouring down rain and cold (can you imagine?) here in California so I figured why not sit down an update the blog.

This past Sunday was my 27th birthday. I had mixed emotions due to the fact I was not going to celebrate it in Texas with my family and friends there. However, my friend Jessica threw me a wonderful dinner party at an Italian restaurant called Alessio. It's located about 20 minutes north of Malibu off the 101. There were about 11 people there....a small but great group of people. The restaurant has a really cozy atmosphere and even a fireplace! The food was amazing. I had a caesar salad and this broccoli, chicken, and pesto dish that was to die for. Probably the show stopper of the night was the dessert plate they brought. Usually the birthday honoree gets a piece of whatever they have handy, but management brought out a turkey sized platter with two pieces of apple strudel, several scoops of vanilla ice cream, one piece of bread pudding and a chocolate mocha mouse in a chocolate Easter egg shell topped with berries. There was enough for everyone and then some! I wish you all could have been there to help me finish it off.

Here is a picture of the group that night....I love these guys!!

The Friday night before my birthday, my friends Jeni and Jeremy Eckman had a Christmas party at their house that included cookie decorating, gingerbread house making, a dance off, and a sock exchange. A fun time was had by all. In the sock exchange I received a Superman ski cap (pictured below.) Here are a few pictures from that night:

The cookies we decorated:
The gingerbread house that was made:

My friend Jeni (the host):

My friend Jessica (who has an amazing singing voice):

The Superman ski cap that I will be rocking out in Colorado next week:

A picture of the group:

Over Thanksgiving I flew back to Texas and the first night I got to see my sorority sister Stephanie who I hadn't seen in years. She currently works and lives in Houston. We had dinner at Escalante's in Highland Village and it was delicious. Stephanie took over my position as Standards Advisor for ADPi in College Station. Here is a snap shot we took at the end of the night.

My mom threw me a small family birthday celebration since I couldn't be there on the 16th. I walked into the dining room and was shocked to see all of this set up. It felt very strange celebrating in November, but what ya gonna do? ;)


I also got to swing into College Station for about a day. It's always good to be back there and see friends (and their babies) I left just six months prior..... has it really been six months?

Holding Madeleine (Susan's little girl):

Holding Reese (Mindy's little boy):

Susan, Lona, Mindy and I at my favorite BCS restaurant.....La Bodega!!

I spent the last couple of hours in town at my friend Amanda's house and then we went over to her sister-in-law Sabrina's for several games of Cranium....we stayed up until about 3 in the morning-it was so much fun! Amanda let me crash in her awesome and newly decorated guest bedroom.

In mid-October my sister and her friend Johnny came to visit me for a couple of days. We had a really great time and it was so good to have Andee back out here. Despite not being able to show them Malibu due to the fires, I think they had a memorable time.

Andee and I at the Getty Museum:

A shot overlooking LA from the Getty Museum....isn't it just gorgeous?

Mr. Bones Pumpkin patch is in West Hollywood. All the celebs (including Seal and Heidi Klum who were recently photographed at Mr. Bones) take their children here, but sadly we didn't see any.
A pic of Andee with her favorite pumpkin:

And me with mine.....

Instead of going to Malibu for beach day we drove down to the OC to check out Laguna Beach....it did not disappoint!

We ate a posh, celebrity-owned restaurant called the "Geisha House". Johnny is the only one who ordered sushi...Andee ordered chicken and I had salmon....it was very good but we had to wait for what seemed like forever, even with reservations!

At the beginning of October my sorority sister Erin came out here to visit another sorority sister whose family lives in Orange County. I met up with Erin in Beverly Hills and we ate lunch at Nate N' Al's famous deli. It was so great seeing not only a familiar Texas face, but an ADPi no less! The only celeb I have seen since I last blogged was Craig T. Nelson (from the show Coach.) I sang in the choir at the Malibu Presbyterian church (where he is a member) two Sundays ago and they were having trouble lighting the advent candle, so Craig T. stands up and offers his lighter to the little girl. The congregation laughed and I just thought to myself "how bout them apples." He was there with his wife and they sat on about the 5th row back. I can't believe he watched me sing! :)


Even though I haven't seen many A-list celebs doesn't mean my friends haven't.....

• Danna sat next to Dennis Quaid at Casa Escobar during lunch (a little Mexican food joint here in Malibu)
  
  
• Gail sat next to Julia Roberts and her daughter while at the beauty salon here in Malibu last Saturday



• My friend Eryn saw Britney Spears on the Pepperdine campus trying to escape the Paparazzi
  
  

I am heading back to Texas for Christmas break on Saturday morning bright and early (5:45am flight.) From Sugar Land, we are driving up to Dallas on the 24th to spend Christmas with my sister and then on the 25th we are driving to Divide, Colorado where my mom has rented a cabin for the week. My sister will fly out the night of the 27th to meet us since she has to work the two days after Christmas (gotta love life in retail.) We are even bringing our dog Toby on this journey. I can't wait! New Years Eve will most likely be spent in Houston celebrating with friends.

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during the past two fires here. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Years if I don't see you before then.

Much love,

Ro

Celebrity Catwalk, Pinkberry and More

Hi all-sorry it’s been so long since my last update….here I go!

My friend Haley and I went to see a showing of Mary Poppins in Malibu Bluffs park where Dick Van Dyke opened the night storytelling his experience working on the movie set and also answered questions from the audience. It was shown on this huge screen while we sat on blankets underneath the stars:

Dick answering questions from the audience:

One of the other highlights over the past two months was going to the Celebrity Catwalk at the Hollywood Highlands center (picture below) with my friend Rachel.

Rachel and I were buddies in high school through choir at Clements and she recently moved out here to follow her dreams in the music industry. We re-connected through facebook and I was able to drag her with me to this event starting late for a Thursday night. Here is a picture taken of Rachel and I at the club shortly after we arrived:


The Celebrity Catwalk is a fashion show where proceeds go to local animal shelters. I was excited because Aubrey O’Day (from P.Diddy’s making the band 3) was there. She is the lead singer of the group Danity Kane that I love rocking out to. Other celebs that I was excited to see there include: Kim Kardashian (pictured with Aubrey and a socialite) Bobby Trendy (Anna Nicole Smith’s former stylist), David Hasselhoff (his daughter was one of the models in the show, so he was just a member of the audience) Jenna Jameson (former adult film star), and Kendra Wilkinson (Hugh Hefner’s sporty girlfriend). And yes, these pictures were taken from my very own camera!

Aubrey O'Day and Kim Kardashian

Bobby Trendy

David Hasselhoff

Jenna Jameson

Kendra Wilkinson

Rachel and I grabbed sandwiches at Johnny Rockets prior to the event starting and walked in the doors at 10 till 8:00pm. As the bouncers were checking our bags-every single pen in my purse (and some of them being my favorite) was taken away permanently, being thrown in a stack of other dangerous items such as perfumes. Heaven forbid we smell good and get a few autographs…at least cameras were allowed!

So we head to the bar after glancing around and I order a gin and tonic, and Rachel grabs a rum and diet coke (both costing $6 each). We stand in front of the end of the runway, thinking its going to be a great spot to stand. The place starts filling up, and I am snapping shots of Bobby Trendy and David Hasselhoff, trying to look cool while standing in place grooving to the music, holding my drink, purse and camera. The show started about 45 minutes later and right as the models were about to walk out-what seem liked hundreds of media pile up right in front of us with their big cameras and push everyone else out of the way. I still was able to see all the models and catch the pictures you saw above. After about an hour our feet were tired (I should have worn my crocs) and we headed home.

About two weeks later my friend Eryn (who is just as **I’m not going to say obsessed** interested in celebrity spotting and gossip as I am) and I went on a search for the Polaroid beach house. Now, for those of you who do not watch E! news or get your daily updates from perezhilton.com I will tell you what this is. Polaroid decided for the past couple of years to rent a beach house in Malibu where celebs can show up to eat and drink all they want for free while snapping photos of themselves to capture the indulgent moments of their visits. Paris Hilton lives just a few doors down, so she is over there quite often and so are people like Adrian Grenier, (from the HBO show Entourage) Jeremy Piven, and Matthew McConaughey. Everything from movie release parties, fashion shows, 4th of July parties, celeb birthday parties, etc. are held here on a daily basis. If you pass by Ralph’s (the only grocery store in Malibu) you can see the back side of the PBH where there is valet parking every single day of the week, along with Mac trucks for setting up catering, lighting, etc.

Now back to my story…Eryn and I were about 80% sure that the Polaroid Beach House was on Carbon Beach (home of Leonardo Di Caprio, Jennifer Aniston) so that’s where we spent about four hours walking up and down looking for this house. I should mention at the time of our journey we didn’t know the beach house was behind Ralph’s which is NOT on Carbon beach. Anyway, one of the highlights of our amazing beach workout was seeing and actually speaking to Michelle Rodriguez (from Lost, the movies Blue Crush, Fast and Furious). As Eryn and I were walking back towards our car heading north on the beach, we walk past Michelle who was in a yellow bikini and playing with her dog.

Eryn didn’t recognize her and thought she was some surfer girl with a great body but I knew who she was immediately! Her dog had run right in front of us so she goes “im sorry about that” and we go “oh, it’s OK” while attempting to hold back huge smiles on our faces. Right as we pass Michelle and dog I turn to Eryn and say, “do you know who that was? It’s Michelle Rodriguez”. As she looks back over her shoulder a paparazzi runs over to Michelle to take her picture. She immediately jogs back up the house. The next day, sure enough the below picture of Michelle was posted on perezhilton.com. It was pretty cool to see that knowing we were about 20 feet away!

Prior to actually seeing Michelle, we spotted a beach house with about 15 papparazzi just 100 feet away under umbrellas snapping photos like mad. At the house, I would say there were 20 people lounging outside- having a good time, but the only person I recognized as we casually strolled by twice was Jon Favreau (from the movies Swingers, The Break Up, Wimbledon).

Upon seeing him, I thought to myself “surely they are not all here for this guy”. Later on we heard from a lady who either lives on or frequents the beach that Naomi Watts was sitting outside the house but I could not find her in the crowd.

Pulling up perezhilton.com later on, I saw that Vince Vaungh was hanging out at the same house later that day. Our four hour workout walking up and down Carbon Beach was not a total wash. The water is crystal clear from the minute you put your feet in, so you truly feel like you are in Cancun when you arrive.

We also spotted the back side of the Silver Spoon house, which basically serves the same purpose as the Polaroid beach house. I snapped a shot of the Silver Spoon land rover as we were walking back to our car (picture shown below-check out license plate).

Another cool LA thing my friend Jessica and I tried was the new kinda-like-but not-frozen yogurt craze called PinkBerry. They almost look like Jamba Juice stores but we went to a kiosk in a local mall. People line up in droves for this stuff, just like they do for those Sprinkles cupcakes I adore. Now, I must admit that some people are skeptical about what exactly PinkBerry is made of and according to California law it doesn’t have enough bacteria cultures per ounce (sounds yummy, right?) to be called frozen yogurt. It’s got tons of sugar but if you want to try something unique I would recommend it.

According to wikipedia: “The tart, frozen dessert has a groupie-like following who sometimes refer to it as ‘Crackberry’. The company acknowledges its cult-like following by maintaining a ‘groupie corner’ on its website”. There are two flavors: regular and green tea. I sampled both and ended up getting the regular flavor, which I honestly cannot tell you what it tastes like for all the money in the world, but it was good. I topped it off with fresh kiwi fruit, but there are about 15 cut-fresh, on site fruit toppings for one to choose from along with kid cereals such as Captain Crunch and Fruity/Coco Pebbles. If you want to read more, check out their official website at: http://www.pinkberry.com/html/pbmain.php. Due to the high amount of sugar its obviously not something you want to eat daily-but a unique tasty treat that if one has access to, should try.

My roommate Danna got here from Qatar earlier this month and she and I have been having a blast hanging out and living in her RV at the Malibu RV park where Matthew McConaughey keeps his Air Stream and lives when he is in the area. You can clearly see the Pacific Ocean from our spot and it is just amazing……our 5 minute commute to work isn’t bad either!!!

One of two note worthy adventures was going to an indoor shooting range for the first time where I got to shoot a 22. Not only was the shooting range fun, but I was hitting the targets, amazing I know. I liked the 22 because it had very little kickback and was easy to handle. Below is a picture of Danna and I wearing our ear shields. We had gone to an Aggie Game watching party in Manhattan Beach earlier that day-that's why we are in maroon. I was shocked that we were not given bullet proof vests, but I guess that’s the chance you have to take when you step in the front door, and normal procedure according to some of my other friends who frequent shooting ranges in Texas.

The other adventure was going to my first Dodger’s game! We got there at about the 5th inning (we got lost and drove 40 minutes out of our way but finally made it). This was just enough time to order a Dodger dog (the stadium’s famously long and delicious hot dog) and watch the Dodgers beat the Padres. We managed to sit in front of three of the most obnoxious Dodger fans in the stadium, but we had a good time. EVERYONE there was in Dodger garb-it was like being at Kyle Field for a home football game, but instead of maroon, the color of the evening was royal blue.

I have seen quite a few movies in the past two months and surprisingly they are all entertaining and I highly recommend them:

Bourne Ultimatum-the best one of the Bourne Trilogy and a must see:

Stardust-is a mystical love story with Michelle Phieffer, Claire Danes and Robert De Niro:


3:10 to Yuma-a great Western shoot-em-out movie with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale:



Eastern Promises-a graphic story of a young Russian girl who gets caught up in the Russian mob in London, starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen:


I should mention that over Labor Day weekend I traveled back to College Station, had a wonderful time, and will write about it in another blog. I am waiting for pictures from a friend of mine because the queen of taking photos left her camera in LA when packing for Texas.

One thing I am looking forward to (other than seeing Daniel Baldwin later today, since Danna has joined his softball team) is having my sister Andrea and her friend Johnny come visit for the weekend mid-October! I can’t wait!!!

That’s all for now…love, peace and chicken grease (taken from one of my student workers). Please drop me a line to let me know how you are doing-I love hearing from everyone.

More Celeb Sightings and The Family Visit

Hi Friends!

I guess I should start off with my recent celebrity sightings....last Sunday afternoon I watched Daniel Baldwin play softball at Malibu Bluffs park. My friends Jen and Kerri are on a city league softball team and Daniel (or DB as his teammates called him) happens to be their pitcher. I had gone with Jen to look for couches the day before. When she mentioned she had a game the next day and that Daniel would be there, I thought I would pop by. It was really cool seeing a celeb do something "normal" without photographers around. The mother of his unborn child (the former chef at the Malibu rehab facility he was recently staying in) was also there, lounging on the grass beside the field. In between innings he would go lay next to her, putting his head on her stomach. It was really sweet. Today, Tammy and I went to the Malibu Arts Festival, which is a huge craft show with photographers, artists, sculptors, food vendors, etc. I didn't see anything I couldn't live without, however I did see Drew Lachey (Nick's brother), his wife and child walking by. Drew and Leah were both in sunglasses and are a lot shorter in person.

Now onto the family visit. My entire family (mom, dad, granny, and Andee) minus Toby arrived in Los Angeles on a Thursday morning and headed straight to Venice beach and Hollywood boulevard while I was at work. Around 4pm, they made their way to campus and got to see my office, get a few Pepperdine t-shirts and hats, and got a glimpse of the breath-taking view of the Pacific.

After I got off work, we headed to Duke's barefoot bar and chowed down on grilled chicken sandwiches, fish and chips, and some fruity drink concoctions. We were able to snab a table outside that looked right onto the ocean. They were really tired, so after dinner mom, dad, and granmy headed back to the hotel and Andee stayed with me. I took Andee to Ralph's hoping to see a celeb but unfortunately we didn't there. We then headed to the Malibu Country Mart and got some iced tea at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (they are everywhere here) and I showed her the unique shops and where Nobu was (a hot spot for Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox and other local celebs who like expensive sushi). While walking back towards my car we saw Paul Rudd playing with his son in the little playground found smack-dab in the middle of the Country Mart. All of the playground pictures you see in US Weekly or OK magazine are taken here.

Friday was Disneyland....it was so much fun, however I must say that I like Disney World better because you feel like you are at a resort in Florida more so than you do here in Cali. We rode almost all the kiddie rides (my back can't handle much more) and then Andee and Dad rode Space Mountain. My favorite rides were Peter Pan, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and meeting Mickey Mouse (45 minutes in line for that one). We had started our day at Disney around 11:30am and by about 6:00pm we were spent. We stopped at a Red Robin (a West Coast restaurant that has a diner feel) on the way home and called it a night.

Saturday we hit the wineries....that was a really unique experience. We drove up PCH and the 101 to the Santa Barbara wine country....more specifically to a city called Los Olivos (where Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch is). Our first winery was the Firestone winery owned by Andrew Firestone's family (yes the tire company and of the show the Bachelor). The winery had little stations set up in a large room, each showcasing five to six different wines (whites and reds) for you to taste. You pay $5-$7 dollars per winery (this includes a keepsake glass and the tastings). They give you a list of what you are trying and a little description of each. Firestone also owns Curtis winery so we paid $10 which included the glass and wine at both places. Firestone also had samples of their jalapeño mustard and merlot chocolate dip to try with pretzels which was a real treat.

After about two full glasses worth of tastings, we drove down to the Curtis winery where I tasted (hands down) the best wine ever made. I am a really big sweet wine (or fruit forward) fan....anything labeled a Reisling or dessert wine, I know I will like. This wine was called a 2005 Late Harvest Viognier and was mouth watering delicious....super sweet. At $35 a bottle for about three glasses worth, I passed but will definitely buy a bottle at some point in my life. We stopped at two more wineries after that and also spent two hours at a local casino playing slot machines...no big winnings here but it was fun. After the casino we were starving and hit up an In and Out Burger in Ventura. Everyone loved it just as much as I do. It's definitely worth the hype in my opinion.

Sunday we headed to Beverly Hills to check out Kitson (a very trendy expensive shop of t-shirts, jeans, and trinket type things). After about 30 minutes in Kitson, Andee picked up a cute makeup bag and we headed to Sprinkles cupcakes. Dad, granny and I tried milk chocolate, Andee got a red velvet one and mom had a carrot cake. No one was disappointed. We also go two extra to share (vanilla and chocolate coconut). My favorites to this day are peanut butter chip and vanilla. Those of you in the Dallas area- check out your local Sprinkles (they are selling a limited edition cherry flavor until August 5th) and the Houston area will be getting a franchise soon according to their website. The picture below is a picture I took in front of Kitson and it says "Kitson Welcomes the Beckhams to Los Angeles".

After Sprinkles, we headed to the Grove/Farmer's Market for some pizza and shopping. We also took in a movie (License to Wed) at the Grove theater. I thought the movie was OK-but not as funny as I thought it would be. One nice thing about the theater, were the all you could drink self-serving soda fountain machines (I have given up sodas since then, going on 10 days and doing excellent). Andee and I had Subway for dinner back in Malibu and then stopped at the local frozen yogurt store called Malibu Yogurt (Malibu Yo). One would think Malibu Yo was this amazing place but in actuality its just the only ice cream/yogurt shop within a 30 mile radius. I wasn't impressed at all with the chocolate flavor I had the first time, but this time with Andee I got a coffee flavor that was pretty good and I am a fan again.

Monday was beach day and of course it was cloudy. We laid on a couple of towels on the shores of Zuma and watched surfers, junior life guards in training and a large number of people that didn't have to work that day frolic in the ocean and sand. After changing, the family headed back to the airport for the 3-hour flight back home. I spent the rest of that day doing laundry, napping, and at the chiropractor because one of the rides at Disneyland ended up being a little more jarring than I had thought. It was really hard to see them all leave but we got a lot done in a short amount of time and everyone had a blast.

I can't believe I have been here for almost three months....the summer has gone by so fast and I am really enjoying being out here. On a side note, I saw the movie Hairspray last week (Pepperdine hosted it again) and it was wonderful-you must go see it. We had a choice of either seeing Harry Potter or Hairspray and of course I chose the musical.

Also, the Beckhams have now moved into their Beverly Hills pad and are the new "IT" couple...hopefully they will make their way to the 'Bu so I can blog about it! ;) I really want to go to an LA Galaxy game (the team David plays for) and also check out a Dodger's game at some point.

Thanks for reading....and I hope to hear from you all soon!

xoxo
Ro