Music Video Time

As some of you know, last year, the day after Christmas, I drove to Pennsylvania to help with a music video.  It was released today!  I like the director's cut because it shows more of the story, but I'll also post just the short music video.  Any time you see a red dress running around a cold, rainy cornfield, that's ME!  And you may recognize one of the orderlies.  It's my roommate Corey.

Committed by One-Eyed Doll:

Cupcake ATM video

Here it finally is, the cupcake ATM in action.  The beginning is a little weird because I had the camera vertical at first, but I flipped in on my computer.  This is my first time uploading a video, so hopefully it works.

Venice Beach & Santa Monica

Pics from my first trip to Venice Beach and Santa Monica.  More pics will eventually be posted to Facebook at some point.

Venice Beach

Waves

Wave crashing over the rocks

Looking at Venice from the shore

Stuff growing under a pier that look like claws

Corey under the pier

Wandered down the beach towards LAX

Crazy apartments and more beach

Waves!!!

Sunset :)

Corey and I each found an intact sand dollar, don't worry, nothing living inside

Palm silhouettes

The moon!

Third floor of the mall in Santa Monica.  We ate dinner outside.

Santa Monica Pier

Ferris wheel

Hotel California

Breakfast

Mmm...  I like having time for breakfast in the morning :)

Scrambles Eggs & Oatmeal w/Cinnamon, Honey and Granny Smith Apple

I have a lot of pictures from Venice Beach and Santa Monica, but I also have a lot to do so it may be a while.

Adventures in the Fabric District

On Monday, Corey, Grant and I went to check out the Fabric/Fashion District in downtown LA.  It's literally blocks of fabric sellers!  They line both sides of some streets, and they have fabric spilling out onto the sidewalks.  I wish I could have gotten a picture or something.  If you do a google image search for la fabric district you can kind of get an idea of what it's like.  It was so overwhelming at first that I couldn't even remember the things I should have been looking for until we were half way through.  There was one store we'd heard about that sells fabric for $2.50 a pound.  We found it, and Grant ended up getting all of the fabric he still needed for his Halloween costume.  In addition to fabric, there are stores selling buttons, beads, trims, rhinestones, and every thing you could possibly need for sewing, from thread and needles, to rulers and wax markers.  I'm pretty sure some of the places we passed fix machines as well.  Now I know where to go for all of my sewing needs.

We also walked past a lot of clothing stores.  They have really nice suits and fancy dresses with matching hats.  I don't know about the dresses, but the suits were insanely reasonably priced for the quality.  Grant decided to check out one of the stores for the green bowler derby he needed for his costume.  It found one in the right color, but not the right size.  So, the guy had him pay for it, then sent us a couple of blocks down the street to the warehouse to get the right size.

This is where all of you concerned about my safety should stop reading.  But because I've written that disclaimer, you're probably going to read anyway.  Don't worry, we were perfectly safe, it just sounds scarier than it actually was.

So we walk down the street with the address and phone number the guy gave Grant.  He told him it's not another store, it's the warehouse, so when we got the the address and there was just a closed gate between two stores I wasn't surprised.  Grant asked a guy sitting outside one of the stores about the address.  He told him to go around the corner to the back ally.  Now, I know what you're thinking, sketchy, dark, back allyway where people get murdered.  It was actually very sunny and wide, and people's nice cars were parked back there.  It was a little dirty, but I was more afraid we'd get yelled at for messing around back there.  We found the address but there was no door, just a freight elevator, so Grant called the number.  They said to go up the flight of stairs to the right because they were on the second floor.  So now we're going in some crazy back entrance off the back ally.  I jokingly asked Corey if they wanted me to wait downstairs so I can call 911 if they try to murder them.

It actually wasn't too bad.  It was a room packed FULL of suits, vests, shirts, etc with a few desks and a hallway leading to what I'm assuming is an even bigger back room.  There were 2 ladies working at desks, one dealing with people one the phone, one doing something on the computer, and some guys moving around stacks of clothes.  The main lady offered us a seat on the couch (which was covered in clothes) and sent a guy down the back hall to find the hat.  So Grant is now the owner of a large, forest green, bowler derby.

It was getting late and we were starting to get hungry, so while we were waiting Corey looked up places to eat on his phone.  He decided he needed to take us to King Taco.  It was only a few blocks away on the map, but it felt like we walked forever.  We also started getting away from the really "downtowny" part of downtown.  This is where I joked that Corey was now going to get us murdered (again, though, it wasn't actually that bad, I've seen worse parts of Grand Rapids).  So we made it to King Taco, and I had a pretty awesome quesadilla for $2.99 :)

On the walk back, I kept seeing these random signs, so I finally took a picture.

Orange Mushroom?

Someday I will understand what this means. I think it has something to do with the metro line that runs there.

Tuesday night, Corey was looking up doughnut places near by.  He came across reviews for Big Jim's Donuts.  They're open 24 hours, and only about a mile and a 1/2 from us.  So we went to check it out.  Long story short, the donuts are awesome and extremely reasonably priced.  I don't have a picture of the cinnamon twist because we ate it in the car on the drive back but here are the rest of them:

Apple AND Cinnamon inside, with a crispy, sugary outside coating.

Custard filled and something Maple

 We'll have to go back sometime early in the morning when things are fresh backed and they have more.

Lastly, I leave you with Tuesday night's dinner, Barilla Ditalini Soup w/Barley & Potato.

Cupcake ATMs and Spaceships

So far the most viewed blogs of mine have been pictures of my apartment.  I guess I'll have to start taking way more photos wherever I go.  This post has quite a few pictures, but you're also going to get a lot of my talking about what I've been up to (which you can skip over if you just want to look at pictures). 

Friday afternoon we ended up going to the place Corey had lunch at while doing background acting.  It's called Native Foods and it's all vegan.  We went because between 3pm-6pm on Fridays, the nachos Corey had are half off.  We split those, along with a blackened "chicken" wrap they had on special that day, and because I started a rewards card, I got a free drink!  We stuffed ourselves on nachos, fries, and half of the wrap, and took the other half home.

You can't see it, but there are black beans and taco "meat" in there

In addition to blackened, the "chicken" also comes crispy or grilled

Afterwards, we made our way over to Beverly Hills!  That's where sprinkles is.  They have a cupcake store, the cupcake ATM I mentioned before, and they recently opened an ice cream store.   I got a red velvet cupcake from inside and Corey got a chocolate marshmallow cupcake from the ATM.  We took those home and ate malted chocolate ice cream in a red velvet cone from the ice cream store.

An ATM.  For cupcakes!!!

Corey with his ice cream and cupcake.

Marshmallow on the left, Red Velvet on the right

I took a video of the cupcake ATM in action that I'll have to see if I can post later.  To get home, we decided to go through the hills of Beverly Hills.  It was getting dark so we couldn't see a lot, but there were a lot of really nice houses.  It was also scary because the roads are super narrow and winding, there are sharp turns and no shoulder.  Did I mention it was getting dark?  At one point we turned down the wrong road, but we happened to find a scenic overlook.  My pictures aren't that great, but you could see city lights for miles and miles.  It was awesome!

 

This weekend, the Space Shuttle Endeavour has been making it's way from LAX to the California Science Center.  If you haven't heard about it, google it.  It's really cool.  There are some awesome pictures here.  Plus there are tons of videos on YouTube.  They removed trees (they're going to replant more), and took down street lights so it could fit down the streets. Saturday afternoon Corey and I went with our other roommate, Mary, to see the shuttle.  

On the way, we drove through Korea Town.  Mary used to live in the area.  It was such an interesting place.  If you didn't know any better, you'd think there was some sort of street fair going on, but I guess it's always like that.  There were tons on people out on the side walks, people in the park, people with stuff for sale lying out on the sidewalks, it was a super busy place.

We parked a couple of blocks away from the Shuttle route and walked to an intersection near the Science Center.  It was maybe...  6-6:30?  It wasn't supposed to be getting to the Science Center until 8-ish, but there were still a lot of people out.  We got a really good spot right in the front of the sidewalk though.  And we waited.  And waited.  Mary kept looking at updates on her phone.  It only moves 2mph, so we knew it was going to take a while. Here it was like a fair!  There were people selling food from carts.  Corey tried his first LA dog.  I sadly didn't get a picture.  It's a hotdog wrapped in bacon, topped with grilled peppers and onions.  Corey thought it was amazing, and he only paid $3 for it.  Mary said downtown around the bars she's paid as much as $6.  There were also people selling light up toys, space shuttle t-shirts, commemorative posters, etc.

Waiting in front of us was a boy who was roughly 2 with his mom and grandma.  At one point I looked down and he was staring up at me.  I smiled, waved, and said "Hi!"  His mom said something to him in Spanish, then she picked him up and he gave me a kiss on the cheek.  Then we motioned over to my roommate, Mary, and the mom walked him over to her and he gave her a kiss on the cheek.  It was a little weird, but super cute :)  

We'd been there over an hour and the updates kept saying it hadn't left the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza where it was supposed to stop for viewing for 30 minutes.  People walking by said they were 5 hours behind and it wasn't going to get to the Center until 1am.  A policeman on a bicycle with a bullhorn confirmed that later when he announced exactly that to the crowd waiting.  So we decided to drive closer to where it was.

Good thing we did, because we got there around 8, and it still hadn't moved.  We pushed through the crowd towards the front and got some awesome pictures.  After a while they started something up and we thought it was going to move.  Turns out they were just adjusting the wheels from wide to narrow to fit through the streets.  We waited, and waited, and waited, hoping to see it move.  But finally around 11 or so we decided it was time to head out.  Good thing we did because it sounds like it didn't start moving until 1:30am, and it didn't make it to the Center until 10:45am.

Removing a street light?

The Space Shuttle Endeavour from the front

 

"Hey, look!  It's a space ship!"

My other roommate Mary with the shuttle

Street light lying on the sidewalk

 And, lastly, I leave you with a picture of a pretty flower in my yard :)

Job hunting and catching up

It's thunderstorming! My roommate's poor little doggie is cowering in my closet. Why is this interesting? Apparently it never rains in Los Angeles. There is a rainy season sometime around Jan-March, but other than that it rarely rains. And because of which, I've been told by several people, everyone freaks out and doesn't drive/drives super slow. Which is funny to all of us from the mid-west because we're used to driving in tons of snow. Corey went out to meet with a contact out here, so he'll have to let me know what the other drivers on the road were like.

Anyways, it's been a long time since I last posted, sorry. Lots going on. Let's see if I can remember it all...

Corey did the background actor thing. He said they only needed him for a shot or 2 at the end, so he got paid to sit around playing cards and drinking tea for 8 hours. But if you watch Cougar Town, you might see him in the background somewhere in the pub :)

The job search is going slow. Partially because I have a bit of time before I NEED a job, so I've been being a little picky since I can. But give me another week and I may just start applying everywhere that's hiring and walking down the street handing my resume out to any store that will take them. It's also partially because I HATE making resumes and I'm never sure what to put on them. I now have a costume one, and a food service one, but a couple of jobs I want to apply for don't fit either of those resumes. One is at JoAnn Fabrics (it's receiving though, so they might take one look at 5'5" Melinda and not hire me) the other is a costume shop. That posting says “We are a year round costume shop that rents costumes for shows and plays to theatres and schools nationwide,” and “Sewing skills would be helpful.” For both of these I could use a resume that shows I have costume/sewing experience but also needs me to list my work experience. I haven't quite figured out how to merge the 2 yet :(

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that my roommate's friend from Thailand was here. One night they had some people over and she cooked a Thai meal for everyone. Almost everything has some sort of meat in it though, so I could only try a couple of things. However, I woke up the next morning to this:

She made me my own special little vegetarian dish :) It was super spicy, but good. My roommate's boyfriend has a time share in Las Vegas so the 3 of them spent the weekend there. Corey and I had Grant and his roommate over Friday night since we could have people over without worrying about keeping our roommate up.

I met up with my friend Christine last week! I've know her since First Grade!!! She lives in the LA area. I don't think I've seen her since high school! It was crazy. We had dinner at an awesome restaurant with lots of vegan and vegetarian foods. It's crazy what they have available out here! I had some delicious vegan carbonara pasta. It was also super awesome seeing Christine after all these years, and I'm sure we'll hang out a ton more now that we're in the same area. :)

This week I had dinner with my Uncle Pete that also lives in the area. I'm used to only seeing him maybe once a year, but he only lives about a mile and a half away, so I'll be seeing a lot more of him too. We went to another awesome vegan restaurant. This one was strictly vegan, and it was really good. It was weird seeing chicken, shrimp, beef and steak on the menu and having it all be made of soy or grain. I'm used to tofu being the only option. They must have been having a really slow night, or they're just super customer focused, because they filled our water cups up every couple of sips.  Lol.

Other than that, I've mostly been thrift store hunting with friends and job searching.

Friday Corey and I had planned to spend a day being touristy. We were going to eat at the vegan place Corey had lunch at while acting because they have awesome nachos that are half off on Fridays. Then we were going to go to Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier. I was FINALLY going to see my West coast, over the ocean, sunset. Plus, since it was kind of on the way, we were possibly going to stop by the cupcake ATM. Yes. There is an ATM that dispenses delicious cupcakes. I'd looked into this bakery before moving out here. They have a couple of locations and recently opened an ice cream shop. They were hiring! Unfortunately they're all a bit far away :( I was also going to buy some fun, stereotypical CA post cards to send people. BUT!!!!!!!! Tomorrow's supposed to be cold and possibly rainy :( We might still go get half off nachos because that place is closer by, but the beach may wait until Monday when it's a bit warmer.

More pics of my place

New city, new look!  My hair is red again, and it's getting really long.  Plus, I have bangs again for the first time since 5th grade!

Just kidding.  It's the wig I bought for Halloween.  I haven't decided how I'm going to style it yet though.
So far the pictures of my new place is the most "read" posting.  So, since you all like to look at pictures instead of reading about what I'm up to, here are a few more. :)  Also, I don't really have time to write a whole long post, and posting pictures is easy.  No pictures of my room yet because it's a mess and still not quite set up yet.

Blurry photo of the kitchen

Living room with couch

Boog likes the new couch

Boog on his perch

Stone stairs

Backyard of the complex, which is technically my front door