Final Blog Post

I'm sorry I haven't blogged for the past few days...being on the road is not condusive to writing regular updates. But I will still fill you in on the road trip home as my last entry to my Sweet Summer '09 blog.
Blair, Mel and I left early Friday morning headed to Fort Stockton, Texas. This means driving for 16 long, long hours. As we drove farther and farther from LA and then out of California I became more and more depressed. Luckily, I had my best girls and some rockin' tunes to help raise my spirits. We jammed to everything from old-school Brittany, N'SYNC, Backstreet, Spice Girls etc to recent stuff to musicals, Disney classics (my choice of course) and Weird Al. It made the butt-numbing drive a little more enjoyable. The only snafu was when Mel got pulled over but I name-dropped Ellen and got her out of the ticket. Yay for written warnings! Anyhow, I drove A LOT and it was exhausting but we stopped only for fast food and bathrooms and gas. It was very efficient though tiring. We made it all the way to Texas which was actually a cool drive. It went from hilly California to the desert of Arizona complete with cacti and tumbleweed to rocky New Mexico with cool plateau rock formations to the actually populated Texas. My favorite part of the day was the drive just past El Paso, TX. Never in my life I have seen so many stars in the sky. I felt like I was in a planetarium!! We saw planets (and I meant that to be plural) and more stars than I ever thought I'd see in the actual sky. I suddenly understood how the Native Americans actually came up with the animal shapes that became constellations. With that many stars...it's easy to make shapes. It was absolutely gorgeous. While that was the most beautiful part of the day, it wasn't the funniest. We had to go through border control (yes, we were that close to Mexico) and the officer asked us if we had any Mexicans hiding in our trunk. HA! I told him he could look if he wanted but I would hold him responsible for getting it shut again. He opted to trust the three white girls in the car piled with preppy Vera Bradley bags. I thought that wise. :)
Day two wasn't quite as long so that was a relief. We got in really late and up pretty early but despite the lack of sleep and questionable lodging, we were awake and on the road by 8am. Texas took a long time to get through btu we didn't stop for longer than minute until we got to New Orleans, LA. We parked there and got out to walk around and explore the city. We ate on the famous Canal Street next to a traditional blues club pumping out totally rad music. The food was delicious! I had fried alligator and jambalaya; I wanted to really experience the city. But better than the food was the live street performers all along Bourbon Street where we played tourist. They sounded liked professionals! A whole 8-person group of brass instruments having a great time playing music you could just tell they loved. It had real soul and people were just dancing in the street. New Orleans truly is a unique place and I loved the culture. Last night we stayed right outside of New Orleans in another questionable hotel (so questionable in fact than when my eye was red upon waking up we all thought I had pink eye...no worries, it was just my contact) However, we got to sleep in which was fantastic.
All that was left for today was an 8-hour trip. Split between 3 people, it was no problem after what we'd been used to. We rocked out to our music and chatted about the upcoming school year, friends, boys...you know the typical girl stuff. :) I ALMOST forgot about the fact that I miss my Ellen friends and LA terribly! They kindly reminded me by texting/calling me to tell me about the awesome day they were having showing their family and friends around LA. They both leave tomorrow though so at least then we can all comiserate together. I was also brutally reminded of how much I was going to miss Cali when we entered the state of Florida and found ourselves driving the remainder of the way through a tropical storm. Oh goody... I left beautiful, dry, sunny California for muggy, gross tropical storm-ridden Florida. Nonetheless, I am happy to report I am writing my final blog from the comfort of my childhood home in Tampa. I made it!
And with that, my blog, and my Sweet Summer '09 comes to an end. I hope you all (aka my parents and sister) enjoyed following my adventures in LA and with Ellen. I certainly have enjoyed living every moment of it. The only question left is...what on earth will I do to top this next summer?

Last Day In L.A.

All is done. I am officially homeward bound. After everything is over, one thing comes to my mind. THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH to my wonderful Mom and Dad who are the reason I was able to have this unbelievable summer. Yes, because they birthed me (supposedly...it's still a matter of discussion among the extended family) but more so because they financed me. :) And we all know, I'm not cheap. In all seriousness, this has been the most amazing summer of my life and I owe it to them being willing to help me live in LA for 3 months with no pay. Thank you so much for that and I love you both!
As for how I spent my final day in the city...it was a mixture of sad and happy. I packed all morning which was depressing but in the afternoon Blair, Mel and I went to Santa Monica Pier and Promenade. We walked along the pier with it's beautiful weather and took pictures and saw the street performers. Still, little things would remind me about missing Ellen and LA...such as Erin texting me she missed me or Dante texting me "Joke's over. You can come back now." I actuallly woke up this morning at 8:30am and freaked out because I thought I was late to work. Major bummer when I realized I had no work to go to haha. From the pier we got Pinkberry and went shopping along the promenade. It's probably the most reasonable prices I've seen in the entire city and I still couldn't afford anything haha. So much for coming back to Florida with a trendy new style! Still, we had a nice time and B and M got some cute stuff. For dinner we picked up Amy which was great since I wanted to spend time with her before I left, and went to the famous Ketchup restaurant. Blair picked it because it's featured on a lot of TV shows and films and it was a really rad place. They had 5 different flavored ketchups for these fancy fries and the food was delicious! Yum! :) We dropped Amy off at a work function then drove through Beverly Hills so they could see the houses that we will all (except Amy as she so eloquently pointed out) will only ever be able to dream about. They sure are beautiful! Who knows...maybe someday. ;) On the way home we went to the Griffith Observatory to see the stars and check out the earth and space exhibits because I love that place. The night wasn't really great for stargazing but our visit paid off for sure. The very last thing I did in LA was stand at the top of the Hollywood Hills looking out at the lights of the city. It was bright right up to the horizon and the beach. It was so gorgeous and the perfect way to end my summer.
It's hours later now and I'm still awake because I've been struggling, and I do mean S-T-R-U-G-G-L-I-N-G to pack my stuff and more importantly, pack my car. On the way here there were 2 people, not 3 so this has presented a HUGE challenge. Not to mention the enormous amount of Ellen gear I've accumulated over the course of my internship. I may be in a family of engineers but I don't think XXXX could complete this task. Let's just say, we'll be sitting on suitcases the whole 3 day trip back. It won't be pretty...or comfortable for that matter. Speak of 3 day trip, I don't know if we'll have internet access in the hotels along the way so if I don't blog...I am so sorry in advance. Dad, feel free to text me for a 5 minute update on my travels in the morning. Fair warning though...it'll mostly be a list of music we listened to or a description of the Texas desert we saw. Boring! The trip doesn't promise anything too exciting but at least I have my awesome friends Blair and Melanie to share it with! Now it's time to go to bed because we're starting bright and early in the morning. With that I say, "Goodbye Los Angeles, goodbye Hollywood, goodbye Ellen, and goodbye to a summer I will never, ever forget.

The Day I've Been Dreading (Warning: Long)

Today, was my very last, final, day at the coolest job on the planet. Never again will I say "Hi" to the security guard walking onto the Warner Brothers lot wearing my coveted Ellen badge. Never again will I tackle Erin at 9am in the Intern Office as a substitute for the coffee wake-up. Never again will the interns ambush Megan and Gabi with a dance party in their office. My summer of fun and frivolity has come to a tragic end. And I do mean tragic, because I am never going to have another experience quite like this one and I am so lucky that everything from the job to the people fell into place perfectly. For our last day, they didn't expect us to work too hard, so in typical Summer Interns '09 style, we tackled and finished 2 projects for HI and Website. Everyone was shocked which is even better because we left on a really high note. We also went to the fancier restaurant on lot, the Grill, for lunch to celebrate. But the highlight of the day wasn't the work or the meal, it was giving out our intern gifts. For the whole office, we bought 2 cookie cakes that read "Thank You! Love, The Interns" that everyone seemed to really appreciate. Most people's hearts are easily won by food so that was a good call. For Jeannie, the receptionist whom we have come to know very well and love tremendously, we made a picture frame that we all wrote messages on that contained a picture of all of us with her. She already has is hung up at the front desk for her, and everyone else to see every day. (See, we were strategic in our gifts...we picked ones that would keep people constantly reminded of our faces.) She loved it and was very grateful. But by far the coolest gift was the DVD we gave Megan and Gabi. It contained 2 music videos we secretly filmed and edited during off hours. One was to an original song (rap) that we wrote for them as an inside joke and the other was to "I Will Remember You" by Sara Mclaughlin. They LOVED it! Absolutely, LOVED it. No other interns had ever given them gifts before. There were tears and laughs (they were both super corny and hilarious) and they felt so special that we took the time to do this for them. It was totally worth the effort. We even made DVD case covers with pictures of us and burned copies for several of our closest friends around the office. Everyone thought we were hilarious which just confirms our summer-long reputation. :)
The rest of the afternoon we spent saying goodbye to everyone around the office. There was one common theme that they all separately reiterated...they loved us. Over and over again we heard how great we were and how they've never had interns that worked so hard or that they cared to actually get to know. So many people said they'd been working there years and never seen a better group or even bothered to learn the interns names. I don't know what's wrong with past interns but one thing's for certain...we made a really great impression. Even the big-wigs like Derek, Ed, Ross, Nicole, etc all took extra time out of their days to call us into their offices and tell us how much they appreciate what we've done all summer, how much we exceeded their expectations, how much better we were than past interns, how much they are going to miss us, and most importantly, how much they are looking forward to seeing us again when we graduate and get hired there. And they were so sincere and serious about that. Every single person we talked to practically assured us we were shoo-ins for any open position. They couldn't stress enough how great they thought we were. All along we thought we were just doing our best but we had no idea what an impact we'd made. We kept trying to thank them for the opportunity and teaching us and being so welcoming but they brushed that off to thank us for what we did. It seemed like a normal amount of work and effort to us but apparently we're unique in that respect. But unique is good...I know they will remember us in a very positive light. Basically, that means we did what we came to do. We made a good impression that equates to one giant Michael Jordan-sized foot in the door. When I hear the highest ranking staff members tell me they better get e-mail updates on my life once a month until I'm ready to get hired, I think one thing...mission accomplished.
After work (which involved some teary-eyed hugs and goodbyes) the interns, plus Blair and Melanie who had gone to Muscle Beach in Venice for the day, went to Menchie's one last time. Luckily, my favorite employees who know me were there so I got to bid them farewell. We hung out, reminisced about the summer, the laughs, the people at the office and the good times we had together. It was quite sweet and the perfect reflection session to end my internship. Unfortunately though, we had to eventually say our goodbyes. When I left Erin and Austin, the real depression set in. Erin says it's not "goodbye", it's "see you later", but I feel like that's just something you say to make yourself feel better. I still hope she's right. We've had too much silly, fun bonding time to not stay friends.
This whole experience has been the most incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I can't imagine no longer waking up to the people and job I love. I have had more fun than I ever dreamed possible and I will never forget the memories from my summer spent in LA. Even if I move back here and work at Ellen permanently, it won't be the same without the people who have become like family to me. I won't have the carefree attitude of an intern or the freedom to roam around the lot in golf carts, pick what department I want to work in, take days off to go to Disneyland, or take breaks to stalk celebs. This is an experience I can never relive and will never forget and I am going to miss it, and my Ellen family, terribly. That being said, I am certainly excited for a fantastic senior year at school. I'm living with my 3 best friends, I have a chair position in Cicerones, I'm an entertainment reporter for the TV station, I have my entertainment radio show, and I have very few difficult classes left which leaves room for easy electives and free time. It's going to be a blast and I really am looking forward to it. It's just hard to think that far ahead and not be sad right now. I feel like I'm leaving behind something I'll never get back, and in a way I am. I will never have this exact experience again, but I'm sure that when it's not so late at night with me deliriously tired and sentimental (as you can tell by my emotional, dramatic writing), I will be able to enjoy the memories I have and get ready to make new ones back at the best university in the country. I have one final day in Los Angeles, California then it's homeward bound. Gators...here I come!!
P.S. I will post the links to the intern videos once they are uploaded to Youtube so you can all enjoy our corniness. :)

Terrrriffic Tuesday!

Not that every Tuesday working at Ellen isn't terriffic, but today was a good one. Erin had missed work a few days so we were happy to have her back today. Today we did a lot of work for Human Interest. Much like going through the newspapers from the entire summer that we did last week, we're now going through the websites of all the big news shows as well as watching a lot of the morning and talk shows on TiVo from the past 2 months looking for stories we might want to book. It takes a while and is pretty tedious but when we're together it's fun. We also did some audience booking of course and hung out with the PAs. We were also looking through more Talented Kid submission videos which can be really entertaining.
After work, Erin, Austin and I met Amy, Blair and Melanie over at Stage 25 for a taping of my favorite comedy (and my sister's favorite show)...The Big Bang Theory!! I met a studio DJ in the beginning of the summer at the Bill Engvall tapings and kept in contact with him so since he was also doing the DJing for Big Bang, he got all 6 of us VIP seats! :) We were right in the center so we could see really well and it was so much fun! It was the first episode of their new season and it was hilarious, of course. I can't wait for the season to premiere because if the level of comedy for this episode is anything like the rest...this season's going to be fantastic. Erin, Amy and I all got pulled up to the front by the emcee to do audience participation things like dance contests (Amy), Bachelorette interviewing bachelors (me) and chicken farm animals (Erin). It was HILARIOUS! Hahahaha, I wish I had it all on recording because we were too funny. By the end, everyone in the audience knew our group from our dancing in the seats to our singing to our messing around with the emcee. Erin won me an autographed picture of the cast!! She gave it to me as thanks for getting the tickets which was so sweet of her! She knew how big of a fan I am. The taping went much longer than usual (almost 5 hours) because there were some make-up changes (I don't want to give anything away) so we were all really tired at the end and fading fast, but it was still a great show and we had a blast.
Tomorrow is the day I have been dreading since the first dance party in Megan and Gabi's office two months ago...my very last day as an intern with the Ellen Degeneres Show. I am so unbelieveably sad and I don't even want to go to bed because that means waking up on my last day. I love this job so much and even more, I love the interns so much. I can't imagine not seeing them every day. I am so excited to reveal our presents to Megan and Gabi tomorrow even though I wish the day would never come. We worked hard on them and I think they're pretty creative so I'm sure they are going to freak out. Apparently interns don't usually do cool stuff when they leave. All the better for us though...we'll stand out. We're all even wearing our Laugh.Dance.Intern. shirts we made in the beginning of the summer. We're going to take some pictures of us over at the stage for our own collection. We're also hoping to not work very hard and just talk to as many people as possible and enjoy each other's company. The office loves us so much I'm sure it won't be a problem. :)

Last Monday Ever

Today is a sad day. It was my last Monday ever as an intern at the Ellen show. Only 2 days left?? NOOOOO! Say it isn't so! I refuse to believe it. This morning I went to the airport (in rush hour traffic I might add which was horrific) to pick up Blair and Mel! Yay! I love having visitors! They dropped me off and work and went on their way to have a day sight-seeing in LA.
The interns spent the morning putting packets together and getting the conference room ready for the welcome back meeting. Today was the first day the entire staff and crew was back so they had a big meeting with Ellen. I got to see her again which is always cool but we were really busy and frazzled trying to get everything ready and getting the packets made and making sure titles and employees that had changed had the right information etc. Once that was over though, we could relax some and we went to work for Audience. I really love the kids down there...too funny! We broke for lunch and then split up for the afternoon between Audience, Research and Human Interest...the three departments who are fighting over us. The afternoon seemed to go by really fast and we took some time to walk around Stage 18 looking for celebs. No luck but Austin did see Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki from The Big Bang Theory while running an errand.
After work, Blair and Mel met me at the lot to get my patented Hilary's Personal WB Lot Tour. They spent the day going to Disneyland, Rodeo Drive, shopping and to Crumbs cupcakes. I took them through the backlot, the Gilmore Girls set (which Mel really loved), the Eastwick set, by some stages, and around the lot. Then we of course went through the Ellen office and the Ellen stage taking pictures the whole way. :) I think they really liked seeing everything. It is pretty cool to see how that stuff works. They both said they'll never look at a TV show the same way now that they've seen a stage with all the lights and cameras. By the time we finished they'd been up for 20 hours and we exhausted so we went to Boston Market and got dinner To-Go before heading home. We got ready for bed and watched the Teen Choice Awards '09 (whoo hoo I was there!) on TV before hitting the sack. Poor Blair has to wake up early to take me to work so they can have the car to go around the city tomorrow. At least room and board is free!

Airport

I didn't mention this last night but I have visitors! I am on my way to the airport right now to pick up my best friend Blair and her sister Melanie who are going to hang out and visit LA for a few days. Yay! They have GRACIOUSLY agreed to make the long trek home with me to move all my stuff back so we're making it into a mini-road trip. :) I miss my B so I can't wait to see her! I just hope our time isn't spent entirely on me packing and not enjoying the city since I haven't really started... (oops!)
On a sadder note, it really hit me hard this morning that this is my final week in LA. My last three days of work. My last three days with the other interns. My last three days with my Ellen friends. I can't believe the summer went by so fast! I don't want it to end. :'(

Teen Choice Awards!

Believe it or not, the Teen Choice Awards was not the only time I saw Miley Cyrus today. Let me start at the beginning. On my way to Santa Clarita to pick up Erin, I stopped by Michael's to get a picture frame for us to make a present for Megan and Gabi. What do you know...Miley and her mom were there shopping!! So of course I stalked them a little staying a safe aisle away at all times until I actually ended up in the fram aisle where I needed to be. As I reached up to pick out the one I wanted, she and her mom passed by and I got really distracted. I turned to look and in my excitement, I caused a chain reaction which sent 6 picture frams crashing to the floor. Yes, they all broke. Yes, glass shattered everywhere. And yes, Miley and her mom stopped, looked and me and laughed. Unfortunately they didn't stop to chat but we did share a laugh. Needless to say, I was really embarrased but entertained at the same time haha. Luckily an employee came over and said it was no problem and cleaned it up. I didn't have to pay for them or anything and he was really nice about it. It amazes me the kind of stories I come home with at night.
Anyhow, after my brief and mortifying celebrity "encounter" I picked up Erin and we met Austin at the studio. We spent some time working on our intern goodbye project. You guys have no idea...it's going to be so sick!! Haha and we've had a blast making it. As if my day wasn't rad enough by then, Austin drove Erin home and then we met back up for...THE TEEN CHOICE AWARDS!!
I got to go to an actual awards show in LA! Next time I go to an awards show...I'll be the one with a 5 person entourage escourting me to my assigned seat on a couch in the front row. :) It was such an insanely cool experience! I got to see like 20 of my favorite stars all together in the same place. It was like 5 concerts in one because Jonas Brothers (who hosted the whole thing) performed, Miley Cyrus performed, Black Eyed Peas (who came from the air on wires and surfboards which was by far the coolest entrance of the night) and Sean Kingston. I can't even tell you the number of celebs I was so close to, whether they were accepting, presenting, or just there. Ellen was there ironically haha. The biggest hit of the night was actually the Twilight cast which makes me sad but in reality, that movie is pretty terrible. From what I can tell, the movie is only really enjoyed by people who have read the books and are therefore already fans of the series. But the screams for Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner were as loud as Jonas...trust me, that's saying something. :) Anyway, I will never forget this experience and I am so glad I got to do it. Plus the fact that it was the TEEN Choice Awards...think about it- that's like my mothership! The whole night was just unbelieveably AWESOME!

Final Weekend

Unfortunately, it's not all fun for my last weekend in LA. I spent the morning at the auto shop getting my car all ready for the road trip back to FL. This afternoon I caught up on all my recorded TV shows (it's been a lot easier this summer either because I have more time or because there are fewer shows with new episodes during summer) and hung out with Amy. She watched a special about Albert Einstien...LAME!! Haha but hey, that's us! Austin and I went to see the movie Funny People with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan this evening. He also insisted we go to Big Boy burger place because apparently it's famous and his favorite restaurant. And he's not kidding...the picture of Big Boy is his background on his phone haha. It's like a Steak-n-Shake diner but more old-fashioned. I have to admit it was really delicious and the one we went to near the studio is the original. Evidently they're really popular all over the country now. I guess Florida just missed that boat.
Tonight I finally got to meet all of Amy's law firm friends that she's been talking about. It was really nice to put faces with the names and stories. They are all such nice people and were really welcoming! We went to an upscale gay bar in WeHo (West Hollywood) which was a blast! Gay clubs are so much more fun because you don't have to worry about obnoxious guys trying to talk to you. :) We had a great time drinking and talking and having fun and then I drove people home since I was sober. The clubs out here are so classy and fancy! Expensive yes, but pretty cool. I have to wake up early tomorrow for some intern activities. I'm really excited about tomorrow night though because I'm going to...THE TEEN CHOICE AWARDS!! Yes, I get to go to an award show! It's going to be so cool and it being the "teen" choice awards means that all of my favorite celebs will be there. :) Can't wait!

High Demand for Interns

The reason today was so stressful is because it was only Austin and me in the office and all the departments were fighting over us. During the filming season (fall and spring semesters) each department has their own set of interns to use all day so during the summer they each like to treat us like their own personal interns. It got so bad today that we had to take direct orders on what to do only from our boss Gabi because the depts were going behind her back to get us. I spent the morning in Research helping them catch up on magazines while Austin did some work for Audience. HI pitched a fit because we were "supposed to" be doing a project for them so they took it to the big boss and got a credo stating we had to help them. We felt a lot of tension watching the heads of the depts argue over us and it made us kind of uncomfortable but Gabi and Megan totally had our backs the whole way and stood up for us so it was all okay. We pretty much finished the HI project this afternoon but we're scared to tell them because they keep trying to hog us and we're afraid they'll just give us another project immediately so they can claim us again. Ugh...if we weren't so good we wouldn't have produced such high expectations! :)
After work I went to Austin's to work on the funny present we're planning for Megan and Gabi. It's only partially completed but holy cow it's the sickest thing ever!! Amy can back me up on that...it's wicked rad. We took a late night trip to Menchie's and then watched Mean Girls because he had never seen it and even his guy friends admited it was funny. Thankfully, he liked it. But that should be no surprise since it's a piece of Amy Poehler/Tiny Fey magnificence. Tomorrow I'm going to sleep in which will be fantastic and then see if there's anything else I need to check off my LA list during my last weekend in town. :'( One must-do: get my car checked out before the road trip back!

Intern Fun!

We got a new project assignment from HI today that kept us pretty busy. They've decided to re-do their entire filing system. So today we created a new system of categories and numbering for all the Human Interest pitches (taleted kids, variety acts, new books etc) and started actually implementing the system. Oh goody, we get to sort through a poorly developed system before we can organize our own. Luckily, they decided to toss a lot of the old pitches (which come in the form of DVDs, books, VHS and yes, even Beta tape) so we had fewer items to deal with. We'll probably be working on that until we finish next week.
Other than the HI project, we helped move, or should I say rotate, furniture in all the EPs offices. I was unaware that furniture, no matter how ugly, represents hierarchy. For example, Ellen wanted new furniture in her office. So, our main Executive Producer Ed, ditched all his furniture and took Ellen's...right down to the hideous rug. So then EP Andy decided he wanted Ed's old furniture. However, when the third EP Mary found out, she decided she wanted it too so the two of them had to split Ed's hand-me-downs. Then Ellen's dressing room furniture came out and the three of them split that. The furniture that wasn't deemed worthy of Ed, Andy and Mary was passed down to comedy writers Kevin Leman and Andy Zenor. It was a true game of musical chairs...with no music, competition, and no fun. Seeing as how ugly the brown and grey rug (which reminds me...why do people put a rug over carpet?) means I have to believe it's about the prestige of knowing it was Ellen's...not the aesthetic appeal.
No celeb sightings today. We checked Stage 18 periodically but there was no Craft Services (catering) or coffee cart or anything so I don't think they were filming today. After work the interns went to the stage to work on a little project we're cooking up. We want to leave some visual confirmation behind that we were the coolest interns the Ellen Show's ever had. Let's just say it involves gangster clothes, acrobatics, Austin's awkward dance moves, my lips, and a videocamera. Don't worry...I'll post it when it's done so you can all enjoy and soak up our intern awesomeness. :)

More Celebs

This morning we took another lap around Stage 18 to see if we could find any more of the Valentine's Day celebs but that was to no avail. So instead we headed back to the office and spent the day working in Audience, HI, and helping to rearrange furniture in the EPs and Ellen's office. I love the set-up in Ellen's office! I had no idea she copied my dorm room from last year! She has a little beach area with a palm tree and a life vest. I love how she got new everything in her dressing room at the stage AND in her office. Must be nice! I did get some good news...the EPs remember my name. I was grabbing a piece of gum from Louise's desk up front when...being the classic dramatic that I am, I literally upturned an entire bowl of pretzel bites. They flew all over Louise's desk, Diana's desk and the floor. The real amazing part was that I hit the head EP in the face with a pretzel bite just as he was opening the door to his office and exiting with all the bigwigs of the show. The timing was literally incredible and just my luck. A perfect example of why I love my job is that everyone in a 30 ft radius burst out laughing. But Ed did say "Way to go Hilary! I heard you interns were making a statement." So clever that Ed...guess that's why he's in charge of Ellen haha. The important thing to note is that he remembered my name. :)
There was one celebrity sighting today. I was doing a run to the Telepictures building and I circled around Stage 18 (of course) and spotted Julia Roberts and Emma Roberts walking from the make-up/hair trailer to the stage. Cool! Other than that, the day was spent doing work and pretty uneventful. We stayed late talking to Jeannie but no sweat to me because I just came home and watched TV. Now it's early to bed, early to rise! :)

Talented Kids?

This morning we worked in Audience for a few hours continuing to book people to see the show in September. We broke for lunch and to wander over to the stage because Ellen was over there in her dressing room. We like to purposely "happen upon" her just so we can see her and wave. We ate in the intern office while watching an episode of The Office (the one where the Michael Scott Paper Company has a pancake luncheon).
After lunch, there wasn't anything pressing so Erin and I took a Celeb-stalk golf cart ride. I previously made friends with the ID badge guy who gets a list of every celebrity on the lot, what days they're filming and what stage they're filming at. So, we stopped by his office and he gave us the run-down and we set out to find the celebs. We saw Simon Baker, the star of The Mentalist, who waved at us. we saw Mario Lopez who almost walked into our cart. We also saw the star of the new TV show Eastwick that's taking up the backlot. That set was hot today so we couldn't drive through it but she was walking next to the StarWagons (trailers) so we smiled at her too. Our big goal for tomorrow is to stalk Stage 18. They are filming a new movie called Valentine's Day with the biggest star-studded cast I've ever seen! Ready for this? Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Emma Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jessical Biel, Jessica Alba, Ashton Kutcher, Patrick Dempsey, Topher Grace, Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah, George Lopez and Shirley McClaine. Not to mention small roles by Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner. I mean, have you ever seen such an A-List celeb cast in one movie? (One movie that isn't animated...those don't count). It's a Gerry Marshall film so it's going to be hilarious and I can't wait to see it. We found out where they'll be filming and we know it's in the morning so we'll see if we can pull it off tomorrow to scout out the area. :)
After that we spent the rest of the afternoon working with the Human Interest department which was new for us. It's similar to Research because we are looking through online and paper periodicals for good HI stories (talented kids, funny web videos, hero stories, cute animals, etc). We'll be doing a little of that every day probably until we leave. After work we had a Jeannie(the receptionist who is also on-air doing GoldDigger if you watch the show)/intern dinner at The Counter which is a create-your-own burger place. It's actually pretty unique and there are tons of options which makes it cool. The food, as most food in LA is, was delicious. We had a great time and spent 3 hours chatting about our futures, Jeannie's future, our lives, girls vs boys, families etc. Basically, Jeannie's only 23 so even though she's an employee she's like one of us. It was great! The interns (when I say "interns" I'm usually referring to Erin, Austin and me since Dante has been hired to stay on after the internship is over and he doesn't do stuff with us after work much) are planning a fun "goodbye" video for our bosses Megan and Gabi so we'll start working on that soon since we only have a week left. :( More on that to come... :P

Last Full Week @ Ellen

My time is quickly coming to an end here in LA. It's quite sad but there's still fun to be had! (Hey, that rhymed) I was really tired today after my busy weekend and late night. But I did make it in to work on time. We split the day between booking people in audience and helping prep Ellen's dressing room for the new season. She's getting new furniture, rugs, decorations etc. I mean, the old ones were sooo last season. I have to admit I find it silly to spend such huge hoards of money on rugs and art when you intend to get rid of it in 9 months...but I suppose if you're that rich you can do as you wish! Speaking of the ubiquitous "you", Ellen came into the office today. Lots of people who have been off for a couple months are back now so it's busy again. That includes the EPs, Craig and Ellen. She was only there for a little while to have a new season projection meeting but I did see her and she smiled at me. I'm not sure if the interns will get an official introduction but she was nice enough to wave and recognize me which I appreciate. She'll probably be around for my last couple weeks for short times as we plan for the new shows but she doesn't spend much time in the office. She usually sticks around the stage and after seeing her dressing room, I can't blame her! It's huge and really nice with just about everything you could possibly want. The receiving room actually has a hairdresser/make-up chair AND a barber chair. Apparently the differing heights are required because she gets her hair cut every week and styled every day. The dressing room is basically a miniature house...that's nicer than my real house. But hey- I'm not a super rich hilarious comedian with 30 years of hard work in the public eye under my belt.
So I really like working in audience because the girls down there are so much fun but I do miss being up with everyone else in the office. Audience is so loud that they stick them downstairs by themselves so they don't disturb everyone. It's fun because we can be loud and funny and have dance parties but it can be lonely if we don't get to see our usual friends we've been working with for weeks. Anyhow, we take turns running upstairs to visit around the other offices so we can excape the audience pit every now and then. So, after work I gave myself a pedicure and now I'm going to bed early. I am in serious need of sleep. Tomorrow's another day and I think it will involve some Menchie's. I'm starting to have withdrawls from the lack of fro-yo for 6 days.

"Home" Sweet "Home"

I put the "home" in parethesis so as not to upset my mother who gets offended when I refer to anywhere but my Tampa childhood house as "home". But what I mean is...I am back at my house in LA writing this blog tonight. This morning we boated for our last day in St. Louis with the family and had perfect weather for just that. I got some color and I think the whole family will be sore for days from all the water sports. We ate lunch and hung around the house until we had to go to the airport.
I must say I usually enjoy flying but I've had my fill for a while. My first flight was really uncomfortable because the two men sitting next to me slept loudly and in my space. That flight was late so I had to run, literally, to my next gate in Phoenix so as not to mix my connection. I barely made it but thankfully I did. The second flight was much shorter and much better. We had a little turbulence but Gabrielle Union was on my flight and I got to meet her so I was happy. I also timed my book perfectly and finished reading the last page as we pulled up to the gate. Another romance novel down. I had pleasant conversation with the two people in the shuttle to my parking garage and after a brief reunion dance with Alvin the Avalon, I headed "home". Now I am exhausted, sleepy, stiff/sore and very ready for bed. Therefore, I bid you ado.
P.S. THANK YOU to Aunt Sharon, Uncle Gary and Cousin Dave for hosting us for a fantastic, fun, boating-filled weekend in St. Louis!!

Boating

This morning it was actually raining so we had to spend it inside. It was still nice though because we had a family Yatzee smackdown. Yes, my family is really into board games. Sadly, I did not win. In fact, I got schooled every game. Per usual my Uncle Gary totally owned but now I know his secret. Let everyone now know...the trick to always winning at Yatzee is the wrist action. You wouldn't believe how often it really did work. It was actually kind of creepy but I will no longer question my uncle's word when it comes to Yatzee. It's all the wrist. I will never forget it.
It cleared up this afternoon so after lunch we went out and got plenty of boating in, even if it was a bit chilly. My aunt and uncle's family friends came over with their daughter and I helped her learn to wakeboard. She picked it up really fast! So...either I'm a really great teacher (ha) or she's naturally athletic. I'm going to guess the latter since I have no experience instructing. Either way, we had a nice time boating and boarding and skiing until the evening hours when we took a cruise around the lake to see the mansion some guy's been building for years. It's HUGE!! Gorgeous and huge but it doesn't look like it'll be finished because apparently he's not in debt and the government's after it. Oops! Haha, sure is cool to look at though. One day...it will be mine! We grilled out burgers and brats for dinner and then the family played dominos and watched TV and read. Lovely and relaxing and perfect for making sure I'm not too sore to board again in the morning. Yay!
P.S. My cousin Dave got me into this cool site called omegle.com where you can talk to strangers from around the world without telling them any personal information. I'm learning about other cultures with my Insta-PenPal! :)

Coolest Museum Ever!

Well, I suppose the title says it all. We spent the morning out on the lake boating, skiing, wakeboarind, kneeboarding and enjoying the perfect weather and warm water. It was a gorgeous day and we were the only boat out there which made it perfect conditions for me to do some tricks on the wakeboard. We had a great time because it wasn't too hot or too cold. We came in for lunch and had sandwiches. This afternoon we did something really cool. We went to the St. Louis City Museum. Now if you haven't heard of it...look it up. Basically it's an entire 11 story adult jungle gym playground made out of trash and recycled junk. Literally there is a school bus on the roof and an airplane accessible only by copper wired tunnels in the air that look like they came straight out of Narnia. Walls are made of painted tubes or old fast-food restaurant metal containers. I felt like a little kid again! We climbed around and played in the old-school classic video game arcade and took pictures with every random recycled item we found. You get from one floor to the next by going down slides and you could spend an entire day finding new passageways and tunnels. I don't know who thought of this place, but it's the coolest "museum" I've ever been to. The highlight for me was the 10-story spiral slide. It takes you all the way from the roof of the building to the first floor. You should have seen how dizzy we were trying to stand up at the bottom. It was so cool though! This is one crazy museum and definitely worth the trip if you're ever in St. Louis.
After the City Museum we went to the world famous custard place called Ted Drewes. You can get tons of different flavors of custard mixed together in what's called a "concrete". I had marshmellow and it was delicious. No Menchie, but delicious for sure! :) Tonight we grilled shrimp and ribs and ate out on the patio watching the boats. At sunset we took a nice leisurely cruise around the lake until it was dark. I read a little and watched the end of Wedding Crashers with the fam before heading off to blog and sleep. And now, having completed the former, I shall perform the later.
P.S. My aunt let me drive her Lexus convertible! SO RAD!

Stick Shift Pro

Today was a full day of playing tourist...but this time in St. Louis instead of LA. I've actually gotten really good at it the past few weeks. You know, I'm well-practiced in taking obnoxious photographs, bugging other people to take pictures of me, complaining while waiting in line, eating large quantities of "local" food and sending mental death threats to the other tourists I see wearing competing college's shirts. But today, there was a small change in pace because I was with my family. This morning we got out of my Aunt's hair so she could get some work done (she practices appellate law from home) by going out site-seeing. First we went to the Anhauser-Busch brewery tour. St. Louis is where it was started and is still the headquarters for the company. It was really cool to tour the facility and see how the beer is made. It's quite the process! It takes a month just to make one small bottle of beer. At the end you get free beer so you can try some different flavors. My favorites were Bud Light Lime and Shocktop and my least favorite was the Ale. Then again, I knew that already. I did however take an adorable picture of me looking like an alcoholic surrounded by 8 glasses of beer. :)
After that we took a river cruise along the Mississippi river and listened to a really slow, depressing, monotone Park Ranger (yes, the Park Ranger was giving us a water cruise...possible reason for the terrible guide?) tell us all the exciting things there are to learn about the muddy river. I spent most of the time trying to come up with as many songs as possible that had to do with river cruises or St. Louis. Feel free to comment if you can come up with any and we'll see how I did. We spent a little while going through the St. Louis arch exhibit and checking out the massiveness of the arch. Then we headed back to the house and read for the afternoon. Coolest thing of the day was my cousin David taught me how to drive stick shift!! He graciously let me use his car to learn on and I think I've got it pretty well down. I'm still rocky shifting from N to 1st but I drove the fam to Steak N Shake and back tonight without stalling out so I consider that a success. Tomorrow he's taking me out on the highway so warn any loved ones you have in the area. :) The night ended as most do in the Proctor house, with a rousing game of cards. My uncle and I love Mormon Bridge so we played that for a while before all heading off to bed. My hours are really screwed up because everyone else is from a later time zone and I'm from an earlier one. Guess I'll have to be a geezer for the weekend and go to bed around 8pm my time. HA! Laaaaame! Okay, time for me to at least pretend to go to bed since my sister is trying to sleep with all the lights on in the room. She really is a geezer when it comes to bedtimes. Then again, she makes more money in a year waking up early than I'll make in a lifetime so I really can't say anything. I'll probably need to live on her couch eventually so it's all smiles and hugs for my favorite sissy!

Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis!

Meet me at the fair... lalala. If you're thoroughly confused right now, you need to work on your broadway music education. :) Today I only worked a half day at Ellen but it was a fun one. The interns made a rap song using GarageBand with full-on sound mixing and effects that sounded AWESOME! No kidding it sounds like a professional song. We wrote it for Megan and Gabi because they asked for a theme song for a fashion show they want to do like the one Kelly Ripa does. We played it for them and they thought it was a perfect use of our intern time. That is why I love my job. :)
We also did some more phone calls in the audience department which turned into something really great for me. The audience coordinator told us today that if we ever want tickets just to let her know! YAY! That means I can bring my friend and family and anyone who wants to fly out to LA to see a show taping. But the coolest part is...I was asked to work the show (paid) when they film at Universal in Orlando this year!! Tricia and I went in past years and didn't get tickets but saw the musical acts and had soooo much fun so we were planning on going again last year. Then they didn't do shows in Orlando because of budget cuts. But the good news is my insider information tells me they are bringing it back this year and I get to work it!! That also means I will probably get some tickets to give to a few friends if they want to see it (Tricia? hehe). I am really excited for that though because it's the perfect way to keep in touch with the crew so I can get hired next year. AND it's perfect because I'll be able to see all my friends again without a plane ticket.
Speaking of plane ticket, I left early today because I flew out to St. Louis. It's so lonely when you fly by yourself but now I'm back on my Aunt and Uncle's lake house (from the first few blogs) hanging out with their family and my parents and sister. We all flew out from different cities and met up here to hang out for the weekend and have some nice "family togetherness time". I'm looking forward to boating and eating real food that I don't have to prepare in a microwave!

Audience

Today we got the chance to work in a new department...audience. We spent the afternoon making people's days. We called people who didn't get tickets to last season and invited them to book guarunteed seats for this season. Most people were so excited; it was adorable! The girls in Audience are sooo much fun and really cool, young chicks so we all got along great and had a lot of fun! We also finished sending out some prizes from the online giveaways. It's all about making people happy here at the Ellen Degeneres show! :)
Tonight the interns all went to dinner at this burger buffet place called Mo's. Part of me was sad just because it wasn't my Moe's but it was midly comforting just to be in the presence of A Mo[e]. Afterwards Taylor, Austin, Erin and I went to see Dante in his first gig in LA. He's an acoustic guitar singer/songwriter and he was really good! I was pretty impressed, especially with his lyrics. He writes his own stuff and usually that's the biggest weakness of up-and-coming artists but his lyrics were the best part. I hope he makes a CD soon because I would absolutely buy it. If you're interested in checking him out: http://www.myspace.com/urbantransitmusic. A few of the other Ellen employees were there too so we all hung out at the bar and chatted until it was so late our eyes were drooping. Now I have to pack because I leave tomorrow afternoon for St. Louis where I'm meeting my family at my Aunt and Uncle's lake house. I can't wait to go boating and wakeboarding! Unfortunately, I won't be getting to sleep any time soon... :(

Monday, Monday

It was back to work today! Speaking of back, my backside was a little sore from that 3 hours round trip horseback ride yesterday haha. Nonetheless, it was back to the daily grind. By that I mean hanging out with the interns, joking around, and having fun all while learning about the entertainment industry. (How PR did that sound?) Today we did some work with the Research department which was cool because they are actually back in the office. It was really nice of them to sit us down and talk to us about exactly what they do in season, how they use the work we've been doing, and the breakdown of how the process works for a talent timetable. So here's some super secret insight from behind enemy lines.
Steps are as follows: It goes from a celeb's booking, to assignment to a researcher and creative producer, researcher developing a profile called a memo about the celeb's personal life and reason for being on the show (what they're promoting) including a list of possible questions and any funny videos or info they can find from the celeb's past. Then the researcher meets with the creative producer to discuss the best questions and games for the celeb. Then that producer does a pre-interview (unless they want to surprise them with a question). This also gives the celeb the chance to request certain subjects be off limit which I'm told we always respect. Based on the pre-interview, the producer puts together an abbreviated memo with the best questions and game suggestions for Ellen. The day of, Ellen goes through and picks the ones she wants to ask. The cue card lady then puts short versions of them onto cards that she holds behind the celeb when they're sitting so you can't tell Ellen is looking at them. Look closely next time you watch the show and you may see her glance behind their head. They say that even cue cards is no guaruntee because she does love to improv.
Anyway, it was really nice hearing a detailed account of how it all works. The creative producer is one of the jobs I'd really be interested in so I'm hoping to learn more about that. We also did some work today with the website department shipping out more cool prizes. Good thing is we get a few free CDs and DVDs when we're in the Cage (the electronics storage area). Bad thing is we have to send all the best stuff away. Haha, we just hope they're deserving people! Judging by the intense fanmail letters we get...they are! After work I went to Menchie's with my Radio Disney friends to celebrate DJ Heather's birthday. Yummy as always!! I chatted with my bestie Jessie for a while on the way home and then watched some recorded shows. I know it's Lifetime but dang...I really love Army Wives. :)

Horseback Ride!

This morning I slept in to recover from the busy weekend I had in San Diego. But this afternoon was something I've had on my list since the beginning and so glad I finally got to do!! It's call the Sunset Ranch Famous Dinner Ride. You horseback ride through the gorgeous Hollywood Hills next to the Hollywood sign and through Griffith Park down to a Mexican restaurant where you stop and eat (and drink really good margaritas haha). Then you ride back watching the sunset. It was the coolest thing! I went with Amy and a group of the other law firm summer associates. My horse's name was Sherlock because he was really smart at untying himself from the posts. I was one of the only experienced riders in the group so it was pretty funny watching some of them, like Shaia, struggle with their mounts and get nervous. But it was a really chill ride and we had such a fantastic time! I miss horseback riding so much so I was so excited to have a 3 hour ride today. On the way back everyone had had a margarita so we really enjoyed belting out Disney and eighties and nineties songs as we serenaded the hills, our horses and the unlucky but amused guides with our off-key yet charming renditions. Amy's law firm friends are really nice and we all had a great time. It makes me miss riding and showing though. I wish I had the time and resources to get back into it but there's not much of a chance of that in Gainesville. Maybe someday. I'm so glad Amy let me go with them because that's just one more check off my list. Yay!
P.S. Quote of the night:
Law associate: "Wow Brad, the horses are really attracted to you!"
Brad the Birthday Boy: "I wish!"
Everyone else: (silence) HA!

San Diego

I am very sorry for not blogging the past two nights. I hope no one is now reading this from a hospital bed due to my lack of entry. Luckily, my dad has too much time on his hands and has come up with a list of reasons for my absence.

1. Computer crashed
2. Network down
3. Still going and haven't considered Friday done yet
4. The day was even more boring than Thursday & she is embarrassed to put it in writing
5. The day was so much the opposite of Thursday & Amy hasn't posted bail yet
6. She knows Dad is hooked and loves to make him squirm
7. The big one finally hit and California is an island in the Pacific Ocean waiting to open relations with the USA
8. Menchie's declared bankrupcy and the city is in mourning
9. She noticed her time in LA was coming to an end and stopped time
10. Nora Roberts came out with a new book and she isn't quite finished yet

While I really like numbers 5, 9 and 10, the real reason is I haven't been home since Friday morning. But I give him points for creativity!! And I also suggest him find some kind of hobby. :)

Friday I went to work at Ellen and we spent the day moving more people out of their offices. It has certainly served to scare the interns. There is no doubt that this entertainment world is a crazy place. I think we've cleaned personal effects out of at least 15 offices. It's a tough world to work in and apparently even tougher to stay in. I thought the hardest part would be getting a job but I'm starting to think the hardest part will be keeping one. Friday afternoon I worked a Radio Disney event at a mall. We were giving away Jonas Brothers tickets so the crowd was ridiculous. Someone had spread the rumor that the Jonai would actually be there so we had a hundred screaming girls decked out with signs and hand-made t-shirts. We had a talent competition which was actually a lot of fun and made it easier on us because we didn't have to do as much work. We still taught the dances but most of the time there were teen girls singing. I fear my ears will never recover from the assault.

As soon as I got back to the station, I met Austin at the lot and we drove to San Diego. My roommate out here, Ashleigh, lives in San Diego and is just here for the summer so she was nice enough to let us use her appartment. We went to a late snack and then went to bed. We woke up early and went to the San Diego Zoo. It's as nice as people say! It's really big and very clean and pretty for a zoo. We saw koalas, elephants, reptiles, polar bears, lions, tigers and bears - oh my! But this was no ordinary zoo...they had even the rarest of creatures. There were special exhibits for horses, cats and dogs!! I don't know where they found such amazing animals but we were fascinated. My favorite part was the sea lion show and yet, the one at Sea World is still funnier. We spent the morning naming the aniamls after people in the office based on their appearance, size, and personality. I think we'll keep it to ourselves though because they don't need to know who the hippos were. We ate lunch at a Ruby's Diner which is a popular diner only out here on the west coast. Great steakburgers and milkshakes I'm going to miss when I go back home. After lunch we headed back to LA. The drive is about 2 hours.

When we got back to the studio I dropped Austin off and drove out to Santa Clarita to hang at Erin's house. Her uncles are out of town this weekend so she was home alone taking care of the dogs so I went over to keep her company. We had a "the whale has left the ocean" (the interns' code phrase for girl talk...boys leave us alone) girls night. We ordered pizza and wings and ate half a bag of cookie dough. You know...the usual sweatpants, movies, chatting and being lazy. I spent the night over there since it's about 45 minutes away from Los Feliz (where I live). It got me thinking though...what happened to good old-fasioned sleepovers??? It was like a blast from the past and we had fun being stupid and dancing around to Jackson 5 and N'SYNC. When I get back to school...I'm bringing back the sleepover. It's too fun to outgrow. This morning I drove back home and now I am catching up on responsible things like paying bills, e-mails and cleaning. Austin and I were discussing how crazy it is we only have 2 more weekends left here in LA. So sad!! I'm glad I made it to San Diego and I've done so well checking things off my list. Still, I'm nowhere near ready to leave and I am really going to miss the people. Even if I come back, it'll never be that summer I interned with Austin, Erin and Taylor at the Ellen Show again. At least I've made the most of it!

Just Another Ordinary Day

Today was actually a really boring day. The highlight was sitting in the research room watching Knocked Up and Fools Gold on HBO on Demand. Exactly what I do at home. But we did go through some funny fan mail. Someone sent an entire vegan meal, I got lots of cuzies, travel cups, a Mickey Mouse ball cap, bath products, a record and a cool sign to hang on my wall. People send the most random stuff but it all goes to the free pile so I get to take it home! Basically all day we did fan mail and research. The good news is, all the research is caught up from our time off. The bad news is that's usually our fallback when we're in between projects so I hope somebody has something for us tomorrow. The one interesting thing we did was go around and take name placards off the doors of people who aren't coming back. WOW! There is a huge turn-around of people either leaving voluntarily or getting fired. Apparently that's pretty common in this business but it's sure scary for those of us who want in. Try pulling someone's nametag down while they're sitting in the office watching you. No wonder some people don't like interns.
Tonight I wrote some postcards, watched a few episodes of Nurse Jackie on HBO, read some of Kristin Chenoweth's book 'A Little Bit Wicked' (which I of course got from the free pile) and did my laundry. I did hit up Menchie's with some Radio Disney friends just to see the sunlight a little bit. I was starting to feel like a shut-in. Amy just got back from a cool film at the Hollywood Bowl so I'm going to chat with her for a bit and then go to bed. I know, so exciting I can barely sit still.
P.S. If you want a random laugh...check out this video the interns took when we went to Disneyland last week, of a kid desperately fighting sleep at about 3pm while her family eats lunch and ignores her. Make special note of the mother's death stare at Erin and me for laughing so hard we were crying. Then listen to me try to change the topic so she wouldn't come steal my camera. Ohhh man. Oops! Hahaha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ_0895F1Ew

NCIS Marathon

Usually days on which USA chooses to marathon NCIS turn into good days. Today wasn't too interesting but it was a good day so I suppose that holds true. We did a lot of research work today since we're still playing catch up from the two weeks we were off. Luckily, Hercules was on Disney Channel so we re-enacted our favorite scenes for some of the staff which helped break up the filing and reading. We also worked on a project for our boss Ross and helped organize some of the guests they already have set up to come on the show for the new season. The two I wish I could see the most are Jennifer Garner and Janet Jackson. It's so hard to believe that work I'm doing now will help bring actual stars to our stage in a few weeks! So cool! :)
After work Austin, Taylor and I went to see a free advanced screening of the new Disney movie G-Force since I had stollen tickets from my last Radio Disney event. It was a pretty cute movie! No Hercules, but still cute. I'm not a big fan of rodents but it was clever...and 3-D. I went to Boston Market (for free thanks to my lovely mother) for dinner and then headed home. I straightened my hair again and watched several hours of NCIS while at the same time watching Fool's Gold on mute. I'm such a pro TV watcher that I can actually actively watch 2 programs at once. I should have some sort of statue erected in my honor really, it's a true talent. :)

Chalkboard Fight!

Today was another day at "work" for me. We did research for a while but we had some more entertaining tasks to attend to. We washed the chalkboard wall (there is an entire hallway wall in our office that's painted with chalkboard paint so you can write all over it), but the "washing" turned more into a soapy sponge fight not unlike the scene from Center Stage. So I guess you could say we did them the extra favor of washing the ping pong table, the carpet, the walls, the surrounding pictures and...the interns. Ooops! Sure made it fun though! I'm just glad there are free Ellen clothes everywhere so that we could all change since we were a little...well, damp. :) We also did some more inventory of some items they've decided to giveaway instead of sell which turned into something good as well. I got a free digital camera, some books and a few TV show seasons on DVD. Yay for free things! I do love my job.
It's Taco Tuesday at Del Taco so for dinner I got my 3 tacos for $2 which made me even happier. I ate dinner with Amy and then she went to a concert while I watched some TV. So what topped off my lovely day? I found a website that has a really high-quality bootleg copy of the new Harry Potter movie that just came out so I got to see it again, for free, from the comfort of my own home! Yippee! Not sure how they got it (by whatever means they deemed morally acceptable) but I'm sure glad they did because them playing it on loop on their site gives me the chance to legally and without guilt watch The Half Blood Prince for no money, repeatedly! Now to bed I go.
P.S. Demi Lovato's new album came out today - it's excellent!! Even the critics are saying she's come out from under the Jonas umbrella and is making legitimately good music. Yay Demi! She's a sweetheart so I'm glad she's doing well. I love the new music!

Happy Birthday Mommy!!!!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mom!! I can't remember exactly what age she's turning but I think it's something like 30, 31. ;)
This fine morning, bright and early I awoke cheerful and chipper, ready to go to work! Well, not exactly. I was a little bleary-eyed and tired, but I was still excited to get back to the studio! And it paid off because today was a really nice day. It was still pretty casual since we spent most of the day catching up with everyone and chatting about what they did over vacation. They were fascinated with my hair transformation...I always forget what a shock it is for new people when I go from curly to straight. There are a few new PAs who came in to get their badges today so I look forward to working with them when they start. Unfortunately, that job would have been mine if I were graduating now...they offered it to a few of us but we all have more school left. :( Hopefully they'll still remember us to hire next summer when I do graduate!
So we had a lot of catching up to do (besides the chit-chat) with work from the last 2 weeks. We did all the newspaper and magazine distribution for the past 2 weeks and then headed to the research room. It's amazing how fast the magazines accumulate...and how behind I'd gotten on Hollywood gossip! Take a few weeks to do some fun LA activities and you don't get the news that Jon Gosselin proposed to his 22-year old girlfriend just weeks after the episode aired of his divorce from Kate! Shocking! Anyway, it'll take us days to get caught up on all the magazines. I know, it's torture to read magazines and watch TV for hours...pure torture! We also had a few side projects for Johnny Norman, the creative producer, working on listening to CDs and deciding who we thought could be the "next big thing" and worth coming on the show. They actually gave us the power! (Muuahaha) But by far the funniest thing to happen at work today was a little on the weird side. I'll warn you now...the next few sentances may be inappropriate for young audiences.
So the interns are opening the bins of newspapers to sort them out when what do you know, we open a bins (each one contains about 50 magazines) FULL of porn!! Not just any porn, elder porn! Oh yes, the magazines were titled 40+, 50+ and...(gag) 60+! I can tell you boys never grow up because of course our fantastic PA boys carried them around all day and whenever you rounded a corner there was a horrific image in your face. It was truly scarring. So wrong, so repulsive, and yet...still funny! Somehow someone else's order had been combined with ours. (Aleast that's what we're guessing since we don't think anyone at Ellen ordered them. Then again...) We of course did what any other amused young adults would do, we hid them in other people's offices. Luckily, people in our office and the entertainment industry have great senses of humor. Needless to say, it was a day full of funny moments when we heard yelps and shrieks spontaneously through the halls. Ohhh, so gross and so, so funny.
Tonight I hung out with Amy because we hadn't had time to catch up in a few days. We just layed down in her bed and watched Hung and Knocked Up on HBO. Now I'm late for bed because this blog took longer than I expected. I guess that means I should just stop typing...

G-Force

I've never been so entertained by gerbils. Well, not gerbils exactly, but the voices of gerbils. This afternoon, after I changed my own flat tire (oh yeah, I'm a pro), I went to the red carpet premiere of the new Disney movie G-Force. It's about FBI trained gerbil operatives. Sounds lame but it was cool! And with it being a Disney movie, several Disney stars showed up to the premiere so I got to see them and some autographs! When you go to a red carpet as a civilian, you either sit in bleachers or stand across the carpet away from the press. Some of the celebrities are nice and come over to see the fans, some aren't. Today I got to see some of the voices of the talented gerbils including Will Arnett, Kelli Garner and Bill Nighy. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon even if it was pretty hot out there. But it was pretty cool and definitely something I had on my LA To-Do list. Check!
This evening I watched some TV and straightened my hair. Yes, I'm aware that it's the summer but, guess what! In California...the humidity is low enough that I can wear my hair straight without crazy frizz, even in July! I also painted my nails, did a facial and teeth whitening. It was a thrilling evening of girly beautification randomness. Basically I wanted something chill and relaxing since tomorrow I start back at work!! I've missed the Ellen people so I'm really ready to get back to the office. I love my job!

I am Optimus Prime

Last night I got very little sleep and then had to wake up early for work. Luckily...I was working with one of my new good friends Jenny Rae at the Radio Disney event. We were at the Farmer's Market for the 75th Anniversary and even though it was really hot...we had fun! JayRay and I like all the same Disney songs so she purposedly played my favorites. :) We taught the newest Hannah Montana song choreography and it went over well with the kids.
After the event was over, JayRay, Nicole and I went to Menchie's for lunch which was, as always, delicious. I had a little break time to chat with Amy before going out for the evening...just enough time for my car's front right tire to deflate entirely. Basically that means I get to spend my last day off dealing with AAA and a tire place paying for a new doughnut made of ridged rubber (not my favorite kind of doughnut for sure). :( After that bummer, I went to dinner and a movie with Austin and Taylor. We went to Paty's which is a cool diner popular with celebrities. The walls are decorated in photos of celebs who signed to Paty's thanking them for the scrumptious grub. It's especially popular with the Disney and WB stars since it's so close to their studios and neighborhoods. The food was good...I'll give them that, but the ambiance was cooler with all the celeb and old-fashioned diner decorations. After dinner we saw Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. It was a good movie! Great CGI for sure. It was a little long but I was really tired so that made it tougher. I'd still recommend it...I thought it was great!

AVP Pros

That's right...I'm a pro. Okay, not exactly me...but I saw a few legitimate pros today! Austin and I drove down to Manhattan beach for the day to watch the best beach volleyball players in the country tear up the sand. The Crocs AVP Pro Tour is in LA for the weekend and I wanted to see some Olypians show me how beach volleyball is really played. It was so cool! They set up tents everywhere along the pier with free giveaways by sponsors and there were 4 courts of play. The best match we caught was Dalhausser and Rodgers who are the Olympic Gold Medal winners from last year. They were awesome!! Dalhausser is 6'10" and has a crazy wingspan...his blocks were crazy rad! I have to admit watching all those volleyball made me miss playing myself. I hope I get on a good intramural team in the fall.
In true LA fasion...I got an AWESOME spontaneous opportunity tonight. One of my Radio Disney friends had an extra ticket to the Demi Lovato concert tonight (that I really wanted to go to but didn't get tickets in time) and he offered it to me! He was working the event so he got in free. It was fantastic!! In my opinion she tries to act a little too mature and serious for her age but she puts on a great show. She's fun to watch on stage and I of course know all the words to her songs (she is Disney afterall). So now I am happy and tired and ready to fall asleep singing the cheerful pop/rock tunes of an "angsty" teen who's fame has caused such a hardship in her life that she has a broken heart to write and sing about. (Nope, I'm not bitter.)

The Happiest Place on Earth

Today was one of the best days I've had this summer. There's not a lot to tell you, but it was just amazing. Erin, Austin and I used my free tickets as a Radio Disney employee to go to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure Park. We got there early and stayed ALLLL day (we're talking 9am to midnight) and we just had the most fantasmic time!!! It was Erin's first time to Disney ever so my innate love of Disney that causes me to be so happy when I'm there combined with Erin's childlike joy over every little thing just made it such a blast. We got on every ride we wanted to get on and none of the lines were too bad. We purposely picked a weekday for that reason. Plus it helped that when we went to Guest Services to get Erin a "1st Time" button and Austin a "I'm Celebrating...being here with 2 girls" button (yes, it was custom written by the cast member; they unfortunately did not have those pre-made), we happened to mention it was my birthday (yeah yeah, it was a lie) and were really friendly to the guy at the desk so he gave us some freebie fast passes to use on any of the rides we wanted. SAHWEET! That's what being nice will get you! That and pretending it's your 21st birthday. :) So while we walked around the park all day sporting our slammin' buttons, we got to use the Fastpass lane for almost every ride. California Adventure wasn't nearly as cool as Disneyland but we spent a few hours there riding a couple good rides they have. We saw a spectacular Broadway-style show telling the story of Aladdin. And of course I made them stop for the High School Musical 3 street parade dance show. :D You know me!
So the whole day was exhausting but absolutely incredible. We even rode our favorites, like Space Mountain, more than once because we had the time. We came away with so many inside jokes from today that we had to write them down so we wouldn't forget them. We jammed hardcore to the Wicked soundtrack the whole way home which was the perfect ending to an insanely fun day. Seeing someone else experience Disney for the first time made it even more magical. We all came away from that fireworks show inspired to believe we can do anything we want. Erin's decided on astronaut, I've decided on ambassador's wife and Austin being the simple one decided on TV show editor. Let's see how we do in ten years.
I also had the wonderful pleasure of seeing my second mother, Mama James, when we left the park. Jessie's mom was in town for a convention and happened to be staying in Anahiem just minutes from Disney so I stopped by her hotel to give her a hug and say "Hi". It was so nice seeing a piece of home even for just a few minutes. I do love her though and she said to tell you (Mom), that she has seen me in person and I'm just fine! :) I'm convinced all mothers have a code reguarding kids or something. (Speaking of mothers and kids, why do they like blocking pathways with strollers and leeshed children? Other families need to take a page from the Noriega book and make a plan...then execute it.) So I sent all my love to all of you back in Florida through Mama James. It will be arriving back in town tomorrow! Now I am completely dead and my feet hurt and I couldn't be happier. More than ever, I am truly convinced that Disney is the Happiest Place on Earth. Remember this, "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." -The incredible visionary Mr. Walt Disney.

"Lucy, I'm Home!!"

This morning I took the glorious opportunity to sleep in which was much needed seeing as how I didn't get to bed until 5am (as evidenced by my ridiculous blog from last night). It was lovely not waking up until 11, unfortunately it won't last too much longer because I have to get back to my work schedule for next week. But I did have an exciting afternoon!
A friend of mine from Radio Disney also works on the Paramount Studios lot. She used to be a tour guide and then got promoted to supervisor. Well lucky for us, she was really nice and offered to give us a special "friends-only" tour of the lot! So today Austin and I as well as Betsy and Halli from Radio Disney headed over today for a super-special personal tour. Not only did we get the normal Paramount tour from the best guide they've had in years (her tour is actually a special feature on the new Breakfast at Tiffany's DVD), we had some advantages. First, we got to buy any Paramount DVD ever released for only $4 each! It was fantastic!
Then we went on the tour seeing all the soundstages and the backlot. But by far the best part of the day was when Halli announced that she had a friend who's on the new TV show Glee on Fox. She was on set filming today so we went over to say "Hi". We ended up meeting and hanging out with the entire Glee cast in their makeup/hair trailer! Then they graciously let us go on set and watch them film a few takes of a new scene!! For any of you who saw the pilot and are looking forward to the new season I'll give you some inside info. The main character Quinn is pregnant! She was complaining about the uncomfortable baby suit haha. Everyone was so nice though! I really love their theme songs, the remake of Don't Stop Believing. If you haven't heard it, look it up because it's unbelieveable. Anyhow, we got to hang out with the cast which was amazing!
Some other rad things we got to do was sit on the bench from Forrest Gump, the new state-of-the-art Paramount screening theater and sneak into Lucille Ball's dressing room! There's a lot of history on that lot because it's one of the oldest so it was cool to see places where Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Elvis Presley, Judy Garland, Fred Estaire and Ginger Rodgers and more of the classic celebrities lived and worked. It turned into a really long custom-made tour and it was great! We had so much fun that we all went to Menchie's afterwards to hang out some more. I went fruity this time instead of my usual cheesecake bites and cookie dough bites. And it was free because I'd filled up enough stamps on my card so that's always a plus! :) I rounded off my evening by bringing sick Amy a Pinkberry smoothie and watching a movie in her room. I just hope I don't catch her plague.

Harry Potter Madness

My objective today was simple...become a part of the Wizard world. I am happy to say, my goal was achieved. I am no longer a Muggle, I have transfigured myself into a brilliant, talented witch with the same affinity for trouble as the teriffic trio that led the Harry Potter series to glory. My quest began at 10am when I awoke with a mission. I got dressed and got Amy some medicine (she's sick and had to stay home from work today as well as miss going to Disneyland with her firm tomorrow, for which I am truly sorry). And then...I began. I sat on our lovely couch and watched Harry Potter 1 through 5 (all of which I own of course) in their entireties. This task has been completed before successfully...by me anyway. As it were, my faithful companions at the last such occasion (*cough Carley and Tricia cough*) both managed to fall asleep or read and study through the magnificence. I, however, apparently have amazing stamina when it comes to movies I've seen so many times I have them memorized. Therefore, I believe it only fitting that my Harry Potter marathon today be added to my resume.
After I finished the final film (and did a celebratory dance of course) I went to Del Taco for Taco Tuesday. It's similar to Taco Bell but a little more authentic. They give you 3 tacos for $2.09! Who could pass up that deal? I then prepared for the true test. The blessed event that is the midnight premiere of the latest installment of the British series that has captivated the hearts of non-Magic folk around the world.
I was not alone in this midnight madness. I was joined by fellow Wizards in training Erin and Austin (Ellen interns), Jenny Rae and Mikey (Radio Disney), and Sara (UF Cicerone) and two of her friends. We arrived over 2 hours early to ensure good seats. Check mate! I have to say the seats in the theaters in LA are far more comfortable than Florida. Ours were leather recliners! (Unless someone just hexed them for tonight...) Our anticipation grew throughout the previews, none of which were important enough to remember. And then, the unthinkable happened. Our projector moved and cut off half the screen. Let me give you a piece of advise. NEVER mess with a midnight premiere Harry Potter crowd. They get angry, and they get angry fast. I have never seen so many pointy-hatted, wand-carrying, scar-sporting, robe-wearing fanatics storm a projector room with such vigor. I feared for the poor soul's life. There were plenty of hollers and boos and yes, even a few "Avada Kadavra" shouts as people frantically tried to cover their eyes so as not to see the beginning of the movie in it's weakened state. Thankfully, under all that pressure, the projector operator lived long enough to charm the screen back to perfection. He's no Hermione Granger, but he was clever enough to restart the movie before a riot ensued. After that bit of drama was resolved, we settled in for 2 and 1/2 hours of brilliance. The dialogue in this movie was the best so far. It was so well written with the perfect balance of serious and lighthearted moments. It held relatively true to the original parchments though not inked in stone. The acting has gotten better, the special effects didn't dissapoint and the romantic tension between Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny was as entertaining and adorable as expected. It was a great movie and I highly recommend it. That being said, now that I'm a part of the wizarding world myself, I suppose that's tooting my own horn a bit. :)

P.S. This is what happens when I give my mind free reign at 4 in the morning. Perhaps I'd be good at a creative writing class. Hmm...

Six Flags

Yep! Today Erin, Austin and I went to the famed Six Flags Magic Mountain. I have never seen a park with so many roller coasters! There were literally 15 in one park! I don't actually ride a lot of roller coasters (I won't ride ones that go upside down) but we had a really great time. My favorite was the Terminator coaster which is wooden but REALLY fast! I've never been on a coaster that has speakers that talk to you throughout the ride and had fire and mist shooting out at you. It was really cool! I also really liked the BMX Stunt show we saw. They had 3 guys on motorbikes riding circles in a metal spherical cage...it was insane! I could have sworn someone was going to die. The half-pipe was really cool too and the skateboarders, rollerbladers and BMX bikers were so rad. Of course I had an ICEE, my favorite thing to eat at theme parks.
We got some fun pictures with the characters and saw a full grown man with a Giga Pet hooked on his belt. I'm guessing he's foreign and the fad is just hitting over there? Let's hope that's the case since there's no other reasonable explaination. We spent almost the whole day there and went home exhausted because they rode all the coasters and it was pretty darn hot. The lines were pretty short though which made it easier to do more. The weather is nicer in Burbank because it's closer to the coast but today I discovered just how hot the desert is. I've got a really looong day tomorrow with an early start so I'm hitting the sack. In honor of the new Harry Potter movie coming out Wednesday, I'm falling asleep to HP: Goblet of Fire. :)

60th Blog!

Wow...I can't believe I've done this 60 days in a row! This is truly amazing. I mean I can't remember that I was cooking pasta (oh yeah, it was a mess) but I have managed to blog basically every day for 2 months. I should have an anniversary fro-yo (oops...already did!)
So on this day of my epic 60th blog, I had a nice relaxing time. I spent the morning planning out my second and last week off from work. Doesn't sound like it would take long, I know, but we've got quite a bit planned. Then I discovered the joys of Skype thanks to the insistent Jessica Erin James. While I'm not used to Skype and prefer Gmail chat, it was really good to see Jessie's face while I talked to her. Made me miss my friends! :( This afternoon Austin and I drove down to Malibu to go to the beach. The traffic wasn't too bad getting there but dear God every parking lot within miles of Zuma was full! It was insanely crowded so we drove a bit farther down the coast to Pacific Palisades beach and hung out there for the afternoon/evening. We were talking about how sad we are that we only have a month left in our internship and how fast it's going to fly by. As much as I miss all of you, I wish I didn't have to leave here. I almost wish I'd already graduated and could just stay here and start working since I already have a rhythm, a house, friends and a job. But alas...I can't miss my last Gator football season so thus, you will see my shining (tan) face in Florida one more year.
After the beach we drove back and walked up and down CityWalk for a bit. I won't lie, I found out through Twitter that one of the Disney Channel stars I like (David Henrie) was there walking around challenging people to find him so since we were so close we decided to stop by. CityWalk was fun even though we didn't see him. We hit Menchie's on the way back to the studio and then he dropped me off at my car and I headed home. I'm going to bed soon since we're waking up early tomorrow to start on our fun-filled week of Livin' la Vida LA! (Copyrighted)

Spain Flashback

Today I had a day-long flashback to my last trip to Spain. It turns out that 2 of the girls I met over there on my last trip now live in LA!! So thanks to the glory of Facebook, we hooked up and spent the day on Malibu beach. It was so funny reliving the funny memories and catching up on each other's lives. Ashley's from San Diego and works in advertising in Orange County. Marina's from Ukraine but has been living in NY and just moved out here to do graphic design. It's so cool that we've all stayed in touch and landed in the same city! So we caught up and got some sun in Malibu which is the best beach for people watching/judging. (Admit it, it's the same thing and everybody does it.)
After the beach Ashley and I went out for sushi and to a cool ice cream place called Scoops. Different than my beloved froyo, this place is known for crazy weird flavors like Bacon, Rosewater and Lavendar. I wasn't very adventurous though so I got Carmel Hazelnut and White Chocolate Mint. It was quite delicious, especially after I drowned it in sprinkles as I love to do. :) I was telling Ashley about the sprinkle shots I like to take with my roommates at school and the cashier challenged me so I took one in front of him and he gave me my ice cream for free. :) Getting anything in LA for free is a big deal haha.
I'm glad I had them to keep me company today since Amy's in Vegas for the weekend with some work friends. We've still got a full house here though with Ashleigh's husband and brother here, Hannah's friend and boyfriend here, and Shaia's mom here. Lots of visitors right now at the Lion's Den! What can I say? It's the cool place to be. :)

Dinner Chic

I got home so late from Disneyland last night that I took advantage of the lovely opportunity to sleep in this morning. I had a casual morning and did some laundry and caught up on some of my TV shows. I spent a fair amount of time looking through the thousands of crazy jumping funny pictures Jenny Rae posted from Disneyland...so great!! This afternoon I went to a movie with Austin and Taylor. We saw I Love You, Beth Cooper which was really adorable. We hit up some Pinkberry after and then headed home. We've got a pretty busy week planned with cool and fun things to do so I'm excited! Tonight I painted my nails and had a lovely homemade dinner thanks to my roommate Shaia's mom who cooked pasta for all of us. We sat in the backyard while the sun went down and drank wine and ate...it was so cute haha! Very LA chic, I think. I'm trying to get back on a normal schedule so I can have full days during daylight hours so it's off to bed.

DISNEYLAND!

Sure, I've been to Disney World tons of times but it never gets old. I just love Disney so much! Which is why going to Disneyland was a MUST for me! Today was an epic day because it was my first trip to Disneyland! It was my friend from Radio Disney, Jenny Rae's 25th birthday so a group of 7 of us went to Disneyland for the afternoon/night. I got in free with one of the DJ's which was totally rad! We had so much fun!!! A lot of the rides are really similar as are the shows but there are definitely differences. Disneyland is smaller, more condensed and more classic. They have Sleeping Beauty's castle instead of Cinderella's castle. They have an awesome Indiana Jones ride that Disney World doesn't. But I've heard the second Disney park, Disney's California Adventure, really sucks so I guess Disney World's 4 amazing parks wins that one. However, Disneyland had the BEST show ever for their nighttime spectacular. It's called Fantasmic and it was sooo cool!! We got there around five and stayed until it closed at midnight so I didn't get to see everything. No problem...the interns and I are planning a trip so I'll be back soon!! You just can't keep me away from my beloved Disney. :) We took lots of pictures and had lots of laughs. I love how well I fit in with these people - every one of them is Disney crazy like me! It's a perfect fit.
This morning I just took advantage of the chance to sleep in and did some laundry. I also watched Sydney White with Amanda Bynes and talked to Jessie for a bit. I'm trying to plan out when I want to go to San Francisco to visit Steven. My time here is passing so quickly and I still have so many things I want to do! Better get on that huh? Well I'm exhausted since it's now 3am my time (6am your time so I'm surprised I haven't received an e-mail from Dad wondering why I didn't blog tonight). I will leave you with a phrase that makes me happy anytime I hear it, "Have a magical day!"

Alone again

Yes, it's true...I am once again alone. No more friends or sister to keep me company/crazy busy. This morning Amanda and I went to Panera Bread for an early lunch (since we both hate breakfast) on the way to the airport. I sent her on her way back to D.C. via the clutches of the massive plane coordinator aka LAX. She will be missed. :( But the good news is the whole family is meeting up again in just a couple weeks in St. Louis to go skiing/wakeboarding/boating on the lake. Yay!
After I dropped Amanda off I made some phone calls and caught up with some people over on the East Coast (it's hard to do with the time change since I so rarely get the chance to talk during the day). Then I did something really exciting...I washed my car! I know, I know...only in LA can you do such cool things. So Alvin Avalon finally got his much-needed bath. I spent the afternoon watching some recorded TV and laying out in the backyard with a well-respected book. (By well-respected I mean my usual trashy romance novel of course.)
Tonight I hung out with Amy some and Ashleigh some since I hadn't spent much time with them with my friends in town. I had VEGETABLE soup for dinner Mom (she has requested details on my meals to prove I'm eating more food groups than fro-yo). Then I watched Fool's Gold on HBO and now I'm heading to bed. Looks like it's "bye bye friends", "bye bye interesting blogs". Sorry guys!
P.S. Heather's posted some great pictures from her trip (3 albums worth) on Facebook if you want to check them out! :) Thanks girl - Love you!

"...Come on down!"

Okay...so we didn't actually hear our names called before that infamous statement...but we did hear it! Several times in fact because today we went to a taping of The Price Is Right. Austin is really into it and talked us into going so Amanda, Taylor, Austin and I woke up early to go to the CBS lot for the taping. I can tell you all...the set is SOOO RIDICULOUS! It is the most tacky-tastic, hilarious, straight-out-of-the-70's, gaudy but so funny set I could possibly have imagined. I've never really seen the show but this experience was a necessary one for LA and outrageously hilarious. The people who go to this show are insane!! The stuff they wear, the "schticks" they try to put forth, the things they do and of course, the crazy excitement they exude just made it the most entertaining experience ever. I am so glad I went. Amanda and I were really glad we did not get called up since we didn't know how to play any of the games or how much stuff cost. But it was great to watch! I seriously felt like I had time-traveled back into an artificial 70's game show. I half expected Fez or Foreman to walk out or to look down a see my own floral print housedress. Drew Carrey was fairly entertaining too in between takes and during commercial breaks but I have to say - dude looked old! But he is engaged to a woman with a kid (he was very forthcoming about his personal life) so I guess he's doing alright for himself.
After such a preposterous and exciting morning, we ate lunch at the Farmer's Market/The Grove and then went our seperate ways. Amanda and I decided to go celebrity house-hunting in the afternoon. You can't really see much of the houses but you can see the front gates and the tops of the houses. We saw everyone from Tom Cruise to David Boreanaz to the Playboy Mansion and Jodie Foster. My personal favorite was Ellen's house though. We didn't realize her house was on a personal street so we turned onto it and dead-ended into her driveway. While Amanda's taking pictures out the window we hear that ominous speaker voice say a very menacing, "Can I help you?". Ohhhhh snap! We freaked out but I had to 3-point turn to get out of there so it took a little bit. It was so scary! A complete invasion of privacy of course but hey, we didn't realize it was a private drive! So we came up with a couple of possible scenarios for what will become of this...each getting progressively worse. A) The gate guy will think "stupid Florida tourists" B) The gate guy will show my photo to Ellen's personal assistant Craig who knows me C) The guy who's voice we heard at the gate was Craig D) They took down my lisence plate number and are reporting me for stalking (which would be totally ironic seeing as how things I've done to get close to the Jonas Brothers have been far more intense and illegal) or E) Ellen gets a restraining order against me and I never get to meet her. :( So far, none of the above have occured but it was a funny situation anyhow.
My WONDERFUL parents sent me an awesome package with gift cards for food out here (YAY!). Their only request (or should I say demand) was that I use them to get vegetables (My mom is concerned with my overload of fro-yo intake). So, per request, Amanda and I went to Boston Market and ate our veggies so we'd grow big (well, not Amanda) and have good eyesight (well, not Amanda). Mom, I sent you a picture message as proof! Thank you thank you for the gift cards!! Free food is always appreciated. :) Tomorrow Amanda departs and I will be very sorry to see her go. It's been straight go-go-go for the last week with all my friends in town but I've really loved being busy and doing so many exciting things around LA so it will be very lonely around here when she leaves. Still, she's trying to remain on East Coast time so we're going to bed early (by we I mean she's already asleep and I'm heading that way). Until tomorrow..."You're the next contestant on The Price is Right!"

"You're the coolest sister ever!"

Yes, ladies and gentleman...that is a direct quote from my sister, Amanda Noriega. Sure enough, my job officially makes me the coolest sister ever. No matter that she has top-secret government clearance or just got a job working with NASA...I let her sit in Ellen's chair! Haha, today I took Amanda to the WB lot and showed her around. We went to the stage, the office, and spent lots of time just golf-carting randomly around the backlot and listening to the official tour guides by piggybacking on their tours. Amanda kept saying she felt like we were going to get in trouble any minute. She thought it was very cool that we had free reign and were unaccompanied. Yeah, I'm such a boss. We went into the WB museum on the lot and got to see props and costumes from TONS of different movies like Mummy, Miss Congeniality, The Departed, The Matrix etc. The second floor was devoted entirely to Harry Potter which was...AMAZING of course. (I should note: the Sorting Hat put me in Slytherin...apropo?) The whole time I was at the museum looking and touching all these cool clothes that famous actors wore, I kept thinking, "Tricia would KILL to be here" haha. Sadly, Tricia is a wussy and won't fly on a plane so she won't get to experience the awesome WB lot tour and museum a la Hilary. However, Amanda did not dissapoint.
It was like taking an Amish kid to a candy store! Her face lit up with every new thing we did or saw...it was great!! She LOVED the whole 5 1/2 hours we spent wandering the stage and lot. That's what I call a deluxe tour. It was so much fun to see her get all excited so I'm glad I got to show her around. It's once in a lifetime you get the chance to dance over Ellen's table, play ping-pong on her table, ride her bike and use her megafone. The chance you get when your super-cool sister works there. :) Overall, Amanda had a blast and got some sweet pictures so the tour was a total success.
Afterwards, we went to Menchie's (and by "we" I mean me because Amanda punked out) and then picked up Austin and drove through the Hollywood Hills to see the Hollywood sign. Luckily it was easy to find since I had just been there. We took some pictures then dropped Austin back off and went home. Tonight Amanda requested authentic Mexican food so we tried a place that one of the producers at work recommended to me. Talk about authentic! The salsa was so spicy Amy and I couldn't eat it and the food was incredible! The best part was how the entire Mexican restaurant was adorned with American flag paraphanalia covering every inch of the mexican decor up. Overcompensating perhaps? Well it worked; they may have had margaritas that were straight mexican tequila but we didn't dare question their loyalty to the good ol' U.S. of A. Once we returned home we tried watching a movie (Entraptment if you must know....gosh -must you know every detail?) but we were all too tired and ended the movie early to go to bed. My overexcited sister wore herself out and is sleeping soundly as I blog dutifully. We're up very early tomorrow for an interesting and comical LA experience on which I will report tomorrow.
P.S. Pray for my mommy who tore her hamstring this weekend. She's on crutches and won't be able to do any dog trials for a few months. :(

Universal...squared

Today was another day of wee sleep. I woke up at 4:30am to take Heather and Abes to the airport and after a very sad farewell, drove the long way home with my vision blurred by tears. Not really, but I was very sorry to see them go. I had a great visit with them and I m miss them already! Heather tells me she's already missing the fro-yo. (See people, I'm not making this up. It's an experience.)
Since my 1 day ticket got me in a second day free, Amanda and I went to Universal Studios Hollywood today. The difference? A few thousand people. There was no one there!! It was so nice that it wasn't very crowded and it made it much easier to see everything. We saw all the shows but one and went on every ride...several times each! We even walked right on to The Mummy 3 times in a row! You should have seen Amanda's face the first time when they shot us out in the beginning. Classic! The lack of tourists was amazing considering the fact that when I was there Friday, the wait was over 65 minutes. So Amanda got to see the Universal Studios backlot tour, the last of the backlot tours of LA that she hadn't seen in her 5 past trips out here. (Yeah that's right...my family totally left me in FL twice on trips to LA.) So now Amanda's seen them all and is a genius when it comes to backlot tours.
We finished our repeat rides and shows and were home by five. Then we changed and went out to dinner with Amy at The Grove/Farmers Market. Austin met us over there too and we all had a nice dinner. We even had Nutella crepes (THE BEST...if you've never tried one...find them) which was a total throwback to our trip to France. (Ahh, how I miss you Europe.) After dinner I FINALLY joined the rest of the under 30 world and saw The Hangover. FUNNY! It was stupid funny and at a times a little ridiculous but it was still hilarious. (Mom - you won't like it) Now it's time for bed and Amanda's bunking on the airmattress in my room. Who's sleeping at who's feet now sis?!?! Muuuahaha!