Wednesday, September 27, 2006

1,2,3 - Count 'em! 3rd Times a Charm!

Ain't that the truth. Everything happens in 3's, and bridesmaid appearance #3 is this weekend in Atlanta. Will I top the embarrassing moment that happened in DC?
Only time will tell.
Get your cameras ready!

10 hours on a plane + seeing 20 of your closest friends + an open bar +
a dress that was altered one size too small =
ONE OF THE BEST WEEKENDS EVER.

HOTLANTA, here we come.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

We love you Steven! Thanks for being brave.

Most people that I am close with know that I struggled with liver disease, and that I am a huge proponent of spreading the word about making sure that you know you are healthy. And sometimes because of this, I get really fired up and lecture other people.

Some people might be annoyed with this post - but honestly, what the hell is a blog for if you can't express your opinions? So stop reading here if you don't want to hear this rant. (You know what, even if one person learns something from it, it's worth it).

Steven Tyler revealed today that he has been struggling from Hepatitis C, and recently went through interferon treatments to clear the virus. I just want to say that I very much admire him for speaking about his experience, as I always feel that this is the right thing to do when having gone through a tough time. It's better to come clean, and allow your experience to help others.

If you haven't yet heard the story, you can check it out here:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15020874/


Now here is where I will lecture you...

Hepatitis C is called the "silent killer" because so many people either do not know about it, or do not know that they have it. Over 3 million Americans have the disease, and 75% do not know it. You can have the disease for years, and have no symptoms. Only 5-10% of the people who contract the virus get symptoms at the onset of the illness. Hepatitis B is now not as common due to the vaccine that you can get at an early age, but it is spread in similar ways. The number of cases of Hepatitis B is reduced each year, whereas the number of Hepatitis C cases is rapidly increasing.

When it comes to Hepatitis C, you MUST ask your doctor for an HCV blood test - even if you go to see him, and ask to get tested for HIV and every STD in the book, they will still not test you for Hepatitis C. You must ask for the test.

Hepatitis is a blood borne virus, and is often spread through needles. It has the ability to be spread other ways, however, and within the past 5 years, doctors all over the country have seen a very LARGE increase in cases from cocaine use (yes people, that sh*t does make your nose bleed on the rolled up dollar, even if you aren't noticing it).

So get tested. Don't get any tattoos or piercings. And lay off the drugs, huh?

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Sightings and Celeb Scoop


Florence Henderson at the newly opened French 75 in Century City. As soon as I saw her 2 tables from us, I felt that I needed to be on my best behavior and bit my tongue to keep myself from swearing. I don't care what anyone says - Mrs. Brady is the bomb - and she looks damn good for her age. It made me think...is the Brady Bunch even on TV anymore? TV Land, maybe? It should be, that might be one of the only classic television shows that could stand the test of time.

Special Guest Blogger

A few weeks ago, someone approached me to see if they could be a guest blogger for LaLaLand. Obviously this isn't the place to just let anyone rant, but knowing some of his work - I agreed. Let's just call him "Corey Jackson." We recently both moved, and got into a discussion that debated the perks of NY vs. LA. Below is post from this guest blogger about the dynamic nature of the two cities, and the always proven fact that opposites attract. I have a few comments of my own about the topic, but I'll save those for another post...




A couple of weeks ago, I packed up a U-Haul with only my essential possessions (since my new room is roughly the size of a shot glass) and headed for the greatest city on earth, New York. As I drove up the NJ Turnpike with the stench of warm garbage and broken dreams wafting through the truck, the Manhattan skyline came into view and I couldn’t help but think how lucky I was to now be living at the heart of it all. After this, anywhere else in the world would be a significant downgrade (save, of course, for the wonderful city of Philadelphia).


Not coincidentally, I came to this conclusion prior to several perspective-changing events. First, the living quarters. Priced at just under 3 years salary for a Peruvian alpaca farmer, my charming apartment has no air-conditioning, little natural light, a bathroom door that opens directly into the toilet After these experiences and others (which may compel me to write my own blog), I began to reconsider my previous position. Could a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker (for 2 weeks) like me really call the Big Apple the greatest place ever? How might NYC compare to LA? They are always juxtaposed as opposites, but could opposites attract?


As I reflected more deeply, some important similarities began to surface. Beautiful women. Done. Celebrities. You bet. Nightclubs. Great restaurants. Check. Antagonism between police and minorities…well, that’s pretty much everywhere, but Rodney and OJ essentially guarantee that LA’s got the number one spot on lock. All of these things, of course, are key ingredients to defining a world-class city.


Additionally, LA’s real estate is pretty reasonably priced for what you get. Of course, this is relative to NYC’s bastardized definitions of “affordable and “reasonable”, which are laughable to anyone else on the planet. Further, the people, while shallow and flaky in their own way, are still entertaining. If I say “Aggressive New Yorker,” you probably envision every Yankee fan or resident of Brooklyn. Conversely, “Aggressive Los Angelan” conjures up images of Ari Gold who, though slightly sociopathic, leaves me in tears with every verbal tirade and indecent sexual proposition, not to mention his classic tirade at Josh Weinstein’s beach party in Season 1. Even the vegans in LA are better, employing individualist laissez-faire attitudes to meat and dairy consumption, as opposed to the militant activist vegans of my fair city. And I’m not going to start on the many ways in which Malibu trumps the Hamptons…


However, for all the respect due to the Left Coast, in NYC you can still go out on a Saturday party until at least 4 AM, then drive home and fondle some real breasts whilst eating a legitimate slice of pizza, then wake up and drive to a bar on the highway with no traffic to cheer for your city’s (two) football team(s). So, while I refuse to relinquish NYC’s title of “the best city ever” just yet, I will, on behalf of this fair city, recognize that LA is a city worth recognition and merit. And that’s about as great of a compliment most Manhattanites will ever give.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Orgasm Lip Gloss - And More

Sephora to me is like a candy store to a 5 year old. I can spend hours in it, testing out all of the different products. I recently spent my "birthday money" there on new make up and HIGHLY recommend the Bare Essentials line that's made from an all mineral form. They say that you can even sleep in it, and it won't make you break out. Everything is in powder form, and their brushes are the best I've ever used. You can get a starter kit that includes 2 foundations, a bronzer, primer, face illuminator, and 3 brushes for only $60. It's worth every penny. I'm also a huge fan of benefit's eye brow gel, and Cargo's lip gloss.


I think that the best purchase that I just got this week though is top rated "Orgasm" lipstick from NARS. It's the perfect pinky shade just to give you enough hue and glow to grab anyone's attention. I highly recommend this product - man, I should be a spokesperson and get paid for this! Oh, but I love sharing beauty tips. You can check out their glosses here: http://www.narscosmetics.com/acb/stores/1/Lip-Gloss-C11_category_7.aspx



Speaking of skin care and make up, don't forget that I am still a NuSkin vendor. I buy my makeup at Sephora, but I get all of my lotions and face creams, etc. from NuSkin. Honestly, I've noticed that people comment on my skin all the time now, and it's totally from the products. Their fine line wrinkle serum is the BOMB, and I love their daily skin lotion. It makes my skin the softest that it's ever been. Also, there is a division of NuSkin called Pharmanex. This company made the only vitamin supplements approved for Olympic athletes. I was first introduced to them at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games when I worked there. The supplements are TOP quality. I take an anti-oxidant dose of (decaffeinated) green tea daily, as well as a multi-vitamin. You should check out their websites to see if you are interested in any of the products:

www.nuskin.com
www.pharmanex.com

But remember! If you want to order something from NuSkin or Pharmanex, let me know FIRST! I can give you my vendor number and HOOK YOU UP BIG TIME.

Today was Soup, Bananas, and Milk Day - MMM, MMM, Bueno


+

=

PS - I'm lying.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Love Your Liver and Live Longer


Words to live by... everyone will be happy to know that I had my latest check up today with the head of Hepatology at Cedar's Sinai, and I've been given a clean bill of health. In fact, my test results were so good, that he said that although he loved meeting me, he never wants to see me again! Lucky really pulled through for me, I couldn't be more excited about the news!



I also found out today at another appointment that the HPV Vaccine is now available to young women. One thing that I didn't know is that it's really only recommended for women 18-26, so ladies - if you are like me and recentrly turned 27, run to your doctor now to beg him/her to get you approved for the vaccine. It's a hefty price of $600, but will provide you 100% protection against cervical cancer. I'm definitely going to do it - my first shot in the series of 3 is on September 25th. I can't wait!

Hooray, the Smurfs are Gone!


I finally repainted my bathroom a lovely color of sea blue. Ahhhhhhh...... So much better.

Monday, September 11, 2006

5 Years - But Not Forgotten. Proud to be An American Today!

SNOGGING

This is hands down my favorite new word. Basically it means to make out. It just reminds you how fun British words can be. You can say SNOGGING, and it will sound totally pretentious even though it's likely that you don't mean for it to come across that way. Go ahead, try it.

These links might help to explain it:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1443007.stm

http://english2american.com/dictionary/s.html

But you can also check out one of my FAVORITE sites that I used to use to teach all of my ESL students the English language with.....

www.urbandictionary.com

Urban dictionary is the bomb if you are trying to 'stay in the know' and keep up on all the hip lingo. Trust me, if you've ever taken an ESL class with Ms. Morgan, you know all about this and have practiced making cool sentences with celebrity gossip magazines during class activities.

La Dieta Secreta de Jagger y de Kristi


My co-worker and good friend Danielle and I have decided to try out a 7 day eating plan so that not only will we look GREAT selling translations to people in the Los Angeles area, but also for big upcoming events in our lives. Thinking about it now, I have no idea how Danielle even found this, all I know is that it's from a team of on-air morning disc jockeys in San Diego. The whole premise of the diet is that you substitute 1-2 meals with a vegetable soup throughout the week. We made the soup last night after a successful day at the Brentwood Farmer's Market, and let me tell you - it's damn good.

Today is Day 1 - Fruit and Soup Day. MMMMM, Fruit and Soup. YUM. I'll have to keep you posted as this goes on - knowing me, I'll either loose 20 pounds by Wednesday or be eating chocolate cake for dinner tomorrow night. Anyone like to place any bets?

Monday, September 04, 2006

Sightings and Celeb Scoop

Sighting: Matthew McConaughey running on Carmelita Avenue in Beverly Hills. Equipped with an ipod, t-shirt with the arms cut off (yes, the arms are as ripped as you'd imagine), and bandana holding his hair back.... I still cannot believe that I didn't fall flat on my face. We were the only 2 people on the entire residential street, but on opposing sidewalks.

The funny thing is that once we ran past each other, I looked back to digest what actually had happened, making sure that it was really him- and guess what? He looked back too. For whatever reason, I'm not sure, but at least I know that I've still got it if I can catch the attention of the sexiest man alive for even a split second. Or were my shorts just riding up my ass? Well, let's hope not...

I knew that running would pay off! F the ten pounds I want to lose- I'll keep it up just for moments like these.