Fire's.. again

August 31, 2009


This is what's going on at home :( In some ways, I'm glad it's in the mountains, because last year they were hitting homes, but Mt. Wilson is so purty, I don't want it to turn into another black desert. I don't think any most of know what it's like to go outside and wonder what that black stuff all over your car is. Nature's pissed at something..

Not a Good Look


A purse AND a backpack. So many girls used to do that in high school. It's never a good look.

Oliver doppelganger

August 29, 2009



That is Whitney's boyfriend who lives in Minneapolis. He doesn't look like Oliver at all, but for some reason he does in this photo. This is his band, Hunter.

Now we're in.. '86?

August 28, 2009

I miss you



I am absolutely, 100%, spoiled. Growing up in California (in and around Los Angeles and Orange County), I am spoiled with the finest things in life. Most importantly: the weather and food. People who haven't been to California, or haven't LIVED there, will never understand that it is a magical place to live. People say New Yorkers are more "real" or "in-your-face/that's the way it is" but I think people mistake "real" for crabiness. I'm sorry you have to take it out on the rest of the world that you have shitty weather all year round. California weather is undeniable. Oliver used to say that having shitty weather makes you appreciate days when it's gorgeous out, but he's moving to Orange County, so I guess there isn't much to appreciate over here anymore.

I'm just saying, with this stretch of thunder/lightning storms and humidity all summer long, I wish I was hanging out at the beach on a Tuesday morning and don't know what I was thinking in leaving California to begin with. I've made my bed, so I must lie in it, but it doesn't mean I'm not heading straight HOME when this is done for. I thought that New York would be my calling after Baltimore, but even then, New York has become extremely plain. Who knows.

I'm hungry!

Hello 1995



Shirley Manson is a freaking fox. I love a woman with an accent. And a woman that can rock a pink dress and combat boots.

The difference between Shirley Manson and me: I hate it when it rains. That's the ONLY difference, obviously.

NYC Recap

August 25, 2009

It was great fun. My brother was a good excuse to finally do all the touristy stuff that I've never done i.e. Empire State building, the Statue of Liberty and falafel! Monday was exhausting because we did soo much walking. The Statue of Liberty thing took hoursss but it was fun. I took a cheesy John Lennon photo in front of the statue that I was geeking out about.

Mikey was pretty stoked on Union. We got soup and salad at Whole Foods and watched chess games for a good bit. Then we walked some more.. I can't even remember what we did. I really wanted to take him to the Magnolia Bakery but never got to go over to Greenwich Village. Sparkles and those other cupcake places can eat a stick.

We went to Yaffa on St. Marks for some late night grubbage that was utterly disappointing. Karen took me to Yaffa Cafe when I was in 8th grade, then I took my friend Thupten there when we were in high school. I remember it being pretty good, but I guess my taste buds have evolved and I have a better eye on restaurant-ing and food-ing. I was soo disappointed and can't see myself going there again, ever. Mikey said he would've been more stoked on another falafel.

All in all, it was good times. Just me and Mikey. Hotel on the upper west side, late night TBS movies, hours of Hula, tons of food, lots of pictures, lots of love.

Oh and I definitely saw Aunt Becky walking on 59th.

- - -


The Dude rode ALL day Saturday and came back with some GREAT news. Be prepared for some amazing things coming in the Dude's future. 2010 is all his.

A few more iPhone flicks from NYC









Food

August 22, 2009

Pizza party!

August 21, 2009


We went to Chris' house for a small pizza party. Too much delicious organic vegetarian pizza was consumed. In this photo, Young's feet are inside a dog's ear, Alex Dondero is playing with a baby, and the baby is climbing on top of the dog. I love babies.

Blurred vision



Double your pleasure, double your fun

August 20, 2009



Taken from The Come Up

All to ourselves


It was nice being able to recline on the Dude on my left, and my brother on my right. A million feet high slumber party!

Breakfast at Kimmie's

Cancer, cancer, go away. Don't come again some other day

August 17, 2009

My maternal grandmother (the only grandparent I have left) has been smoking for over 60 years and thus far, no lung cancer. She wasn't feeling well a couple weeks ago and went to the hospital to get checked up. After many tests, Hi Cancer! What I don't understand is why it's showing up now in stage four. She gets a thorough check up every year, how could they not have seen it?

Anyways. She's been moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center where she'll be getting radiation. My grandmother thinks that because she's been moved out of the hospital that she's getting better, but that's not the case at all. But I honestly think she'll yell at the cancer to go away and it might just because the cancer wouldn't want to deal with my grandmother's wrath.

I went to visit her at the rehabilitation home today and we show up to her going backwards in her wheelchair, trying to get out of the door. Me and my brother were cracking up because my mom went up behind her and was like, "Where are you going?" haha and my brother just goes, "What? Um.. no where.." She sticks out like a sore thumb there because she was in an American Apparel-esque outfit with bright blue sweat pants and a bright yellow hoodie. She had her hair done up with a huge sparkly pin in it, her nails were done in a sparkly blue and she had put some make up on. Not to mention her permanent eyebrows.

The whole time, we're joking around while she's ordering someone to bring her a newspaper. A male nurse kept coming in and knocking on the door before entering, though the door was wide open, to help one of my grandmother's roomates. When he'd walk by her, she'd hit him and say, "Don't knock!" haha but he kept doing it and she kept hitting him.

We all walked out to the courtyard and my dad was pushing my grandma. She asked him to take him out of the gate into the parking lot so she could smoke a cigarette. Now, I know what you're thinking: "She has lung cancer and she's still smoking??" There's no point in quitting because she's not going to get any better, so says the doctor. When she came back she said, "Ahh there's nothing like smoking behind a car. It makes me feel young again. Happiness is not very far away."

When she came back, her cigarettes were sticking out of her hoodie pocket and I was like, "Hey! What is that?!" and she looked down "Oh!" and quickly shoved them in furthur.

My family is REALLY funny. I think the Dude definitely got to experience that on Sunday.

The family and I plus the Dude


We went to Hashigo Saturday night to feast on delicious Japanese fusion. I've told the Dude about this restaurant before, and I was nervous to take him for fear that he wouldn't have anything to eat. BUT it all turned out great and I'm glad he saw this certain side to my parents.

Making fun of me is not cool.

My parents dancing is not cool.

Seeing old friends is pretty cool.

Udon is pretty cool.

Conversation the Dude had with some stoner kid

August 15, 2009

Stoner kid: Do you blaze?
The Dude: No.
Stoned kid: YOU LOOK LIKE YOU BLAZZZE.

---


The Dude doesn't eat meat, but gets offered a plethora of beef jerkey. The Dude also doesn't smoke pot, but gets offered the world in marijuana.

Beach day

August 13, 2009


The Dude took the day off from riding to spend the day at the beach with me. He got sunburned as a result of not listening to me and we both got demolished by waves. The last time I was IN the Pacific Ocean was probably when I was 10. Even though it was freezing at first, it was soo nice being in the water. It's amazing how different my hair feels after being in the Pacific vs being in the Atlantic.

Pacific > Atlantic. Fact.

I took him to Newport Beach so we can spend a quiet afternoon alone without the hustle bustle of Hunnington or Venice. On the way home we got grilled cheeses at In-N-Out and vanilla shakes. Yum.

Don't they all look the same?

August 11, 2009


Zac Efron of High School Musical, Ian Somerhalder of Lost, Chase Crawford of Gossip Girl. They're all beautiful boys, but they sort of look the same.

Edit: After staring at the first boy, he doesn't look like the last two and is not very good-looking either.

Sleeping Beauties

Happy Birthday to the Dude!

Zoom Zoom


I dropped the Dude off at Dennis Enarson's house in San Diego yesterday after lunch. I caught some pretty bad traffic on the way back. California = traffic. It's good to be home.

Epicly Later'd.com

August 10, 2009


The caption under this photo is "the number of the building was 333, so it was very lucky for him". Ha! I forgot about how loco he is (loco in the best way).

I miss the guy with the gun

The Dude is officially in Southern California!



He got in yester-morning and I took him to Flore in Silverlake. Yummie vegan eats that we weren't even close to finishing. He looks soo good. I think I had forgotten what he looked like. I think we both looked different.

Yum!

Love notes

August 09, 2009

I was looking through some of my old stuff and found this note in a wallet:

"In all life-endeavors, I've learned this--that for every person, there is another, who makes such a harmonious connection, that life can feel fulfilled simply by crossing his or her path, even if it's only for a moment. That person is like a key, which opens the doors to a hidden cache of glorious emotions and revelations deep within the soul. Your life is forever changed. You find yourself smiling amidst pains that once seemed unbearable. The world seems to slow down; the earth seems lighter. You begin to sense things that you've never before noticed--the joy of a stranger, the carvings on a tree made by some hapless couple, the dancing of moonlight while night swimming. most people search for that someone among potential lovers, reasoning that such an important person must be their future wife or husband. But this is not always the case; that "key" person can be a son or daughter, a teacher or student. Now, I know there's nothing in the Bible that speaks directly to such a phenomenon, but I know it exists, because you do. I will always remember you Tammy Lee. And I will always be yours--my perfect key."

How could such amazing words be forgetten? The note doesn't say who it's from, but I know and I will always know. I used to keep it in my wallet and read it to myself. Just knowing these words were close to me at all times gave me comfort. And then I forgot. I forgot about the book. I forgot about the tacos. I forgot about New York. I forgot about the car. I forgot about the tattoos. I forgot about the beach. I forgot about it all.

Was it love? Was it inappropriate? Not at all. Neither. Never. But such passion was so true. So pure. There will never be another because it's not between two lovers, two family members, two friends.. I think we were something more. Maybe it's because our relationship was rooted in God, but without God actually being in it. I will NEVER have a relationship like that because I don't have God in my life. I'm not upset about that at all, but I'm upset that this love was lost. That note must've been written to me five or so years ago. And in those five years, I have no idea what happened.

I was so young, and you were a lot older than I, full of life experiences and heartache. Full of pain, yet full of happiness. I think you forced your happiness, but for the good of everyone else around you, which I admire. I can relate. But with me, you were happy and there's no doubting that fact. I found the bracelet you gave me today and I put it on my wrist, then took it right off. I want to look in the book, but I'm scared. I can't think about you because I'm ashamed of what I've lost. I wish you could see how beautiful I've become. Just like you knew I would. Just like you knew I was.

Every girl deserves to have such beautiful words written. Every girl needs to have such beautiful words written.

This one's for the Momma

August 08, 2009


Family




People think she's my sister. This is pre-haircut. Come on, cutest thing or what?


Last weekend in Vegas.

The Dude is hilarious, still

He needed a bag for some of his laundry and couldn't find the laundry bags, so he tells me he found one in the shelves where all of my bags are. It went something like this:

"What bag is it? I have no idea what could be there.."
"I don't know, it's black and has draw strings."
"Does it say anything on the bag?"
"Yeah, wait, let me see.. F..ENDI??"

HAHAHAHAHA I love him.

My First Love

August 07, 2009



Idle Hands was on TV and I completely forgot about the movie AND Devon Sawa. Devon Sawa was probably my first huge childhood crush. I thought he was sooo cute in Little Giants, then Casper game out and it was L-O-V-E. Then there was Wild America with JTT (Johnathan Taylor Thomas, duh) and SLC Punk, then Idle Hands came out and I was back in love. If you haven't seen Idle Hands, then you're a bum. Seth Green, Jessica Alba, and Vivica A. Fox. It's too loco to handle. How I miss the 90s.

Diamonds are best friends for girls like you



Whether you like the music or not, there's no doubting that they're going to be big. I don't know who's going to dig them, but it's going to happen. The dudes played at Hogue's last night. Being there was such a trip. The last time I was there was probably sophomore or junior year in high school. It looked exactly the same.

I miss and love Nick too much. We went to the studio after the show last night to listen to some of the tracks that were finished and Marco started freestyling. I was surprised at how good he is. I was surprised the whole night. Everyone got drunk so I had to drive Marco's car back to our area and we got to chatting. He said, "you are Nick are like best friends huh" and I guess we are? One of many, but we are.

Neiman!

Sex, love, pain



I listened to the radio all day yesterday and heard this song about 28 times. I saw his performance at the BET awards and didn't think it was foreal. Weird. And I guess a lot of people watch/used to watch Degrassi? I thought I was the only one that recognized him from the show because I never thought people Actually watched that show.

I miss listening to KIIS in the mornings.

Poor Bella

August 06, 2009

Today

-Woke up early to go to the DMV, but got a call from Jeff asking me to take Bella to the vet. Took her, saw the doc put a thermometer up her bootyhole, all is well. Played with her for half an hour before heading out. Babies are adorable.

-When I arrived at the DMV, I was number G164. They were on G103. So I went to Kimmie's and had breakfast with The LA Times.

-DMV, check.

-Went to Banana Republic to return something for Daddy but was unsuccessful.

-Then went to Victoria's Secret and ended up spending an hour and $240 in there. I was having a hard time finding a bra, but with the help of a Vicky's professional, I discovered that I went down a size and up a cup size. Holy moly. Where am I going? I got funny panties for the Dude. Well, not FOR the Dude, but for him. Ew, stop.

-Made stuffed shells for dinner, but midway through the preparation I discovered that only my mother was coming home for dinner. So I have enough turkey and artichoke stuffed shells to feed 8 people, just sitting in the fridge.

-Finished my "bling" project, which just means I've been decking out my phone case. It's too much for anyone to handle.

-Now I'm watching Tomorrow Never Dies with the Dude. One of our favs.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week. So far so good, don't you agree?

Message from The Dude

August 05, 2009

"IF YOU'RE ONE OF THE KIDS WHO RIDES MY RAMP...

... you need to start picking up your fucking trash. Actually not even just YOUR trash, any trash you see. I'm getting really sick of doing it for you.

Also, a week ago I left a big bin of old parts out there for people to take for free, and when I go out there today pretty much everything is gone except two seats and two brake levers. That's great, except the two brake levers are sticking halfway out of the dirt next to the bin. You really couldn't even put them back in the bin?

Seriously, I let anyone ride it at any time, and its so disrespectful to come into my yard when I'm not there and just throw fucking trash on the ground. What's crazy is some of you have even been hiding it behind the ramp.

You kids need to learn some fucking respect and manners."



For really real. And the little dummies are smoking the reefers on the ramp, too. Then the Mommy comes out and asks them nicely not to smoke the reefers, so they go out into the court in front of ALL of the neighbors instead. The younger generation is so dumb. IN TOO MANY WAYS. Really? The Dude's married to the X. You don't go into Hitler's house talking about how much you love Jews, just like you don't shred the Dude's ramp and smoke the reefers. Haha!

At the same time, it's definitely a cultural thing. White folk don't know how to teach their kids respect or manners (most). For some reason, it seems to me that "minorities" carry an unwritten amount of respect for certain aspects in life. I can't explain it, and you can't explain it. It's something you grow up with. It's something you're taught. I mean, I'm as white as the white person next to me, and it's not a white, black, yellow, purple, blue thing. What, I can't say WHITE person? But the colored peoples have a stronger sense of culture, a stronger sense of family, and a stronger sense of respect (for the most part, in my opinion). It's like the Russell Peter's stand up (3:30), but I also think Russell Peter's stand up is funnier for minorities. Ahh I can't get into this right now.

It's a weird thing that most of you will never, ever understand.

CLEAN UP YOUR SHIT WHEN RIDING THE DUDE'S RAMP!

It's 1:30 am.. I apologize if there are any run-on sentences or too much of my mind spoken. I'm just typing..

I thought I knew you so well

I somehow managed VIP tickets to No Doubt tonight (fo free). I took Nick and it was absolutely amazing. Perfect. The Sounds and Katy Perry opened up for them, but luckily Nick and I got there right when the "I kissed a girl" song started so by the time we were inside, she was outta thur. The Dude doesn't understand why I like No Doubt, but growing up in Orange County in the 90's and 00's, no one, no matter what kind of music you listened to, did not listen to No Doubt.

Gwen Stefani is amazing and absolutely flawless. That's what you sound like after doing this shit for 15+ years. I told Nick that I am going to have Gwen Stefani's body by the end of the year, because if she can look like THAT after two kids, so can I. I don't think there are any pictures floating on the interwebz of her current stomach. I've never seen it like that. Holy moly. It was almost frightening.

Anyways, we were stoked because this is probably the last chance we'll ever get to see 'em. How about this.

No one ever really dies

August 03, 2009



Quick Vegas recap:

Right when we got to the hotel (Palazzo), we went to a gigantic $45/person buffet at the Wynn. The place looks like something from Alice in Wonderland.

N.E.R.D. at LAX

I played roulette and black jack and came up a good amount of money.

Just because you're in Vegas doesn't mean you can wear close to nothing. Or does it? Either way, it's gross. Class all the way.

My dad's drunk lawyer friend giving me $250 in chips at the black jack table, whilst licking my fathers ear.

I spent most of Saturday with my brother since I went out all Friday night without him. We went to the Forum Shops, this time without any celeb sightings. Then we on the roller coaster at New York New York at night, twice. We got tickets to see the Blue Man Group at the Venetian, so we rushed over there after our "Manhattan Express" adventure.

The Blue Man Group was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. I was crying at one point. Azul!

Lots of food.

More food.

On our drive home, we stopped at Tangier and I got three pairs of shoes from Aldo, a belt (finally), and a mustard top.

I'm tired. Goodnight.

Viva las Vegas. But I'll be fine if I don't see you for another year.

HipHopDan.com


Literally one second before Pharrell went on stage. Weird vibes. Kind of strange. But I guess everyone is.


What we were looking at.


The new looks. Pardon the way I look, I just got out of a 5.5 hour drive and a $45 dollar per person dinner.


LAX was poppin.

Photos from Daniel.