Playing Tourist

I went to visit Jo this weekend in Burbank and we did all sorts of fun things in a span of 48 hours. We started the weekend off at a fun little sushi bar that had a 9-12 happy hour. Saturday morning we had brunch/mimosas (my fav!) at the Eclectic Wine Bar and Grille in North Hollywood. That afternoon we played tourist in downtown Hollywood. I totally forgot it was Oscar weekend so it was a bit crazy but so fun to see all the set up for the awards. We saw the red carpet and all the huge Oscar statues.



And then we walked to Grauman's Chinese Theatre. We saw the Harry Potter cast hand prints, along with Bing Crosby, Shirley Temple, Gene Kelly, Meryl Streep (Who won the Oscar the next day for Best Actress) and my hand fit perfectly in Julie Andrews print :) Does that mean some of her talent will seep in through my hand??







That night we relaxed at Jo's house, made some pizza, watched Harry Potter and baked cupcakes. Pretty successful weekend!

Coffee Mornings

This was definitely a coffee morning. I got up to meet a friend for breakfast at 7:30am. Did I mention I'm not a morning person?

Well, I'm not even a regular breakfast-eater, but I will joyfully wake up for good food and great conversation. And that's exactly what I got :) I'm thankful for that this morning. And the thing I actually like about getting up early is having the rest of the day to be productive. But where did I end up after my breakfast date? At another coffee shop... go figure. Apparently the 3 cups of coffee at breakfast didn't do the trick.

But now I've paired music and coffee. Another great combination right? I'm meeting a different friend in a half an hour and so I came to put our Wednesday worship set together. And I'm pretty sure if I went home and relaxed I'd fall asleep haha.

That's my day so far and I'm loving it. Work tonight. My life is so exciting, huh? ;)
Well, I hope you all have a happy Tuesday! Take the time to drink some coffee, chat it up with a friend and enjoy this beautiful life that God has given us.

A Great Way to Start Off The Weekend...

Okay so it's not exactly the weekend yet, but I'm having a slow start today. I only teach a few lessons today so it kind of feels like the weekend :)

I'm catching up on some stuff and am listening to this beautiful cover of Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up." I'm singing it for a friend's wedding in a month...

Enjoy :)
And have a great holiday weekend!

Dreamin'

I had the best dream last night. Have you ever had one of those dreams where when you wake up it's quite devastating that it wasn't real? I kept going back to sleep hoping it would continue (and it did!). Seriously... I stayed in bed until almost 11am :) So here's what happened:

I was in an audition or a workshop of some kind. (I think it started out as an audition and turned into a workshop halfway through. Oh dreams). I was preparing to sing "Meadowlark" from "The Baker's Wife."

And what do you know? Patti LuPone was there! YES.

And so was Bernadette Peters. Whaaat?!

Anyway - Patti LuPone sang through the song with me. How did I not know this was a dream?? (It felt so real, though!) And then we analyzed the song together, she gave me some tips and I performed it for them... and it was good! I feel like I can say that without being cocky because it was a dream haha.

That's about it. But Patti and Bernadette were sitting in a room listening to me sing and enjoying it. What? Okay, I'm done. Just thought I'd share, because even though it wasn't real I enjoyed it and am still pretty jazzed about my fake performance for two brilliant women in musical theatre.

I'm going to go to bed now. Maybe Sutton Foster and Laura Benanti will make an appearance next :)

Drive-in with dad

Last night my dad and I had a date :) When I was little my dad would take my sister and me to the drive-in when my mom was out of town. He would load the car with blankets, a pizza, and our favorite snacks. So this Saturday night my dad and I did just that. We loaded up the car with all of those fun things (including my favorite Flourless Chocolate Souffle Cake that he surprised me with) and headed to the Sunset-drive in theatre. It may not have looked like the old picture above haha - more like this...


But it was great all the same. We saw "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" and "Man on a Ledge." The acting in the first movie was comical, but the 2nd was good. But the real reason for the drive-in is the outing, the atmosphere and the fun of the whole trip... I mean who doesn't love to sing along with the "Let's all go to the lobby..." song in between movies?? :)

Even though I'm 24 I still love the occasional father/daughter date night :)

Santa Barbara Saturday

Last Saturday I took the 1.5 hour drive to Santa Barbara to meet up with my friend Dana :) She lives in Pasadena so SB was our half way point. We had the most relaxing day and fortunately for us it was a beyond beautiful day on the coast...

For some reason I came up with the bright idea to meet at the Starbucks on State St. But little did I know there were 3 Starbucks' on the same street. (Smart, Tamara). After a few confused and comical phone calls we found each other and proceeded to take a walk down to the beach. We walked the length of the pier and had a grand view of the expanse of water sprinkled with sailors, fishermen and paddle surfers. We sat at the edge of the pier and soaked up the sun and its wonderful warmth.

We had lunch at a nice restaurant on the pier that had a great view. Yummy food and good company.

After lunch we walked along the water and again sat down to enjoy the view and sun.

We then walked along State Street, did some shopping, and stopped for frozen yogurt.

(And Dana may or may not have tried to take a nap in World Market...)

We ended the night with a relaxed dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and what girls outing is complete without cocktails and laughter? :)



Day trips are a blessing... and so are good friends.