How LA LIVE does Christmas....

The Campus is currently decked out with a tiny ice skating rink, lots of wintery Christmas lights, a lit up metal tree and tons of (sponsered) decorations. :-)

I believe it's $10 to ice skate if you are interested.

The pictures are not very good. I was in a hurry and using my cell phone. Maybe I'll try to get a better one soon.

Stop by and visit some time...








Did you hear that they are thinking about tearing down part of the convention center (which is connected to LA LIVE) and building a football stadium? I can not even imagine. If the traffic is bad now...oh gosh. You already have UCI near by and LA LIVE, Nokia Theatre & Staples Center all right there. We'll see what happens. The good thing is that slowly LA is being cleaned up. 1 block at a time. Hopefully it gets better and better.

Happy Holidays!!

2010 Emmy's (The Set Up)

Last week, LA LIVE was buzzing. They completely transformed Nokia Plaza at LA LIVE into a Red Carpet Media Zone. It was quite the transformation. Complete with the filming of the 2010 Emmy's opening sketch outside on our campus. I saw our employee entrance and our building in the actual opening sketch so that was kind of cool. Not to mention, I saw our lamp posts which are from the movie Chronicles of Narnia. There's a little bit of movie trivia for you. See if you can spot them in the video of the opening sketch or if you are in the LA LIVE area. :-)


I didn't get to work on Emmy Sunday, but I did get a few pictures of the Emmy set up through out the week. It was interesting to see everything take it's place.

Enjoy the pictures!


Setting up for the filming of the opening act.


Red Carpet entrance is starting to take form.


Setting up the press stations along the red carpet.


More press areas. Check out the AC vents! Gotta stay cool.


Filming the opening act. See Jimmy Fallon in the white shirt with the dry cleaning. Didn't actually notice it was him until someone told me later. I looked at my picture and saw that it WAS him. haha. I'm so observant....


Setting up for E! News and Entertainment Tonight!


It's getting there.


Until next time...
:-)

Workaholic's Don't Travel!

So, I would not really consider myself a career girl. I am not aiming to become some top Executive. I don't have awesome girl power career goals. HOWEVER.....I do take my job very seriously. When I'm there, I'm 100%. I try very hard to do a really great job. I take pride in my work. I try to be organized. I want to learn new things. I research if I don't know how to do something. I want to fully understand what my job is. I want my bosses and colleagues to think of me as a key player. I stay late and work weekends if need be to make sure my work is taken care of. All of those good things. But like I said. No grand career aspirations.

I do enjoy my hectic job. This new job is an extension of what I was doing at my previous job. Adding to that, a whole new accounting side. Plus a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Throw in many meetings and there you have it. I also have the whole commute thing which adds about 3 hours to my day.

My main boss (who we call 'Mom') just reassigned all of our upcoming groups. Long story short, we got assigned to specific managers and we will now take on their specific groups. Well, my 2 assigned managers just happen to be VERY busy in the next few months and the beginning of next year. So, their groups will now be my groups. Plus I have my own groups. Also will still have a few groups I have kept from other managers that I was already involved in. Starting in the next few days, I will be slammed until November 19!! I will have one week of freedom and then more groups until December 14. I have not had a day off (minus the weekends) since my New York trip in January! Not even one day. Boo hoo!

So, what is my point??!! My point is....I need to ask Mom Boss for a few days off during that week so I can for sure take a little trip! I need to ask her NOW before she assigns another group to me during that week. So that's the plan. Mom Boss is crazy busy right now, but I think the sooner I ask her, the better. I may sneak my request on her desk tomorrow. Wish me luck!!!!

By the way. I'm thinking this may be a good time for that Chicago trip I've been wanting to do. Thoughts?

Sincerely,
LA Working Girl

Grease (the Sing-A-Long)!!

Something to do in the LA Area...

Stayed in LA after work today and went to see Grease (the sing-a-long version) in the theatre!! Soooo much fun! They have added the lyrics at the bottom of the screen so everyone can sing-a-long with the movie. And boy did they ever! Everyone was singing and dancing in their seats.

It was a walk down memory lane. Seeing as I was obsessed with that movie back in the day. As was most of my generation. Everyone was really into it which made it a fun experience. And I'm not gonna lie...I heard lots of guys singing too. Seriously!

I hope it is playing in your city. If it is, go see it!! Totally worth it. Check out the website below.

www.greasemovie.com

TwiHards EVERYWHERE!

So this post is a little late. Thought you might enjoy it anyway! Remember a few weeks ago, during the whole Laker win rioting/parade week fiasco that was going on in Los Angeles? Yes, that was right where I work. Luckily I have a paid parking pass so I didn't have to pay the $40 fee they were charging for what they normally charge $4! I also left right on time after work to avoid as much of the traffic and chaos that I could. The place I work actually locked their doors during the game so that the festivities would not move in there.


Anyhoo.... on Laker parade Monday on my walk from the parking structure to my work, I had to dodge purple and gold decked out excited people from every direction. I'm happy they were able to celebrate this time in a happy in a non rioty and (some what) safe way. :-) Then I saw tents. People camped out for this?? I'm confused. Nope. It was actually people camping out for the Twilight red carpet/premiere. Which is what I found out later from some colleagues. But wait. The premiere is not until Thursday. And it's Monday. What??? They will be here camping all week! And so the nickname TwiHards truly fits.



It was an interesting few days to say the least. Of course the media was there all week. Last week was quite boring after the few weeks of Lakers and Twilight premieres. Oh wait. We just had the Anime Expo. Think costumes. And lots of them. I sooo wish I had pictures of that one. Always an exciting time at LA LIVE!! Allas....I did sneak a few pictures of the TwiHards and their campsite. Right in the Nokia Plaza in LA LIVE. Enjoy. :-)






Team Jacob!!!

Only in LA.....

The Freeway Dragons!!! Wow.




Have a great weekend Travel peeps!!

Travel Girl in The City

So, I just ended my first week working in the city. The city I am referring to is Los Angeles. Living in South Orange County, the travel distance to where I am now working is about 50 miles one way. Yikes! What have I gotten myself into??!!

My alarm went off at 4:55am on Monday morning. Ugh. Turned on the coffee (which was prepared the night before) and started getting ready. Since I am carpooling with my roommate, we decided that we would each drive a week at a time. This was my roommates' week to drive. We left the house a few minutes before 6am. We were able to take the carpool lane and ended up getting to work by 7:15. We have to park in a parking structure a few blocks from where we work. Of course, we were smart and wore reasonable shoes in and then changed to our heels once inside the employee entrance. Being that she starts work at 7:45 and I didn't have to be in orientation until 8:30, we had some free time. So, she gave me a tour of the property.


The drive home was not so bad. We left a little late (around 6pm). It took about 1 1/2 hours to get home. All in all, the drives were not as long as I had thought. So I am good with it. The rest of the week basically went the same. It's been taking about 1 hour 15 min to get in to work and about 1 1/2 hours to get home. However, we've been working a lot of overtime which means we were not getting home until almost 8. Which makes for very long days. So basically, my only gripe for right now is that I feel very very tired!


Like I said in a previous post. I work in the new area known as LA LIVE. The area includes the Staples Center, Nokia Theatre, restaurants, bars and 2 hotels. If you live in the LA/OC areas and listen to the radio or watch the news, this is the new hotspot for entertainment. This week was no exception. American Idol and Lakers festivities were going on all week. I even saw the top 2 contestants from American Idol! First I saw Lee DeWyze. He was on the balcony of the Nokia Theatre overlooking our employee entrance. Just chillin there. It was hilarious. Then the next morning while walking in, we saw Lee and Crystal doing interviews outside in the quad area. If you watch the show, you know that the finale was filmed at Nokia. I was inside working while the red carpet was going on but I wish I would have taken a 10 min break to go get Starbucks or something so I could see part of the red carpet show. :-) If you know me, you know I love Kelly Clarkson. I had no idea she was supposed to be on the finale. I would have loved to see her. And all of the other celebrities that were there. So basically what I'm saying is it was an exciting week in the area. Walking to and from my car was the best people watching!


Now that my week is over and I've had time to see friends, family and now finally relaxing on this Memorial Day holiday, I am almost ready for the new week to begin.


A few tips for commuting to work.

• Lots of good music.
  
• Coffee for the ride
  
• Snack for the ride home


• Comfy shoes for the drive and walk in


• Water bottle (the reusable kind!)

A picture of LA LIVE from my walk in. At the bottom right, you can see them setting up the press tent for American Idol.

I would take more pictures, but my roommate gets embarrased when I do. Hahaha.

Enjoy your Memorial Day everyone! Be thankful and send happy thoughts to our soldiers. Come home soon!!

-Travel Girl in the City!

New Job....New City!!

So, I know this is a travel blog and all.....but this somewhat has to do with "traveling". I just accepted a new job that will have me commuting from Orange County, all the way to Los Angeles daily!! If you live in either of these two areas, you know this is practically a whole new world. Not to mention, I live in South OC. Which means my commute will be approximately 1 1/2 hours each way. This is mainly because of traffic. Mapquest tells me it's only supposed to take 1 hour. Riggggghhhht.

I am debating whether to carpool or take the train. There is a train stop near my house. The train may cost more, but it may be better than the wear and tear on my precious little Nissan Versa! I may try them both out. We'll see if the traffic in LA gives me road rage. OC freeways are packed but as I listen to the radio in the morning, I'm thankful for traveling in OC. The LA freeways always seem to have accidents.

The area where I will be working is near the new hotspot LA Live. Right next to Staples Center and Nokia Center. So, this is a new up and coming area and I'm excited to be a part of it.




I don't really go to LA very often. I'm sure now that I will be working there, I will be able to explore a little bit more. Restaurants, shopping, things to do, etc. I will definitely let you know what I find!

Stay tuned for more posts on life as a city girl! :-)

Weekend Getaways: Manhattan Beach

Weekend Getaways: Manhattan Beach!

Two birthdays to celebrate this weekend, so we headed up to Manhattan Beach. We left straight after work and headed up to Los Angeles. It was a very relaxing weekend. Relaxed by the pool, homemade mimosas, a wonderful dinner and the Observatory.

TheView:


The Dinner:
2 people had recommended C&O Cucina located in Marina Del Rey. Very crowded with locals. It was small inside but they also had a huge patio area. We didn't get there until around 9pm. There were tons of people waiting. We thought the wait would be over an hour. However, they move super quickly and we only had to wait about 10-15 minutes. We sat on the patio which was awesome. They serve you free garlic knots that are to die for. Our server warned us they were like crack and very addicting. They were. The food came out very quickly. They also passed out copies of lyrics to That's Amore. When the song comes on, the servers sing along (so do the guests) and clink glasses with the restaurant go-ers. Very fun atmosphere. I definitely recommend it!


http://www.cocucina.com/


Griffith Park Observatory:
We drove up there at night and enjoyed the night views of Los Angeles. We missed the last Planetarium show of the night so we ended up coming back the next day to see the show. I've never been during the day and the building is just so beautiful. Glad we came back!







View of the Hollywood sign from the Observatory.



All in all, it was a nice relaxing weekend. I didn't spend a lot of cash either. I took out money and did not put anything on my card. I even came in under budget. Came home with $10! Woo hoo!

Happy Monday Travel Peeps!!

Travel & Adventure Show- LA

So yeah.....I went a little crazy on brochures.






Got to meet Rick Steves and sit in on his seminar. http://www.ricksteves.com/ He reminded me of my Travel & Tourism teacher back in the day. He was enthusiastic about what he was talking about and for travel in general.



After listening to him speak about what makes his tours different from other tours and what people would be a good fit for his tours......I decided that I would most likely not be a good candidate for his tours.... your luggage has to be approximately 9 x 22 x 14! wtf! For those of you that don't want to do the math...that is the requirements of a carry-on at the airport. There is absolutely no way! The reasoning behind the small luggage is because they stay right downtown in main cities (as opposed to some of the bigger tour companies who stay outside of town in bigger hotels). Some of these main cities have lots of stairs, no elevators or a little bit of a hike since the bus cannot access some small areas in which these hotels may be located. Also, everyone carries their own luggage. The advantage is that you get some great family owned quaint hotels in some amazing cities right near all of the action. When all of the bigger tour buses have to leave for the night, you will still be there in the middle of everything! But yeah.....2 weeks worth of luggage in a carry-on?? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do that. :-)



We also got to listen to Samantha Brown speak. She is host of a few shows on the Travel Channel. Passport to Europe and Passport to Great Weekends and next season's Passport to Asia. http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Samantha_Brown She pretty much has the best job ever! Getting paid to travel and stay in wonderful places! Luckyyyyyy.

I put my name in all the drawings. I haven't won anything yet but I'm waiting for a phone call or an email telling me i've won a 6 night trip to Ireland or a round trip ticket on Jet Blue to anywhere they fly or one of the sweet gift baskets or the trip to Vietnam. ;-) I'll keep you posted!

LA Travel Show this weekend!!!!

So I just found out about this travel show coming up this weekend in Los Angeles. It's called the Los Angeles Times Travel & Adventure Show. The show will be at the Los Angeles Convention Center this Saturday 2/14 and Sunday 2/15. The cost to get in is $10 at the door or $8 if you purchase them online. Parking is $12 so car pool!! The show will be open to the public from 10am-5pm. http://www.latimes.com/extras/travelshow/index.html

I checked out the exhibitors list and they have some really awesome ones. A few that I am excited to see are:

Authentic Ireland- www.authenticireland.com
Car Italy And Tours- www.caritaly.com
Celebrity Cruises (Europe)- www.url.com
Contiki (Europe)- http://www.contiki.com/
Greek National Tourist Organization- http://www.visitgreece.gr/
Holland America-Cruise Stars- www.hollandamerica.com
Holand America Line Alaska- www.hollandamerica.com
Jet Blue- http://www.jetblue.com/
Oceana Cruises (Europe)- www.oceaniacruises.com
Travel Bound (Europe)- http://www.aaa.com/AAA_Travel/EuropeanVacations/european_vacation.htm
Travel Impressions Africa- http://www.travimp.com/brochures/ti_south_africa/index.html
Travel Indochina- www.travelindochina.com
US Department of State Passport Agency- www.travel.state.gov

Some of their sponsors are AAA, National Geographic Adventures and The Travel Channel.

Along with all of the booths, there will also be Destination Workshops, Speakers and chances to win some sweet prizes (trips!!!!!).

**Also, the US Department of State Passport Agency will be there and you can apply for a passport if you need one or renew your current passport. I will be renewing mine as I'm pretty sure it's almost expired. ;-) See the show's website for information on what you need to bring to the show if you are interested in getting a passport or renewing your current one. If you don't have a passport, it is always good to have on hand.....just in case!!!!

I am looking forward to collecting brochures and information and adding my name to all of the drawings. ha ha.

Hope you get a chance to check it out too!

I am SUPER excited!

Day Tripping- La La Land

Hooray for Hollywood!

I know, I know. The economy sucks! But that doesn't mean you can't try new things and visit new places. Since I (like the rest of you, I'm sure) am currently on a budget, the big trips are on hold. Most recently, I've decided to give Hollywood another try. They've actually cleaned it up a bunch in the last few years. I've taken 2 separate day trips to Hollywood recently and here's what I've found:

Griffith Park Observatory:

http://www.griffithobs.org/

Admission is free! Woo hoo! Located in Griffith Park above the neighborhood of Los Feliz, the Griffith Park Observatory over looks the city of Los Angeles (including the Hollywood sign). It has great views of the city and the stars if it's a clear night! They have a ton of exibits on astronomy including the planets, stars, the moon, etc. All for free. For approximately $7, you can check out a show at the Planetarium located within the Observatory. http://www.griffithobservatory.org/psoplanet.html A very interesting show and I definitely recommend seeing it while you are there. You can also check out the ginormous telescope (only open on clear nights) and check out the stars and planets live and in action.

The view of LA from the Observatory

Pink's Hotdogs:

Hollywood's famous hot dog stand. Opened in 1939. Tons of celebrities grab a Pink's hot dog while they are in town. There are autographed pictures all over. The line is crazy long and it's literally a big "stand". No inside dining. They do have an outdoor patio with lots of seats. Any kind of hot dog you can imagine, they have. The dogs are all named after celebrities. Vegetarians, don't worry, they even have a vegi dog! Woo hoo! And yes, we did stand in line for 45 minutes to get a freaking hot dog. Don't judge. We wanted to say we'd been there, done that. :)

http://www.pinkshollywood.com/

The Grove:

The Grove is such a cute outdoor shopping center. I love it there. They have a ton of shopping places, a few pricy restaurants, a water show (think a tiny Bellagio watershow), live music, a trolly, coffee and icecream stands, etc. The Grove is a good "people watching" place. The Farmer's Market is also next door.

http://www.thegrovela.com/

The Grove @ Christmas time

Universal Studios:

Soooo expensive! However, I got in for free since there was a travel industry day. Yayyyy me! It was fun, but there is not a ton of things to do. The rides are more about the special effects rather than speedy rollercoasters. Be careful of all the rides because pretty much all of them squirt water in your face. Seriously. The Backlot Tour is fun, but I've been on it so many times, that it's not as exciting as it used to be. I would say go if you've never been. But if you are looking for speedy roller coasters, try Disney or Knott's in Orange County instead. Universal is more about special effects and movie making.

We did get to meet the Grinch and take pictures with the "Who's" since they had "Grinchmas" going on. ;-)

http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/

Pantages Theater:

So this one's gonna cost you. However, you should definitely see a show here if you can. The theater is amazing. I saw Lion King there and also Wicked....TWICE! Both shows were amazing and the theater was beautiful.

http://www.pantages-theater.com/?gclid=CNPu4omDkJgCFRYiagodDXDYng

Disney Soda Fountain & Studio Store:

Located on Hollywood Blvd near Hollywood & Highland. Fun old fashioned icecream parlor with a Disney flare.

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/el_capitan/soda_fountain/main.html

***Just in case you are wanting a picture of the Hollywood sign......it is NOT lit up at night. Take your pictures during the day! I'm just saying....

If you would like to get close to the Hollywood sign, check out this website for the best places to view it: http://www.hollywoodsign.org/see.html They show you directions to see the sign. I personally took the Beachwood Canyon one which leads into some really cool houses. I would definitely like to check out the Lake Hollywood one. And of course I've been to Hollywood & Highland but that is pretty far from the sign.

**The Capital Records building was built in 1956. It was the worlds first circular office building. It resembles a stack of records (vinyl 45's) on a turntable. The needle at the top has a red blinking light that blinks in Morse Code to spell out the word Hollywood. It has done so since the building opened in 1956.

There are a ton of other things to do while in LA/Hollywood. Melrose Ave has funky hip shops and cafes, Robertson Ave is famous and most likely filled with Papparazzi because of the famous expensive shops such as Kitson. There's Rodeo Drive, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood & Highland, Grauman's Chinese Theater and the Fashion District are just a few more highlights.

Another thing to do is to just drive around. Drive up into the Hollywood Hills or Beverly Hills and gawk at the mansions!

Have fun discovering Old Hollywood!

Movies to see:

All of them! It's Hollywood biatches!

(However, The Holiday is a good one!)