Making It Happen

So, this first week of living in LA has been crazy. A lot has happened, and everything is piling up in my brain. 

Monday was Gabe's birthday. He got home from work around 6am. Lyndsey and I woke up and watched him open his presents and have a birthday drink. He went to sleep and we got ready. 

Our first adventure was finding coffee. Easy. I was a little heartbroken to find out that apparently it's high summer time in LA right now and Pumpkin Spice Latte will not be making an appearance quite yet. Bummer. One small con for California that will hopefully be removed ASAP (ahem, Starbucks). 

We went back to Gabe's, he got up to shower while we waited, hungrily. Lyndsey and I hadn't eaten since our stop at Wendy's for lunch after the Grand Canyon the day before. We were too tired the night before to make or go buy some food, and we were edging on 24 hours with nothing but liquids in our stomachs. 

We had brunch at Blu Jam Cafe, a restaurant on Melrose that Gabe has been wanting to go to for a while. There was an hour wait to seat three, so we had a drink at a nearby bar that was just opening its doors. 

Brunch was super delicious. I had a California Omelette which, of course, had plenty of avocado, tomato, bacon and sour cream. So, so, so amazing. I wish I had room for the whole thing.

Yummy brunch...with mimosas, of course. 

We went back to Gabe's so he could get some rest before heading into work at 4. Lyndsey and I were couch potatoes for a while, and then it was time for me to take her to meet up with her step sister who lives a little south of LA by the beach. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to Lyndsey. We had just taken a cross country tip together, and I could have never done it without her, for real. Her leaving meant it was time for me to start my new life, but I do wish she could have stayed longer. 

I can honestly not remember what I did on Tuesday, so I'm skipping it. Probably a lot of catching up on sleep and Melrose Place. idk

Wednesday was a big day for me. I had two interviews lined up and was ready to get a jump start on figuring out what the hell I was going to do out here. 

10am I had a meeting downtown with the media company with the executive assistant position I have been interviewing for the last two weeks. Yep, this was interview/meeting/chat #7 for the job. 

I met at their downtown office/loft. It was ultra modern and a really awesome-looking space, complete with a pool. The CEO and I had a good, long, earnest talk about me and the other candidate he was considering. So, it came down to him not being able t make a decision, yet, and he was giving himself til Wednesday night to make a decision. I hoped I had made a good impression, but honestly, at that point, I didn't know what else he wanted to hear from me. I was getting a little tired of playing the waiting game. 

I went back home, ate lunch and napped, then put on another interview outfit and headed over to Santa Monica. My next interview was for a front desk position at a boutique hotel. The interview went well, but afterwards, I was pretty certain it wasn't the job for me. However, I was going to be open-minded, and I definitely wasn't going to say no if they offered me the position. 

I got home just in time to see Gabe leave for work. I settled in on the couch and impatiently watched the phone and checked my email. 

A skype session with my parents was a solid distraction, and I even got to talk to my dog. He didn't have much to say, but his head tilts were enough to almost bring tears to my eyes. 

A while later, I'm talking nearly 9:00 at night, I finally get the call I'm waiting for. 

I GOT THE JOB! 

I still can't believe I'm actually making this happen. I never imagined it to happen this fast. I'm still getting used to the fact that I'm actually here and not going back to St. Louis in a week. 

Thursday was already set to be a day of celebrating. Gabe had a day (night) off, so he planned to have his birthday celebration. I was in town and made it safely, and now I had a job. Things were happening. 

Gabe got home and slept until 11 or so. Our first stop for the day was Floyd's to get our hairs cut. Really, I just was along for the ride, but my bangs were poking me in the eyes, so I took advantage of the situation and had them cleaned up. 

After that, we hit up the Beverly Center for some shopping. I have been wanting to get some new clothes for a while now, but I made a pact with myself that I wouldn't buy anything unless I had a job. Well, now I did - bring on the retail!

We finally got back home around 6. I jumped in the shower and got ready while Gabe took a catnap. We were headed to dinner and then out for the night. 

We called a cab as soon as we were ready and headed to Los Feliz. Our night started out at Palermo, our favorite restaurant (so far). Every time I have come out here, we had a dinner here. It's a family-run Italian restaurant that is pretty much the equivalent of every cheesy, stereotypical Italian restaurant in a movie. And we love it. The portions are too big, but the food is great and the atmosphere is even better. 

After stuffing ourselves on pasta and Italian beers, we headed down the street to the Dresden Room. Psych! As we approached the door, a kind valet notified us that the Dresden had some plumbing issues or something on Monday, was under construction and would reopen the following Monday. Of course, the one week we want to go, it's closed. 

So, we headed down the street to the Rockwell. There was some kind of tribute musical show going on inside for some famous composer of film scores or something. We headed to the back patio. It obviously wasn't in the plans, but it was still a fun place.

The only pic of the night. At the Rockwell, enjoying the celebration.

Gabe's friends started to trickle in. We had lots of drinks and some shots, and it was a pretty good time. After a couple hours, though, we were ready to move on to our next spot.

Side note: My first celeb sighting as an LA resident! Laura Prepon from That 70s Show was at the Rockwell. There weren't too many people out, so it was easy to spot her. I didn't really believe it was her until we were outside. She was sitting down the bench from us smoking, and I overheard her talking. There is no mistaking that voice. 

Our final stop of the night was the Korean Karaoke joint nearby. When we headed over, though, they weren't quite open, yet, so we went to Public House for a couple more drinks while we waited. 

A couple beers and a shot or two later, we were ready for the finale of the night. Gabe has taken me to this karaoke place before, and its pretty great. They serve food and drinks all night and into the wee hours of the morning. After a certain time, whenever it's past the legal serving time, they come around and pour all of your drinks into plastic cups like the ones you get soda in at Pizza Hut. We drank out of our unmarked cups and sang bad karaoke until around 3am. By that time, I was donezo. We took a cab home and passed out.

That brings us to today, Friday. It has been pretty much a wash of a day. We slept our hangovers off for most of the day. Now I'm working on cleaning up this place from our drunken aftermath and continuing my Melrose Place addiction. 

Work starts on Monday at 9am so I think it will be a pretty relaxing weekend for me. Hopefully. :)

We Are Magical

Well, folks....I did it. 
I said my sad goodbyes to my friends, family and my puppy dog and drove 1800 miles across the country with my sidekick ladyfriend. We had our ideas of how this trip would go, but really had no plan. It ended up working greatly in our favor. 

I left Belleville at 5am and headed across the Mississippi River one final time. I used to tear up when I crossed over the Poplar Street Bridge, looking at downtown St. Louis and thinking about how much I loved that city. It was weird that this time, I didn't. However, that might have been because right as I was coming up on the bridge, I ran over something in the road. Or maybe it was something more symbolic. Probably not, though.

I got to Lyndsey's around 5:20am, stuffed her few bags in the backseat somewhere and headed towards I-44. We stopped to fill up and get some coffee, and we were on our way. [I'm going to keep a tally of the approximate money spent throughout the trip. At this stop, Coffee $2, Gas $40]

It was strange because I had always thought driving that highway back and forth to Springfield during my college years was such a trek. I remember dreading it and always having to stop in Rolla for a stretch break. It's funny how looking at that drive from a different perspective, as a tiny portion of a two-to-three-day trip, it seemed like we got there in a flash. 

Our first gas stop was in Joplin, MO. It had been raining for the last 200 miles or so as a result of Hurricane Isaac's weather moving up from the south. We had a good stretch, took a bathroom break and were back on the road in about 20 minutes. [Gas $35]

My navigator showing our love of maps. 

Our main goal of this whole trip was to make it to LA in two days. Everyone we talked to pretty much shot us down, and, knowing the two of us, I can see why they would assume that we wouldn't make it. HOWEVER, we made killer time on day one. We had a lunch and gas stop in Oklahoma City, stopped again in Amarillo, and made it to Albuquerque around 8pm Saturday night. [Lunch $12 (seriously, the waiter probably thought we scraped that money together), Gas $25, Gas $30]

We found an ok hotel right off one of the first exits in Albuquerque. It was the kind that the door to your room led right to the parking lot, but it was $49, was well lit and had a hot breakfast in the morning. We were sold. 

We got most of the stuff out of the backseat of my car and checked out our room. It had two beds and seemed bed bug free. We were satisfied. It was time to find some grub. A quick change of clothes and freshening up our contacts, and we were ready to go. The little man at the front desk recommended a bbq joint across the street called Rudy's. One look at Rudy's and we decided to do some exploring on our own. 

I guess I had a whole mindset that going west, we were going to run into really awesome places with really awesome people who all looked really awesome. My hopes were way too high for Albuquerque. We drove around aimlessly thinking something had to be popping on a Saturday night. Wrong. Apparently, the only place that seemed to have anyone at all was Red Lobster. We hit it up.

Noticing the cities on our driver's licenses, the bartenders (reminder: at Red Lobster) assumed that we were small town folk coming to the big city of Albuquerque to experience the world. In the tables closest to our bar stools sat some pretty mangy folks with outfits that seemed to have been purchased head to toe from a 5-7-9 back when it was cool and hairstyles I can't begin to describe. I'm not saying that we looked like supa models, but we had been on the road for 18 hours. 

We had a couple of drinks and a nice little dinner, paid our bill and headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest. We were definitely looking forward to not being in a vertical or sitting position for a while.

 As we pulled into the parking lot, a strange, Hispanic man was wandering around the parking lot. I barely noticed him, but Lyndsey was full on protection mode. She took my car keys and instructed me to head into the room. I had no idea what was going on, but she sounded like she meant it, so I followed her directions.

After about 10 minutes, Lyndsey returned. She said she saw the guy looking at us and at our car intently as we pulled in and as we were walking to our room. She took the keys, got back in the car for a minute, got back out, locked the car and shook the keys at the guy while maintaining eye contact with him the entire time. She checked with the front desk to make sure someone would be there all night, made sure the guy saw her seeing him one last time, and came back to the room. She slept with the box cutter under her pillow all night, just in case. My protector. 

We woke up early the next morning to shower, rearrange the car and eat some breakfast. One stop to fill up the gas tank and buy a coffee, and we were on the road again by 6:30am. We were on a fucking roll. [Hotel $49, Dinner $50, Gas $45, Coffee $5]

Two beds, great water pressure in the shower and a hot breakfast all for 50 bucks. 

Somewhere in the midst of this first section of the day 2 trip, I remembered that the back passenger tire has a slow leak and we probably should have checked it before we left. Whoops. I can't remember the town we stopped in, something that started with an H, but literally the next exit we could find with a big name gas station. 

If anyone is planning on making this trip anytime and needs to air up a tire, this town that starts with an H off of 40 in Arizona is a terrible place to do so. The first station where we originally stopped had free air (yay!) that was out of order (boo!). The second big name station we came across just plain didn't have an air pump....when I asked the attendant and was told there wasn't one, I made have answered with a profanity or two. Not a great start to the day. Station three had an air pump (yay!) that was blocked by some moron who parked at a 45 degree angle with his engine still running (boo!). When we finally got to the pump, it cost $1 for 1 minute (boo!). It took us $3 to figure out that the pump didn't work and was taking more air out of the tire (f---!). 

I was fuming. Poor Lyndsey had to deal with me. She was trying to help me see the light in the situation by saying we could have never stopped and blown a tire. My frustration was getting the best of me.

We headed back out to get on the freeway to find another station, and I missed the entrance ramp. Now I was about to stop and blow up the tire myself. Luckily, Lyndsey spotted the best gas station we had seen yet. The air wasn't free but it worked and we finally we able to get some air into the tire. So much for day two being as successful as day one. Ugh. [Gas $20, Vitamin Water $2, Air $5]

After that fiasco, the next part of the trip went pretty smoothly. I have heard from several people that the dessert can be pretty boring to drive through. I don't know what they were talking about. The road is rather straight and boring but the scenery that surrounds it is amazing. Maybe it's because I've never seen anything remotely close to it, but I loved it. I kept wanting to pinch myself. The drive was a vacation in itself. 

At the beginning of this whole trip, Lyndsey and I had both expressed our need to see the Grand Canyon. I'm not sure how many cross-country trips I'll be taking in my lifetime (hopefully, very few), but I wasn't about to pass up this opportunity. We got to Flagstaff around noon and took a sharp right up Highway 64. It was an hour both ways and completely out of the way, but it was definitely worth it. 

It was the definition of breathtaking. 

I'm not going to try to put into words how amazing it was. I'm definitely not that talented. We spent a little while snapping pictures and taking it all in, and we were headed back to I-40. One stop for a quick lunch at Wendy's, and we were back on track. [Grand Canyon $25, Gas $15, Wendy's $15 (No, we're not heffers. They up the prices at the Grand Canyon. Duh.]

The rest of the trip went as smoothly as day one. We did have some issues with the sun when it was setting over the desert, but we powered through it. 

FYI: When crossing the California border, there is a mandatory stop to check for plants, fruits and vegetables coming in. There were signs warning us that there will be a stop, but no details as to what it was. Well, this being my first cross-country trip and my first car in my name, I was nervous as fuck. Lyndsey was driving, so as we approached, I got all the car documents ready, had my license out and was on edge. 

"Do you have any fruits or vegetables in the car?" was the last thing I was expected to hear. I yelped a little "Yes! Apples!" and leaped out of the car. I had to dig through all of my belongings to reach the cooler in the middle of the backseat to finally reach the three apples I had packed as part of our 'healthy snacks' motto for the trip. 

He had to confiscate the apples, which in retrospect, I wish I had been on my toes enough to try to gobble one more down before he took it. Such a waste of perfectly good apples.  
Unfortunately, for me and the cars piling up behind us, that was not the end of the search.  He then wanted to know if we had any plants. Well, I had just gotten a little fern from one of my best friends, and I wasn't about to gibe that up, so I said no as I was returning my belongings to the backseat. Then, I saw the little plant sitting right in plain view.

"Oh, yeah, I...I forgot. I have this fern. It was a gift! That's why I forgot it!" I stammered. Oh great, I was going to lose this guy, too, and possibly get arrested for lying to this state trooper or whatever he was. Fortunately, this fern passed the test and went back to his little spot in the back seat. 

Little guy had a stressful trip.

One more stop in Needles, CA for some fuel and potty, and we were onto our last stretch of the drive. We made it to Hollywood around 8:30 and pulled up to Gabe's where, somehow, the parking spot directly in front of the door was waiting for us. We took a load of my things upstairs and took a load off with a celebratory Budweiser. It was the perfect end to an amazing, successful trip. [Gas $35]

Cheers! BIG MAPS, BIG DREAMS.

Current Status: Sad Zombie

This is it. I leave in about 5.5 hours. I've been trying to sleep, but my excited/anxious/sad/happy/crazy mind isn't allowing me. 

I had interview #5 yesterday. It was scheduled as a Skype interview, but ended up being over the phone because the CEO couldn't get back to the office in time. It went well. Definitely different than any other interview I've been a part of, but in a good way. We had a follow up Skype this morning, just to put a face to the voice. It was a five minute thing that literally was just for him to see what I looked like. It is LA. 

The good news is I'm one of two final candidates. He will be making his final decision this weekend and will let me know the result on Monday. The best part of the whole thing, besides potentially getting the job, was what he said if I didn't get the job. If he ends up choosing the other guy/gal, he offered to put me in contact with some companies he was familiar with in the area and help me find another option. I couldn't believe how gracious he was being. I'm certain I've never heard that in any interview, but it just goes along with people in LA really just wanting to help you out. Crazy, but awesome.

So, if that ends up being my job, I'm going to be pretty excited. If it doesn't, at least I have other options and another avenue to go through for help. I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I might actually be making this work. This time last year, you could have never convinced me I would be moving to LA. Now, I'm actually making that happen...and it's scary great. 

I've come to the realization that I have two choices for my path in life: A) stay in St. Louis, probably be unhappy for a long time and constantly wonder "what if" OR B) move to LA, be unhappy about leaving friends and family and make a new life for myself. Both options are not easy. Yesterday, I got really upset, and I kept thinking "Why am I doing something that is making me so unhappy?" But I keep reassuring myself that no matter how far away, I will still be able to talk and listen and laugh with my friends and keep up with my family. I know without a doubt, that if I don't do this now, I will forever kick myself for not at least trying. 

One of my mantras: you never know until you try. I constantly say that to myself. I am the one person who would never think to try this, and here I am. Here goes nothing...

One Big Missing Piece

After reading my last post, it's pretty obvious that I don't have a lot of my new life figured out quite yet. I'm pretty proud of the little bit I have planned out, and I know I'll be able to get by for at least a month, more if necessary, but there's one thing every twenty-something and beyond needs: a job. 

I have filled out countless applications over the last six months or so. I have them all written down for my own personal records, so I guess I could sit down and take a count. But the more important number is how many interviews I have gotten out of the many, many potential careers, and that number isn't nearly as impressive.

I recently had a revelation: I need a job that doesn't include children. Many have witnessed my distaste for little ones and yet, somehow I convinced myself that a career revolving around them was the right choice for me. A college degree and five different jobs in the educational field later, I finally gave in. No matter how I try to force it and no matter how good I was at the job (Oh, let's face it. I was great), it just wasn't going to happen for me. I had a love/hate relationship with kids that was growing heavy on the hate side. 

So before I go ruining the thought of kids ever being in my life again, I thought it might be time for a little change. That's right. Not only am I going to California with my eyes closed and my fingers crossed, but I am going to launch an entire career overhaul. It's ok, I know what you're thinking: I'm one crazy mofo. At least I'm not on drugs. 

Like I said, I have had several interviews. Some great, some not so great, as expected. One thing that I have learned through this whole process is that no one believes you're actually moving to California. Even if you have an LA address on your resume and the most solid laid travel plans, you're in question until they see you there in person. And even after that, they still think you have a side plan to become a model or actor. So while trying to jump start on a new career path, I'm also trying to prove that I don't have secret motives....all from 2,000 miles away. More hurdles, yay!

Today, I had my third Skype interview for an executive assistant position for a media company. I have had a few Skype interviews for other positions, as well. It's pretty crazy to think that I probably would have never been considered for this job without being able to interview "face to face." It's also pretty crazy that I've gone through three interviews and a get-to-know-you chat for an assistant position. At this point, though, I don't have the option to be choosy, and I'm pretty open to anything that will expand my resume beyond "Tiny Human Wrangler."

In LA, it's all about who you know and being able to let them help you. I had trouble with this, at first. I wanted to be an independent woman and stomp around in camo with Destiny's Child (Is there such a job? 'Cause I'll take it.), but the reality is, I am going to need a lot of help. So, fingers crossed on this job. The interviews seem to be going well, but if this one doesn't work out, I've got some other ideas lined up.


p.s. Is it ok for me to try to be friends with the HR girl I've been interviewing/chatting with? Even if I don't end up getting the job? :)

UPDATE: Interview #4 is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Oh lawd.

The Low Down

In three days, I will be embarking on the biggest adventure of my life. I am the girl who cried relentlessly on day one of church camp and secretly phoned my parents from a Steak N Shake payphone because I was so home sick. I sobbed for the first week of college and forced my sister to just sit on the phone with me for hours to console me. And approximately 84 hours from now, I will be hitting the road, headed west. 

I can't say that moving out of the St. Louis area had ever crossed my mind, ever. Growing up across the river, living in St. Louis was no big deal. I had even considered Chicago at one point in time. The Midwest is so comfortable and easy and familiar. Why would I leave?

Ok, ok, ok....four years have gone by since graduating college. I've had four different jobs in two school districts, a few serving jobs and I've been a nanny on the side for two years. I've lived at my parents' house in Illinois, in Chesterfield, in Soulard, back with my parents, back to Soulard and now back with my parents, again. Not exactly terrible, but not really where I expected my life to be on the verge of my 28th birthday. On the plus side, I don't have many bills, I don't pay rent and/or have a house payment, I have a college degree, I've been able to get jobs when I needed them, and I'm not illegitimately pregnant. My pros/cons list is pretty even steven. 

So, back to the question, why would I leave? Why now? Well, like any good romance novel, there's this boy.........blah blah blah, don't move there for a boyfriend, blah blah blah, what happens if you break up, blah blah blah, you don't know if things are going to work out. I get it. I'm trying to not become that stereotypical girl who is blinded by a relationship. I want this move to be about me and figuring out my life, first and foremost.

Short story is, we met in college, but it was never the right time for either of us to start a relationship together. We kept in contact after college and last year, realized this was something we wanted to try. Perfect timing! He lives in LA, and I live in St. Louis! I guess it's never really been ideal for us, but I realized, now is as good of a time as any to give it a go. 

So, again, WHY AM I MOVING? It all boils down to not having a lot to hold me back. I'm ready for an adventure. Ready for something to happen. I want to be able to tell everyone "When I was 28, I was crazy and picked up what little stuff I had and moved to California." I will be terribly sad to leave my friends and family behind, but Skype is here to save the day. My puppy dog will be coming out as soon as I find a place to live and until then, he'll be a master-Skyper, as well. I just know that I'll never have this opportunity ever again, so it's time to take advantage of it while I can. 

I am grateful for my life and friends and family, but it's time to shit or get off the pot. Hopefully, I won't bawl too relentlessly when I've (fingers-crossed) made it to LA and this all really hits me. And if I can't stop crying, I can always come back - the roommates said they'd hold my spot for me. 

I'm down to the bare essentials. Clothes, shoes, accessories, crock pot.....and I did some Angelina-from-Jersey-shore-packing and got out the trash bags. 

Some of the unorganized hanging clothes that will come along, too. A load of laundry and some snacks, and that's all folks! I'm a gypsy!