This is so my luck:

Chris and I got back to LA from Chicago yesterday to find RAIN. Not just pitter-patter-on-your-window-rain, but rain-that-woke-me-up-this-morning-because-it-is-raining-that-hard-rain.

And? I have a leak in my windowsill meaning that I have a large amount of water dripping right around my lovely eMac. I guess builders here in LA people didn't prepare for rain?

And again? MY car is ready. Remember? My CONVERTIBLE! So my beautiful convertible is sitting on the Toyota lot until I come and pick it up. But half of me doesn't even want to get in it for the first time without putting the top down.

Just thought: do you think the insides of covertibles are waterproof?

I'm off to do a workout, it will be the first in a long two weeks of eating and being lazy...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

EDITED TO ADD: I just realized how trivial my problems are. I can't believe that I even allowed myself to think, for even one second, that I have problems. Just look at any news source to see the devastation in Southeast Asia and you will see that THAT is a tragedy.

Rain? A Convertible? It's embarrassing for me to read over.

At the coming of a new year, I am grateful for my personal health and the health of those surrounding me, my wonderful family and friends, and the fact that I have a roof over my head (even if there are leaks in it).

Have a wonderful New Year everyone. If you wanna stop by, you can find me on my couch with champagne, cookies, and the TV.

I have officially returned safely from my short and sweet trip to Chicago :) Safely I say, but in reality, you should have seen me on the return flight.

Now, I'm pretty sure that I mentioned it before, but flying isn't really something I enjoy. Don't get me wrong. If need be, I will fly...no doubt. But if only I could just skip the takeoff my life would be a whole lot easier. I got lucky on the flight there. Flying alone scares me more than anything, so my mom's advice was to just start talking to the person next to me, and hopefully it would get my mind of the fact that I was on a plane. Sure enough, the girl that sat next to me happened to be awesome. She works as an assistant to a producer on the same studio lot that Chris works, and we even share some mutual friends. So not only was the flight smooth and anxiety-free, I made a new friend too!

Getting to Chicago was uite a laugh on Chris's part. He picked me up from the airport with a Venti Hot Chocolate from Starbucks. He told me that I would need it. "Why?" I asked. I had been in cold before, what's the big deal? When I walked outside into the 5 degree weather, my body almost went into shock. I had steam comiing out of my nostrils like a dragon, my jeans froze. I even started coughing because my lungs were just getting adjusted. hris, his brother, and his sister could do nothing but laugh at me.

I couldn't believe it as we drove 45 minutes into the suburbs. I swear the place is out of the movies. His parents live in a beautiful house in a cul de sac right on a lake. All the neighboring houses were covered in Christmas lights...it was just incredible. Their house itself was warm and cozy, with a huge Christmas tree covered by lights and filled with presents under it. I immediately felt at home.

The next two days were a blur, filled with Midnight Mass (mind you, I'm Jewish so this was a first for me), thousands of presents, more family than you could believe, and food. I could go on for hours telling you about the stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, turkey, ham, desserts (oh my God the desserts!!!), dips, appetizers, wines. It was INSANE and my body is no doubt showing for it :)

We went downtown on Monday and is downtown Chicago an INCREDIBLE city!?! Other than the fact that my face froze about seven times, I was floored looking at Wrigley Field, Michigan Avenue, and just the buildings and the architecture. Everything was beautiful - the hootels, restaurants, the shops, even the ESPN zone where Chris and I spent an hour. For dinner we went to the amazing Geja's Cafe where we sat for three hours drinking Merlot and eating the most incredible fondue ever. If you're ever in Chicago and need a romantic spot to go, I highly suggest it!

The next night we went out to dinner with four of Chris's highschool buddies and their respective wives / fiancees / girlfriends. For some reason, people marry very young in that area of the country...in fact we are invited to two weddings back in Chicago on June 11 and June 25 - both are Chris's friends from grade school. Everyone was really nice and I could tell Chris was happy to be with all the people he cares about in one place.

I'm just now realizing this is a long post. I'll just end off saying that this trip taught me so much more about my boyfriend. It made me really fall more in love with him too see him with his amazing family and his wonderful friends. Now I get to put a past behind someone I have only known for the last year and a half. I am grateful for that. Thanks for reading :)

Well hello everyone!!!

I don't have more than 5 minutes to post - I'm on Chris's parent's laptop and it's the first time that I've been alone in about 5 days - and I'm NOT being sarcastic. When I get home tomorrow I'll be able to post more in detail about my trip, but for now, I can just say that it's been very nice to be here. I've met all of Chris's family, most of his friends, shopped in beautiful downtown Chicago, and ate enough for an army. But hey, if you don't eat in the Midwest, there isn't much else to do :)

First I must link to my sister who, for the longest time, didn't really understand my love for blogging. She was one of those people that questioned why someone would want to post information about themselves on the internet. Well, I leave to Chicago for a few days and not only has she started a wonderful blog, but she's already got tons of blogfriends. Go visit her if you get a chance.

Unfortunately, the horrible tragedy in Southeast Asia and for me, especially Thailand, makes me extremely sad. You see, my sister, mom, and 4 other members of our family were there on the Thai island of Phuket EXACTLY a year ago. No wonder so many people go there - it was my picture of heaven. And if not for other plans that were made a few months ago, my mom and stepdad would have been there as we speak, and who knows what could have happened. The feeling that I get when I turn on the news and see the destruction and the disaster is a horrible uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach... just too close to home. To me, whenever I meditate or have to think of my most peaceful place, I visualize laying on the beautiful beach of Phuket, thinking that nothing in the world could go wrong when things feel so perfect. I only wonder how many people felt the same way when the horrible tsunami occured.

Well, I must go and, I don't know, eat? I'll update with more detail tomorrow.

Sorry I didn't post yesterday... apparently I am old and when a night of sushi and sake turn into hours of karaoke and kir royals, I have a hard time functioning the next day. But it was so much fun to hang out with Stephy again...with a boyfriend sometimes it's gets a little hard to hang out with your girlfriends as much as you really want to. Plus, who doesn't love watching your friend get up on stage and sing Pat Benetar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"?

I had a VERY annoying incident yesterday regarding my new BEAUTIFUL digital camera. I just bought it at the end of October from Best Buy. I also made sure to buy a thirty dollar case so that I could take good care of it. However, when I pulled it out of its case last week I was shocked that the LCD screen seemed to have been punctured under the surface. Well, being the paranoid that I am, I also spent an additional fifty dollars on a 1-year warranty upon purchase. So, I thought, "big deal, I'll tae it to Best Buy and I'll exchange it".

Um, apparently it's not that easy. It doesn't matter that I spent extra money on a warranty or that I personally didn't damage the screen... Best Buy will not exchange or return it! I am not exagerrating when I say that I spent an hour at customer service crying. The whole thing was $400!!! Of my own, hard-earned money!!! Ugh, I could still cry about it now. Maybe I should start a camera fundraiser...

I must go now...packing is upon me. Did I tell you that I leave tomorrow moorning to Chicago...at 7:50 am. And that's when my plane departs! So I have to be in a cab at 5:30 am tomorrow morning. There may be a grinch somewhere in me.

I hope I'll be able to update from Chris's parents house. Either way, Merry Christmas to everyone!!! This year has really been awesome with starting this blog and meeting all of my blogfriends :) You guys really make me start my day with a smile.

Two weeks ago when I started my holiday shopping, I was so proud of myself for not procrastinating because I was getting everything done before the holiday rush.

So then why, 4 days before Christmas, do I still find myself going to a mall? Let me just start by saying that if there is traffic around the mall, it should all be attributed to the cars that are slowly inching their way in and out of the parking structure. And I will emphasize the word SLOWLY. Another thing I noticed is how smart it is to valet park at a mall. Sure, you're paying $6 for something that is usually free or $1.00 at the most, but it saves time and a lot of stress.

Now, I know that most stores hire people just for the holidays, but just one question: Are these people trained??? In almost every store we went into, the employees had this look of despair and confusion. I think I actually knew more about the Godiva chocolates then they did (and no, it's not because I am a serious chocoholic).

This morning, I went to The Grove to buy a couple of things for my upcoming trip to Chicago. I felt a little better about my shopping addiction after seeing everyone carrying ten bags that were bigger than them. Since I had to buy a couple of books, I went to Barnes and Noble, where not only did I enjoy a cappucino, but I also was delighted to have a few star sightings. I was most excited about Peter Reckell, as I remember watching "Days of Our Lives" in the early eighties. He was having Christmas gifts wrapped (which happened to be a thesaurus and a dictionary - thankfully he's not my friend) and we exchanged a few words. I even called him "Bo" and told him to say hi to "John Black". Okay, anyone who doesn't watch "Days" must be a little confused.

So that's that. I now must go and get ready...I'm meeting my friend Stephanie for sushi and sake. Cheers!

Well, lets see what I did thiis last weekend...

I shopped, saw friends, watched movies and drank wine (see post below), and, oh yeah...

I GOT A NEW CAR!!!

Isn't it absolutely beautiful?? I got it in the light silver, with dark grey leather interior. Fully loaded and everything. And I only pick it up on the 2nd of January because I'm getting the Navigation GPS installed. Happy New Years to me!!!

Today was our last day of work for the year, and subsequently our last day in the office that we are in because we move on the 3rd of January. Our new offices are only about 15 blocks away and in a really great part of Hollywood, so I'm sorta looking forward to that. But not the actual heavy lifting part... that I leave to the movers.

I can officially say that I have an addiction to Holiday present shopping. I mean, I literally spent almost 1000 dollars on everything. But the majority is going to Chris, and for fear that he may be reading from Chicago, I cannot say much more until after he opens them. My only question is, do I take all my presents to Chicago for him to open them and bring them right back? Or do I take pictures of all the presents and have him get them when he comes back? I mean, we can all agree that people like to actually rip open wrapping paper instead of flipping through pics, but I have to be sensible...Although I can always bring extra suitcases...

Well, it's Saturday, and I can safely say that I'm feeling better than I was a couple of days ago. I'm happy you enjooyed Chris's post. He did it without any pushing from me and it really warmed my heart. Too bad I was too sick to read it well when he first posted it.

Chris is right now on his way to Chicago, which left me good time today to shop for his X-Mas presents. I would tell you what great things I found for him, but I couldn't possibly ruin the surprise because I have a feeling he may read this.

I was also looking forward to a Saturday night that I could hang out with my girlfriends, but funny enough...EVERY SINGLE one of them has othr plans tonight. So it looks like I may be ordering in, drinking a glass of red wine, and watching "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" tonight. Hey, every girl's gotta do it sometime!

How were your Saturdays?

Alright kiddies, it's go time. You all demanded it, and so I shall deliver. Okay, well some of you demanded it...fine so only maybe one of you demanded that I should guest BLOG for Dana. But with that in mind, plus the fact that Dana is out with a fever/ cold, it is now my turn to step in and embarrass the crap out of her. Oh this is going to be fun....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

So here are a few things that you may not know about "primadana"...in no particular order.

1) HER LOVE OF CONDIMENTS.
By condiments i do mean, ketchup, mustard, etc. She's never met one she doesn't like. I have imagined many times, buying her a holster as a present. And this holster would have slots in it for her various condiments so that when she goes out to eat she could access any one of them on the quickdraw. "Tobasco?" No problem. "Ranch Dressing" Done. Olive Oil? You got it.

And as an addition to the comdiment thing, Dana takes her meals very seriously. I get such a kick out of watching her eat. I mean i thought my dad was bad when he would arrange his plate in a particular order every night (vegetables on the left, meat on the right, bread in the back). But Dana and her food preparation would kick his A**. Every forkful she puts into her mouth must be assembled into what she calls the "perfect bite". The food must be cut just so, and put onto the fork...just so; and if necessary topped off with the condiment of her choice. Only then is the food worthy to enter her mouth.
She's like a general surveying the battelfield and trying to decide her next plan of attack. "Lieutenant!! Take that fork around the left flank, take out that piece of Salmon. Coronel!! You take the knife down the middle and take care of that rice! And Sergeant!! I want you to standby, we're going to finish them off with a little mustard!!" Most meals never stand a chance...

2) She tends to slip and talk using her mom's accent A LOT.
Dana's mom is Hungarian, I do believe; but raised in Israel. Dana has a particular affection for talking like her mom, using her thick Israeli accent. In fact she does it so often, that now i find MYSELF doing it too. For instance, if something went wrong a normal person would curse and say "Shit!" Dana on the other hand hasn't officially pronounced the word "shit" properly since i have known her, instead when she says it, it sounds more like "Sheeet!" Now i encourage you to first pronounce it the correct way, and then try the Dana way and see if it makes you laugh b/c it always cracks me up.

Also from her reportoire: Instead of the phrase "Oh my god!" try..."Oh my Gahhhhd!"

3) She always looks at herself in the mirror from the side but instead of standing up straight, she arches back so it looks like her stomach is poking out. And only THEN does she mutter the phrase "Oh my gahhhd I'm fat" If she actually stood up straight she would see that isn't the case. I have a feeling she isn't the only woman to do this, what do you guys think?

Well I think i have sufficiently embarassed her enough, i'll save the others for later. This being my first crack at Blogging, i hope it didn't put you all to sleep. Perhaps i will sub in again at some point in the future; I know seeing daily comments from all you faithful readers puts a smile on her face and that makes me happy so keep it up!! Happy Holidays to you all,

Chris
(a.k.a the boyfriend)

Today is a very exciting day for the blogger world! Why, you ask?

Well two of my very good friends whom I've known since I was 16 years old have decided to start their own blogs.

First, there is Dave. He lives in NY and is absolutely hilarious.

Then, there's Neuman who lives here in LA and is the most sarcastic guy I know.

Go say hi if you have a chance. Hey, if I love them, then you will too.

I know that this may not be a big deal to some of you, but my boyfriend Chris eventually caved in and commented on my blog yesterday. This is what he said:

"You should all know, my girlfriend is the best. She brought me soup and toast last night. And for the record; it was food poisoning (which i do not recommend to anyone) not the stomach flu!"
Chris (a.k.a the boyfriend)

He's been reading it for some time now, but never has said a word. I'm so happy he finally did.

Cough, cough.
Sniffle, sniffle.

On the plus side, I am renting a car while my car is getting fixed and guess what? It's a convertible!

Although driving with the top down isn't nearly as much fun when you can't swallow :(

I'm annoyed.

I mean, if I'm supposed to be sick, can't I just be full-on sick? Like, coughing, sneezing, stuffy nose, sore throat sick? Instead, ever since Sunday night I have been feeling half-sick. Tired, a little sneezing here and there, and the dryest, scratchiest throat ever. And even though I'm not fully sick, I still give myself that excuse for not working out and eating yummy comfort foods and drinking A LOT of hot chocolate. So, in turn, I end up feeling half sick AND lazy and fat.

That's not nearly as bad as my poor Chris, who called me a few minutes ago and told me that he wasn't going in to work today because he got the stomach flu! Literally heartbreaking news to me. I just imagine poor Chris, gaunt and sick in bed with a trash can next to him.

Oh, who am I kidding? He's totally playing Halo 2 and stopping every hour to watch an episode of Sports Night. He'll be fine... At least he will be when I bring him chicken noodle soup after work.

Wow, am I tired.

Who would have thought that 3 straight days of parties would completely exhaust me. I'm still young, how in the world did I do it for a straight semester in college???

Friday night ended up being pretty fun over at my Mom's house. Really good food, a lot of people, and you know its a good party when my mom starts dancing alone in the middle of the room to Andy Williams.

Saturday, Chris and I went shopping for about five hours straight. Managed to cross some people off the list though (is it just me or are you too feeling like you are spending your year's salary on Christmas presents?). At night we went to our other friend's party. If I can say one thing about their parties, it's FOOD. She makes such a spread everytime we're there. I stupidly ate a little dinner before going, but by the time we left their house, I had ingested 14 lbs of cheese, chocolate, crackers, chips, champagne, and cake. Wow, there is a theme of C-foods that I just noticed!

On Sunday after another couple of hours of shopping, Chris and I went down to Manhattan Beach where another couple that we are friends with was having a party. Of course the first thing I saw when we got there was... more food! We hung out for a bit with just the two of them until other people arrived. The couple whose house it was are getting married next year. And another couple that I've seen on certain occasions for a while now just announced their engagement. There was a good hour there that I found myself in a circle of girls comparing their wedding rings. I almost felt like they kept on looking at me like I was the outcast, almost like "you don't have a ring on your finger...what are YOU doing here?" I'm sure it was just in my head though.

At around 6pm last night we headed down to the beach which happened to only be about four houses away. There was the most amazing fireworks show I had ever seen. It was beautiful. After that, Chris and I went home and topped off the crazy weekend with a relaxing night of Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Desperate Housewives.

What I hate is when you wake up on Monday mornings and feel like the only thing you really need is another weekend.

I hope all your weekends were great too!

YAY!!! Happy Friday!!

Is it just me or has this week been the LONGEST week yet? Is it because we are counting down the days, no, the minutes until vacation? Either way, I initially thought that my last day of work was the 17th, but because we are moving offices, it's now going to be the 22nd or possibly the 23rd! How does my boss think that I'll fit in Christmas shopping with all of that work?

I brought a good conversation up yesterday at lunch. My question was "If you could have any other career than what career you're in currently, what would it be"?

My answer? Have you ever seen "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"? Well, I would love to be a magazine reporter like Kate Hudson. Where I write about trivial things week to week, but I get to go to social events, meet interesting people, but most importantly, I would love the idea of people enjoying my writing. Kinda like a blog I guess.

So, why don't you tell me what you do for a living and then what you WOULD do if you could choose anything else?

Today I'm wearing a T-Shirt that says "Be Nice to Little Things" in the middle.

This morning at Starbucks one of the guys who works there and knows me well (because I go there religiously every morning) complimented me on it.

Then as I was adding the two Splendas to my latte, he looked at me and said "how about "Be Nice to Big Things". Do they have a t-shiirt that says that?"

Yeah, so what if he was tall. Was he trying to say something about me?

And yes, I am neurotic.

I just found out that I have a holiday party to go to EVERYDAY.THIS.WEEKEND!

Friday Night: Mom's Hanukkah party. Sounds boring, right? Not the way my mom does it. We have a bartender from one of the Hollywood hot spots AND a DJ.

Saturday night: Christmas party at my friend's place. Don't know how its gonna be, all I know is that when I went there for Thanksgiving I think I drank two bottles of champagne to myself!

Sunday afternoon / evening: Holiday party at the beach! Sounds random, but with warm clothes and maybe some baileys and hot chocolate, the party could be a blast. Especially since there is a huge fireworks show at 7pm.

With all of this, when am I going to find time to sleep?

One of my favorite things to do in the mornings is check my comments. No matter how stupid or lame the post was from the day, I still get great feedback from you. So thank you for your words.

When I do eventually break up with my Pathfinder on January 12, I will be (hopefully) getting a Toyota Solara convertible. They are gorgeous (in my opinion) and what better time is there to get a convertible if not when I'm 23, young, and irrational?? Well, maybe not ALWAYS irrational. Plus, living in LA, its sunny about 11.5 months out of the year.

Last night was interesting with the actors. Sometimes it just boggles my mind HOW MANY there are here in this city. I know it sounds glamourous and all, but if I were to talk to a girl who was living in Louisiana** and she told me she wanted to come out here and be "a star", than I would most likely tell her it's better to stay where she is. Or come out to LA and try to work behind the scenes or be a manager / agent. (Although there is too little of a demand and too much of a supply of those too). Not that I don't have faith in actors - some really shine and pop. But unfortunately, for every amazing actor there are 1,000 not-so-amazing ones. That's not to say that I don't like actors. They have tons of personality, and a lot of drive. And I think all of us can learn from that!

**By the way, I have absolutely NOTHING against Louisiana... it was just an example**

Today has been different from most weekdays in that I haven't had 1 chance to get on the blog train. It usually is one of the first things that I do when I turn on the computer in the mornings, but not today...

Rest assured kiddies, I'm here. And to be honest, I'm a little annoyed. I have been driving my Nissan Pathfinder for the last 3 years and the lease is up in the beginning of January. Only in the last two months of my lease do my brakes go out, my battery dies, and I get a flat tire! Why is that? Everything goes smoothly and in the 24th hour I have to pay almost $500 in expenses??? I think the car may be having a hard time letting me go.

My weekend was nice: relaxed Friday night, went out to dinner and a bar with Chris on Saturday, and hung out at my mom's all day Sunday. It was perfect to do nothing yesterday because it RAINED.ALL.DAY. And hard! For LA, it was a full-blown storm. Sad that there wasn't any Extreme Makeover and Despaarate Housewives Sunday night though... oh well.

Tonight I've got to go to an actor workshop so I'll only get home after 10pm. Sad. Anyways, hope your weekends were as good or even better than mine!

Star-sighting of the day: Peter Krause, from "Six Feet Under" and my fave, "Sports Night", downstairs at the coffee shop.

So my TV watching, although wonderful, honestly made my brain hurt a little towards the end. It's probably because after my 3 hours of life-saving TV, I decided to tack on an extra hour to watch Primetime with the whole cast of Ocean's 12.

Things I learned from the cast of Oceans 12:
-Make sure, if ever interviewed, to either wear A LOT of powder or reduce the heat, as the stars last night were as shiny as a brand new Porche. Just a tad bit distracting, to be honest.
- If you are awkward and have strange hair growing up, you most definitely will look like Brad Pitt or Cathering Zeta-Jones when older. After all, aren't stars just like us?
-George Clooney has fangs when smiling very big.
-Good looking actors Matt Damon and Brad Pitt are finally ready to have a family. George Clooney added that he's ready to adopt a 22-year old. He forgot to add that the purpose would be to have a new live-in girlfriend.

Don't get me wrong. I was actually very interested in the program. They are all great actors, and the movie should be awesome. I just like poking fun.

My appointment with the hypnotherapist yesterday was straight out of a Seinfeld episode. Don't really feel like getting into details, but I'll just say one thing: he had a big name-plaque pinned to his jacket that said HYPNOTIST in big letters. I'm not joking. That in itself made me want to run away. Well, that and the fact that he kept on looking at my chest.

It's Friday today, which means I am automatically a happier person than I was yesterday. Looking forward to the weekend too?

Tonight is a TRIPLE WHAMMY when it comes to TV. SInce I was out last night watching an actor showcase, I missed "Lost". So, tonight my Tivo will show me Lost, then I'll watch the OC, and finish it off with the Apprentice.

Some may ask if I feel like I am wasting my life away with TV. The answer is, of course not. Think about it. Tonight I will learn many valuable skills to prepare me for life. Such as, what should I do if I'm on a deserted island with a really good looking man, a beautiful ex-convict, and an Arabian man? "Lost" will teach me that. And, what's a girl to do if she has a boyfriend, but her ex is still in love with her and jumps in front of her car? "The OC" will help me. Finally, if I ever have two days to create a flavor of ice cream or put together a bridal shop, only the Donald himself will be able to show me.

So no, I OWE it to myself to spend my spare hours in front of the tube.

Did I convince you?

Dear Elevator,

Thank you for almost ending my life last night. Ever morning and evening as I ride you up to my office and down to my car, I always hope that you know what you are doing. You are so very slow, yet only about 10 years old. You moan and whine and creak and screech coming upon every floor. Your buttons reset without your passengers knowing. You like to stop on EVER.SINGLE.FLOOR. no matter if someone is coming in or out. To be honest, you annoy me just a little.

After last night, I believe it's time for a breakup. As you transported me from the third floor to P5, you decided to give me a little bit of a ride. Yes, maybe you like to fall and then stop abruptly between floors, only to fall again and then get stuck, but I don't. In fact, I would rather use the stairs. So unfortunately, even though we have had a 6 month relationship, I am severing my ties with you. Because today, the three other elevators on the other side of the building look like they would be a lot better for me.

I wish you the best Mr. Elevator.

Sincerely,
Dana