Our SAG Experience!

Jon and I rushed home after church, quickly changed our clothes into "SAG worthy" attire, shoved in a sandwich, and drove over to the Shrine Auditorium for the Screen Actors' Guild Awards. We arrived at the USC parking garage at 1:45pm, checked in, then waited with the gathering seatfiller crowd. They herded us onto shuttles after a 45-minute wait, then had us stand in a line outside the Auditorium for 30 more minutes. Then, slowly, we proceeded through the metal detectors and up a back staircase to a seat-less holding area above the main auditorium. We could peer through the curtains to look down at the fancy tables and lights being set up for the high profile guests. We waited (standing) for almost an hour and a half longer.

At 4:30, we were again queued up and led down to the main floor, where we lined the walls on the two sides of the auditorium. On our way, we passed Jenna Fischer, Marg Helgenberger, Sandra Oh, and Vanessa Williams. (So exciting!)
From our walls, we could see everything: The television and movie actors bustling in and out of their tables, greeting each other, walking by us to go to the bar, and the video crew making finishing setups on stage.

Jon and I whispered back and forth: "There's Steve Carell! There's Kevin Dillon. There's Joshua Jackson. There's Heather Graham. There's Leonardo Dicaprio!" It was crazy to be there, attending the show (from the sides) with the actors and actresses who paid $1000 per ticket to be there.

Slowly, our fellow seatfillers began to filter in and out of the seats on the main floor. When someone with a headset directed you to a table, you booked it over there, plopped into a seat, mentally noted who you were sitting at a table with, then hopped out as soon as the seat owner tapped you on the shoulder (or looked confused). The process then began again from the sides(unless a nearby seat was also empty, which you could then rush over to).

It was so exciting! You won't believe everyone we saw and sat with there: See my SAG Spottings.

We love L.A.!!!

Happy Anniversary to us!

To celebrate two years of marriage, Jon and I spent 24 hours in Long Beach. We used credit card rewards points to stay in a cushy hotel, The Westin. On Friday night, we took the free downtown metro over to the P.F. Changs, where we used our gift card (thanks, Ethan!) for a three-course dinner. (Note the cake picture…) On Saturday morning, we used the Westin exercise room and heated pool to get energized for our day. Then we grabbed some apples from the bowls in the hallways for our breakfast (who needs to pay $20/person for continental Westin food?).

It was great weather for walking down to the pier area, where we saw Gordon Ramsey and crew setting up for a “Hell’s Kitchen” segment. (Jon was quick to spot him – isn’t L.A. great?)

We then went to the Long Beach Aquarium, which was nice, if a little crowded. It was the most random schedule of events there that day: Jesse Billauer giving a lecture (he was a great surfer, then had a spinal injury that put him in a wheelchair, and he’s now an activist for the disabled), a VERY loud live band playing in the middle of the building, and two girls performing a dance in wheelchairs to “Holla Back Girl”…

Jon also took some great sealife pictures you can view here.

To end our (too) quick trip, we savored some Cold Stone Creamery treats, again using a gift card (thanks Aunt Leslie!).



Our weekend didn't end there, however... (see next post)

SAG Awards

Everyone should tune in to the Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG) Awards Show this upcoming Sunday evening (January 28, 2007). You might just catch a glimpse of Jon or Grete in the audience with the actors!

No, we’re not nominated for anything. We’re seatfillers! So you may see us scurrying from empty seat to empty seat around the tables… Should be exciting!

Scooby-Doo

In honor of the passing of Iwao Takamoto, the animator who created memorable characters like Scooby-Doo and The Jetsons' Astro, Jon and I made Scooby-Doo macaroni and cheese for dinner.

(Well, we also didn't want to put forth much more effort for dinner than that mixed with tuna, but I wanted to make the situation more noble than unhealthy.)

Welcome back to L.A.

...After our 4 hours of sleep, we went with the Eloes to the airport for our 7:30am flights. We said goodbye to our burnt orange SUV rental (and our good friends, of course), and boarded the flight back to L.A.
I don't remember any of it because I immediately passed out in my seat.


While waiting for our luggage at the other end in LAX, we were reminded of the entertainment-centered city in which we reside: Snoop Dogg and his entourage were also exiting from their Chicago flight. I don't have a picture of Snoop Dogg encircled by his 7-10 member entourage, but here is my phone pic of the backs of two bodyguards waiting for his luggage. (Snoop was waiting outside in one of many black Escalades.)

Happy New Year!

In an unexpected twist to our New Year's Eve festivities, our friends Ryan and Kim had a cancelled flight, so they joined us all (Anthony, Allison, Jon and me) that evening. We rang in the New Year at midnight, then promptly went to bed for 4 hours...

Ryan looks a little pensive...

*Clink*

Our host and hostess

Wedding Bells

They rang at 7:00pm to announce the beginning of Billy and Regan's wedding on Saturday evening. Can you tell that our friends like to dance? *See more pics here*

(No official "TCU" picture was taken, so Jon and I decided to do it ourselves...)

*Thanks MJ and Allison for letting me borrow some pictures you took!*

Christmas Vacation

Here are some pictures of our Christmas:

Jon was excited to receive handsoap!

I learned how to knit from my mom.

The Brown/Erickson clan

To view more pictures, go here.

L.A. Traffic

I've never been so blasé about being in traffic before we moved to this area. Because I anticipate a travel time of at least an hour to go anywhere during a weekday, I know that I have allowed plenty of time to be in stop-and-go traffic without the fear tardiness.

I've gotten very familiar with the morning radio talk shows (sadly, none compares to Kidd Kraddick back in DFW), and I know all of the top 40 songs (because they get played relentlessly on several stations).

I've gotten great at cutting across four lanes of traffic to get to my exit without raising a barrage of honking and hand gestures. (I told Jon that whenever we drive elsewhere, I'm probably going to be one of those "crazy, aggressive" drivers, since you have to possess a degree of those qualities to drive in L.A.)

And, now that I have a new handsfree earbud for my cell phone, I enjoy the time to "catch up" on my calls (or touch base with Jon, since we seem to have totally differing schedules recently). One of Jon's favorite games when he knows I have the earbud attached to my lobe (and consequently can't pull the receiver away) is to make loud "beep"-ing noises. Ah, married life. :)

Rain!

Jon and I were wrapping up our cookie making tonight, when I heard a familiar, if long ago heard, noise. I threw open our door, ran to the edge of the balcony, and thrust my arm out to expose it to the falling water. Rain! We haven't seen real rain since we moved to California in July. Granted, there is no associated thunder and lightening like I love, but it was refreshing nonetheless.
I ran back in and decided to document this event on the blog... :)

Free Hugs

Cards

As an ammendment to my previous post about winning in cards, I do have to admit that when Jon met me for lunch recently, he won every single hand of Speed that we played. But I'm just a sore loser and didn't want to mention that earlier. :)

Sing it, Jamie!

While watching the American Music Awards recently, there were two parts that really struck me. The first is what Kirk Franklin said during his acceptance speech (my husband mentions it here), and the second is Jamie Foxx’s performance of his song “Wish U Were Here”.

Perhaps it was because I had no expectations for Jamie Foxx’s music (since he’s primarily known as an actor)… But when he started singing, I realized the song was specifically about his deceased grandmother. I remembered hearing about how she raised him and made him learn how to play the piano. I could really see the emotion behind his lyrics. When he took off his sunglasses near the end of the song and faced the audience, I got a little choked up…

Crazy, huh? It was just a really well done performance by Jamie Foxx – he deserved his win of Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist.


For a little more about his relationship with his grandmother, here is an excerpt from his 2005 Academy Awards acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Leading Role (for his performance in the movie Ray):

… This is probably going to be the toughest part of this speech. My daughter shares my grandmother's name, "Marie." My grandmother's name is Estelle Marie Talley. She's not here tonight. And this is going to be the toughest part. But she was my first acting teacher. She told me to stand up straight. Put your shoulders back. Act like you got some sense. We would go places. And I would wild out. And she would say, "Act like you've been somewhere." And then when I would act the fool, she would beat me. She would whup me. And she could get an Oscar for the way she whupped me because she was great at it. And after she whupped me, she would talk to me and tell me why she whupped me. She said I want you to be a southern gentleman. She still talks to me now. Only now, she talks to me, in my dreams. And I can't wait to go to sleep tonight because we got a lot to talk about. I love you."

Cards and Cocoa

Jonathan had the great idea for us to walk to Starbucks tonight (thank you gift card givers!) to get some fresh air. [Let me just say that it's nice to finally feel a new "season" in California. It's been chillier here lately!]

I highly recommend the Starbucks' Peppermint Hot Chocolate and, while sipping it there, a game of Casino or Speed. I enjoyed them all - especially WINNING! :)

Ring, Ring... Hello?

"We are not contributing to the mass materialism day otherwise known as 'Black Friday'," my husband said on Tuesday of Thanksgiving weekend [though he might have worded it differently].

When Friday arrived, we had plans to avoid the stores. I volunteered from 8-5 with the L.A. Zoo orangutans while Jon did homework. That evening, however, I reread an earlier email from Verizon Wireless for "2 free RAZRs" with a 2-year renewal... Additionally, if you renewed no later than that Friday evening, you could receive free bluetooth headsets with both cell phones. Hmm... Jon's phone broke in half back in June, and mine had been chugging along for almost 2 1/2 years...

We gave in to the Black Friday deal, and we're now proud owners of brand new Motorola RAZR cell phones. They've been a source of entertainment for the past 24 hours, as we play ringtones and take pictures and videos of each other and Earl. Merry *Early* Christmas to us!

Ummm...

Jazzy No More

Well, after less than a week in our new aquarium, Jazzy bit the dust. Good thing PetsMart has a 14 day guarantee!
We actually took the dead goldfish in a bag to the store, where they gave us a new fish. (They also asked for a sample of our water, but we insisted it was fine because our second fish was great.) SO, our newcomer is named Dart because he was spasticly swimming around the bag as we carried him home (we wanted a LIVELY one!). (We also picked him because he was easy to distinguish from Earl, whereas Jazzy was too similar looking.) He and Earl are getting along well. They chase each other back and forth when they get excited about food, and they tend to stick together wherever the other one goes in the tank.

Upgrade

While Jon's artistic rendition was originally accurate of our Walmart fish bowl, we had "issues" with cleanliness and filtering of it... So they got an upgrade! Pictured is Earl (such a camera hog) and Jazzy (timid in the corner).

Jazzy & Earl...

...our two new goldfish! (They really exist - This is Jon's artistic rendition!)

Cali's Night Out

Cali the Hermit Crab had an eventful evening yesterday. He/she (who really knows?) was brought out of the cage by our neighbors who had come over to carve pumpkins (see pics here). It takes awhile for Cali to become comfortable enough to emerge from his shell and walk around the room, but once he does, he's rather quick. One of our neighbors, Chris, seemed to find favor with Cali when he hummed a low tone at his shell - Cali peeked out and began walking on Chris' hands. Overall, it was the most active we've seen Cali since the day I first brought him home.

Before lunch this morning, I was perched at our computer when I heard a "click" noise similar to a hermit crab shell hitting the side of the aquarium cage. I looked over to see if Cali was being active again today. Upon looking inside the cage, however, Cali was no where to be found...

I frantically started digging through the sand in the tank, slowly remembering that one of our neighbors said in leaving last night, "remember the crab is still out." Ah! I couldn't recall putting him back!

When Jon came home, he found me crawling around the living room with a flashlight. We scoured the apartment to no avail... Jon hugged me as I began getting exasperated and hard on myself at the thought of a crab loose in the apartment without water or food.

I returned to the bedroom to re-check some dark corners. Upon lifting up a black folder in the far back corner next to my dresser, I saw a little creature retreat quickly into its green shell. Cali! I was so relieved. I stuck him right into his shallow water dish, and he started drinking and cleaning himself immediately. He'd travelled quite a distance over the course of the night!

Since then, he's been busying himself around his cage - in the water, eating, climbing, digging. I even made him a paper hut, so he could better hide himself in a shadowed spot. Cali has a new lease on life! (Hopefully it won't lead to the detriment of the last crab we had with a "new lease"...)