1. Two nights out a weekend is my limit: Thursday night I somehow spent all of my cash and lost my favorite jacket on the ride home. Friday night I went to a pretty exclusive club and had to fend off sketchy club guys all night. Not that either of these nights were not fun in their own special way, but by Saturday night, I had absolutely no desire to drink or leave my apartment ever again. SNL was the perfect entertainment, and you know what? It was free. Score. 

2. I am not a beach person: Saturday we ventured to Hermosa Beach. It was sunny and 85 degrees. Who wouldn’t want to be at the beach? Apparently, my body. After laying out for about an hour, I went to get up and find food with Grace. I made it about halfway up the beach before I started getting those black spots in my eyes that happen right before I pass out. I ran into the nearest bathroom to get out of the sun, but the second I came out, I literally couldn’t see Grace standing in front of me, and my head felt detached from the rest of me. I was forced to sit on the ground against the bathroom building, as there were no benches or other shaded areas around. Thanks beach planning committee! The rest of the afternoon, I couldn’t sit in the sun for more than 20 minutes without feeling nauseous. Luckily, this served as the perfect excuse to eat ice cream, as the shop was shaded and cold, and hey, I had to get my blood sugar up, right? It also gave me the perfect excuse to not go out Saturday night. Again, score. 

3. I want, nay, need gladiator sandals for this summer: My flip flops are no where near fancy enough to go out in, but my feet simply look too beautiful from my pedicure to wear regular shoes much longer. I’ve found these at Target:

They are $15 and thus, entirely practical. However, I’ve also found these and several others at Urban Outfitters:

Sadly, they are $145 and most decidedly impractical. There are also several pairs I’ve noticed at Steve Madden. Sadly, all are not as practical as the Target pair. 

I should learn how to be more practical. Maybe that will be a project for next weekend. 

My weekend in a nutshell. Here goes: 

Friday: I get up and get ready for work, as per usual. Ten minutes before I am supposed to leave, my boss tells me that it is really slow today, so I don’t have to go in! I decide to be productive and start writing one of my three final papers I have due in the next three weeks. Then, Jillian and I go out to lunch at Eat Well, then walk to The Grove to see Leatherheads. (Yes, it didn’t get stellar reviews, but my love of John Krasinski rises above the critics.) The movie is cute. Nothing life changing, but I was not expecting much. Friday night, we meet up with tons of people from our program at Happy Endings on Sunset, which is the bar equivalent of a frat party. The night ends up as most frat parties do. I’ll leave it at that. 

Saturday: Jillian, Grace, Grace’s friend Sam, and I head to Joan’s on Third for lunch, which is always a good idea. Afterwards, Jillian and I run some errands, stopping by Sephora and Bloomingdales, where I spend entirely too much money on moisturizer and Elle McPherson bras. We head out early Saturday night to go see Minnie Driver perform at the Hotel Cafe. She is delightful, to say the least. Her voice is impressive, and she tells some adorable and amusing stories about her songs. My love for her grows 10 times. Grace and I then head back home, because we are old women, while Jillian and our friends Rachel and Pauline go out and end up sighting Tom Calicio at S Bar! So jealous. Other drama in my life resurfaces, but I am still too paranoid to talk about such things on my blog. Maybe one day…

Today is just being lazy and making dinner for my roommates. It also includes Jillian and I stupidly sleeping through our registration times for fall classes and getting mildly screwed in the process. (You know what BU? I didn’t even want to take pilates anyway!)  Perhaps some Pinkberry is in my future as well. Only three more weeks left of work! This semester went by entirely too fast. 

Before I get sucked into an all-night Degrassi marathon, I decided to make a little list of my favorite spots in LA, just in case anyone wants to tour the city, Amanda style. Here goes:

FOOD

Joan’s on Third (8350 West Third Street) - A popular celebrity hang-out where I personally believe their food to be baked with cocaine. Halfway through the week, I’ll start thinking about the Grilled Maple Rosemary Chicken sandwich, until it becomes the only thing on my mind. There is not a lot of seating, but I somehow always find a table. Plus, they bring you adorable bottles of water for free. I also recommend their Chinese Chicken Salad. It’s light but filling, and amazingly delicious.

Eat Well (7385 Beverly Blvd.) - a short walk from my apartment, this little restaurant with plenty of sidewalk seating has become my group’s go-to brunch place. Their breakfast plates are huge and pretty reasonably price, plus their sweet potato fries are TO DIE for. The wait staff is pretty cute as well.

Pink Taco (10250 Santa Monica Blvd.) - The name is questionable, but the food is fabulous. I don’t even like Mexican food, but I ordered and adored their fish tacos, which came with a cilantro-chile sauce and a fabulous guacamole. They keep you in chips all night, and their margaritas are huge and amazingly worth the $10 price tag.

25 Degrees ( 7000 Hollywood Blvd) – Located in the famed Roosevelt Hotel, this hamburger bar served one of the best hamburgers I’ve ever eaten. You choose the meat, cheese, and any topings to make your own perfect burger. Plus, you absolutely have to start out with their fries, which are seasoned with sea salt and thyme, an original and delicious combination. When I left, I felt like I was going to explode, but it was totally worth it.

BARS and CLUBS

86 (6533 Hollywood Blvd) – My group’s go-to place on Hollywood Blvd, this bar never has a line, but usually has a good crowd. Located in a basement space, the bar has a cool vibe, with live bands, plenty of seating, and fun red tinted chandeliers. Plus the drinks aren’t too expensive…for LA that is.

Boulevard 3 (6523 W Sunset Blvd) - Our go-to club. There is usually a short wait, and guys have to pay a cover, but we never have any trouble getitng in. Once inside, you have a choice of hanging out in the large outdoor patio area, the dark and cozy lounge, or the huge dance floor and bar. The crowd is slightly crazy, egged on by the muscular guys on stilts walking around and the group of dancers that put on a show every few hours, but it’s always a good time.

El Carmen (8138 W. Third St.) - The only place we seem to go on birthday’s, this Mexican themed bar is a little on the dive-end of the things, but makes amazing margaritas and sangria. We always can find a table, and the walls are covered in cool vintage Spanish movie posters.

I’m sure I’m leaving out some places we’ve been and loved, but these are clearly stand-outs in my book. I’ll have to do one for Boston when I get back in the summer. Unfortunately, I’ve now made myself starving. Too bad I already ate my leftovers from Pink Taco.

Aaannnd, I’m back. Back to LA. Back to Work. Back to tiredness.

Our journey to San Diego was fabulous. We stayed in my uncle’s beach house, which looks more like an Italian Villa, relaxed on the beach, ate some amazing food, and watched Everyday Italian about 7 times, prompting us to eat our fair share of gelato and Italian food. On Friday, I met up with my parents, who are in town for my cousin’s bar mitzvah, and spent Friday and Saturday with the family. My parents drove me up to LA Saturday, and I showed them all the highlights of my area, even the CVS and Trader Joe’s. Exciting stuff. They were impressed by the sandwiches at Joan’s on Third, though, but really, who isn’t?

Now that I’ve breezed through those four days, I can spend a little time reminiscing about the amazingness that was Saturday night. Jillian and I scored tickets to the Gossip Girl Panel at PaleyFest ’08 back in January. We (or I) decided on the GG event back when few people were confirmed for the Friday Night Lights event and the Pushing Daisies event was already sold out, so GG seemed a good choice. I thought it would be quality, but let me just say that my expectations for the night were exceeded. The panel was hilarious, interesting, and entertaining. The only downside was having to get there early (which did help us score some sweet seats), and the annoying 14-year old girls beside me (who sadly reminded me of myself at all those *Nsync concerts).

The night started with the reveal that the moderator was Tim Stack from Entertainment Weekly – only my favorite magazine of all time. (It made up for missing Michael Ausiello of TV Guide, my favorite television writer, moderating the FNL panel.) Then Josh Schwartz, the inspiration for Seth Cohen and the youngest person to ever create an hour-long drama for network television (only a little something called The O.C. – now the producer behind both Gossip Girl and Chuck) came out to introduce a nice clip reel wrapping up the season thus far. After the clip package, the entire cast and creative team came up on stage. The girls looked beautiful, the boys adorable, and the panel began. Some of the boys seemed to think they were a little too cool for school at the start, but after a while, everyone opened up and had a discussion that was truly entertaining and informative. My favorite parts were probably Blake Lively discussing her mad guitar hero skills, Tim Stack asking about Josh Schwartz’s aversion to parties, and the constant references to a future appearance by a gay, jewish monkey on the show. To read a professional recap, you can go check out The Futon Critic.

After the panel ended with Tim Stack giving the smack down to some obnoxious girls in the audience who asked about the cast’s personal lives (really?), the crowd swarmed the stage for pictures and autographs. I didn’t for a second pretend to be above this practice and ran up as well. Jillian and I were quickly fearful for our lives as we were surrounded with young girls and creepy old paparazzi men with really bad BO. We kept getting close to the actors only to have them walk to another part of the stage. We also realized we didn’t have pens. Our lone goal then became getting a photo. We got the closest to Blake Lively, but the publicists and body guards started rounding everyone up. We saw our chance slipping away so we pushed our way over to the stairs where the cast was heading out. We got Blake Lively’s attention and asked her for a picture. She couldn’t have been nicer! She said absolutely, even as they were pulling her away. I went to take the picture of her and Jillian, when she goes “Do you want to be in the picture too?” I half answered something incoherent as she happily handed my camera to a girl next to us and asked her to take the picture for us. Success! My goal of getting a photo with a celebrity is fulfilled. I’ve also now seen one half of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, as I spotted Alexis Bledel at the doctor’s office.

So that was my first foray into PaleyFest. It only hit me a while later that I was that close to the cast of Gossip Girl. Oh, and Leighton Meester and Blake Lively are completely that beautiful in person. Flawless. Seriously. It’s unfair. I really do love that show more than I should. It’s just so saucy. Tonight is the night of other shows I shouldn’t love so much. It starts out with a little How I Met Your Mother (very acceptable – excellent show), moves into some Greek, (quality but underrated. Seriously. You should watch it), and ends with The Hills (so terrible, but SO addicting. I can’t help myself.) I’m off to prepare!

(To see the rest of my sweet panel pics, go here. Enjoy!)

Still reeling from my sickness induced tiredness, I decided to take this weekend easy. I mean, if you can’t relax on Spring Break, when can you? Friday Night, I stayed in and caught up on the latest season of Degrassi – a bit jarring since the last time I watched Degrassi they were in 10th grade and are now apparently in college – while my friends headed out to Winston’s, and of course, saw Sienna Miller at the table next to them. I do not regret relaxing though. How else could I have discovered that Paige and I are suffering form the same intern-hazing-induced stress?

Saturday, Jillian and I headed out to a relaxing lunch with our friends Jordan and Pauline at a cute place a block away called Eat Well. We each devoured our weight in sweet potatoes fries, aka orange crack. We then decided it would be a great idea to wander around Melrose. We started and ended at Fred Segal, as we quickly realized that nothing is really within walking distance in LA, plus we were tired. We ended up hitting up Hollywood Video and spent the night watching movies (The TV Set and Ratatouille) and eating pizza. Fabulous night in my humble opinion.

Sunday Jillian and I went on a number of outings. First, we headed out to Pasadena. I had been out there twice to help at casting sessions for the Pasadena Playhouse, and I had decided it was adorable and needed to be revisited. We had another delicious lunch (crab cake sandwich…mmmm), walked around a little art festival, and hit up some stores. (Is it just me, or has J. Crew got even more unreasonably priced?) When we got back, we decided it was too nice to sit inside, so we went and read by the Park La Brea pool. After a dinner of leftovers and things I found at the back of the refrigerator (I refuse to go grocery shopping within a week of going on vacation…), Jillian and I headed out to Milk on Beverly, which Pauline and Jordan recommended. I got schooled on what a Caramel Macchiato actually is when I complained that my drink was all foam – which is apparently all a macchiato is supposed to be – and bought some delicious coffee cake. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in this macchiato confusion that I forgot to ask for decaf and was up until four in the morning last night. I was already having trouble falling asleep. A shot of espresso certainly didn’t help the situation. Neither did the helicopter that flew over my building about 10 times at 3AM. Luckily, my pre-sleepless part of the night was happy, as I finally saw Once, which was beautiful and fabulous. I highly recommend it.

Today has just been showering, laundry, and soon, packing for San Diego tomorrow. This week will hopefully be more relaxing with some beaches and family thrown in, as my parents are coming out for my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. If I’m MIA for a while, it just means I couldn’t bring my computer, but I’ll give the full Spring Break update when I get back.