Friends Forever

This week, I finally got a chance to crack open the May issue of Glamour. The current issue is all about friends (Former "Hills" star Lauren Conrad is on the cover, and an interview and adorable photo spread with her posse-- Whitney and Lo-- is inside).

Every month, the magazine's masthead features a question posed to Glamour staff. This month's is "Who is your best friend, and how did you meet?" The moment I read this, I started reminiscing. Like marketing manager Julia Olson, I found my bestie on the elementary school playground.

It was third grade. I had recently "broken up" with my first best friend, Kristen. Kristen was the reason I went to White Oak Elementary School instead of a private school in Simi, like my brother did. She lived right around the corner from me and we became fast friends. But soon enough she started hanging out with the more popular kids and suddenly I didn't cut it. I'd call to come over, but she said I couldn't; she already had a friend over. Eventually, I gave up. For a 7 year old, you can imagine the devastation I felt.

So, like I said, it was third grade. One day during recess-- or maybe it was lunch, I can't remember-- I was sitting on the blacktop, my back against the handball court, looking at the world and wishing I had a friend to play with. While scanning the playground, my eyes fell on a group of girls sitting at a picnic table. They looked like they were having so much fun. If my memory serves me correctly, I think they were forming a pretend club and assigning each other pretend titles, you know, president, vice president, secretary. Somehow, shy me mustered the bravery to walk over and ask, in a timid voice, "Can I play with you?"

The answer came easily from Marielle: "Sure." At the time, fun-loving, gregarious Marielle didn't realize how much this simple welcome meant to me. But as they say, the rest is history. Seventeen years later, we are still best friends.

Sure, we've been through our ups and downs, had a handful of fights, shed a few tears, struggled to find the time to get together as our adult responsibilities have taken over. But no matter how long we go between visits, we always pick up right back where we started. We can be so different at times and yet, we get each other, we understand each other-- sometimes better than we know ourselves. I can always count on her to give it to me straight, there's no sugar-coating with her. And I am always there to lend an ear when she needs to vent and I never judge her like others have. We simply love each other unconditionally. What more could a girl ask for?


So now I want to know: Who is your best friend, and how did you meet?



Swings image via ffffound

Accomplished

You know how on Myspace (not that anyone uses that anymore) there's a place where you can select your mood? And a little box drops down full of adjectives to choose from-- that once posted, match up with a cute little emoticon?

Well, if I were to choose my mood tonight, it would be "accomplished." Yes, I had a very successful Sunday. Saturday was pretty good: I took Hazel to the dog park, where I chatted with a cool girl while holding down my dress so the wind wouldn't reveal my Victoria's Secret to the world, and later hit up Border's to satisfy my urge to shop (don't worry, I just picked up two magazines: Self and Women's Health, the latter being a new one to me).

Still, today was a particularly productive day (minus the waking up at 11 a.m. part, ha). Here's the rundown:

• Went through my towering stack of mail
• Paid some bills
• Took care of some bank stuff that needed to be done before the end of the month
• Applied for a credit card with 0% APR on balance transfers so that I can transfer my massive balance from my Chase card (remember my New Year's resolution?) and actually start paying it off (I have a 29.99% APR right now. Ridiculous. Cross your fingers I get approved!)
• Dropped off my tax documents with my mom because she's going to do them again this year. Hallelujah! Thanks, mom.
• Ran some other errands
• Did my laundry, including my hand wash items. (Such a pain!) I actually still have one more load to do... (Also a pain since my washer thinks hot water is cold water and vice versa)
• And perhaps the biggest accomplishment of all: Went to the gym! (Also a resolution)

Yep, you read that right. Me. At. The gym. I signed up for a membership with 24 Hour Fitness Wednesday night. I was motivated by the fact that my best friend has a membership and she had wanted me to come with her and take some classes. There was a special going on last week-- hopefully it isn't even lower now, I don't want to look!-- where a one-club access membership costs just $26.99 a month. I figured I could swing that and I'm tired of looking and feeling like a blob.

We (the boy, the roommate and I) were only at the gym for about 50 minutes but we did the elliptical for 20 minutes (I ran 1.7 miles and burned 260 calories) and played basketball the rest of the time. Nothing too intense but I felt the burn and it felt good. I was pumped up leaving the gym!

So yes, I'm feeling mighty accomplished tonight. Let's hope this feeling lasts throughout the week as I tackle all the phone calls, interviews and story writing I have to do in the days ahead.

And, perhaps more importantly, let's hope it gets me back to the gym! (Hold me to it!)

So, did you have a productive weekend? Or did you have a blissfully unproductive weekend? Either way, I'd love to hear!



Image via we heart it

Welcome to wonderland + happy Friday!

While I'm not sure I want to see Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" (the preview creeps me out a bit), I am loving this wonderful-- pun intended-- fashion spread in Marie Claire's March issue. Aussie actress Mia Wasikowska, who plays Alice in the film, looks simply lovely in each photo, and a bit edgy, too, thanks to those boots. But what I love even more than the clothes-- and I do love these frilly, flowy, fanciful pieces-- is her wavy, beach-blown hair. That is what I wish my tresses looked like everyday.



P.S. I hope you all are having a happy Friday! I'm battling a cold thanks to the boy who has been sick for the past two weeks, but I am so glad the weekend is almost here!

P.P.S. So glad Evan Lysacek won last night! Did you see it?

In the eye of the beholder

On Saturday, Ashley over at Writing to Reach You tagged me to play a little game called take a picture of yourself right now for which you literally take a picture right then and post it. Well, I didn't read that post until Sunday morning and although it was about 10:30 a.m. when I read it, I was still in my jammies (weekends are for sleeping in, right?). I had literally just woken up and hadn't even had a chance to run a comb through my hair let alone do any other "primping" measures. But being the good sport I am, I took her up on her challenge. I fought my primal urge to run to the bathroom to wash my face and put on concealer. You're welcome? Ha, you be the judge. (But not too harsh, ok? I had just rolled out of bed for Pete's sake!*)

Morning glory: scruffy eyebrows, unkempt hair, glasses and all-around sleepy face.

In my defense, here is a photo I took later that evening, also using my laptop, which imparts a nice glow, I think.

Better, yes? See, I clean up ok!

Alright, your turn! I did it, so you have no excuses. I tag Amber, Shoshanah, Andhari and anyone else who has the guts. Luckily for you I post later in the day than most bloggers. Make sure that if you do it you leave a comment letting me know so I can go check out your pic!

P.S. To see more faces sans makeup, check out the covers of the April issue of French Elle. Eight European starlets went bare faced in the photos and there was supposedly no Photoshopping or retouching of any kind. Now that's brave!

*Who is this Pete guy anyway?

Icons of Glamour

I was talking the other day about how magazines can be art. I came across a great example of this in the "American Icons" spread in the April issue of Glamour, my favorite magazine of all time! (btw: Happy 70th Birthday, Glamour!)

The photography is stunning and fabulous, and it is uncanny how much some of the current-stars resemble the icons of yesteryear. My fave image is probably Emma Roberts as Audrey Hepburn. Kind of reminds me of Joanna's (at Cup of Jo) engagement photos-- big pink balloons really do make great props!

Tying in a close second are Alexis Bledel as Rosie the Riveter, Paula Patton as Billie Holiday, and Lindsay Lohan as Madonna.

But really, I love them all! Each time I look at the pictures I have a new favorite. This is the type of photo spread you want to rip out of the magazine and tack on your wall. (In high school, I would have. But the bf might not like that idea so much.) 

So check out the full slide show here and let me know what you think.

Oh, and can we talk about how absolutely gorgeous Katie Holmes looks on the cover of (and inside) the magazine?! Geesh!

Happy Friday! As they say, TGIF! Any fun plans? I might be going to Vegas! Could be a crazy weekend...

Cover image via Glamour

A day at the LACMA

Right this way. Following the lady in lace (Gloria Swanson).

Growing up, I hated museums. Like I think many youngsters do, I visited so many on school field trips. And I enjoyed getting out of class, don't get me wrong. It just seemed like the minute I stepped into one I would get an instant headache. Maybe it is all the standing, walking, looking... I don't know.

But as I have gotten older, my fondness for museums has grown. I think my love for art truly started to blossom in college as a writer (and later, editor) for the Arts & Entertainment section of my school newspaper. I learned that it can be fun to explore the halls of a gallery and try to find meaning in the paintings, photographs and installations lining the walls. And then, to take it a step further, communicate my findings to readers in an article. When I became A&E Editor, I almost felt this duty to let my peers know about the fabulous exhibitions going on in the Los Angeles art community. I even did a weekly museum series, profiling a new venue each week: The MOCA, the LACMA, the Getty Center and the Getty Villa. Those are some of the "big names" in the L.A. art scene, but in no way the only worthwhile ones. I've been to galleries both big and small and there is something to be said for each. 

Now, I would be no means call myself an expert on art-- just an art enthusiast, I guess. My favorite type of art, I would have to say, is photography. I am simply in awe a people who can take a beautiful photo and desperately wish I had not dropped out of my Intro to Photography class in college. Anyway, when I read about the Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008 exhibit a couple months ago, I just had to go. It had been awhile since I had traipsed the halls of a museum and I was itching for a reunion. Trying to convince the bf to accompany me was another thing entirely, but I knew he would have no excuse not to go last Sunday. Mostly because it was the last day of the exhibit and he knew how much I wanted to go and, well, it would have simply been cruel to deny me!

This is the face of a girl who is happy to be at the museum.

So we went. And it was great. A bit warm outside, but great. I could tell RR was impressed (and possibly inspired?) by the exhibition as much as I was. I felt like I was reading the pages of the magazine's history--and celebrity history-- photo by photo. And I learned a lot about Vanity Fair, too. I didn't realize that the magazine folded in 1936, just 23 years after its launch, due to declining ad revenues. Forty-seven years later, the mag was revived. That's one heck of a comeback.

The exhibition consisted of framed vintage prints and contemporary photographs as well as a wall of some of VF's landmark issues. It was funny to see some of the same magazines that I had picked up at the grocery store checkout line on exhibit at the LACMA. But as someone who aspires to enter the world of glossies, I believe magazines can most certainly be art-- and the best ones strive to be. To go beyond the written word and tell a story through pictures. To capture the current culture in a word and an image.

I adored all the photos on display and couldn't possibly pick just one as a fave. They were all interesting and beautiful. But to give you an idea, on view was one of VF's most well-known and controversial photographs: a naked, pregnant Demi Moore. Click here to see some more of the famous photos I saw in the exhibit. (Side note: Have you guys seen this month's VF? Photographer-genius Annie Leibovitz "recreates" her Scarlett Johansson/Keira Knightley nude photo using the funny men of Judd Apatow's films. Hilarious.)

Other than Vanity Fair Portraits, I was also super excited to see the Urban Light exhibition. I have seen it while driving down Wilshire but had not yet had the chance to get up close and personal with the vintage street lamps. Unfortunately, we left before it got dark but I can't wait to go back at dusk to see them all lit up.

Chris Burden's Urban Light

Before leaving, we visited the fairly-new, three-story, 60,000 square-foot Broad Contemporary Art Museum. It is one of the largest column-free art spaces in the United States and, I have to tell you, it boasts the biggest elevator that RR and I have ever been in! It was a glass elevator that fit like 50 people!

The BCAM

The BCAM displays work from 1945 to the present from the likes of Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, Robert Rauschenberg, John Baldessari and Roy Lichtenstein. Think pop art, conceptual art. Provocative, subversive. Funny. Amazing. Also on view in the BCAM was the very-interesting Art of Two Germanys/ Cold War Cultures, which featured the art of East and West Germany from during and after the war.

A view of the Hollywood sign from the BCAM.

To remember my day at the LACMA, I picked up a few souvenirs, including these two mini LACMA notepads with the image of a Baldessari-designed poster on the cover. 

I really wanted to buy this book on the VF exhibition but RR talked me out of it. He said it was too much money to spend on a book I wouldn't read. I said no, I will read it. And cherish it. But the $65 price tag was too rich for my blood so I put it back begrudgingly and picked up this print half-price. $6, seriously. Score! Now we just need a frame.

Photo by Nickolas Muray of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Crawford in Santa Monica, 1929.

As you can tell, I had a fantastic time. Much has changed since those childhood field trips. I was actually sad to leave, even though my footsies were killing me!

So what's your take? Museum-lover or not-so-much?

My $4 fetish

So RR called me a whore today.  A magazine whore, that is. And it's true. I literally can't go into a grocery store without leaving with at least one glossy in hand. 

Tonight, on a quick run to Vons to get milk, I walked away with two: Self and Los Angeles magazines. Even though I am a journalist and in the biz, I am still such a sucker for the cover teasers and I will pretty much buy any mag if it has a celeb on the cover that I adore. As with the February issue of Los Angeles, which has my girl crush Kate Winslet gracing the cover. I very rarely buy LA mag and I don't even know what else this issue has to offer (looking into it as I type) but I took one look at Kate's windswept hair and moody gaze and just had to pick it up. 

Self was more a purchase of habit than anything, particularly since I don't often put into practice the health tips the book dispenses. RR just turned on the Lakers-Celtics game, so I think I will dive into the article on cover girl Jenna Fischer.

Hey, at least I am reading, right? (Nevermind that I haven't picked Eat, Pray, Love up off my nightstand in a week; really need to get back to that.)

I figure, after the week I've had, I deserve to indulge my magazine fetish. And if that makes me a whore, so be it!

Images via Los Angeles and Self