Model Parents

I love having my parents in town, and getting to show them my life here in L.A.  It's even better when they let me practice my photog skills on them :)

{Dad}

{Mom}

{stud}

They're pretty awesome models, right?

And one of me and Brian taken by my mom, the original photog of the family :)

We spent the weekend on the West side --

toured around Venice on Saturday,

saw the canals and ate at FEED,

where the healthy bowls were a hit (although it was super noisy that night).

Sunday we rode bikes on the strand,

north toward Malibu.

And stopped along the way to admire the beach views.

We had dinner at Tavern

(one of my all-time L.A. faves),

and my parents headed off for a play at the Geffen.

Having the people I love around me

makes this life in L.A. even more awesome than it already is,

and I miss them already!

Shameless Plug

(Because no one has good content on Fridays anyway.)

This is admittedly a shameless, self-promoting plug, but hey, it's my blog anyway, right?

I'm really super-psyched about being a Best Jobs in the World finalist (still in shock!), but the thing is, to make it to the top, I NEED YOUR HELP!

Part of the job, should I win it, would be raising publicity for Tourism Australia.  So in order to move forward in the competition, I need to demonstrate that I can do just that for this contest and my candidacy in it.

To that end, I've created a Facebook page to raise support.  I would be so eternally grateful if you could "like" the page and maybe even share it or spread the word to all of your people!  This is really my dream job, and an opportunity I never thought I'd get, so it would mean the world to me if you took a few seconds to help me out.

THANK YOU!

It's about time I tell you about Coachella.

Coachella was a sunshiney wonderland of music, fashion, and flower crowns.

The first morning, we woke up to mimosas, sipped John Daly's by the pool, and grilled burgers for lunch on our BBQ.

Then we set out on the impossibly long walk to the festival.  The house we rented was only 1.5 miles away from the fairgrounds, but it took over an hour to get there because of street closures and pesky gates...not that we didn't try to jump every possible fence.  There was just no way around it!

At least it was sunny :)

My favorite concert of the night was Jurassic 5 -- even though I must admit I hadn't heard any of their music before that night.  We were up pretty close to the stage for the show, and I was totally jamming out.  Even Brian was like who are you?

So many hands in the air!  SO. MANY. HANDS.

Feeling that many people all swaying to the same beat, all cheering, all happy, all together -- it's euphoric!  But it can also be overwhelming and exhausting -- which is why I instituted the First Rule of Coachella:  sit whenever possible.  Even in a huge throng of jumping people.

The next day, Sharz and I wiggled our way into the Lacoste Party (I should say, Sharz wiggled our way in, while I stood quietly sipping my free Patron margarita...).  I was not into the Hollywood-esque line drama and the "who are you here with?" attitude, but I must say, once we got in, that ish was glorious.

There were free drinks, free food trucks, free Patron ice cream sandwiches (omg), free Kiehl's products brought around on trays, free pedicures (I'mnotkidding), free flower crowns, and a free photo booth!  With a blow-up alligator!  Did I mention it was free?

To top it off, all the beautiful people were there.  Including Man Repeller.  I was in awe.

Those of you who follow me on instagram may have noticed me hashtagging #bestdayofmylife...I don't regret any one of those tags.  Truth.

Not one bone in my body wanted to leave the Lacoste paradise when it came time to head to the concert that day, but alas, we had a very-important-not-to-be-missed Lumineers concert to get to.  Life is hard at Coachella ;)

The concert ended with the most awesome Red Hot Chili Peppers show (every song they played was a hit!), and a ridiculous sandstorm.  I'll leave out the nightmare that was the drive home, but suffice it to say, I will probably be finding sand in strange places for the next year.

By the time we left, I was exhausted and sand-blasted and pretty sure Coachella was best left as a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience.

But then the second weekend rolled around, 

and I somehow wished I could go back!

Till next time Coachella...

Best Job In The World

YOU GUYS.

Have you heard of the Best Job In The World contest hosted by Tourism Australia?

I hadn't until a couple months ago.  I heard about it from a girl at the Arboretum who was shooting a video.  I asked her what it was for, and she said it was to apply for the Lifestyle Photographer position as part of the Best Job In The World contest.

After that conversation, Brian was all, "you should apply too!" and I was like "who, me?"...and then we batted the idea around for a while, like "OMG can you imagine?" -- entirely hypothetically speaking, of course.

But the seed had been planted.

So a couple of weeks later, I made a video.  30 seconds long (that's all they allow), and just a simple video in the park by our apartment.  I didn't want to spend too much time/effort on it because, I mean, let's be real.  People like me don't win crazy contests.  And who knows if anyone was even going to watch this video.  It was probably going to be emailed off into a black hole in the interwebs never to be spoken of again.  But the opportunity was cool enough and it was easy enough to apply that I thought, why not take an hour of my time to do it.

So I did.  I uploaded the video and (mostly) forgot about it.

And then today, I got an email saying I was "shortlisted" -- I was chosen as ONE OF THE TOP 25 FINALISTS out of 600,000 applicants!!!!!!!

ME!  Shortlisted!

I am a) completely shocked; and b) 100% psyched!  Here's my video if you want to check it out -- but really, you should go here and check out the other 24 videos because those people are like whoa talented.  I can't believe I'm even on the same list as them!  Ahh!

No matter what the outcome is, today is such a welcome reminder to me that if you see something you want, JUST GO FOR IT, even if it seems against all odds.  There are so many opportunities in the world that could be yours for the taking if you just reach out and grab them.

What an unexpected and wonderful surprise!

Boston

I was going to tell you all about the wonderland of Coachella today (finally), but my mind is elsewhere.  Like the rest of you, I'm glued to my (muted) screen, waiting on edge for this nightmare in Boston to end.

May no more innocent life be lost today.

That's as far as I can think right now.

Friday Ramblings

I volunteered for the first time here yesterday!
It's part of an organization founded by Dave Eggers
that tutors students and puts on writing workshops for kids.
It was exciting to be doing something new and community-oriented
and the kids were so funny :)

I sat in my office yesterday morning
and maybe cried just a little over this video.
There is something intensely touching
about the moment she sees him.
(Or maybe her red dress is just so beautiful it makes me cry.  Also possible.)

My parents are in town this weekend!
We're going to Tavern for dinner,
and I'm hoping for bike riding weather!

Happy Weekend!