from raleighwood to hollywood

** don't worry it's not your computer, i couldn't get the glitches out of this video....even after five hours of working on it. incase you're wondering, the "french horn" that you can't see towards the end is a coors light bottle. big shocker. "don't worry, they're one of our sponsors" **

once you're done watching the video, like i said, i think you can guess what's coming next...

the difference in this teapot is that since i'm SO behind, instead of doing THREE exciting things (hence the T in teapot), i'll be catching you up on TONS of exciting things! because if i decided to catch you up on--let's say, nine exciting things--it would be NEAPOT. and that...doesn't...really make sense...so to start off, today was mostly consumed by trying to reconnect my wireless router. needless to say, it took about four hours and a LOT of reruns. 

once this screen finally popped up--well, angels sang, pigs flew, and i grew a tail--and then i decided to take a walk.

i've been on a LOT of walks around beachwood, but today i just happened to see a whole bunch of interesting things. it's hard to tell, but the flower above was yellow AND purple on the inside. it was so pretty it almost didn't look real. which is also what i thought about david beckham when i saw him in person.

on my way back down the hill, i noticed something green on the pavement..

after already passing two lemon trees in two different yards, i just assumed it was a mango that had fallen from someone's tree. and then i walked a few steps more and saw what appeared to be a nectarine.

i didn't know they made fruit salad trees.

as all of you know, my best friend sara came and visited me last week for my birthday. we had an AMAZING time. i've spent a lot of my days here cooped up in this apartment, but while sara was here, we were only here to sleep or eat breakfast.

we had chocolatey things.

we had fruity things.

we had things that made our dreams come true.

i had my very first in-n-out burger experience, which afterwards resulted in me asking "what the hell just happened?"

we saw beautiful things (venice beach--the beach part not the boardwalk).

we saw breathtaking things (the santa monica pier).

we saw awkward things.

we saw awesome things.

but best of all, we got to see each other.

(yes, this picture is however many months old st. patrick's day 2009 is, but it was kind of perfect) having sara here--at all--is a blessing, having sara here on my 25th birthday was more than i could have ever asked for. it's easy to feel lonely when you're new and well...alone...in a big city, but when you have someone by your side--someone who makes you come alive, who completes you in a way that only they can, who is not just your best friend but your family, who will ride the carousel and eat brownie sundays and banana splits with you until you're ready to throw up--you suddenly don't feel so alone. with sara by my side here, i felt like i could do anything. so i rode a horse. no seriously, we rode horses. at the VERY top of my street (of all places)--keep in mind my street winds up to the hollywood hills--there is a place called sunset ranch. not only did we ride horses along the side of a mountain, we got an upclose glance of the hollywood sign and possibly the best view of the entire city. other than yogurtland, sara and i agreed that this was our favorite part of the week. well, that and the few celebrity sightings :) but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to read about that.

with sara here, i felt like anything that i had ever been intimidated by had suddenly disappeared. we had a thousand adventures, meals, talks...that i would relive over and over again if given the chance. if you're wondering how i dealt with taking her to the airport, well, i think you can probably guess. i put my brave face on, but then i stayed at the bottom of the escalator until i couldn't see her anymore.

and then i stayed for five minutes after that.

i'll be honest, it was harder the next day than it was on the way home from the airport. i didn't hear the sound of cocoa pebbles trickling into a bowl that morning. i didn't have anyone sitting across the table from me at lunch wondering if what i got was good. and nobody asked me all day if they could borrow my clothes. BUT, even though it was a rough adjustment getting back to being alone, it reminded me that i need to depend on myself here for making my days go round. right before hugging me goodbye, sara looked at me and said "you're doing really good here." i know it was just a few simple words, but it meant more to me than she'll ever know. sara brought so much joy, and laughter, and thai food into this place. a place that didn't feel like home until she stepped off of the plane--but instead of losing those things when she headed back east, i'm trying to remember to hold onto them. to hold onto that side of me that she brought out when she was here. i have it in me to be truly happy in this strange place--alone or not--i just need a reminder of it every once in a while.

you didn't think i'd end without a highlight of the day did you?!

mom, i know what you're thinking right now. probably something along the lines of "fanny, where the f**k did you get that dresser? i talked to you at 8 o'clock tonight and you didn't have any furniture." well, you're right. a few hours ago, i didn't have any furniture. UNTIL...a knock on my door came from a girl named stella who lives at the end of the hall. a designer friend of hers has all kinds of incredible, stylish furniture that she's literally just giving to her. seeing as stella's place is already pretty crowded, and she knows i'm moving into an empty apartment, she decided to pass along some of it to me! apparently there's also a GIGANTIC tv that comes with some kind of big japanese tv stand (the craigslist angels were watching out for me today when i spent two hours looking for one but didn't buy anything), a chaise lounge, a kickass shabby chic green dresser (pictured above because it's all i have so far), and possibly even more. i'm a big fan of the worn, distressed look so of course i'm in love with the dresser. all it needs is some cute knobs and i'll have a place to put my underwear! most of these pieces are stylish and expensive, but when i asked stella how much it would be, she looked at me with a straight face and said "nothing. things are going really well for me right now and i just wanted to pass on some of the luck".  i knew that there was a reason i needed to stay here :) i have a feeling a lot of good karma is coming her way.

on another note, when i googled "chaise" to make sure it wasn't some kind of exotic fruit, i found this picture and i thought it would be a fitting way to end the blog.