from raleighwood to hollywood

you don't take a photograph,

you make it.

~ansel adams

in an attempt to refill my cell phone with lost pictures--i asked friends and family to send me photographs. i told them it could be of anything that they wanted: pictures of themselves, pictures of me, pictures of food, pictures of pets, ANYTHING. i received an enormous amount from everyone--and to no one's surprise, many of the pictures had the same theme...

none of you knew me at an early age, but you still know me SO well...

it was heartwarming to receive so many wonderful images, but there was one from the best friend that immediately brought tears to my eyes. if you read my last post about getting my things stolen, you're already aware of the most valuable thing that was taken from me. on my phone was a handful of special pictures of wilbur--days before he passed away.

you can only imagine my surprise when this picture from sara popped up on my phone:

it doesn't surprise me that i sent this hilarious photo to her almost a year ago--but the fact that she had saved it all this time was completely unexpected. it never even occurred to me to ask her if she had any of these images, so surprising me with this resulted in the first smile my face had seen in days.

smile #2 came while i was at the police station filing the report for my stolen purse.

what are the chances...

speaking of slaters:

a HUGEMONGOUS shout-out and thank you to my dad for helping me spend the last week putting the pieces of my life back together. thank you for numerous trips to the UPS store, countless phone calls made in my honor, and lovingly talking me through every step of this pain in the ass. i would be very lost and confused without you and all of your help.

make sure to check out his blog and newest blog post here!

another reason behind the photograph quote at the top of this post is because i have so many to share with you! a few days before my things were taken, i had luckily sent myself a handful of the pictures for blog-updating purposes. although there are a good amount that still remain on my lost phone, i wanted to use the ones i DO have to give you a flashback of the last month.

the date: june 23rd

the mission: freezing and transporting two in-n-out burgers from hollywood to boston to enjoy with my best friend the next day.

the date: june 24th

mission: accomplished.

travel over to the best friend's blog for more pictures from that weekend!

then came july 4th and a day of beach games in santa monica with my friends.

and by beach games,

i mean...

this was my first july 4th in california, and the celebrations continued throughout the weekend. i even attended a pool party in the hollywood hills complete with a mini hugh hefner-style pool/hot tub combo.

but if you know me, 

you'll know what my favorite part of the day was.

 (see next picture)

as june gloom ended and the summer heat finally began--it was once again that time of year...

as i write this...

my dad is in north carolina,

my mom is in hawaii,

and my sister is in costa rica.

luckily we'll all be together in honolulu in a little over a week.

seriously,

what would we do without skype?

the nicer weather and lack of job has also lead to more exercise.

which is a good balancing act for all the hot dogs and cheeseburgers i've eaten lately.

hellooo los angeles:

crap.

my friend loryn was able to score me a job for next week, but while i have the down time...

speaking of breakfast...

apparently we still have another two months to go--but at least it finally resembles more than a construction site.

speaking of construction...

i'm sure you've all heard about the dreaded "carmageddon" that is occurring in los angeles this weekend. basically: they are closing down the 405 highway (one of the major connecting highways in the city) for two days and there are signs everywhere telling us to "expect major delays." this picture is the 405 a few hours before things were shut down. luckily i was only on here for ten minutes--and the truth is that this traffic is pretty normal. the good news is that people are so terrified of the road, that most of them will be surprisingly clear this weekend!

from my friend emily's facebook status:

 "roads are totally empty! it's wonderful. LA should shut down the 405 more often."

take THAT carmageddon.

finally...

people will stop honking at me:

the main reason i was thrilled to receive my california plates is because of the attention drawn to myself with an out-of-state license plate. i may almost be a year-long residence of los angeles--but people swerve around me like i'm the plague. leave it to my dad to point out the irony in my new plate number:

"R NU"

are new.

as in: you are new.

damnit.

in other news...

i bought globe lights!

for other food and olive related news:
travel here next!


FOOD!
OLIVE!