if you read yesterday's teapot, you'll understand the above picture. yes, yesterday's sore throat has in fact barrel-rolled into a full-blown (pun COMPLETELY intended) sneeze-fest. no seriously...

although, being sick does have it's benefits. enter chicken salad sandwich melt, ruffles, and roasted garlic tomato basil soup.

i realize i could have made this meal anytime (no, the chicken salad and soup are not homemade; i had some help from gelson's market), but it's always nice to enjoy a comforting meal when you're not feeling well.

CAUTION: i am writing this blog in bed with a mug of theraflu so if words are mispelled, in another language, or just plain don't make sense...well...my bad. let's begin!

1. my first autograph

i know you've all been waiting for this picture. it's official! the lease is finally signed. however, my dad (the co-signer) will be signing his copy tomorrow and then things will be 100% official. tomorrow i FINALLY get the keys which means expect to see pictures of a big empty apartment soon :) now all i have to do is figure out is how to fit a taco bell in the living room.

2. of all of the things they COULD have named this studio...

this one is pretty self-explanatory.

3. "what i want is what i've not got, and what i need is all around me" ~dave matthews band

you're probably thinking that what i'm about to say is extremely heartfelt and has to do with moving or being homesick or something deep like that.

nope.

clearly, your first response to this picture was: "yay! your brita attachments finally came in and you hooked up your faucet filter!" well, yes and no. funny story. please hold your yay's until the end of the paragraph. as i opened my mailbox today, i was pleased to find not one, not two, but THREE small packages from brita. i guess they thought that to make up for not telling me the attachments were backordered, they would send me three different sets of the same exact three attachments. thanks a lot a-holes, i'll make sure to use those when i live in an apartment with nine sinks. as i emptied all of my packages onto the counter (before realizing they were all the same thing), i couldn't wait to see which one was going to fit and finally send purified water streaming out of my kitchen faucet.

,after trying each and every single one with no luck, i let out a long string of curse words (i have GOT to remember that when my windows are open, people outside can hear me talking to myself) and i thought to myself, "something isn't right here." i also suddenly realized how many bad words you say outloud when you're living by yourself. although i'm generally against instruction manuals, i began to flip through the pages and see what the problem was. i still had no solution. next i turned to my trusty silly-named friend who never lets me down: google. i found myself on the new zealand website for brita (i don't know) where i was told there was some kind of visual cartoon to help show you the product's "easy" assembly. the first thing pictured was a kitchen faucet. i stared at the little animation and read the instructions on the page outloud as they floated across the screen, "remove the aerator."

WAIT.

i refreshed the screen and watched again as the aerator (the tip) of the pictured faucet was unscrewed, and the brita filter was then easily placed onto the end. i looked at MY faucet and wondered if it's head was also removable. with one light turn, it dropped into the sink. i pushed aside my pile of attachments, grabbed the actual filter, put it up to my faucet, and twisted. turns out this entire time, i already had everything i needed. i re-read the instruction manual that came in the box and not ANYWHERE did they mention tampering with your faucet before proceeding to attach the filter. joke's on me? not when they receive a plastic ziploc bag full of the attachments pictured below with a note that says: here's where you can screw these...

other fun things that happened today:

laundry day! it's always nice to have fresh and clean clothes, especially when you haven't done your laundry in about a week and a half. and no (sara), i did NOT throw all of these into one washing machine. i separated them into two! duh.

i spy...something blue...

i always knew hollywood had a lot of weirdos, so it's about TIME they got an alien!

highlight of the day:

MY MOM IS HERE! :)

tonight we will have TWO teapots (one for today and one for yesterday). since we're combining two in one i'll try and make this brief. no seriously, i'm really going to try this time. ready? here we go!

SATURDAY OCTOBER 16TH:

1. yes, i still eat these

not only do i still occasionally love to eat lunchables (i'm also a big fan of the pizza kind), but i consider it a special treat when i get to have one. they're not the kind of thing you have on a daily basis, so on those rare occasions when my food comes in a little box with a capri sun and a bite size butterfinger, it kind of makes my day. for someone who is such a big foodie, you probably wouldn't think that i would be a fan of lunchables, but not ONLY am i fan of these goofy little snacks, but i think i'm the only person in the world who's favorite one is the bologna and cheese. weird i know, but it's like that sign told me the other day...

2. walk it out

after somewhat of a lazy day yesterday, when the sun started to set i decided to go for a walk. when i throw my tennis shoes on it's normally for running, but this time was different. this was a good old fashioned walk where the point was just to just get some fresh air and of course, listen to the dixie chicks on my headphones. i had obviously been spending time with myself all day, but it was nice to get outside into the cool air, clear my head, and hum along to "wide open spaces".

3. coincidence? i think not.

whenever i go outside for the occasional workout or walk at sunset, i travel the same path every time. i happen to live on a street that not only has a pretty amazing walking view...


but it also happens to go uphill which makes for great exercise. on days where i just want a quick twenty minute workout, i always walk or run until i get to the intersection at glen green--which i just refer to in my head as 2500--and turn back around. i always thought it was funny how the street i ended up on just happened to have my special number, but tonight as i made my way up to 2500 and prepared to turn around, it really struck me that of all the streets in all the cities in los angeles, i ended up on one that had this number. i could be on a street where the numbers are 7300 or 6700. think of all of the possible number combinations that COULD have been here instead of 2500. kind of blows my mind. coincidence? i think not.



highlight of the day:

if you recall, during the AWFUL heatwave that we had a few weeks ago (which i don't even like to talk about)--the night i decided i couldn't take it anymore and i ended up at a best western was also the night that i had baja fresh for the very first time. sadly that takeout was ruined due to the fact that it's impossible to eat in an apartment that is 1200 degrees. although i keep hearing that the mexican food trucks here are where it's at, i decided that i needed a re-do on my baja fresh experience. and last night, i did just that!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 17TH:

1. does anyone have a ricola?

so, i woke up with a sore throat this morning. i know you're thinking "fanny, why was that an exciting part of your day?" well, it wasn't, but it did lead to these three things: first, i thought to myself "what's better for a sore throat then tea?!" so i got to have my lavender earl grey tea. second (this was about twelve hours later), my throat was STILL hurting and i thought to myself "what's better for a sore throat than ice cream?!" (sorry this isn't a real life picture, i ate the ice cream so fast i completely forgot. ....what?! it was one of the little ones!) and lastly, the reason my sore throat led to an exciting part of my day was because as soon as i realized "oh no this may be my first time being sick with no one to take care of me", i realized what day it is and that my mom is coming into town tomorrow! i mean, it's just a sore throat, but there's nothing like your mom making you tea and toast when you're feeling a little under the weather. speaking of weather...

2. singing in the rain

okay there was no singing. but today WAS one of those cold, rainy, foggy los angeles days. and i didn't hate it. it's sunday which means that the city is finally a little bit more quiet, and it's the kind of day where you know most people are doing the exact same thing as you are. sometimes it's nice to sit inside all day snuggled up on the couch with a mug full of tea or coffee and know that it's drizzling outside. i mean, who doesn't love a lazy afternoon?

it's the kind of day where you watch movies back to back. the kind of day that's PERFECT for ordering a pizza...

3. come on, you knew this was coming

my first crispy crust experience! crispy crust is one of the only places in hollywood that not only doesn't charge for delivery, but doesn't give you a delivery order minimum. i know you're still thinking "well then fanny, why did you order enough wings for everyone in your neighborhood?" well i'll tell you! they had a wing special where it was actually cheaper to get twelve wings instead of six. weird, i know, but the more the merrier. actually, the more the messier in my case. the pizza was half greek and half hawaiian. i was feeling foreign.

highlight of the day:

if you've ever been to my house (in raleigh) on or around someone in my family's birthday, you know that we have a tradition of setting the cards up on the kitchen table. normally there's also neatly wrapped presents with pastel bows and everything is set up so perfectly and placed so carefully that it's almost a shame when it's time to start opening things (okay, not really). well this year is my first birthday (ever) away from home and just because i'm not spending it at 9924 koupela drive with the mountain of cards , gifts, crystals, and picture frames taken from around the house, i still thought it would be nice to continue the tradition. the cards have been building up over the past few days and when i checked my mail today i officially had FOUR! my birthday is still eight days away so i'll keep you posted as the pile continues to grow!

friday's teapot. sorry this blog post is a day late! keep reading and you'll find out why.

1. tin foil surprise

some of you may know what this is from a facebook blog i wrote a little over a year ago about graduating from college. for as long as i can remember, the "tin foil surprise" has been part of my life. when my sister and i would get ready for school, my dad would make us breakfast almost every day to take in the car with us. sometimes when we would go on trips or wake up early for various other reasons, we would come downstairs and be greeted by this little silver package. as i grew up, i decided to continue the tradition for myself. whenever i had an important day ahead of me or even just a long day of work, i would start my day by making one of these. the joke behind the "surprise" is that it's pretty much the same thing every time. egg and cheese on a toasted english muffin. ham--and sometimes bacon on a special occasion--will make a guest star, but even though the ingredients are never a surprise, the nickname has stuck. i've gone through three packages of english muffins since i've been here, so the breakfast sandwich has been no stranger in my hollywood home. however, today was the first morning that i had somewhere important to be and i knew there was one thing i couldn't leave home without.

2. my first LA casting office

...and i got to play hide and seek! my important morning consisted of three things: a tin foil surprise, two auditions, and a few games of cops and robbers. today my friend matt invited me to tag along to his commercial auditions with him and his son finn. he needed someone to keep an eye on his curly blonde-haired counterpart and he knew it would be a great opportunity for me to see some of the major casting offices in los angeles. not only was it great experience to be in these buildings and see where these places are located, but finn and i had an AWESOME time. after he ran around in circles and introduced himself to everyone, he asked his dad how much longer it was going to be until he went into the "dumb room." every actor in the place burst into laughter and agreed with him that room was, in fact, VERY dumb. finn reminded me of what i was like as a kid. full of spirit, imagination, and the opposite of shy. instead of feeling any kind of nerves--which most people generally would in a casting office--i got to enjoy a diet coke and a game of hide and go seek. even when a casting director walked out of the room with the "old navy" sign on the door and said to me "you're here for the audition right?", i just laughed, pointed to the four year old skipping around eating animals crackers, and said "i'm with him."

3. "nicko! don't play with the food. when i was your age, we didn't have food!"

if you know me, you know i love food. if you know me WELL, you know that i'm a sucker for greek food. if i see the words "feta, tzatziki, or pita" on a menu, that meal has my name written all over it. ever since i arrived in california, i've been wondering where all the best greek places are in this town. i haven't done a lot of research, but i know that this is a city FULL of every kind of food you can imagine, so i've just been waiting for the day that i would stumble upon my favorite food. because i generally wake up a spend the first few hours of the day in my apartment, i tend to eat lunch at home. seeing as i was already out and about in the afternoon, i decided to buy myself lunch. i had remembered seeing the word "greek" on a sign somewhere around the west hollywood target. i parked and took the escalator up the shops and there it was right in front of me: daphne's greek cafe! although this place is a chain and not a quirky little version of...

 the food was still awesome. i got the grilled chicken pita with fire feta (feta mixed with something SUPER spicy like hot sauce) and two small sides of hummus and tabouli. the other great thing about this place was that they had the nutritional information next to everything on the menu. although i still cringe at the word calorie, their purpose of sharing the information was to show you that what you're eating is healthy. i will definitely be going back to try out the rest of the menu.

highlight of the day:

so...you're probably thinking "your blog post is a day late either because you fell asleep in your ramen, or you finally got the guts to be a little more social and you actually went out last night" well...

i'm not saying i didn't enjoy a nice cup of noodles last night, but i DID in fact have my first hollywood night-out! my friend bryce asked if i'd like to tag along with him and two friends to the hip new "hollywood hot spot" called premiere. it was definitely an experience. it's the kind of place where--if your closet is like mine and filled with ripped jeans, white t-shirts, and hollister tank tops--you need to dig deep for the perfect outfit. it's the kind of place that has a "list". it's the kind of place you can only get in if you're on the list, you're a celebrity, you're a pretty girl, or you're with a pretty girl. luckily i fell into one of these categories and the four of us walked past the fancy velvet rope and the eight-foot-tall doorman. it was definitely a blast and my first time bumping shoulders with a few well-known faces...ha...but it certainly did make me miss my favorite places back home. although you're way more likely to find me searching for a hot dog vender on glenwood or drinking a bud light lime on the patio at molly darcy's, hollywood nightlife is definitely a trip. i mean, how many places are rated on how "good" they are by the number of papparazi lined up outside?

tonight's teapot is tiny because it's already midnight and for the first time since i've been here, i have something to wake up early for tomorrow! ready to find out why? here we go...

1. matt x 3

the first thing on my teapot list today has three parts. and they all have to do with one word: matt. no, the cute guy i went to the movies with last night was not named matt. his name is billy. 

matt #1 = mattress. tonight, billy needed my help (my car, not my muscles) transporting a mattress to his new apartment. to help him, he brought along his friend matt (enter matt #2). right before i walked outside to meet them tonight, i got a text from my friend matt (enter matt #3) who asked if i'd like to come with him to his commercial audition tomorrow to help keep an eye on his four year old son. the reason all of these matts made my list today: the whole mattress fiasco got me off of my couch and out of my apartment (which is always a good thing). it was also the first time i had two friends with me driving around los angeles--in my car, singing along to my loud speakers. and it was nice :) as for matt #3, tomorrow will be the first time i'll actually wake up to an alarm and start my day off with something outside of the apartment. i generally spend a while in my pj's before seeing sunlight. it will be a great opportunity to spend time with his son finn--who hopefully i'll get to continue babysitting--and also it will be fun to tag along and get some insight on commercial auditions. to sum things up: matts = positive things. (this is the part where my dad makes the joke "unless your a cat!")

2. life

a few weeks back when i was dealing with the heat issue (just typing that made me cringe) and avoiding my apartment, one day i stumbled upon an iced tea that changed my life. very few drinks can do that, but this one did. after having the lavender earl grey iced tea at the commissary coffee shop, i was hooked. by hooked i mean i was craving it all the time, i don't have the money to buy myself a fancy iced tea whenever i feel like it. i went back to west hollywood hoping to buy some of this delightful tea to keep in my pantry, but ALAS! the commissary only sold it by the glass. i was determined to find it. while driving down melrose today, i passed a place called T salon. i turned around and pulled in. this place was tea heaven. the kind of place my mom only DREAMS about. and when i hesitantly asked if they carried earl grey lavender (which i have now been on a two week quest for) the kind woman responded with "of course! it's one of our most popular!" now i can make life-changing tea, in my lifetime mug, in my very own kitchen. life is good.

3. check

not yet having a job or a set schedule, other than spending hours looking and applying for open positions, my to-do lists aren't all that mandatory. granted, when i'm out of hummus, that IS an important thing that i need to take care of during the day, but let's just say my everyday checklists aren't filled with extremely important tasks. nonetheless, they are my errands and my things that i want to accomplish during the day. when your to-do list doesn't have a sense of urgency, it's easy to get distracted. today however, i checked every single thing off of my list. it may have only been insignificant things like: "return crappy bluetooth from target. buy better bluetooth from verizon. find earl grey lavender tea." but they were MY things and i got to cross all of them off by the time the sun was going down. "be able to crumple up to-do list at the end of the day instead of keeping it for tomorrow.....check."

hightlight of the day:

no, this is not my lemon tree (i wish!). but for those of you who read my blog yesterday, you know that this lemon tree represents the deposit i put down on the downstairs apartment today! it won't be officially official until i sign the lease and get the keys on saturday, but actually putting down a deposit on this place securely holds it and means that i'm THAT much closer to my very first hollywood apartment. where i've been living the past few weeks is so homey and cozy, but at the end of the day, it's a sublease--so a lot (well MOST) of the things i use here on a daily basis aren't mine. this ass-print in the couch may be mine, but the couch isn't.

i know it will take a while and a lot of lottery tickets under my dinner plate to furnish the empty apartment, but i'll finally have a place to call home. a place that is filled with MY things. of course in reality, a lemon tree for my patio isn't a top priority in the way of furnishings, but it is something to dream about and look forward to in the (hopefully near) future. for now, it's just another thing to add to my to-do list.

....didn't i say this post was going to be short? yeah. i didn't think that was gonna happen either.

(dad, the above teapot is obviously dedicated to you. and after laughing at it for five minutes, i just realized that this picture is the perfect combination of you and mom)

1. not your average cracker jack

besides having a cute date (check)--who happens to ride a motorcycle (no mom, dad, sara(h), bea bea, tommy, aunt diane, uncle mitchell, aunt leslie, uncle jerry, garret, jaime, jess, scott, harrison, georgia, and henry: i did NOT ride on his motorcycle--the best thing about going to the movies is the popcorn. at the arclight cinemas in hollywood, which luckily is all of five minutes from my apartment (well, if you don't get lost), they are famous for their scratch-made caramel corn. i could go on and on about the crispy, buttery, brown sugary wonderfulness that is this popcorn--but the founder of sprinkles cupcakes does an insanely good job describing it here on my favorite food network show "the best thing i ever ate". we saw the social network (also known as the facebook movie) which was awesome, but the popcorn (and of course the cute guy) are what made this rank on my list today.

2. what goes around comes around

no, i'm not talking about the song by justin timberlake (who by the way did a kickass job in the social network). but i am going back to the topic of jobs. today i officially applied for my eleventh job since i've been here. it's only been three weeks, so i feel like that number is just going to continue growing. there are a few sides to where i'm going with this. one, i'm proud of myself for making so much effort. and two, a lot of places just take your resume and don't even allow you to fill out an application; HOWEVER, i filled out one today and got to answer questions like "what is your favorite meal" and "who are your heroes." obviously this application was just as much of a personality test as it was a questionnaire and a food/beverage quiz. although it started to feel like i was taking a mid-term, i did appreciate the quirkiness of the application. one of the questions was "why is beer so awesome?" i'm pretty sure that one was put on there for me. the place i filled out the application was the village idiot in west hollywood--which you may remember from one of my very first blog posts.

yes, the place with the amazing homemade donuts.

even though it was slightly discouraging to walk in and see four other people filling out applications, i felt like i did a really successful job of answering the questions they asked. i'm not expecting anything to come out of this (when you apply for eleven jobs and don't hear back you learn to expect to not hear back from ANYONE), but at the same time, it felt nice to walk away knowing that i did a great job of putting myself on paper.

as for the "what goes around comes around" part of this little excerpt, when i got home from the movie tonight i had one new facebook message and one new gmail message. the facebook message was from a relative (stacy--for those of you reading this who know her) and the gmail message was from a friend of my dad's who he had done business with years ago and had recently connected me with. stacy offered to pass my resume along to some friends she had in the area, and my dad's friend cindy mentioned knowing about an open position for a PA (production's assistant--"new kid, go find the nearest starbucks!") job. when i wrote back that i was absolutely interested, cindy immediately followed through and sent an email to her friend recommending me for the job. how lucky am i? who knows what will come out of either of those potential opportunities, but it's amazing to have people reach out and want to help you. my dad has spent more years than i've been alive reaching out and helping people. whether it's connecting someone to a job, a network contact, or just giving them incredible advice, he really has done his part when it comes to helping others.

he recently told me that one of the main reasons he always put so much effort into doing favors for others is that he wished it would someday come back around to me and my sister. he always hoped that others he had helped would either return the favor to us, or that the universe would turn the tables in our direction and send kind-hearted people with opportunities our way. well dad, looks like it's working so far!

3. california is full of bugs

.....GOTCHA! not those kind of bugs. these kind:

once again, the universe continues to send me reminders that my family and friends are all around me. first, there was the magazine ad for "bea bea's"--which just HAPPENED to be laying on the table of a store i walked into. second, in my first week here i saw a DOUBLE rainbow which i know was my sister thinking about me in hawaii. and then today, i saw not one, not two, but THREE lime green VW bugs. now i realize that my best friend drives a lime green CONVERTIBLE bug, but i still think it's pretty amazing to see three of these in one day. the best part of the story is that when i left my date tonight and walked to my car in the parking deck, the second i started texting sara and realized that she was probably already asleep, i looked up and saw my third lime green bug of the day. coincidence? i think not.

highlight of the day:

today i have one mini-highlight and one regular sized highlight. the mini-highlight is that after walking around this strange city for three weeks and constantly feeling like i don't fit in (but in a good way and in a way that makes me appreciate my north carolina-ness), today i saw this:

it made me laugh outloud. and then i wanted to shout at the sign "i AM weird! and damn proud of it!" but then i realized that shouting at a wall actually WOULD make me look like i fit in here...with the crazies.

as for my regular sized highlight of the day...i made a few more attempts today at seeing what other aparments are out there. not only were the two places i discussed over phone calls today no-go's (both were way out of my price range), but when i began searching on craigslist, the first thing that popped up was THIS very building. one of the two apartments available here (that i wanted to go after) was finally up on craigslist and i realized that if i didn't act on one of these places ASAP, i would be stuck with nothing. as i said in my post yesterday, doing research to see what else is out there was good because it made me appreciate how much i love this building, and tonight i have OFFICIALLY decided to put down a holding deposit on an apartment here :)

i still have some things to discuss with my dad, the landlord, and the rental agent tomorrow, but i'm 99% sure that a little over a month from now, i'll be permanently moving into the apartment downstairs! as of now, both apartments are still available, but when i walked by the downstairs one today and snapped a picture of the outside, i realized that the mini-patio really wins this one over for me.

this last picture is the courtyard and apartment #9 is right behind the brown fence. (MY VERY OWN FENCE!) the first two pictures give a close up to what's behind it. it doesn't look like a ton of space, but it's a perfect little patio and as you can see, the top apartments don't have anything like that. it's hard to really get a good sense of the size of this adorable little outdoor area from these pictures, but a cute welcome mat, some fun globe lights, a lemon tree (a girl can dream can't she?), a sweet little table and chairs...and i'll be ready for my first cookout!

1. ruffles

nope. not those kind of ruffles. these:

i don't know about you, but i'm a big potato chip fan. these particular ruffles are one of my favorites and today, i got to open a brand new bag! not only did i get to tear into an unopened package of my favorite chips, and not ONLY did i make myself an awesome sandwich and peppermint iced tea to go with them...

BUT i got to enjoy all of these things while using my computer from the couch(clearly the excitement of having wireless internet is still brand new). 

2. why yes, i would like to try your lentil soup

not wanting to lose my good parking spot, i decided to walk to the appointment i had tonight to see an apartment. i knew that the walk would be under ten minutes so i threw on my new balances and decided to get some exercise out of it. after the appointment was over, i popped my head into a fun little neighborhood shop to browse around and then i began to head home. about one street away from my apartment, i realized that it was dinnertime and i might as well pick up something to eat while i was out. nothing fancy, just a salad to go with a frozen pizza. i wandered in and out of a few restaurants looking at to-go menus when i decided to hop one more street over and see what was in the shopping center. i found pimaire, the local thai restaurant (shoutout to sara) that everyone says is great; and then to my surprise, i stumbled upon a brand new place i never even knew existed! locali is a small market that sells local, organic, and vegetarian food. as i browsed their extensive menu which is filled with tons of awesome sandwiches, salads, wraps, paninis, and more, not only was the girl nice enough to try and help me figure out what i wanted, but she offered to let me try their lentil soup! needless to say it was fabulous. you'll be surprised to find out that the end of this story is that i picked up a salad from somewhere else, but that's only because this place had so many great options i wanted to save it for another day when i wanted more than just a salad. this ranks on my teapot list today for two reasons: 1. it's always nice to find a great place to eat within walking distance. 2. a little southern hospitality in this town is always refreshing to find. well, that and lentil soup.

3. sometimes what you were looking for was there all along

you're probably thinking that this one is going to be about finding a missing shoe, but all of my shoes (all four pairs that i brought) are neatly tucked away in my closet. while yesterday was focused entirely on job hunting, every hour of today was consumed by apartment hunting. there are two available apartments in the building i'm living in right now. originally when i found that out, i felt that i HAD to grab up one of those places because i'm so happy here and i absolutely love living in the hollywood hills. after doing some research and wondering what else what out there, i realized that it might be a good idea to shop around and see what else i can find. i still have more searching to do (despite the seven hours i spent doing just that), but after going to see two different places today and being extremely disappointed, i realized that maybe what i'm looking for is already right here. don't get me wrong, i'm going to continue to do some more research to see what i can find out there, but i did realize today what a great thing i have here. if i can find something that i'm just as happy (if not more happy) with on this same street--there are for rent signs on beachwood to the hollywood sign and back--then i'll absolutely consider it, but seeing how grungy some of those other places were really made me appreciate the tranquility and specific location of this apartment. it's always nice to have a mini-epiphany.

highlight of the day:

well, by the time you read this it will be october 13th. and technically it's after midnight so right now...it's also october 13. HOWEVER this blog is written for the events of tuesday, october 12...which means that my highlight of the day is that today is exactly two weeks until my very first hollywood (25th) birthday :)