No Day But Today.

As I was working out this morning and taking a walk around my neighborhood I heard 'Another Day' from "Rent" on my iPod and I was reminded of these lyrics...

The Heart may freeze or it can burn, the pain will ease if I can learn, there is no future, there is no past, I live this moment as my last.

There's only us, there's only this, forget regret or life is yours to miss.  No other road, no other way, no day but today.  

We must let go, to know what's right.  

There's only now, there's only here, give into Love or live in fear.

No day but today.

I fell in love with a similar picture from an Editorial Photo Shoot of Megan Fox and it became the inspiration for this Photo!

This was from my Photo Shoot with Brent Bailey back in February and I want to make sure I'm living each day as it could be my last.  Every day should be filled with happiness, laughter, hard-work, and love :)

Happy Easter Sunday to Everyone!

St. Patrick's Day at Irish Times!

The week of St. Patrick's Day was crazy for me as I was at all my jobs multiple times during the week and keeping so busy!  Hopefully, everyone had been prepping for the St. Patrick's Day festivities that were going to be happening at Irish Times and throughout LA, because I heard there were big parties with wristbands to get in, covers at the Irish bars, and Green Beer just about everywhere!

 

Tattoos!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I went into work at Irish Times bright and early at 9 am and was working the early shift until 5 pm.  I was so glad to have that shift even though I was working on just a couple hours of sleep since I had Bartended at Bar Lubitsch the previous night until the wee hours of the morning.  Matty and I shared a traditional Irish Breakfast of eggs, toast, black and white pudding, ham, and all the fixings.  Since it was the early shift it was a little quieter and calmer than it would be 5 hours from now.  Last year I had to work from noon until close (which by the time we got out of the bar was 4 am) so the early shift was just fine with me.  Plus, it was a Saint's & Sinner's reunion with Ian, Matt, and Bulos all working throughout the day!  I didn't realize how many people really love to be drinking Guinness and Car Bombs but it's the norm for the Irish Holiday.

 

As the day went by it got busier and busier and more Bartenders and Barbacks showed up and at one point there were 8 or 9 of us behind the bar.  Thankfully, that didn't last long and I was able to finish up with my shift and head out with some Corned Beef & Cabbage and Fish & Chips before the madness really hit.  A woman stopped by and was giving Glitter Tattoos, there was Live Irish Music, even a Bagpiper at one point, plenty of Food, Guinness, and Jameson to go around.  We had a tent outside for the overflow where we had some beers on tap in addition to bottles of Bud Light and Heineken. 

Your Irish Bartenders...yes, I'm Irish :)

Irish Times is certainly one of the places to be on St. Patrick's Day and I'm glad that I've been able to spend the day working with some of my favorite people!  Now, if only we could finish up that Power Hour at some point...

Web Series Audition

A couple weeks ago I had an Audition in Hollywood for a popular Web Series that got picked up for Season 2 so they have plenty of episodes to cast and this session was for an episode to be filmed in the next couple of weeks.  It's been a huge hit since it came out in 2012 and has had over a million views on YouTube and Yahoo has been sponsoring it since it became widely popular!

 

Busy day...Work-out, Audition, Errands, and Dinner
at Wabi Sabi!  Happy Girl :)

I was going in for one of the Young Female roles that was described as stylish, sexy, and cute.  As I walked into the Casting Studio I saw one of my good friends, Andrea, was also auditioning so after signing in, and a quick catch up I grabbed a script and was prepared to do some Improv.  I had come up with some ideas before I had even gotten to the Audition for things I would want to do but saw that it wasn't going to be helpful because they were going in a different direction.  It made me a little nervous but I memorized the script, came up with some other ideas, and waited my turn.

 

The room seemed pretty warmed up and I was happy to see another friend of mine (and also an Actor in the series) who was helping to run the Audition and was actually 'reading' with me.  Since it was Improv, we had a script but we were told that we could deviate from it and make it our own.  After slating we got started with our date scene and had some fun with it.  We got a couple laughs and next up we did a complete Improv of dropping a date off at home and trying to get in some more 'romantic time' to not have the date end.  Either I've had some pretty respectful dates or it's been a really long time because I had a difficult time taking over the guy's role to try to continue the date, but used snuggling, a movie, a late night snack, etc, but my friend and reader was not budging, which is what he was supposed to do, taking on the girl's role.  I tried to keep it light and fun and hopefully they enjoyed seeing me do something interesting and different.

As I drove home I felt good about the Audition but realized I'd really like to do some more Improv and take some classes to improve on that skill.  I think that's a good note to take from it and be happy that I got some more practice at my Audition :)

Karaoke!

I know I said I wouldn't just write blogs about Karaoke but today's entry is a special situation because I've been so busy and haven't been able to keep up with my blog and in keeping up with my blog I was adding each week's Karaoke songs at the bottom (for each week). Since I'm a month behind I'm just listing all the songs here as my own personal reminder on what I've done and what's new and I'm also sharing it with the world.

Axl Rose on Halloween...can't wait to bring back
80's Theme Night!

About a month ago and just before my parents came into town (can't believe it's almost been a month since they came, the time went by so quickly) I started the night off with Tracy Chapman's 'Give Me One Reason' and then got the energy going with 'Hold The Line' by Toto.  I'm still perfecting 'Head Over Feet' by Alanis and that went really well but singing Jennifer Lopez's 'If You Had My Love' was quite tricky, and while I love that song, it may not be a good Karaoke song.  I had two new songs that night, the J.Lo song and also No Doubt's 'Don't Speak' which went great and I'll definitely be singing that song again soon!

A couple weeks ago it was pretty quiet and I had some friends come in so we all sang a bunch and I opened the night with 'I'm No Good' by Amy Winehouse and changed it up doing some country 'That Don't Impress Me Much'  and McCracken and I attempted 'Come What May' which was a new song for me, and just far too high for my voice, even after lowering the key, so thankfully Sean redeemed himself singing it with Jamie later on.  My new song of the night was 'On My Own' from "Les Mis" and I can't wait to sing it again now that I conquered the Musical Jitters.  I also sang 'Special' by Garbage and closed with 'Jar of Hearts' since it was a more quiet night and Aimee likes that song.

Last week was really busy and we had a bunch of people come in towards the end of the night so I only sang a few times.  My first song was 'Say You Love Me' by Fleetwood Mac and then I did 'Jolene' by Dolly Parton which I haven't done in forever and is such a great song to sing.  My new song was 'Here Without You' by 3 Doors Down and is one of my favorite songs of all-time, and I closed with 'Don't Let Go' since there was an R&B vibe at Gabe's at the end of the night.  The crowd was really supportive throughout the night and had a blast!

This past week's Karaoke I opened with 'Who Will Save Your Soul' and I switched it up to Amy Winehouse doing 'Back to Black' which is kind of a guilty pleasure because it's edgy and angry.  In keeping with tradition I went back to something light-hearted that I haven't sang in forever, which was 'Don't Know Why' by Norah Jones since Art sang it last week.  My new song of the week was 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' of course, by Whitney Houston that went surprisingly well!  YAY!  Since Jamie stopped in we did 'Take Me Or Leave Me' from "Rent" and I closed out the night with 'Baby Love.'  It was a night filled with variety and just the right amount of people there that everyone was able to sing a bunch but it was just good friends and fun karaoke!

Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up with my blog but I'm proud that I've been keeping up with my New Year's Resolutions and have plans to start my show very soon :)

Cabaret Idol

Last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing my friend, Nick Amado, perform in the Finals of Cabaret Idol at the Hollywood Bar & Grill!  Cabaret Idol had been going on for weeks and I hadn't been able to make it to one of his performances so I was so glad to catch him in the Finals and see him at his best and in his element!

Upon arrival, there was a line out the door of people waiting to get in and find a seat.  The place was packed and there was a whole group of people there to support Nick, a plethora of people from our Saint's & Sinner's days (it was so great to see everyone) and even people from out of town, so it was great to see Nick's friends supporting him!

There were 6 singers that night and audience vote after the first round of singing voted 4 people to sing one more song, and then it was decided on by the judges.  On top of singing 2 songs for their set they also had to talk about the song and why they were going to sing it, so it gave you a little personality from each performer.  Nick's first song was 'Runaround Sue' in which two of our friends, Ian and Dave, joined him on stage doing a little back-up.  The song was a hit and after Nick killed 'At Last' serenading people's faces off, he even got a standing ovation!  Honestly, I didn't need to hear the other singers because I knew Nick was the perfect person to win Cabaret Idol.  

After the first round of singers, it went down to 4 with Nick in the last round of singing.  His closing song was Jeff Buckley's 'Hallelujah' while Travis played the music.  He blew the crowd away with his control, tone, and how he just captivated every audience member.  I'm so proud to be a friend of Nick's and get to see him do something that just comes so naturally to him!  Getting to see all these singers perform for a crowd of people really made me want to try out for next year's Cabaret Idol because everyone was having so much fun and I think it would be a great experience...I guess we'll see!

We were all glad to hear, as they announced the winner, that Nick was the Cabaret Idol winning a 3-song demo, a cash prize, and a 2 Day Show, which I can't wait to see.  Nick was the perfect Winner for the Contest...congratulations and YAY Nickels :)
Nick Amado on YouTube! 
You can check out Nick's performances and music on his YouTube page!

Buckcherry at The Viper Room :D

I've been a Buckcherry fan since 2006 when their album "15" came out and 'Sorry' became one of their biggest hits and I started singing along with it.  Along with 'Sorry' was 'Crazy B*tch' which was just such a fun rock & roll song, and reminded me that there are some great Rock Bands out there today!  *I hadn't quite gotten into The Foo Fighters yet until 'Pretender' came out and then I started to discover and fall in love with their music, as they are one of my favorite Rock Bands to this day!*  I had been listening to a CD of Buckcherry Music for the past year as Neil had gotten me into their music and not only could they write these awesome rock songs but some beautiful ballads with touching lyrics.  I was hooked.

Cocktails on Sunset Blvd at Rock & Reilly's

Neil had gotten 4 tickets to Buckcherry at The Viper Room for last Friday as they were playing 3 shows there last weekend.  Kristina, Chris, Neil and I got into Hollywood and had a drink at Rock & Reilly's (a fun and wild Irish Bar with awesome green wallpaper on Sunset Blvd) with Neil's friend, Cory, before we walked over to The Viper Room.  The Viper Room was a small venue for Buckcherry, but I found out from Kristina and Josh Todd that night as he was talking between songs that they wanted to pay homage to LA because this is where they got their start and they appreciate their fans support through all these years.  I think it was awesome that we all got a chance to see them at such an intimate venue.

I had never seen a show at The Viper Room aside from seeing Neil play in the Acoustic Lounge last year and taking a mini tour of the whole venue at that time.  The place was packed but not overly so, that we couldn't move or maintain some sense of personal space.  We got a round of drinks and found a good spot where we all could see and were about 10 feet from the stage.  I was so excited as soon as the band came out and Josh Todd was wearing a bandanna, jacket, and sunglasses as he opened the show.  By song #2, the bandanna and sunglasses were off, and just a couple songs later, he was shirtless and awesome!  The whole band was into the music and you could tell they were enjoying themselves.

H.O.T.

They played a bunch of songs off "15", "All Night Long" and some new songs off their new album "Confessions."  One of their first hit's 'Lit Up' was played in between 'Everything' which is one of my favorites and 'Gluttony' which is a new song.  Some of my favorite slower songs which I thought they might play since The Viper Room is a more intimate venue were left out but they brought the energy while they played, the lead guitarist throwing out plenty of picks, and Josh singing and dancing as much as possible.  They sounded just like they do on their album and it was fantastic to actually see them live and be that close to the stage.  One of their closing songs was, of course, 'Crazy B*tch' and I even threw in a little of my own head banging!

An absolutely amazing show and happy concert goer's!

Our American Idol :)

 Overall, I can't say enough good things about the Buckcherry show except that I wish it was longer.  It was just over an hour or so long and I wanted to hear more because they did sound so great!  I think we all wanted to hear more music from them and people of all ages were at the show considering they have been around for 15 years.  Of course, Josh Todd, had that rocker performance charisma that made me want to jump on stage, dance with him, and hug him in all his sweaty glory but I didn't...perhaps next time ;)  Seeing Buckcherry at The Viper Room definitely makes me want to see more shows there because it was so much fun but I can bet this experience will stick with me for a long time!

*A couple side notes and an exciting extra:  We found a secure parking garage down the street for $10 which was great and we only had to walk a couple blocks.  The Viper Room was actually reasonably priced for drinks, with a shot and beer for $10 or their own house shot, the Viper Venom, for $4.  Coors Light was $5 so that was certainly a pleasant surprise to get some inexpensive drinks!  Then, on our way out and as we walked back to Sunset Blvd, we ran into this wonderful guy, who happened to be enjoying Hollywood and The Viper Room as well.  Chris had actually asked to get a picture with him, when one of his friends said, he was on American Idol.  Vincent Powell had just been kicked off the night before, but as soon as his friend had mentioned that, I remembered exactly who he was and how incredible he performed.  American Idol lost out on an extremely talented singer with a fabulous personality, and I know he's got big things coming to him.  It was great meeting you, Vincent!*

Vincent from American Idol and Chris after the Buckcherry Show at The Viper Room!

Plus, I love that I'm continuing my New Year's Resolution of doing new things.  A new concert for 2013, seeing my first Rock Band, Buckcherry, at a new venue, The Viper Room, and having a blast with my friends!  Hooray :)

We missed Clint by an hour!

After a week filled with work I finally had a couple days off so my parents and I made the drive up to Carmel (which is near Monterey and about 2 hours south of San Francisco).  The main reason for our visit was because my Dad wanted to eat Dinner at Clint Eastwood's restaurant, so with a 5 hour drive ahead of me, we started the trek.

Let me start by saying I gave up Soda, Candy, and Fast Food for Lent, and of course, when you're on a road trip, all that you can really eat if you're stopping quickly is fast food, so while my parents ate their delicious smelling breakfast sandwiches from McDonald's that morning, I sipped my Chai Tea from Starbucks and pouted.  Our first stop was just beyond Santa Barbara at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, because my Mom wanted to gamble some money away.  I ended up getting $50 in Free Play because of my 90066 zip code, and actually won $60 at the end of the day, so I came up ahead!  After our quick 90 minute excursion we were back on the road taking the scenic 101 the entire way to Carmel.  Once we got close, the sun disappeared and a cloudy marine layer appeared as we made our way to the Bay View Inn in Carmel.

We got to The Mission just after 7 pm and had a cocktail at the bar while we waited for our table.  We got seated about 20 minutes later and after ordering and talking to our waiter, found out Clint came in after 6 pm stayed for a little bit and then left.  He had also come by that afternoon for a little bit and our waiter told us sometimes even pops in later at night before the bar closes down.  I know we were all a little bummed we missed him by less than an hour but were still really impressed that he was even in the area when we were.  Our goat cheese appetizer was great but I wasn't all that excited about my steak until I got my hands on some horseradish that kicked it up a bit.  Unfortunately, Mom thought it was coleslaw, so she took a hearty bite and had a nice surprise.  The asparagus was perfect and my favorite part of the meal aside from my awesome Pinot Noir I switched to from my Hendrick's Gin drink at the bar.  We couldn't end Dinner without getting the Chocolate Cake so I got some Sambuca and enjoyed my aperitif and 3 espresso beans.

Dinner at Mission Ranch in Carmel

Before the night was over we sat back at the bar to have some after-dinner Drinks and even got Mom a Brandy Alexander that was delicious!  The piano player had been playing all evening and at this point, people were getting up to sing with her, so I asked if she knew 'Baby Love,' she said she did, and 15 minutes later I was singing to all the Regulars around the piano, a few of which who gave me some dirty looks for invading their Sunday Night territory, but it's all in fun, right!  The piano player asked me to sing again so later on I did 'Dreams' by Fleetwood Mac and then we all called it a night and made our way back to the Hotel.

Pacific Ocean

The next morning we walked downtown for a little bit, bought some fun gifts and then made our way to the ocean.  It was about 20 degrees cooler in Carmel and quite windy but it was beautiful to see the ocean, trees, and houses.  I wanted to take a different route on the way back to LA so Dad drove the first part and we cut over on the 198 near Coalinga and what a drive that was!  It was winding turns, narrow roads, fallen rock, and more cows than I could count, but it was awesome.  I took over once we got to town and I had my Bagel from Starbucks while Dad enjoyed his Whopper with Cheese and Mom got her Ice Cream Cone...way to rub it in my face, Guys!  The rest of the drive on the 5 felt quick because it was mostly farmland, tons of fruit trees, and some major mountain driving before getting into Santa Clarita but neat to take a different route on the way home.

The entire week with my family was awesome and taking the road trip with them was the icing on the cake.  We had so much fun, did so many different activities and kept busy!  I was so glad to have them out here spending time with me and can't wait to see them again soon :)

Beverly Hills Friday!

After making sure Dad had Lunch and would be occupied for the afternoon, Mom and I headed into Beverly Hills for her Belated Birthday Present.  I was taking her to Lunch at Crustacean which would be something fun and new for her and since I've only been there once as well I couldn't wait to go back and share it with her!

Crustacean is so elegant and as we were seated at a table by some beautiful flowers we decided on our appetizers and got the Coconut Prawns and Rock Shrimp Tempura.  Since it was Friday we couldn't have any meat but neither of us was really interested in anything aside from fish and since Crustacean is known for their seafood we were going to be doing the entire experience!  The Prawns were good but the Marmalade Orange Sauce was the kicker, it was phenomenal!  The Rock Shrimp Tempura was a little bland in my opinion and needed a kick with the spicy mayo and I still have to say that Katsuya has the best Rock Shrimp Tempura I've ever had.

Our entree's and the Garlic Noodles came next!  The Garlic Noodles were as great as I remembered them from my first time there and Mom liked them a lot as well.  We decided to share two entrees getting the Steamed Sole and Roasted Corn & Mushrooms in this amazing sesame miso vinaigrette which really complimented the dish.  I really wanted something close to sushi so I ordered the Seared Tuna with Greens & Noodles that was served cold, so that made it interesting.  The dressing was light but once again needed a little kick to it.  I was happy to see there was plenty of Tuna and it was perfectly seared and delicious.

Lunch at Crustacean with Mom!

After Dinner we weren't too full to walk over to Sprinkles and pick out some Cupcakes to take home and sample.  I've only had a couple flavors so we decided to get the Black & White (which is my FAVORITE) the Vanilla with Milk Chocolate, Lemon Coconut, and one that was just like a Hostess Cupcake.  We brought them home to Dad and had a nice little dessert sampler and he even tried some of our leftovers from Crustacean!  Way to be adventurous, Dad!

Mom and I had a great Lunch and lot of fun chatting over some yummy food, in a beautiful atmosphere and there was no one else I would have rather shared it with :)

A Week with Family in LA!

Last week at this time my family and I were getting ready to go to Happy Hour at The Garage, get some yummy food, and have a cocktail or two before I Hosted Karaoke that night at Gabe's!  They just left yesterday but the week I spent with them was filled with plenty of activities, lots of work, and a super fun road trip to Carmel!

Karaoke was a lot of fun and my Dad even sang a couple songs with me so that was awesome.  My songs for the night were geared to my Mom and Dad so I opened with 'Because the Night' by the 10,000 Maniacs and sang 'Stop Dragging My Heart Around' with Marcus.  I remember the music video because my Mom had it on a VHS tape of videos she liked, so that was a fun song to sing for them!  Both Mom and Dad wanted to hear Def Leppard over me doing Journey, so I sang 'Bringing on the Heartbreak' and then switched it up to some Country doing 'Any Man of Mine.'  I was happy to hit all the high notes on 'Promises in the Dark' and then got a request from my family for Stevie Nick's 'Edge of 17' which I forgot had so many verses and was nearly 6 minutes long.  Would it ever end?  LOL!  Dad got a little liquid courage and asked if I would sing 'Help' with him, so we both sang that, and he also backed me up on my new song of the night which was 'I Want You to Want Me' by Cheap Trick, which had some fun and quick parts to it!  Linda Ronstadt is one of my parents favorite artists so I sang 'It's So Easy' and then closed out the night with Adele's 'To Make You Feel My Love.'

Famous Photo Recreated at the USS Iowa!

On Thursday, Mom and Dad helped me set up the bar at Irish Times and got to enjoy a fun beer tasting and later came by to have a traditional Irish Dinner of Fish & Chips and the Beef & Guinness Pie!  That night I got my parents to watch 'Les Miserables' and both of them could admit after watching 'Silver Linings Playbook' that the acting was outstanding in 'Les Mis' even though it wasn't their type of movie.  We made it a SAG Screener Weekend by watching 'Argo' on Friday before I had to leave for work too and I hadn't seen it yet, so that was cool!  Then on Saturday we drove down to Long Beach so Dad could see the USS Iowa, even though we wouldn't have time to go through the ship, he just wanted to see it, and it will be put on his To-Do List next time he's out for a visit.  They came into Bar Lubitsch with me on Saturday Night and Kristina met up with them as well, while they sampled some specialty cocktails and different whiskeys.  It was really fun for them to see all 4 of my jobs while they were here, and how different they all are.  I love taking care of them when they are in town!

I'm going to post a couple more blogs about their trip out here to LA so I can keep these short and exciting ;)  Stay tuned!