Irish Dancing in LA...

One of my goals (of the many many goals I have) when I got out here was to try and find a way to still be able to irish dance. When I moved back to St. Louis in 2006, I was fortunate to find a place where I could re-introduce irish dancing to my life as an adult. I loved it.

I performed in two recitals performing irish dance routines at St. Louis Academy of Dance and then in the past year I was able to take adult classes at Clark Academy, which was super fun. I highly recommend Clark for any St. Louis peeps who might want to irish dance.

I saw that there was an adult class in North Hollywood, which is fab because NoHo is super close to me. It's about a 5 minute max drive to the NoHo class. The name is Cleary Irish Dance and Margaret Cleary, the instructor, is great. Adult class is split into solo and ceili (group dancing), and adults have the option of competing! That means I could perform in a feis if I wanted to. Last time I did that I was about 9 years old. That was...well, a long time ago. *cough*

Anyway, I'm trying out the classes but I think it's a great thing for me. The other classmates seem cool, it's a great way to meet other people, and I'll get to keep up my dancing skills!

That's the big news for this week. I didn't make it to the beach on Sunday. Wanted to go, but was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday so instead of driving out to the beach, I grabbed a book and got some sun on my porch instead. :) I have plenty of time for the beach, plus Huntington is a 50 mile drive so it's not like it's super close. Another time.

Now that things are settling, I need to work on meeting people. I know this will happen, slowly but surely. It's a good thing I have my kitty Ringo. He's the best thing ever. It's nice to know that someone is excited to see you when you come home (yes, my cat greets me).

Will post more later!

The Gloom Rolled In...

A bit of a gloomy day in LA today...yes, LA does have non-sunny days. I've always known that I don't do well without the sun but days like these confirm this. I just don't function well without lots of vitamin D sunny goodness!

Although when it is rainy and cloudy in LA it doesn't seem to last for long. It tends to roll through pretty quickly. So now it's pretty clear outside but alas, it's about 7:30pm and there's no sun to enjoy today. Bummer.

The weekend has a better outlook. I'm hoping to have my first beach experience. A co-worker of mine is involved in this charity event that allows people with spinal cord injuries to experience riding the waves...yep, surfing! They have special surf boards and of course they go out with a professional but it seems like a really cool event. It's at Huntington Beach which I'm told is one of the best beaches to go to. The event is on Sunday so I may make a day of it and just check out what there is to see.

That is, if I'm not schedule to work. Yes, I have found some part-time work - doing the retail thing at Victoria's Secret at the Burbank Mall. I wanted to have some extra cash, just to have more fun money and so forth. The cost of living IS quite a dramatic difference from Missouri. Would rather have some extra income for awhile. Plus, I'll meet some other people in the area this way. It'll be fun, it's not going to be crazy extra hours (except during the semi-annual sale times) plus I get a discount. :)

I'm still trying to find a gym, I think I'm going to look into LA Fitness. It has the most group classes that I'm interested in and several of their locations have Zumba, which I love. Need to find out the details on membership though, I'm not in a position to spend tons of money on this so it needs to be reasonable. Plus, there is an adult irish dance class I'd like to take as well. I haven't gone to it yet because I wanted to get the part-time job secure first. Now, I think I can make the class work within my schedule since it's on Wednesday nights...Vicki's will want me on weekends.

I haven't gotten involved with the church choir yet for the same reason. I tend to have a history of jumping into things too soon so I'm thinking I should take some time to get to know my church before jumping into any commitments. I'm sort of thinking I'd rather be a cantor instead of in a choir. Main reason is for scheduling. Choirs are required to sing every weekend, cantors are scheduled. So I'll have to talk to the music director and find out the scoop on that.

Obviously, I have lots of things on my plate and I'm not having problems keeping busy! I've only been in LA for about 4 weeks, can't expect a lot to happen fast.

One thing I've learned is that yes, I CAN live without cable. I decided it wasn't worth the cost, internet won the battle over cable. I find it's good for me. It keeps me from sitting in front of the TV too much and forces me to get out and do stuff. And I actually get a lot of local channels, granted a majority of them are in Spanish, Korean or some other foreign language. I'll get an education! I get all of the networks so I can keep up with all of the main shows. Plus, thanks to hulu and the internet, I can watch shows online. In fact, I just watch my soap opera on the CBS.com website instead of taping it.

So, yeah things are good. I am loving LA, I really am. Not digging the rain though. However, the clouds are cool when they roll over the mountains. Below is a pic I took from the office.

More updates to follow! Hopefully a full out beach experience soon!

Living the Cali Life...

I've been a California resident for almost two weeks now! Things are going very very well. I've started work, which is fabulous. It's only been a week, but I'm getting acclimated and I like the people I work with and I think it's going to be great. I can't wait to get fully engaged into my work.

Plus, everyone at Power was very welcoming. I even had a welcoming sign!

My apartment is great and starting to feel more like home every day. Does it still need more stuff? Yeah, I haven't bought a bed yet (using an air mattress or my futon) and it could use things here and there but honestly? I'm okay with just a few things. I remember just how much stuff I gave away, threw away, sold, etc. in my old apartment in StL so I'm okay with going the minimalist route.

One thing I'm excited about it my balcony. I want to get some plants and flowers to set outside. I'd especially like to get some little palms. I can get one at IKEA for $15, but I'm waiting on the plants for a bit. I figured that would be a fun project for my mom and I went she comes out to visit.

View From My Balcony

My commute is AWESOME. It's even better than my commute in St. Louis! It takes me 7 minutes to get to work. I don't have to get on the freeway, it's really easy. Also, the area I chose to live is really fantastic. I'm in Toluca Lake, which is where a lot of stars live (mainly because the TV and movie studios are close by). Apparently Miley Cyrus lives just down the street from me, probably about a mile away.

I don't really care so much for the stars, I just like that I'm close to so much stuff. Close to Burbank, NoHo Arts District, Hollywood...the only thing I'm not super close to is the beach, but my apartment complex has a pool. And, the beach is about 30 minutes away (unless it's a super fabulous sunny day and everyone is going to the beach. Then the 405 will be even more of a parking lot than it normally is).

We've had 2 earthquakes since I've moved here and I've felt neither. To my credit, the second one was really minor and didn't even make headline news. I'm sure I'll have my fill of them though, unfortunately.

I met with my friend Sarah for dinner on Saturday, and that was very cool. Then yesterday I was able to meet up with my Aunt Martha and cousin Jenny. Jenny was in town from Alaksa so I was really glad to see her since I don't get many opportunities to do so. I'm now only 2 hours away from my aunt I'm also really happy to have the opportunity to get to know my California relatives better as all of my life until now I saw them about once a year, sometimes once every two years.

So, all in all things are going well. The cat is adjusting, he seems to be embracing his California Cool Kitty lifestyle. :)

Here's a view of Burbank and the mountains that I took from the office. Nice, eh? Every day I get to see this! The sun, the mountains and the palm trees make me happy.

Burbank, CA

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

My apartment is coming together and now looks more like someone lives here. My dad helped get my futon and coffee table together, so now I have a nice sitting area in front of the TV, and a table for my laptop, which is really all I need. I still have a big empty space across from the kitchen, I think once I get my keyboard from St. Louis it’ll become my music area as I really don’t plan on getting a dining room table. We’ll see.

My dad left yesterday, I dropped him off at LAX around noon. We took a detour and drove through his childhood neighborhood, which was pretty cool. This was an area I considered living, but after realizing how ugly the commute would be opted otherwise.

I’ll admit it, when I hugged my dad good-bye some tears fell. First time I had really gotten emotional during this whole move process. My dad is so wonderful and he has been amazing through this whole process and I’m going to miss being close to him and my mom. I knew it would hit me when he left, and it did. But, I’m okay now. It’s natural to cry a bit, I expected it. I would have been a bit concerned if I hadn’t!

On Friday my dad and I went to Hemet and visited my grandma and aunt and uncle. It was great to see them. My grandma is an amazing woman, really and truly. It is going to be so nice to be closer to her, I realized in recent years that there is so much I don’t know about my dad’s side of the family, and my grandma has done extensive research on our ancestry. I hope to spend some time with her learning more about our family history. It will be a great bonding experience for her and me of course, but it would also be nice to learn more about my family.

Last night I went to Holy Saturday mass at St. Charles Borromeo, my new church out in California (the church is walking distance from my apartment, so I really have no excuses!). The service was very nice; they had a LOT of Catechumens who entered the church. It’s a pretty large parish; they have 7 masses on Sundays! One of them is in Spanish of course, but wow.

While the music was beautiful and I really like the pastor of this church, he seems to relate to the parishioners very well, or at least, I could relate to him, I once again find myself missing Sts. John and James. SSJJ, my parish growing up in Ferguson, MO, had the best Easter Vigil service, by far. Singing the Creation Story and the Exodus Reading, I wonder if any church uses these musical pieces. It seemed to me that the Vigil here was not a huge attraction for parishioners. It was mostly the Catechumens and their families.

Maybe that will change once I get involved with the parish musically. We’ll see! I’m going to attend the 5pm Easter Service tonight, it’s the “Contemporary Mass.” I’m interested in seeing if there are a lot of young people at the service and what the music is like. There are obviously many opportunities to get involved; I just want to make sure I choose the right path. I’ve never been particularly fond of choirs, at least not on a regular basis. I enjoy it periodically, but I much prefer smaller groups of people, like a 4-6 person group that can sing harmony but you can do a lot of solo work too. There are so many masses at this parish that I’m sure I can find one that will work for me. Just going to have to go and see what I like!

I start my new job tomorrow, and boy, am I anxious to get going! I don’t think I’d handle not working very well, this past week kept me busy because we had to drive, get into the apartment, go shopping, etc. But now it’s kind of like “okay, now what do I do?” I’m ready to get into the office and get into the swing of things. I clocked the commute today, and it took me 7 minutes to drive from my parking spot to the office. Of course this is Sunday, and not rush hour but I'm thinking worst case scenario it won't take more than 30 minutes. So I'll plan on leaving earlier than I need to tomorrow morning so I'm not late on the first day. But it should be good, because I do not have to take the freeway which is super fantastic!

I will post some apartment photos soon, right now I'm using The Coffee Bean's wifi and apparently it doesn't like uploading photos. More later!

Officially a California Girl!

Cactus growing outside my bedroom window!

Well, we made it to LA! I'm all settled into the new apartment (more or less, it's a work in progress of course).

I have to say that I absolutely LOVE the area that I chose. North Hollywood is really cool. I'm super close to the NoHo Arts District so for someone like me who is into theatre and music and so forth it's a great place to be. Plus, it's also super close to Burbank, and I think I can get away with a really easy commute into the office.

We got in yesterday around 11am, got all of the logistics with move-in taken care of, then began the oh so fun project of...shopping.

We found the Target in Burbank and got some stuff there, then we found the closest Wal-Mart (my dad insisted it was the cheapest place to get a TV, and unfortunately, he was right based on our online searching). This Wal-Mart was...interesting. First off, it's attached to a mall and is 2 stories tall. So the escalators have a separate escalator for your cart so you don't have to take the elevator if you don't want to. It's my definition of hell, seriously. I couldn't wait to get out of there! It won't be on my list of places to go to in the future unless I absolutely have no other alternative.

Today I got to take my dad on his first trip ever to an IKEA. Oh how much do I love the IKEA, let me count the ways. Not sure my dad felt the same but he was a good sport about it. I got a futon, a coffee table, two bar stools and some other assorted items. This is good because now I have a place to sit and watch TV, work on my computer, and so forth.

Bed for now is an air mattress, but it's cool. It's actually a pretty nice air mattress. I'm willing to wait and save up money for a nice bedroom set (or look on craigslist). I have a bed frame that I really love that's at IKEA, but I couldn't afford to buy both the futon and the bed frame, so I went with the couch first.

I love my new apartment, it's really a nice place and the manager lives on site, he's married and they're a young couple and he seems like a pretty decent guy. So so far, so good.

I promise I will post some pictures of the apartment, but it's a mess right now so it will have to come at a later time.

I don't have internet at home until Wednesday, so updates will be limited for awhile and it's a bear trying to update this on my Iphone. But I promise to post more as things move along!

Tomorrow my dad and I are driving to the Inland Empire as they call it out here to see my grandma, aunt and uncle and hopefully my cousins. Will be great to see everyone!

My dad leaves on Saturday, I have plans to go to the Easter Vigil service at my church on Saturday night, then Sunday not sure yet and on Monday, I start work!