Here are a couple of day after photos from the Universal backlot fire. What a mess.
Universal wreckage #2
Originally uploaded by blue439.
Universal wreckage #1
Originally uploaded by blue439.
Universal Backlot Fire: The Day After
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Author Archives: LA Blogger Gal
Fake Tan Anyone?
So my best friend from high school (the only person from high school that I even keep in touch with still) is getting married this Saturday. I’m considering doing a whole fake tan thing so my ghostly legs don’t look quite so, um, ghostly white.
I’m a pale gal. And by pale, I mean fair skinned enough that without a doubt, I’m the lightest or second to lightest shade on ANY brand of make up. Even high end brands with a gazillion colors of foundation. Yes, I’m that fair.
So I’m wondering, does anyone have any tan in a can suggestions? Something that will give me a lovely hint of color. Color that won’t be orange.
How Very Odd
I’ve noticed that my blog views are quite light on the weekends. I can’t blame anyone, so I never really worried about it all too much. I’ve also noticed that lately, my most recent posts aren’t showing up in my stats as even having been read in a timely manner. Again, no biggie. I mean it’s summer, people have lives. Hell, I have a life and don’t always get around to reading (or commenting on) my favorite blogs.
But the most perplexing element is that my reader doesn’t seem to be picking up my posts in a timely manner. Which of course, might explain the above phenomena a bit. But I don’t get the why of it.
I wrote two posts today (Saturday – though technically, it’s now Sunday), one in the lateish morning before heading out for the day and the other later in the afternoon. They both showed up in my actual blog when I looked at it, but according to my Google Reader they just now showed up as being written just an hour ago. Now, a mere hour before the day was to end! Now that’s just odd.
I checked my blog’s clock…it’s accurate. I checked the posts, they say they were posted when I posted them. So why are they taking so long to show up in the readers? When I met with SurferGrrl a couple weekends ago, she asked why I hadn’t been posting. I looked confused (I was confused) and told her that I was pretty much posting daily. Turns out, her reader hasn’t been updating her either (and she’s not with Google).
So what’s up with that and how can we fix it? Anything I might could look into on my end? Well, anything that I haven’t already looked into and might have missed? ‘Cuz let me say, this all seems to be quite frustrating if you ask me.
PS – Sadly, it appears that the mighty Google was no help to me when it came to looking for answers with this particular challenge…
Universal Back Lot: A Sad Day in Hollywood History
The Universal Studio backlot is on fire. It started around 6:00AM this morning. Fire fighters were called in from all round. This must’ve been what woke the dog up this morning around 7:30. The low water pressure and ancient sets is making for a bit of a hot burn.
For the most part, the New England, New York and King Kong street scenes are gone and will need to be rebuilt. According to the LA Times, the fire destroyed “a soundstage and several sets, including the Courthouse Square seen in “Back to the Future” and the New York streetscape from the 1987 “Dragnet” film and “Bruce Almighty,” as well as structures used in the theme park’s King Kong attraction.”
It seems to have only affected the current Ghost Whisperer lot directly – must be that New England set.
Whew, What a Yesterday!
Yesterday was my first LWL LIVE event here in Los Angeles. It was a day full of great speakers, consulting with future clients*, shopping, hanging with the ladies and well, just a full day of everything. It was held at the Dermalogica headquarters down in Carson. They have a beautiful facility, very futuristic and quite Mode/Ugly Betty-ish. Good space and good energy.
I loved hearing Dermalogica’s founder, Jan Wurwand’s story. Even more, I loved her whole “I went to beauty school, not business school” success story. Very inspiring. Daryn Kagan, formerly of CNN and now creates inspirational news stories on the web. I love how she was able to take losing her job and turning it into something beautiful. Paige Adams-Geller of Paige Premium Denim also had an empowering, love your body message that couldn’t be ignored; she wants you to be comfortable in your genes not just your jeans.
My favorite part of the whole event though, had to be the web savvy panel: the ladies from Ideal Bite, Ask Patty, Style Diary (and one more gal that writes for the Huffington Post – I didn’t get a program and the LWL site wasn’t updated with her info). I loved how they’re all web-based, yet all have different business and advertising models. But more importantly, I love who they all supported the idea of blogging, getting yourself out there on social networks, and even using blogs instead of launching an out and out site (all what I preach!).
I wished someone had thought ahead to record the speakers since I missed parts of the web gals panel. Turns out I was stuck in the body of a teenager and well, had a bit of a girlie accident. Yeah, I wore khakis and figured that since I’m an adult, I know my body and I don’t have anything to worry about. Of course, I neglected to consider the fact that I’d be sitting ALL day long – from the crack of dawn drive down until the drive back (nearly 10 hours total). Embarrassing? Oh hell yeah. But hey, at least I was in a room full of women and we’ve all been there a time or two (even if mostly only in our teens).
But it was a great day and one I’d gladly do over – with a few small adjustments 😉 Today I’ve got some Farmer’s Market time with the hubs (if it’s not too late) and book club with the gals. The author will be joining us so I’m pretty stoked!
* my biz site officially launched while I was there – so now I’m all official like. Thanks Rachael!
I’m Back & Feeling Better
In fact, I decided to not even bother with the visit to the acupuncturist. I do feel that much better. My head still gets a tad stuffy (or so it seems), but there’s no more pounding and pressure. So as far as I’m concerned, I’m better 😉
Now as for the SATC movie…I don’t want to add to any of the hype (and I won’t spill any secrets). I have to say though, I really enjoyed it. The movie really played on the friendships that women have and I just love that. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to enjoy my very own Cosmo while viewing. Though popcorn for breakfast wasn’t so shabby (my husband assured me that the ancient Native Americans ate corn for breakfast – dork, I know, but I love him just the way he is).
It was so great to see so many women at the early show (10:30AM) with their girlfriends. Some, like the older gals behind me in line were there just the two of them. Others came in small groups breaking out in a *squee* whenever a new friend showed up. Still more were there solo like I was. And some where there with their boyfriends or spouses (and as one would expect, there were also the gay men in the audience).
Of course, watching the movie by myself made me miss my best friend and SATC viewing partner since she was back in NM. I made sure to text her that she was with me in spirit while I was watching and called her to fill her in as soon as it was over.
Overall, a very good, very moving (yes, that means I cried…more than once!) movie. Well worth the price of the ticket, the popcorn & the drink. Enjoy!
Six and the City
First and foremost, thank you Miss Attitude for posting this yesterday. It cracked me up and make my day. To get you all in the mood for Sex and the City this weekend I bring you “the girls” age six (no hype, no plot given away)…
I’ve decided that I’m going to see the first AM showing (10:25) in my area so I don’t have to worry about the hype. This will be followed by acupuncture for my (seeming) sinus issue. I felt better yesterday, but then after a nap, I couldn’t stop sneezing and my head was all fucked up again. Sigh…
Happy Weekend!
Busy Little Sinus-y Bee
So this Saturday, I have the LWL LIVE event here in LA. I’m so excited. I can’t wait to be motivated and inspired by all the great and successful women. I can’t wait to shop and visit with all the cool vendors. And while I might be a tad bit nervous, I also can’t wait for my time as an “expert” (or as they’re known in the LWL group…MILLIE).
After running some errands – super, killer brows for me and new shirt & tie for the wedding for the hubs – I basically came home and crashed. I was tossing and turning all last night, so I didn’t get all too much sleep. Needless to say, once I woke up, I felt worse than when I laid down. My eyes hurt, my head was congested and I couldn’t stop sneezing. Two Tylenols and a Sudafed and I’m doing MUCH better thanks.
Finally able to focus on some work. I made my flier to stand on my table to identify me amongst all the other experts. I made my giveaway sign to go on my bag so that I can have some follow up with the folks I meet and collect emails for my upcoming newsletters (I’m giving away one of my one-on-one coaching and blogging packages). Tomorrow I just need to head out to Staples to print them up on a color copier (ours is set to black & white only and well, not exactly super compatible with Leopard so I don’t want to mess with anything – need to look into that and see if they’ve upgraded yet).
Which basically just leaves figuring out what to wear (so glad I’m not alone in this Carrie) and packing up all my stuff. I’m riding in with a friend of mine (KLEAN Bath & Body) and since she’ll be selling, I’ll be getting up at the crazy ass, crack of dawn. Seriously, I’ll be meeting her at 6:45ish!!! Dude, that’s mere hours after I go to bed!!! I’ll work on that. Should be a long day, but a fun day!
On that note, I have 20 or so minutes to cook dinner and settle down for Lost. Notice the hubs is not yet home…grrr! Oh and did I mention that the little guy has puppy dog pink eye? Poor thing, no wonder he’s been miserable these past couple of days and always wanting us to run his face, ears and well, head. Pink eye burns like a MoFo. He has to get drops for the next week. But he already looks (and is acting) so much better just since the drops the doc put in.
Okay, I’m off. Happy Lost night! Oh yeah, did you notice my new blog design? I got bored and well, just grabbed a new one. Eventually, I’m going to learn how to at least make some cool headers. Someday. You know, when I find the time….
Oh Noz!!! My Television!!!
It appears that our DVR might be shot to hell (or at least seemingly on it’s last leg). We came home from the concert last night, thought we’d watch a little TV and blamo, nothing but a black screen. On every channel. Well, every channel except the TV Guide channel. So obviously, something still works.
I figured I’d test out the recordings. I see that there was a new Men in Trees. Woohoo! Or well, it would be WooHoo, only the DVR seems to have recorded two full hours of you guessed it, blackness and no sound. You can fast forward through it and all.
I went back to an older recordings that I knew were there. Nope, blackness. Well, kinda. Half the time, the buttons on the remote didn’t even seem to do anything (but yet still lit up, so I knew there was juice).
Leave it to the hubs…he fixed it! He turned off the whole power strip for a bit and restarted everything. Now we have our recordings (including Men in Trees) and TV. Oh happy day! I mean now we can get the Lost finale tomorrow. Whew, that was a close one.
Reality just hit too…turns out today is Thursday, not Friday. Guess I won’t be see SATC today after all. I might also have to hold off on the acupuncture until Friday since the gal I went to last time is only there Mon, Wed & Friday. But some good news, I have plenty of time to do the laundry, get my brows done and do my last minute prep stuff for Saturday’s LWL event. Whew again.
Well, Hell! I Guess I Saw it Coming
Well, it seems it’s official. I did indeed (seem to) get myself yet another damn sinus infection. I’m just going to have to suffer through it though since I have to fly again next Thursday. I figure I’ll wait to see the doctor (my wonderful doctor) next week so I’ll be ON the meds when I fly again. Hopefully this will mean I will keep things manageable instead of making things worse. And yes, I will be asking my doc for a recommendation to an ENT since this just seems to be getting out of control.
I guess I’ll try to take a short (super short) nap before heading out to the Kenny Chesney show tonight. I’m not a big KC fan, but Leann Rimes is opening and I kind of like her. Plus, the tix were free! And how am I to turn down a free concert. Even with crappy, nosebleed seats 😉
So I wonder how much Sudafed is too much Sudafed?