Semaine Occupée & YogurtLand

First off I'd like to wish a very happy birthday to one of my best friends, VS. She turns a quarter of a century old today... and I will soon follow in a couple of weeks. VS is a great friend, I've known her since 6th grade (my first year in the U.S). She's also awesome because she's married to a great guy who loves France... so I approve :) LoL.

So this week was busy at work. My colleague was on vacation starting Wednesday, my boss all week (surprisingly, taking a vacation to Utah for some reason). Thursday and Friday afternoon was all me trying to handle the job of 5 people... if the need would arise. Luckily it didn't get too crazy, just really lonely in the office Thursday. Boss Lady M called to check how I was doing, etc... she's awesome. She told me to just work from home on Friday, which I did. I got to listen to 104.3 My FM and tried to listen to the song that would make me win 4 Disneyland tickets... but no luck. Still great day though. And yes, I did get some work done...

Thursday night was fun, I had dinner with some of my friends (Vietnamese noodle salad). The slightly odd part was one of my friends brought her ex-mother in law AND her current boyfriend... which I thought was hilarious... but hey, if they don't mind, I don't mind. I got a phone call from the Houdemon family in San Francisco, about to return to France... thanking me for showing them around when they were in L.A... and it was absolutely my pleasure and I loved hanging out with them. They're good friends of my mom's and I hadn't seen them in 11+ years. They're hilarious and always in a good mood. Their son is fascinated with California so I thought I'd show them Hollywood, MJ's house, Rodeo drive, Manhattan Beach Pier, and Santa Monica Pier & 3rd Street Promenade... all in one day. What a day! Mom & Brent were here too... so it was awesome. Always love to see them.








Last night I watched "Marley and Me" which was ok... I hope I never turn out like the Godzilla wife & mother that Jennifer Anniston was in the movie. But at the end, I bawled my eyes out... I don't want to give away the ending to those who haven't seen the movie. Tonight, it's vegetarian pizza and shrimp spring roll night, "The Proposal" wasn't available on RedBox... so in search for a Romantic Comedy and/or Action night I'll either watch "Legally Blonde" (love that show, I don't know why...) or "Independence Day" (I could watch Will Smith all day...). Pretty low key weekend. It's been gorgeous though, 75 degrees today... hope I can play volleyball tomorrow.  Oh, and I discovered "YogurtLand" next to Trader Joe's which is absolutely yummy and cheap...  

Babe's probably coming Monday night, and will be here for about 2 weeks... which is pretty cool. I can't wait to see him; I love him so much. The giggling, the talking, the hanging out, the fighting, the make-up s...nuggling... I miss it all. Can't wait to see ya babe :)

Tomorrow will be Volleyball and making crepes for work's October birthday celebration. Next week I get to restrict the heck out of my hotels so that we can make some serious money. Woot woot!

Have a fantastic Saturday night, until next time.

I know you're all jealous...

So I've been to the beach today - in a t-shirt and rolled-up jeans. And I wasn't too cold. What do I want to say to most of you? Nanner nanner na-nner! Sorry, for the Frenchies: nananananè-reu! So, I'm being kinda mean, because Salt Lake, Denver, Vegas, Seattle, Paris I'm sure, and even parts of California are snowed in, and I have friends & family in all of those places. Hope you may find your warm weather soon!!

So yesterday I got off work at 3:30 are drove straight to Oceanside. The 405 was of course a total mess. It took me an hour and 15 minutes just to go 20 miles. The rest in Orange County was surprisingly ok. I met up with the parents, they have a timeshare a half block from the beach... it was fun! Went to a seafood dinner, slept in this morning, walked on the beach to the pier, visited a 2.9 million dollar amazing contemporary condo (open house), then drove back home. I spent an hour and a half at Kohl's doing Christmas shopping (I think I'm done now). It sucks. I've been so busy with the move that I was only able to do Christmas shopping this weekend. I'm really hoping to be more organized next year. I usually have about 75% of my shopping done on black Friday, but this year I drove for 11 hours that day so could not do so. And every weekend was spent apartment shopping. Rrrrrr... Anyway, hope to make it up to you all by just wishing you a merry Christmas and hope that you will find your happiness, whether it be a Wii fit, a day with Tokio Hotel, a diamond bracelet, laughing and drinking hot chocolate with your loved ones, Megan Fox for a night, a BMW, Chanel No. 5, j'veux un scooteur!, or whatever else you want or need, hope your wishes come true and you remember that the true meaning of Christmas is about giving, love, friendship, and happiness (well, that's my opinion at least).

So today I'm grateful that as I got home from Oceanside, my apartment was bright and warm from the sunlight coming in, and something unusual? The guy selling the open house used to live in Murray. I decided not to buy the house though when he said that he went to Olympus High... LoL, just joking. I graduated YEARS ago, I don't care about the rivalry :) Good night everyone! Here's some pics of Oceanside so that you can all envy me:

2nd post... must be a boring Saturday

Hi everyone, well, I'm posting twice in one day, but mostly because I forgot to upload these pictures from this afternoon. I've got some beautiful ones of the beach, my footprints, etc. I did go back to see the Pier lighting, and it was... fine, just a pier lighting! I was walking alone in the dark and felt 100% safe. Manhattan Beach is a really cute & clean walking town, and I'll probably go every once in a while. I went into a decoration/ bath store to wait for the ceremony and I checked out some of their stuff - and found real liquid "savon de Marseille". I thought that was kind of cool! Can't find that stuff in Utah!

Here are some pictures. I think this is my best shot:

Lots of seagulls:

And then this picture, I couldn't believe it, someone stole my idea for a restaurant's name! When I was younger, I wanted to open a restaurant with crepes (first thing I really learned to make) and was gonna name it La Creperie (not the Bohemian bistro & bar though). Oh well! What on earth is a Bohemian bistro anyway? Good night! 

Second apartment Search day

Hi everyone,

So Mom and I visited 9 apartments yesterday, and about 6 more today. It's really between two of them. I even made a list of pros and cons for each. If you guys would like to help or have any suggestions, please feel free!

1. SB (9 miles from work)

Pros:

-3 blocks to the beach (really big plus for me, I love the beach, I live for it, and I decided that I would try to get in shape and start running on it).

-Nice area. As in, I can actually walk around, even at dusk, and feel safe. Albertson's is just a block away, as well as many other shops. 

-Gated building, and secured underground parking. Laundry room. Nice landlady, small community feel, looks out for you.

-Apartment is really cute. There's actually two of them, my fav. one is on the second floor, has a small ocean view, a nice view overall, and the bedroom shares no common wall. It's a corner unit so fairly spacious (700 sq. ft maybe). It's SO bright, something I absolutely love. It's really clean too, another big one for me. Nice kitchen, nice bedroom, bathroom, just everything is great.

-Fridge and dishwasher included (do you know how hard it is to find an apartment with its own fridge? Holy cow!)

-Nice ocean breeze, quiet street, and overall... a nice area. This would be my ideal Californian retreat :)

Cons: 

-There's no balcony. Now, with that said, there's a still a deck shared with all the other apartments, with BBQ's and all... so that's not bad.

-The apartment door is an outside entrance (motel style). It's a nice area though, and gated, so I still feel safe.

-It's about $75 more than I want... but most utilities are included, so it's still in my budget.

Price: $1425/month first floor, $1475 2nd floor (the one I prefer, of course). Utilities are included though, except electricity (about $20 a month)

2. M Apts (10 miles from work)

Pros:

-The property is very nice and luxurious. It's got a 24 hour large fitness center, huge laundry room (important for me), clubhouse, 2 pools, sundecks, 2 tennis courts, stainless steel barbeque pits... you name it, it almost looks like a tropical paradise with nice landscaping too. 

-Apartment entrances are indoors. As in, you have to go through an indoor hallway (nice on the security side)

-The kitchen has what look like stainless steel appliances. Very nice. 1 bedroom apartment, very nice and clean. Has a balcony.

-The property is also gated, which is nice because it's not as nice an area as Redondo Beach, but still very decent. 

-There's malls nearby, and it's about a 10 minute drive to the beach. Beats the 10 hour drive from Utah. 

Cons:

-It's on the noisy street side. Although when the windows are closed, it's fine, suddenly the balcony's purpose of me enjoying a nice ocean breeze and quiet outside time has gone out the window. 

-It's on the second floor of a 3 story building. Meaning, people above AND below you. Better not have noisy neighbors or little kids running around.

-The area is decent, but I can't really walk anywhere. There's not much... and I wouldn't try to walk too much either, especially when it starts getting dark.

Price: well, here's what makes it possible. Originally, this is $1570/month. BUT, 4 weeks ago when I visited, they had $200/month specials. Meaning $1370/month, so do-able, especially with all the amenities they have (no utilities included, just water and trash). Well, the specials don't exist anymore. BUT, by miracle, someone JUST cancelled their lease that was on that special, and because the leasing consultant remembered me and knew I was counting on the $200 off, she said she could honor it. 

So, I want to post pictures, but I'm a little slow. Everytime I upload them, it shows up on top. I thought I could drag and drop them to the bottom, but it's not happening for me. So if you see this post, I still haven't figured it out. I'm waiting for $teve to give me call and tell me how :)

Before I let you go, something I'm grateful for today: my mom is so sweet. She just altered two work pants of mine. I'm pretty short, so all my pants are too long for me. Thanks, mom! What the h* am I gonna do when you're gone?!?! LoL. Something funny, unique exciting, or unusual that happened today? I ate shrimp cocktail and salmon chowder for lunch, while overlooking the beach and pier. I know, these aren't very exciting... I'll try to make more stuff happen to me and think harder about those little things that get you through the day...

Tomorrow's my first day at my new job in my new state! I'm driving my mom to the airport at 4:30 am though, and will work from 7:30 - 4:30. Plus, I'm still congested from that cold. But I know I'll be fine. Wish me luck & you all have a fantastic week!

It's about time...

Hi everyone,

Well, I thought it would be about time I have a blog. For those of you who don't know, I've had the pleasure of accepting a killer job by LAX with the company I've been with for six years... I start on Monday, December 1st, and couldn't be more excited.

My mom and I drove all day Friday (10 hour drive), visited 9 apartments today (pictures will show up eventually) and plan to see a few more tomorrow. I'm glad that she's here with me because I've never really rented before, so she's there to show me what's cool and not :) We saw some laughable places, mediocre ones, decent ones, and awesome ones... even with a small ocean view. I'd be splurging on that one, but I really like it... and can probably do it. We'll see what tomorrow brings... and I've got a few days, even weeks to make a decision.

So, there's a few reasons for this blog:

a) I hope that you will go to it if you ever wonder what is happening to Good ol' Lilie.

b) I want to try and post two things each time, and encourage you to do the same with your own life and/or blog: 1. What are you grateful for today, and 2. What's something interesting and unusual and/or fun that happened to you today. 

So here goes. I'm grateful that even though I've had a cold all day, I was still able to make to 9 apartments, take 170 pictures, and my mom was there to make me feel better and make me laugh all day. Something unusual? I walked on a beautiful beach and pier in a short sleeve t-shirt, in November. As in, almost December, so almost winter. That's right, be jealous.

Anyway, this was pretty simple and painless, right? I encourage all of you to think of good things that happened to you. As Dr. Love would say, "No need to thank me, just pay it forward." :)