The Decision Has Been Made

To stay put. After weeks of looking for apartments online and spending the past several days actually "visiting" different apartments, we've finally reached the conclusion to stay right where we are for the time being.

Ultimately, probably the biggest reason that influenced the decision was money. Simply put, we'd both be able to save much more money if we stayed in Chris' current apartment. Right now Chris' current apartment, at 750 square feet (big for California, lol,) is only $1,100 a month, (also cheap for southern California.) Most of the apartments we looked at were "around" the same size, (some being smaller some being bigger,) but ran at least $1,300+ each month.

One apartment in particular (my favorite,) was $1,391 a month. It was sooooo cute! Great kitchen, beautiful interior, vaulted ceilings, a washer and dryer IN the unit, a wonderful balcony with a view, a fitness center, pool, and a great surrounding community. We even loved it so much that I wrote them a $100 "holding check" yesterday so that they would "hold" the apartment for 3 days while we debated over it. :::sigh::: I called them today and told them that we had ended up deciding against it. (I got my $100 back, of course.)

I think that was the best decision. I wasn't able to save very much money while living in LA, so living here would give me a much better opportunity to do so. I'd like to save money for my wedding business, more money for emergencies, and money for a car (when the day comes that my current car dies.) Sooooooo yes. Who knows, maybe next year? :P

Do YOU cut the mustard?

Does Chris' english "cut the mustard?" He "is" an english teacher- so let's find out ...

Your English Skills:

Grammar: 100% Punctuation: 100% Spelling: 80% Vocabulary: 80%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

Wew.

Apartment hunting is a pain in the arse. LOL. This is the first time in my life I've ever really had to "hunt" for an apartment. It's not mandatory that Chris and I move from his/our current apartment, but we're currently looking at different options. Today we went to 3 different places and tomorrow we're probably going to look at a few more.

Today we also made a big investment in a nice mattress/bed set which will be delivered to us tomorrow- yay! :D It's a really nice, comfy queen-sized Sealy matress- and I got a super cute bedding set today to go with it. I'm definitely thinking a nap tomorrow to test out the matress sounds like a great idea. :P

While we were visiting our first apartment today, we came across a SUPER friendly stray cat. It was a really light sandy color, (like the color of a tweedip!) was pretty small, and it just came right up to us and started purring like crazy and was just dying for some affection. Sadly, it was very skinny and really sickly. It's little nose was reeeeally congested with snot and it had raspy sounding breathing. :( I actually started crying because it just broke my heart to see such a sweet and friendly cat so sick, hungry, and homeless. I think I might drive back over there tomorrow and see if I can find it and then take it to an animal shelter. Thankfully, Chris happened to have a box full of canned catfood (for Toasty,) in his car so we gave it 2 cans of food.

I wish I could just go around and rescue "all" the stray and sickly cats. :(

Rachel Ray

Is a lush! I tried making her "margarita slushee" recipe on Friday night and for two people, the recipe called for 4 shots of tequila and 1 shot of triple sec. I mean ... that's FIVE shots in just two drinks! Needless to say, I cut the amount of booz that was called for in "half" and it still tasted strong! So I added way more lime sherbet than the recipe called for too. After a few minor adjustments, they were quite good! :P

Yesterday Chris and I went to SIX different places to look at matresses/bed frames. Blarrrrrgh. Why are matresses and bedframes so damn expensive?

I also bought a computer desk from Ikea yesterday and it was a pain in the RUMP to build. After about 2 hours of frustration Chris and I were both cursing the AWFUL instructions that were provided. BUT, after much sweat and cursing, the desk is now finally complete.

Friday night Chris and I rented the movies "Disturbia" with Shia Lebeof (however the heck you spell his name,) and "Vacancy" with Kate Beckonsdale and Owen Wilson. "Disturbia" wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be, with only a few minorly tense moments and a fairly predictable plot. "Vacancy" was ok, but it had an extremely predictable plot which was unfortunate.

Hmmmm, and that was my weekend, in a nutshell. And ... Toasty is meowing.

Screaming Spiders

Yesterday when Chris came home we found that big mama black widow that was on our porch and Chris whacked it with a dust pan and it fell to the ground ... and it laid there ... with a yellowish sticky substance/crippling poison oozing out of the cracks of it's broken butt. Several minutes later, Chris returned with an oven later and, assuming it was already dead, started lighting the carcass on fire. Suddenly, the crumpled black widow started screaming! I mean, it was actually screaming. This high pitched, squealing sound came from it. So disturbing. That was the first time I'd ever heard a spider scream.

A Change

Ok so yesterday I officially moved in with Chris- woo hoo! I could no longer afford to live in my current apartment with the new addition of adding an extra $250 a month for parking. Even my current roommates who have lived there for almost 4 years are moving at the end of the year when their lease expires. And so basically it came down to a.) living with some random person who I'd probably find on Rent.com that I wouldn't know or trust, or b.) live with Chris, some one who I know, love, AND trust. Plus I wanted to get out of the middle of Hollywood. Anyone whose been reading my blog this summer knows how much I've been complaining about the parking, prices, and construction! Argggg!

I've already unpacked almost everything and the apartment is beginning to look cute! :P Tomorrow I'm going to get some new stuff for the bathroom and eventually, (once Chris and I decide if we want to stay in this current apartment or find a new one,)I'll get a matress and bed. (Chris has a single matress on the floor, heehee.)

I'll be transferring to the Elephant Bar that's about 15 minutes away, (even closer then the one I've "been" working at,) so that's good.

Ummm today I went outside onto the porch to get the broom and ... I saw ... a big butt black widow! (Literally!) It was the biggest one I had ever seen. I completely had a panic attack. It was disgusting.

Mizzy in LA

Day 1: I picked Mizzy, (aka my sister Erika,) up from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles at 8:15am, (actually it was more like 8:35am because I got lost- THANKS mapquest!) From the station we headed back to my apartment to unload her luggage and so I could give her a "tour" of the area. For breakfast, we ate at the French Crepe Company, which was sooooo good! Nutella crepes are damn good. Yum. During the afternoon we walked around the Hollywood Blvd. area for several hours, going shopping, looking in various shops, visiting the Kodak and Chinese Theatres, and Erika even had her first ever experience at an Oxygen Bar! HA. It was pretty funny. After parading around Hollywood we met Chris for dinner and ate at Maggianos, one of my all time favorite italian restaurants out here! I ordered muscles in linguini with white wine sauce, Chris had sausage pizza, and Erika got some pasta that I can't remember the name of. I had 3 glasses of peach sangria- MMMMM.

Day 2: We headed down to Kato sushi bar around 11:30am for lunch, where Erika got the "all you can eat" sushi buffet. Basically, you just grab whatever you want to eat off of this moving belt in front of you. Unfortunetly, Erika didn't notice the "rules" card at her seat which said that you, "must eat whatever you take," and if you had anything you didn't eat, you had to pay full price for it. Hehehe, she had like 3 really big plates of gross stuff that she had to force down! :P Afterwards we headed out for a day in the sun at Venice Beach in Santa Monica. While there we "ran like David Hasslehoff," (HA!) played "300," (HA again,) and walked up and down the shopping strip. Fun times. After getting stuck in MAJOR traffic on the way home due to rush hour AND a car accident, we spent the night at Chris' and played several rounds of Karaoke Revolution. Woooo hoooo!!! (And of course, Erika met Toastykins.)

Day 3: Chris, Erika and I spent the entire day at Six Flags Magic Mountain. It was the perfect day to go! The weather was great, (it wasn't freezing like it was when Chris and I went back in April,) and it really wasn't all that crowded. We also bought "flash passes" which let us skip many of the big lines. I got to eat cotton candy, funnel cakes, and ride rollercoasters all day. It was GREAT. That night, we ate at Denny's. MMmmmm.

Day 4: Mizzy and I left Chris' place around noon and headed back to my apartment for an afternoon of lounging at the pool. We stopped at the grocery store and got some boodle, (aka fester food, aka SNACK food,) and some wine coolers. We layed around and swam for hours. We also witnessed these 3 little kids making quite a scene. This one boy, who looked to be about 3 or 4, kept going from the pool to the hot tub and pulling down his swim trunks (so that he was butt naked,) in each one. And each time he would be like, "I'm naaaaked in the hot pool!" "I'm naaaaked in the cold pool!" It was really funny. Erika and I were secretely watching and snickering the whole time. For dinner we went and ate at the Elephant Bar, then I showed her some more of LA, including the infamous Hayette Hotel on Sunset Blvd. OH and FYI, Paris Hilton was next door to my apartment at the Grove while we were there, LOL.

Day 5: We spent all afternoon at Chinatown looking around and shopping. I bought some presents for Chris and Erika bought a bunch of random items. We drank much boba, looked in many stores, and Erika even managed to get barged in on while in the restroom. HAHAHA. :P After about 4.5 hours in Chinatown, I drove Mizzy back to Union Station. :( Wahhhhh! No more Mizzy!!!!

Well, those are some of the highlights of the trip. It was a really great visit, so much fun! For pictures, go to my myspace profile.

Oh- and tomorrow is my LAST day at the Elephant Bar in Burbank!

I Can't Believe It ...

Something "good" actually happened to me today! I just got my car insurance renewal policy in the mail, and my monthly insurance payment of $162 has been lowered to $132 a month! Woo hoo! That's $30 less each month. And that piece of information, especially right now, makes me VERY happy. :)

And- MIZZY will be here at 8:15am tomorrow morning! :D

And it Continues ...

The bad luck, that is!

The flat tire I got on Sunday while on my way to work, (thereby causing me to MISS work,) was no big deal compared to what happened LAST night. At the Elephant Bar, all the costumers pay the servers for the meals. So instead of paying some cashier up front, they give the money to the server, and the server cashes them out. Throughout the night, we (the servers,) keep all the money (tips and money people use to pay for the meals,) in our little black check books. At the end of the night, the computer tells us how much money we "owe" to the restaurant before leaving, and then whatever is left is our tips. WELL. Last night as I was about to check out, some one STOLE my little black book filled with money. Don't ask me how, because I don't know. All I know is the managers and I looked for it until almost 1am last night. So ...

What this means is, not ONLY did I work 7 hours and walk away with ZERO dollars in tips, (I probably would have made about $150,) but now I also OWE the Elephant Bar $400. Yes that's right ... because some JACKASS stole my black check book, I now owe The Elephant Bar $400. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I only have 2 more weekends that I'm working at that place. So for the next 2 weekends that I work, I will make ZERO money every time now because I have to give it all to the Elephant Bar when I'm done. So starting NOW, I will be making no money until I move and get another job, which could be several weeks. I'm ... stressed.

:(

Just in: Chris more evil than Allison

You Are 38% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

Watch Out ... :P

You Are 24% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

Hahaha

You Are An Independent Girlfriend!

Whoa, Ms. Independent! Your guy digs your modern style... But he's sometimes left to wonder if you really like him. Keep that unique spirit, but show him your love a bit more often. No worries - you're light years away from smothering him!

What Kind of Girlfriend Are You?

I'm a Banana ...

You Are Banana Pocky

Your attitude: fun and lighthearted Unique and unforgettable You are cutie everyone falls for

What Flavor Pocky Are You?

The Count Down Begins ...

Only 1.5 weeks left in this building! No more waking up to hammers pounding right above my room IN THE SAME SPOT like I have every day for the past 4 months! (I mean honestly, that's how you can tell they're not even really "working." When you pound the EXACT same spot every day for 4 months, there's simply nothing there to pound!) No more driving around for like 45 minutes looking for parking everytime I come home! No more stupid asshole security gaurds getting mad at parking in visitor parking! No more construction in every hall! Yaaaaaaaay! LOL. :P

And while I'm at it ... only 2 more weekends of working at the Elephant Bar! (Well, before I probably end up transfering to "another" Elephant Bar, HAHA.)

Mizzy is coming to visit me on Monday- can't wait! We're going to go to the beach, go to Six Flags Magic Mountain, shop, explore, go out to eat, do some Karaoke, site see, etc. Doesn't that just make everyone else want to come and visit? :::hint hint:::

Okay, I gotta go get ready for work!

I'm Quaking in My ... Seat?

About 4 hours ago I experienced my biggest earthquake since moving to California. I was just sitting at the computer when all of a sudden the entire apartment building just shook back and forth- it was the weirdest feeling! It was like my bedroom was "rolling." I almost crapped my pants. And my roomie Kara who was alseep in the living room screamed. Yikes.

I'm tired. Off to bed I go.

Fun Times

Sunday started off shakey because as I was driving to work at 11:00am, some one rolled down their car window and informed me that, "did you know your back tired is flat?" "Uhhhh," I said a bit confused, "No I didn't. Thanks!" Crap. (Actually I said "shit" at the time.) :P I immediately pulled over to a "car lube station" and had some one look at my tire. Ohhhh boy. There was a nail stuck in my tire and it was completely flat. Grrrrr! The guy was kind enough to fill it with air and said I had better get it fixed as soon as possible because the air wouldn't last very long. He also said that since it was Sunday, it would be hard to find a repair shop that was open. Woops. No work for me! (And therefore no MONEY for me.) I ended up getting lost as I was trying to find the repair shop that he had mentioned, and happened to come across a "car spa and wash" station. Long story short they were able to fix my tire by puting a "tire plug" in it for only $10 (instead of having to spend almost $200 on a whole new tire.) While I was there I also got a car wash and a full service oil change. Exciting, I know.

Sunday evening was much better because I went to spend a couple days with Chris. We watched the movies, "300," "There's Something About Mary," and "Vanilla Sky," all of which I had never seen. They were all actually pretty good! (Although I admit to having been a little confused during "Vanilla Sky" at first.) :P

Monday Chris' ex-girlfriend (now friend) Quyen came over and we all had a fun time playing many rounds of Karaoke Revolution while working up quite a sweat. :P Later in the evening we headed over to "The Maccoroni Grill" for some dinner which turned out to be delicious! Quyen and I split an appetizer of calamari and a pitcher of sangria. Mmmmmmm it was soooo yummy! For my main course I got the "Sizzling Shrimp Scampi" which was, of course, tasty-licious. :P Over dinner I got to hear many a great tales about all the things Chris used to do when he dated Quyen- hehehehe. :P After dinner we headed back and did, of course, more Karaoke Revolution! Hahahaha.

Wooo I just realized that it's 10:58pm and I haven't officially eaten dinner yet. I'm starving! I'm off to eat. Mmmm.

It's Weird

Today I paid my last month's worth of rent- woo hoo! Kind of weird actually. And, today is the day that I have to put in my "2 weeks notice" at work, which is even weirder. Doing that brings mixed emotions; it's scary because I'm not sure "where" I will be working when I quit, it's exciting because it means I'm moving on to new things, and it's sad because I actually really like the people I work with for the most part. All the servers I work with are great, and the management is actually really good. Sooooo yeah. If I end up transfering to another Elephant Bar, I can only hope that it will be equally as good. We'll see.

Yesterday I went shopping- my favorite! I've gotten really good at it too. :P For $114 I bought: 5 new paint brushes, a nice set of mechanical pencils, colored pens, a new planner/organizer, a cute new pair of shoes, a pair of pants, 2 shirts, 2 pairs of earrings, 1 necklace, 2 pairs of cute undies, and a new bra. You have to admit- I got skillz! :P

Even though my roommates forgot about my birthday entirely, Chris didn't. I went over to his place a few days before my b-day, (because I had to work on my actual birthday,) and let me tell you, he cleaned his apartment from top to bottom! He even cleaned the toilet. :P For a guy, that's pretty impressive. In fact, the entire bathroom and kitchen had been cleaned. In addition, he also bought me some of my favorite treats. Orange juice, milk, 4 Starbucks Mocha Frapps, a 6-pack of the closest thing he could find to orange schmirnoffs, chocolate mint ice cream, 2 huge and yummy pizzas, pizza pringles, and cheetos! He was even planning to bake me a "birthday cake" of super yummy chocolate brownies layered with fudge in the middle, but silly me showed up too early and sort of spoiled that suprise. :P Sorrry! But we made the brownies anyway and they were delicious! AND, he also bought me 3 of my favorite girl dvds, 'Mean Girls,' '13 Going on 30,' and 'Clueless.' (All special editions of course!) :P I watched 'Clueless' yesterday, and it was still as great as it was when I watched it at age 14, haha.

Well I must be off to complete my final two weeks at the lovely Elephant Bar, yaaaaaaay. lol.

BTW- as an update to my last blog, parking at my apartment does "not" cost $80 a month. I mean, that would be ridiculous right? Of course it would! That's why it actually costs $250 A MONTH to park at my apartment. Yes you heard right, you have to pay $250 A MONTH just to park at your own apartment when you already have to pay a ludicrous amount for rent. THIS, my friends, is one of the major reasons why I'm sooooo outta here!