Happy Los Angeles Kind of Christmas!

I was able to spend the holiday weekend in Los Angeles, CA.

What a gorgeous Christmas Day it was! Weather 70 degrees and sunny, oh so lovely!!! No matter where you are on this holiday (or any) as long as you have Family and Friends around, it is bound to be a wonderful day!

This year, my brother and I spent the holiday together. We started this day with a fun hike, when you live in LA hiking is the thing to do besides the beach! :) I brought my brother to the Los Liones Hike, I love this hike because of the amazing Pacific Ocean Views! Also, as noted before this hike is not a crazy all day hike and can be done within hours. After the hike we headed back to our apartment to relax and play some new video games! Just Dance 3 is the game I got, I love dance offs!!!  If you have Kinect I recommend this game. It is such fun and you can play multiple players all at once, no more waiting turns. However, to warn you gentlemen some of the dances are more of the feminine sort. Makes for a good laugh though! Since, my parents and younger brothers were in Florida for the holiday we all played Kinect Live games. If you aren't familiar, basically Live allows one to play others through the internet at the same time on Xbox. My mother and I played each other in skiing and darts, FUN!

As a tradition, my family usually gets a big HoneyBaked Ham. To keep some of the tradition my brother and I did so, thanks to my amazing parents. Along with the Ham I baked some of the usual Christmas side dishes, like sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole. Yum!! For dessert I made s'mores!!! As the saying goes, merrier the more, by the end of the night we had friends who were also in-town for the holiday join us. It was definitely a different holiday celebration than the ones of my past, but it was just as special!!

Happy Christmas!!! xoxo

It's a Friendly Way!

...with a little Mountain hike and some Hollywood sightings!

The views of Los Angeles, California are spectacular! It is just a different kind of gorgeous, isn't it?!?!   After picking my friend up at LAX, we headed to Santa Monica with Palm Trees, Mountains and Beaches in view. It really is an 'awwweee' view. Saturday morning we headed to Topanga Park to climb a Santa Monica Mountain. Topanga Park is located off Los Liones Drive and is known for mountain lions, oh my! Before my friend and I even got onto the main trail we spotted a coyote. Despite the coyote spotting, we continued climbing the mountain. The Los Liones trail goes into the Parker Mesa Overlook. While chatting away we climbed a little over a mile and hit the first overlook of the Santa Monica Beaches. Los Liones was full of shaded hiking trails and tons of awesome views of the Pacific Coast. We relaxed for a bit at the overlook, where a bench was located. Definitely a relaxing and peaceful view! 

Runyon Canyon, Griffth Trail and the Hollywood Trail are some of the popular inland trails. Mountain climbing is not only a way to scope out the amazing landscape of Los Angeles, but can be a fun way to exercise! I love fun exercises and I definitely will venture on to some more LA mountain climbing! 

Bopping around Hollywood Boulevard is somewhat similar to bopping around in Times Square, well in my opinion anyway. The Hollywood Boulevard is crowded with tourists and most definitely those fun locals dressed up as movie characters. It is  also home to the Kodak and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Not only do these Theatres host many concerts and shows, but in-front of the Chinese Theatre are the hand and foot prints of many celebrities.  

Marilyn Monroe's hand-prints outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre

There are so many stars to been seen on the Boulevard, okay not the actual hollywood stars, but the hollywood walk of fame stars. These stars range from Walt Disney to Britney Spears and even Alex Trebek has a star on the Boulevard. At Hollywood and Highland one can see the amazing views of the Hollywood Hills and and the Hollywood Sign. Jimmy Kimmel also host his show on the Boulevard, perhaps this will be my next show to attend?!?! 

To end a fun weekend, beaching sunday wine-down! 

Malibu is one of my favorite places to go... perhaps because Courtney Cox from the show Friends lives there and Jennifer Aniston is her best friend, so why not! Besides them, the beach is ever so beautiful and amazingly different! It has cliffs, amazing houses off the cliffs onto the beach and of-course some fun beach side bars. We stopped at the Paradise Cove off the Pacific Highway. We both got the clam chowder bread bowl (Amazing!!) and a bloody mary. After snacking we headed to the beach to watch the sun go down and take in the magnificent view! What a way to end a friendly visit!! 

xoxo & Thanks to Suzanne for sharing this adventure, xoxo you bunches lady!

It's a Gifting Week!

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas... And oh did it at the 1st Day of Giveaways on The Ellen DeGeneres Show!!

What better way to celebrate my Birthday than attend a taping of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, or so i thought... I was informed that the show was overbooked on November 29th, therefore, I was offered stand-by tickets for the 30th. Having never been to a talk show taping, I figured why not give it a chance. So, at 8am on November 30th I arrived at the WB Gate to receive my stand-by ticket. Once I received my ticket I was told to return to the WB Gate at 2pm. I was 14th in the stand-by ticket line (ticket # 265) and I overheard that people in line before had been there since the night before, oh boy! I returned to the WB Gate around 2pm to find a huge crowd of people waiting in line, there was definitely over 250 peeps!!! After almost an hour, I was excited to find out that I was able to attend the audience taping of the show, Yay! Form the moment we walked into the show's taping, it felt like one big party. If you have ever seen the Ellen DeGeneres show you would know there is none stop dancing at the beginning of the show, and well there was none stop dancing throughout the show! So much fun, this show had amazing energy!

The guests included Vince Vaughn with his mother Shea Vaughn. Ellen, Vince and Shea spoke about Shea's book Breakthrough and how she stays in such great shape, they all even did some exercises. Vince Vaughn definitely added some laughter to the show, as he is just as funny as his characters. Shailene Woodley was also a guest, she an actress who is the teenage daughter to G. Clooney in the new movie The Descendents. Shailene brought a jar of living water, she apparently goes to a spring well to gather the fresh water... might have to try it! Sounds so fresh! Bono also joined as a virtual guest to the show, he was promoting the AIDs foundation the he and now Ellen sponsor, the RED Campaign. Lastly, the band She & Him performed a christmas classic "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." What great guests to see on the Ellen Show.

I felt lucky enough to be invited to the show and because this taping happen to be the 1st Day of Giveaways I felt beyond lucky! Each audience member received many lovely fun gifts!! WOW!!!! Just to list a few of the awesome gifts given: an iPad2 with an iHome stereo system, Beats by Dr Dre earphones, and RED Campaign Products which included converse shoes. Amazing!!!

No words could ever express how thankful I am and will be for the experience of attending The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and for the gifts too! I have definitely caught the show bug and am looking forward to attending more live LA tapings. Which show should I go to next?

I have arrived, LA!

Los Angeles, I have arrived!!! Yay!! (arms thrown above head as if forming the Y in YMCA dance) Well perhaps a bit over two months ago, but what better time to start a new chapter (blog) than at the beginning of my own new year! On November 29th, I turned a year older and I am ready to begin a fabulous and definitely an influential year of my life!

I hope, with this blog, to bring a sense of what Los Angeles contributes to one's life through my perspective. It will undoubtedly be supplemented with a few inspirations from those around me. I am not yet sure of what this journey will bring or even provide, but I know and believe it will be adventurous!

And before I continue this blogger, I must acknowledge my dear and oh so gorgeous friend, Kellie Green, for giving me the suggestion and urging me to create an LA blog. We met only a year ago and I feel like I've known her for many more. Kellie, is not only an intelligent, gifted and accomplished lady but is one of the crazy fun ladies I happen to know and love! If you love to eat and/or are in the New York City area, you must follow her blog as it is AMAZING and DELICIOUS!!!! You can find her blog site at: http://iatenewyorkcity.blogspot.com/ Thanks & xoxo bunches to Kellie Green, cannot wait to create more New York City Dinning Adventures with you and to share my Los Angeles way!

xoxo
~ Meliss