Back in business

I know it's been some time since I've posted anything. It's still taking some time to get into a routine. I had a day off yesterday, and expected to get back into the groove of blogging, but just didn't feel in the mood...so I read the book that I've been a little addicted to for the past few weeks. The play for the book is going on here in LA, so if I can afford it (yeah right), I'm going to try to get tickets for it...or maybe I'll add that to my birthday wish list. ;)
So, anyway, I started my 4-week training at The Beverly Center in downtown LA on Monday. It's been great so far, and I'm finding that working in that area definitely has its perks. Apparently, tons of celebs frequent the mall, and many celebs (mostly b-listers, but still) even shop at our store! From what I've heard, all the Road-Rulers, Real-Worlders, Ryan Cabrera, CW actors, etc. come in on a frequent basis, so maybe Irisa has a chance to see her celeb crush, afterall. Besides the high-profile clientele, the mall has a great food court and some of my fave restaurants on the first floor (i.e. PF Chang's & CPK)! I've also had the pleasure to meet a lot of really cool people who are from the area and have generously offered me tons of advice on where to go and what to see around LA and in Long Beach. In fact, 2 of the people I'm working with daily either live in Long Beach or have lived here before, which is really awesome, since they know the ins and outs of the area. I'm most excited about checking out Beauty Bar in LA, to compare it to the one in Austin. I've heard mixed reviews, so I'll be sure to provide an update when I do get around to visiting it.

Besides work, Gui and I have just been hanging out. We're both trying to spend conservatively right now, so it's mostly been dinners at home and not much else. We did get a chance to check out the Grand Prix in Long Beach when it was here; we didn't have tickets, but we hung out outside the gates and got a pretty good view of the events.We also managed to time our walk to the beach and discovered that from door to sand, we live a 12 minute walk to the beach. Niiice. It's not the best beach ever, but, hey, it's a beach!! Oh, and I almost forgot. As a little treat for our "one-year anniversary" (can you believe that we've been dating eachother for ONE YEAR?!!! I can't!!), Guillaume and I checked out this bar called The Yard House, that has the World's Largest Selection of Draft Beer. It was defnitely a treat, but we each only had one beer: I, of course, opted for my "usual" Strongbow (hey, it's NEVER on draft in the states...I couldn't resist!), and Gui tried something he'd never tried, but not something all that authentic - NOLA's Abita Purple Haze. We were both satisfied and definitely happy about the selection (check out those taps!!).
So, on that note....here's to beer and getting more of it! ;)