Rovereto

Okay, it's 6 AM and somehow I'm awake... time for another post:

After Florence, we took a long train ride to a small town near Verona, called Rovereto. It was a small outdoor place, where most of the visitors travel to go biking, hiking, or to do some other outdoor activity.

Here's a photo of the ride...

Here are photos of Rovereto:

There was a castle on the hill... and also, all of the hotels here had wooden shutters on the windows to keep out the light...

The lake... we ate here for dinner...

When it was all over, we took a train to get to the next city (Venice)...

Florence

Here are some photos from our day in Florence, Italy:



These were taken from inside the Uffizi--

I affectionately call this the "Striped Church." :)

A photo of the city...

BoRyan waiting for a taxi inside our hotel. I really liked the bamboo on the left side of the picture. This hotel had an employee that really liked me... he let me use the internet for free, and he was willing to make reservations for us anytime, despite that we both had virtually no cross overs in our language skills. Oh, and he also took charge with one of the cab drivers to ensure that I was taken to the right place and was not over charged. Gotta love that! :-)

Rome - Part II

Here are a few photos from our second day in Rome.

The dome inside the Pantheon

Notice the fascade on this building - they're doing construction! We saw these covers used all over Italy and Spain.

The Spanish Steps

A random street in Rome...

Paint Up for a Good Cause!

Alright, off the topic of Italy for a moment-- I just came across a great post on Fashiontribes about a new OPI nail color: Glam Garnet. For every bottle that's purchased, OPI is donating $1 to the American Red Cross. Here's a copy of the blog:

When the Urge to Sport Red Talons Hits, a Coat of "Red-y to Help" from OPI
Also Benefits the American Red Cross. FASHIONTRIBES BEAUTY BLOG













The American Red Cross is celebrating 125 years of life-saving work, and
now, OPI is doing their bit by donating $1 from every bottle of this glam garnet
shade. Available at BeautyRealm.com
- Lesley Scott

Rome Around

Alright, so I'm finally going to follow up to my earlier post on May 14th. At the beginning of my trip, BoRyan and I visited Rome.

In another previous post, I mentioned that we ate at Spirito di Vino. In this post, I'm going to give you a glance into the photos of the actual sites from Rome.

First, we went to see the Colliseum...

Then, we saw the Roman Forum...



Next was the Vatican Museum...

The Sistine Chapel didn't allow cameras... :-)


And, last but not least, St. Peter's Basilica.



I thought that these Swiss guards at St. Peter's Basilica were also interesting... What BRIGHT costumes / uniforms! (bottom left of the picture)



Can you believe that was all in one day? I can barely believe it myself! With that in mind, I'll save my second day in Rome for another post. :-)

Happy Wednesday!

Another Great Restaurant

Alright, so soon, I'll switch over to sights... but in the meantime, indulge me a little! I want to tell you about a great restaurant we ate in when we visited Florence, Italy.

The recommendation for this place came from my friend Raul. I know Raul from my undergraduate school-- RPI.

Here's an excerpt from Raul's e-mail:

i shared your itinerary with my dad, here are some suggestions:
places to eat
in Florence: Cafe Concerto (you can ask for Gabrielle, the owner, and the tell him that my dad, Raul Alvarez Sr., sends you);another place that is not very touristy but very typical is "Da Quinto" that is in a basement near the Santa Croce church (the owner is this guy Quinto who used to sing opera and some times he sings to entertain the patrons). Another place of interest might be Harris Bar, which is where American writers/intellectuals in Florence hang out.

So, with all that in mind, we set out to meet Gabrielle. Gabrielle turned out to be a great guy who spoke English fluently and served a tasty fare right next to the river.

He told us that Raul's father (Raul Sr.) had been trying to convince him to move his entire business to Florida, but that he had a small daughter in Italy and therefore, chose to stay in Florence. I did notice a Florida license plate hanging on the wall though, so I wonder if he's totally convinced. :-)

His place would do great in the US... Although I'm not sure how you could conjure up the entire Florence / next to a river / Italian speaking staff sort of feeling...

Here are a couple of photos. One of the group and one with me and Gabrielle - Thanks Raul! :)

Photo Link

So that it doesn't get buried, here's another quick link to the photos.

The photos are here: http://angiedawn.shutterfly.com. The password is pepperdine (with a small "p").

If you would like to have a few of your own copies of the photos from our trip, click here to receive an exclusive offer from AngieDawn.net - 15 FREE prints from Shutterfly.com!

Slow Food

In Memphis, they have Soul Food... in Italy, it's "Slow Food." Either way, it's great!

As you probably know by now, I love food... I'm quite the foodie and so much of an international experience for me revolves around the culinary delights. So, just like any of our other tourist excursions, when BoRyan and I had something tasty, we recorded it with photos.

I'll start by sharing one of our best dinner experiences with you from Rome. I mentioned Spirito di Vino before, but here's the entire story...

We arrived at 7:30 P.M. for our reservation. We had to walk a little ways to find it... down a cobblestone street... because the taxi driver had a little trouble locating it exactly. When we got there, the owner / father greeted us, but he wasn't ready for guests yet. So, we started with champagne--

Then, we moved on to our appetizer course. This was a salmon that reminded me of prosciutto ham crossed with fish. It was great!

Next, we moved on to our 1st course. I had spaghetti with a minced olive sauce. BoRyan had a spiral cheese pasta. They were both tasty!

After the 1st course, we took a break to tour the wine cellar. As I mentioned in my previous post, the restaurant's wine cellar is actually a historical landmark. It contains some of the oldest bricks in all of Rome and a famous statue was discovered hidden there. The statue now resides in the Vatican Museum, but the wine cellar is still an adventure on its own. You may notice that I'm wearing my jacket in some of the photos. It's because I was sitting near a door that a historical tour was coming in and out of - also looking at the wine cellar.

Okay, so now on to the main course. BoRyan had beef and I had lamb. Here's a photo--

Our final course of the night was the dessert. BoRyan had a Creme Brulee and I had a "Basket" which is made with the similar ingredients as a Canoli, but in a different shape... and much tastier. Think of a carmelized basket topped with ricotta cheese. The wine sommelier son took this photo for us.

On an important side note-- we had some great wine that you should definitely check out. The brand is called "don Luigi" and the kind of wine is Riserva. Wine.com sells similiar wines, like this Da Vinci 2002 Riserva Chinanti, but they don't have this exact wine. Wine.com is a fun site, because you can have your choice of wines shipped directly to your home - including wine clubs! BoRyan and I recently joined a wine club and we're loving the monthly selections.

Anyhow, here's a photo of our wine bottle, in case you are interested.


So, remember that thing about slow food... and how we arrived at 7:30 for dinner? Well, we finished at past 11:30 PM. That's more than 4 hours for just one meal!

It was a great time and I highly recommend it. Next time you're in Rome, be sure to stop by!

Role Call

So that my vacation posts make some sense, here's a photo of the group--

On the left is BoRyan, me, and Emily. On the right is Todd and Dave.

BoRyan and I met up with Emily, Todd, and Dave for most of our visit to Italy. During the trip to Spain, we went solo.

Emily drove from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles to catch a flight to Salt Lake City. From there, she met up with Dave and Todd and they flew to Italy. BoRyan and I flew "straight" to Italy from LAX, which included a layover in Paris.

If you notice a resemblence in the photo, Emily is BoRyan's sister and Todd is BoRyan and Emily's dad.

This photo was taken right after BoRyan and I landed in Italy. We met up with the group and went straight to dinner... thank goodness, because I was on the edge of starvation by then. :-)

General Trip Outline

Alright, as it's hard for me to keep the trip details straight, I'm SURE it's a little challenging for you...

...here's a brief outline of the journey:

1. Rome, Italy
2. Florence, Italy
3. Rovereto (near Verona), Italy
4. Venice, Italy
5. Canary Islands, Spain

Keep this in mind, as my stories may appear a little out of order, depending on what comes to mind first!

Alright, here goes nothing....

I'm back!

BoRyan and I landed this morning at LAX around midnight and made our last leg of the journey home. From wake to sleep on Sunday, we were up a little over 24 hours. It was tiring to say the least! But, of course-- we both woke up this morning around 6 AM, ready to go. Now that it's 3 PM, I'm starting to feel the jet lag.

We took so many photos and visited so many places that it will be tough to sort it all out here, but I'll do my best!

First, the entire photo album is up on Shutterfly.com here: http://angiedawn.shutterfly.com. The super secret (wink) password is pepperdine (with a small "p").

Then, I'll start with little stories about the photos here and there. It'll take a while, but with all of the time I'm going to be spending working in the next few days, I'm sure I'll need the content. :-)

If you would like to have a few of your own copies of the photos from our trip, click here to receive an exclusive offer from AngieDawn.net - 15 FREE prints from Shutterfly.com!

Madrid, Spain

Alright, just a QUICK note -- I'm on my way back to the US.

I just flew from the Canary Islands to the Madrid airport in Spain. Now, I'm flying to Charles de Galle in Paris, France and from there I'll fly back to Los Angeles.

In all, the trip will be around 20+ hours.

I have lots of pictures to share when I get back. See you soon!

Flight delay

Alright, a quick note--

I'm writing this message from the Madrid, Spain airport. I've never before been so happy to have my flight delayed an hour.... it has given me just enough time to check all of my messages and web sites before having to jump on another plane.

Today, we woke up at 5 AM and took a private speed boat to the Venice airport. From Venice, we flew here to Madrid and from here, we'll fly to the Canary Islands in Spain.

The past few days have been great. I really really enjoyed Venice. It was small and there were no cars or bicycles. Everyone walked or took a boat.

Tomorrow, we're spending the day at a spa. I'll be getting a fruit wrap, a 'botanical bath,' a massage, a facial, and a manicure and pedicure. After all of the traveling so far, I'm really looking forward to this. It will be nice to take a day to just relax.

Then, I think the next day we may take a camel ride to the top of a volcano that's on the island where we're staying. Raul (my RPI friend in NYC) says that this is the thing to do, so I think we'll try it.

BoRyan and I will be alone on this leg of the trip and we'll be renting our own car this time. Thank goodness for the car!

Okay, I should go. Amazingly, it costs around $7 per 30 minutes to use the internet here... and that's not terribly marked up compared to the other prices we've seen around Europe.

Finally!!!

Alright, so I finally found a computer! Our 3rd hotel (and the most remote one at that) actually has a computer with a normal internet connection.

It's connected to a wireless internet network, but unfortunately the owner seems to not understand where the wireless is coming from. Therefore, we're unable to use our own laptops. The good news is, Emily, BoRyan, and myself seem to be the only people in this town concerned about internet access so this one computer is all ours. And, this time it's free.

Question for everyone -- How do you switch the system settings in Windows so that the keyboard is English? I'm sure that if this computer was in English I might be able to read it and figure it out, but it's all in Italian. I'm doing good at this point to have figured out how to switch Blogger to English.

Hmm...

Last night, we arrived in a small city / town near Verona. We're staying in a neat hotel that is pretty large for European standards. The rooms have an Ikea-like feel and the meeting areas are relatively large (and empty which is nice).

The one thing I find to be a little interesting about all of the places that we've stayed is that nobody offers full sized beds. They simply push together two twin sized beds. I'm assuming this must be for flexibility and also, because the stairways here aren't wide enough for a mammoth sized bed.

Right now, BoRyan, Todd, Emily, and Dave are all out on a hike around town. Actually, they're hiking around a lake and mountains. We're in the country right now I suppose. I chose to give myself a break and also, to get a little caught up on e-mails, etc.

Let me start from the beginning...

The first full day in Rome, we went to see the Colliseum, the Vatican Museum, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Roman Forum. I especially liked the Vatican. There are so many amazing pieces of art and history there... and the Sistine Chapel was great too (hopefully I'm spelling things reasonably accurately...)!

After an intense day of touring around, BoRyan and I went to eat dinner at a place that BoRyan went the last time he was in Italy. It's a "slow food" style place called Spirito di Vino. Family-run, the father is the waiter, the son is the wine guy, and the mom is the cook. We had 4 courses and were there for 4 hours. It was great! (We took photos of the experience... I'll have to share with you).

In addition to the great food, Spirito di Vino is also a landmark. Apparently, the building is one of the oldest in Rome... even older than the Colliseum (if that's possible). At first, I thought that this was just a story... until a 30 person tour group came in to the restaurant just to see the building. All customers are allowed to take a look in the place's wine cellar... In addition to being a wine cellar, a historical statue was found there.

Then, on the second day in Rome, we toured around even more. We saw the Pantheon from the inside (I got a great photo of the inside of the dome that I'll share as soon as I can upload to the internet). We also saw Trevi Foundation, the Spanish Steps, the National Museum of Rome, and the Rome fashion district. We also saw another big church, although I don't have the name with me.

The next day, as noted in my previous blog, I was in Florence.

The first night in Florence, we all ate together at an Italian place right along the river there that Raul's father recommended. It was great and we were able to meet the owner (who is friends with Raul's dad). I also took a photo of this that I'll share.

The one full day we had in Florence, we aggressively saw all of the sites. First, we were at the Uffizi museum bright and early. The Uffizi is huge and we had a great time. They have many historical paintings and sculptures, including quite a few paintings by Botticelli. In addition to their normal collection, the Uffizi also had a huge exhibit devoted to Leonardo da Vinci. They had examples of the experiences that he did... copies of his notes... reconstructions of a few of his projects... videos. It was intense! It was great to see and what timing with the new Tom Hanks movie that's out. :)

After the Uffizi, we visited another museum called the Accademia. The Accademia houses Michelangelo's famous sculpture of David. It's AMAZING. He's huge; much larger than I would have guessed. In addition, they had other Michelangelo sculptures that were originally made for the pope of his time. Also... they had a section of the museum devoted to musical instruments... of which all were around 300-500 years old.


































After the Accademia, we visited what I call the 'striped church.' I can't seem to remember it's name, so I'm sticking with that for now. Anyhow, it's a huge church in the middle of Florence that is green and white striped on the outside. After touring the inside of the church, BoRyan walked up the stairs onto the top of the church. During that time, I watched a parade of old classic European race cars.

Later that night (last night), we caught a train to the city that we're in now, near Verona. The cab ride from the train station to the hotel was a memorable one. The train station was small, so only small cabs were available. For the 5 of us, we took 2 cabs. Neither of our drivers spoke English and we misplaced the address to our hotel. Luckily, one of the drivers knew the hotel by name.

BoRyan and I had a great taxi driver. He tried his best to speak to us... BoRyan was switching from English to Spanish and the driver was switching from Italian to German. Occasionally, we would all know what was going on. Near the end of our trip, BoRyan showed the driver the GPS device that he had been using to track our drive. The taxi driver loved it! I guess cool technology is appreciated across all cultures. :-)

That brings us to today... as I mentioned, everyone is out hiking around and I'm taking it easy / working.

[P.S. Try clicking on the links above to learn more. The sites should all be in English.]

A computer please?

I hate to say this, but I haven't had the best luck finding internet access. Yesterday, we went to an internet cafe and used extremely old computers. Today, my hotel that boasted of internet access only has a small PC in the lobby. Hopefully, I will be able to plug in my own computer soon... and upload some photos. There are definitely some good ones!

BoRyan and I wandered the streets of Rome most of today. We visited the fashion district and saw the National Museum of Rome, the Spanish Steps, and a few additional churches.

Tonight, I'm in Florence. BoRyan and I took a 1.5 hr train to get here and the countryside was beautiful. Our hotel here is great (with the exception of no wireless...)! Emily, Todd, and Dave are meeting up with us in around 5 minutes. We're all going to a resteraunt for dinner that Raul's dad (named Raul too) recommended. We got reservations and I'm really looking forward to it. His dad told us to say hello to the owner for him. :)

Tomorrow, we're heading out early (which will most certainly be a challenge) to see the sculpture of David and other sites.

We haven't been able to get up much before 9 so far... jet lag!

Okay, signing off for now.

Quick post from Rome

Hello everyone! I'm typing this entry from a tiny internet cafe in Rome, Italy.

Today, I saw the Vatican and the Colleseum... among other things. :)

I plan to write another post either late tonight or tomorrow morning that will include photos.

Check back soon!

P.S. The flight here was pretty good. Well, there were 2 of them. The total travel time was something like 15 hours.

See you!

Quick post from Rome

Hello everyone! I'm typing this entry from a tiny internet cafe in Rome, Italy.

Today, I saw the Vatican and the Colleseum... among other things. :)

I plan to write another post either late tonight or tomorrow morning that will include photos.

Check back soon!

P.S. The flight here was pretty good. Well, there were 2 of them. The total travel time was something like 15 hours.

See you!

The Laundry is DONE!

Whew! In preparation for my upcoming journey, I've been doing all sorts of things in high gear...
...laundry
...work
...packing
...away message here and there

It's finally coming together! My laundry is officially done. Now, I'd like to make my way over to Gap to purchase a track suit / lounge suit for my long flight. They don't come in a tall size, so hopefully they'll fit me.

Here's a photo of the pants--





















As you see, they look comfortable, and ready to sleep for a 10 hour flight. Too bad there's no internet access in the plane. I could be writing all kinds of product reviews!

Anyhow... the weekend has been fun. Hopefully, the next couple of days will be relatively pain free... and then of course, the fun begins.

Check here for photos of the trip. I'm hoping to add them to the site as we go. I may even consider creating a photo album on my site. Has anyone used a good photo album generator lately? It's been a while since I've used anything besides Shutterfly.

Oh... and before I go, I've got be sure to update my iPod on iTunes... it's plugged in and charging right now.

What a day...

It's not that today was a bad day, but what was it really? It was one of those mush days... where you know you must have gotten something done, but you're not really sure what it was.

Actually, I've been testing out a couple of different versions of my http://JessicaSimpson.Pink-Couture.com site. I've decided how I'd like to change the landing page - at least for now. I'm thinking I'm going to consider building it out into a complete site with articles, product reviews, etc. That will definitely have to wait until AFTER Italy though.

It's so soon!

I do hope to continue to post while I'm gone, so check back here for potential updates. Clearly, I'm not making promises since who knows if I'll have internet, but you know... I can hope. And also on the Italy / Spain front, my good friend Raul from college is originally from Spain and also lived in Italy He didn't arrive in the US until sometime in HS. I was so fortunate to bump into Raul online today and he's taking my itinerary back to look over-- and he's going to touch base with his family, to give me some suggestions - YAH!

You know, I should probably also check with my good friend Vinny. He might have some suggestions too...

On other news, I hope that my readers don't get the same sense of horror seeing my advertisements and shameless plugs as I felt today. My friend Andy has started including affiliate links on his homepage... http://www.Andyland.com. I should have known that this would happen one day though-- Andy is a Director at LinkShare. They had to eventually suck him in. :-)

Since I'm mentioning both Andy and Raul in this post, maybe this would be a good time to share a little story about how I met them...

As you probably know, I went to undergraduate school in Upstate New York. RPI is a small engineering school (the oldest in the US actually) that at one time was all male. By the time I arrived, a few women were attending, but in my degree (Computer & Systems Engineering with a Manufacturing Emphasis) there weren't many. Not that this is particulariy pertanent information except that almost 100% of my RPI friends are guys. Even my college house mates were guys.

Okay, so back to the story... Raul and Andy entered RPI a year before me. I first met Andy through chatting on AOL in ~1996. He was a Freshman at RPI and I was looking for tips on which dorm I should pick. Somehow I had a lot of options picking dorms, although looking back I'm not sure why. Anyhow, I was always thankful that I had checked with Andy and another RPI friend I'd met named Anthony. Little did I know, but there a LOT of snow at RPI and some of the dorms require a much longer foot trek than others.

So after my inital meeting with Andy, we kept in touch online from time to time. I should mention that this is pretty typical at RPI. It's one of the most wired schools in the US and the students are also SLAMMED with work for the entire four years. So, many students sit in their dorm rooms and meet other students who are also sitting in their dorm rooms, doing homework. Very exciting.

Anyway, over the 4 years that I was at RPI (and the 3 years Andy was there - he's smart... got 2 full degrees - philosophy and comp sci - in just 3 years) and the 2 years that my time overlapped Andy's, we had a lot of the same friends. Andy is also the creative sort and he was the Editor for the schools creative journal while I was the President of the photography club. And, we both took quite a few computer programming courses.

Needless to say, we moved in the same circles.

In the meantime, I met Raul. Raul is also creative and he was in the Photography Club with me. He's very passionate about what he's working on, so it was always great to talk to Raul. Oh, and that's another thing-- many RPI folks are true introverts. Raul is friendly and he likes to talk. This is a hugely desirable trait in a friend while you're at RPI.

In addition to the Photography Club, Raul was also a member of the literary journal that Andy was. Somewhere along the way, they became good friends; best friends.

In around 2003, I decided to fly up to NYC to see them and to visit a modern art exhibit at MOMA.

When I started planning the trip, one of my other mutual friends asked me the 'stop you dead in your tracks' question - "Have you ever met Andy in PERSON before?"

Haha - it had been almost 7 years since I met Andy. We were good friends. We chatted often. We kept up with one another. We read updates on each other's web sites.

But I had never actually MET Andy! Anyhow, the vacation was great!

Since then, I have kept introducing Andy and Raul to other random friends of mine who they haven't met before. We even all went on vacation to Florida a few years ago.

They're working on a documentary of the trip actually. Watch for it to come out in 2006: Destination Destin.

Here's a photo from the trip. Raul is in stripes. Andy's in grey.

Almost Friday?

Hmm... it's getting close to Friday, right? Well, it's almost time for a vacation and I can definitely say that I've earned it.

I've been working much more than normal lately... trying to keep all of my campaigns juggling at once. I'm actually not sure how much internet access there will be in Italy... hopefully a little at least.

I need to add an extra event on to the schedule from yesterday. Claire is having her graduation party on Saturday night! And, I must say that her husband is a great copywriter. Look at this Evite he sent:

Claire's MBA-fication!!!
Host: Husband Man
Location: The Chateau Kaufmann
Our very own Claire-bear has ripped Pepperdine a new one, and in exchange
they've rewarded her with a Master's in Business Administration. MBA, fool! So,
we're getting together to celebrate her brains and looks, and the fact that our
soon-to-be-child is already an MBA by osmosis! So come, eat, drink, and be,
well, you know the rest...

Anyhow, needless to say - I'm looking forward to it.

Now, I've just got to figure out how I'm going to clean my apartment, do dishes, and laudry- oh, and pack- before we leave for Italy!

Hmm....

In other news, I'm getting my little brother to help me do some market research. I want to design a better Jessica Simpson Shoe (http://jessicasimpson.pink-couture.com) site. The one that's there is okay, but I'd like there to be a little more meat to it. I'm deciding on whether I should add in the actual products, produt reviews... maybe new stories? Hmm... I have a sample page that I'll show you if you're interested to weigh in. Oh wait... and what does my brother have to do with this you might wonder? Well, he's in high school and he has friends who are girls! I need their opinions of my shoe sites... I need to gather some marketing research. And, it seems that he doesn't mind that attention either. :)
















That's all for my random, disconnected slightly ranting post... I'm off to ponder a vacation.

:)

Wednesday

Well, Wednesday has turned out to be rather eventful for reasons that I may reveal later. You should know though that everything is going pretty well overall. :-)

This weekend's plans are already firming up quite nicely:
Thursday: Emily's Birthday Party
Friday: Irish Food for Cinco de Mayo
Saturday: Personal Training with Katie

Oh, also, I did want to make a note. Although Katie doesn't train at all gyms in LA, I did find out that she does home training. She told me that the only requirement for home training is that you wear appropriate clothes for working out. She does also train at multiple gyms around town, although I just don't know which ones they are. If you're interested, contact Katie at contractwithinspiration(a)gmail.com.

Did I mention that I'm going to Italy? :) Can you tell I'm excited? So, great news-- Jessica has volunteered to take care of my plant while I'm gone! I'm so happy! (Thanks Jacob!)

In other news, the shoe blogging is going well. I'm having the most fun with JessicaSimpson.Pink-Couture.com and JessicaSimpsonShoes.Blogspot.com. I know that the whole thing may seem a little odd, but her shoes really are cute.

On a food note, I tried the peanut Thai salad from Thai Dishes today and it was very tasty. It even came with a boiled egg for protein. The peanut dressing however was definitely the highlight of the experience.

SWEET! My First (umm... second) Press Release - Tall Woman Clothing Blog

Yippeee! My very first Tall Woman's Clothing Blog press release was approved today!

It will be distributed through the internet, so that interested people can publish it.

I have only published one press release before, and that was when I graduated from Pepperdine. The press release was about my job search web site... it helped then and hopefully, this one will help now!

The Jessica Simpson Shoe Blog

It's amazing to me how fast the Jessica Simpson shoes are selling out!

Two of the Jessica Simpson shoes that I recommended on the Jessica Simpson Shoe blog this week have already sold completely out on Zappos!

Here's the first shoe, the Jessica Simpson Amy--















They're both sold out of red and this one is sold out of white, but there are a few left in the other colors...

It seems that Jessica may have finally found her niche outside of reality television.

Another funny discovery...

Alright, I made a funny discovery this morning... In addition to Pink-Couture, MSN has also ranked my Angie's Adventures Blog. It's ranked #7 on the keyword "sexy dawn" - haha. Anyhow, just thought that was humorous.

On to other topics...

Last night, I went to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. It's the 2nd time I've gone and it's the second luke warm experience that I've had. But last night, what really struck me were the portion sizes.

I felt as if I were inside of a medieval castle and any moment some HUGE king would come out looking like Burger King's king. First of all, the glasses that we were drinking out of could have held at least 3 or 4 cups of water. They were more like small pitcher. Full of soda, I'm sure one glass would be the equilavent of days of sugar.

Then, the main course came. The bun that their sandwich was on was the size of a small loaf of bread. It came on a plate that was actually a platter that is larger than what you'd normally serve a nachos on. Then came the side of broccoli. This plate was actually the size of a normal dinner plate - FULL OF BROCCOLI!

In addition to all of this, we got desserts. They were so sugary and gross that I couldn't even eat that much of mine.

As I looked around the room, I noticed huge columns, huge tables, huge chairs. The whole place was just over sized.

I'm not quite sure what to think about it all.... but for sure, if I do go back, I will be splitting an order with one or maybe two other people.

Hooray for shoes!!!

Wow, what an exciting morning this has turned out to be!

After sleeping in and coming in to post comments on fashion blogs, I made a *wonderful* discovery!

My Pink-Couture site has made its way into the top 5 for organic searches on MSN! A few days ago, I had turned off any paid advertising campaigns associated with the site, but I had noticed that my traffic hadn't completely gone away.

Then, I suddenly noticed that my sales went up quite a bit, so I started researching my good fortune. I was incredibly surprised to find that after just a few weeks, I've made it onto the top of the organic search listings. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me that I stay there for at least a few days! :)

In the meantime, I'm still working on my tall women's clothing blog. I hope to create a place where tall girls can commensurate together on fashion and shoes. If you have suggestions on good stores or products that you recommend, please send me an e-mail or leave a comment.

In other news, the countdown to Italy is on! It's less than 2 weeks away!

My only concern while I'm gone is my one remaining plant. I had quite a few plants... they've moved with me everywhere. New York. TN. California. Somehow, all of them except one have onto survived California. I may have to find a plant sitter because losing the last remaining plant would be a huge bummer. Actually, I've started trying to grow a second plant using this one - so maybe eventually one will be two.

Okay, I'm on to recommend shoes and tall clothes. Be sure to check out my shoe posts at:

jessicasimpsonshoes.blogspot.com
wedgeshoes.blogspot.com
tallwomanclothing.blogspot.com

Power-ful nap and the OTHER Angie Dawn...

Alright, so it's getting late and I'm just now starting my posts.

You may be wondering why. Well, the past few days I've just been so tired that it's been a little crazy... Today was no exception. I went shopping and ran errands today more than I have in probably 6 months. LA is so hard to get around that I rarely buy much outside of groceries.

Today I went to Costco, Target, Best Buy, Cold Stone, Weinersnitzel, and the Japanese grocery store. It was a lot. When I got home, I was so sleepy that I started my nap on the coach around 6 PM... at some point, I moved my sleepfest into the bed and stayed there until 7:45ish. This is definitely an interesting occurance as those who know me well know, I do not take naps during the day. :-) It's pretty much a rule for me.

I think though that thing that made it possible today was the eye mask I've been using. It's something that I'm teaching myself to wear before our upcoming trip - to shut out the light on the plane. Usually I take it off in my sleep and toss it, but lately, I've been keeping it on a little more... hopefully, by the time I'm on the airplane, I will have mastered the art of keeping the thing on while sleeping. :-)

Also-- an interesting thing popped into my e-mail box today. I have a Google Alert set up for articles that appear with my name in them. Today, an article appeared about about the other Angie Dawn... there are actually quite a few of us out there, but this story was particularly intreging.

The thing is... around 6 months ago I was picking up a prescription at Walgreens and was given one more prescription that I was expecting. At the time, I didn't think much of it, but I did ask the pharmacist to please not fill partial prescriptions for me anymore. (The prescription was the second half of the prescription). When I got home, I discovered it actually wasn't mine. There is another Angie who lives a few blocks from me in Santa Monica...

...And this story that appeared today in the LA Times is about her - the other Santa Monica Angie.

:) Angie

Saturday afternoon.

It's Saturday at almost 1 PM. I just got home from my workout with my new trainer Arclight in LA. This is a special sort of movie theatre where you have assigned seats ahead of time and greeters to show you to your seats and make sure all the guests are quiet during the show. It's a pretty cool deal.

Anyway, back to the movie... so Hard Candy is essentially about a girl whose best friend was killed by an internet pedifile stalker. She tracks the man down & at first it seems that he seduces her as well. In reality though, she has other plans in mind and attempts to castrate him, among other things. It was incredibly suspensful and eerie. Most of the movie occurs in the man's home and almost all of the action the audience sees takes place between the man and the girl.

Overall, I liked it and although it is very entertaining, I think it brings up an extremely important issue that is facing everyone today. That is the problem of internet predators. Although I started using the internet near its birth, I was in high school then and this was even a problem that I faced on some level from time to time. I can't even imagine what it must be like today. It was interesting to see a child turn the tables on her stalker. If you're looking for a suspensful movie, I'd give it a try. But, watch closely because everything isn't exactly as it seems.

The Jessica Simpson Shoe

Wow, I made an interesting discovery today... Jessica Simpson has her own shoe line. She really is making the most of her fame!

And, there's no doubt about it - for the price range of shoe she's selling in, they're cute. For more details, check out another blog I will be updating called jessicasimpsonshoes.blogspot.com.
















The Jessica Simpson Bonnie in Pecan

Weekend Update...

The next few weeks will prove to be some of the most interesting that I've had in a while.... stay posted for those updates...

But for now, this weekend is shaping up nicely. Today, I woke up early and had an interview. It went pretty well... so we'll see what happens. The position is for an internet marketing manager. It would allow me to continue to develop myself and my business, while also working for a company.

Tomorrow, I've got my 2nd personal training (weight lifting) session with Katie. I'm *really* looking forward to it! The only down side is that the appointment is at 10 AM and it's across town... so I'll be getting up early again. Tomorrow night, it looks like I'll be going to an comedy group show that begins at 10 PM. I'm excited, but definitely a little nervous that I may run the risk of falling asleep. :-)

Sunday should be relaxing. I'm hoping to make it out to the farmers market.

And, the countdown is on for Italy - it's less than 2 weeks away! I've got to start picking out my clothes that take up the smallest room. BoRyan and I are going to be sharing ONE backpack for all of our things - for the TWO weeks that we'll be gone. You can definitely believe that I'm a little nervous about that.

Wonderful Wedge Shoes & Espadrille Sandals

Starting today, I am going to be writing product reviews for the big shoe of the season: The Wedge.

I've started a new blog that will specifically host my reviews on these shoes. Today, I evaluated the Michael Kors Bleeker Wedge.

Be sure to stop by and say hello at wedgeshoes.blogspot.com!

Dr. Phil

So, in case you thought you saw me on the Dr. Phil show today, you were right! Here I am with Emily watching 3 troubled teens.

Barbecue and such...

Well, it's almost that time of year again - time for the Memphis World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. It's called the "Super Bowl of Swine" and 90,000+ people travel to the Mississippi River to get their taste.

I previously lived within walking distance of this mamoth eating event... so you may be curious as to why it's on my mind now that I'm in California. Well, apparently Memphis was thinking of me today because today I received a brochure from Corky's in Memphis- detailing all of the different barbacue packages that I can order and have delivered via airplane in dry ice to my apartment in California.

Here's the online version of their store. If you call in to 1-800-9Corkys and say "Elvis is alive," you can get 10% off your order. :-)

This sounds fun, but I'm always a little reluctant for a number of reasons...

1. When I worked at FedEx, I got around a 50% discount on any orders - and I could use my own FedEx shipping account with 75% off shipping to mail the order. (I would send ribs as a gift for my out of town friends when I got these discounts)
2. In Memphis, they actually sell frozen Corky's at the grocery store, or you can buy it hot from a drive through window. This is even true for the MEM airport - you can have Corky's there, or they'll give you frozen Corky's that's prepackaged for your plane trip. All of these options are cheaper.
3. I always feel a little guilty ordering from Corky's... since the ribs that you HAVE TO try in Memphis are actually at Rendevous. Check out www.hogsfly.com to see the different options available from Charles Vergo's Rendevous.

You may wonder what's so special about Memphis barbecue. Well, I'll tell you - they have an entire tradition built around the stuff... options like dry ribs vs. wet ribs.... cole slaw with mustard instead of mayo... baked beans... white bread... and last but not least, sweet tea. Yumm!

Luckily, with FedEx in Memphis, they're able to share their tasty goodness with the rest of the world. If you do try it, be sure to share your thoughts!

Working out with a trainer...

With my trip to Italy just around the corner, I've started going to a personal trainer. Yesterday was my first session, and I can feel it today!

My trainer is a good friend from back in Oklahoma. She moved out to Los Angeles a little before me...

Working out with Katie was great - I was able to go with her to a private gym.... I rode the bike, lifted weights, did sit-ups and more.

To book your own personal training appointment, e-mail Katie at contractwithinspiration@gmail.com. I'm including her photo below... it's from a new postcard she printed up.

Update

Alright, it's been a few days... here's the latest:

Dr. Phil was fun. We were able to go to 2 tapings... the first was a mother who beats her children and is completely mentally ill. The second was "out of control teens." The first girl drank too much, the second had lots of unprotected sex, and the third tanned way too much. The tanning girl helped us to score a goodie bag of sunscreen, so that was fun. The experience overall was a little surreal. Dr. Phil looked a little like a corpse to me... just because he was so perfectly made up and he looked to have a little make up on. That and it's not every day you expect to see him, so it was definitely an odd feeling. The other odd thing was that the show staff warmed us up just like any other show would do... we were dancing and clapping - then the woman who beats her kids came out. It was a little too early in the morning for such a fast mood swing. I know that everyone in the audience must have felt it. I also felt a little guilty for seeing the people in person... its one thing to be removed from it by watching TV, but when you're in the second row... it feels like you're on the 'help judge this person' committee during a therapy session. But seriously - it was a great time. :-) The shows are supposed to air sometime in May I believe.

Good news! My neice finally returned this morning after running away almost 3 weeks ago. I have a big sense of relief to know that she's home and safe. I'm not sure of exactly what happened to her, but I look forward to her getting her life back to where she wants it to be.

Here's the link to her Amber Alert that came out before she was found.

Note

Hi all... just a quick note to say that I'm going to be in the audience of a Dr. Phil taping tomorrow. Stay tuned for an update.... :-)

Happy Easter!

Easter has finally shown up in a somewhat normal light today. In the past, I have often felt like someone's playing a joke on me Easter morning. It's like April Fools + 15.

For example, one year when I tried to go to Easter, the directions that I had to the church were wrong. I ended up driving around rural NY until it was time for church to be over at which point I finally found the church. Two years ago, I arrived to church just slightly not feeling so great from the night before and low and behold there were no seats left in the church... so I was forced to stand during the entire ceremony. It was painful.

Anyway, rather than throw myself back into some sort of self torture routine, I had Easter my way this year. Last night, I baked 24 Easter cupcakes: 7 yellow with coconut, 7 purple, and 8 pink with sprinkles (one 1 I ate before frosting if you're a math person...). I topped them off with super cute sugary egg and bunny decorations.

Then, today I went for brunch at Ocean Avenue Seafood in Santa Monica. There I had Eggs Benedict, shrimp, pain au chocolat, and most importantly - 2 mimosas!

I must say that Easter worked out much better this year - Happy Easter! :)

Streeeess...

Talk about a stressful past 2 weeks.

I'm definitely going to have to learn be less empathetic... or maybe I need to move somewhere farther away... but these past 2 weeks have just been nuts!

The quick summary (excluding the things I've probably forgotten) includes--

• One of my close friends had to go to the Emergency Room and called me on the way there because he was lost and needed directions -- in another state
• One of my favorite cousins had weight loss surgery
• My 16 year old neice ran away from home and still hasn't been found
• A family friend is having serious health problems

As a result of these things, my family is also all shook up. It's taking a lot of patience to stay calm and collected.

Another brush with customer service...

My Sony Viao has always had problems, despite how cute it is. A week ago, I submitted a help request to the Sony.com site because my DVD drive has stopped working. I was told that Sony outsources its extended warranties and that the person wasn't exactly sure which company I should contact for help.

Today, I gave it a shot and tried Sony's 1-800 #. It worked, sort of. Apparently Sony can service their own computers... It was strange though. The customer service person asked me a series of questions to see what I had tried to repair the computer myself. The one question I said no to was if I had done a recovery of my computer. It went a little like this:

Operator: Have you tried to fix the computer?
Me: Yes.
Operator: What have you done?
Me: I restarted it and I tried multiple DVDs.
Operator: Did you perform a recovery?
Me: No, because I don't have a DVD drive, it wasn't ideal. I'd just like to send it in.
Operator: Did you do a recovery?
Me: No.
Operator: We cannot send in your computer until after you have done a recovery and we can do that on the phone.
Me: It's so difficult to perform things on the phone. I'd just like to send it in.
Operator: You must do a recovery before you send it in. If you haven't done it, I can help you do it over the phone. Otherwise, if you have done a recovery, I can just make a note that you have in the system and then I can mail you a box to send it in. That's if you have done the recovery. Do you understand?
Me: Yes.
Operator: So, did you perform a recovery of your computer on the system? If so, I can mail you a box to mail it in to be repaired.
Me: Uhhh.... I guess so???
Operator: Thank you. I've made a note that you did perform a recovery and I'll mail you a box to send the computer in for repair.

What is the world coming to when the help desk operator asks you to lie just so she can do her job?

Cool donation site

I found a great site today that I think you should look at. It's called Donors Choose and it allows people who want to give money to education to interact directly with the teachers who are in need of funding.

A teacher submits a project with a description, location, project cost, and % of low income students at the school.
--------------------------------------------------------

Here's a sample proposal:

Words, Words, Words!

San Francisco, CA

subject: Literacy

grade level: High School

% low income: 32% ?

cost to complete:
$108

21% funded

I teach at a high school in San Francisco that sends nearly all its students, 91 percent of whom are of color, to college.

One big push lately has been to teach SATish vocabulary words directly to boost their college test scores and to enhance their formal writing.

This year, all my 100 tenth graders will learn 500 SAT vocabulary words! We're about 70% there right now. And the success rate so far is high: About 90% of students get A's and B's on their comprehensive weekly quizzes, which require remembering all the words from August!

But because our Humanities Department budget is limited, we don't have money for dictionaries. I want my students not to be afraid of dictionaries. (And our school doesn't have enough computers, so the students can't go to www.dictionary.com.)

I'm asking for enough funds to purchase 14 paperback dictionaries, one for every two students in a class.

Thank you for considering my proposal!

The cost of 14 copies of The Merriam-Webster Dictionary for this proposal is $137, including shipping and fulfillment.

Healthcare - bah!

I'm starting to have negative feelings about *everything* related to health care. On top of my old insurance company's latest antics, I had a less than desirable experience at my new dentist today.

When I signed up with Blue Cross last month, I went ahead and splurged for the dental care too. Since moving to California, I've been paying out of pocket... which translates to slightly less cleanings per year.

Anyhow, the entire experience was fishy. The place is called "Santa Monica Dental" and when I made the appointment, I wanted to be sure that it wasn't some weird group practice, so I found their web site online. The website featured a young woman dentist with a challenging last name. I assumed that's why she went with the generic name. When I called to make the appointment, I found out that today, I would only be having an exam and that I'd come back again for a cleaning. That was odd, but hey - I've never had my teeth cleaned in CA before.

When I arrived this morning, I wasn't sure that I made it to the right place because the name on the door was a man's name. When I finally made it back to the room, I noticed that the office wasn't that clean or well kept. The sink had dried "water" around it and the wallpaper was peeling off the walls. Then, the hygentist came in... he took EIGHT x-rays of my teeth - four of them were with my fingers holding the little films in place in my mouth. I have never had more than four x-rays at a dentist AND I have NEVER had my hands in the photos.

Then, the "dentist" came in. She was about my age with a nose ring, dyed blond hair, designer jeans and cowboy boots. She is NOT the woman from the web photos. (Before this next part, keep in mind that before moving to CA, I have had regular cleanings and received tremendous praise at the dentist for my entire life). First, she found that I had no cavities - that's good. I rarely ever have them, so that's nice. Then, she told me that I have developed gum disease and that it's probably starting to cause bone loss in my teeth and that I can't just have a normal cleaning - I'll need a deep cleaning where they inject you with novicane and scrape your teeth under the gums. Yeow - this is new!

Then, she continues to tell me that I should get invisiline braces to straighten my bottom teeth and that she can refer me to her boss who does invisiline braces. Interesting thing - I actually had a consultation for invisiline back in TN. The dentist there told me that I'm not an ideal candidate, they probably won't work on my teeth, and that they're twice as expensive and take longer anyway. Interesting. When I told the SM dentist that I couldn't afford them right now, she was a little irritated. She even told the hygentist, "I told her she needs this, but she won't do it."

Then, she told me that I should have my tiny TINY tiny little wisdom tooth removed. It's the only wisdom tooth I've ever had and it just grew in about 3 years ago. My 2 honest and reliable dentists (one in OK and one in TN) have both told me that there is no need to have it removed. It's tiny and it's not touching anything... and it would be way more trouble than what it's worth to take it out. When I told them SM dentist that I might consider having it removed at a later time, but not right now, she told me that I am compromising all of the teeth around it.

Then, she told me that I really need to have my teeth whitened at the office. Interesting, but my two dentists (OK and TN again) have told me time and time again that if I WANT to have whitening, that I should do it at home myself with a kit from the grocery store. They have told me that this gets very close to the same results, but costs $20 instead of $500. They have always told me that if I really want my teeth to be whiter, that I can come in, but they don't recommend it. When I told the SM dentist that I can't afford this right now, she said something to the affect of, "but you need it." Yeah, I need it like a new car...

Then, the receptionist came in to discuss my insurance with me. The "deep cleaning" the dentist recommended wasn't covered under my insurance and would therefore cost me an additional $500 to have my teeth cleaned. What a surprise. So of course, I just said "Nope, I can't do that right now. It will have to be a normal cleaning for the $5." She told the hygentist who was a little shocked.

I then asked the receptionist if I would be making an appointment for my cleaning - she said, "well, if you can wait 5 minutes, we can clean them today." Uhh... so much for what they told me on the phone.

The cleaning experience wasn't my most positive either. While I was sitting in the chair, I was thinking, "I wonder why more men don't clean teeth" and then I realized why I would prefer not to go through it again myself... he was incredibly rough with me and his hands were just too big.

As I left the office, I paid my $5 and saw the dentist who would no longer look me in the eyes because she was so annoyed. I'm glad however that I didn't listen... I've never had a sketchy dentist experience before, but I will mark this down. It felt much more like I went to a used car lot than a dental office.

Did I mention that I never actually met the dentist whose name was on the door???

Ugh!!!

New Handbag Site - Pink-Couture.com

I haven't posted much the past two days because I've been working on a new site that you've got to check out! It's called Pink-Couture.com and it's a great place to find great designer handbags at the best prices available!

I'm selling the latest designs from the following collections:

• Calvin Klein Collection
• Furla
• Marc by Marc Jacobs
• MICHAEL by Michael Kors

Every handbag has a 110% price guarantee. If you find your bag at a lower price, the price will be beaten by 10%. In addition, you'll receive free expedited shipping and free returns for up to 365 days.

P.S. Feel free to pass this message along to anyone you think might have a taste for great handbags - and be sure to check out Pink-Couture.com!

Malibu afternoon

Late lunch today at Howdy's in Malibu... stopped by the beach on the way back--

Liver pate

Today I decided to search the internet for "foods high in iron." I occasionally hear that I should eat iron-rich foods, so I thought I should know what to be looking for...

This is the first list that I found:
Liver
Fish Paste
Kidney
Venison
Heart
Liver Pate
Liver Sausage
Goose
Pheasant
Shrimps canned
Haggis
Sardines canned
Tonge Ox
Pilchards canned

After reading this, I almost decided that it wasn't worth thinking about... But luckily I found another web site that was a little more bearable:
Cereal
Baked Beans
Oysters
Baked potato with skin
Bean Burrito
Ground beef
Apricots
Spinach
Whole Wheat Bread
Eggs

Anyway, the first list was just so gross that I had to share. :-)

Friday night reflections...

Last night was great-- Thanks to all of the random event e-mail lists that I'm a part of, I scored two free tickets to the Hollywood Improv last night. It was great, really fun... good food, good drinks, and 5 funny comedians. My favorite comedian was Kyle Cease...

Today, I woke up and found out from my friend Paul that there's a new web site promoting Memphis, so I knew that I had to check it out... it's called MyMemphis.TV and it contains interviews with people who now call Memphis home. I recognized or know roughly half of the people on the site from my time in Memphis; my favorite person to see was Roxanna - an old friend from FedEx.

Well, I'd better get back to my plan of taking over the world...