photo diary: wedding #3 in california

The third stop on my wedding train this summer: Irvine, California for one of my closest Texas friend's big hoorah! 

It was the reason I finally bought a plane ticket to the West Coast and explored LA. Had he not decided to get married in a place that never rains and always has perfect weather, my cherry would still be in tact. 

The wedding was beautiful. On a golf course, lots of light and bright colors, thought out decorations... and a family of ducks to greet everyone as they arrived. [That may or may not have been planned...]

And LAWN GAMES! A wedding with lawn games is a winning wedding.

Cute story alert: There were bugs flying around during the ceremony, and one landed on her bouquet. He quickly took the bouquet and let the bug go away from the ceremony. There's gotta be an unplanned, fun, light moment in every ceremony, and that was it.

Congrats to Mr and Mrs Young!

I wish I had gotten another picture of this when it was full of desserts. I've never seen so many options. A lot of times I don't even go for dessert at a wedding, but I got way too many things here. Strawberry shortcakes in mini mason jars, milk and cookies, macaroons, the works. 

This picture is so perfect. During the "funny" best man speech, the other best man could not lift his head because he was laughing so hard and maybe even a little uncomfortable. The groom was obviously loving it, and the bride was laughing but with more of an "omg" face. 

Another one added to our little group of friends!

There was a lot of fun Disney touches too because she's a big fan of the mouse's movies. Songs, speeches, vows etc... all had little touches of it. It was adorable.

As for what I wore... I found this dress in a place called Zara out in LA. I don't think I've ever heard of it, but there were a ton out there, and they all had two floors of clearance. It was my heaven. I could only find this dress in the wrong size, but it was such a perfect color, I looked in every other location I passed in the next couple days. With five minutes to spare before an appointment, I found it! 

-dress from Zara

-shoes from Charlotte Russe

-gold clutch from New York and Company

-earrings from Forever21

I didn't realize how low cut it was until I was looking at pictures, and maybe it wasn't the best decision for that, but I really did love the dress, and I'll be able to wear it plenty more times. Plus- a little cut out and bow action in the back- yes, please!

Once again- CONGRATS to the Youngs! And thanks for inviting me to the celebration!

Last stop of the year: Chicago in September! And it seems like next year will be just as busy, based on all the ring pictures on my Facebook lately. Bring on the free drinks and reasons to shop! I mean... bring on the love!

love,
elizabethany

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photo diary: popping my los angeles cherry

No one believed me when I won "Never Have I Ever" by saying "I've never been to the West Coast," but it was true! LA has always been a magical mystery land to me, and I kinda wanted to leave it that way... or maybe it was just because I've been welfare poor my whole life. 

Thanks to a wedding [which I'll post about later], I finally had an excuse to go. 

Everything was against me... my mouth that got infected a week before forcing me to get emergency wisdom teeth surgery, my wardrobe that didn't seem good enough.... okay, that's about it. 

Finally..... it happened. And it was one of the best vacations I've ever had. I explored and hung out with friends and saw shows and ran into celebs.... and took a lot of selfies because when you travel alone, that's your only option. 

Taking selfies while not looking, as dozens of people walk by is pretty awkward... but worth it for this view of the whole city. 

Let's please talk about this house. 

Mandatory Hollywood sign picture. 

My most mandatory stop: Ellen's star. I took an Uber directly to it. No shame.

The red carpet locations really are in the middle of the streets... One day I'll be there when a lot more red is involved.

Just for fun: This is the track and field at Hollywood High.

I had time to go to one beach for a couple hours... which one do you think I picked?

Laguna, DUH.

Seaweed was everywhere and it wasn't exactly as pretty as I remember on the show, but the scenery with all the houses on the hills and then people playing basketball right in the middle of everything was pretty awesome.

Also got to make a trip to Disneyland thanks to my girl Brooke! 

Beers at Disney- surprisingly cheap and making the small world a more magical place. 

CarsLand was my favorite. It's like walking right through the movie!

In N Out cherry also popped! Luckily I remembered to Google the fun ways to order the food since the menu is the plainest of plain. Also delicious: That Nutella martini. It was the best kind of dessert for a vacation.

You may not know who this guy is, but he's a big effing deal in the radio world- the program director of KIIS in LA. [AKA Seacrest's boss] It was surreal to see the station and meet people like Sisanie and JoJo who I've emailed and studied while trying to grow my own career. It was a little terrifying to meet this here John Ivey, but he actually likes me! Whattt. 

And for my final night, I met up with some people I met while in College Station! Alora and Steve both made the "here goes nothin'" move to LA and they're on their way to extreme greatness. 

It's still a bit unbelievable to me I got to explore LA, and everything I got to do! Sometimes traveling alone is the best way to travel, even if it means selfies. I wasn't always alone, though. I have to give SO MANY THANKS to my girls Alex and Brooke who let me crash their life for the week.


Next on the to-do list: Nashville.

love,
elizabethany

PS: #1 thing I learned: if you're searching for celebs, don't look for the pretty people. Look for the ones who look a bit ratchet. There's someone famous somewhere under that bare face.

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wearing: my los angeles style

Great news! I survived my first trip to LA without getting arrested for stalking a celebrity!

I'll have a whole post of all the fun things I did coming up, but first I thought I'd do a round-up of some of my outfits. 

I swore it'd be easy to have all these awesome outfit pics around the city, but I did most of my traveling alone, and when I wasn't, I was too busy having fun to pause for a photoshoot. These will have to do, my dears. 

Before we get started, I'd like to point out that each outfit is under $50 total and I'm hella proud of that.

For traveling TO the city: 

If you're ever traveling- WEAR A MAXI. It's the most comfortable thing ever and you'll feel like you're naked under a blanket while trying to sleep on a plane. 

-Dress from TJ Maxx

-sandals from Papaya

-all brown jewelry from BlueLans

-entire outfit cost under $35. 

Day of meetings and exploring: 

I wanted to look fun but not show too much for my meeting, and this tank is one of my new go-to's! 

-tank from TJ Maxx

-pants from H&M [for $5!!]

-sandals from Charlotte Russe

-earrings from BlueLans

-sunglasses from the streets of LA

For a night out at the clurb: 

I was a bit shocked by how cold it gets in LA as soon as the sun goes down! My legs are meaty enough to handle it, but my arms freeze, so this worked! It's 100% see-through lace in the back, and I thought the wedges were fun to roughen up the lace/gold earrings. [Even though I still have a love/hate relationship with these shoes]

-top and shorts from Forever21

-shoes from Charlotte Russe

For Disneyland: 

Disney [or any theme park] calls for something comfortable, but fun. I decided to try a little monochromatic look with some blingage. 

-gold studs and necklace from BlueLans

-top from Ross

-shorts [that are a light coral/pink color] from H&M

-sandals from Charlotte Russe

I stressed for a long time trying to come up with really stylish outfits to bring, but I didn't even wear most of this. It's true that anything goes in Los Angeles, but the biggest lesson I learned/did not prepare for was to always have a jacket ready to go once 8:00 hits. Now it makes sense why the celebs are always wearing long sleeves or pants even though the weather is always nice there.

Also... no matter what you wear, you'll probably look better than any celebs you stumble upon... but more on that later.

love,
elizabethany

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where are they now?: the first seasons of mtv's real world!

Looking back, the casts of Real World have changed quite a bit... and I don't just mean by growing older. BUT... that's what we're here to look at right now. How they've aged and what they're doing with their lives [assuming they didn't ruin it on MTV].

The first New York and New Orleans seasons, San Francisco, Los Angeles.... we're going way back here.

Amaya from Hawaii, who looks completely different, is now a coach for aspiring TV hosts. I need to holler at her.

Dan from Miami got arrested for masturbating in a theater, and now has an online blog. The tux is just a look.

Jon from Los Angeles is now a pastor in Florida.

Eric from New York- Just turned 41! And has been on all sorts of shows. 

David from Seattle has the title "Vice President of Promotional Revenue." Okay, big shot!

Genesis from Boston is running her own graphic design business in Cali.

Danny from New Orleans is still cute, and that's all that matters. Well, and I wish he became straight.

Jacinda from London was in a couple movies like Bridget Jones and Poseidon!

Irene from Seattle actually tweeted me the other day! She's doing a podcast/blog called "No One's Listening" and wants all the ladies to not shave in December, since guys don't in November.

Jason from Boston has his own casting company.

Judd from San Francisco married his costar Pam, has two kids, and now works for DC Comics!

Leah from Paris looks the exact same, but has a kid these days.

Kelly from New Orleans married Scott Wolf! And have two kids! They probably made great babies.

We all know what Mike the Miz is up to... I just wanted to post this ridiculous picture.

Kevin from New York- has published TEN books and ran for Congress three times.

Montana from Boston looks the exact same and is an acupuncturist.

Matt from New Orleans, another online blogger with a wife and kids.

Norman from New York... an independent film producer

Nathan from Seattle, who apparently hasn't been seen/found since 2008.

Rachel from San Francisco and Sean from Boston [below] got married and have SIX freaking kids. Hi full hands.

Puck from San Francisco- he's been arrested and on TMZ a lot.

Randy from San Diego is now a DJ in Massachusetts... and hopefully doesn't always look that douchey.

Teck from Hawaii was apparently in Van Wilder, Lincoln Heights, and NCIS. I woulda never recognized him.

Tami from Los Angeles- You may recognize her from Basketball Wives, too.

Kat from London is a TV producer and actress, but not any major titles. 

Neil from London is still in England, as a researcher. 

Melissa from New Orleans, also an internet blogger and has a baby.

Sharon from London is a film composer and singer/songwriter.

And [creepy] Lars from London is now a DJ in NYC!

So I guess you can do something with your life beyond more reality shows and jail time after being on the Real World! Or... you can run a blog... or have a really normal life with a bunch of kids.

Also, can I just point out that way back in the day, they weren't focused on picking the hottest/most perfect roommates?! Can we get some more of that without a ton of haterate, or is that too much to ask of 2013?

If you wanna find out about more Real Worlders [a lot who have been seen on recent Challenges], head over to toofab or NY Daily News.

love,

elizabethany

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