I think this blog post title could be made into an amazing motion picture. basically thats how my week was. like a movie. because it was so much fun.
tuesday evening I headed downtown to my friend Kenley's apartment to watch Idol and GLEE. I passed through some amazing neighborhoods on the way, then in a matter of blocks it looked like I was back in the Philippines. third world looking in a matter of moments. It was insanse. however kinda heartwarming. it brought back fond memories. its was great to hang out with her and her roommate while we watched prime time television and Kenley made Amish friendship bread. it was the final day of the ten day process, so I felt priviledged to be there at the end. needless to say, the bread was great, and enhanced all of our friendships.
wednesday after work I headed towards santa monica to have dinner with two girls from utah state that are out here as well for internships. he dined at the very popular don antonios. apparently a santa monica hot spot that jess knew of via episodes of the hills. apparently its frequented by heidi and spencer often. and it was a winner. luckily wednesday nights tacos were only a dollar, so I had six. they were amazing. it was nice to be with familiar faces and hilarious conversation. in logan we would have happy hour sushi every wednesday night, so its nice to have found our new wednesday tradition.
in intern news, this week at KWID was fantastic. let me once again reiterate how much I love it.
I am working on so many different things that the days and week fly by. we are in a huge push getting all of the stuff for k dubs 'shop n shops' ready (meaning her display areas within Niemans and Bergdorg Goodman). I finished up the designs for all the table bases, custom coffee tables as well as glass and metal vitrines that are going to hold her jewelry line and accessories. I was given the number to a metal fabricator and put in charge of getting a meeting with him. On thursday was our meeting and Fernando the architect in the office who I mostly have been working with was MIA. no one knew where he was. word finally trickled in that he had got in a car crash and was trying to hopefully make it into the office later.
grand. so metal fabricator shows up and I am holding this meeting solo. how much could we spend on this ish? I didnt know. when did they needed to be done by? also didnt know. how long have I been in the office? oh I know, not even two weeks. luckily I have been listening in on a lot of phone calls in the office with other fabricators, so I knew the key things to ask that would make me sound like I knew what I was talking about. Lead time, price quote, "soup to nuts"...the lingo. the meeting was swell, and we got some great feedback and ideas from him.
mostly I am excited that these things are actually going to be made, mass produced and gracing the nations most upscale department stores. its kewl. I love the amount of trust they have in me and that they are willing to give me a lot of responsibility.
I also am working on sketches of k dubs soon to be flagship store thats a few blocks away from her office. the first go around with an interior sketch was awesome. I LOVED it, and so did the PR lady. k dubs however was not a fan. in fact quite bluntly pointed out everything that she hated about it and said to start over. always fun. however it was a very good lesson. she had incredible vision and knows what she likes. everything that leaves that office has her name on it, represents her and needs to feel like her. I am finding that her eye for design and what she likes to incredibly specific, which makes her so unique. so start over I did.
later in the day on thursday I had drawn up another one and she wandered by my desk and stopped, told me it was perfect and she loved it. which who doesnt love to hear that? so, off to architectural digest the sketches are being sent to accompany a piece they are doing on kelly and her new store. how rad. its really so much fun. I just feel incredibly lucky to be somewhere where they are utilizing my strengths and what I really love to do. it makes working for free quite easy when its so fun.
friday was my day off. so I did nothing. slept in, ate, did my insanity workout, ate, layed outside and read, which resulting in me falling asleep. I have no probably falling asleep while laying out. in fact I love it. the spring break cruise mostly consisted of that. I put sun screen on and everything, however after I was awakened by a phone call from my sister, I realized I had been asleep for over an hour....
uh oh. I was a lovely hue of burnt umber. no worries, two days later and some aloe vera and I am nice and brown. I did feel it officially began summer for me. later on friday I walked around the grove job hunting and found some good prospects, followed by dinner at Wahoos Tacos. this place is a gem. some of the best fish tacos I've ever had. I also appreciate that I have only been there twice, however Jesus who works there remembered exactly what I got last week. I loved that.
I then headed to the airport to pic up steph who spent the weekend for one of her companions weddings. it was so fun having her. SO MUCH FUN! yesterday I dropped her off at the temple for the sealing, then returned to get her and another one of her companions, mackenzie, who is from portland. we chose to have lunch at pink taco, a recommendation from friends out here. it was one of the best meals I have had since I have been here. plus the outside terrace we sat on was prime.
we went with the pink taco sampler. not enough for three, so we got some flautas. the plate came with brazed pork taquitos, sweet corn tamales, tamarind glazed steak and chicken, quesadillas, and fried shrimp. everything was amazing. the steak was my favorite though. with the tamatillo avacado sauce...oh man. I would go back in a heart beat. the sampler for two people would be perfect, at $25.
of course we had to get the fried ice cream. it was amazing. anything battered in honey bunches of oats, deep friend and covered in caramel would be good.
we came back so I could change then headed to san marino for the wedding reception. I opted for the scenic route so they would see the third world neighborhood you pass through on the way downtown. they were sceptically saying that it probably wasnt that bad and I have become to used to the nice area I live. oh no. I remember third world all too well. in a matter of blocks we drove into the slum of it all. steph couldnt stop laughing because everything was in spanish and looked all too much like argentina.
this was a nicer view. it was blocks of this though. it then turned into a game of "whoever spots the next white person wins". we all lost.
the wedding reception was in this HUGE backyard. I mean huge. easily could have had a pool, pool house, guest house, a couple tennis courts and a basketball court. so it made for a great reception space.
this was about 3/4 of the yard. it was massive and totally private. it was one of the most entertaining receptions I have ever been to, which is saying a lot after working at the joseph smith memorial building. mostly it may have been due to the fact that both sides of the family were asian. it felt a little fast and the furious at first and I expected a slew of neon under-lit aftermarket cars to be lining the street in front of the house, but no such luck. the food was phenomenal, probably because it was from Costco and I love Costco. for reals though, it was from Costso. I know those large metal dishes that mass amounts of meat come in. its all too common at any polynesian gathering. it was new for me at an asain one however.
the cherry on the evening was the performance of 'Till There Was You'. it was one of those things where I instantly thought, these musical numbers are either amazing, or a train wreck. its safe to say that it was more of the latter, because I instantly thought of this when she started singing...
but it got even better when the brides ELEVEN aunts came up to sing fiddlers, 'sunrise, sunset'. yes, it happened. all ELEVEN of them. video soon to come...
it was such a swell evening. great food, quality entertainment and fantastic company...
so I am loving work. I love the office, the people in it, the music they play, the people that come with all sorts of stuff they have fabricated for kelly and the hispanic workers that come in to take stuff away. its a bustling place. always something going on.
more and more new faces keep showing up; interns I haven't met yet, employees getting back from vacation, etc. mostly I have been intrigued with the names of people in the office. there's Tilly the intern from Toronto. Rebekah the PR woman. her parents kept it biblical with the 'kah' and I like that. then we have Lunch, and he designs house wares. yes, that is his name. as in the favorite mid day meal time. Lunch. and today I just met Nestle. not like " oh come nestle up next to me", but like Nestle Tollhouse cookies. she's real nice and works in the fashion department.
what fun names my coworkers have.
I think of myself as having a fairly common yet unique name. however the metal fabricator I talked on the phone with today couldnt quite understand what I was saying after telling him my name was Brady, so I pulled out the failproof solution and said, "Brady like the Brady Bunch." which of course he immediately understood. go firgure.
so many people ask me what my name is short for. why? why cant it just be Brady? and how many Brady's do you know whose full name is something else? I dont know any. most people assume my name is Braden and I have chosen to go by Brady. what fools.
anyways, todays work highlight was when I was doing mock ups for fixtures that will house Kellys jewelry and housewares in Bergdorf Goodman and Saks. to my surprise everyone thought I was a wizard of sorts when I assembled rather quickly these foam core boxes held together with t-pins...
little did they knew they were hiring a trained foam core fiend. thank you utah state university for allowing me to effectively create anything anyone could ever want out of foam. priceless knowledge and skill set.
I am excited for these gems to get fabricated next week. and the design is soley mine. (they look way cooler then they do here, this was just for scale)
the table bases are even better.
its fun working on real projects, with real big budgets, for big department stores and famous people.
here, at last. finally after quite a journey I have made it through my first week.
leaving dear Centerville was bittersweet. it was fun seeing friends that I havent seen since high school, and having steph home was wonderful. most of my week home was spent with this little nugget...
last saturday night I started to kind of feel fluish. guh. I get sick more then anyone I know. I am borderline a bubble boy's kind of immune system. and with stephs homecoming last sunday I was go, go, go. so when I was supposed to leave monday morning for my drive to LA, I knew that it wasnt going to happen.
luckily my sister mandy came to the rescue, booked a one way flight from LA and rode down with me.
a success stop at the payson walmart. let me just say, the payson walmart had the best patrons I have ever beheld at a walmart. thats even including the Puerto Vallarta walmart that brought out a whole new spicy kind of crowd.
we arrived successfully at The Excaliber in vegas and were thrilled for beds to crash upon. needless to say I slept like a rock-till about seven am. cue hellish morning. I probably havent thrown up in over seven years, and I forgot how much I hate it. I mean HATE it. I can think of very few things that rival my hatred for vomiting. cheetos, dill flavored anything...people with poor restaurant etiquette skills...and people walking who arent aware of others around them. but I would be bold enough to say that vomiting has moved its way to number one after that morning. I had some of the worst stomach pain I have ever had, probably since I was sick in the philippines, and spend eight hours in that cursed hotel room.
glad sister was there for documenting purposes. the plus side was the bathrooms at Excaliber are really nice. I liked them a lot. I spend a good amount of time sleeping on the bathroom floor, then the floor outside the bathroom, then back to the bed. sister had the battle of finding a beverage that sounded appetizing and that I also could keep down. dr pepper was ruled out initially because I couldnt taint my love for it. sprite, gatorade and ginger ale all were tried with ginger ale winning. needless to say I would have died without her. honestly, I would have perished at the Excaliber. a slow and very lonely death. I won big time with the sibling lot I was given. no one else (other then maybe a future wife?) would have sat and rubbed nausea pressure points on my feet while I whined in bed. she's great. after eight hours I was well enough we were able to leave and I was so happy to get out of there and finally be able to keep my food inside in me. however it was kinda sad I was sick and we had to leave because our view was so nice...
it was windy and cold though.
so we peaced out and a few hours later made it to LA. let me just say how much I lucked out. not only did I get an amazing internship, but I live in an amazing place. who has a family relation to someone that happens to have a spare guest house that's five minutes away from their work? really it was meant to be. here are some pics of my great digs for the summer....
how nice is it waking up to this every morning. so nice. really, I lucked out. I did have to go buy some ish like a toaster oven and a single burner because there is no stove or oven, but I can work with that.
we got to LA around eight thirty on tuesday night and unloaded my stuff, drove around and did a little grocery shopping.
wednesday was the first day of my internship. despite the fact that I still felt like death I was thrilled. initially things were awkward and no one really knew what to do with me because Jen, who I have been communicating with, was in a meeting the first few hours I was there. I met everyone and was given a tour and was then told to "check out Kelly's website to familiarize myself with her work and style". thats when I really wanted to pull out a 'trick please' and tell her whats up, but I smiled and said okay. cause thats not what I have been doing for the last three months?! so I looked productive for awhile until Jen got out of her meetings. we sat down with each other and I told her my expectations for the summer and what I could help with. she has me working with the head architect in the office and one of the main interiors people. there are some really big and exciting projects happening right now that I am helping with. the office vibe is great. very chill, everyone does their own thing and we listen to really great music. Kelly drives a bomb Maserati and is very nice.
I came home to loveliness from sister who had unpacked all my things and homey'd up the place. its so nice where I live. did I already say that? I love it. later that night we celebrated my first day with dinner at The Grove where we dined at Magiannos. I had a gift certificate and have been dying to go there. note to future self, when severly congested and cant taste anything, dont try a new and rather expensive restaurant. it was fun, desipite the blandness and the fact I still felt like death.
thursday was more internshiping which was great, and sister and I had lunch at the Beverly Center. another fantastic place here. also snagged me a shirt from H&M.
friday since I didnt have to go into the office was spent shopping for apartment ish, napping and going to santa monica, which I love.
california and I were meant for each other. I love it so much.
yesterday was saturday and it was gorgeous weather. my cousin Zach who has been going to school in fullerton drove up to spend the day with us. we went over to westwood, UCLA territory for lunch at BJ's which was awesome and then headed to the Ghetty Center. basically been a dream of mine since two years ago when I did my Tiny House Project that drew inspiration from Richard Meiers architecture on the Ghetty. its free to go to, minus the $15 for parking. dont you love how they do that?
we got up there just in time for the 45 minute architecture tour which I loved. its amazing...
we were pooped after strolling about the ghetty, so we hit up some yogurtland and I took about a three hour nap. I am so tired of being sick. and tired. I feel that that I am living life at a 10% battery power. its been crappy. mostly I HATE not being able to taste my food due to my severe congestion. let me just reiterate that. can you think of anything more terrible then not being able to TASTE!? I would rather be blind and I sincerely mean that. I dont know why I even paid for any food this week. I could have just been eating Fancy Feast and I wouldnt have known a difference. its not been fun. anyway, after nap time we got dinner at In N Out and did bulk grocery shopping, which I did not like cause it was SO expensive. sorry if this has all sounded negative. to sum up my week, I dont like spending money, being sick, constantly tired and not being able to taste my food. what? am I a 90 year old man, yes, yes I think your right. that sums it up. also throw in there how thankful I was that sister came with me. lets be honest, the drive would have been miserable, arriving in a new city alone would have been miserable, and the fact that I have been so sick and she has nursed me back to health, would have been miserable without her. she's the greatest. really she is.
so here's to next week living life like the 23 year old that I am!
Now that school is out and I am just awaiting my departure to LA for internship time, its been nice to just chill and be with my fam, who are the greatest people on this earth.
Last week was birthday celebrations for my two oldest sisters. Their b-days are back to back. For my sister Mandys we all went to Rubios (a love I developed on my mission in California) which has the best fish tacos. Beer battered, cabbage and fresh lime-kill me. Then a few of his hit up the Gateway to see Fast5, which was a winner. Sans The Rock being in it which actually ended up just adding comic relief. Who can take The Rock seriously. The movie really made me want to go to Rio de Janeiro really bad as well as owning a muscle car.
Next day was Shannas birthday and after a day at Dustins track meet, we all rendezvoused at Trolley Square for some Spaghetti Factory. Its been years since I have been there and forgot how much I enjoyed it. Its a great atmosphere.
After the birthdays I had to go back to Logan to finish moving all my ish out and clean my apartment. Let me once again say that moving is one of my least favorite things on this whole planet. There are some pro's however, like finding all the things that were missing most of the semester and just the sense of change is excited. Least favorite part of going back- saying goodbye to these fools...
We hit up the Creperie, a favorite in Logan for a fond farwell. These ladies have become my self appointed mothers. Well, mostly just Megan and Autumn, cause they are married. They shall be missed though. Hooray for Skype.
Sunday was Mothers Day, and I love my mom. A: she's gorgeous. B: she is the most caring, thoughtful, loving woman I know. She's da bomb. So lucky she's mine.
In most recent exciting news, yesterday my cousin Steph came home from her Mission in Taiwan. We are the same age and have been close friends our whole lives. It was so good to see her.
After the welcoming party disassembled, Mandy, Dustin and I opted for some sushi at Ichiban. Park across the street cause there is no parking close to it. Then you can appreciate this bomb graffiti on the wall by the lot.
