New Apartment!! and Hermosa Beach

So for post #2 I would like to announce that Sara and I have found an apartment! The place is in the East Hollywood area of Los Angeles. It's a little back house off of a residence where a couple and their two twin babies live. The little boys are only 5 months old....adorable! So we have the larger upstairs part with two bedrooms, large kitchen and brand new bathroom. It's nice to find a secluded little place like this in a really busy city! We were lucky to find it thanks to Sara's amazing Craigslist skills lol. Here's the picture off of Craigslist and when we move in July I will post more because there is a really cool view from both the bedroom windows that I will share later heehee.....

So anyway, apartment hunting was fun, we had to act fast; that was the only crazy part! Afterwards, (I'm kind of just putting my whole day's activities out there, that's what happens when you're single with no job haha), we went and met some friends at Hermosa Beach. It was super busy there today because it was the weekend but here's a couple pics of Sara and I so you can see how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place; it's truly amazing. :)



So until next time, I'm signin' off! ~Lauren

New Blog, Help!, and California

So here it is... my first blog post. I'm a little intimidated right now seeming as my sister Carolyn is an expert blogger. The "Help!" in the title of this post is for her to help me out haha.

I've recently arrived in California to begin a new chapter of my life! I'm going back to school at USC in the fall to start a master's degree in Keyboard Collaborative Arts. For those of you who are thinking, "Didn't she just finish a master's degree?," the answer is yes, I graduated in July of 2007 from The University of Oklahoma with a master's in Solo Piano Performance. I slightly changed career focus and now I'm looking forward to collaborating with other musicians and exploring a whole new repertoire.

For the time being I'm staying out in Santa Monica with my friend (future roommate) Sara at her friend's apartment; he's currently out of town teaching acting seminars. His apartment is AMAZING! Living only four blocks from a beautiful California beach is more than anyone could ask for. I'll never be able to afford it so I'm livin' it up while I can!

I just got into California a few days ago with my brother, Clay. We took a really fun road trip from Oklahoma and didn't take a true stop until Las Vegas (Well we stopped at Hoover Dam, which was really cool). Clay stayed up all night playing poker and we both had a great night! When we got into California we hit up four different beaches in five days: Venice Beach, Huntington Beach, Sunset Beach, and finally, Santa Monica. Clay went home yesterday and I already miss him so much. He's a great guy to have around and I wish he could be here all the time. :(

Anyways, here are a few pictures from the trip with Clay and I'll try to keep everyone posted on what's goin' on here in California.



This is Clay swimming at Huntington Beach. He was really brave and went really far out to the big waves to dive under. I didn't quite get out that far!



Here's a couple pics from our night in Vegas. The one of me is in front of the Bellagio (even though that's Caesar's Palace in the background). Clay and I caught the water show twice while on that part of the strip, which was cool, it was my second time on the strip, Clay's first!



These last couple are from Hoover Dam.

Anyways, hope this post doesn't look too primitive. I'll work on my blogging skills! (Carolyn and Sara's help is appreciated!!)