Weekend in a Nut Shell

Phone call, Saturday night: 
Nicki: Hi, I just saw Jesus!
Tara: You just saw Jesus?
Nicki:  Yeah, James Caviezel
Tara: Oh. You could have said the actor that played Jesus.
Nicki:  He's here at the USC game, pretty cool, huh?
Tara: Definitely. Give me a call when you see God.

My guy was in Vegas this weekend and you know how the saying goes...when the cat is away the mice will play. Not quite. After work on Friday I met up with a college friend at El Cholo (voted best Margaritas) and did a sleepover at her place. Did a little damage the next day at Target for new apt stuff.  I was out till 3 a.m. on Saturday night though with some new friends at a fundraiser for a girls soccer league--HUGS, which was held at the Red Buddha Lounge on Yucca Street. The place apparently is dubbed "new Hollywood." The music was good and I love how all these Cali bars have open courtyards in the back. Definitely rarer to find in NYC. The gift bag for the event included a pink lemonade energy drink called HER, the first and only energy drink marketed specifically towards women. It was pretty good. Also, stopped at In and Out for some grease before passing out. I think I'm going to love having these new fast-food chains nearby. Oh I also sold another friend on using tarte's lip plumper, Rise & Shine. It just makes lips look sexy.

It seems everyone is coming out with perfumes these days like Sarah Jessica Parker and even the show Desperate Housewives has its own scent. In that vain, I recently received a bottle of Hilary Duff's first fragrance, With Love…Hilary Duff. It's being released in partnership with Elizabeth Arden and the bottle is vintage elegant. The scent smells flowery with a hit of spice and musk. I wore it out on Saturday night and was happy with it, I'll definitely be using it more, especially since I'm a fan of light perfumes and vanilla scents. It actually reminds me of something else I've smelled, but I can't place it and it's annoying me. hmm. Some of the other scents in 'With Love' include the tropical mangosteen blossom, cocobolo wood--an exotic wood prized for its rare beauty and a base of sheer amber milk and sultry amber musk.

How I got the sample bottle was funny. I had received one of those FedEx sorry we missed you slips and knowing I hadn't ordered anything, because if I did I would have sent it to my office because it's safer, my curiosity was peaked. So I called FedEx to arrange a pick-up and asked who the sender was and they said the slip said Hilary Duff. I was like, Hillary Duff is sending me something? Then I remembered I had spoken with her PR firm publicizing the fragrance and connected the dots. For a second though my original scenario was cool. 

Anyway back to my weekend, I also went to the Santa Monica/Venice Farmer's Market today, which was double the size of the one in Union Square and has grilled corn and organic sausages being cooked and sold as well. I picked up two bunches of geraniums, strawberries and ingredients for pesto, which I'm making tonight with chicken and farfalle.

Fat Burger

There is something freeing about the blatant name of the California burger chain, Fat Burger. Yesterday, on my lunch break, not only did I have my very first Fat Burger but my first turkey burger too. I had heard they were good there, so I had to check it out. Yum to both counts!

This place is definitely not afraid to lay on the seasonings and pepper either. I had to ask for it minus the relish and mustard though, not a fan. I did leave the mayo on and asked for cheese as an extra topping. The franchise claims to use Lean Ground Turkey for their turkey burgers, which are cooked to order while you wait and not before. The bun was dark in color, looking as it could have been wheat bread, but I'm not sure and nothing is mentioned about their buns on the website. The clerk had asked if I wanted skinny fries with my order--fat burger, skinny fries? Such paradoxes, lol. 

Founded in LA in 1952, there are now 82 Fat Burger restaurants throughout Canada and the US and former professional basketball player Magic Johnson is currently one of the owners of the parent company. For my NY readers there is one in the Palisades mall. Also, all the Fat Burger locations have a jukebox where patrons can play songs for free. Oh and here's a tip, my guy recommends their Texas Burger with egg.

I can't wait to go to In and Out again too, I've only been once before when visiting San Francisco. 

Going Postal: One of the boxes that I sent 2-to-3 day Priority Mail (the important one with my under garments, tennis racquet, cosmetics and USB flash drive) still hasn't arrived 10 days later. Yet all of the other boxes sent on the same day has, wtf? The post office said they can't put a tracer on it until 30 days and that they don't know where it is. All they know is that it left the post office on the 18th and has yet to arrive in Venice, CA. Grr.

Return of the Jetta

I'm now the proud leaser of a black & chrome 2006 VW Jetta 2.5, fully loaded with leather seats and sunroof. It looks more like a beamer actually. It took all of Saturday to do the paperwork, select a color, model and haggle the MSRP and lease payments. I say that like it wasn't actually my boyfriend doing all the haggling and number crunching. We basically "played" bad cop and dumb blond cop. At one point the saleswoman held out her hand to collect my driver's license and I, misinterpreting the gesture, placed my hand in hers. She looked at my guy and said "she's cute." Lol, I felt like a flake.

 

I had originally wanted a red Jetta but apparently VW is no longer releasing Jetta's in red, plus the only Salsa Red they had at the lot was leasing for the same price as a fully loaded model. So, basically it came down to whether a red car was more important to me than a better deal with sunroof and power seating. Is that a real term? Power seating? Did I just make that up? What I mean is that with the red car you'd have to adjust the non-leather seats manually by turning this big wheel as apposed to an automatic button that glides your seat into position and comes with three saved setting options. Although it's not my dream color, I'm extremely happy with it. It looks very ritzy, but now I'm scared as hell that I'm going to ding it or ruin its new detailed look.

 

It doesn't help that I haven't really driven on a regular basis for the three years now and that I don't know where I'm going, which is shooting my confidence to hell. Plus, none of the street lights here have arrows--nope it's just a free for all when it comes to turning at intersections.  As a result, I was reminded of a quote by Woody Allen in Annie Hall, "I don't want to live in a city where the only cultural advantage is that you can make a right turn on a red light."

 

It also takes three maneuvers to exit my apartment building's tight parking garage. Luckily the homeless guys that sleep in the garage are usually asleep in front of another tenant's car, located in the corners. It's still pretty freaky seeing their feet peaking out from the floor near the hood of people's cars.

My drive to work though is pretty sweet, only 20 minutes and no highways. I also get to pass the Pacific ocean and drive up and down palm tree lined streets. Sunroof open of course. Here are photos of my new ride (see the beach in the distance? That's my street):

I'm in the NY Times!

I only had to harass the feisty reporter and insult the paper on my blog here to have it happen. The reporter, Matt Villano, respected my gumption and equal feistiness though and included me in his piece and even added in the idea about companies encouraging blogging, which is what I originally pitched him. So sometimes it pays to speak your mind--even if you're in PR. 

Check out the resulting story in the NY Times Circuits section page 5: Blogging the Hand That Feeds You 

I'm mentioned in three graphs.  I'm so stoked about it. The story also mentions that a blog is created every second, wow! 

Here's the excerpt

"Another example of the evolution of business blogs is a site named When Tara Met Blog. It is a personal mouthpiece for Tara Renee Settembre, an account executive with the Horn Group, a public-relations company in New York. Ms. Settembre writes about all sorts of experiences, from buying lip plumpers to harassing feisty reporters.

When she recently decided to move to California, she broke the news on her blog. The site has the full endorsement of her employer, which links to it on the corporate Web site and mentions it to interested clients. As her blog has become more popular, Ms. Settembre has even received permission to bill some of the time she spends writing it as professional development.

“I can’t help but think it is pretty awesome and modern of them,” she wrote in a recent post. She added that the company continued to encourage her to write, despite the fact that the blog “isn’t industry-related and sometimes has questionable content.”

Shipping of Fools

So apparently 2-to-3 day Priority Mail means the post office will aim to get your stuff there in two to three days. They will try their "best," but there isn't a guarantee. Thus, even though you shell out the extra $$ for priority mailing your stuff can technically take up to two freakin weeks to get there.

Here I was, thinking that if I shelled out the bigger bucks my stuff could arrive before I started work on Monday and that way I could get settled in over the weekend and not worry about when my stuff would arrive and how to pick it up. Yet, that's exactly what I'm doing now. Only one of my four packages has arrived and it wasn't even the one with my shoes or pressed pants and dress shirts. I mailed them all on the same day yet...only one has arrived five days later. So riddle me this, why do postmen go postal? I would think it would be the people shipping and waiting to receive packages and not the deliverer. Oh well, what can I do but bitch in this post?

In the meantime (3 days), I have to lease a car and get an insurance provider, pick up a chest of draws found on craigslist and yes, have some fun. It seems I arrived on a good weekend, The San Gennaro Italian feast is going on here too and a Venice Block Party. I'll report back.

PS: How can Grey's Anatomy make me cry every episode?