KoalaStar Rising:

It’s because I purchased the final installment of the Harry Potter series last night at Midnight Madness. I have decided to stay away from the internet until I finish the book because I don’t want anything spoiled for me. I’ve read the first three chapters so far and I’m already having trouble putting it down (it’s that good!). So, I probably won’t be around until I’m finished with it. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up so people don’t start to wonder where I’ve disappeared to.

I hope everyone has a rockin’ good weekend!

Apparently you can now make yourself into a Simpsons character! How cool is that? My friend Oxy made me into a Simpsons character because I am somewhat artistically challenged (I had a terrible time trying to make myself into a South Park character and I knew this would be no different).

I think Oxy did a great job, don’t you?

I must say that the marketing for the new Simpsons Movie has been brilliant so far. From the opening of a dozen Kwik-E-Marts, to selling products like Buzz Cola and Squishees, to being able to make yourself into a Simpsons character, I am willing to bet that this movie is going to make a lot of money (and hopefully be quite entertaining as well).

I can’t wait to see it!

I stole this from my friend Teresa because I thought it was incredibly clever and hilarious. We are all aware of the Mac Vs. PC debate that has been going since the dawn of time, right? (okay, so maybe not that long, but you get the idea). Both Mac and PC users swear by their systems (and both are willing to fight to the death to get their point across ).

I, of course, know that Macs are far superior to PCs. I finally learned this when the hard drive on my Dell laptop crashed for the fifth time (causing me to lose all of my finals in the process). Mind you, I only had this laptop for about a year and a half when it died for the fifth time. When I called up Dell’s customer service to get help, I was given the run around until I ultimately decided to give up and try my luck with an Apple computer. I had my first Powerbook for four years with no problems whatsoever and I’ve had my beautiful MacBook Pro for almost a year now (also with no problems). Go figure.

Anyways, the point of this post was not to start talking about how amazing Macs are, but to show a neat video that a couple of guys came up with to try and settle the Mac Vs. PC debate once and for all.

Here ya go:

So, what do you think? Do you prefer Macs or PCs? The real question is, has your vote been swayed since seeing this video?

Oh, and I just found the video that this one was in response to so I thought I should add it. Enjoy!

The last of my house guests left on Friday. My special birth”day” felt more like a birth”week” because of all the wonderful people that decided to stay after the festivities had ended last Saturday. It was really nice catching up with people that I hadn’t seen in quite some time and getting to know others that I had never met before. I love it whenever I get the chance to play hostess, and as crazy as it can get with a full house, I really enjoy that too. This week I plan to get back into the swing of things (my birthday celebration was so soon after my return to LA, that I have had no time to get back into the swing of normal, everyday life).

Today is a very special day indeed, but I’m keeping mum about it until later tonight (you’ll know why when the time comes).

Last night, a group of us decided it was high time we visited our local 7-11 (which had been transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart for the upcoming release of the Simpsons Movie). It was so awesome! Here’s a plethora of pictures from both inside and outside the Kwik-E-Mart. Enjoy!

Here I am stuck in between Marge and Comic Book Guy (anyone know what his real name is? I can’t remember for the life of me!)

I don’t think I trust Springfield’s First Bank…

Mmmm…Doughnuts…

Livie and Patrick with Chief Wiggum

Marc had to stock up on Krusty-O’s and Buzz Cola.

Ralph was very kind and let me have some of his popsicle.

Homer didn’t want to give me a bite of his hot dog. So I had to take one when he wasn’t looking.

Enjoying our squishees with Apu.

*phew*

I had the most amazing birthday celebration on Saturday (I think I’m still recovering from all of the excitement). I couldn’t have asked for a more incredible day. It started with brunch at one of my favorite places (The Lazy Daisy Cafe), then about fifteen of us went to this fantastic little sushi restaurant in Westwood Village called It Zushi for dinner (they had $0.99 sake there which got the evening off to a great start). Afterwards, it was off to The Edison. I think somewhere between 40-50 people showed up at The Edison which was wonderful (I felt so loved!). My digital camera has 172 pictures on it and I obviously can’t post them all on here so I will just post a few to give you an idea of what my party was like.

This is one of two semi-group shots taken at the Edison. I say “semi-group” because as you will see, a lot of people are cut out of both shots and (if you can believe it) not everyone in attendance at my party are in the photos (it’s very hard to try and get 40 some odd people together for a group shot, believe me).

Here are some of my birthday cupcakes behind the reserved sign for my table (my table was right next to the stage where the flapper dancers performed–best spot in the entire joint if I do say so myself!).

Ooooh, pretty!

And here I am right before I successfully blew out all the candles.

I must say that my birthday was a smashing success. I haven’t had that kind of fun in quite sometime. It was really neat having so many friends in the same place so everyone could meet and mingle.

I think I’m going to post the rest of the photos on Facebook or MySpace because there just isn’t enough room to post them all here.

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! YAYAYAYA!

And it’s a very special birthday indeed! 07/07/07, a once in a lifetime date. What could be better than that, eh?

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend (I know I sure will!)

Two more days until my big birthday on 07-07-07 (a very auspicious day if I do say so myself). I am so excited because I have some very special people who are going to help me celebrate. I’ve got my sister who is visiting from Boston, my cousin Kate (who flies into LA from NY tomorrow), my friend Elysse (who is flying down from SF) and Livie, one of my best friends from college, who is driving down from the Bay Area with her boyfriend Patrick. All these wonderful people are coming out to spend time with me on my special day, YAY! (I feel so loved!)

We are going to be celebrating my birthday in style at The Edison, a 20s style bar/lounge in downtown LA. We went ahead and reserved a table so people would have a nice, central place to congregate. Marc and I went to The Edison tonight to scope out our table and I’ve got to admit, it’s in the perfect location (right by the flapper dancers, what could be better than that?!)

I am so excited! I can’t wait! Oh, and I will be sure to post tons of pictures once all of my birthday festivities have calmed down.

I hope everyone has a fun, safe Fourth of July.

I’m off to the beach!

Last Saturday, a group of friends and I returned to my beloved Santa Barbara County to do some wine tasting. Mosby Winery was having their annual Independence Day Festival and since Marc and I are members of their wine club, we were invited to go. The only downer of the day was the drive up to Santa Barbara. It was ridiculous. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced so much traffic going out that way before. We left LA around 11:30am and didn’t get to Mosby’s until 4:00pm! (Normally, it only takes about an hour and a half to two hours to get there).

Here are Lil’ Ebwie and Marc hanging out at one of the rest stops on the way out to Santa Barbara.

Luckily, everyone at Mosby’s was still celebrating when we finally arrived, so we got to taste five different wines and eat yummy barbecue.

Here I am with Kyle at the wine tasting stand Mosby’s had set up.

It was a perfect day to be outside. Not too hot, and not too cold with clear blue skies and just the slightest summer breeze.

Here I am with Marc.

After we left Mosby’s, we met up with two friends (Elizabeth and her guy Sam) at this adorable Danish cafe in Solvang.

I must admit, those are some of the largest beer steins I have ever seen. I don’t know how someone could drink that much beer (my stomach would be hurting for days!).

Before heading off to dinner, we stopped at this little tasting room which belonged to Vigna Ladonna Winery. I hadn’t heard of Vigna Ladonna Winery before, but their wines were exquisit! While there, we met this wonderful couple who knew quite a bit about wine and the art of wine tasting. They ended up joining us at The Hitching Post II (my all-time favorite eatery in Santa Barbara County), where they proceeded to buy three bottles of wine for the table (which was incredibly sweet of them to do). Good (free) wine, scrumptious steaks, and delicious desserts were (of course) greatly enjoyed by all.

Here’s a group shot taken by one of the servers at The Hitching Post II.

All in all, it was a fantastic way to spend the day. I can’t wait to go again!