The Happiest Place on Earth

Let me take you back to seven years ago. July 26th, 2006 was the first time I ever flew on a plane. It was the first time I left New England. It was the first time I was too excited to sleep at all. 

July 26th, 2006 was the first time I went to Florida. Do you know what I was most excited for? I'll give you a hint, it's the "happiest place on Earth". 

Did you guess Disney World? If you did, you're right. I remember hearing stories from my friends about their trips to Disney World, and I just wanted to go so bad. There was talk of it a couple times before 2006, but it never happened. Finally, we were going. I was thirteen years old at the time (almost fourteen). I was so excited the night before we left to fly to Florida, I didn't sleep at all. I was up from the morning of July 25th until the evening of July 26th (which is a long time when you're only thirteen).  We went to Disney World, and I loved it, absolutely loved it. I made a promise to my thirteen-year-old self that, when the opportunity presents itself, I will go to every Disney park in the world. I do plan on keeping that promise starting with Sunday.

Sunday, seven years (and a month) later, I'll be at my second Disney park, Disneyland.. and I'm wicked excited. I'll be taking lots and lots of pictures and enjoying the day to the full extent with a good friend and a new friend. 

What brought about this post? A combination of looking through old photos on Facebook and coming across a picture of myself in the airport for the first time and realizing that I'm going to Disney this weekend. 

A good use of reflection.

Happy Weekend!

peace.love.happiness.

~Lisa

Let Go

Imagine if you will that you have to deliver a 10 pound bag of something.. let's go with potatoes to your friend who lives ten miles away. The only way you can get there is by walking. That's not bad. You'll get a nice walk. After all, it's only 10 pounds. You start walking. After about a mile, your arms start to get tired. You have a bag on your back, so you put the potatoes in your bag to give your arms a break. After another mile, you continue to get tired, but it's not bad. You keep going. After the third mile, your shoulders start to heart. Another mile goes by, and now your back is hurting. The bag feels so heavy. You still have six miles to go. The thought of it is awful. You continue on. By the time you get to your ninth mile, your shoulders, your back, your neck, your legs, and your feet all are sore. You don't think you can take another step. Your feet drag as you continue on. That last mile is agonizing. You don't think you'll make it all because that 10 pound bag of potatoes feels like it's about 100 pounds. 

What is the point of this story? 
People carry burdens every day. Some are tiny and some are big. Some people hold on to these burdens, and they don't get rid of them. As time goes on, they get bigger and bigger and harder to deal with. It's just like the 10 pound bag of potatoes. The longer you hold onto something, the heavier it gets and the more it can hurt. 

So, take some time to reevaluate your life and the problems you carry. Start to let them go. Don't let them become bigger than they need to and drag you down. 

Peace.Love.Happiness.

~Lisa

The past few days

Thursday was my last day at Jimmy Kimmel, and I am going to miss it there. It was so much fun at JKL, and the people there were awesome. I wouldn't mind working there next year. 
My last day there was a good one. At the end of the day, we hung out in the green room and had fun. There were some competitive pool games going on and goodbyes being prolonged. But really, the goodbyes are just temporary. 
One thing I've learned about Hollywood is that it's a small town. It seems like everyone knows everyone or is connected in some way, which can be a good or a bad thing. If you get a good reputation, that will be known. If you're awful to work with or do a lousy job, that will also be known. In this industry, you just have to know that every job you do could affect you later on in your career. You can't take any job for granted. I've learned to appreciate every job you get, even if you're cleaning up at the end of the day. You always should do your job 110%. 

With that being said, I still can't believe I'm almost done with my internship and that I'll be heading home in just 13 days and starting my senior year of college. They weren't kidding when they said time flies. I am excited. Getting the opportunity to live in California for the summer has been great and more than I could ever have asked for. It came at the right time, and it taught me more life lessons. 
(I'll save the rest of reminiscing and what not for a later post).

To the weekend:
Friday was mine, Sam and Jeffrey's 21st birthday. It was the first year I haven't seen at least one of them on our birthday. The last time the three of us were together was our 18th birthday in 2010. 2011, Jeffrey and I were together, 2012, Sam and I were together, and 2013 Jeffrey and Sam were together. Full circle. It was nice when they facetimed me at drinks after dinner with the family. That was nice. It was only about 3:30 here, so I hadn't even gotten ready yet to go to dinner or anything. 

After our facetime, I got ready to go out. We went to Hard Rock Cafe on Hollywood Blvd. for dinner. The people working there were wicked nice. They even let me request songs to be played while I was there. I got one drink there. It was called a Purple Haze. During dinner, they had people from the Make-a-Wish foundation there with Booker T (the wrestler). It was nice to see kids having such a great evening and a night that meant a lot to them. After dinner, the waiter brought over some more waiters with a sundae and started the happy birthday song they normally sing which turned into the whole entire restaurant singing "happy birthday" to me. That was pretty amazing. Apparently, that has never happened before. A great place for a 21st birthday. 
From Hard Rock Cafe, we went to the Hollywood Bowl to see the LA Philharmonic perform. They were amazing. The fireworks during the performance of "1812" .. one of the most amazing things I have seen. I would definitely recommend seeing an orchestra and fireworks together at some point. 
From there, we went back to the apartment and met up with one of our roommates. Then we went to the bar down the street (Brew Co.). My first bar experience was a good one.

Overall, my 21st birthday in Los Angeles was fun and a night I'll never forget.

Next weekend, I am Disneyland Bound!! I'm wicked excited for that. Tomorrow I start at Arsenio Hall. I'll have two weeks there. Then, I am East Coast bound August 31st/September 1st.
Summer has flown.

I look forward to seeing everyone in a couple weeks, and I am going to enjoy every last moment here and soak up the sun while I have it.

Peace.Love.Happiness.

~Lisa

Shark Week! Jimmy Kimmel! theBeach!

37 days ago, I finished packing up my stuff and left good ole' New England. In three weeks from today, I'll be packing up again, heading home, packing up my school stuff, and moving into Quinnipiac for my last year. It's just another reminder that time if flying by, but also another reminder to enjoy every moment. 

Let me start from last Thursday, my last day at Craig Ferguson. My time there was fun and productive. I got to see a few bands and singers who I've wanted to see live during dress rehearsals, which was awesome. It was good to see how a late night show can run. From the following two places, it'll be interesting to see how different late night shows can be operated from place to place. 

After ending at Ferguson, I went to an intern/host mixer that was put on by the Academy. It was so much fun. I was very happy to see Ken and Clay again (my hosts from Shark Tank) and get to catch up with them. The mixer gave me the opportunity to meet other people in the business, as well as some more interns. It was held at the Sheraton at Universal on the 21st floor (which is a tall building in LA), which meant we got to see a beautiful sunset over LA. 

I had Friday off, so I got to finally mail some things and watch a lot of Doctor Who. On Saturday, I finally went to the beach for the first time since I got out here. Will Rogers State Beach was beautiful. A big group of us went and got to just relax the whole time and have fun. Coming from Massachusetts, I'm used to the water being rather cold, so I had no problem with the temperature (which was surprisingly similar to the Cape). However, the waves were bigger than the ones I'm used to. They weren't huge. They were kind of like the ones you would find at Lighthouse Beach in Chatham or Nauset Beach in Orleans. Then you add some rocks. We walked down to a slightly calmer area and looked for an opening in the rocks and were fine from there on out. Towards the end of the day, we saw a seal close to shore, probably about 20-30 feet away (that's when I decided I was not swimming any more, just in case a shark was close by looking for a seal). No sharks were seen, but it was around 4:30 at that point, so we decided to pack up and head out.

Monday, I started at Jimmy Kimmel Live. I pretty much do things that PAs do, and it is so much fun. I was on Hollywood Boulevard looking for people to belly flop on the show, I threw an envelope in another PA's car as he drove by on the street. I got to see Joan Jett and the Blackhearts live. She is awesome and still knows how to rock a stage. Jimmy Kimmel is teaching me behind the scenes things and what goes into getting a show done. The Executive Producer of the show is wicked nice. She gets things done, but she also takes the time to know everyone on set and will go out on Hollywood Boulevard and help find people. That, to me, deserves respect. People out here can get caught up in their lives and their position will to go to their heads and they will make it clear they are above you. That's not fun to be around. When you find people who know their place, but will still be respectful of everyone else, it's good to keep in touch.

California is amazing, and I can't believe I only have three weeks left here. I love it so much here! I am so happy. I don't know what it is about here, but it's just so different. Maybe it's the sun every day. Maybe it's the fact that your food is always fresh here. Maybe it's going out every day and knowing you're one step closer to your dream. Whatever it is, I'm just going to enjoy the next three weeks and appreciate the opportunity given to me. 

peace.love.happiness.

~Lisa