Cause We Make the HIPSTERS Fall in LOVE

When moving to the West Coast/Los Angeles you would expect a.) beautiful beaches b.) live music at almost every bar you go to c.) a distinct change of culture, including a wonderful laid back look at life, and d.) endless sunny skies. But little do you know, Los Angeles holds a whole different atmosphere that you wouldn't always expect. Here is a list of the fabulous things that you run into everyday in good old Los Angeles, CA.



1. Donut Shops-This was a huge shocker but wonderful surprise to me. Donut Shops rule this town. You cannot go 2 blocks without seeing a glorious donut shop! I lived it up for the first month or so but then the excitement of the donut shop wore off a little. It's marvelous though and I certainly have never seen anything like it! *Usually ran by none English speaking workers.

2. The Smoke Shop-You can usually find one of these in every plaza or street you hit up. Smoke shops let you pick up cigs, rolling papers, fancy lighters, cigars, and a huge supply of bowls, bongs, and any other object you prefer to smoke out of. You can also a lot of the time pick up some of the legal drug, Salvia, that gives you a great hallucinating trip for 4-10 minutes!

3. Dispensaries-There is absolutely no getting around these. Without them Cali wouldn't really be Cali. You present your ID along with our certification to be medically treated with Weed. Inside you will find hundreds of different strands, sativas and indicas, pre-rolled joints, along with lollipops, cookies, brownies, peanut butter, basically anything you can imagine for you to eat laced with weed. Pretty damn spectacular! 4. Thai Food-You cannot escape it. In L.A. Thai food is available on almost every block and even when it's bad, you still suck it up and eat it. Along with the Thai food you will often find FABULOUS burger joints such as; FatBurger, In-N-Out, Carls Jr., Astro Burger, etc.

5. Bicycles-Biking is everywhere you go. I even own a nice classy used blue bike and it serves as my usual way of transportation. This is one of my favorite things about of L.A. Watch out for bad or really advanced bikers. I'm still on the bad side and you really don't want to come near me cause wrecking into walls, people, and palm trees is still quite apparent. P.S. If you are going to be in Santa Monica/Venice or live in that area, biking is a blast! Bicycles have there own cement path right in the middle of the sand. Gorgeous. 6. 7-11-Is your town missing out on all the goodness that lies in the convenience store that we call 7-11? No slurpees near you? Well fear no more because 7-11 is the main corner store in every single neighborhood. I know in Pittsburgh that I only see 7-11's downtown and that sucks. Here they are free flowing and perfect for a late night hot dog, slurpee, and chips when you have the late night munchies.

7. Converse Sneaks-It's pretty much the only shoe worn. Period. 8. Palm Readers and Fortune Tellers-Don't fear when having a weird day or feeling a little lost in life because in Los Angeles you can get your fortune read, tarot cards done, palm read, and your numerology told on literally every other block. It's crazy but so is L.A. so I suppose they go hand in hand. You can also find a lot of fortune tellers that are open 24 hours too for your convenience!



9. And to top it off, I dedicate my last "cali things" to all the wonderful "Hipsters"-They're everywhere you go but mostly reside in East Los Angeles such as Echo Park, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and Little Armenia. You can spot these folks by there outfits which include; tight tight tight skinny jeans on men, smoking American Spirit Cigarettes, wearing plastic rimmed eye glasses(some prescribed, some not), scarfs mainly tied around the neck, drinking a can of PBR, and a great arrogant, I'm better than you attitude! Well that's all for now but more discoveries are sure to be obtained. Ohh and please don't forget my blog about the Taco Stands(you are also practically living in Mexico). They are pretty much the #1 Cali fixture and ohh soo delicious!!!



Peace & L.A.

S

It's Californication

I apologize for being so MIA but I have just been having a ball here in Los Angeles that I actually forgot about facebook and writing for a min. I've decided that sunny Cali with all of its loveliness is the way to go. NO MORE cold east coast winters for me. (well you never know but it's pretty likely that I will not return.)

So let's get to the good stuff. Weed is legal here. Not only is it legal but it's the best shit you'll ever smoke. I wasn't to big into smoking before but in Cali it's really hard to pass up. Since its soo good it doesn't give me a paranoid or anxious side effect that I would get from smoking back home. I really enjoy the Sour Diesel and the Pineapple Express. This all brings me to the conclusion that why the hell isn't weed legal in all states?? It has helped me tremendously. I gained 5 pounds(well I'll explain that later), have been overly happy, and just am having a great time with this new "medication"!

Another thing that I've been having great fun with is all the awesome food in this town! I've been on an eating frenzy. My favorite though is Machos Taco Stand in Los Feliz. It's this taco stand in the middle of a hot mess of car washes and other things. It's cheap and amazing. Actually all the Taco Stands are awesome I must say. And you eat outside and listen to Mexican music or sometimes they'll have a TV and you can watch Spanish Soap Operas while you eat. Amazing man! Okay now let's move onto the European bakeries. Well you can imagine. Now I'm getting hungry!! haha In and Out and Jack in the Box are totally rad burger joints. Donut Shops........need I say more??!!! And the best is that all of this is usually open 24/7. Great for late night eaters like me.

Everyone is much nicer out here. I think it's the sun and the 75 degree weather. I haven't had to wear a coat since I got here. SUCH a nice change. I can't tell you about all the fabulous shopping yet because I am making myself stay far far away. Even though today would be perfect for some time at The Grove, I can't risk taking the chance with my high end shopping addiction. Also what is really awesome is that biking is how you get everywhere. It's freaking sweet! You bike to the subway then get on then get off and bike to where you planned on going. I'm going to try to bike my way to the Valley tomorrow to get to ballet class. I'm pumped. My roomies and are are really close so we pretty much do a lot together. We have even began having Family Dinners. Soooo fun! And I am trying to move to Venice by the end of the month when my soul sister gets here.

So the overall story that I am trying to tell is basically that this move did a 360 on me and I'm very very happy. Maybe it's the sun, maybe it's all the wonderful people, maybe it's even the weed? All I know is that I am on a whole new path and it's a lot brighter, more chill, and relaxed. I've realized we all need to take a minute to just enjoy your time because life flys by so fast and you never know when it's your last. If any of you have lived here I'd love to here your stories!!!

Peace & Palm Trees

Celebration of Life

Hey loves.......okay so I am finally back in Pittsburgh, PA and plan on sleeping for quite a long time after attending the fabulosity that was my lil Cousins wedding. A touch of too many days with the loud fam and a whole large amount of just wayyyyyyy to much time with mom and dad. Ohh yes, I was 13 all over again. Don't you just love getting treated like you are 13? It's a blast. But anyways yay to lauren and Kris!!!! Soo much fun and such a beautiful wedding at Fort Lee Army/Navy/all of the "vys" I think, base. If Ryan Coss is reading this......I'm sorry kiddo and I know I probably wrote that up all wrong so feel free to fix it.

We lost a really great guy this weekend, BJ(William) Haas and I would like to really send out my deepest condolences to his family, friends, and his fraternity brothers. I have the most wonderful memories, from over the past 9-10 years with BJ. Always laughing and just such a fun guy. It's really really just plain out sad when someone dies that you went to school with and is that your exact age. You just never see it coming. I think his frat brothers are really keeping him alive in spirit with their beautiful words and memories.



I will not be writing this evening because I don't think I can think that much right now to put anything decent together but this week we will be discussing the following and more: Grammy nominations, saying goodbye to my Vintage 2007 4gb iPhone, learning how to be quiet when you have no idea what someone else's life is like and to NOT bring up very serious topics if you have completely ignorance towards them, hot watches for both men and women this winter(yes, G-Shock is still #1 in my eyes), and lots of other fun(and serious) stuff!


Hope you all had a great weekend and let's all wish my friend Christopher and his band The Mo Odds the best of luck at the Viper Room tonight! Ohh and I have a new date and a new ticket for LA for my move.......It's taking place on Jan. 13th at 12:30. Yes! And I got my ticket for free because of a voucher from the last time I was in LA that I forgot I had!!!! Yes!



Have a great night and don't forget to watch my girlfriend Courtney on Saved by the Baby on VH1 tonight!!! Usual time of 10:30.


Peace&Love
S

You Want a Piece of Me

Hey loves!!!! So as you know I'm moving and well I had already sold half my closet on eBay but due to my spending problem that good amount of money made went straight to designer dresses and bags. My bad. But this time I'm turning it all around.

So have you ever wanted a piece of me??? Well now if your chance! Click on the link below to view what I have dug up from my awesome closet the second round.

http://myworld.ebay.com/snhollock

And yes I do know it's disgusting that I have these many things with tags still attached! It's the true Confessions of a Shopaholic!

http://myworld.ebay.com/snhollock

Make sure to click on 'VIEW ALL ITEMS'

Think of it as a "Wow I get a great LBD and it's going to a good cause!"

Peace&Love

S

RUNAWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN

It's time for October Must Haves......We're just running a little late but don't worry cause it's all good my man

10. Combat Boots. I mean yes we all knew we needed them by the end of late summer but I think the big turning point was seeing how hot Megan Fox looked in hers with long cut off jeans and a wife beater for the "Love the way you Lie" video that made us know we REALLY needed them. hot hot hot.

9. Runaway. Sorry but I can't get enough of this song and I think you need to purchase it. Kanye once again holds the key to my heart. I still can't get over how genius Heartbreaks and 808's is!

8. Move It. Time to move down South or out West unless you actually dig the negative degree weather, darkness and ice/snow storms we get to experience in the Northeast.

7. Jersey Shore Finale. Thank you and PLEASE never bring these people back on the television again. It's all I hear anymore! Jersey Shore this and that! Jersey Shore can kiss my ass because i believe it to be the absolute dumbest show on earth and the fact that they are making $10,000 and episode makes me very nauseous. I'm sure it does to you as well.

6. Black and White. Black tee-white jeans. Black and white striped mini skirt, black and white scarf.......you get the point. Black and white is mega hot right now.

5. Ebay. Yes it's true if you haven't heard. I've become an ebay seller. Cool, I know. Believe me it's not my fault. I'm broke and have to sell things to move to Cali in 3 weeksssssss! But in the process that I've actually become addicted. I now found myself purchasing many many things off ebay. I secretly kinda love it.

4. Toywatch, G-Shock, Nixon, Adidas, Diesel, and Dumb watches. White, black, red, blue, purple......it's all about the wristwatch right now. LOVE IT! The best is that it's the plastic ones that are killing it right now so you can stock up on two or three! I just got a Dumb one it white and am OBSESSED!

3. Hot Shades. There is nothing better then great designer standout shades. Especially in the winter. Only thing I have to say is NEVER pay full price(unless you absolutely fall over and will die if you don't get them). Nordstrom, Sak's, Neiman's, and so on all have sales and if you have a Rack, Off Fifth, or any major designer department discount store are great options too.

2. Jim Morrison. Why not?

1. Best Friendssssss. Mucho grandes Loveresessss HA!

Peace

S

You Want Me To Sell WHAT!!!!

I don't even know where to start about this issue but it has been harassing me all day and now I have a migraine so I think it's best I get it out. I'm moving to LA in like 21 days or so and well I totally forgot to save any money to do this. This happens quite often but it's okay cause I always get what I want and pull it off without a problem. So while I've been out shopping all year my bank account(meaning funemployment account) is being completely drained week by week. So what though, I mean who didn't just have to have those fabulous Vera Wang flats and Badgley Miscka stilettos??? And yes, I am a horrible addict to hats and headbands. I only have 4 headbands and they easily equal over $200. I'll admit it, just as I said before, I am in love with fashion. It does actually define who you are and if it makes you happy then let it be!

Well this morning I was woken up to a wake up call by my parents to get a lecture about the whole money thing. That was the last thing I needed this morning because I haven't even been able to shop too much this week anyways. Well they started right in there with "Why don't you sell more of your clothes?" Umm NO! I have sold everything under the sun since I had a major weight change anyways last year. But they weren't talking about just any clothes.......they were talking about my cocktail dress and shoe collection. I began to cry but then I thought about it and hey what's one less DVF piece in the closet? (the DVF was the ONLY one i could even think of living without dying from fashion heartbreak. Well I just brought this dress down in it's dress bag like it was being sent to get buried, and then I had a breakthrough. No way in hell was I about to sell that absolutely beyond, to die, black lace with cream chiffon strapless, perfect red carpet dress, to someone who may not even appreciate the dress the way I do!

So what do you think.......sell all the possessions that I worked soooo hard for and make me soo happy, or be poor for a couple weeks until I find a job in LA? I think 2 weeks of suffering is the right idea here!

Peace&Fashion
S

Just Like a Prayer, I'll Take You There

It's been about or over 2 weeks and I am soo soo sorry for my absence. As you all prob know I traveled to Los Angeles for a while to see if I would enjoy living there and truthfully I lovedddd it. Now it's not like NYC love. That's too much. It was the perfect amount. Everything was so calm and freeing. I got good vibes from everything I touched or entered. It's just insane how different it is out west from the east coast. I think if the east coast learned how to live like the west coast does there wouldn't be as much stress places upon things of such nonsense. So as the end result.....I cannot wait to move to Cali(I'm in between w. hollywood and santa monica right now) after Whit's wedding in August of this summer.

Moving along......alright I KNOW I've written about a zillion blogs about Glee since I started this in Sept. but I am overjoyed that the show is back on in all of it's fabulousness! You all know my thoughts on Glee and how I adore it so I doubt you need to hear it again at the moment. (Full new Glee blog coming up in a couple weeks :)

Now to the point. I won't bore you with every move I made it LA(and 1 day in Vegas) but I would rather treat you to my final day in LA and all it's beauty. Lot's and lot's of beauty! .......Let's begin around 4am the morning of. We had just gotten home from the bars. Chris was next door making out with a cute little mexicana and James and I were in the living room watching and singing to Taylor Swift videos on youtube(my usual after hours activity). Chris comes home and says he has to go to bed. 20 minutes later I go check on Chris and he's sitting upright with his head hanging down saying he is going to throw up but he doesn't want to. Soo dramatic. I go get him water. James passed out so I sit there with Chris to make sure he doesn't choke up his throw up in his sleep. Ok this is getting disgusting! No puking occurred to my knowledge! SKIP......to the morning please.

I hurry up and throw the things I wore out the night before into my suitcase, brush my teeth, put on my comfy flying sweats and we are all on our way. I was sitting in the passenger side back seat and Chris was driving with James upfront. We were gonna drop off James, go to In and Out Burger and then to LAX. Everything was fine and grand while laughing, and having a good last hour in LA until something not so cool happened. You know how the freeway goes from fast to slow, etc., etc. Well we had actually finally started moving and before we knew it the car in front of us was at a standstill. We did not have time to stop and hit them from behind at a pretty high speed. We all sustained a lot of minor injuries but all in all we were ok. There were a lot of guardian angels watching over us that morning and I can't express how blessed I feel. Most importantly WE ALL HAD ON OUR SEAT BELTS. Just that saved us from a number of horrific conditions we could be in right now.

With all of us very flustered and my Chanel glasses smashed into my face, Christopher pushed the car 4 lanes over to the side of the freeway. God bless all of you who have been in and survived car accidents. I, by no way, have the best driving record. I have a lot of accidents from my past. Thankfully though they were just due to my dumb wit and include the following violations; Wrecking into curbs(I can't count how much money I have wasted on new tires due to this), Side swiping walls, boothes, etc(just today I nicked my right side view mirror while driving through to make a deposit at the bank), wrecking into cars that are parked in parking lots(yep you heard me right. I hit a whole lot of parked cars.) So with this in mind I will once again remind you how I totaled my car last summer. I hit a median in the middle of the road so hard that the car went flying, the whole windshield broke, and the airbags popped out to suffocate me with their 1996 Honda dust. Soo glad that cars gone. But yeah that's what happened. So as you see I really don't have too much interaction with other moving vehicles besides the LA accident. And I really hope a car accident isn't in anyones future.

I missed my flight, which was totally cool due to the circumstances until they told me they couldn't get me on another flight until 12am. I was alone, hysterical, and not getting home anytime soon. So I did what anyone would do to kill time; I went to the hospital.

......please see next blog!!!!
Peace & Love,
S