LA Love

                I am from Los Angeles California. The city of Angels, I have always called it home and I always will. I love everything about LA. The people, art, buildings, beaches, and yes I could do without the traffic but all in all it wouldn’t be the same without it. I had never lived anywhere else until August of 2012 when I left for college. I had never experienced an actual quite night, all stores closing at 10 pm and no traffic. That changed when I left LA and moved to Reedley California.

                I thought well I want to get away from home and be independent, so I went for central California. Little did I know how huge these changes were going to be. I was now living without a mall, movie theater, frozen yogurt, and anything over two stories. It may sound stupid but after having those things for 18 years not having them is scary. I was like what will I do for entertainment? My mom of course immediately piped up with “you will be studying you won’t need any of those things!” I however was not convinced. I have since found ways to keep myself occupied which has been such a blessing and would have been impossible without meeting all of the new amazing friends I have made.

                College has taught me many things and has opened my eyes to many things. One thing I am sure of is that I need to live in a big city. It is just who I am and what I enjoy. Not to say I hate the country, but I much rather make a day trip then spend every day there. I am currently home for spring break and I have re-fallen in love with LA. I love the city lights, crazy people, the ability to find any kind of food you want, and yes I even love the traffic because it lets me know that there really is that many people.

                I am excited to be home for the week and experience my city, have it be walking around Hollywood, going to Downtown, walking down Olvera Street, or sitting on the beach. I love everything about it. I can’t picture a better place to live and I hope everyone can experience this city in their life because it is truly the best city in the word, in my opinion of course.

                                                                                                xoxo Tessa

Talking TV: In Plain Sight

(image from imdb)

I was going to make this post be about finishing my first scarf and the projects and the spark that that I've found since then, but instead I decided to make this about TV.

I used to be the biggest non-fan of TV; I hated almost everything on air. Then I realized how silly that was. I stopped thinking about it was something other people watch and more of as a really long story. This idea pertains to most shows.

Books are longer than movies, but shows are longer than books, and I love that. I love having a long story with good characters and a nice moving plot, yet stability. This has changed my mindset about most TV, and I am so glad. I've discovered so many great shows that I would have totally written off and now I love them whole heatedly.

This post is really about the show I just finished, In Plain Sight; it's about a US Marshal who works for witness protection in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There's many ups and downs through the show but the strong female lead Mary Shannon gets through them all with out being a stereotype or resorting to judgments on other characters. Mary is written very well, she is a strong independent female who has spent her whole life taking care of her family, especially after her father walked out when she was seven.

Mary carries this with her throughout the whole series, she constantly tries to protect everyone around her, and this is not done in a mollycoddling way, but instead through witty sarcasm, banter with her partner Marshall Mann, and a strong clear determination. The character states several times through the series that she is not a hugger, and it was said in at least one episode that she isn't a people person; to me this makes Mary more likable. The fact that even though she might not be able to stand people, or even trust them most times that she will still risk her lives to protect them, criminal or not if it is her job she will do it. The cold hard truth will be given to the witnesses and they have to continue on.

In one episode Mary tells her mother who is an alcoholic that better people than her have been through worse, while this seems very mean and at the time it was, her mother actually listens to it and later repeats it back to Mary. Instead of seeing only the bitter in the statement she could decipher what Mary meant and has grown from it.

All of the characters start off one way and slightly one dimensional even though the writing is good, but very soon do we see that they have so many more dimensions and that you will want to see them through. By the end of the show the characters have grown and changed so much, even into beings you wouldn't think they could be, and they do things that would be out of character in the beginning but because of the journeys they have gone on during the five seasons they are now in character and you are rooting for each person to be happy, and they are. Whether or not the ending is exactly what you wanted, everyone is happy, lives have been lost and found and given and even through changes and worst nightmares, there is a happy ending.

I urge you to check out this show, seasons one through three are available on Netflix. You will not regret this choice, you may even go on a journey with them, but keep in mind that even in the darkest of hours, they do end up happy, whatever that may be you will have to watch to find out!

XOXO Lauryn

Knee(d) Yoga

About three weeks ago I seriously injured my knee. After numerous doctors’ visits and crutching everywhere I finally have a diagnosis. I dislocated my knee and when I did that I partially tore the cartilage behind my knee cap, strained my ligaments and my knee cap is currently sitting 2 inches out of place. This sounds bad, and while it is I got great news that I will not have to have surgery. I am trying to keep everything in perspective.  

                This injury has been just as mentally exhausting as it has been physically. I was and am very upset by my physical limitations and how it is affecting my life. I can’t do many things that used to be a breeze before and it is very frustrating. One thing that was hard was not doing yoga. I have really come to enjoy it. I love that even though it is not very vast and intense it is a great work out. It really helps me focus and keep my mind in the right place. Having to stop this was hard to adjust to.

                However, when I went to my first physical therapy session a couple days ago my PT gave me some poses that I could do with my knee being injured. This was some very exciting news, and I came home and tried them that night. I have been incorporating this new version of yoga into my daily life and it has been a blessing.

                Yoga helps me stay focused and not only physically strengthens me but mentally strengthens me. At first I thought yoga was expensive stretching I really had no idea what it was. But after being exposed to it I have fallen in love with yoga. I would really encourage anyone to try it and to not be intimidated by the stereotypes connected to it.

JULIA NUNES!

(picture is taken from Julia's instagram, her username is @julianunesmusic)

(Me and Julia! also Will totally photobombed.)

(picture of the signed album!)

       I got to see her show yesterday in Fresno and it was so good. I've been watching Julia

on youtube for so many years now. I've never been to a living room show or seen her live at 

all and yesterday both of those happened, at the same time.

        I was rather nervous to go to someone's house that i've never met before but then I walked in at sat down and was talking to the girl next to me and she was lovely and then i spied that there was the twin peaks box set over by the tv and pretty much all my nervous went away.

       The show was so good and everyone was wonderful. My very first thought when Julia walked in was "SHE HAS LEGS." Which is an awfully odd first thought unless you take into consideration that for years i've seen about waste up and when that occurs through a computer screen you tend to forget that legs are a thing.

       Accompanying Julia was Will Sturgeon, he plays music as well and is based out of LA (HE'S HERE, HERE, HERE, AND HERE!). He did a really great job which has prompted me to check out his music (although he hadn't really heard Weezer before? but this has been and is being fixed. it's okay, he's still pretty cool). I suggest you check him out.

       The show started with some songs, we had a Q&A then a boy about 10 years, Logan played two songs he's learned and was pretty rocking' I hope that he puts up songs of his own and youtube, i'm sure to subscribe. Then Julia played some more songs and it was time for the group picture. Then came the meeting and the buying and the signing. I bought her latest album Settle Down (LISTEN TO AND BUY IT HERE!) and she signed it for me and we took a picture together.

       The whole show was exactly what I had expected, Julia was just as nice and amazing as I had always thought and seen from watching her videos. I loved the backstories she told us about some of the songs and the little tidbits that came along with them. 

       This was an amazing experience and I would love for her to come back to fresno as well as any other musician or person/people who do neat things. I couldn't have asked for a better time. I had to tell myself that this actually was real a few times, and I almost cried at least once. i cannont tell you what this actually meant to me, just that it was amazing and i hope you get a chance to see Julia (SHE'S PLAYING MORE SHOWS! SEE IF THERE IS ONE NEAR YOU/ BUY TICKETS HERE!).

XOXO Lauryn

Tea For Tessa

As a little girl I did some very cliché things, such as played tea party. I loved playing tea party especially with my cousin Maddy. She and I are like sisters, and we love spending time with each other. My favorite was to play tea party at her house because my Auntie would make us real tea to play with. This is truly when my love for tea began. My Aunt has an extensive tea collection, and some fabulous china to go with it. On occasion she would let us use it and it was very exciting.

            My Aunt would make us peppermint tea a lot and I think this is how it became my favorite. Peppermint tea reminds me of fun carefree times that just gives me warm and fuzzy feelings. Also peppermint is my favorite flavor of just about everything. However, we didn’t just have peppermint we had a wide variety of flavors we would drink. Being exposed to tea at a young age helped me grow up with a great appreciation for it.
            Now that I am older I have found that I like softer teas and nothing with a very in your face flavor. Honey is my favorite thing to put in my tea. It adds to the flavor without over whelming it and is a great natural sweetener. It is also excellent when you are sick or have a sore throat because it helps soothe your throat. A spoon full of honey helps the tea go down!
            Some tea extraordinaires say that tea in bags is awful and all you can taste is paper. Maybe my palate is just low class but I can’t taste paper so it is fully up to the consumer on how they would like to make their tea.  I have had loose leaf tea made with a tea ball and it was delicious but also a lot more effort, so again completely up to you. There is one thing that I think all tea drinkers should pay attention too and that is steeping time. Each type of tea (black, green, white) has a different time amount that is should be steeped and this is very important. If you go shorter than the time recommended you won’t get the full flavor and of you go longer your tea will go bitter. This means no, do not just leave the tea bag in while you drink! So make sure you check before enjoying your drink.
            I am also a fan of iced tea. I do not like making it because it can be a lengthy time process and I love instant satisfaction. But to each their own. My favorite iced tea is sweet tea is from Texas Borders. This is a small but ABSOLUTELY AMAZING restaurant in Katy, Texas. Every time I go to Texas there is a must have meal there. So if you are ever in the area check it out. I like my sweet tea to melt in my mouth the sweeter and colder the better. I could easily drink it daily. No matter what type of tea is your favorite, don’t be afraid to try a new flavor. Drink up!