Eggplant Emoji

First, I would like to thank you for your patience when blogger was having issues and you either weren't able to load pages or post comments. I thought they were working on the problem and it would be fixed in no time, but it wasn't. I had to contact Google, it took about a week but the problem seems to have been solved now. Plus, I got your comments, so that's a good thing. I love hearing from you. Please keep the comments coming!

Weekend after I heard about the missing snake, I had a lot of praying, visualization and all kinds of things giving myself hope that the snake wouldn't come out and attack me.

Cold Blooded Snake

I don't know if I told you that Calvin had a friend live with him for a few months.

Apparently Calvin had offered said friend a place to stay when the friend 'moved back' to town. The friend decided to stay with his cousin and her boyfriend (cousin's boyfriend not Cal's friend's). When that didn't work out, Friend took Calvin up on his offer and subsequently moved in. Calvin has a two bedroom house. Friend used the spare bedroom / Office. They have been friends since they were kids (Calvin and Friend not spare bedroom and office haha).  Friend always runs errands over the weekend; like that's what he always says when you ask if where he's going or what he's up to. Anyway, someone's gotta run them, hadn't they?

GTFOH

Oh, the life of a struggling actor!

Here we are, Christmas time, the shows are on break, meaning, no work, no $$! Now what? I was done with my Christmas shopping but there was no money coming in!

I got more stuff than I told you about. Sue me!

I didn't want to worry but time was running out. It was going to be time to pay rent for January soon enough. So, here's what I did: I thought of a very good friend of mine who never lets me down, the law of attraction. I downloaded a picture of a stack of money and saved it as a screensaver, in hopes that that would materialize in my life.

Calvin asked what I wanted for Christmas, I told him an iPhone 6 plus. He told me that he can get me a cellphone contract but to spend so much money on a cellphone doesn't make sense to him. Meaning, I will have to buy the cellphone myself at a later stage because I want it. Just because it doesn't make sense to him doesn't mean it shouldn't to me either. I respect his opinion, it ends there! Halfway through the month, Calvin asked me how I was doing rent wise. I told him that I was hoping for a break; Airbnb or something! I could also sell one of my big ticket items on eBay, you never know!

Would have been a big ticket item but I kept it for myself. I got it from  The Doctor's TV Show

 I didn't want to talk about it because my chest was closing up when I did and it wasn't a good way to approach the whole thing. I wanted to be relaxed but you know how it is! Towards the third week, Calvin told me that he thought it would be best if he gave me rent money instead of buying me a phone. I thought that that was a sweet idea but I wanted to come up with the money on my own! Who wants rent money for Christmas? What do you do with it? Pay rent! And then what? Then you rent is paid! I wanted to have something I was gong to walk around with for months to come, telling everyone that that's what my boyfriend bought me for our first Christmas! I told him I appreciated the thought and would like him to hang on to the money while I see what I could do. He told me not to be proud but to accept it. Pride! that's a hard one for me to drop! I have always prided myself in that in as much as I have always wanted a boyfriend who could afford to pay his house and mine, I am not that girl. I never wanted to actually have him pay my rent. I just wanted to know that he could. Feel me?


I must say, it felt really good to know that I was going to be ok. I did sell a few things on eBay and stuff but still fell short of coming up with all the money I needed for rent and all my other bills for the month.

I sold some books

The joys of living in Beverly Hills! Through it all, I was still grateful for my cute apartment, I wouldn't trade it for anything! Who says  I wouldn't have come across similar situations had I lived in a studio in Hollywood? I have been in that predicament, and to have it in Beverly Hills is so much better. Because it's my dream apartment!

Another gift fro The Doctors, thanks guys!

Speaking of dream apartments: You know when you have your own designated parking and someone comes and parks in your spot?

Should I park him in?

 How do you feel about that? My thing is, we all have our own parking spots in this building, if you're expecting someone, who you know for a fact will be driving, tell them to park in the street. It's not that hard!
Our apartment has less than 15 units, which I love, which means there aren't a lot of parking bays. When someone takes your spot, you don't have that much of a choice but to park in the street if there is a spot there. There usually is, I mean, you just keep driving further and further, who knows? You might end up parking on Rodeo Drive, haha, good luck! My thing is, my car is big and the driveway is narrow, I can drive in easily but to get out, you have to make so many turns in the small parking if all the cars are in, until you have made a U-turn, otherwise to back out of the driveway looks like it's much harder. I've never done it. Now, when someone has made himself so comfortable in my parking bay that they put rolls of rugs everywhere, it's slightly frustrating and I don't want to be that not nice person in the entire city of Los Angeles.

I have met most of my neighbors and they all seemed nice. I went upstairs, following the noise to find out whose van that was. My neighbor, whose flooring they were working on told me that she didn't know the guys had taken someone's slot, usually there isn't anyone home around that time. She has lived in that building for years and knows people's schedules blah blah blah! I don't give a sht, my ice cream is melting, move your sht! I thought in my head. She told me to use another neighbor's spot. I was like, how about your people use that spot and I get mine back? It was so frustrating. The guys who were doing the flooring don't speak a word of English, so that added to the fun.

Eventually, because, I am always trying to stay in a zen zone, I offered to find parking in the street, instead of the lady moving her car ad all that. I wanted my parking or nothing. I am sorry to sound impossible but, I'm paying for that parking, it's like finding someone moved into my apartment, telling me, move in next door in the meantime, gtfoh!

I couldn't find a spot. The only one available was a 2 hour spot a block away. I am so used to parking in my own bay that I would have forgotten about my car and been ticketed. That would have been the worst. I drove back and told the lady no parking. She moved her car and decided to park in the street. Why not use someone else's bay like you told me to? I had forgotten about the whole thing when I saw her pulling up into the driveway. She told me she had been looking for parking the entire time. She aplologized again for the inconvenience. I was glad she saw that I wasn't just being an a-hole.


All's well that ends well!

PS. GTFOH stands for Get The F*ck Outta Here

You're welcome!

Christmas Shopping

Christmas season! I know, I'm behind! I am trying to catch up, I've been blogging often, see?

When Calvin and I first started talking, before we met, I asked what his favorite movie was. He told me it was Endless Summer. A documentary with  two guys traveling all over the world to catch the best wave. It's a surfing documentary. where they started off in the summer and were traveling from one continent to the next, keeping up with the different summers.

To get to know him better, I watched the documentary, to see what kind of stuff interests him. It was long! A little more than two hours, if I remember quite well. They have more than one. I really enjoyed it! They spent a lot of time in Africa. It was nice seeing Ghanaians discovering surfing and learning how to do it. They made their own surfing boards with wood and went to town! They got quite good it it! They also went to South Africa, the spent some time in Cape Town, surfing in the different beaches in Cape Town. They also went to Jefferey's Bay. It was nice to see them go to places I have either been to or heard of.

I say all this to tell you that the first gift I bought Calvin for Christmas was an Endless summer painting.

The Endless Summer

I ordered one online, it turned out to be too small, so I ordered another one. I started ordering pretty early, so I had time. Calvin has stuff like this in his bathroom, painting and pictures from Hawaii. It's very vacationy. I thought this would be a nice addition. Of course, it would be his decision where he wants to hang them.

He loves sneakers. Remember the Jordan pair we almost bought on this blog? I always wanted to get him a pair. I wasn't thinking about that when I was shopping for sneakers for him. I just wanted a cute pair for him for Christmas, that's all. 

Basketball Adidas High Top 

If you know me, you know I love boots!  Boots make any shoe look cooler. I thought these were cute, they have memory foam inner soles and two pairs of shoe laces, the red and the green, God Forbid! So, I got him these.

Tommy Hilfiger underwear

I like it when guys bend over and you see the giant writing of name brand underwear. Why not? Plus this is my favorite type of men's underwear. It's sexy, I think all men should wear these. Don't you? I was looking for Calvin Klein, for obvious reasons, but they had sold out of the good colors. I don't want to buy a bunch of black or white underwear. Where's the fun in that?

Of Course! A Christmas Card

Calvin's favorite color is green, so I had to make sure the card has more green than not. That's enough! We have out sneakers, underwear and Endless

Calvin loves Fedoras, I found a denim one for him which is perfect because he is always dressed casually and the blue will bring out the color of his eyes. I was all over it! So all over it, I couldn't wait until Christmas to give it to him. One weekend, he gave me a robe he bought me for Christmas and I was like, perfect excuse for me to give him the fedora, the following weekend, I gave it to him. 

Christmas gift

That's me in the robe with the slippers we bought on this blog. Nice and comfy! Thanks mom for making me the hat!

One day, I was grocery shopping and lo and behold they had a Christmas Fedora! Because I had already given Calvin the hat I had bought him for Christmas, I had to grab the xmas one for him. It was more of a joke than anything else. Red's his favorite color, so why not? I know I said green before, they both are!

Christmas Fedora

I was laughing as I threw that into my shopping cart. I couldn't wait to see Calvin's reaction when he saw it.

After I was done with my Christmas shopping, That's the only person I bought gifts for; I was at the mall minding my own business when I saw a pair of Filas, that reminded me of the Jordans. I had to buy them! First I called him and asked if he had a brand he totally hated. He mentioned a few, but not the one in front of me, so it was all systems go for me!

Fila for Christmas

I don't know why these Filas look so small! They are not a size 6, I promise!

Coupled

After enjoying my home alonness for a while, I got an email from Air BnB, someone was looking to crash at my place for two weeks. We emailed back and forth for a while. The guy was asking all kinds of random questions that made him seem not serious. He even rescheduled. I wasn't taking him seriously. Also, he was too handsome. Like, woah! Type handsome! He had these royal blue suits that are trending nowadays and brown shoes in his profile picture. So, not only is he handsome, he also has style. He sent me his Instagram handle and told me I could look him up if I wanted. I didn't know what to think about that because, from my Craig's list experience, when people want to exchange pictures, they want more than a roommate. But, this wasn't Craig's list; I had my profile picture up on AirBnB. I didn't look the guy up on Instagram.

Eventually, he booked, before I could even confirm, he sent me an email telling me that he's booked... I should confirm. My gosh! Tiger! Hold on! I confirmed and it was a deal! I hadn't had someone at my house since Brian. I hoped and prayed that this guy was going to be neater than Brian and just like Brian, never be at home. I was working the day the guy was going to check in. I got home around 7pm, he finished work at 7pm in Century City, which is 10 minutes from my place. I was happy for him to have found a decent place so close to home. The guy went shopping first, then he called and told me he found parking and was getting out of the car. I went out  front to meet him. DDDDaaaaayyyyyuuuummmm! The guy was hot! He was tall, he had a nice body, was dressed cute, nice smile! I was like, look at you! So handsome! You will do very well in this town! He was like, 'Thanks. You think so?' I said, I guarantee you! 

He is British, was basically fresh off the boat. He moved to my place from his family in Santa Barbara, where he had stayed for two weeks. That's how long he had lived in The Us before I met him. I showed him around and told him the house rules, which are pretty much, no shoes and clean up after yourself. The second one shouldn't even be a rule because, if you're an adult, you should do that. We talked fro a split second and I let him do his thing. He had a laptop, so he watched Netflix most of the time after work. I have fast wi-fi, people love fast wifi. I think no matter how crappy your place is, you can get away with it if you have internet and it's fast. I wouldn't know, I don't have a crappy house, haha.

The guy would leave around 7am for work, he cooked up a storm before and after work though. Like, full, I guess, English breakfast, pun intended and Full dinner. He was smart, he used to pack a lunch from his dinner.  When he arrived, he brought some stuff with him that he offered me to share but I couldn't because I didn't want us to share groceries. It complicates things. He brought coconut oil, awesome! I love it, but I don't cook with it, I take a table spoon morning and night for its many health benefits, just like I do Apple Cider vinegar and honey. He had cashews and organic eggs. I had some nuts because I didn't want to be rude but that's it. He used to cook well too! I was like, who raised him? 

Nice personality, and who doesn't love a British accent? 

I wanted to set him up. One day, I was at a court show, Judge Judy or Hot Bench; I saw a South African friend. I was like, OMG, you need to meed my guest. She was like, 'Oh no, he probably needs to get married fast for a green card! He doesn't have his own place, I don't want someone who is going to depend on me. He just got here, he probably is broke, still looking for a job.' I was like, gurrll! Tone it down! Shouldn't you first find out a little about him? Why do you think I would hook you up with a bum? Do you know how much people to pay at my place? If he can afford that, he ain't broke, trust me! He already has a job, was born here and his family quickly moved to the UK, so he has dual citizenship. He is fresh off the boat, is still figuring out where he will want to live permanently before he signs a one year lease. You should have asked first, before you jumped to conclusions. I see now why you're still single! She was like, 'I know! I'm bad! I'm sorry, how can I meet him?' I told her not to worry about that! That guy is very nice and positive, I wasn't going to set him up with a Debbie Downer like her. She begged but it was too late, she had already shown her true colors. I love the said girl, she's very sweet and friendly. 

My guy paid for the two weeks in advanced, so I was swimming in money. Yass! 

I went away for the weekend as I always do and the guy spent his weekend with his family in Santa Barbara, so there was nobody at home. I could have found someone to airbnb the entire house for the weekend haha. Just kidding. I would never rent out my room, no matter how long I am gone for. And I'm gone a lot! Especially weekends. 

I told my sister I think I need to be the guy's manager and get him gigs in Hollywood. In fact, I told her, I think he needs to be the next bachelor. I came home one evening from work and the guy was on the computer. He told me that he was scouted on Facebook by producers of a new dating show that is going to film in an island. The show is going to be Executive produced by Mark Burnett. I couldn't believe it! I told him that I was just telling my sister that I thought he should be the next bachelor. I told him to weigh his options before he dove into something because if he plans to have a career in Hollywood, he might get typecast.  I was like, also, please don't be an ass on TV. Don't be that guy! You've got a lot going for you, just be yourself, people will love you! 

The show has just started airing. I don't know if he made it but I'm watching. It's called Coupled. Every time a new guy gets lands in the island, I wonder if it's the guy! I think he made it. Why wouldn't he? Unless he decided not to do it, which I doubt. He seemed quite keen. 

In the mornings when the guy was getting ready for work, the house would first smell like food, cos he be making breakfast, watching sports on his laptop. He's a former professional rugby player. Then, the entire house would smell like his cologne. Can you say metrosexual? I loved it! 

Second week, he sent me a text that he was going to be home late. He was going on a date. Huh? Look at you! Already? Have fun! He didn't need to explain his whereabouts to me but I guess he was that kind of guy. I later asked about the date. He told me it was a lady from work. I guess she wanted to grab him for herself before others got to him. I didn't think it was a great idea, office romance, is sticky. Plus the guy just got to the country, he needed freedom to date around and stuff. Hard to do that when one of your people is in the office. Just my opinion.

Before I knew it, it had been two weeks and the guy moved out. Poof! It was all over! He forgot some of his things, like towels and stuff. I texted asking about them and he never replied. Oh well. He did leave me a positive review on AirBnB. Unfortunately, I didn't leave him a review at all. I was caught up with other things. Before I knew it, my time was up. I could no longer leave it. I'm sure he'll be fine without it. I just feel bad that I didn't get to do it for him.

Don't Try This At Home

My new HP Printer 

The printer I got on Black Friday in Ridgecrest. I love it! Love that it's all white. So fancy! I already had an eBay sale when I opened it up, so I immediately used it to print the shipping label. My eBay store is doing ok, I have 5* reviews. There are a lot of reviews about how I wrap the packages. People are very happy about that. I didn't realise that that's a thing. I'm flattered.

eBay sale

I always recycle to wrap packages. I use paper bags, which I would've previously bought while grocery shopping for 10cents each or whatever paper comes with the stuff I win from the shows, as you know, all I do is win! 

I appreciate my buyers, they're amazing, not only for buying from me but they always good give reviews. 

Speaking of gifts from the shows, this was from The Doctors. It's a foot massage, which I use mainly on my hands. Too much Snapchatting and sht. Add me: TheLovelyBrook and I will add you back. 

This time, I needed a face massage so badly, so...

Massaging face with foot massager

Don't worry, it doesn't smell funny, I put socks on before I massage feet. Don't try this at home!

Calvin's mom's Thanksgiving dinner

I was too full to eat the above. It was nice that she dished up for me. I still hadn't met her, she sent the plate over with Calv. They all live in the same street. She doesn't like salt very much, nor spices, so.

Stuffing egg muffins

Calvin's mom did make these delicious egg muffins with left over stuffing. I wasn't too full for this. This was a different day, for breakfast. Calvin's dad cooks too. He's the one who does all the cooking, actually and I love his food! I love him as well, he's great person.

Slippers from Back Friday

Apparently, Calvin thought these were male slippers and big enough to fit him but they were neither, so SCORE! so comfy! I do have about five pairs of house shoes but you can never have too many shoes, period! 

Tommy Hilfiger shades from the Desert

The shades weren't on sale but they were cute, these are the ones I got just before we headed back to LA. The hat is courtesy of my mom, she made it for me. I designed it, and she crocheted it. My sister, Pumla, made the ear rings. They came with a necklace but I wore that to death. 

These sunglasses lasted much longer than the Roccawear I was replacing with them, those only lasted less than a week. What a darn shame! 

Grilled garlic

Calvin and his mom have a tendency of grilling garlic like this and serving the entire thing on a plate for one person to eat. Nah! Too much garlic! I can't. I don't even eat garlic like that, I like it like I like my onion; finely chopped. I don't wanna see it! Needless to say, my share ended up in the trash can. Sorry!

Love Note from Calvin

This was one weekend, Calvin was on his way to a job when I was on his way to his place. He left me this note. I thought it was so sweet.

Chinese

One random morning, I was minding my own business at Calvin's, he was in the shower, boom, there's someone at the door with a take out container. The heck! Is she lost? I never answer the door, even if I'm alone at Calvin's because I never expect anyone. If they're looking for him, they should call him. He's not here. That's like answering someone cellphone to tell the other person, the person they are looking for is not available. That's what voicemail is for!  Anyway, turns out the person at the door was bearing gifts. It's a Chinese neighbor who is a family friend of Calvin's, she owns a restaurant. The food came from her restaurant. It was nice and fresh and warm. So good! 

French cuisine

Calvin's French Dinner

Calvin had taken me out one evening. I just arrived from my place to spend the weekend with him and he told me to wait in the car, he was taking me out to dinner. He came out in a suit, looking so good and directed me to the restaurant, which is not far from his house. The food was so good, so different! So freaking expensive too! The ambiance in the restaurant is really romantic, it's nice and dimly lit.

French dessert

I had dessert. Calv didn't. It was really good. I had to! It was something I had never had before and I'm all about that! Vanilla ice cream and something else.

On Set in the southside

I was booked to do background in Inglewood. Not a long drive from Beverly Hills, actually! It was a cattle call and our lead was a young girl. I met a nice guy, we talked about all kinds of things. He told me how he moved to LA to pursue acting and left everything behind. He sold his 3 bedroom house and everything. He struggled so much not getting gigs in Hollywood and ended up sleeping in his car. He's ok now, more than ok. He does all kinds of things and has a new car, he says since he bought his new car, girls have been throwing themselves at him. He's looking at them sideways because they wouldn't give him the time of day when he was driving his busted car. 

The lead

I told you she was a young girl haha. So cute! I never got to see the finished product. I hardly ever get to. Usually people will see me and send me links on social media which is fun or else I may never get to see anything I'm in.

I was lucky! I got the last slice of red velvet on set

The taste was as good and nice and moist as it looks! Some of these caterers are pretty amazing! In fact, I can't think of a time I had crappy food on set.

I hope you enjoyed my random update blog!  I'm about to tidy up, go grocery shopping. I'm booked tonight. I would like to take a catnap before I head out because it's going to be a good one and I wanna have energy for it. Plus, I have to leave early, Friday night traffic! I'll tell you all about tonight in a future blog.

Smooches!