"born to amuse, to inspire, to delight."

R.I.P Michael Jackson

:(

I was shocked today when I read that Michael Jackson had died. When I checked my email before getting ready to go out, I'd seen on msn.com that he'd been rushed to hospital (that's all the headline said at that point) and I didn't even click on it because I figured it was just exhaustion or something, getting ready for his tour. But then as I was leaving I read on twitter, then facebook, all of the updates from people. It's so out of the blue.. he was so young, and leaves behind his children and other family.

I've always been a bit behind the ball when it came to pop music. My parents never really listened to anything other than classical music. Even nowadays I don't listen to radio so often when I discover something people will tell me it is in the top 10 and overplayed on radio stations. So I really fell in love with Michael Jackson's music with this song:

"Childhood" from the HIStory album. My brother and I went to see Free Willy 2 and I made him sit through the credits because I loved the song. I didn't even know who it was by! I then begged for the cds for Christmas that year (1995). I ended up getting the cassette tapes (we barely had any cds at that point) and I listened to those soooo much. I still remember several conversations I had about MJ with several select new friends who were also huge fans, when I started high school the following year. Sure, I had heard Michael's music before then. We often did our primary school aerobics to "Black Or White":



But i hadn't grown up listening to his music, and he never made such an impact on me before as he made with that 2 disc album. For everyone though, his music was and is so well known and popular. It's been used in movies, those that first sprang to mind were Center Stage ("The Way You Make Me Feel"):

and 13 Going On 30 ("Thriller"):



Within the last few years I fell back in love with the dancier side of Michael's music. I, like the boys I took care of, loved the new release of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" ft. Akon:

But it is honestly his (probably less popular style) ballads that are my very favorites. I loved "Little Susie" for a long time. Also, "Earth Song":

And, OF COURSE, "Heal The World":

Rest In Peace MJ. You and your amazing gifts will be missed.

xoxo
Mandy

9/35

I took this quiz from Peeptoe Pumps & Pearls. I didn't really think that I would do great on this quiz. Just remember that I've only lived on my own in this country for only a year, and that I'm living somewhere where I know only a handful of people, none of whom live closer than an hour away from me! Okay, excuses aside, I scored 9 out of a total of 35.

Let me know if any of you do this quiz... and I hope you do better than me! I'm sure most of you will.

Are you a Hospitality Queen?

Give yourself one point for every question you answer “yes”.

(My answers are in purple.)

1. Cooked supper last night. Supper = Dinner? Then yes I did. Let's just not ask me what it was. Haha.

2. Have at least one apron. Nope.

3. Make weekly menus to grocery shop from. No.

4. Consider the color of food when you prepare a meal. Yes. A rainbow of veggies is good.

5. Light candles in your home daily. Well, I did in the winter. Can that count? I think so, because it is far too hot to light them daily during warmer seasons in Los Angeles in an unairconditioned apartment.

6. Have at least 10 cookbooks. BONUS Add 5 points if you cook from at least 5 of them! No. I have 1 and I have never cooked from it.

7. Have something in your refrigerator/pantry right now that you could prepare a whole meal. Yes, of course.

8. Know how to make a cheese sauce. (Not melted Velveeta). No. But then, why would I want to know how to make a cheese sauce?

9. Have at least 3 different sets of matching napkins/placemats. No.

10. Have more than 2 sets of dishes. No!

11. Enjoy reading cookbooks like others enjoy reading magazines/novels. Yes, if they are around.

12. Entertained in your home within the last month. Yes! Hooray. See my last post. I'm going to count that as entertaining.

13. Worked in your yard/garden this last week. No. I don't have one.

14. Know what you are serving for breakfast in the morning. Yes. Hahaha. I need to post off my health insurance cheque, so I'm walking to the mailbox and getting an iced venti non fat latte with sweetener for breakfast.

15. Know how to make a curtain - mistreatments count! No...

16. Ever copied a décor idea from someone else. BONUS Add 5 points if someone has copied an idea from you. Yes, I have copied from someone else.

17. Play background music when entertaining. Of course! It's the most exciting/important thing about preparing to have people over.. making a playlist.

18. Ever crafted your own flower arrangement. BONUS Add 5 points if you used fresh cut flowers from your own garden/yard. No.

19. Baked something from scratch within the last month. No. I don't bake.

20. Updated your home for summer. No.

xoxo
Mandy

Visitors

Princess and her mom came over to hang out at my apartment a few days ago. It was wonderful to finally have someone close to me visit my place. No one has been here before, aside from 2 people I don't know very well. Another bonus about the visit was that it made me do an intense clean/tidy, which I hadn't done for a while. I am going to try to keep my place looking so great - it's so much nicer to be in at the moment! I prefer having a clean environment but I'm not very good at motivating myself to keep it super clean just for myself.

My neighbour's cat has pretty much adopted my place as his own, and he hung out the whole day with us. He loved the attention from Princess and her mom, who loved him as well. So we played with/cuddled the cat, watched a movie (102 Dalmations), played the Wii, and other random things. Hopefully they will come out and visit again soon.. When the weather gets warmer we can go to the beach!

xoxo
Mandy

T Swizzle, T Pizzle

I just started watching the CMT Awards from last night. I had to share this video - it's hilarious!

I should probably give the background information for those who didn't see it. The opening sequence to the award show has Taylor Swift talking about how so many of her dreams have come true, and therefore how everything that she dreams about MUST come true. It cuts to several dream sequences in true award show skit fashion. She places herself in the new Star Trek movie, and in this rap video:

Taylor Swift ft. T Pain - "Thug Story"



xoxo
Mandy

New Regina Spektor!!

Regina Spektor's new album comes out next Tuesday. I highly recommend it! I discovered her shortly after her last album was released and have been waiting so long for the new one. Wonderful lyrics, unique and beautiful vocals.. her music is amazing. There are three music videos currently out from the new album, "Far":

"Laughing With"



"Eet"



and "Dance Anthem of the 80s"



Hope you enjoy.. and get the album!

xoxo
Mandy

I live here, dangflabbit!!!

A FedEx delivery just came at this place where I'm housesitting. The puppy barked like crazy, like she always does when someone rings the doorbell. I went to answer the door:

FedEx Woman: Sign here please... don't let the dog out!
Me: It's okay, she's gated in with baby gates.
FedEx: Last name please?
Me: ******** (gives it, then explains) I'm housesitting.
FedEx: Oh, right. Are you from England?
Me: No, Australia. I live here now though.
FedEx: Oh nice. Enjoy your trip!!

Just another example of this stupidity crap I deal with all the time.

"Countrify then hip-hop it!"

The Hannah Montana movie is finally out!! I saw it for the first time (yes, you read that right.. I will be seeing it again) on Monday and it was awesome. Really really cute.
So, in honor of Miss Miley and the gang, here is some of the music from the movie.

Hannah Montana - "Let's Get Crazy":


Billy Ray Cyrus - "Back To Tennessee":


Taylor Swift - "Crazier":


And, of course, Miley Cyrus - "Hoedown Throwdown":


Now, everyone go out and see the movie. ;p

xoxo
Mandy

It's that time of week again..

I needed to break myself out of my Joshua Radin repeat in my car, so I switched out my cds. This band was a great surprise, I guess you could call them alt-pop from the 90s? So fun! this song is the newest ringtone I made... The Murmurs with "La Di Da":



I discovered The Murmurs because they were posted in the same entry as Uh Huh Her, common member being actress Leisha Hailey. I think I prefer the older group, even though Uh Huh Her is currently popular. But they've still got a good sound, they've been compared to Metric, who have a new album which will be officially released mid-April! Here's Uh Huh Her with "Not A Love Song":



And, just for fun and something a little more mainstream.. I heard that Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is going to be part of a Melrose Place spin-off starting in the fall. Here's my favorite Ashlee Simpson video, "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)":



xoxo
Mandy

Musical er-Monday

This is my favorite song right now. It is so incredibly beautiful!! I'm obsessed with his voice... I can't stop listening to his albums the past few days. "They Bring Me To You" by Joshua Radin (sorry, no actual video):




Last week, I watched the film Australia. I really enjoyed it! I don't know why it did so badly at the box office. Here is a song played over the ending credits called "By The Boab Tree" by Ophelia of the Spirits :




And, here's some entertainment to end the post, "Womanizer" sung by Fall Out Boy & Ellen DeGeneres on today's 'bathroom concert series' segment:

Musical Monday!

Although I've been seriously slacking off in the blog posting world, I couldn't let nother Monday go by without........... Musical Monday!!!

To start things off, here is a video from Michelle Branch's official site. Michelle and her daughter Owen singing "The Bees" by Lee Ann Womack:



And, I have to include something from Movie's Night of Nights... "The Musical Is Back":



xoxo
Mandy

Who let the dogs out???

Hi. My name is Mandy and I, am a cat person!

I've always had cats and loved them best. When I lived with Princess though, I fell head over heels in love with her dog! It wasn't instant, like it is with cats, but she made me love her. She was the one who made me decide "okay, when I grow up, I want 2 kittens... and a puppy!". Princess's dog got out of her yard and was killed by a car over Thanksgiving. The last time I saw her was over a month earlier, when I'd housesat and taken care of her and her Kitten-brother. I cried for a week! I was so devastated by her death.

I'm beginning to think though, that it was just her that I loved.. not dogs in general. Dogs are fine and fun for a short time, but they are so much work!! I'm housesitting again, and this time I have Kitten-brother and Puppy-kinda-stepsister. They're probably both around 8 months old? Puppy is driving me insane! I spend half my time feeling guilty for putting Puppy out in the rain when I go out, and the other half feeling angry at Puppy for misbehaving while she's inside. She does not listen to anything. Maybe she has the same problem with my "no" as other Americans? No amount of stern talking, yelling, or physically preventing her behavior is working. If Kitten is within earshot, Puppy must chase him.

Kitten's idea of naughty is to jump onto the counter in Princess's bathroom, knock her hairties to the floor one by one, put them delicately into his front teeth, and carry them around the house. Cute? Yes. Puppy's idea of naughty is to notice kitten, run and jump on top of him, put her bottom on Kitten's face, pin Kitten to the ground with her paw, get hairtie, stick it far into her mouth and chew on it until I get the soggy thing away from her. Cute? Not so much!

All this is partly due to their age, Puppy's lack of training, and Puppy's desire to dominate. But this is Kitten's house, so I'm an advocate for puppy not becoming the boss! Also, the fact that they don't live together 100% of the time doesn't help because they're not so used to each other. I'm trying to relax and let them play while monitoring them, but they've made such a mess and I'm scared they will hurt each other. Needless to say, the evening hours (when Puppy has to be inside to avoid wild animals) are the most stressful times I've had in a long time. I'd really rather be taking care of children!!

It's late now, but this is the most peaceful time of day. Puppy is asleep in her cage downstairs, and Kitten is asleep next to me on the bed, purring his little heart out. I love cats! It's no longer in my personal life plan to have a dog.

xoxo
Mandy

Musical Monday

The Grammy's were last night and I watched bits and pieces of the show, but not a lot. I did manage to catch this performance by Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. I didn't love it, and to be honest the first time I heard it I didn't really even like it. But it's growing on me. I really like it now, except for Miley's first line. It's way too harsh. I love this song and I love both of them as artists though, so I'm excited to see Miley and Taylor perform together.

Taylor Swift & Miley Cyrus - "Fifteen (Live)"
Back then I swore I was gonna marry him someday
but I realized some bigger dreams of mine
Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind

*edit* Someone keeps claiming copyright and making youtube delete the videos of the performance. Here's an interview with Miley & Taylor before the Grammy's, to keep you entertained until the performance is available again.



Just one more video today, and it is Taylor Swift again. Her new music video is out. You may have heard the song on Grey's Anatomy, if you watch it. All of Taylor's music videos are great but usually they're all about her looking pretty and wearing awesome dresses! This one is different, more stripped back and natural.. and sad.

Taylor Swift - "White Horse"
I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairytale
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell
This ain't Hollywood. This is a small town
I was a dreamer before you went and let me down
Now it's too late for you and your white horse
To come around



xoxo
Mandy

What would you cut back on?

This post was inspired by everydayadventuresinthecity, who asked recently:
"Is anyone else cutting back in "fun spending?" If so, where are you making adjustments in your budget? Or where is the one place you really don't want to cut back?"

I'm in a different situation to those people who have lost their jobs or who fear losing them. I've been living without a job for about 8 months, after moving here to the States on savings. But the economy is limiting the jobs available now that I'm looking for one! And the savings aren't going to last forever.

I've cut back on: Buying dvds, cds, books. I'd gotten into the habit of buying dvds as soon as they came out, just to watch them, and then half the time I didn't end up watching them for a really long time. I don't know why, but I just had to have them right way! I am quite a consumer at heart. I haven't bought a dvd in a long time. I've been watching a lot of movies on cable. On top of my regular cable, I pay for HBO ($5 a month for 12 months) and the Encore tier (also $5 a month).

I need to cut back on: Groceries. I live alone for the first time and I don't like cooking in my tiny, useless kitchen, and so I am not very organised with my shopping and eating. I'll frequently buy prepackaged meals, and I'll often let food go to waste because I don't use it before it goes bad.

I don't want to cut back on: TV. I've heard that some people get rid of their cable. Not me! I love my cable and DVR. It's such a novelty to me because in Australia I had 5 channels on television. I love tv. Also, my cell phone. I think I'm on the cheapest plan possible for my iphone but it still isn't cheap,. However, I'm on a contract for the first time in my life and I wouldn't want to give up my iphone anyway.

What about you?

xoxo
Mandy

p.s I'm glad that so many of you like Lily Allen! I have listened to her new album once and haven't been enamoured with any of the other songs yet, but I'm loving "The Fear" more and more every time I hear it!

Musical Monday

First up, Lily Allen. She is a British singer who is amazingly honest and usually very funny in her lyrics. I loved most of the songs from her first album, Alright, Still. In honor of her new album coming out next week, here is her new single, which I think is awesome:

Lily Allen - "The Fear" (explicit lyrics)
Life's about film stars and less about mothers
It's all about fast cars and cussing each other
But it doesn't matter 'cause I'm packing plastic
And that's what makes my life so f*cking fantastic




This next song is by James Morrison, and I first heard it on One Tree Hill. I thought he sounded like Gavin DeGraw! I hadn't really listened to James' music much, but I should because I love this song. The lyrics are beautiful:

James Morrison - "Once When I Was Little"
Yeah I could dream more then , yeah I believed more then
That the world could only get better
Yeah I was free more then, I could pretend more then
That this life could only show me good times
Once, when I was little




Finally, a cute little song by a new artist I've recently discovered - Alessi's Ark. This is her single, and I believe that her debut album will be out within the next few months.

Alessi's Ark - "The Horse"
I was told kite flying's for lovers
I was told that we can't share the covers
If you'd like me to, I'll try to be brave like you.
I know you'd like me to, I'll try to be pretty too.




Enjoy! Let me know if you like them.

xoxo
Mandy

Australian accents are not always a good thing..

I answered a call from a blocked number on my cell, which I don't normally do because I do get a lot of wrong numbers. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Hello
Caller: *mumbles* Cindy?
Me: Hello??
Caller: Cindy?
Me: No
Caller: Cindy? Is this Cindy?
Me: No
Caller: Yes?
Me: Noooo!
Caller: Norris? Oh, wrong number.

Grrrr! I hate my voice so much sometimes!

Stay tuned for Musical Monday.. coming sometime this evening.

xoxo
Mandy

My weekend

Uh-oh, I didn’t update all weekend! It’s technically Monday now.. I became one of those people. Sorry!

Saturday was a long day, but a nice day. I only got about 3 hours of sleep, but I left the house on time (7:30am) and headed up to Princess’s house. I watched her play volleyball and then we went back to her house and hung out. It was nice having only 2 kids around and getting to know Princess’s kinda-stepsister (K) better. K has 2 brothers who were at their dad’s house that day. We chatted, played and sang songs. I spent lots of the day taking pictures and videos. Videos are my new obession... so much fun! The original purpose was to film Princess for her other previous nanny, who is now back in Scandinavia. She’s seen photos, but it’s so different seeing video – you can really see how much older she seems than over 2 years ago when the other nanny left.

After lunch, all of us went on a mini-hike, which was good exercise – especially on the way home as there were a lot of hills. The girls then decided to change into their bathing suits. It was really warm (around 82 degrees, crazy Cali) but they chickened out of their big plan to jump right into the pool. Instead they sprayed each other with the hose and then played in the jacuzzi. K’s puppy did something crazy while we were outside. Princess’s dad was trying to teach her to drop the tennis ball after fetching it. He smacked her and said, “drop it”, and eventually she did. Then he threw it again and the dog carried it in her mouth to the grass, dropped it, turned around and pooped right on top of it! I don’t know much about dogs, but it really did seem like she was doing it with the clear intention of making a point. Disgusting!

The family had a dinner to go to, so I left at around 6:30pm. I had a huge headache (from lack of sleep, no doubt) so once I got home I watched a movie, then went to bed at around 10pm. My dad called, startling me awake at 10:30pm, but I chatted to him for an hour. Typically, I was wide awake after that, but fell asleep again at 1am.

In contrast, on Sunday I did nothing (no, I did not watch any Superbowl) except some grocery shopping and errands.

"Oh, it seems like I can finally rest my head on something real. I like the way that feels."
- Ashlee Simpson

xoxo
Mandy

"I don't rely on mirrors, so I always take polaroids."

Am I the only one who does this? Do other people take pictures of themselves to see if they look cute? I know Cher Horowitz does, but does anyone in real life? For some reason, looking in the mirror just doesn't let me be objective enough. I blame the instant gratification of digital cameras/cell phones. Tonight I was taking pictures of my hair. Just my hair. To see how blonde it actually looks. That's not normal, is it?!

Also on my mind, any tips for this? If I mess up a nail (which I almost always do, considering I'm convinced they're dry enough for me to change clothes/do my hair/fix a necklace.. and they never are) I have to take the polish off that finger and start again. I have no clue how to fix it without doing that, it never works. Does anyone actually do their own nails anymore? I know some people who only ever get them done or don't do them at all.

I've got to try to go to sleep soon. I've scored an invite to Princess's volleyball game, which means I'll be leaving my apartment at 7:30am tomorrow. Ugh. I mean yay, I'm doing something on a weekend!

xoxo
Mandy

The "D"-List

Okay, everyone has been doing this lately. I asked Heather for a letter and she gave me "D". So, I present to you 10 of my favorite "D" things:

1. Disneyland

I love all things Disney and Disneyland truly is one of the happiest places on earth. I've been to the one in California, Florida, and... Hong Kong. My dad thought I was crazy to 'waste' a day on my Hong Kong vacation to go to Disneyland. I reminded him that it's not my fault - the first time I was taken to Disneyland I was 3 months old. Then 3/6/12/16yrs old... My parents got me hooked.

2. Dr. Seuss
I love reading these books to the children I look after. I've never met a kid who didn't love the stories, and they are so fun and challenging to read aloud!

3. Driving

Call me crazy, but I adore driving on L.A freeways. I do hate it when traffic is bad though.

4. Diet Soda

My favorite is Pepsi One, but Diet Coke is fine too. Non-cola? My favorite is Diet Sunkist.

5. Dryers

In Australia, most people hang their clothes outside on the clothesline to dry. It's environmentally friendly, sure, but it's so much easier to stick them in a dryer and pull them out all warm and unwrinkled.

6. D12's "Purple Pills"/"Purple Hills"

Censored or uncensored, it makes me smile. This song reminds me of the summer it came out and car-dancing to it with my friends or the girls I babysat.

7. Drawing

I was always the girl who said "I can't draw" so I never tried. When working with disadvantaged kids, I realised I didn't want to teach that kind of thinking. So I tried, because the 7 year old would beg us to draw him pictures. And you know what? I wasn't too bad.

8. Dark Chocolate Covered Grahams from Starbucks

I hadn't eaten a graham cracker in 3 years (we don't really have them in Australia) and had no desire to eat one again, but I stumbled upon these and they are delish! I couldn't find a picture of the ones I've tried, but these with mint look even better.

9. "Dollhouse"

I don't know if this show is any good, but I've got a strong feeling it will be. C'mon - Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku?! I'm so excited for it to premiere on Fox on February 13th.

10. Delta Goodrem

Delta is a young Australian singer/songwriter who has released 3 albums, the most recent of which has been released here in the U.S. I think she's awesome. She was signed to Sony at age 15, was on the Australian soap opera Neighbours, recorded her 4th music video (below) in between rounds of chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Lymphoma and she dated my favorite tennis player Mark Philippoussis.

If there's anyone out there who hasn't already done this, and would like to.. comment and I'll give you a letter!

xoxo

Mandy

Some kind of fairytale: Part II

(To read Part I, click here.)

After her year with Princess, Mandy felt a need to move on and out of her job. She decided that after the hard time she had always given her father, it was only fair that she give his homeland a try. After recharging her social batteries by spending a month back in the land of Oz with all her family and friends, Mandy made the 20+ hour journey to the United Kingdom. It may have been a kingdom, but there were no princesses there. Only one very spoilt 12 year old Prince, whom Mandy catered for for a few months before escaping to London Town. There she spent the rest of the year doing a job that took no energy or intelligence, but making wonderful friends. This was her much missed college experience, and she shared it with some great roommates. But overall, her father’s homeland was cold, wet and gloomy. And Mandy decided that she could never feel at home in a place that allowed 16 year old children to smoke cigarettes.

Mandy travelled back to Oz, via Princess’s house for a month long Cali-Land summer visit. She participated in a wedding (not hers) and underwent a frustrating search for a ‘normal’ job. She eventually gave up on that search, and landed another childcare job. This job evolved into something Mandy had never expected and something that was both immensely challenging and truly rewarding. She took care of children whose parents were incapable of doing so. She learnt how take care of little people with huge, often uncontrollable emotions. She learnt how to supervise play and homework, cook and clean, role model and discipline. In short, she learnt how to be a part-time parent. Mandy worked hard, recording 120 hours of work one week, and over 70 hours many others. Dreaming, saving, and planning her return to her mother’s homeland. The faraway land that she had come to truly think of as home.

Despite the ugly, scrunched faces that the people of Oz gave her when she would announce her intended destination, 20 months after landing back in Oz, Mandy left it again. She still cried when she kissed her cats goodbye, but she left with the conviction that she was going to make this work and that she was headed to the place where she would live for a very long time to come. Now Mandy lives in the City of Angels, though she hopes to one day soon live adjacent to the City of Angels. After some more short travels, indecisions and false starts, she is now focused on winning a decent paying job providing the luxury of nanny service to the people of L.A. Until then she fills her days with a balance of the reality of job searching and the escape of music, movies, and television.

Some days Mandy feels down, not having a job to get up for in the morning or friends to meet up with in the evening. She misses the good people of Oz and her friends in the Kingdom. She struggles with the fakeness and flakiness of so many of the Angelic people who have fluttered past her. She hopes to eventually add some more people to the number of local friendlies she can count on one hand. But she reminds herself that she is indeed living her dream, though it is still a work in progress. And when that doesn’t work, she surrounds herself with the love and childlike optimism of Princess and the support of Princess’s family. She still smiles when people ask her where she’s from, or compliment her accent, as she is proud to have come from the land of Oz. But she frowns when the Angelic people assume that she is not an American and does not live here. Because, you see, she always has been and she finally does live here in this faraway land, where she is finding the way to her happily ever after.

The End.

Some kind of fairytale: Part I

Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Mandy. She lived in the marvellous land of Oz with her mother, her father, her brother, and her cats. She was close to her father’s family, who had all lived in her hometown since her grandparents arrived on the ship from England with Mandy’s 3 year old father. She visited her mother’s family in a faraway land called U.S.A every 3 to 6 years. The people in that land spoke differently, like her mother. Young Mandy’s voice changed often, day by day sounding like she was from a different land – her mother’s, her father’s, or her own. She would proudly tell anyone who would listen that she was an American. Mandy’s school teachers would always hand back her schoolwork with circles around words such as “color” and “organized” and she would be told that the correct spelling was “colour” and “organised”. This made Mandy determined not to correct her spelling, defiantly certain that different did not mean incorrect. One day, while on holiday with her family, Mandy got into an argument with her father when she called their boat Dynasty and he corrected her, insisting it was pronounced DINasty. Mandy used to defend her mother when she was playfully teased for the way she spoke. When her mother one day decided to stop saying “ant” and start saying “aunt” because it just made everything easier, it made Mandy sad. She continues up until this day to argue with her father over pronunciation of “Dymocks’, a book store.

You see, Mandy thought her mother’s faraway homeland was so much more exciting than Oz. She planned to live there one day and resented the fact that she hadn’t been raised there. Mandy wanted to do the wonderful things that the kids in books and on television did in her mother’s land. She wanted to go to the mystical place called Elementary School and be served food in a cafeteria on a tray with a carton of milk. Mandy dreamed of going to summer camp and graduating not only from Elementary School but also from Junior High, where there would be a hallway lined with lockers, students who got to wear their own clothes, and another cafeteria filled with tables to sit at with her friends and her carton of milk. She wanted to be a high school cheerleader, or at least attend pep rallies in between classes called ‘Algebra’ or ‘Calculus’. She wanted a High School graduation with caps and gowns. Mandy dreamed of what it would be like to go away to college and live in a dorm room with a roommate. Oh yes, in Mandy’s eyes life would have been so much more exciting in that faraway land. But Mandy lived in Oz, so she wore a school uniform, sat through “Maths”, had “Christmas Holidays” instead of “Summer Vacation”, and attended “University” in her hometown. Yet she still wrote “color” and “center” and smiled when people she met asked her where she was from and told her that they couldn’t place her accent.

So after graduating, Mandy set about making her dreams come true.. albeit a little later than she had wished for. Her mother’s homeland had so many facets that it was difficult for Mandy to decide where she wanted to live out her dream. But, while sorting through job offers from all over the country, Mandy recalled a conversation she’d had with her brother when they were young.
“I’m a New York City boy,” he’d said, “and you’re an L.A girl”.
He was right, and Mandy farewelled her family and friends, kissed her cats goodbye and cried as she left the land of Oz and travelled to sunny California. There she spent a year taking care of a 3 year old Princess. That year was one of the most challenging years of Mandy’s life. She rode as many emotional rollercoasters as she did physical ones. And that was many, considering how fond she was of Six Flags. She made a few friends, lost a few friends, but in the end the year turned out to be all about growing up and learning how to be a better person. For all the good times and the bad, life with her employers changed her. And for all the good times, Princess changed her, forever for the better...

Part II to follow shortly.

A few misc. things

1. This is crazy. I don't care if it was a legitimate plan and was going to raise some money for charity. Selling a doll of a little girl who has been murdered within the last 6 months is sick!

2. I got my order from ModCloth, nicely packaged and about a week after I ordered it (I think that's standard.. I'm just spoilt usually by having things show up within a few days as they often ship from California). I love the necklace so much! The earrings are even smaller than I expected, about half the size of the picture in my post or less. They're adorable but I hope when I wear them people will be able to see what they are!

3. Today I got an email in response to the craigslist ad I posted about a week ago. A family wanted me to work as a live out nanny for them for $800 per month. With the hours they were wanting, that is $4 an hour. DREAMING! I don't understand why people think they can pay someone that little, but unfortunately there are people who only charge that.

"Close enough to heaven if you climb up on a mansion you too can swing like a star."
- Semisonic

xoxo
Mandy

Musical Monday

I've seen this Monday theme on a few blogs, and I'm never one to pass up an opportunity to post about music!

This is one of my favorite songs right now by an artist I've only recently discovered. This video is homemade and kind of random, but stick with it at least until she starts singing!

Hello Saferide - "I Wonder Who Is Like This One"
People are like songs, it’s true
Some seem dull at first but then they grow on you
Me, I’m like ”Can’t get you out of my head”
Annoying at times, but I make you wanna dance
But you are the only one I’ve met who’s ”God only knows”
I liked you the first time I met you
And it grows and grows and grows



Another song I love by this artist is "Parenting Never Ends".
Mother, please make
my decisions
like you once did,
this time I won’t pester you about it,
I’ll surrender
There was no video on YouTube so if you're interested, check out the lyrics and amazon preview.

And lastly by Hello Saferide, a professional music video for "Anna"
You know, we could have had a daughter
And we could have named her Anna
And she would have been a sweetheart
But with punk rock manners



Now, 2 artists that I discovered quite a while ago and am loving at the moment. Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton is beautiful. Emily is the lead singer of Metric, but I much prefer her own album, Knives Don't Have Your Back.

"Doctor Blind" was my first favorite song from the album
If the the dizzying highs don't subside overnight,
Dr. Blind, just prescribe the red ones



And finally... the song that inspired my blog title, with an adorable video that somebody made for it.

The Weepies - "Gotta Have You"
Red eyes and fire and signs
I’m taken by a nursery rhyme
I want to make a ray of sunshine and never leave home



What are your favorite songs/artists at the moment?

xoxo
Mandy

Written yesterday, without internet access

As I write this I’m dog-sitting at a friend’s house for the day. Yes, these dogs are so precious they need a sitter for the afternoon/evening! I was a bit surprised when I learned that it wasn’t even overnight, but that’s okay. I regret the timing though. I agreed to do this about a week ago, but last night I got a text from Princess’s Dad. Princess is playing volleyball and had a game this morning and he wanted to know if I’d like to watch. I did, oh I really did. I never like to miss out on an opportunity to see her, or hang out with her family who are like family to me. But my common sense just wouldn’t allow me to accept the offer. Getting up at 6am, leaving the house at 7am, driving 45 miles, watching the game, leaving 2 hours after I get there to drive 70 miles in the other direction, dogsitting for the day, driving 40 miles home...? No. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Just one of the joys of living in L.A. On the plus side, today there shouldn’t have been traffic. It once took me over 3 hours to drive those 45 miles to Princess’s house!

Instead, today I’m enjoying the change of scenery and the luxury of chilling out in a house. Boy I miss houses! I currently live in an apartment for the first time in my life. Okay, there was that 8 months that I spent living in a hostel.. that was kinda worse than an apartment, but different because of the social aspect. My apartment is the first time I have ever had my own place. It’s mine! All mine! And I love it. But I hate it. Let me say right here, I never want to buy a condo. When I buy a place it’s going to be a house. What is the point of owning a condo unless you live in New York City? I struggle almost daily with the noises that I hear from other apartments. Most of the time they aren’t too loud, just very noticeable to me who is used to living in a big house with a garden and a fence around it, protecting me from the neighbours conversations, music, door slams, etc. It’s just something that I have to get used to until I (hopefully) get a job that is out of the city and I can move to a potentially more independent duplex/house in a cheaper area.

"Apartments are cages, I still don't know what is permanent, permanent."
- Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton

xoxo
Mandy

The hits and misses of shopping online

I did something yesterday that I've never done before. I actually clicked on one of the website ad links on Facebook. It just looked really interesting and was for a store called ModCloth. And, I bought a few things! Very unusual for me.. I usually limit my online purchases to sites I know are reliable, such as amazon.com. I've had mixed experiences with using other websites. Some are great and prompt, others are not. For example, in December I ordered a cd from an artist's website and they forgot to send it. I emailed them when it didn't arrive and they explained and apologized and they sent it out to me by overnight mail. That was awesome, that they rectified the problem. Another website, that I ordered things from in December, Monogram Me, has not been so awesome. Over two weeks before Christmas I had an email from the woman saying that my order would ship that day. It never came, so I emailed her before Christmas and asked if it had been shipped and if so, could I have a tracking number. I had a reply from her a week before Christmas saying "I will check on that and get back to you" but I have never heard from her since then. I'm so disappointed, because I had wanted to give half the contents of my order away as Christmas presents for the people I had them monogrammed for. I've tried to contact her several times since then. I just sent out another email tonight.

Anyway, here is what I bought from this new, facebook-advertised store. Fingers crossed that they arrive, because the items are super cute!

Tiny silver umbrella earrings.. for the Mary Poppins in me. ;)



An Alice-In-Wonderland-esqe antique gold plated mushroom pendant

'Princess Toadstool' salt and pepper shakers. I have no idea why, but I love these!

xoxo
Mandy

Job hunting

I've been actively job searching for a few weeks now. Actively, meaning that I am ready to start working - more than ready in some ways! So I'm applying for jobs with the hope of getting something to start at soon. My first mode of attack has been to contact all the agencies in the area. And boy, there are a lot! I've interviewed with some, and others I've only spoken to. I still have a few more on the list to contact next week. The trouble is that there aren't a lot of jobs at the moment. So, even with the feedback I've been getting from agencies (which has been mostly very good), I haven't got any leads yet. I really wish I was ready to start working a few months ago.. well, a year ago would have been much better for the job market! But things were what they were and this is the position I find myself in now.

I'm not desperate yet, and I really do believe that there is a job out there for me that will come up soon. I have lowered/expanded my criteria for the job in few areas. But I'm not at the point yet where I feel I need to look at jobs with a lot lower wage. I had one person contact me last week from a job search website, and they were offering a part-time job and wanted to pay about $4 less per hour than I want to earn. So I told them I wasn't interested. The job sounded like it would have been great... if it had paid more or even if it offered more hours. I really need to take money into consideration in a way that I've never done before. I need to be able to completely support myself with the money that I earn, and I'd like to be able to save as well. This is not a time in my life where I want to take a job that doesn't pay well simply because I will like it.

xoxo
Mandy

December's Mix Playlist

I haven't been listening to a lot of music lately. Mostly just while I'm driving, so I've regressed back to cds (one of these days I'll get an easy-to-use ipod car system). It's almost time for a new mix cd, I think. I've been listening to the new Jack's Mannequin album - "The Glass Passenger", their old album - "Everything In Transit", and Erin McCarley's debut album - "Love, Save The Empty". Before that, however, I was rocking "Mandy's December Mix":

1 P!nk - "Glitter In The Air"
2 Butterfly Boucher - "Cinnamon & Chocolate"
3 Anne Murray - "Stars Are The Windows Of Heaven"
4 Lily Allen - "Womanizer"
5 The Black Ghosts - "Full Moon"
6 Fall Out Boy - "America's Suitehearts"
7 Everly - "Home Is Me - You Are Mine"
8 The Deer Tracks - "Christmas Fire"
9 Evan & Jaron - "Crazy For This Girl
10 Katy Perry - "Lost"
11 Paramore - "Decode"
12 Britney Spears - "Lace And Leather"
13 Everly - "Little Children"
14 Alice In Wonderland Cast - "Why Do People..."
15 Lily Frost - "Skating On The River"
16 Linkin Park - "Leave Out All The Rest"
17 Britney Spears - "Circus"
18 Shawn Colvin - "Never Saw Blue Like That"
19 Iron & Wine - "Flightless Bird, American Mouth"
20 Everly - "Stars"
21 Kanye West - "Coldest Winter"
22 Anne Murray - "Inch Worm"

Any suggestions for the new mix??

xoxo
Mandy

"it's easier to love somebody, it's easier than to be loved"

So true. But shamefully, they are the lyrics in the opening song of my second movie of the day.

- I know it's early days, but y'all have realised that I don't currently have a job, right? More on that later, I'm sure. But long story short, I am relatively new in town and have been travelling/settling in/job hunting for a while.

I love this movie. It's Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain. One of those movies from my early teen years that was taken out countless times from our local video store's weekly section ($7 for 7 videotapes - school vacation score!). It's also one of those few movies I loved that never got released on dvd. I used to have a VHS copy but it wouldn't have worked in this country so I threw it out. I recorded this a few weeks ago on one of the Encore cable channels..... not that I'm admitting that I actually signed up to add that 'channel tier' for $5 a month mainly so I could record that movie. Of course not... But doesn't everyone have those movies that they just loved as a child? So I'm watching it now for the first time in probably a year. I have to make sure I don't delete it, so I can show it to Princess one day. Princess is the name I'll use here to talk about the little girl I used to nanny for. She's so important to me, like a sister. She's the one who gets to experience all the things I loved as a kid.. until I have my own children!

xoxo
Mandy

Everybody needs good neighbours

It's always hard to know how to start a project like this. I expect that eventually I will do some sort of 'introduction post', but I'd rther begin by just jumping into something. Let's see....

I'm currently sitting in my living room watching Star! on my DVR. And the neighbours below me are playing super loud music as usual. It's always around this time of day that they somehow decide it's okay to blast music with heavy bass & drum beats. I'm all for music, and I understand that because I'm living in an apartment without good insulation I am going to hear noises from other apartments. But these particular people really do play it too loudly. It began about a month after I moved in (my theory is that they got a new soundsystem) and I made so many complaints to management after asking them to please keep it down, and although they turned it down that day it was back up to screaming loud the following day. Management originally seemed nice and apologetic about the whole thing and insisted that they had called the neighbours to tell them to turn it down. Rightly so, I thought, because what they are doing breaks the lease agreement, which clearly states that there must be "no loud music at any time".

Well, it turns out that management, although they said they'd called them, had never actually spoken to the neighbours about the noise. They had left them messages but never once did the neighbours pick up their phones or call them back. A few months ago, management basically gave up. They just said that I was going to hear noise because it's an apartment, and didn't understand me when I explained that this noise is significantly louder than the other 'regular volume' sounds that I hear from that apartment and others. So I've been having to put up with it, which is one of the biggest frustrations! This past week it has been every day that the music has been really loud. It doesn't last forever, but it's so frustrating because I never know when it's going to stop. Also, the fact that these people have been asked/told so many times that their noise is too loud and is disturbing me, and the fact that they choose to continue to make this noise is so rude!

Seriously, I am a nice person and I'm considerate (I have been so careful not to be too loud, since this is my first time living in an apartment and I'm overly aware of not bothering people) but if someone is inconsiderate or rude to me - these people have been both - I can't just ignore that!

xoxo
Mandy