Hello Friends :)
On a quest to be able pay off debt I must concede to the fact that I should probably never go out and spend money for the next year. However, you and I both know, that's just not going to happen. I can, however, place some major rules and restrictions on spending which coincedentally I have already been enforcing for quite some time. These are my save money tricks and tips...
FREE
My friends are uber talented, so much so, that I simply can not afford to attend EVERYONE's show. Just how it goes. SO, comps are always welcomed. When you can't afford a friends show, ask if they have comps and if not ask about a 'pay what you can day'. Otherwise, we'll be reading the reviews.. ;)
Sometimes Jamba likes to give back: http://www.jambajuice.com/#/home/
Noah's bagels, free every friday before 11am: http://noahs.cre8.com/offers/noahs6.jpg
DISCOUNT
1) Sing up for email deals and coupons! The midwest side has officially won when it comes to saving money and I now clip coupons and wheel and deal whenever possible. Join these websites!
www.groupon.com - it literally is a coupon that is emailed out that gives GREAT savings on anything, dinners, spa treatments, boot camps, you name it and they have probably given deals on it.
www.livingsocial.com - it does the same thing as Groupon, except it's called Living Social (who doesn't want to?!)
There's more, I just know there is... I will keep you posted.
To spending my days and nights in a mentholatum haze..
XOXO
Rima
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Grilled Cheese, Birthdays and Strip Teasin' Pirates
Saturday started off with a cheesy BANG. Literally. I spent the day at the Grilled Cheese Invitational which means cheesy goodness All. Day. Long. That is, unless you've stopped eating dairy. Once upon a time I ate cheese without thinking twice, I gorged on Gouda, Gruyre and Mozzarella without a second thought. In order to help whittle my waistline AND more importantly help my system run smoother, I cut out my best friend, Dairy. Oddly enough, I don't miss it. Outside of the occasional cream cheese and tomatoes on a bagel (tried and true amazing yumminess that's much to hard to say no to ALLLL the time) I don't eat the stuff. However, I have this crazy notion that even though I have removed things from my daily life, I can somehow eat them randomly and in abudance without any repercussions what-so-ever. Hey guess what!?!? NOT the case. Note to self: when I cut out dairy, I CUT OUT DAIRY. A day celebrating out beloved grilled cheese is great in theory but not in practice. Don't get me wrong, I had AMAZING sammy's!!! Dessert sammy's to die for!! But, I really did feel like I was going to die for them. The day was super fun though because I got to hang with my girl Chanda, wear a fun t-shirt and experience something I never had in LA. So kudos for that. I'll probably go again next year...
After spending my early evening trying to cleanse my system with Kombucha, I met up with my good friend Kiff who was celebrating his birthday in LA! But not with his fam in Chicago :( SO, I felt cupcakes and gelato were in order. Despite my daytime dairy overload, I indulged in some of the aforementioned fair. Masochism = 3, Rima = 0. However, CRUMBS was delicious as always and gelato place next door had some GREAT flavors. The birthday boy got Double Stuff Oreo Cookie which did in fact taste exactly like a double stuff Oreo cookie. It wasn't just a clever name. We had a Cotton Candy cupcake and a Reese's Pieces Cupcake as well. Heavenly. Sat outside in 'downtown' Beverly Hills and noshed on some fabulous treats. It was fun. But alas, but stomach disagreed. I don't know why I expected anything different...
Sunday, I spent all day trying not to get sicker. Kombucha, water and the couch became my bff's. In that order. I did however muster up the energy to attend my friends fabulous Pirate Burlesque show at the Redwood with two of my gorgeous friends Jaime and Ali. The girls looked AMAZING! Sadly, during halftime, I had to sneak out. The sound was much to loud and I realized I'm getting much to old to enjoy mind blowing speaker systems. In addition to a cranky tummy, my eardrums were about to start bleeding at any moment. I thoroughly enjoyed the lovely ladies I saw and sad I missed the others :(
Overall, I had a great weekend! Part of my goals for this year were to get out and try new things, go to new places and get some new experiences under my belt.
Grilled Cheese Fest? Check!
A cupcake from Crumbs and NOT Sprinkles? Check!
Pirate burlesque? Check!
Now, back to the day job. It's a slow morning but I'm going to be doing some more
training this week. Fun times!
From eye patch nights, to glasses days.
XOX
Rima
After spending my early evening trying to cleanse my system with Kombucha, I met up with my good friend Kiff who was celebrating his birthday in LA! But not with his fam in Chicago :( SO, I felt cupcakes and gelato were in order. Despite my daytime dairy overload, I indulged in some of the aforementioned fair. Masochism = 3, Rima = 0. However, CRUMBS was delicious as always and gelato place next door had some GREAT flavors. The birthday boy got Double Stuff Oreo Cookie which did in fact taste exactly like a double stuff Oreo cookie. It wasn't just a clever name. We had a Cotton Candy cupcake and a Reese's Pieces Cupcake as well. Heavenly. Sat outside in 'downtown' Beverly Hills and noshed on some fabulous treats. It was fun. But alas, but stomach disagreed. I don't know why I expected anything different...
Sunday, I spent all day trying not to get sicker. Kombucha, water and the couch became my bff's. In that order. I did however muster up the energy to attend my friends fabulous Pirate Burlesque show at the Redwood with two of my gorgeous friends Jaime and Ali. The girls looked AMAZING! Sadly, during halftime, I had to sneak out. The sound was much to loud and I realized I'm getting much to old to enjoy mind blowing speaker systems. In addition to a cranky tummy, my eardrums were about to start bleeding at any moment. I thoroughly enjoyed the lovely ladies I saw and sad I missed the others :(
Overall, I had a great weekend! Part of my goals for this year were to get out and try new things, go to new places and get some new experiences under my belt.
Grilled Cheese Fest? Check!
A cupcake from Crumbs and NOT Sprinkles? Check!
Pirate burlesque? Check!
Now, back to the day job. It's a slow morning but I'm going to be doing some more
training this week. Fun times!
From eye patch nights, to glasses days.
XOX
Rima
Friday, April 23, 2010
Secret Lives Hurt. No really, I fell down some stairs in four inch heels....
Sunset Blvd, The Rainbow Room, Rock-n-roll burlesque Hells Belles style, a tight corset, four inch heels and ME. Sooooounnnds like a fantastically fun combo and it WAS! Until I took a tumble that in all honesty, had I seen it, I would have BUST out laughing.
Picture it: it's a semi dark room, dim lights, a corded mic and a man who I will refer to as "Midwest Mom Dancer (MMD)" dancing at the base of the steep stairs that are obviously the originals. If you've ever been to The Rainbow Room, it has an odd shape to it. Nustled in a random building on Sunset, it clearly was built to fit the space and nothing more. So there are a lot of stairs, nooks and crannies, etc etc. SO, MMD is having the time of his lift dancing ALL night long. No literally. ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Just swaying back and forth and seriously if you can imagine your mom dancing at club she's much to old for, that was him. As I'm walking down the death- defying-if-you're-wearing-four-inch-heels stairs, I was trying to avoid MMD's swaying body and hair. *Side note: I talked to MMD at the end of the night, and he was a very sweet, gentle man who has probably been going there since the place opened, and has probably partied with every rock legend there is* OK. In lieu of asking MMD to move, (I mean, who wants to interrupt someone's GROOVE THANG?!) I was trying to shimmy around him. One misstep...oh oh oh OH!! just one misstep and I felt my ankles twisting in their sockets and cursing me for wearing these fabulous heels. First one foot loses it's battle, and then the other not so demurely WHIPS itself out from under me and I did what I now believe was a perfect triple sow cow. As I was headed knee first into the hardwood floors, my face slamming into MMD's hand on the way down. I basically got slapped in the face as I was falling. Let's be honest...it was HI-LARIOUS. I just started laughing while lying on the floor and MMD ever so sweetly gave me the hand that slapped my face to help me to my feet. And I took a short bow to everyone asking if I was ok. Oh, how graceful I am in heels sometimes. Seriously, I can teach you to be just as sleek and sexy.
More importantly, THE SHOW!
It was a very fun night and we had quite the unexpected number of guests. We started with three and I believe got up to 40 or so which was really fun. As with any good burlesque show, I riddled my sets with sexy humor and jokes about names for our *special* parts. Hence, C+ and C- were born. Yes, it's what you're thinking. One is a little bit bigger than the other, you know how it goes! One pierced, tattoo'd hottie told me his nickname was 'The Wizard' to which I replied something to the effect of 'Pull back the curtain and show me your magic.' HA.. FUN. TIMES. I forgot how fun it is to host!! Interacting with people while they are inebriated is SUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!! And my friends, The Hells Belles are AMAZING. They are SO beautiful, SOO talented and are just a stunning group of performers. Needless to say, I feel very lucky and grateful that they asked lil' ol' me to host for them. It warms the cockals of my heart. Check them out:
http://hellsbellesburlesque.com/home.html
2am = bedtime, take off the fishnets and eyelashes and release 'C+ and C-' from their corseted death grip.
7am = wake, shower and put on my cute corporate dress and adorable heels. (yes, heels again, I'm obviously a masochist).
Welcome back to the day job. Drinking Kombucha and even though I shouldn't be doing this, partaking in a delicacy you may have heard of... a lemon filled powdered doughnut. MMM. Every Friday someone usually brings in a breakfast treat AND we have happy hour at 5pm. Did I mention I love my full time day job?!?! I do. I feel very fortunate to have been blessed with work, great employers, learning a NEW side of the business ANNNND insurance benefits. Dental, ohhhh how I've missed you. I just had a lengthy convo with a new coworker about our secret lives. Apparently SHE has one as well! She's a dancer and an actress. Oh how I love finding out people's truest desires and dreams.
I feel as though things are working just as they should. My path feels very open and accepting and I THINK is veering me in the correct direction.
Tomorrow, The Grilled Cheese Invitational! More to come...
To fishnets nights and pantyhose mornings.
XOXO
Rima aka Miss Estella Detroit aka C+/C-
Picture it: it's a semi dark room, dim lights, a corded mic and a man who I will refer to as "Midwest Mom Dancer (MMD)" dancing at the base of the steep stairs that are obviously the originals. If you've ever been to The Rainbow Room, it has an odd shape to it. Nustled in a random building on Sunset, it clearly was built to fit the space and nothing more. So there are a lot of stairs, nooks and crannies, etc etc. SO, MMD is having the time of his lift dancing ALL night long. No literally. ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Just swaying back and forth and seriously if you can imagine your mom dancing at club she's much to old for, that was him. As I'm walking down the death- defying-if-you're-wearing-four-inch-heels stairs, I was trying to avoid MMD's swaying body and hair. *Side note: I talked to MMD at the end of the night, and he was a very sweet, gentle man who has probably been going there since the place opened, and has probably partied with every rock legend there is* OK. In lieu of asking MMD to move, (I mean, who wants to interrupt someone's GROOVE THANG?!) I was trying to shimmy around him. One misstep...oh oh oh OH!! just one misstep and I felt my ankles twisting in their sockets and cursing me for wearing these fabulous heels. First one foot loses it's battle, and then the other not so demurely WHIPS itself out from under me and I did what I now believe was a perfect triple sow cow. As I was headed knee first into the hardwood floors, my face slamming into MMD's hand on the way down. I basically got slapped in the face as I was falling. Let's be honest...it was HI-LARIOUS. I just started laughing while lying on the floor and MMD ever so sweetly gave me the hand that slapped my face to help me to my feet. And I took a short bow to everyone asking if I was ok. Oh, how graceful I am in heels sometimes. Seriously, I can teach you to be just as sleek and sexy.
More importantly, THE SHOW!
It was a very fun night and we had quite the unexpected number of guests. We started with three and I believe got up to 40 or so which was really fun. As with any good burlesque show, I riddled my sets with sexy humor and jokes about names for our *special* parts. Hence, C+ and C- were born. Yes, it's what you're thinking. One is a little bit bigger than the other, you know how it goes! One pierced, tattoo'd hottie told me his nickname was 'The Wizard' to which I replied something to the effect of 'Pull back the curtain and show me your magic.' HA.. FUN. TIMES. I forgot how fun it is to host!! Interacting with people while they are inebriated is SUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!! And my friends, The Hells Belles are AMAZING. They are SO beautiful, SOO talented and are just a stunning group of performers. Needless to say, I feel very lucky and grateful that they asked lil' ol' me to host for them. It warms the cockals of my heart. Check them out:
http://hellsbellesburlesque.com/home.html
2am = bedtime, take off the fishnets and eyelashes and release 'C+ and C-' from their corseted death grip.
7am = wake, shower and put on my cute corporate dress and adorable heels. (yes, heels again, I'm obviously a masochist).
Welcome back to the day job. Drinking Kombucha and even though I shouldn't be doing this, partaking in a delicacy you may have heard of... a lemon filled powdered doughnut. MMM. Every Friday someone usually brings in a breakfast treat AND we have happy hour at 5pm. Did I mention I love my full time day job?!?! I do. I feel very fortunate to have been blessed with work, great employers, learning a NEW side of the business ANNNND insurance benefits. Dental, ohhhh how I've missed you. I just had a lengthy convo with a new coworker about our secret lives. Apparently SHE has one as well! She's a dancer and an actress. Oh how I love finding out people's truest desires and dreams.
I feel as though things are working just as they should. My path feels very open and accepting and I THINK is veering me in the correct direction.
Tomorrow, The Grilled Cheese Invitational! More to come...
To fishnets nights and pantyhose mornings.
XOXO
Rima aka Miss Estella Detroit aka C+/C-
Thursday, April 22, 2010
New job + better paycheck = a happy lady
The intro post :)
Rhinestones & Spreadsheets, why o why o why did I ever choose this name?!
As it were, my life has always including both sides of the fence. A job to the pay the bills and support the creative life I so desire. It's funny to know that in a few short hours I will be clad in fishnets, fancy, shiny undergarments and fake eyelashes while at the moment I'm in a sweater, jeans and the hair is in a pony. A cute pony that's sort of pin up girl-ish, I'll give myself that one :) Regardless, I'm equal parts actor, showgirl and office worker galore.
As you may have noticed, I deleted my last blog. When things happened for the better, it's time to move on and delete the past! Er, the last blog at least. As much I as know how the tough hater year of 2009 played out, I do not need nor want to see a blog that reminds me of it. Start fresh and start pink.
From here on out, I will be tracking the steps necessary to getting my life back in order, all the while still setting goals and making dreams a reality. It may include things like, tips on budgeting and living on the cheap, losing 15 (or 20, or 25) pounds of stress weight, recipes to a fabulous dish, how to make a fabulous feather fan or the perfect spreadsheet. I'm the jack of a lot of little trades and 'master' of one. However, master is stretching it a bit as I'm a bit rusty. Although, I HAVE put most of my time, training and effort into acting hence being it being the one 'mastered' item I got.
I hope you enjoy and feel free to ask any questions at all!
Office days and showgirl nights...
XOXO
Rima
Rhinestones & Spreadsheets, why o why o why did I ever choose this name?!
As it were, my life has always including both sides of the fence. A job to the pay the bills and support the creative life I so desire. It's funny to know that in a few short hours I will be clad in fishnets, fancy, shiny undergarments and fake eyelashes while at the moment I'm in a sweater, jeans and the hair is in a pony. A cute pony that's sort of pin up girl-ish, I'll give myself that one :) Regardless, I'm equal parts actor, showgirl and office worker galore.
As you may have noticed, I deleted my last blog. When things happened for the better, it's time to move on and delete the past! Er, the last blog at least. As much I as know how the tough hater year of 2009 played out, I do not need nor want to see a blog that reminds me of it. Start fresh and start pink.
From here on out, I will be tracking the steps necessary to getting my life back in order, all the while still setting goals and making dreams a reality. It may include things like, tips on budgeting and living on the cheap, losing 15 (or 20, or 25) pounds of stress weight, recipes to a fabulous dish, how to make a fabulous feather fan or the perfect spreadsheet. I'm the jack of a lot of little trades and 'master' of one. However, master is stretching it a bit as I'm a bit rusty. Although, I HAVE put most of my time, training and effort into acting hence being it being the one 'mastered' item I got.
I hope you enjoy and feel free to ask any questions at all!
Office days and showgirl nights...
XOXO
Rima
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