Ally, Kelly, Christy and I formed Team Dumbledore for ICLA’s semester volleyball tournament.  I will add that it was the ONLY all girl team! As the temperature was pushing 100 degrees, we stepped out on the court for our first out of possible best-of-three games against our guy friends on Team Something Fierce.  The only practice we had was the night before with a beach ball.  The hot sand certainly kept us on our toes for each of the games.  We put up a good fight against Team Fierce, but we just couldn’t beat them in the end.  Luckily, Holly and Jon set it up as a double elimination tournament so we still had one more game to play. Right before the game we realized that if we put on socks we would avoid getting blisters all over our feet.  Our played much better in this game and were really starting to get the hang of it.  We lost our first game against Two and a Half Men and we knew this next game was all we had left to advance.  We didn’t end without a fight with a score of 18-21. As hard as it was to lose, we were happy to jump in the pool and cool off.  Our friends on Team Fierce ended up getting second place overall.   

The tournament was followed with a BBQ put on by our RA’s.  That night our group of 8 went to Castle Park Mini Golf Course to have some good clean fun.  It was a neat place, but we were a little disappointed in the lack of uniqueness the course.  It closed at 12 so they ended up kicking us out at our thirteenth hole…LAME.  However, I did get second place overall and one hole-in-one at the end of the night. 

Here are some other fun highlights from my week: 

1) My professor from Speechwriting and Interviewing brought our class of three students out to the Smoke House for dinner.  The Smoke House is a restaurant right across from the Warner Bros. lot and often a place of celebrity sightings.  Unfortunately, we didn’t see any celebrities, but it was still a lovely night of delicious garlic bread, steak, potatoes and great conversation.   

2) On Monday, at MAW I was working on the somewhat dry task of closing out files so they would be ready for the auditor to review at the end of the fiscal year.  After that project was complete I overheard one of my co-workers saying that she had to a wish from a 12 year old girl named Lesley who wanted a High School Musical themed bedroom.  I peaked around the corner and exclaimed, “I can help with that!”  She delighted with my enthusiasm for this project because she had not seen the movie and didn’t know where to start.  We searched the websites to find some sample patterns and accessories for the room.  We found 5 different patterns of High School Musical sheets, comforters, curtains, wall hangings, etc. that we cut out and put together to send to Lesley.

3) On Friday I got out of Ellen a little early and went over to Jay Leno’s studio with Corey, Kelly, and Dan.  Jay Leno is right across the street from Ellen so it was easy to get there.  We heard rumors that Jenna Fischer (Pam) from The Office was going to be there, but to our disappointment she was not.  Instead it was British comedian Tracy Ullman promoting her new show, State of the Union.  The next guest was Jason Taylor, a defensive end for the Miami Dolphins and currently one of the stars competing on Dancing with the Stars.  The last guest was Flogging Molly, a seven-piece Irish American Celtic punk band.  Ally’s professor works for NBC publicity so she got us guest passes and we ended up sitting in the front row.  When Jay Leno came out we got to go right up to the front of the stage and put our hands out for him to shake.  Jay touched my hand! haha It was cool sitting so close. We were right down in the mix of the camera crew, set changers and the executive producers.  I felt like I was part of the show. 

4) Ally, Kelly and I really enjoyed our hike at the beginning of the semester so we decided to find another trial.  We ended up going to Griffith Park and hiking through a trail that led us to the top of the observatory.  On our way up we were able to see the Hollywood sign in the distance and take some great pictures.  I honestly think we ended up stopping every couple minutes to take another humorous picture or climb a tree near by.  Hiking really makes me appreciate nature and all the small beauties we have around us that we often take for granted.  I am hoping I will do some more hiking once I get home to New York this summer.  After the hike we went to the store and bought Juno.  REALLY if you haven’t seen it, rent it!