Friday, December 28, 2012

Happy birthday...happy holidays :)

My real birthday (Dec. 20) was spent on Venice Beach with my man, his sister Elena and their cousin Max. We had a blast as the sun set and couldn´t help but pose for some pictures.





We tried to show them as much of Hollywood as we could in such short time. Took them around Hollywood blvd to Hollywood and Highland mall (Sweet candy store with marilyn monroe jelly bean picture and willy wonka chocolate store), Mulholland Dr., Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Dr. and they went on their own to Santa Monica. So great to finally meet his sister Elena, she´s awesome and it was a pleasure having them both over.
On Icelandic Christmas, Dec. 24, we took them to the airport and once we were home it was already 6 pm in Iceland, aka where we wish each other "Merry Christmas" so i skyped with my family in Iceland and my sister and her adorable 3 year old twins. It felt wonderful, i felt like I was there. In the evening we met our MI friends and orphans for the holidays where we ate delicious food, played secret santa, present stealing game and finally played music. It was a very merry evening.


On USA Christmas Day, Dec. 25 we drove to Brendan´s (Dan´s band mate) and celebrated Christmas day with him and once again his fabulous family. They had good food and games. The Flavin family brings it every time.

On the 26th, we were invited to an Icelandic gathering. It was wonderful, tons of Icelanders and amazing food. One of my friends had just got engaged so i was so happy to see her and her fiance.

Otherwise I have enjoyed the time off and relaxing. Hope you did too :)

Happy holidays!

Surprise early birthday party

SURPRISE....
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Anna, happy birthday to you"

My boyfriend proved he´s the best boyfriend and organized a surprise birthday party for me a week before my birthday. I had had a horrible morning, did terrible in ear training exam and was so upset that Dan gave me my first birthday present, a pair of penguin slippers. So cute! That cheered me up. Later he took me out to dinner at Mel´s and then we went to Bev Mo to buy some drinks. When we got back i opened the door to find my friends surrounded and singing the birthday song. 
 
Sweetest surprise party ever and i loved every minute of it. 
Dan also gave me the second present..a disney crown, so i got to be a disney princess for a day..

So lucky to have such amazing people in my life, my man and friends
Thank you Dan for making my birthday so special! I love you ♥


Between Thanksgiving and end of school year

Thanksgiving Brendan (Dan´s bandmate) invited us over for Thanksgiving. We thought it was just us and the bandmates...boy were we wrong. We came in and his whole extended family was there. It was a family affair, good food, games, even shooting turkeys (fake ones). Family fun!

Black Friday.... Brendan and his sister bought a huge TV, while we bought some minor things, then waited 2 hours in the car while they waited in line. It was definitely an experience. Black Friday is crazy.....love it and hate it at the same time. Love the prices, hate the endless waiting and people fighting over things like animals.

Love is all around.... got the sweetest friends in the world who called me all the way from Vienna, Austria to tell me they miss me and are proud of me. made my day!

Hollywood life A sunday tradition of ours is to either go to BBQ at Piano bar of see Talking Dead live. Walking Dead is that amazing. And talking about it ...even better.


-The cool thing about living in Hollywood. Started the day seeing Javier Bardem get his star outside El Capitan and then passed Sally Fields on my way back home from school. Hollywood life!
Also saw Hugh Jackman get his star. Only problem. My camera didn´t work...NO! Thankfully there were enough people there with cameras so i got this one online :P

-Speaking of Javier Bardem....Saw the new Bond movie at Universal Walk. the good news....BOND IS BACK!!!! Shaken not stirred, womanizer, old intro....Just wished he would have been played by Clive Owen!Thank you Adele and Paul Epworth for making a proper Bond song, the editing and visual aid during it amazing, Javier Bardem for brilliant acting and Sam Mendes for directing an AWESOME Bond movie.

Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade: very fun, except for when you live here, it really gets in the way. We had to record at school and had to go extra long route to get there. Also, they could have cleaned after themselves, there was puke and horseshit the next week on our street. Not nice!

Recording time: Our band Anna and the Bells recorded our original song "Expirationdating" at school with our roomate Eric and our friends Dylan and Justin. It was an experience. First Dan played the guitar, Martha played piano, then I sang, and in the end our backup singers took their turn. It went by so fast. Dan was happy since he met one of his guitar heroes there. Me and Dan also did a voiceover job (Fifth Element) for the guys´ schoolproject in return. It was fun!

Panels: Interesting panels at my school lately, wen to Getting Airplay That Counts (How to Make Radio Work for You). Love Music Business panels, informative and inspiring. And i got Dan´s band a radio gig in the process. Gotta love networking.

Flu at the worst time... when i had three performances and Dan´s parents coming to visit.Let me tell you..Hell hath no fury like a vocalist with the flu. I had to cancel one performance, Dan and Martha did the song without me but did it amazingly.

House of Blues gig...Anna and the Bells performed at the legendary House of Blues Sunset on Dec. 2 at Musician´s Institute Christmas Party as well as the Artist Development: The Show itself. Despite being sick, i managed to pull through (big thanks to Dan) and had a blast. i love my band and the people in it. Dan´s parents saw us performed at House of Blues and were so proud.



I passed all my exams...WOHOO....
now it´s just one more quarter until i graduate 

Sunday, December 02, 2012

Anna and the Bells












My new band "Anna and the Bells" upcoming shows:

Dec. 2 
6:30 pm

Performing our original songs “Expirationdating” and “All We Want is RockNRoll” at Musician´s Institute Holiday Party at the House of Blues on Sunset Strip.

Dec. 6 
5:30 pm

Performing our original songs “Expirationdating” and “All We Want is RockNRoll” at the Artist Development Showcase at Musicians Institute in Hollywood.

this is just the beginning…working on new material and looking for more gigs.

Stay tuned
www.annaandthebells.com
www.facebook.com/annaandthebells
www.twitter.com/annaandthebells