HO HO HO!!!!

Tis the season to miss New England, fa la la la la, la la la WAAAAAAAAH!!! (big loud Lucy cry!). I know folks back home may cringe at this statement, but we are so envious of the snow. There's never snow around Christmas time!... and of course the year we move away, our first Christmas on our own... far away from home, IT SNOWS and we miss it!! DAMIT! Oh well. We'll get it next year.

Everything is going well in gold ol' Woodland Hills. Jobs are going well. Mine is a breeze. Al has been still working loooong looong weeks. Trying to get the last episode done before Christmas, so they don't have to work through the holiday, and of course they got it done - thats how Alex rolls.

Momma D flies in tomorrow afternoon!!! CAN'T FREEKIN WAIT!!! We're going to see a Christmas Carol w/ John Goodman, Christopher Loyd, and Jane Seymour at the Kodak on Christmas Eve- that will be fun. And of course lovely Sue will be joining us as well! We're going to have a sweel old time. Got some cute cafe's and hip restaurants lined up like the Stinky Rose.. oh yeah... AND Alex and I found (well Alex found it) an authentic Portuguese Bakery! We will be all over that! We walked in there the other day just to check it out and I thought to myself , "Hey, it smells like New Bedford in here"... and never before in my life did I think I would ever say that reminiscently. But I did.

Anyway....HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Eat a lot, drink a lot, laugh a lot, love a lot. BIG HUGS AND KISSES TO YOU ALL!!!


LOVE,

Sarah & Alex

P.s. I (Sarah) got a Christmas present from Niel Diamond. HAHA - no lie!

1 Month down.....

Hi all,

MUCH has happened in the past few weeks. And I mean A LOT. I'll try to recap - quick and dirty.

So I got a job 3 weeks ago. I am the new booking coordinator at Venue Coalition. Check us out http://www.venuecoalition.com/. We represent 50 + arena sized venues as a booking facilitator and talent buyer. Cool stuff. I sit in no traffic on my way to work, which looks like a 15 minute drive west. My bills get paid and my insurances is completely covered. :) YAY! I don't have as many responsibilities like I did at Cafe 939, which stings a bit coming from such an intense job, where I was essentially the boss. Everyone knows I'm not happy if I'm not overloaded. But it's a job and it's relevant to my major and my career, AND I am learning some stuff I in fact did not know prior, AND I am exposed to some highly confidential information on different high-profile artists and industry current events. Oh and did I mention it pays the bills? Yeah, right now I'm pretty dam thankful for that. I know there are people out there who are getting laid off and fired left and right with families to support - so there's no complaining here.

Alex is great, job is tough though. LOOOONG HOURS. The man clocked in almost 70 hours last week. And this is how it will be: 2 to 3 weeks in a row he'll work non-stop, no days off, 14 hour days, and by no days off I mean he has had to work through the weekends, consecutively(plurral). And we're learning the more shows they produce, the closer the deadlines, the more they have to work. Just the way it is. Very tiring for him, but it is money:):) Oh and every episode you watch of CSI from last week on out, listen to the music - Alex has worked on it. Hasn't written it of course, but he picks what goes on there, edits it, then the composer writes new stuff over it- so Alex actually has a creative role in what you hear on the show. I think thats cool at least.

Our apartment is coming along sooo nicely! We've managed to paint the studio (our second bedroom). It's an AWESOME green, specificially "gilded pesto". All the furniture and studio equipment is dark dark. As soon as we have a decent camera, we'll put up pictures. Thats our christmas gift to each other - a new camera.

So some things happening in California... lots of current events that are on the front of everyone's mind. First thing-the fires. Yes they are really brutal for the people they are affecting. Fortunately- that is not us. They are close though - 30 miles away roughly. We have soot and ash on our cars every morning. But they are moving toward the ocean and the winds have died down.

Secondly- the election. We (Al and myself) are THRILLED. We were/are Obama supporters and yes I cried watching his speech. I think it's safe to say Californians are really happy about it. There is one thing they are not happy about and how on EARTH this happened I have no idea, but since prop 8 has been passed people are PISSED. And rightfully so. Alex and I are. HOW is the big question. Were people confused whent hey voted? Maybe they thought voting "yes" meant it would not pass or they were voting FOR the GLBT's. Was there a miscounting? - b/c the votes were VERY close. It does not make any sense to declare one group of people equal, granting them the same civil rights as EQUAL citizens, just like the rest of us heterosexuals, and then one day overturn the CIVIL RIGHTS we granted to them. That is saying, "no your not equal, you are lesser than me b/c of a personal choice". In that case then how about we pass a law that stops people from piercing their bodies, or wearing the color yellow - you don't have to do it - it's a PERSONAL CHOICE. It's declaring gays and lesbians as second class citizens which is downright EVIL. It's completely UNCONSTITUTIONAL, UNGODLY, and just plain WRONG. How in the matter of one day we took a GIANT leap forward, and then a GIANT leap backward? - it's just ridiculous. So Al and I are PISSED (clearly), and so are A LOT of people in the area where we live. Everynight since the election, there have been protests all over Los Angeles. And there should be. If everyone could just let go of this need to control everyone else - we'd all be fine.

That being said, who's excited for Thanksgiving? I'm hosting our very first Salex Thanksgiving. Our dear friend Lucas and possibly Erik will be coming over. Any recipie suggestions? I'm going to do the usuual: Ham (per request by Alex), green bean casarole, stuffing, scalloped potatoes, yams, salad, biscutts, and probably some other stuff too.

Oh and some last minute social news ... our good friends Kyle and Kayla, who live down the street from us are expecting their first baby... and ... it's a boy!!! Due April 2, 2009......so I'll have a little baby to spoil soon enough. CONGRATS TO MOMMY AND DADDY!

Miss and love you all,

S & A

OUR STUFF IS COMING, OUR STUFF IS COMING!

FINALLY!!!!! Countdown until our moving truck arrives, is 90 minutes!!! We've waited 16 days! 16 days of sleeping on a blowup mattress from WalMart, eating take out and drinking red wine out of a plastic solo cup... CLAAAAAASSY!  And finally the day has come....THANK GOD. 

On other news...we finally got our web cam and now have skype.  So if anyone wants to see/talk to us on skype our name is "SarahDeMatos"... well thats my name, but you can add me and talk to both of us.  Still not sure how to work it, but I'm going to test it out with my beloved friend Amber tonight and I'll have instructions ready for everyone later.  Skype works with both PC's and Macs, just FYI. 

Love and miss you all.

Salex (aka Sarah + Alex)

P.S. Alex and I just shared our 4 year anniversary yesterday.  After we weathered our own mini economic crisis within our newly established LA lives, we decided to celebrate and since money is tight, we ate at a Japanese Buffet around the corner.... how romantic.  Actually it was AND they had sashimi - all you can eat.  And it was GOOOOD. 

Settling in...

So it turns out that moving your stuff across the country takes a little while ... like waaay more than they tell you it will take.  Our stuff was suppose to be delivered "worse case senario"by  October 10th, and what do you know - thats today! But no truck.  I've called the carriers everyday this week since Monday and everyday they say they don't have a delivery date yet - the truck apparently makes many stops along the way.  Finally today the man told me "Monday/ Tuesday".  So here we are, 10 days and counting without our stuff :(... which is only sad because I CAN"T COOK ANYTHING!! We've had to eat out everynight - and this isn't the time to be going out to eat if you catch my drift.  But the good news is... yesterday our internet and cable got installed!!! AMEN! Applying/searching for jobs, searching for cars, purchasing insurance, registering to vote absentee, doing "non" online banking, changing your address, and doing all the important things needed to settle into a new home is VERY difficult without the internet.  I'll admit it, I'm 100% addicted.  Can't help it.  The cable doesn't do much good without a TV to watch it on (yeah those are on the truck).  Also on the truck is the chord to connect my camera to my laptop... and Alex's camera is out of commission.  So I've got GREAT pictures to go along with these blogs, but I can't upload them. Tear :(.

But back to good news... Alex and I finally bought a car!  It's a sexy car too.  It's an 05 Kia Spectra5... very sporty looking and drives like a race car.  It's red and has a spoiler on the front and back ... which makes it even COOLER.  Its got 38k miles on it and gets GREAT gas mileage - 34 mpg (so anyone cringing at the word "Kia" ... be jealous).  Speaking of gas... it's really not that bad out here.  $3.50 per gallon... isn't that what it is back east?  Anyway, Al and I got a great deal at a dealership in Glendale and picked it up tonight.  At this point, we're looking for another car to buy cheap, hopefully from the same place.  

Life with John Keane is going well.  John gave Alex Thursday and half of Friday off, I guess production on the show took a short break.  Did anyone see the CSI Las Vegas season premier on Thursday?  I would have watched it if we had a television, but Alex said it was really heavy.  I guess we have to start watching it now.   

As far as my job search goes, I've reached out to several contacts I've made out here and applied at two places - both very desirable positions.  Haven't heard back yet, but I'm still working at it everyday so something will bite.  If not, I'm going to have to waitress pretty soon - if the restaurants are even hiring.  I've heard many are going under because everyone is broke.  Man this economy thing is starting to sting.  

Lets see what else ... we bought a basil plant and named it Anthony.  It lives on our porch outside.  Oh and the people who live right above us HAVE to have kids, because all we hear is little feat running and pounding on our ceiling.  We've got freekin Angelina and Brad above us.  Everyone on the property lives within pretty close quarters ... the people right across from us are soooo loud at night.  Their porch faces ours and their TV is always blaring.  And since my TV is on the dam truck, I have nothing to fight back with!  But our apartment is so nice we can't really complain... expect about the stuff I just complained about. HAHA. 

Last thing... today.. it was FREEZING OUTSIDE.  It felt like a bonified New England fall day... really crisp and chilly.  It made us feel totally at home.  

We miss and love you all!

Sarah & Al

P.S. I accidentally left all our cards and gifts from the going away party, at the party.  So Auntie Min is mailing them to me, so please forgive me for not thanking anyone yet - I just don't know whats in them yet!  But I will soon! Thanks in advance!!!

P.P.S. Alex and I had to take back our computer camera because it wasn't MAC compatible, so we just have to get another one and then we can talk/see you all on Skype!!

 

WESTWARD BOUND!

This is our first “blog”. We figured this would be the best way to keep all of our friends and family in the loop ... PLUS you can all see pictures.

Our flights couldn’t have been smoother and for the first time our bags didn’t get lost! (although paying to check 4 large bags hurt the piggy bank… ouch). We had a 3 hour lay over in Denver… my now favorite airport. We killed the time at a Belgium restaurant in the airport. A guy named Jake was our bartender and upon our arrival at the bar shook our bands and introduced himself – I was borderline shocked at the extreme hospitality and then realized people only get nicer the further west you go … which means I should get nicer. Here’s to sunshine and smiles.

We landed at 7:30pm, got our rental car right at our terminal at the Burbank Airport (p.s. if anyone plans to someday come visit us… fly into Burbank, it’s WAY closer to us), picked up some things at Target, stopped by our friend Jared’s house, ate some Chinese, and then headed to our new apartment around 10pm. Since we landed after the leasing office had closed, our leasing agent agreed to leave our apartment unlocked. And what do you know we show up and the door is locked! So back to Jared’s house we go to spend the night. THANK GOD he lives less than 5 minutes down the road from us. It’s so nice having a close friend so close nearby. ANYWAY, the next morning I got dropped off at the leasing office with all 20 million of our bags and was able to get into our place, while Alex went to his interview with John Keane. Which, by the way, HE GOT!!!!

YES, ALEX GOT THE JOB!! Alex is now the music editor/assistant to the composer for CSI: Las Vegas! Alex has always dreamed of working with John Keane. Ever since he got to Berklee, Alex tried contacting him and sent him his music every year for critique. I, along with all of you, knew he would get it. I just knew it! The interview was yesterday (Wednesday) and today was his first day. There is a lot he has to learn, a lot of Pro Tools short cuts and troubleshooting that he isn’t familiar with – but anyone who knows Alex knows he will absolutely rise to the challenge. I’m so excited for him!! He’ll already prepared 4 temp tracks that will be on next week’s episode. Yeah … I don’t really know what that means either. But the way I semi-understand it is like this: the director, composer, and sometimes Alex meet and come up with the places in the show where music will be and decide what kind. This is called “spotting”. Alex then takes the spotting notes and goes to John’s HUGE database of over 3,000 cues (a cue is the filmscoring equivalent to a “song”), picks the appropriate music (that was previously written for other episodes) according to the spotting notes, and edits it into the scene, and then gives it to John, who then writes new music over it. This saves SO much time. And once Alex gets the swing of things, they will be able to finish an episode a day. CRAZY STUFF!!!

And as for me I am not yet employed. We have no internet until Thursday 10/9, so I’m a bit stalled…. But I’ve been able to use Jared’s internet here and there and something should surface in a week or two.

Our apartment is GORGEOUS!! WE LOVE IT!!! There is a HUGE porch that connects the studio (2nd bedroom) and the living room, gas fireplace in the living room w/ a beautiful white mantel and dark grey slate at the base. We have a beautiful new kitchen and bathroom. The cabinets are white and recently referbished, carpets are brand new sand colored. It’s perfect for us just starting out. The only bizarre thing about the place is that all of the light switches are like two and a half feet high from the ground. Alex is convinced it was at one time a “little person” apartment. He can’t even get his head under the shower head – no lie! It comes up to his neck. It’s actually funny. It reminds us of Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. Now we just are waiting for our stuff to arrive. Its torture not having my kitchen stuff! Last night we went to Ralph’s (LA version of Shaws) the Grocery store to get finger foods for a few days. We bought a bottle of wine and while standing in the check out we realized we need a wine opener. So we bought one. We get home and as I’m about to open the wine, it dawns on me that I have nothing to drink it out of. And no, I did not drink it out of the bottle - I should have though:). We also neglected to get plastic plates and utensils, so today for lunch I microwaved frozen pesto pasta dinner thing and ate it with a pairing knife.

We’ll get a hold of this thing sooner or later.

Until then….


LOVE YOU ALL,

sd

(P.S. Pictures to come soon!)