2012 in Review

This year has been absolutely incredible for so many reasons. Before we ring in the New Year tomorrow, I wanted to reflect on my 2012 year. The first major highlight was meeting Lady Antebellum at their Staples Center Concert in Los Angeles!

The second major event was my Senior Fashion show in May!

My next major event was graduating with a Double Major in Textiles & Fashion Design, as well as Fashion Merchandising from California State University, Long Beach! I was so proud of myself for graduating Summa Cum Laude as well!

The next highlight was earning my first full-time job as a Costume Assistant with GLEE! After interning with the Costume Department for the first three seasons while in college 🙂 Here is a photo I took with the cast back in Season 1!

Attending the London 2012 Olympics and traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland was the next major event!! Including going to the Closing Ceremony and seeing the Spice Girls! As well as a trip to THE Downton Abbey castle, aka Highclere Castle 🙂

I also had the pleasure of working at the Emmy awards and escorting and chatting with such people as Hugh Bonneville, aka Lord Grantham on Downton Abbey!!
The Brad Paisley concert with my Mom at the Hollywood Bowl was amazing as well:

I also attended the MLS Cup Championship to see the LA Galaxy win and David Beckham play in his final Galaxy game!

Most recently, I went to a great concert by Josh Kelley and met him for the 2nd time, along with meeting his wife, Katherine Heigl!

That was a very brief re-cap of my 2012 year, but all the memories I have are too grand to put into words or even pictures. Thank you for taking a trip with my down memory lane!! I absolutely cannot wait to see what is in store for me in 2013!! Cheers!! Happy New Year!!

Cheers,

andrea ♥

London Olympics: Day 15: Visit to Downton Abbey

Thursday, August 9, 2012:

From my travel memories of my trip to the London 2012 Olympics, the day I visited Highclere Castle is without a doubt one of the highlights! Prior to traveling to England, I started watching the television show, ‘Downton Abbey,’ and instantly fell in love! I had my mom watch it as well, and she loved it just as much. When we were planning what to do in England besides the Olympics, visiting the castle that IS Downton Abbey was high on our list.

My mom and I traveled to the castle via a train to Newbury, and then took a cab to the castle itself. The ride was about 45 minutes through gorgeous England. Our cab ride was wonderful as well, because the driver was from the area, and told us a great deal of interesting information. Something exciting happened on the train ride though that started off the day perfectly. I decided to send a message via twitter to one of the actors telling him we were on our way to the castle. His name is Hugh Bonneville, and he plays Lord Grantham. I didn’t expect any response really, but to my surprise, shortly after I sent the message, he sent me this hilarious reply:

I don’t think I could have asked for a better reply from him, haha. Also, this September, I worked at the Primetime Emmy Awards, and had the pleasure of escorting him and his wife backstage. I had the chance to talk to him about that message he sent me, and he remembered the exact tweet he sent. We then proceeded to have a good 5 minute chat about the Olympics and my previous study abroad experience in London! He and his wife were so sweet, and it was great to speak to him in person!

Back to the castle, as we pulled up in our cab, my breath was taken away by the beauty of Highclere Castle and the vast amount of land surrounding it. We stepped out of the cab, and walked down the road to the castle entrance. It was truly surreal to see the massive castle in person. This was my view looking down the road:

We first explored the outside of the castle, including the gardens. The amount of open land and flowers surrounding the castle was astonishing. After exploring for about an hour or so, we then took a tour inside! Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside, but I made sure to take many mental pictures. We walked through the main entrance, and walked the same steps as the Crawleys do when they enter Downton Abbey. This is the first room we saw, as seen in the television show, the door in the back of the photo is where we entered:

We first took a tour upstairs, inside of each bedroom. In each room that is used in the television show was a sign, stating the character it belonged to, and a little biography on them. The most well-known room on the show, aka the “Red Room,” was definitely the most buzzed about amongst the tourists. As we moved through the sitting rooms and library downstairs, there were workers there to answer any questions we had. It was interesting to see all the real life family photos of the people who actually own Highclere Castle. Seen in many of the photos were members of the Royal Family, including Her Majesty, the Queen, as well as Princess Diana. Overall, the house was divine, and it was fun to stand in the rooms and the gardens seen on the show. After our tour, my mom and I went to the cafe, and had tea, scones, and clotted cream! I am so grateful for having had the opportunity to spend the day at Downton Abbey 🙂

Here are the photos I took that day!

Cheers! andrea ♥

Royal Birthday Celebrations: Trooping the Colour

This past weekend, two royal birthdays were celebrated in London. Friday, June 10, 2011 was Prince Philip’s 90th, and Saturday, June 11th was the OFFICIAL birthday celebration of the Queen. Her actual birthday is April 21st (same as mine!). I had the pleasure of attending the Trooping the Colour parade last summer!

Guest of honor at Trooping the Colour, her Majesty, the Queen:

However, the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, stole the show as she has been since the Royal Wedding this past April 29th. Kate looked stunning in an ivory coat.

The Royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony:

Queen & Prince Philip

Aside from the Queen and Kate, Prince William and Harry were also in attendance:

Prince William

Prince Andrew, Prince Harry, Camilla, and Kate

The big fashion news from Prince Philip’s celebration was the “recycled” coat Kate wore. She changed it up by wearing a different hat and dress underneath. I love that she re-wears clothing to events, especially because that is the “commoner” thing to do!

June 2011 (left) & 2009 (right)

cheers! andrea ♥

London on My Mind

Exactly one year ago today, I was on a British Airways flight from LAX to Heathrow airport. I spent the entire summer living, studying abroad, interning, and sightseeing in London.

Windsor Castle

 I chronicled my time there in my previous blog entitled “Lovely in London.”

Here are a few of the many highlights from my time in London:

Houses of Parliament & Big Ben

Me and James McAvoy in London

Photograph I took of Her Majesty The Queen, Summer 2010, Trooping the Colour parade

The London Eye

The day I was at Wimbledon

Fish and Chips from the Camden Lock Market (delicious!)

Photo I took at the Lady Antebellum concert in London! (click for more videos)

Photo of Prince William and Camilla at the Trooping the Colour parade 🙂

Time for Afternoon Tea! Orange tea (the best tea I have EVER had) at Kensington Palace

I find myself missing my time and friends I met there every day since I left last August. I very much look forward to the day I return to what I like to call my favorite summer home away from home.

cheers! andrea ♥

The Colors of Ladurée

Ladurée macaroons

Ladurée is a Parisian Tearoom that was established in 1862. It is very well-known for its macaroons as seen above. I visited the one at Harrods in London, and walked past the one on the Champs Elysées in Paris.

Photo I took along the Champs Elysées

The color palette of the macaroons is my absolute favorite! I ♥ pastels.

cheers!

andrea ♥

My Year in Review: 2010

My life in 2010 was incredible. It was a golden year for me, literally! I had my “golden” birthday when I turned 21 on April 21st. Besides 2010 being my 21st year of life, many other occurrences made that year so special.

January:
One of the best internships I could have dreamed of became a reality, being a costume intern for ‘Glee.’

February:
I was given the great opportunity to meet some incredible actors including Steve Carell, Jeff Bridges, Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Zac Efron, and Ana Kendrick at an incredible little event 😉 As well as Michael Giacchino (music composer for Lost & Up) and Sandy Powell (costume designer of The Young Victoria).

April:
I went to a Lady Antebellum Concert with Kris Allen as the opening act! On the 21st of April I celebrated my 21st birthday by going to the Ellen Degeneres Show at Warner Bros. Studios. It was her Earth Day show and she gave away big gifts! Both my mom and I went home with 32″ flat screen HDtvs and a mattress! I also celebrated my birthday with my family and friends at a lovely birthday dinner and with extreme bowling!

Ellen Show on my 21st birthday with my Mom!

Friends at my 21st birthday dinner!

May:
I completed my 3rd year of college and had my garment design in the CSULB Campus Couture Fashion Show.

 

My design for the fashion show

June to August:
On June 2nd I traveled to London to live there for the summer and study abroad. Major highlights included meeting James McAvoy on my way to Starbucks in Marylebone, London, seeing the Queen and Prince William in person!!, traveling to Paris and Cinque Terre, Italy, going to Wimbledon (a life long dream come true!), going to Lady Antebellum’s first London concert, and meeting some of the most incredible people who became great friends <3. My entire journey in London is documented in my blog entitled Lovely in London.

<img class="size-full wp-image-133 " title="I love London

I love London ❤

James McAvoy and me in London 🙂 We are birthday buddies ;)!

Her Majesty the Queen! We are birthday buddies too! 😉

Prince William! Before he was engaged!

Wimbledon!

Lady Antebellum in London!

All my lovely London friends!

To finish off my summer in August, my parents met me in London for 6 days, then we traveled around Europe for 2 weeks. We went to Amsterdam; Koln, Germany; Innsbruck, Austria;  Venice, Rome,  & Florence, Italy; Lucerne, Switzerland, and Paris, France. I returned to America on August 29th and began my fall semester of Uni (as they say in London) on August 30th (the VERY next day after I returned from Paris!)

My parents and me in front of the London Eye!

September:
I began my 4th year of college, ran in the Disneyland 5k, and worked at an incredible event called Stand Up to Cancer where I had the opportunity to meet Zachary Levi and “Baby” aka Jennifer Grey from Dirty Dancing, amongst other great celebrities who were there that night to support the fight against cancer. It meant a lot to be a part of such an important cause and event.

 

Disneyland 5k run

October:
I went to Las Vegas to celebrate one of my best friend’s 21st birthday. love you Amy Laun! I also went to the longest concert I have ever been to, which was Justin Timberlake’s Charity Concert in Las Vegas. His concert featured great artists such as Lady Antebellum!!!!, Christina Aguilera, P. Diddy, Salt n Pepa, Elton John, and of course JT himself, amongst others. The concert lasted somewhere around 4 hours!

 

Justin Timberlake

I also celebrated Halloween with two of my best friends in San Diego!

Halloween in San Diego

December:
I had a great Christmas and was lucky enough to get an iPad! (which is what I’m writing this entry on).  I celebrated New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas with my best friends as well!

 

New Year's Eve in Las Vegas

My year in review is just a small glimpse into all the great memories I have from 2010. Thank you to everyone who was involved. I especially want to thank my parents for making it all possible.

If I learned one thing from the entire year, it is that I LOVE LIFE!!! I hope you all had a great year as well! I cannot wait to see what 2011 has in store for me 🙂 Happy New Year everyone!

Lots of love,
andrea medina ♥