Oh what? So i ride on parade floats, now. what do you want? I haven’t been to a parade since i was little and honestly normally avoid them at all costs (call me a kermudgeon (sp?) but they just cause a lot of traffic problems and the only thing i would wait overnight for is to hug a baby panda bear for at least 5 minutes – i’ve honestly thought about it and that really and truly the only thing that seems worth it).
Saturdays New Years Day Rose Bowl parade was kinda surreal. I got there at 4am, got my hair and makeup did, and was out by all the floats in the dark at 5:30 or so. There were blocks and blocks of MASSIVE floats, super intricately designed, colorful, each with 1000’s of VOLUNTEERED man hours put into them, which begs the question ‘WHY???’ And the answer? its awesome, good old fashioned, clean, traditional, American fun, in such a great nastalgic way. Being a parade sceptic, i was surprised to find something that was just so nice and wholesome and sweet about the Rose Parade. It made me want to have kids and make it a tradition to go every new years day, or at least hire someone to take them to it because that thing is real early.
Oh and don’t get me started on Pasadena….its 10 miles and worlds away from Los Angeles and it has this quaintness and grandeur about it at the same time. You don’t feel an ounce of Hollywood there, instead its like an old regime runs it, filled with its own socialites, charity events in these insanely old and beautiful historic houses. Can’t say i would live there right now, but if you get a chance to go to San Marino (the old city within Pasadena’s city limits) do it, the tree lined streets are so old and beautiful and the architecture is stunning.
I was on the float with John Gidding (unnervingly handsome) who does Curb Appeal the block and the notorious Antonio Ballatore (hi-larious) – both were straight up great.
It was like design host man sandwich. They are both so tall they make me look so wee, which i’m never opposed to.
OMG and listen to this sh*t, and this is not the ‘Emily who is employed by HGTV’ writing, nope, this is the ‘Emily who has a seriously incredible announcement that has always kinda flew under my radar’ writing.
Ahem. HGTV has given away 1 dream home a year to a blind lottery winner for the last like 15 years or so. And for those of you who haven’t been aware (like me, for years) they are actually quite beautiful and EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE homes. Long story short i watched the dream home special two nights ago of this years home in Vermont and it is SICK.
oh and you get that Crossover car, too. And Skowe Vermont is especially awesome because say you didn’t want to live there, you could just rent it out year round and make even more money. Oh and you get $500, 000 to cover taxes for the next however many years.
So i’m bummed that i can’t enter to win it. I won a $100 raffle drawing at Ikea last year, OH and I won Design Star so I feel like luck is on my side, but ladies and gentlemen YOU CAN EFFING WIN THIS HOUSE!!!! I made all my friends watch the show about it last night and all of them after truly understanding what they could win went online and entered . Basically you can enter to win twice a day every day on hgtv.com until february something, and at the end they’ll literally pick a blind winner who wins this insane house, so the more you enter the better chance to win, you get it. Anyway for those of you who are annoyed that i’m plugging my own company, i say to you ‘shut up, go ahead and don’t try to win a dream house, it only gives my friends more chances to win’. I mean i dare you to be stupid enough to NOT enter.
Back to the float:
CHeck out these crowds. Rounding the corner and seeing all these people was pretty insane.
There we are. We waved frantically and yelled Happy New Year for 2 1/2 hours. My triceps are killing me. But Antonio really had the ‘elbow elbow wrist wrist’ thing down – truly a beautiful, graceful waver that man is.