My girlfriends and I at Drai's!

Everyone knows that my favorite place to party in Hollywood is Drai’s Hollywood. I was invited to most of their soft grand openings and had a blast on their friends and family night on March 10th, where everyone and their mom was there, including my sexy pals from Vegas! In my opinion, Wednesday nights are the most fun, because that’s when I started going. You’d think that school nights would be not so poppin’, but Drai’s is definitely the most poppin’ place, any night of the week. This Cinco De Mayo landed on a wednesday which made it perfect for my friends and I to stop into Drai’s! After a few bowls of chips and Salsa in West Hollywood, we all got ready and got to Drai’s. Word of Advice, don’t go with a bunch of dudes and if you do, TOTALLY get a table, with at least two bottles! Outside Cabanas are fun, since its getting warmer and there are heat lamps, and it’s totally Vegas Style, well duh, Drai’s was originally a VEGAS thing!! We danced, popped bottles, and of course Nicole and I saw our beautiful BFF Paris, and I was so so happy to see her! I know she loves Drai’s too! Here are the pics!!

Nicole Marie and I

girlfriends and I at the Cabana! xo

Kaitlin & I arriving at Drais Hollywood Pool at 2:00pm

Summer is around the corner, and Hollywood pool parties are the place to be once again! Sorry I haven’t blogged lately, I’ve been swamped with random things but I’ll make sure to blog more asap! This past Sunday Funday, Kaitlin and I decided to go to Drai’s Hollywood’s Pool party during the day to catch some fun in the sun. Drai’s Hollywood which is actually related to the Drai’s in Las Vegas created by Victor Drai and brothers Cy and Jessie Waits (the team behind Steve Wynn’s Tryst and XS) is the hottest hollywood venue yet. Well, they did bring us XS, which is still one of my favorite clubs in Vegas! It’s actually at rooftop of the newly built W Hotel in Hollywood. We arrived around 2:00pm ish which was perfect because it wasn’t completely crowded yet. Around 5:00pm it gets a little chilly so I put on my cover up but everyone still stuck around. There were tons of hot waitresses, a nicely dressed upscale crowd, and cute cabanas, and sexy girls and boys! Here are the pics from that day.. Check them out. And If you want to join me, I’ll be there a lot this summer!

Drais Hollywood Pool Party every Sunday!

xoxo Arika ♥

Right when I arrived there was a red carpet with a huge backdrop with the JPy logo, SBE logo, Industry logo, and the House of Glam Logo, everyone seemed to be so excited because this is the hot spot, and my friends who are JPy magazine and House of Glam got to the first ones to throw an amazing party there!

It was pretty cold that night, I brought a mini faux fur leather lined cropped jacket for the outside, which was 54 degrees in Los Angeles, and to us, that's super cold! Most girls wore mini dresses or skirts with tops. Tights if you wanted to add some class, and always a clutch to hold your essentials. Stilettos are definitely back for the spring, no wedges to the club, and everybody looked very nice and classy. Jeans isn't really an option for these type of upscale parties, for girls that is.

Black pumps are my ultimate fave item for the winter transitioning into spring. They are a basic black super high pump that makes any dress look classy and put together. You can either spend a lot for some super sexy ones like the YSL's or you can get some similar ones at Aldo, Bebe, Steve Madden, or Nordy's.

How I do my makeup, you can find on youtube, where I did my makeup tutorial. Hair curling, I use a 1 inch or a 1.5 inch barrel depending on how I feel and I curl outwards. Spray all the hairspray at the end, bottom up. As for Jewelry, I always wear at least 3 accessories, earrings, bracelets, and a ring (that's three). Another way is Necklace, and bracelet, and ring. Never wear too much, but accessories definitely make you glam, and shinier than others, lol.

It was really a lot of fun that I got to hang out with the JPy girls because I got to talk to them and use my Japanese skills! They were so cute and so much fun! Kana, Jen, and Ayumi really made my night a lot more fun! Thank you girls for hanging out with me, and we will definitely do it again!

xoxo Arika ♥

xoxo Arika ♥

My best friend Erika and I @ Magnolia on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood

Whether you’re single or married, it’s always tons of fun to have a girl’s night out! This past Friday, my best friend Erika (I know, our names are similar), Laurie, Hiromi and I went out and had a lovely dinner in Hollywood and went clubbing afterwards. I was the party planner this time, so I made dinner reservations at Magnolia off Sunset, and it was perfect! I always feel like when I eat dinner in Hollywood I always do the sushi thing, like going to Katana, Katsuya, or Geisha House, and this time, I really didn’t feel like Sushi, even though I AM Japanese! lol. It’s probably the most “Hollywood” thing to do, but I had sushi the night before so I wasn’t going to eat it again. Anyways, when we got to Magnolia, they were a bit late on our reservation but we got an amazing table, so I was happy about that! The ambience is really chill, it’s pretty quiet, a bit on the smaller side, but it’s dimly lit and the decor is cute and boutique-ish. The Valet parking was 7 dollars, which is a little bit cheaper than the usual 10 or 12 dollar restaurant Valets. The food there was really really good, and I was happy. I ordered the Macadamia Nut crusted Mahi Mahi which came with green beans and Jasmine rice. We got hummus and pita chips for the table, some sweet potato fries, chicken and beef skewers (obviously I didn’t eat that), some calamari, and the most amazing arugula salad. I’m a complete herbivore so I am obsessed with Arugula, lol, I ate the entire thing, clean!

Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi with Green Beans and Jasmine Rice

From top to bottom, Sweet Potato Fries, Arugula Salad, and Calamari

girlfriends at the table @ magnolia

We left the restaurant and headed over to Opera, the line covered the entire street of Schrader. Luckily, I was a VIP host for PartyTilAM, I was able to get in immediately with my girlfriends. For those of you who were waiting in line in the cold, arrive early and become friends with promoters, lol, or better yet, pop a bottle! Right when I got there, I ran into one of my friends Khai, who I am a huge fan of! He is a very talented dancer, and I'm obsessed with people who can dance! Like ABDC guys, umm.. love them!! We also got some video footage that night, which Khai directed and I am starring in it, which will be posted on the site soon. You will see what really goes down in the club, following my every step!

xoxo Arika ♥

DId you know Seth MacFarlane doesn't really like pop/hip-hop music? He likes classical so he had his own orchestra playing the music!!

He sings too, and he's really really good!!

friends! That's Tomik in the purple - he throws the best parties! NIght Vision Entertainment

my girl natassia <333

They had a little star wars "Something, Something, Something Dark Side" performance!! HUGE!

so that’s a recap of the night! It was tons of fun, I can’t wait to go to the next one!
xoxo Arika ♥

I ran into my friend Kimberly at the People's Choice awards after the show, here's the pic, thanks babe! xoxo

Last Night was the People’s Choice Awards at the Nokia Theatre @ L.A. Live. It was quite hectic because I had to pick up my girlfriend Nicole (from BFF) and try to make it there on time by 5:30 when the doors close. So it was massive bumper to bumper traffic and I do not drive like a maniac so when I got to Nicole’s she drove in complete Grand Theft Auto style. We made it to the doors at 6:03 pm and we hurried in with the help of such nice security, thanks daniel! When we got there our seats were dead in the middle in front of the microphone in the very first row. I didn’t know our seats were that ridiculous! Thanks to Michael my amazing casting director from Spike I was able to receive such great tickets to an amazing awards show. I decided to bring Nicole because I knew she would be fun.

But of course, there was some drama before. First of all, it took us more than an hour to get there even though it shouve taken like 20 minutes. When it came down to where we had to park I didn’t know so I told Nicole to go right, then she tried to go left so I told her to go left and she was in the left lane, but then she went straight. It was the biggest argument ever because she said “Arika, you told me to go right and left, I said No i didn’t so we argued the whole way across until we got in front of Nokia Theatre. It was funny though, we laughed about it after.

When we got in, it was absolutely amazing. Sandra Bullock thanked us for saving her seat but we didn’t even know we were saving her seat! Taylor Swift looked like an angel and there was a little girl crying because she was so happy she saw her. I was so glad she won Favorite Female Artist because I definitely think she deserved it!
Everyone looked phenomenal! Mariah Carey won her award and her dress was so sparkly and long I want one myself! It was so amazing to sit in the front row because Steve Carrell was by us, and when he was about to win he looked at Nicole and they crossed their fingers together! lol It was cute! There were so many little breaks in between and people kept switching their seats so we did too, but then we got worse seats! haha bad idea! But oh well. During one of the middle breaks, Nicole & I made a video! I’ll upload it asap as soon as I get it.

Afterwards was the after party at Congo Room. I was so exhausted from the shoot that day Nicole & I left after the awards and I didn’t even make it to the Laker game even though I had been invited! We went over to our friends place at 1010 Wilshire. The building is so so nice, and I decided to work out in my dress and heels! No joke. Take a look!

haha It was a stress reliever.

working out in stilettos! xo

xoxo Arika ♥

Paris & I at her Celebrity Styler & Ultimate Brush Launch Party November 17th, 2009 @ Thompson Hotel Rooftop xo

Last night was the launch party of Paris Hilton and Hair Tech’s Celebrity Styler which is an amazing curler, flat-iron, brush-in-one, and also the launch of her Ultimate Brush. Nicole White and I attended the event together along with Stephen Hampton, Onch Movement, and Kaitlin Cassidy from BFF and we all got to walk the pink carpet with Paris. The event took place at the rooftop of the Thompson Hotel so I was so glad I was well prepared and brought my fur jacket! And for all of you guys who are against real fur, it was a faux fur jacket, I’d never be a sponsor in killing an animal. So don’t freak out!!! We were each allowed to bring a plus 1 but I decided not to bring anyone this time because it was a more of an intimate get together, not a party where you rage and bring randoms. The party was beautifully decorated by Christina of Hair Tech, who was such a sweetheart and I am so glad I met her. Her twitter handle is @ProductsbyParis, so follow her! There were banners with Paris’s products and ads, and the bar had Paris’ pictures on them, which were amazing. I loved the lily pads in the pool and the cabanas each had huge screens in them and there was one huge theatre size movie screen so everyone got to see her commercial! Best of all, Paris flew out 3 of her huge fans that entered the Celebrity Styler contest. One huge Paris Hilton fan, Kassidy who is 17 was so sweet too! He had sent Paris a video of how much he loves her and he got flown out from Arizona with his family! I had talked to him on twitter before so I was so glad I met him in real life! Right before we left, we all got swag bags of Paris’ products, and I definitely can’t wait to try them out! party was HUGE!

Afterwards Nicole & I went to MI-6 in West Hollywood to do a little after-partying, and we danced on tables! That’s about it! TTYS

all of us!

Nicole Marie & I on Pink Carpet for Paris' Celebrity Styler Event

Jesse from Life Rolls On =) xoxo

xoxo Arika ♥