BruinLife Banquet 2013 // Layla Cafe

Towards the end of spring quarter, BruinLife Yearbook has a banquet for its staff where the year's accomplishments are lauded and awards are given. This year, banquet was held at Layla Cafe in Santa Monica.

Look at that exterior. Whew. That door gets me every time.
 

At ninety-five percent freshmen, we ran into some issues in terms of transportation. The three or four drivers we did have had to make two or three trips from the dorms to get everyone to the restaurant. A perk of being one of the few seniors? Catching a ride with Evelyn from the apartments and not having to walk out to the dorms. Love that girl {with or without the ride there}.

Layla Cafe is gorgeous, by the way. The staff very accommodating to our large size and boisterous crowd. We reserved the entire restaurant-- I was really impressed with how BruinLife went all out with this Banquet thing.

It is my first one; when I had gone over to Apt 213 to meet Evelyn, she was dressed to the nines. We both stared at each other for a few seconds in confusion since I was wearing business casual. Turns out, previous banquets were formal events, but this year, we were a little more toned down. Yay, us!

This girl. I'm so glad she encouraged me to join and try out something new, even if it was already senior year. Never to late to start, yeah? Thanks, girlie.

The food. Ohmygoodness. First off, I adore Mediterranean food. Secondly, it was fun watching some of the freshies on staff try it for the first time. And last... it was just really good. Mmm.

This was our Editor-in-Chief {EIC}'s last year after five years with BruinLife. Maybe it's cause I'm a senior and lots of endings are in sight, but I'll admit I teared up a little when he started getting emotional about the people he's worked with over the last four years and how much yearbook has meant to him.

The theme for this banquet was Disney and there were some slightly awkward, but endearing connections made between the animated characters and our staff members. Graduating seniors got Mike Wazowski plushies since we will "always be a friend of BruinLife, just like Mike was a friend of Sully's." Layout's team character was Pocahontas since she "painted with all the colors of the wind, and layout is all about visuals and creating interesting pages."

Oh, these freshies. They're hilarious and goofy and adorable. I wish them the best of luck next year on yearbook and for the next three years of college. Love you, girls.