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ur interview becomes more like girl-talk - there’s popcorn, skittles, and us sitting informally on one of her ivory-colored sofas with her legs crossing and leaning back comfortably. Her dog Ramona happens to be right beneath us, under the couch and unwilling to come out as she happily gnaws on rawhide. Alexa Vega, now 23, offers a never-ending angelic smile as she chats with our crew, wearing her own pair of jeans, a grey American Apparel cotton tee, and a pair of converse shoes. We visit yet another beautiful home in Los Angeles, this time behind closed gates that offers a private environment for Vega and her two dogs (Ramona and Parker), as well as a handful of chickens living in her backyard. Vega describes her home as “Southern,” citing her Southern roots as inspiration when it came to decorating. She grew up in this house with her many siblings, and now that her younger sister Mackenzie films in New York for The Good Wife, her other siblings have also migrated to the east. Vega therefore mans the house, even as she constantly travels for work and for fun. After some scheduling conflicts, we finally locked Vega down for a home visit and discussed everything about her. We discovered more than we ever knew before...like the fact that she has dated three homosexual guys in the past and didn’t know it, and how she seems to be best friends with everyone from Young Hollywood.
(and we have a sitter for Parker and the chickens). Now tell us about your love for cooking! I love to cook. Some people do yoga to relieve stress...I cook. I love to create different things and I know the flavors of the spices, and it’s so artistic. It’s wonderful. I love to make somebody happy [through cooking]. I make arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) and caldo con pollo (really wonderful chicken soup). For desserts, my number one thing I like to make are caramels (especially for Christmas). I make a whole bunch, last year, I made 2,500 for Christmas. Do you have any fashion icons that you look up to? Well, the person I think dresses so incredibly well, and I heard she dresses herself, is Blake Lively. She’s gorgeous and has an incredible body, and an incredible sense of style. I have no style whatsoever! Living in Los Angeles, you have to have favorite places. What are they? One is La Poubelle. My other favorite place to go to was The Farm at The Grove, but it closed! I always go there before going to movies...I’m an avid movie goer. It’s frustrating now that it’s gone... I go to the one in Beverly Hills. I just went with Aly & AJ last week playing Scrabble for two hours. I also have a secret salsa place in Hollywood I love to go to.
In what direction did you and your family take in terms of decorating this house? I love Southern architecture. You might notice that we have a lot of antiques in our house, and our balcony has a wrap around the way that a plantation home would. I was raised in the South and I wanted those roots to show.
Bad habits? Every night, I make this mistake. I go into the bedroom, not wanting to brush my teeth yet and don’t want to wash my face yet either, I just want to sit in bed and be on the computer. But it’s always the wrong decision. I sit there, when I sit there, and I get really tired and I have to FORCE myself to go get ready for bed. It’s so frustrating!
It doesn’t seem as though you can enjoy your home enough since you’re always out on the road! Because our careers are so wishy-washy, you have no idea when you’re going to be working. It’s frustrating because you also live out of suitcases, and I’ve been out on the road for about four months. I love to be able to have clean clothes [while at home], and let Ramona run around
If your friends and family were to describe you with a few words, what would they be? My friends would say...chill and uplifting. I’m adventerous...I’ll be like, let’s just book a flight and go for it! At the same time, I’m always the mom of the group. Family - they know me as go-go-go. ‘She always has to be doing something!’