On the Left Coast: LA Adventures

Since this was my second visit out west to see the lovely Jan, I'd knocked out most of the touristy things the first go round. But there were still a few things to do in the city before we embarked on a few road trips.

First, since my first full day was a Friday, I went to work with Jan. She works at a studio so I got to explore the lot while she did a few things in the morning. It was so cool to just walk around the lot and look around. I covered lots of ground, went in the studio store, had lunch at their cafeteria, and watched them set up a scene they were filming for a series.

I spent a lot of time exploring their "legends" section where they have plaque after plaque of people from all walks of the company that they have deemed "legends." I nearly cried when I saw Peter's.

The main building was quite impressive. (And maybe a little creepy, being held up by dwarves and all.)

The real stars.

Later that night we went in to Hollywood to check out a Southern-influenced bar and hang out with some of Jan's friends. The bar was really cool, the drink only ok, the company excellent, but jet lag hit me fast and hard so we called it an early night.

On Saturday we got pedicures with some of her friends and then spent the day shopping in Burbank. Saturday night I helped Jan with a few crafts. It's stuff like this, just shopping and doing crafts, that I miss the most when we're on separate costs. It sucks, actually. But I'm glad to have had the time this trip to do this.

On Sunday, before church, we made a quick trip to right a wrong from the last trip. A visit to the Hollywood sign when it actually reads HOLLYWOOD. (On my first trip they were trying to save the land around the sign, thus it read SAVE THE PEAK.)

 

Us with the sign! Success!

After the sign, church, and lunch it was off to Anaheim for...Disney Land! My first trip to a Disney park.

On the Left Coast: Things I Bought

Please excuse the blatant conspicuous consumption in this post. But I'm still exhausted from the busy, but wonderful, weekend and the exhaustion continues as I have another killer deadline tomorrow. So it's this or nothing.

There's something about being in LA, and being with fellow serious shopper Jan, that makes me want to shop, shop, shop. I actually controlled myself better this time than last, but still walked away with some pretty cool things. (Which were a lot easier to get home than you might think thanks to packing an extra, empty bag.)

First up, from a vintage store in Burbank, a lingerie pouch. The lace is a bit yellowed, which I love, and the inside is a perfect pink satin. I think lingerie in the past must have been a lot smaller or more delicate than my utilitarian cotton pieces from Victoria's Secret, but if anything can make them fancy, this will do it.

The next two things also came from a vintage store, this one in Santa Barbara. First was a German "Breakfast at Tiffany's" poster. As you can see, I already own English and Spanish versions, and I've been wanting German and Italian versions, too. Three down, one to go.

Now for what might just be my favorite thing ever. It's a random collection of old printing press letter blocks. Many of them still darkened black from the ink! I've been wanting some blocks for ages but didn't know what to spell or what to do with them. This mix of letters arranged in such an artful way solved the problem for me. I love that my eye is immediately drawn to "Go" and "God." I still haven't hung it up yet, but I just love to touch it and look at it.

Also in Santa Barbara, I bought this pretty freshwater pearl bracelet and this charming match box Nativity Christmas ornament. (I get an ornament anywhere I travel.)

Finally, the piece de resistance. An object I'm pretty sure I've coveted since I was 5 years old. A dinglehopper! That's right, it's a hairbrush made to look like a fork in honor of Ariel's misguided use of a fork thanks to Scuttle in "The Little Mermaid." (Aka my favorite Disney movie.) The folks at Disney Land were pretty brilliant in this creation, tapping right in to that inner part of me that has always wanted to brush my hair with a fork. (And actually may have, once or twice, with a plastic fork from my play kitchen.) The second best part about this object? (The first being the object itself, of course.) When the cashier rang it up he asked me, "So just the dinglehopper then?" Why yes, sir, I am a 29-year-old adult who has to pay rent and all, can't get too crazy.

On the Left Coast: Celebrity Sightings

It has been quiet on the blog for a good reason: I was in Los Angeles!

I went to visit one of my besties*, Jan. This is my third visit to see her in California and my second to LA. (We met in San Francisco one of those times.)

Work is madness, of course, so I haven't had time to download my pictures and compose my thoughts. But since one of the first things people usually ask is, "Did you see anyone famous?," I thought I'd start with that.

If you'll recall the last time I went to L.A., I saw 4 famous people on the Paramount lot. This time I saw 2.5 famous people. Let me explain.

Celebrity .5
When I was at the studio lot where Jan works, in line at Starbucks, this tall, blonde, attractive man got in line. He was wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, inside, in the 80 degree weather. He also had an Australian accent and a wedding ring. So I decided he was one of the Hemsworth brothers. Jan doubts it because she says no one that famous is ever at their lot, but she agrees it might have been someone.

 
Celebrity 1
We drove up to the lovely town of Santa Barbara on Monday. While we were vintage shopping at this great store, I looked up and saw a beautiful blonde girl. I looked closer and saw that she is an actress on "Pretty Little Liars." I think you all now how much I love this crazy show. She was with who I presume to be her boyfriend and parents, and one of them said her name, so it was confirmed. I didn't say anything to her but I think the parents and BF heard me freak out at one point. Which is embarrassing, but it could have been way worse. Like read my open letter to her worse.

Celebrity 2
I was at LAX for my flight out bright and early on Tuesday morning. I was on the sidewalk at the terminal, walking to my entrance, when I saw a very energetic man get out of a towncar. It was Richard Simmons in a Carolina blue sweatsuit. He was acting entirely too peppy for 6:30 in the morning and looking almost freakishly good for his age.

And those are my 2.5 celebrity sightings for this trip. More from the Left Coast...eventually.


*I'm not usually a fan of abbreviating words like a teenager, but after they used the word on Big Bang Theory, Jan started using it for us and now I love it.

L.A. Day 3: Church, Los Feliz, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Anti-Valentine's night/Day 4: Goodbye

Pictures on Flickr.

Church
We started off the day by grabbing a few pastries at Porto's, and then heading downtown to Jan's church, which is held in an old movie theatre. As I said to serious movie-lover Jan, "Leave it to you to go to church in a movie theatre." It was a great service though and a good start to the day.

Los Feliz
Next was a bit of shopping and enjoying the lovely sights in the Los Feliz area. We each got a few cute things and had fun trying on clothes and just walking around. I also got to cross yet another item off my list, which was eat at Pinkberry. For some reason I saw this as very L.A. in my head, and it was quite good.

Beverly Hills and Bel Air
After the shopping we did a drive through of Beverly Hills and Bel Air. No need to stop. I've seen "Pretty Woman" too many times and have no desire to be talked down to by snooty shop assistants. Speaking of that film, we did drive by the Regent Beverly Wilshire, but no sign of Vivian, as far as I could tell. We then drove through Bel Air, which I didn't realize really is little more than a neighborhood. As we drove through, we did what any good children of the 90s would do, and rapped a little "West Philadelphia born and raised..." Because that's just how we roll.

Santa Monica
It was then on to Santa Monica to take a stroll to the beach so I could dip my toes in the Pacific for the first time. They've now been dipped on both sides of the Atlantic and both sides of the United States. The verdict? Cold and wet. Just like the others. But amazing nonetheless.

I saw Malibu from a distance and walked above the PCH; saw the Santa Monica pier and a "Baywatch"-esque lifeguard tower; went in a California surf shop and tried to shop at Jonathan Adler.

Anti-Valentine's
After our busy day, it was back to Jan's for some yummy take-out Italian, Jan's patented St. Valentine's Day massacre drink, and the terribly romantic "Zombieland." And then I had lots of shoving, I mean packing, and early to bed since my time in L.A. was coming to an end.

Day 4: Breakfast, Mulholland, and LAX
My last day was President's Day. We had a great and hearty breakfast at another of Jan's favorites, the Aroma Cafe. Which we got to by taking the scenic and winding Mulholland Drive. I am notoriously bad with directions and knowing where I am, and by the end of the weekend L.A. seemed a little bit smaller than it was at the beginning, but still wholly confusing and overwhelming to me. Thankfully, Jan did all the navigating and did it well.

With a little time to kill before my flight, we went by Jan's office. For the past several years, most of the time we Gchat or email, she's at work, so it's nice to have a visual to go along with our chats.

Finally, we put it off as long as we could, but in the end I did have to leave. As I've said, Jan is one of my closest friends and I am so blessed to have someone in my life who understands and knows me so well. (And still loves me anyway.) And I don't know how she did it, but she took this die hard East Coaster, and turned her into someone who could maybe sort of someday want to live out West. But that's a post for another day.

L.A. Day 2: That sign, Observatory, Lunch and pedicures, Walk of Fame, dinner and a movie

More pictures on my Flickr, of course.

"Hollywood" sign
I use those oh-so-annoying "" because I didn't actually get to see HOLLYWOOD. Due to a campaign to save the hillside from developers, its protectors decided to cover HOLLYWOOD with SAVE the PEAK to raise awareness and money. (Or, as it read the first time I saw it, before all the letters were up, SAVE the POOD.)

But still, no trip to L.A., in my head, would be complete without getting closer. So Jan drove me up to see the sign, pose with it, and look out over L.A.

For the record, let me state that I am all for conservation, for preserving our natural resources and keeping corporations and condo developments from sullying our landscapes. That being said, did you have to do this, on my first trip to L.A.? (For more information: http://www.savehollywoodland.org)


Griffith Observatory
After the sign FAIL, we went to Griffith Observatory. I have wanted to go here for years, probably since the first time I saw "Rebel Without a Cause" in the seventh grade, as the observatory is where integral portions of the movie were filmed. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the long walk to the observatory from the car was lovely. We didn't go inside, but just walked around the grounds, taking tons of pictures, and enjoying the view.


Lunch and Pedicures
After Griffith, we got lunch at one of Jan's favorites, Porto's. It is now one of my favorites, too, and I do wish they could expand to the East Coast. I can't remember what I had for lunch but I had tirimisu for desert and it was perfect. We had then planned on seeing a movie, but got the times wrong, and decided to get pedicures instead. I was especially happy as the blizzard had impeded my feet-prettying efforts and they were nowhere near being West Coast ready. It was one of the best pedicures I've ever had, where they took their time and I really felt pampered. (And at such a good price, too.)

Walk of Fame
Next it was time to find my precious Audrey Hepburn's star on the Walk of Fame. Jan knew approximate whereabouts, and with just 15 minutes on the meter, we started the hunt. Of course it wasn't on the first street we walked down, but on the second one we found it. I used to have a photo of this I found on the Internet as the background on the computer I had in high school. And now I have this.


Dinner and a movie
That night I got to see a true movie premiere courtesy of Jan's roommate, who made a short film with her co-workers. It was very inspiring to see the fruits of their passion and creativity. We had dinner at a great Mexican place nearby and then I crashed pathetically early. And that was day 2!

L.A. Day 1: Paramount, star sightings, Hollywood Boulevard, and why we don't go to bars

I can't believe how long it has taken me to get around to this. But since I hardly write in a paper journal anymore I'm forcing myself to go ahead and record it before I forget it. This is day 1 of 3. And all my pictures are up on Flickr.

First, this is Jan, my hostess for the weekend and one of my best friends. We've known each other since a French class the first semester of college.


Getting there
D.C. had a true blizzard on the Wednesday before I was scheduled to leave, resulting in one cancelled flight and one near nervous breakdown. I got lucky, however, and was able to book a different flight only an hour after my original, and made it through the mountains of snow to the airport and out of Dodge. I got to L.A. late Thursday night, greeted by weather in the high 50s, which felt more like summer after the week I'd just had.

Paramount studio tour
A few weeks before my trip, Jan and I were emailing back and forth about things to do. She asked about doing a studio tour and when we were deciding on which one, she sent me the following thought process:

"We should do a studio tour. Hm. Bonnie will want to do Paramount - because it will have [the] most Audrey stuff there."


She knows me so well. So to Paramount we went on Friday morning. From those recognizable gates, to the iconic symbol on the water tower, it was perfection.

Our tour guide, though his nametag identified him as being from Kansas, was at least one part typical Hollywood fast talker. Very informative and sarcastic, but as Jan put it, she kept waiting for him to say "that's beautiful" or "let's make it happen." (Which, thankfully, he did not.) He drove us all around the lot, stopping at different soundstages for us to take a peek and filling us in on Paramount history along the way.

We saw them setting up for My Boys and Hung. We also got to go on the set of Community, which was interesting because it was the most put together of the ones we saw. We saw an outside lot used for water scenes, one of Forrest Gump's benches, the studio movie theatre, some buildings that used to be major star offices and dressing rooms (including Audrey), the set of two Nickelodeon shows, and more. We also had a whopping 4 star sightings. (Jan said the chances of even one are rare, so to have four is just unreal.)

Our guide tried to make it to the New York lot, but sadly we could only glimpse it from afar as Desperate Housewives was filming there. We did, however, use an alley to turn our golf cart around. At the time I thought it was just an alley. Later, however, and only because Jan asked, we discovered it was the alley used from the final scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's. (AKA MY FAVORITE MOVIE!) It would have been nice to know that at the time, but still, just knowing I was there is nice.

Celebrity Sightings
Oh yes, those. We saw:

Matthew Morrison and Jayma Mays from Glee and Chevy Chase and Alison Brie from Community. (She's also in Mad Men.) Everyone on the tour was freaking out, but Jan and I kept our cool. And were the only two who even realized it was Matthew Morrison. Everyone but Chevy Chase smiled and waved at us, but he might have, Jan and I were just too busy looking away as everyone in our cart screamed "That's Chevy Chase!" These were my only celebrity sightings of the weekend but I'd say that's ok.

Lunch
Jan had a very long list of places she loves that she wanted to take me to eat. We started with In-n-Out. I love a good burger and fries and these were excellent.

Hollywood Boulevard
After lunch I saw more of downtown Hollywood and we stopped on Hollywood Boulevard to do a little shopping and walking and looking. We went to Zara, which is a store I love and went to a lot in London and now in D.C. Funnily, I haven't bought anything there since London, but I found tons to buy at the one in L.A. I only bought one top, however, and Jan ended up with the same one. We are different in a lot of ways, but some times we are just so much alike, it makes me feel really good.

Kodak Theatre
While here we also went by the Kodak Theatre, where many events are held, including the Oscars in just a few weeks. The space leading up to the theatre has columns with all the Best Picture winners. They have space up until 2050, after which I'm not sure what they'll do.

Grauman's Theatre
Our last stop in the area was Grauman's Theatre to look at all the hand and footprints of stars past and present. I can't believe how tiny some of the women's footprints were! Natalie Wood's especially, I really should have measured against my foot since mine are quite small too, but hers looked minuscule. I believe my favorites were Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, simply because they shared a block and wrote "his" and "hers" beside them, which I thought was sweet.

More shopping and dinner
We then went back to Burbank where Jan lives and wandered around downtown. I bought a very cute jacket and shirt at a consignment store, and then we had sushi at one of Jan's favorites. Then it was back to her apartment to get ready.

Going Out
The L.A. Carolina Club (UNC has alumni clubs all around the country) happened to be having a mixer that night and we decided to go. It was fun to get dressed up to go out, reminded us of our last year of college, but not so fun once we got there. We had to realize that we just aren't go to a bar to meet people, people. Whether it's being incessantly talked to by someone you barely know, (Jan), or hit on by someone who can't even read your last name off a name tag correctly (me), we just don't have a lot of patience for it. We had a drink, left, and then Jan drove around L.A., showing me different views of the city and several landmarks.

And that was day 1 and just the beginning...

Los Angeles

I really will get around to writing about my L.A. trip. Hopefully before I leave for Austin for a work trip. But until then, I did manage to upload and caption my pictures on my Flickr. All nicely organized and labelled.