Posts Tagged "Los Angeles"
Los Angeles, the finale
After trekking home early, early Sunday morning with our heads still buzzing from experiencing the awesomeness of GhostRider, Lindsey and I finally made it home. She was lucky enough to be able to sleep while I was stuck hanging out with Thomas Dolby and whatever entertainment I was able to find on the radio.
So here’s when that day’s fun starts. It’s Lindsey’s birthday and I had ordered her a birthday cake as a surprise. Of course, that meant that I had to devise a way to get out of the house without arousing too much suspicion. Pretty easy right? I thought so. In fact, I prepped her for it by telling her that I was meeting a friend for breakfast to cover for my disappearance. All went well until she started complaining about me going out to eat without her on her birthday.
Yup, that was pretty inconsiderate of me isn’t? You know what else is wrong? How that little white lie SNOWBALLED into how inconsiderate I was. For real. Lindsey was understandably hurt that I was abandoning her on her birthday to gallivant around with some friend while she was stuck at home with nothing to eat. So she told Tammy what an inconsiderate thing I was and somehow that got back to our parents! So while I’m down in Santa Monica picking up her cake, the rest of the family is clucking around wondering what the heck did I have to do to leave my baby sister on her birthday.
So while the maelstrom was growing, I was happily sitting at Vanilla Bake Shop waiting for the cake to be decorated and munching on a fresh set of cupcake babies.
Oh yeah, you knew I was gonna eat cupcakes for breakfast. Actually, it was the second time I did that day. Remember those cupcakes I bought the day before? Well I didn’t get a chance to eat them so I ate them that morning before I left. And I figured I should give Vanilla a better shot of getting a decent review and when I saw the strawberries and cream cupcake I was already picking out the other two I wanted to sample:
And really, how can you say no to these little cuties? Exactly. This trip I picked up a Strawberry and Cream, Mom’s Birthday Cake, and Blackberry Passionfruit. And they were so delicious! I am officially a fan of Vanilla Bake Shop. They’re a close second to Cupcake Royale and completely blew Sprinkles out of the water.
Anywho, Lindsey’s cake. I retrieved it and strapped it into the car [seriously. I seatbelted that sucker in!] and made the quick trip back to the apartment to surprise the heck out of her. And my thanks? Being called a jerk.
You’re welcome Lindsey. I love you too.
Are you gonna eat that?
After a night’s rest and a fairly productive yet slow morning. We spent at least an hour sitting and debating whether or not we should go to breakfast. Well, I sat and watched Spongebob and Food Network since I no longer get those channels at home and am going through some major withdrawals. Seriously, it’s so bad I actually watched Rachael Ray! I know! I haven’t watched her show in YEARS.
Anywho, since it took so long to make a decision, we ended up sitting around and waiting until it was time to meet Bubba for lunch. And where did we end up lunching?
Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles!
Oh yeah. I didn’t have a chance to make it down there the first time I was in L.A. but I was determined to make it there this time around. Luckily for us the wait wasn’t long. We pretty much had enough time to walk back outside and for Jon to sit down before we were called in. And extra points to the security guard at the door who called him “Bubba.” Poor guy; the longer he hangs out with me, the more he loses his name.
Anywho, so my thoughts on Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles?
Oh my goodness, I LOVE THOSE WAFFLES!! They simply were some of the best waffles ever. So light and cinnamony and…what? You say there was also chicken on the plate? Three pieces of chicken? Oh yeah, about that. The chicken was…okay. I don’t usually eat the wing part as a whole so I wasn’t really feeling this chicken. It was a little dry as well. I much prefer the leg and I didn’t realize I could have just ordered the leg and waffle by itself. Had I known I totally would have gotten that.
But the waffles, they were delicious. So delicious I even wondered if they sold waffle mix. They totally should. I was so in love with these waffles that I gave my last chicken wing to Lindsey so I could finish my waffle. And then I helped Bubba finish HIS waffle. Yes, I ate the waffle from his plate. They were that good. And thank goodness we’re such good friends that he didn’t stop me from pillaging his plate.
After lunch Lindsey and I made our way to the Santa Monica Third Street Promenade to just wander around and do a little browsing [and also to look for purple leggings. Can you believe American Apparel wanted $26 for a pair?! SERIOUS!]. From there we made a stop at Vanilla Bakeshop for cupcakes. Naturally.
We both picked up three cupcake babies. I ended up with vanilla bean, red velvet and a black and white. I didn’t take pictures of those cupcakes [for shame] because I was too excited over the dessert shots we impulsively bought after paying for the cupcakes. How can you look at these and say no:
I know. Buying only one each took a tremendous amount of willpower. I think Lindsey had the Chocolate Dirt Cake and I had the Banana Pudding. And it was not enough. A shot is such a tease.
With our bellies full we had plans to head back to the apartment for a quick nap before heading down to Knott’s Berry Farm but after driving around the building for a while, we decided to just make the trip down earlier than planned. Good thing we did because we sat in traffic just getting to the off ramp. And then I spent another 30 minutes completely frustrated as I tried to figure out how to find the parking lot. I couldn’t see any signs and when I drove through the park, they decided it would be a funny joke to NOT place a sign letting drivers like myself know that the left lane directed you to the parking lot and the right lane was for drop offs only and would eventually spit you back out into the street. The only sign they had was “Use Both Lanes.” Ugh. So then I followed what I thought was a sign for parking only to find out that it was for the hotel and was given directions to another lot. Except the lady didn’t tell me that the lot would require a left turn so I drove right by it! Let’s just say by the time we weren’t exactly in the best of moods at that point.
We finally make it in and I remembered why I don’t really enjoy going to the Halloween themed nights: the random scary people. You know the costumed people who wander throughout the park scaring everyone they can? I don’t like them. I just don’t like getting scared like that. I spent the entire night not making eye contact and hoping they would leave me alone. Thankfully we were pretty much left alone. I think because when we were walking around, one of us was always eating and I like to think they’re told not to scare people with food. Good thing too because if one of those costumed folks scared me while I was attempting to eat my funnel cake [which was completely disappointing and overpriced! Definitely not as good as I remembered in high school] I would have dragged them back to the funnel cake place and demand a free one.
I had two objectives for the night: 1] get funnel cake and 2] ride GhostRider. We stood in line for GhostRider for five minutes before bailing since it was insanely long but only after I got the assurance that we’d make it back there at some point during the night. I picked up the funnel cake on our way to Silver Bullet. Lindsey wasn’t in the best of moods and I was worried that the night would be a bit of a bust but thankfully it started to lift once we finally made it onto the Silver Bullet and she had a chance to eat. And then for the crowning moment: GhostRider.
This wooden roller coaster is quite possibly the BEST ride at that park and I’m not ashamed to admit that riding that thing was my sole motivation for driving all that way and dealing with the massive crowds and touchy-feely teenagers who like to stand in line and heavily pet each other while they make out, just so I could get back on that ride. And you know what?
IT WAS SO WORTH IT.
Sure I had to convince Lindsey the line was worth it but there wasn’t much I could say because there is no way you could properly explain the experience that is the GhostRider. You really need to ride it to get it. While the funnel cake was disappointing, GhostRider was the exact opposite. In fact, I had forgotten just how violent that ride is. Well, violent isn’t the right word but you move around in the seat a lot. Lindsey kept yelling at me about talking her into the ride and when we finally started to slow, I had the distinct pleasure of pointing out the second half of the ride. Yes folks, the ride is THAT long. As much as I like to ride roller coasters with my arms up in the air, I was only able to do that for about a quarter of the ride. Oooh I’m getting excited all over again!
And Lindsey’s reaction? She turned to me when we were done [for real this time] and declared: That was not okay. But I know she liked it. She just had to process the whole thing. But ultimately she enjoyed her time there, which was really the point.
But riding GhostRider again after 10 years? When can I go back?!
Read MoreLa-La-huh?
Last month I finally had a chance to head down south to visit Lindsey in Los Angeles. It was a quick weekend jaunt [one of the many perks of living in Cali. Day trips down south for the win!] but definitely fun, if not with it’s own set of issues.
So my mom took advantage of my trip to use me as her personal UPS. So for a weekend trip I brought a suitcase to check. Yes people, I would be down south for just less than 48 hours and I checked luggage. What could I possibly be bringing with me?
Of that entire suitcase, all the things that I would be using for the weekend fit in that flap part on the left. I figured the TSA folks would have a good laugh at the girl who packed a couple changes of clothes and a suitcase FULL OF FOOD. And what’s that? Is that some frozen soup?! WHY YES, YES IT IS!
Because my mother doesn’t send halfhearted care packages. Oh no.
Anywho,the flight was quick and uneventful and I didn’t even have to wait that long for my bag [score!]. If only my rental car shuttle had cooperated with me. Sigh. I don’t know how long I had to wait but I saw multiple shuttles for every single rental car company except for Budget. Figures. We were waiting for so long that we actually CHEERED when the Budget shuttle finally appeared. The only problem was since we had to wait for so long, the shuttle ended up being packed so it was a fun race to get off the shuttle and into the rental office first. I managed to be the third or fourth one in which wasn’t too bad. If only the clerk helping me didn’t creep me out so much. Here I am trying to watch the Angels/Red Sox game and he’s trying to make some flirty chit-chat and I was not having none of that. And then, when I had to give him my number for the system, he stared at me as he typed it in. I guess I was supposed to be impressed with his typing skills? Fail.
I shelled out the extra cash for a GPS unit and I’m glad I did. I wrote down Lindsey’s address wrong so if I had gotten paper directions, I would have been hard press to figure out where to go from where I was at. I was glad all I had to do was reenter the address and he would recalculate the distance and lead me on my way. Oh, so let me introduce you to my weekend friend: Thomas Dolby Garmin the Third. You can call him Thomas Dolby for short.
After wandering around aimlessly, I finally arrived at Lindsey’s apartment, probably about an hour or so later than I should have after all was said and done. But hey, I made it. I almost want to buy a Thomas Dolby for my own but I am fairly familiar with my current location. Maybe if I move I’ll invest in the miracle device. Though they’re really only good until you know where you’re going.
Next up: the rest of the weekend. Highlights include: Bubba and chicken, zombies, roller coasters and cupcakes. Of course there’d be cupcakes!
Read MoreFall: where more than just the leaves change
Ahh, what to say. What.To.Say.
Well, there have been a few changes around these parts. Most of which were unwelcome and startling but that’s life, you know?
I guess I should start with the most interesting of stories. I do still have my L.A. trip to update you on [including a story how I sort of kinda got lost with a GPS unit. The moral of that story: CHECK YOUR ADDRESS!] and I will get to that because the pictures are so yummy looking that it would be a crime NOT to share. And in case you can’t wait, they’re posted on my Flickr account. Also my 10 year high school reunion happened after almost NOT happening, which is a painful story in and of itself that I will share. School is going well even with all the mad amounts of homework I have to do weekly and I have a trip planned for next month to visit the bf! Yay!
But I guess the biggest change is that I was laid off.
Yeah, that change sucked. But honestly, I’m okay. It’s not ideal but it happens [and unfortunately it happened to me]. The actual lay-off process sucked though. I wasn’t expecting it at all and I felt like I was hit by a bus when I heard the news. Its quite the shock to the system learning that you no longer have a job and despite my best efforts, I cried in that conference room. I tried so hard not to, especially not in front of my boss but I couldn’t help it. Then I sobbed to my mom when I called her as I left the office and then intermittently on that long BART ride home. To say I was devastated was an understatement of mass proportions.
What else can you do when you worked so hard to achieve your dream only to see it stopped short? Not to say that I’m done working in the industry. Far from it. I’ll be back and I’ll be going right to the top. I’m more determined than ever to figure out how to make that happen. Oh yeah. Because in the back of my mind, I want to be able to one day say, “Kids, don’t give up. Once upon a time I was laid off from this company. And now? I run it!”
But to be honest, I wouldn’t have been able to be so calm and at peace without God. Seriously. This is simply my own personal testimony but I’m at peace knowing that everything that happens will work for my good in the end. I’m trusting that He’s already planned for me and i just need to let it go and trust Him. We’ll see what my next path is. It’s really the only way I’d be able to talk about this without crying. In fact, I’m already at the point where I’m joking about it!
I do have a few options I’m working on and will be forging ahead with the full court press on the job search. Don’t cry for me, I’m not crying for myself.
All is well.
Read MoreLa-La-Laing all the way home
So I’m back from my misadventures in Los Angeles. I’ll share my recap with you soon but I wanted to wait until I uploaded my pictures before I do it. Not that I did a lot of picture-worthy things like I did the last time I was in town. Let’s just say that I probably didn’t need to charge my camera BUT I do have pictures to share.
I will only caution you by saying do not read while hungry.
You have been warned.
Read More