I don't know how I could ever do the trip full justice in an entry, so here is a shortened and highlighted version of events. Well, with pictures, of course. The great thing about the whole trip is that I was able to knock a few things off of The List, some of which were tied into the trip directly. Anyway, let's get to it, shall we?

Woo! #1 on The List

Day 1:

After having this being one of the first things I saw when I arrived, I knew my trip was going to be awesome.

Right after we arrived at the hotel, we dropped off our luggage and headed straight out to polish off #3 from The List, Eat at In n' Out Burger.

It was delish. Then we headed over to Kitson and Rodeo Drive, where I may have drooled all over the floor of La Perla. We then drove up into the hills to overlook San Fernando Valley, taking the famed Mulholland Drive (which still didn't make me understand the movie any better). The night was capped back at the hotel by me falling asleep during the last half hour of Lost. God Bless TiVo.


Day 2: Day 2 was our Hollywood day. We toured the Kodak Theatre in the morning, so they still had the American Idol set up from the night before. I scored some "Carrie won!" confetti and my father marched right up and sat in Simon's chair, which I don't think we were supposed to do. Nonetheless, he was whirling around, saying, "I'm Simon!" After that we headed to Hollywood and Highland where I got my glimpse of the Hollywood sign and also knocked #76 and #77 off of the list: Find a pair of expensive jeans that actually fits me and buy them. This is no small feat, my friends. I can't wear the super-low jeans (or, as I like to call them, the "hi, here's my crotch jeans), which is how most of the pricey jeans are. Also? Expensive jeans are made for twigs. I'm skinny and I can't do up a size 29 or 30 half the time. WHO is wearing all of the size 24 jeans? WHO, I ask???? Anyway, this rant all comes down to my friend, Lucky Brand jeans Sugar Fit. 3-figure costing jeans never felt so good. I also got to ogle some of the MANY, MANY L.A. hottie boys while there.

During our Hollywood trek, we also hit the Hollywood Wax Museum (Madame Tussaud's is SO much better), and the Hollywood Entertainment Museum, where we got to hang out on the actual bar set from Cheers.

C'mon, you have to sit in Norm's stool.

We checked out some of the Walk of Fame...

...and the front of Mann's Chinese Theatre, where a guy in a Spider-man suit called me "cutie" and welcomed me to Hollywood. My favorite thing about the guy in the Spidey suit happened about fifteen minutes later, when we were in a nearby deli and he came in to order some food. He kept his mask on the entire time, and just the picture of him reaching into his fanny pack for some money made me laugh and laugh. In fact, I took a 3 second video clip of it with my camera just to capture the absurdity of it all. Watch it here.

We then headed back to the hotel for some sun/pool time and then got ready for our night out. We hit Dimples that night, which is the country's first karaoke bar. (Thanks for the tip, Pamie.com forum users!) The creepy thing about Dimples? It's a little divey, so it only has one bathroom stall. If you look up on the ceiling over the toilet, you see this:

Yeah.

Anyway, the whole point of the Dimples was the karaoke. They have it every night from 6PM - 2AM and they stream it live over the Internet (watch some from the link above!) A few of my friends back home caught some of my performances. And hey, now I can say that I sang in Hollywood.

I will also never admit to donning a straw hat for the first verse of the Dixie Chicks' Sin Wagon and then doing a hoe-down dance during the instrumental breaks. No sirree! That wasn't me! Ahem.

Day 3: My favorite day. We started off with the WB Studio Tour, which was fantastic. They actually let you walk around some of the sets here, which is more than I can say for other tours, Universal Studios. Anyway, we got to see some sets from ER, The West Wing, Joey, and the Central Perk set from Friends, but the highlight for me was getting to go to the home of those Gilmore Girls, Stars Hollow:

Lorelai's house! Luke's!

Lorelai's jeeps! Rory's car! The garage after it was painted!

It was ridiculously awesome to be standing in the Stars Hollow town square. [sigh] Moving on....

After our jaunt over at The WB, we headed to The Grove, which is just a gorgeous mall. Then we drove down to Venice Beach, which was...interesting. I don't know how else to describe it. It was very relaxed and cool. My dad almost inadvertently wandered into a bong store before we reigned him in. The day was a little on the cool side, so the beach wasn't too crowded, but the boardwalk was still hopping. I still had to go get my feet wet in the water just to say that I've been in 2 oceans now. Yeah, I'm cheesy like that. Later that afternoon, my mom and I searched in vain for any kind of junk food that we could have for breakfast the next morning. Whither the Drake's Coffee Cakes? Let me tell you one thing, West Hollywood is apparently all about the eating healthy. (And the gay.) Whole Foods? Nyet! We figured Trader Joe's might have something, but alas, it was Trader No's. Thank God for the nearby Target. My brother scolded us, of course. "We came all the way to California and we end up in Target." Well, it is my second home.

Boy, I'm rambling. Okay, let's get to Friday night's fun fiasco. This was the night that I was finally going to go to O'Brien's with the infamous Drunky But Funky Girls (#24!). (Unfortunately, Heather was still in transit from Vegas, so she couldn't make it in time. But hi back, Heather! We'll all do Vegas next time!) Anyway, amid chatting up a cutie at O'Brien's while waiting for Jessica and Lauren, I realized that I had been there for a little while. The girls finally showed up and informed me that I was at the WRONG O'Brien's! I guess they had been waiting at the REAL one for a while and figured out that I was probably elsewhere. Damn you, Internet for only listing one when I did a search to get directions!!! Also? It pays to have smart friends. Anyway, they picked me up and drove me over to the real O'Brien's (which was only about 10 minutes away) where we were able to hang out. I was happy to see Carrie show up a few minutes later, as I had never met her, but heard great things about her and her fabulous ta-tas. Truly, they are. And it was awesome to FINALLY meet my pal Jessica after all this time, and to see the lovely Lauren again. (Check out this week's Star Magazine to read Jessica and Heather's judging (and fugging) of the Best and Worst Dressed of 2005!) What can I say? They are all lovely and fun and wonderful and I'm glad the Internet brought us together. They're my West Coast Girls.

Carrie, me, Lauren, and Jessica.

Yay!


Day 4: We spent most of the day at Universal Studios, (#58 - Go to an amusement park) where I became WAY too excited about some things. Like a dancing Frankenstein. Watch here. And sure, the Jurassic Park ride rocked, but it was the parade of the Superheroes that got me all atwitter.

You'd think something as twee and cheesy as this wouldn't get a 30 year-old girl all excited, but you'd be wrong. I'm a dork.

Daredevil? Total hottie. I joked with him about not being able to see me, but he said he could hear me, and then he breathily whispered, "And I can smell you...." [thud]

We then hit the Studio Tour, the coolest part of which was getting to drive down Wisteria Lane, home of the Desperate Housewives.

After leaving Universal, we headed over to check out the shopping on Melrose, where I entered the Mecca:

I didn't buy anything, but I could have spent hours in that place. That night, we hit The Grove again for dinner, and then went back and (sadly) packed.

Day 5: Coming home.

Dear LAX, thank you for scaring the living SHIT out of me by having a security drill right after I passed through. Not knowing what was going on and just being told to all part and press up against the wall while 20 agents went flying by? NOT cool.

So to sum up again, L.A. ruled. Normally when I go on a trip, near the end I'm just ready to go home. But this time I could have stayed a lot longer. Thanks to Jessica (especially for your expert car-maneuvering skills), Lauren and Carrie for giving me a much-needed night off from my family and for just being so damn cool. I hope we meet again soon. And thanks, L.A. - I had a blast.


before & after





2007-09-26 - Follow Me!
2006-09-30 - Site Move & Favorite Entries
2006-09-25 - Evil Easter Bunnies & Rock Climbing!
2006-09-22 - Shameful-Purchase Hiding & A New Dentist Plan
2006-09-19 - Birthday Picture/Video Diary & The Wheelmobile





Copyright 2003-2006 by Sockgirlie. Stealing is wrong.