Cali Day 2

Day two began with an early morning breakfast on the roof of the hotel. Our hotel is called a "boutique" hotel, which means it had only 4 floors and about 50 rooms at most.  The concierges all wore pin stripe suits, which mom thought made them look like extras out of beetle juice.  Our favorite concierge was named Ari, and mom was so appreciative of him and our limo driver that she bought them both books about Alabama football as a thank you.  How about that Southern hospitality.  Hopefully some of the residents of LA found the Southerners who invaded their fair city to be charming and polite, although I'm sure they got their fair share of rednecks from both states.  Likewise, we found 99% of Los Angelites to be nice and welcoming, except for the jerk on the street who told us to go back to our cotton picking and grits eating and that he hoped Texas won- since they obviously don't have cotton or grits in Texas.  Some people are just unhappy down to their core and there's nothing they can do to change that.  Oh well.

View from the roof

Rooftop eating area, where they had a raised garden to die for.

After breakfast, Chase and I went on a walk while the Morris' got ready.  We headed up the hill to Sunset Blvd, to find the Viper Room,  and walk down the strip.  I think we walked about 5 miles over the course of an hour and a half, only to end up on Hollywood Blvd to meet the fam for a little touristy stuff.  How funny that once we arrived at the Chinese Theatre, who should we see but my parents close friends, the Barsteins!

Whiskey a go-go, another famous night club.  This was the "Rock n Roll" section of the strip

View of the Strip

Interesting Diner

Chateau Marmont

Beginning of the walk of fame... Vera Ellen from White Christmas

Of course, the incomparable, Julie Andrews

In honor of the little man

Never could find his star, or his footprints, although Donald Duck had both!

Roosevelt Hotel, where the movie Bobby takes place, or more importantly, where Bobby Kennedy was shot.

Chinese Theatre, what I didn't know is that there is also an Egyptian Theatre, and Sid Grauman was going to build some more "themed" theatres as well.

Kodak, home of the Oscars

I took this pic bc you can see the hollywood sign in the background- can you find it?

Hooray for Hollywood

John Wayne

family pic

The Barsteins and the Morris'!

Harry Potter!

Once we discovered that an In and Out Burger lay close to the theatre, we headed their for a quick bite before driving to Santa Monica for the remainder of the day.  Santa Monica is one of the many coastal towns that lies outside of LA, and we loved a chance to slow down and see the Pacific and watch the sun set.  We found a bar called Lobster with all glass windows to view the sun, where we ran into mom and dad's friends the Dailys.  Then we cruised down the street to Blue Plate Oysterette where we met Emily Ross and Cameron, Chase's cousins, and their friend Marty, for dinner.  What a nice reunion that was.

Yum! (although not as good as Milo's in my opinion)

Beverly Wilshire, home of Pretty Woman, and adjacent to Rodeo Drive

Cool!, Especially since we drove most of Route 66 back in the day in Papa's RV

Old woman rollerblading, she's doing pretty good?

We stopped for a "brew dog" as my brothers say.

Pacific Ocean

Love the mountains in the background!

View of the Sunset at Lobster

Dinner with the fam! So great to get together!

After dinner we headed to a bar called South where their was a Alabama party taking place full swing.  it was so busy that we finally gave up waiting to get in and headed to a place called- well now I can't remember- powder?  for a few drinks before calling it quits.  We had to leave prematurely however because the bouncer kicked us out for something we didn't do- which I wont go into.  It ended up being funny and we laughed about it in the car on the drive home.  William, Chase and I hit the hay while Pman and his friends went back out- William said he needed sleep for the biggest day of his life tomorrow- the day he was born for.  More on that day later..... for now, enjoy the pics!

P, Cristina, and Mase

Hanging out, pre getting kicked out!

Fun time!

Cali day 1

I want to one day be able to look back on this blog and remember all of the fun memories from this trip to California, so Im going to try and document everything that happened in these packed 3 days.  What a great trip first of all- a chance to spend time with my immediate family, in a place I've never been to before, and see old friends, and new friends, plus, the icing on the cake, the National Championship. Just when we thought we had out done ourselves with great restaurants, sightseeing, and shopping, we remembered the reason that we were there- the Alabama game!  What a great experience that I will never forget- thanks a million dad for taking us!!!


Day One- After a long morning of airline travel, starting at 4:45 AM, we arrived at LAX bleary eyed, but ready to hit the road.  The nice thing about traveling west is that you gain time, so we arrived in LA at 10:45 with the whole day ahead of us.

After checking into our hotel we had 30 minutes to change clothes and make our lunch reservations at The Ivy restaurant.  Very cute, girly, and fun, plus there is always the chance of a celeb sighting!  No, we didn't see one, but saw plenty of bama fans eating lunch.

William and Patrick waited at the curb for Alex, our cab driver to come pick us up.

Next, we headed off to the WB studio tour, on the other side of the mountain.  We got to drive through the gorgeous Laurel Canyon Road to get there and see all the cool houses tucked away in the "hills".  So cool, although how they don't fall off or slide away is anyone's guess.

The cool thing about the WB tour is that you are on a smaller golf cart, and therefore have more freedom with your tour guide on what you want to spend the most time with.  Unfortunately, we still shared the cart with another family, who did not understand the rule of No Cell Phones, and one member proceeded to answer hers and talk for about 5 minute while we waited "patiently" for her to finish so we could continue.

The tour starts with the NYC outdoor lot, which included the spot where Spiderman's famous kiss was shot, as well as Mason's episode of "Without a Trace."

The WB tower, above, and below, the location of Merlotte's on True Blood!  Chase and WIlliam and I were a little star struck by this one.

Can you tell the resemblance?

Merlottes 

The Friends set- another star struck moment!

The tour included a warehouse of cars used in the movies, Chase particularly liked this one- look familiar?

This is the car I wanted to see...

After the lot tour we were taken to the WB museum, where you weren't allowed to take pictures, but was the coolest part of the tour bc they displayed costumes and props from famous movies.  The whole upstairs was devoted to Harry Potter- we saw the sorting hat, the Marauders Map, the goblet of fire used in the movie, as well as tons of costumes and other props and set pieces.  So cool!

Following the tour, we headed straight for Mason's apt, where he had invited some of his friends over to visit with us and welcome us to LA.  So nice!  His apartment is so neat bc it is covered with his original artwork, which I am obsessed with.  See his fb page for more pics of his artwork.  Or his website!

After a drink at Mase's we headed for dinner at Jones Hollywood- pizza and beer- yum!  Mason's friend Natalie works here.  

The night ended at a bar called the Village Idiot. There were tons of AL people hanging out enjoying the scene. Chse and I peaced out shortly after arriving, in hopes of catching some much needed sleep after being awake for almost 24 hours. The boys and Mason went on to the saddle ranch where I believe some bull riding was taking place.

SaddleRanch Bar  

And finally home, with the help of Alex, our Russian cabbie, one last time.  I don't think we called Alex again after that night, since dad insisted he had just put his kids through college, and he kept making one of us sit on the floor!  He was a nice guy in spite of his insistence that he knew the best way to get everywhere, even when mason suggested a short cut. It was a full day, and fun, and we were ready to crash and get a good night's sleep.

New Year's Eve 2009

I'm behind on posting because of being out of town, so I will start at New Year's and work my way forward.

We spent New Years this year with the best of friends at The Club.  I really had one of the best NYE's yet. It was laid back, inexpensive, and full of surprises.  We started the night at Laura's for a pre party cocktail, headed to The Club where we danced, ate, drank and spent time with our wonderful friends, and at the ned of the night, Sara Katherine and John got engaged!  We also had a babysitter for the first time, and I think Chase and I did okay leaving the little man at home...  Here are the highlights...

Fun times with friends

hilarious Jenny T, kept me cracking up all night.

A little Twilight action for you..

Raughley, this one is for you so you can see for yourself what crazy parents you have!

I don't think this woman's party was fun enough for her, she had to come join the "jr member" party instead.

Lulu at the end of the night, looking reflective about the year to come!

and finally, the big moment!

Should old acquaintance be forgot?

And never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot

And Auld Lang Syne?

Pasadena Bound!!!

Here's where Ill be this time tomorrow!  Off to my first visit to Sunny California, where we will see Alabama play Texas, and hopefully get to do some sightseeing around LA as well.  Many pics and posts to come!

Surin Lunch

Jbo came in town over the new year and stayed with us, so of course that meant a trip to Surin.  This has quickly become one of R's favorite lunch spots.   Hopefully I can have some New Years pics up soon as well!

New Year's Resolutions

I can't believe it is 2010. It feels like just yesterday that we entered the new mellenium and celebrated new years 2000.  So much happened this decade.  I went to college in '01, met Chase in '02, graduated in '05, got engaged in '06, married in '07, moved in '08 and had Raughley in '09.  That is a lot of ground to cover in 10 years!  What a crazy ride it has been!  I hope that the "teens" are just as wonderful.

Usually each January I set a few New Years Resolutions. Oh there are always the usuals, lose weight, dress up more, etc.  And while I would still love to stay in shape, do more for others, and record important events in my life (ie this blog) this year I really didn't want to set a bunch of resolutions that I couldn't keep, so I settled on just one small, measurable goal that I can follow every day:

Floss.

I'm not off to a very good start, as it is now January 2nd, and I forgot last night when I came in.  Oh well, at least I won't have the guilt that comes with jumping off track of your resolution by January 15th.

2010 is looking great already though, as we started it off with a bang at a fabulous New Year's party at The Club.  I took lots of video of that night, and once I weed through the embarrasing ones, I'll post a few.  The most exciting event of the night was that Sara Katherine Belser got engaged to long time bf John Janeky (am I spelling his name right?  Probably not.)  What an exciting moment, right at midnight, he got down on one knee, right in the middle of all of us, who knew already and were anticipating the big event.  I got it on camera, in hopes to give to SK.

Well, now that I'm done yammering about NYE, here are some last few pics from December 09 to wrap things up... a few from dinner with Jane, our play date with Wyatt and Caroline ( I can't believe how big they have gotten!) and Carl's sweet dogs, who stayed with us while he went to Philly for an MLA conference.  Enjoy, and stay tuned for next week, when we HEAD TO CALIFORNIA for the BCS championship in Pasadena.  I will have tons to post from out West.