i love la! ... at times...

so i was really hoping that rachael would have been able to stay a bit longer, because after she headed back home we had some really "LA" things to do. i guess it's been a couple of weeks now, but we watched the lakers/magic game number 2 down at LA live. we finally met some of our neighbors that aren't raisins and they invited us down there. brett was still feeling pretty crummy but we've turned them down multiple times and i mentioned to brett that they aren't going to want to hang out with us if we keep standing them up! so anyway... LA live. it's a pretty awesome new part of downtown, across the street from the (home) game! it was freakin' crazy! we had to park in a ghetto lot a few blocks away where if was $5 v. the $35 it would be in the parking structure... we ended up meeting our new friends at the yardhouse. the line to get into the door to get your name on the list, was 30 minutes, then another 2+ hour wait to get seated. i'm sorry but you have to be a special kind of moron to think people are at the yardhouse for dinner! get a life because you're not getting a seat. luckily andrew, tyler & their gang arrived for pregame and had seats waiting for us. still, the server of our table had to come outside to get us and verify with the bouncer that we did, indeed, have seats available. did i mention it was insane?! but totally awesome! 

on the way back home we got rear-ended on the freeway. awesome. no damage. the chick didn't even stop, just shook her finger at me. i in turn shook one of my fingers at her. i know, i'm gansta.

so after we recovered, monday night i headed to the dances with films festival that my friend sam's movie was in. it was pretty cool, i'd never been to a film festival before & to see my friend on a big screen was just incredible. i already had a private screening of the movie, but it really amazed me how much different it is when the film is (a) on the big screen and (b) played in front of an unknowing audience. so yay for sam & really going after her dreams!! i'm excited to see what will come next. 

then tuesday night brett, ray (our guy on the couch for the next month or so) & i headed over to hollywood to candortv to watch a live taping. clearly brett had been there since he did tape last month (ps he's on www.hulu.com), but this was new for ray & i. it was an open bar. yup i said it! wines, good beers, scotch & some weird herbal drink thing. it was really fun! the comics were great & there was a good turn out. it's guest list only so it's really a pretty intimate crowd. we opted to stay in the overflow room near the open bar of course, but still a great experience. 

ray informed us around 930ish that 'this is the drunkest i've ever been on scotch for $4!' and then we sent him out to the car to take a nap. except he thought he was going to throw up so he's better idea was to lay under the trunk of the car. guy on the couch v. homeless... you decide. he eventually got back into the car & in a span of 20-30 minutes called brett's phone 12 times. & mine, which was in the trunk of the car so i'm really not sure why he couldn't hear it ringing. so i went to the car to sit with him, as i'm talking on brett's phone to a friend, ray beeps in. i reject it. two minutes later he beeps in again, i turn to him in the backseat and say, 'dumbass! i'm on brett's phone, what do you want?!' ... 'just to let him know i'm in the car.' bahahhaha! gotta love the open bar my friends. 

i'm sure you're wondering when/if i actually work... ever. yeah i do & therefore it took me two weeks to make this post and nothing else exciting has happened since.  except... samantha's film won BEST FILM at the festival!!!!

exhausted from the weekend!

My longtime friend from childhood, Rachael, came to visit this weekend! Yay for Allegiant airlines & their cheap ass, nonstop flights from Des Moines to LAX! She landed on Thursday night at around 10:30ish (after baggage claim...) and we headed back to Burbank to begin the festivities. First stop, my apartment to pick up Brett. We walked over to a complete dive, karaoke bar that I'm a big fan of... DIMPLES. Home to the 'Real Johnny Blaze.' Don't even ask! It's just a hilarious bar, I'll post some photos later when I steal them from Rachael's facebook.

Friday we were supposed to get up early and hike at Griffith Park, but when we woke up it was raining. What the hell? I know she brought it with her from Iowa, since when does it rain in LA? Ugh... so we headed to the grocery store to pick up some breakfast foods. After breakfast the rain had stopped but it was still pretty cloudy. I suggested we go to Santa Monica because who doesn't want to see the beach? It was actually NICER at the beach than in the valley, weird. It was sunny & warm! We walked down the pier, rode the Ferris wheel and then rented a couple of bikes. We took off towards Venice Beach because she was told she would be killed if she didn't go. She, like me, finds it a bit odd. Freak show, indeed. We saw an old wrinkled boobie, some really big boobies, homeless & a man standing outside of the 'doctor's office' yelling, "Medical Marijuana!" because that needs advertising! Duh!

Back to Santa Monica where we had a quick drink and discovered my amazing tan lines that Rach was convinced was dirt! (Again, pictures to follow...) We had to head back to the valley to pick up Brett. He had a callback Friday afternoon so while he did that we drove around Hollywood (not knowing how long it would take him). An hour later we picked him up & headed to PF Changs for some dinner. Then we walked around Hollywood for awhile, down the Walk of Fame and did some sightseeing. 

That night we headed to our friends place, Jay & Sonia to visit them and their adorable baby Derek. We only stayed for a short time and then went to have cocktails with some friends at a house party. I think we finally called it a night around 1:30am. 

The next morning we were up bright and early again because we had to go to Six Flags for a friend's going away party. It was a lot of standing in lines, but the roller coasters were so fun! I think the Flash Pass is probably a good investment though. I felt really bad for Brett the whole time, I think he pushed himself a little too far. He rode the first ride with us, Goliath (one of his favs) and seriously blacked out for a few seconds and then came to. From then on he became Grandpa Brett and just held our jackets & purses while everyone else rode the rides.  It does say on every ride, DO NOT RIDE IF YOU'VE HAD A RECENT SURGERY. DO NOT RIDE IF YOU HAVE ANY NECK/BACK DISKS THAT AREN'T ALIGNED. oops! So he had a lot of alone time, but did amazingly well with his anxiety/hate for crowds. I don't know if it was the massive amounts of trees around the park causing his allergies to go haywire or if he is coming down with a cold, but the poor guys sneezed about 400 times.

We decided to call it quits and headed back to Burbank, grabbed some Chipotle to go and headed home. We were exhausted! I'm pretty sure we all could have gone to bed at that point but instead we decided to go see the Hangover. It was, of course, sold out. So we walked across the street to another theater and bought tickets an hour & a half in advance. While we waited we got a drink or two and then saw the funniest movie of all times. If you haven't seen the hangover, I highly recommend it. Wear a diaper! Seriously.

Sunday morning I woke Rachael up & gave her three options: (1) continue to sleep (2) go to the beach & lay out (3) go hike in Griffith. We decided to go for a hike. It's so amazingly quiet up there, you almost forget you're in LA until you look down! We hiked for about an hour. I made cinnamon rolls while she showered and packed. Then it was off to the airport!

A very quick, adventure packed, exhausting weekend! But very fun, nonetheless! Can't wait for the next visit. 

I think next on the list is Brett's mom, then mine, then his dad, brother, sister & her boyfriend, and then my friend Erica. And then I go home for my cousin's wedding (which I'm really hoping Brett can go to). I'm tired just thinking about it! Oh and at some point I'd like to move again, I think we have a little more space than we need....