wow

it's been over a month since my last post and i didn't even finish blogging about my trip to cali. oh my! i guess it's been a busy start to 2012. so i'll just pick up where i left off...

my final day in california was one of the best! my flight left at 11pm which was nice since i had the full day to enjoy (it was not nice because taking the red eye back east is quite miserable). we started by visiting venice beach. since it was a wednesday morning, it wasn't as crowded as we expected. we rented bikes and rode from venice beach to the santa monica pier. they are only about 2-3 miles apart so we were actually surprised when we saw the santa monica pier. we rode bikes for awhile and then stopped for lunch at a cafe right on the beach. it was perfect. beach. sun. food. christmas music! i can't think of anything better. we walked around the beach and shops and then discovered that there are canals in venice beach. who knew they actually named it venice for a reason! we walked away from the beach to find the canals and they were super cute!

after spending most of the day in venice beach, we headed to downtown LA for sushi. we had dinner and then explored downtown. we saw the staples center where katy perry was in concert at that very moment (sad we missed out on that... not). we came upon occupy LA and decided we needed to get out and get a closer look. there were so many people and it was cool to see this famous movement!

soon our time came to an end and i had to get to the airport.

 thanks for the memories, LA! i had a blast and hope to see you again soon!

into the great wide open, under them skies of blue

LA gave us another beautiful, sunny day for day 5! allison had to work so coco and i headed out with a list of things to do for the day. on the top of the list was hiking up near the hollywood sign. the most adventurous part of the hike was finding the trail. it took us a long time, a few wrong turns, lots of u-turns, and a few near accidents but we made it. {barely}. surprisingly, there is very little information about where this trail starts. it was less hike and more walk up a dirt road but it did offer great views of LA, the ocean, and of course, the hollywood sign! i'm sure we could have hiked even closer to the sign but we had other things we needed to get done {like another trip to sprinkles cupcakes}. we headed back to beverly hills for lunch, cupcakes, and a drive through the hills to see the amazing houses. and i needed to have one celeb stalker moment. i found an address that was allegedly kim kardashian's {pause for a moment to judge me} and turns out, it really is her house! i know, i know, kim k is on the bottom of the "celebs i'd like to see" list BUT it really was her house and i'm convinced we passed her driving down the road. {also tom hanks, according to co}. that night, i took co to see the sites in hollywood then we headed back to long beach to rest up in preparation for my final day in cali!

 kim k's house

the OC

day 4 was a whirlwind of driving around the southern coast of cali.  in the morning, allison went to work and paula and i went in to the OC to shop, get our nails done, and eat lunch before she had to leave town. after dropping her off at LAX {with seconds to spare before her flight left} i headed down the pacific coast highway through seal beach, huntington beach, newport beach, and eventually stopped in laguna beach. laguna beach is one cute town! imagine downtown cary or apex but right on the beach with more rich people. i shopped, walked on the beach, drove through the hills of laguna and right past laguna beach high school where LC and kristin what's-her-name went to school. right where it all began! i headed back to long beach to get allison so we could go pick up courtney who flew in that night.

"it never rains in southern california"

nope. not true. it might be a popular 70's song but it's a lie because it poured all day on day 3 of the trip. despite the cold and rain, we still tried to power on and enjoy the day. we hit up pasadena and shopped in old town. it was a really cute outdoor shopping area that would have been much more fun without the downpour. the city hall in pasadena is the building used for filming the city hall on the show Parks & Rec. so of course we had to see it. another sites in pasadena: the rose bowl and the original trader joe's! after spending the afternoon in pasadena, we headed back to long beach but first made a very important stop at sprinkles cupcakes for the most delicious cupcake one has ever eaten! so delicious that this was not the last time we'd be visiting sprinkles on this trip. it was definitely worth the long wait outside to get to one of these cupcakes. since we were right by rodeo drive, we took a little stroll to see the expensive stores and beautiful decorations. as we headed home, we drove through compton, notorious for gang violence and crime and often the setting of one of my favorite crime dramas, southland. i just had to check out this town. it was after dark and the streets were surprisingly empty. probably due to a curfew for the residence. what a difference it was from beverly hills to compton; only about 20 miles apart. despite the rain, we had a really fun day!

 pasadena city hall aka pawnee city hall

 rainy shopping in pasadena

 best cupcake ever!

 rodeo drive

COMPTON!

neil patrick harris

oh how i love NPH!  so much that he deserves his own blog post.  after hearing that nph {yea i call him nph, we are tight like that} received a star on the hollywood walk of fame, i knew it would be one of my top places to see on my trip to LA!  we stumbled upon the star on day 1 and as i screamed with joy, people either thought i actually saw nph or had been stabbed.  either very likely scenarios.  obviously, this is such a special site that it required a second trip for a photo shoot.  yay, for nph!!!

"we got more bounce in california, we like to party all the time"

day 2 in cali was a really beautiful day! the sun was shining, weather was perfect, and there were so many sites to see! we headed up the 405 and stopped in santa monica. our very first stop was for paula. apparently there is some show on mtv about a big girl who works at a clothing store. paula loving a show about fat people. shocker! so we made our way to the store where this girl works. sadly, we didn't see her but paula got a picture so i'd say it was a success!

next we stopped at the santa monica pier where i dipped my toes in the pacific ocean for the first time ever! it couldn't have been more beautiful. beach. mountains. ferris wheel. constant texts about the wolfpack beating clemson. awesome! we sat on the beach for a while enjoying the sites (aka people watching).

once we were done lounging on the beach, we drove through beverly hills and hollywood to go to the griffith observatory. we made it just in time to see the sunset and what a site it was!

after looking out over LA, we checked in to a hotel right in the middle of hollywood. one of allison's friends got us an amazing deal at a marriott so we stayed there saturday night so we wouldn't have to make the drive back to long beach. we found (after a lot of wandering around) a restaurant for dinner and enjoyed hollywood at night!

it really was a perfect LA day.

more pictures from the day...

the golden state

so i'm finally getting around to posting about my trip to sunny california! 

for a more in depth summary of the trip, read this.

i arrived late on thursday after a miserable flight from the east coast. is it just me or have airplanes gotten smaller and more uncomfortable and people more annoying? and add on having a cold! let's just say the lady next to me thought i was an emotional wreck because the change in altitude caused lots of pain in my head and my tear ducts to flow. but a mere 72 hours (ok it was more like 6), i made it to LAX! unfortunately, didn't see a single celeb. i was really looking hard, though. i guess flying coach on a commercial airline isn't the best place to see a celeb. 

on friday, allison had to work and paula didn't fly in until the afternoon so i had some time to explore long beach. about an hour later, i had explored long beach and was ready to move on to the big city! in long beach, i drove around downtown, checked out a farmer's market, and snuck on to the queen mary... then it kinda freaked me out being enclosed in that huge boat so i snuck back out- props to jack and rose!

that night, we headed to one of the other intern houses (aka allison's friend's house) for one of their birthdays. this house is in hollywood so we got our first taste of the big time! i also found out later that brandon (the birthday boy) is some sort of cousin (first, second, distant... i'm not sure) of kris humphries (kim k's ex-hubby). he was even at their wedding. whattttt! now, let me make clear that i do not like kim k or kris h but STILL! how could someone not tell me information like this?? allison just happened to forget but i think she was saving herself from the embarrassment of me asking him a million questions. which i would have done and i would have not been one bit embarrassed. if you couldn't tell, i'm still pretty upset that i didn't get to talk to him about it.

1 day down, 5 to go so stay tuned for more!