14 months of Sunny Califonia

I was originally going to write this post after being here a year, but I procrastinate so now it has been 14 months.  This year here has been wonderful, crazy, and lonely.  And this post will explain exactly why those three words perfectly describe my first, of hopefully many years here in Sunny Cali.

Wonderful - I live in California which other then the cost of living being ridiculous it a pretty great place to be.  You have beautiful mountains and oceans, the weather is typically always perfect, and people always want to come and visit you when you live here.  Also I truly LOVE my job, I enjoy and look forward to going to work everyday, and everyday something new is going on that keeps me on my toes.  Even on days when I don't feel well or have migraines I go into work and any one of our 35 residents will say or do something that reminds me why I am so blessed to work at CDA.  For instance last week I worked a double shift from 2:45PM til 8AM and then volunteered my time to go and help our residents "Walk for a Cure" at the Susan Komen walk.  I was with our residents for 23 hours and 20 mins.  I would have stayed the last 40 min if I didn't think my patience was about to break any second. It was totally worth it to see the look of accomplishment on their faces as they finished the 5K and the fact that they were thinking of others.  Also, since moving here I have gotten to know my Aunt Barbara, who unfortunately while I was growing up I did not get the opportunity to know.  Barbara is a wonderful person, who I have greatly enjoyed getting to share life with.  Lastly I have some great friends here, even though one in particular keeps bringing me hideous fake flowers in wine bottles. It has been wonderful to have my friends and family from TX come and visit me and get to see what all I'm doing and meet my friends here and see the amazing place I work at.  And now I have my own studio apartment and that too is wonderful!

Crazy - That started on the first day of the drive out here.  My moving truck was broken, half way through loading the truck I broke my right foot (who knew standing on a particle board bookshelf was a bad move), and then I had a huge anxiety attack on our first night on the road.  My aunt Val had her hands full with me on that three day journey of driving a Penske truck towing my car... oh yeah and we had my dog Chloe with us (although Chloe was the least of our problems).  Then my movers never showed to help unload my truck and the craziness just continued.  Thankfully my Aunt Barbara (who I stayed with when I first got here) had an amazing dinner & wine waiting for us when we got to her house.  I started work 2 days after getting here and had to wear flip flops (not in the dress code) due to my broken foot.  Going back to work at an organization you work for previously is also a little crazy, because you have been there before and you sort of know the ropes, but there are tons of new faces ready to tell you that you don't know anything.  Plus I came back in a new position, so it was weird seeing someone else doing my old job.  I also pretty quickly changed positions again and then had to learn all new ropes again, but I tend to like change.  The last bit of crazy lasted the longest and will be just brushed over and that was the roommate situation, I had one that I really enjoyed and another that helped me see why living alone is the way to go. 

Lonely - Can easily be summed up with it was REALLY hard to move away from the amazing group of family & friends I had back in Texas. Hence the reason for my anxiety attack.  I don't have the best relationship with my mom and my dad who I was close with died 11 years ago, but there is no reason to feel sorry for me because I have been HUGELY blessed with an amazing group of Aunts and Uncles who fill those roles in every way.  Plus I had my sister living in the city, so when living in the country made me stir crazy (most weekends out of the year) I just drove up to hang out with her.  And then I had a wonderful group of friends in good 'ole east Texas that were always there for me and loads of fun.  So when you move about 2000 miles away from all that goodness it can get a little lonely, but you figure out who your real friend were/are.  They are the ones who call or text and check in with you, maybe not regularly, but they make the time.  Some of those family & friends have even come to visit!!  And that takes us back to the wonderful part. 

So there you have it, my first 14 months in Sunny California have been wonderful, crazy, and lonely, but worth every moment!  I am hoping within the next 14 months I can finally make a trip back to TX to see those amazing family & friends.  I also hope that in the next 14 months I will keep up with this blog a bit more too. 

Restaurant Review

This is not my typical post, but I feel as though with any avenue available to me I need to tell people about the bad service my Aunt Barbara and I received last night when we went to dinner.  Small bit of background about me, when I worked at Sky Ranch it was all about the customer service and my boss (the one I liked) taught me that turning around a bad experience is imperative and can even leave a better impression then having an OK experience.  Also, through all the chaos that I dealt with, people just want you to ask one simple question, "What can we do to make this right?"  With that said the below restaurant did NOTHING to make a bad experience better, but they continued to make it worse. 

The Reserve Wine Bar and Shop
25642 Crowne Valley Parkway
Ladera Ranch, CA 92694

This was probably one of the worst dinning or customer service experiences I have ever had.  My Aunt Barbara out in Cali likes to go to restaurants with great food, some are upscale, some are hole in the walls, and some are just run of the mill, but all generally have amazing food, great ambiance, and phenomenal customer service.  She compared this place to another Restaurant that she has taken me to that I loved, Wine Works, so I was very excited to try this new place.  Upon walking in I saw that it was not as nice as Wine Works, so I was very hopeful that it would be more in my typical price range and some place that I would be able to afford with my friends.  Its a small space to begin with, half is the wine shop and the other half is crammed full of folding chairs and tables and a bar that can barely be called a bar.  We ended up sitting at the barely there bar due to the folding tables and chairs being reserved.  The "bar" did not have any room for your legs and had way too many chairs for the small space.  Once I looked at the menu and prices I was shocked that the seating was not nicer, due to the prices for food and drinks being so high.  

Barbara order a Blue Moon, and this man at the bar, who we later realized was the owner, laughed at her and sarcastically told her it is sold out. (Mistake 1) Barbara was polite and asked how she was suppose to know that and he stated it said so on the menu, we opened her menu and it was not written there.  He laughed, and said, "Well its still sold out."  (Mistake 2) We were both shocked by this response and I was surprised that they didn't apologize for the misprint and take the menu to immediately make the change. Instead they just told her to order something else. (Mistake 3)

Barbara found another beer and I found a wine.  We then were looking over the menu and nothing was looking all that great or interesting.  We finally settled on something I got their Rum & Raisin Chicken and she got Ciappino.  While we were waiting for the food the waitress behind the bar did not pay us any attention and it was very hard to get her attention to order new drinks (Mistake 4).  We came to realize very quickly that unless you were a regular they were not going to give you any notice.  It was also at this point that we realized that the sarcastic man was the owner as he was making chummy with the regulars, but never once greeted us or anything. (Mistake 5)  This place probably could not hold more then 20 people and at the time we were there, there were only about 5 other people, so an owner really should come by to greet you and ask about the food.  Speaking of which, the food was not worth the price.  My chicken was dry and hard to cut, Barbara's Ciappino had barely any fish, bland sauce, and consisted mainly of white rice.  For dessert we got a cheese plate, which was fair, but was probably cheese we could have purchased at Trader Joes or Whole Foods.

Next up was the check fiasco.  They took our plates, and we had to ask for the check, once again having difficulties getting the attention of the waitress.  Again let me remind you this is not a big place and the bar is tiny, so she was ignoring us.  Barbara had a Groupon to use for the meal.  The waitress then yelled over the bar asking if Barbara understood how to tip properly using the Groupon.  RUDE! (Mistake 6) The first check we received stated all we owed was $2.19.  The receipt that we were to sign came back being over $80 which was charged to the card.  Barbara questioned it because that is a HUGE difference, and the waitress sighed and acted as though she were annoyed with us, never once apologizing for the wrong check. (Mistake 7) Then another receipt came back with yet another price on it that made no sense with all the charges and did not show the Groupon discount. So Barbara asked for a receipt that showed her card was credited and an itemized receipt for all charges, this is not a ridiculous request.  This time the owner came by shoved a receipt at us and said, "Here."  (Mistake 8) He did not apologize or anything! And guess what this receipt had yet another price on it. (Mistake 9) Now we have 3 different receipts with three different prices and none of them adding up correctly and no one apologizing or even attempting to help us figure out what is going on.  Barbara asks the owner to come over and explain the receipt and his first remark is, "What are you having a bad day?" (Mistake 10) Seriously that is the first thing out of his mouth when he has been snarly and rude from the get go.  Barbara says, "Excuse me, I am not having a bad day, and why would you say that." He states, "Well you have been hilarious from the beginning, ordering a beer that is sold out, and now this."  (Mistake 11) Barbara then explains yet again that her menu did not state the beer was sold out so how was she to know, that at this point with all the receipt screw ups he should be apologizing not trying to antagonize the guest.  He just chuckled and said, "Well I have been here for 6 1/2 years and never encountered someone like you." (Mistake 12) Seriously no one has apologized or even begun to try to actually help us.  Barbara then just states she just wants to know how much is being charged to her card so that she knows how much to tip so we can leave.  He says, "Its right here" pointing at nothing in particular and walks off. (Mistake 13).  He then comes back and starts making comments again at Barbara about her attitude (Mistake 14) which I think Barbara was actually being too nice to the man and I was holding my tongue because I just wanted to tear into him, but I figured that what I had to say was a bit more colorful then Barbara.  We finally just got out of there, but they never once apologized for THEIR mistakes, for which I counted at least 14.  The whole thing was terrible.  Oh I forgot to mention that their bathroom was a unisex bathroom and disgusting.  There was a urinal & toilet that both needed an actual cleaning, I just walked out.

All in all horrific experience and a lesson in what NOT to do to your customers.  I think I have had better service in Chick-fil-A at the counter then I have there.  At least the one time they over charged me they gave am coupon for a free Chicken Sandwich on my next visit.  At Sky Ranch when someone was unhappy the very least we would do is give them a free mild shake and if was a bill problem I'm sure we would not ask the questioning guest if it was due to them having a bad day!

If anyone reading this is looking for a GREAT little wine bar and restaurant then I would suggest Wine Works.  It is pricey so save up for it, but the food is amazing and the service is the best around.

Casa's Got Talent

We recently had our first (hopefully annual) Casa's Got Talent, and it was AMAZING!!!!  Many of the residents participated and they just make me laugh and are so talented on many different levels.  We had the residents sign up for different acts and encouraged them to go and support each other.  Javi drew a background on a flat sheet that looked like red curtains, lights, stage, and microphone, and then the residents painted it in.  It looked phenomenal and you will see it in many of the upcoming pictures.  Javi, Hasti, and I were judges.  Javi was all thugtastic, Hasti was a London Dame, and I played up my TX accent and was completely ridiculous. The majority of this post will be told in pictures cause they can tell a story much better then I can.

In the very back of this pic you can see Me (Wendy Sue from small town, TX) Dame Hasti, and Thug Javi

BL & LB were up first, they stumbled a little on word but smiled the whole way!

TR was up next paying tribute to her favorite artist Lady Gaga, she even had her make-up done.  

MT did an interpretive dance, it was beautiful.  

KCu had a song by Faith Hill all prepared but then the CD would not play and like a trooper she changed it up and did a song by Celine Dion instead.

 SN could not make up her mind who she wanted to sing, the day started with her wanting to sing Brittany, but by her turn she had changed to Back Street Boys.

We had a visitor at CDA during the Talent show and she jumped right in and did her "Cat walk" for us.  It was histerical and involved a lot hands on her her hips and hair twirling... models should take a lesson from her, fashion shows would be vastly more entertaining.  

AT did a song by Kenny Rodgers, I pretty sure I was the only other person in the room who even knew who Kenny was.  

JS did a beautiful acupella Columbian song that was intense and from his heart.  

He was very passinate about it! :) 

BL sang 3 Times a Lady directly to his girlfriend and it was the sweetest thing to see her sing it right back to him.  

RG came in a little late and did a histeriacal impromtu stand up routine, filled with long pauses so he could think up the next joke.  I laughed so hard I couldn't breath.  

LB got up and sang another song, she got a little lost but gave it her all.  

RS ended this night belting out "Brand New Day" everyone sang along because she rehersed the song about 500 times in the days leading up to the event! :) 

I made a huge cookie cake for the special occassion, with the help of Javi's decorating skills it turned out beautiful.  

Close up of yummy cookie goodness!  

And now for the awards

LB won Best Effort

RG won Most Unexpected 

JS Most Unique

BL won The Blue Diamond (aka Best in Show)

 Close Up of TR's Gaga Makeup

Close Up of BL's Blue Diamond (the Diamond is in the bedazzled box) 

Each resident walked away with their own star of fame with their name on it. This is SH proudly holding hers. 

 Like I said before these guys were amamzing as was the evening.  Another extremely sucess Casa event!

Parenthood

                           

After I got my new position of Activity Coordinator at CDA, I sat down with the residents and asked them what activities they would like to do. I told them to dream big, and I would do my best to make them happen.  Well even their big dreams to me seemed pretty attainable, one of which was to see a taping of a TV show.  My thought was to write Ellen or try to find tickets to a game show.  I talked to Terry, the HR director, and she gave me some contact info and I started emailing one of our resident's dad.  And about 5 months later we went and toured the sets of Parenthood and watched them film a few scenes for their season finale!!!

I am sorry to report there will be no pictures in this blog, due to them saying it would be frowned upon. So if you only came to see pics of us with actors I'm sorry there are none, I think they were actually pretty relieved to not have to take a million pictures.

So I've always been told that I should watch the show, but had only seen a couple of random episode and just had not become a big fan for reasons I that will not get into here.  But since I was going to the set I decided I needed to watch as many episodes as I could, thank goodness for Hulu. So that I watched the 6 shows that were available to me and at least know what had recently been going on, and I can now say that I am a HUGE fan and think the show is incredible, espcially since the cast that we did meet were so sweet to my residents.  I can also now watch the show and honestly say that I have been through every single one of the houses & rooms that you see on TV.

The director, Lawrence Trilling's, assistant, Jennifer was our tour guide.  She was fabulous as a guide and with getting to know our residents and what they were interested in.  RG, who has an obsession with bathrooms, wanted to see every restroom on set and it became the joke of the day.  We started by watching the crew set up for a shot at the shoe factory, which is actually very small about 2 rows of shoes, a break room, and an office.  On the other side of the wall is Crosby & Jasmine's apt.  So we watched them set up the scene do a quick run through and then due to space restraints had to move on before the taping began.  Since it is not taped in front of an audience all the sets are set up as though they are an apt or office, ect so it is pretty tight quarters, which makes 6 extra people and be a big deal. So we went around the corner to Crosby & Jasmines.  It was so cool to get to walk throught their apt and look at all the details.  All the pics on the wall are them, they ask permission from the actors to use their photos, or they have a company that their whole purpose is to find look alikes for actors at any age.  I did ask if the pictures during the opening credits were the actors and the still pics are, but the video footage is not. The residents really wanted to know if all the appliances really worked, which they do, but only when they are going to be used during an episode, then special effects comes in and rigs them to work enough for the shots, but they are all real working appliances.  Outside all the windows there are huge blown up pictures of neighborhoods or trees.  They have shots for daytime and night time and they are not always of the same thing, which I thought was interesting.  They do so much stuff with CGI that we probably don't even notice. 

Also for each set they only build what is absolutely needed or has been written in to be shot.  So at Zeek & Camille's there is not a master bedroom built because they have never shot a scene there.  Now there is a bathroom and a door that could one day lead to a bed room, but not a bedroom.  Oh and Zeek & Camille's downstairs is on one stage, the upstairs is on another, and the outside of the house along with Camille's room, and all the outside surrounding patio areas are about a 2 block drive away.  So lets say they wanted to shoot Amber coming out of her room and running over to Camille's little house they would have to shoot it in 3 different locations.  All because they built it as they needed it and as space could be found.  Now since space is so limited on the Universal Studios lot they have to be creative, they turned an old snack shack into the outside of Zeek & Camilles, so that is why it is tucked away, plus they needed to create that long drive way.  Oh other random fact the stove, oven, diswasher, and fridge in their house are all really old brands that no longer exsist and the set designer found somewhere.  So I asked if my grandma's house has some really old appliances that are originals, which it does, would we be able to sell them to movie production studios.  The answer was YES and they could actually be worth some good $$ especially if they work enough to seem like they do work.  Also since they are aqua along with her counters IF they were needed on some TV show that needed an unrenovated house all could bring in some $$.  All that to say its chancey and could take some work to find someone who would want them, but it also could be worth it. 

The house that Joel & Julia live in is on Elm Street, and the answer to the question you are thinking is yes that Elm Street.  Anyway, that house is the same house that was built and used for the movie Hancock that got all sorts of blown up... all CGI, but it's the same house.  That house is a working set, meaning the outside & as well as the inside is set up and used for filming.  *Random fact all of the houses for Desperate Housewives are set up that way, makes filming easier, Wistria Lane is an actual street in Universal City.  One house I forget whose cause I dont' watch the show, was the Munster's house and another is the Leave It To Beaver house. * Ok back to talking about a good show. 

Adam & Kristina's house has the front built on the set on the stage.  That way they don't always have to drive to Pasadena to film quick scenes that take place out front.  Also they share the street in Pasadena with True Blood. If you watch some episodes you will notice the front door opens to left, those are shot on the stage, now if the door opens to the right, those shots are done on site in Pasadena.  The reason the doors open in different direction, the real house has a wall to the right, on stage no wall and the space is needed for cameras. When we walked into the living room I made a comment that it was really cute and looked like a page out of Pottery Barn... well it is. :) I know my Pottery Barn!

The house boat is next to the upstairs of Zeek & Camille's place.  It is not in water and all that is built is the boat and the dock that leads up to it.  Everything else is one of those really big pictures and blue/green screens.  I am going to go back and watch the episode that has the houseboat to see if I can tell. 

Some of the set were packed up due to the season being over.  Which basically means all the furinture was moved out and into storage or covered with tarps.  Its really weird, I'm sure there is some kind of logic to it, but one room will have furniture covered while another will be completely empty.  Some of sets that were used for just a scene or two and not used again are broken down and folded up.  All sets can be folded up and transported if need be or if the show gets cancelled, which no fear they will for sure be back next season. 

RG was also completely obessed with looking in drawers, cabinets, and fridges.  He even had to asked on a few occasions to stop.  He also kept asking when we would go by the Kraft Food Services trailer.  LB could not remember which show we were at and everytime we changed sets she would ask where we were now. 

On to the actors we got to meet!  First we briefly met Anthony Carrigan (Cory Smith, the young new boss at the shoe factory) he was waiting for the lighting to be set up.  Nice guy, does not look high like he does all during the show, he pretty cute.  When we watched recordings later we met Joy Bryant (Jasmine) who is absolutely gorgeous and super bubbly and sweet, she quickly came over and said hello and was very talkative to the residents.  She and Sam Jaeger (Joel) were working on a scene together.  Joel came by and let me just say he is probably the cutest man I've ever seen.  I saw him on the show and thought he was pretty cute but in person, oh geeze.  *sigh* girly moment over.  Sam was very sweet and charming as well.  Got all the residents laughing and talking.  Which turned out to be pretty hard, they were either intimidated, star struck, or just really confused - since out of the 5 I brought only 1 actually watched the show.  The next scene involved Dax Shepard (Crosby) who is exactly as I pictured him kinda goofy but everyone loves him, he was taking pictures of everyone cause it was his last day of filming.  RG asked me why he looked so familiar and I explained that he use to be on Punked to which then RG yell, "Oh I loved that show Punked!" That got Dax's attention and he came by to say hi.  After asking about him the whole time we got to meet Max Burkholder (Max Braverman) who plays the boy with Autism.  Max does an AMAZING as acting autistic, there are quite a few residents who are on the Autism Spectrum that I work with on a daily basis and what you see with Max is exactly what I see with my residents, the residents are just older and hopefully don't have the full out tantrums (although I can say I have seen my fair share). So we meet Max and he is incredibly mature for his age and asks the residents some questions and they share about CDA and why they live there.

Then we watched another scene, this time we did not get headsets because the content of the scene was secret due to it being the finale.  The residents at this point were getting a little antsy to get back to CDA, they have a schedule and when its not followed they get nervous.  Plus they were not as interested in the filming part as I was, I could have stayed there all day. On our way out we ran into Peter Krause who was riding his bike.  RG goes, "Sweet bike man!" and SC made a comment about how good it is that he rides his bike instead of demanding a golf cart and that it is good exercise.  Peter laughed and told us how hair and makeup hate that he rides his bike around. Then we stopped by the Kraft Food Service truck, which made all the residents happy, they got some junk food! Then we were off.  Oh wait I almost forgot RG's favorite part outside Sam Jaeger's trailer there was this old dingy yellow taxi and Jennifer told us that it was given to Sam from a movie that he did and that Sam drives it around as his personal vehicle.  RG thought that was the funniest thing.  It never ceases to amaze me what these guys get stuck on. :)

All in all a pretty great day.  Definetely an experience that I won't soon forget.  If you have not seen Parenthood I highly recommend you watch it, I think it is wonderful, plus the cast & crew were very personable. It has now become one of my must see favs!

Kasidee & Reeder Week Part 2

Day 3: We have decided to spend the day in LA being Tourists.  Kasidee & Reeder had not been to the the Kodak or Grauman's Theater so we made plans to go there and then head down to Santa Monica Pier/Promenade.  We mapped out how to drive everywhere and then realized that it would be easiest to just take a Starline Tourbus.  That way we would only have to pay once and we might even get to see some other sides of LA.  Since I have not really learned my way around LA it was pretty interesting.  So off we went.  Traffic wasn't too bad it got congested at the 101 but that is typical, then the exit we needed to get to Hollywood Blvd was blocked off, so after consulting Reeder's iphone we figured out where we were.  We parked and then off to Grauman's. I did not take any pictures as I have taken them all before so all of these pictures are thanks to Kasidee!

Outside of Grauman's actually taken on the bus tour.

Paul Newman (notice that he did his barefoot, i would totally do that!) & Joanne Woodward

Just for Javi - Cher!  

Roy Rogers, his gun, and his horse Trigger. ( I don't know why this one is sideways but I just spent the last 45 min trying to change it and it won't... annoying i know!)

Now turn your head the other direction and this is Denzel Washington's

 So I'm not posting the other ones due to how annoyed I am right now with my blog site. So on to happier things.

Then we went to the Kodak Theater where they, like everyone else, quickly realized that it is just a big mall.  They hide it well when it is time for the Oscars but overall it is a mall you walk in and immediately see Louis Vuitton and Nine West and a Cupcake store.  Go down the hall and run into all sorts of other stores.  Now they do have these posts that say the year and the movie that won best picture.

This year's Winner The King's Speech - so good if you have not already seen it you must go!

The we walked around and took the typical pics of the Hollywood sign.  Random fact, the state no longer owns the sign, it is in such bad debt that there is a private citizen who now owns the sign and movies now have to pay that person to use it.  Also tourists can no longer get anywhere near the sign.

This is with the camera zoomed in as much as possible.

Now if you really squint you will see a red box and 4 black arrows and that is pointing to the Hollywood sign between Kasidee & Reeder.  Don't strain your eyes, I will enlarge the picture for you.

Then we looked around a little more at the stars on the sidewalk and laughed when we saw that Godzilla has a star as does Snow White and some other random movie characters.  Then we decided to go ahead and get our tickets for the Starline Bus tour. 

Reeder & I on one side

Kasidee on the other side.  

Yay we took our own pic and it turned out pretty cute!

 

It was thankfully a beautiful day out so we enjoyed the upper deck.  I got a wee bit sunburned as well.  Then off we went and saw all different parts of LA, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, there is an area that has huge painted guitars like Houston has the Cows, and a bunch of different studios all over the place.  It was amazing to see how small some of these studios were, one was 64 acres, the lake at Sky Ranch is 90 acres and that seems so small to me.  But all that same it was interesting. Oh we also were confused that this was tour of LA and the recorded guy giving us useless facts was British.  I guess people would rather listen to a guy with an accent then an American.  I loved the way he said Blvd (booleevard).  Kasidee was trying so hard to take a picture of the Beverly Hills Shield, because surprisingly there are only 5 around the city, I would have thought that they would have been everywhere, but nope, and movies have to pay a lot of money to use them in a picture.  They also pointed out different buildings that were used in all sorts of movies, but all the movies seemed to have been filmed 10+ years ago or were very unknown, so either they don't film much in LA anymore or they REALLY need to update the tour.  Also they stopped infront of every hotel and told us which Celebs have stayed there, and most of these hotels were very small and were not all that impressive to see. 

On the very left edge of this pic you can see half of the Beverly Hills sign.  This was my attempt to help Kas get a pic of the sign and well I failed.  She did eventually get a pic of the sign but I somehow did not upload that pic from her.

Here is the new Beverly Hills sign.  Did you know that each street in Bev Hill is lined with a different type of tree?  And here assumed they were only lined with Palm trees. :)

Fox Studios - Yay Glee!

Paramount Pictures famouse front gates

Part of the Berlin Wall - Kennedy & Reagan's faces = President at the beginning and end of the Cold War.

Then it was off to Santa Monica Pier and Promenade.  After we transfered from the Red Line to the Yellow Line it got really cold on the top of the bus and Santa Monica was extremely foggy.  I finally could not take it anymore and then headed downstairs to get away from the cold, of course I did this right before our stop for the pier, go me!  then when we got off the bus we headed in the wrong direction but quickly got back on track.  We walked past the pier but at this point were so cold and hungry that we didn't really even stop.  There was a random guy on the sidewalk that asked us if we had bubbles, cause he had bubbles and would sell us some. 

Random Fact: Santa Monica Beach was the original Muscle Beach.  There were many people around working out, which why pay for a gym membership if there is a gorgeous beach you can use.

We eventually stopped and ate at Chipotle and then went back to Hollywood Blvd.  Kas got souveniers for all her family and then we had dinner at a place within the Kodak called Trastevere.  We had a fabulous waiter Luis and dinner was delicious.  I had butternut squash ravioli and an amazing sparkling wine, perfectly paired by Luis.  Then we went back to my apt, packed up and went to bed.  It was a great day. 

Day 4: We woke up early for Reeder's flight.  Got her to the airport by 7:30am.  Chloe even came along for the ride.  Kas and I went to Starbuck and then had cold pizza for dinner.  Around 12:30 I took Kasidee to the airport.  Now they are gone and that stinks.  It was a great mini holiday, but went by entirely too quickly.  So I vote Kasidee & Reeder just move to Cali!!!!

Below are a few pictures my friend Shannon took.  I liked them so decided to add them into the blog.

The Beach

Another of me in my typical pose

Notice Reeder is like 20 yards ahead of us this is typically how it went.

Baywatch poses

Great picture with a random purple line... grrr

Kasidee & Reeder Week!!!

Day 1: Sunday Kasidee & Reeder came out to Cali!!!! But not without a little drama.  Reeder texted me about 30 min after she took off and said she landed, I was a little confused.  Then I got a second text with a picture of a fire truck outside her plane window! Her plane had to re-land in Houston due to there being a smoke smell on the plane and then had to escourted back to the terminal and fire fighters boarded!! SCARY!!! Thankfully everyone was ok and they were able to pull another plane out of the hanger and take off pretty quickly.  Kasidee got here without any problems, but Reeder was going to be about 1.5 hours behind, so I took Kasidee to the Spectrum, and outdoor mall, to grab a quick bite and walk around. While there Kasidee notices she does not know where her phone is so, we back track and look around and can't find it so she assumes it is in the car.  Reeder calls about 45min before we expected to say that she has landed, so we run to the car.  Kasidee looks around and realizes her phone is not there.  But no time to really look we have to go get Reeder!!! Yay she is finally here!!!

We pick up Reeder and look a little more for Kasidee's phone to no avail it's gone.  Then off we go to Dana Point to meet up with Javi, Matt, and Shannon for lunch at Olamendi's for some yummy mexican food and Margaritas!!!! I love this restraurant because it is right across the street from the beach and it has a great atmosphere.  We have a great lunch filled with laughter and 3 pitchers of Margaritas.  Lots of great quotes by Kasidee my favorite being the random, "I've see Broke Back Mountain." So funny! Matty ordered the most bland burrito ever without any sauce or anything and Reeder started teasing him and making some off collar jokes that I won't repeat as not to offend, but trust me we all laughed, Matty the hardest. :)

Then we were off to the beach for some fun in the sun and enjoy a pretty beach, because there is no such thing in TX.  But before we left I laid on Javi's car while he tried to drive off, why you might ask, well remember we had a few Margaritas and it seemed like a good idea.

After Lunch Javi ran me down... NOT POLITE!!!

Then I didn't want to leave Matt out so I ran to his car too.

Well he turned on his windsheild wipers... RUDE!

Great Kasidee Quote: "Now I have a gay picture!" FUNNY!

Time for some beach fun!  Here are a few fun pics:

My typical pose

Kasidee

Reeder wore her boots, I love this pic of her carrying them on the beach.  She also had her pockets filled with rocks to bring back for her science class kiddos.

Shannon came with us! 

I always have to write in the sand

Kasidee & Reeder Week... hard to read

Me & Reeder

Me & Kasidee... why do I always lean over in pic?



Day 2: Off to my favorite Crape Shop La Gallete!  So yummy!  We each got a savory crape and then shared a Berries & Cream.  If anyone comes and visits me expect to go get crapes cause I love them!

Then we took a stroll down the pier and down beach. When you have a great beach you must enjoy it! We watched some surfers as well but the waves were low so there was not much to see.  The tsunami also brought in a lot of rock so bulldozers were moving them all back up.

At the end of the pier looking back at the beach

Climbing on the rocks on the beach.

Model Pose

The other typical Wendy picture

Then it was back to the apt and we took Chloe for a really long walk down the bike trail behind my apt complex, dinner at Yard House, and watched Adjustment Bureau... mmmmmm good movie. We came back made some really gooey butter cake and watched Connie and Carla.  Now it is off to bed cause tomorrow we are going to Hollywood & Santa Monica! 

See you tomorrow!!!