Wednesday, February 20, 2019

THE REWIND SERIES | GIRLS TRIP TO L.A.: PART 1

Hey friends!  Today I'm back with another installment in my Rewind Series!


I love walking down Memory Lane so this series is so fun for me.  I thought it'd be neat to go back and show you a little of the fun that would have been posted if this blog had existed back then.  I wasn't always so boring, friends.  😉

You can find the other posts in this series below:



But today, I'm taking you back to 2014 when one of my besties and I went to L.A. on a little girls' trip!


Dani is one of my very best friends.  She is so funny, so loyal, so kind and so much fun!  And when she told me that she had to go to L.A. for something (that isn't important to the story and is personal to her) and needed someone to go with her, I was completely on board!  Her hubs was staying home with the kids so it was just the two of us and we were so excited!

I should probably mention that Dani and I actually went to L.A. twice within a 6 month period because of some personal/business stuff she had going on.  So that's why this is Part 1.  One trip was in February 2014 and the second was in July 2014.  I couldn't get everything into one post because our trip to SUR on our 2nd trip needed a whole post to itself.  We had the best time!  Part 2 will be up tomorrow morning so I hope you come back for it!  (I know I say stuff like that a lot and then 3 weeks later I finally get around to posting it but seriously, it really will be up tomorrow!)

Also, yes, I was going through a brunette phase during this trip.  Didn't hate it.  Didn't love it. Eh.  I'm back to blonde in Part 2 though.

So let's jump on in! Since this was 5 years ago, details are a little sketchy and I didn't take nearly enough pictures.  Clearly, I was not a blogger back then or I would have been all over it.

I'll start with the first picture I took on our first trip once we got to our room at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey.

It was just the best view!


We were both all about doing the cliche touristy sight-seeing stuff.  So we got in our rental and hit the town!

One memorable moment:  Trying green juice for the first time.

At the time, juicing was just starting to become a popular thing and since all the celebrities in Us Weekly seemed to love it, I figured I'd give it a shot.  #wheninRome

 NOTE: I'm smiling here because I hadn't tasted it yet.


OH.MY.GOSH.  Worst $5 I've ever spent in my life.  Spinach, parsley, kale, cucumber, celery, lemon and apple.  I think they lost me with the celery.  It was all I could taste and I HATE celery.  I'd be willing to try it again minus that one foul ingredient.  But instead, I took a few sips hoping it would get better and then tossed it.  Total waste of money, I know, but it was impossible.  Blah!  Cheers to y'all who juice.  I just can't.


We also hit Rodeo Drive!  We parked and walked all over, keeping one eye out for possible celebrity sightings. (There were none.)


I drooled my little heart out over the enormous diamonds in the windows of all the jewelry stores.


It's just so idyllic!  Like a movie set.


I'm seriously kicking myself for not taking better pictures and getting more of us in them.  I was clearly not a blogger back then or I'd have done better. ;)



Before the trip, I told Dani that I really wanted to go to SUR.  She had never seen Vanderpump Rules before so she ended up binging the series until she was caught up.  And then of course, she was totally on board with the plan!  But we couldn't get a reservation.  They were booked solid.  Boo.

But just wait until I get to trip #2!


We drove to The Grove for dinner that night to do some more exploring and wandering.  I'm not sure what restaurant we ate at but I think it was Italian.  

There we are!  We thought to get a picture!


The next day, we did more sight-seeing.  We headed to Santa Monica and Venice Beach for all the GOOD people watching. ;)

File this one under "Things You Don't See Everyday". 


We strolled Venice Beach trying to pretend we weren't gawking at all the craziness going on around us.  

This guy was willing to get kicked in "his business" as my boys would say, for a measly $10.  I know what you're thinking.  Did anyone actually do it?  Sorry folks.  We didn't see anyone do it.  But those guys in the red shirts were talking to him for a while.  I think they ended up just giving him some money.


So many "green doctors" in Venice Beach.  haha


I do remember not taking as many pictures as I wanted because I was scared to offend anyone.  haha.  But then again, the more outrageous you make yourself, the more you probably WANT people to stare, right? I don't know.  The sweet southern girl in me just didn't want to be rude.  So my pictures are lame.  But trust me, we saw some things we can't unsee.

I felt like these guys were fair game though.


And the famous Zoltar machine from Big.  I will never put a coin in that thing after seeing that movie.  Unless there's a chance it could make me younger instead of older???


At the end of the street, there was a street performer of some kind (I don't even remember what he was doing) but I do remember a guy who was clearly wasted out of his mind trying to ruin it.  He ended up starting a brawl and it got pretty chaotic quick so we headed back to the safety of our car.  It's been real Venice Beach.  Check it off the Bucket List.


One of the most fun things we did on this trip though was a private celebrity house tour!  Our tour guide drove us all through the Hollywood Hills pointing out celebrity homes.  Most of them were blocked by giant gates which was kind of a letdown but also expected.  And I don't remember which house went with which celeb but here are a few pictures.


This one is Bill Cosby's house.  It seemed so strange that it was so easily accessible to anyone!  I mean, it's gated and all but it was so close to the street.  Obviously, he's got a new home for a few years right now though.  #clinkclink 
Shame shame, BC.


This one was one of the strangest houses I've ever seen.


And no trip to L.A. is complete without some toes in the sand!

  

So gorgeous.  My only complaint was that you had to walk FOR.EV.ER. to get to the water.  Walking in sand for what feels like a mile is great for your calves and all but man.  It was a trek.



Unfortunately, the coolest thing that happened to us on that first trip will have to live on in our memories because we have ZERO pictures of it.  The first night we were there, we met up with some friends of Dani's who live in LA.  They took us to Madeo in West Hollywood and I was so excited because I'd read about this place in all the gossip magazines.  It was a celebrity favorite so we were hoping to see someone famous.  (#noshame #showmeacelebrity)

We ended up in a round booth against one wall towards the very back of the restaurant and guess who was in the booth right next to us???  HEIDI KLUM.  This was fairly soon after her divorce from Seal and she was with her new boy toy and several others.  I still remember saying to my table "That girl looks like a really old version of Heidi Klum" and then the rest of the table turning to look and telling me "That IS Heidi Klum!".  hahaha

We all ended up making excuses to go to the bathroom throughout our meal which meant we got to walk right by her booth.  When it was my turn I was trying so hard not to look like a stalker that I never even glanced her way as I walked by.  Ugh.  And that was not the kind of place you can snap a picture of a celebrity so yeah...we have no proof.  Just a fun memory.

So those were the highlights of trip #1.  Little did we know that we'd be back that summer for round 2!  I'll be back with our fun at Pump, SUR, meeting the cast during filming and a day trip to Malibu tomorrow!

Here's a little teaser.  (Hint hint: I'm back to blonde in Part 2.)


See you tomorrow!!

UPDATE:  Find Part 2 HERE!

Linking up with Erika, a day late, for Tuesday Talk!
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3 comments

  1. Ohhhhhhh! I love travel posts so much!!!

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  2. EEEK! I love these posts! I'll be back tomorrow! Love me some Vanderpump!! Simply Tish

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  3. So so fun!!! We need to go back! Love you friend!

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