Thursday, February 21, 2019

THE REWIND SERIES | L.A. TRIP: PART 2

Hey friends!! Welcome back to Part 2 of my L.A. girls trip!


If you missed Part 1, go HERE to check that out and then come back for Part 2!

A few months after we came back from L.A., Dani found out she had to go back that summer.  Again, I can't talk about the circumstances surrounding the trips because it's personal to Dani but when she asked if I was up for another few days in L.A. I was there for it! 

(And no, this had nothing to do with plastic surgery! haha Someone asked me that today which, looking back, I can see why they might think we were being sneaky.  Ha!  But no, no one was visiting any plastic surgeons.  Cross my heart.)

This next trip was even more fun!  Our first trip was in February so it was a little cool.  But this time it was SUMMER in L.A., my hair was back to blonde so I was feeling a little more California Girl-y, and we rented a convertible and pretended we were locals.  ;)  Ok, not really but we did feel like we had a better lay of the land.




We stayed at the Shore Hotel in Santa Monica this time and had a gorgeous view!  And we were a stone's throw from the Santa Monica Pier.



We weren't able to do everything we wanted during this trip because of some obligations Dani had (which was the whole reason for the trip) so we never actually went down to the Pier.  Did we miss out??

I can't even figure out where we were in these pictures below but it looks like we're walking on the side of the road!  Maybe we walked over a bridge to get to the beach?


Love that I got photobombed by the ONE palm tree in this picture.  It looks like it's growing out of my head. 😂


Remember when I said yesterday that you have to walk FOREVER in the sand to get to the water?  Take a look at that. 👇  That sure makes my walks to the water in Gulf Shores seem like nothing!



Our first night there, we met up with Dani's friends again and this time we went to Pump.  For whatever reason, I didn't take a single picture at Pump!  It had just opened and honestly, I was probably trying to look like all of this was no big deal in front of her LA friends.  Ha!  Seriously, if I could go back and do it all over again, I'd have pictures of EVERYTHING.  The older I get, the less shame I have.  I'm going to be a fun old lady someday! 😉

Dani did send me this one of us at dinner.  Although we could be absolutely anywhere.

PS:  It looks like I'm wearing a racerback tank in every picture during this trip but this was actually a maxi dress that was white on top and navy blue from the waist down.  I just felt the need to say that.  😊


While we were at Pump, we told Dani's friends that we'd tried to go to SUR last time and couldn't get a reservation.  But this time, we had one!!

Yes, it was for 5:30 the next night which was the only time they still had available. But we were going!

So the next night, I realized I had nothing to wear to SUR.  I should have taken the opportunity to go shopping that day but we'd been busy with some stuff with Dani and there wasn't time.  So I threw on the only other thing I had besides the dress I wore the night before and shorts/jeans.  A white tank with a pretty maxi skirt.  Much better suited for a casual dinner at a beach cafe but what can ya do.

When we got there, right at 5:30, it was deserted.  Which we expected.



Y'all know I love my Bravo drama and I've been a loyal fan of Vanderpump Rules since Day 1.  But, please note that when I say "fan", I don't mean that I worship these people, strive to be them, would gush over them or anything in that realm.  I just mean that they provide mindless entertainment for a tired mama on Monday nights and I'm grateful.  And it makes me feel young again when I watch them.

Also worth noting?  They have THE BEST theme song ever created.  I don't know what it is about that song but it is just perfect.

Anyway.

We showed up at 5:30 along with all the senior citizens prepared for a fun night out.  Within minutes, the bus boy had taken our drink orders and who do you think that was???  It was JAMES.  But at this point, he wasn't on the show so we had no idea who he was.  I think he showed up the next season but was filming with everyone at the time.  I didn't even remember it was James who had taken our drink order.  Dani told me that way after the fact one night and I honestly had no idea.  I have the worst memory.

Cheers to a great night!  And a soft focus IG filter.  ;)


There's that basic white tank that looks like I just walked in from mowing the lawn.  Sigh.  I promise my long maxi skirt made it A LITTLE better.

We ordered dinner which was delicious and then we decided we wanted to see more of the restaurant.  So we took turns going to the bathroom so we could look around a little more.

If you've been watching VPR from the beginning then you'll recognize this truck and this infamous parking lot where many many tears have been shed and fights have gone down.  The restrooms are to the left and this back entrance is to the right.  Pretty sure that's Jax's truck.


And then, as I was walking back to our table, who did I see but the devil himself!

Jax was sitting at a table by himself playing on his phone when I passed him.  I came back and told Dani and she went to the restroom too to get a glimpse.  (Or vice versa.  Maybe she saw him first and then told me?  I honestly don't remember but I have a feeling she will.)

Since the restaurant was still pretty empty and there was no one else around him, we decided to be "those girls" and go over to him.  


He had a bad scar above his eyebrow that made him look evil.  We asked what happened and he said a girl threw a bottle at his head.  Sounds about right.

We found out that they were actually filming that night and more of the cast would be there so he told us we should go grab seats by the bar if we wanted to stay and watch.  We made our way to the lounge area that's always filmed and just as we walked in, two people got up from a little table right in the middle of the action and we snagged it!  It was the perfect place to watch all this go down.  Seriously, wild horses could not have dragged us away from that table.  For a couple of suburban mamas, this was already so much fun for us!

Pretty soon the cast started coming by and cameramen showed up.  Everyone was so nice and happy to talk and didn't seem to mind taking pictures at all.  And we weren't going to let our opportunity go to waste!  We made sure to fan.girl.it.up.

Scheana was very sweet and had just gotten engaged so we did what all girls do and asked to see the ring.  She was all too happy to show it off.  And she was just gorgeous.


Katie was sweet too but I don't know what I did to this picture to make it so blurry.  And I don't remember a thing about what we talked about.  If anything.


And this was the season that Vail was brought in as a new cast member so even though we didn't know who she was, we got the pic anyway. haha  She is ridiculously beautiful.


And yes, we even got a picture with Ken!!  He was just as adorable as he is on the show.


Lights, camera, action!


The rest of these are terrible because it's pretty dim in there.  But Lisa walked in with a camera on her.



The filming was, unfortunately, super boring that night.  No one was yelling or throwing drinks at anyone which was such a bummer!!  Where's the drama, people?!

At some point, two other girls came into the lounge area looking for seats and wanting to watch some stuff go DOWN so we asked them to join us at our table and we quickly got to chatting.  #instantfriends


We watched as they filmed Jax and Lisa talking at the bar with Scheana and at one point, the camera guy had to ask us if we could pretend to have a normal conversation instead of staring at the scene at the bar.    😂😂😂

Who us???  What ever do you mean, Mr. Cameraman...


Our faces!!  That picture cracks me up every time!!

We did turn around pretend to have conversations though.  Check out our acting skills!




That was such a fun night!  And its the closest I ever want to come to being on a reality show.

The next day, we decided to head to Malibu for some beach time!  Our first stop was the Malibu Starbucks because we really felt like it was our best bet for seeing another celebrity.  (Yes, we were celebrity-hungry.  It was a stage in my life where I didn't have much else going on besides being a suburban housewife, a mama to two little boys and a part-time preschool teacher.  I had a lot of time to read magazines, y'all.  #dontjudgeme #timeshavechanged #nowIdontknowanyone)

We didn't see anyone so we decided to drive until we found somewhere on the water for lunch.  We ended up stopping at the Paradise Cove Beach Cafe and it was the perfect choice.




We ate at a little table under an umbrella and then headed down to the beach lay out in the sun for a while.




It was perfect, relaxing, beautiful...just a great little getaway for us mamas.

As for the rest of our trip?  I have no more pictures.  Can you believe that?!  Why was my phone not out the whole time?!  This is why I'm a big believer in documenting as much of your vacations as possible.  And why my travel recaps are always so long.  😂

I do know that we walked around downtown Santa Monica, had lunch at a cute restaurant and just enjoyed our time away.

Our night at SUR was definitely the highlight of our trip though and it's one we'll never forget.  I was only 32 at the time (Dani was still in her 20s) so we were still pretty young and much more into all of the celebrity stuff than we are now.  I hear names of celebrities now that are apparently big time stars and all I can think is "Who?!".  Times have changed 5 years down the road, that's for sure!

Hope you enjoyed this latest installment in the Rewind Series!  Remember that you can find the rest of the series here:

HALLOWEEN EDITION

Also, I was back on the DEALS BLOG again yesterday for the first time in a while so if you aren't on Facebook and in the my Deals group, check the blog for all of yesterday's deals!


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4 comments

  1. What a FUN night!!! That picture of you guys all staring at the bar makes me laugh!

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  2. Oh my gosh! Those SUR pics are FANTASTIC!!!!!! I LOL at the one with you guys looking at LVP! Sheaffer and I went to SUR once for dinner, but didn't see anyone...you guys hit the JACKPOT!!!

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  3. I wish this trip was for plastic surgery. LOL! I feel like I was so naive back then. I took like no pictures. I think I was just happy to get away. �� Now we need to go back to see Tom Tom.

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  4. These two posts were great! As like everyone else, love the picture of you staring at the bar.

    What a cool experience!

    ReplyDelete

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