Am-yaaah-zong California

"California, here we come..."
- Phantom Planet

It's a bit late for that opening line, but alas: California, here we are. The official hashtag: #californiadreamin. Mom left with these goals in mind. Now, please PLEASE watch this glorious video: The Californians, from SNL. It is so great and hilarious and was our inspiration to fitting-in in Cali. Also, Mick Jagger's in it...and he's got moves.


I left Columbia on Thursday morning and on the way home texted my mother:

I'm getting an iPhone tomorrow.

Not only was this week awesome and exciting in California, but I have an iPhone (and therefore Instagram) to document it. Being the Apple Lover I am, I'll do a post dedicated entirely to my precious Eleanor Rigby (as I've named her), but for now: Cali.

We left the airport on Friday night. If you also follow my mother, you'll notice this post is probably going to be almost identical to her's. Except for, SHE doesn't have an iPhone...sucka.

Our hotel had a shuttle, which was awesome, except they didn't. However, they sent a taxi to pick us up, which was terrifying. Once we checked in and found our room, we started feeling very at home. Probably because they left us COOKIES AND MILK with a message telling us to make ourselves at home. Am-yaaaah-zong.

The next morning we woke up and headed down to Santa Monica Beach!

Me and Becca ate at Randy's Surf Ranch. Just me and Becca. No one else.

Even for a gloomy day, the beach was hoppin'!

We walked down the boardwalk and gawked at strangers.

Homeless people sleeping face-down in the grass (kinda sad)...

Creepy little girl eating her ice cream (hilarious) and...

A guy who looked exactly like Jake Jacobson would if he didn't chop the dreads and get a job in insurance.

 We shopped on the Venice Beach strip and then on Main Street. Once we were finally pooped out, we headed home. Mom was upset to miss the sunset, but I was starting to feel a sore throat coming on.

I awoke that next Sunday morning to find it was more than just a little sore throat. I took some Tylenol and slept for the morning while mom and Becca got to go to a giant flea market...I am still so jealous. To see what a fabulous, awesome experience that was, check out her blog post. However, not even my strep throat could keep me from the a craft fair.

It was only the second weekend running and it was incredible. Great quality crafts by interesting, unique people.

That night we ate downtown around Manhattan Beach (near where our hotel is) and finally got to see the sunset mom had been so eager to photograph.

The next day I woke up feeling like HELL. Mom took me to Urgent Care and after a little flirting (by mom to the doctor) we got the hook ups...amoxicillyn. This stuff is my jam. I was stuck in bed ALL day and unfortunately slept through the arrival of my aunt Sarah and cousin Megan. But I was feeling entirely better on Tuesday, so the fun resumed.

We went back to The Grove (where the others had been on Monday) to see a promotion for a movie coming out: The Campaign.

This would make Will Ferrell and Zach Galifanakis our first celeb sitings!

Afterwards, we went to Melrose Avenue. A unique and quirky street of strange shops and vintage stores! While we weren't particularly interested in Freak Chic, the store American Vintage was definitely a stop.

We stumbled across THIS gem! Strangely enough, the back was signed by some Asian person? I'm not sure which is weirder: This shirt in Cali or the John Hancock on the back...

After Melrose, my phone died. Tragedy about the iPhone I guess. But we spent the afternoon fighting traffic (the plague of California) and roaming the grounds of the Getty Museum. It was beautiful! The art was nice too...
We came back to the hotel that night and everyone enjoyed spending some family time together while I kicked their asses at Phase 10. Losers.

After crawling through traffic, we finally reached the Los Angeles Flower Market with 30 minutes till close. We were really just there to take a million pictures. Which we did.

This is because my middle name is Rose. And I am with roses. Is that pun clear?

Next stop, Warner Bros Studio tour.

We saw Stars Hollow, which is also the set for Pretty Little Liars, Heart of Dixie and countless movies. When you geotag this location on Instagram, it literally says: Warners Bros. Studios - Midwest Street.

It's not as pretty as it is in the show, but for you Gilmore Girls lovers, this is Luke's Diner!

Next was the set of Friends, Central Perk. It was beautiful. I don't know whose job it is to design these quirky, wonderful sets, but I wish it were mine!

 Then there were cars:

One of six cars used in The Hangover.

The Mystery Machine.

Harry Potter's Flying Car.

Bike from The Matrix. Keane Reeves made so much money from these movies that he gave cash to a lot of crew and gave one of these bikes to each of the stunt men. Dang.

This...is used in a lot of movies, but they all just kind of run together now.

Spiderman Alley. Where the famous upside-down kiss happened. Apparently, Toby Magire kept almost DROWNING because they use extra large drops of water to show up on camera better. So they stuffed his nose with cottonballs and vasaline. If you watch closely you'll notice 1. they never show his nose, and 2. Kirsten Dunst couldn't stop giggling because he looked so ridiculous.

After the tour. We went to the Griffith Observatory where we ate lunch overlooking the city.

We could even see this.

After the Observatory, we came home exhausted. We went to the hotel "social hour" which was free dinner and drinks and then came back to the room and bummed around. 

Thursday morning we woke up and waited for the final sister (my mom's) to arrive with her twins Charlie and Caroline. Once they got here there was much love and affection before hitting the highways of California and heading to the La Brea Tar Pits...why they wanted to go to a place that was basically just old bones and pits tar is beyond me, but I like to look around so I survived. After that we went to Hollywood and walked a stretch of that hot, dirty, busy street.

I figured Harrison Ford's star was picture worthy. I love that guy...

Star Wars footprints outside the Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

We bought some cheesy gifts for the folks back home and then back to the hotel. After a bit of rest, we headed back to downtown Manhattan Beach and had some delightful Italian food at Mama D's. The wait was long, but well worth it. We returned home and crashed into bed.

This morning, the rest of the crew left for Universal Studios while I sit lonely in the hotel room. Being a working girl, I can't take two weeks off from work, so I'm flying back early today. I've got a bit of a wait though till my flight, which seems like a perfect time for a blog post. It's been an awesome trip. Mom planned out so many great, fun things for us to do, I can't imagine there's any part of LA that we left undiscovered: Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, Crafted Craft Fair, Manhattan Beach, CA Sunsets, The Grove, Grand Central Market, Celebrity Sighting, Melrose Avenue, The LA Flower Market, Warner Bros. Studio, The Getty Museum, The Griffith Observatory, The Hollywood Sign, Hollywood Boulevard, Grauman's Chinese Theatre...we did it all.

I know 21 is approaching the age where you start paying for your own vacations, where you be mature and buy your own dinner and drinks, where you chip in your share of the hotel room. But I'm grateful for every last vacation I take on mom. She really works so hard to make every minute worth it and it absolutely was. I know things can be discouraging and stressful for her, but I hope she knows how much it means to both Becca and I to be lucky enough to be able to post these GLORIOUS pictures. We can say we've been to these places and we can laugh as we remember harmonizing to our originally composed piece, "El Segundo". We made memories here that we'll never forget, and as trying as family travel can be, we know we wouldn't chose to be here with anyone else. I mean that. I hate other people. So thanks momma for another incredible vacation and for tolerating the constant stream of sarcasm from your two obnoxious daughters...also, thanks for spell-checking this post, because I can tell it's going to be rough.

I love you, mom.