We land, and I know (from being told repeatedly) that the first thing Brittany wants to do is get a picture of her at LAX with her caridigan on.. like the Miley Cyrus song, "I hopped off the plane at L.A.X. With a dream and my cardigan Welcome to the land of fame excess.." -- but there aren't really any "WELCOME TO LAX" signs -- the best we could do was a backlit pic with LAX shuttle, kinda in the pic, or her with her LAX baggage tag. She needed this done because the song also talks about how a "Britney song was on..."... so it kind of has her name in it. Here she is posing (and for you non-signers, she's signing "DREAM".. see... she has a dream and a cardigan). And yes. She did just carry on that cardigan to get that picture. This is why I love her.
We need to find the shuttle to the car rental place - and there is another couple looking for the same shuttle, and they say they've been looking for an HOUR and couldn't find it. I look on the link that I have and call the number - clearly states where to stand and what shuttle to look for... we find it in 5 minutes. Stick with us kid... we'll find your shuttle. On the shuttle we see that the woman's bag is TORE UP - the bottom part is in pieces and they're having to hold the bag together - yikes. We get to the rental car place, and it's super popular right now, but doesn't take tooo long to get through the line and we are mobile! While I was in line, Britt waited with the bags and talked to the lady more - they're in town for a wedding, and when Britt told her that we were in town to meet Freddie, she freaked out, she loves him too. :)
OK - I guess it's time for my little side note (not really a disclaimer), but just an explanation about why we're here. I know some of you won't get it - and some of you will be SOOO jealous.. but I'm super excited. Haven't really been able to sleep right for about a week with all the preparation. I watch Days of Our Lives, and I used to be a closet fan - I know the stigma attached to it, they will never live down the "Marlena possession" storyline and that was 20 years ago now. I've had my own love/hate relationship with the show for a long time, but I was always a closeted fan - a little embarrassed that I watched, even with fellow Days fans. But that has changed, and it's because of the great work that they're doing with the same-sex couple storyline of Will Horton (son of Sami Brady and Lucas Horton) and Sonny Kiriakis (son of Justin and Adrienne) - I say that because a lot of people have ties to the show, and even though you may not know current characters, you may know their parents. It's a big storyline in that it's the first openly gay characters on the show, and they're not just fleeting characters that will do an "after-school special" type of story and then go off into the sunset. These are core family characters that are tied to every level of the show. Sonny came on as a gay, out, proud, confident young man - and Will has gone through the whole story of self-doubt and fear, coming out, coming to terms, and finding love with his best friend. And it's happened over a 2 year period, so it was really strongly developed. Both Freddie and Chandler were nominated for an Emmy this year, and Chandler won (2nd year in a row). I'm proud of the story, I'm so proud of their work - so it didn't make sense for me to be a closeted fan anymore. I'm out and I'm proud. :)
There came an opportunity to meet Freddie Smith (plays Sonny) - through a kickstarter project that he put online. You may have heard about the Veronica Mars project that got a movie funded, or the Zach Braff movie - they got a lot of attention. But it's for small independent projects too -- people can donate, and in exchange they get "incentives" - so far I've talked with him on the phone and we've messaged back and forth, and on Thursday night we're going out to dinner with him and his girlfriend Alyssa. Blake Berris (Nick) will be joining us later for drinks...he actually offered to bring more people from Days to dinner - but I think the smaller the better. Chandler can't come because the show is on vacation for 2 weeks, and he's heading home to Atlanta (little bummed about that). It's a once in a lifetime chance, and I just had to see if I could squeeze it in before the UK trip. I'm fan-girling so much right now, you don't even know. I've warned him that I have tons of questions for him! Britt doesn't even watch the show, but she loves famous people, and he's on tv, so he counts, and I SO needed a partner in crime to keep me sane. We have signals for "tone it down"... Then on Saturday we get to visit the set, and we'll be extras in his web-series project (not on Days).
OK ---- so now that's over with.... ON WITH THE BLOG!!
While I was in line at the car rental place, I overheard someone talking about In-n-Out Burger, I had heard of them before and never been - and we were very hungry - so I asked Siri to find one for us, and it's right around the corner from LAX! Perfect!!
The place was madness! They have people in the parking lot directing traffic and taking order from cars in line for the take out window - we get inside and it's even crazier. The menu is really simple, burgers, fries, shakes, next... we get our order in and we're in the 80s.. they're calling out 50s... So while we wait (which wasn't crazy), I try to snag a table, and get one just as our numbers are called. These burgers are totally worth it - the hype isn't hype - get one. The fries? I could live without - but they're fresh cut, not greasy.
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| That dry spot... |
Beach! We need the beach.. I had it in my head that we could go to Venice beach then just drive up to the Santa Monica Pier and then up the coast to Malibu. But, not really so much.
Found Venice, no problem, after a few re-calculations and maybe just 2 times around LAX (maybe 3, but who's counting). You park and its just right there - you see the ocean. That panorama pic is basically from the parking lot. Most other places you have quite a walk up and then the reveal. Here, just all beach and ocean.
Neither of us packed suits, we didn't think we'd have time to actually get in. But it's about 1:00, and we can't check into our place until 3:00. I email her and she says that after 3, the place is just open, the key is inside, come at our convenience... Ok cool. So we have
some beach time ...we have to get the obligatory feet in the sand/water/facing the ocean shot.. We just head down to the water and walk up to edge. Britt gets the first wave over her toes and sucks in! It's COLD! It's about 72 and sunny (like every day in LA), and
there is a chill to the ocean, but Britt is completely covered in goose bumps! It's not THAT cold.
We stay there for at least an hour - maybe two. Just hanging out, getting "kissed" by the sun... Well the sun really took advantage of Britt.. Not just a peck on the cheek, and no wining and dining.. she's a little lobster like. I decide to get my feet in the sand facing the ocean pic, after all I have my new toes to feature.. I sit at what I feel is a safe distance
from the water... And I even joke that if that water comes in any faster then I'm going to be sorry, and quickly sitting in the ocean (no suits, remember). So you know where this is going... I'm sitting and the water just comes in fast, a big surge. It came up around me
to get me! It didn't come in that far anywhere else, you can see the big area where it just kind if reached out and grabbed me. And that little spot if dry? That was where my hiney was - but my hiney was not so dry. Luckily we still had our bags in the car, so I just got dry clothes and good as new.
The feet washers didn't work (the shower like thing where you clean the sand off) so we had to rinse out feet off in the sinks - and Britt has a sand aversion. Which is quite hard to avoid
at a beach.. Of sand...a sandy beach.. so she's a little crabby. The bathrooms were single stalls, each have their own line, and I was in line for one and Britt in line for another, and this chic just walks up and past Britt to try the bathroom, and then asks, "Where is the ladies?" .. all the bathrooms are unisex and we say that.. and btw, I'm in line for this one -- OOHH!!, so she comes over to my bathroom and tries the door - Britt says, I think that one's occupied too, and she's in line for it. OHHHH... But Britt suggests that she can check the others. She tries a third door and it OPENS, and it's EMPTY. And Britt and I are the total idiots, standing in lines and worried about her cutting.
We get all set, dry and happy - and Britt turns to me and says, "Let's HEAD!" .. Um what? You mean let's "heat out?" --- Yah, "Let's head!"... So that's a new thing now. Just try it out.
We decide to go to the place and we head to the 405 (Brittany asks, "didn't you just say we wanted to avoid the 405?").. Yah, I did in fact, just a few hours prior -- but we decide it's not LA without traffic. It's about 4:00... so it's perfect timing to be getting on an LA freeway (sarcasm). But not so bad - a well oiled machine, moving in and out of lanes seamlessly - if this was St. Louis people just brake and stop and cause traffic echoes for miles. These guys keep it flowing, even if its slow going.
We decide to get off at Ventura blvd instead of taking the freeway further, so we can see more of LA instead of freeway. We get the extra battery pack out of the trunk (I have my mophie, and an extra battery pack - that gps app on the phone eats up that battery) and we decide to just explore neighborhoods... Where certain people might live... We do a few quick
drive bys but we don't cause any trouble. No bail money needed. Brittany is SURE that we are driving by famous people - there are famous people in these homes right now and why won't they just come out and let her see them? She loves her some famous people.
It's later, so we go ahead and head to our apt (Let's HEAD!) - taking the scenic route, taking our time just exploring. We follow the directions of the GPS - and I'm sure it must be wrong because it starts taking us up this hill, into the Hollywood Hills, like the houses that you see on the sides of the hills (we'll get a pic later in the light). We're headed UP into the Hollywood Hills, and the roads wind back and forth and get narrower and narrower... And the gps announces that we have arrived. At this LA looking place.. Gates and all manicured landscape.. I'm a little leary, we must be in the wrong place. We walk up and we run into a guy coming out and now I'm really wondering if we're in the right place, because it was supposed to be an independent rental (like we're not sharing the place with the owners). He tells us that the guest house is ready - right through here. Just off the path to the right is the entrance to where we're staying - it's a separate residence on the property. Totally cute and modern.. Great pottery barn full length mirror that we covet. They have like 10 pages of material in a welcome packet that tells where we can hike and walk to around here.. Just really cool place. If you come out here I recommend it. And it's like $70/night. Can't beat it.
We chill - clean up - catch up on Facebook, veg and scope out local places to eat. I play a little too long on Facebook (or maybe typing this blog).. Until Britt gets her crabby "hangry" voice and says "you ready to go?" Only, it's not said as a question. More like a demand.
I haven't heard this voice from Britt before - she always tells me that she has a crabby side. But I always see her smile when she says how crabby she is. But this voice came from a new place, a place of hunger and basic instinct for food. "You ready to go" was the phrasing, but what I heard was "You ARE ready to GO". Yep! Let's head!
We decide just to head toward the area where there are restaurants and just pick a place when we see it. I don't think we need GPS, we're just going down the hill, right? .. This is easy.. Except that there are many more maze options as we go down the hill than when we went up and we end up winding up and down trough 2 or 3 more hills (seeing some amazing houses and views along the way)... But ending up nowhere near what we were aiming for. That's ok - we're not picky (except that hungry monster sitting in the passenger seat)... We drive past WB studios (doing a tour there this week), and NBC (who is no longer doing tours - very disappointing!)... And finally we urbanspoon a Mexican place in
the area with a 95% rating. We like those odds.. We finally figure out where it is, and find parking (I know this is another LA cliché, but parking in LA - yikes) -
We walk in and its a TOTALLY Small place - a little hole in the wall, one of those places that serves your diet coke in a can with a glass of ice... There are two other people in there, but only 2 - but we're trusting the 95%. Britt is very disappointed that there is no white cheese..must not be an LA thing. The little man running the place is super cute - and the food was GOOD. We got there about 7:45.. we get our food quickly, and then we notice he's closing up.. at 8. But the sign said open to 11 or something..
Head back to the house, and we TRY to sleep. We realize how completely tired we are - and why. It's like 1:00 at home - and we've been up for a while. 3:30 for Britt and 5:30 for me.
BIG Day tomorrow with our hair and Freddie plans... and I I type this I already know how that turns out. Epic.
