Fourth Of July

We had a fun filled weekend full of Fourth of July festivities. I had hoped for more beach time, but June gloom apparently still exists in July. On Saturday our beach plans changed to the pool which got cancelled because some little kid decided to use it for their bathroom. We decided to spend our afternoon in Hollywood and had lunch at my favorite restaurant Toast. The red velvet cupcake was delightful.After lunch we went to Beverly Hills to see the Greystone Mansion. There are tons of pathways around the mansion that lead you to gardens, fountains, and benches to enjoy the views. A ton of weddings and parties are held at the mansion. There have also been a lot of movies filmed there like The Big Lebowski, X-Men, Spiderman, Holiday, Austin Powers Goldmember, and Ghostbusters. This is the back of the mansion.

I took a lot of pictures of the grounds, surprise.

Al complaining about me taking more pictures.

One of the many fountains.
The breathtaking view of Beverly Hills and Hollywood. The condo tower on the left is where Cher, Elton John, Lindsay Lohan, Brody Jenner, and Francesca who we had dinner with at Boa lives.
Us
I don't know if it's me getting older or if I just appreciate the flowers in California, but I can't believe how many different types of beautiful flowers I see everyday.
Me and my favorite courtyard.
After the mansion I spotted the world's largest garbage cans. I guess if you live in Beverly Hills you get a way bigger trash can than everyone else. They seriously take up half the street. Later that night we went to the Hollywood Bowl for the 4th of July show. I heard that they have amazing fireworks so without doing research on the performers I bought the tickets. When Al looked at the tickets he started laughing and said "Do you know who Vince Gill is?" He played me some music and I quickly realized that I made a mistake. I hate country music especially twangy country like his. The Hollywood Bowl is amazing. If you look closely at the middle of the far hill you can see the Hollywood sign. I thought that was pretty neat and didn't notice for the first 10 minutes I was there...lol As you can tell we had really close seats.
The other memo I didn't get is that people pack Thanksgiving dinner. People were busting out wine, glasses, cupcakes, thermoses filled with coffee, tea, and who knows what else. Some people further down from us were eating shrimp cocktail. Next time Al and I are bringing a 7 course meal.
The show turned out to be really good. The La Phil performed before Vince and they were fabulous. Vince wasn't my favorite, but Al and I just laughed.
The fireworks were awesome and as you can see they shoot them right over The Hollywood BowlThe longer they went on the smokier it got and the smoke didn't seem to go anywhere.
By the end it looked like the place was on fire(watch the video below). What's a little more smoke in LA?

On Sunday evening we went to Huntington Beach to watch the much talked about firework show. We got way lucky and got a parking spot right off Main St. in the middle of all the festivities. There were so many houses decorated and this was my favorite one.

I couldn't believe how many people were there.
Yay for my favorite beach in SoCal.
People were so festive they decorated their beach cruiser wheels with Crate Paper.

We got to watch the sunset.
It was a little chilly, but luckily both of us wore jackets and brought a blanket.
We had the best seats ever and they were free!!
Almost time for the show.
HAPPY 4th OF JULY

It was a great weekend, but mostly because I got to spend it with Al.

On The Go

My mom came to visit us for the weekend and I packed 7 days of activities into 4. The first night we drove her by the LA Temple. It's not like Utah where you can just walk up to them.
On Friday morning we had breakfast at Toast Bakery Cafe in L.A. The food gets better and better everytime I eat there.
How is this for breakfast....fresh fruit, a portobello omelet with fresh avocado and marble rye bread. I love Toast!!

We spent the day in Hollywood with all the tourists. A view from Kodak Theater....I never knew you could see the Hollywood sign from right here.

We went to the Hollywood Wax Museum

The horror chamber was the worst. It had tons of famous actors from horror movies like Halloween, Silence of The Lambs, Frankenstein, Saw....basically anything you could think of. We were so scared we ran out of it...lol Ben Affleck and ME
Good ol Hef

Mission Impossible

Our Next stop was the Hollywood Guiness World Of Records Museum (It was a packaged deal). The museums must be struggling because we were the only ones in there.

There was some random stuff in there. Pretty goofy.

My mom and I as midgets
The worlds biggest fruits and vegetables
Chinese Theater
There were so many performers and look alikes out on Hollywood Blvd....even Big BirdWe went and saw Alice in Wonderland 3-D at El Capitan. All the Disney premieres are here and they always have a Disney movie playing even if it's an old one.
The theater is pretty amazing inside and they decorate it for every movie. Someone plays Disney songs on an organ until the movie starts
They also have a little show before the movie starts with streamers and other fun suprises. Every movie should be like that!!
On Saturday we took her to the freak show at Venice Beach. Al and I have noticed that everytime we go there the same street performers are there in the same spot doing the same thing. This guy must get so sick of painting himself gold.
How would you like to have this on top of your car??
This was another sweet ride we saw....all murdered out
We went to the Fashion District in downtown LA after the beach to introduce my mom to bacon wrapped hot dogs and spicy fruit. She also ended up buying some sandals from this Asian place. They seriously had at least 500 different shoes. You take the shoe you want to the girl and she yells to some guy in the back and gives the description of the shoe. Then the shoe comes flying down a broken conveyor belt and she yells "Your Shoes Are Ready"!! Now that's what I call service.
Later that night we went to The Getty. My mom studied art in college so I knew she would love and appreciate it.
I haven't been to the Getty since I was 20 and I forgot how beautiful it is.
The gardens were amazing.
and so were the grapes
I thought my mom was going to have a heart attack when she saw this Edgar Degas painting.
I almost had one when I saw this Monet painting. When I studied abroad in Europe we went on a tour of his house and gardens and it was so amazing. I think I have a picture in front of this exact spot....if digital cameras existed then I would probably have 20. After The Getty we took my mom to Roys for her birthday. Al and I love Roys!!
I love when the waiters come around and ask you how the flavors are. Roys is all about flavors and I love it!!

Roys is also awesome with birthdays. They give you a personalized dessert and then take a group picture and frame it for you
My mom and I thought it was really cool to wear our 3-D glasses all weekend, so here she is wearing them on our way to church. Everything is cooler in 3-D

Our feet were so sore from walking everywhere we went to this Chinese foot clinic in Alhambra that only charges $15 for a 1 hour foot massage. A few people told me about it and this was the perfect opportunity to try it. I didn't really know what to expect when we got there, but as soon as my mom and I walked in we started laughing. Every single chair had someone in it and I swear it resembled a sweat shop. The massage was pretty relaxing and definatley worth $15. The best was at the end when she just walked off and I was like Uhhhh I guess she is done?? Ohhhh Asians

Afterwards we had our final spicy fruit and it was the best one I've had yet. It had cocunut, cantelope, jicama, cucumber, watermelon, mango, and orange.

Before I took my mom to the airport we met up with my Uncle David that lives in Studio City. He took us to sushi in Hollywood for my moms Birthday and Pinkberry afterwards!!

He drove us around the Hollywood Hills and Bevery Hills showing us famous peoples houses. It was better than any Star Tour which by the way I totally want to go on one. He drove us by the biggest mansion in L.A. that is decorated by Versaille and is for sale for 15o million. This is the best picture I could get from the car.

Check out this mailbox It was so great having my mom in town. I wish we could see her more, but maybe we will all live closer again someday:)