Escape to LA LA Land....

So you know Ben whisked me away prior to Spring Break with the kids and that was lovely... well the week was actually pretty nice with the kids, I didn't sell them on the black market or tie them to their beds...(-=
We had baseball practice and a game, presidency meeting, visiting teaching, you know a pretty normal week. On Thursday April 24th I went with my visiting teaching companion Stephanie and we took one of our gals Shauna out for a pedicure. She is 9 months pregnant and didn't want a baby shower so we took her out for pampering and got a little ourselves!
On Friday the 25th I was able to take a flight to CA to visit my best friend Angela out in Manhattan Beach! It was my first vacation by myself ( a little strange to be alone) and my first time on a plane in over two years, I thought it was my first flight solo since I was 18 but now that I have been thinking about it I was flying with a friend then so this was my FIRST time flying alone. No wonder I was a little nervous. I mean I was afraid of getting lost or missing my flight or just the sheer uncomfortableness of sitting next to a stranger. When you travel with someone you can grab the aisle or window and not have to worry about who is sitting next to you.

Plus I flew Southwest and they have no assigned seats so it is pure luck who you will end up sitting next too. I was next to two girls on the flight over so it wasn't too bad. I was sitting near the window and the girl next to me was nice, the girl on the aisle was a total trophy wife with bleached blond hair, humongous diamond ring and humongous...ummm other stuff to match. She broke out this really stinky burrito as we were just taking off and that was kinda gross but all in all if that is all I had to complain about I am lucky. Besides I was off on a child free vacation with my best friend from High School. Time to live it up and suck it up!
I arrived that evening around 7 and Angela took me to her home. The place is gorgeous and only like a 15 min drive from LAX (in good traffic) They have this really cute two bedroom that has a view of the ocean! They are only like 3 blocks away! Angela cooked this awesome meal of scallops and asparagus over wheat pasta. She has always had a knack for cooking and I appreciated the meal it was delicious! We then ran out to a cute little Gelato place that Angela used to live close by in Silverlake. Pazzo Gelato is a cute little place and had some really yummy gelato.
It was my first time having some and it was quite nice.
We had decided that we would catch a show at The Sacred Fools Theater Company.
An Amazingly Awful Screenplay.Word for Word. Unedited.
Angela's man can act and I had yet to see him on the stage so I took this opportunity to laugh and be entertained. The show takes some actual screenplays that Hollywood has gotten and then performs them exactly how they are written. It is really funny and really obvious that these people must speak English as a second language. It was the perfect way to spend my first night in LA. It didn't start till 11pm so by the time it ended and we drove home it was pretty late. I wasn't tired though, I was too excited. I think I fell asleep around 2am.
The next morning we were up and heading out to Studio City to hunt for Bridesmaids dresses. We met Angela's other CO-Matron of Honor Daisy... Yeah I know "Matron" sounds old. But we are the hottest Matron's around let me tell ya! *laugh*

We went to the dress shop where Angela bought her dress. Hoping to find the right dress and get a discount to boot. It was a fabulous little shop called "R Mine Couture"that looked like something out of Ugly Betty.With bright chairs and blue walls it was a funky fun shop!
We played princesses and tried on a lot of dresses.
After finding a beautiful gown we headed off to curb our hunger. Driving around we found a fun patio dining place called "Tommy Rays". There were musicians playing some jazzy music and the weather was CA perfect. After changing tables a few times we finally found one with optimal shade and enjoyed our lunch.

Next we headed back to Manhattan Beach and enjoyed about an hour of late afternoon sun and fun at the beach.
This is the view from where we are on the beach, looking up to her place. Just up the street a bit.
After a quick shower and change of clothes we headed out for our girls night.
First stop the "Viceroy" in Santa Monica, Angela's friend Samantha had the in's (namely her boyfriend who works there!) so we started out the evening feeling like VIP's. It was a beautiful trendy hotel lobby/bar with cute cabana's you can rent and overstuffed white chairs it was beautiful and trendy. We then headed to dinner where we met up with Sam's boyfriend Aaron and his hilarious friend Jackson. We ate at another cute eatery called "Primitivo" It doesn't look like much from the outside but it was another great place. It was a "Tapas" restaurant, which mainly just means appetizer. We shared all the plates and I must say I think my Salmon was the best!
Now we were informed by Sam that for Dessert there was no better place then "Boa" in Santa Monica.
I am noticing a red trend in these pictures...*laugh* anyhow Boa is a steakhouse within view of the Santa Monica pier and they have some tasty donuts on their dessert menu. Or so I am told... as they were all sold out by the time we showed up. )-= We ordered smore's instead but I wasn't really hungry so I just enjoyed watching the rest of our group eat.
We decided on one last stop for the evening, "Huntley" another Santa Monica hotel with a penthouse with fantastic views of the ocean on one side and LA on the other. It was breathtaking and so much fun! I couldn't find really great photo's other then this one.
None of these pictures are from my camera by the way. I didn't want to look all touristy!The only strange thing about this place was that the girls bathroom had two stalls. I ended up in the larger one and it had a full wall window looking out over the city. Now I know we were up high but there was no curtain and I couldn't help but think...hmmm it's night there are lights on in this bathroom who is getting their kicks with the binoculars tonight! *laugh* yes I am aware my brain works in bizarre ways!
We ended our evening there and dragged ourselves tiredly home. Again though I didn't fall asleep until almost 4 in the morning, it didn't help that two drunk boys were standing outside Angela's place drunk dialing and talking extremely loud! One thing I forgot about living near the beach is the lack of AC and if your gonna sleep with the windows open you might get woken up by noise.
Sunday was church with an old friend Pete B. and his wife and kids in their ward in Hawthorn. Then some more relaxin with Angela until my flight home. Had to get one shot from her living room looking at the beach. I apologize for my camp face.
I was a little concerned when I saw the plane home was one of the older models. Maybe it is just the paint but it looked unreliable. Then the pilot announces the air in the back of the plane has to be shut off until after take off since their engine 3 is down. Nice... real reassuring... I got home safely (surprise) and was happy to see my beautiful kids and husband. Being away made me a more relaxed mommy and I was sure more appreciative of them all. Thank you Angela for the flight and the fun! I sure love you and can't be more thankful for our friendship through the years! Yep we are old enough to say that...
Anyhow how can you not love coming home to this!



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