California adventures - Part 3, "A Lama, A Coyote, and Disneyland"

Believe it or not, I still haven't finished blogging about California. And I haven't blogged it all at once because 1, I haven't had all the time in the world to blog it and 2, I want to share a balance of both my work and play on this blog and 320,345 blog posts about one trip can be a bit overwhelming for any one person.

I'm finally taking time to blog this specific post, because this particular day was EPIC.

Me and my friend Michael, fellow blogger, art lover, and big brother in Christ, went on one insanely adventurous day into LA. As we drove into the city with no set plans, we blasted amazing music from Jurassic 5 to Prince and caught up on each other's lives after a few years of my absence.

The first order of business was music, go figure.

We went to none other than Amoeba Music and bought some sweet vinyls.

And though I wasn't feeling well during the morning {Me and Mike think Reinna drugged me, ahaha but she really didn't}, I enjoyed myself alot.

When hunger struck we headed off to Pinks for lunch.

Yes "the" Pinks.

We waited for about an hour in line, short considering we were at Pink's.

And as I was standing there I looked up, and there was a random Lama on Melrose, waiting for the bus with it's owner. Only in LA I tell you.

The wait was painful because everything smelt soo good and it was just barely out of reach, but definitely worth waiting for.

Mike and I both ordered 'Lord of the Rings' hot dogs and devoured them the instant we got our food and sat down.

Delicious!!

I even made a friend. Hehe.

After lunch we drove around aimlessly and decided to go check out some shops in Melrose, but found nothing of interest there. We didn't know where to go next so we just kept driving. We some how started talking about the Hollywood sign and though it'd be cool to go up and see it and though we had no idea where it was or how to get here, seconds after saying so we looked up and saw it up above us as the building cleared .. as if it were a sign, no pun intended. Haha. Still not knowing where we were going, we did as Tucan Sam would, and followed our noses and just kept driving up and up towards where we though Griffiths Observatory would be.

On our trek up towards the Observatory, we saw two unexpected things. First was a Coyote, who stood and posed for me for a good 2 minutes {no worries we stayed in the car}, and then we saw filming going on. Ok maybe that's not so unexpected for LA, but for me it was.

We later found out it was filming for the show Ghost Whisperer, and now I secretly watch it if it's on ... haha. And nope, we didn't see Jennifer Love any.

I had one day to anything and everything touristy in LA, and I totally took advantage of it.

It's been a good 9 years since my last visit to the observatory, it was nice to visit it again.

Surprisingly enough we were able to see all of the LA skyline with just a bit of haze. Last time I remembered LA was covered in a cloud of yellow smog ... it was definitely much prettier this time.

Thank you Mike for being so spontaneous with me, and for being a pretty awesome tour guide.

I'm such a dork, what can I say?

This next stop was kind of a surprise, and Mike had mentioned it to me a few months back because he knew I loved this artist James Jean so he took me to this really sweet gallery featuring some of James Jean's work and other amazing talent. I was in heaven!

The gallery was called Terrible Yellow Eyes ... can you guess why?

The entire gallery comprised of work from all types of artist in every type of media imaginable, themed and inspired by the book and movie Where The Wild Things Are.

This place was 1,000% amazing, like a grown up's playground all most.

Of course I had to play around a little.

I could have called it a day by that point, and though we did head home ... spontaneity brewed up a whole nother storm once we arrived.

Next we dropped by my dear Reinna's house to pick up my luggages as planned, and guess what I saw on top of the piano at her house {I'll probably hate myself for showing this picture} ... it was my senior picture taken about 6 years ago, it was taken the summer before senior year. I didn't remember sending Reinna and her family one so it took me by complete surprise to see it laying there, as did the next part of my Epic day in LA.

Me, Mike and Reinna were three inches from leaving for Reinna's big sister's house where I'd stay for the night till my flight the next day, but then BAM!!!! Mike and Reinna had a crazy idea to take me to Disneyland first .... so we went, at 5 pm.

Not only did these crazies take me to the happiest place on earth ... they also got me an annual pass to lure me to come back all year long. hehe. Mike and Reinna I looove you guys and thanks for the most amazing "Christmas/Thanksgiving/HappyNewYear/HappyBirthday/Comebacksoon" present I've ever gotten!

This is my "I'm a proud owner of a Disney Annual Pass" face. Word!

It all happened soo quickly and so suddenly, I'm surprised I even got pictures to show for it.

Thanks to my handy dandy little cellphone I got this shot of me and my amazing friends right before we hopped onto The Astrobaster.

And I basically kicked Reinna's butt! Hehe love you Rein!!

Ohhh what an amazing day it was, and Disneyland was simply the icing on the cake. My friends are just the best, and they really know how to send a girl home feeling loved, and ever sooo blessed. I love you all for everything, for taking care of me, for all the crazy adventures, all the amazing conversations, the laughter and even tears, and for the love you guys give me.

The next and final morning of my stay in Cali, I got to spend time with the wonderful Bratchers.

My morning was spent eating breakfast with the girls, and playing until they had to drop me off to the airport. How I dreaded leaving this amazing family.

True and Brave are some of the cutest kids everrrrrrrrrr and I looove them to pieces. Ruby I seriously can not wait to meet your third baby girl soon and I love your family dearly.

These girls are just soo wonderful because they take after their amazing parents. As I'm sure you've seen their amazing pictures taken by my friend in my last blog post, but they are not only amazing good looking and stylish, they are just wonderful people.

To Ben and Ruby,

I love you both and your girls soo much. I can't ever put into words exactly how blessed I am to have you guys in my life ... so thank you. Thank you for being such an encouragement and for always being soo kind and generous, and thanks for taking me to the airport Mrs. Ruby, though I hated parting ways.

To everyone else, again thank you and I miss you guys terribly!!!

I'll be back on your coast in T-minus 30 days, less actually ... maybe like 26 days now, and the crazy fun will begin once again. Get ready!! I miss you all terribly and love you times a million!!! See you soon, you're favorite VA girl. hehe.

**** Lastly: Today is the last day to enter for the giveaway, The winner will be announced early monday morning so stayed posted, and also get in your *bonus entries too********