We Went to California

As many of you will already know, Haili and I embarked on a little adventure to California (having been in need of some serious relaxation and a having a general get-me-out-of-Utah mood for the past 4 months). These are the highly anticipated pictures for you, my dedicated blog stalkers. Above is Haili and myself in the car, poring over a map (something we did A LOT), eating at the apparently famous In-N-Out Burger (I've had better) and laughing (another thing we did a lot). I took that epic picture just outside of Vegas (in a moving car- talentssss) and the palm trees are supposed to be significant of our arrival to L.A.
We stayed in Santa Monica for a few nights with some of Haili's friends and took in the sights, went shopping etc...

Of course, being the busy women that we are, there was much work to be done. This was a serious business trip on many levels. Haili did some music stuff (and I did some too), I tried my hand at directing, Hails and I were asked to judge a couple of episodes of American Idol (tune in next season!) and Haili accepted an award for something or other. We also swung by the Kodak Theater for a premier.

All of our hard work was rather tiresome, so we retreated to the beach for some "down time" as the Americans call it. The ocean was fabulous- I miss living so close to it- and the scenery (see central picture) was more than satisfactory. Many thanks to our hosts who provided us with Aloe Vera for obvious reasons...

Of course we acted like tourists on our vacation. I might suggest that it is near impossible for anyone to walk down Hollywood Blvd without looking like a tourist. We watched a movie at Manns Chinese Theater, met a few comic book heroes, and swung by some iconic spots.

We tried to appreciate the Walk of fame, crowded as it was. Michael Jacksons star was rather en-shrined due to recent happenings (R.I.P.)...

We managed to drop in on the L. A. Temple, and later on the Newport Beach Temple. Beautiful! The Newport temple was so different to most. I liked it a lot.

Alright, alright: the splurge of the week was Madame Tussaud's. The collages are rather tight, so just click on the image to enlarge it. Fancy, yes?

We went to a party and met some people- Justin Timberlake was a bore, Jim Carey was a riot, Will Smith was darling, Pierce Brosnon didn't shut up about how he was robben of Casino Royale, and the Zafron was a dream. Just kidding! This is still at Tussauds...

... As is this. The "Really Real" awards go to Whoopi Goldberg, Merryl Streep and Jim Carey.

All in all, we had a FABULOUS time and ended up staying an extra day (partly because of a blown tire and partly because we craved a little more of the beach!).