California

Lucy and I have been friends since junior year of high school. We have kept in touch for 13 years-even thru all of our moves to different states and different phases of our lives. It's so nice to have a friend who understands you. When I got to California and hopped in her car we both realized that it felt like we had always been hanging out every day. You know those are your real friends when you just pick up where you left off. 

Before I decided to take a vacation to California, Lucy and I had discussed me visiting her on her Golden Birthday- June 30th. So, about his time last year I promised that I wouldn't miss it for the world and she could count on me. Well, life happens and I'm pretty much the biggest promise breaker in the world.....I got knocked up. Yup. My due date is July and her birthday bash is at the end of June. Now, if I were just a few hours from Vegas( where she is having her birthday celebration) I would be there- huge and pregnant. There are restrictions to flying when close to your due date and driving was absolutely out of the question. So, I am to be a no show on her actual birthday. I felt really terrible and knew I had to break the news to her. Thankfully, being the true friend she is- I wasn't shunned and I promised her I would visit earlier in the year instead. So, I booked my trip for late April. I was excited and nervous at the same time. Excited to see my friend- who I hadn't seen in 3 years but nervous because this would be the first time leaving Brielle for more than a couple of hours. I would be gone for 5 days!!! Now, if anyone knows my second child- she is incredibly attached to me. There are crying episodes when I leave the house, or even a room. So, I was worried. Daniel gets a gold star for bring the best husband in the world. He took 5 vacation days to stay with the girls while I went to California. At work, people asked where he was going on his days off and he simply said he was to stay home with the girls while I went to California. Most everyone he told were shocked that he would do such a thing. My man is the best. He didn't care one bit and pushed me out the door so I can have time with Lucy. 

I had nothing planned on what I wanted to do when I got to California. Lucy is the best tour guide and seriously knows the best places to visit, the best places to eat and the best entertainment. If you are ever in LA- call her up. She is awesome. 

I arrived late on Saturday night and we went straight to eating tacos one of Lucy's favorite taco trucks. With the time difference, I was pretty exhausted. I didn't get to bed till about 11 pm- 1 am Dallas time. On Sunday, we kept it pretty low key. I didn't want to overdo it since my body was still on central time and I didn't quite sleep well the night before. 

I woke that morning starving and told Lucy I had a craving for an egg sandwich. She took me to EggSlut. The line was around the restaurant in this cute outdoor market. My egg sandwich hit the spot. We later headed over to the Mexican market. 

We drove up thru the mountains to get a good view of the valley. It was a beautiful day and we got some spectacular views. 

On Monday, we went to Lucy's office. Her building is right on Hollywood boulevard where the famous people have their stars. Did I mention that Lucy is a talent manager. She has actors and musicians as her clients and finds gigs for them. I met three of her actors and they were pretty cool/ down to earth people. You may know one of them- Hope Lauren who played Bizarro Girl on SuperGirl. She's really sweet and reminds me so much of Jennifer Lawrence. 

My High School actor crush. Daniel thinks it's an on odd choice- but I think he's just jealous. 

On Tuesday, Lucy had a number of meetings she needed to attend at work, so I thought it would be perfect for me to go to the Temple and do some service. It was an amazing 2.5 hours spent inside and feeling the Spirit. The landscape was amazing as well. I couldn't get over the towering palm trees and beautiful flowers. Just being on the temple grounds makes my heart happy. 

After the Temple, we headed to The Santa Monica Pier. The whole week in California was perfect weather, but not beach weather. Being close to the ocean was cold and very windy. I didn't get my tan on, but being so close to the beach felt like paradise. 

We braved a Ferris wheel ride. Lucy is afraid of heights and I will say I am slightly afraid. A Ferris wheel like this is okay for me to ride but put me in an older very well used creaky Ferris wheel- I freak out. Just ask Daniel. I'm sure Lucy was bummed she didn't get to see that part of me. 

That evening we saw Sing Street. It was a really cute movie and the music was awesome. Lucy and I have a tradition of going to the movies whenever we hang out. As teenagers we would see a movie almost every week, it's our thing - we had to continue on with tradition. 

On Wednesday- we made our way out to Santa Barbara. It's a really cute city with tons of shopping and amazing seafood by the ocean. We did most of our shopping that day, buying souvenirs for my family and eating. Did I mention how much we ate? I swear I gained a good 8-10 pounds because the following week I had my OB appointment and this is the most I've weighed at just 30 weeks pregnant. I still have 10 weeks+ to go!! It was so worth it though and now I'm craving everything we ate that week. The struggles of a pregnant woman I tell you. 

We walked along the beach and I picked up some seashells for Arizona per her request. I couldn't find any pink ones like she wanted, but I got a few pretty ones that she does love. That evening we had seafood and it was delicious. I wish I had more space in my belly, cause neither of us could finish our plates. 

On Thursday- my last day in Cali- we went to Sony Studios and took a tour of the sound stages. Lucy's good friend Eric works on the show Masters of Sex, so he showed us around their sound stage and in their writers room. I don't watch the show but if I did, I'm telling you, I got some really good spoilers. 

The new car being used in the all women's Ghostbusters movie. 

After the tour, we had a craving for tacos ( I think we ate tacos most days- ain't nothing wrong with that!)

That evening we watched the musical parody of The Devil Wear Prada. It was really funny and the actors were really great too. When going to LA, you expect to see at least one celebrity right? Well, as close to celebrity I got was Rumer Willis. She's the daughter of Bruce and Demi. Unfortunately, neither parents were in the audience that night, but Rumer did an awesome job playing Andi. 

I left for home sweet home on Friday and it was a great trip that I needed to refuel. I facetimed the girls and Daniel everyday and noticed how uninterested Brielle was in seeing me. She would say hi and then run off and play. Arizona was most interested in hearing about my week with Lucy. On the way home, I knew of the possibilities of thunderstorms rolling thru Dallas. As we were approaching our final stop, the pilot comes on the intercom and informs us that because of the storm, we were to be re routed to Austin. We waited in Austin for two hours to wait out the storm and then headed out. Thankfully, I wasn't stranded in Austin overnight and the storm wasn't as bad- other than some lightening strikes going past our plane window and major turbulence. A flight attendant was pretty concerned for me as I was obviously pregnant. No arrival of a turbulence baby thank goodness!