An Update from the Past Week

Well, it's been nearly a week since I last updated, so I suppose I should write something. haha Let's see..wow, so much has changed in a week. Last week Jennica was still here and now she's back in Indiana :(

Friday: Jennica and I drove over to Hollywood. We walked around and looked at Grauman Theater, the walk of fame, Kodak Theater, etc. We actually went on a tour through Kodak Theater, which is where the Oscars/Academy Awards are held. It was pretty cool. They were actually practicing for Iris, a production of Cirque del Soleil, when we were in there.  I would really like to go see that show eventually! I think they're going to be there for a year or so. Hollywood was absolutely packed with people! It was craziness! I thought Jennica would want to hang around there for awhile, but she didn't so we left and drove around Beverly Hills for awhile. It was really pretty but we didn't see any famous people. haha. We saw a bunch of tour buses driving around though. It seemed kind of creepy actually...all these tourists trying to spy on celebrities. haha. We probably should have gone on a tour, it would make things easier (traffic wise) and we'd actually know what we were looking at. Maybe we can do that in December when Mom and Dad come to visit.

As we were leaving Beverly Hills/Hollywood we got lost. Our GPS wasn't working and the one on my phone wasn't either, which was really weird. But anyways, we realized that we were driving in circles. haha. we finally made it over to the water and watched the sunset @ Santa Monica Pier. We just hung out and did some people watching, which was fun!

Capitol Records Building

Marilyn Monroe!

Jennica near the cast of Harry Potter

Jennica in front of Grauman's Theater

Buying postcards

Posing near Elvis haha

The Walk of Fame

Elton John!

In front of Kodak Theatre

Our tour guide, Patrick from New Mexico.

@ Hollywood and Highland Center Mall....the Hollywood sign is in the background

Up on the 4th Floor

Driving thru Beverly Hills

Driving to the Santa Monica Pier for sunset

The Beach!

@ the pier

Pretty sunset!

I got a pistachio milk shake. yum!

Saturday:  On Saturday, Diego and his fam went to Palm Springs. They took a  tramride up the side of a mountain and then went hiking. Jennica and I decided not to go and just hung around the house. We slept in late and then worked on unpacking and sorting boxes. Talked and watched some TV and just chilaxed. We ordered in pizza and watched "War of the Worlds". It was a fun, relaxing day!

Freshly showered and ready to eat some pizza!

Yum!

This is us with our garlic bread haha

Watching "War of the Worlds"

Sunday:  We just kind of hung out all morning, much to diego's dismay. He was wanting to get up and going, but Jennica and I aren't really morning people. haha. We headed over to Diego's family's house and got there around 3ish. Diego got called to work about a half hour later because of a clogged sink. So he headed back to San Pedro while Jennica and I hung out with his fam. We played some card games and grilled out. Looked at pictures from their hiking trip and watched some home videos. Then Joel drove us back to the apartment. I think we got home around 8:30ish maybe. Diego was still working and didn't finish up until after 9.  :(  It really sucks because he's been getting an emergency call almost once a weekend so far. He's the only maintenance man so it's kind of hard to schedule things.

Joel looked out for us while Diego was gone.

Getting ready for the cookout... that's Berenice, Jessie, Jacob, and Rachel.

larry

The back porch. You can see Crystal in the kitchen working on the pico de gallo.

Berenice, Irma, Narciso, and Crystal.

Chicho, Jacob, Leonard, me.

Alicia, Bernice, Rachel, Jessie.

Me and Alicia.

Monday: Jennica's last day before she left for Indiana. :(  We hung out around the apartment all morning/afternoon. Then we drove over to Long Beach to the bakery so that we could get some cupcakes for Jennica to take to Mom and Dad. We got there a little before close and they were out of most of the flavors so we ordered some to pick up in the morning. Grabbed some Burger King and took it to Point Fermin park, which is where Diego took us the first night we got into San Pedro. We ate and watched the sunset. It was reeeeally nice! A gorgeous view! We just kind of hung out @ the park. There were a bunch of raccoons that kept popping up near the fence. They kind of creeped me out a couple times. haha. Diego was obsessed with taking pictures of the moon shining on the water. haha. He probably took a couple hundred photos!

Jennica posing by the lilac tree near the fountain in the apt. building

Diego looks confused. lol

posing by the fountain

Taste-testing our cupcakes

Point Fermin Park

A hungry raccoon

Near the water

I love this tree! I think it might be a fig tree, maybe?

The lighthouse @ Point Fermin Park

Diego was stealing my warmth...lol. It was kind of chilly out

Diego was obsessed with taking photos of the moon. haha

Getting ready to head up to the mountain

On top of Mt. Baldy

You can see the city lights in the valley....

We got home around 10pm and diego offered to drive us up to the mountain @ Azusa called Mt. Baldy. He had told Jennica that he would drive her up there while she was here. It was at least an hour drive up to the mountain, but we had some gorgeous views up there! We probably hung out on the mountain for a good hour or two. I think we got home around 2:30 am! We had a really fun time though!

Tuesday:  We were all exhausted from staying up super late, but Jennica got up and packed. We didn't make it over to the bakery before her flight so I went and picked the cupcakes up later in the afternoon.  Diego ended up driving us to the airport because supposedly the parking is kind of tricky. It was sad. :(  I hate goodbyes. We both started crying. :sigh:

@ the airport...trying not to cry... :(

My last glimpse of her. :(

I drove over to Long Beach when we got back and picked the cupcakes up. I packaged them up and mailed them out. I guess they got them in the mail today, but they were all smashed from the delivery. :(

Well, I have more to say, but I really should get busy. I need to have something accomplished by the time Diego gets home from work! lol. So far I'm spent most of my day talking to my mom, talking to Jennica, skyping with Aunt Key, Grandma, and Jennica; and then updating my blog. haha.

More later!

An Update from the Past Week

Well, it's been nearly a week since I last updated, so I suppose I should write something. haha Let's see..wow, so much has changed in a week. Last week Jennica was still here and now she's back in Indiana :(

Friday: Jennica and I drove over to Hollywood. We walked around and looked at Grauman Theater, the walk of fame, Kodak Theater, etc. We actually went on a tour through Kodak Theater, which is where the Oscars/Academy Awards are held. It was pretty cool. They were actually practicing for Iris, a production of Cirque del Soleil, when we were in there.  I would really like to go see that show eventually! I think they're going to be there for a year or so. Hollywood was absolutely packed with people! It was craziness! I thought Jennica would want to hang around there for awhile, but she didn't so we left and drove around Beverly Hills for awhile. It was really pretty but we didn't see any famous people. haha. We saw a bunch of tour buses driving around though. It seemed kind of creepy actually...all these tourists trying to spy on celebrities. haha. We probably should have gone on a tour, it would make things easier (traffic wise) and we'd actually know what we were looking at. Maybe we can do that in December when Mom and Dad come to visit.

As we were leaving Beverly Hills/Hollywood we got lost. Our GPS wasn't working and the one on my phone wasn't either, which was really weird. But anyways, we realized that we were driving in circles. haha. we finally made it over to the water and watched the sunset @ Santa Monica Pier. We just hung out and did some people watching, which was fun!



Saturday:  On Saturday, Diego and his fam went to Palm Springs. They took a  tramride up the side of a mountain and then went hiking. Jennica and I decided not to go and just hung around the house. We slept in late and then worked on unpacking and sorting boxes. Talked and watched some TV and just chilaxed. We ordered in pizza and watched "War of the Worlds". It was a fun, relaxing day!

Sunday:  We just kind of hung out all morning, much to diego's dismay. He was wanting to get up and going, but Jennica and I aren't really morning people. haha. We headed over to Diego's family's house and got there around 3ish. Diego got called to work about a half hour later because of a clogged sink. So he headed back to San Pedro while Jennica and I hung out with his fam. We played some card games and grilled out. Looked at pictures from their hiking trip and watched some home videos. Then Joel drove us back to the apartment. I think we got home around 8:30ish maybe. Diego was still working and didn't finish up until after 9.  :(  It really sucks because he's been getting an emergency call almost once a weekend so far. He's the only maintenance man so it's kind of hard to schedule things.

Monday: Jennica's last day before she left for Indiana. :(  We hung out around the apartment all morning/afternoon. Then we drove over to Long Beach to the bakery so that we could get some cupcakes for Jennica to take to Mom and Dad. We got there a little before close and they were out of most of the flavors so we ordered some to pick up in the morning. Grabbed some Burger King and took it to Point Fermin park, which is where Diego took us the first night we got into San Pedro. We ate and watched the sunset. It was reeeeally nice! A gorgeous view! We just kind of hung out @ the park. There were a bunch of raccoons that kept popping up near the fence. They kind of creeped me out a couple times. haha. Diego was obsessed with taking pictures of the moon shining on the water. haha. He probably took a couple hundred photos!

We got home around 10pm and diego offered to drive us up to the mountain @ Azusa. He had told Jennica that he would drive her up there while she was here. It was at least an hour drive up to the mountain, but we had some gorgeous views up there! We probably hung out on the mountain for a good hour or two. I think we got home around 2:30 am! We had a really fun time though!

Tuesday:  We were all exhausted from staying up super late, but Jennica got up and packed. We didn't make it over to the bakery before her flight so I went and picked the cupcakes up later in the afternoon.  Diego ended up driving us to the airport because supposedly the parking is kind of tricky. It was sad. :(  I hate goodbyes. We both started crying. :sigh:

I drove over to Long Beach when we got back and picked the cupcakes up. I packaged them up and mailed them out. I guess they got them in the mail today, but they were all smashed from the delivery. :(

It's Friday already....

Well, we have been trying to go to Hollywood everyday this week, but haven't gotten an early enough start. Today I am DETERMINED to make it there. haha. I set my alarm for 8, but fell back asleep and didn't wake up until 9:30. Jennica woke up @ 9 though. So we'll probably leave here around 11 or so, hopefully, which is quite early for us. (Well, esp for Jennica :P)


I guess I'll update about the past couple days. On Wednesday, we went over to Diego's family's house. D hadn't told anyone that we were coming, so only Jessie and his dad were @ home. Leonard came over and we ended up all going to Santa Monica Pier. We were trying to make it there by sunset, but we missed it by about 10 minutes. :( Traffic was HORRIBLE so it took us probably over 30 min. to get there. Hung out around the pier. Diego had this cute little thing made with my name...I was totally surprised. I walked up and saw this guy making it, but figured it was for someone else (there were a bunch of other people standing around.) Even when I saw that it was my name, I thought, "Wow, someone else has my name with my spelling. " haha It wasn't until Diego actually handed it to me that I realized it was actually for me. Yes, it's that rare that he spontaneously does nice romantic things :P haha ;) But yeah, seriously, I figured there was no way that he would ever spend money on something like that, so it was quite a surprise.

The front of Diego's fam's house

Entering the front door

Their kitchen

Jennica with Bigshow!

Hanging out with Leonard in the backyard

Sitting in the living room..diego's trying on Jessie's helmet

Jessie and Leonard. Getting ready to head to the pier.

Santa Monica. We missed the sunset. :(

The beach @ Santa Monica

Jennica @ the pier.

Watching the street vendor make my name painting.

D and I with my painting. It's super cute! Sorry it's kind of blurry.

Me and Jennica. My camera doesn't do so well @ night.

Eating @ In-n-Out. Yum!

Leonard had to leave, so Jessie rode with us in the mini. He and I were squeezed into the back seat. haha. We went to In-n-Out Burger for supper. It's Jessie's favorite place and he was absolutely RAVING about it. It was fairly good, although nowhere as good as Red Robin! yuuum! I've been hungry for one of their Bonzai Burgers!

Yesterday was kind of a calm day. J and I just hung around the apartment. In the afternoon, we drove over to Long Beach and found this bakery that I had run across online. We tried their cupcakes, OMG! Sooo good! Especially their chocolate with pistachio buttercream frosting! To die for! I will definitely be going back sometime! but yeah, their cakes are gorgeous! Their shop is so cute and they have amazing cake stands! I totally want to have a place like that someday!  Here's the link to their website:  http://www.sweetandsaucyshop.com/about/dessert-studio/  Sooo good! I highly recommend this place. :)

Standing outside the bakery. There were all these older gentlemen sitting outside smoking. You can see one of them in the background. I mean, there were literally like 15 or 20 of them. The adjoining store must be a smoke shop or something. haha

Looking @ all the delicious selections!

Cake Stands in the back...

Jennica with her cupcake box. Pic is kind of dark.

Jennica got chocolate cupcake with PB frosting, choc cupcake with vanilla buttercream, and a s'mores.

Eating my chocolate cupcake with pistachio buttercream frosting! Soooooo good!

I also got coconut and chocolate with vanilla buttercream.

Cute little barber shop truck!

Diego and I drove around a bit last night. He needed new work boots because his old whens were literally falling apart. We ended up @ a Skechers store. I was surprised, but they actually have a very wide selection of different shoes! He found some nice work boots and I think we might go back and look for some tennis shoes. They're running this deal where you buy one pair, get the second pair half off. We have seven days to go back and claim our second pair of shoes. We'll see if we make it back or not. haha.

Last night was laundry night. I think I did about five loads of laundry. haha. these old people are so particular about their laundry. They are constantly complaining to Diego about the laundry machines. :rolls eyes: I'm almost afraid to do laundry down there. haha. Like one lady didn't look in the washer before she put her money in, and my things were in there. So she was upset and complaining to Diego because someone had left their things int he washer. He was like, oh, I think those might be my things. haha. Crazy old people. It wasn't my fault that she didn't check the washer before she put her money in. :P haha

So last night there was a free concert over in Pasaden: Poncho Sanchez! I was trying to convince Diego to go listen to him, but he's too lame and doesn't appreciate quality. Poncho Sanchez is also supposed to be playing here @ the Taste of San Pedro on Sunday, but I just found out that it costs $10 to get in to the Taste. eh, not so interested. I don't want to pay $10, I want it to be free! haha. We've been spending waaaay too much money lately.

Well, I suppose I should get busy. Need to leave for Hollywood here in a bit. Happy Friday everyone! :)

Wow, these days are flyin' by!

Wow, I can't believe it's August already! Craziness! I haven't updated in a good five days or so, but things have been kind of busy! Have been busy exploring the area.

Friday: I can't really remember what we did. Worked on the apartment maybe?

Saturday: We drove south to Orange County. Went to Laguna Beach, which is gorgeous! We didn't really get out anywhere because the entire town was PACKED because it was the weekend! We did stop and eat @ a 50's diner. It was super cute, but the food wasn't that impressive. By the time we got home, Jennica and I were both not feeling so good. I had been sitting in the back seat and I think it made me really car sick. So we all took a nap haha. Later that evening (about 9pmish) we headed to Santa Monica to see the pier. I think the most entertaining spot was @ the end of the pier where all the fishing action was taking place. haha. Jennica wants to go back during the day. She still needs to put her feet in the water! Our trip to the pier brought back a lot of memories for me! That's one of the first places that Diego took me when I visited Cali for the first time! :)

Orange County!

Santa Monica Pier @ night

Jennica and me @ the end of Route 66 (Santa Monica Pier)

Jennica, Me, and Diego

Lunch @ Ruby's Diner in Laguana Beach

Sunday: We ended up driving around the San Pedro area. Went to the Wayfarer's Chapel and then the Korean Bell of Friendship. I loved both places, but especially the chapel! It's so peaceful and beautiful there! I will definitely be back! Diego's needing some new work boots, so we went to some shoe discount store that's the equivalent of Shoe Carnival, but they didn't have any in his size. They had absolutely no size 11.5's, go figure! We were starving, so we ate at a really nice IHOP in Carson, which is only a few miles away from San Pedro.

Wayfarer's Chapel...love this place! Designed by Lloyd Wright.

Fountain @ Chapel

Walk of Honor @ Wayfarer's chapel

Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro

Basketball court @ the park where Korean Friendship Bell is located....

The park is up on a cliff and it's super windy up there!

We've been eating out waaay too much lately. Especially fast food. So it was nice to eat @ an actual restaurant like IHOP. I got pancakes and scrambled eggs! Yuuum! I've cooked supper @ home a couple nights now. Nothing fancy, just chicken patties and microwaveable rice and veggies. I really can't cook much, because we're missing the box with all our pots/pans/cooking utensils/silverware. So that is definitely a PAIN! I called the moving company today, but they haven't called me back yet. I guess I'll have to try again tomorrow. I will also be complaining about the quality of their service---very poor! All our furniture was scratched up! There is a big chip in my kitchen table. One of the chairs is splintered. My keyboard is broken. All my dressers and bookcases are scratched up. A few different bowls, cups, etc are broken. :( You get what you pay for I guess. We should have gone the more expensive route. This was expensive enough, but still a discounted rate. I'll know for next time.

@ IHOP waiting for our food. I had been feeling extremely car sick from all the driving around...

Yesterday: Stayed in and worked in the kitchen. Unpacked a ton of boxes. Found out that one of my boxes was missing. Oh, and D and I ran to Home Depot and bought a portable AC! So now we have some cool air! Yay! It's been soooo hot here! In the mid to high 80's and it's felt super muggy, not quite as bad as Indiana, but definitely no cool breeze that's for sure! haha

Our nifty new AC! We put it by the window in the living room.

Finally getting everything unpacked. Yes, that is bubble wrap in the back of the cupboards. The cabinets are dirty and gross me out so I thought I would be resourceful and use all the bubble wrap that I had lying around! :)

Resting on the handy dandy air mattress that Diego bought!

I've been on a roller coaster of emotions.  I've had a couple really bad days and then some better days. I hate change! It's so difficult...but I guess I'll adjust, right? Saturday/Sunday wasn't the greatest time. I was feeling really trapped. The city was kind of overtaking me. There's just no escape from it, you know? I love the openness of the Indiana countryside and that's always been my escape. The place where I could go to think and pray. Well, I don't have any open cornfields to drive through around here. There are just people and buildings EVERYWHERE! Sometimes it's as if I'm going to suffocate! Like the city walls are closing in on me....but hopefully with time I will find some places of solitude and escape around LA. Nothing will ever compare to the Indiana cornfields, but there are some pretty spots here as well.

 I've definitely had a lot of support from all my family and all my facebook friends! Thank you everyone for your encouragement and kind words! It means a lot! It's definitely different here. A lot different than the midwest. I'm slowly adjusting though. I'm already feeling a little more comfortable and the apartment is beginning to feel more homey. Jennica bought us this cute little lamp for a house-warming gift! I LOVE it and put it in a prime spot on the kitchen table! :) I'll have to take a pic of it and post it eventually....

Today: We had planned on going to Hollywood today, but got up kind of late so we changed our plans. We went to the La Brea Tar Pits and then to Griffith Observatory. It was my first time really driving around the city, especially on the freeways and I was kind of nervous, but it went ok. It's going to take some getting used to, but hopefully I will adjust to driving around here. So yeah, Griffith observatory was really, really fun! There is an AMAZING view of the city and also of the Hollywood sign! We found a prime parking spot ( on the third time around haha) and we spent approx 3 hours exploring the observatory! We watched a really interesting video in the planetarium and it was just a lot of fun! :)

Jennica posing by statue @ La Brea Tar Pit

Me @ La Brea Tar Pits

Griffith Observatory! So cool!

Standing in line for presentation in planetarium!

View of the city...

 Oh, one more photo. This one's for you Aunt Key:

I've been using this change purse ALL the time! It's where I keep my quarters for laundry! I take it down with me every time I work on laundry. It's quite handy! Thanks Aunt Key and Uncle Gary! :)



Well, that's about it for now. I suppose I should probably get some shut eye! Night all! Thanks for reading! :)