The Weekend Review

Friday was a great day! I did the usual running around with my mom, had lunch at Panera, and my aunt had given me a gift certificate to one of the stationary/office stores in town, so I was able to get quite a bit of stuff. I wasn't in the best of moods when we started out, but slowly I came out of it and was able to enjoy myself a bit more. Gotta love that time of the month, right? Uh, kidding.

Saturday, my parents and I went to LA and spent the night. We woke up, got around and finally hit the road after a stop at In-N-Out for lunch. We started this new game to play, while we're in the car. It's basically that you have to pick the next artist who's going to come on and if you guess the song, too, you get bonus points. Of course, the more we play it, I'll have to come up with a catchy slogan, but we're still working out the details ;). We stopped at Wal-Mart in Valencia to pick up a few things and then headed into LA. We drove around town for a bit, just checking things out and seeing if anything exciting was going on. So, that kept us entertained until we got to the game. My dad was in the lead and I couldn't believe it. I mean out of all of us, I wouldn't think he'd be ahead...but, go figure! LOL. I never realized that I had a competitive side, but apparently I do not like to lose. HAHA. 

Before the game, we walked around to the different levels and hung out near the field, when I thought I saw a girl who looked like Jordin Sparks, walking into the dugout with a Dodger jersey in hand. I checked Twitter for details, but didn't see anything. It looked like she was busy with her new movie getting ready to come out, so I didn't know if it would be her or not.  The game itself was pretty pathetic. The Dodgers are back into their old losing streak and were just making really sloppy mistakes, basically just letting the other team win. On the bright side, Jordin Sparks DID sing The National Anthem and Lee Dewyze sang God Bless America. It was like American Idol day at the stadium, which I was completely okay with. 

Score sheet! 

THIS.

Warner Brothers Studio

LA skyline

"Texas sunflower yellow...can take your breath away..." <3

Wall of fame! 

The game ended early enough, so we went to our usual place, Paty's in the Toluca Lake area. It's a small diner that I found out about through the Jonas Brothers and Miley being spotted there. Of course, we've never seen anyone in the times we've been there (which is a lot), but the food is great, so we kept going back. We chatted about the game, plans for the rest of the night and whatever else came to mind. After we were done eating, we had planned to go up to Griffith Observatory, since we'd never been up there at night. It's on my bucket list! Of course, I'd really pictured it being with a significant other, but this would do just fine for now. We got up there and they said the parking lot was closed and we could park up the street, so we had planned to do that. Well, we kept driving...and driving...and driving...and there was nowhere to park, so we ended up just leaving. I was really bummed. We ended up driving down Sunset and Melrose, trying to think of something to do, but came up with nothing. Go figure...A Saturday night in LA, and we couldn't come up with anything. We went into the bowling alley, Pinz, to see if anyone was in there. I scoped it out a little, but didn't see anyone. It's cool just to hang out, though, even if you don't bowl. It's connected to Jerry's Deli, which has amazing food! On any given night, you could end up running into someone like the Jonas Brothers, Lucy Hale, etc. We checked out some of the autographed bowling pins they had on display, and debated whether we should play a game. But, I knew it was getting late and didn't know if I was honestly up for playing at the moment. We drove around town a little more, down Hollywood Blvd, near Hollywood and Highland (the street Katy Perry just shut down for her world premiere last Wednesday).

The view of the city at Griffith Park

Mann's Chinese Theater

If my friend, Steph, and I ever go to CMA Fest together...we HAVE to join Chris Young's fan club. It's a must!

Nick and Joe Jonas' pin!

So, we ended up going to Target. Seriously, every time we go out of town practically, we end up at Target...It's bad! Haha. After we got everything we needed there, we headed to the hotel to check in. It was pretty busy and apparently they had overbooked or there was some sort of problem, but since we're Marriott preferred members, they upgraded us to a suite. That was pretty sweet, indeed! It was so nice! My parents had a separate room from mine and there was a nice little sitting area. We were even able to overlook the courtyard and the Bob Hope airport across the street. I set up my bed that pulled out from the couch, and decided to listen to some music and just write. Those are the best ways for me to unwind from the day. Well, in those few moments, I managed to really freak myself out once again about the future. I was thinking about fate and our destiny and the plans God has for our lives. And I started worrying that maybe I'm not on the right track and I'm not doing anything with my life, blah, blah, blah. That's when I got a text from my friend, Ceci, saying that she felt the strong urge to pray for me and two of our other friends. So, we ended up text praying for one another. I was so thankful for that. It was so cool to know that we have each other's backs, even in the middle of the night like that. I felt at peace and was able to go to sleep pretty soon after. 

Sunday morning, we were able to sleep in a bit, without having to hurry too much. We got ready, packed up our stuff and headed out to explore. I'd been wanting to go to this trail/park called, Runyon Canyon. It's supposed to have a really great view of the city, some celebs can be spotted there every once in awhile, and it just sounded like a fun, new place to try. We ventured into the Hollywood hills and eventually found it, parked and off we went. Well, there was a sign that said, "Beware of rattlesnakes." REALLY?! That's pretty much my biggest fear, and I was a little nervous that we were going to end up with a new friend before we left, but we were safe. There were actually quite a few people exercising out there, and now I totally see why. It's far away from everything, where you can just think and get away from it all. If I lived closer, I'd definitely be there every day to just write or listen to my iPod, especially on a clear day. We walked for quite awhile to the end of the hill and sat down for a minutes to take in the view. While we were up there, I'm pretty sure I saw the dark haired girl that's on the new show "The B in Apt. 23" and was "Lucy" on Gilmore Girls. Not totally sure, but it definitely looked like her. I could totally start a blog just based on conversations I heard up there. There are so many different types of people that pass you while you're walking and you hear the most random bits and pieces of stories, LOL. Very entertaining. There were also a few good looking California guys up there, that had the same style as Joe Jonas. I didn't run into him, unfortunately, but it was still a blast. Maybe one of these days, our paths will cross again! 

There were a bunch of cactus' (cacti?)  that people had carved their names into. I tried it...I don't know that it had the same effect..haha.

Gotta love that LA smog.

Hollywood Hills

The longer we were out there and the further we walked, the hotter it got. Pretty soon, it was time to call it a day! Next time, I will definitely be wearing work out gear and not everyday clothes. It's so not that kind of place HA. But, it was so much fun and I could tell I definitely worked my leg muscles! After we cooled down a bit, we drove over to The Grove to have lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. I decided to be healthier and eat from their "skinny" menu. I haven't been feeling so great because of an acid reflux problem, but after eating that, I felt a little better. We looked around at a few of the stores, because we had plenty of time. I couldn't believe how busy it was; there were so many people there, after awhile it was kind of annoying. But, it was a beautiful, hot, summer day out! I found out later from my friend, Rebecca, that someone had committed suicide there last night. I couldn't believe that we'd just been there and something like that happened. It made me sick to my stomach. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. I can't even imagine what they must be going through or what could've been so bad that he thought he had to end his life altogether :(. You just never know what anyone is dealing with these days.

We got to Dodger Stadium a lot earlier than usual because it was Hello Kitty bobble head giveaway day. The line was CRAZY! I've never seen it so nutso before, but there's a first for everything. We were starting to get worried they'd run out before we got there, but alas we made it to the gate and we got our bobble heads. YAY! We got refreshments and snacks then headed to our seats. Once we sit down (unless for a really good reason) I don't like to get up. It's such a hassle to move past everyone and walk back up, fight crowds...I'm not real big on that. LOL. The game was so much better yesterday. It was like all of a sudden, the Dodgers woke up from their losing streak and actually started PLAYING again. There were some really great plays. It was a fun time! So proud of them for stepping it up, especially without Ethier and Kemp playing. 

After the game ended, we came home. We played our radio guessing game a little bit, but they were playing the same songs and it just started feeling redundant, so we sort of gave up. I was always really mad when they played Chris Young after I'd been calling him all day and would decide to switch it up with someone else, and just a few songs later they'd play him. Just my luck! Haha. Oh well, it was always good to hear him anyway. It was such a great weekend, I was sad to see it end. Especially now that I have a crap load of math to finish up that's due Thursday by 6:00. I'm so not looking forward to it at all. 

That's all for now,

Shelby