The Weekend Recap

Saturday was one of the nicest and most simple days I've ever had. I woke up a little earlier (I guess waking up earlier is starting to catch on...Not sure if I'm a fan yet) and vegged on the couch for awhile. I had a bagel, watched TV, then decided to take a bike ride. I never get the opportunity on Saturdays, so I thought, why not? Well, the weather has been very spring-like and warm, but today was very different. It was overcast and chilly, so I put on my sweats, grabbed my ipod and off I went. I listened to some tunes and just tuned out the world. Ah, bliss. I came home, finished watching Can't Buy Me Love starring a young Patrick Dempsey. I took a shower, ran some errands with my mom, stressed about a class mix-up I had, and came home for the rest of the afternoon. When my dad came home from taking care of things at work, we BBQ'd a late lunch/early dinner. It was so yummy. I also cleaned my room AND watched How I Met Your Mother. Later in the evening, I went out with my parents to get milkshakes and we went to Kohl's for a bit. I changed into my cozy clothes, watched Jeopardy and tried to to turn in a little earlier since it was going to a busy Sunday.

Yesterday (Sunday) was wonderful, and exactly what I needed, as I start getting into the real meat of this quarter. It's like the calm before the storm. A nice little reminder that life is still good, it just gets VERY intense for at least 8 weeks. GULP!

I woke up much earlier for a weekend than I would have liked, but it was all for a good reason. I set my alarm for 7:15 a.m, but turned it off and went straight back to sleep after it started playing "Where You Lead (I Will Follow)". Finally, my mom was practically yelling for me to get up, which almost gave me a heart attack, but got me out of bed. I got dressed and did my makeup in plenty of time.

We went to the early service at church, which gave us a chance to see a lot of people we don't normally on Sundays. It also gave us a chance to meet new people that we never see during our service. We worshiped (after a short glitch with the lights and sound), then got into the message about bitterness. It was really freeing to hear about letting all of that go, and not letting things just grow in our hearts. Which is what happens when we don't stay in tune or confront what's taking place in our lives. We have to get to the bottom of it or it will continue to control us. 

They were still having service!

After church, we stopped by Foster's for some donuts (YUM), then we came home to change and get  things ready for the rest of the day. I changed into my Dodger gear, grabbed my cameras, then my aunt came over. Once we had everything, we headed to LA. We listened to a Carole King tribute CD and Sara Evans' latest. We chatted about the latest happenings in our lives, celebrity news…Whatever. 

We made our way through the Pasadena area, and even passed the church from 7th Heaven, which was also used on The Office! We've passed it before, but I finally got a clear picture of it. We went straight to the Americana to eat lunch at Frida after that. It's a Mexican restaurant we had tried with family friends before, and it was SO good. Today was a bit different though, because of brunch and a mariachi band was playing. It was very loud, but we got in without a problem. The chips and (green) salsa were amazing, and filled us up before the food came. We ate, chatted, and listened to the Mariachi band playing directly behind us. It was very entertaining. 

My salad!

When we finished lunch, we didn't have any plans, so we walked around the shopping center. It was a beautiful day to be outside, so I didn't mind the warmth and the sunshine. We went into a few stores like Anthropologie and Free People, where I daydreamed about shopping trips that I will have there someday in the future. I also told my dad that will be after I buy his season tickets to the Dodger games. I better get a good job right after I graduate with all of these plans! HAHA! We also spent quite a bit of time in Barnes and Noble. I feel like even chain stores carry much more of a variety of things. I was even able to find the Parks and Recreation "Pawnee: The Greatest City in America" book. I was freaking out just a little bit. We wandered around a little longer, then decided to move to the next location in town, though we had no idea where we were going.

I wanted to go up to the Hollywood sign hiking trail, but after we made it to the area, my mom read online that it would take 45 minutes to walk the path. We didn't have enough time, so we drove around the area, which has gorgeous homes that I'm obsessed with looking at. We also stopped in the middle of the street, so I could get a picture with the Hollywood sign (I'm such a tourist). It was quite an adventure trying NOT to get hit by a car, too.

The thing about LA traffic is that you just never know when you're going to run into it, so you have to leave in plenty of time. And you might end up getting there much earlier than you intended, but you don't have time to stop anywhere else in between. It takes a lot of thinking and planning out what you want to do. Long story short...So we got to Dodger Stadium a little earlier. This is the first year we haven't had season tickets in awhile, so it almost felt like we were those "cool kids" who wore the wrong color that day and were kicked out of the "cool kids" club, so we can't sit at the table anymore. Okay, that's a little dramatic. But, it's weird that we can't go to any level we want anymore or any of the other perks. #firstworldproblems, right?

We parked, then went to our designated level, which was the same as the press boxes and suites. We hit the restrooms and concessions stand (I got cotton candy and a root beer), then went to our seats. We might not have season tickets, but I sure still felt spoiled with those tickets. There aren't many seats on the level, as there are only a few small sections. That means there's plenty of walking space, never a line for the bathrooms or snacks and we had our own row (made up of four seats), so people didn't have to keep walking past us. It was like a beautiful dream.

Lupe Fiasco (a rap artist) sang a couple songs (I had no idea I knew them) and a jazz Grammy winner played the National Anthem on his saxophone.  The first pitch was given by one of the former Dodger players, in honor of opening week. There are always so many festivities that take place during that first weekend, like a new chapter in the book that kicks everything off. It's a lot of fun!
We also thought that since it's a pretty special level, we might see some celebrities walk past. We didn't, but it was still fun holding out hope. I did see that Taylor Spreitler and Sterling Knight were in the suites on the opposite side of us, which was pretty cool. PLUS, they showed the fan code of conduct video and ADAM SCOTT (Parks and Rec) was in it! I was so excited! Throughout the game, I was also keeping track of the ACM winners, since the awards were on that night. Let's just say, I was very disappointed in most of the winners. But, what else is new?

Quote of the day:
Me- I hate that it feels like Saturday. I'm gonna wanna punch myself in the face in the morning.
Mom: Can I do it?
(She was obviously kidding; I actually found it kind of funny) 

At the end of it all, the Dodgers finally won, which just reminds me that we are the good luck charms, Haha. It was such a fun time of hanging out with my family, pigging out on just about everything (root beer, cotton candy, twizzlers, pretzel, a few peanuts,etc) and cheering on the Dodgers. I'm just sad that we won't be able to go to a lot of the games this season. It's one of my favorite places in the world, and often it's the place that inspires so many of my ideas and stories. There's something in that Los Angeles air that will make you dream bigger than you ever have before.

As soon as the "I Love L.A" song came on, we headed out to the parking lot and got out incredibly fast. I had such a rush on the way home and felt excited, although a bit nervous for some school stuff. But, I'm learning to let it go. Everything always turns out fine, so why sweat it? We listened to the hits on the way home, talked, and stopped by In-N-Out, even though after all we'd eaten, I don't know how we were still hungry.

When we got back in town, I needed lunch for today, so I picked up a salad from Win Co and we came home. We said goodbye to my aunt, then came inside. I started preparing some notes for the newspaper, then I decided to call it a night, before I stressed myself out. I read some of my Pawnee book and watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Then, I turned off all the noise and soaked up the darkness, as I drifted off into sleepyland.

That's all for now,
Shelby :)