I'm home!! *sobs softly*. Not really, but sort of (my emotions are all over the place right now, sorry). But really, I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to spend my Labor Day Weekend in California with my best friend, Remsies, and Alec (duh) in their adorable Santa Monica apartment with their new roommate, Ethan, and their cousin from Berkley, Kade. It was definitely the best group of people for an adventurous weekend. Of course, the first thing we did was go to In-N-Out to try an animal style burger with yummy fries (Remy claims to not like them because they're actual potato fries).
<- I begged Alec for this hat a good ten times. Saturday morning, we decided to take on Runyon Canyon. Now, a lot of locals do this hike for exercise. So were we, sort of. The truth: we thought we were going to be able to take up close and personal pictures with the famous Hollywood sign.... we didn't. We weren't even on the same mountain as it (fail). We never found out how you actually get there so I can't give you that info but you should definitely get that clarified if you want to do that. Runyon was still pretty awesome. It's tough but if a miniature hotdog can do it, you can do it (yes, he was our little inspiration all the way up). A lot of dogs actually do this hike and it's amazing how to themselves they are (it's the Cali chill). |
After Runyon, Remy and I went to Urth Caffe, better known for being on the Kardashian's Instagram but definitely lived up to it's celebrity recommendation spot. SO FREAKIN' DEILICIOUS. The waiting line was out the door and the place was pretty packed. Normally, you have to wait a line after ordering your food to be seated but Remy and I, like the true rebels we are, ignored the line and landed our own spot (but I wouldn't recommend this to all, the people next to us got kicked out of their table by a worker and were asked to rejoin the sitting wait list... awkward). Any way, I wanted to be "Cali" and order a green drink so I asked for a Green Tea Boba with skim milk (barf), I had to ask a waiter to take it away. Thankfully, they let me order a new drink so I asked for a simple smoothie.. Unfortunately, it wasn't green but it was orange (still cool). Remy ordered a "Rude Awakening" coffee, which I didn't try because I'm not big on coffee any more, but she didn't stop talking about it all weekend so it must've been good. And, a cheese pizza. To eat, I ordered a "Nori Plum Rice Wrap" without wasabi. It was basically sushi with brown rice and a super fresh salad on the side.
We spent the rest of our Saturday afternoon at the Santa Monica Pier. It was $6 a ride (what the heck) but watching the sunset on the Santa Monica Ferris Wheel was priceless. We even got free flowers from some guys that were filming fake wedding proposals on the pier. I was almost part of it but they wanted my number and that was a no-no.
We spent our Sunday morning doing Yoga with Brad on the Santa Monica beach. Surprisingly, we found great parking near the spot. Then again, it was 10 am and a lot of surfers were leaving (nice people). Brad is the absolute nicest soul I have met to date. He's so full of life and peace; it's inspiring. The yoga wasn't particularly challenging and he gave alternative positions for beginners. He would encourage us to run into the freezing water (which was really relaxing) and do some poses on the shore.
<- Brad (the awesome human being) Sunday night we went to a Kareoke bar a couple blocks down from the apartment called Gaslite ($5 Kamikazes on Sundays). It was a freakin' sauna and just as we were walking out to get some air we caught the security saying, "the only people who have not complained are these two girls from Miami" (oops). He was a really funny guy. Every one at the place was really friendly. A homeless lady even walked in and sang "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. She sang it with so much soul, every one was singing along, it was so touching. Another guy sang "Hot In Herre" by Nelly to set the mood (lol). Then, a guy and his girlfriend in line with me for karaoke, had their own animation Youtube Channel (pretty cool but I forgot the name, sorry). <- The guy to my left is on the upcoming season of Grey's Anatomy. I've never seen Grey's and I felt bad telling him that but it turns out he hadn't seen it before he auditioned either so it was fine. |
Any way, although we did a lot of great touristy things this trip, on an honest note, my favorite part of the trip was spending time with the DeTournay fam at their childhood home in the Valley. Their grandma, Nana, is the sweetest little woman on Earth. And their grandpa was a producer in his golden days and also comes from a small family like myself. We had one last BBQ meal outside under the perfect weather of California (which, by the way, is in a drought.. I had to water their plants, who waters their plants any more? Definitely not any Miami people that I know). Then, the grandparents told the story of how they first met at a fraternity dinner in Indiana University (sooo cute). I guess every one else was tired of listening to the same story since they all slowly left the table at that moment.
I had an amazing weekend and I'm so excited to go back. Perfect weather, soulful people, and fun to-do's. Who knows, maybe it's my new "home" in a couple of years (I saw that about many places though).
Title inspired by the FMT Project.
I had an amazing weekend and I'm so excited to go back. Perfect weather, soulful people, and fun to-do's. Who knows, maybe it's my new "home" in a couple of years (I saw that about many places though).
Title inspired by the FMT Project.