L.A. < home.

our last day in LA was really laid back. we didn't have any pressing plans or anything which was nice. we woke up and explored the Japanese gardens that our hotel had to offer. jon liked them, but i thought they were okay...the view of the city was pretty in the morning though!

we ate at a cute little cafe and walked from our hotel to the Museum of Contemporary Art. as expected, it was pretty weird. 'modern' art is weird. people are trying to make art with things that already exist and trying to put a lot of weird feeling into it. why don't you just paint a pretty picture???

the museum didn't open until 11am, so we got to wander around little tokyo. we got a head start (kind of?) on christmas shopping! its okay to post this picture because little audrey doesn't read my blog (yet).

we stopped and got macaroons at this cute little shop. we'd never had one before and they were better than we both expected!

jon got raspberry and i got chocolate. they were cold in the middle and like...creamy. i thought they'd be dry, but they weren't. they were so good, especially when tasted together. 

the macaroons were good, but we were ready for a legit meal. we got in the car and drove by some interesting sites. the walt disney concert hall and amanda's alma mater FIDM. they were both really pretty! i am proud of my sister for graduating from there!:) we headed to BJ's. they were doing free lunch for veteran's on sunday AND monday! so jon got a meat lovers pizza and we shared a pizookie....again. after this vacation, jon said he never wanted sweets again! that really means a lot coming from him because he has such a sweet tooth! it would have meant a lot coming from me too, but i wasn't ready to be done with sweets, even for the day. 

we shopped at the mall for a few hours until we literally couldn't take it any longer. we liked visiting LA, but we were very ready to be away from the millions of people. i thought san diego was crowded!

we drove straight to the J's new house! jeno is recruiting right now in orange county, so they bought a house. i am so proud of them! it was really nice, and very roomy for their new family of four. 

i got to meet little Trevor Jon! he was as cute as i'd imagined. it was so fun catching up with the j's. i hadn't seen them in like three months! when they lived in san diego, we hung out at least twice a week. it is sad that they live so far away, but i am really happy for them. they love burgers as much as we do, so they took us to their new favorite place 50/50. it was so good!!! i had jon take a picture of his burger before he devoured it and he included jayden:

i couldn't pick between these pictures because jayden is so adorable in both of them!

after hanging out with the j's and their babies, i want some of my own. actually, i don't want babies of my own, i just want to take their two home with me and raise them as my own. i'm so glad we stopped to see them, they are the best! it was nice to have someone there to finish the last few bites of my burger, you can always count on jeno for that even if you aren't finished yet.

we loved our little weekend getaway! it was so much fun, we had a blast. it was successful too. last night we evaluated our christmas gift situation and we're actually in a pretty good place! it was great being able to spend so much time together with nothing weighing us down like school or work. and i especially loved being able to spend time with our friends and family that live up there. sometimes it gets lonely in san diego, its really nice knowing there are friends so close by. 

veteran's day!

Sunday morning we woke up face to face with veterans day, one of our favorite holiday’s since 2011 and the reason we came on this vacation! we woke up and went straight to denny’s for a stack of all you can eat pancakes for free.99! many restaurants do this as a way to thank our vets. jon was appreciative, but at the same time really not. Do unlimited pancakes ever treat anyone well? Honestly?

Last week I ran into a friend at school who I took a class with last summer. I hadn’t seen her for a few months. She asked what was going on this week and I told her we were headed to LA to celebrate. She said she was going to be speaking in the city of commerce and invited jon and I! I was really excited about this. after denny’s we went straight to veteran’s memorial park in Commerce to the V-Day program. There were probably 50 people there, and 20 of them were veteran’s. we listened to Julia speak about what it is like to be a female veteran from the current wars, specifically the Iraqi campaign. She did a great job and I think it was an eye opener for all of us. They finished the program by having the boy scouts carry each military branch's flag with the veterans from that service walking behind. there were more marines than anyone! All the vets shook the mayors hand and got a certificate of appreciation with a ribbon and a pin. It was really sweet. I loved that jon got to be a part of a program like that and was individually thanked for his efforts in Afghanistan. It’s always really neat to see him amongst other veterans from WWII, Korea, Vietnam,  the Gulf War and Desert shield/storm. He even made friends with the other marines.

After the program, we hit up BJ’s restaurant for some more free ‘chow!’ (jon’s words, not mine.) There is nothing better than getting free BJ’s. he ordered breaded chicken, mashed potatoes and corn then we shared a choc-on-choc pizzookie. This meal gave us the energy we needed for a full day at the LACMA. It. Was. Amazing!!! There were so many artists and pieces that I recognized and knew the history of! It was so cool to see how much I have really learned in school this semester. In the spring i changed my major to art history and I am loving it! That museum definitely has something for everybody.

mary cassatt. favourite.

michael heizer. so obsessed.

After spending a good 6 hours there, we were ready for a hearty meal with none other than Lauren Rice! We were so excited to see her, it has been over a year! She took us to Tart, a southern style restaurant near the one we had been to the night before, weird huh? Jon and I ordered steak, mac and cheese, salad and mashed potatoes. It was really good! It was the perfect amount of food for me since we shared, but I think jon was a little unsatisfied…haha. We didn’t get enough of Lauren and her contagious laughter at dinner, so we all walked to the grove in hopes of catching the famous tree lighting ceremony. There were tons of cars leaving, we thought we missed it. There were still hoards of people there though, so we stuck around. We kept asking people what was going on, and no one knew! We had been waiting in line behind this girl for at least 8 minutes before we asked her what was going on. She literally said “I don’t know. I’m just trying to get to Starbucks.” Way funny that she was standing in line for an unknown reason in hopes of eventually getting to starbucks! They finally opened the flood gates and we all rushed in like anxious cattle, still not knowing what we were standing in line for. the fact that they were letting us into an area that had been previous off limits was enough. I was seriously being touched on all sides. We took six inch steps for over 25 yards as a group of at least 200. Picture it. We were all taking baby steps. at this time, jon. Busted. Out. Of. His. Shoes!! Pinky toes were exposed on both feet!  By the time we got caught up to the crowd that had been there for awhile already, Philip Philips was playing! Then Michael Bolton! Then Mario Lopez showed up! Next thing we knew, the backstreet boys were on stage! Then it started snowing! In LA! then there was an amazing fireworks display! It was such a hilarious turn of events. When the show was over, we had to make our way through the crowds. Jon saw someone who had a striking resemblance to tom cruise. he looked him in the face and said “Mr. Cruise. I love your work.” The guy looked at him and said, “Thank you.” so hilarious! luck was in our favor that night, it was the funniest collage of random events. it was a good way to end veteran's day, we love hanging out with lauren!

Eats, treats, and shopping.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early! Since I had gone to sleep at 8:30 the night before, I kept waking up in the middle of the night wondering why it wasn’t 7 yet. I woke jon up at 5:35 and told him that it was the longest night ever! we got ready and headed into town at about 8:30. We ate at Paula's Pancake House. It was freezing, so no one was really eating outside. Usually there is a really long wait, but we walked right  in and sat on the patio. Jon ordered the Danish pancakes with warm cinnamon apples and I ordered the scrambled eggs with bacon and hash browns. It was really good and actually quite warm thanks to the hot chocolate. We spent the day shopping in all the adorable stores and site seeing. We stopped at two different chocolate factories, and indulged in all the Scandinavian culture. We ate lunch at a cute little Nordic bistro. We sat out on the patio again. It was on a corner, so there were lots of people out and about, we even saw a horse drawn trolley. I got the caesar salad and chicken artichoke soup. The soup was soo good. Jon got the Scandinavian combo which included a Danish sausage, three Swedish meatballs covered in brown gravy. and some red cabbage that went untouched. What we enjoyed most about solvang was the food and the cute little Christmas store we went into.

We left solvang after lunch and drove on the coast through Santa Barbara, then headed to Los Angeles!

We drove straight to the golden state cafe to meet up with brynne and tanner! The burger joint was really nice and had a fun vibe. The burgs were excellent, but the conversation and company was even better! It is always so fun seeing old friends in new places. They are the best. :)

We had a motel reservation Saturday night set up which was actually really close to where we ate. We walked over there and promptly cancelled our reservation upon seeing the front desk employee behind thick plexiglass and a live tree growing in the lobby. It wasn’t as good as it sounds. We did find a really nice antique store on our way there and spent some time looking around. We saw a famous person there, but three days later, we still can’t think of his name…. we will give you 6 hints.  Short. Old. Flamboyant. White hair. Glasses. Gay. Emphasis on short and flamboyant. We think he is in television shows.

After our time in the antique shop, we decided it was time we needed to find a hotel. It was probably about 8 o'clock, and we were getting desperate. The frei’s suggested we try the negotiator. Dealing with priceline was a nightmare, but we ended up getting a really nice room at the double tree  in downtown LA with free parking (it was supposed to be $30 a day). the room was half the usual price thanks to the negotiator!