Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Los Angeles, California (July 16-19)

At the game

Me and my girls (minus Amy Claire… we missed her tons) headed to Los Angeles, Cali to see our best friend Sara. As I have said before, we always do a girls’ trip at least once a year, so since Sara was living in LA, we decided to make this trip our trip of the year. Sara’s husband plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Several months ago when she called us all with the news that he had gotten “moved up” from double-A to the majors, we were ecstatic!!! This was great news for Sara and Brent, and we immediately started looking for dates to visit. When a date was picked and set, Ginger, Tracy, and I got ready to go see our friend in one of the best cities in the country!

Kodak Theatre

Ginger and Tracy flew together, but since I have a job and they don’t, I flew by myself (Haha… just kidding about the job thing. I like to joke with them about this because Tracy is a teacher, which means summers off, and Ginger is a nurse, which means she works like 3 days a week, and I on the other hand work a full 5 days a week year round… Hoochies!!!) As I started down the escalator to baggage claim I saw six feet – all wearing fabulous shoes, and I knew those were the feet of my girls! As soon as I got down far enough to see their faces, I screamed and started waving. I scared everyone on the escalator, but could not help myself. We were reunited once again! It always felt like this… it was the best feeling to see the people who were practically my family for four solid years.

Brent pitching!!!

We were only staying three nights, so we had a lot to see and do in that time. Right after leaving the airport, we headed straight to Dodger Stadium, bought us some cute Dodger gear, stocked up on stadium food and cold beer, and headed to our awesome seats. There are a lot of perks Sara and Brent get for being Dodgers, and good seats are just one of them! This was a great game for us to attend because it was Manny Ramirez’s first home game back from his suspension, but the best part of this game was we actually got to see Brent pitch! He came in for an inning, and we screamed and cheered until he was finished. We must have been good luck because he did great! After the game, we waited outside where the players come out – Joe Torre past right by us, and then we saw Manny come out with his entourage (now you know why I felt the need to write my last blog about the show). We also talked with this “ultimate Dodger fan,” who apparently gets to do whatever the hell he wants at Dodger Stadium because he has so much money. He found out we had reservations at Katana, and proceeded to get on the phone and call the owner so we could “get the best seats in the house.” Humm… just another one of those many “money=power” show-offs in LA. Whatever, we got completely hooked up when we went to that restaurant, so I ate it right up. That night we stayed up late catching up with Brent and Sara and got ready for a fun-filled Friday.


The Ivy

We had lunch reservations at The Ivy on Friday– as I have said before, I am not really a celebrity person so I had no idea what this was, but Tracy and Sara (People and US Weekly freaks) knew exactly what it was. Apparently it’s a big celeb spot and the paparazzi are always outside. We had reservations and still had to wait over an hour (hum… maybe THIS is why we saw no celebrities there when we went. If I was a celebrity going to a restaurant where crazy-fans hang out just to try and spot me, it would be the last place I would eat). The food was great though, and we had a patio seat so we got to sink in the perfect-LA weather. Our cocktails cost about $20 a piece, but after drinking it, I knew why… I was near being lit on a Friday afternoon. After that, we walked around Hollywood Blvd touching handprints and looking at the famous sidewalk stars.
Doin' It and Doin' It and Doin' it well!

Friday night was a blast. We got all dressed up for the game because the wives had a suite just for them this night and we had dinner reservations at Katana afterward. The view from the suite was spectacular, and what do you know… LL Cool J was in the suite next to ours! We had a girl who works for the Dodgers go over and ask him if we could come meet him in his suite. He was overly gracious, and invited us right in. We introduced ourselves, shaking his soft hands (which by the way, made mine feel like sandpaper) and chatted with him for a quick minute. He acted like he wouldn’t have cared if we posted ourselves up there for the night, but we didn’t overstay our welcome! Katana was a whole other experience. It’s a very swanky restaurant with long-legged model looking hostesses who are very quick to tell you shoo you away with a “sorry, we are full for the next week” response. But, the owner treated us like we were Vince, Turtle, Drama, and E coming to eat his sushi for the first time. We got a great patio seat and he insisted on giving us complimentary appetizers and a desert. The food was great, and if I am ever in LA I would love to go back. Although, I’m not so sure I would be remembered enough by the owner to even get a seat in that place, and I’m sure Gisele at the reservation table would love to tell me I wasn’t good enough to eat there.
In "The Hills"

Saturday was our last full day in Tinsletown. We really just relaxed and took it easy this day, eating well and being tourists. We headed back to Hollywood Blvd. and ate at one of my favorites for lunch, Shabu Shabu. This was only my third time in LA, but since I was introduced to this place the first time I was in LA, I have always gone back! After lunch, we did what we do best and continued to eat. If you pass a Cold Stone Creamery, you have to go in there, so as full as we were, we made it a point to get some ice cream. We did some more walking around Hollywood Blvd and Kodak Theatre. Then we went to the Hollywood Wax Museum and the Guinness Book of World Records museum – very touristy of us. That night, we had dinner at a great Italian restaurant and went to a trendy bar down the street. When we realized the tables were all reserved, and we would have nowhere to sit, we left. Three minutes later, the manager was chasing us down the street and tells us he would give us one of those tables. We were confused – wondering why this guy cared if we went into his bar in the first place, but took him up on his offer. The quote of the night: “Wow, we didn’t even have to pull the Dodger card on this one!” haha! We got in, bought a bottle of champagne and enjoyed our last night together. With a 6 a.m. flight ahead of us, we took it in pretty early!


The last night when we weren't "pulling the Dodger Card!"

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