It's Warner Time!

Since we didn't do anything exciting this week, like go to L.A., buy a new computer or go to any concerts, I thought I'd just talk a little bit about life.

For those of you that know me, my life isn't the easiest it's been in a while. I've been unemployed for 6 months now (and man that's gone by fast), I've been in grad school for 9 months (who's shocked I've made it this far??) and right now, I'm sick! Ugh! But instead of focusing on the crap, I'm going to focus on the good things!

So this is my list of things I'm thankful for this week.

1. SCOTTIE! What a great husband. Since Saturday, when I first started feeling sick, he's done all he could to make me feel better. He's given me back rubs, he has gone to the store numerous times to get ice cream and medicine and soda, he's covered me up so I don't get cold, he's made me breakfast, lunch and dinner, and he's been there for me even when he's been at school and work. He's simply amazing, and I don't know how worthy I am of his amazingness. I really lucked out in the husband department.

2. Winning! Scottie and I have won some great things this week - well Scott mostly. He's won 4 tickets to the X96 Maverick Big Ass Show (sorry, that's just what it's called) and I am SO excited because we usually go every year, but we didn't get tickets last year. But now we can go, and we'll be going with great friends! We're going to try to win more, too. I also won tickets to the Supercross event that is happening this weekend, so Scottie is taking our nephew to that. It just feels great to win.

3. Unemployment benefits! Yes, I've been able to get umemployment benefits for the past 6 months to help us make ends meet. And it's weird because while I was working, our bank account was ALWAYS empty. We didn't even HAVE a savings account. But since I've been unemployed, we've never had an empty account, and we have TWO savings accounts now. Is that weird or what? And before our trip, we had paid off or down all of our credit cards. Granted we used them for our LA trip, but the fact remains that we were able to use them because we had them paid off or down! I feel pretty blessed to be in the financial position we're in, despite the fact that I have no job. And I found out this week that I've been granted an extention of 4 months to my benefits. So thanks, Obama! (Who ever thought they'd hear me say THAT?)

4. The Church! On Easter, I was reminded just how much I love this gospel. I am SO thankful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - because personally, it gives me the peace I need, the comfort, and the boost to get through life. I got to sing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" with my dad for everyone in Sacrament. It was so touching to me to be able to share that moment with my dad, because he is such an amazing father. It means the world to me that we can share a talent together that is not only enjoyable, but allows us to show our faith together as well. I guess this one is all encompassing - the church, my father, and my voice.

5. Modern day medicine! Oh how thankful I am for the loads of Ibuprofen, Tylenol PM and Dayquil I've consumed in the past 4 days. And that's just the beginning! There's Airborne, Vicks Vaporub, Mucinex and cough drops! Although not one of them can cure me, they've all done their part to ease the burdens of this virus in their own little ways.

6. Technology. So I can share all of this with you. Because I'm sure it's the most riveting thing you've read in a while.

I know, this took me forever. But I couldn't figure out how to get the pictures arranged. So there are LOTS of pictures, and they are in order chronologically, but BACKWARDS! haha But I am not going to spend anymore time on this blog! Enjoy!

California is such a fantastic place to be. I swear I was made to live in Beverly Hills. And I was born to be a star. But alas, I sit home in my little Salt Lake City apartment, unemployed and spending thousands of dollars on a Masters degree I might not even be able to use. (Insert *SIGH* here) If you aren't my friend on facebook (well, add me of course), then you haven't seen the plethora of pictures I put up in albums. There are 7 albums I believe, and that isn't even close to half of how many pictures we took! We took over 1000 pictures in the 6 days we spent in L.A. Since I know most of you are just DYING to know, I'll give you a brief synopsis of how we spent our time! Here you go:

Day 1: Travel. We got to L.A.X. at about 2:30 pm. We picked up our rental car (complete with Monica, our GPS unit that we LOVED), found our hotel, checked in, and instantly took off to explore. We drove to the outlet mall where the auditions would be held the next day. We had dinner at Ruby's Diner, did some shopping, and then headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. We had an early day ahead of us!

Day 2: We got up around 4 am. We got ready and headed out to the BL Auditions. We got there about 6:30 am and were 170th in line. We waiting until they opened up the gates at 7:00 and then got in our place in line. There we waited, and waited some more. There were hundreds of people there. We made some friends in line, and chatted with them, which made the time go by a little faster. Finally at 10:00 the auditions began. It was then that they walked through the line and picked out some people to give VIP passes to, which meant we didn't have to wait in line. Yes, we got picked!! We got escorted to the front of the line, which cut our wait from about 2 hours to about 10 minutes! It was fantastic! The auditions are kind of lame, to be honest. What they do is take you in groups of 10, where you meet with a casting director all at once. Everyone gets a turn to introduce themselves, and then they open up a discussion among all of you and the casting director simply watches. Then after 10 minutes, you are done, and you go on your way. The lady sitting next to me was overly obnoxious and I wanted to punch her. But I didn't. We all got a couple sentences in, except the lady sitting next to Scott who didn't say a word. I didn't feel as confident as I did the first time we tried out, but it was still a good and fun experience.

After the auditions we drove around Beverly Hills, where we saw a LOT of Jews just getting done with church, and we also saw Ben Stiller carrying his groceries. We went up to Hollywood where we had lunch and explored the Kodak Theater, Grauman's Chinese Theater, Walk of Fame, Capital Records and the Hollywood Sign. We drove around some ritzy neighborhoods, and the Los Angeles Temple. We came back to our hotel for some Jacuzzi time and dinner. We relaxed at the hotel and just spent time being together.

Day 3: We had planned to go to Santa Monica and Long Beach but the weather wasn't optimal beach weather. So we went to Rodeo Drive to do some shopping! I got a wallet at Juicy Couture! We went in a lot of the shops (Tiffany's included!) and watched a Rolls Royce almost get in an accident. We also stopped to watch a Jewish wedding there on Rodeo Drive. Very fancy! Then for lunch we went to a place called The Stinking Rose. Not just a clever name! Everything there is made with LOADS of garlic! I had the most amazing Filet Mignon, and Scott had a melt-in-your-mouth Prime Rib. We loved it all so much! However, we definitely smelled pretty bad the rest of the day!

After The Stinking Rose, we went back to Hollywood, where we visited the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, the Hollywood Wax Museum and the Guiness World Records Museum. We spent a lot of time there, looking at all the random stuff and just having fun! We got some pictures on the Walk of Fame with some of those random people that dress up as characters. Then some Japanese guys (that looked like middle aged business men) wanted their picture with Scott! We couldn't decide who they thought he was - and the closest idea we had was Syndrome from The Incredibles. Or maybe they've just never seen a 6'1", 360 lb redhead before. Who knows??? But it was pretty funny!! After Hollywood, we took a drive up Mulholland Drive, which gives you an incredible view of the Hollywood sign and the city of L.A. It was absolutely gorgeous! Then we took a drive past the Warner Bros Studios. We called it a day and went back to the hotel to relax!

Day 4: DISNEYLAND! Need I say more??? We got there early, and left late! We did almost all the rides we wanted to, and took tons of pictures! I love Disneyland! It really is the happiest place on earth!

Day 5: We got up early to head over to the Warner Bros Studios for our VIP tour! The tour was amazing! It starts with a short video on how Warner Bros came to be, and it was pretty interesting! Then they took us over to the exclusive Warner Bros museum, where they have the actual costumes and props used in many movies, including The Dark Knight, Superman Returns, Matrix, Miss Congeniality, etc etc etc. The whole upstairs was ALL Harry Potter! Even the petrified Hermoine was there, and she looked so real! It was a little creepy but a lot cool! We weren't allowed to take pictures in there, but I wish we could have! Those are things most people don't get to see! And since Scott and I love movies SO much, it was awesome to be there.

Next they took us on an exclusive tour of the E.R. set. It was so weird to be there, since I've seen the set on TV HUNDREDS of times! Our tour guide showed us some of the magic, like how most of the sets are just HUGE printed backdrops, not real hospital rooms, and how most things in Hollywood are totally fake but you'd never know it! We got to walk through Chicago, New York, and then around to some of the random buildings they use for lots of movies. We got to go to the place Jurassic Park was filmed, which is basically a jungle in the middle of the studios! We saw a lot of houses and buildings and parks and things where places are filmed, and it's funny to see things in real life that you've seen in movies and tv! They drove us through the shops, where the sets are constructed and painted, and cars and props are made, and it just so happened that the Bat Pod was sitting in there (ya know, that motorcycle from The Dark Knight). It was huge. Super cool though. One of my FAVORITE parts of the tour was paying a visit to the set of FRIENDS. That is by FAR my favorite show ever, and they've immortalized the Central Perk coffee shop. We got to go in, and take pictures. We couldn't touch anything, but it was simply amazing to be there! I know my pictures don't do it justice, but it was freaking awesome. If anyone is wondering if they should do a VIP tour of Warner Bros, DO IT!!

There is a LOT more I could tell about it, but this blog is already getting ridiculously long. After the tour, we had a couple hours of free time, so we decided to stop by the Getty Museum, since we were right there. It was such a gorgeous building and we loved exploring the gardens and seeing the exhibits. And the best part is that it was free! And it has such a gorgeous view of L.A.! I definitely recommend the Getty for anyone visiting L.A.

After the Getty, we headed to Westwood Village, where the premier for the new movie "I Love You, Man" was taking place. We lined up at the red carpet, and watched the stars arrive. It was interesting to see which stars spent time with fans signing autographs and stuff, and which stars thought they were too good for it. I got to see some stars I like, such as Niecy Nash, Paul Rudd, Jason Segal and a couple others. Some of the fans there are a little crazy, though, and we ended up leaving before Jack Black and Ben Stiller got there. But that's okay. We ended the night by spending more time at the Walk of Fame. For some reason, we just LOVED being there. We wandered through the mall, spent a lot of time in the Virgin Megastore, talked with random characters and just hung out. It was pretty cool to be there at night because things are all lit up in neat ways, and it was really quite pretty. We couldn't get enough of it. But we did eventually leave and go back to the hotel, even though we really didn't want to!

The next day we got up, had some breakfast at the hotel's restaurant, and then said our goodbyes to L.A.! We took back our rental, and hopped on our plane back to Salt Lake. Little did we know we'd come back to get snowed on and frozen! Ugh! I want to go back to L.A. so badly! It was one of the best trips I've taken in a long time! Hopefully we'll get to go back soon!!