Los Angeles - Day One, Two and Three - you ready?

Day One -getting there

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The morning of the trip, I get a surpsise request by the hospital. We need to do a follow up ultra sound to see how everything is bla bla bla...can you come in?

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Of course, I chug all the water I can possibly handle, kiss the kids goodbye, drop them off at the daycare for grandma to pick up later and off we go. At the hospital, after being poked and prodded some more, they release us just in time for us to get to the airport in time.

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And we're off! Once on the plane we have the pleasure of sitting directly in front of the parent who doesn't believe in any discipline and they have the crazy 18month old toddler who kicks and screams and runs all around the aisles. Yes, that was a fun 3 hours!

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We got to LA in one piece, and headed for the MARRIOTT hotel. When we get there, they inform us - to our surprise - that we are going to have to press PH on the elevator. (THAT'S RIGHT, Penthouse!!!!)

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We immediatly want to go out and check out our surroundings so we take JP's mega camera out, and try not to look like tourists and blend in, hehe.

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We headed straight to Hollywood boulevard, and saw the usual celebrities hanging out, you know, Jack Sparrow, Minnie and oh yeah Tina Turner accepting some suspicious cash from Charlie Chaplin. It was great fun.

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Day Two - name dropping

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For anyone who knows me well, fairly well or almost well, they'll tell you I LOVE LOVE LOVE fashion and anything to do with names in fashion.
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Rodeo Drive is only 3 blocks long, but those 3 short blocks constitute the most famous shopping district in America and probably the most expensive three blocks of shops in the world.

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Oh yeah, I did drag him there. He had no idea about Rodeo Drive (he kept calling it Rodeo, like the rodeo as in cowboy! Puleeeze!!) He looked at it once we got there and I'm sure he thought we wouldn't be there very long.
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But I wanted to visit my friends: Tiffany, Cartier, Valentino, Gianni Versace, Christian Dior, Dolce & Cabbana, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Armani and Hermes.

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I was in heaven. I tried on a $3000 pair of Versace shoes on. I fell in love with a beautiful $7,000 Hermes bag. And then, because my husband is the most wonderful man in the world, he took me into Tiffany's and actually bought me jewelry!! How cool is that?

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It was only a small lock pendant with my initial in it, but it cost way more than I can reveal here. I had a permagrin on for the next few hours!!

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We spent our evening in Santa Monica, walking around and having dinner and I just couldn't have asked for a better evening. It was awesome!

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Oh oh, did I mention we stopped at "Sprinkles" Cupcakes (which is only THE most famous cupcake store in all of LA - people line up for hours to buy them) and waited in line for some delicious to die for cupcakes.

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(this is the line up that we waited in to just get into the store)
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And Rosie O'Donnell and Julia Roberts have talked about them, so I had to try them (yup, I'm THAT shallow) Yum yum yum.

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Day three - all over

At last, sunday came. We awoke to the news that the California fires started about 20 minutes from the very spot we had walked and dined the night before. We actually are following the fires closely, only because for us it hit so close since we were just there, taking pictures of things that are now burned. Very odd feeling.

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By the way, I wanted to show you the picture of the plane that we boarded on the way back from LA to Vancouver. It's smaller than my freakin' living room!! Only 42 people in it. Have you ever seen anything like it? It was awful. I walked into the plane and almost started hyperventelating. (i hate flying as it is, and feeling like I'm in a shoebox does not help)

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JP exclaimed "oh, it's cute!" FYI... when I think of adjectives that I'd like to use while describing the plane that I'm in , "strong" "big" "safe" or even " massive" comes to mind, but not "Cute". Maybe that's just me.

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Just as we are about to taxi away from the gate the one lone flight attendant announces that the plane is experiencing a ' weight imbalance' and that they'd be looking for 2 volunteers to get off the plane and board a bigger plane 2 hours later.

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I almost hurt JP I shoved him in the side so hard. He waves his hand in the air, I jump out of my seat and start speed walking to the cabin door. And we're out!

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For our trouble we received 2 vouchers for $200 off each of our next ticket with the same airline, and got to fly home in a big comfortable plane that looked much friendlier. Take a look:

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