Life is like a box of chocolate, cos' you never know what you gonna get
Jessie jots...
So, right... the next morning on Tuesday, we started driving at 8.30am. Reaching LA a little more than an hour later and got to the Canadian embassy on time at 10am for the visa application submission. Damn 9/11... before that nobody needs visa to get into Canada and get mistreated by the officers behind the bar.
Anyway, we submitted it and told to come back at 3pm to collect our passport. So knowing that, we knew we had to explore the big city since we know very little about entertainment city. We wanted to get to the Getty's Center after much hyped from our friends and seeing it on recent episodes of Project Runway, I thought it'll be a nice place to hang out for 4 hours.
At that moment though, I forgot it was called the Getty's Museum or Center. I searched park that started with a 'G' and saw Griffith Park closest to us and thought this was it. So we went an extra 5 miles north of Los Angeles, only to find that.... it was really a park, not a museum. There's golf course, zoo and a little pony stand by the side. Cute but not for us today. Sorry, need more artsy stuff here like Getty's Center... the girl needs inspiration. We were a little disappointed due to clock ticking being lost. However, as determine as we were to find Getty's Park/Museum, the name just didn't come to the top of our head... so we drove around, hoping to find some sort of clue or even hopeful that it was nearby. I searched and search on the GPS but nothing with the G name appeared. We drove around some more...
Moments later, we saw this...
I was flabbergasted! Almost star struck thinking about all those creative, artistic people being hired for movies, animation and fashion. How would I know that Griffith Park is so near to Warner Brother's studios. I thought it was their studios, a workplace for many but after driving another distant... we found this....
Yes, the obligatory pose in front of the obligatory University Studio globe. It was a moment of like "Ahhh my dream come true!"... I know it sounds silly but I've dreamt it forever since I was little, since I heard my uncle went to California and visited Universal Studio and all that fun he had when I was 4 or 5. I remember! You must be like "Pffft.... you stay so close to LA, what's the fuss about?" Well, I haven't been to LA much due to traffic and the overloading weekends. It is definitely an eye opener to finally realize, the entertainment city is really that near to me.
It was a happy occasion even though I knew we could only do the Citywalk, reason being that we only have a few hours left for roaming around and considering it was still a work day for Hushby. And obviously we weren't prepared for the theme park and rides that requires a $80 entrance fee. So we only took pictures outside and get marveled by the gigantic display of each stores at the Citywalk.
Then we had lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp. Albeit commercialized and franchise, the food was delicious!
"Where's my bus?"
"I am the Asian Forrest Gump"
Bubba Gump Shrimp lunch, a Caramel Apple with Marshmallows and nuts and much tourist watching (man, didn't realize so many Chinese would visit this place) later, three hours zoom by. We drove back to Los Angeles downtown at 3pm for the visa. We got our visa without any problem thankfully.
At 4pm, we had to head home and avoid the notorious bad traffic in LA. I drove heading to the freeway exit and on my way there, I saw this!
GAH! American Apparel! My palms sweat and my brain running wild for the wish list I created on their website. It is one of my favorite brand store and I love their basics! The nearest store to my place is also about 40 minutes away and what's better than an outlet? Naturally and instinctively, I drove into the factory outlet and start browsing around. It was so rewarding to finally get to shop after months and months spent looking at naked models and in front of the laptop creating animation work! I forgot how it feels like to be a girl who wants to dress up. It's like reviving your own fashion sense!
After about an hour, of course we hit the freeway and got stuck in what looks like a million other people was heading home too - thanks to American Apparel! haha But it was so worth it. About two hours later, we arrived home, dead tired - took a shower and went to bed.
Next morning, I quickly got up and prep for our Thanksgiving dinner for our two guests who were arriving on Thursday. I brined the turkey, I made the pie filling and bake the pie, cut up the vegetables, baked the cornbread for the stuffing, and mix the sage butter for the turkey marinate all in one afternoon, on top of also clean the pig sty before the guests arrive for two overnight stay. I was so glad that we got our passport back that day without any problem but deep inside, I really don't want to spend my Christmas in Vancouver cause I've been there, done that. I'd go if it's summer.
In the midst of baking up a pumpkin pie, I got a news.
The bad news is Yew Wai's boss changed his mind and told him to stay since there were too many people on the team off site. I was like "WHAT? After all that commotion up and down LA and a couple hundred dollars poorer, this is what you get?" Pfft...
However, the good news is I am having my Hushby over for Christmas and I don't have to travel or send miss Pip for boarding. And I'm liking it coz I want to remember how it feels like to marinate in my own pajamas the whole day! Mmmm looking forward to Christmas break.
More coming up about Thanksgiving... now where's my organizer.
