Dad's visit

My dad came to visit me!  He was here for longer than two days so we were able to spread out the sights and not be quite so exhausted, unlike Mom's visit.  He got here a late Friday night, so Saturday we started the fun.  Knowing what happened last time, I didn't want to get up and get going right away in the morning.  It was a good choice!  Saturday was still pretty busy.  We went to LA to the museum area.  We had tacos from a taco truck (yum), walked around the tar pits, and saw the light pole installation at LACMA.  Then we went to the Automotive Museum.  That was really cool.  That's been on my list for awhile, so I'm glad we went!

 

(I made him take pictures with me.  He wasn't pleased.)

After the car museum, we drove to Griffith Park.  We were going to go to the Observatory but the parking was crazy far away and I had no desire walking that far at that moment.  Then, we went to Hollywood.  We walked along the Walk of Fame and then down to the Chinese Theater.  I had never really been to it before.  I did once, but there were so many people, I paid zero attention to it and just tried to get out!  This time wasn't terribly crowded (for touristy standards).

I love Marilyn Monroe.

We got dinner and then went to see the Book of Mormon.  This was the third time I've seen it (once in Des Moines and twice in Los Angeles) and I think it was the best production that I've seen.  Cody was great (of course).  The energy of this one was the highest I think.  I love this show so much.  We stayed a bit after and said hi to Cody, then went home.

Sunday was the LA marathon so we stayed far away from that side of town.  Instead, we went to the Santa Anita Race Track to watch the horses!  If I had bet, I would have won a bunch of money.  Almost every horse I picked at least placed in the race.  A few didn't but the majority did.  Oh well.  I'll lose my money next time.  It was hot that day.  I don't think I'm ready for summer here.  The race track is absolutely gorgeous.  It's not very expensive so I want to go back again soon.

 

Monday, I had to work, so after I got home, we went up to Pasadena. I've been wanting to go to the Melting Pot since I lived in Minneapolis.  Mom and I had talked about going, but it was Valentine's Day weekend.  From the reviews I read online afterwards, it was really busy like I figured so I'm glad we didn't go.  I figured Monday at 5 probably wouldn't be as busy and it wasn't.  It was delicious! Definitely want to go back.

Dad went to San Diego for a few days and I worked.  He came back at the end of the week.  We went back to Pasadena on Friday and had sushi.  Saturday was the last day.  We went to the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades.  It's really pretty.  It's focused on the Greeks and Romans and all that ancient stuff.  If I go back, I want to go back when all the flowers are blooming.  

After that, we went to the Santa Monica Pier.  It was another gorgeous, warm day and the beach was packed.  We had a snack of guacamole at the restaurant on the Pier and then we went to the Getty Center.

It took us awhile to get to the Getty Center because traffic and following directions are not my favorite.  We got there, found that the restaurant was actually open, and had some dinner.  The sunset from there was beautiful.

The Getty Center had an exhibit on Queen Victoria's private photography collection, which was really cool.  She was queen when photography was being invented so it's a ton of early photographs of her and Albert from her private collection.  Very cool.

That pretty much sums up his trip.  I haven't been as adventurous on my own lately.  Maybe I'm finally settling into actual life here instead of what seems like tourist life.  I still have a long list of things to do and see, but the gym has taken priority as well as actual work for school.  That's the plan for today at least.  Trying to catch up on everything I have neglected lately and trying to organize myself before spring break.  I'm so glad that both of my parents have been able to come visit me already.  It's helped a lot.  I wish Kendra and Jon could come, but I guess I'll just have to stay here until they do.  :-)

The gym

I joined a gym at the beginning of February.  I knew I couldn't sit at home anymore.  Joining a gym had been in the back of my mind since I moved here, but I had so many excuses.  Finally, I gave in and looked at one my school psychologist goes to.  It's a little pricey, but I'm going enough to make it worth it.  Most importantly, I like it.  It's about 10 minutes away, in Pasadena, and has a ton of classes.  With my schedule right now, I go to mostly 5:30 classes.  Since i joined, I've gone at least three times a week and sometimes more.  I've tried a lot of the classes, but not all of them.  My favorites are spin, pure strength, pilates, and yoga.  I've never gone on the weekend mornings.  I've heard those classes are really busy, so I've used the weekends to let my muscles recouperate.

I had taken a picture of myself the first week I joined.  I took another one last night and then put the pictures side by side.  I was amazed at the comparison!  I knew it had been making a difference, but it was more than I expected to actually see.  I'm really proud of myself.  :-)  I think I'm going to continue to take pictures once a month so I can see the progress.  Go me!

The Shamrock Shake

My first earthquake!  It was on the morning of St. Patrick's Day.  I was a huge dork and really excited about it.  The email I sent after (because I'm too lazy to retype the experience.):

"I had my bedroom window open last night.  I was laying in bed awake this morning between my snooze button hits and I heard what sounded like a huge gust of wind, like during gigantic thunderstorms.  Then my bed started shaking.  I thought "wow, it's really windy, but why is my bed shaking?  Oh, I bet this is an earthquake."  And then it was over.  I was about 15-20 miles away from the epicenter I guess.  I looked on Twitter soon after and saw that it where it was centered and that it was a 4.4.  I would take an earthquake over a tornado any day."

Granted, the earthquake was small, especially where I was, but given how terrified I am of tornadoes, earthquakes any day.  It did make me realize that I should possibly be slightly more prepared than I am now in case a big one hits and there's actual damage and destruction.  I'm not prepared at all, so that should probably change sometime soon.  It's on my to do list.