L.A.

Glenn & I gave Lila tickets to 'Wicked' for her birthday.  We also gave my Mom a ticket for Christmas.  Glenn, Emry & I have all seen it and fell under it's spell so one by one we're forcing everyone we love to go.

Saturday morning Emry, Lila, my Mom & I settled in for the 90 mile drive to L.A.   First stop was the ultra posh outdoor mall 'The Grove'.  They have such nice bathrooms they actually have attendants there you tip.  Since my girls wanted to feel rich and famous they left a buck on the tray.   Over the top I know.

My cousin Emerald met us for lunch.  She lives in the Hollywood hills, is a model, has a  fabulous figure, long legs, beautiful wardrobe, blond hair and had just come from yoga.  Totally L.A.

I must say she is one of the sweetest girls you'll ever meet.  Might have something to do with the fact that she was raised in Utah and not L.A.  Just a guess.

Oh my gosh my lunch was so good!!!!   There is a big open Farmer's Market at 'The Grove' and I opted for Brazilian BBQ.  Lila had a frozen lemonade (her stomach was quesy) Mom & Emry had tacos, Emerald had a pastrami sandwich and I had black beans, squash, fried plantains, a piece of fried yucca & a salad with garlic chicken, beets, eggplant, tomato, broccoli and some pineapple for dessert.  DELICIOUS!

American Girl.  We love this store.  My girls don't have the dolls as there is no way I can bring myself to spend over $100 on those precious dolls.  But it is so fun to visit.

Okay I actually lied. I would totally drop tons of cash here on all the adorable clothes and furniture, but I kinda like having a roof over my head.

After dropping my Mom and Lila off at the Pantages Theatre, Emry & I hit the streets to kill 3 hours.  I wanted to hit up the L.A. thrift stores but Emry was having none of that.  Hollywood Boulevard was calling her name.

She wanted to take a picture with this Transformer because she knew Ethan would think it was cool.

Around this time with all the people, performers and the crazy L.A. vibe, Emry & I started to get a little silly ourselves.

Love, love, love Julie Andrews.  The Sound of Music is one of our all time favorites.  Emry also had to give some love to Jack Sparrow.

I had to pay tribute to one of my favorites.  And how crazy is this -  between getting home from L.A. and leaving to spend New Years at our friends, I turned on Dick Clark's New Years Rock'in Eve for literally 2 minutes to see - Lionel Richie!   Crazy!!!  Twice in one day!!!

Granted one was just his name & the other a short clip on T.V., but Lionel is all sorts of awesomeness!

Against my better judgment I have let Emry check out those huge, gross Ripley's Believe It or Not books from the library.  They unfortunately come out with a new one every year.  She is so into those books.  She sees the museums every time we go to a big city and has always wanted to go.

Since it was just the two of us I decided it was a good time to fulfill one of her life's dreams.

Apparently Asians do a lot of crazy stuff because they were featured prominently in this museum.

Artwork of Jimmi Hendrix made soley of guitar picks.

A prom dress made entirely of Starburst wrappers.  It took a very dedicated mother 6 years to make this, along with the shoes, vest & accessories.   I think it's kind of cool.   No longer am I throwing away my bags from flax and wheat.  Emry is in for a great surprise dontcha think?  

I just remembered I am not crafty.  I guess my daughter can breath easy knowing she won't smell of oats at her prom.

This was the best part.  There was this room where they played club music and you could dance in front of a screen that showed different shadows of you.

This pic is of Emry (x 2) but after a few minutes I couldn't take it and had to bust a move.  I started out wimpy but soon was jumping around not caring how many people were walking by.

I guess those street performers got into our head.

We had 10 minutes to wait for Lila and my Mom so we did what any normal mother/daughter would do, took tons of self portraits.  This is L.A. after all, it's preferable to be self-absorbed.

Oh yeah, the reason we came.  My mom and Lila thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Upon arriving home I put a Disney movie on for the kids so Glenn & I could go to a friends.  It should surprise no one that we came home around 11:15 and I promptly fell asleep while the kids and Glenn held out to see the ball drop.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!