Jess Goes Hollywood

Jessie and I couldn’t have asked for a better California weekend…The weather was great, we ate, we shopped, we got our nails done, we saw some movies, and we saw celebrities…What else could you want? Jess arrived in L.A. (after almost missing her Southwest flight) and the fun began right there. We went to B.J.’s in Westwood for some famous Pzookie (big cookie topped with ice cream). While we were in Westwood we saw a mini “gas” protest (kids riding around on bikes interrupting the flow of traffic to protest rising gas prices) – we were by UCLA afterall. Then we drove around Beverly Hills and West Hollywood seeing some of the sights, including The Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Rodeo Drive, and The Ivy.

Friday Jess slept in and wandered around my neighborhood (walking to my favorite lookout point on a hill where you can see the beach and the Hollywood sign at the same time). Friday night I introduced Jessie to Indian food at a cute little authentic restaurant by the beach – crazy girl had never tried it!! It was delicious. Then we had a paparazzi moment. We walked right past a movie premiere and stopped to gawk at celebrities. We saw Amy Smart (from Felicity and Just Friends). Then we wandered around the Third Street Promenade (nice big outdoor mall with street performers) and watched a girl dance around trying to be Britney Spears and tried different make-up on at Sephora. Next, we drove over to Culver City and wandered around (did you know that there is a restaurant there called Munchkins that is very popular with “little people” and used to be very popular with actors from The Wizard of Oz.) We saw the movie “Stick It” at a theater in Culver City…and while it was funny (at parts) you might want to wait to watch this one when it comes out on video. Unfortunately, Jess and I spent $10.50 a piece on it. But it was still fun. Jess and I finished the night reading on the couch until we were both ready to hit the sack.

Saturday we woke up bright and early (9am) and headed over to Malibu for breakfast at Paradise Cove (a fun beach restaurant). On the way there we checked out celebrity houses and I pointed out to Jess the famous Malibu locales where celebrities can be seen in their grubbies…Starbucks, Ralphs, Nobu, etc. Mostly, the stars are just like us and have to run errands occasionally. Then we headed to Santa Monica for manicure and pedicures at Toe Heaven. After we got our spa treatments we wandered around down to Venice Beach to check out the crazies and by some necessary big celebrity sunglasses (so we could appear famous). We found some fabulous ones for under $10. Next on our itinerary was SHOPPING, of course. We wandered around the Third Street Promenade and got some gelato (we needed a little sugar after all of that walking!!) and enjoyed the Polish festival that was going on along the Promenade. The highlight of the visit was when were walking across the street and almost bumped shoulders with Noah Wylie (Dr. Carter from ER) and his wife and two kids. Talk about Jessie being a great celebrity magnet. I saw more celebrities with her in town than I’ve seen since I moved here. To unwind from our busy day we took in another movie (American Dreamz) and relaxed for a few hours in the dark. It was actually pretty funny, despite poor reviews.

Next on the agenda was the LA 1st Ward and Santa Monica 3rd Ward GONG SHOW - a modern replica of the former popular TV show. Basically different acts were performed and if the audience wasn’t impressed, they booed and the performers was “gonged” and asked to leave the stage. Some of the highlights included juggling by Eric Smith (while biting into an apple); Brian Peterson trying to stop a fan with his tongue (he started with small fans and worked his way up to regular large fans on high speed); Riverdance knock-off performance; wheelchair rapper; and an impersonator of Adam Sandler’s “Opera Man” from SNL that made fun of LDS Link-up and other LDS dating sites. After this entertaining night…we headed down to the Santa Monica Pier and rode the Ferris wheel. It had amazing views of the city from over the water…and then we finished up the night at the grocery store picking up some last minute Sunday items.

Needless to say, Jess and I had a GREAT weekend…and she headed off to Hawaii bright and early Sunday morning…what a hard life she leads!!