Heart Connection

When Allison and I attended Andy Cohen's book signing I saw that Carol Burnett was on the schedule for the next week.  So I recruited my two "new to California" friends, Eileen and Karen, to go with me.

Eileen's husband works on the same project as Steve.  She lives in Nebraska and visits when she can.  Karen lives here with her husband who works on a project in L.A. but for a different company; their home is in Texas.   They have been here for the past year and I met Karen at our apartment complex just this past January while taking our dogs out.

Eileen, Karen, and me!

I'm so thankful for these new friends!

When I approached the table I shared a little about why I was looking forward to reading her book.  She may be a good actress, but I truly think our hearts connected as one mother to another.  I actually made her cry.

A kind man who was in line ahead of me stopped me after I received my signed book.  He said that he had taken pictures of me talking to her and would it be ok if he emailed them to me.

On a lighter note, here's Carol's face while talking to Karen!

As Carol would say (or sing), "I'm so glad we had this time together . . ."

Allison and Brian's April Visit

On April 6th Allison and Brian arrived!  We had planned to pick them up and drive to the Grand Canyon but Steve ended up  having to work.   While walking in Venice Beach earlier that day, we discovered that the show Ninja Warrior was going to be filmed at 7 p.m.  So after eating the tamales we bought from a Venice Beach vendor - Brian, Allison, and I walked back to watch the action.

 We waited and waited and waited.  

We finally gave up due to our cold tired feet.

The next afternoon we drove to La Jolla which Allison and Brian had never seen.  Can you tell it's one of our favorite places?  Walter sat in Allison's lap for most of the way!

Brian and Steve caught the tail end of a car show which they enjoyed!

On Monday we went to Extra at The Grove.  To much of her dismay, Allison was interviewed by Maria which was televised.

Afterwards we needed a breath of fresh air and went for a drive thru the Angeles National Forrest and on to the Vasquez Rocks.

Of course, Walter went with us!  He's such a good traveler (which is good to know since we will be driving back to Florida with him when we leave here)! 

On Tuesday, Steve took the day off because we all had tickets to see Ellen.  We didn't have to be there until 2 p.m. so Allison and I dropped the guys off at the La Brea Tar Pitts while we explored the Beverly Hills area.  We first stopped at a Beverly Hills Goodwill where I bought a few items and then we went to Rolling Greens,  a unique home and gardening store that Allison had read about on a blog.  

We then window shopped along Robertson Avenue and stumbled upon a restaurant I've been wanting to go to for a long time, The Ivy.  What fun!

We were greeted with complimentary champagne!

We then picked the guys up from their hamburger joint and drove to Ellen.

A sign that I've attended too many talk shows is when I'm disappointed in the experience.  Ellen's guests were Mario Lopez and Bethenny Frankel, people Allison and I had previously seen and Ellen couldn't dance up the stairs due to a back injury.  Ok, there, I said it.  I know I should be thankful that I even got to see Ellen's show.  And like I said, I think I've been to too many shows.  We all got a cd and a Powerball Lotto ticket, but none of them were winning tickets. I know, I'm complaining again.

Brian left early Wednesday morning and I'm not sure what all Allison and I did until she left on Saturday.  I know that we went to Santee Alley and to Olivera Street in downtown L.A.  But besides that, I have no idea.  I know we had fun and enjoyed our time together!

 We picked up some more tamales from this restaurant and took them home for dinner!

An incredible succulent wall (which was huge) near Olivera Street

We went to Andy Cohen's book signing at Barnes & Noble. He was quite entertaining and personable!

One last picture of what a morning is like for Walter when Allison is here visiting!

 We sure hope they can return again before we move back!  Thanks for coming Allison and Brian!

A March Visit with Tiffany Weeks

Do you want to see any talk shows while you're here?  The Tonight Show?  Conan?  Jimmy Kimmel?  As soon as I hear the happy news that a friend is coming for a visit I begin planning our days together.    Have you been here before?  What all did you see?  What are you most interested in?  

Back in March a friend from Greensboro, NC, Tiffany Weeks, attended a week long conference in Aneheim and was able to extend her stay in CA with a visit to see me.  I've known Tiffany for 20 plus years.  She's the kind of friend that even though we don't talk frequently we can pick up our relationship as though we talk everyday! 

During the conference I drove over to Aneheim one evening and had a delicious dinner with Tiffany at the Disneyland Resort.   

With my overnight bag packed, I returned to Aneheim on Thursday afternoon ready to spend the night and begin planning our time together.  While sitting in the hotel room catching up on each other's lives, I interrupted and said, "How about we go to Palm Springs for dinner?  It's about 1 1/2 hours away, but we could get there before the sun sets!"  And off we went!

We barely got there before dark, but it was a beautiful drive and so unusual.  We had a delicious dinner outside and before heading back to Aneheim we stopped by a casino hoping we'd both be big winners.  But I guess it's difficult to win big when you're playing the penny slots!

The picture below is before we left The Disneyland Resort the next morning.

Our destination - La Jolla, where we enjoyed an outdoor lunch.

Some sights along our walk:

The rest of our time together we attended The Tonight Show, The Talk where we won some giveaways : ), walked along Rodeo Drive, and visited The Beverly Hills Hotel.

A beautiful drive through a Beverly Hills' neighborhood.

We visited the Grauman's Chinese Theater and enjoyed dinner out near the Dolby Theater.

If I had posted about Tiffany's visit three months ago, I would've been more specific about our time together, but I'm having a difficult time recollecting what we did each day.  I do know that we had a great time reconnecting after so many years and I hope we can get together again soon!