Los Angeles Baby!

It's about time I finally got around to writing about my trip to Los Angeles...two weeks ago.

This was a trip that the old college crew had been anticipating for months. We were finally all going to be back together in the same place - it'd been since our senior year!

Wednesday I took an early flight and was met by my former roommate, her boyfriend and our friend Chris. After settling in we headed over to the La Brea tar pits, which were not that far from Chris' house. We didn't stay long, given how freaking hot it was, but it was a fun little touristy thing to do.

Chris and me in front of one of the tar pits. It smelled lovely!

That evening we trekked up Runyon Hill (which, is more than a hill, trust me) so we could get views like this.

apologize for the fuzziness, it's an iPhone pic.

Thursday it was off to Laguna Beach for some relaxing in the sun. I don't know about all the rest of yous young professionals out there, but laying on the beach for hours on end just screams perfect vacation to me.

Beautiful Laguna Beach!

Pretty standard position for us this week.

We walked along the shores of the Pacific before heading to our next destination: Newport Beach.

Why does this sound like some sort of MTv special?

First priority was to find a bar for happy hour. And boy was it happy. Just being back in a bar with the old crew was enough to make me happy. Though, the drinks didn't hurt either.

Take a look at the size of Brandye's drink!

Then we walked along the pier and took some more pictures.

The rest of the evening was spent out in Huntington Beach with the rest of our group. Our friend Jon also lives out in SoCal, so after swinging by his place in Irvine to clean up, we spent the evening together, catching up on the last few years.

We kept it calm, probably not as expected, but when Brandye asked me to ride the bull with her, I just couldn't resist.

Yes, I was sober. Yes, I should be embarrassed by this. No, I'm really not.

Friday included more beach time, relaxing in the sand at Venice Beach before going to the Dodgers Game.

Now, let me just say that we had 8 tickets to this game - 4 that were given to Chris by a vendor of his, and 4 that they purchased. Chris, being the nice guy he is, gave us out-of-towners the nicer seats.

We ended up in the Dugout Club which began with an all you can eat buffet of pretty phenomenal food, followed by seats 3 rows behind home plate.

(Talk about some pretty amazing seats, eh?)

Throughout the game there were a number of celebrity sightings, including a foul ball caught by Jermain Jackson and Ray Liota and his family sitting one row over. During the game we noticed on the big screen that Jerry O'Connel and Josh Duhamel were at the game. I looked around and noticed they were only a couple sections over, in the front row.

Ha, cool, right?

Well, it gets even better. So while we were inside retrieving drinks, we came across Jerry up at the bar. We decided to approach him, very gently, and ask if we could get a picture with him.

He seemed happy to do so, then mentioned that Josh is outside and we should get him in the shot too ... just as he walks in.

Can you say perfect timing?

Long story short, there I am with my arm around Josh Duhamel when my friend's camera is FULL and we can't get the shot. 

So, no proof. But I can tell you, my knees went a little weak having my arm around Josh's waist.

But enough about that.

Saturday was our last full day in L.A. and we lived it up, again, at the beach. But first, we walked Hollywood Boulevard for a bit. It was another one of those fun touristy things.

(Chinese Theatre)

After our walk in the heat I made everyone stop off at one of my frozen yogurt obsessions, Pinkberry for a refreshing treat before heading over to Hermosa Beach.

Our last night was spent on the town with the whole crew. We hit up a local bar for some great burgers - yes, I cheated - then went back to the house where the guys played a few rounds of beer pong before heading out.

The bar of choice was called Happy Endings. I know, right?

It was great to sit around and share drinks with the crew again. Most of us remained in control, others, did not. 

A few of us made the long walk back to Chris' house and headed to bed so we could catch our early flights.

It was a great five days of fun and relaxation with my favorites from the good old days as Spartans. 

The only remaining question is, where do we go for next year's reunion?

Cheers!

-A