California Dreamin

As most of you know, I lost some weight awhile ago through this fantastic, free website called sparkpeople.com (seriously, if you haven't checked it out yet, you will not regret clicking right HERE). Anyway, in spite of the fact that I've always mocked people for having online friends, I really did end up making some online friends. (Who knew it could be so cool?) I've been talking with these ladies for well over a year now and in December I had the chance to meet up with a few of them.

June, Lynn, me and Steph at the outdoor mall in glorious southern California.

Lynn lives in California and put us all up at her place, Steph is from Tennessee, and June (the only one I didn't really know that well prior to the trip - Steph and Lynn knew her better) is from Illinois. I've never done anything like this before and really couldn't believe I was doing it this time. I was a bit nervous, but mostly REALLY excited to finally meet them and have a fun time in SoCal.

We all flew in on a Wednesday and our planes landed within 10 minutes of each other. How's that for timing? In fact, June had a layover in Phoenix and we were able to meet and talk for a few minutes before boarding our separate planes to LA.

There's no In-n-Out Burger where Steph and June live, so that's where we had lunch. Yum-my! Then we did some window shopping at the mall before heading back to Lynn's.

Once we got to Lynn's place, one of the first things Lynn did was give us the earthquake drill.

I thought she was kidding when she said that, but no.

This is a pic of her backyard:

In the event of an earthquake, the plan was to jump the back fence and hang out in the middle of the field. When we expressed our skepticism that we could actually jump it, Lynn assured us that if the ground shook hard enough, we'd manage it.

Okay.

And did I already say that June wanted an earthquake? She 'put in her order' for one before she left Illinois and Lynn said she'd try for a five pointer. Steph and I thought they were nuts.

What we did for the rest of the night can be summed up with the following three words: TALK, LAUGH, and EAT.

Steph made a version of brownies she calls "Sin in a pan." Lemme just say, it lives up to its name. The best freaking brownies ever. Then Lynn brought out her AMAZING homemade salsa, along with tortilla chips. She also broke out some Fannie Mae chocolate and Fischer's chips (both unavailable in California and which she had been saving just for us).

Did I say we all met on a weight-loss site? Ahem.

By the time we had had our fill of all these "appetizers" we weren't sure we could eat any dinner. But don't worry, we managed it. Lynn's a fabulous cook, and a full stomach is no excuse not to eat her wet burritos, I assure you.

Finally we settled down to watch "Sixteen Candles". Lynn runs an 80's team on sparkpeople (Steph runs the virtual running group where I met them) and so watching an 80's movie was a must. This movie was chosen since neither Steph or I had ever seen it before (gasp). (And do you see Lynn's Jake Ryan t-shirt in the pic above? She wore it just for us.) ;)

Oh, and I can't forget Lynn's cat. She looks pretty sweet, doesn't she?

Well, she's NOT.

Unfortunately Lynn had to work on Thursday. When we were originally planning the trip, this was going to be sort of a free day for people. Steph was going to visit her dad and June toyed with the idea of going to Disneyland for a day. Since there was no pressure to pick an activity that everyone would enjoy, I decided to indulge my art-nerd self and spend the day at The Getty. As it turned out, Steph and June came along too, which was really fun. And Lynn let us borrow her car to drive there:

"Car" just doesn't seem like the appropriate word. Isn't it beautiful? And red. See how it's red? If you've never been in a Charger before (I hadn't) you should find a way to manage it. The get-up-and-go in this baby is something else.

In case you can't tell, we VERY much enjoyed driving around in Lynn's car.

Anyway, moving right along. The sculpture garden at The Getty:

The front:


And back...

...of Figure by Joan Miro. Miro's paintings, while not my favorite, are usually interesting to look at. I can't decide what I think about this though. I'm not a big fan of modern sculpture.

Steph likes horses, and actually owns a couple (for now anyway):

Draped Reclining Mother and Baby, by Henry Moore

This one I liked, except I thought the eyes on the figures were weird. The baby's head looked like a bowling ball:

From the garden you take a tram up to the museum, see it at the top of the hill? It was a bit misty that day.

At the top, you're let out onto an area with plenty of space, sculptures, and views:

The steps up to the entrance.

What I remember most about taking this picture was how COLD the marble was!

When I said entrance, what I meant was an open building leading to an open courtyard, surrounded by a half dozen buildings which together make up The Getty. The layout of the whole thing was just beautiful, and we spent a lot of time on the grounds before we even went into the first gallery.

This picture shows a sunken garden there on the grounds. We meant to go down and walk around in it later, but ran out of time.

Check out the flower trees. They're metal scuptures with flowers planted on top.

We named this Sparkpeople Girl. She's going from flab to fab, right before our eyes!

Even the trees were beautiful:

This was the patio for one of several cafes on the grounds. We went around to each one scrutinizing the various menus. For future reference, if you ever go, there's a cafeteria style one with plenty of options and prices that won't kill you.

I thought my lunch was photo-worthy too. Y-U-M!

Art you say? Oh yes, we did see some art. A lot of art, actually. My pictures didn't really turn out, but I'll share a few anyway. I like seeing them in their frames, which I can't ever seem to find online.

Portrait of a Girl Wearing a Gold-Trimmed Cloak, by Rembrandt

Shipping in a Calm at Flushing with a States General Yacht Firing a Salute, by Jan van de Cappelle (whew, that's one long title!)

Dancer Taking a Bow (The Prima Ballerina), by Edgar Degas

I first saw this Degas from a distance and I got so excited! I love Degas! When I got up to it and examined it closely, something happened that's never happened to me before. Instead of getting close to a painting and liking it more, I liked it less. It was bizarre and disappointing. Up close it just looked unfocused and flat to me. I'd love to go back and look at it again. I wonder if I'd have the same reaction.



Now this is sculpture I can really appreciate:

Ideal Female Head, by Augustin Pajou

And this:

Bust of Winter, by Paul Heermann

A View of the Grand Canal Santa Maria della Salute and the Dogana from Campo Santa Maria Zobenigo, by Bernardo Bellotto

This painting had a magnificent luminous quality that really caught all our attention. Even the online pic of this doesn't show it as well, but it's worth clicking here for a better look at it. I took a pic of Steph next to it to show its size. We all really loved this painting and saw other patrons stopping to admire it as well.

The Getty has an amazing collection of decorative arts. Pretty much all my pics of this turned out terribly, but I'm posting a few anyway.

I want this bed.

The statues serve as the front legs to this piece. That's just cool.

Decorative wooden inlay floor. There were several of these and they were amazing.




Irises, by Vincent van Gogh

I'm a fan of van Gogh and saw on the website that this painting hangs here. I didn't care what we saw that day as long as I could see this. The first time we saw it, it was surrounded by a high school class on a field trip. Not good. So I went back later when I could really sit and admire it for awhile.

And get in trouble for putting my camera too close to it. (At least I got the shots I wanted first.)

I mean, that's so cool. Think about the time it took to mix all those different colors in order to get the effect he wanted. Apparently this painting was done as a study. I think it's amazing.

Moroccan Horseman Crossing a Ford, by Eugene Delacroix

I should've gotten a pic of myself standing next to this. I'd never seen it before, and for some reason I just LOVED it. My pic doesn't do it justice of course. This is actually a relatively small painting, as is the next one.

Evening After a Battle, by Eugene Delacroix

Why did I like such a gruesome painting? I have no idea. The colors were incredible.

La Promenade, by Renoir

Le sigh. I love Renoir.

That night Lynn took us to a British pub called the Royal Falconer. Just being able to type that sentence made it worth it. LOL. Doesn't it just make you want to start talking with a British accent? Or is that just me??? Anyway, the food was delicious and we had such a great time just talking that the time flew and we missed the outdoor market going on down the street. I don't think any of us minded too much. :)

The next day was Friday, otherwise known as Beach Day!! We stopped for some Philly sandwiches, which Lynn informed me is not a true Philly without the onions. Ah well. ;)

And along the way we saw some hotties, er, I mean, officers of the law, raising money for a good cause and only too happy to pose for us. (Only in California, I tell ya.)

Our destination:

Ahhhhh.....

Don't worry, we had plenty of food. And "Sin in a pan" is even better the next day, as we discovered.

Lynn's not crazy about birds. Good thing there weren't too many around.

Yoga surfer working out just a stone's throw from where we were sitting....

...on a very crowded beach...

Lynn decided to lay out for some sun and a nap, so the three of us went for a walk down the beach.



Along the way, Steph found this really cool shell. We were so impressed, we took lots and lots of pictures of it. Isn't it pretty?

Little did we know we'd find about 50 more just like it.

We all ended up with a pretty good shell collection, and each found some white ones which I think look like angels' wings. Here are mine:

And June's:

After our walk we went back to enjoy the view some more:

Later we all walked down to the pier, seeing these cool surfboards along the way:

At the head of the pier was a market. This picture makes me laugh:

I took some video of these drummers. It was very tropical sounding.

This is where we'd have dinner later.

Then we went down this street for some more shopping:

One thing we all wanted to do was watch the sunset over the ocean. As we were ambling our way back to the pier, Lynn realized the sun was going down and hustled us down there. It was a good thing too, because we got there JUST in time. The following sunset took maybe 30 seconds. (Maybe.)

It was breathtaking.

Then it was time to head back to the car so we could check into the hotel and change before dinner. We took our time though:

Lynn under the pier.

A G-rated photo in front of an X-rated statue at the entrance to Huntington Beach. I admit, we had some childish fun with this.

Yep, there it is alright.

Art of this high class requires some serious pondering.

I'd share the more, um, revealing pictures of this brave little surfer, but I'm thinking maybe I'll let Kimmy post it, since she's already been tagged. (Har har Kimmy.)

I didn't get any outside shots of the hotel, which is too bad because it was gorgeous. Lynn got us a smokin' deal on the room.

Then it was back to Duke's for a fantastic dinner.

We loved the food.

We loved the company.

We loved the waiter.

What more could you want?

(P.S. If you ever go, try the coconut shrimp. Drool.)

After dinner we walked to the end of the pier.


And that was it. I had to fly back early Saturday morning because it was Christopher's birthday. Steph and June got to stay until Monday, and I was soooo jealous! :) I had so much fun with those ladies. I hope we get a chance to do it again. Maybe this time, I can play hostess. I'm not sure I'd do as good a job as Lynn (she a fantastic host!) but I'd love to have them. Any time ladies. :)

One last shot of the ocean, from the plane.


It was sad to leave, but this is what I came home to:

I love you too, munchkins.