I'm not sure whether to write pages and pages, because I probably could, or just quickly summarise the events...perhaps a bit of both.
Hardcore studying coupled with illness made finals week anything but fun. I was ready to leave by the time the week was over, I love Santa Cruz, but I needed a break! Before flying to my sister and brother-in-law's home in Seattle, I flew down to Orange County to stay with a friend. First I should describe my journey from UCSC to the airport. Looking back on it, I am annoyed with myself for doing it this way. There is a website called 'Zimride' where you post the journey you want to take (in my case UCSC to San Jose airport on Dec 10th) and anyone driving that way will post how many seats they have in their car and how much they want you to pay. I could've taken a number of buses to get to the airport but with 2 suitcases and not feeling 100% I thought I would do it this way. I found a guy who was going past the airport and onto Oakland so I 'booked a seat' in his car. I spoke to him on the phone and he sounded a little weird but I had seen his facebook page and he seemed better than some other options. I barely slept that night because I was worrying he was going to be a rapist of murderer! He turned up in an old beaten up, smelly, messy car with a bag of weed on the dashboard. After a bit of struggle getting my suitcases into his car amongst the duvets, walking boots and other random items, and against my better judgement, I got into his car. I spent the whole journey completely on edge. He was giving me his life story and telling me how his sister is a manic depressive, his mum is ill etc, I nodded and awwed in the right places. When he told me he was actually not going to Oakland as he never told his mum he was going to visit and just going to drop me off and turn back that is when I started to panic! I was starting to feel like I was about to live a real life episode of CSI. It all turned out fine though. It is amazing how your mind will work overtime! I am well aware that I shouldn't have gotten in the car if I didn't feel comfortable. Next time I won't!
I had a great 5 days in the OC! My friend lives in a really nice gated community with views over Irvine. On the first day we went down to Crystal Cove and Laguna Beach. Laguna Beach was not how I imagined it at all. I thought it was going to be a really big area, really touristy and a bit scabby to be honest. It was actually pretty small, really cute with little boutiques and art galleries, and not scabby at all:) We also went to a restaurant called 'The Boiling Crab' where they give you bibs, you order seafood by the lb and it is brought to you in a bag with a sauce and you just sit there and dig in with your hands! It was delicious!
LA was just a whirlwind. We managed to fit in A LOT! It is about an hour drive from my friends house in Irvine. We hit Rodeo Drive first and gawked at all the expensive, posh shops that we couldn't even afford to breathe the air in! I mean, a dress made exclusively of diamonds, really? The funniest thing was that we had barely been in LA for 5 minutes when I was stopped by a woman wanting me to be a hair model! Apparently it would be the best haircut I had ever had, I politely declined after hearing it was going to take 2 hours and I thought that they would probably cut my hair like Emma Watson or something else as equally as ridiculous (don't get me wrong, she rocks short hair, but NOT me!). We also went to The Grove, a famous shopping mall, and saw Mario Lopez doing some filming!
We also hit the Walk of Fame and the Chinese theatre. It was really cool seeing all the stars on the floor and the handprints of celebs in the cement. Hugh Jackman has MASSIVE feet by the way...;) We also went up to Unviersal City Walk which is all the shops outside of Universal Studios. It got me all excited for Disneyland the following day!
Before we left we headed up to the Griffith Observatory to get the view of the whole of LA and the Hollywood sign. It was pretty dark by this time so the picture's of the sign aren't great but seeing LA all lit up was just beautiful, even if it was a bit cold!
Disneyland....I don't know what to say. I felt like a little kid. Well, almost. It made me look forward to taking my own children and seeing their faces light up when Belle glides down the street:) I had my picture taken with Woody, Mickey and Minnie and the parade and firework show was just MAGICAL! We were there for close to 13hours. 13 hours of Disney magic! I could write a whole other blog post on Disneyland and all the rides, and the food, and the experience but this I will keep to tell people:)/ I can't be bothered to type it all out! I took a few videos....
I was sad to leave the OC. I had eaten a lot of good food, including Korean food which my friends family thought was so funny that I liked! But I was really looking forward to getting up to Seattle and starting the Christmas celebrations! After a round-the-houses flight which included a trip to Las Vegas (the airport is right next to the strip so I got to see the pyramid, the hotels and the Sphinx etc), I arrived in Seattle pretty tired after a crazy week. I greet my sister at the baggage claim, she says "I have a surprise for you", I feel a tap on the shoulder, turn round and my parents are standing there! SURPRISE! I was in complete shock, i just burst into tears (of course!) and was also aware of my dad with his camera though thankfully he didn't manage to get any good photos of my face! I had been downhearted that whenever I had spoken to them they were not enthusiastic about coming out to visit at some point but it was all a lie! They had this planned for 6 weeks! My sister didn't know they were coming either! It was all my brother-in-laws doing....isn't he so sweet! After re-starting my heart, and dried my tears, we got in the car and drove home. We opened the door to the apartment and sitting there is my brother!!! He had lied to me too and my parents and my sister! He had said he wasn't coming and then turned up at the doorstep a few days before me! So it is going to be a nice family Christmas in Seattle:)
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