Saturday, November 8, 2008

My First Week in Cali (Part 1)

The day after I arrived in California, my dad came over and we went shopping. The first thing we did though was eat at a little cafe near one of the many shopping centers. We sat outside in the 70 degree weather and I enjoyed looking around at the palm tree-lined road and the general hustle and bustle of my new home. After breakfast, we headed over to the AT & T store. Before I moved I was still on my parent's family plan so I had to get my own account and I decided to change my phone number while I was at it. The girl who helped us was named Whitney and when I gave her my new address she got really excited because she used to live in a house right across the street from my townhouse. How cool and random is that?! Anyway, she assured me that it was a quiet, safe neighborhood, that had a great landlord (he own the house she rented across from my townhouse), and I was getting an awesome deal on rent for living in one of the best places in the LA area. I told her I had just moved to LA the day before so she even gave me some great restaurant recommendations. It was so amazing to meet her because it just showed my dad and I that God really seems to be blessing this move and making sure I am taken care of.

I don't want to make this post too much longer and bore everyone with details so I will just finish it up with one last story.

Anyway, after the AT & T store, I needed to get a desk for my computer and a mattress since I had nothing to sleep on except an air mattress which led to my first Ikea experience. I had never been to an Ikea before but there is one a few blocks from my house. So my dad and I took a look around picked out a few things in the showroom area and then headed downstairs to pick it up. As I was walking through the accessories area I had my first celebrity sighting. I looked over to my right and saw Andy Dick pulling two carts full of stuff, he smiled at me but I quickly looked away since I was totally not prepared to be so caught off guard. LOL Not an amazing first encounter with a celebrity but a funny situation none the less since I had not expected to see anyone there much less someone so blatantly recognizable. No mistaking that it was him. So anyway it was a great first day in LA.

California, Here I Come!

On Saturday, October 25th, 2008 my Dad and I left to drive out to California. Unfortunately, we did not leave as early that day as we expected since my car was in the shop getting fixed so we did not get a chance to do a "practice pack". Oh well! We finally left at 3:30 or so.

We drove all the way past St. Louis to a place called Eureka, Missouri and stayed at a Days Inn. The next morning we woke up and checked out the breakfast situation but since it was not looking too good, we just decided to head over to MacDonald's. We drove through the rest of Missouri, through Oklahoma and Texas that day and finally, reached Santa Rosa, New Mexico. As we were heading to Phoenix the next day we had to drive across the desert but there were mountains and hills to climb so my car was having temperature issues. Thankfully, we made it to Phoenix that night safely without major issues. I got to see my Aunt Lisa and her family and my grandparents (which was great since I had not seen my grandma or my aunt's family in about 8 years or so) but our family picked up right where we left off as usual. I got to meet my grandparents Westie, named Teddy, who I had heard so much about - he is sooo cute! Anyway, the next day my dad ended up renting a car in Phoenix and put half my stuff in his car so that my car would not overheat on the way to LA since we had more desert to go through.

We pretty much drove through straight desert until we reached Palm Springs, CA. It was cool because there were a couple hundred windmills scattered all over the mountains there. (Those things are HUGE by the way!) Anyway, after that it was pretty much straight traffic all the way to LA. Driving into LA was definitely an experience but gave me a great adrenaline rush of excitement and anticipation. I was nervous and kind of amazed when we finally arrived at my apartment mostly because I could not believe we had finally made it and all the plans from the last year had finally reached reality. Anyway, one of my new roommates, Sarah was taking a nap when I arrived and Rosalie and Daphne were still at work when I reached the apartment so Rosalie's mom was visiting so she let me in and gave me my keys to the front gate and the door. My dad, Rosalie's mom, and I moved all of my stuff into the apartment. My dad soon left to find a hotel to stay in and I was left to get to know my new roommates Daphne and Sarah and their friend, Angela. (Rosalie and her mom went to dinner when she got home so I really only got a chance to say hello.) But the rest of us ordered a family sized Italian dinner from a local restaurant and watched 30Rock. It was definitely a great way to end the day since I was so tired from traveling and anticipation.