(500) days of Julie (-497)= Valentine's Weekend 2011

 
Julie came to visit LA for the third time this past weekend.  The schedules worked out really well and it was the closest weekend to Valentine's Day, so everything seemed to come together perfectly.  It had been a little over a month since I last saw Julie, so I was definitely ready see her again!

Julie flew in pretty late Thursday night.  I picked her up from the airport and then took her back to the apartment.  We exchanged gifts Thursday because Julie had packed my gift, but didn't wrap it, so she was afraid that I would see it at some point during the weekend.  This worked out well because I had bought her present several weeks before and I was dying for her to see it (or them, in this case).  I bought her pink sparkly TOMS and she seems to like them (if there is any doubt, then you should just check out her blog).  She bought me a shirt from J. Crew and a pair of J. Crew boxers.  The shirt is green which is awesome because I don't have much green clothing!

At the Grove

On Friday, I had a normal school day, so Julie chilled at the apartment while I went to rehearsal.  After rehearsal, I took Julie to the Grove.  The Grove is an outdoor mall and farmer's market.  It is a really cool place and we enjoyed walking around all of the expensive stores.  I even manned up and went into the American Girl store with Julie.  I have never seen so much pink before in all of my life!  The farmer's market is also pretty cool.  You can buy local produce and basically any other kind of food of which you can think.  After walking around for a couple of hours, we went back to the apartment.  I cooked a Caribbean stir-fry and then we went out for the night.

James Beach!

Bars aren't really my thing, unless I am playing music in them, but we decided to go to James Beach in Venice.  It is a really cool bar with a great SoCal vibe.  The real reason that we wanted to go there is due to the movie, I Love You, Man.  In this movie the main characters go to James Beach and eat the "best fish tacos in the world."  This movie has become a favorite of ours, so we couldn't pass up this awesome opportunity to go to the place where they actually shot that scene.  I invited my neighbors to come along and we had a great evening.

On Saturday, I had to teach a few lessons in the morning, so Julie relaxed in my room and I taught lessons in my living room (which also doubles as my private lesson studio).  My last lesson ended at 11:30 AM, which was awesome because it meant that we had the rest of the day to go the the Getty.  The Getty is an art museum just north of UCLA in the mountains.  The views of Los Angeles were unbelieveable.  It was incredible to see the entire city from nearly 1,000 feet up.  Julie and I enjoyed walking around the gardens and taking pictures in front of the scenery.  We walked around several of the exhibits as well.  The art was really cool and the place was so huge that we could have definitely spent all day there.  We stayed until the sun started to set and then we went back to my apartment.   Tonight was to be the night for our Valentine's celebration, so I cooked dinner (tri-color pasta with a bolognaise sauce, salad and some sour dough bread).  After dinner, I manned up (again) and watched The Notebook with Julie.  It was a very nice evening spent in each other's company.

A Beautiful Day at the Getty

 
Sunday was an interesting day.  Going into the weekend, Julie and I both knew that Sunday was going to be a little crazy.  And it didn't disappoint.  The thing was... I had a concert at 4:00 PM with a 3:30 PM call time.  Julie's flight didn't leave until 5:50 PM.  Our original plan was to go to church in the morning and then spend most of the afternoon exploring downtown.  Well, my concert got in the way of things, so I had to drop Julie off at the airport three hours before her flight!  I felt terrible, but there was literally nothing that I could do about it.  On Sunday morning, I decided to show Julie around the downtown area.  For the most part, it is just like any other downtown area.  Shady areas, lots of tall building, crowded sidewalks, tons of traffic, and an incredibly beautiful park.  Yes that's right... in the middle of the chaos rests a small wedge of land called Angel's Knoll.  It has been made famous by being in the movie (500) Days of Summer.  The park is one of the main character's favorite places.

So I decided that Julie needed to see this place before she left.  It really is beautiful.  Right in the middle of this concrete jungle is an oasis.  It was really quiet and peaceful (there were a few homeless people sleeping on benches and one patch of grass smelled like booze), but Angel's Knoll didn't disappoint.  We took some pictures and sat on THE bench from the film (there is a plaque on the bench marking the one that they used for the movie).  After enjoying the serenity, I took Julie down to Pershing Square and then along Broadway.  After walking around for a while, I wanted to show Julie the Staples Center and LA Live.  The only issue was that the Grammy's were taking place there that evening and we couldn't get anywhere near the Staples Center.  It was kind of cool to see all of the limousines driving around the downtown area.  So after a failed attempt to get to the Staples Center, we went back to the apartment and Julie and I had lunch.  At this point it was pretty close 2:30 PM and I had to take Julie to the airport.  It was really unfortunate that things had to turn out that way, but everything happens for a reason.  I dropped Julie off at the airport and then I just made it in time for my concert.

Overall, it was another great weekend.  I really enjoy showing Julie around Los Angeles.  The "City of Angels" will always be a special place to me because it has served as my home.

However, the things that we did this weekend may not have been as spectacular had the weather not cooperated as it did.  The weather was beautiful... really beautiful.  It was so clear and it was warm.  The sun shined every day and there was a light breeze.  We got up into the lower 80's on Saturday and it was perfect.  All weekend, we kept overhearing people's conversations about how amazing the weather was and how it hasn't been this clear in a long time.  So, Julie really did pick the perfect weekend to come out here.