California Adventure

This past week, I went to Los Angeles for work to do client training and it was a great trip! I was a little worried about the additional stress it would cause but it actually was a great stress reliever.

Monday, I left bright and early and slept for most of the flight. Once we got there, we got the rental car and headed to the hotel. It was actually the same hotel I stayed at when I went to LA for training working with KPMG, but this time I got a room to myself with a big king bed! It also had a great view of the pool and I loved the big windows letting in all the sunshine.

We then went to the hospital and finally got the right training room where we met the two coordinators. It was so fun to finally have a face with the voice! The first day was pretty long especially since I had only had about 4 hours of sleep and no food all day! So one of the coordinator recommended Umami Burger, a hip hamburger place close by and so we went there. I got a Greek burger and sweet potato fries that were delicious. Then I also got dessert that was good, but more sugar and fat than I have had in a long time....and I thought LA was all about healthy eating!

After dinner, we got back to the hotel and I took a nap. Well, Bryce called me 10 minutes into my nap so we chatted for a little bit and then I took a nap until 9:30pm. I got up for an hour to finish some work and then went to bed.

Tuesday, started off with a buffet breakfast at the hotel. Good thing I wasn't paying because the hotel didn't have complimentary breakfast and my breakfast ended up being $28! Of course, the bacon was amazing and I ate lots. I also got french toast and fruit. I wasn't going to starve two days in a row. So then we drove to the hospital which is located in Hollywood. I loved seeing the Hollywood sign!

Day two of training went well and I was able to do some of it. We finished around 3:30 and headed back to the hotel.

So the miracle of the whole trip was that I found my wedding dress online a few weeks back. I ordered it and everything, but then a few days later they told me that they couldn't get my size in time for the wedding. However, they had the dress in a size smaller that might work. Well, of course doing everything online and over the phone made me nervous to go with a smaller size and I didn't want to have a ton of alterations. Well, the store ended up being in Orange County which was only an hour away from the hotel! I talked to my coworker and the store and was able to arrange to go down to the store.

So Tuesday, I headed out at 4:30 braving the LA traffic to see if I could get my wedding dress. The traffic was as bad as every says it is because it took me two hours to get there! My foot was hurting by the end. Anyways, the store is actually at this lady's house who sells modest dresses. It was pretty amazing. And the best part was the smaller dress size fit! So got that all taken care of and clearly the Lord is helping me out! So grateful for miracles! And the drive home only took an hour even with a wrong turn and going down a super scary road where the Lord gave me another miracle of all green lights!

Wednesday, I was starting to get tired, but training was going well. It was another full day and I had some other work meeting throughout the day so I was glad when it was quitting time. We went back to the hotel and decided we needed to find a fun restaurant for dinner. We drove around downtown for a little bit not really finding anything, but then on this random road we smelled something amazing! It was called  Blue Cow, kind of a hipster vibe for the financial district. We went all out for the meal! We started with Crudite (Japanese cucumber, baby carrots, Belgian endive, red peppers & crostini
with walnut hummus, romesco & tzatziki) and Country Fried Chicken Rolls. Then I got a Roasted Beets & Not Burrata Salad (AMAZING!!!!! I want some right now). And for dinner I got a French dip sandwich, which was good, but I was so full I could only eat half of it. Of course, I found room for dessert and we got this amazing gooey cake! Next time, I would just get the salad and dessert! Every bite was heavenly.

So then Thursday was our last full day of training. I skipped breakfast because I definitely did not wake up hungry. Then tried some Mexican for lunch, which wasn't too bad. The coordinators also wanted us to try a little bit of LA and got us Sprinkles Cupcakes, which were very good!

After training, we drove around Hollywood and Beverly Hills for really two reasons:

1. I wanted to see someone famous! Don't even worry I spent a good hour googling where famous live and hang out. HAHA! But we did not see anyone famous during our drive.

2. I wanted to see the nice parts of LA because it is a pretty ugly and dirty city from what I can tell. Of course, if I could bundle of their weather I would in a heart beat. The sun and blue skies were just amazing. It was in the 70s and I could just feel my skin itching for some color!

After exploring the nice parts of LA, we decided we should drive down to Disneyland. It took an hour with traffic so we got there around 9pm so we decided it wasn't worth going into the park. So we hung out and got dinner in Downtown Disney. It still had a magical feel about it and I had amazing sweet potatoes with my salmon dinner!

 

Friday, was a very quick day with a few hours of training in the morning and then we headed to LAX for our flight. This was my last chance to see someone famous! Well, I wasn't disappointed when the Chivas USA soccer team was on my flight! And I sat in between two players...James Riley and Rauwshan McKenzie!! They were very nice and I asked them ridiculous questions. Lucky for them though, I was also very tired so I slept for most of the flight.

So I got back to Portland and luckily it was sunny here and so much pretty with all the spring blossoms! Just need the weather to stay sunny and be in the 70s.....