Playing Hostess

I love playing hostess! This past week I was able to play hostess for an international friend. Jessy is someone I got to know when she lived in Fergus a few years ago as an international exchange student from Germany. She started coming to Bethel's youth group with friends, was in my small group of girls, and we ended up in a mentoring relationship as well.

She decided to come back to MN this summer for a couple of weeks, and when she asked when we could get together and I said I was in California, she decided to come here to visit me and see a place she's never been! We had a great time together!

After picking her up at LAX, we went straight to Santa Monica to enjoy the rest of the day there.

We saw the colorful sights of the pier.

She got her first look at the Pacific Ocean!
We saw this sweet couple sitting on a bench at the pier, looking out over the ocean.
We got to the beach and laid out a bit, enjoying our company and conversation, when all of a sudden, I felt something wet on my leg. I looked around and realized that a bird just flew overhead, and left little "presents" for me all over my leg, shorts, stuff, and blanket. Gross!! I got it all off quickly, thankful that none was in my hair!
I love watching all the other people on the beach.
There were quite a few swimmers and sailors enjoying the water and sunny weather.
We had so much fun together!
I love all the colors of the amusement park that's right on the pier.
I've been wanting to take more pictures of people, not just landscapes/scenery -which I also enjoy. But, I've been trying to pay attention to what would make a great shot that has people in it, and try to take those pictures without the subjects knowing it. I had a great time watching this little boy, his dad, and the grandma with umbrella. They were a cute family!


We went to the 3rd Street Promenade (a must in Santa Monica!), did some shopping and LOTS of people watching, and finally left pretty late at night and caught these nighttime shots.

On Sunday, we went to church in Fullerton, had lunch with Jim and Marilyn and some family friends, then headed to Laguna Beach to enjoy an afternoon in the sun. Again, it was fun to watch this little boy with his shovel and pail. I think I've been missing David a lot -I'm drawn to the little boys who are busy playing with EVERYTHING in sight!
We spent all afternoon enjoying the water, then did a little shopping, and were able to catch the sunset.

It was so fun to have Jessy here!
We had so much fun reconnecting, having fun, great conversations, and seeing all the fun sights of southern California.
I really love sunsets at Laguna Beach!


Playing with the settings on my camera:

On Monday, we went to Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I need to publicly apologize to Kristen and Merilee who came here in June. We went to the same places, but just drove by the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and didn't stop at get out. From what I had heard before, it wasn't that great a place to see and I wasn't sure that there was much more than just the outside of the theatre. Well, Jessy really wanted to see it and I wanted her to get the full CA experience. So, we parked in a big garage lot, got out, and found out that it really was an interesting area! Kristen and Merilee, I'm SO SORRY that we didn't go there when you were here! There's a whole shopping mall with a big outside area, that's just directly behind the Kodak Theatre and the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Here's a cool wall that was part of the inside of the mall.

If you look closely, you can see the Hollywood sign in the background.
Here I am with the Hollywood sign. I love actually feeling like I live in the area that I'm in, but it's fun to play tourist for a day as well!
Jessy and I took lots of shots of us trying to get the Hollywood sign in the background. We laughed a lot!
We crossed over to that original wall you saw and got a little better pictures being closer.
Finally! Success!
In the mall, there was this really cool, really old, grand piano hanging from the ceiling near the escalators. I thought it would make for a great picture!
All around the mall, there was this "red carpet" with quotes from actors about their "Road to Hollywood". Here's Jessy at the start of her road.
Starting out on my own road to Hollywood.
The Kodak Theatre is where the Oscars and other Hollywood events are located.
The famous Grauman's Chinese Theater.
Outside the Grauman's Chinese Theatre is where there are hand and foot prints from famous stars. They're embedded directly into the sidewalk and you can walk all around the area. It's pretty fun to think of being right where some of your favorite stars have been. Some of the prints have been around a long time, and others are pretty recent! It was fun to see names like Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Hope, Humphrey Bogart and lots, lots more!

I'm a big fan of Matt Damon, and got a little star-struck when I saw his sidewalk square!

My hands touched where his had
and my feet stood where his have stood. Can you hear the joy?
Next we decided to walk along Hollywood Blvd. We were able to do a little souvenier shopping,
and then we checked out some of the 2000+ stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I decided to snap a few pictures (which ended up being a LOT of pictures!) of favorite actors/singers of mine. I also took a few pictures in honor of family/friends and fun memories, like Ella Fitzgerald and the tape that my best friend Aimee made for me when I moved to AZ nine years ago, or Andrae Crouch because my dad really likes him, or Julie Andrews since Carrie loves the "Sound of Music". If you have a favorite that I knew about, you might see the star here in the slideshow! I was thinking about you!

We came across a couple of blank stars, so here I am in front of my own future star on the Walk of Fame!
And Jessy in front of her future star!
We met up with Elvis and sat down for a song.
He was pretty gracious to let us sing back-up for him!
Here's a little clearer view of the Hollywood sign.
We walked all around looking for the Beatles star for Jessy, and based off a map I found in a souvenier shop I thought I'd know where to find it. Well, we never did (it must be missing because we looked everwhere!) but we DID see the John Lennon star so she thought that was good enough.
After introducing Jessy to Coldstone Creamery ice cream, we hopped back in the car and headed towards Rodeo Drive. We made a quick stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel to snap a few pictures.

Next we walked along Rodeo Drive and window-shopped at all the fancy, expensive stores! Here's Jessy having fun in front of Versace.
After grabbing some delicious pizza, we headed back to Long Beach. We decided to stroll around the Shoreline area, where I took this pretty shot of the sailboats that are moored there.
The Shoreline lighthouse changes colors every few seconds, going from red to blue to green to purple. It's really rather pretty! And the cresent moon was just in the right spot for my picture!
On Tuesday morning, we decided to head to Seal Beach for one last look at the ocean. We came across a young lifeguard training session, and also a bunch of people learning to surf. Here are the surfers waiting for a wave.
The seagulls are all around.
And the pigeons enjoyed drinking from a water fountain.
But then a pelican came to join in the fun and scared the rest away.
A ground-level view of the pier.
The two of us enjoying that ground-level view!
Here are the young lifeguards off the pier.
This is how they got into that spot off the pier. It was really high up!
A cool shot of the area where the boats tie up.

After wandering around the town of Seal Beach a bit, we headed over to Belmont Shores, another really fun area in Long Beach. We grabbed lunch at a Lebanese place, which was a first for both of us. It was REALLY, REALLY tasty!
Yummy!

Well, that was Jessy's first visit to California! It was a long post, because it was a packed visit! I'm so glad that she was able to come, and that we were able to do so many fun things together!