california, california, here we come!

Last Wednesday I helped a friend drive from Tacoma to L.A. It was really nice to be able to help out as so many times people have helped me with my drive to WA from North Dakota. I left the boys with my parents and made the drive with a dear friend, her 2 year old and her dog. the drive was shorter than it felt, which was nice. we started at about 5 am and got to our destination at about 10:30pm. not a bad day. plus we had tons to talk about and a really nice long visit. after getting to her in-law's house we crashed! the next morning we shopped and ate at a restaurant that max sometimes visits when he is in CA. I could hardly believe my ears when I heard of big tuna and all you can eat sushi. we went, I ordered it, and ate sushi to my heart's content. since max comes here when he's in CA, I was able to see what he was talking about and experience what he has experienced. funny how a random sushi restaurant in CA would make me miss my boy so badly. I had 4 orders of Hamatchi, 1 order of super white tuna, 1 california roll, 1 maine roll (lobster and crab topped cali roll). I didn't finish the rolls.


Then we went back to her in-law's house made it an early night since we had an early morning planned. Saturday we woke up at 6 ish, and by we I mean she-rebekah woke up at 6 ish, I got to sleep in a bit longer. we headed to LA for some shopping and breakfast at the famous Chateau Marmont hotel. it was amazing. She had brioche french toast and I had 2 eggs over medium with organic spinach and tomatoes and melted goat cheese over the top. amazing. Cameras are banned in the hotel but we managed to get a few shots. here is a view of the courtyard where we ate breakfast. we got to sit in the far corner so we could see everything. to the far right corner of the photo is the door to the remainder of the restaurant.



About 20 mins after this (secret) photo was taken Christopher Lloyd came and sat with the woman in the green top. he had 2 adorable dogs with him and he ordered the same thing as me!


The whole place is about 10 times smaller than I expected. it's very small. I would say about 100 people could eat in the restaurant. not sure how many rooms there are but, it's very small and cool. Probably the coolest and most vintage chic hotel I have ever experienced. Here's the bathroom. All the fixtures were REAL silver, and shiny! There were actual towels for drying off. the floor was white marble and the doors all had amazing vintage hardware that was so intricate.


This shot is just the entrance from the parking lot. it sums up what we saw there. I hope we could one day stay here and experience it a bit more. you can really tell that this place is old. the wood and all the furniture are well taken care of and just so luxurious.


I could so totally live here!!


And here!


this store was so great, I know we can get Juicy here at Nordstrom, but it was truly an experience to be had at the Beverly Hills store. I really need a camera bag, and it was REALLY hard to put down the cute little black leather and brass studded bag I found near the door. Max, you can thank rebekah for being the voice of reason! We also went to Gucci, Prada, Chanel and a few other designer stores. At Chanel I fell in love with a black croc skin handbag. small, but totaly worth the $28,289.00 price tag. I could really do some damage there on Rodeo Drive! I really felt like a princess the whole day! Thanks, Rebekah for taking me to a fun place and doing all the girly things with me! I loved it!