Lamar and Caleisha do California

During the first week of July, Lamar and I went to California for our friend Sheree's wedding.  We arrived the morning of the first and stayed until the 7th.  Our flight out was scheduled for 7:40 am and I was sooo stressed that something was going to go wrong all the way until we were in our seats on the plane, lol. ^.^  I discovered that travel is def an anxiety trigger, and that sucks because I love traveling!

This was truly the trip of Snapchat for me lol!  I used the heck out of that app and between the photos and video, I had more than 400 files ^.^ and they are still not organized... sigh...

After we arrived in LA, we went to In-n-Out Burger and I ordered cheese fries... which came to me with a cheese slice on top. >.< #fail  We stayed in a hotel out in Whittier which turned out to be WAY too far from everything we wanted to do lol (we'll do better with hotel choice next time we go anywhere).

Breakfast for day two was at Heavenly Pancake somewhere in San Fernando. The food was great & I bought a mug ^.^ After eating we spent hours running around looking for a pair of nude flats for Sheree's wedding.  I'd asked her if her service was going to be long and she told me to expect an hour and a half... heels were not going to work!  Later that afternoon we went to Sheree and Justin's rehearsal dinner which was really nice.

Wedding Day!  Sheree and Justin got married on July 3rd.  It was quite a nice outdoor service, although all the bridesmaids were in direct sun lol.  We were saved by Lamar when he brought us fans.  I love that guy!  He and I spent cocktail hour and reception running around making sure things were going smoothly.  At one point, Sheree's dad pulled me aside to thank us for all our hard work *.*  Lamar and I kept saying to each other that we should start a wedding day of coordination company.

The 4th of July was spent with family!  We started the day with brunch at a little diner called Mimo's Cafe and it was delicious.  Then we went to my Uncle Choppy's house for BBQ and fun!

July 5th was our "do everything we want in LA" day.  We went to the Griffith Observatory to see the Hollywood sign, but to be completely honest, I was WAY more excited about the Observatory itself.  I think I actually lost my breath a couple times lol.  

After the Observatory, we went down to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  We took lots of photos, bought souvenirs, I got trapped in an awkward conversation with Sonic the Hedgehog, and we saw the skinniest Superman ever to walk the planet!

We ended the day in the best way possible (in my opinion)... with a trip to Da Poetry Lounge!  Shihan (one of my favorite poets from college) was taking money at the door and I almost squealed.  Literally.  Lamar wasn't even phased lol!  He shared a photo on snapchat with the caption "wife geeking out because Shihan took our money to get in Da Poetry Lounge."  I'm so glad he understands lol!!  The open mic was pretty awesome and reeeeally made me want to get back into writing.  I know it'll come back around.

We spent the 6th at Knott's Berry Farms.  We rode almost all of the roller coasters and played an underwater laser gun game.  Lamar absolutely WHOOPED me!  In my defense, I was looking at the target for the wrong gun... come to think of it, that is a horrible defense lol!  Anyway, we had a great time.

One thing that I wanted to do no matter what, was see a west coast sunset.  So after leaving Knott's Berry Farms, we navigated to the nearest beach which was aptly named, Sunset Beach.  We got there in time to set up our cameras for photos and a nice time-lapse of the sunset (video at the end of this post).

IT. WAS. SO. FLIPPING. COLD!!! What's up with thaaat?  Well, despite the frigid temp, it was a beautiful sunset.

Our last day in California was July 7th and we stuffed that day full of activities too :)  We left the hotel in the morning and went to Downtown LA.  Lamar planned the whole day's activities.  We would start at the Last Bookstore, then go to the LA Museum of the Holocaust, and finish up with a trip to Venice Beach before heading to the airport.

The Last Bookstore was uh-MAZE-ing!!! And the fact that Gathered yarn shop upstairs made it even better!  I didn't buy any yarn, although I kinda wish I had in hindsight.  Oh well.  The LA Museum of the Holocaust was so heavy.  I kept thinking, while walking through the exhibits, "who made you god?"  ...sigh...

Lunch was served at Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles.  Lamar got Obama's Special and loved it!  I got side orders of mac & cheese and cornbread.  I was not prepared for the thickness of the cornbread... I need to get that recipe because that cornbread... THAT cornbread... THAT CORNBREAD!!! ::falls out in the floor::  Was delicious.

Venice Beach was fun. We saw some street performers and a couple guys who should just stop lifting weights... I mean y'all win.  Just stop now lol.  And, I was prepared for the beach breeze with a hoodie!  We stayed at the beach for a touch too long and ended up having to rush to the airport.

We made it onto our plane and settled in for a 3 hour overnight flight to Ohio, a 3 hour layover, and then a short flight back to Orlando.  Lamar slept through the whole thing.  I, on the other hand, couldn't probably because of a combo of trip anxiety and turbulence.  At one point, I looked out the window to see the sun rising and I was soo confused at what time it was.  Jet lag is real lol!

We got home the morning of the 8th and it felt so good to be back.  Our week in California was so packed full of activities that I felt (and still feel) like I need another vacation to recover ^.^  So yeah!  Cali was great.  We got lots of souvenirs.  I'm so glad that Lamar and I were able to have that experience together.