Failure

Today my friend Becky and I had planned on going to Disney's California Adventure with our free passes left over from my birthday. First Becky encountered traffic on the way to my apartment. Then we got a semi-flat tire on our drive down there. We stopped at a gas station and just had to fill it with some air. That completely threw our whole day off. We were late to start with, plus we needed to leave early because Becky had an audition around 4:30.

We decided to turn around and go to the Citadel Outlets for some shopping. Turning around meant we had to join the line of traffic that lead into LA. We arrived around 9, just to find out that stores didn't open until 10.

Fine, we're going to The Grove to shop and get food there. A little before 10 we walked up to the restaurant for breakfast and drinks and were told they couldn't serve us drinks until 11. We just couldn't win today. Eventually we got our drinks, had a yummy omelette, and watched Ever After.

Memorial Weekend

Saturday - Dave and I did a little bit of cleaning up around the apartment and getting supplies ready for his road trip. Around 5:30pm, our friend Hamish from New Zealand flew in to LAX. He is visiting for 2 weeks. We're letting him stay at our place, but his rent was to be paid in Pineapple Lumps and L&P. He brought 15 bags of Pineapple Lumps and 4 bottles of L&P. I was ecstatic!

That night we brought him to an authentic Californian eatery, In-n-Out. We got him a one of their folded paper hats and two stickers. He loved the food. We also made him try Root Beer. He was hooked.

Sunday - In the morning Dave and Hamish left for their 5 day road trip to Death Valley, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon and Phoenix. I went to The Grove in the afternoon and bought two new pairs of jeans for Dave. He has only one pair of jeans left that do not have holes in them.

On Sunday night I went with Dustin and Janelle to the Flight of the Conchords concert at The Greek Theater. It was awesome! In the beginning they came out in sweet robot suits. They told a lot of jokes, poked fun of the USA, and made me miss New Zealand.

Monday - I woke up at 6am to go cheer on my friend Janelle who ran the LA Marathon. Parking and navigate around the road blocks was quite the obstacle. While trying to find parking at the starting line I hit a pigeon. It was terrible. I didn't hit it hard enough to completely kill it and saw it flapping and rolling around on the ground. It was so sad.

I went to the starting line and looked for Janelle, but there were so many people I couldn't find her. Once it got to the walkers in the back of the pack, I drove ahead to about 2/3 of the race. When I got there it was only a few runners going by, so I hoped it was the first of the pack. I waited for about a half hour and then I saw her. I had made a sign that said, "Go Janelle!" on one side and "Janelle Rocks!" on the other. I held it up and cheered her on.

From there I went to the finish line. I made a quick stopped at Ralph's and bought her a dozen pink roses for the finish line! I picked a nice open spot along the road about 200 yards from the finish line. While waiting I had two people come up and take pictures of my sign. It was just a piece of cardboard with the letters written on with permanent marker. About 40 minutes later there was Janelle, still running strong! She looked so happy to see me and so happy to be almost done.

I amazingly managed to find her in the family and friends welcoming area. We walked around for a little bit. Janelle went off to go get a massage and hung out it the shade. She did awesome and I'm glad I could watch her. She finished the race in about 4 1/2 hours!

Werewolves, Museums and Gnomes

On Friday I worked on a feature film called The Roommate. In one scene I was picked to be featured dancing on the staircase with the lead actress and a few boys and girls. The boy I danced with is actually going to be one of the main werewolves in the new Twilight Saga, "New Moon". He was really nice. And the funny thing is, I had just seen in my new Entertainment Magazine a picture of the werewolf pack for the Twilight movie with him in it. Crazy!

Tonight Dave and I used the gift card I got from my parents for my birthday and went to the movies. We saw Night at the Museum. It was really cute. I'm sure people will think it's cheesy, but I liked it. It was really fun and entertaining.

And then when we got home from the movie and were at our front door, Dave noticed my garden gnome was gone. We looked in the bushes nearby, but it wasn't there. I guess someone stole it, which makes me really sad. That gnome was awesome. R.I.P. good gnome, wherever you are. May the person who took you away from me ... stub their toe!

Earthquake!!!

It's me. Dave. Last night I felt my first earthquake! I was on the computer and I thought I heard a train or semi or something outside. But then I started feeling the room shake and I knew it was on. The shaking only lasted for 15 seconds or so but it was amazing. Hopefully we are still in LA when "The Big One" happens.

Birthday Present

It is a large black and white photograph of a street in Amsterdam with a cute red bike in the center.
See, it's large! I love it!

Birthday Bash

I took advantage of the new Disneyland offer which gives you free admission on your birthday. It is only good for the day of your birthday. My birthday was on a Saturday which was perfect. I went with my friend Becky. We met while doing background work together.

Becky arrived at 8am with an iced mocha frappuccino from Starbucks for me. How nice! The drive went fast. We got there in a half hour or so. We got a really good parking spot and took the little train to the gates. I was given a pin that said, "Happy Birthday Tara" and Becky got a pin that said "I'm Celebrating".

We first went to Space Mountain and got a fast pass so we could come back to that later and hop right on. The first ride we went on was the Toy Story ride. It was probably my favorite because you get to shoot lazers at targets. An interactive ride. I totally dominated Becky. She had about 60,000 points and I got about 82,000. But we both only made it up to Level 3 in skill, which goes all the way up to Level 10.

From there we went on the Matterhorn, the Teacups and It's a Small World After All. I kept thinking the song would end at some point, but it never did. It just kept going and going. But, they had a little Maori person with kiwi birds and pukekos so that makes up for it...a little bit.

Next up was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain and Star Tours. We were super hungry after all of that and got burgers and french fries at Tomorrowland Terrace.

Once our tummies were full we headed over to the Indiana Jones ride, but as we were waiting in line, we were told it had broken down so we left. From there we went to the Haunted House and last but not least, Pirates of the Caribbean.

While walking back to the car, we stopped at an ice cream shop along Main Street and shared a cup of Mint Chocolate Chip. Yum!



















I got home around 3:30 which gave me time to take a little nap before the party at our apartment. When I got home, I noticed a large spot on our dining room wall covered in newspapers. It was my birthday present! Dave had gone to Ikea and bought this picture that I had really been wanting. It was so sweet. And the picture looks so good.

Dave and I played some Dr. Mario before the guests arrived. The party was awesome! Dustin and Janelle brought rock band for us to play. We didn't have to worry about being too loud because the neighbors were gone. Instead of a cake we got these giant cupcakes from Costco and put candles on those. We still have some left.

We even had a hot dog eating contest. I think Dave won. The girls combined their totals together to claim that they won. Dave only at 6 hot dogs. He was pretty disappointed in himself. He thought he could eat a lot more than that. I guess he shouldn't have filled up on pizza, chips and cupcakes before.

It was a great birthday and I'm glad I could celebrate the day with so many of my friends.