LA in a Day

As I mentioned in my previous post, my sister was out here visiting last week.  Even though she was on spring break, I still had to work all week and even though she was at my house for a total for 7 days, we really only had one full day to hang out together and experience my new city.  Kendall came armed with many things she wanted to do and see all over the city and I had the challenge of figuring out not only how to fit everything in but how to combat traffic to do it.  Miraculously, we managed to have one perfectly crazy LA day with no traffic issues.

After coffee and a light breakfast at home, The Duchess and I took Kendall on a scenic drive up the PCH and through Topanga Canyon to our first stop:

Dash Calabasas

Unfortunately for Kendall, we were unable to keep up with the Kardashian's as Dash is not open on Sunday.  Apparently Kim and her sisters need to go to church and atone for their sins.  No matter, we had a delightful lunch at Marmalade Cafe and spent some time turtle watching:

Next we made out way out of The Valley and over to Hollywood to peruse the Walk of Fame.

Jenn's star was brand new and
the reason for our trek

My favorite star!

Best day of her life.

After Hollywood it was over to The Grove to engage in Ken's favorite past time- shopping.

Ken may have been a bit disappointed in the size and exclusivity of the stores, she was expecting it to be larger and more high end (honey, that's Rodeo Dr....) Regardless, she found a new shirt and we enjoyed walking around and sipping Arnold Palmers.

Next, it was off to LA's Fashion District to meet my friend Jill at her studio to check out her work space and try on some of her new designs.

http://jillaikoyee.myshopify.com/ 

According to Kendall, this was her favorite part of the day.  We had a great time chatting with Jill, hearing all about her new projects, and of course getting some fantastic new clothes.  Kendall and I both left with some amazing new pieces with just enough time to head over to Griffith Park Observatory to take in the sunset before heading back to the Westside for dinner. 

 

Sooooo... this was as close as we got to the observatory due to massive crowds.  Apparently many others had the same idea we did.  See, this particular day had the most gorgeous weather LA had seen in a while.  It was 80 in Santa Monica and in the 90s in The Valley and around the rest of LA.  I thought we were being smart by vacating the beach and exploring the rest of the city.  I just didn't realize that those who didn't go to the beach were going to Griffith Park.

Naturally, I was determined to find someplace in the park other than the observatory to get a killer view of the sunset.  That's when I tried to make Kendall climb up to the top of a ridge.  She was displeased.

Thumbs down for nature!?!

Kendall was cross that I made her touch nature and I was disappointed at our first failure of the day.  With that, we threw in the towel and schlepped back to my house to change before meeting our cousin Jim for dinner and making our first attempt at the Cupcake ATM.

And that was our crazy LA day!  I'm still in awe of how much we were able to see, how many different areas we explored, and the fact that we were never stuck in traffic.  That is, unless you count the human traffic in Griffith Park...

I did manage to get the afternoon off of work on Monday and Ken and I went to a taping of Chelsea Lately.  Unfortunately, we could not bring cameras or phones anywhere near the studio, so the only pictures I have to share are from our cocktail lunch before and Kendall displaying one of Chuy's balls that she grabbed during the taping.  The whole experience was really fun, but also kinda weird.  You are definitely not there to relax and enjoy the show, you are there to play the role of "audience member" and help make the show look good.  Different then we expected, but a really cool experience none the less.

 

The rest of our week was pretty low key, pretty much just grabbing dinner and wine around Santa Monica.  Overall, my first LA visitor was a resounding success (Ken may want to move here!) and I realized that I actually know my way around the city pretty well!  Playing tour guide is the true test that often separates the newbies from the residents.  I think may have hit resident status... but I guess Kendall has the final say on that...