LA!!!

Hello!!!! I died but I've come back to life

I have tons tons tons of upcoming posts since I haven't updated this blog in 4ever so don't mind me.

Okay so I returned from my lil trip to LA like a month and a half ago so I'm finally making a post about it!!! There's 100+ pics in this post so I'm gonna do that lil jump break thingy so it doesn't make my blog super fucked up on whatever page this post is on lol so yeah eNJOY!!!


I literally flew to LA less than 48 hours after my last final exam which was on mon april 27. The following day Kimberly and I got our nailz did (I got UV gel nails extensions, oval shaped, and pastel pink coloured!!! u shall see in later pics ^_^). Then on wed, my flight from YVR to LAX was at 6am so I had to be at the airport super early in the morning. I didn't even get any sleep that night :-(

SHITTY ASS AIRPLANE PIC but yeah!! I tried to nap on the plane but it didn't really work. I had that half asleep feeling like on the bus which sucked because I was hoping to actually fall asleep during the flight but oh well

This was the moment when I realized LA is fucking huge. Like it's HUGE!!!! aka Vancouver's size is a joke!!!

Then obviously when we landed I needed to snapchat a pic to show I'm out and about w/ dat sticker filter shit!!! We took a shuttle to Hollywood where we were staying (we found a place on Airbnb at an apartment literally a block from the walk of fame on Hollywood Blvd!!) and we checked in and met the host who was a super friendly outgoing girl and her sister and then both had UK accents which was cool haha. We decided that on the first day we would mainly just explore Hollywood Blvd since it's conveniently close to where we were staying and we'd be too exhausted from getting so little sleep to really do anything. So first we went to In-N-Out which I've been dying to try for years now!! And yeah it was pretty good *__*

I just got the cheeseburger combo thing and wow the place was so busy. I was surprised at how busy it was since it was like 2pm or something on a wednesday?? It was literally packed and we were so lucky to get a table. I WISH VANCOUVER HAD IN-N-OUT!!! It was soo good except I still like mcds fries better lol *fat lyfe*

Then afterwards we went to try to get a seat in the Jimmy Kimmel Live show and luckily we did! We were the only ones in the line for stand-by until some middle aged couple joined us and began chatting with us about the weather, travelling, where we're from (apparently they're from Utah taking a mini vacation together and a break from their kids), etc. We were worried we wouldn't get spots in the audience considering how long the line was for people with tickets but in the end we got in and Kim and I actually got pretty decent seats in the third row on the side, which still provided good views on the stage. It was so awkward when we were entering the building though because they have to do a bag check and body check w/ a metal detector and one of the security guys asked how old I was and I told him 19 and he was like "damn I thought you was 14!" and he said something about how I was doin it well hahaha. I thank my youthful asian genes. Anyway it was actually very interesting seeing the process of recording the show because everything was so fast-paced and everyone had such high energy and enthusiasm (something I am terrible at expressing in front of people). Honestly I am so out of it when it comes to famous people and celebrities but someone named Billy Crystal was a guest on the show that day and I didn't know who he was so it kind of bored me but in another segment they brought a cute lil black bear cub which was so cute!! They also had a serval cat and some type of owl which was really interesting considering how much I love nature documentaries! I'll embed a video of one of the segments in which I was a part of the audience below:

Then we explored this shopping area which googling it now I found out it's called the Hollywood and Highland Center?? But yeah it's a pretty nice lil mall w/ a view of the Hollywood sign

We found this little nook on one of the upper levels where nobody was and it was so minimal and aesthetically pleasing so we started taking photos and selfies there. It was extremely awkward when some old guy walked into this area, saw us taking selfies, looked around, and then left haha. I think on the first day it was 30 degrees celsius?? Which is so hot for a Vancouverite like me (god I hate the term Vancouverite lol) but I love warm weather. I love not having to carry around a heavy jacket and I love the cool air at night.

That evening we ate at a restaurant at the shopping center called the California Pizza Kitchen. Despite going there 2 more times later, I didn't take a single picture there! I guess I was too hungry to care. The food was really good and the portions were surprisingly large for the prices. I got a salad (I think it was called the Chinese chicken salad or something??) and I didn't realize how big it'd be so I ended up ordering a full size rather than half size and it was enormous!! I was a giant plate with a huge pile of salad and I only finished like half of it and I got the rest of it wrapped up to go. Kimberly got the garlic cream fettuccine (I took a bite of it and it was so good that I ordered it the next time we came here lol)

The second day we went Santa Monica. We got around LA via metro (we got a 7-day pass) which was actually pretty efficient, especially their tap cards!! I mean I know Vancouver is currently transitioning to Compass cards but Compass cards are so slow in comparison. Not to mention their subways are so much longer than our skytrains and they have so many more buses which makes sense considering how large the city is. And also people seem to be really friendly towards strangers in LA haha. So many randoms that just start talking to you. It was interesting though since it's such a contrast from people in Vancouver.

When we got to Santa Monica what I really wanted to see first were the cute beach houses!!! So we headed toward the beach first. We didn't have enough time to hit up the pier unfortunately!

(obvs had to take a selfie)

This is a pic that Kimberly took of me along the sidewalk/lane thing right by the beach! Clearly my shoes were not very beach appropriate but oh well

I was taking a picture of this cute house along the beach. I was so into the pale yellow and blue colours on the house and then this man started walking by and the pop of bright pink in contrast with the yellow caught my eye!! I had to snap a pic

THEY'RE SO CUTE!!!!

My favourite beach house on the block :-)

 Cute plants n stuff :-)

 Jasmine McSquinty

We ate at a place called Ma'kai and do you see the dish on the left??? It was so so good!! I believe it was tempura style crab stuffed japaleno peppers. I'm still craving it to this day *sigh*

Third Street Promenade!!! So many nice stores here :-)

Kitson

Palm fucking trees guys.......... cant get enough of em

NASTY GAL!!!!!! I was soooo excited to see that they have a physical store here!!! (I think they have another location in LA as well on Melrose Ave I believe. Sadly I didn't find anything that I really liked so I left empty handed but so awks...... I took a mirror selfie because the entire back area of the store is mirrored.

Then I found out that the mirror walls were actually where the change rooms are and to my horror when I went into the change room I realized that the door is one-way mirror so from the inside I could see right through and see the store and people walking by. I mean that's actually really cool but I was like omg what if when I was taking the mirror pic someone was inside the change room across from me and it looked to them like I was taking a pic of them?? Super awkward lol

We also stopped by AA and I was super eager to buy stuff from there since it's made in LA so things were a bit cheaper. I ended up buying a plain tee in size L (I believe this is the hammer t-shirt). I love love love big tees and I was trying to see my limit on how big I can go lol. XL drowned me so L it was.

At the end of our Santa Monica day we went to Cafe Crepe to eat. I got a dark chocolate and banana crepe with whipped cream and I don't remember what Kimberly got. And fries. It felt like home again :')))

The next day we headed to the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Walt Disney Concert hall, downtown LA, and the fashion district.

I really enjoyed the MOCA. I really love contemporary art and it was such a nice museum. Sadly part of the museum was cut off for construction or something and I think it was the permanent exhibitions so it was quite small when we went. One of my absolute favourite exhibitions (to this day) that was really really eye-opening and has been stuck on my mind was 'Double Conscience' which features Kahlil Joseph's m.A.A.d.

***I'll post a vid of a portion of it here when I figure out how to do so lol***

I love how Kendrick Lamar's "Sing About Me" was used. It added an air of sadness and wistfulness and nostalgia for something I never had/experienced :-(

MOCA gift shop

Afterwards we headed to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. We didn't actually go inside but we explored the exterior and it was huge!!!

It was actually so big and the entire design of the building was beautiful!! It felt so weird to me walking around because it made me feel so small in this huge metal looking asymmetric ball of aluminum foil. It was incredibly sunny and hot that day too and I'm surprised that I made it out alive in a denim jacket!!!

We hit up Acne Studios and I felt so poor in there haha... I mean Acne clothing isn't like the priciest thing in the world but I certainly would not buy a plain sweatshirt for $250 ya feel?? It felt a bit awkward being the one of the only shoppers in there however Kim bought a pair of jeans from there. If only I could too but I'm too broke 4 that lyfe

We also checked out Bottega Louie which had a bunch of cute lil macarons among other dessert!!! We ended up getting a box of 5 macarons and from what I remember I got mango and rose and Kim got mint chocolate and earl grey, and we got a vanilla to split but we ended up giving that one to our lovely host.

Then we headed to Dinosaur Coffee!

 Terribly hard to read in this pic but the sign says "things will be fine"

 Washroom

Dinosaur Coffee has such a nice atmosphere and the interior looks wonderful!! I didn't take many pictures of the layout of the cafe but I really loved the sign they had up on the wall. I'm sad because when we were walking there, we saw white coloured palm trees and we thought to ourselves, wow strange. But we didn't investigate because we were so tired and my feet hurt from my sandals. And turns out, the white palm trees were from the ProjectionLA aka Bates Motel exhibition by Vincent Lamouroux!!! We were there at the PERFECT time because it had just opened days ago and it was open to the public for only 2 weeks!!! AND WE DIDN'T GO because we didn't know about it!!! I'm still kicking myself for this because looking at the photos online, it looked like such an incredible work and I missed my chance to see it live (as the place is supposed to be demolished and turned into some housing/apartment space).

The macarons :-)

The following day we explored the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Beverly Hills. First we stopped by Muji though since it was less than a block from where we were staying.

I FUCKING LOVE THIS PLACE!!!! I wish there was a Muji in Vancouver. Everything is designed so nicely and minimally and it made me want to buy a bunch of useless stuff that I didn't need. I remember Kim and I were like "look how cute this package of q-tips is!!! like we don't even need q-tips right now but it's so cute that I want to buy it!" We didn't end up buying the q-tips however lol. There was so much cute stationary and notebooks and stuff and I wish I picked up a few notebooks but regrettably I did not. I did purchase 3 pens though but upon returning home and searching through all my luggage I could only recover 2 of them!! I must have dropped one of them at the place I was staying at and left it there by mistake. The pen that got away :-(

Afterwards we went to the LACMA. We barely spent any time there but I wish we did because it was enormous!!! Check out dat Urban Light ting

(roots showing like mad and hairy greasy as hell tho *sigh*)

We only explored a bit of the LACMA and this stuff wasn't exactly my cup of tea as I enjoy contemporary art more but it was still very beautiful in there!! Looking at photos on instagram later on though I realized that they did have several contemporary art exhibitions (I feel like in the other buildings maybe??) but we didn't go which I'm super sad about. Maybe when I go again someday I'll explore the LACMA a bit more!!

Outside they had this installation (I didn't catch the name of it) but it was like yellow rubbery strings/tubes hanging down and kids running wild thru it lol. Kinda looks like spaghetti

There was a walkway with a massive boulder resting atop the walls of the passageway (with added support underneath obviously haha). Our host was telling us about how cool this boulder thing is and it was pretty cool walking underneath it. I love the line of palm trees along the block!!! Goddamn I miss the palm trees :-(

Afterwards we went to Graffiti Sublime Coffee which was pretty close by. These arrows were on the ground in the parking lot outside of the entrance.

Both us of got the Thai iced tea and it was so good!!! I fucking love Thai iced tea and this stuff was incredible lol. The whole atmosphere of this place was pleasant and chill and I really liked it. There weren't very many people in there and it was incredibly spacious and well designed with tons of seating available. It was pretty quiet in there and there were quite a few people sitting alone with their laptops in their own little zones. We camped there for almost 2 hours charging our phones and using their 90 minute wifi. It was a nice space to just sit and relax for a bit away from the heat!!

Afterwards we were walking through Beverly Hills and we were heading to Rodeo Dr and the adjacent streets and came across this mural which I later found out is by D*Face, 

Sneaker girls??

 I spy Rolex lmao

Okay SO FUNNY prior to LA I was on google maps street view and I dropped myself somewhere in Beverly Hills and I came across this building called the Sterling Plaza and I was like wow it's cute. Fast forward a few weeks to when I was actually in LA. I was waiting for the bus and I look at the building across the street from me and I was so shocked because there it was in person!!! I was like a weird deja vu feeling haha

 We passed by the LACMA again and look at dat moon looking real fine that evening

The next day was our last day of exploring LA since the day after, we were leaving *cries*. We went to the Getty Center, Griffith Observatory, and attended a UCB show.

On our way up to the Getty there was a cute lil garden

Heading up there we decided to walk instead of take the train and it was really cool but also I thought I was gonna die several times because right next to the sidewalk would be like a huge drop down to a bunch of trees jesus

 ~road 2 the Getty~

And then when we finally made it up there it was soooooooooooo beautiful!!! EVERYWHERE WAS SO......... aesthetic. hahaha I sound lame as hell but that's the only word I have right now to explain it. Grid everywhere. Minimal buildings. AHHH

 I loved the purple!!!

Couldn't take a proper selfie w that wind blowing my hair into my face

There was garden there too with tons of tourists obviously. Although the garden was pretty small it was really nice and made me think of my mommy <3

We  didn't actually go in there as we were pressed for time but we sat there enjoying the view and the free wifi (lol...) for a bit and then headed back to the place we were staying at, dropping by In-N-Out along the way hehe

Then after we stuffed our faces we headed to the Griffith Observatory. We got there just in time to catch the sunset!!!

 Look at dat sunset glow I got

 Beautiful ceiling :-)

 Tesla coil :-O!!!!

 Info on moon phases!!

 Periodic table with actual elements lol

 OMG A 3D H-R DIAGRAM!!!! U DONT EVEN KNOW HOW TURNT I GOT WHEN I SAW THIS SHIT!!!!!!!!! I STARTED TELLING KIM ALL ABOUT THE H-R DIAGRAM AND ITS PROPERTIES AND I DONT THINK SHE GAVE A SHIT BUT WHATEVER

 Guys even the restroom sign was cute as hell

Ok the Griffith was the BOMB my god!!!! It was so cool because it basically mentioned EVERYTHING we learned about in Astr 101 and 102 (moon phases, seasons, H-R diagrams, star life cycles, etc etc) so I literally explained everything to Kim and it's incredible how much information you retain when you genuinely enjoy a course haha.

By the time we headed out it was dark and when you looked up at the sky you could actually see stars. It was so beautiful and I wanted to capture a photo of the sky so badly but it was difficult to do so with an iphone camera so only brighter stars showed up in my pic

After that, we headed to the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) on Franklin Ave. I had never heard of this before but Kim really wanted to go and our host actually performs for this as well and it was really cool what a coincidence it was. It's basically like improv comedy shows. We attended one called "Search History" where a volunteer from the audience gives them his/her phone and the actors go through their search history and create an improv sketch based on things from the search history and it was actually a really great and funny show! It was so funny because we ran into our host there- she was attending the show as well in the audience! So we Uber-ed back home together.

By the time we got back to the place we were staying (we kept calling it "home" and saying things like "go home" by the end of our trip lol) it was pretty late and we were exhausted.

Our flight was at 1pm the following day so in the morning we made sure we packed everything (I guess not everything..... *single tear rolls down as I think about my pen*). We were so sad and we didn't want to leave LA. The good thing was that the day we left, the weather wasn't very nice (the sky was gray and it was about 17ish degrees from what I remember) so it wasn't like we were saying good bye to lovely warm weather which would've been a lot harder!!! I was so exhausted by the end of the trip that after we boarded the flight, I was so tired that I fell asleep before we even took off hahaha AWKS

When we arrived back at YVR I immediately got an iced capp from Tim Hortons because I missed this lil Canadian ting and my dad picked us up and it was so nice seeing him again after almost a week!! Right when I got home flopped face first onto my bed because despite how comfortable I got in LA, nothing beats my bed aka heaven.

I still miss LA and honestly Kim and I are already talking about returning next April/May in 2016. I mean it's a long time from now but I'm so eager to return and do more exploring in that huge lovely wonderful city :-)

I hope you enjoyed this long ass post if you got all the way down to the end!!! Sending my luv 2 u if you actually made it through this whole post and I've got plenty more posts to come!!! Cya 4 now <3