The Mortons Go to Hollywood

We've been fortunate enough to travel quite a bit in the nine years that we have been married. Different people are looking for different things but even after visiting some amazing beaches in Mexico and the Bahamas I would say my top 3 picks for vacationing are 1. New York 2. Los Angeles 3. Savannah. Perhaps this is because of my love of history and all things famous. Let me start by saying this blog may be a little scattered. I have so much that I want to say I'm dying to get it down in print. We began our trip with a LONG flight. I am not fond of flying. It makes me sick. It's like riding a roller coaster and guess what, I hate roller coasters! However, we were blessed with good flights and no issues getting through security. We do however, have to arrive extra early to check Field's gun. That all changed once we landed in L.A. After taking a shuttle to our car rental company we were informed that we had no car reservation. We spent the next THREE hours on the phone with Travelocity trying to rectify the situation. I will never use Travelocity again. I was extremely displeased and will be writing letters to the BBB. After a free upgrade to a car that we loved during our trip we were headed to Hollywood. It was amazing to see all of the streets that I have seen in movies and on television! Rodeo Dr., Sunset Blvd., Hollywood Blvd. We were pleased with our hotel during our trip. We aren't hard to please. It was clean and convenient to everything. The only thing we didn't like was the queen bed. We couldn't wait to get home to our king size bed. We immediately headed two blocks to Hollywood Blvd. and Grauman's Chinese Theater. People were already lining the streets for the What to Expect When You're Expecting premier. It was so cool to see what a real Hollywood premier looks like. It wasn't as fancy as I thought it would be. The premier didn't start for another two hours and we were tired from our traveling so we didn't stay. I may regret this for the rest of my life. Seeing all of the pictures from the premier made me really regret not staying. This was a non-stop trip. I had an itinerary with up to 20 things for us to see each day. Tuesday we spent the day at Disneyland! It was a lot of fun but I spent the majority of my time trying to decide what gifts to bring home for the nieces and nephews. We missed the kids really bad while we were there but Baden is definitely not ready. When you stand in line for 45 minutes to ride something, get to the front, and the kid starts crying "mommy I gotta pee", I was reminded that he just isn't at a good age. After leaving Disneyland we hightailed it to The Grove, in infamous shopping center and celebrity hot spot. Andy Cohen, the creator Bravo and all things Housewives was doing a book signing. We got lost three times and by the time we got there the event was over. I wasn't giving up. I dashed under a security line and past a security guard to beg for a picture. Andy was nice and it surprised me how small he was. (Everyone is L.A. was surprisingly nice except the people in DASH(The Kardashian's Store) and The Ivy.) Some other things that surprised us were that the parking meters take credit cards, every single bathroom has toilet seat covers (which I loved), and people drive crazy and honk for no reason. They sell "medical" marijuana on every corner. It was quite sad. You can be in Beverly Hills and in a 5 star restaurant and see 5 homeless people outside. L.A. is the most diverse place that I have ever been. No one spoke English and there were like 5 television channels in english. We started Wednesday with the TMZ tour. I am a huge TMZ fan. Along our tour our tour guide asked questions. I knew the answer to every single question. Some of the questions included Who shot John Travolta's wife? Who was the latest celebrity to give birth at Cedars Sinai? What does TMZ stand for and what does it mean? Who drive their car into that store? etc. She was so impressed she said she was gonna tell Harvey to give me a job. To me this was the ultimate compliment! Baha! I won a t-shirt for being the number 1 fan. After the TMZ tour we went to eat lunch at The Ivy. To be honest, it wasn't that good and it was ridiculously expensive! Don't think you can go to L.A. and order water to be cheap. They don't believe in tap water. They believe in $8 a bottle water. That night we had dinner at Katsuya, another celebrity hot spot. On Thursday we decided to hit all of the out of town spots. We went to Inventori, Tori Spelling's store and DASH. We also went to Venice Beach. Most people don't know that you can't get in the water in Cali without a wetsuit. The water is COLD! Even pools are COLD! We didn't get in our hotel pool once. It was too cold. The nights in L.A. are also cold. However, the beach was amazing. It was beautiful. There were outdoor gyms on the beach and everyone was riding bikes or rollerblading. It was just like on T.V. There were life guard towers just like on Baywatch and reefs close to the shore that you could climb on. There were a lot of stores for shopping and artists and singers. We rented bikes and rode 3 miles one way to the Santa Monica pier. It was a blast. We actually rode through a Fruit of the Loom commercial so you may see us in the background bahaha. The pier was iconic and beautiful. After returning our bikes to the typical California surfer dude we rented them from we drove down the PCH(Pacific Coast Highway). It was more beautiful than you can describe. It should be on everyone's bucket list. We rode through Topanga Canyon and it was beautiful. L.A. is famous for their canyons and they don't disappoint. Next we hit the Griffith Observatory. I wanted to go because I heard the views were amazing and I have seen it on 90210 and Rebel Without a Cause. It was so cool to see the stairs that James Dean jumped off of and where the movie ended in gunfire. The view of the Hollywood sign from Griffith is priceless. Friday was our last day and we went on a tour of the Warner Brother's studio. This was amazing! We got to the see the Friends set and walked around the Big Bang Theory set. We saw sets where amazing movies have been made for 85 years. We got to see the Gellar's house and places where memorable friends scenes were filmed. We saw cars used in notable films like Harry Potter and The Hangover. We saw parts of the Pretty Little Liars set. This is a favorite show of me and my sister. They were actually their filming. We got to see parts of the Gilmore set. This was bittersweet because I miss this show and it was mine and Carrie's favorite show. I wish I could tell her all about it. We saw the ER stage and got to visit the WB museum. We weren't allowed to take cameras in but it was really cool. There were clothes worn by stars in many films. Field's favorite was the clothes worn in The Departed. My favorite was the actual hand written letter from Rachel to Ross asking does it or doesn't it. "It SO does not!" lol. It was SO cool. We also got to tour the Ellen Degeneres set. This was really neat. That night we got all dressed up and went to dinner at STK. It was delicious and ridiculously expensive. $2 for steak sauce. That night we went to see Dark Shadows at Grauman's Chinese Theater. The movie wasn't that good but the experience was once in a lifetime. There is so much history and it was beautiful. Some things I left out: We also saw the cemetery where Michael Jackson is buried, the hotel where Whitney Houston died, and the Hollywood forever cemetery. We will miss the absolutely perfect weather but we are glad to be back to sweet tea and free water. The entire time I was there I missed my sister. She is almost as celebrity crazy as I am and I felt so guilty seeing all of these amazing things without her. If I go back it will definitely be with her. We both share a love of TMZ. She was my celebrity spotter from home. She alerted me to the latest twitter updates and where the TMZ crew was. I stalked the TMZ offices and got to see a few of the staff. I was so excited to meet Peter, the irish guy. I even got him to say hi to Haley and send her a video. It was SO cool. While stalking TMZ Field wondered away to shop in some stores that were close by. I wish that you could have seen the look on my face when he came up the escalator with a famous person. Richard Kind(IMDB it) was in Spin City and much to the love of our five year old, he was in Cars. They were carrying on a casual conversation about shower heads. Seriously. I did not get a picture.  
I know, kill me now. I was so shocked I couldn't think. He was very nice. So I didn't see Brad Pitt or Jenifer Anniston, but that's ok. We had a blast and we saw everything we went to see. We had such a good time and are already talking about where we are going next. 

Dreams come true..

This week two of my dreams will come true. I can hardly believe it. I am so grateful to the Lord for making my dreams come true. To God be the glory. I found it unbelievable that only 22% of Alabamians graduate from college. It seems like more than 22% of the people I know are college graduates so this surprised me. I don't think you have to go to college to be successful or to find something you are passionate about. But I can't help but be "giddy" over this accomplishment. To be honest I never thought I would finish. When I began this journey 5 years ago I had a newborn baby and a desire to be independent. I wanted to know that if something ever happened to my husband, I could take care of myself and my baby. I wanted that little boy to be proud of his mother. I wanted him to go to college. How could I expect him to go to college if I didn't? Not only am I finishing, I went straight through and did not take a single class that I did not need. I can not imagine what life would be like if I had not gone to school. When I think if all the things I would have missed it makes me sad. I learned so much. Not just educational things but life experiences. I met so many people from so many places. I have made amazing friends. Particularly my Brittany. Where would I be without her? I can't imagine. She is so kindhearted and unselfish. I have only ever known one other person like her. I am sure everyone will be glad when this week is over and I stop talking about it. Not only am I graduating, I'm also going to Hollywood. Yes, this is a dream come true. If you know me well, you know how obsessed I am with celebrities. I have always been fascinated with old Hollywood and old movies. I am so excited. I am excited to be going on a trip with my hubby. He has a crazy work schedule so we don't get to spend that much time together. We love to travel and we have been fortunate enough to have traveled quite a bit. We have a blast when we travel and I am praying this trip goes well. I have to be honest I am nervous about being so far away from children. I am also nervous about flying. I do not like to fly. This is also the first trip I have booked through a website so I am nervous about that. I can't wait to see so many things that I have only seen on tv. It's an exciting week. I am praying all goes well.