Sister Weekend

I love my sister...don't get me wrong, we have had our ups and downs like all siblings do, but I am so thankful for her. In fact, I really don't think I could live without her. We are close in age...only 21 months apart, total opposites, yet, we enjoy a lot of the same things. Does that make sense? I have so many wonderful memories of Mandy and I when we were growing up. I was just telling Rick the other night about our highschool years when we would sleep in eachothers beds even though we had separate bedrooms...the crazy thing is that we usually ended up bundled together in her twin bed rather than my full sized bed. Yes, it usually was because I was the one that begged her to let me in (I was a little bit of a scaredy cat) but we had some pretty funny conversations during that time. This February, Mandy called me to let me know that "Beauty and the Beast" was playing at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. We grew up watching the movie and listening to the soundtrack...I can almost sing every song by heart. We decided to make a weekend of it. I would drive down on friday evening, hang out early Saturday, see the show, go out on the town that night, and go home on Sunday. It would be a fast trip, but why not? So Friday afternoon Rick and I headed down to L.A. (Thankfully, Rick decided to drive me down there and stay with his parents in Vista so I wouldn't have to drive on my own. Thanks babe!) We got in late, but still had time to head up to their rooftop patio to enjoy the view of the gorgeous city lights and the Hollywood Hills. The next morning, my sister and I got up and went to this really great restaurant (so great I forgot the name) to eat lunch. I love eating in Hollywood...the city has the best restaurants! There are not a lot of "chain restaurants" and the food is always very healthy. After lunch we walked up to the Pantages Theatre, had a homeless person take our picture (second picture down...not bad), found our seats, and enjoyed the first half of the play. It was beautiful. During intermission, as we were standing in the restroom line, we talked about how much my Grandmother would have loved the play, particularly the wonderful music. The second half was just as beautiful as the first. I am so glad we took the time to see the musical.

Standing in line before the show. A nice homeless man playing a saxophone took this picture. :)

Mandy and I after the show.

The Pantages

Later that night, Josh (my brother-in-law) took us to dinner and then to have drinks at CitySip where a friend of his works. We had a great night together and I really enjoyed meeting thier friends and hanging out.

The next morning, Rick drove up and we ate a quick brunch together. It was pouring rain outside, but we decided to drive back up to Sacramento. The weather wasn't going to get any better. It was a pretty scary ride during the first two hours due to the heavy downpour, but eventually the rain stopped and we made it home safely.