ROSE BOWL :)

After a fantastic series of events that led to the Chancellor of TCU getting me Rose Bowl tickets after they were sold out, I ended up in Pasadena to see my beloved Frogs take on the Badgers. I heart TCU!

I arrived in LA after an EARLY morning flight out of Atlanta the morning after the concert. Three hours of sleep was the price I had to pay to do it all, but it was well worth it! Carolyn met me in LA to go to the game. We grabbed an amazing lunch in Santa Monica at Huckleberry Cafe and then headed to the game. Because my flight had been delayed and lunch took a little longer than expected, we were some of the LAST people to make it into the stadium after the long walk through the golf course/parking lot. We did make it in time to see Paula Deen do the coin toss though! Needless to say, the game was AMAZING! I was so proud of TCU and the way they played and even more proud of Gary Patterson and Andy Dalton's interviews after the game. Class acts.

After finally maneuvering our way out of Pasadena after the game (not an easy task) Carolyn and I went to a seafood dinner at The Lobster at the Santa Monica Pier. We finished the night at our friends' apartment to play the Game of Things (we played the poor man's version...i cut up strips of paper and made up our own topics because we didn't actually have the game, haha). Hilarious as always.

The next day we had big plans to hike up to the Hollywood sign, but the rain put a damper on that. We did however head over to Fab Hot Dogs for lunch (a restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network). I had the Fab Dog because I was not bold enough to try the Ripper. It just sounded like too much to handle, haha. Because the rain didn't let up, we drove around Beverly Hills and then window shopped on Rodeo Drive in our wet, would-be hiking clothes. Total tourist move, but oh well we had fun! For dinner we tried to go to Gjelina but they didn't have a table big enough to fit out large group so we ended up going to Ketchup in West Hollywood. Great food, the mac and cheese was awesome. After dinner we met Leigh for drinks at O'Brien's back in Santa Monica. Love seeing my long distance friends.

We didn't have much time the next day before leaving but we did frolic on the beach in Santa Monica and play on the swing set. We grabbed a fantastic lunch at the Santa Monica Seafood Company on the way out of town. The cioppino was out of this world. Seriously. Go try it.

It was a total whirlwind trip, but so much fun. I got to catch up friends from high school and college, watch an amazing football game, spend time with my sister and taste some of the great food LA has to offer. Wins all around (unless you are a Wisconsin fan, sorry).