Roscoe comes to town!

This weekend Carolyn Roscoe came to town on her first visit to California. It was so nice to see her, have someone to hang out with during the day while Greg was at work, and to show her the sights!

One of the highlights of her visit was definitely our day trip to Beverly Hills. As a surprise parting gift, my dad gave Greg, Roscoe, and myself a lunch at the Hotel Bel Air, which is this AMAZING boutique hotel in Beverly Hills. We left Yucca on Saturday morning, and got to LA just in time for our lunch reservation. The hotel was gorgeous - it has these lush, beautiful gardens that are something out of a movie. The neighborhood it's in is pretty ridiculous, too. I felt like I was in 90210, as I drove my blue Prius up next to the Bentleys and Aston Martins and BMWs and Jaguars. The people at the hotel weren't snobby at all, though - they were so nice, and the service was great. We sat outside on the terrace, in the midst of the garden, and had a wonderful lunch of smoked salmon, ahi tuna sliders, salad, key lime pie and chocolate cheesecake, and (of course) wine. 

It was literally the best people watching of my life. There was a baby shower at the table next to us, where seven trendy women in their early 30s munched on these huge gourmet cupcakes and shared stories about when they were pregnant. The highlight of people watching came was our hunt for celebs was fulfilled...twice! First, at the beginning of lunch, I saw Greg nod his head in the direction of the pool. I saw this man walk by in swim shorts and a tshirt, not looking like anyone famous at all. When I looked closely though, it looked like Robin Williams. Right as he was out of site I heard his unmistakeable voice, and knew it was him. That was pretty exciting. Then, a few minutes later, I saw Javier Bardem walk in with a Spanish director that I recognized, but can't place a name to. He walked in and sat about two tables away from ours, and proceeded to have a business lunch with the person he was with. Javier Bardem, for those of you who don't know, was the creepy killer from No Country for Old Men who had the weird haircut. He won the Oscar for Best Actor last year for it - that's how scary he was. I've definitely had nightmares about his character before. But in real life he is MUCH more attractive. After making awkward eye contact several times, our run in was over, and we left.

After the Bel Air, we stopped by the Santa Monica pier to show Roscoe the Pacific. It was nice to see another part of the LA area. We then returned home for a much needed rest, after the long drive. We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out around the house, and showing Roscoe Palm Springs. On her last day here, Roscoe and I got caught in a massive thunderstorm, in which 5 inches of rain fell on 29 Palms in 2 hours...the main road was closed, so we had to wait for almost 2 hours at an Elks' Lodge, where lightning struck a palm tree right by our car. Again....Mother Nature rules in California unlike any other place. 

So that's the update! This week we are hanging out and relaxing, before our big trip back east for Kat's wedding!