Be our guest!

So Wednesday came and it was time to say goodbye to my folks. We went for a last lunch at Martha's on 22nd Street in Hermosa Beach. The sun shone, the food was good, and we were all smiles!

We had a lovely two weeks. I was really pleased that my folks had enjoyed themselves, and I think I struck the right balance between us having time to relax and exploring. I wish the weather had been a bit warmer and we hadn't suffered the coldest snap in 22 years for around 5 days, but it was still a lot warmer than home!

So I flung them out at the airport, dropped my stuff back off in Santa Monica and headed off to Melrose where my sister had just arrived in town with her boyfriend. Melrose is a really interesting street. Home to Paramount Studios, funky shops, bars, restaurants, and up one end lots of designer stores such as Paul Smith, DVF, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Fred Segal etc.

I drove them round some of the tourist sights (Griffiths and Chinese Theatre) and we grabbed a bite to eat down on Hollywood and Highland - tourist central!

The next day we went back to my fave dive diner, Marias on the corner of San Vincente and Venice. They do awesome breakfasts there, and it is a really old school diner. I don't think it has been decorated in 40 years! I then took them to see some of the downtown sights and we popped into Olavera Street, a little part of Mexico with stalls and very cute cafes.

Paramount called to us in the afternoon, and we had a super tour. I think Warner Brothers probably beat it due to the fact they showed us the props store, famous cars, and the set from friends, but both of them are definitely worth doing if you ever find yourself in this part of the world...I would have liked some Glee action, but alas it wasn't to be. We saw Happy Endings being filmed in the NY set that was masquerading as Chicago.

Friday we went down another divey diner for breakfast, and then onto Abbot Kinney, an awesome shopping street in Venice Beach. We went to a pop up store with amazing designer clothes, but alas all of them were a size 0 - 4. My sister managed to find a Vivienne Westwood top that was fab, and I got a T-shirt that was also pretty lovely and the bargain price of $16!!! We then headed down to the beach, and I soaked up the rays, whilst my sister and boyf soaked up the rather unusual characters on the boardwalk...There was also a seal lion surfing along the waves that caused a ripple of excitement among us sun worshippers. We then took in the lovely Venice waterways, that cover around 3 miles of Venice and were created by eccentric millionaire Abbot Kinney.

I went to my first official dinner party on Saturday night, at a fabulous home in Harvard Heights, Koreatown. The wine, brandy and gin were flowing, as was the food and conversation. Before we knew it I was tiddly winky and it was 2am!!!



Needless to say my head was a little sore the next morning, but I dragged my sorry arse up to Melrose to take sis/boyf down to Santa Monica for a little retail therapy. My sister did a bit of supermarket sweep at Zara and then we headed off to Malibu, back to Duke's for some beautiful fish, a lovely sunset and of course another Hula pie...

So that is the end of family visits out here. It has been a blast and was lovely to catch up with everyone. Mum and dad even bought me some gifts out for a belated Xmas which was lovely. 

But now I intend to lay like broccoli for a couple of days and do very very little, except relax and be at one with myself and Dulce the cat I am looking after...then of course back to all the fabulous things I have left to do here in the 6 weeks I have left!!! ARGH!!!