Valley Ventures: The Getty

When I was 9 years old I had a traumatic experience.

I spent way too much time at the Louvre Museum.

And as a result, I have developed a dislike for art. 

But as Ive grown a bit, visited art museums in snippets and even taught my DC students about art movements,

its grown on me just a little. 

All of this being said, I was able to go to The Getty this past Saturday, one of the most amazing collections of art in the Los Angeles area. 

I may not be the biggest fan of The Getty on the inside, I am a fan of it on the outside. 

The only thing that gets me through those bumper to bumper traffic experiences on the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass is the view of The Getty nestled high up on the mountains. 

Some of the exhibits that we were able to look including paintings and photography from Japan in the 1800's, paintings from M onet, Van Gogh and Manet and my favorite exhibit of furniture from 1700-1800 France. 

Although I say that I don't like that art, it also has a very special place in my heart because I taught my students about that era of painting. At the time I just showed them pictures from the internet so they could seem them and we could discuss and analyze them. 

And now I got to see the real things. It just makes me miss my students so much

  (yes, almost a year and a half later I still miss those kids so much)

A big highlight of this trip to The Getty was the amazing architecture that makes up the museum. 

The slabs of granite are amazing, huge landscaped grounds and on a clear day, 

a breathtaking view of the ocean to the right.. 

and downtown LA to the left.

It was a freezing and overcast day at The Getty, but that doesnt stop me from snapping photos of all the great places. 

And I even had a little camera lesson while I was there too. 

Well I didnt hate my time there. 

I may like art a little bit.

basketball identity disorder.

I have realized lately that I have an identity disorder when it comes to basketball. 

I just don't know who I want to cheer for

who is going to be my team. 

Los Angeles Lakers

or 

Utah Jazz.

Growing up in LA and especially having Matt as a brother, its hard to imagine not just automatically being a Lakers fan. 

But I grew up watching the Jazz! 

I cheered for Stockton and Malone and loved Hornacek wiping his face. 

I have a John Stockton autograph after cheering him on at a Clippers/ Jazz game. 

I lived in Utah for BYU and continued to be a LA girl, yet a Jazz fan. 

But felt guilty for not loving Kobe. 

I cheered against them. And participated in activities like this:

Tearing down my So Cal friends Laker flags and replacing them with support for the Jazz. 

I went to my first Jazz game at the Energy Solutions Arena. 

I cheered for the Jazz, and against the Lakers alongside native Utahans last year in the playoffs. 

And then, the Lakers eliminated the Jazz. 

On nights that I was bored I would go over to my friends house (the same boys who I pulled down their Lakers flag the previous year) and would watch the playoffs. 

And in the process I jumped ships. 

Decided to cheer for the Lakers. 

Fell in love with Kobe. 

Although I felt guilty because of my Jazz roots, I participated in activities like this:

Championship parade in Downtown.

On Tuesday, for the first time in about 5 years, I went to a Lakers game.

Sporting an LA shirt and cheering on Kobe and the boys through triple overtime! 

It was the most intense game I have ever watched. Experiencing so many different emotions in those last 15 minutes of playing time. 

Alas, im still a little conflicted.

Ive embraced my inner LA Lakers girl.

But I will always have special place in my heart for the Jazz.

And ill just be screwed when they play each other. 

A Bachelor Party.

there is this show that i absolutely love. 

its called The Bachelor.

and Im obsessed.
Like every girl should be.

and I also reallly want to be on it. 

I have obviously watched a majority of the seasons. 

However, the last couple have been my favorite:

Jason's season in H2 with Ashley and JJ.

Late nights watching Jillian's season in my apartment with AJB.

Snuggling in either my bed or Chanel's bed as we watched Jake's season.

Monday nights at Laura's watching Ali fall in love with Roberto. 

This season I started watching by myself and tried to convince some girls in the ward to watch with me with no avail. 

 I first got Christina hooked, then Lillie and finally Alyssa joined us for what was starting to become a weekly party. 

Before I knew it, each week more and more girls were coming over to watch The Bachelor. 

So when nine girls showed up to watch After the Final Rose, I knew I had to throw a legit party for the Season Finale.

Made some yummy food. 

And of course included some pie for Pi day!

Cant have a Bachelor Party without your own little cocktail party with roses and Martinelli's. 

 Framed photos of the final girls Chantal and Emily were a must.

And before the show started everyone had to make their choice of who Brad was going to pick.

I was beginning to lean towards an Emily selection, but decided to stick with my original guns and choose Chantal.
But Im very happy with Brad's choice!
Im pretty sure we all screamed (as did the rest of America) when we realized he was going to pick Emily.
And I may have been close to tears during Brad's proposal!
Lets hope their relationship lasts!

Best way to celebrate the best show on television.
I will be counting down the days to the parties and the drama of Bachelor Pad and The Bachelorette.

are we there yet??

i am not much of a camper. 

i dont like the dirt. the bugs. sleeping bags and tents. the lack of good bathrooms and running water. 

I did my time of 6+ years of girls camp, and should just enjoy the comforts of always sleeping at home. 

But somehow I promised Rudy this summer that I would go camping with him sometime. 

I said yes thinking that honestly a camping trip would never get planned. 

So when I got an email from Daniel inviting us to a trip with some LA people I knew I was screwed. 

I may or may not have bailed a few times on this trip which caused some major unforeseen drama,

but alas, I packed my bags, including enough clothes for a week long trip 

(mind you, it was a day and a half trip)

and hit the road right after work for a long trek out to Joshua Tree in the desert. 

With traffic it was a long ride out there. We rolled in at about 10pm and found all of our friends already there. 

We huddled by the camp fire and ate smores, dutch over peach cobbler and upside down pineapple cake. 

We stayed up late laughing and chatting (much to the dismay of some boring and strict married people that somehow got the invite)

We got up way to early the next morning, thanks to the guys taking down our tent while we were still in it....

Our campsite was amazing. Situated in a cove-like location surrounded by amazing rocks to climb, that the boys did right away. 

Us girls did it too, but not as fast and with such ease as the boys. 

We then drove out to the Joshua Tree National Park.

Learned that the Mormons dubbed the trees after Joshua,

and continued to climb more rocks. 

The boys left us in the dust, and us girls were satisfied with chilling, snapping some photos and soaking up the February sun. 

After more hiking, my coveted orange being stolen and eaten and chowing down on the best PB & J I have ever had after a long day, we hit the road back for the valley. 

I will admit that I had a good time. 

I love my crew! 

And I love me some smores by the campfire even more.

(And its even better when all of the food is provided for you.)

However, I think I have my fill of camping for at least another six months...

the best day of my life.

because this happened today. 

A dream come true!

I am a teeny bopper at heart and have loved N Sync from day one. 

And still claim to be their number one fan, and not afraid to admit they are my favorite band. 

One of the perks of my job is I work on the Penthouse, full of offices of entertainment lawyers, music managers and the top guy doing merchandise for some pretty big names. Including my beloved N Sync. 

Ive been dying to run into some celebrities on the floor. 

I freaked when I found out Lance Bass was going to be coming in any day now. 

And today was the big day!

I swear the whole office was out in front when it finally came time for me to meet Lance and witness my attempt to keep cool in front of one of my all time favorite pop singers.

My heart was racing, Im pretty sure I was shaking, and I tried not to hyperventilate as I saw him walk up to me. 

I gushed and told him he was my favorite, that I learned all of the moves to Bye Bye Bye and that Im still obsessed. 

He was super nice and is so cute in person. 

Couldn't be more excited.

And I will be listening N Sync jams for the next few weeks now. 

Valley Ventures: CA Science Center.

Last Saturday we ventured to the California Science Center.

Settled right in the heart of LA and part of USC. 

Its a great hands on museum with lots of interesting and constantly changing exhibits. 

And the best part--its free!

We went to the ecosystems exhibit. We learned about the ocean, desert, arctic, forests, rivers, rotting and my favorite part--the LA Zone. A section all about our beautiful Los Angeles.

In this section we got to act like news anchors. 

(I dont know how that applies to LA--but...we did it anyway)

It was like we were little kids again learning about the environment and touching everything in sight. 

Another favorite exhibit was the Science of Fears.

Too bad we found this just as we needed to go. There were sections on fear of animals, falling, loud noises, and even crowds, and explained why and how we are scared of those things. There were so many things to see in that one, I wish we could have explored more.
The boys definitely had fun--acting all strong lifting a truck

and seeing who could stand against the wall of ice the longest.

As we were leaving the exhibit I looked across the museum and saw the downtown skyline.

I love that view. 

and I love that my friends are also loving exploring our city!

my best friends wedding.

two Saturdays ago, my best friend Alyssa

aka my cousin. my sister. 

went and got MARRIED. 

She looked absolutely stunning. And I am so grateful that she let me spend Friday night and all day Saturday with her celebrating on her special day.

On Friday night I was able to go down to the Temple apartments and spend the night with the whole Richardson clan. We were all so excited and Im sure a little nervous. And as Alyssa and I shared a bed that night I loved being able to have a little sleepover and spend the night before her wedding together. We stayed up a bit late the night before and got up way early to start getting ready.

I gave her a big hug when she had to leave to walk to the temple.

And I gave her a big hug when she came out as Mrs. Clyde.

And I was a little teary eyed too.

We got to take lots of pictures.

And I loved becoming her go-to girl in fixing her hair, carrying her dress and helping her pose for the pictures.
I was astonished at how beautiful she looked all day.
Even in the rain.
Throughout the day Jaron and I became best friends too.

I love that kid. He is a lucky man!
And her reception was just as gorgeous.
I loved so many things about it.

(especially the appearance of hot dj. ha)
Us and the crew danced the night away in celebration too.

I helped her change out of her dress (I was a pro working that dress)
and she was off for her honeymoon!
Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Jaron Clyde!

I love you both.