Wow - was today needed!!!!
Alvin and I woke up around 7am in our fabulous suite at the W in Westwood - and what a fabulous suite it was. Even better - we were just a few blocks from a Peets Coffee - which we had been without every morning since the weekend before - so you know that we were jonesing for a cup of coffee! So we thew on some clothes and head out to the valet parking dudes to get walking directions to Peets. It was actually quite funny - and very clear that people in LA do not walk anywhere! When Alvin and I asked how to walk to Peets the valet dudes looked at us as if we were crazy. They literally answered - “that is like a 10 minute walk” lol as if that is like SOOOO long! lol So we found out where the Peets was and made our way down the block.
Dudes - It was like a 5 minute walk!!! And a really nice FLAT walk too. And worth every step - even on our tired legs. I swear - walking into Peets that morning was like fantastic - it was like I could hear music playing as they made my Americano! lol….and man did it taste good!! It actually was almost a perfect way to start the morning. We had such a nice walk to Peets and a fanastic walk back. Then we hung out in our room until we were meeting the rest of the gang, Tym, Becca, Kyle and Dan in the lobby for breakfast.
We finally made out way out around 10:15 and WALKED (to the shagrin of everyone around) to a local breakfast place in Westwood - Jerry’s Deli. It was really good and just what we needed. We should have known what the day was going to be like when all of the adults enjoyed adult drinks with their breakfast orders…..most of us partook in a Bloody Mary and Tym decided on a Mimosa. This is how the day started - so any of you who know us well can only imagine how the day continued…..
After breakfast we were making our way back to the hotel (I actually had a 1pm in room massage scheduled) and as we were walking back we came across a Nail Salon - so of course we decide we need Manicures and Pedicures….can you imagine? We were all liquored up and we all file into the nail salon - so Alvin, Dan, Tym and I decide on the full treatment and Becca and Kyle decide to walk around the block. Mind you - it is afternoon 12pm by this time and I have to be in my room at the hotel and ready for my massage by 1pm!!! The salon staff promise they can get me out of there on time so we all start our treatments.
It was actually funny - if you can only imagine the full production of all of us in this nail salon. We each have two staff members working on us and we are just out of control. The staff bring out this menu of options - so we are all browsing through them - yelling at each other across the salon about which treatments we are getting - it was a MESS! Plus - time was running out for me to get to the hotel for my massage so I was getting very nervous. They finally got to the point of painting my nails when it was like 10 minutes to 1 and I was so stressed - as I still had to walk back to the hotel. They finally finished my paint job at 5 minutes til 1 and of course, I could not put my own shoes back on so they slip on their cheap ass flip flops for use in the salon - which don’t even fit me because my parents blessed me with huge fricken feet.
So picture this - I am literally running through Westwood in cheap ass flip flops which don’t fit me (so my heals are hanging off the end - so much for the fricken pedicure) and I am doing my best to find my way to the hotel - which anyone who knows me - I am not the best with sense of direction. What a mess. I finally make it to the hotel at like 1pm sharp - I run to the concierge where my massage therapist is waiting for me - so I was stressed up until the moment I got on the damn massage table.
But - alas - I finally got my 90 minute massage - which was fantastic. I would be lying if I told you there was no pain involved - there was a lot of pain involved - but it was much needed pain and I felt so much better after the massage. After my massage was done I had to quickly change into pool wear as I had to vacate the room so that Alvin could get ready for his in room massage…..
After changing into my pool wear I made my way down to the pool to the Cabana which Dan had rented for us to use that day - how fantastic is that??? So picture this - Kyle is in the pool swimming - and Dan, Tym, Becca and I are lounging in the Cabana drinking blackberry mojitos….Does life really get any better than this? By the time Alvin got back to the Cabana we had already consumed about 5 or so pitchers of the blackberry mojitos and we were all feeling quite fantastic! We had also ordered a plethora of snacks from the menu so we were all doing good. Dan kept joking that we were gonna drop a “G” that day at the W - and little did we know what we had done! lol
At about 5:30 we decided that we should probably have dinner - so we called the Whatever/Whenver Desk - otherwise known as the Concierge and they made reservations for us at a local Italian restaurant - since we did not want to drop another huge chunk of change at the hotel restaurant again. We all quickly got ready and before we knew it we were walking to dinner - yes I said WALKING.
We enjoyed our dinner out in the patio section of this restaurant before heading back to our Cabana to enjoy the showing of Juno poolside….I mean seriously - do things get better than this??? So we made our way back to our Cabana for the showing of Juno - which literally JUST started as we walked into the pool area. We all met our evening waiter and ordered the next round of cocktkails - Alvin, Becca and Tym had moved to Amaretto on the rocks and I was drinking Frangelico on the rocks with a squeeze of lime juice (A fantastic after dinner drink by the the way). Dan had gone back to the room to make a few calls - and wasn’t sure if he was going to join for the movie.
Can I just say - this was so much fun. It was so cool to be hanging by a pool in a Cabana watching a very good movie, with some of the greatest friends a person can ever ask for - and enjoying some fantastic cocktails. I just cannot tell you how fantatsic this was - The week was so emotional and I had gone through so much from laughing to crying and right back to laughing - lol and of course crying again - and to finish this incredible journey - and then have a day as we did today - Life seriously does not get much better than this.
The movie was so good, the cocktails were fantatic, the ambience was fun and most importantly, the company could not have been better. Dan had joined us and so we all completed our evening with the completion of the movie - After drinking all day and about 4 rounds of drinks after dinner and a day in the sun we were all pretty much asleep and made our ways to our rooms and right into bed.
I think I slept better tonight, than I have in a very, very long time - although it was bittersweet - as one of the best weeks of my life was over - however- I will always have my memories which will never, ever go away.
It is good I got a good nights sleep as had to pack up and head back up north on Monday……and back to reality. 
