Our Weekend

I was just a little Debbie Downer last post now wasn't I? The funny thing is that the Friday after I posted that was a totally awesome day. I didn't expect it at all, but because it was the last day of school before Valentine's Day a the students showered me with Valentines. It was oh so sweet.

The best part was that that evening Michael and I put the dogs in the kennel and headed off to LA for our weekend getaway. Destination: Universal Studios.

Our hotel was literally a 4 minute walk and a 2 minute shuttle ride to the park. We arrived Friday night, settled in, turned on a movie, put in an order for breakfast room service and dozed off in our luxurious king sized bed.

The next morning we woke up to our breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, toast, and fruit (which we continued to order every single morning we were there - what can I say? we adored it). We got ready and headed out the door for a fun-filled day at Universal Studios.

While there we experienced an awesome 3D Terminator attraction where my hubby embarrassed me by yelling out a question to the lead actress, a wild Simpsons animated ride that felt 100% real (I'm glad it wasn't though b/c the roller coaster fell off the tracks multiple times and if it had been real we certainly would not have survived the ride), a Famous Animals show where we got to see some dogs, cats, monkeys, and birds from various movies perform some interesting tricks, a Backdraft attraction where we experienced the creation of the explosive fire scenes, an audience involved special effects attraction (which was one of my very favorites of the day), and an hour long back-lot studio tour where we got to see (amidst other things) sets from Jaws, War of the Worlds, and Psycho. We also got to see general sets used in various films.. for example... the country town used in The Color Purple, a wild west set, and a generic set that they use to depict various European cities. Because it was a holiday weekend and they weren't filming, we even got to drive down Wisteria Lane....

After a full day at the park we headed out of Universal Studios to their City Walk for some dinner and a movie. Saturday night's movie was my choice. I chose Valentine's Day. Mike describes it as an American version of Love Actually. I agree.

After the movie we stopped in at one of the restaurant bars for some drinks before heading home.

The next morning we woke up for our room service breakfast and promptly fell back to sleep. We were exhausted!

We didn't head back to Universal Studios until past noon, and even then we decided to skip the actual park and stick to the City Walk. We had lunch at a lovely Mexican restaurant and headed to the movie theater again for Mike's movie choice....Wolfman. It was pretty good. It kept my attention and at no point during the movie did I announce that I wanted to leave. In my book that makes it pretty good.

After the movie we explored the City Walk a bit. Mike bought a new watch. I bought a magnet.

We had Valentine's Day dinner reservations at the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club. We paid a little bit extra for a package that included a booth, dinner, dessert, and a bottle of champagne. There were 4 comics that night. The first was very funny. The middle two were OK. The last (and the headliner) was hilarious. He had me laughing. Hysterically. The whole time. I would definitely pay to see Eric Schwartz again. All in all, definitely a memorable and fun Valentine's Day dinner.

After that, we headed back to our hotel's awesome lounge for some late evening drinks and retired for the evening.

We got up the next morning, enjoyed our last breakfast in bed (sigh), checked out of our hotel, and headed back to the Universal Studios City Walk so that Mike could fulfill his life-long dream and fly. Literally. fly.

He was so happy after he got to do this. He couldn't stop grinning. It was honestly the cutest thing ever.

Sadly, I am a gigantic whimp so did not join him in this adventure. At least this way, he has some great pictures documenting his experience.

Before leaving Los Angeles (which was BEAUTIFUL 70's and 80's weather all weekend, I must add) Michael insisted that we make a stop on Hollywood Blvd to visit Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum

and among other things....

Michael got to assist Quentin Tarantino on the set of Kill Bill...

Jim Carey and I got to catch up, and boy did he ever think I was great.

And as it turned out... American Idol was really short on guest judges, so we got to stand in.

We had a blast. What a fantastic way to spend our weekend.