Ya-Ya back from La-La Land

hey gang!

how is everybody? it's been awhile since I've posted....I have been swamped at work (organized the most challenging Travel Plan ever - 5 travellers visiting 4 cities in Asia - 7 (yes, 7) drafts of the itinerary before we finally decided what to book - it was insane but I loved it!).

Then I went on a little trip of my own ( finally! ) down to Los Angeles with 3 girlfriends from work. I was down in La-La Land from May 22-26 and the weekend before (May Long) I was busily cleaning my apartment because I, like many people I think, like to come home to a clean house from a trip.

So yes - L.A. was great! 4 nights, 5 days of pool-time, sunshine, shopping down at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica - my fave store was called "Oxbow" a cute French-owned surfing-style store, which is just my style ( I also love Billabong and O'Neill and all that stuff) and I bought a few cute things there (on sale of course!), and the sales guy was quite cute himself! :) sigh. He told me my legs looked great in a skirt that I was trying on...needless to say, I bought the skirt. LOL!

We stayed at the "W" Hotel in Westwood which had an awesome pool area (photo attached) and we visited a few great restaurants and lounges . We had dinner at one placed called "One Sunset" on the Saturday night, then one friend and I went to the Chateau Marmont ( dark and smoky, paid $35 for 2 martinis - unbelievable!) then over to the Beverly Hills Hotel (gorgeous, gorgeous and I felt like I travelled back in time). Sunday night was dinner at "Dan Tana's" on Sunset as well, which apparently is a fave of George Clooney, but alas, George was not there that night. It's a tiny little restaurant with huge portions of pasta and more pasta. After that we went to the Mondrian Hotel's Sky Bar, which is an outdoor lounge around their pool, which was pretty great. Lots of very friendly people - once they overheard our group was from Canada, they would come over and introduce themselves, it was interesting to see.

Overall, it was a fun, outrageous, girls getaway which was just what I needed. I hadn't been on a plane or a real holiday in five years ( last trip was to Las Vegas in Sept 2004). Now I am happy to be home again, but already planning future trips .

Hope everyone is well and fine, thanks for stopping by!

: ) J.