Week One In LA
I'm sure at some point or another, you've seen the Disney animated version of Alice in Wonderland. To get to Wonderland, Alice falls down the rabbit hole and comes across inexplainable sights that fascinate her. Consider my Delta flight landing at LAX the start of my descent down my figurative rabbit hole. I was nothing short of overwhelmed by the inexplainable sights passing by me that only the movies had shown me in the past. "Wait, these places actually exist in real life?" Yes, they do. The Hollywood sign is not a myth. My first week in Los Angeles has been filled with adventures that I will already never forget. My face was (and still is) just like Alice's in the above sequence. My descent down the rabbit hole hasn't been as scary as I thought it would be. Fast forward to the end of Alice in Wonderland: Alice wakes up to find Wonderland was all a dream. I'm not going to wake up and find this Wonderland of mine isn't real, too....right? I have picture proof. So it has to be real! Here's a recap of how fun this first week has been!
Darby and I hopped off the plane at LAX with one intention: Food. So naturally, we went to Universal Studio's City Walk and had a nice dinner at Johnny Rockets.
(6 total photos in this slideshow) First Days in LA! Here is a slideshow of my first initial excitement: YAY Ellen Degeneres is right behind those walls!! I have been so fascinated with the amount of Snapchat filters every LA area has to offer. Sorry for the overuse in most of these photos. Sunday night, the whole Grady LA group had a nice dinner together at Lala's. Love them all already! Plus, that sunset over the pool at my apartment was too pretty to not capture.
(12 total photos in this slideshow) Inner Child Excitement! I saw Pixar's Inside Out before you, ha ha ha! No seriously, be jealous. I am obsessed with anything Disney/Pixar, and I was not let down by this film. The Grady LA group got to go to a special premiere of the movie and had the honor of listening to Pete Docter, the director, talk about making the movie. Pete also gave us a special look at original concept art of other movies he created, which include Up and Monsters Inc.
(14 total photos in this slideshow) The Adventures of Brandi and Darby! I am so glad I met Darby on this trip. She is hilarious and all about exploring, just like me. During the week, we took a walk down Hollywood Boulevard. We bought $5 selfie sticks to capture amazing moments (side note: best $5 investment ever). We stopped at the Chinese Theater where we took pictures of the biggest stars' signatures, handprints, and footprints. I took the Star Trek one for my obsessed brother, Blake. And of course, the Harry Potter cast is for my own benefit. I took a picture with Jimmy Kimmel's star on the Walk of Fame because **surprise!** I got tickets to a live taping for June 24! Wanda Sykes and Jeffrey Dean Morgan will be the guests that night. I also took a picture with Ryan Seacrest's star on the Walk of Fame for the sole purpose that we all know he'll be my boss one day. (Check back to this blog again in 5 years and see if I'm right/wrong). Next night, Darby and I took a drive to Santa Monica and walked down the beautiful pier. We watched the sun set over the ocean and had a yummy dinner at Bubba Gump! And I had the most amazing Piña Colada with strawberry swirl. I am craving one as I type this.
(7 total photos in this slideshow) LA Film Fest! Holy mackerel, famous people! The LA Film Fest is underway in LA right now, and the Grady LA group had the honor of attending 3 panels of amazing people in the film industry. The first being "Women Make It Happen" panel. We heard from four powerful women producers: Nina Yang Bongiovi (Dope), Dede Gardner (12 Years a Slave, World War Z), Gale Anne Hurd (Terminator, The Walking Dead), and Nina Jacobson (The Hunger Games series). The second was "Editing with Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey." These two brilliant women editors have teamed up with J.J. Abrams and have brought you titles like Star Trek and the LONG awaited Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The last panel was "Jonathan Demme: An American Iconoclast." Yes, the director of The Silence of the Lambs was literally right in front of me!
(26 total photos in this slideshow) The Grammy Museum! In our downtime between the LA Film Fest panels, Sierra, Jenny, Haley, and myself took a short detour. We had lunch at a restaurant called The Farm and then explored The Grammy Museum. I haven't had that much fun in awhile. We sang and danced through the whole 3 floors of the exhibit. I adored seeing original writings of favorite artists and even outfits they wore.
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