I finally did it. I finally traveled to Southern California from January 13-18. It’s a place I’ve wanted to visit since I was a kid but never had the money or the time off work to do so. I finally made it happen. The plane ride out there was even a new experience for me. I’ve flown many times since I was a child, but I hadn’t flown out that far west. I enjoyed seeing everything from the farmlands in the midwest, to the mountains, canyons, valleys, and deserts. I was even able to view The Grand Canyon.
As soon as I landed at LAX Thursday afternoon, I tried Pinkberry. I’ve always wanted to try it and I wasn’t disappointed. NOM. Then ChrissyStar picked me up. She’s a great friend and really took care of me and showed me around. We had so many adventures. Where do I even begin? Sheesh, I think some of the best stuff are things I won’t mention publicly, haha. I immediately noticed the beautiful landscapes and architecture everywhere. The weather was amazing. The highs were in the 70s and 80s and it wasn’t humid. Driving with the windows open, the air coming in felt amazing.
We stayed in Hollywood, just a one-minute walk from The Walk of Fame. I didn’t have much interest in visiting the tourist stuff, but I did see some of it while we drove by it. My first night, we went to Studio Servitù in Downtown L.A. for a benefit for @OMGitsJessieLee. It was great to see Jessie, not only because it had been about a year and a half, but also because it was good to see her out after the car accident. She’s a sweetheart and she looked fantastic. It was also cool to see Igor a.k.a. Driven By Boredom – a photographer I met in NYC two years ago at Webster Hall. Check out his blog on the event and see photos of some awesome people here (NSFW, but worth checking out). Here’s a photo he snapped of ChrissyStar and me:
After Jessie’s benefit, we went to West Hollywood to hang out at the Rainbow. It’s the type of place where everyone from rockstars, other celebs, local musicians and just anyone else who’s cool all go to eat, drink, and hang out. People were so outgoing, friendly, and welcoming. Chrissy knew quite a few people there and we easily made a bunch of new friends. One thing I was a little uneasy about before going to L.A. was that I’d feel intimidated. Even though I was already friends with a lot of people in the L.A. area, I also knew that there are so many beautiful and accomplished people out there. I thought I might feel insecure about myself, but it wasn’t like that at all. People made me feel welcomed and I really felt like I fit in and belonged. It didn’t matter who I was talking to – even those who were famous or very accomplished were friendly and inviting, and didn’t act like they were above me. This was pretty much true of everywhere we hung out in West Hollywood. I know there are probably a ton of fake, flaky jerks in L.A. who talk down to everyone, but I didn’t experience that negativity. The only thing that sucked about that night was that I was multiple levels of tired, jetlagged, and delirious, haha (see above photo). But I had a great night.
Friday, ChrissyStar and I drove down to San Diego to visit her father’s yacht. It was awesome. San Diego is a nice city and it was great being on the water. The view was beautiful. For each direction I turned my head, I saw a completely different view. You could see different parts of the city and then there was the view of the water.
We hung out with her dad and her friends and had some nice food and drinks. Then us females hit the town for a girls’ night out and hung out at this packed, two-level electronic night club called Voyeur. Chrissy and I spent the night on the yacht, and then the next evening (Saturday), we drove up to Anaheim for a huge NAMM afterparty. It was flippin’ awesome! I had so much fun and met a ton of amazing people left and right. 
Again – virtually everyone was welcoming and cool. The place was packed with a sea of rockstars and industry people all getting drunk. Haha. Later, we went up to the courtyards and other people’s hotel rooms for the after afterparties. Rad times.
Sunday, we headed back up to the L.A. area. We ate at El Compadre for the best Mexican food I’ve ever had in my entire life. The flaming margarita was also yummy.
We then went to Pop Killer, a clothing and accessory store that was across the street. Loved it!
I bought sunglasses, a tank top, and some piano duct tape (duct tape that has a piano pattern on it). Here are the photos of the sunglasses and tank top from popkiller’s site:
That night, we stopped by a club for some Golden Globes afterparty, but we weren’t really feeling it there, so we went to the Rainbow. We ended up going to this awesome afterparty and I got to listen to some accomplished musicians jamming out. There was such a cool vibe there. I love being surrounded by creative, artistic, intelligent, friendly, beautiful people.
Monday, we took some time to rest and recover during the day. Then we hit up the other venues on the strip that I hadn’t been to yet. I checked out a little bit of Steel Panther at House of Blues, then we bounced around to a few other venues, before going back to The Rainbow. Then some of us went to Toi for delicious Thai food in a rock ‘n’ roll atmosphere. It was a great way to end my trip there.
The next afternoon, I sadly went on my way back to Baltimore. I really miss so many people that I met there and I really miss ChrissyStar. She was so good to me and I’m so lucky to have her as a friend. I’m glad I finally went out there and I’ve decided that after I finish school and get my finances together, I am moving out there. I just loved it so much and can’t see myself anywhere else. Before this trip, I thought I’d either end up in NYC or L.A. I still love NYC, but after actually going to L.A., and especially West Hollywood, I know for sure that’s where I need to be. The funny thing is that so many people I met told me that I need to move out there before I even told them I’d been considering it. I cannot wait. These next few months will be planning, preparing, and saving up for the big move out there.
These past few years, I haven’t been able to dedicate as much of myself to my music as I had in the past. This was so I could focus on school and taking care of myself. The plan was always to focus on music again after finishing school, and I can’t think of a better place to start that up again than L.A. Oh, the future. You’re so close, yet so far away. I’m impatiently looking forward to the great things to come.