My Road To Pasadena.

I recently embarked on a cross county trip to Pasadena (LA), California to cheer on my team during the BCS National Championship game. Of course, I didnt actually drive. It would have taken days and considering I went with my brother, one of us wouldnt have made it there alive! It is no surprise to the people that know me and my brother, Tykie, that we are nothing alike. We have one thing in common, our love for Alabama football, thats it. That being said, I'm not going to get into the many, many bad things about my trip. I will just give my opinion on the places we went and the things we saw. We ended up meeting 2 of my cousins, so that made things more bareable.

First things first. We decided to fly into Vegas and rent a car to drive to Pasadena. Of course, that was not my idea b/c if you know me I get very car sick. It is about a 4 hour drive to LA, so not fun at all.  We arrived in Vegas monday night around 9. We got our rental car and headed to our hotel, the Plaza Hotel and Casino. The hotel is in downtown Vegas, which is the "old" part of town. When we walked in it reaked of cigarette smoke terribly! Not great for my allergies to say the least. The Plaza was the place to stay 50 years ago, and let me tell you, it has not been renovated since! So, needless to say, dont stay there if you plan on visiting Vegas! I got absolutely no sleep Monday night, due in part from the rock hard bed and pillow and the snoring of my brother. We also stayed up very late playing blackjack. I had never played before and it was sooo much fun! I blackjacked like 25 times in total! Lets just say that I played on $40 for hours! I didnt win anything, but it was fun. The next morning we went to the Hoover Dam. It was a neat thing to see. Scenery type things arent that exciting to me, but it was nice to see. Later on in the afternoon, I made everyone go to Cesaers Palace on the strip. That is a place you MUST go if you are a woman! The palace is a hotel, casino, mall, many restaurants, Planet Hollywood, spa, ect..all rolled in one! I wanted to actually go shop and look around but all everyone else wanted to do was ganble. So, I didnt get to enjoy all the things the palace had to offer.  It was very beautiful though. It is so huge that you need a full day to devote to it. I ended up going to take a nap while everyone else gambled away. That night we went to the comedy club in Harrah's and it was so much fun. One of the comedians was a total hottie too.  :o)  That was our last night in Vegas. All in all it was fun, but nothing like they make it seem on tv. I didnt drink, so that could be a reason. My idea of a good time isnt getting drunk on the strip in Vegas and acting a fool. I do want to go back soon with friends. It would be a lot more fun experiencing things with my girlfriends!

Now, the next morning rolls around and we were supposed to leave at 6am since we had a 4 hour drive. There were so many things I wanted to do and see in LA! I have wanted to go there pretty much my entire life! Well, surprise, I couldnt get anyone out of bed. It took me TWO hours to get my brother out of bed and I called my cousins nonstop with no answer. We ended up getting out of vegas and on the road around 10. We had tickets to go to the People's Choice Awards, so I knew due to LA traffic and everything we would need to start getting ready around 3. They closed the doors at 5:30 at the Nokia Theatre, where the show was being held. If you were late you just didnt get in! We got into Hollywood (where our hotel was) with no time to spare. We only walked the boulevard and looked around for a bit. We had no time to go anywhere since I couldnt get anyone out of bed earlier. We had to rush to get to the People's Choice Awards on time. My dad told me that LA rush hour or actually hours, starts at 3. I had to finish getting ready in the cab. My hair was pulled back and I didnt get the look I was going for! I mean, what if I saw a hot celebrity and they fell in love with me at first sight! I needed to look good for the cameras!! haha ;o ) We finally got seated and we had very good seats! The first celebrity we saw in the theatre was Chevy Chase. We quoted things from Vegas Vacation nonstop the day before, so it was exciting to see him! lol ... I was so very surprised how different celebrities look in person!  They say that the camera adds 10 pounds. Ten?! More like 15 for some! I was very disappointed in how Jessica Alba looked. I always thought she was gorgeous and had the best body! She was very tiny! Not in a good way to me. She was way to small and her skin was a bit brokeout. It is odd that I watched the show on tv afterwards and you couldnt even tell! Jessica alba is just normal. Not perfect like many of us have always thought! Then, you have Taylor Swift. Someone needs to feed her a hamburger ASAP! She looks small on tv, so imagine her about 10-15 pounds smaller! Then, there was the beautiful Sandra Bullock! She was smaller that she appears on tv, but she was a healthy small. She was absolutely ravishing!  She is in her 40s and looks AMAZING! Another one that stood out was Ellen. I love Ellen and like to watch her show whenever I can. She was very small and looked kind of sickly. Maybe she was just sick or something. Another person that caught my attention was Mariah Carey. Of course, Mariah will ALWAYS be beautiful, but she has gained a LOT of weight since marrying Nick Canan! Her dress was so tight, so I am gussing it was to hold her in. Her huge boobs were popping out the side. When she made her way to the stage to accept her award she could barely walk and almost fell! I thought it was b/c of the dress. Well, I thought that before I heard her speak! haha... Mimi was a bit intoxicated, but it was funny. All in all, I noticed that celebrities are just normal people with the same issues we all have. They have the cellulite like 99% of all females have! That was apparent since a lot of them wore short dresses. They still looked beautiful. So, it was helpful for the self-esteem to see that no one is perfect.

The next day we got up early and made our way to hollywood boulevard. We decided to take a trolly tour. (not good for your hair.. haha)... The tour took us to see the Hollywood sign, Paramount, Hollywood Bowl..thats about it. I was VERY disappointed. Afterwards, we didnt have much time for anything. I wanted to see Rodeo Drive, Melrose, Calabasas, Dash, ect..I didnt get to go to one of those places! I was so bummed! :o( ...We made our way to Pasadena and the parking was easy, but a long walk! I wasnt impressed with the Rose Bowl at all. Its ok, though, b/c WE WON!!! :o) I have mucho respect for Texas. They were very friendly and classy. We were on the Texas side and our camera's battery died. One of the texas fans asked what kind of memory card we had and said we could use his camera. That was very nice of him. If only fans were that nice in south Alabama!

Well, I didnt think this would be sooo long! I guess I added another book to my collection! lol .. Until next time...God Bless!