The Absolutely Incredible End of an Era....

The last two weeks were our last fortnight with Sully before she moved back to Michigan. We were sooo unbelievably bummed to see her go but oh man did we make the most of our last days together!

Monday 3/11

After our craaazyyy Horror Nights at Universal, we slept in and went to Crave Cafe for a delicious brunch - it's a suuper trendy spot so we brought our hipster A-game haha. We had a chill day, did some grocery shopping, baked the most delicious cookies EVER (they had cornflakes, marshmallows, choc chips, & peanut butter chips, amazing! Here's a link to the recipe: http://www.shutterbean.com/2013/cornflake-marshmallow-cookies/#more-21389), and had a snacky dinner of meats and cheeses. We also went out for late-night manicures to get ready for the Marine Corps Ball on Wednesday!! So exciting! Han got dark blue, felt very edgy..

Tuesday 4/11

On Tuesday we headed out to San Diego! ROAD TRIP! Sully was a total legend and did all the driving and, with "Jealous" by Nick Jonas playing on repeat, we were there before we knew it! We spent the afternoon at the San Diego Zoo which was really fun. Definite highlights were the giraffes, Mary the (dancing, it was hilarious) Elephant, the most handsome lion ever, bears of all descriptions aaaand the cutest panda in the world!!

After the zoo we went to Lolita's Mexican restaurant for some killer California burritos and nachos, then met up with Luke and Greg for our first time Go Karting!! It. Was. Insane..! We did three races and really weren't amazing at it (especially Han) but it was so fun!! At one point there was a huuuge pileup which was simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating and we were really stiff the next day, but we had a really great time!

After that we said bye to the boys and went to our hotel to get some beauty sleep before the ball the next day!

Wednesday 5/11

It was the day of the ball! We had some slight logistical challenges getting to the hotel/casino where it was taking place, but finally we got there and started to get ourselves ready! Sully did an amazing job of Han's hair & makeup, we both helped her coiffe to perfection, and some perfect red lippy sealed the deal! A few selfies, our classic smile, laugh, kiss trifecta, and we were ready to head down to the ballroom!

We had SUCH a fun night!! It was truly one of the best nights ever! The ceremony was quite moving and extremely patriotic, we felt quite honored really to be there for it. 

By the time we got to dinner we were starving and the meal didn't disappoint! Waldorf salad appetizer, stuffed chicken, steak, & veggies for a main, and a chocolate tart for dessert! We met some of Luke and Greg's higher-ups and everyone was so friendly - for a while Greg disappeared so it was just us three girls with Luke and he got some seeerious cred from his mates, which was kinda fun! Greg resurfaced after a little while and we took some legendary group pics with the official backdrop, love em! Luke and Greg were the best dates a girl could ask for, absolute gentlemen!

While Greg mingled, the three of us and Luke danced for hours! The crowd started thinning out till it was only us on the dance floor and we still didn't stop! The DJs played "Jealous" for us twice and around 11:00 we were gonna call it a night, we started to leave and everything, but Sully led the team in a legendary rally and we danced till they kicked us out at 12:00! We taught Luke our selfie series on the way out and went up to the room, on top of the world after such a fun night! 

We re-rallied (with the help of some comfy clothes) and went downstairs to try our luck at the slots! 

It was super fun! We obviously didn't win anything, but it was all in the spirit of things and it was really the perfectly hilarious way to end the night - especially with a little Ocean's 11 stunt to get away from this strange, drunken guy hovering around, very funny. We sang Jealous in the elevator and fell into bed happy as can be!

Thursday, Friday and Saturday we spent out at Mum and Q's hanging and relaxing after our busy few days! It was just what we all needed, their place is such a little paradise!

On Sunday the 15th we headed back into LA and had lunch at Aroma, Sully's favourite cafe, then went to an evening church service at Mosaic. Erwin spoke and the sermon was really great, very inspiring. It was also World Adoption Day, so we drew smiley faces on our hands in solidarity with that beautiful cause!

We had a yummy dessert at Alcove, one of our favourite cafés, then headed back to our apartment. 

Last week was a little less crazy cos Sully had to work on packing and organizing things for their departure, but we still managed to see each other every day! On Monday we had dinner with her and her mum, Angel, at a restaurant called On the Thirty - most amazing gourmet pizzas you could imagine and Mac & Cheese to die for!

Tuesday was probably our least successful day ever haha. We went to Urth Caffe (which took ages longer than expected between traffic and parking) for their amazing bread pudding. They were out of bread pudding (devastating) so we got a cream puff thing and another dessert to share - half an hour later, we've had our coffees and other cake, but no cream puff, so Han went in to ask and they'd given it to someone else! What?! Very disappointing.. Afterwards we went to LACMA as we'd planned and got there around 4:15- also stressful with traffic and parking. When Han went to the window to get tickets, the guy informed her that they start to close at 4:50 to be completely shut by 5:00! Seriously?! Bummer. We got to see what we'd really wanted to though, which were the beautiful streetlights. After many failed attempts, we finally got some good pics and called it a night! 

What really turned things around, though, were In-N-Out burgers. Thank you lord!  

Wednesday was a chill day, we went to the Americana at Brand for pumpkin flavoured sprinkles cupcakes and a few deliciously cosy flannels and sweaters, success! We're loving the slightly cooler autumn weather. Han babysat in the afternoon and we went to Angel and Sully's for takeout for dinner and a bottle of champagne, lovely! 

Thursday and Friday we mostly just chilled out during the day, Han did some babysitting, and we went out to two amazing dinners with Sully! Thursday night for our last time just the three of us we went to Eveleigh and it was absolutely perfect! 

We truly couldn't have imagined a better last hurrah. We ate, drank, and talked for hours - still in denial that, in a couple days, we wouldn't be seeing each other for months..! 

Friday night's dinner had a bit of a lead up - true to style, we left getting the present we'd planned for Sully till the last minute! So after Han finished babysitting we raced over to Pier 1 for a beautiful picture frame and a jar for Sully to start saving to visit us - like the Paradise Falls jar we have to save for our trip - then to CVS to print out photos from the ball. We were so happy with how everything came together and glad we made the effort! We're gonna miss that gorgeous gal and now there's no question that she knows it :)

Dinner with Angel was absolutely lovely - made lovelier by a successful surprise we helped orchestrate! Luke drove from San Diego and met us at the restaurant and, despite our collective lack of any kind of poker face, Sully totally didn't expect it! Dinner was outta this world good - Luce has langoustines with pasta and Han had seafood risotto, then we all shared tiramisu and chocolate mousse for dessert, delish! 

We went back to Sully and Angel's together to sleep over before they left the next day.

Saturday was absolutely crazy!! It turned out that there was actually a TON of stuff to do for them to be ready to go! Eeeek! The two of us, Luke, Angel, and Sully set to work packing their cars up for the trip and getting rid of whatever wouldn't fit (a lot of which went in our car to take to a Girl Scouts garage sale, really killin it on positive karma points that day!) Finally after over 7 hours of carrying, packing, shoving, rearranging, sweat, tears, and laughter, everything was packed! We went to Aroma so they could get one last latte for the road and around 4:00, we said our goodbyes.. 

Even as they were diving away it still didn't seem real! Partially because we were so exhausted but also probably because it marked the end of an era. Most of the happiest, craziest, funniest memories we have of LA were times with Sully, and now that she's gone, that awesome chapter of our LA journey is over. We know she's on to bigger and better things, though, and we're confident that we are too! 

The last few days have involved a lot of catching up - on errands, TV, more errands, chores, and sleep. We've also been planning Q's birthday weekend and putting heaps of effort into a rather exciting theme, but shhh, it's a secret.... Tomorrow we'll finish birthday prep, a couple more errands, maybe treat ourselves to something yummy, and then on Friday the birthday weekend begins! Can't wait!! 

Yes, it's the end of an amazing era - but it's also the beginning of a new one and there's no doubt it'll be even better! 

BEST HALLOWEEKEND EVER!!!

Halloween this year was SO FREAKIN AMAZING!!! We TOTALLY made the most of the holiday and had three days packed full of tricks and treats! 

On Wednesday we picked up Sully, our Halloweekend partner in crime, from the airport and said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa who were on their way back to Aus. We had SUCH a lovely couple weeks with them and it wasn't too sad of a goodbye because we'll see them next month when we're back for Christmas! We all had a delicious goodbye dinner at Red Lobster and then Halloween week was on!

On Thursday we went costume shopping for outfits to wear to a USC frat party that night. We went to a costume rental place on Ventura blvd to try to find inspiration and it was incredible! Racks upon racks of amazing costumes! We could've gotten lost in all the beautiful/crazy/colorful things! Unfortunately, the prices weren't so inspiring soo we went on to American Apparel and... Inspiration struck! Cheetah Girls!!!

We did some more shopping/errands, are lunch, Han met a new fam to babysit for and then it was time to get ready!! After dozens of curls, half a can of hairspray, and some red lippy, we were off to USC! Woo! Our friend Olivia met us in the lobby - which was gorgeous, by the way! We felt like we were in a hotel not a dorm!

Some more of her friends arrived soon after us and we went en masse to the Pi Kappa Phi house!

We had a really fun time dancing, laughing, meeting new people, finding more of our feline kind, and walking to Del Taco for late-night burritos.

Besides a small, accidental headbutt to Han's nose and a run in Luce's stockings, it was a purrrrfect night! (See what I did there..) 

We went back to Olivia's and crashed out, workin on that beauty sleep for the next day of adventures!

On Friday we had a huge brekkie (at like 12:00 soo more like lunch) at IHOP and went out again to agent the finishing touches for Sully's costume. The afternoon flew by and before we knew it we were getting ready again! This time as 2 Broke Girls (as in the TV show) and our tip jar! We were SO happy with how our costumes worked out, we even surprised ourselves with how realistic it was!

We headed into West Hollywood to go to a huge costume parade/carnival on Santa Monica blvd. Traffic was INSANE but, given that it was Halloween, there was plenty to look at! So many awesome costumes and crazy people flooded into the parade area - from girls in lingerie, to men in huge bird outfits, to glamorous drag queens in stilettos and everything in between! We ended up parking near Vaucluse and stopping in to say hi before heading into the madness ourselves! 

It. Was. Crazy!!! The best people watching ever! Our costumes were a total hit and we took sooo many pictures with other people in costume!

Lord of the Rings, the Blues Brothers, Khaleesi, Khal Drogo, and their baby dragon from Game of Thrones, 2 pimps with us 2 Broke Girls, our prison wives from Orange is the New Black, Wolverine and the 300 Spartan, and many more micellaneously wonderful costumes! We walked the whole mile-long parade, all the way to Beverly Hills! Woahh! 

We started to head back towards the car, about 2 miles away now, aaaand it started to rain..! What?! It hasn't rained once since we moved to LA and on Halloween it POURED!!! Gaaahh! By the time we made it back we looked like 3 drowned rats, SO hilarious (now, at the time it was honestly pretty miserable and freezing cold BUT we made it through!) 

We couldn't have been happier to see the garage we'd parked in! We all piled in to the car head home but the craziness didn't end there..! The rain, traffic, our tiredness, and the hundreds of drunken people combined to make for a harrowing ride home! Eeeek! Poor Luce was driving soo carefully and still had a couple close calls - one waayy too close when a crazy man darted across 4 lanes of traffic and thought it'd be fun to slide over the bonnet of our car!! TERRIFYING! But we all made it home in one piece - well, who knows about that guy if he was running in front of other cars the same way - and put on the most gloriously comfy, dry clothes we own before crashing out. What an unforgettable night! Wow!

Saturday was a rest day, thank goodness! We slept in, hung out, Han babysat, and we all watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (the most joyous movie ever created) at night. Wonderful!

Sunday was our final day of celebrations for Halloween and we had SO MUCH FUN!! It started off with the most wonderful, inspiring, heartwarming church service at Mosaic. Hank spoke and between his eloquent words and the beautiful music the three of us left feeling like we were walking on air and that we could achieve absolutely anything. 

Next on the schedule for the day was the American Apparel factory outlet store. HOW HAD WE NOT HEARD OF IT BEFORE?! We spent over 3 hours in there!! We actually showed a fair amount of restraint in our actual purchases and we got suuuch great deals! YAAYY! We went to Wurstküche for an early dinner (yum!) and the headed home to get ready for... Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios!! We had suuuuch a great time! It was truly terrifying and so much fun! 

We headed down to the lower lot where the main attractions, the three mazes, were. We were thrown in the deep end waayy sooner than expected because the way down to the mazes was an experience in itself! There were heaps of people dressed up on scary costumes/makeup who, noticing our terror, completely targeted us! All of a sudden we found ourselves completely alone with about 15 zombie people, in the dark, with fog pouring in..! Luce starts screaming "where are the humans?! Where are the humans??!?!" as these freaky zombie surround us, we're clinging onto each other, huddled against a wall, screaming, until we finally broke free to see the silhouette of this huge scary man surrounded by fog!!! Ahhh!! We made it past him and got to the entrance of the maze which, after waiting in line for ages, was another harrowing experience! We reached the front of the line and tried to mentally prepare ourselves by talking to this guy in costume.

It really didn't work because there was nooo way we could've prepared ourselves for that first haunted house! When we were finally going in we were at the very front of the group so we experienced EVERYTHING first! Countless people jumped out at us, screamed in our faces, came within an inch of hitting us with terrifying objects, so scary!!! 

After that we were ready for something a little slower paced so we texted our friend Eddie who works on the Terror Tram (the Halloween version of the backlot tour) and he was just about to head out on a tour! We hopped on the front of the tram and settled in for a less alarming attraction. About four minutes in to the drive, they played a Walking Dead video and showed us clips from the show, which was all well and good, but then next thing we know that tram's stopped and Eddie says "this is where we drop you off, the rest of the way's on foot". Ummm, excuse me?! Han even laughed cos she thought he was joking and asked "wait, are you serious?" He was serious. We got off the train first and the flood of people started moving toward an entrance way. When we got closer, though, we saw all these zombies and men with chainsaws were there terrorizing people and all three of us, without saying a word, turned and went to get back on the tram..! They, obviously, wouldn't let us back on because it was already pulling away, so by the time we turned back to face the horror, EVERYONE ELSE WAS GONE. We stood there, three terrified girls, facing a wall of about 18 creatures of our nightmares and we started to timidly walk forwards.. It's hard to retell the level of fear we experienced but it was just SO real! It was like we were in our own horror movie that we couldn't escape! We walked forward and before we knew it we were surrounded by men with chainsaws - that looked, smelled, and sounded aaaall too real - huddled in a cluster looking up at them and literally crying with fright. Sullivan starts screaming "time out! Time out!!" and against all expectations, one of the chainsaw guys actually lifted his mask and gruffly said "Time out". Everyone else took a small step back and the three of us stood up and took a deep breath. Next thing we know, he says "Time in," snaps down his mask, and revs his chainsaw!! AHH! Everyone took his lead and we were dealing with the onslaught again! We decided, right, we just have to get outta here. So Luce and Sully lock arms and start to take off running with Han a few paces behind. In a wild attempt to keep us from getting past, a zombie guy ran in front of Luce and tripped her over!!! She was A-okay and it was, retrospectively, pretty hilarious. Sully didn't let go of Luce's arm and ended up dragging her a couple steps, Luce goes "I'm fine! It was all jeans" and gets up and keeps going, but then Han got all momma bear on that zombie and gave him a bit of a fright and a piece of her mind! Finally we made it past, through some area none of us can even remember because we were still in shock, and then out the other side WHERE THERE WERE MORE CHAINSAW GUYS! Noooo! We got surrounded again and battled our way out, with them using the chainsaws to separate us from one another, losing each other then finally reconvening and dragging ourselves back onto the tram. Scariest. Experience. Of. Our. Lives. 

After that we went through 3 more mazes - a werewolf one, an Alien vs Predator one, and another Walking Dead one - and we really just had SUCH a blast! We stayed until well after 1:00, did all the best attractions, and left feeling proud, tired, and very hoarse. It was far and away our most successful Halloween since moving to the US and we couldn't have been happier to get to spend it with Sullivan! The three of us make a pretty unstoppable team - well, unless it's dark and you're a freaky man with a chainsaw...