Creeks, Culture, and Craziness!

We spent the last awesome few days in mermaid lagoons and restaurants, a gallery and a club, and the company of amazing friends! 

Friday was yet another non-working day BUT we totally made the most of it! We went with Brittany to Malibu Creek State Park to go on one of her favourite hikes that ended in a beautiful, mermaidy lagoon! 

We spent ages exploring, watching people jump from different heights on the cliff face, trying to avoid submerged rocks, and paddling around. We'd worked up an appetite so we went out to Lemonade for lunch afterwards! We'd been wanting to try it for ages and it totally lived up to our expectations, so yummy!! 

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out by the pool, so lovely to get a full day of fresh air and sunshine!

Saturday was a super fun day! We ran errands and did the grocery shopping in the morning and then Sierra, Han's college roomie/bestie came to visit for the first time!! Yeee! We chatted and caught up for a few hours then we went with Schwartz and Brittany to an opening at the gallery Brian works at in Santa Monica. They were showcasing three really lovely artists, we were super impressed!

Right nearby was another restaurant we've been wanting to try, Wurstkuche, so we went there for dinner! We had the most delicious sausages (although Han's was so spicy she almost didn't make it through) and amazing fries in this cool, hipster bar area.

Next on the agenda was Sierra's first ever clubbing experience!! We went to Lure, the same place we went with Sully, and had a fantastic night full of dancing and silliness! 

We also almost deafened ourselves, it's Monday and our ears are still recovering! The big drama of the night came later on when we got a Lyft (a super affordable taxi service) home. We reached the apartment and the driver told us she'd forgotten to start the timer thingo when we'd left! Han's credit card info was already entered into the app on her phone, so the driver just said she'd start the route and drive back to the club so it was exactly the same time. Well, 15 minutes later (the right amount of time for the ride) Han's credit card got charged for the Lyft....... $90!!!!! WHAT?! Ninety bucks for a 15 minute drive?!! Apparently there was a 200% tip added..?! Ughh so we called the driver and she was super nice about it, promising to help us sort it out, but we're still waiting to hear back from customer service. It was a wonderful night nonetheless, and fingers crossed we'll get a refund too!

Yesterday was a bit of a recovery day. We took Sierra to Cactus, still our #1 Mexican spot, and hung out for a while until she had to leave. It was so, so great hanging out with her! Just like old times!! The afternoon was a quiet one and in the evening Luce went out on a lovely date - and brought Han back some delicious Indian food afterwards! #twinning

-- Han & Luce --

Today Han's doing background on a new show called Transparent (where she saw this sign, kinda cool..!)

and Luce is going to the doctor and dermatologist. Han's hoping for a short day and planning on stopping by the most amaaazing donut place nearby the shooting location - where you can get a "wownut" (a waffle + a donut) - we've been craving it SO badly and can't wait to try it! 

Ahhh, very exciting!! Fingers crossed it'll be a wrap soon!

Back in touch with nature.. (and reality)

We were back in the US! It was certainly bittersweet - we were feeling motivated and ready to be back and make stuff happen but, at the same time, we would've gone back to Europe in a heartbeat. We took a couple days to recover from the trip (and do piles and piles of laundry) then headed back to the apartment from Mum and Q's. We stopped at Chapman on the way to see a few of Han's friends in the show Machinal and they did SUCH a great job!! Afterwards we grabbed boba with JT and Tosh (who Luce finally got to meet!) and then called it a night. We were finally home! It felt amazing to be back in our lovely apartment :)

On Monday we woke up early and decided to go to the park for a walk and to start writing something to turn into a web series or play. We were still on a high from the holiday, so it really didn't faze us that we had a maaajor struggle finding/getting to/parking at Griffith Park haha. But we got there in the end! We made progress writing, called and emailed a few people, and enjoyed the sunshine.

On Tuesday we went and updated our photos at Central Casting to refresh ourselves in their system. The process took waaayyy longer than expected BUT, on the plus side, we ran into Nick Lee who Han had become friends with on Revenge! It was great catching up with him and it turns out he and his roommate are huge Game of Thrones fans, so we lined up a GoT watching party for the next episode.

That night was the lunar eclipse which was kind of exciting. We went over to see JT's new apartment then went together to a great spot on Mulholland Drive to watch it from.

We had a really great chat, filled him in on all our shenanigans from Austria, and heard what he's been up to here. The eclipse itself was beautiful and it's always lovely hanging out with JT.

On Wednesday Han signed back up with Extras Management and went for a hike/read her book at Wilacre Park and Luce did background on the set of Pretty Little Liars!! We both had great, productive days AND we came home to a really sweet thank you present from Izzy for having her over spring break!

Slightly embarrassingly, all we have to say about yesterday is: Orange is the New Black is SUCH A GOOD SHOW! Also, strawberry, banana, spinach smoothies are delicious!

Today we went for a long hike together at Wilacre park. We were a little bummed not to get booked by Extras the last couple days, but with Easter things are really slow, so we figured we'd make the most of it! The walk was lovely absolutely lovely and we're feeling all inspired to get out and exercise whenever we're not working!

(Luce was feeling particularly in touch with nature haha)

We're going to Mosaic tonight for the Good Friday service, then Han has a date with a really nice guy she met on Wednesday - they're going to a UCB improv comedy show and coffee afterwards, exciting! Luce is going to a party that a friend from her CSI background gig is hosting and Han might join later, so it looks like it's going to be a great night! Yay!

"Clearly you've never been to Singapore" ;)

Yesterday was our first proper day in Singapore! We all got up early and went exploring.. We caught the MRT (coolest, fastest, and least smelly subway EVER) to these huge biodome gardens by the water and renewable energy mushroom looking things.

There were two garden domes: the Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome. They were pretty incredible, such beautiful nature in the middle of a city! Nan and Dad, gardener extraordinaires, were in their element - very fun day!

We went back to the apartment to rest for a bit before going out to the Night Safari at Singapore Zoo!! As a pre-show, two guys came out and did this intense fire breathing/eating (ahh!) show - very cool! 

Then we went into a little amphitheatre for a "creatures of the night" show. At one point they needed an audience volunteer and they chose Eddie!!

Then we met our personal tour guide, Nur, and hopped in a little buggie to traipse around the zoo! We saw heaps of animals!! A few experiences were particularly memorable though:

1) Bats - gahh!! Walking through an almost-pitch-black enclosure of free-flying bats was slightly terrifying! We could feel the wind rushing past our heads as they flew by!

2) Will can speak otter. Like, he was really talking to them!! He goes "ooh, they sound like me!" And starts making the most adorable, high-pitched squeaks and the otters squeaked back and started frantically looking around for him. Very Dory from Finding Nemo.

3) Daisy the Leopard. Our tour guide told us the most heartbreaking story - Daisy had a mate for 10 years and he just passed away. We asked what affect it had had and Nur said that she refused to eat for weeks and became wary of the keepers because she thought they'd killed her mate, so sad :( but she was absolutely beautiful, sleeping right up against the glass.

4) A hippo!! We saw this massive hippo, really close up, and he stared us right in the eye! 

5) Sick kid. Not memorable in the best way, Ed got really sick towards the end of the tour and we had to wind things up. It didn't spoil the night at all though, such a unique experience!!

Today we had a later start, recovering from the late night zoo adventure and sick child drama, and the two of us navigated our way to Orchard Road for a shopping extravaganza!! This street was unlike anything we've ever seen! A series of probably 20 huge, full-sized shopping centres! Gaahh!! So overwhelming and amazing, WOW! Everything from H&M and Cotton On to Cartier and Prada. Thanks to Nan, G'ma & G'pa, Uncle Matt, and Uncle Steve, we had Xmas money to spend guilt free, and we were outta cash before we knew it! We were stoked with our purchases though, nothin' like retail therapy..!

We came back and had a swim in the pool with Will. We were about to race and Will have us a stellar pep talk: "Do ya have your courage?" "Yes!" "Do ya have your kicking legs?" "Yes!" "Do ya have your umm.. paddling arms?" "Yes!" "Then leeeet's do this!!" Haha he's such a crack up!

Tonight we went out Octapas for paella, sangria, and churros, delish! 

The atmosphere in Clarke Quay at night is so buzzy, we felt great strutting down the main street in heels and new dresses! A wonderful and tiring day!