Christmas in L.A.

We woke up a little late on Christmas morning and sleepily walked out to our balcony and caught this incredible view.
I love city views with mountains in the background. If LA had a 70% population reduction I would consider moving there. Since that won't happen it isn't on my list. No fear, mothers.

Our hotel comped us breakfast. I say it was due to our TripAdvisor status. I have no proof of that. Anyway, I'll take a $28 breakfast buffet for free and ask no questions everyday of the week.
Jackson was happy with the offerings and looked very handsome sitting across the table from me. :)
These blackberries were phenomenal and I ate more than my fair share. I also tried lox and hated it. HATED IT. So gross. They had miso soup and rice out for the Asian guests so I tried that, too. It was pretty good but was an oddity at breakfast for me.
We headed outside and hacked into the lobby's free wifi to FaceTime with MacKenzie. I mean Susie and Kathy. ;) ha! They all had a nice Christmas and MacK was a pretty girl! Isn't the hotel pretty?

We spent some exploring it once we'd talked to MacKenzie. The views from the 17th floor were awesome.
They offered yoga on the helipad a few days a week but not the days we were there. Lame! 

We watched a television special on Candy Spelling moving into a penthouse apartment and were shocked that we are in its shadow at our hotel. She didn't seem to be home. If she was, she didn't wave.

The top two floors of the white building is her place. Poverty is so sad. 

We decided to spend the rest of the morning at the pool as it was 82 degrees and sunny. Loved it. 

Wonderful weather does not make Christmas feel less like Christmas to me. It is my favorite kind of Christmas. 

We walked to an outdoor mall in the afternoon in hopes of finding good food. We didn't. Finding good on Christmas day is always a battle. The movie "Lone Survivor" was released early to select LA and NYC theaters so we booked tickets online and even selected our seats in the theatre (how cool!) in Hollywood. We got there and found an open McDonald's. Merry Christmas to me! ;) We ate quickly and then settled into the theatre to catch the flick. About 5 minutes into the previews the fire alarm started going off. No one moved. It was hard to tell that it wasn't a part of the movie being previewed. Once I realized that it was an alarm and no one was moving I became seized by panic. (Note: I was already a little nervous about seeing a war movie on Christmas Day in Los Angeles. It just seemed like too good of a place for an act of violence to take place and make big news. That theatre shooting in Aurora, CO really scared me.) I started to get up and leave when Jackson pulled me back and said I was safer in my seat than being the first person to escape the theatre. I sat for a second and still NO ONE moved. I felt like the world was in slow motion. So I did what any rational person would do and climbed over the back of my seat and tried to use a handicapped entrance to escape. The handicapped entrance's elevator was broken and we were trapped. Again. At this point a teenage kid stormed into the elevator area and scared the crap of out of me. I'm shocked that I didn't hit him out of sheer terror. Turns out he was just as scared and wanted out, too. We got back into the theatre and heard someone say "false alarm! False alarm!" but I didn't believe them. I wanted out. Now. So I headed to the dimly lit stairs and made my way out. Still NO ONE was moving. The teenage boy, Jackson and I were the only ones heeding the alarm. What the heck, people? As we were exiting the theatre an employee came in and said to evacuate and the place went nuts. Except instead of orderly evacuating people pulled out their smartphones to record the event. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?! Jackson thinks people were orderly. I didn't. I wanted them to move and put down their phones. (Can you tell which one of us listened to many, many 9/11 books and now knows the always heed alarms?) We made it outside with about 4,000 of our closest friends. Thank God, there was not actually a fire or any kind of act of violence. Seemingly just some burnt popcorn. The theatre got the all clear and offered refunds or free passes or both (they handled it pretty well!) so we just got a refund and headed out. My nerves couldn't take going back in. Poor Jackson. I know. He has to deal with my irrational fears. He takes it like a champ. 

Being Christmas Day and all we thought heading to Chinatown would be a good idea as Chinese restaurants are typically open on the holiday. LA's Chinatown was a bust. NYC, London and San Francisco all have awesome ones. LA's was just ghetto and scary. We didn't even stop. We turned around and headed for the Los Angles County Museum of Art to see an exhibit we had seen in movies.  

Urban Light is the name of the piece. It was so cool!
Daylight vs. Nighttime. (That photo isn't mine.)

Once we'd seen the art we were ready for actual food. It'd been a crazy night. We headed back to Beverly Hills and found an Italian restaurant, Il Fornaio, was open. Score!!! 

I had a salad and Jackson had a pizza. Both were much better than McDonald's. ;) We walked around Rodeo Drive for a bit before heading back to the hotel. What a day! We stopped in at the hot tub and enjoyed the views before retiring for the night. What a wild Christmas it was!  We wouldn't have it any other way!!