It all started with "New Girl." I blame that glorious masterpiece of a show for the awesomeness that was my road trip. Jenni showed me "New Girl" shortly before my Spring Break in April. I was hooked from the start. It was so freakin' clever and hilarious and it cracked me up. The love story between Jess and Nick- well that was the perfect recipe to winning my heart over completely! I am determined to find myself a Nick to spend the rest of my life with. A girl can dream, right?!
I love me some Nick!
My love of "New Girl" led to me finishing the whole show in about 2 weeks' time (possibly faster- it's a little hazy to me now). Watching the whole show made me love Nick even more, which led to me researching the man behind the character: Jake Johnson. I would like to say that I have a slight obsession with this guy, but I would be lying if I did. I have absolutely no shame in saying that I have a full-blown addiction to him (in a non-creepy way, of course). I looked him up, finding out information about his life as well as what shows, movies, or projects he's been involved in. Over the past month and a half, I have learned every last bit of information about him, watching his awesome Indie films on Netflix and Amazon Prime. I started following his Instagram and Twitter. I know, I know- I went overboard, but when you find someone you love, you stalk them. Don't you dare tell me I'm wrong- in this day in age, practically everything is broadcasted for everyone to see, haha! Long story short- my obsession with Jake Johnson helped me to be more into the deets of his life. One such deet came on his Twitter a few weeks' back, which said he was going to be in a comedy show in Los Angeles on a Monday night. After seeing that, I thought, I HAVE to go! Yet, it just seemed like a dream that would remain just that, a dream. So often in my life, I have played it safe and just done everything I'm supposed to do, never taking risks or stepping outside of my comfort zone. That is something I definitely regret. I already have FOMO (the fear of missing out) and I am trying to take steps in my life to change that.
After seeing this announcement about the improv show, I called my sister, Jenni, and said how much I wished she could go. She is in PA and is getting ready to potentially start a job in AZ, so I knew that it would not be possible for her to go on a trip like that with me. I talked to my mom about the same show and just imagined what it would be like to go to it. Fast forward to Tuesday night (I discovered the show that Friday or Saturday before). I texted Zach to tell him about this event, telling him I would love for the both of us to go to it. I knew he would never be able to and just thought it was another event in my life that would be impossible to carry out. Zach texted me back and said, "I want to go." I wrote back to him and was like, "Wait, could you really go?..." After several rounds of texts, we decided to do it. And immediately after making the decision, my stomach was the home to thousands of butterflies! I felt so nervous and scared to do something I had never done before! I knew that this feeling stemmed from the way that my parents raised me. They were very protective, but often scared me out of doing anything adventurous. They made me think that I couldn't do anything (like a road trip) without them around. Case in point: my dad forced me to go on a road trip to Utah with him and my sister when I got a new, used car to use for my student teaching. Even though I was 23 years old, I was not given a choice; I was not allowed to take the road trip with my sister. Yuck. If the 30-year-old me could go back to that time, I would not have kindly acquiesced to such ridiculous demands. I digress... let's just say the nervous feeling I felt about the road trip to LA, stemmed from the way that my parents had sheltered me and been overprotective. I knew though, the things that scare us most in life are often the most worth doing. I'm channeling "Chasing Liberty" right now, in case you thought that statement sounded familiar, lol!
Once Zach and I decided to take the trip, lots of plans were made in a short time span. I booked the comedy show and was amazed that the tickets only cost about $15 a piece (the venue was offering a 2-for-1 deal). Only $15 to see the guy I'm obsessed with be his usual, hilarious self?!?! Count me in! Then, Jenni helped me to find a perfect hotel for the event. She used Price Line, which I have never used before and found a gem of a room. That Thursday, I got my oil changed/tires rotated. Everything was in great condition- I've had my car for a little over 2 years and I've barely put many miles on it. It is perfect for road trips- it runs smoothly and handles the miles well. Saturday, I ran tons of errands to buy things for the trip, one of which was makeup. I needed to look my best for Jake! Haha! ;-) I also bought snacks for the trip, trying to find Zach's favorites in the process.
Sunday was the day! I picked Zach up and we were on our way around 10 am. The drive was great! There were no tolls and the weather was perfect. Zach had a killer playlist for the trip! He even played the song, "Send Me On My Way" by Rusted Root, which made me die laughing because of the freakin' hilarious episode it plays in in "New Girl." Our course involved driving through St. George, Arizona, Vegas, and eventually, LA. We stopped for lunch in Vegas at Subway and after eating there, I asked Zach to drive for a little bit. It was kind of hilarious because my drive up to that point had been so easy and had lots of open road, but when Zach started, his drive ended up being much more choppy. He had to drive through a dust storm and he got into the California portion of the trip, which had a lot of stop-and-go traffic. Poor guy- he handled it like a champ though! We made another stop in California at a gas station that had tons of cars at it and extremely windy weather! I will never forget trying to get out and fill up for gas. My hair blew around so much, I looked like a freakin' Sasquatch! I drove the remainder of the drive, which ended up still having a lot of traffic, especially when we got close to the exit for our hotel in LA. I was blown away by how many people just ended up going right in front of my car (and others) even at the portion of the exit where your car should either be in the exit lane or the lane that passes it. I ended up laughing a ton because I was so shocked at what was going on! I also laughed a lot when Zach got annoyed at people's attempts to merge. For some reason, when people wanted to move into my lane, even if I gave them lots of space, they would just stay to the right and not move in front of my car for the longest time. So different than people's crazy Utah habits- they get over even if there isn't space!
We played the waiting game so much Sunday night. We waited for 40+ minutes just to be able to drive less than 1/4 of a mile to take the exit to the hotel. When we got to the hotel, we waited in line forever just to get our room key. While waiting in the line, I laughed a lot with Zach and probably seemed like I was high to the people around me. It was close to 11:30 pm there, which felt like 12:30 am to me. Once we got to our hotel room, we knew we needed to get something to eat quickly. I started to feel SO WEIRD at that point. I think my blood pressure was off and my blood sugar must have been low too. Zach and I walked about half a mile to Carl's Jr. and when we got there, I felt like I was going to pass out. My feet started feeling like they were moving off the ground somehow. Zach and I ate our food and I personally, felt like I was in a weird dream. Some weirdo girl was in the restaurant at the same time as us and she seemed like she was high as a kite. She was listening in to our conversation and said a rude remark to Zach on our way out. When Zach and I got back to the hotel, we crashed.
The next day, we woke up around 9:00 or 9:30, which felt really good after a LONG day of driving the day before. Zach had some work to do so he took care of that while I showered/got ready. I took my good, old time getting ready, which is something I enjoy doing when I get the chance. I wanted to look my best for the main event. We set off to explore LA/get close to our destination. Zach found a cool app that lets you park anywhere for a reasonable price, so we ended up parking in a gated community in LA for $15 (for a 1 pm - 1 am time slot). That was really good considering that a parking garage I had looked up near the venue charged $20 for 2 hours. We walked to the Largo at the Coronet, the venue where the magic would take place that night. The walk was a mile and half, I think, and it took about 25 minutes to walk it. Along the way, I remember walking on Melrose, Santa Monica, and eventually, passing the Dash store (owned by the Kardashian family). I walked inside it just for fun. At that point, Zach and I decided to go to a diner for lunch. It had yummy food, lots of good breakfast stuff. We were done eating around 3:40ish and after finishing there, we walked to the Largo and waited.
The Largo is a theater, which seats about 280 people. It is set up such that you pay for your tickets, but you wait in a line to be assigned a seat prior to the performance you attend. Zach and I wanted to get front row seats to this event (me especially) so we started waiting in line for our seat assignments around 3:50 pm. I tweeted Jake when we waited, to tell him how excited we were to see his show. We waited until 6 pm. In that time frame, we played Sevens and the fruit game. Zach was making me laugh so much during that game since he picked a fruit with four syllables (watermelon) and I did too (pomegranate). We played the game and even took a video of it, which makes me crack up every time I watch it. When the time came around to get our seat assignment, I freaked out because Zach and I got assigned to the FRONT ROW in the CENTER!!!! We knew we were the first ones in line, but it still felt so special and surreal to think that we would be that close to Jake Johnson and the other guests!
After getting our ticket assignments, Zach and I went to Chipotle and chilled there. We had their fiesta bowls (or whatever they're called). When we were done eating, we went to a Mobile near the theater and got gum and Red Bulls (quite the combination). I was afraid of being too tired when the show started at 8:30 pm, so I was glad to gulp the Red Bull down. It definitely gave me the kick I needed to watch the show/be alert during it. Zach and I walked to the venue and hung out in its small lounge prior to the show's start. It was a cool-looking place, which has been frequented by many celebrities. It had some weird lamps and such that reminded us of things out of "The Neverending Story." It also had lights strung along the whole area, which looked like something out of "Stranger Things." The Largo opened up around 8ish so Zach and I went in as soon as the doors were open. When we sat down, we FREAKED OUT!!! Our seats were seriously SO CLOSE to the stage. From my seat, if I leaned forward, I could TOUCH the stage! The theater was built in 1947 and I believe its year of construction shows how intimate shows must have been in that time period. The room was seriously so small (smaller than the Hackman auditorium I frequented for Chorus during High School). Zach and I felt like we were in such a surreal situation as we waited for the show to start.
The moment arrived! Everyone came out in no time! Paul Scheer, Jake Johnson, Brooklyn Decker, Chelsea Peretti, & Jonah Smith were the celebrity guests. The outline of the show was compared to an adult version of Show and Tell. Each guest brought a possession that was significant to them in some way and those items led to fun, impromptu discussions with all of the people on stage. Paul Scheer, an actor most known for "The League" (which I need to watch), came out first. His item was a copy of the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie. He told a story about how he and his family had gone to a Disney resort in Hawaii, I believe, and while there, a parent of one of the families went up to him and said, "I know you." He told him his kids were huge fans of his, stating they knew him from "Alvin and the Chipmunks." This man thought that Paul Scheer was David Cross, who I know most from, "She's the Man" and "Arrested Development." Paul Scheer said he panicked at that moment and didn't want to correct the guy, so he went with it. He thought there was no way he would ever see that guy again, but as he realized at the resort, you see a lot of the same people often at such places. Haha! He told this long story about how
After seeing this announcement about the improv show, I called my sister, Jenni, and said how much I wished she could go. She is in PA and is getting ready to potentially start a job in AZ, so I knew that it would not be possible for her to go on a trip like that with me. I talked to my mom about the same show and just imagined what it would be like to go to it. Fast forward to Tuesday night (I discovered the show that Friday or Saturday before). I texted Zach to tell him about this event, telling him I would love for the both of us to go to it. I knew he would never be able to and just thought it was another event in my life that would be impossible to carry out. Zach texted me back and said, "I want to go." I wrote back to him and was like, "Wait, could you really go?..." After several rounds of texts, we decided to do it. And immediately after making the decision, my stomach was the home to thousands of butterflies! I felt so nervous and scared to do something I had never done before! I knew that this feeling stemmed from the way that my parents raised me. They were very protective, but often scared me out of doing anything adventurous. They made me think that I couldn't do anything (like a road trip) without them around. Case in point: my dad forced me to go on a road trip to Utah with him and my sister when I got a new, used car to use for my student teaching. Even though I was 23 years old, I was not given a choice; I was not allowed to take the road trip with my sister. Yuck. If the 30-year-old me could go back to that time, I would not have kindly acquiesced to such ridiculous demands. I digress... let's just say the nervous feeling I felt about the road trip to LA, stemmed from the way that my parents had sheltered me and been overprotective. I knew though, the things that scare us most in life are often the most worth doing. I'm channeling "Chasing Liberty" right now, in case you thought that statement sounded familiar, lol!
Once Zach and I decided to take the trip, lots of plans were made in a short time span. I booked the comedy show and was amazed that the tickets only cost about $15 a piece (the venue was offering a 2-for-1 deal). Only $15 to see the guy I'm obsessed with be his usual, hilarious self?!?! Count me in! Then, Jenni helped me to find a perfect hotel for the event. She used Price Line, which I have never used before and found a gem of a room. That Thursday, I got my oil changed/tires rotated. Everything was in great condition- I've had my car for a little over 2 years and I've barely put many miles on it. It is perfect for road trips- it runs smoothly and handles the miles well. Saturday, I ran tons of errands to buy things for the trip, one of which was makeup. I needed to look my best for Jake! Haha! ;-) I also bought snacks for the trip, trying to find Zach's favorites in the process.
Sunday was the day! I picked Zach up and we were on our way around 10 am. The drive was great! There were no tolls and the weather was perfect. Zach had a killer playlist for the trip! He even played the song, "Send Me On My Way" by Rusted Root, which made me die laughing because of the freakin' hilarious episode it plays in in "New Girl." Our course involved driving through St. George, Arizona, Vegas, and eventually, LA. We stopped for lunch in Vegas at Subway and after eating there, I asked Zach to drive for a little bit. It was kind of hilarious because my drive up to that point had been so easy and had lots of open road, but when Zach started, his drive ended up being much more choppy. He had to drive through a dust storm and he got into the California portion of the trip, which had a lot of stop-and-go traffic. Poor guy- he handled it like a champ though! We made another stop in California at a gas station that had tons of cars at it and extremely windy weather! I will never forget trying to get out and fill up for gas. My hair blew around so much, I looked like a freakin' Sasquatch! I drove the remainder of the drive, which ended up still having a lot of traffic, especially when we got close to the exit for our hotel in LA. I was blown away by how many people just ended up going right in front of my car (and others) even at the portion of the exit where your car should either be in the exit lane or the lane that passes it. I ended up laughing a ton because I was so shocked at what was going on! I also laughed a lot when Zach got annoyed at people's attempts to merge. For some reason, when people wanted to move into my lane, even if I gave them lots of space, they would just stay to the right and not move in front of my car for the longest time. So different than people's crazy Utah habits- they get over even if there isn't space!
We played the waiting game so much Sunday night. We waited for 40+ minutes just to be able to drive less than 1/4 of a mile to take the exit to the hotel. When we got to the hotel, we waited in line forever just to get our room key. While waiting in the line, I laughed a lot with Zach and probably seemed like I was high to the people around me. It was close to 11:30 pm there, which felt like 12:30 am to me. Once we got to our hotel room, we knew we needed to get something to eat quickly. I started to feel SO WEIRD at that point. I think my blood pressure was off and my blood sugar must have been low too. Zach and I walked about half a mile to Carl's Jr. and when we got there, I felt like I was going to pass out. My feet started feeling like they were moving off the ground somehow. Zach and I ate our food and I personally, felt like I was in a weird dream. Some weirdo girl was in the restaurant at the same time as us and she seemed like she was high as a kite. She was listening in to our conversation and said a rude remark to Zach on our way out. When Zach and I got back to the hotel, we crashed.
The next day, we woke up around 9:00 or 9:30, which felt really good after a LONG day of driving the day before. Zach had some work to do so he took care of that while I showered/got ready. I took my good, old time getting ready, which is something I enjoy doing when I get the chance. I wanted to look my best for the main event. We set off to explore LA/get close to our destination. Zach found a cool app that lets you park anywhere for a reasonable price, so we ended up parking in a gated community in LA for $15 (for a 1 pm - 1 am time slot). That was really good considering that a parking garage I had looked up near the venue charged $20 for 2 hours. We walked to the Largo at the Coronet, the venue where the magic would take place that night. The walk was a mile and half, I think, and it took about 25 minutes to walk it. Along the way, I remember walking on Melrose, Santa Monica, and eventually, passing the Dash store (owned by the Kardashian family). I walked inside it just for fun. At that point, Zach and I decided to go to a diner for lunch. It had yummy food, lots of good breakfast stuff. We were done eating around 3:40ish and after finishing there, we walked to the Largo and waited.
The Largo is a theater, which seats about 280 people. It is set up such that you pay for your tickets, but you wait in a line to be assigned a seat prior to the performance you attend. Zach and I wanted to get front row seats to this event (me especially) so we started waiting in line for our seat assignments around 3:50 pm. I tweeted Jake when we waited, to tell him how excited we were to see his show. We waited until 6 pm. In that time frame, we played Sevens and the fruit game. Zach was making me laugh so much during that game since he picked a fruit with four syllables (watermelon) and I did too (pomegranate). We played the game and even took a video of it, which makes me crack up every time I watch it. When the time came around to get our seat assignment, I freaked out because Zach and I got assigned to the FRONT ROW in the CENTER!!!! We knew we were the first ones in line, but it still felt so special and surreal to think that we would be that close to Jake Johnson and the other guests!
After getting our ticket assignments, Zach and I went to Chipotle and chilled there. We had their fiesta bowls (or whatever they're called). When we were done eating, we went to a Mobile near the theater and got gum and Red Bulls (quite the combination). I was afraid of being too tired when the show started at 8:30 pm, so I was glad to gulp the Red Bull down. It definitely gave me the kick I needed to watch the show/be alert during it. Zach and I walked to the venue and hung out in its small lounge prior to the show's start. It was a cool-looking place, which has been frequented by many celebrities. It had some weird lamps and such that reminded us of things out of "The Neverending Story." It also had lights strung along the whole area, which looked like something out of "Stranger Things." The Largo opened up around 8ish so Zach and I went in as soon as the doors were open. When we sat down, we FREAKED OUT!!! Our seats were seriously SO CLOSE to the stage. From my seat, if I leaned forward, I could TOUCH the stage! The theater was built in 1947 and I believe its year of construction shows how intimate shows must have been in that time period. The room was seriously so small (smaller than the Hackman auditorium I frequented for Chorus during High School). Zach and I felt like we were in such a surreal situation as we waited for the show to start.
The moment arrived! Everyone came out in no time! Paul Scheer, Jake Johnson, Brooklyn Decker, Chelsea Peretti, & Jonah Smith were the celebrity guests. The outline of the show was compared to an adult version of Show and Tell. Each guest brought a possession that was significant to them in some way and those items led to fun, impromptu discussions with all of the people on stage. Paul Scheer, an actor most known for "The League" (which I need to watch), came out first. His item was a copy of the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie. He told a story about how he and his family had gone to a Disney resort in Hawaii, I believe, and while there, a parent of one of the families went up to him and said, "I know you." He told him his kids were huge fans of his, stating they knew him from "Alvin and the Chipmunks." This man thought that Paul Scheer was David Cross, who I know most from, "She's the Man" and "Arrested Development." Paul Scheer said he panicked at that moment and didn't want to correct the guy, so he went with it. He thought there was no way he would ever see that guy again, but as he realized at the resort, you see a lot of the same people often at such places. Haha! He told this long story about how
