If you're following me on Instagram or Twitter (@LoveTWP), you most likely already know where I went on vacation, if you're not however........
I went to Los Angeles in sunny California!
The land of Hollywood starlets, breast implants, palm trees and perma-tans.
The whole family; minus my baby sister who is in boarding school, upped sticks and journeyed to the West Coast for my brothers graduation. We haven't done a collective family vacation since 2008 as our schedules never mesh, everybody just grabs any free time they can to go mark register at MMA, so this was definitely an experience.
I. Had. A. Blast.
I reeaallyyy needed the time away and though I took just 10 days off for it, I totally made it work.
We started out in Maryland where we spent 3 days with family
My seriously gorge cousin who is a Doctor and is 37...thirty-seven.....like unbelievable. I thank Christ everyday for my family's genes because Lord knows I'm looking forward to slaying as I age.
I caught up with Stella of Jadore Fashion for dinner and at the time she was two weeks away from her due date, she had a baby boy on Sunday the 16th. I am so proud of my girl, she regaled me with tales of the delivery room and she was a trooper throughout.
Yummy mummy for the win!
Landed in LA on Tuesday the 11th and it was like a homecoming.
I like to call Los Angeles the city of my awakening because I came here for the first time when I was 16 and I left a completely different person, the city and my experiences changed me and I was so excited to be back.
Got on the party train ASAP when I went for a fashion show hosted by the Los Angeles Times and Macys with my sister-in-law Onyeka.
The first time I came to LA I was a teenager and definitely far too "cool" to do touristy stuff and I and my friends made sure we stayed away from all the tourist traps, we were far too jaded and world weary to be caught dead looking excited by stuff we'd only before seen on television.
Fast forward a few years, baby girl is currently sans shame so Mrs. U and I journeyed down to Hollywood Boulevard to fully immerse ourselves in the tourist culture.
My sideshow Bob hair was obscuring my mums beautiful face, sorry mummy!
We compounded matters by even going on the Hollywood Bus Tour. This is the first time in my life I've ever gone on a tour of any city I've ever been in and I've been to some amazing cities. I was so excited to do this, ready to be swindled by Tour Bus Operators lying to me that this was the spot, right in front of In N Out Burger where Cher was discovered.
They did not disappoint;
Case in point; this house which I definitely ID'd as Tony Stark's house in Iron Man, our operator now told us its actually Steven Spielbergs house in real life. I excitedly posted it on Instagram only for a friend of mine to tell me when she went on the same tour she was told it was James Cameron's house.
I was swindled.
I am still upset.
In all it was a fun tour and we got to see some awesome Hollywood highlights, my brother and I joked that we were like Asian tourists because every time our operator would say something like "and there's the Viper Room, formerly owned by Johnny Depp and where River Phoenix died", we'd all go "ooohhhhh" and then cameras would go click-click.
It was hilarious.
The next day I got down to the business of my trip with my mum and Onyeka...shopping!
We went all the way out to Palm Springs which was almost a 3 hour journey from Los Angeles to the Desert Hills Premium Outlets in Cabazon.
Since I am yet to make my first million dollars, I hold outlet malls, sample sales and discount designer sites in high esteem. I will trek like the Isrealites for a good outlet mall and I'd already researched Cabazon before I got there.
I thought the pickings were pretty good but it performed far below par when held up against other outlets like Bicester Village in England and Woodbury Commons in New Jersey. A lot of the items were still full price, no knockdowns at all and the best deals I got were at Salvatore Ferragamo and Calvin Klein.
I made a pretty good haul though, considering the slim pickings.
The next day we went to see a musical called The Scotsboro Boys at the Ahmanson Theatre which was frankly harrowing.
The Scotsboro Boys were 9 black teenage boys accused of raping 2 white women in Alabama in the 1930's. Despite overwhelming evidence that they hadn't committed the crime they were subjected to an all-white jury, unfair trials, an attempted lynching, several angry mobs and spent years in prison defending themselves.
I'm fascinated by great tragedies like the Holocaust, the Civil War and struggle for Civil Rights in America, the Biafran War etc...and I read everything I can find on the subjects voraciously. Even though I find them very interesting, the fact that these things actually happened to human beings constantly boggles my mind.
You can see why I was hesitant at the success of it being turned into a light-hearted musical.
It turned out pretty well in the end, the actors were phenomenal and managed to turn a horror story into something funny and seriously engaging.
Saturday was my brothers graduation and I crave your indulgence *classic Nigerian lawyer speak* to brag about the boy a little.
This kid has been a genius for as along as I remember, not just regular; he's a smart boy and he does well in school; but he was the type that came first or second throughout his entire school career, racking up best graduating student everywhere he went, getting job offers by the dozen. We never had to call electricians for a single thing at home, he'd been hooking us up since he was like 5 yrs old or something ridiculous.
He continued killing 'em by graduating summa cum laude with an MSC in Electrical Engineering and being inducted into Tau Beta Pi, the All American Engineering Honor Society.
Mrs. U of EVERY DAMN THING!
I mean I'm no slouch myself but my brothers (not just this one, all the little buggers) are ridic with the academic achievements.
Sunday was Fathers Day and I present to you Ikenga & Lolo U.
Sunday was my last full day and after church I spent it with my childhood friend Adaeze who I hadn't seen in 16 years but through the miracle of social media we'd kept in touch all this while.
She's a super talented singer/songwriter and you guys should please check out and like her Facebook page here ---->
Dezi Music
*wheeeww*
So that's it, it was an awesome vacation, too short but the time spent with family and loved ones was beyond. We are all so busy we rarely have time to get together like this.
I thank God for these rare moments.
Love and light xx
