Phew, sorry it's taken me a bit of time to post about this. Last week, on Tuesday, Justin and I (and Thao and some other cool peeps from work) flew out to Burbank, CA.
The reason? We were going to the
premiere of the Simpsons Movie in Los Angeles!!! (more photos from premiere to come)
Because we all worked on the jetblue.com Simpson's site, or other JetBlue & Simpsons initiatives, and because JetBlue had partnered with The Simpsons, we were lucky enough to be flown out. Also, a rockin' JetBlue sales gal hooked us up with a much,
MUCH nicer hotel (
Luxe) than we were going to be staying in. Thank you sooo much!
Justin and I drove around a little when we first landed because I'd never been to LA before, so he wanted to show me some sites. We saw Santa Monica Pier and Muscle Beach. hahaha - looked like fun. There are so many fun gymnastic things to swing around on. Unfortunately, my allergies were really irking me, so I wasn't up to doing a whole lot.
We got to the hotel, and I really didn't want to leave. It was gorgeous. I totally could have moved in. I love the brown walls, spacious bedroom, super modern, clean edged furniture but mostly the bathroom, with its jacuzzi tub, spacious counter with dual sink and fabulous shower which really doesn't allow the humidity to seep into the rest of the bathroom. I hate humid bathrooms.
We headed to the pool where a few of the girls were laying out catching some last minute sun before the big night. I got in and started swimming, and Thao joined me straight away, then Justin got in. He and Thao stayed in splashing around for a while after I got out to lay down. I was exhausted. We'd had to get up at 6:00 AM for our flight, and I didn't sleep much on the plane. There really was no time for sleeping, though, because I had to get ready for the festivities!
A couple hours later, we all converged downstairs and drove to a bar near the theaters where the Simpsons Movie was premiering. We all looked STUNNING! We met up with a couple of people from the Ad/Promotions team that had beat us to LA by a day or two, then the GM of the Burbank airport joined us, and we all had drinks and appetizers. It was a really good time.
I was disappointed when we arrived at the theater because we had to wait in line! I was not at all prepared for that, in my beautiful fuschia gown and high heels. I promptly got over it, however, as the star sightings began. There were some people from
Heros as well as
Lisa Edelstein from
House (had to look her up), Dr. Phil, David Hasselhoff, and of course, all the voice actors. One other saving grace: they had popcorn and soda at the ready upon entering the theater!
We laughed the WHOLE time we were in there. I am sure it helped having a lot of the animators in the same theater. The way I know we had some of the animators in the same theater is because of their reaction during the credits. It was awesome. Anyway, definitely go see the movie if you haven't done so yet. You won't be disappointed!!!
We headed to the after party at about 1 AM EST. We were exhausted. One of the girls admitted to dozing off a few times during the movie. What a bummer! At the after party, there was a carnivalesque atmosphere with yellow domes containing bars, an ice cream stand (not any old ice cream stand - DOTS!) and seating areas. There was also an area where you could get the same kind of hot chocolate Ned Flanders made in the movie. Once you see the movie, you will know how awesome this is.
Janid (one of our coworkers that is also a singer), Thao, Justin, and I posed for a photograph on the Simpsons couch with the whole Simpsons family (see above)!!! okay, okay, they were not real, but still! That was awesome!
There were copious amounts of food, dessert, squishees, and several strategically located opened bars serving up any drink you could possibly want.
Matt Groening was there signing autographs and posing for pictures. Some of the cast from Reno 911 was there. I had my photo taken with Anna Nicole Smith's Baby's Daddy. I thought it was probably the funniest and most controversial image I could get. ;)
All in all, it was such a fun night.
Justin and I fell asleep practically as soon as we got back to the hotel room. We chose to leave on the later flight the next day, at 3 PM, so we could have a relaxing morning (we didn't get to bed til after 3 AM EST) and see Justin's friend Eric that lives very near BUR. We ate breakfast, drove down Sunset and Hollywood Blvd, caught a glimpse of the Hollywood sign, and met Eric at a cafe to chat for a few minutes before heading to the airport. Eric will actually be landing in NYC tomorrow and spending a week or so with us. Cool beans. :)
Birthday Decorations!I really had a great birthday. When I got to work, I saw that my desk area was completely covered in sparkling silver confetti type stuff and there were streamers and balloons (Texas colored balloons, mind you)
everywhere! Justin had stayed up late the night before baking batch after batch of sugar cookies. They were so delicious. We got to share them with a lot of ppl from work, but I still had probably 8 or 9 for myself over those two days. ;) As the day progressed, I received a delivery of absolutely beautiful flowers from Justin's Mom, Lyndia. That rocked my socks and continued the momentum of the day. That evening I met up with Val!, my Mom, Dao and Rob, and Leanne at one of the neatest dining establishments to ever grace NYC. It's called Ninja New York and you are served by Ninjas in a super cool atmosphere.
Thanks to everyone for all the awesome gifts, sweet cards, and, mostly, love and caring. :)
Here is a photo I took with my Blackberry of a tree that was in full bloom as I walked home from the Forest Hills JetBlue office. 
