A few of my favorite things... Part 1

I've been meaning to make a list of some of my favorite local things to give our out of town guests some ideas of things to do. Here's a few. I put Part 1 in case I think of more later. But I'm not promising anything. I'm sure Michelle will have a few of her own as well. I'd encourage our local friends to add comments of their favorite things.

Food and drinks(close to the hotel in Burbank - all within walking distance)
El Tapatio - My absolute favorite restaurant in LA. It's a hole in the wall Mexican place that has great food for a great price. I recommend the carne asada burrito with chips and fresh guacamole. If you're lucky, the owner will call you "miho" like he used to call me and Cagle (my old roommate" when we used to go there all the time. 926 S. San Fernando Road in Burbank (corner of San Fernando and Alameda, just a few blocks down from the hotel)

The Blue Room - Total dive bar. Right next to El Tapatio. Reminds me of a bar from the U.P. of Michigan. (that's a good thing, in my mind) Cheap, tasty drinks. 60 year old waitstaff. Just beware of the smoking bartenders. (that's a no-no in California, but dive bars get away with it.) 916 S. San Fernando Road, Burbank

Gordon Biersch Brewery - Across the street from the hotel. Great microbrews. Excellent food. Decent number of flat screen tv's in the bar area if you want to watch a game. http://www.gordonbiersch.com/

Burbank Bar and Grille - AKA the BBG. This bar/restaurant has a great patio with live music Friday night. The two guitar players/singers are alumni of the University of Missouri and friends of Michelle. And they are a lot of fun. An 80's cover band starts inside the restaurant later in the evening. Look for us here Friday night after the BBQ. http://www.bbgrocks.com/ Located in the middle of downtown Burbank on San Fernando.

Coffee - There's a Starbucks and a Coffee Bean in downtown Burbank on San Fernando.

Breakfast - We've enjoyed Market City Cafe and Granville Cafe, though I'm sure others are good as well. Both in the middle of downtown Burbank on San Fernando

Shopping
Burbank has all the normal shopping, including a decent mall right in downtown Burbank, but the one store worth pointing out is It's A Wrap. This store gets used clothes from tv and movie studios and resells them. Most of the clothes are very high quality, worn only once, and sold at a significant discount. Most clothes are marked with the show or movie they were used in. This is a store you either love or hate. I can't stand the "moldy basement" smell for very long, but some people love shopping there. http://www.itsawraphollywood.com/ The store is on Magnolia about halfway between the church and the hotel if you follow the directions included with the invitation. 3315 W. Magnolia, Burbank.

Entertainment
Universal Studios is just a couple miles from the hotel. The theme park is small, but very nice. You can definitely spend a whole day there. Separate from the park, there is also Universal CityWalk which is an outdoor mall/entertainment area. Beware that you have to pay to park even to visit CityWalk. http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/

If you want a unique studio experience, I recommend the VIP studio tour at Warner Brothers. It's $45 for a 2+ hour tour with a very small group. Every tour is different and you get to go on an active set. When I went a number of years ago, I got to see the director of one of the Batman movies work on the Batmobile while I stood right next to him. Very cool. Make sure you book in advance. This is just down the road in Burbank. http://www2.warnerbros.com/vipstudiotour/

The Tonight Show studio is also located right in Burbank. He tapes each day. It looks like the deadline has passed to order tickets by mail, but you can get them the morning of the taping if you want to committ all day to this endeavor. Also keep in mind that if the studio seats 100, they give away 200 tickets and there's a bus full of 50 people that are guaranteed to get in. So basically you have to get in line by mid-morning and wait for the taping in late afternoon. Still a fun and memorable experience, though. And free. http://www.nbc.com/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/about/tickets.shtml

That's probably enough for now.

We Made It Through the Weekend....

What a crazy weekend we just had. Jeff was scheduled to travel to Detroit this past weekend for his Bachelor Party. However, bad news reached us Tuesday when we learned that his grandmother (Dad's mom) had passed away. She was 89 years old and will be greatly missed. Many family and friends from around the country were in attendance. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this time. May she rest in peace.

With the funeral on Saturday morning, we flew in Friday night and arrived in Saginaw about 3am. On 4 hours of sleep, I then flew back to Los Angeles that afternoon and Jeff went to his best man house's to meet up with the guys for his party. Then a few of the guys attended a Foo Fighters concert on Sunday night. Both of which I am told was a quite a good time...

I learned on Thursday that some girlfriends from work had been planning a surprise Bachelorette party for me for this weekend. They moved it to Sunday with the sudden travel plans. So bright and early Sunday morning we took off for Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa in Corona, California. The weather was not great for Southern California so we were blessed with no waiting for the Saline Pools, Mineral Baths, Mud Baths, Massages/Body Treatments and "The Grotto". So relaxing....Thanks ladies!

Left to right: Jessie, Katie, Me, Pamela, Kelly

Then to cap off the day, we enjoyed excellent food and wine at Vertical Wine Bar in Pasadena. They have "Flights", which are a grouping of wines and ours came in just 2 oz. tastes. So although we have many wine glasses, it was just the right amount of wine....

We have our new address!

Our good news of the day is that we finally figured out where we'll be living after we are married. It's a small house in Burbank. Very small, actually. But it's a house and has a decent sized back yard. Michelle moves in couple weeks. I'll be there after the wedding. Here's the address...

946 N. Fairview St.
Burbank, CA 91505

The big day is getting closer! See you all soon.

Map and Information Insert

Here are the final versions of the map and information insert.