A Quiet Nerdy Thing

Jacket: H&M

Dress (worn as a tunic) and Necklace: Forever 21

Jeans: Old Navy

Boots: Reflections

*Picture taken by Lindsey

Yesterday I spent the whole day in a city I rarely visit, Los Angeles. It's only a couple hours north of where I live, but there are three things that make me not want to drive there. Traffic, smog and those pesky left-hand turn yield lights. But I made the trip and it was really fun and there are parts of L.A. that I actually want to visit again.

I started off the day by getting my hair done at Drybar in Studio City. I wouldn't have gone, but there was an amazing deal on Groupon that I couldn't pass it up.

The concept for Drybar is simple, no haircuts just  blowouts for $35. I never had a blowout before and I have to say, it's something nice to do once in a while. There are few blowout styles to chose from and I chose the Cosmopolitan, which was lots of curls. So for 45 mins I just relaxed, drank delicious cucumber water, and watched The Wedding Planner, while the stylist Kelly worked magic on my hair. I should have took a picture right when she finished because it looked so pretty.

I then made my south on the 101, back to downtown L.A., Little Tokyo to be exact, for my first blogger meet-up with Lindsey from The Daily Lindsey.

We walked around Little Tokyo, going into the little shops and looking at the super cute Japanese products. In one store, they even made a toilet brush look cute by putting a smiling bear on it. I also remembered going to this little cafe in Little Tokyo for their red bean cakes and I found it while we were walking.

It was The Mitsuru Cafe and the bean cakes they make are called Imagawayaki. The cool thing is that you can view them making them in the front window.

They are best when eaten fresh. I like the slight crunch of the cake combined with the red bean filling. It's kind of savory dessert/snack.

 

Walking around also killed some time before Lindsey took me to Daikokuya Ramen  for some authentic ramen, where we had to sign-up on the reservation listed a 40 mins before hand. But it was well worth the wait.

I thought I knew what ramen tasted like, but this was a thousand times better. I had their signature Daikoku Ramen which starts off with a tonkotsu soup base, then it has ramen noodles, pork belly, boiled egg, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, green onions and some sesame seeds.

It was full of flavor and the noodles were cooked just right. The perfect thing to eat on a mild California day. After this, I don't know if I can ever eat a cup-a-noodle again.

While we ate, we chatted about how we discovered blogs, when we started writing ours, some of our favorite bloggers and the like. We also talked about our lives. It cool meeting a fellow blogger in person instead of just exchanging e-mails or twitter replies.

We walked off the delicious ramen by going to this little shopping center that's out of the way from the touristy area.

They had these really cool lighted flowers around the escalator area.

After exploring the market in the shopping center, we went to Paulette's for some macarons. The macarons looked so cute and dainty. Plus the store had the nice warm smell of baked almond cookies.

Lindsey had the raspberry and chocolate while I had the coconut and pumpkin. It was so yummy. Had the crunchy outside while the inside was still moist and there was a generous amount of filling. I don't these will replace my beloved cupcakes, but I would try these again.

Then Lindsey and I said our good byes, since I had to go to my next destination. But it was really awesome hanging out with her and I look forward to visiting another pocket of LA with her.

Made my way back to Studio City for the main event, The 3rd Annual Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Screening the Guild Season 3 screening. I wanted to go last year but didn't. So when the tickets went on sale, I immediately got my ticket. I have to say it was a ton of fun. Yay for getting to sing-along with other people and not just myself when I listen to it in the car!

The Goodie/Prop Bag containing the following items to use during the musical...

 Penny, horse finger puppet, bubbles, shrubbery

A lock of hair, curtain, dry cleaning bill for 4 sweater vests, and a glow stick. There was a party popper, but I didn't keep that with me.

The good part of the screening was that proceeds from it were going to the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, which helps keeps music education in public schools. The charity was picked by Felicia Day, star of Dr. Horrible and creator/star of The Guild. She even made a quick special appearance. I also saw some familiar faces, which was nice.

I would definitely go again next year and maybe in costume.

 Some buttons I got at the screening and also where I got the title for this post.