TheDollyDeLong: Adventures with Ty in LA (May 2017)

In May of this year I had the opportunity of going to a NAFSA conference for training (for my new job at Lipscomb) in L.A.! I spent the first three days solo since I had the conference to attend, but on Monday (Memorial Day) Ty flew in to spend the entire week with me!
We found an AirBNB in Pasadena (which had a golden doodle and a cat), rented a car, and explored many beautiful areas of L.A. and Malibu over our week together in sunny California.
Several highlights of the week included:

• Eating ALL the foods in L.A. (Seriously, that city is a perfect melting pot of foods + cultures. I LOVED everything I ate there! EVERYTHING!)
• Exploring Little Tokyo
• Going to an In-N-Out Burger with Ty
• Seeing Ty’s excitement over The La Brea Tar Pits (I love that I married a nerd)
• Once again…I have to mention food (the FOOD TRUCKS! OH M DEAR!)
• SK Donuts
• The Santa Monica Pier
• Realizing how gross and disgusting Hollywood BLVD is (yes, that was a highlight for me even though it was a weird experience I did learn a valuable lesson…Hollywood is just gross)
• Getting to watch a live taping of Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! (and winning Two FitBit Watches b/c Kevin Hart made a 3 pointer! RANDOM)
• Getting to go to Lipscomb’s sister school Pepperdine University with my co-worker to learn more about their international student program
• Exploring Malibu with Ty
• Getting to experience National Donut Day in LA with Ty (and eat too many donuts)
• The Griffith Observatory (and imagining the moving LaLa land the entire time)
• Seeing our friends Jason + Kim Parker in their new city/home (and watching Jason perform with his Improv Group) (LOVE watching our friends chase and pursue their dreams!)

This week was pure magic for me. I know by the end of the week both Ty and I were ready to come back home to Nashville (mostly because of the infamous LA traffic + we got a parking ticket our very LAST night in the city-HAHA), but we both had a great time adventuring in a new city together! I highly recommend visiting LA (despite the crazy traffic)!  Seeing so many people + cultures together really warmed my little biracial heart. If you ever have a chance, go out on a trip to the West Coast with your loved ones!