It all started about 10 months ago. I received an email announcing Hillsong having a conference in Los Angeles. Assuming it was going to be a worship conference, I thought this would make a nice gift for my husband. I also thought he would like to go with his good friend, and fellow worship leader, Scott. I called my friend Liann (Scott’s wife), and proposed that we gift our guys the conference for Father’s Day, and Liann and I play in L.A. for the weekend.
Our friends ended up having to cancel, so I decided to take Scott’s conference ticket. I figured that even though I was not a worship leader, I would still benefit from the conference. My lifelong friend from WA state (Michelle) flew down to watch the boys. We have this tradition where she carves pumpkins with my boys because I don’t like to. Timing for the conference was perfect!
What a blessing this turned out to be! The conference was not targeted to worship leaders, but to all who love Jesus.
I had requested an early check in and they had a room ready. It was great because there was a huge convention of Herbalife Latino and the hotel was beyond packed later that day. Our room was on the 13th floor. This was my first time in L.A. We had a view overlooking the city. It’s crazy to see actually how big this city is, with the protective layer of smog.
We decided to walk around and explore downtown L.A. The concierge gave us a map and drew along the streets she suggested we walk. We took off walking, but I had not oriented myself at the beginning and we ended up on quite the adventure.
We passed a parking lot where they were filming something. As we passed this temporary square box that had only three walls, we noticed a set that was supposed to be a Wendy’s restaurant dining room.
We kept looking for the landmarks the concierge mentioned, and the area kept getting seedier and seedier. We pull the map out and discovered we were walking the exact opposite from where we were supposed to head.
Based on the map, we had ventured into the Fashion District. My interpretation of fashion and what the Fashion District are two separate things. We made our way through it, passing all the vendors, sitting on seats or standing in front of their stores, speaking to us in Spanish to step inside. A mentally ill man stated walking behind us, saying, “I hate you, get out of the way”, as he passed, he said it to the next person, then the next. I started praying over him, praying that he’ll feel love at some point that day.
We tried to fit in as much as possible. Kept our phones and the map hidden, and I was calling on my city-bitch attitude I knew so well years ago while living in downtown Seattle. I’ve become a bit mushy over the years 🙂
We managed to move over the Jewelry District. Cartier this is not. Think bling x 10….Imagine the face of Jesus in gold one a thick gold chain, with the crown of thorns in diamonds….
We circled back to our hotel and rested up before the event began Friday evening.
While waiting in line for the event to begin, it was beautiful to witness literally every age…race…language… present.
A few pictures from our walk….
The sun sets, and the conference begins!
I will post notes from what I experienced in another post…
We ran into friends that are worship leaders for a different church, and had dinner with them. We enjoyed our servers so much, we took pictures with them 🙂
Sunday, we had a whole day to explore L.A. David rented a convertible. I asked the car attendant woman where she would go for breakfast. She mentioned a nearby place called Trenton’s, then suggested the old standby’s IHOP and Denny’s. Just as we were leaving, she said, “you can always do chicken and waffles at Roscoe’s”…
David stopped the car and we both shrieked, “chicken and waffles?! Where??” Neither of us had ever had that dish, and we both love new experiences. So, to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffle House we went. We are both fans. Not something to do one a regular basis, but glad we went.
After breakfast, we drove to Venice Beach. It was Sunday morning, so the counter culture had yet to rise. Saw a few little kids (under age 10) practicing at the skate park. They were insanely good. The next generation…walked the walk for a while, then drove to Sunset strip.
We had to take a picture of ‘Randy’s Donuts’ because it is a part of a show that the boys love. They were excited to see that we were there.
Drove along the Hollywood Walk of Fame. David offered to park, but I could not think of a star I would want to find, so we kept driving. Drove along Sunset strip and drove by all the clubs your hear about and Chateau Marmont. Drove up through lovely Beverly Hills. I had a list of addresses of old time movie star homes that I wanted to see. Found the one for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Our GPS was acting up so much, we had to pitch it. My phone was almost down, so I turned it off. We ended up just driving around and enjoying the beauty of high end architecture and landscaping.
Drove along Rodeo Drive, then had lunch at a cute Mediterranean café. It was yummy. Walked along and shopped a little. David found a cute purse for me that he bought. He bought my favorite purse that was on its last legs, so this was a sweet moment. Swapping the old for the new.
Went to a place called The Grove and walked around there for a while, then headed for the airport. It was a much needed day for both of us. His back did well all weekend, PRAISE GOD, and even though customer support was crazy for work, (we both had to cover support that weekend) we were able to have some quality one on one time.
This was Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s home…
It was a wonderful weekend with my favorite person!