Blanca's here! Well, she's been here. She arrived Saturday afternoon. Vicki, my dad, and I went to go pick her up at LAX. I was driving, which was probably not the most intelligent idea, as people in LAX are very mean and rather insane. But we pulled up to the Delta curb, scanning the series of strangers lined up, each hungrily searching for a familiar face to take them away from this hustling, ever-moving world. As we drove along, Vicki, who had never met Blanca before, said, "There she is!! I think that's her." This just goes to show you the power of Facebook...

We talked all the way back, putting Blanca in the hotseat. Vicki and I had devised questions for her beforehand. (It was an accident.. we were just talking about Disney, which led to singing, which led to thinking about voice dubbing in other countries, which led to us wondering if Brad Pitt (or any other famous American actor, for that matter) always sounded the same in Spain. So we decided to ask Blanca.) That was our first country. I then also started wondering why, historically, Portugal is its own country and not just another region of España. After Blanca answered these, my dad started coming up with questions about Spanish history. Blanca wanted to know if she would get a prize at the end. :)

Sunday, Brian, Vicki, Blanca, and I went to the Getty Center. It was pretty hilarious because Brian probably wasn't very interested in art, Vicki finished browsing pretty quickly, I took my time, and Blanca really liked looking at it. So Brian and Vicki would be sitting, looking very tired, waiting for Blanca and I to finish looking at the beautiful art. Oh Monet. You brilliant, wonderful man. I saw the "Water Lilies" painting that I fawned over for hours last time, and again, fawned over it for an excessive amount of time. Yay!

We bought food for a ridiculous price and spread out on the grass at the Getty, where, unlike the rest of LA, which has decided to be mercurial, the sun was shining and the wind was blowing. After eating the exorbitant nourishment, we all fell asleep in the sun. I happen to think that the Getty is an amazing institution in that it allows random people to just sleep on the grass next to buildings that house world-famous art. It was very comfortable and very peaceful. The only slightly disturbing part of our day was the troupe of about 20 teenage girls, mostly Asian, dressed up as French maids that marched through the gardens. I have absolutely no idea why these girls would dress like that and go out and flaunt it in a public venue... but then again I've never understood why Asian women dye their hair blonde, and they did that too.

After the Getty, we drove over to Pasadena to wander around Old Towne and then to see the outdoor concert by the Pasadena Pops Orchestra! Again, Vicki proved her stalker-ness by spotting Andy from really far away when I hadn't even started looking. We only talked for a tiny bit, as he introduced himself to Brian and Blanca (it was so strange to me that he'd never met Brian) before going back to work. We wandered around Old Towne, spending way too much time in Barnes & Nobles, and then went to go listen to the beautiful music. I love "West Side Story!" I sang along the whole time.

We ate at KFC in Hacienda Heights, where Blanca scraped off all the BBQ sauce from her BBQ wings, which was rather funny. Vicki copied me AGAIN and got popcorn chicken (she got the same meal as me for lunch too).

Yesterday, we basically lounged around and did nothing. The highlight was probably going to Chino Library, which has a huge collection of Spanish books. Blanca went through and made me a list, which I'm slowly working through right now.

Today, we went up to Mt. Baldy to see Lane's house. I never knew it was so beautiful up there! We spent about half an hour trying to find Lane's friend's lost hearing aid (which later appeared in the friend's own garage), and then went down and explored Claremont for a bit.

I really need ideas for what's entertaining/fun in Southern California. I know we're supposed to be the entertainment capital of the world, but so far, I'm kind of failing.