los angeles: seeing tri-cera-tops, how i met your mother & other hollywood things

matt and i just flew in from los angeles and boy - are our arms tired! sorry for the bad joke, i love to make it anytime i fly somewhere. cracks me up. but anyway, we are back and are settling in to our non-hollywood life. it's so blasé...

we did A LOT and experienced some pretty unique and fantastic stuff - plus we got to spend time with cera (miss you already!). i give you - los angeles...


matt was there all week for work but i flew in on thursday, we did some light shopping and tracked down the ludo truck (thanks, gwinnie - the best (and only) chicken balls we've ever had, you were SO right!).
    

the ludo truck - home of the delicious chicken ballz

then we went to osteria la buca for dinner (again, thanks gwinnie!). GREAT food. we all agree it should be recommended.  

here we are before heading out to dinner

      
friday was a big day. cera had to go into work for a few ours and we were meeting her around 11:30. her friend, the lovely/amazing/beautiful alissa (see below), scheduled a few set tours for us on the 20th century fox lot. this is not something just anyone can do, you have to know someone in the biz (wink wink). so i am super thankful that cera works there and is friends with alissa. HELLO, ALISSA! smooches to you!!!

here i am with the lovely alissa and the lovely tri-cera-tops

   
she scheduled tours for how i met your mother, bones and modern family – i watch all of those shows so i was no poser!


modern family is our super fave show but we learned the night before that they closed the set and we wouldn’t be able to visit. a little bummed but we shook it off, it's pretty awesome just to be on the lot.


we visited cera on the fox lot a few years ago (here is the blog link if you would like to read that) and we walked around for an hour or two. while there we spied only one celebrity - wentworth miller from the now defunct prison break (see below). but over the course of the weekend we saw four more - kirk cameron, kim fields, david cook and dax shepard. 
   

get out your microscope

the lot also has new york street, it’s used in any outside city scene for lots of shows. last time we were in town we were able to play around there but that day they were shooting and it was blocked off. we could see all of the action though so it was cool. i stole a few photos from their website so you would know what i was talking about.
   

new york street

another shot of another block

this is one of the stages

  
and you really can’t go around snapping photos left and right around the lot. you have to be respectful, people are trying work here and create hollywood magic – let them work in peace! they didn’t need me walking around like i was at times square, snapping 1000 shots.

so anyway…matt and i got there early (thanks to cera setting her car clock 10 minutes fast – never late) and were waiting at our designated spot which happens to be right next to how i met your mother. matt ran back to the car to get an umbrella and 10 seconds later i see neil patrick harris. i was on the lot no more then 2 minutes peeps and i already had a celeb sighting. and you may say, well – duh. you are on a lot and actors are there all the time blah blah blah. but last time we did this we saw one. uno. and it was a the end of the day, i had been there for two minutes and saw a biggie.
    

yes, he was wearing a suit

  
matt gets back and cera meets us, first we walk over to meet the above-mentioned alissa to check in with her and see what we could get into. she tells us that how i met your mother (himym) is taping and that we would be able to go sit in and watch. holla! at this point in time i did not understand how awesome this would be.

but i digress…alissa lets cera take her department’s golf cart to ride around in (see how awesome she is?) with directions for us to go out and explore the lot. and let me tell you, if you have a golf cart on the lot you are golden. it basically makes YOU a celebrity.
  

here i am with my very own private golf cart

  
so anyway, we have to wait on our escort for himym to get on the lot so we have about an hour or so to burn. we decide to drive around the lot to explore and also check out wardrobe.
   

we drive up the little street and right away see ricky schroeder – hello love of my life circa 1982! smooches to you! i was probably more excited about that one than matt and cera.

this is the ricky i loved with ALL my heart 

this is ricky now, i could still love him if ifyouknowwhatimean

then we drive for about 10 seconds and see chris parnell – we love him. really cracks us up.
  

mr. saturday night

   
we actually saw him several times that day, we think he was auditioning for something there. we also saw another actor but we don’t know his name, he has the look of a cw show if that makes sense to you.


then we turn another corner and see david cross get out of a van and go into a building.
  

we heart david cross

  
we were on fire.

then we drive to the modern family stage. we knew it was a no go but i thought that maybe something cool would happen (i am a true optimist). we circled the stage about 100 times but see nothing and no one. we later find out that the set is closed because they are ventilating the stage over thanksgiving and it was more of a safety thing. we did peak in later anyway and the stage looked like someone’s garage – lots of things packed on top of each other, you couldn’t see anything.


although we did get a shot of cam and mitchell’s house and some empty trailers – check it out!
  

this is where cam and mitchell reside

gloria's empty trailer

jay's empty trailer

  
we’ll get modern family next time, alissa said we would make a day of it. whee!
      

so next we drive over to wardrobe, it blew my mind. i have never seen so many clothes in one place. there are rows and rows and rows - and then more rows of clothes – anything you can imagine. need a wetsuit? right away! we have 40 of them. need a fat suit? got 32 of those, what skin tone?! they have tailors there as well to make special items for movies/shows.
  

clothes galore

   
in the hallways there are racks and racks of clothes pulled for shows. look here all you glee people – this rack is for the glee cast. let’s see if we can pick out any of the clothes in an upcoming episode!
   

i may be able to pick out the yellow and green shirt, not much else

here’s a shot of a bones rack, super cool – you know i love me some bones!
     

a lot of biker items in this episode

   
anywho, we drove around the lot some more – i am nosy by nature and this really was a great jenny adventure. we checked back in with alissa and she told us that good news – how i met your mother was ready for us!
    

she had to run a tape somewhere and would return in five minutes. we waited there and saw yeardly smith drive by. she is lisa simpson – cool.
   

the long suffering sister of bart simpson

    
alissa returns and we drive the golf cart to the how i met your mother stage. i really didn’t know what to expect, not sure what we would see or do – but let me just say that is was, leaps and bound – the coolest thing i have ever done. 
     

we go on to the stage and sure enough, it’s the set and cobie smulders and josh radnor were filming a scene. the stage is set up like a row of cubbies basically, they have the bar scene and the apartment scene built out but nothing else was for the time period we were there. this show is not taped in front of an audience – it was like sitting in someone’s DEN watching them tape. very intimate and cozy.


they gave each of us a director’s chair to sit in (cera sat in cobie's chair) and put us with the director, creators and the writer. i mean, we were right there with them. they also made sure that everyone was in a good position so we could see the monitor and the actors. very considerate!
   

sitting in the den

   
they were so nice - EVERYONE welcomed us and told us how happy they were that we were there. SO NICE. 


we sat there and watched ted and robin film a scene, it moved so fast. changes on the fly, retakes – very impressive. if you look in the photo above you can see the monitors, this is where the director sits along with the script advisor, creators and writers. 
    

         the apartment set is right behind these monitors (you can see the scene they are setting up in the monitors)

   
after that scene was complete we were offered lunch with everyone as they had a gigantic thanksgiving spread in the back room. again, so nice.


at that point we had the extreme pleasure of meeting cobie smulders and josh radnor – so cool. AND we did not instigate this, it was all cobie. we were sitting in our chairs like good school children - just happy to be there. she saw us and came over and totally chatted us up for several minutes. she was so nice, she was very engaging and just a pure delight. i was totally star struck. she called josh over to meet us and we spoke to him for a second and we grabbed a photo before they had to go back and shoot the last scene.
   

here we are with our new best friends

    
it was really so cool. while they got ready to tape the last scene we were able to play around in the bar set.
   

how cool are we???

what'll it be?

    
i know it’s dark and there is a big sheet over the bottles, but the bar set wasn't tv-ready. they only build out a set if they are using it. they break it down and build it up all the time. and it was not lit – it was dark but we still made it work.

back to filming. we got back in out seats and were handed a script (see below) so we could follow along. again, so nice.
    

i totally know what happens in the december 13th show

we sat there watching while tv magic was being made. i cannot stress how neat this was, we basically sat IN the apartment while they acted out scenes. we were right there. the mood was so relaxed but so tight, things moved along fast and everyone was a total pro. it was seriously the coolest thing i have ever done. i was on a major high.


still am.
  

after that scene finished it was a wrap, we thanked every a million times and headed out. bones was next.
     

we found out that david boreanaz and emily deschanel were taping on the main stage so it was closed. but we would be able to go to the stage that housed the fbi set for the show. fine by me cause what i really wanted was to sit at his desk and get a shot. and my dreams were made true…see? check me out!
     

special agent jenny mowrer, at your service

here is db at the desk of seeley booth

there was a calendar on the desk with a lot of little notes that i assume were db’s – i might have written “hi” on there for him to see. but i probably didn't.

ever wonder what is inside the folders on bones? it's scientific!

well decorated

we also go to take photos in the interrogation room, here we have matt as a bad man and me as a justice-seeking agent.  just like seeley booth.
    

tell me where the body is!

agent booth takes down cyndi lauper

   
we also got to play around in the conference room, here i am playing with their coffee stuff.

one lump or two?

we thought we were finished, but alissa wanted to take us into the executive offices to show us the cool photographs they have in the halls there as well as a secret window to view new york street (remember we couldn’t get down there to explore). 

we parked the golf cart and got out, right away saw two actors from bones get out of a van - michaela conlin and tamara taylor. hello dr. saroyan and angela!  
       

 dr. saroyan/tamara taylor

angela/michaela conlin

     
we walked in the building and in less that 30 seconds we see jack black walk out of an office right in front of us. score. he walked right by us. huge. i cannot tell you how pleased we were with ourselves. it was just super cool.
    

jack black, seen in the flesh

   
we then walked down to see the secret view to new york street and saw them filming friends with benefits. it’s a new show that isn’t airing yet – but the main guy is ryan hansen (aka dick casablancas) from veronica mars (holla!). we saw him down on the street filming a scene with a bunch of hotties.
      

a veronica mars alum

     
our last stop was the newman scoring stage, it is where they score music and it was very cool. here's a photo...
     

doo bee dee da doo

this is a photo i borrowed from the website, here is the stage in action

  
reeling from our jack black encounter, we decide it’s time to head out to eat lunch. all three of us were so BUZZED from how i met your mother still, we talked about it for the rest of the weekend.
    

we ate at joan’s on third and it was so yummy, it reminded me a dean and deluca-type place but the food we ate was excellent. i recommend the croque monsieur, btw. upon leaving we saw rachel harris at a table.
     

this photo does not do her justice, she is very very pretty

  
the celebrities just kept coming.
      

that night we had late tickets to see the new harry potter, but before that we went to katsuya for sushi. upon walking in i see donald faison and cacee cobb sitting at the bar, allow me to rack up another celeb sighting. boo-yah!

love him!

   
we ate delicious sushi (if you go to LA you must make it there and order the baked crab roll) and headed out to the movie.


let me take a moment to talk about movie theaters in los angeles. i am sure they do this in other places but not in knoxville – they have assigned seating. i love it. you pick your seat online and that is where you sit. no worrying about getting there early because of a crowd. it is awesome.
       

so we watch harry potter fight evil (love you, harry!) and head home to hit the hay.

we woke up saturday to rain, we went to aroma and had a delicious breakfast. then we headed out to a kid shop to buy the kiddos some la gift (photos to follow soon).


the rain stopped and we headed out to santa monica for some shopping. i bought a pair of shoes at nordstrom and we were heading out to grab lunch. we walked right by hillary swank, she was there with some girls doing some shopping.
      

first (and only) sighting of an oscar winner

     
matt and i are celebrity magnets.

we then went to lunch at the yard, sitting there i saw ll cool j walk by – yet another celebrity!
    

shhhhh, he says

   
interesting note about ll - i googled his name and most of the photos that popped up had him sans shirt.


side note: the guy who owns the restaurant was a finalist on top chef and he was there. but we didn't count him in our tally.


after santa monica we head back to cera’s apartment after a day of shopping and get ready for dinner and the upright citizens brigade. we ate at luna park and then headed over to the show. our seats were on the stage (literally, ON the stage), and it was great.


matt besser and matt walsh came out before the show started to chat people up, i knew they were part of the group that started ucb but i didn't know they would be there. they asked the question “who is from the farthest away” and we won that one. we told them we were from knoxville and then they wanted to know why we were in la - we said to visit cera, then they asked cera about her job and they wanted her to get them into casting at fox.


they also asked the audience if anyone had been accosted by andy dick - i guess they ask this often. they asked people to guess how many - if any - people had been approached by andy dick. i thought zero was the answer but there were six people in the audience (of 120) that had a story. too bad they are not family friendly or i would share...


anywho, this is matt besser and matt walsh - in case you can't put a name with a face.

 

he talked about the vols, later i find out he's a razorback

he's on outsourced (too bad i do NOT like that show, but he was on community the other week and was funny)

      
they head back and the cast comes out, the special guest that night was tim meadows – cool!

funny man, tim meadows

since we were on the stage we felt like part of the show. after many laughs it was over and we head home. matt and i needed a good rest for our travel day.

we get up and cera drops us off at the airport. we walk in an i notice that kate flannery from the office walked in right behind us and was in line with us at usair.

she waited in line like everyone else and didn't try to get through the "a line" - and a lot of people tried

we really had to beat the celebrities off with a stick. it was sorta crazy that we saw so many. here i am wearing the fedora we bought for rowdy to wear. he's totally gonna rock the look. me, not so much.
     

everyone in LA wears these

and speaking of wearing things - this is the uniform for ladies there currently:

• perfect and straight hair (if long then usually in a pony tail)
• perfect makeup (i mean perfect)
• black/white/gray (some type of neutral) long t-shirt
• black or gray long cardigan
• skinny jeans or black leggings
• riding boots (black or camel)

pretty much all fashionable girls had some combination of the above-mentioned items on. i will say that it was a sharp look, you should go with it. it was refreshing to see people dressed nicely, one time matt and i went to the chop house for dinner and there was a girl there in her pajama pants (fleece with something dumb on them). it made us mad. anywho, as they say - the clothes make the man and that is the TRUTH.

i leave you with this final shot, cera and i acted out the entire episode of himym before dinner one night. don't roll your eyes, it was fun.
     

cera was the boys and i was the girls

alrighty, that does it for LA. i am signing off on this post - matt and lottie are in the kitchen cooking dressing for matt's work lunch and i think they need a royal taster. ciao, babies!