"Oh my gosh, that was Ed Asner!?!" "who?"

Yesterday was another humdinger of a day! (Yes, i did just date myself. Now you all know my secret, I'm really 87 years old.)

I really only did two things yesterday but boy, were they big:

1. The WB VIP Tour

2. Santa Monica pier/promenade

I'm going to talk about them in reverse order so prepare yourself.

Daniel and Naela took me to Santa Monica to watch the sun set over the ocean. Unfortunately, the sun had already set by the time we got there. No matter. It was still nice to look out into the darkness and hear the waves crash into the shore as the smell of salt and fish hung in the air. The pier itself was alright. Apparently, it a world famous pier. I could see that. However, it reminded too much of Navy Pier to really get excited about. I do love Navy Pier but I'm there all the time. (Seriously, though, I love it and it inspired my new love of Tall Ships earlier this year. I love the ropes and knots.)

After walking the pier, we went to the Promenade, walked around, and had dinner. It was cool to be where my Great-aunt Norma had used to hang out. It was funny to imagine a 92 year old hanging in the place filled with street performers, crocheted bicycles, and twinkling trees. Funny but easy to imagine because we were very similar. I'd love to do that at 92.

It was a fantastic Southern Californian kind of night.

Now let me tell you about my uber-fantastic Southern Californian day!!! (Hold on to your hats, people!)

I knew when I headed out here that I wanted to do a studio tour. (Let's face it, I want to move onto a studio!) What I couldn't decide is which studio to tour. Universal looked ok but it was expensive and all about their rides. I wanted a tour. I wanted a deep, dirty behind the scenes, in the studio on the sound stage kind of tour. Paramount seemed to be like Universal. I finally just decided Universal. As I started to leave, Daniel recommended WB Studios. I quickly jumped online to check prices and such. My immediate thought was "I don't want to tour Looney Tunes. I want film and television!" Let is be known, I'm an idiot sometimes. It turns out that not only does WB film film and television but they are currently filming my favorite show: CHUCK! Well, that sealed the deal. No matter the price, I was going to WB. Turns out WB gets better and better as they were tens of dollars cheaper than Universal! With tax and everything, WB was about $50. not too shabby for a 2 1/2 hour tour.

So the tour was awesome! Here are some highlights: (I want to go into great detail but I have to leave soon. :( )

- walking around the town/square from Gilmore Girls.

- driving through "Chicago" and learning they had to dirty it up because true Chicagoans knew is too clean to be real. (ha!)

- walking through a ceiling-less church that can be used both inside and out

- getting shushed and took not to take any pictures to the left because they were actually taping something.

- walking into a courthouse and walking out a fire station. gotta love empty buildings that are just used for their fronts.

- driving past the shop where they build everything

- driving past the studio gas station

- passing Sound Stage 16 and thinking of all the great water movies that have been created in that place

- walking through the props building. I could have stayed there all day. Sadly we only went on the first floor of a 4 floored building!

- hanging out on the Central Perk set from Friends. Yes, I took my picture on the couch.

- walking on a certain set** (we'll take about this a bit more in a minute)

- driving by "La Bamba" from Conan's band

- watching Ed Asner be driven by on his golf cart as I stood by dumbfounded (my tour guide didn't know who he was!)

- walking on the set of the Menalist (then coming home and watching the show...it was my first time)

- hearing people "oh" and "ah" over stuff I've always known: fake walls, no ceilings, hallways that lead to no where, elevators that don't work... ah, the magic of television

- walking through the WB Museum.

- realizing that Pushing Daisies was also filmed there and falling even more in love

- driving past the old bungalows from the stars from way back when

- seeing celebrities names on their parking spaces

- getting sorted by the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter room: Gryffindor! (as if there was any doubt)

- walking through the HP museum

- seeing Heath Ledger's nurse costume from Batman and instantly getting sad

- taking endless pictures of the WB watertower

- hearing old stories about the Warners brother and Warren Beatty and everyone else.

I LOVE TOURS! I want to be a tour guide at some point in my life! (but not a page)

** We went on the CHUCK set! AHHHHHHH!!!!! I tried really hard not to geek out. I was the only person on the tour that even knew of the show! seriously?!? omgosh...I love it!

Not only did we go on one of the sets (without camera :( ) in one sound stage. But we went to 2 of the 3 Chuck sound stages. I walked around the apartment complex that Chuck, Sara, Casey, Ellie, and Awesome live in. I got to explore Chuck's apartment. I love how nerdy it is, even more so than you see on tv. (see, I love props) Then after all excitement. She took us to the Buy More sound stage. The Buy More, of course, looks like a Best Buy. It's funny to see how product placement is out of control at the Buy More.

Okay, so that was clearly the best 20 minutes of the tour. The guide was cool and realized I loved it and even played it up more. sweet. She wouldn't tell me what show was shot in the stage until we got there because she didn't want to ruin the surprise. I love that! haha.

Seriously, it's sick how at home I feel around all of that. I love every aspect. The backdrop creators. The makeup artists. The editors. The set designers. The costume designers. All of it. I would happily do any or all of it... obviously acting is still my first choice. foley is my second. and anything else is my third. :)

So that was super fun but now I'm off to Vegas. uh oh... ;)

-the nomas