#TIMONTOUR - JAMES CORDEN EDITION

Those of you on social media will have noticed our rather insane posting about our trip to see The Late Late Show with James Corden. We had managed to get free tickets to see the show being taped whilst Tim was out here. We were really excited about and had told Tim. He was rather excited too and really looking forward to it.

Then whilst we were driving around LA with him on the first day my Dad sent us the most insane text ever! He knows James Corden's dad through the Christian bookshop he runs. When Dad knew we were going to the show he phoned James' dad and managed to score us an upgrade to VIP! Obviously this got us rather excited to say the least.

So on the Tuesday afternoon we went down to LA for the taping of the show. We stopped for coffee to calm our nerves, I know that doesn't quite fit right but hey. When we arrived that the CBS studios we were given a VIP parking slot with my name on it! I literally almost fell over in shock. Too bad someone was parked in our slot. Inconsiderate I say!

Anyway we got escorted up to the green room and were able to hang out there before the show. It was pretty surreal. The band OK GO were just hanging out in there and milling around whilst we were trying our hardest to act like it was totally normal! 

When it was time to go through for the taping of the show we walked past one of the dressing rooms and none other than LL Cool J popped his head out. As I was walking ahead of everyone else I casually said, "hi," almost without thinking! He say hi back all nice and polite but it wasn't until we rounded the corner that the other two were exploding with laughter! Apparently I acted a little too normal! 

So the show was hilarious, we laughed the whole way through and absolutely loved it. Once the show was over we were escorted back to the green room to wait so that we could meet Mr James Corden himself! In the interim I managed to get a quick photo taken with Dan the drummer from OK GO. 

Then Mr Corden appeared! He was absolutely lovely and very keen to hear about what we thought of the show. He talked to us about why we were out here, how we knew his dad and just talked with us like he was a friend. He then used my phone to take some selfies of us all. It was quite surreal. He also amazingly recorded a video message for my brother-in-law who would love to come out and see the show but can't right now. I was blown away by how kind he was about doing it. He didn't even give it a second thought. He just did it! 

We then got escorted back out of the building ahead of all the others, back to our cushy parking spot and spent the journey home from LA looking at each other in utter disbelief! If you want to view some of the show you can see clips here. 
Utterly amazing!
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#TIMONTOUR - LA EDITION

We pretty much hit the ground running with Tim's tour as we took him straight into LA to explore Hollywood and the Beverly Hills area. There was lots of walking around and staring at big houses, or stars on the floor. Think it was probably a bit surreal for him as you never really expect to end up in Hollywood strolling around with the two of us! The place gets pretty crowded so it can be hard to take good photos, especially of the stars on the floor. We didn't get any good ones of that but we do have some here. 

We also went to visit the Griffith Observatory. It gives you insanely good views across the whole of LA and we were able to have a wander around and tire out Mr Macintosh a little bit.  Obviously we aren't going to show you all the coffee shop stops we had but there were a few! Haha!

The Hollywood sign is behind Andrew and Tim, its just pretty hard to see in the light. Unfortunately Tim is not pointing directly at it, so don't follow his finger to work out where it is! Its slightly more to the left of him. 

 Macintosh was fascinated by these water fountains and kept trying to drink from them, however they were on a random setting so they would suddenly spurt up in his face and cause him to panic! Was quite funny to watch.

Now this photo cracks me up because we have no idea what Macintosh was busy doing, but it was the best of the photos we took and it shows you how lovely and warm it is out here! 

It was a good first day for Tim even though he was slightly jet lagged and had no idea whereabouts in LA he was really. He got to see the famous bit that all the tourists want to see. As for what else we did, keep checking back this week and next to see some pictures! 
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SHOWING OFF OUR HOME TURF

Just over a week ago Andrew's parents and two of his brothers arrived at our house! They landed in Chicago and made the trip over to us, via the Grand Canyon, so that we could show them some of where we lived. We then joined them on the middle leg of their trip up the west coast to Seattle.

It's still a little bizarre when people come to visit and we get to show them where we live. To us living here has become totally normal and we aren't shocked by barrenness of the desert or the giant tumbleweeds that roll across the road or even the fact that we live so close to Los Angeles. Yet when people arrive and you show them all that (and more) you suddenly realise just how insane it is that we actually get to live here! Its pretty neat.

So anyway, we spent three days showing them all around where we live and made a trip into Los Angeles to see some of the sights. We tried to cram as much as possible into the time we had so that they had a real flavour of where we are. They were all places that we have been before, so I won't explain it all instead I'll just show you pictures. 

Definitely was fun showing them round where we live and all the sights we've seen. We will be telling you all about the epic trip up the west coast (by train!) in the next week or so. 
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MACINTOSH MONDAY

I've told you before how much of a poser Macintosh is. He loves to make sure he is constantly the centre of your photographic efforts, no matter where you might be or what spectacular things you may be looking at. Well last week on Monday, before the trip to San Francisco, we went to LA to see the sights of Hollywood, Beverley Hills and the Griffith Observatory. The views from the observatory are stunning and there's so much to photograph but Macintosh felt we obviously weren't giving him enough attention as we were too busy staring at the scenes of LA, the Hollywood sign, the observatory itself and the interesting features around this. To correct the lack of attention he climbed onto a statue and waited for his photo opportunity!

I love how he turns his head for the last photo as if to check we are actually taking photos of him. Silly boy!
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THE WOODRUFFS GO TO HOLLYWOOD

Yesterday Andrew and I decided to live the high life whilst exploring Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Neither of us are huge celebrity followers but we both wanted to see where the showbiz industry started. We didn't have high hopes of seeing any celebrities which was good because we saw none. Well except Bumblebee...

We arrived at Hollywood Blvd fairly early in the morning and started the day strolling down the street looking at all the stars on the Walk of Fame. There were so many stars and the street was becoming increasingly more crowded so it was hard to take many pictures. We didn't find everyone we wanted too but we found some favourites. As its hard to read Andrew and Macintosh are on the star that says 'The Muppets'. 

As well looking down at the floor we also had a good wander around Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd where all the old film studios were and where in the old days the stars used to hang out in regular places. There were lots of strange sights and some interesting parts but we saw some incredible (or crazy) architecture too. It's obviously very different down there now, but it was fun imagining what it would have been like in the old days. 

After a quick bite to eat at Johnny Rockets we got back into the car and took a drive through Beverly Hills. I have to say I have never seen such opulence ever! The sheer size and scale of the houses were insane! It was hard to capture many decent photos whilst driving around but here's my two favourite houses. I have no idea who lives in them or why they are significant, they are just beautiful! But I also don't want a house that big because although it would be lovely just imagine cleaning it!!

Heading on from Beverly Hills we drove up to Griffith Park to the Griffith Observatory which looks out over all of LA. It was pretty busy so we parked part way up and walked the rest. This properly tired out Macintosh who was already flagging at this point! We enjoyed a wander around though and got to see the telescope inside which was pretty impressive. The views over LA were hard to capture on camera as the haze was quite bad. But its nice to just remember some things and not capture everything!

Then came the long drive home, in traffic too, which I don't remember as I typically fell asleep! Thank you to Andrew for sticking that out, LA traffic is not my favourite. Overall it was a great day out though and despite the crowds we enjoyed visiting Hollywood. Just need to work out which district of LA we're planning on conquering next...

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