Surprise 30th birthday festivities, part 1

So, I have made it pretty clear over the last year that I was expecting some kind of surprise for my 30th birthday. It is kind of wierd to request to be surprised, but I figured it was best to make my expectations clear. :) Once I was certain that my requests were understood, I tried my hardest to keep my mouth shut. This was very hard for me, but the day ended up being perfect. John told me he had plans for me all day on my birthday. He told me to dress "casual" and be ready early. I had a few guesses in mind where we might be going (I was sure it was the Costa Mesa Swap meet) but when we started heading into LA I had no idea. He ended up taking me to the Getty museum in the hills of LA. I was totally surprised! I have been there twice before meeting John, and am always saying that we need to do more cultural, mind expanding things, and that it would be fun to go there on a Saturday. I was so proud of him for remembering this, and for thinking of it for my birthday! I had so much fun using my camera. It was so nice to not feel in the way or embarrassed because it is so big and fancy. Everyone there was taking pictures and trying to find cool shots. It really made me want to learn more about how to use light and use the different settings on my camera. Anyway, below are several shots of the buildings that make up the "campus." Getty was a multibillionaire who had this built in the 1980's to house his art collection. It has several big buildings full of paintings, photographs and the decorative arts. My favorite room had several famous impressionist paintings from the late 1800's by Cezanne, Degas and Matisse. Paintings aren't my favorite works of art, but of paintings, these are my favorite artists.

You have to take a tram to the top of a hill that overlooks a huge portion of the west coast. The views are amazing.

We went through many of the buildings admiring the art. I didn't make John stand around for too long, though. The best part is the central garden, which is where we took a lot of pictures. The garden was designed to look like art, and it almost feels like a maze you can walk through.

We even played with the self timer feature on my camera. I think John had fun taking pictures too, since we were trying to be creative with them.

We stayed at the Getty for about 2 hours, just wandering, sitting and taking pictures. We left for lunch, and then John surprised me even more: we went to the Natural Cafe for lunch!! This is me and Kim's favorite restaurant in San Luis Obispo because it has lots of healthy but tasty food. I didn't even really know that there was one in Southern CA, but John found it online and took me there. Needless to say, there is nothing too exciting about this place for John, so I was honored that he was willing to take me there. He enjoyed his kids' pasta meal, and I enjoyed my black bean enchiladas and salad with Tahini sauce.

Don't feel too bad for John, though, since we also stopped by Me & Ed's pizza which was in the same neighborhood and had garlic bread.

I knew that my parents had bought us tickets for the Fab Four concert at Chaffey High school later that night, so I was figuring that we would head home to relax a little before heading out for dinner before the concert. I kept asking John when we were meeting my parents and he would never give me a good answer.

Little did I know the surprises were going to keep coming.