By: Samie

Travel Dates: November 23rd-29th, 2024

Day 5

(Beverly Hills & Rodeo Drive, Lunch at Sharky’s, 13 Going on 30 Birthday Celebration)

Our fifth day of our 2024 November adventure to California was the pinnacle and motivation for our trip. The vibes of this day were designed to take us back in time, specifically the 1990’s. So the photos are meant to look a little more vintage to help set the scene.

The dawn of November 27th, the beautiful Los Angeles morning began for Luke and I at our Airbnb. This put us separate from where the rest of our family was, so we got to make our own agenda for how we were going to make our way over to them.

One thing we thought would be fun to cross off our bucket list and was on the way from where we were staying to Alyssa and Evan’s apartment, was a stop through Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive! Obviously, we are neither rich nor fancy people, but we thought it would be fun to walk the streets where the rich and fancy people shop and eat!

We couldn’t resist the chance to purchase at least one thing from one of the most upscale shopping areas in the world. Most merchandise was well above our price range, but one thing we could afford and greatly enjoy purchasing was coffee and breakfast! We looked up a few different options and decided we were going to achieve our Beverly Hills shopping experience at Urth Caffe.

For drinks, I decided to order their highly recommended Italian Cappuccino, an authentic Italian cappuccino prepared by carefully folding thick, creamy frothed milk into espresso. Luke opted to sample a cup of their Urth Cold Brew, their Urth Italia heirloom and organic espresso blend, cold-brewed in-house for 24 hours creating a smooth, rich chocolatey brew. As for food, we each picked out a delectable delight from the display cases. I noticed a mouth-watering pecan sticky bun that I couldn’t pass up, and Luke chose a bread pudding.

We found a nice little outdoor table to sit in some provided shade beneath large umbrellas. We got to enjoy the sunshine of the day without our skin being painfully scorched by it. There was a privacy fence one one side of us, and the sidewalk and cafe on the other. It made it very easy to people watch while also being able to enjoy our own conversations without the need to raise our voices to talk over excessive noise.

We had left our Airbnb around 9:45, arrived at Urth Caffe around 10:30, and finished munching and sipping a little before 11:30. While we had fulfilled all the intended shopping we planned to do, we still wanted to walk Rodeo Drive and at least pass by some boujee boutiques.

Now, in our household, it is forbidden to set up for Christmas or play Christmas music until December 1st. As a late November birthday, I didn’t enjoy growing up and having people skip the last few days of November after Thanksgiving (and sometimes even a little before) to already start getting ready for Christmas because that meant my birthday was often overlooked. Luke is just stuck with my rules.

However, when traveling in late November, it is an expectation that many places don’t observe my own personal beliefs and start setting up for the holidays earlier. Especially places in California, they tend to start decorating a little earlier because, unlike the Midwest, there aren’t any big discernable changes in the weather to acknowledge the arrival of winter. To help get people in the holiday spirit, despite being surrounded by palm trees all year round, they start decorating streets and buildings in November.

There is something different about other places being decorated for Christmas before December, and I definitely don’t mind it nearly as much! While our household preference has its own expectations, getting to visit a place all decked out for the holidays is an experience of its own and is quite special and enjoyable. When we went on another November trip to San Francisco the year before, they had also dressed everything up for Christmas, and we loved getting to watch the tree light shows and decorations.

It came as no surprise to us that Rodeo Drive was completely dressed up for the holiday season, including festive music playing out of the street! It brought its own kind of joy to walk through the baubles and wreaths and trees. With light hearts and sun-kissed skin, we left after walking around for about half an hour to finally make our way to meet up with everyone else at the apartment.

Reuniting with everyone, all of whom had not been all together since almost a year exactly before, was a very sincere and heartfelt welcome. There were a plethora of hugs and smiles to go around! It’s hard to understand the phrase “absence makes the heart grow fonder” until you are living it with some of the people you love the most.

We spent the first couple of hours catching up and soaking in simple conversation, something you don’t realize you miss until it is often unavailable to you. However, around 2:30, we started to feel a little peckish and decided to make the short walk over to a place called Sharky’s for some lunch. Sharky’s serves modern Mexican food.

Luke and I ordered a BBQ Chicken Salad to share. It came with organic mixed baby greens and freshly chopped organic romaine mixed with fire-roasted corn, pico de gallo, toasted pecans, sweet mini peppers, shredded cheese, and scallions tossed with their creamy chipotle BBQ dressing and topped with crispy corn tortilla strips. Rebekah wanted an order of their Nachos Grande, and it was big enough for all of us to share and sample! It’s their lime-scented chips topped with organic beans, three cheeses, pico de gallo, pickled jalapeños, hand-crafted guacamole, sour cream, and topped with cotija cheese.

For drinks, they have handcrafted lemonades available that were looking far too tasty to pass up. They had two flavors, and while they both looked amazing and made for a difficult decision, I opted for the mango lemonade, but Rebekah got the strawberry, so in the end we got to try both anyway! It was such a beautiful day that we once again decided to sit outside to dine. They had covered seating, so it wasn’t a tough choice. I could enjoy the sun without my pasty skin quickly getting burned by the intense LA rays (like the last time we ate lunch in the city).

After returning to the apartment, there was a small window of relaxation and unwinding time before it was already time to start getting ready for the events of the evening! We had all gathered here together to celebrate Rebekah and my birthday. We both have November birthdays, only about two weeks apart from one another. After the festivities of my Golden Birthday the previous year, I got to thinking about turning 30. Upon the reflection one has when preparing to leave their 20’s behind, I came to the realization that Rebekah would be turning 13 the same year I was turning 30.

I had already planted the seed in my mind that I wanted to do a 13 Going on 30 theme for my birthday with a possible adventure to New York City to truly embrace the film. Once the realization was made that Rebekah was turning 13 right before I turned 30, the seed sprouted into a full-blown blossom. There was no way we wouldn’t be embracing a big 13 Going on 30 party, especially since Rebekah loved the movie just as much as I did! It just so happened to work out in everyone’s schedule to be able to afford and have the time to travel to Los Angeles as a meeting point in time to celebrate Thanksgiving together. Everything seemed to line up all too perfectly.

Before our trip, Rebekah and I had each found and purchased outfit pieces in order to resemble the outfits of our corresponding characters as closely as possible. This meant me tracking down the absolutely ICONIC dress Jennifer Garner wears to her first big party as 30-year-old Jenna Rink. Rebekah had her work cut out for her as young Jenna’s outfit has many more pieces to it. Luckily, we were able to find success and found pieces that we loved and were happy with and couldn’t wait to don for our joint party.

The original goal was to be dressed and ready to take some sunset golden hour pictures. In the end, we didn’t accomplish that goal. We had put on the movie as background noise for while we got ready, and between watching and chatting and just the general time consumption of getting ready, the sun had set by the time we were all ready. This did not deter us nor dampen our spirits at all, however. We had an amazing evening planned, and the most important thing was that we had somehow managed to gather all together despite having very different jobs and work schedules and living in very different places in order to have the once in a lifetime chance to celebrate the crazy and unpredictable alignment of these two birthdays.

Alyssa had surprised us with going above and beyond to decorate the apartment with balloons, including the balloon phrase “30 Flirty & Thriving”, so we got to start with a fun photo shoot inside. Alyssa has a Camp Snap camera, a screen-free digital camera designed to take vintage style pictures similar to disposable cameras. Instead of being a one time use, however, these cameras can be used over and over again, and the photos can be downloaded onto a device. She had also bought bracelets for all three of us. The stunningly simple gold chain met up to make three hearts. Two of the hearts were an outline only, but one of the hearts was solid and filled in. The heart that was filled was different for each of us, depending on our birth order. As the oldest, my first heart was filled in, Alyssa’s middle heart was filled in, and Rebekah had the third heart filled in. Now, no matter how many miles separate us, there would always be a connection between us.

Around 5:30, we began to walk our way over to a nearby bowling alley, a setting we thought would best fit the vibes we were going for. Pinz Bowling Kitchen + Bar was an easy 10 minute walk from the apartment. We grabbed our jackets as the set sun had taken the day’s heat with it. When we arrived at Pinz, we saw their sign that said on Wednesday’s (the day we happened to be there), purchase for unlimited bowling starts at 6:00pm. Well, we had arrived there around 5:40, so we had a little bit of time to kill because it was worth the wait until unlimited bowling started.

Fortunately, the kitchen and bar is connected directly to the bowling alley, so we decided to grab a seat and drink while we waited. The booths were bright yellow, and we knew the aesthetic would make for some pictures, so it all worked out! The bartender was super nice, and she helped us pick out the perfect birthday cocktails. I got the Blue Hawaiian, which not only sounded delicious, but also matched my outfit! It was a mix of vodka, silver rum, blue curacao, pineapple, and sour mix. She made Rebekah her own little mocktail to go along with her outfit as well.

We took our seats to sip on drinks and snap some more of our 13 Going on 30 pictures. Some of our pictures turned out very fun and candid. Some of our pictures were very silly and awkward and maybe even unflattering, but in the most true, authentic, and sincere way. Some pictures were just plain adorable and cute! Either way, we got add to our collection of photographs that Rebekah and I will get to treasure forever to both remind us of this special birthday bonding experience and also our sisterly love for each other as we continue to watch each other grow, mature, and age.

By the time our drinks and photo session were done, it was 6:00, so were able to head back over to the bowling alley side of things to participate in the unlimited bowling. For only $28.99 per person, we could stay and bowl for as long as we wanted to with as many games as we wanted to play until closing. Shoe rental wasn’t included, but it was still a pretty good deal!

As one does when bowling, we got our names all put in, picked out our bowling ball of choice, and got the ball rolling! With it being late November, the televisions were playing some of the Christmas movie classics, like The Santa Claus while we played. At one point, to further prove the utter and complete serendipity of every small moment and detail that converged to create our 13 Going on 30 event, during one of our games, when we were starting the 4th frame, my score was at exactly 30, and Rebekah was at exactly 13! The universe couldn’t have been screaming any louder at how perfect everything was!

The evening raged on, and we enjoyed bopping to music, goofing around between turns, and genuinely enjoying an activity that most people do for at least one of their birthday party’s throughout their lifetime.

Alyssa had also brought her Camp Snap camera, so we got even more fun and retro photos while we bowled the evening away. There is something so nostalgic about bowling. Obviously there are bowling leagues where professionals that are actually good at competing bowl in adulthood, but for the majority of us, there is something simple and youthful about the game. Everyone has their own runway as they walk back from whatever successful or disaster of a frame they just bowled. We make faces, we gesture, we shout at one another. For that split moment each time, everyone is looking at you, and egocentric mindset of your youth fills you.

There are no obligations, very minimal rules, and the simplicity of it allows you to use your energy and brain power for just socializing and enjoying yourselves. There are very activities quite like it. So we bowled until we were feeling a little hungry, ordered some classic bowling alley appetizers for food, then bowled some more. We bowled for almost three hours before we were finally ready to call it and let someone else take over our lane.

On the walk back to the apartment, we knew we would be passing by or walking through several areas that were beautifully decorated and lit up, so Rebekah and I wanted to do one more full on photo shoot before we called it an evening since we hadn’t gone out to do our sunset photo shoot. The building we passed by first was the Hallmark Channel Television Station.

It is no secret that Hallmark is renowned and well-known for their holiday movies, so it came as no surprise that they went all out with decorating. They had long, warm, chains of string lights cascading down pretty much the entirety of the building’s facade. It was essentially a backdrop, so we used it as such! Rebekah and I both being very awkward at taking pictures made for some very fun, sweet, and sincere moments captured as digital stills. Sometimes we embraced the goofiness and other times we were genuinely trying our hardest, but they still came out awkward, just in a cute way.

We also were able to sit on the steps of the building and very carefully walk our way around a ledge that wrapped around some flowers and trees that were also decorated with twinkling lights. We got to just be silly and fun and, well…sisters. One of us 13 and supposed to be awkward, and one of us 30 and never really quite grew out of being awkward.

Our last stop on the way back was through Sportsman’s Lodge, the little outdoor mall where Alyssa, Luke, and I had grabbed coffee only three short days before. It looked much different this time around because it was dark, so everything was all light up and sparkling! Everything within the area was carefully and beautifully landscaped, so it was easy to find yet another spot to snap some pictures before officially calling it a night.

Rebekah and I each took turns getting some solo shots to really showcase the outfits we had put countless hours of time and effort finding and piecing together to match the two versions of Jenna Rink from the iconic rom com. All the twinkling lights kind of washed out the pictures, but it just added to the vintage and disposable camera vibes, so it was perfect all the same.

We ended with taking pictures of the two of us together once again attempting to pose and hugging and goofing around and just enjoying each other’s company that we so desperately long for when we aren’t together. Coming up on 10:00pm, it was time to allow our evening festivities to come to a close and head back to the apartment to change and wind down. Keeping it simple with only a few planned activities allowed us to fill the birthday bash with memories of us being together instead, and it is a birthday I don’t think either of us will ever forget.

It is incredibly difficult to describe what it is like watching someone permanent in your life grow up through each stage of life, yet an experience many people are familiar with one way or the other. From holding her tiny body in my arms to holding her hand as she leans her head against my shoulder, I’ve had the privilege of watching Rebekah grow up into an amazing, creative, independent, and gorgeous young lady.

We lived in the same household for her early years of life where I got to soak up the cuddles, giggles, smiles, and events that people take their kids to, but I got to do it with my sister, which felt just as special and meaningful to me. When I went off to college, I became more like an aunt that popped in whenever I could, but we still got to experience the world together through trips and vacations.

When I graduated, got a job and a house with Luke, she came to stay with us for one summer. I got to take her places like Storybook Land and the Dacotah Prairie Museum. I got to go grocery shopping, take care of the pets, make meals, watch shows, play games, or do crafts with her. An experience I don’t think many siblings have the opportunity to do with their siblings, and something we both still talk about and treasure.

Now, miles and miles separate us, and as the birthdays pass, she gets older and older and better and better. I am truly thankful and grateful for every minute, moment, second, I’ve gotten to spend, take, and have as her big sister. I’m thankful for every laugh, smile, and tear. I’m thankful for the love and joy and memories we share that bond us together when we can’t be. Having siblings is a truly treasured honor and title, but having a sibling 17 years my junior is something I never thought I would experience, but something I also would now never trade for the world.

I obviously love Alyssa and Austin with my whole heart, but we grew up together. We were navigating the world as a unit. With Rebekah, I’d already done much of the growing up and navigating through childhood. My role as a big sister was much different and more rounded out and practiced than it was for Alyssa and Austin (sorry that you were my guinea pigs for being a good big sister and that I wasn’t always good at it). As an adult, I got to be the person that could buy her the fun and extra things and experiences because I didn’t have to also pay for all her other stuff. I got to be the person that could drive her around to places because, you know, I could actually drive. I got to share my experiences and wisdom that can make growing up pretty hard sometimes.

I could do an entire post about how much I love my family, but I will instead leave it at saying how much I’ve enjoyed the past 13 years having the distinguished privilege of watching Rebekah grow up, and I can’t wait to continue to see the woman she becomes.

Finally, it is even more difficult to describe looking back on your own life and realizing that while experiencing it, you miss how quickly your time slips through your fingers and how much you change and grow in the blink of an eye.

I wish photos also captured every single memory from that year of your life because when I was looking back at all my old photos to curate an Instagram reel in honor of turning 30, I realized how little I actually remembered.

I looked at each of my face smiling back at me and desperately wished I could talk to that Samie. I wished I could ask her questions about her life at that moment and share advice about upcoming moments. I wished I could have told her much much sooner that bangs were not her thing. I wished I could talk her through the challenges that I know are going to take her a grueling and pain-staking amount of time to face and work through.

However, each moment, whether joyful, sorrowful, challenging, or calm, also made her into who she is now; who I am now. I think if those photos could talk, those versions of Samie would wish they could tell me how proud they are of me. I think they would say they love how bright my smile stayed. I think they would say thank you for ditching the bangs and finding my own style that perfectly fits my desire for comfort while also fitting into the term fashionable. I know they would adore my husband and be so happy to have someone I love that loves me so truly and whole-heartedly back, as that was something she always sought. I think they would smile broadly but also not be surprised that I have so many wonderful pets. I think they would be slightly shocked that I became a teacher instead of a recluse author, but they would cry genuine tears of pride and joy at how hard I work and how good I am as an educator and how much I love my job.

Instead of wishing I could go back and talk to each little Samie, I wish they could talk to me. I think I need to hear those things from myself sometimes. I have grown, I have changed. My bones crack more than they used to, and my back will never quite be the same. But I am so proud of who I am, who I’ve become, who I continue to be. I hope I can look back in another 30 years and look into the eyes of all the past Samies and tell them what an adventure, what a lifetime, what a person they are going to be. Until then, I will tell myself to be strong, be proud, and keep being me. I cannot turn back time, but I don’t think I would want to, because Samie is right where she needs to be. Sending all my love to everyone else that needs to hear those things! To Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving!