Hello peoples!  Welcome to another installment of my blabbering!  I came to my keyboard today to talk about the wonderful week that just passed that was spent with my family.  The relationship I have with my family is the best one that I have.  We never leave each other without knowing the next time we will see each other, and, if you're like me and live miles and miles away from everyone you love, that's the key to making the separation easier.  I know I'll be seeing my Jersey folk in July, so now the next few months of my life can go by feeling like a semester of college; I never feel too far from anyone I love.  

Anywho, so my parents decided to take a week and come out here to frolic through the beauty that is Southern California.  When my Uncle got wind of this trip, he decided to come out with my two cousins as well, so it was a freakin Jersey Italian family affair and it was beautiful.  

I doubt he reads this, but if you do, Ry, I want you to know how sorely we all (but mostly me) missed you on this trip.  I know how disappointed you were that you couldn't come out here, but you're where you need to be right now.  You're off at college becoming a physicist with a drivers' license, making us all so proud.  Seriously, you're putting my theatre degree to shame!  That being said, I still do wish you could have been there more than anything.  Though our childhood was messy and I wasn't the softest older sister to you, I think we've grown into a pretty solid team.  Every family function we're at together, I feel like we have this unspoken conversation going on between us, where we know exactly what annoys the other, and when to stick up for the other.  We team up against our parents when we need to (sorry Mom and Dad, but you understand) and we hold each other up, and so many times throughout this trip, I found myself saying "Wow I really wish Ryan were here right now," if I couldn't place a Friends reference, or if I made a joke no one understood, or I needed your weird specific memory for something, or if I just missed your big heart and presence and the dynamic you add to our family.  I love you bro, and I hope you don't feel for one second that this trip wouldn't have been incredibly enhanced had you been able to make it.  

Sob story: OVER.  Onto the photos!  I thought I'd take way more than I did, but that's what happens when you're with your family, enjoying every second.  The first day after they arrived, we all went to Disneyland.  Now if you're a fairly new person in my life, you may not know about my family's ties to the world that is Disney.  Let me put it this way, I literally don't know a family who has been to DisneyWorld more times.  We've literally never taken a different family vacation, with the exception of the trips we took with my dance team.  I truly believe there's nowhere happier than DisneyWorld, and it's just one of the many childish things about me, but it unites my family so we bought a time share there.  So you can deduce my level of excitement to visit Disneyland, where it all started.  So I took like four pictures, but here they are!

Day two we went to Universal, and if there's one thing that I love just as much as Disney, and sometimes maybe even more (don't tell Mickey), it's the entire world that is Harry Potter.  I loved the books, I loved the movies, and the first time I went to the Harry Potter World in Florida, I teared up and bought a wand, at age 21. (Wow, I'm really selling myself to anyone who was considering asking me out aren't I?)

Hogwarts and Hogsmeade match my aesthetic to a T.  And that right there, ladies and gentlemen, is the most white girl thing I've ever said.  But for real, cool blues and grey tones on a cloudy day make for a very jolly Sami.  I honestly could have spent an entire day there, but it's such a small part of the park that we eventually had to move on.  But not before we mailed a howler over to Ryan back in Jersey to send our love.  When is somebody going to make an entire park dedicated to Harry Potter?  He deserves a whole freaking park, not just a segment of a park that also has a Simpsons section.  He's better than that.  Alas, everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. 

I took this photo on the backlot tour of Universal.  That's that movie magic for ya.  

Day three I had to go into work, REMEMBER WHEN I HAD A JOB?!?!?!?!?!  So, we spent the morning in Venice, exploring the canals, and hangin on the beach.  

Beautiful day, except for the small hiccup of our stinky lunch experience.  We went to this pretentious hipster restaurant in Venice called Gjelina, where they wouldn't take fennel off my salad, because they don't do modifications, and they didn't have diet coke cause they don't do soda.  When we made normal human reactions to this pompous response to our questions, our waiter transferred us to another server, he couldn't handle the Jersey.  Another instance where I got to see how truly lucky I am to have been brought up on the east coast, to the parents that I was given.  

Day four was huge!  Huge I tell you!  So I have this amazing friend, Marisa, who works for the Ellen Degeneres show, so prior to my parents coming out, I decided to try my luck at seeing if she could possibly get us tickets, and she did her magic and there we were! Aside from the mild panic attack I had trying to pick an outfit that Nick Jonas would approve of JUST INCASE he was a guest on the show that day, we had an unforgettable time.  Naturally, we had to eat lunch at my favorite spot in LA, Aroma Cafe, where we saw Roy from The Office and I eavesdropped his entire lunch instead of paying attention to my own.  

And then we went.  We couldn't take many photos, except for this one I took with my besties, but it was a great taping.  Sylvester Stallone was on, and Abbi and Ilana from Broad City (!!!!!!) and WE WON MATTRESSES!  That's right, she pulled an Oprah and gave everyone in the audience a freaking mattress! 

That night we had dinner all together in Malibu, right on the ocean.  I ate like seven courses and was delusional by the end, but we shared a bunch of laughs together.  

I don't necessarily want to talk about day five, which is the day responsible for the loss of my job.  I don't have any photos from the day because I left my phone in my apartment on accident, and if any of my managers are reading this, I wasn't freaking making that up, so I hope you feel smaller now.  It was a nice day though, regardless.  We had a brunch with our close friends, Ang and Nick, who were simultaneously visiting LA, and then we took a drive through the hills of Bel Air and Beverly Hills en route to Santa Monica.  We had a proper afternoon tea at Ye Olde King's Head, in honor of the pub theatre I worked at in London with the same name, we walked the pier, and then we had dinner at Barney's Beanery where we watched the Rangers get shat on by the Penguins, and Kobe shoot his last 60 POINTS in the NBA. 

Day six, we went to Sony Studios for a tour, and the highlight of my day was getting a photo in front of the Breaking Bad RV.  

For all the moneys: The greatest people to ever exist.  Who are THE MATARANTES?!

After the tour, we had all this time and no plans because of my low comprehension that caused the schedule mixup.  I found I did not actually have to go into work on Thursday, so we decided to drive to Santa Barbara, where I proceeded to fall in love with a geographical location.  

Day seven we hiked, had a nice healthy lunch, and went to a Dodger game! The Dodgers beat the crap out of the Giants, and then there was a firework show immediately after!  I had corn on the cob and two beers, and my parents had a helmet full of nachos.  I love America.  

The next day was our last day.  We had brunch all together in Hermosa Beach, and that was it.  The week flew by, but it was amazing.  I lost my job because I cared far more about being with my family.  That's something I wouldn't regret and wouldn't change.  I'm incredibly lucky to have the support system I have, and I'll never forget that.  Counting down the days until we're all together this summer, because my life isn't about the part time jobs I have, or the journey to becoming an actor.  Those things are what fill my day to day, but my life is being lived fullest when I'm with the people I love, so thank you for a week of living.  

<3