It’s the last day of November and it’s eight months since we came to LA believing we would be here for four.
Tomorrow is the first day of December and my outfit says it’s October.
I dream about showing LA to my family, about being chased through abandoned hospitals and hugging our Gothenburg neighbors greeting us back home as if we were close friends. They said they had missed us.
The creepy girl with the shorts and braces catches up with me at the end of the hallway and when I realize the double doors go both ways and I can't keep them closed I prepare to freak out, but is saved by David who wakes me up.
And we’re in LA. And it’s the last day of November.
And the sun is shining like it’s July in Sweden.

Hej!
On saturday it was my birthday and we celebrated by going to Catalina Island.
I didn't bring my Nikon but I took a lot of photos with my iPhone that I wanted to show you, because this was one lovely weekend!
We had planned to go to a breakfast place close to the ferry terminal on Long Island, but LA traffic decided otherwise. We came as far as one kilometer before we realized every freeway entrance was closed for some reason, and there were A LOT of cars circling around not knowing what the hell was going on. After 30 minutes of not going anywhere we decided to have our breakfast at a place close to where we live instead. I was craving coffee and just wanted fooood.

We ended up at The Oak Gourmet that I love. I was happy and looked forward to the day!

And then, traffic just started to move again. We had begun to feel a little nervous that we might miss the ferry, but in true Lotta style we got there in good time to get on the ferry that left one hour before the one we had planned to take. That's how I roll.

This photo makes me think of my favorite Swedish animated movie Resan till Melonia.

When we got to Catalina Island I was super stoked as you can see, partly because there was a pelican sitting behind me and I've never been that close to a pelican before.

It was time for lunch so we walked to the restaurant Blue Water Grill and got a table outside right by the water. This was our view.

I got a Cucumber Mojito.

And a Lobster Roll. Ahhh, heaven!

We checked into our hotel after that. The view from the street looked very much like we were in Nice, France and not one hour from Los Angeles.

And then we went to Olaf's and got ice-cream. Look at this Instagram-hipster-worthy photo! I took two scoops, one Espresso Chip and one Black Cherry. SO TASTY!

David took Cookie Dough, and Bubblegum. Yes, that poisonous blue is bubblegum ice-cream.
And as usual I go for the "grown up flavors". David not so much.
We had planned to go for dinner later in the evening, but we got so full on ice-cream that we decided that got to be our dinner instead. Ice-cream for dinner, yay!

And then the sun started to set for the evening.

We found a spot in the harbor where we sat for a while. It was getting a bit chilly but we didn't want to leave just yet.

I was so happy with the day. I think I'll remember it forever.
When it got too cold we walked back to our room where I had gotten a bottle of champagne from the hotel staff. The rest of the evening we enjoyed having a tv for the first time in 7 months by flipping between the channels, drinking champagne and planning our adventures for the next day.

And then it was Sunday!
There's almost no cars on Catalina. People drive Golf Carts instead. The houses actually have parking spots in the size of golf carts, it's the cutest!
We rented one for a couple of hours and drove the scenic route around the city of Avalon.
It was so beautiful, and also quite silly with all the tiny golf carts putting around on the steep and winding roads.

Stopping to take in the view.

Avalon is the cutest place!

And here's me and the view at one of the other stops we made. The hat was new for the day because the sun was stronger there than in LA and I needed something to protect my face. Also: I love hats. You could never have too many hats.

Same view, minus Lotta.

Dream Home!!!

And then we found deer! And I got to pet one of the babies!

Before it was time to go to the ferry we walked on the beach because I wanted to look for treasures. I found white, smooth stones, shells and beach glass. They are now in the small compartment in my bag. A little bit of Catalina in LA.

And then we said Goodbye to Catalina Island for this time.
It was such a lovely place and we definitely want to come back again some time.
When we got home it felt like we had been away for at least five days. It's strange how that can be, but when we turned onto our street it felt like it's been ages since we left.
It's the magic of a great mini weekend.

/Lotta

Hej!
Soooo, I went back into the abandoned hospital today.
The reason why I've had the opportunity to visit this place is because we filmed some scenes for the Lights Out movie there these past two days. While the film team was in another building I could lurk around however much I wanted.
So after my scenes were done and I could get back into my normal clothes I sneaked away for an hour or so again. This time to the basement, the kitchen and... the morgue... (more on that soon).

When you find a room with a locker that spells Disaster wrong, all you can do is scream.

"They did WHAT here?"

What is this shiny thing? And who is that person?

"I think you're right Marge, this cafeteria seems to be closed today."

Then I found the kitchen. What's cooking in that big ol' cauldron to the right?

Who is making noise?! Stop it immediately!

And then, it took a turn for the weird(er)...
I found the morgue.
And thought to myself: I wonder what is inside those metal cabinets in the walls. Imagine if it was a dead person.
I opened one of them...

...AND FOUND THIS!!!!

(It's a doll. Yes. I'm sure. There's yellow foam where his ribs should be. And that nose is just a little bit too perfect. Plus, I looked -very- closely)

The weird thing is that I kind of expected it to be there. I had already told my scared brain that there might be a dead person in there so when I first saw the scalp I was like "Oh, yep, there's the dead guy."
What mean person decided to leave that there after filming?!?!
Apparently CSI have been shooting here. So maybe they are responsible for scaring the crap out of me.

But it was quite awesome to go back to set and show my "find" to everybody in the crew...

After seeing the "dead guy" I was actually a bit shaken and all the dark rooms looked super scary instead of exciting so that was the end of today's self portrait bonanza. But what a great ending, ey?
And here's a photo in which you can see me three times. One of me is in the back, acting away. The other two on the screens.
It felt great to be filming again. I really love it, and hope I get to do it more and more in the future!

But look at this cool GIF I made!

Talk to you soon!
/Lotta

Hi!
Today I had the amazing opportunity to roam around all by myself in an abandoned hospital. For two hours I wandered the hallways searching for good photo spots.
It was the BEST!
Wanna see?
OKAY!

In the hospital chapel the light was just wonderful.
The floor was not very clean though, but who cares!? Not me!

This photo turned out so much greater than I thought it would. I had so much trouble securing the gorilla pod and the phone slipped sideways all the time. I decided to take a photo anyway and hope for the best. I'm so glad I did because this might be one of my favorites from today. It gets my imagination going.

Science Fiction Lotta!
When I found this room it felt like I had struck Self Portrait Environment Gold. It made me all giggly and I might have done a victory gesture all by myself.

STOP!

I said STOOOOOOOP!

Okay. I'll stop.

Hello hello.

Hmmmm, let's see what we have here...

And let's end this with a photo that shows my emotions for this place more accurately. YIPPEEE!

It was one of those adventures I think I'll remember for a long time. And I'm going back again tomorrow!

Hope you liked this spooky hospital tour, and talk to you soon! '

/Lotta