get ready y'all!!!!
this is a picture heavy-ish post about the museum of ice cream!

i was lucky to score 1 ticket (#solomission) back in, idk, march? and then out of nowhere, because time has no concept of time, my time to go had arrived!!!!

ill walk you through it room by room for those that didn't score tickets or those of you that are too far to visit and then ill tell you at the end how i felt about it. 

ready?
let's go! 

so, first off, obviously you arrive before your entrance time, so right where you make line, right across, they have a cuuuute little patio area where they have hula hoops, giant jenga, a cute ice cream cut out connect four and some seating area. i didn't take pictures of that cause i was trying to save my phones battery for the inside. 
however, on the outside, i did snap this!



so, once you line up for your time, they let you go in in small groups so you have time to not be crowded in there (tip: get weekday tickets cause the weekend was packed!) 
whoever walks you in (didn't get a picture of the entrance door cause there were people in the way and i honestly didn't want to bug) gives you a small-ish speech about not touching shit cause its art and explaining the deal with the free ice cream (you get free ice cream in each room) and then, you are faced with 1 of 2 of the #thatpinkdoor

the first one is basic af and then you enter and alongside both walls, all the phones are lined up. 
you pick it up and a celebrity talks to you. i THINK i got (i THINK they all were actually) Seth Rogen. the voice sounded very much like him but it was so damn low you couldn't really hear anything and i didn't hear him laugh so i can't be TOO sure. 
and honestly, i only picked up two on the same wall so the other wall might be someone different. 

anyway, you go through another #thatpinkdoor and BOOM!!!!
you walk into this beautiful! wallpaper. (obviously, looks better from afar) 
and that was some salted caramel ice cream from salt and straw. pretty good. 
if you're looking forward, then to your left, they had this wall. 
an homage to our Venice sign
to the right was just the guy handing you ice cream greeting you. 
he was pretty cool about walking around and offering to take your picture. 
and this beauty of a palm tree!!! 
pink fronds and an ice cream cone trunk or whatever its called. LOVED THIS!!! (it was probably my fave) 
to the side of the palm tree, they had this statement on the wall. 
i agree. 
CALIFORNIA IS...THE SMELL OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN
CALIFORNIA IS...MELTED ICE CREAM ON A SUMMER DAY
CALIFORNIA IS...DRIVING DOWN PCH
CALIFORNIA IS...SAND IN THE SHEETS
CALIFORNIA IS...PALM TREES THROUGH THE SUNROOF
CALIFORNIA IS...HIKES THAT BECOME RUNWAYS
CALIFORNIA IS...PARKING TICKETS & SUNSETS
CALIFORNIA IS...WHERE THE DREAM OF ICE CREAM WAS BORN

(but not really. apparently ice cream was invented in Germany in 1920. 
for some reason i was thinking 1938.)
all over the floor, they had Hollywood celebrity stars with puns and they were pretty funny. i just took a pic of these 2. 

after this room, its the swings. but because everyone is taking pictures there was a wait.
here's a picture of the wall paper because i hate the one of me on the swing...and i didn't think to take one of the swings by themselves. 
but it's in a narrow ass hallway. (if you're keeping count, that's 3 rooms already)
and also, i heard the wallpaper smells but i didn't even think to try and scratch it. and the little room didn't smell like anything so... eh. 
bananas hanging from the ceiling makes room #4! this was a pretty cool installation. 
i offered to take some girls pics and they took a couple of me. 
i love the one on top even though I'm laughing. 
i HATE posing or taking pics which is why they're super rare here. 
(you don't get ice cream here or the swings as a matter of fact.) 
up next, the mint room. 
basic AF but the best effing ice cream. and i was thisclose to passing it up because I'm not a fan of mint ice cream but OMG!!! i wanted seconds (they only give you a little half)
its in this little jelly like thing, i know it has a name but its escaping me right now and i don't want to look it up so yea. 
this room was just painted mint and 4 of these boxes with mint growing on them. 
on one wall, it had that little quote up there and in front of me where i took these pics, was a neon sign that said mint but there was a couple taking pictures and i didn't really want to bother. 
from there on, it was the (what I'm calling) rainbow room. not really a rainbow but these thingamabobs were in there. and so was that quote wall. 
facing the other side of the wall where I'm at, was just a wall with pink mirror-ish paper where you can see yourself in pink. 

from this room there's a little hallway wall that's ALL WHITE (missed opportunity in my opinion) filled with soda pop tops, jars with things in them, egg cartons and some other baking stuff. 
there was a camera on there that took a quick gif of you that you can then email to yourself. 
which i did but i have no idea how to upload. 
so, yea.

then you turn another corner and BOOM! Popsicles!
luckily this area had a side blocked off so i was able to take pictures without anyone in the way. (you don't get ice cream here either.) 
walk through and you get the gummy room! room # 9
this was just an empty ass room with big gummy bears by themselves on the corner. 
and then there were 3 against the wall leading to the other room. i didn't get a picture of the 3 together because people were all over it. but the pink one above was a part of the 3. 
there was also a small little shelf on the wall that had a few small gummies that had a red and green button that did nothing when you pushed i. 

you don't get ice cream in this room BUT you get ice cold gummies. 
but when homeboy gets a group together, he makes you dance for them. 
luckily, i walked in the middle of a dance so he thought i was a part of the dancing group. 
had he made me dance, i would've just kept walking. 
they're just gummies. 

NEXT ROOM!
idk wtf it was. 



this is the black ice cream room but not really because its not a room and its not ice cream. 
idk wtf that was but it was gross. and i wasn't the only one that thought so. 

and then....drum roll please....the sprinkle pool!!!!!
this obviously isn't the color of the pool area. its all a light pink but i couldn't take good picture where it came out clear and really, i only liked the neon sign so hey!

they let you in groups of up to 15 people for 2 minutes. 
which is total bullshit because a) 15 people is A LOT for that little ass pool and b) i doubt they count the 2 minutes correctly. 
out of nowhere home girl is like 1 minute left people to time to get out!

OH!!!! and the floats, nah. i guess only celebs get em because there were no floats whatsoever in the pool.

it got pretty packed once i went in and everyone was hogging it which is why I'm hanging off the corner of the pool.
NEVER match your socks! (: 
about 99% of these sprinkles came out of the cuff of my pants

all throughout the museum, you are allowed to stay as long as you want in any room. so literally if you go in at 10 am, you can be there all day. but it's an "only forward" experience. so once you go forward you can't go back. but not really cause they're not super picky about it and it's hard to track when it's all crowded.

the pool is the only area where you're in and out on their time. 
BUT NOT REALLY CAUSE I WENT TWICE!!!! 
AHAHHAHAHAHAHA

but honestly only because i got a shit load of sprinkles in the cuff of my pants and i was trying to get rid of them. and by the time i was done, the next group went in so i was like fuck it, ill stay. 
the second time, after some chicks took like 3 years worth of pictures, i said fuck it and told em to move aside so i could finally get some pictures. 
yes, my eyebrows were that bad :/ 
but i got em done yesterday, so haaaay!

after the pool, you exit to a bathroom, which, good planning, cause after that is a lobby where you can hang out. they have random (and very little) seating and an ice cream sammich swing hanging off the ceiling that everyone wants to take a picture on. 
they also have a neon sign that says museum of ice cream that i didn't even care to take a picture of cause what for and you get the last ice cream of the trip! 
it's this little pink pancake texture like sammich with vanilla or idk what flavor and it's pretty good but kinda messy-ish so it helps to have access to the bathroom cause you don't get any napkins at all. (but also because after being in the pool you automatically want to wash and disinfect your hands!) 

there's also a little shopping section where you can get pins, cards, little ice cream piggy banks, socks, kids shirts and some other stuff. 

oh! they also have a ping pong table....

and that's it. 
the exit room is room #12. 

overall, it was fun B U T for $32 a ticket that shit is WAY OVERPRICED! 
had it been $10 i would've been singing higher praises but, for me, what you get does not justify the price. 
that's more than a tank of gas. 
that's food for lunch for a week. 
it's a lot of things!!!

and i know that i signed up for it myself....but that doesn't mean i have to like it. 
I'm glad i didn't get 2 tickets like i originally intended to for me and my bf (thanks for not wanting to go B!)
it was fun but not worth the price.
(and i know that my admission probably pays for a lot of things but, hey, make it match.)

oh!!!! 
and also, if you get the chance to go, don't be the dick who hogs up the entire side of the pool (or any area really) trying to pose for pictures that chances are, not many other people will see. 
there was this chick there hogging all that shit up, posing in positions that i've never seen in my life and i wanted to strangle her. 

anyway,  
that's it! 

hope you enjoyed the virtual tour. 
bah!
published: 2016
pages: 304 (7 hrs audio book)
isbn: 9781508223719
heard: 6/12-13/2017
rating; meh. i can see why its hyped but i didn't care for it. 
book: 23 of 29 for 2017

SYNOPSIS
There are three beautiful blond Babcock sisters: gorgeous and foul-mouthed Adrienne, observant and shy Vanessa, and the youngest and best-loved, Marie. Their mother is ill with leukemia and the girls spend a lot of time with her at a Mexican clinic across the border from their San Diego home so she can receive alternative treatments.

Vanessa is the middle child, a talented pianist who is trying to hold her family together despite the painful loss that they all know is inevitable. As she and her sisters navigate first loves and college dreams, they are completely unaware that an illness far more insidious than cancer poisons their home. Their world is about to shatter under the weight of an incomprehensible betrayal…


MY THOUGHTS
'nother audio book for me. 
.....while my goodreads goal is 29 (one for every bday), I'm secretly aiming at 52. one for ever week. 
if i keep up with audio books, i think I'll be able to surpass it! (but secretly because I'm weird, i consider that cheating. sooo...idk.) 

annnyyywaaaay!!!!
sorry about that. 
i saw this cover and read the synopsis and i was in! sorta. 
i had it on my wish list so i decided to give it a go. 

and uhm...it was okay. 
it wasn't stirring any emotion in me. 
then chapter 9 happened and HOLY SHIT!!!!!
finally!, some action. 
and from there on it was mmmm, okay to OMG action to eh...to oooh girl just to end in meh. 
but i think this is mostly my fault because once i found out what happened in chapter 9, i was expecting it to go that way instead of just focusing on Vanessa. 

it wasn't a bad book. it just didn't make me feel anything. 
i wasn't glad that i heard it. i wasn't glad to have this crossed off. it just didn't do anything. (but it did make me glad that i didn't buy the nook book even if it was on sale for $.99 so, there's that.)

there's romance and cancer and mental illness but overall, i feel that it was all smashed in together. 2 out of the 3 subjects together would have been okay but all 3 and then the add on of Vanessa's gift for playing the piano was too much. (plus her sister  Adrienne's artistic talent and Marie's....whatever you want to call that.) 
i feel like had she made this book longer, maybe we could have gotten a better story; it could have been concluded better. 
EVERYTHING THAT WAS BROUGHT UP IN THE BOOK SHOULD HAVE HAD ITS OWN CONCLUSION!

then, there was that whole situation with Marie. 
WHAT THE FUCK!? 
they address it by sending her to a private catholic school and even then, that was only after she got kicked out basically so they never really handled that. 

the dad was missing most of the book until chapter 9 and even then, everything still fell on Vanessa. 
i just feel like, no. 

and then, Adrienne? 
please. 
i cuss more than her in my dreams. 
i expected to REALLY like her but she just rubbed me the wrong way. 
she was just a bitch. and while i understand that the situation she was in would break someone, she was just a bitch. 
and i hated that whole deal with Zach and then Jeff. 

you know what? 
i didn't like it because it had too many subplots. none of the stories ended properly to justify the new beginnings they had. 
too many loose ends. 

overall, its a no for me. (sad face emoji) 
jump over for spoilers. 



thanks for reading. 
#lesreads on IG


published: 2017
pages: 321
isbn: 9780735212756
read: 6/6-8/2017
rating: fuck. i think I'm in love with this story but I'm also mad but i loved it. 
book: 22 of 29 for 2017

SYNOPSIS

Lucy is faced with a life-altering choice. But before she can make her decision, she must start her story—their story—at the very beginning.

Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University on a day that changes both of their lives forever. Together, they decide they want their lives to mean something, to matter. When they meet again a year later, it seems fated—perhaps they’ll find life’s meaning in each other. But then Gabe becomes a photojournalist assigned to the Middle East and Lucy pursues a career in New York. What follows is a thirteen-year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals, and, ultimately, of love. Was it fate that brought them together? Is it choice that has kept them away? Their journey takes Lucy and Gabe continents apart, but never out of each other’s hearts.


MY THOUGHTS
sometimes instagram shines a book down on you that you cant pass up and im so glad that i was able to get a hold of this book because i absolutely loved it. 

i loved this book. 
not because it was well written or because of the many reasons that it is but because it resonated with me. 

Lucy and Gabe embark on this long relationship journey that for a long while was nothing. it was actually never anything once they went their separate ways. but she held on to hope. she believed and she wanted but she couldn't make anything happen. 
she couldn't for the sake of her sanity, but also because you cant make someone see what you see. you cant make someone want what you want. and its not even about that because eventually time, destiny, fate, whatever you want to call it makes things happen but all of those things can also, once again stand in your way....in this case anyway.

i feel like i resonated with this book because of her feelings. i wont get too much into that because that's more of a personal story but the way that she felt, i understand. what she wanted, i definitely understand. with him she was full, it was everything, it was all. but Gabe had other plans. they both had their own plans. it just sucked that they couldn't come together to make it work. 

i read a review on goodreads where some person said that all they saw was all the sex Lucy and Gabe had in the 5 months they were together.  but i think they missed the bigger picture of it all. (im not judging because not everyone will like what you do.) 
maybe to feel it the way i felt it, its something that you have to have gone through? i don't know. i just know that at points i felt like i was a little bit of Lucy in my past. 

for a good while i was team Lucy and haaaated what happened but the more i got into it, i kinda was mad at her for some of her actions. at the fact that she was mad at her surprises....she hated when things happened but she never spoke against them until it was too late. 
people won't know how to act or do or be around you if you don't speak up and say what does and does not bother you.

i don't know if this is a bit of a spoiler but, people can only affect you as long as you let them and i feel like Gabe kind of used her. not used her but he was selfish, with himself and his time. and while there is NOTHING wrong with that, i hated that he kept Lucy somewhat on the back burner to be there for him when he needed her but not any other time. i felt for her. i was broken when she was broken and i was happy for her when things started falling into place. but gahhh!!! I think I'm definitely team Darren. that dude definitely took one for the team. 
continuously. 

this is all told through Lucy so of course we never know what Gabe was thinking nor his point of view (but Jill!!!!!, book idea!!!!) but what i loved is that it kept me on the edge. i didn't know if Gabe was alive and just choosing to be out of her life and ignoring her or if he had beyond moved on or if he was dead and it was just her recounting their story trying to get his attention. 
i wont tell you here why she was retelling her story but let me tell you!, Jill did a very good job of wrapping it all up. that freaking twist!
and that letter at the end!
ahhhh!!!!!

AMAZING!!!
looking to buy this book for my personal library as soon as possible!!!!!
UPDATE: I WON A FREAKING AUTOGRAPHED COPY ON INSTAGRAM!!!! AHHH!!!!!

i feel that there's so much more that i could say about this book. as i was reading it, i kept posting about it on my insta stories because i wanted so badly to speak to someone about it with. it made me feel so many things! it had me emotionally everywhere and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!!! but i have to cut it short here because i can probably go on for a good while. 

for now, ill leave you with some faves....and then of course the spoilers!

the problem with living in the now is that it means, by definition, you're not making plans for the future. Kate pg 48
as soon as you started keeping secrets, we had no chance. Lucy pg 69
and i tried as hard as i could to get over you, but really the only thing i needed was time. Lucy pg 83 
what i wanted to tell you is that there are lots of ways to love people and i know that you'll love someone else again. even if its not the same, some of it might be better. Jason pg 80
we see everything through the filter of our own desires and regrets, hopes and fears. Lucy pg 262
if you died, i realized just then, it would mean that I'd be the keeper of our memories. i'd be the only one on earth who had experienced them. i have to do better. i cant forget the details. Lucy pg 301 
nothing i do will bring you back, will it? i have to accept that. Lucy pg 317 

ill miss this book so much! thanks for reading. 
#lesreads on IG

published: 2015
pages: 297 
isbn: 978-0143127550
heard: 6/1-6/2017
rating: ahh! loved it! 
book: 21 of 29 for 2017

“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

MY THOUGHTS
this book!!!!!
this was Sarah's (& Nick's) last book club read that i meant to read but never got around to it (don't know why i didn't check it out from the library). but as i was surfin' the now available audio books section for my library, i found this book so i decided to give it a go. (you can only listen to the same playlist over and over so many times!) (also, suck it audible with your 15.99 books or whatever!)

i kinda regret not checking it out now. 
but I'm glad that i heard it. so per usual, I'm a mess. 

i didn't go in thinking that this was a mystery book but it did help me get into this book with the knowledge that it was based on family. 

this isn't my usual read. just the other day i was complaining about how i wasn't feeling books that are so in the now so this book being set in the 1970's-1980's was a refreshing scene. 

anyway, this book. 
wow!

i cant really say much on here (ill say most of it in the spoilers below) but I'll say that i love what Celeste created. 
i think she did a good job creating the family dynamic that basically fell apart because they didn't communicate. she did such a good job in creating Lydia and Nate and what their parents both did and did not want for them individually. 
it was sad that her mother was looking in Lydia for what she had lost. it was sad that in a way, their father was trying NOT to find in Nate what he "had" as a child. 
i honestly believe that both parents could have had what they wanted had they focused the correct energy on the proper child in a proper manner. 
i hated how hard her mom was on her. i hated that they placed all this pressure on her to be something that she wasn't about. 
i hated that Nate craved all the attention (well, not all of it) that Lydia got but it was Lydia that had to have it all.  
they had their kids so backwards!

and Hannah. 
faawk! poor Hannah. 
that line about the attic just about killed me. 
she really got a shitty end of the deal that she didn't even ask for. but i liked her because, yes she was the youngest, but she paid attention. she knew to stay quiet and knew when and how to observe. 
i truly believe that's how she learned to survive all of that. i love that because for the most part she has to raise herself. she really learns as she goes. 
she has a list of things that she has learned are not true. and i think that says a lot because at my age, I'm still learning things that are not what i thought they were and i think that shows her, in a way, preparing for life. 

i think Celeste did an amazing job in showing how other people's actions have consequences. 
this wasn't just with Lydia's mother, but her mom's mom. 
it wasn't with James' upbringing but more with his shame about it. 

there's just so many factors and woven parts that made this book beautiful for me.
the way it intertwined within itself was the...best.  

that's all on say on this here because everything that i do want to say in some way contains spoilers. 
but definitely check this book out. 
I'm hoping to buy it if i catch it on sale. 

oh! and did you know: 
rabbits and frogs were used as pregnancy tests back in the 60/70's. that just about blew my mind. 
ya learn something new every day. 


thanks for reading. 
#lesreads on IG