Breathing in the city of Lost Angels....

“I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They're beautiful. Everybody's plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.”
---- Andy Warhol

Normally, I'm not a weekend travel kind of girl. Work takes me away most Sundays-Thursdays, but because of a weekend event, I set up shop at my Holiday Inn Express and spent the past couple of days in Los Angeles. It's funny that to "normal" people, a weekend in LA would be fun, a getaway. To me, it was just an extra few days away from my beloved apartment.

However, as I've decided to take on a whole new love for work travel, I decided that after my Saturday event, explore LA and experience some things, try a new restaurant and enjoy the sunny day.

Well, ultimately, it was cold and I was tired. I ended up going back to the hotel, watched a couple of Grey's episodes and slept a bit. During my event, I did have the chance to try some of LA's loved Food Trucks, so I at least had that...

I did however grab a late night showing of the new Jane Eyre movie. It had a super limited release this weekend, but it was worth the extra drive in LA traffic. Not being a fan of the classics, I honestly had no idea what the book was about, but this movie totally made me want to go out and read it.

Today has been my redeeming day. Regardless of a loss of an hour, I decided to get up early and hike around Runyon Canyon. The day was absolutely gorgeous. I stopped off at a nearby Borders (I don't even want to mention how incredibly sad I am that they are closing most of their West Coast Stores) grabbed some un-needed Christmas CDs and Movies (hey, they were 75% off). Ordered my almost daily Starbucks, tried their new Cakepops (one word: yum) and was on my merry way.

Now I had heard about Runyon Canyon, but this was my first time hiking it. I have to admit, it's not very wildernessy, in fact, it's pretty darn urban, but I can see why the LAites hang out here on the weekends. It was a pretty steep hike, but had gorgeous views. My favorite view: John Krasinski and his dog. Both were adorable.

Now, I'm grabbing at late Brunch at one of my favorite restaurants: Larchmont Bungalow. I try and grab a meal here whenever I'm in town, it's so delicious.

Living the big girl life....

Well, it's been a good 6 months since I last signed on (seriously, how does time fly so quickly?) It's already March, half of my spring travel is done, the flowers are in bloom, my tv shows are promoting their finales and I'm preparing myself for the end of another school year.

These past few months have been filled with joyful insanity. I applied to graduate school and am crossing fingers for a few acceptance letters. I always tell myself that life works out the way it's supposed to----and I'm hoping its supposed to lead me to a Master's Degree. Work took me to the Final Frontier and I got to spend a few bone chilling days in Alaska with some of my wonderful colleagues. We spent an afternoon in Fairbanks at an International Ice Sculpture contest. I've never been so cold, but it was really cool to see all of these amazing works of frozen art. The mask was by far my favorite.

I had a bit of a housing shake up in late January and in order to avoid homelessness, needed to find a new place pretty darn quickly. I was just about to sign on with a roommate, but decided to take a look at one more place---a one bedroom just a little out of the price range, but doable. It turned out to be the home I've been looking for. These past few bay area years have been good to me in terms of roommates. I've been lucky enough to live with respectful, fun and normal people, but I was always moving into someone else's home. My stuff was never fully unpacked and as nice as it was to not have to worry about kitchen supplies or coffee tables, I never had a sense of "mine"

When I first walked into my new place, it just felt right. I told my Realtor that I wanted it---and I wanted it bad...;) I spent 4 painful days waiting to hear back from the landlord. I was in Subway ordering my sandwich when the call came. I'm pretty sure I screamed. (Lord, I can't even imagine the stress of trying to get a house...)

The place has turned out to be a godsend...Don't get me wrong...it's small. Really small, covered in hardwood floors, a tiny (almost non-existent) kitchen, a pink tiled bathroom and a cute nook with built in shelves. There's a lemon-orange tree in the back yard (I kid you not, it's a hybrid) It could quite possibly be sponsored by IKEA (I am really good at putting their stuff together). I finished decorating today. The building was made in the 1930's, so it has oldtimers charm. All of the doors have antique keyholes. I'd been on the hunt for a set of Skeleton Keys to use as a decorating piece and finally found the perfect pair at an Alameda boutique. As I hung them up, there was a moment of blissed completion. I love just sitting on my couch, reading or watching tv---and knowing I'm the only one who lives there...

And the best part, every time I walk in after a week on the road, I get an incredible sense of happiness.

It's good to be home.