1st Day in the City

January 18th

I left the STL today and arrived in my new home...LA. The flight was uneventful, but I don't recommend flying into Denver if you have a weak stomach. The mountains cause some wicked turbulence. I was very relieved when both of my suitcases showed up at baggage claim. I had 97.5 pounds of stuff in those suitcases. I just barely cleared the 50 lb. weight limit on the bags. After claiming my bricks I went outside to wait for my ride. Heatwave! It was in the 80's today in LA. I got picked up and went to claim my car, which was shipped out to LA earlier in the week. I popped in the new CDs I made for my first few days in LA (all my other CDs were on some semi-truck in the middle of the country). I opened the sunroof and headed out for some lunch. Whole Foods! I thought I remembered where the Whole Foods was, but after a wrong turn I realized I had no clue. Lesson 1: Use the navigation system. I have it for a reason. After lunch I headed into downtown LA to the apartment. Lesson 2: I need to grow some balls to drive out here. People on the freeways are CRAZY and switch lanes like mad men. I arrived at my new place in downtown LA with fists clenched to the steering wheel. After unloading the bricks from the car, I decided to check out the fitness center. Major perk! All I have to do is go to the 2nd floor and I have 24-hour access to 2 elliptical machines, a bike, 2 treadmills (the same kind my old gym had...YAY!) and lots of weights. I put on my gym clothes and realized that I left my running shoes back in STL. No way! I thought it would be a good idea to wear my Pumas to the gym. Lesson 3: Always wear proper footwear when working out. After a quick workout I planned to go run errands. I needed to go to a Target and a grocery store. I pulled out the so-called trusty navigation and typed in Target. I was pleased to learn that a Target was only 6 miles away. Closer is clearly not better. The navigation system took me to a bad part of town! I have never been so scared in my life. There were security guards in the Target parking lot. Stressed and in some dire need of retail therapy, I decided to take my chances. I parked and booked it inside. Lesson 4: If you are on a budget, go to a Target in a bad neighborhood. You are guaranteed to buy what is on your list and nothing else. I quickly buzzed through the aisles, careful not to make eye contact and got out of dodge. There was no browsing of the clothes section, purse section or shoe section. Shower curtain (Yeah, I showered after the gym without one. Good thing I packed an extra towel to soak up the water on the floor), Clorox wipes (God only knows who lived in the apartment before us), soap, bottle opener (I fully intended on getting a bottle of wine at the grocery store) and Wheat Thins (my one splurge off the list) and I was OUT! On route back to our apartment I missed the highway entrance. Luckily another one came up 2 miles later. Can you believe there is even traffic at 7:00pm on a Sunday night? By this point I was starving and needed a grocery store stat! Not only did I need some food, but I wanted to put my new $4 wine opener to good use. When I got closer to downtown I entered grocery store into the navigation system and...Score! There was one somewhere close. I circled the place where the store was supposed to be twice and no luck. Damn! I tried for another store. I headed towards the other store and when I finally arrived I quickly realized that the navigation system needed to be updated. Lesson 5: Don't rely on navigation to get anywhere in this city. (Rethink Lesson 1). The grocery store no longer existed in that location. Awesome, I was back in another bad part of town. Starving and in need of a giant cocktail, I headed back home. After unloading my Target bags I asked the front desk where I could get some food. One of the security guards walked me two blocks to a fabulous little pizza place. Lesson 6: Talk to the locals before trying to venture anywhere on my own. Duh! Why didn't I ask for help before tyring to be Miss Independent? I ordered a glass of Cab and slammed it so quickly the wait staff became concerned. Finally content I headed back to the apartment. The place was empty except the closet was already full. The giant empty living room would make a great dance floor and suddenly I realized that I missed all of my fabulous friends. It still had not really sunk in that I am staying here for good.

You can take the girl out of the suburbs, but you can't take the suburbs out of the girl. City life will take a while to adjust to. The streets are one-way, I have heard 3 sirens within the last 30 minutes and I think we have a strip club a block away. Only in a city!