Weekend Review

January 23rd-25th

I officially survived my first week in LA. I have learned quite a few things about myself and relationships during my short amount of time away from everyone. We still don't have furniture (the truck finally arrives tomorrow). I love material things (don't act surprised! have you seen my purse collection?), but I have learned that one can live a very satisfied life without a lot of things. I have survived just fine without TV in the apartment. In fact, I have been reading a lot. I am getting ready to start that new Jen Lancaster book I bought last week. It was a joy not having any pots or pans over the weekend. What a bummer to have to go out to eat. I have been rotating the same pieces of comfy/workout clothes. Life is so much less stressful when one does not try on 50 different outfits before heading out the door. Put it this way...the less dressed up I am the less likely I will be approached by a bum. Needless to say, I have become surprisingly aware that life is not at all about things.

I am, however, realizing that I can't live without meaningful relationships. Joe and I spent the weekend together and had a great time. He left for Florida today and I fear it is going to be a long week and a half. I won't see Joe again until I go to Florida on Feb. 5th for a friend's wedding. It is weird to think about making friends out here in LA. How do you make friends as an adult? I am sure when I start working I will meet some fantastic people. Joe and I have a running joke that we are taking applications for friends. Change can be so refreshing and exciting, but one must remember that they can not pick up where they left off. I just need to be patient (which you know is not one of my strengths). Enough with my philosophical insights...here are the updates.

Friday night Joe and I ate at a great little Italian place in downtown. With each day, I am liking this city more and more (even easier to like when I know it is snowing and cold back in STL). The menu listed things that were purely vegetarian. Love it! We were easily entertained with the group that got seated behind us. They were body builders with some serious accents (perhaps from down under mate). They funny part is that the group hit up the local grocery store before coming to dinner and they bought ice cream. Who buys something that will melt in a matter of minutes before going into a restaurant? During the meal, one of the body builders asked if he could pull out his own bread from the grocery store to eat. Really random.

On Saturday, Joe kicked my butt in the fitness center. Keep in mind, I let Joe show me some machines (he went to a personal trainer a few times back in STL) after I ran 4 miles on the treadmill. I wasn't exactly fresh and rested when I started doing weights with Joe. Now I know why I like to avoid the trainers at the gym like the plague. My arms might still be sore. Sit-ups with a medicine ball...really not necessary. After we worked it out we ventured to Glendale to visit Target. I knew there was a mall in Glendale, so I figured that the Target had to be nicer than the one I visited on my first night in LA. Yay for me being right. The Target in Glendale is huge. It is 3 stories and has a separate escalator for carts only. Kind of fun to watch your cart ride next to you. After our day of shopping fun (brooms and ironing boards..not exactly my kind of Target trip. I didn't even get to browse the shoes and purses.) we came back home to get ready to go out. Finally...a night out in this city. Joe and I went to a great dinner and a club to celebrate my b-day. Of course I wore heels out. There is no way Carrie Bradshaw pranced around New York every day and night in her 4-inch Manolos! Seriously, my feet hurt before we even left our building. The good news is that I didn't seem to notice on the way home. Must have been the mystery cocktail the bartender made for me. Joe and I had fun, but man I am old. Just after midnight I was ready to go home. I think it was a combo of missing my friends at my b-day celebration and feeling out of place. Not many people have blond hair in LA. I think it was a good thing we went home when we did. Someone woke up the next day with a hangover and it wasn't me!

Sunday was my birthday! Joe and I started the day with breakfast at IHOP. Worst idea ever! It's a good place if you like your water to taste like it came from the toilet and if you like pancakes that taste like dough. (I pretend I don't eat pancakes, but I always take a few bites of Joe's. I have no portion control, so I am not responsible enough to have my own order of pancakes. I would consume an entire bottle of syrup with one order). We decided that was our first and last trip to the downtown IHOP. (Man do I miss Firstwatch. If you have not been there for breakfast...go soon!) I wanted to go to the beach, and because it was my birthday poor Joe was a trooper and took me to Santa Monica. (There is nothing worse than having a sour stomach from drinking.) We saw a group of people hula hooping in Santa Monica. They were not using your average K-Mart Blue Light Special hula hoops. They had really thick hoops with sparkly patterns. You couldn't help but stare. Some of these people worked their hoop like it was their job. Joe and I stopped at the Zoltar machine (the fortune teller from the movie BIG) and got our fortunes. Zoltar told me to get myself a treat. (Of course, I had the biggest cup of Cold Stone cake batter and cookie dough ever! There was enough ice cream for 3 people and I ate the entire cup...reread part about portion control above.) When we got back in LA, Joe and I spotted some filming on 8th Street. The street was blocked off. We tried to scope out the set, but we arrived just as the crew was shutting down. We didn't see anything cool except for tons of equipment. My birthday night ended with dinner at our favorite little pizza place down the street.