Los Angeles Part 1...The Voice is Gone!!!

As many of my friends know I get really stressed about flying. I mean like about to cry and have a mental break down. I thought this was something that had always been there but upon closer review it was not. It was something that someone had planted in my brain that I no longer needed or wanted. And as my plane taxied for take off from Pittsburgh the voice was silenced- his voice was finally gone. Was this due to the excitement of the trip or the fear that we were about to take off in a blizzard? Or was it just time for it to be gone? I voted for the latter and decided as the plane lifted off the ground that this trip was all about untying the past and moving forward.

I have to say for a completely full flight it was one of the best I have ever taken and when I heard those glorious words "Welcome to Los Angeles folks" I had a moment to catch my breath and choke back some strange tears. Never had I experienced such a rush of emotions when landing at LAX. Everyone was rushing to turn on their cell phones and as I reached for mine an old instinct kicked in and I thought I should call him and let him know I am home. Woah- what!?!?! Fortunately, I had a message from Julie that snapped me back into my reality.

And my reality ROCKS!!!

No, it is not perfect but it is my own creation. I am picky about who gets in and even pickier about who I keep out. It works for me and I can change it when I see fit. And after moving from LA and changing my life to better fit me, it was time to come back for a visit.

I landed in beautiful Los Angeles on Wednesday, February 28th and it was amazing to be back!

In such a beautiful place I had let someone else dictate so much about what I thought and it was time for the untying of past demons to begin. I got off the plane and headed to baggage claim. Wow, it was warm in the terminal. I got to baggage claim and chatted with a few folks I talked with on the plane and then started looking for my bag. I called Heidi and let her know I arrived. Finally, my bag comes and outside into the LA air I head to wait for my friend. Amazing how I left a blizzard a few hours earlier and now I am in Los Angeles.

Heidi and I are on the phone discussing which cop car I am near and then she says "I see you" and we hang up. She pulls in and jumps out, complaining about my USC sweatshirt (things are back to normal!) and gives me the biggest hug! We throw my stuff in the car as the cops are there to keep people moving...ugh! We discuss how great it is to be together again!

First official stop back in LA was In-N-Out. Yum!!!

Good burger, good fries and no nasty voice floating around my head. It is great to be back!!
We get home and get settled in for the night. I called Julie to confirm Thursday's plans before I cleaned up and headed off to bed.

I get woken up in the morning by the youngest member of the house, Marco. He is not sure who I am or where I came from as he was fast asleep when I arrived. But we quickly learned that we share a love of peanut butter and don't really want to be happy about sharing it! He also discovered that my shoes were pretty cool.

Julie calls to tell me she is running late. This makes me laugh because this is Julie and this is LA. So undoubtedly traffic is bad and Julie is not a morning person so I expect that she will be running late. I am okay with both. The calm that fills me is incredible! She arrives in her new convertible and we head over to Beverly Hills for lunch and the Paint Shop.

Lunch was at this little cafe on Robertson that had my french boyfriend. The food was just as great as I remember but the boyfriend has found love and in typical LA manner it is with a very hot boy! Hee hee!

C'est la Vie! I am going to the Paint Shop and I just laugh! We walk in and get the menus while they prepare our chairs. As I am walking back to my seat I see on the wall above the back door a painting that says "Be present." Just what I had planned! Ah, time to relax! I did just that...


Then we headed outside into the beautiful sunny afternoon...

I actually knew that it was not great top down weather but Julie indulged me for the drive home with the heater on so we did not freeze! :-) I thought I was going to be the tourist who wore flip flops and shorts the whole time but I still have some California blood left in me!


I got back to Heidi's and we were going to head out to the grocery store to pick up some supplies. But first we had to get the paper...


Friday was a day of decompressing for me. I stuck around the house, played with Marco, talked with Heidi and just relaxed from my crazy life. Friday night we were going to go out but realized that we were all dead tired and it was time to bust out the take out menus. I would like to say I partied hard but I needed an early night and some sleep. So after some yummy Persian food and catching up on LOST in person, I believe I fell asleep on the couch. Which was a good thing as I had a full weekend planned!

For my first couple days I have been more relaxed and calm than I can remember and it is nice to make LA mine again!!

As the sign in the bathroom at the Paint Shop said "I am so happy and grateful. Now what?"

To be continued...Part 2 to include lunch in Simi Valley, the 405 and a night/morning with Tony, Gene & Lisa.