Earthquakes and Cupcakes: A Visitor to LA LA Land!

Last weekend one of my dear friends from college (Randi) was in town for business. She came in a day early to hang out and see LA. It was so nice to have a friend from back home in town to stay with us. Since she was only here for one day we had to cram all the sight-seeing into 24 hours. We took her around to the usual touristy spots; Hollywood, Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier. Venice Beach is a scene! It is full of weirdos, which makes for fantastic people watching. ( To be fair: beyond the weirdos there are also some really cool places to hang out and eat in Venice).

It is always fun to have people in town because it’s like seeing LA again through a fresh set of eyes. This particular time, for some reason, everything seemed extraordinarily dirty. The pollution is constantly noticeable to the naked eye and a lot of buildings, homes and apartment complexes in LA are just old. And, unfortunately there are hundreds of thousands of homeless people (around 254,000--I think), which is obviously heartbreaking, and contributes to the scenery. Not the most appealing aesthetics when all are combined together. (If you have been to LA, I am sure you have seen this for yourself in some shape, form or fashion).

It really made me start thinking about how so much beauty (like the mountains, oceans, roses and palm trees) can coexist with so much grit and despair? I know this is the case in every big city; but last weekend all these things seemed to be really exaggerated. Maybe part of it was missing Texas and friends and therefore only focusing on the negative things in this city; rather than focusing on the good. I am not sure. I guess every city has its ups and downs and at the end of the day it’s what you make of it. Luckily I have a great partner in life and we have really had fun out here and enjoyed all the beautiful things. But at the same time, you can't help but think about how unfair it is that there is so much wealth and so much poverty within blocks of eachother.

As negative as this post may seem, we had a great time! Dirty scenery or not! Nothing beats catching up, reminiscing and laughing with an old friend. It really makes you so thankful for all those special friendships that have survived through the years. It is crazy to sit and think back on all the things that have changed in 10 years or so and how fast time has gone by and how far you have both come. Where will we be 10 years from now when we are reminiscing on the past 20? Yikes. But, yikes in a good way. Besides, nothing could be as heinous as memories from the college days. Oh, what fun.