Sightseeing in the neighborhood with a former neighbor!

This weekend has been a string of lazy days but has given me time to clean the kitchen, do the dishes, do my laundry, read some more of Love Does by Bob Goff (for those of you who've read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years he's the guy they meet on the kayak trip) and a book for coverage about what happens to the Montagues and the Capulets after Romeo and Juliet die.

Friday I was able to go to a girls afternoon at Heather's where we lounged by the pool drinking strawberry margaritas, mojitos, and mudslides. Then I went to my first community group meeting in Silver Lake, a neighborhood very close to me but an area I haven't spent much time in...yet. Even just driving through there at night I can tell that I want to go back and explore, try out some coffee shops and look through the shops along W Sunset. My community group members are all fun people that I'm looking forward to getting to know better and apparently there is a snack sign up sheet, reminds me of Core Groups and Bible Studies at UVA. Since this was a meet-and-greet dinner thing I got to try lots of yummy homemade middle-eastern food (meat balls, hummus, pita, salad, rice and lentils) and then we had a very American desert, ice cream cookie sandwiches assembled ourselves with our choice of ice cream, mmmmmmmmm.

Saturday was a lot of reading, almost sleeping, laundry, and making egg and sausage casserole (thai sausage, spinach, mushrooms, onions, and eggs of course). But then, finally, at the end of the day my friend of almost 12 years, Ava, made it to Hollywood from Pomona where she was interviewing for med school (you go girl!). In two hours we covered Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards seeing the Hollywood sign, Hollywood and Highland shopping center, the Walk of Fame, Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Disney soda fountain, and even a trip to In-N-Out burger! Whew. It was a delightful time catching up and getting tuckered out from walking and taking pictures in the way that only toursim can manage.

I still can't believe that I have known Ava for half of my life. We have a lot of history together, elementary school drama, meeting up at Disney World a few times, working out a rotating lunch-bringing schedule with Eve to have good lunches every day rather than crap cafeteria food without the hassel of packing something every day. I'm so grateful that I was able to see her, even if it was only for two hours, while she was in the area. I'm looking forward to a trip to Disneyland the next time you're out here!