August was a whirlwind. I moved out of my parent's house and into my very own space. My roommate and I have been slowly creating a home out of our little place. The weekend after I moved in, I packed up my little weekend bag and made my way to LA.
It had been a really rough Friday. I had received some bad news early on in the day and was still taking it all on as I headed to the airport. Real talk friends, I was totally the girl full crying at the airport. Thankfully, my plane was headed in the direction of all my favorite humans. So it was into the arms of loved ones I went. While it wasn't the most exciting or adventurous weekend, it was so cathartic and definitely, the space I needed to be in.
My dear friend Neil picked me up from LAX, and we headed to Silver Lake -- home of the bougie coffee shops, unreal vegan restaurants, and many a wide brim hat. Once in Silver Lake, I was getting rather hangry, and demanded to be fed. Now, I have zero shame in telling you all this. But of the three days I spent in LA, I ate at Flore every single one. Please open a location in Sacramento so I can give you all my money. Their breakfast burrito is every vegan's dream: tempeh bacon, cashew cheese, potatoes, tofu scramble. (Insert praise hands emoji here)
After I fully stuffed my face with the most delicious seitan tacos, we returned to Neil's to catch up and watch my all time favorite movie: The Princess Bride. I cannot count how many times I've watched that movie. I've also read the original novel it was based on, and if you've never considered opening it, you're sorely missing out. William Goldman is an absolutely brilliant author. It's so incredibly clever and well written.
Now I didn't just head to LA all willy-nilly. The big, most wonderful reason for my visit was to see the ultimate sob queen, Adele. My college roommates and I had been planning this trip since last November. It was a great opportunity to see an incredible artist, but it was really just an excuse to catch up with my Summer '13 girls.
As has been well established by now, I have a thing for walls. Bright walls, patterned walls, monochromatic walls -- basically if it looks hip as hell I'm into it. Silver Lake is covered in walls that just demand to be photographed. My absolute favorite was this piece, painted by Dallas Clayton a children's book author and illustrator.
Saturday morning in Silver Lake was spent eating Flore, wandering the streets in search of wonderful walls, and a quick stop in the market down the street from Neil's place. After purchasing some dainty pieces of jewelry, Megan and I headed into downtown LA to meet up with Tanya.
Downtown LA is probably pretty cool? I'm really not sure. We spent all of 30 minutes wandering around, but it was mostly spent in front of three really eclectic walls.
We hopped into a cab to meet up with the rest of our crew over in the Art District for a few beers at Angel City Brew.
A few beers, some wine, and a delicious Mexican meal later, we headed into Staples Center to begin an evening of laughter, music, and few tears. Okay, maybe more than a few tears. It was Adele after all. I have a few frames taken of the show, but we were so far from the stage, you wouldn't really care to see it anyway. Just know that she is an absolute angel, both vocally and as a human. For someone who creates such a heartbreaking music, she's the total opposite in between songs. There are very few other artists that create incredible art and are absolutely hilarious on stage.
The following morning, it took us a while to get moving but we eventually found ourselves back at Flore to feast on all the vegan eats. Food coma or bust, we needed to head for coffee immediately. Luckily Silver Lake is inundated with amazing coffee shops. The previous day we'd wandered into Intelligentsia, so for our Sunday pick me up with strolled into the opposite direction towards Alfred Coffee & Tea. At the time of my trip they were doing a promotion with the dating app Bumble. Every coffee sleeve had a cute pun on it. Check these out.
With the remainder of our Sunday, we headed over to Neil's Mom's house for an early dinner. His mom is the actual coolest. She's an author and has just a released her newest book, "Harley and Me". I have it sitting on my nightstand waiting to be read. I promise to get to it one of these rainy days.
Less then 48 hours from when I arrived, I was in a car traveling back to the airport. It was exactly the kind of weekend I needed -- surrounded by my favorite humans, important conversations, and magical music.