Home Again

On the long flight back I tried to figure out what I liked best about our girls' trip to L.A., and I think it boils down to this. That the things we expected to be the highlights of our trip were not. The parts we didn’t give that much thought to turned out to be the gems.

Any celeb sightings? Sure. Have fun at Ellen’s show? Absolutely. Was the Jimmy Kimmel experience cool? Yep.

But the best part of our trip to L.A. was the people we met along the way and the simple pleasures from having slowed our frenetic lives down to a sleepy, lumbering pace… with lots of great food. Rolling out of bed, hitting the coffee shop next door, extending a one hour hike to two sans repercussions. Reading the New York Times front to back. Leisurely lunches and resting on the cushy pool lounges… under the heat lamps when the rain took a break. Drinks before dinner in the gorgeous lobby of our hotel, The Roosevelt. Sushi at Katsuya that was so good, the tuna melted in our mouths. Laughing, a lot.

Honestly, our most ambitious goal each day was to get to our dinner reservations on time.

And so many great people … the umbrella-wielding writer who stopped picketing long enough to escort us across the street so we wouldn’t get soaked; George Clooney’s cousin and his cute wife who sat with us at the Ellen show; the young soon-to-be-famous singer, so refreshingly wide-eyed at his own good fortune and odds defying status, yet more impressed with us that we had raised money for breast cancer research (watch for him… www.CarolinaLiar.com); our super-friendly hotel staff from bellman to concierge.

Then there were the renowned Swedish record producers who were so sweet and granted us honorary employee status so we could access the uber-exclusive club Teddy’s (much to the dismay of the grumpy bouncer). And it was surreal chatting up Damien Rice who really needs to end his hiatus and put out some more incredible music. I tried to keep my gushing to a minimum, but I absolutely love his music. "The Blower's Daughter" gives me goose bumps.

The last day was more challenging. A trip to the Hollywood police precinct to file a missing driver's license report required pre-flight (no celeb sightings there, surprisingly), a prolonged visit to the shipping store to figure out how to get our new 32" flat screen hdtvs home (our generous giveaways from the ellen show… even if they did cost 300.00 to ship home), packing up, heading out.

The final highlight of my trip was waking my three smiling sleepyheads this morning and receiving their warm, earnest embraces. They give the best, tightest hugs that let you know exactly how much you are missed.

And no, we didn’t see Marc Anthony, that was a shot I took from when we saw him being interviewed in NYC this summer. It just seemed lame for a photographer to post a blog with no photos. But at least I took it.

Back to work....