It’s strange: when I lived in L.A. “laid-back” is not a word I would have used to describe myself. I mean, I definitely did my fair share of pool-lounging during the years that I lived on the sunny side of the world, but the pervasive sense of not being where I wanted to be, not doing what I wanted to be doing colored every single day so thoroughly that it was often difficult to see the beautiful things that were all around me. I tried to see them…I just wasn’t always so successful.
Experiencing L.A. nearly a decade (!) later – and from a whole different perspective – is another thing entirely.
You know how they say that women who have gone through childbirth experience a kind of selective amnesia about the truly atrocious parts of the process that enables them to even begin to conceive of doing the whole thing over again? Well, I don’t know if that’s necessarily true for everyone – I’ve got some crystal-clear recall going on, thanks – but that’s sort of how it felt hanging out in L.A. again after all these years.
Sure, there are still (lots of) things I don’t like about the place – the all-consuming focus on THE INDUSTRY (eeggggh, the conversations you overhear), the fact that it is very common to be trying to have a conversation with a person while they look over your shoulder in search of someone (Ron Howard, maybe) who could be of more service in furthering their career, the fact that the consumption of kale appears to be a city-wide daily requirement…
But oh god, that weather. It makes you feel like the days are endless; simultaneously so peaceful and so full.
Francesca and I spent the final day of my trip walking around West Hollywood before heading over to a pool that she belongs to to get some work done…and let me tell you: typing away on a laptop under an umbrella with your toes in the water, tanning your legs while you get stuff done? That is a nice, nice thing. I had forgotten.
Once night fell, we headed into the Valley for more honey rolls before making our way back home for lemon tea, bad reality TV, and a bed where I spent all night in the company of long, sun-filled dreams.
“Laid-back” I am not…but out West? Maybe I’m just a little bit closer.
I was kidding when I said “oh, it’d be fun to move back here,” of course. But once Kendrick’s done with school, were he to – just by chance – be offered some amazing job in California? I mean, I can work from anywhere. Our son is still so small.
Of course I love where we are, and of course a(nother) move would be madness.
It’s just fun to dream about, that’s all.
On me: H&M tank; House of Harlow 1960 Chelsea sunglasses; jeans via T.J.Maxx; 7FAM platforms; watch c/o Folli Follie; Francesca’s bracelet and purse; I.N.C. hoops; Chasing Rainbows necklace (similar).
