Vacation, Days 1 & 2

Travel was fairly uneventful on Monday...other than the hour + delay and turbulence, and forgetting to pick up my luggage at the airport... :) (blondes!) I arrived at my friend Migum's apartment around 9pm (midnight) and we stayed up to chat and catch up. We figured out that it has been since '98 that we last saw each other face-to-face. Sad. Blas, her two-year-old is quite cute and helping me to not miss the VanHaitsma clan quite as desperately. He loves Cars, Elmo, Toy Story, blueberries, tickles, and his mommy.

The apartment is nice too. It comes with a swimming pool, hot tub (already visited that, you betcha!), meditative fountains, and a work-out facility. I think I landed in heaven. It is also only a brief walk over to Fuller Seminary and...even better...only a block from Target and a mile from Trader Joe's!

So, on Tuesday I woke up and...went shopping, of course. What else does one do in L.A.? Then, after pillaging Trader Joe's and after recovering from migraine #1, I got in my very first heart monitor training run. Step #2 towards 1/2 marathon training (Step #1 was running the Mother's Day 5K) So, I had a good 5+ mile run in a neighborhood where I heard not a single word in English, and then headed home to cook up some salmon steaks, tomato salad, and wine for dinner. Mmmm.

What has struck me most since arriving has not been the people (which is usually #1), but how every tree here seems to flower! Here are a few examples. If you know what they are...please chime in! (okay the baby palm trees don't flower...they are just cute.)