I love L.A.

Santa Monica Beach; Paul on the pier; me on the beach; Dodger
in the snow in Nashville about a week previous!

Oops! I didn't take that many photos while I was in L.A. over the weekend. But I did have a good time. It was a lovely break from winter, and I met Paul's family, who are great people and were very welcoming to me. Seeing Paul with his family confirmed what I already knew; I have a very nice boyfriend.

Paul's mom loved the M-D hand towel I gave her for her birthday, and the neutral colors match her decor, which was pure luck. I made an entire Ballband dishcloth during the flights.

I got to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time! Unfortunately, it was rather windy and chilly. Most of the time the weather was perfect: warm and not a bit humid. I thought the funniest thing was the outside dining area, in perfect 70s-degree weather, that had those big stand-up heaters--turned on. What in the world?!

The palm trees were truly exotic to me. Vegetation was everywhere. Paul showed me all the streets in Tom Petty's "Free Falling," most of which are in the vicinity of where he grew up.

Various locals asked me how I liked L.A., and I always responded enthusiastically "I like it!" What I was thinking was, I've been here a day. How can I have formed an opinion? But people expect you to have formed an opinion, positive or negative, before you've arrived.

It was interesting to see how close all the parts of L.A. are, not that I saw a fraction of the gigantic city (the lights passed by the darked plane window for fifteen minutes before landing. Not kidding). From movies and TV, we've all heard of Bel Air, Santa Monica, and so on. It was incredible to be invited there by Paul's family. I can't hardly believe it happened.