so cal in all its glory

i am realizing that i'm no good at writing about things too long after the fact. i don't think i have it in me, at least not tonight, to go in to too much detail about my trip. the long and the short of it is- we had an excellent adventure. the weather was glorious, perfect for long city walks and beach time. i explored the new metro system and went down to chinatown and alvero street - what a fantastic new system. eliana and i loved mass transit! what else - on new year's eve, jeff and i hiked in the mountains close to where we met, while gran watched eliana, and relived our silly, l.a. youth. sissy even took me to see 'wicked', a delectable treat i would have never been able to afford on my own. what was truly a treat was having my mama watch elie while i went to do fun things! i haven't yet banked much babysitting time when i wasn't working. it's much better to do things you really, really enjoy while someone else is watching your baby as opposed to going to a job! especially if that person is your mom and you know she is enjoying every second, quality moment with your beloved little tike. it was really a perfect situation. so anyhoo...i drank lots of good coffee drinks, ate lots of sushi, and had some kickin' burritos. but most importantly, we spent time with our family. we laughed and hung and played games. we reminisced and strolled and loved. it was just perfect. the next few posts have some pictoral highlights...