to cali and back

I love where I'm from. It's electric. It has a pulse. A bass beat blaring from a lowered Honda. People shine. They strut. They get into it.

We hopped on down for a forty eight hour adventure. It was supposed to be just me and Sol but at the last minute my mama surprised us and bought Elie a ticket. I had a special date with my sisters to celebrate Wendy's 50th. Glee Live, baby. A singing, dancing, Staples center spectacular. L.A. in all her glittering trimmings. And damn can those kids sing. And jam. Brittany S. Pierce is a force. I sure do love talent.

That followed by expensive, yet ever so deserving drinks and snacks. Freakishly good mescal and honey and chili number in a tiny, retro glass. Spicy fried polenta cakes. Enough already!

And my kids rocked it hard on the planes. It's a surprisingly easy trip. All they want to do is socialize. They're super good at that. Sol and I did some serious aisle strolling. He really likes it when the plane's at a bit of an incline and he can run downhill while putting out his hand for people to high five. He gets quite an array of responses. Some people think he's a hoot. Others are not too down with his personal space invasion. I keep on an apologetic, hey-what-can-I-do smile on throughout.

What else? Enjoyed train travel down to Little Tokyo. L.A.'s so much swankier than it used to be and it's fun to revisit old neighborhoods and take in all the swankification. I love it. L.A. was a bit of a pit when I was growing up. There were plenty of places I wouldn't have wanted to park my car during my high school escapades that are all shiny and new now. I think I parked my car in those places anyway because I was always attracted to mildly adventurous dangers. But now I can bring my children into those 'hoods and not even feel guilty!

In a few weeks we leave for a grand family tour. First a week in Jersey for a wedding and a Kessler hunkerdown. Then I head sola again to LaLa land to see all of my peeps and share my children with their many admirers. Until then, it's time to enjoy the electric green that is this June, the bursting buds, the last days of one, wild year.