The Top 10... 12... 16 Things I've Done While Living in L.A.

Well it's 3 days and counting until we return to the Great White North. Thank goodness it won't actually be white because I don't think I could handle it. I need to be eased into winter gradually. Luckily that happens with a little something called autumn.

Anyway, I'm feeling a little bit weird as we pack up and I see people for the last time. Mostly I'm excited to go home though. I'll miss the weather but I feel as though I've done most of the things that I wanted to do here. Here's a list of what some of those things were (in no particular order):

1. Went to a watermelon farm
It actually had way more than just watermelons but we got to take home our own little watermelon at the end of the tour

                                           Here we are having a picnic, Alberta-style in the
                                           back of Ol' Blue (may he rest in peace)

2. Participated in a flash mob
This was such a great experience and everyone should do it at some point in their lives! It was part of a wedding proposal on the Santa Monica Pier. It was one of those things that I didn't know if I would have the guts to do it but it was super fun.

I don't know if this link will work for you but you can try to watch the video:
http://youtu.be/6JVIXk1X3XM


3. Auditioned for and sang with 2 new choirs
I've sung with the same choir for 16 years and I didn't ever really audition for it so it was another thing I didn't think I would have the guts to do. The two choirs I sang with were wildly different but both great experiences. This leads me to the next item on the list...


4. Sang the Mahler 8 with the L.A. Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel
So I didn't know who Dudamel was before either but he's pretty much the most famous conductor in the world. He's a musical genius and all around phenomenal person. I had to do a separate audition in order to participate but it was totally worth it. I got to sing with 600 other singers and 400 musicians. The music was reverberating through my whole body.


5. Did a beach bootcamp class
The class itself was nothing special but it was so cool exercising on the sand. When I didn't have one or both of my kids with me (which was most of the time. Thanks, David!) I would also go down by the water and stretch and meditate for a few minutes. Sweet!


6. Watched the Disneyland fireworks with Asha and my nephew Tyler
These were the best fireworks I've ever seen and the kids' reactions to them were so wonderful. Asha said, and I quote, "it's like there's no tomorrow!!".


7. Moved into a much smaller house 
I realized that a smaller house is cozier, easier to keep clean, and a much more efficient use of space and money. I also put my girls in a bedroom together which I never would have done if I hadn't been forced to. Even if we live in a 3 bedroom house in the future I will still have them in a room together.


8. Saw the sequoias
Have I mentioned the sequoias yet? Ha ha! Should I post some more pictures to illustrate just how big and beautiful they are?


9. Went to the Coachella Music Festival
It was the music festival to beat all music festivals. The lineup was AMAZING and the quality of the concerts was better than any I've ever been to. It was ridiculously hot out in the desert but completely worth it. I mean, I got to see the hologram of Tupac Shakur. Are you kidding me?!!

                                           I like to call this picture "label the body part".
                                           The people in front of us decided to hoist eachother
                                           up right before I took this picture. I have no idea
                                           what body parts these are. But anyway, see Tupac
                                           in between the mystery body parts?

10. Tried having only one vehicle for our family
Note the word "tried". It was not very successful. I would like to blame this on the embarrassingly horrible public transit system in Los Angeles. That was a factor but I didn't really try that hard. I just couldn't get myself to haul two kids to the bus stop then wait for the bus and then sit on the bus listening to teenagers swear in front of my kids. Maybe I'll try again when I live somewhere where there is a subway system that is actually adequate. Or maybe I won't...

11. Subscribed to a CSA box
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. When you subscribe to a CSA you get a bundle of produce from local farms every week (or every second week in our case). It's a great way to get super fresh produce, support local farms, and try new things. I hadn't heard of many of the fruits and veggies that we got (pomelos? joi choi?) and there were lots that I knew of but hadn't really tried (mustard greens, blood oranges, artichokes).

                                           Each time we picked up our bundle we would
                                           ceremoniously take it out, lay it on the table and
                                           take a picture if it was particularly colourful

The have CSA's in Canada too but I'm pretty sure it's not the same as in California!


12. Oilers game in a different city
I already wrote a whole post about this but it had to go on my list

13. Kids' yoga class
Asha joined a kids' yoga class which was fantastic. Her teacher is phenomenal and the class was really fun. At the end of each class they have a minute of quiet meditation. At first Asha would spend the whole time telling on kids whose eyes were open (obviously missing the irony that in order to see them she must have her eyes open). Well now she can actually sit quietly for 1 whole minute! This is amazing since she literally is only silent when she is sleeping, and even then she often talks in her sleep.

14. Saw wild dolphins in the ocean
This wasn't one of those resort, quasi-natural swim with the dolphins situations. We were just down at the beach and we saw dolphins playing out in the waves. It was so cool! We've seen seals a few times too. When I was waiting to do the aforementioned flash mob on the Santa Monica Pier it was SO cold. It was super windy and rainy and the only time in California that I've been genuinely freezing cold. Then I looked over the edge of the pier at the huge waves and saw 3 seals having a blast playing in the waves. It made me stop feeling sorry for myself!

15. Hosted visitors
We had so many visitors it was difficult to schedule them in sometimes! We also had a few repeaters. My mom wins the prize for a total of 3 visits! One of my favourite things to do was greet arriving visitors. The people arriving from Canada always come down a specific escalator in LAX so I would stand at the bottom of it to wait for them. It was so fun because most people on a flight between Edmonton and L.A. don't have people meeting them!

16. Got the opportunity to really choose where we wanted to live
Most of the time the place where we live is determined by external factors (where we're born, where we go to school or get a job). That has been the case for me for my whole life so far. We had some choice in where we went for David to go to school but there were only so many Real Estate Development programs and the one in USC is one of the best. Well now that David's program is done we could pretty much go anywhere we wanted. We could stay in L.A., move to another U.S. city, or move anywhere else in the world for that matter! Well we're as shocked as anyone to discover that where we want to be is Edmonton. That is ultimately the place we call home.