CALifornia Dreamin'

The week up to my LA weekend was one of the biggest patience testers I have experienced in quite some time.   You know that feeling when you circle an important date on the calendar and how unbearably slow the preceding days move…well, that happened here in full fury.  I could throw in another couple dozen analogies but you get the point.  Hey Kraig, why was LA so important?  I can tell you several reasons, First time experiencing LA other than LAX, Hanging out with a couple of new friends (CJ and Tara), but most importantly, I was going to see the lovely K-Gal after a month’s separation.

Friday morning greeted me with sunshine and after finishing a quick morning of work (I am being nice here, seconds felt like hours), I took a nap and woke up in the LAX airport.  Knowing that my ride was 3 hours in route, I saddled up at a corner spot in the bar intending to do work, grabbed a tall one, and started typing…Well, that lasted about two seconds before the chatter in my started talking to anyone and everyone.  “Oh, you are from New York, what the heck are you doing here?”  “What do you do? I work in healthcare?” “Oh, me too, what a coincidence (chuckle, chuckle)”  “Want a beer” “I have never been to Idaho, what is there to do there?”  It’s fun talking to people, getting suggestions on places to see if/when I/we visit their places of interest, and it certainly helps pass the time.  You never know whom you are going to meet.

By 6:30pm, the host arrived and we were off touring LA on the way back to their place.  After dinner, drinks, a couple of TV shows (ever see Dexter? Funny show), I was sound asleep anxiously waiting for the alarm…Kristina’s phone call. 

That phone call came fairly early for a couple of different reasons: 1) CJ and I had more to drink than I originally had thought and 2) it was at 6am. 

I didn’t care.  She was here!

CJ and Tara have a fantastic place in an ideal location.  I ran downstairs to meet Kristina who had parked in the garage below and in doing so, transported myself into a movie scene.  Yeah, cliché right? Big Deal, unless you have had something like this happen to you, then don’t judge and keep watching the Sappy romance movies.  Here, I lived it. 

She called, then walked past where I was, I missed her call, couldn’t find her…and then…I locked in and saw her.  She was roughly 100 yards away.  It was that distance where you want to run, but figured you would get tired in trying to run that far (guys, it’s been awhile since I have exercised).  So, instead of running, I sauntered, but it wasn’t a saunter.  I was still too excited to see her that I kind of skipped.  Really, Kraig, you are going to skip to see your girlfriend who you haven’t see in 30 days, 2 hours, and 16 minutes? Hmm…figure it out.  Okay, I quickened my pace and we were eye to eye.  What’s next? Oh, that was easy.  Have you seen the movies? Enough said J. 

California was great! To keep this blog short, I am going to sum up the remainder of the weekend with the collage below.  Enjoy!