Goodbye Darla!

We had to return Darla to her owners just before we left for our vacation. Above are two of our funniest pictures with Darla. The first is of Brian petting her. She always had to put her paws on his chin as she was being pet. The other is proof of Darla's biggest stunt. She figured out how to jump onto the top of the shower door. She thought it was especially fun to do when we were taking a shower. Silly, Darla!

Darla is doing well back at her home. She was quite freaked out by the earthquake, but she's okay.

Week #5: What We'll NOT Miss About Living in L.A.

EARTHQUAKES!!!

Yep, it just hit the news. There was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in the Los Angeles area this morning. The epicenter is quite a ways from where Brian and I live and work. Here at the offices we felt a gentle rumble that picked up a little more before it relaxed. It lasted about 20 or 30 seconds. It was funny to experience the different responses in the office. One of the staffers ran outside as quick as possible. Another staffer yelled, "I'm gettin' under my desk!" I hesitated crawling under my desk for a moment because I actually wore a skirt today. (It's laundry time again.) By the time I'd decided it might be a good idea the whole thing was over. I have talked to Brian, and he's okay. He's working his coffee job this morning about 10 miles from my job. Earthquakes can't stop Angelenos from buying their coffee!

Check out the link below to see all the recent earthquakes in Southern California. The one this morning was the 5.8 at 11:42 a.m.

http://www.data.scec.org/recenteqs/Maps/Los_Angeles.html

Week #4: What We'll Miss About L.A.

LEAVING L.A.! After living in Los Angeles for over four years, one of the greatest pleasures we've found is just the chance to leave the L.A. lifestyle behind. Brian and I were able to do this this past week. We headed East to visit family in Iowa and Missouri. We hope to post some photos soon.

Life in Los Angeles is fast-paced, congested and polluted. I never realized how much my soul needs to see wide open spaces that are lush and green until I moved here. I'm not joking when I say that from our apartment you would have to drive for about 60 miles just to get out of the city. Los Angeles redefines "urban sprawl."

So, now we greatly enjoy any chances we have to get out of town. We've grown to appreciate the open road, vegetation that was planted by someone higher than the local landscaper, and just nice, kind-hearted people. Of course, seeing family is amazing! We are both blessed to have wonderfully supportive and fun families. We miss them often! We look forward to a day when the Father allows us to live closer to them.

All this can be summed up with a statement that Brian made about 10 miles away from the Kansas City International Airport. We were surrounded by farmland and a clear highway. "This is like therapy!"

Week #3: What We'll NOT Miss About L.A.

THE L.A. FREEWAY CAR CHASE!

For some weird reason it's a hot news story when some fool decides to flee the police through the streets and freeways of Los Angeles. The news helicopters follow pursuit trying to get the best shot of the suspect as he dangerously weaves in and out of traffic. Often these chases end in a car accident. Unfortunately, innocent people are injured too. I was watching one on the news a few years ago. When the police got the person to stop, the suspect got out of the car then reached for something in his pocket. The police have to assume that the suspect is reaching for a weapon. So, right then and there on the local news channel I saw a suspect get shot. It was quite shocking.

This morning there was another police chase. The person was running from the police on the L.A. freeways during rush hour. I don't think the suspect thought this one through very well. He soon got bogged down in traffic. After driving down the shoulder for a while he decided to get off the freeway in downtown L.A. Him and his two friends ditched the car. The news helicopter followed the driver, and I watched as he scampered through a rough area of downtown L.A. He was quite athletic. He jumped over fences and climbed walls. He ran really fast when a loose pit bull thought it'd be fun to chase him. I was sure he was in for it then, but the dog quickly lost interest. In the end, he was caught by the LAPD. God bless those men and women who work to keep L.A. safe. I don't envy their job when they are chasing these guys! And I don't think we'll miss this news stories when we leave L.A.

Darla the Destroyer!

Darla's sand art.

Darla's favorite place to sleep.

We took this one as she was "attacking" us and caught her off guard.

Ah, Darla the cat-child. We only have Darla for one more week. It's been fun to cat-sit for these past few months. She has been a great play-mate for us. We have games that she likes to play. One is where she stalks us from the floor while we are on the bed. If we move out of view she pounces at us. She's too timid to really do much and usually only gives us a pat on the arm with her paw. She also likes to chase me through the house attacking my ankles when I'm wearing a dress. (FYI: This is Annie writing. I don't want to start any rumors about Brian!)

While she has been with us, Darla has earned the name "Darla the Destroyer." This is because of her many antics. She loves to get into the window sill and look out into the world. As she has done this she has bent three sets of blinds. Also, for some unknown reason, she enjoys chewing on the blinds. Strange. When she is angry (usually because we've put her in the bathroom too long) she kicks her cat litter all over the bathroom floor, which looks like she is trying her skills at Japanese sand art. She enjoys jumping onto the back of the kitchen chairs and attacking her own tail through the cut outs in the wood.

Darla demonstrated her newest trick last night. We came home from a lovely night of Chinses massages and Vietnamese food with our good friend, Tanya, to find Darla stuck in the shower. She'd managed to jump over the shower door to get to the window in the shower. Then she was stuck. We've decided to just leave the shower door all open so that she doesn't have to do this stunt again! Crazy cat!

Week 2: What We'll Miss About L.A.

The Hollywood Bowl! This past weekend we joined some friends to see the L.A. Philharmonic play the Looney Tunes at the Hollywood Bowl. The orchestra played along with the cartoons on the big screen. I can't take credit for taking the picture above. I found these pictures on the internet from someone who had much better seats than us! I loved how they made the rainbow colors on the shell.

This was our annual trip to the Hollywood Bowl. Last year we saw a concert with fireworks. The Hollywood Bowl is the largest ampitheater in America. While enjoying the concert you have a view of the Hollywood sign, the Griffith Observatory and the few stars you can see in the sky through all the light pollution.

Thanks to our neighbor and good friend, Patrick, for organizing this fun outing!

A Year From Now...

As Brian and I look ahead at our future plans we realize that about a year from now we will no longer be living in Los Angeles. Yes, we will pack up the truck and leave Smog-ville. Although there are many things that make us crazy about L.A. (pollution, overcrowding, the freeways--to name a few), we realize also that there are things that we will miss about this city of over 12 million people.

One thing we will miss is our lovely running club. About a month after we were married we were running through our neighborhood and discovered a little running store. We stopped in and found out that they have a weekly running club. We've been running with this club every Monday night for the past four months. It's a fun and very mixed group of people. There is enough diversity that for some of us the only common bond is the joy of running. We do a group stretch, run through the park (either 3.3 or 4.8 miles depending on the route), eat snacks and stretch more. Brian and I have enjoyed getting to know the people in the group. There is a kind of heart to this rag-tag group.

When we leave L.A., we will miss our running group.