NO PARKING!

So I screwed up majorly today or rather last night. See, I saw the "No Parking" signs but I swear I remember reading "NO PARKING ON THURSDAY". Well, I was wrong, it said Wednesday instead. I walked out to my car this afternoon only to NOT find it where I parked it. This is truly the scariest feeling in the world! I immediately freaked out but somehow was able to pull it together to call the number on the sign to find out where the heck my car was towed to.

Thankfully, it was at an impound lot not too far away from my home and my wonderful friend, Jason, came to my place and picked me up and we headed there with only ten minutes to spare before they closed! Whew! And you don't even want to know how much I had to pay for them to release my car to me. Then, on top of that hefty fee, there was an additional parking ticket on my car window when I got my car back from the lot! Geez!~ How ridiculous is that?!

After talking to a few friends after this happened, I learned that it's really not very uncommon for people in LA to get their cars towed and get lots of parking tickets. Have you ever gotten your car towed? How many tickets have you gotten?

Well, I vow to be extra careful from now on when reading parking signs around this city. I seriously do not want to go through all this ever again! : (

Family Night

Tonight, well, technically last night, (it's almost 1am) I went over to my high school friend Belinda's home to watch the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. Sadly, they started very late and I never got to see them since I already had later dinner plans after. It was still so nice to visit with her and her boyfriend. Then our other high school friends Mya and her boyfriend Paul came too. That is the three of us in the picture. I know I look like a giant compared to them but I had on heels! : )

I can't describe what it's like being around people that knew the 'me' that lived overseas. It's not like I'm a different person now... it's just that they really understand me and where I'm coming from. They also knew my parents and were around them all the time. There is something so comforting being around that. I am so grateful that they invite me to get-togethers and want to show me around LA. They are certainly my new LA family.

After I left this party I went to my college friend, Jason's home in Brentwood. It was barely a 10 minute drive away from Belinda's home in West LA. That was awesome! I have yet to drive very far to get anywhere! So I met Jason my sophomore year at UofA and we stayed pretty good friends and hung out most weekends for awhile. Towards the end of college, we didn't see so much of each other and then when I graduated, he still had one more year left. He has been living in LA about a year now so that is really nice having someone around who knows the area fairly well. Anyway, he invited me over to his home for a home-cooked Persian dinner. He lives with his parents and his mom is a great cook. His two brothers and sister in-law also came to dinner. So, I got to meet the whole family! While it was delicious food, I mostly enjoyed the family dynamics around the dinner table and the humor of it all. They obviously are all very close and friendly with each other. It made me miss my parents a lot and our dinner table conversations. I hope to be invited again for family dinner night. : )

This is one of my favorite quotes about family:

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." -Jane Howard