How rubbish am I at doing this??

Please don't answer that question, I already feel bad enough about myself!
So since New Mexico I have spent some time in Flagstaff, seen the Grand Canyon (another tick on the Bucket List!) and finally arrived in LA - which I was more than ready to do to be honest.

Nancy's friend, Holly, met me at Union Station and the next part of the adventure began...
First to the house - it as all very mind boggling - the traffic was bonkers and I began to feel like I would never venture on to the freeway - a feeling I still hold to be honest. Arriving at the house, i met my new house mate - Zoe, the dog....I know, I know, we were told not to exchange pets but this felt like it would be ok! Not as i entered the house and she stood barking at me tho - however, she does have a tendency to wag her tail as she barks which, y'know makes you realise she is really not very fierce! Holly showed me over the house, took me to Trader Joe's to do some shopping which was all a bit of a blur as on my last night on the train I didn;t manage to get a double seat to myself and the woman next to me snored all night - not noisily - but of course, it was RIGHT IN MY EAR!!!! So I was absolutely shattered. I bought absurd things at the shop because I had no clue what I needed or what I wanted or what I recognised and everything was in large packs - they don't seem to do 'one person' sizes in that shop... then when I got back I allowed myself a few hours nap, took the dog around the neighbour hood and started to unpack. Unfortunately my get and go, such as it was had got up and gone and I had no inclination to unpack...surveying it all and I wondered why I had thought it was all so necessary when it went into the cases just a few short weeks before. Even now 2 weeks on, I think I packed way too many clothes and have started a drawer of stuff for Tom to take back with him at Christmas. Maybe once I begin to work I will feel differently...

So, that evening Aug 24th - Julia and Dennis arrived from Northern California - and over the next few days we set about orientating me and getting in supplies, making sure I knew how to get to school, the shops and church and having some fun too.
We spent some time on the beach at Venice Beach watching a very weird world go by, we drove up the Pacific coast highway to Malibu to rubber neck at the houses and look out for the rich and famous (none were spotted), we took a bus tour on one of the open top buses - we got on the first bus of the day and of on the last one - it was exhausting but fun - we walked down the boulevard with all the star's names on, hung out at LA Farmer's Market and had lunch and saw lots of LA...still disappointed in our search for 'faces'! We also went to the LA temple and enjoyed that. I am just a half hour walk from it and can see it each day on my walk to work and back - it's hard to miss it, it dominates the skyline and is lit up each evening. I smile to myself and sing the primary song 'I love to see the temple'...feel very fortunate to be so close and promise I will be there!