haLey bee

This past weekend I had the best day of my entire life! I went to California to see my best friend Stevie for his birthday and within a period of 24 hours I don't think I ever stopped smiling. I landed in SLC at about 8:00 on Friday night in the LAX airport. I had worked all day with little sleep the night before and still had the bags under my eyes and weight on my shoulders from a long week. It only took a few seconds for all of that stress to disappear when I saw Stevie standing at baggage claim with his arms open wide. I ran over to him and gave him a HUGE hug but we both had to pause and laugh at all the funny looks we were getting. Stevie drove me to my mom's house in Rialto CA, and it was so good to see her. I had a sense of relief when I walked through that door and embraced my mom. I didn't want to let her go. Watson (my dog) has gotten so fat I didn't even recognize him! His face looks like it's growing into his neck and he can hardly breath anymore. It made me sad to see him like that but I know he is well taken care of and loved. He has had a wonderful life for a dog so far, not to mention all the treats he gets. Anyways, mom and I stayed up for a couple hours and had tea and toast before we hit the sack. We talked about all the usual things, work, clothes, movies, boys, and family. When I lived in California my mom and I always sat around the table at night with tea, toast and girl talk. It made our relationship much stronger and I had forgotten how much I miss that tradition.

The next morning I suprised my mom by waking up at 8:15am. I used to sleep until noon when I lived there before but I can't anymore because I've had to get up so early with my job. I pulled my hair up and we went out to run errands in the 75 degree weather...I LOVE the california weather during this time of year. We grabbed some breakfast and got a couple pedicures from the infamous "Dianna Nails". It was the perfect start to a perfect day.

In the afternoon Stevie came back to my house to pick me up so we could go have his birthday lunch with all of our friends. I got to see a bunch of people I hadn't seen since I left California but most of them are exactly the same. After lunch we all went to Victoria Gardens mall to go shopping. I have a special place in my heart for that mall because that is where I spent most of my time working and it is also where I met most of my friends. We shopped and shopped and shopped until about 5:00, then decided it was time to get ready and head to Hollywood. We got all dressed up and drove to Hollywood in a brand new silver Mustang convertable with the sun on our faces. We decided to go to a place called Boulevard 13 which is a swanky dinner place that has a really great dance floor. All of us had so much fun dancing into the night. We left at about 1:00 in the morning and drove down Hollywood Boulevard blasting "You are the one" by Shiny Toy Guns and singing at the top of our lungs. By the time I landed on Stevie's bed (Stevie slept on the couch mom)I was wishing the day wasn't over, except I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open. I immediatley fell asleep with a smile on my face and woke up realizing that it was time for me to go back to SLC. I was so sad to leave so quickly but I will never forget those 24 hours and the people I got to spend it with. Initially I went to celebrate with Stevie for his birthday but I had such a good time, I could have sworn it was mine. Thanks mom and Stevie and everyone else that made it the greatest day of my life...so far.