Reunite with good peeps

During my stay in LA I was lucky enough to have dates with old a new friends every single day. Elementary school friend Erin and her perfect partner Katie started it off with a walk to a local diner and some jokes about the good old days. 

Ive already posted about the evening with my travel buddy and dear friend Katie (see post “Times with Katie”).  

I then got to reunite with the gorgeous Annie. I met this striking girl during a 2 week tour in Europe in which we ended up rooming together.  We joked about the day we’d have sushi in LA (which didn’t seem realistic since we were in France at the time). But there we were, eating at Rok Sushi in Hermosa Beach! Our date was only missing the 3rd roomie, Sonia from the east coast.  This spicy girl was exactly the balance our room needed. She teased me about being a Cali hippie and I loved her “jersey shore” energy. Below is the  3 of us before I night out in Spain.

The following evening I was spoiled by the presence of a new friend named Mark. This gentleman has a unique way of making one feel totally comfortable and in the moment. Great conversation and smiles led the whole night through scrumptious food and live music. The band “Retrofit” was a 2 man show, one with a box (yes, a wooden box) for the rythym and the other an acoustic guitar and the accessional kazoo! Check it out! www.retrofit.com. My long time friends Jackie and Jason joined us to top of the night, making it an absolutely wonderful evening…especially when Jason told the band I was leaving and  to play something for me that’s old school country. Would you believe they played “Folsom Prison” and then “I’m an Okee from Muskogee”. For those of you who don’t know, my family is from outside of Muskogee Oklahoma and I was raised in Folsom… What a trip!
Mark and I watching the band.

Retrofit

Me and sweet Jackie

My last evening was dinner on the way to the airport with Nogen. This is an intriguing guy that I met at a karaoke bar in Florence. Him and his friend Nick sang, we all danced and had one of those memorable nights that enhanced my entire journey. We exchanged info and “hoped” to see each other again. I woke up the next day to realize their contact info had fallen out into the streets of Italy. My heart was heavy but I smiled knowing I still had the memories.  On my way out of Florence our group stopped at the lookout for a picture and then…. There they were! In a crowd of hundreds I approached them and made sure we had the info. Long story, but I got home after weeks of traveling and couldn’t find the number!  As I was cleaning out my room for the big move, wouldn’t you know it, I found it! I had safely put it with my travel receipts.  So here we are at the Florence lookout: Nogen is on the left and Nick on the right.