My husband was kind enough to let me go to L.A. for six days last week, starting with erev Shabbos and ending with Thursday. I was able to attend the Shabbos Kallah and Chasunah of Maya Davidovici, which were both fabulous. I even got to help out and be a co-shomeret along the way. It was wonderful. A little weird being in 80+ degree weather in late October (I’m used to a more, um, traditional winter), but nice to not have to wear a coat and to see the sunshine so much!

It was lovely seeing Maya, Yocheved (Jackie) Engel and Sharone Reiner, three great girls I lived with at Neve and hadn’t seen since I left in June 2007. There was a certain level of surreality seeing these girls, who I strongly associate with Yerushalayim, in L.A. It was the wrong context. It was also interesting interacting as a married lady; I really noticed a difference in myself. Not anything fundamentally different, just a heightened level of contentedness, or settledness. I suppose that’s the best way to put it.

Before I left for Cali, a friend in Cleveland told me that I would be eating my way through L.A. I told her, “no, no, we don’t have money for that.” I was wrong. Well, not about the money part, but about the eating part. I ate out generally twice a day, if not more. Such good food!