Tuesday, March 27, 2012

This is L.A.

A few weeks ago I got a call from my mom to tell me that a friend of mine's baby had an accident and had died.  He was a healthy 15 month old boy.  It was so tragic and heartbreaking.  I flew down to Los Angeles for the funeral.  It was a quick trip, but I am so glad I was able to go.  Even though it was so incredibly sad, it was also so inspiring to see how their family was handling such a horrible trial.  I have learned so much from the experience. 

I flew down with my parents and we arrived the day before the funeral.  We decided to see some sights from my childhood and my Mom's.  I grew up in sunny Southern California and my mom grew up right in Los Angeles.

The first two pictures are of a mural done by Leo Politi.  He was an artist and a children's book author that was friend's with my Grandparents.  I met him when I was really young.  We are lucky to have some of his books and art work.  These murals are on Olvera Street in Los Angeles.  It's called "Blessing of the Animals".  Every Saturday before Easter people bring their animals and a Priest will give them a blessing.  Some bring them all dressed up with sombreros on :).




 Guess who I ran into at the mall?  Remember "Saved By The Bell"?  Slater?  Yep- Mario Lopez.  I was surprised to see that he wasn't that big.  I was expecting him to be taller and more muscular than he was.


This last picture is in the "hood" of Los Angeles.  This was my Grandparents house, the one my mom grew up in.  It looks NOTHING like it.  It used to be white and it didn't have all those trees and fences.  My Grandpa had an art studio out back behind the house where he made pottery, developed his photographs and other things.  It was fun to relive some childhood memories while we were there.