If there is one word that sums up my thoughts on the past month, it’s GRATITUDE.

I am so lucky to have a tremendous support system in Los Angeles — circles of generous and funny and kind-hearted friends. Add in the fact that there is a slew of affordable and adventurous things to do in LA and, well… I’m going to have a hard time getting on the plane to JFK tomorrow morning.

Here’s a recap of April’s escapades.

The Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City just concluded a six-month exhibit called The Power of Photography: National Geographic 125 Years. LA residents were so lucky to access (for free!) this state-of-the-art presentation of the most powerful nature and travel photographs ever taken. In addition to a compelling documentary about the exhibit, they had 30 large format LED monitors to share even more images than they otherwise could’ve squeezed into the same space. It took me three full hours to walk through, in awe the whole time. Some images were taken in places I’ve been around the globe (like jellyfish in Palau and undersea life in Australia and Malaysia) but mostly I was blown away by the gentle reminder of just how big our world is and how — even with all my travels — I’ve only seen tiny pieces of it.

I attended LACMA Live Read, hosted monthly from October to April by director Jason Reitman. He picks famous screenplays to be read aloud by a group of big name actors. The latest installment featured Sharon Stone, Jay Baruchel, Mae Whitman, Kevin Pollack, Paul Scheer, and Tig Notaro reading the shooting script of The Graduate. Co-screenwriter Buck Henry was in attendance. These Live Reads are not recorded for posterity so they carry a certain thrill — just like theater — of an experience shared only by those in the room.

FYI — Live Reads always sell out during the LACMA members pre-sale, those of us in the general public rarely get a chance to attend. But if you show up one hour early there’s a stand-by line where anyone can purchase tickets (and there are always no-shows). This is the second time I’ve done this — last year I saw an excellent all-female cast reading Glengarry Glen Ross — and the stand-by line has worked great. (For The Graduate reading I totally lucked out because a security guard handed me a spare ticket… so it was free. Normally $40 for the general public or $25 with a student ID, which I was fully prepared to use.)

I took the metro downtown last week to visit the California Science Center. My friends recently visited the Kelp Forest and their photos of this underwater space inspired me to check it out. Plus the Science Center hosts the Endeavor space shuttle which I hadn’t seen since it flew over the city of Los Angeles in September 2012. The whole place is free to visit, but you’ll need a timed ticket to see the Endeavor on weekends. It was blissfully uncrowded on a Monday afternoon.

I’ll write more about these next few trips soon because they deserve full posts, but here’s a glimpse. My sister and I spent a day exploring beaches in Malibu — El Matador and Pirate’s Cove Beach at Point Dume.

And we grabbed lunch at Neptune’s Net in Malibu.

The following (Easter) weekend we went camping at Refugio State Beach about 20 miles northwest of Santa Barbara.

As I already documented, we visited Griffith Park Observatory to watch the Blood Moon lunar eclipse on April 14th.

Here’s a snippet of meals out this month… Granville Cafe in Burbank, The Stand in Century City, Fish Dish in North Hollywood, and Zankou Chicken in Toluca Lake.

I also stopped by Homegirl Cafe in downtown LA, which supports at-risk and formerly gang-involved teens to become contributing members of the community. Their tacos are excellent.

And I cooked! Baked eggplant slices and a few pots of veggie stew with some pasta and chicken tossed in.

But the best meals were shared with friends. I tried dim sum in San Gabriel with friends Allison, Jenny, Ziggy, and Heidi. I’m new to this cuisine and it was quite an experience — thanks to Jenny for organizing (and ordering!) this outing at Five Star Seafood.

Waiters roll around carts of various foods. We point to our selections and they drop them off and stamp a paper on our table to indicate what we’ve ordered. They use scissors to snip the various dim sum food open so we can more easily split / eat them. Our entire bill for five people comes to a whopping $23.

Just last night my sister and I tried Indian food at India Sweet and Spices in Atwater Village.

April was Girl Scout month at Menchie’s frozen yogurt, so of course I visited with my friends Kelley, Irving, and their daughter!

And my friend Allison’s parents were in town visiting from Tennessee. Her mom cooked up a legit Southern meal — fried chicken, rice with gravy, peas, mac ‘n cheese, biscuits… and then made an outstanding trifle for dessert with toffee, coffee, and brownies (!) that is rumored to induce tears for being so deliciously over-the-top good. What a treat! Thank you for spoiling us, Mrs. Reames!

I’ll caption these next photos “clear eyes, full bellies” because it was impossible not to gorge on this spread.

I dined at Alcove in Los Feliz with Grace, Bethany, Eva, and Karen just before the lunar eclipse.

And we enjoyed game night at our friend Jeremy’s place with Tamar, Grace, Daniel, Beth, and Jeremy. (X-Men: Under Siege and Settlers of Catan were big hits.)

And another night we attempted a game of Cards Against Humanity but end up just drinking wine and chatting into wee hours. Here’s Beth, me, Tamar, Brenda, Karen, and Sommer:

There have been many fun nights around this newly purchased wood table at our friends Grace & Tamar’s apartment. Isn’t it gorgeous? Here we are celebrating Grace’s birthday last week:

And here’s a shot of Jeremy’s birthday gathering this past weekend:

We also spent a (cloudy) day on the beach in Santa Monica. An afternoon with surf, snacks, and friends? Doesn’t get much better than that.

A few more fun photos from gatherings this past month — with friends Molly, Tamar, and Karen & Sommer. Plus our uncle visited LA for work and we got to hang out briefly — always a treat.

I visited Burke Williams Spa with my friend Allison for an afternoon of luxury:

We capped off the evening with take-out sushi from Katsuya‘s Studio City location, then watched the movie About Time from writer/director Richard Curtis (Love Actually). No, I wasn’t sobbing at the end. It was just… allergies. Yeah, allergies.

And I saw an excellent production of MacBeth (excuse me, The Scottish Play) with Allison at the acclaimed theater A Noise Within in Pasadena. The evening just happened to coincide with the Bard’s 450th birthday and this cake was on display in the lobby:

My friend Kelley invited me over for dinner and a movie, and of course that’s the perfect excuse to pick up a new treat from Trader Joe’s (like this tasty and cheekily-named Cowboy Bark).

Kelley and I also tried aerial yoga at Up Flying Yoga in Studio City. It was super fun and I was only a little sore for the next few days!

Since it had been over a year since my last haircut, I paid a visit to the Paul MItchell School at Sherman Oaks Galleria for a $12 haircut by a Future Professional. They charge next to nothing and a student (under the supervision of a teacher) does the haircut. The girl who cut mine did a fabulous job. If you go, just be prepared for it to take awhile (mine took about two hours and included a blow dry & style). If you only want a blow dry & style, it’s $10 — not a bad deal if you have a fancy event to attend.

And I took advantage of my time in LA to visit all my doctors. I got new (and much-needed) orthodics, plus all my shots and medications for an upcoming trip to AFRICA. Who-hooo!!

I stopped by Young & Restless to visit my friends and former co-workers. Molly and I brought Tommy (audio supervisor extraordinare) a cake for his birthday and grabbed a quick lunch with the fabulous Peter Bergman (who plays Jack on the show). I got to chat with Robbin (associate director) and former partner-in-crime Nancy (production associate), as well as other members of the Y&R family.

I forget to photograph this — shame on me! — but I also caught up with former Y&R co-worker Matt over dinner at Lala’s (delicious) and a comedy show at The Groundlings (very funny).

[images via here and here]

It’ll surprise no one that I’ve sipped many lattes in the past four weeks. I tried Coffee Commissary for the first time (vanilla latte with almond milk = A+) and worked my way through The Book Thief … the only book I read this month. Unpopular opinion: I didn’t love this NYT bestseller. It gets major creative points for making Death the narrator, but I grew frustrated by the regular twee side comments — think lots of asterisks and bold print — interrupting the narrative. That said, it’s still a powerful story about a girl and her adoptive parents harboring a young Jewish man during the period leading up to World War II. Everyone else I know who’s read it has loved it.

Priscilla’s continues to have the best atmosphere of all coffee shops in the land. Pro tip: order the house special, a vanilla hazelnut spiced latte (it’s delicious iced or hot).

A few images snapped while walking around Toluca Lake and the Chandler Bike Path:

I’ll wrap up with photos from the popular hiking spot Runyon Canyon. Randomly, a drone flew overhead as I hiked. Everyone on the path stopped to watch and take photos. Drones are technically illegal at the moment (as I learned during the DGA Health & Safety Training Class a few weeks ago), but is this our future?! Will it be normal in a few years to spot mini helicopters with cameras flying through the sky, watching all of us below?

Eh, forget about that and appreciate these views!

I’ll say it again: I am SO lucky to have spent these past two months in Los Angeles. Life is full here and I miss it when I’m away.

A giant THANK YOU to all my favorite people in this great city for filling my heart with friendship and love!