I couldn’t be happier to spend the winter months in sunny Southern California. I kicked off 2015 by flying cross-country to work on the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, spending a few days in Santa Monica before the production moved to Hollywood. It was fun to talk everywhere and enjoy Santa Monica on foot — the city has a fun vibe.

I worked in an office near the Yahoo / Hulu / HBO campus and went over there for lunch most days. What a swanky place to work!

I passed 18th Street Coffee House one day and decided to return the following morning for coffee… but it was closed down because a TV show was shooting there. Typical LA.

I returned the next day instead. Super cute place.

I ate dinner three nights in a row at True Foods, a favorite restaurant of mine. They serve really healthy and delicious meals based on anti-inflammatory foods.

Next up: a visit to my storage unit to pick up essentials. I’m staying in a furnished sublet in the Valley for now.

I got in a few Toluca Lake walks with my friend Allison. It’s so nice to be back here!

I’m typing this from Priscilla’s, my favorite local coffee shop.

Photo-worthy coffees of the month include a pancake latte from Romancing the Bean in Burbank (below left) and a vanilla almond milk latte from Coffee Commissary in Hollywood (they have a bunch of locations throughout LA).

One of my favorite leisure activities is reading on a blanket in the park. I used to do this when I lived in LA full-time and it’s so relaxing — there’s something about smelling the grass and feeling the warm sun beam down. Also — I just finished reading Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and it’s quite good.

I met up with my friends Grace & Tamar at Upright Citizen’s Brigade to catch the Ronna & Beverly show, a long-time favorite (I took that photo of them last year). A few days later I tried out the new UCB Sunset location for an improv show with John Ross Bowie and Jamie Denbo; she plays Beverly in the aforementioned show. Comedy is like medicine — it feels great to laugh for an hour.

A few days later I met up with Grace & Tamar again at our favorite sushi spot, Octopus. As usual we ordered a ton of food and it was all delicious. I can’t wait to do it again. Afterwards we met up with friends (and newlyweds!) Brenda and Joe at Story Tavern in Burbank; we sat outside in the sun for a few hours over drinks. It’s been such a joy to catch up with friends.

I saw a bunch of movies this month… Selma, The Imitation Game, Wild, Grand Budapest Hotel, Big Eyes, Whiplash, and Theory of Everything. The first three on that list were my favorites. Unpopular opinion: I hated Whiplash.

Plus I caught two documentaries: Citizenfour (about Edward Snowden) and Virunga (about gorillas in the Congo). And I have loved the return of Downton Abbey on the small screen.

The screening of Theory of Everything featured a Q&A with the screenwriter, producer, and stars Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones.

Oh, I don’t have a photo of this, but my alma mater (Emerson College) put together a really great evening with Glenn Weiss, the director of Peter Pan Live talking about what it was like to direct a 3-hour live musical for television. He came fully prepared with a power-point presentation featuring set plans and camera charts and his marked script detailing exactly how he choreographed 17 cameras to shoot the action. He even pulled footage from rehearsals to explain why he made certain choices. It was a really informative evening and I’m glad I got to go. (In case you missed it, here’s the recap I wrote about what it was like to work on Peter Pan Live.)

This month brought so many fun dinners with my good friends Kelley and Irving — they have been so generous to invite me over for meals, whipping up tasty dishes every time. One night we went out to Pinocchio’s in Burbank and the spaghetti with meatballs was incredible. Fun times with good people!

I went to the park with them and their adorable daughter this past weekend; it was neat to see the experience through her eyes. I turned to Kelley at one point and said, “Can you imagine what it’s like for a little kid to come to a park like this, where everything is so big and fun and built just for them? What would the adult equivalent be?” to which Kelley correctly replied, “Vegas.”

Oh, big news! I am back working at Young & Restless for the next few months covering a co-worker’s maternity leave! It’s been so nice to catch up with the people I worked alongside with for seven years, and fun to get back into the swing of things by diving back into scripts. And after taking off so much time to travel, having a steady gig again for a few months will be good for my bank account… and possibly allow for more travel later in the year!

It’s been a full month and I’m so grateful to my LA family for welcoming me back with big hugs!