Of Times and Traffic

I love LMU, but I remember how true the words “LMU bubble” rang true freshman year. Despite its ideal location (hello, LAX), one often feels trapped on the bluff; bringing my car to school helped fix this problem almost instantly. However, despite having a car, driving to cool places across the city is often a daunting, overwhelming task. For example, I can usually approximate a trip to Beverly Hills taking about 20 minutes – without traffic. With traffic, as I experienced last Friday during rush hour, it took me 45 minutes. I re-tweeted Kristen Bell’s LA traffic-related tweet the other day, and, like “LMU bubble,” her words rang true.

It’s easy to complain about the traffic and the 405 at rush hour being synonymous with a special kind of hell (too harsh…?), but wherever I end up going is almost always worth the drive. Last week, I went to lunch at my favorite restaurant in LA, Joan’s on Third. Not only is the Chinese chicken salad the best there is; the people watching is out of this world. I can say the same about Alfred’s, although their coffee is the primary draw. Compartes just opened in the same complex, and that was fun to check out, too. Oh, and Magnolia Bakery is also in the area. Yours truly can’t help herself when it comes to the spoon-sized samples of their banana pudding. 

If we want to get really metaphorical (we do), we can say something like, “The journey is tough, but the destination is worth it.” Trite? Yes. True? Definitely.     

 {Lunch at Joan's}

 {The wall at Alfred's}

{Beautifully curated chocolate at Compartes}

{Cupcakes at Magnolia}