Cue Randy Newman: 8 Reasons to Love LA

It was Girls' Night at mi casa last night (Four young women in sweatpants drinking tea and listening to jazz records - Take a step back, boys, you're embarrassing yourselves) and while conversation revolved around the usual (Five Strategies to Reboot My Career! Single Men in Los Angeles: Attractive, Creative, Elusive), my friend Anastasia made a comment that stuck with me: "I need to fall back in love with LA".

In the moment, we pleaded with her not to jump ship and promised to romance her with rooftop cocktails and trips to Palm Springs but it got me thinking: I've always believed that you can make a home wherever you are, that "home" begins with you and is your own creation, but as I settle into LA and enjoy a lightness and sense of belonging that I've never experienced before, I wonder...  should this be what we aspire to? Should everyone live someplace that they "love"? And, if so, what should we be looking for? What does it even mean to "love" a place?

I don't have any answers, it's just something I'm chewing on, but I do really love where I live and for me that means feeling like my community is a natural extension of myself. My LA is bountiful farmers' markets, cheap live music, margaritas by the beach and trail hikes with my dog. It's also writing and acting. LA has a bad rap for being "All About The Business" but I find it really stimulating to be part of a city that is so creatively charged. Being successful here demands your full intellect. You are called on every day to question, rework, edit, alter, innovate. You are also called on to provoke; whether it's laughter, tears or tension everything you create needs to be infused with emotion. It's at once exhausting and exhilarating and I find it really satisfying.

That said, my friend Anastasia is not part of the industry. The thrill of creation is not going to woo her. But I happen to think that, even independent of the entertainment business,  LA is an all-around wonderful place to live so, for her, here is my list of  8 Reasons to Fall In Love With LA:

1. Hiking. Right here. Like, really. Right. Here. No, you're looking too far. Here.
2. Strawberries in winter. I don't know about you but, where I'm from, you only get strawberries for about three weeks in June and they do not taste of sugary sunbeams like these do.
3. Pink sunsets. Especially driving the PCH. You are instantly transported to an '80s movie.
4. Night jasmine. It smells like the Moon is taking a bubble bath! This makes me so happy.
5. No bugs. I don't know where they are and I feel like maybe it's not a good thing that I never see them because aren't they an essential part of the ecosystem? but I definitely don't care. I accept whatever environmental apocalypse comes of this. You cannot put a price on a summer night without mosquitoes.
6. Average rainfall = 13 inches. Which means no mold, which is huge. Also, it means that precipitation becomes a celebration of woolly blankets and hot chocolate instead of a force of evil that ruins your favorite shoes.  
7. Cheap  beauty treatments. One advantage of living in a youth - obsessed city? Lots of competition driving down prices. Where else can you get anti-cellulite treatments for $40? I think there are entire states that don't even have anti-cellulite treatments available to them, never mind for $40. Count your blessings.  
8. Palm trees. Party in a tree. They look like Muppets or  a family of Dr. Seuss characters. I submit that your worst day is less worse here because you are surrounded by palm trees.

Now, I know you can find palm trees lots of places and go hiking lots of places and I'm sure those cities are all great, too. I'm not saying that I love LA to the exclusion of all other locations the world around. This is just my way of giving a warm shout-out to a city that makes me feel at home. Stay, Anastasia! Stay!

How about you? What do you love about where you live?