When the company offsite serendipitously moved to Southern California, I thought it prudent to take a few days to see a few of my favorite people, or at the very least see my very best friend for a full day. I never dreamt that I would get an intoxicatingly perfect weekend to set up my meeting of all my current colleagues and comrades at Propeller.
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It started out at 3:30 am on Friday morning –getting to PDX stupid early because I had to check-in my bag jam-packed with Marionberry preserves and other Oregon snacks as presents. I kept myself upright at the gate until boarding, and collapsed into my seat, so excited for the weekend to start. I drove from LAX up to the Glendale/Burbank suburbia I had spent scant time in during my college years. I posted up here for the weekend because most of my contacts had moved into this neighborhood or had always lived here, and I figured it was a time to retire my Downtown proclivities in this new decade and in light of COVID. The drive included a peek into current USC campus and downtown en route, and also allowed me to catch up on emails.
When I settled into my hotel, I finished up some work, and then I met up with my oldest (now) Angeleno friend– Alexandra. Lex and I are legitimate “day one” USC friends– meeting on a field trip to the Getty Center for our honors program. (Yes, we are nerds.) Throughout the years, our hangs have always been artsy and food-centered, and even if it’s been a year or three, we pick up like no time has passed. She took me on a mini-LA coffee tour to Blue Bottle & Alfred’s, and we gabbed over coffee & croissants in Studio City. It was the perfect reacclimation to one of my favorite places from a new light and vantage point. Really fitting metaphor for where I am in my life now.
Then, she dropped me off at Glendale for a meeting with another old and dear friend and mentor, Sandra! Sandra has known me since I was a fresh-faced 15-year-old with big dreams from Burlington. It was surreal to finally meet her in Los Angeles county since she’s from LA and all our previous meetings and interactions have always been in Boston. We have both grown so much in our friendships and lives since those days 15 years ago when she was helping me decide on whether to come to USC in the first place and finding science mentors for me in her network. To think, we met through a high school career and leadership mentor program, and that she is now a mother to a five-year-old and still in my life is such a blessing. I am so proud to know her! <3
After a much-needed nap, I caught up with another college friend of mine in their hometown. We ended up on the evening news discussing the mask mandate from one of the “people on the street” interviews! We walked around and got cookie dough from one of the new places, and again it felt like simultaneously no time had passed, and I could stay in LA forever. The nostalgia and the new experiences mingling to make me reflect on the growth of the past decade. I am a different person than I was when I left, but in some ways I have become a more concentrated/100-proof version of that person. I came back around–full circle, a full revolution.
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Day 2 was one of my favorite Saturdays of my life! Lex and I started the day at a leisurely pace. We headed to Pillowtalk, a dessert spot in Pasadena, to pick up the first component of our garden picnic lunch. Then we went to Cava. And the final flourish was Half and Half for authentic Taiwanese boba! She had gotten us tickets to the Huntington Botanical Gardens, and we lunched at the picnic tables before a day of art galleries, curated photography by the both of us, and general basking in the friendship of 12 years that we only usually get stolen moments for as the years drag on. What a day! After our adventures, we got Thai takeout from Spice Season in Studio City– calling in our order and doing some much needed car karaoke while waiting! We ate in my hotel room, watching the first episode of Bridgerton and savoring our time before we had to say our see you laters.
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Day 3 was composed of my favorite ingredients to a great Sunday– good food, good people, and good vibes! I started the day at Philz coffee, getting a Gingersnap/Mint Mojito combination before my brunch with my old coworker! It’s funny we were never able to meet up in LA while i worked there, but now that we did, we were able to get deeper in our friendship and really share some quality time. She took me on a tour of the office complex and surrounding shops and restaurants, and we took pictures at the Pasadena City Hall (the stand-in for Pawnee’s Town Hall in “Parks and Recreation”!)
After that, I walked around Old Town Pasadena for an hour before meeting up with Asia. I began working with her last year to uplevel my career and goal achievement, and being able to meet her in person after a year of Zooms was fantastic, as was meeting her son and husband. Other people are more than their titles and their relationships to you; they have whole lives. And seeing her in her elements made me feel more appreciative of how we’ve worked together.
After some pastries at Porto’s, I went straight to Santa Monica. It was around 5pm when I got down there, just in time for sunset. If you’ve followed the college blogs from way back, you know my affinity for the beach and for weekend study sessions as close to the water as practicality would allow. I used to take 2 buses across town to go to the pier or a coffee shop or mosey on Third Street on Sunday afternoons, phone inevitably dying. The years haven’t changed me– my phone died as I captured the sunset in my last frame, and I felt so content. I walked along the shore and put my feet into the cool sand. I missed this. The sun saying its farewell as the lights on the pier flickered on in their neon haze.
I actually grabbed a few books from a funky bookstore (whose shopkeeper was from Massachusetts, too!) and got an assist from the folks at Cult to charge my phone while sipping on a quality cappuccino. The funniest part for me was the congruence between a Sunday that 20-year-old Maithreyi would have had on a random February weekend and the one I just had. Similar people, similar vibes, but such a gratitude now for those small moments and spaces and tiny gestures. In my college experience, there was a momentum of time that felt frenetic and unsustainable. Now, I have an abundant orientation toward it. Even the traffic-heavy drives between the beach and the streets felt blissful because I was watching the scenery and admiring what I haven’t seen in years.
There are some lessons learned and some zen koan wisdoms above, but I am in too much of a meditative joy to pen them just yet. I am so excited for the rest of this week if it is anything like this weekend.
xoxo,
Maithreyi
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