The balancing.

       When I say, "end to an awesome trip," I mean it was time to take my chauffeur/cross-country travel buddy/dinner date/fellow explorer/mom to the airport. It was bittersweet, but I was a little excited about going to the LAX. I kept telling her to keep her eyes peeled for all the celebs because I was sure she would make best friends with Ashton and Mila and they would ask me to be their live-in nanny. Or at least the Governator and he would offer to fund some kind of extravagant life for me. Unfortunately this didn't happen, but I did get some cool Hollywood magnets in the mail the next week. After successfully navigating the chaos that is LAX traffic, she made it to the gate and successfully back to sweet home Alabama.
       I, on the other hand, continued exploring. I decided to drive west until I hit the water and then go south, towards Long Beach. This ended up being the greatest of ideas and I stumbled upon the gem that is Manhattan Beach. Anyone who ever visits this little gem of a neighborhood and doesn't want to immediately to take up residence in one of the seaside bungalows fits in the Lohan/Bynes category. I mean this place is the adorable town where you can walk to breakfast and sit outside year-round, then stroll to some neat boutiques, and finish your day with a picnic on the beach, all with your puppy along side. And most people do.

With a day before beginning my first ever night shift, I took the opportunity to do absolutely nothing all day long. On Monday, I decided to begin the day of my all-nighter with a walk on the beach and an outdoor lunch at The GreenHouse with my Kindle. Then a nap and my first night at work. It went well but I began feeling a cold coming that progressed into the worst I can ever remember feeling. Lots of sleep followed and after about a week, I had decided that I wasn't on the verge of death. This could have been because of a combination of night shifts and the change of climate/extreme lack of humidity that is abundant in Alabama, but after it was over, I was finally able to drive home without being convinced my head was trying to explode through my sinuses.

The acclimating.

       As a local, I decided we should be doing the things that locals do. I mean, working a day here put me in the category of local, right? Regardless of the fact that I had been here a whopping five days, I was going to do all things native. With a little guidance of a more "long-term" local from work whom I had badgered to find out what us inhabitants do, Mom and I found a fun pizza place with quite the inspirational wall: Pieology. Think subway for pizza with just as many toppings and a great price. I've learned that a positive sign to look for is the packed restaurant at lunchtime, and this one definitely met that criteria.
       After lunch we found the beach again, which I've since learned does not have waves because of multiple small man made islands outside the Port. This was followed by a restaurant recommended by our AirBNB hosts called Belmont Brewing Company. It is on the beach with minimal parking, which required an experiment to see if my car would be the noble recipient of a wrong-way-parallel-parking ticket. It wasn't, luckily. But the view from the restaurant was stunning. This view inspired Mom's suppressed instagram talent and produced this beauty.

 The next day we got to move in to my home for the next twelve and a half weeks. The apartment isn't gigantic, but definitely all I need to be comfortable. Plus, it has a separate living room and bedroom, which was a luxury we took for granted until the Extended Stay and my-early-to-bed-for-early-mornings routine versus Mom's stay-up-late-because-why-not routine. We made a Target run as well as Best Buy (I have Netflix and an HD antenna in lieu of cable) and I felt like I was getting settled in. This ended with a token In-N-Out Burger run which happens to be located entirely too close to my apartment to not become a staple.

 The rest of the week was completed nicely with a good couple of days learning about the hospital and eating some great Mexican (not Tex-Mex, I think) and an adventure called Green Field's. Technically, Green Field Churrascaria, it is a Brazilian Steakhouse which means all-you-can-eat which means they have way lots of meat which means you are going to get all the protein you need for the next five seasons of your life in a super fancy setting. If you every have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it, but proceed with caution. Certainly a great end to an awesome trip with a spectacular mom.

The doing.

On Monday it was time to get down to business. Being a little nervous about the infamous "LA traffic," Mom and I decided to give ourselves plenty of drive time to get to the hospital. We quickly learned that though LA traffic is bad, it's also lazy. Traffic here doesn't start until 7 or 8 am, and we left at close to 6:00 to make it about ten miles in order to arrive by 7:00. Lucky for us there is a Starbucks on literally every third corner here so we stopped for some coffee, and not a minute too soon for Mom (the self-confessed opposite of a morning person) who had the luxury of driving me to work while she was here since we had uno caro.

It's official!

I'll be honest, the excitement outweighed the nervousness of beginning work at a new hospital. I had recently passed my RNC-OB (registered nurse certified in inpatient obstetrics) exam and felt like no matter what, I know the nationally recognized standards and, even though I may not do things exactly the way the other local nurses do, things would get done safely and efficiently. Brookwood was the only hospital I'd had the pleasure of perfecting my nursing skills and I felt very grown finally embarking on my new normal as a travel nurse. This grown up feeling translated into my parents getting my first (and most likely last) set of selfies.

Hospital-provided scrubs are awesome sauce.

When the day ended, we, of course, had to celebrate. Since our arsenal of celebratory restaurant choices was essentially empty at this point, we found a place called the Elephant Bar Restaurant. Being from Alabama, how could this not have been anything but awesome?! And it was. Minus the fact that every single restaurant and bar here cards. Every. Single. Time. So after a good dinner (and possibly closing down the restaurant) it was back to the Extended Stay with a much accomplished day behind us.