I have been somewhat of a gypsy throughout my life, especially in my twenties. Boy, were those fun times! If I could do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat. IN A HEARTBEAT. I regret nothing.
As I have mentioned, I am a walking contradiction, fiercely independent, and the quintessential free spirit.
In my twenties, if I wanted to experience something, I just dove in. There was no armchair observing for me, and no asking others’ opinions on what they thought I ought to do. If I wondered, I went.
It wasn’t enough for me to watch Italian films and drink Valpolicella at home. I was utterly compelled to submerge myself in Italian culture. My life is all the richer for it!
I simply made the decision, learned the basics of the Italian language in a few weeks, packed up my stuff and sold my car, and just went full speed ahead.
I absolutely adored my time in Italy, and love almost everything about the lifestyle and culture. I’m a sucker for luxury, as you know, so to be enveloped in sheer luxuriant brilliance day in, day out…I thought I had died and went to heaven.
Italy is what I imagined heaven to be. You have sexy Italian men making kiss faces at you and cat-calling, “Ciao, bella” at you 24/7, neverending sumptuous food, the finest clothing in the world, breathtaking architecture, romance galore and happy couples making out in public… What’s not to love?!
However, that was before September 11th and all the drama associated with travel and what not. Traveling on a whim was uncomplicated and enjoyable then. Now it’s a headache. I have since lost my traveling mojo.
I needed a final destination in the U.S. in which to put down roots, and I knew that in order for me to be content, it had to be a mini-Italy. Los Angeles is that for me.
Beverly Hills is a hop, skip, and a jump away, the beach in Santa Monica is ridiculously accessible, and we all know there is a heavy emphasis on aesthetics and beauty overall here.
But what I appreciate most about L.A. is that although some of the people tend to be a hot mess, they don’t try to hide it.
Here’s the irony…
When I lived in Washington, D.C., the conservatives had their structured 9-5 jobs, they’d commute on the Metro dressed in their Ann Taylor and Brooks Brothers uniforms, they would never dare make eye contact with a stranger, yet they were quick to pass out their business cards and rattle on ad nauseum about which schools they graduated from, what area their home was in, their job title, and other such lame self-importance.
It was all a cover for what was really going on in their lives. Perfect as pie on the outside, but a torrid mess within. They would never divulge that they used a cocktail of
Zoloft, Valium, and Xanax to make it through the day.
I know people love to pick apart Hollywood celebrities and think that they are somehow separate from the rest of humanity, but let me tell you, for every celebrity that has an eating disorder, drug addiction, penchant for promiscuity and the like, I can name more than 20 people “in real life” who are worse.
For those outside of Los Angeles looking in, they imagine L.A. to be this place where everyone is fabulously wealthy, overly self-indulgent (like me, ha!), and that we think we are perfect and wake up every day with the mission to make you believe that we are invincible.
The reality of it is such the contrary, it’s not even funny!
For the most part, people here WILL TELL YOU that yeah, although they may own two yachts and a Bentley, they have an addiction they can’t seem to shake, or although they love their spouses, they sometimes feel unsure about their feelings towards them or their deservedness to have them in their lives, etc. I find these folks to be way more open and honest.
This, to me, is more real than that other crap posing as normalcy in the U.S.
Los Angeles is notoriously deemed to be the land of phony baloneys, when my personal experience has been anything but that.
I am truly free to be who I am here. No one bugs me. I can do whatever I want to do without raised eyebrows or questions about my character simply because I don’t fit some rigid Stepford Wife outline.
There is no one way to be in Los Angeles. There are so many mini sub-cultures within L.A. OUTSIDE of the Hollywood scene, and I absolutely love it!
I have worked at the apex of the business side of Hollywood, and I know it well, but believe me when I say it is NOT my bag. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Hollywood is very successful at what it strives to accomplish, but it is NOT Los Angeles. It is but one part of the whole.
You can live in L.A. and not be all “Hollywood.” I am certainly not. I am the least Hollywood-ish person alive!
The weather is great here, there’s always a party going on, people really know how to live it up and celebrate life, and it’s just a great, good, relaxed, fun time.
I’m lovin’ this honeymoon!