Hello! This is Meredith, the Left Coast half of this blog.

As Lauren has already shared, she and I go back many a moon. We've gone from riding bikes around the block and attending each other's childhood birthday parties to looking forward to cross-country trips so we have a chance to catch up and discussing the possibility of future w-e-d-d-i-n-g-s (don't scary things sound less scary when they're spelled out?) of childhood classmates and (gulp) of our very own.

I think it's quite appropriate that it's taken me, the West Coast representative, a bit longer than Lauren to put up a post. As anyone who has spent time on states bordering the Pacific can tell you, time moves differently out here than it does in other parts of the world. A business meeting at 1:00 actually means "Show up any time between 1:15 and 1:30." Maybe it's the constant traffic problem. Or maybe it's a certain, er, sense of entitlement. Regardless, it is how things work in these parts.

As Lauren mentioned in her post, I am indeed an opera singer. I finished by Bachelor of Music degree about a year ago at a fancy-schmancy music school. At the moment I'm earning my keep by working various office-type jobs. Occasionally I find myself in interesting work enviroments. To paraphrase the author A.M. Homes, Los Angeles tolerates and encourages eccentricity. The Los Angeles workplace is no exception to this statement.

I'm planning on going back to school to pursue a Master of Music (doesn't that sound like some really awful movie title?) degree within the next year and a half. Who knows, though? Not I... Lauren is starting the next chapter of her formal education soon, so I'm looking forward to her testing those waters in the near future.

So here we are, two lifelong midwesterners transplanted to the cultural capitols of the US of A. The glamorous hustle and bustle of The Big Apple and LAlaland we ain't. Unless of course you consider trips to such hot spots as Ikea, the California DMV, my local grocery store, that really great Indian restaurant down the street to be the very height of Angeleno glamour. Look forward to observations, some amusing anecdotes, and maybe the odd snarky comment. Okay, Lauren's a lot nicer than I am...so expect the odd snarky comment to come from me :)

So hello, welcome, and hope we can amuse and possibly even edify a lovely reader of our blog today!