Livin' In LA

I moved my arm and my dog started barking, I jolted up and looked at Tiki, my Maltipoo. She is only 1 month old and I got her only 3 weeks ago. Her smooth cream-colored fur is almost covering her eyes.

“Geez I’m sorry!” I said to Tiki, throwing my hands up in defense.

I got up and let Tiki off of the bed. She immediately went to go and choose my outfit. She wasn’t too big, but when she stood up she was just tall enough to put her paws all over my 1-pieces on the bottom shelf. Every Sunday I let Tiki choose my outfit, mostly because I rarely have anything to do outside of the house. Today she chose A red jumpsuit with a white transparent button up jacket.

“Shoes” I told her, pointing to all my shoes on the floor of my closet. She chose some black high heels. I put everything on and did my hair into box braids. That took like an hour of Tiki playing with her very annoying squeaky toys, and then taking a 30 second nap, then whining, and repeating.

I walked downstairs and my mom was laying breakfast on the table.

“Good thing you’re dressed, you have to take Tiki to the groomers.” My mom announced.

“WHA-” I said, very much over exaggerating, “I- okay fine.”

It’s not really that big of a deal, I mean Tiki chose a pretty nice outfit for me.

I sat down and ate my Mediterranean Gem Salad. 

Tiki was trying to jump on my lap and steal the food, what she doesn’t realize is that she won’t like it.

“Go get your Nana!” I told Tiki.

Tiki looked at Nana and made a full sprint towards her. My mom (Tiki’s Nana), poured her a bowl of kibble and chuckled when Tiki stopped “attacking” her and ate ever so calmly.

Me and Tiki finished at the same time and put our bowls in the sink, well, only I put my bowl in the sink. I put Tiki on her baby blue leash that she hasn’t chewed the heck out of yet and walked out the door. I like that It’s usually hot in LA. That means you don’t usually need to wear a coat around. Me and Tiki walked over to the stop sign and waited. There is so much traffic in LA It’s unbearable! Sometimes I want to move away just because of that, however, I’m only 15 and haven’t even started driving training. Finally the traffic stops and me and Tiki can walk across the street, lucky for me Two Mutts and a Weiner isn’t too far away from home.

A couple minutes later I got there and dropped Tikit off, now I’m heading to Kroger so I can get strawberries and dog treats. On the way to Kroger I see a homeless person. I obviously feel bad and give her $5. In LA everything is so costly so there are lots of people without homes. Taxes are also very expensive. I walked into Kroger and some middle aged woman came over to me.

“Hi! Hello!” She exclaimed

“Yes?” I asked

“I just moved here and my brother said there are lots of quakes in California, but he likes to joke around with me alot. Is it true?” She asked.

“Yep, true.” I told her, that’s something else I don’t like about LA, earthquakes. They're not usually too bad though. I got the strawberries and dog treats and left. I passed the park and saw a lemonade stand, I obviously started humming the duck song. It was still a pretty long time until I could pick Tiki up, so I thought about what to do. In LA you can never be bored. I honestly thought about going to San Francisco, but it’s like 6 hours away. I finally decided that I would go shopping. I jogged to the nearest thrift store and saw a sleeveless plaid dress and was immediately like:

“Who would get rid of this? It looks so cute!” So I casually went and grabbed it off the hanger and went to check out, It was $22! Good thing I always carry $30 around. The fashion in LA is really nice. Some clothes are pretty expensive but that’s just my opinion. I walk out of the store and stop in my tracks, now making the decision if I should combine my grocery bag and clothes bag.

“Okay, no I shouldn’t” I decided

I finally started to walk home but then realized I have to pick up Tiki, good thing I didn’t get too far. I always get distracted because there are so many fun things to do! I take my time walking over there as there is still 20 minutes left of the grooming. Tiki really doesn’t like getting groomed, I don’t think most dogs do. Because of that, after every grooming she gets a treat before and after dinner, which is not kibble (but it is always in her bowl if she wants some) but fila mignon.

I finally arrived at Two Mutts And A Weiner and picked her up (metaphorically and literally). She was super tired so I let her sleep in my arms as I followed the same path back as we did coming here. That meant more traffic (but when is there ever not some sort of traffic?). I texted my mom to start dinner and I’d be back in 8 minutes or more. After 10 minutes we arrive home and once I let Tiki down she sleepily runs to the dog bed and makes herself comfortable. Not surprisingly she gets up 1 minute after and goes to practice hunting on a stuffed monkey. I run up to my room and change into my pajamas, I never knew it took me so long to change because when I was about to walk down the first step of the stairs my mom yelled,

“DINNERS READY!!”

I finally walk down the stairs in peace and give Tiki her before-dinner treat as I sit down at the table. Almost immediately after I sit down My mac and cheese and Tiki’s steak is ready to be eaten. Tiki monsters her food down while I gracefully eat with MANNERS and UTENSILS not to mention I’m eating PROPERLY.

It wasn’t too long after me and Tiki finished out dinner as my mom was still eating her rice dumplings. I handed Tiki her after-dinner treat and walked upstairs. Tiki trailed behind me once the treat was all gone. As I lied on my bed I reflected on the day,

“My mom always tells me ‘you got serious beef with this city’ but I think me and the city have a very healthy love-hate relationship.”