I have way too much to say about why my fiancé and I love L.A. I am not a native (the fiancé is), but I do get super defensive with the naysayers because it has so much more to offer than what people think of as Los Angeles. I love L.A. because its hugeness makes it a place where you can be whomever you want to be.

This city is like the third part of our relationship. It’s hard to pick just a few meaningful places! The plaza of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, since I’ve worked at the Music Center for five years; perhaps that Little Ethiopia stretch of Fairfax, which features one of our favorite restaurants; in the San Gabriel Mountains, where my fiancé finds total peace; Scoops ice cream parlor, where he was going to propose, but then I just wanted to go home and watch The Wire, so instead he just popped down on one knee in the middle of a random neighborhood in Silverlake while we walked back from the Thirsty Crow; the state park in downtown (the cornfield), just because it’s super neat; the Central Library, because it’s just so damn beautiful and because we read too much. And our happiest place of all: our little house in Echo Park on Sunset—right in the middle of the city, but still in the middle of trees, with our two hilarious, awesome cats and too many books.

(Writing this is making me weepy. Even if we don’t get the photo session, I’m glad for the opportunity to think about how many good memories L.A. holds for me. Jessica, I’m so glad you’re joining the APW vendors! And sorry this comment was crazy long. It’s just the way I roll—too much detail.)