In and Out Burger

Saturday I cleaned my messy room and left the house about 2pm to drive through Malibu Canyon then onto 101 to Thousand Oaks (T.O. to the locals). The whole purpose of the trip was to get out of Malibu (you get kind of stir crazy living in a beach town because Malibu is very secluded) and to find a universal remote. Surprisingly Best Buy was not hard to find at all, and en route I saw all the shops and stores that T.O. has to offer-which is EVERYTHING you can think of! Mervyn’s, Marshall’s, Ross, Starbucks, Del Taco (never been there but remember seeing it), Kohl’s…the list goes on and on. T.O. Boulevard is very similar to Texas Avenue-unlike the crazy freeways and side streets of LA and it runs right down the middle of the city. I found a remote that had my TV listed on the back so I just bought it-thankfully it works and I was able to figure out how to program it all on my own. While I was deciding which remote to get, I asked one of the sales ladies where the nearest Target was. It was only about a mile and a half North and seemed easy to get to. I had to return the laundry detergent I had bought and of course Ralph’s (right across the street) didn’t carry the same size bottle as the one I bought at Target a week earlier.

After Target, heading South on the 101 back towards Malibu, I spot an In and Out Burger and immediately pull over. I drive up and there is a Burger employee standing in the drive through line taking people’s orders and inputting the orders into a hand held computer that shoots the information to the line cookers inside-pretty cool, huh? So I tell the cute high school-aged girl that it is my first time here and she was very surprised. I told her I just moved from Texas and she said that she had met several other people visiting from Texas earlier that day in line.

I look up at the menu and they have three choices: a hamburger meal, a cheeseburger meal and a double cheeseburger meal…oh and shakes/malts. After our brief introduction, I casually say “so I’ve heard you can order things that are not on the menu-tell me about those” and she proceeds to tell me that they have a grilled cheese (my fav) and then this Adkins burger wrapped in lettuce leaves-no thanks. So I order a cheeseburger with grilled onions and jalapenos (I guess jalapenos are a Texas thing because they gave me peppers instead, which was fine). You pay and pick up your bag at separate windows and I had asked for it "to-go" instead of saying “yes I’m going to devour this in the parking lot” and I was on my merry way. Right before I pull away, I ask for more ketchup and the girl at the window says “there is some in the bag” and I didn’t want to argue with her, knowing that the four packets she gave me would not be near enough (for those of you who don’t know, ketchup is its own food group in my book) so I said “ok, thanks” and drove off.

So I’m thinking…man this is going to be really great when I get home and am able to enjoy this at a table. Yeah right. So I reach into the bag to grab a fry and realize that they (meaning In and Out Burger) do not cover the burger completely in paper, foil, whatever. Half of the burger was sticking out of the paper wrapping and leaking grease onto the paper bag, which was getting on my seat and I was kind of freaking out.

I pull over into this shopping center and justify eating it right then because I could tell the fries were getting cold and I forgot that I was going grocery shopping at Albertson’s in Calabasas before heading back to Malibu-which would be another hour before I would get to eat. It was soooo yummy! I only regret getting the “jalapenos” on there because the spiciness took away from the taste of the burger, so near the end I just took out the peppers to truly enjoy the taste of the burger. Now, I must tell you that they have a “special sauce” on their burgers that I knew deep down probably had mayonnaise in it (for those of you who don’t know-I HATE MAYO). Had I known beforehand, I probably would have ordered it dry but chalked it up to being a new food adventure and ate the entire thing without thinking twice about the sauce.

After enjoying the delicious burger that Californians crave-I headed to Albertson’s in Calabasas where a lot of Malibu residents shop on the weekends due to the prices being more reasonable than Ralph’s. Now I must confess-I made fun of my friend Amanda in College Station because she loved shopping at Albertson’s and I hardly ever went in there-but this one was pretty nice. I shopped around for a while getting the staples: diet soda, and peanut butter plus a few other items. I signed up for the Albertson’s reward card and it turned out that I saved $27 with my card!!! Can you believe that? At Kroger’s the most I have ever saved was about $18. I felt really good about my savvy shopping adventure.

The funny thing about moving out here-I immediately wanted to put a Texas A&M sticker on the back of my car (and I did). However, when I lived in College Station, I never had the urge to do this. I also, get so freaking excited when I can get a country station in my car and find myself looking at the license plates of every single car that I pass-hoping to see one from Texas-weird I know.

Because you asked…..

Things I specifically miss (besides friends and family)

• Knowing who/where my doctor is
• Tex-Mex (which to me, includes Freebirds and La Bodega)
• Cell phone service (rumor has it that a new Sprint tower will be on campus in June)
• Being able to stop by a friend’s house if they aren’t answering my phone calls
• When my mom IM’s me and says “you’re missing Boston Legal” I know which channel to turn to
• Paying under $3 for a gallon of gas
• Not having to fear getting bit by a rattle snake

Fun/Cool Things I have found out about Malibu

• Jeopardy comes on at 7pm here
• MTV 3 (latino) is channel 6-i truly wish I could speak/understand espanol
• Fox news is channel 10-this seems so odd to me
• Pamela Anderson’s kids are in the Malibu little league city team and she walks the campus around 10am almost every day. She wears the same white outfit every time so paparazzi don’t bother her-smart lady

The Piv

I saw my second celebrity about two hours ago as I was driving up to Ralph's (a grocery store similar to Kroger's). I had taken a right into the Malibu Colony Plaza parking lot, and there walks Jeremy Piven (of HBO's Entourage and the movie Smokin' Aces), passing me on my right side. He was wearing a hat similar to the one in the attached picture and sunglasses. When I looked in his direction, I knew immediately it was him. From what I have read online he stands about 5'9 and moved out to Malibu recently. He was carrying what looked like a frozen coffee drink and had forgotten where he parked his silver Lexus. I immediately drove around again and found him walking up a different aisle than where I saw him just a few seconds before. He had dry cleaning in the back of his car. I love Jeremy Piven and think he is really cute, so this was a real treat. I wish I had been out of my car, walking through the parking lot, so I could have at least said "hi" in passing. Oh well....im a happy camper for now ;)

Book signing with Jane Seymour

I arrived at the Malibu shopping area around 5:30pm on Wednesday, May 16th. I had to deposit my Yellowhouse (Hunter's Point) apartment refund check at Wells Fargo, then I walked over to Diesel which was only two stores down to buy the Making Yourself at Home book by Jane Seymour-wanting to ensure I had a copy before she arrived. I had about 45 minutes to kill, so I treated myself to dinner at Cafe Marmalade (my La Bodega and Cheddar's replacement while in California). I was feeling really healthy that night, so I ordered a cheeseburger and a piece of a cake (that I and the waitress who first served it to me like to call "sugar buzz"). It's a triple layer white chocolate cake that is mouth watering .

**Side Note: I first had the cake on my interview trip out here late March. It was so good that I took half of the cake home and ate it at the LAX airport the next day while waiting on my flight back to Dallas. It tasted as fresh as the day before-the wonders of a paper to-go box.**

I ate the burger (which was delicious) and took the cake to go and then walked back over to Diesel which was right next door. Jane came in about 10 minutes before 7 and stood at the front entry of Diesel while customers and a few photographers took her picture while signing copies of her book and she also chit chatted with customers. She didn't come to the back into the store (where seats were lined up and I was patiently waiting) until about 7:30.

After Jane talked about the book a little bit (which features her home here in Malibu), someone asked her what her favorite color pallet was and she responded "well today it's Aqua but my all time favorite color is teal because it reminds me of the ocean" and then she said "i like the color red because if you are feeling bad that day or need to state your mind on something or just need a boost of confidence, it makes that all possible....I am sure the young lady in red could tell us, did that color do well for you today?" MEANING ME!!!!! And I said "Yes it did".

In a response about whether or not she had achieved inner peace-she shared one of her three near-death experiences. Jane said she saw herself being injected (while in Anaphylactic shock) and said it was as though she was in the corner of a room looking down from above. What was running through her mind, she said, was the realization that death is not painful. However, you cannot take anything with you....not your cars, homes, personal belongings...all you have is your family, friends, and the relationships you develop throughout your life. It was a very emotional statement that almost brought full-on tears.

**Side note: It reminded me of when I had seen Teri Hatcher about two months before in College Station at the Presidential Conference Center. A female student asked Teri how a woman can accomplish being powerful and successful, while making time for friends, family and yourself. Some in the audience thought the question was stupid. Teri didn't and said "I wish I could come out there an give you a hug because I see that you are anxious, worried and scared....but you have your whole life to accomplish great things-there is no time limit." It was very inspiring to say the least.**

Jane spoke for about 15 minutes total then invited those of us who had not had our book signed to come on up. I asked if she'd take a picture with me, letting her know I had purchased the book for my mom and she said "well let me hold up the book so it can be in the photo too". I thought that was really sweet of her-and it made a great picture as well. Jane was extremely laid back and friendly. I was told by another lady at the signing that not all celebrities are like that-even if they are at a scheduled event. My first celebrity experience was amazing and I am looking forward to many more.

Love,
Rochelle

Texas to Cali

Howdy Friends!!!

Give yourself about 10-15 minutes to read this….I’m usually not this long winded, but I wanted to write down everything I remembered from our journey to get here….I hope you find it entertaining….and get a chance to read it.

I am so glad I got to see almost all of you before I left town. It still hasn’t hit me yet that living out here is permanent (until I marry Jeremy Piven and demand he moves back to Texas with me)….right now things feel like a summer vacation with a full time job. My mom and I finally made it to Malibu on Thursday evening about 7:30pm after three and a half days of driving.

For those of you who will hopefully delight me with your presence out here in the near future, I highly recommend flying the three hours directly into LAX instead of driving the 24. I can’t believe my little Corolla made it with all the stuff I had weighing it down inside.

We left Sugar Land at about 12:45pm on Monday and drove about six hours and stopped in Ozona (right outside of Junction) to stay the night. On the way there we stopped at the James Avery factory in Kerrville, after eating some not so great BBQ. It was about 20 minutes to closing time at James Avery so we took a quick look in the store, then watched their 10 minute video about the grounds. They do not give walking tours due to the potential distractions tourists could have on their workers. It’s neat to say I have been there but it is not on par with the Celestial Seasonings factory tour in Boulder, CO or Ethel M’s chocolate factory tour in Las Vegas (which, sadly I think is closed now).

The hotel we stayed at in Ozona was called Travel America or something of that sort. Let me tell you, this place was the nicest, cheapest motel I have ever stayed in. The room was decent size, clean, and the bathroom was all tile…they provided HBO, and free breakfast in the morning (no hot food-just muffins, donuts, coffee) but I was really impressed for $50 a night.

The next morning we drove from Ozona through El Paso and then finally stopped in Tucson. We managed to find the least clean Motel-6 in probably the continental United States. I was very disappointed to say the least-especially since we had such a great experience at the other motel the night before.

There was no Kleenex in the room, only one roll of toilet paper, you could hear the traffic from the interstate right outside out door and there was no shower head in the shower, just a pipe that stuck out of the wall. We arrived extremely late at night, were tired and didn’t want keep looking for something that would have cost us about $40 bucks more just so we could sleep for about 6-7 hours.

We decided that we were only going to drive about two more hours the next day and then stay the night in Phoenix to rest and relax a little bit after two days of hard driving. A good friend of mine who knows the hotel business very well, tried to get us a cheap room in Phoenix but everything was coming back at $130 or higher….after talking to my dad, we found out that the Sun’s were in the playoffs against the Lakers and that’s why most of the hotels were booked and the rates were sky high. My mom suggested we stay at a Harrah’s Casino/Resort she had read about in her triple-A book. We called and got a good rate on the last non- smoking room they had. We then loaded back up in the little Corolla and were on our way to Maricopa, AZ (to an Indian reservation).

**Side note**We stopped at a great Mexican food dive called Andele’s en route to Maricopa and my mom ordered the new Miller Light Chill (which is Miller Light with lime). I only had one sip since I was driving but if you are a beer drinker, and can find it there in Texas-get your hands on some immediately…..its really refreshing….I am sure the rest of the beer companies will come up with their own version soon but Miller is the only one I have seen up to this point.

Back to the casino….This place was amazing! Our room was huge and bright, as was the bathroom. It reminded me a lot of the room I stayed in at the Intercontinental hotel in the Middle East-but with cactus pictures, etc on the wall instead of camels.

Man, it was really nice. Luckily, I had some Harrah’s credit from the time I stayed there in Reno a couple years back and they were able to comp a couple of my meals. This all happened on Wednesday night. Thursday morning we left about 11:45am and headed straight to LA, only to stop in a town not too far past the California border at a Carl’s Jr. for a burger. It was OK, but I am still dying to go to In & Out Burger which I have heard is delicious.

LA traffic is almost unbearable. Driving through LA to get to Malibu was probably the most congested two hours of the whole trip. Granted, we arrived during 5 o'clock traffic, but I’ve heard and now believe that all major freeways and highways are bumper to bumper unless its Sunday morning; however that does not guarantee that you will get somewhere in the time you think you should. I also want to note that $3.45 for a gallon of gas is considered “cheap” here.

So we take the Pacific Coast Highway (also called PCH or the 1) to Malibu. I had seen the campus a month earlier on my interview trip-but my mom had only seen pictures.

We were hungry so we go to this little shopping center right across the street and eat at a place called “Coogie’s Beach Grill”. They have sandwiches, salads, etc. with reasonable prices. We both ordered Santa Fe salads that were comparable to something at Chili’s or On the Border. We then walked to Ralph’s (right next door) which is a partner to Kroger's in Texas.

About two weeks earlier I had ordered a Ralph’s card online and I had received it before I got here and I was so excited for some strange reason-I guess it kind of made me feel like I was a local or something. No celebrity sightings that night, unfortunately.

Saturday we woke up and ran to Target off the 101. By ran, I mean drove 30 minutes through a windy canyon to get my mom a duffle bag in order to properly re-pack her clothes for her flight home on Sunday. She and I had pretty much threw what we thought we would need for the week getting here in trash bags because suitcases would not fit with all of my stuff in the car. We also bought some plastic drawers for me to organize clothes and random stuff in since I couldn’t fit any furniture in my car. I also got a box fan because the one I had from home again, would not fit.

After Target we went to LAX to pick up my friend Andrea who was flying in from Dallas to help me get settled. My mom, Andrea and I went down to Venice Beach to eat some good burgers and people watch. Venice beach encompasses a strip of shops and eateries along the Pacific Coast just south of LA. Venice Beach is also home to Muscle Beach, made popular by our Governator.

The next morning we headed to a shopping mecca called the Grove. There was a farmer’s market that includes food from all over the world: fresh fish, fruits and vegetables, baked goods, nuts and candies, little knickknacks and LA souvenirs….the list could go on and on. The Grove also has a lot of posh stores like Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, etc but you enter and exit the stores through the outdoor/open air walkway that has a trolley running through the middle.

If you ever come visit, I will definitely take you there, because it's really neat! After walking around, riding the trolley and taking tons pictures like a tourist, we had dinner at this little Greek place that was delicious.

Sunday morning my mom and I drove from Malibu to the LAX airport, but before I dropped her off we stopped for breakfast and thought we saw William Shatner and his wife at Burger King, but I verified with Google that his wife is younger than the woman we saw with him, and he is not as tall as the man dining at BK.

I also thought I saw Jennifer Aniston at the Grove but it was just a really pretty girl that looked a lot like her. I will probably go through this stage where I think everyone is a celebrity but then realize they aren’t. I promise to only report legitimate sightings to you all. Andrea and I cruised down to Santa Monica beach, and around the LA area (Sunset Blvd, Wilshire, etc.) It was really cool seeing the different sights that you always see on the E! channel. I love reading about celebrities so I feel like I am in the right place. We also stopped by some lookout point and took pictures of the Hollywood sign and downtown LA.

On Monday I started my work at Pepperdine. I am truly grateful for having university experience before coming here and I hope to implement some of the things I have learned into my new job. The ten students I am working with and director I am working for are the nicest people I have ever met and have welcomed me with open hearts and arms.

I eat lunch outside where they have tons of tables while getting a great tan on mostly my face and lower arms. The last two days were “hot” (85 degrees) but today there was a cool breeze with clear and sunny skies. Yesterday was rough-I woke up really missing home and teared up while eating lunch outside. Good thing I had my big sunglasses on so no one could tell. Today was much better and I know that feeling homesick is normal, just something I haven’t really experienced on this level.

I have made friends at the local Wells Fargo, and the local bookstore called Diesel where Jane Seymour is going to be Wednesday May 16th for a book signing. She might be my first celebrity sighting if I decide to go. I’m wondering if I have to buy the book or just ask her to take a picture with me. Since it’s a book signing, I don’t feel as weird asking for a picture-but we’ll see.

Everyone that I have met is VERY nice…it reminds me of Texas. People smile when I tell them I just moved from there and usually say “oh I have a friend/family member that lives there” and we develop an instant connection. I just met someone from A&M today; it's a small world.

Hopefully you haven’t fallen asleep while reading this.

This weekend I am planning on using the outdoor track on campus and go into Thousand Oaks to look around at what they have (check out the mall, Target, and Best Buy for a universal remote because I surprisingly lost my tv remote in the move). Imagine that!

Thank you for your emails, text messages and warm wishes- please keep them coming. Miss y’all =)

Love,
Rochelle