$3.25 cupcakes and thrift store Stuart Weitzman's

Things in Cali are going well. The weather is really nice (the thing I like most about living in California). The high this week is 82…I do realize how lucky I am as most of you are blistering in the Texas heat right now. This past weekend I went to Santa Monica with two of my friends Damaris and Sondra. We drove in Friday night and walked the Santa Monica Pier all the way to the very end and ate at a decent Mexican food restaurant called Mariasol. I had a cheese enchilada and a chicken soft taco (with beans and rice of course) and it was the best tasting Mexican food I’ve had in California since I’ve been here. We got to eat on the back porch that overlooked the ocean where we could see numerous people taking pictures right next to the wood railings that kept anyone from falling flat into the Pacific. There was a cute couple dressed in all white with a photographer and assistant trying to get the best shot even though the wind was blowing pretty steadily. Below is a really pretty shot of the Pier, as mine weren't so hot.

The Santa Monica pier was not as classy as I thought it would be. It was built in 1909 and I could tell that at one point it was something really great but now it just has a “dirty” feel to it. The only nice restaurants are the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and then of course, Mariasol. The rest were amusement park stands selling burgers, hot dogs and the sort. There were rides for little kids who were running around like mad Friday night. There were also vendor carts of people selling Hollywood show tickets, craftsmen/women who would mold your face from a little clay ball, painters, cheap I love LA t-shirts and souvenirs….you get the idea.

After dinner we walked down to the 3rd Street Promenade (via cutting through a crowded mall nearby). Now, the only thing I can compare this environment to is Austin’s 6th street. The Promenade is an outdoor shopping street that has really nice and unique stores on each side but in the middle you will find the homeless, street dancers/performers, people preaching about Jesus (and the non believers arguing back-which included three PhD’s who looked like George Lucas and thought they were religion experts), musicians and other interesting people. It was a sight for sore eyes. I would have taken a lot of pictures but my battery died on my digital camera just as we were leaving the pier.

One of the stores we stopped at was called “Hear Music” where you can listen to any CD they have and you can search for songs on this little computer screen by name, artist, song title or key word. Now I’m sure you’re going…”what’s so special about that?” but it’s really geared towards a person walking in and being able to chill and listen to however much music they wanted and had little stools and such to make it a welcoming environment. In addition to the very friendly and quite attractive staff, there is also a deli/coffee bar connected to it at the front of the store.

After Hear, we pretty much had reached the end of the Promenade and were walking back towards the car. I enticed my group (which now included Dama’s friend Eric who was in town for about a month doing a summer school class) to stop at this gelato bar called Angelato that we had passed about 20 minutes earlier. It was stark white inside (very Asian/new age looking) and you had to pay before they would serve you. So you hand over your $3.75 for two tiny scoops of whatever flavor you would like and then they give you a ticket that stated the type of “holder” you are getting (cup or cone) and the size. I was feeling guilty about the Mexican food I just ate and got the small cup even though as stuffed as I was, I could have easily tried a bite of everything they had there. Angelato had all flavors under the sun….mango, kiwi, chocolate, strawberry, bubblegum (blue and pink), pistachio, blueberry, etc. Me, being a sherbet lover, got the raspberry sorbet that was juicy, cold, and could have easily been devoured in about three bites had they given me a normal sized spoon other than the baby plastic stick they provide (see picture below).

Saturday morning I was bound and determined to go walk on the beach, because the last time I went was the day my mom left town and I was with Holly and Andrea (over a month earlier). So, I woke up early and drove about 10-15 minutes to Zuma beach, which is a famous and popular beach to local surfers and a hot spot for Malibu residents because not many tourists drive down that far….they see Santa Monica beach (where I had been before) and immediately stop and set up camp. It was still foggy so I didn’t bring my camera but I will most likely be going back this weekend and will take a few snap shots. I walked for a good hour and a half down the shoreline and it felt absolutely amazing having the sand in between my toes and feeling the ice cold Pacific splash on my feet and legs. There were numerous surfers (who I find to have pretty good bodies) and a few fishermen wading in the blue waters. I parked on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), jumped the little cement wall, stuffed my cell phone and car key in my jog-bra, took off my Croc flip flops and was on my merry way. I walked to the very end of the beach and the further I kept walking, the closer the houses got to the shoreline. Surprisingly, no one was on their patio enjoying the breathtaking view…typical. But there were wooden beach chairs on the dudes between the houses and public beach that had “no trespassing” signs in front of them where one can imagine (when in town) the Malibu beach homeowners sit and sip wine til the sun goes down. Ahhh...the life. Below is a picture of Zuma beach during sunset.

After a shower and change of clothes, I headed to Camarillo (25 minutes north on 101, before you get to Oxnard) where they have an outlet mall and Target. The purpose of my trip was to buy more of those Ralph Lauren Polo t-shirts I absolutely love and adore. They are great for the weekends, working out and even sleeping in….AND they come in great fun colors like hot pink and turquoise (my favorite). Then I headed to Target to do some grocery shopping, drove through Wendy’s to grab a grilled chicken sandwich and headed back to Malibu.

Sunday, my friend Michelle and I went to Mosaic, a non-denominational church that meets in the Beverly Hills high school. It has a young crowd-which I really like! Afterwards we ate at Chipotle where I had a yummy Barbacoa burrito. The proceeds from sales between 12:30-3:30pm were going to a mission group from Mosaic. After Chipotle, Michelle and I ventured off to find the famous Sprinkles café-where they serve $3.25 cupcakes that stars like Oprah gush about. Little did we know, we could have just looked for the crowd of people outside while driving down Santa Monica Blvd and we would have found it. We waited in line about 15 minutes and each got one cupcake-she got the milk chocolate and I got the peanut butter chip. OMG-they were to die for! As we were eating them (we managed to walk a few feet past Sprinkles and then plopped down on Santa Monica Blvd. sitting on a low brick white wall in front of a store that was closed) we just kept saying “WOW” over and over again. Definitely worth the money!!! There is one in Dallas that my sister has been to, and surprisingly, the cupcakes are $3.25 there as well. We stopped in a thrift store to find some cowboy attire for a hoedown next weekend, and I was surprised to see designer shoes and bags for pretty cheap there...only in LA- LA land, I tell ya. Most of them were not anything I couldn't live without, so I managed to not buy anything.

Sunday night I had to pick my friend Haley up from LAX airport (I think I have the airport route down pretty well). We ate Subway on the way home and called it a night. I had forgotten to mention that the weekend before last, I saw Knocked Up which I didn’t think was as funny as Wedding Crashers and also saw Ocean’s 13. Walking out of the theatre was actor John McGinley who plays Dr. Cox on scrubs (picture below). He was wearing a yellow baseball cap and his wife was probably with him, I just didn’t notice. He recently was married in his Malibu home just two months ago.

I’m really bummed I missed Father’s Day this past weekend but mom emailed me a picture of Dad in his polo I got him, along with the cake I over-nighted him (the triple layer white chocolate fudge cake I told you about in my Jane Seymour blog) in a Tupperware dish. Everyone loved it just as much as I do! This coming weekend I plan on going to the Adamson house (historical tile factory) and then going to Walmart! YAY!!! Miss you all…I would love to hear from you!

Other fun facts/updates

• My friend Michelle saw Robin Williams coming out of CVS with a bag in his hand. He was wearing those blue converse tennis shoes that used to be popular when I was in middle school.


• My family (Mom, Dad, Granny and Andee) is coming to visit July 12-17 and I cannot wait! Things we plan on doing are: Disney World, the wine country, the beach, Hollywood, and anything else they would like.
  


• Gas is cheaper in LA and pretty much anywhere other than in Malibu by about 30 cents a gallon (really cheap next to the airport)…imagine that