$10 Beach parking and fireworks to come

I think every week that passes I start to enjoy California more and more...the people, the area in general...I have made three new friends (also Pepperdine employees) closer to my age and it has really made a difference. However, there is one thing that I will never ever like-the lack of parking and the fees to pay in very small paved lots for anything you want to do on the weekends. During the week this is not so much of a problem, but the weekends bring flocks of people from everywhere wanting to stake claim on some hot sand and soak their feet in the ice cold Pacific.

For example, this past weekend, my friend Jessica and I were going to go to the Adamson House which is an old tile factory here in Malibu whose inside is absolutely breathtaking. Below is a picture of a hallway in the house-the floor looks like it has a Persian rug laying on it, however those are indeed tiles. The tour itself is only $5, so we thought this would be a great cheap adventure for Saturday. Wrong.



Friday night we had gone to see Ratatouille at the Malibu Theatre (Pepperdine hosted another free movie and of course I was there-next week is the Transformers and I might just go to that too since it is free and Josh Duhamel is in it). The movie was fantastic! I highly recommend it. Prior to the movie we went to an Italian food place called Spruzzo's that was good and reasonably priced. The cornbread/focaccia bread they give you beforehand was really yummy-I had at least two pieces.



The movie started at 9:45 and we didn't get home until midnight, so Jessica and I decided that our original plan of making the first tour at 10am wasn't going to happen and we moved our plans to 2pm (when the last tour left). I left campus around 1:20 and drove down to see if I could find the Adamson house-that was a success, but I worried because it looked like there were a lot of cars parked near the area. I swung back to pick up Jessica and we pull into the Adamson House parking lot. The guy tell us that the $7 pay lot was full (where beach people park too) and that we were out of luck. We drove up and down PCH for about 15 minutes and determined that we would just have to plan this for another day and go on the first tour, hoping to beat some of the crazy beach traffic next time. I was really really sad.

To boost our spirits, we decided to go to Malibu Lagoon nearby where we paid $10, yes $10 to park our car in their tiny lot. When we drove up, the guard was playing her guitar so I just drove on by and snabbed an empty spot. We noticed that other cars had a yellow ticket in their windshield and figured we needed to go ahead and pay. After we each reluctantly handed over our $5 we were going to spend at the Adamson House, we hiked past the swampy lagoon to the beach. It's a pretty, small beach but there were about 250 people spread all over. Lots of small kiddos and two completely naked (children) splashing in the water....The cool thing about the beach was some of it led you in front of the houses located in the coveted Malibu Colony where numerous celebrities live. Jessica and I scooted under the wire gate that had a sign stating something along the lines of "private beach unless you are below the high tide area" (the wet sand).

I was a little intimidated, but Jessica had done this before so I followed her lead. There were quite a few people laying out on their decks, letting their big dogs run free on the beach catching disgusting tennis balls. I could not tell if any of the beach residents were celebrities or if they were just tourists who had either friends in high places or shelled out the 5-10 grand to rent a house for a week. Yes up to $10,000 for renting a house on the Pacific coastline for one week. I wanted to hang out on the beach more, but Jessica was ready to go back, so I dropped her off and picked up my friend Haley who also enjoys relaxing on the beach. Good thing our parking pass was for all day or I would have been really bummed. What really irked me was that after 3 or 4pm they stopped charging people-had we only known. We got some sun and people watched for a couple of hours.


We have the 4th off and I am probably going to a BBQ and will watch the fireworks from Alumni Park on the Pepperdine campus....the park is on top of a hill, overlooking the coastline where they shoot fireworks off a barge in the middle of the ocean-I can't wait!

Another thing I can't wait for is having my family come visit. They get here in 11 days and yes I am counting. My sister wants to go to H&M and Kitson in Beverly Hills and my mom wants to go see Laguna Beach...I know we are all going to have a great time, not to mention going to Disneyland!

BJ's Brewhouse is a chain restaurant that my mom loves to go to partly because she receives gift certificates from there and partly because the food and beer is good! Well several of my friends here are just obsessed with BJ's and I think it is so funny. They obviously have not experienced the food in Texas, that is for sure. I went to BJ's two weekends ago with my friends Lisa and Kerri and for dessert we ordered a pizookie which I had never heard of before. A Pizookie is a pizza cookie baked in this little dish topped with vanilla ice cream. It's OK....but I still prefer Great American Cookie and Blue Bell over it any day. We are also going to BJ's for Haley's birthday on Tuesday night. Last time I was there I had one of their famous pizzas but I am going to try really hard to branch out and try something new there.

Last week I went to the first chiropractor listed in my Healthcare provider packet. I really lucked out because Dr. Michelle Caravello is amazing. She is so nice, down to earth and really cares about me and the health of my sad back. It also helps that she lived in Austin for 8 years and has a soft spot in her heart for Texas. I can't wait to go "back" tomorrow night for another adjustment. My workstation recently got lifted to an appropriate height and this coming week my keyboard tray should be installed.....and at that time-everything will be kosher.

I hope all my friends and family in Texas are surviving the rain!