Birthday..Thanksgiving..Texas..Andee's visit

It's been a busy couple of months to say the least. Tonight its pouring down rain and cold (can you imagine?) here in California so I figured why not sit down an update the blog.

This past Sunday was my 27th birthday. I had mixed emotions due to the fact I was not going to celebrate it in Texas with my family and friends there. However, my friend Jessica threw me a wonderful dinner party at an Italian restaurant called Alessio. It's located about 20 minutes north of Malibu off the 101. There were about 11 people there....a small but great group of people. The restaurant has a really cozy atmosphere and even a fireplace! The food was amazing. I had a caesar salad and this broccoli, chicken, and pesto dish that was to die for. Probably the show stopper of the night was the dessert plate they brought. Usually the birthday honoree gets a piece of whatever they have handy, but management brought out a turkey sized platter with two pieces of apple strudel, several scoops of vanilla ice cream, one piece of bread pudding and a chocolate mocha mouse in a chocolate Easter egg shell topped with berries. There was enough for everyone and then some! I wish you all could have been there to help me finish it off.

Here is a picture of the group that night....I love these guys!!

The Friday night before my birthday, my friends Jeni and Jeremy Eckman had a Christmas party at their house that included cookie decorating, gingerbread house making, a dance off, and a sock exchange. A fun time was had by all. In the sock exchange I received a Superman ski cap (pictured below.) Here are a few pictures from that night:

The cookies we decorated:
The gingerbread house that was made:

My friend Jeni (the host):

My friend Jessica (who has an amazing singing voice):

The Superman ski cap that I will be rocking out in Colorado next week:

A picture of the group:

Over Thanksgiving I flew back to Texas and the first night I got to see my sorority sister Stephanie who I hadn't seen in years. She currently works and lives in Houston. We had dinner at Escalante's in Highland Village and it was delicious. Stephanie took over my position as Standards Advisor for ADPi in College Station. Here is a snap shot we took at the end of the night.

My mom threw me a small family birthday celebration since I couldn't be there on the 16th. I walked into the dining room and was shocked to see all of this set up. It felt very strange celebrating in November, but what ya gonna do? ;)


I also got to swing into College Station for about a day. It's always good to be back there and see friends (and their babies) I left just six months prior..... has it really been six months?

Holding Madeleine (Susan's little girl):

Holding Reese (Mindy's little boy):

Susan, Lona, Mindy and I at my favorite BCS restaurant.....La Bodega!!

I spent the last couple of hours in town at my friend Amanda's house and then we went over to her sister-in-law Sabrina's for several games of Cranium....we stayed up until about 3 in the morning-it was so much fun! Amanda let me crash in her awesome and newly decorated guest bedroom.

In mid-October my sister and her friend Johnny came to visit me for a couple of days. We had a really great time and it was so good to have Andee back out here. Despite not being able to show them Malibu due to the fires, I think they had a memorable time.

Andee and I at the Getty Museum:

A shot overlooking LA from the Getty Museum....isn't it just gorgeous?

Mr. Bones Pumpkin patch is in West Hollywood. All the celebs (including Seal and Heidi Klum who were recently photographed at Mr. Bones) take their children here, but sadly we didn't see any.
A pic of Andee with her favorite pumpkin:

And me with mine.....

Instead of going to Malibu for beach day we drove down to the OC to check out Laguna Beach....it did not disappoint!

We ate a posh, celebrity-owned restaurant called the "Geisha House". Johnny is the only one who ordered sushi...Andee ordered chicken and I had salmon....it was very good but we had to wait for what seemed like forever, even with reservations!

At the beginning of October my sorority sister Erin came out here to visit another sorority sister whose family lives in Orange County. I met up with Erin in Beverly Hills and we ate lunch at Nate N' Al's famous deli. It was so great seeing not only a familiar Texas face, but an ADPi no less! The only celeb I have seen since I last blogged was Craig T. Nelson (from the show Coach.) I sang in the choir at the Malibu Presbyterian church (where he is a member) two Sundays ago and they were having trouble lighting the advent candle, so Craig T. stands up and offers his lighter to the little girl. The congregation laughed and I just thought to myself "how bout them apples." He was there with his wife and they sat on about the 5th row back. I can't believe he watched me sing! :)


Even though I haven't seen many A-list celebs doesn't mean my friends haven't.....

• Danna sat next to Dennis Quaid at Casa Escobar during lunch (a little Mexican food joint here in Malibu)
  
  
• Gail sat next to Julia Roberts and her daughter while at the beauty salon here in Malibu last Saturday



• My friend Eryn saw Britney Spears on the Pepperdine campus trying to escape the Paparazzi
  
  

I am heading back to Texas for Christmas break on Saturday morning bright and early (5:45am flight.) From Sugar Land, we are driving up to Dallas on the 24th to spend Christmas with my sister and then on the 25th we are driving to Divide, Colorado where my mom has rented a cabin for the week. My sister will fly out the night of the 27th to meet us since she has to work the two days after Christmas (gotta love life in retail.) We are even bringing our dog Toby on this journey. I can't wait! New Years Eve will most likely be spent in Houston celebrating with friends.

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during the past two fires here. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Years if I don't see you before then.

Much love,

Ro

Celebrity Catwalk, Pinkberry and More

Hi all-sorry it’s been so long since my last update….here I go!

My friend Haley and I went to see a showing of Mary Poppins in Malibu Bluffs park where Dick Van Dyke opened the night storytelling his experience working on the movie set and also answered questions from the audience. It was shown on this huge screen while we sat on blankets underneath the stars:

Dick answering questions from the audience:

One of the other highlights over the past two months was going to the Celebrity Catwalk at the Hollywood Highlands center (picture below) with my friend Rachel.

Rachel and I were buddies in high school through choir at Clements and she recently moved out here to follow her dreams in the music industry. We re-connected through facebook and I was able to drag her with me to this event starting late for a Thursday night. Here is a picture taken of Rachel and I at the club shortly after we arrived:


The Celebrity Catwalk is a fashion show where proceeds go to local animal shelters. I was excited because Aubrey O’Day (from P.Diddy’s making the band 3) was there. She is the lead singer of the group Danity Kane that I love rocking out to. Other celebs that I was excited to see there include: Kim Kardashian (pictured with Aubrey and a socialite) Bobby Trendy (Anna Nicole Smith’s former stylist), David Hasselhoff (his daughter was one of the models in the show, so he was just a member of the audience) Jenna Jameson (former adult film star), and Kendra Wilkinson (Hugh Hefner’s sporty girlfriend). And yes, these pictures were taken from my very own camera!

Aubrey O'Day and Kim Kardashian

Bobby Trendy

David Hasselhoff

Jenna Jameson

Kendra Wilkinson

Rachel and I grabbed sandwiches at Johnny Rockets prior to the event starting and walked in the doors at 10 till 8:00pm. As the bouncers were checking our bags-every single pen in my purse (and some of them being my favorite) was taken away permanently, being thrown in a stack of other dangerous items such as perfumes. Heaven forbid we smell good and get a few autographs…at least cameras were allowed!

So we head to the bar after glancing around and I order a gin and tonic, and Rachel grabs a rum and diet coke (both costing $6 each). We stand in front of the end of the runway, thinking its going to be a great spot to stand. The place starts filling up, and I am snapping shots of Bobby Trendy and David Hasselhoff, trying to look cool while standing in place grooving to the music, holding my drink, purse and camera. The show started about 45 minutes later and right as the models were about to walk out-what seem liked hundreds of media pile up right in front of us with their big cameras and push everyone else out of the way. I still was able to see all the models and catch the pictures you saw above. After about an hour our feet were tired (I should have worn my crocs) and we headed home.

About two weeks later my friend Eryn (who is just as **I’m not going to say obsessed** interested in celebrity spotting and gossip as I am) and I went on a search for the Polaroid beach house. Now, for those of you who do not watch E! news or get your daily updates from perezhilton.com I will tell you what this is. Polaroid decided for the past couple of years to rent a beach house in Malibu where celebs can show up to eat and drink all they want for free while snapping photos of themselves to capture the indulgent moments of their visits. Paris Hilton lives just a few doors down, so she is over there quite often and so are people like Adrian Grenier, (from the HBO show Entourage) Jeremy Piven, and Matthew McConaughey. Everything from movie release parties, fashion shows, 4th of July parties, celeb birthday parties, etc. are held here on a daily basis. If you pass by Ralph’s (the only grocery store in Malibu) you can see the back side of the PBH where there is valet parking every single day of the week, along with Mac trucks for setting up catering, lighting, etc.

Now back to my story…Eryn and I were about 80% sure that the Polaroid Beach House was on Carbon Beach (home of Leonardo Di Caprio, Jennifer Aniston) so that’s where we spent about four hours walking up and down looking for this house. I should mention at the time of our journey we didn’t know the beach house was behind Ralph’s which is NOT on Carbon beach. Anyway, one of the highlights of our amazing beach workout was seeing and actually speaking to Michelle Rodriguez (from Lost, the movies Blue Crush, Fast and Furious). As Eryn and I were walking back towards our car heading north on the beach, we walk past Michelle who was in a yellow bikini and playing with her dog.

Eryn didn’t recognize her and thought she was some surfer girl with a great body but I knew who she was immediately! Her dog had run right in front of us so she goes “im sorry about that” and we go “oh, it’s OK” while attempting to hold back huge smiles on our faces. Right as we pass Michelle and dog I turn to Eryn and say, “do you know who that was? It’s Michelle Rodriguez”. As she looks back over her shoulder a paparazzi runs over to Michelle to take her picture. She immediately jogs back up the house. The next day, sure enough the below picture of Michelle was posted on perezhilton.com. It was pretty cool to see that knowing we were about 20 feet away!

Prior to actually seeing Michelle, we spotted a beach house with about 15 papparazzi just 100 feet away under umbrellas snapping photos like mad. At the house, I would say there were 20 people lounging outside- having a good time, but the only person I recognized as we casually strolled by twice was Jon Favreau (from the movies Swingers, The Break Up, Wimbledon).

Upon seeing him, I thought to myself “surely they are not all here for this guy”. Later on we heard from a lady who either lives on or frequents the beach that Naomi Watts was sitting outside the house but I could not find her in the crowd.

Pulling up perezhilton.com later on, I saw that Vince Vaungh was hanging out at the same house later that day. Our four hour workout walking up and down Carbon Beach was not a total wash. The water is crystal clear from the minute you put your feet in, so you truly feel like you are in Cancun when you arrive.

We also spotted the back side of the Silver Spoon house, which basically serves the same purpose as the Polaroid beach house. I snapped a shot of the Silver Spoon land rover as we were walking back to our car (picture shown below-check out license plate).

Another cool LA thing my friend Jessica and I tried was the new kinda-like-but not-frozen yogurt craze called PinkBerry. They almost look like Jamba Juice stores but we went to a kiosk in a local mall. People line up in droves for this stuff, just like they do for those Sprinkles cupcakes I adore. Now, I must admit that some people are skeptical about what exactly PinkBerry is made of and according to California law it doesn’t have enough bacteria cultures per ounce (sounds yummy, right?) to be called frozen yogurt. It’s got tons of sugar but if you want to try something unique I would recommend it.

According to wikipedia: “The tart, frozen dessert has a groupie-like following who sometimes refer to it as ‘Crackberry’. The company acknowledges its cult-like following by maintaining a ‘groupie corner’ on its website”. There are two flavors: regular and green tea. I sampled both and ended up getting the regular flavor, which I honestly cannot tell you what it tastes like for all the money in the world, but it was good. I topped it off with fresh kiwi fruit, but there are about 15 cut-fresh, on site fruit toppings for one to choose from along with kid cereals such as Captain Crunch and Fruity/Coco Pebbles. If you want to read more, check out their official website at: http://www.pinkberry.com/html/pbmain.php. Due to the high amount of sugar its obviously not something you want to eat daily-but a unique tasty treat that if one has access to, should try.

My roommate Danna got here from Qatar earlier this month and she and I have been having a blast hanging out and living in her RV at the Malibu RV park where Matthew McConaughey keeps his Air Stream and lives when he is in the area. You can clearly see the Pacific Ocean from our spot and it is just amazing……our 5 minute commute to work isn’t bad either!!!

One of two note worthy adventures was going to an indoor shooting range for the first time where I got to shoot a 22. Not only was the shooting range fun, but I was hitting the targets, amazing I know. I liked the 22 because it had very little kickback and was easy to handle. Below is a picture of Danna and I wearing our ear shields. We had gone to an Aggie Game watching party in Manhattan Beach earlier that day-that's why we are in maroon. I was shocked that we were not given bullet proof vests, but I guess that’s the chance you have to take when you step in the front door, and normal procedure according to some of my other friends who frequent shooting ranges in Texas.

The other adventure was going to my first Dodger’s game! We got there at about the 5th inning (we got lost and drove 40 minutes out of our way but finally made it). This was just enough time to order a Dodger dog (the stadium’s famously long and delicious hot dog) and watch the Dodgers beat the Padres. We managed to sit in front of three of the most obnoxious Dodger fans in the stadium, but we had a good time. EVERYONE there was in Dodger garb-it was like being at Kyle Field for a home football game, but instead of maroon, the color of the evening was royal blue.

I have seen quite a few movies in the past two months and surprisingly they are all entertaining and I highly recommend them:

Bourne Ultimatum-the best one of the Bourne Trilogy and a must see:

Stardust-is a mystical love story with Michelle Phieffer, Claire Danes and Robert De Niro:


3:10 to Yuma-a great Western shoot-em-out movie with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale:



Eastern Promises-a graphic story of a young Russian girl who gets caught up in the Russian mob in London, starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen:


I should mention that over Labor Day weekend I traveled back to College Station, had a wonderful time, and will write about it in another blog. I am waiting for pictures from a friend of mine because the queen of taking photos left her camera in LA when packing for Texas.

One thing I am looking forward to (other than seeing Daniel Baldwin later today, since Danna has joined his softball team) is having my sister Andrea and her friend Johnny come visit for the weekend mid-October! I can’t wait!!!

That’s all for now…love, peace and chicken grease (taken from one of my student workers). Please drop me a line to let me know how you are doing-I love hearing from everyone.

More Celeb Sightings and The Family Visit

Hi Friends!

I guess I should start off with my recent celebrity sightings....last Sunday afternoon I watched Daniel Baldwin play softball at Malibu Bluffs park. My friends Jen and Kerri are on a city league softball team and Daniel (or DB as his teammates called him) happens to be their pitcher. I had gone with Jen to look for couches the day before. When she mentioned she had a game the next day and that Daniel would be there, I thought I would pop by. It was really cool seeing a celeb do something "normal" without photographers around. The mother of his unborn child (the former chef at the Malibu rehab facility he was recently staying in) was also there, lounging on the grass beside the field. In between innings he would go lay next to her, putting his head on her stomach. It was really sweet. Today, Tammy and I went to the Malibu Arts Festival, which is a huge craft show with photographers, artists, sculptors, food vendors, etc. I didn't see anything I couldn't live without, however I did see Drew Lachey (Nick's brother), his wife and child walking by. Drew and Leah were both in sunglasses and are a lot shorter in person.

Now onto the family visit. My entire family (mom, dad, granny, and Andee) minus Toby arrived in Los Angeles on a Thursday morning and headed straight to Venice beach and Hollywood boulevard while I was at work. Around 4pm, they made their way to campus and got to see my office, get a few Pepperdine t-shirts and hats, and got a glimpse of the breath-taking view of the Pacific.

After I got off work, we headed to Duke's barefoot bar and chowed down on grilled chicken sandwiches, fish and chips, and some fruity drink concoctions. We were able to snab a table outside that looked right onto the ocean. They were really tired, so after dinner mom, dad, and granmy headed back to the hotel and Andee stayed with me. I took Andee to Ralph's hoping to see a celeb but unfortunately we didn't there. We then headed to the Malibu Country Mart and got some iced tea at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (they are everywhere here) and I showed her the unique shops and where Nobu was (a hot spot for Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox and other local celebs who like expensive sushi). While walking back towards my car we saw Paul Rudd playing with his son in the little playground found smack-dab in the middle of the Country Mart. All of the playground pictures you see in US Weekly or OK magazine are taken here.

Friday was Disneyland....it was so much fun, however I must say that I like Disney World better because you feel like you are at a resort in Florida more so than you do here in Cali. We rode almost all the kiddie rides (my back can't handle much more) and then Andee and Dad rode Space Mountain. My favorite rides were Peter Pan, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and meeting Mickey Mouse (45 minutes in line for that one). We had started our day at Disney around 11:30am and by about 6:00pm we were spent. We stopped at a Red Robin (a West Coast restaurant that has a diner feel) on the way home and called it a night.

Saturday we hit the wineries....that was a really unique experience. We drove up PCH and the 101 to the Santa Barbara wine country....more specifically to a city called Los Olivos (where Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch is). Our first winery was the Firestone winery owned by Andrew Firestone's family (yes the tire company and of the show the Bachelor). The winery had little stations set up in a large room, each showcasing five to six different wines (whites and reds) for you to taste. You pay $5-$7 dollars per winery (this includes a keepsake glass and the tastings). They give you a list of what you are trying and a little description of each. Firestone also owns Curtis winery so we paid $10 which included the glass and wine at both places. Firestone also had samples of their jalapeño mustard and merlot chocolate dip to try with pretzels which was a real treat.

After about two full glasses worth of tastings, we drove down to the Curtis winery where I tasted (hands down) the best wine ever made. I am a really big sweet wine (or fruit forward) fan....anything labeled a Reisling or dessert wine, I know I will like. This wine was called a 2005 Late Harvest Viognier and was mouth watering delicious....super sweet. At $35 a bottle for about three glasses worth, I passed but will definitely buy a bottle at some point in my life. We stopped at two more wineries after that and also spent two hours at a local casino playing slot machines...no big winnings here but it was fun. After the casino we were starving and hit up an In and Out Burger in Ventura. Everyone loved it just as much as I do. It's definitely worth the hype in my opinion.

Sunday we headed to Beverly Hills to check out Kitson (a very trendy expensive shop of t-shirts, jeans, and trinket type things). After about 30 minutes in Kitson, Andee picked up a cute makeup bag and we headed to Sprinkles cupcakes. Dad, granny and I tried milk chocolate, Andee got a red velvet one and mom had a carrot cake. No one was disappointed. We also go two extra to share (vanilla and chocolate coconut). My favorites to this day are peanut butter chip and vanilla. Those of you in the Dallas area- check out your local Sprinkles (they are selling a limited edition cherry flavor until August 5th) and the Houston area will be getting a franchise soon according to their website. The picture below is a picture I took in front of Kitson and it says "Kitson Welcomes the Beckhams to Los Angeles".

After Sprinkles, we headed to the Grove/Farmer's Market for some pizza and shopping. We also took in a movie (License to Wed) at the Grove theater. I thought the movie was OK-but not as funny as I thought it would be. One nice thing about the theater, were the all you could drink self-serving soda fountain machines (I have given up sodas since then, going on 10 days and doing excellent). Andee and I had Subway for dinner back in Malibu and then stopped at the local frozen yogurt store called Malibu Yogurt (Malibu Yo). One would think Malibu Yo was this amazing place but in actuality its just the only ice cream/yogurt shop within a 30 mile radius. I wasn't impressed at all with the chocolate flavor I had the first time, but this time with Andee I got a coffee flavor that was pretty good and I am a fan again.

Monday was beach day and of course it was cloudy. We laid on a couple of towels on the shores of Zuma and watched surfers, junior life guards in training and a large number of people that didn't have to work that day frolic in the ocean and sand. After changing, the family headed back to the airport for the 3-hour flight back home. I spent the rest of that day doing laundry, napping, and at the chiropractor because one of the rides at Disneyland ended up being a little more jarring than I had thought. It was really hard to see them all leave but we got a lot done in a short amount of time and everyone had a blast.

I can't believe I have been here for almost three months....the summer has gone by so fast and I am really enjoying being out here. On a side note, I saw the movie Hairspray last week (Pepperdine hosted it again) and it was wonderful-you must go see it. We had a choice of either seeing Harry Potter or Hairspray and of course I chose the musical.

Also, the Beckhams have now moved into their Beverly Hills pad and are the new "IT" couple...hopefully they will make their way to the 'Bu so I can blog about it! ;) I really want to go to an LA Galaxy game (the team David plays for) and also check out a Dodger's game at some point.

Thanks for reading....and I hope to hear from you all soon!

xoxo
Ro

$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!

$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

the DMV and Duke's

Hi All,

I apologize for taking so long to post again. I have been fighting a massive cold since Monday (something I believe I caught from traveling, thank goodness its NOT TB!) After much alka- seltzer, decongestants and some nasty orange stuff called Delsym-I am feeling 90% better without having to go to the doctor!!!! AND the weekend before I flew to Texas to get some Tex Mex, BBQ, see Toby and my family...it was a quick but wonderful trip back. My next planned trip back to College Station is Labor Day weekend-so hopefully I will get to see some of you then.

Things are starting to settle in a little bit...two Thursdays ago I decide to take my car to get the much dreaded smog check because I had made an appointment at the DMV the very next morning to get my license, plates and car registered. In California, you must do this or else they will not let you register your car-so its a pretty big deal. I had a training course that morning that ended around 12:15, so I went straight to my car and drove "through the canyon" to Calabasas to the Xpress smog check station. As I pull up, I realize just one lane over is an oil change place and I thought-this is perfect, I can kill two birds with one stone. I get my oil changed and ended up paying about $50 because my air filter needed replacing. After that was done, I drove around again to get in the smog check line. The owner, very kind gentleman from India who had family in Sugar Land (small world) took my keys and pulled my car up into the metal "car holder" that spins your tires so they can get an emission test.

Well just about that time the check engine light on my car comes on. I freak out. He says that there is no way the car will pass the computerized smog test with the engine light on. So I drive back around to the oil change lane and they do a battery test and everything was fine. They tell me to go drive 10-15 miles to get the light "out of the car's memory" and then go back into the smog lane. To make a long story short, I drive around, come back and it passes the test. Thank goodness!!!! I was really worried there for a second since my car is seven years old. But Toyotas have NEVER let us down and I'm positive they never will. A gray-haired man in a Porche had pulled in front of me, so I had to wait about 10 minutes for his check to finish before my test was complete. I got a free car wash out of the deal and a diet coke-so I was a happy camper. The man's printer was broken, so my certificate stating my car had passed was non existent-I had to trust him that the computer actually sent the confirmation directly to the DMV. I was really worried that since my car didn't have California plates yet, it would not get put into the system.

What was supposed to take about 45 minutes total, took about an hour and a half....at least it was done. I called the DMV immediately when I got back to the office to make sure my smog check was sent into their system. After reading my VIN number over the phone three times "a as in apple, 1, 4, c as in cat...." you get the picture-the man confirmed that the result was indeed in their system. Another answered prayer.

The next morning (Friday) I wake up early and leave the house around 7:15am wanting to make sure I made it not only to Thousand Oaks (the closest DMV) but to the actual office for my 8:30am appointment. I get there around 8, sit in my car eating my yogurt and drinking a slim fast (my typical breakfast on the run) and call my big sis Mindy who is currently living in Georgia and is three hours ahead of me-so I knew she would be awake. We talk for about 15 minutes and the doors finally open with a crowd of about 20 people standing outside the door. I walk in and grab a few forms that I have to fill out and the lady tells me to go back to my car and pull around so they can do a verification inspection (a quick look over) that someone signs off on stating that I am indeed the owner of the car I pulled up in. After that I go back inside and wait until they call my number. My number gets called after about 4 minutes and I walk up with all my documentation-the car title, my TX license, and my passport. They issue me California plates, tags and take about $110 of my hard earned money. I then go over to take my license picture and then they punch a big ugly hole in my TX license and hand me a two-sided 40 question paper driving test. The night before I had printed off the entire California DMV handbook from the website that included a picture and letter from Governor Arnold telling us to drive safely and to NOT speed race. I passed the test with flying colors and was out of there in exactly one hour.

This past Friday night me, and two of my student workers Haley and Michelle went to Duke's (a restaurant right on the beach-picture shown above). They have what is called the Barefoot Bar with 1/2 price entrees from 4-6pm. We ate outside right where the ocean waves crash up to the glass plated wall and seagulls beg for handouts. I got a delicious cheeseburger and walked out of there only paying $7 for dinner including the tip-what a deal! Too bad the valet was $3 and you have no other option unless you are a "lucky" person who gets to park right on the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and have a chance of your car being damaged or YOU have a chance of being hit by an oncoming car. Nice thought, right?

Yesterday, I went to Agoura Hills to get my Allstate car insurance policy switched over (meaning pay MUCH more a month-the minute I move out of Malibu, my 6 month premium will go down over $200) and my new agent helped me put on the new plates. It so happened that her husband was a mechanic on the side and she had just the tools to unscrew the caps of the front plates and I did the back ones. When I came home, I found that not only my health insurance card arrived but so did my driver's license! I am sunburned in the picture-but its a decent one. I will post it soon.

After the Allstate appointment I walked around the Thousand Oaks mall and it gave me a feeling of "normalcy". Next weekend I have an appointment to get my hair cut at the JC Penney's salon (Celeste where are you when I need you?) I am debating on whether or not to keep the appointment and go to the Unicuts Plus (hopefully a grade up from TGF's) in Calabasas that I just saw today while we were having lunch at Sharky's (a Mexican grill similar to Chipotle). I will let you know what I decide and how my hair turns out. I'm just getting a trim and maybe partial highlights re-done, they can't mess that up too much, right????

More fun things about California/Malibu:

• McDonald's charges you for extra ketchup
  
• movie tickets range from $9.50 for students up to $14


• Patricia Arquette was right in front of some friends while they were standing in line to see Shrek III last night


• Parking anywhere (the beach, a restaurant, etc) will cost you anywhere from $3-$7


• every car in the Malibu Colony Plaza/Country Mart is an exotic luxury car....Ferrari, Range Rover, Maserati, Lamborghini


• Spinach Enchiladas are warmed spinach leaves in a corn tortilla-no cheese, sauce, onions, nuthin

I miss my friends and family A LOT but meeting new people here has really been good for me. This week I am planning on walking the track at least four times again (i was too weak this past week to do anything other than sleep the minute I got home from work). I would love to hear from everyone to see how you are doing and how life in Texas is.....

Love to you all,

Malibu McCall ;)