adventures on monday nights.

mondays are supposed to be boring. they're supposed to drag you out of bed, slap a cup of too-cold coffee in your hand and make you stumble into the office. but, of course. they don't have to be like that. when i was in high school, my little brother and i used to drive to school together. sometimes it was good, other times it was a bit angst-y. then i read somewhere that if you go through your life hating mondays, you end up hating 1/7 of your life.

okay, okay. pretty understandable, right?

but who wants to hate that MUCH of their life? It's kind of a lot, if you think about it. so little brother and i started going to starbucks every monday. it was a treat that we could look forward to, and it has since morphed into a tradition that i keep myself.

sometimes monday will be movie night. other days, i'll drag the best friend deep into the city with me, like this week. with our soon-to-expire groupon, we made our first trip to actually watch a movie at grauman's chinese theater. you've all heard about it.  it's the one place on hollywood boulevard where you can stick your hands into the germ infested hand prints of the stars. (if you're still unsure, you can check it out here, here, and here.)

it was kind of hot, and lots of crazy. hollywood is always amazing (i would LOVE to spend some time living in those hills...), but on mondays the amount of tourists fall dramatically. we only had to step off the stars on the street once for a camera wielding family, and there was only one parking mishap with a snotty lady from kansas (you can't ignore someone in an la parking garage, for ten minutes. we'll knock on your window).

okay. so it's friday...you can spend some time planning your monday adventure. i've been thinking about mine all week.

(family time in hollywood. *note: no cameras!) 

 (our flirty chewbacca friend. he insisted on a picture.)

 (taking a picture with my fellow blonde)

 (best friend)

(the theater. huge and gorgeous.)

(yes. we were the nerds loving the powder room...)

farmer's market addict.

okay, i think there could be a slight problem. i might really like farmer's markets. it doesn't matter whether they are on a hot street in newhall, off the road in the middle of  i-5 or in the san francisco sunset district. they're amazing. how can you not like a cute, rustic layout with lots of yummy california fruit and flowers?

i might have a little/big obsession.

a couple of weeks ago, the best friend and i had the chance to visit friends and family in the bay area. and...we might be going there next week as well. just don't tell my car.

tucked away in the sunset district, we found a darling little side street with rickety carts and lots of local farmers with long hair and gravelly voices. it was lovely. we people watched, considered signing a petition {we didn't ;)}, and brought home wildflowers and homemade soap.

i already love san francisco, and then somehow we accidently managed to stumble on the cutest local market in the city. this could prove to be a deadly combination for my heart. it's at times like these that i think on the sweet blessings that God has in store. sometimes i think i have seen it all, and then He surprises me with another little gem. i am so grateful.

{all the people. heaven.}

 {sleepy sundays and coffee shops}

{strange colored cauliflower? the best.}

{flowers and brick stairways: they belong together}

 {only some well timed words from the best friend kept me from buying all of these...}

{pamela soap? yum.}

happy friday!

When the going gets tough? 

Grab some goldfish. 

Happy Friday!!

travel time.

my family has always been extremely interested in road trips. with four kids, it's a little too expensive to buy a handful of plane tickets. our suburban got its fill of exercise throughout the course of my childhood, you can tell from the broken door handles and goldfish that have become permanently scrunched into the seat.

since my siblings were a bit too young for long distance travel, we didn't go too far out of our way until i was in high school. there were a couple scattered trips to disneyland, and a drive to eureka. then, when i was thirteen, my luck changed. i would no longer be able to claim the fact that i had never left my home state. not only was i going to exercise my love of history with a class trip to washington d.c., but my family was going to move around as well.

we were going to texas.

okay, okay. it's not that exciting, looking at the trip from this end. at the time? i was ecstatic. i packed up a "les miserables" cassette to play in my walkman (remember these?!?!), and with an old copy of "gone with the wind" on loan from the library, i finally got to travel. through the desert.

i still think that no one lives in new mexico, except the one random woman that keeps up that tiny old gas station somewhere in the middle of it. she must get flown in, i'm sure. and arizona? i'm sorry. i must have been in the wrong part because it was kind of dry...i mean. really dry.

texas was my first taste of family travel, and i loved every moment of it. in the years to come, my crazy family threw  us kids in the car and made the trek to utah, colorado, oregon and nevada. we drove back down to los angeles.

somehow, it's so different now. i've been on my own for about four years, and long-winded travel suddenly became a fond dream, something i thought of on my ten minute breaks as i scarfed down a sandwich, or during the morning commute. thankfully, the Lord has opened a few doors for me, and the decision to travel lies in my own hands. and my friendships. in a couple short weeks i'll be flying out to nashville, and in december?

i get to go to africa for a month. with my best friend.
for an unseasoned california kid, that sounds pretty amazing.

i feel very lucky to have been blessed with such phenomenal opportunities, and i am excited to begin traveling the world i have only perused in books. i don't think "gone with the wind" will be going with me, sad to say. my nook will work just fine.

there's something nice about acting like an adult. buying your own plane ticket, providing for yourself. now that i have a phenomenal job? (check my company out!) many, many doors have been opened. for old times sake, here are a few photos from the past. don't laugh too hard at my blotchy skin or goofy, too-big teeth. i didn't quite know what i was doing, yet.

(when we were cute...eureka, ca) 

(first time to alcatraz, as dad prays i won't fall in love with the city by the bay...san francisco, ca) 

(disney trip...anaheim, ca) 

 (little peanut sleepin' in the car)

(northern california + southern california cousin reunion...los angeles, ca)

loving where you are...

sometimes i get a bit of an itch. an adventure itch, one that makes me want to make my bed a stranger and hang out with my car for a long, long time. for someone who loves to take long runs and smile really hard, california has definitely been the best place to grow up.

in the past two years i have made the state of california my personal playground. in the past two weeks i have driven my creaking little car up to the bay area, down to san diego, as well as in and out of hollywood and los angeles. my home state, my adventure place. somewhere i love.

in a few short months, i'll be making a big move. it will be a good thing, but oh so sad. no one wants to leave their home. however, since i've lived in the san francisco bay area, up around sacramento and in la, i must say. i don't think you can find a more true blue california girl. i'm not quite sure how tennessee/iowa/maine will serve to treat me, but i know how i will be to them. 

kind, polite. i'll work somewhere and let them tax me. but i will make every place an adventure, an experience to wrap my mind around when i am tired. i've have been well taught by my kooky parents. there is a story in every song, in the cracks running along an old woman's cheeks and clinched between the tight clasped hands of best friends. it's always important to love where you are, but it is a great thing to find beauty in where you end up. 

my dear california, i love you more than you know. and i will be back. our next six months are going to be lovely, and i can't wait to spend them with you. but then it's time to go...

in celebration of my ((stunning)) home state, here are a few bits and pieces from a recent time back home, to the bay area. 

(somewhere along beautiful california backroads) 

(art's cafe in the sunset district)

 (loving on my sweet bay area baby)

(dressing up to write something beautiful)

Music: Monday.

i like to dance around my apartment. yes, it's true. i have hidden microphones stashed everywhere, a scrub brush or wooden spoon is always available for my crazy dance moves and off-key accompaniments.

last night i finished up the "footloose" remake, (definitely was awful. see the original) and the songs that played while the credits rolled were much too exciting to be left alone. i spent the rest of my evening flipping through spotify and touring the musical sensations of the twentieth century. i sang into everything from a spatula to a glass bottle of flowers, and it was one of the best evenings all weekend.

this was one of the songs that i sang/danced over. i think you'll find it quite fitting.

let her dance - the bobby fuller four

san diego.

wednesday was supposed to be full of fireworks, big bridges and ocean air. instead, we got a july 4th with lots of driving, laughter, a HUGE explosion and quite a few stories to tell. i think it was a pretty good trade. you can read about our nationally televised fireworks fizzle here, and you can laugh just as much as my father did. (yes, he thought it was hilarious that the best friend and i drove three hours to see...a fifteen-second show)

we acted like tourists for the day and walked through seaport village, balboa park and the gaslamp quarter. starbucks got to enjoy our consistent visits, as did the darling upstart crow bookstore. it was so cute. we had a "chai break" and listened to a brother duo play the piano to patriotic music. i've never heard 'god bless america' done with a jazz emphasis, but now i suppose i have.

since the day was overcast, we got to enjoy an empty city from noon until the night crowd bustled out and filled the streets. it's always fun to have something special to yourself, and san diego felt perfectly 'ours' that day. no pushy crowds, no crazy people trying to run us over. just a couple of train whistles that made us jump out of our shoes and a bridge i was much too scared to drive over. (i will, one day...just not now! :)

by the time we watched the firework explosion and fought the crowds to I-5, we were more than ready to go home to la. san diego truly was beautiful. it was a nice road trip, a perfect random adventure. i've found that the most beautiful adventures are found right in your backyard. adventures aren't necessarily created by thousands of miles. they can be, that's true. but if you can find a beautiful story down the street, or on the drive home? then you truly are blessed.

 (downtown from balboa park)

(our walk through balboa)

(colors)

(our restaurant on the bay)

(taking too many pictures makes best friends annoyed)

(playing games in the gaslight quarter)

(best friend's 'america'  impersonation)

(waiting for the show)

(lights)