Zuma Beach

Sometimes I trick Rob into doing things.  Not on purpose, but I guess it just works out that way.  A couple of days ago, I tricked him into going on a 3 mile walk with me.  He wore flip flops, I wore full exercise gear.  But it worked out, and it was fun.  And pretty.  And we got to see more of my favorite lifeguard towers! :)

We realized that we knew one of the guy on the poster on all of the lifeguard towers.  This is Rob inspecting it and then standing in disbelief that our friend is on it.  It was funny.

weekend adventures.

This weekend was a good one.  I had Friday off from work, so it was good and long.  Just like every weekend should be.

We started the weekend with a nice lunch at La Brea Bakery, which is actually located in the caf at Pepperdine.  The balcony at the caf overlooks the city and the beach, so the caf kind of = a nice restaurant... kind of.  I got a mozzarella, sundried tomato, and pesto panini.  It was divine.

Next up:  We had breakfast with our pals Alan and Kristi on Saturday morn.  I work with Alan.  He is a funny guy.  And they're both super nice.  We ate at our favorite breakfast spot, Patrick's Roadhouse.  I had delicious multigrain blueberry pancakes.  They were great.  Thanks Patrick.

Straight from breakfast, Rob and I went to the Los Angeles Zoo.  If I hadn't gotten free tickets, we might not have gone.  Not because we don't love animals, but just because, oh, it was 100 DEGREES at the zoo.  Oh goodness gracious, we haven't walked around in that kind of heat for a long time.  But it was still a good time because we got to see some baby animals playing around with their moms (our favorites were the orangutan and the barbarous), some really cool mountain goats, and the chimpanzees putting on quite the show for the audience.  It was pretty cool.

Seriously, I would like to see how that goat gets down from there. 

We had to run some errands in Santa Monica after the zoo, so that was where we headed.  And pretty much stayed the rest of the evening.  We walked down 3rd Street, walked to the pier, went to the arcade (we're not gamers, I swear), and watched a street performer do a magic show.  A surprisingly impressive magic show.

I would say that the highlight was when I WHOOPED Rob in arcade basketball, and even set a high score for the machine.  Holla.

It's Final.

I put my 2 weeks in at work last Friady.  So, I only have 9 days of work left !!

And then we're moving!  :o

CRAZY!

I cannot even believe how fast the past 2 years have gone by.  It seems like yesterday that Rob and I packed up, drove to CA, and moved into our small, bathtub-less, blue-carpeted apartment at Pepperdine.

Good times.

These are some flowers around campus, along with my all-time favorite tree. 

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I always knew the 4th of July was a great holiday, but this year I have realized that it is in fact my favorite holiday (maybe tied with Christmas).  There's no stress that comes along with it, there is always fun outdoor stuff to do, yummy food is always involved, there are often parades, and best yet, there are fireworks.  I love fireworks.

After church, Rob and I changed into holiday-appropriate clothing (well, I actually wore festive clothing to church as well, but I had to make it casual for the rest of the day), had a wonderful bbq, and then went to one of the best firework shows we have witnessed. 

This is Rob's 4th of July shirt.  He has worn it every 4th of July since 2006.

The Malibu Colony, which is a super exclusive gated community on the beach in Malibu, put on the fireworks.  We thought it was going to be really crowded, so Rob and I packed blankets, games, and snacks, then headed down to the beach a couple of hours early.  It was a beautiful evening- perfect for being outside.  There were surfers in the water that we watched, we played many games of UNO, and we visited with Seamore the Seagull.

The fireworks were spectacular.  Rob and I have been in DC for the 4th a couple of times, which is amazing.  But we couldn't decide which was better.  Since the fireworks were launched from a barge in the ocean, each one would light up the water with different colors.  It was pretty cool.

And that was that. 

I wonder where we'll be next 4th of July.

God Bless America.

Camper's Delight

Over the weekend, Rob and I successfully completed our first camping trip with just the two of us.  We packed way too much, considering that we were gone a little less than 24-hours, but at least we didn't forget anything. 

On Friday morning-ish, we drove to the Los Angeles National Forest and found our camp site.  Our campsite was quite swell, including a fire ring, picnic table, cool cut down tree trunks, and hiking trails to the of side and behind us. First thing we did when we got there was set up camp. 

Rob with our little tent.

Then we went for a hike behind our new home,

cooked some tin foil dinners over the fire,

watched the sun go down,

 and of course, made s'mores.  Rob only ate one before saying he had too much sugar.  I lost count of how many I had, but I know it was atleast 5. 

 The evening was definitely the most fun.  We both agreed.  There's just something really cool about building your own fire, making food over that fire, and then sitting around talking until you are the last campers in your area that are still awake.  We may never be extreme campers, but I can forsee some more camping adventures in our future.

Some People

Working in the Admission Office at Pepperdine, I sometimes have the opportunity to see the whacky things that applicants send us.  Here is a gem that I stumbled across today.

1) Some guy submitted a picture of himself in a magazine... modeling. He attached a paragraph to it explaining how he was eating lunch at Whole Foods one day and someone came up to him and asked if he would like to do modeling for a magazine (small, no-name magazine). He later goes on to write, "Although some days I had to wake up at four in the morning and shoot in 48F weather while playing with freezing cold fountain water, the experience was more rewarding than I could have imagined".

Really?

Did he seriously want the people who would be deciding his fate to read that? :/

Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend. 
Me and the Mr. are going on a short camping trip and then just hanging around the area for the 4th.  :)