East Meets West: beach

....when you can be outside? Seriously, I know its obvious that weather here is beautiful but its crazy how much my lifestyle, at least on the weekends, has changed in such a short time. I have spent more time at the beach in the past 3 weeks than I have in the past 3 years. For those who live by the beach, it seems like a shame to waste sunny and beautiful weather. I sometimes even have trouble telling who is homeless and who just likes to spend all their time outside. At least at Venice beach this gets a little bit difficult to discern.

Last sunday I met some coworkers for day drinking at some bars in Manhattan beach. A ritzy beach side town which has a mix of college like bars, irish pubs, dives, and lounges. (Sidebar: Manhattan beach was also recently rated by CNN Money as the best place to find rich and single people. Interestingly enough, number 2 is my former home, Tysons Corner, VA. I never met any potential suitors while working in Tysons or getting my shop on at the mall so I don't know how accurate that is. But if I don't end up marrying rich after living/working/hanging out in the top two places to find rich and single people, then there probably is something wrong with me. Or rich people suck and don't know how to appreciate a witty, upbeat yet cynical, cat-loving brunette.)

Manhattan Beach Pier

Anyways I drove to meet up with my co-workers(don't worry mom, I didn't drink too much) but pretty much everyone else biked from their houses to the bar. Free parking and no hassle of having to operate a motorized vehicle. Even going drinking means being active! And as sunday fundays seem like a regular occurence, it seems that I will have to invest in a bike...and probably a helmet.

This past weekend was the epitome of what I want my time in California to be: active yet relaxing. Saturday I woke up early and went for a nice 5 mile run along the beach to Marina del Rey. I got back from my run and my roommate asked me if I wanted to play beach volleyball with her and a few of her co-workers. Despite my obvious lack of volleyball skill it was really fun, and I actually felt like beach volleyball is something I could do on a normal basis. After a couple hours of volleyball we lounged on the beach near Santa Monica for a bit. Unaware of the strength of the winter sun (uhh yes, technically it is still winter), I actually got quite sunburnt.

Sunday I went with one of my high school friends and her friends to lounge at the beach. Our original plan to go to Malibu for a few hours and hang by the beach and then go for a hike was foiled by the horrible traffic on the Pacific Coast Highway as a result of it being the first really warm weekend. Luckily coast is not hard to come by here in California. We stayed until the sun started to go down...and more importantly we started to get hungry. Over the course of the day we also saw Kim Kardashian, Ziggy Marley, Justin Bobby and Zach Galifinakas. Not really, but we did see people who looked like all of them.

Will Rogers State Beach

Of course though, I have not been spending all of my time outside. Aside from working, I have also been out with friends and coworkers quite a bit. Between celebrations, pub trivia and concerts I've kept myself busy. Last wednesday I went with a couple of coworkers to the Echo to see a pretty decent band named Reptar. Going to more concerts is definitely something I want to do while I am here.

Reptar at the Echo-February 29, 2012.

So that has been my past few weeks. I don't know if it feels like home yet, but I am lucky to have some awesome scenery and some awesome people in my life here.

Well my first week consisted of running around like a crazy person. So much so that I ended up drinking an entire bottle of wine on monday night just because...well, I needed it. I decided not to take any time off of work and jump right in. It was a really busy and stressful week with a lot going on at work but I am very happy to be here. I spent most of my evenings finding furniture for my room and trying to find a car. I was extremely lucky and found some great (and cheap!) furniture thanks to Craigslist and my parents are helping me out with the car situation by having my beloved Honda Accord shipped out to LA.

This weekend I had the chance to see some family and old friends. Driving around in the past 2 days I think I have been on every single freeway in the Los Angeles area and surprisingly feel completely comfortable driving here. Maybe the Mixing Bowl death trap in DC won't seem so intimidating anymore.

Some of you have asked about pictures of my place so here you go...enjoy!