El Matador

As I promised, here are some pics of the beautiful El Matador Beach! Enjoy!!!

The path down to the beach from the parking lot

A pool in between some rocks

One of the many large rocks on the beach

Under one of the rocks

*Stellar Photographs are Courtesy of Matthew Wright :)*

!!!crAzY LA DaY!!!!

Well, life is back to normal.....DRAT!!! :)
Last week was so much fun! My best friend from West Coast, Kayla Stone, was visiting me for Spring Break! Aw man I have missed her so much! We were inseparable last semester! Everyone thought we were sisters or that we at least had been friends before school. We met at work, WCBC Kitchen Crew. In my life, I have found 3 friends that I automatically clicked with. Where it didn't take much work at all to get to know the person, and an immediate bond was formed! Kayla was like that! One of the people I know I will be friends with all through my adult life. It was so great to have her here for a whole week. We had many adventures and funny moments! Too many to share, and I doubt anyone else would find them quite so hilarious as we did! Much of the time we were just hanging out at home, trying to work on the tan! But we were also able to take some really nice, long walks; go to the mall and try on crazy outfits and beautiful formal dresses that we would never be able to wear; walk around town; and on Saturday go to LA!

Ah, Saturday was THE COOLEST DAY!!!. . .maybe ever?! We went to China Town which was so neat! Haha, Asians are so.....unique! LOL! Some of the stuff they sell in the markets, pretty funny! But we had some good times! Went down to Malibu and got lunch at a really good place called Malibu Seafood (really original!). It was pretty yummy, and we jay-walked across the PCH and ate down at the beach.. Haha, we finished eating and turned our back on our little picnic for about two seconds and then turned back to find every Seagull in Malibu sitting on our blanket pillaging our picnic! Kayla and I had finished our food but Matt still had about half of his (ginormous) tuna burger left! Oh well!

I officially have a new favorite beach! After we ate, we drove a few minutes further down the PCH and went to El Matador beach! Oh my word!!! Oh my stinkin' word! I will have to post some photos of it for you all! It was absolutely incredibly beautiful! It's pretty deprived of facilities (although there is a charming porter potty at the top, haha!) so it's not where you want to go if you are looking to be pampered. There is a path that leads down to the beach and a bunch of stairs and the first thing you see is this HUGE rock! GINORMOUS!!! There are rocks all along the beach and in the water! Smaller ones that you can climb over to get to other parts of the beach, and then bigger ones that you can walk under, or explore the caves in them! There are also some caves in the sides of the cliff! We walked along it for such a long time and nothing was left unexplored or unpoked! LOL! We saw so many starfish and mollusc's and other creatures that I have no idea how to spell! And Matt found some hermit crabs so was carrying one around for a while! Wow, it was so neat! So secluded, too. I love the beach, it's my favorite treat but one thing I hate is the other visitors! It's like they are all entered in a competition to see who can where the least amount of clothing without getting arrested for indecent exposure (which is pretty darn naked these days!). It's offensive so if I happen to be at the beach with my family or any other guys, it's all strategy...finding a spot to set up camp where everyone seems to be the most clothed and walking back on paths that avoid the skanky females. But there wasn't any of that at this beach. . .well at least not for Matt to worry about. Although Kayla and I did turn a corner around a large rock to be face-to-face with an old skinny man in a very little speedo! And he just smiled and said hi. Our reaction may have been deemed rude by the friendly nearly-naked man. Kayla quickly turned her face and I accidentally let out a loud gasp before looking down! Ah, it was so awkward!!! But other than that, everyone was fully clothed! There were photographers (Matt was one among a few), and a painter and couples sitting and having a picnic! We saw people as we walked along but they were few and far between! It was so nice! And the beach was beautiful!

After that we drove to Santa Monica, where we went down to the Promenade. That was pretty fun. Matt and I got our hands stamped with a free peace sign stamp and we are now part of the Peace Club!! haha, thanks to a couple of old hippie men! They were high!! :) We had parked pretty far away and so on the way back it was pretty scary as it was now dark and we had to walk past many dark corners and many homeless people getting their beds ready! Kayla was especially freaked and I was scared, too and Matt was making jokes! Ugh, in case of an ambush we were going to throw him towards our attacker and make a run for it! He's buff, he can fend for himself!! But praise the Lord (and no thanks to Matt, our "protector") we made it safely back to the car!

We finished off the night by a search for an Olive Garden back in downtown LA but to no avail so settled for California Pizza Kitchen which is not one of my fave's but was still pretty yummy! I give a shout-out "thank you" to our benefactor for that meal! :) haha. Then we had the long drive home which was pretty quiet as we all started to settle down now that our belly's were full and our tired bodies were out of the cold wind and in the warm car. Overall, it was the best day of my whole year!!! =D

~I Don't Get It~

Things I just don't get:

~Soap Opera's. Even if you are lame and trashy enough to want to sink lower than anyone with the slightest bit of morals.....where's the embarrassment? No shame? I would no sooner turn my TV to As the World Turns than I would pick up a paper-back book.....or dine on my spleen for that matter!!!

~Why Goofy gets to enjoy all the luxuries of a respectable canine, whilst poor Pluto is doomed to walk on all 4's wearing nothing but a collar, eat dog food by plunging his face into a dish sitting on the ground, live in a dog house, poop in the yard, can't even speak besides *Ruff!*...the list goes on and on. Honestly....I neither see the logic nor the justice in this!!!

~Why dogs are man's best friend, and even though we take care of them....cats couldn't be more anti-social.

~Why anyone would actually like cold weather.

~Condiments. Ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard.....revoltingly disgusting! Why???

~Why the film industry insists on ruining what could be a good movie by pelting us with profanity and other offensive content.

~Horror and slasher films. Since when are the mentally disturbed THAT disturbed?! I mean, have you seen previews for some of these films? Demonic and terrifying!

~Why boys are so stupid!.......Need I say anymore??

Museum, 7-Seater and Banana Slurpee's!!!

It's getting late, but I still have energy from a super fun day and super delicious Samoans (thanks, Grandma!!!). I guess Robb was looking at blogs tonight and remarked that I hadn't blogged in a long time, which I really haven't. So I decided to try and burn a bit more energy before going to bed by blogging now. After all, today was stellar to the max, why not write about it!

First up was the church workday. Matt and Lauren picked Robb and I up at about 8, which was nice and early on a chilly Saturday morning. We did random stuff: washing walls, cleaning windows, mopping floors, vacuuming, taking out trash (YAY trash, Lauren!!!), and such of the like. Went to 7-11 and got a Slurpee which really snazzed up my day! I have not been to 7-11 in so long. And I remember when I was a kid we would go and I always got a banana Slurpee. The stores I have been to over the years have not had them, but this one did! Oh!! I was so thrilled! So utterly astounded and excited to see this flavor greeting me! It was like a warm hug from an old friend! So many childhood memories came flooding back to me as I happily grabbed a cup and filled it up! But then Matt so graciously pointed out that for 20 cents more, we could get really big ones! Honestly, why didn't I think of thinkin' of that?? So he grabbed a big cup for me and I took the lid off of my small one, which caused the sticky, runny, cold contents to poor out the side of the cup! Matt then jerked the cup he was holding up which caused it to spill more so I dumped the icy drink into the cup as best I could, but 'twas too late. Thankfully, no major damage was done besides sticky hands and saturated carpet!! Nothing like team-work!!!

After that exciting day at the church, a group of us went to the History and Art Museum in Ontario! If any of you are looking to be delighted with an enlightening and educational museum....don't go here! However, if you are looking for a fun outing that is free and interesting and wholesome (except for the picture of that chubby man in swim trunks.....shouldn't that be illegal, guys? Really!)....than this place is perfect! We had a jolly good time. 12 of us went and they had fireman suits and gear to try on. A bunch of photographs for their current exhibit which follows the modern day trail of Lewis and Clark. Then permanent exhibits on Route 66 and Earth. Over-all not the coolest museum I have ever been to, but we had a good time! And no! We did not try to open the big chest with a dead body in it, look in the well that turned out not to be a well, and go past the rope to see if the dark door was unlocked!!! :)

After that we went to the mall. Just wandered around, got ice cream, it was yummy! At one point, Samantha and I were walking slightly ahead of the group, and we got to a store we wanted to go into and turned around to tell the group that had disappeared!! AH! We had no idea where they were! We determined that they had been kidnapped, but didn't know they had been so it was up to us to warn them! However, that was slightly difficult because I didn't have my cell with me and Sam's phone had died! Drat! So we ran back to where we last remembered seeing them where a kiosk lady offered a lotion tester. Sam was laughing at me because I said yes, I wanted some! I didn't listen to any of her offers, I just mooched off her lotion but my hands were really dry!!! What's a girl to do, seriously?! :) So we ran back down to the end of the mall, and waited there for a few minutes. Finally, behold! There they be, blessed little lads and lasses!!! Phew! I thought we'd be lost forever! We were considering going to customer service and telling them we were lost, but decided to be brave and stick it out for as long as we could!

Raphael (5-seater car) and Matt (7-seater mini van) drove everyone up to the mall. But Raf had to leave for work before 5, so we could either send 4 people back to the church with him, or we could all pile into the van! We left the choice up to Matt since he was driving...his rules! He didn't care! Since he was driving, he was guaranteed his own, comfy seat and didn't care what we did! So sadly Raf had to leave for work and the rest of us hung out for about another hour before we went out to the car and piled in!!! Wow, 11 people in a mini-van! It was awesome!!! I think the only time I've beat it was in Mexico on missions trips! :) Matt and Lauren up front, Ashleigh and Chris each in a pilot seat in the middle. Robb on the floor between them and Ricky on the floor in front of Ash and John smashed down in front of Chris which left Samantha, Sandra, Chloe and I to sit in back! haha! We must have been quite a comical picture.....car sagging and everything! But it was fun! The day wouldn't have been complete without something totally weird but stellar like that (well, that and the amazing dance moves Matt was showing off with in the Earth exhibit!!!) :)