Fun California Things

Another update because I need to fill you all in on what has been going on around here the past couple weeks! Two weekends ago my friend Jon Hooker (Tim Hooker's bro) invited me out to dinner with him and his friend, Ajay, and then he said he'd take me to some cool places in the city! So, Friday I met him at his apartment after work, and we tried to decide where to eat. He thought of 3 options - standard American food, sushi, or a kind of Mexican place. I told him I didn't care, but that the last time I tried sushi I didn't like it, even though I wanted to. Jon and Ajay said they didn't like sushi until they came out here, and Ajay said he wanted to go bold with sushi or Mexican. Jon said, "Which would you be more comfortable with?" And I said, "Well...I'd be more comfortable with Mexican." And then he said, "Do you want to go with comfortable tonight or do you want to be bold?" I said, "Alright, I'll go out on a limb and let's do sushi."

So, we walked a few blocks to a sushi place. I actually liked it! I was excited about that too. And I tried everything they ordered...even actual raw fish (It wasn't bad either...not my favorite thing, but I wasn't grossed out.) After sushi, we went back to Jon's apartment and then drove up to Hollywood. They took the long route, we went through Westwood and Rodeo Drive...I saw on the nice stores, like Dolce and Gabana, etc. It was so cool! Then we parked in Hollywood and walked to a Mexican place. Ajay wanted me to try Taquitos, so we ordered those. We also got a pitcher of margaritas to split. :-) It was really fun! We probably sat there and talked for a couple hours, and then we walked to Grauman's Chinese Theater, the place where all the stars hand and footprints are. I saw Bing Crosby, Julie Andrews, Shirley Temple, and everyone! We looked at every single one...it was so fun!!

I didn't really do much the rest of that weekend. My roommates were all out of town, and Alexa's schedule was packed with weddings. That was the first time I got pretty lonely out here, and kind of bummed about not having a guy in my life (I was watching some family and romantic movies...bad idea) but of course that's a constant off and on struggle, and I'm sure it will continue to be until the Lord brings someone into my life. I just continue to trust Him with that.

This past weekend was SO much fun! Friday night Alexa and I had a "date." :-) After work I drove up to Westlake Village, changed at her house really fast (we wanted to dress up), and then we drove to this place called Suki 7. It's a really nice sushi and robata bar. We ate dinner there...spicy tuna rolls (sushi), and skewers of salmon, shrimp, and the most amazing asparagus wrapped in beef I've ever had! It was all delicious! Then we left there and headed straight to the movie theater to see Kung Fu Panda! Yes, it's a kids movie, but we love that stuff! It was so cute! We laughed a lot. Then on the way home we stopped at a gas station to buy some chocolate milk, because she had been craving it, and I pretty much drink chocolate milk every day of my life so of course I wanted some too! Here are some pictures from that night...all of these are taken with Alexa's camera and I stole them from her facebook so you guys can see what's been going on:











She makes me laugh harder than anyone else on the planet. She also brings out the craziest side of me...hardly anyone besides my sisters have seen me as crazy as I get when I'm around her. I love it! :-)

So I spent the night with her Friday night, and Saturday I came back to Venice because I am house sitting and dog sitting for Julia Dean right now while she's in Peru doing a travel workshop, so I needed to feed her dogs and stuff. Then I went back to my place in Redondo Beach to get all my stuff together...clothes, food, etc. and brought it back to Julia's house so I'd have it for the week I'm here. Then I just did laundry the rest of the day, and played with the dogs.

Sunday Alexa came down here and we went out to the boardwalk and the beach for a few hours in the afternoon. Then we came back to the house and took showers and headed up to Simi Valley to visit Francis Chan's church, Cornerstone Community. It was awesome! I loved it so much, and I think we're going to try to keep going there while we're out here. After church, we went to In-N-Out Burger, which was delicious! It was a great weekend! Here are a few of Alexa's pictures from Sunday:



I know I look naked, but I'm definitely not! I just have a bathing suit that is a tube thing and it has a loop that goes around my neck which is down while I'm tanning. Don't worry!

Monday night when I got off work Alexa sent me a text message asking me if I wanted to see Wicked with her and her aunt and uncle Tuesday night. I called her right away and said of course! Lucy and I tried to see it when we were in New York a couple years ago, but it was sold out for the next three months! So I got off work a little early Tuesday so I could change and head up to Hollywood to meet them at the theater. Let me tell you guys, Wicked was incredible! I have never been so impressed with a play. I didn't know anything about it, all I knew was that it had a great reputation and was very popular. I went in with high expectations already, but it FAR surpassed them! It was hilarious! And a lot of the reason why was because of the girl who played Glenda, Erin Mackey. She was so quirky and fun! Alexa's uncle, Gary, saw Wicked in April and he said a different girl played Glenda, and she wasn't as silly as Erin Mackey. He said it was even better the second time around, and I think she really had a lot to do with it. I was so impressed with the casting...the girl who played Elphaba (the witch) had an amazing voice. Alexa and I exchanged looks during a lot of her songs because of how incredible she sounded and the notes she was hitting. I'm ready to see it again! :-) Here are some of Alexa's pictures of our time at the theater after it was over:






That's all for now! It's late. Love you guys! Don't forget to leave me comments!

Finishing up the road trip

So, I need to finish writing about my road trip experience! So, now we're at Friday...Friday we woke up and headed to the Grand Canyon. Did you know it's $25 per car to get into the park? Ridiculous. Anyways, I was a bit nervous that I wouldn't be impressed with it. For some reason I was worried that since I'd seen pictures it would just be one of those things where I feel like I'd already seen it and so I was afraid I'd be disappointed because people talk the Grand Canyon up a lot. Well, I was definitely impressed. No picture could ever do the Grand Canyon justice! I could have stared at it forever...the first time I saw it I almost got dizzy from how huge it was and how far back it went! We stopped at two different overlooks on the south rim, and walked around quite a bit. It was cool hearing all the tourists too, with their different accents and languages. There was one old woman who had grey hair and had dyed the tips of some of the strands of her short hair red! She looked like some kind of bird...it was hilarious! So, here are some of my pictures from the Grand Canyon and a few shots of the scenery changing on the drive before we got there:

















Haha, that last one is Jonathan asleep in the car on our way out of the park headed towards Las Vegas.

So, after the Grand Canyon we were on our way to Vegas! We passed the Hoover Dam along the way, and stopped to take pictures. Here are some of mine:





After the Hoover Dam, we were still driving through mountains and just like our friend Kenny, from Viewpoint, told us...it was worth driving into Vegas at night...because it's so dark and then all of the sudden you turn a corner and BOOM! Lights. Everywhere! It was awesome!

Jonathan was driving from the Hoover Dam into Vegas (which was a big accomplishment for him...he crossed the Hoover Dam even though he's afraid of heights!), but once we got into Vegas he got stressed from all the traffic on the strip when we were trying to get to the Bellagio Fountains and so we traded seats and I drove. So I don't have many pictures from Vegas...but here are a couple:




We didn't get to see the water show at the Bellagio, because we were too late driving into Vegas...we didn't have enough time to park somewhere (besides, parking is ridiculous there!) and walk to see it before the last showing at 11:45pm. So, we went to our hotel and took showers. The plan was to freshen up and then go out on the strip...but once we had all taken showers and gotten ready, I had to practically drag the boys out there! Of course, it was almost 2am, but still! We were in Vegas! Surprisingly enough, people actually don't stay out that late in Vegas on a Friday night...because from the time we drove through at around midnight to the time we got back out there around 2am, things looked dramatically different. Of course, we were staying at the Howard Johnson Inn on the wrong end of the strip...where nothing happens and things get sketchy. So, we walked a bit...actually a while...and then went into a casino. The guys wanted to at least be able to say they gambled, so we walked around the casino looking for something they wanted to try out. I had no idea what to do, so I wasn't about to put my money in...but they did. Jonathan lost $1 and David lost $5, I think. :-) Then we left...we walked around a bit more and then headed back to the hotel because we were all really tired.

I don't really have any more pictures from the rest of our journey, because Saturday morning we just drove the 4 hours from Vegas to Redondo Beach, where I'm staying. And once we arrived, we walked out to the beach where I took the pictures I've already posted on here. So, that's the end of the road trip here! Hope you enjoyed reading about it and seeing all the pictures! Sorry it took me so long to get the second half posted.

Just thinking...

So I know I just posted last night, but I'm sitting here at work and it just hit me how incredibly blessed I am. I love traveling, and just thinking about all I'll have done in this year alone is crazy! By the end of 2008, here are the things I will have done as far as traveling goes (that I know of so far):

*Several trips to Atlanta, GA to visit Caroline

*Mission trip to the Dominican Republic with 514 (my church)

*Cross-country trip from Greensboro, NC to Los Angeles, CA

*Cross-country trip to Greensboro, NC from Los Angeles, CA - a different route (Let's just think about how many different places I'll hit in these two trips alone!!)

*Beach trip with my family

*7-day Western Caribbean Cruise for graduation

Plus, hopefully I'll make it down to San Diego and up to San Francisco while I'm out here! And Jill will be living in Boston after August, and I'm definitely going to try to make it up there too!

That's all just in 2008...I'm so blown away. I am sooooo blessed!

What's been going on...

Well, I'm still working on the final blog regarding my trip across the country goes. I just haven't finished editing those pictures yet. But I decided I better try to catch you guys up on what's been going on for me in California these past couple weeks.

My internship is great! I'm interning with Julia Dean - or the Julia Dean Photo Workshops. Some of the work is somewhat boring, the data entry stuff, but they've also given me a really awesome assignment! I've been photographing Venice Beach for the past week and a half, and they're going to choose one of my images to go on the back cover of the next catalog!! Also, since I'm working there 40 hours a week and am therefore basically an employee, I get to attend any workshop for free! So I'm taking the Photography for Social Impact class with Jim Hubbard, which focuses on how to link with non-profits in order to document their mission...that class meets every Thursday night. Next week I'll add another workshop to that - each Wednesday night I'll attend Julia Dean's Mastering Your Flash workshop, which will do exactly what the title says...teach me how to master a portable flash. I learned some at RCC about this, but I still don't know what all the buttons are for on a portable flash and how to use them in the ways I might want.

I expected to get pretty lonely out here, honestly, but it really hasn't gotten that bad! I have 3 roommates...and even though two of them aren't around much, my roommate, Casey, and I get along well so it's been nice having her here to talk to when I get home. We went to see Prince Caspian together on Saturday, and that was fun. I loved the movie! I also have Alexa here. She lives about 45 minutes from me, and she had to shoot weddings every day last weekend, but we got to spend all day Monday together! She invited me up to Westlake Village, where she lives, to hang out with her and her family all day. We went to lunch and to see the new Indiana Jones movie, and then we played the Wii and got in the hot tub! It was so much fun!

Sunday I tried out a church in downtown Los Angeles, called Mosaic, and it was so great! I was really worried that I'd leave without meeting anyone and be really discouraged. I walked in about 20 minutes early, and kind of stood off to the side. There were people standing behind information tables around me, and a guy, Ben, who was standing behind the men's ministry table, asked me if it was my first time there. I told him yes, and that I'd just moved out here for a couple months to do a photography internship, and that I'd only been here for a week. He was so nice! He wanted to introduce me to this girl, Jess, who's a photographer, right away, but he couldn't find her so he introduced me to Gabriel - the guy standing behind the Artisans (artist ministry) table - he also introduced me to Miranda, the girl behind the she (women's ministry) table, and to Kim McManus (the pastor, Erwin McManus's wife). Kim was sooo cute and talked to me for a few minutes about what I'm doing out here and then asked if I had anyone to sit in the service with. I told her I didn't, and Miranda offered to sit with me. After the servie, I talked for probably 45 minutes to Miranda and Jess (the photographer Ben wanted me to meet) and they're both great girls! We had great conversations, and I left Mosaic having exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses with both of them. :-) What an answer to prayer!

I've been seeing the Lord's hand all over my life recently and it is so encouraging and humbling! Before I even ask for help, He's putting things into place for me and I just step back and say "wow!" (And thank you!!)

Even though things are going so well out here, I really do miss all of you back in North Carolina. It's beautiful out here, but I'm realizing that I'm not sure I could stick it out if this was a permanent move. I'm glad to know that I'll be going home in a couple months. I could live somewhere else if I had to, but right now I like that North Carolina is my home...it's where my family is.

Of course, I know as soon as I get home I'll miss it here. :-) I'm still missing the Dominican Republic, and I was only there for a week!

Love you guys! Leave me comments if you read this, because I'd love to hear from you! I'll try to get the post with the rest of the photos from my trip out here up soon, but for now I'll give you some images of California!

Images from Redondo Beach - Less than one mile from my house!





Yes, that's a seal on the beach...don't worry, it's not dead! Only sunbathing...a lifeguard said it happens all the time and if there weren't people on the beach it'd be covered with seals!

Images from Santa Monica, taken when David and Jonathan were still here...the day after we arrived (or Sunday, May 18th):





Images from Venice Beach, where I work:


This street is Abbott Kinney...it's so cute and there's all kinds of local shops and restaurants along here! I drive down this road every day to work.

The beginning of my cross country journey

I wish I'd had time to update this on a day to day basis, but we were driving so much I only had time to mapquest directions each morning. So, I will try to remember as many details as possible about my trek across the country.

Monday was the beginning, I met up with David and Jonathan a little later than I wanted because I had to repack things into a smaller suitcase. We quickly realized that we wouldn't be able to use Jonathan's GPS like we planned, because my car charger doesn't work. Since we were already on the road at that point, headed to KY, I called my great friend Austin Duke to help me with directions. He has memorized that route because of the many trips from Raleigh to Lexington, KY to visit his girlfriend (now fiance!) Amanda. So, we got to my friend Jamie's house in Lexington around 8:30pm, and she took us to Wal-Mart so David could buy a wall charger for his phone. Then we went downtown and took pictures for a while. Here are a few photos from downtown Lexington:





That's Jamie sitting on the wall...I think the motion blur is cool!

The next morning Jaime offered to take us to Magee's Bakery and buy us breakfast! (Thanks again, Jaime!!) It was great. Then we went and took a few more pictures before heading to MO. We stopped in Louisville, KY for a picnic lunch by the river and took some pictures there. Then we stopped again in St. Louis and took pictures of the Arch and the river. It started raining soon after that and we were off again. We arrived at the KOA campground in Missouri close to 10pm and set up our tent (well, David set it up). Then we ate a late dinner of PB&J and watched Transformers before going to sleep. Here are some images from Tuesday:





©Jonathan Andrews (Jonathan took this picture, but some people specifically requested to see some photos of me on here, and so I'm putting this up. Thanks Jonathan!)

David and Jonathan eating lunch in Louisville, KY.

Above is Louisville, KY...Images below are St. Louis, MO.







Wednesday morning we woke up and headed out around 10:45am for our drive through Kansas and into Colorado. We drove through Kansas City, and I think that was about the most interesting thing on that drive. Once we got to the KOA we were staying at in Strasburg, CO we went around the town (which was very small) and took pictures. David and Jonathan did more than me, I think they were a bit more inspired by it than I was. Oh, and also because it was freezing cold and I had a hat on, plus my hoodie, and a big blanket wrapped around me too. (I didn't really prepare for cold weather because I was moving to Los Angeles, you know?) So after the picture taking we ate dinner and then watched The Others on my laptop, and then went to bed. Here are some of Wednesdays images:








Thursday morning we woke up and showered and headed west about 30 miles to Denver, just to see it since we were so close, and then started our drive south into New Mexico and then west again into Arizona. That was our long day of driving, almost 10 hours. It was my favorite driving day because we saw such crazy changes in the landscape and the weather (just look at the photos)! Colorado was pretty flat until we saw the Rockies, and then as we went south it was cloudy and pretty flat again until we got closer to New Mexico and then large rocks and small mountains would appear every once in a while. It was so cool. And we saw the sun set in Arizona during our drive before we arrived at the KOA in Holbrook near the Petrified Forest. The people who worked there were SO friendly, I really loved them. Once we arrived there we checked out the campground and then walked up the street to the Burger King for dinner. After that we set up our tent and watched a few episodes of The Office (Season Two) before going to bed. Here are some images from Thursday in order:











Well, that's all for now! I figured I should go ahead and post this so you guys would have a little update while I start writing about the rest of the trip and editing those pictures. Hope you've enjoyed reading this! Coming up - The Grand Canyon, The Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, and my neighborhood!