Almost 30

D-Day ... B-Day

2008-12-02T13:30:00.000-08:00

It's kind of anticlimactic. I don't really feel any different.

I do, however, feel very loved. I have the most amazing family and friends. Thank you all for making my day special.

I am finished with the list, and the rest of the entries will be posted shortly, along with some final thoughts. Maybe by that point this whole 30 concept will have set in.

Or maybe I will always feel like a kid ;-)

#17 Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

2008-11-17T23:14:00.000-08:00

Next on my list is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Completed in 2002, this is the youngest cathedral in the United States. Also, supposedly there are no right angles in the architecture. Perfect for a math geek like myself.
When we arrived, we were greeted by a volunteer who told us some fabulous stories about the building and the architecture. It was such a cool way to start the day.
Outside the cathedral is a gigantic bell tower. There are too many awesome things about the campenile to write here, so you should all go check out the website of the cathedral. Actually that goes for just about everything in this post.
It was all so fascinating, but there is way too much information to cover. So, for now, enjoy the pretty bells.

Painted onto this fountain is the same bible verse in about 30 different languages.

Etched onto the grounds in front of the cathedral is a replica of the positions of the stars on the night the cathedral was blessed.

This is the magnificent entrance. These doors are INSANE.

This tapestry hangs over the baptismal fountain. It is absolutely stunning.

And so is the fountain. While we were here, we saw one of the visitor's fill her water bottle with holy water from this fountain. Seriously?

One of the main features is a towering pipe organ. While we were there, several different organists played, filling the entire space with glorious sound. We sat and listened to them for awhile, just soaking up the atmosphere. Next to the pipe organ is the cross in the window, which is absolutly stunning. It's positioned on a downward slant, which directs the light down on the congragation. It also has a great effect of bursting light behind the crucifix.

Underneath the cathedral is a massive mausoleum. It is pristine and canvernous. Also, Gregory Peck is buried here.

Outside the cathedral is a path leading to a sculpture garden. One of the pieces on the way to the garden is a pieta. Quite possibly the most interesting pieta I've ever seen.

Outside is a sculpture garden of quirky-looking animals. This was my favorite of the bunch.

The path that winds through the garden had triangle patterns throughout, and when I reached the end, I found this:

It's a snake head! Get it? A snake ... in the garden ... ...

This place is amazing, and I can't wait to go back. I want to go when it's all decorated for Christmas or Easter. And I'd love to hear some choirs sing. The acoustics are crazy inside.
Miles: 53.4
Cost: $5 for parking

Miles to date: 631.8
Cost to date: $177.66

#16 Naples

2008-11-14T23:42:00.001-08:00

Another fun part of Long Beach is the canal town of Naples. This area is really close to me, and I've driven past it literally hundreds of times but have never explored. It turns out that Naples is a lot like Venice, but closer to me :-)
The most famous part of Naples is La Bella Fontana di Napoli. This is located in the city center and is knows as the
most popular meeting place in the area.

The canals in Naples feed right into Alamitos Bay.

Look closely in the window ... there's a carousel horse!

Captain Morgan guards the canals of Naples. We found at least three statues of him around there.

The house I want. It's beautiful.

It wouldn't be a proper canal without gondoliers! These two waved and posed. We didn't hear them sing, but we
heard one of the other guys. It was ... painful. But he was pretty, so we didn't mind so much.

The whole neighborhood was hardcore decorated for Halloween. I'm totally coming back for Christmas. I can't wait to see what the denizens do for the holidays :-)

Miles: 5.8
Cost: FREE!

Miles to date: 578.4
Cost to date: $172.66

#15 Hike to the Hollywood Sign

2008-11-12T00:32:00.000-08:00

This is the activity I was most looking forward to on my list. I have wanted to hike up to the Hollywood sign for many, many years. Luckily, I have some great friends (and two puppies!) who decided to make the trek with me.

We started at around 9am. Before we had even left the parking lot we saw Vince Vaughn! He was doing the hike as well. And he looked good.

Before we headed all the way up to the sign, we made a little side trip. On one of the paths to the sign, we got to see the original Bat Cave. Seriously! This is where they filmed the Batmobile entering and exiting the Bat Cave (from the Adam West TV series). We got to explore the whole area and go through the cave. I geeked out a little.

It turned out to be the perfect day to do the hike. It was so clear we could see all the way to the ocean. Gorgeous!

We turned left at this point. On the right is a more difficult path that takes you 20 feet above and behind the sign.
We are working our way up to that one.

It was a relatively easy hike ... until we reached this hill.

That was really the only rough part. The hike itself is about 3 miles, and there were plenty of people along the route.
It took about an hour and a half to reach the top.
This sign was a liar! We still had about 15 minutes to go from this point.

But, I made it!!

The view from the top!

This hike was AMAZING! I would recommend this to anyone and everyone. I can't wait to go again!!!

Miles: 63.4 plus 5.6 walked
Cost: FREE!

Miles to date: 572.6
Cost to date: $172.66

#14 Harbor Cruise

2008-11-10T18:32:00.000-08:00

Living in a harbor town is really cool, but most people don't take any time out to appreciate everything that goes into running an international import/export business. The Port of Long Beach has a really active outreach program, and
one of the things it offers is a harbor tour. The tour is 40 minutes by boat and is narrated by Port staff.
Having worked there for a long time now, I know most of things they mention during the tour, but I dragged
three friends with me so they could share in the fun!

The day I chose to go was the annual Green Port Fest. This is a whole day of activities, tours, performances and displays celebrating port workings and environmental initiatives, local businesses and local culture. There is also free food, and lots of it.
The harbor tours book up quickly during the year, so I thought there would be a better chance of getting tickets if I went during Port Fest. It worked!
We boarded our vessel and headed out. One of the first things we saw was ITS (International Transportation
Service).

This is one of six container terminals on Port property. The vessels carrying the cargo dock at these container terminals, and their containers are loaded and unloaded here by those massive cranes. Here is an example of a
docked vessel being unloaded. The size of these vessels are astounding.

Next we saw Sea Launch. This company takes satellites into open water to launch them into space. So Cool!

As a special treat for the Port Fest visitors, the Long Beach Fire Department had a water boat spinning around and spouting water. Very fun.

On the right, we passed the weather station.

One way that the Port is helping the environment is by encouraging tenants to use shore-side power. This shows a vessel from Alaska Tanker charging up at BP.

As we sailed past this bouy, we saw a group of seals hanging out.

At the end of the tour, we docked next to the Queen Mary.

You'll get a closer look at the Queen Mary a little further down the list ;-)

I have been waiting to take this tour for a long time, and I am so glad I finally got to go! Even though I knew most of what we learned on the tour, it was so cool to see the things I've been working on in action up close and personal. It was also really cool to introduce my friends to my world of work.

Miles: 8.2
Cost: FREE!

Miles to date: 503.6
Cost to date: $172.66

One month to go

2008-11-02T20:57:00.001-08:00

One month from today, I will turn 30. This is crazy. I cannot believe that it's already here. For someone who has been anticipating this day for many years, I suddenly feel very unprepared for the day. I have no idea what I'm going to do to celebrate - isn't that crazy? I'm doing 30 things to lead up to the big day, but then ...

#13 Dodgers Game

2008-10-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

For my 25 list in NYC, Yankee Stadium was on my list. It seemed only right to include Dodgers Stadium on this list. And Joe Torre was nice enough to join me in both locations.
I'm not a big baseball person - football, basketball and hockey are preferable for me - so I took with me two baseball fans:

One of the greatest things that the Dodgers offer is the All You Can Eat Pavilion seating. For $35, you get seats in the outfield and unlimited food and drink. The drink was especially important, since it was 95 degrees and we were in direct sunlight for the whole game.
The life-saving mister ... it felt really good after sitting in the heat.

The options!

The famous Dodger dogs! (Can you tell I was almost more excited for the all-you-can-eat aspect than the game?)

Fortunately, the game turned out to be HUGELY exciting! There were SEVEN opportunities for grand slams. Seven.
Manny Rodriguez hit a 3-run homer, right to our section. Actually, pretty much every exciting that happened,
occurred right in front of us. We totally got our money's worth. Our seats were in right field, right behind
Jessica's favorite player Andre Ethier.

The game was a shut out all the way until the last out of the 9th inning, and then they scored two runs. But the Dodgers still won, and this win put them into first place in the division! Very exciting to be there for that.

If I ever go to a Dodgers game again, I'm totally sitting in this same section. It's ridiculous how great a deal it is. Especially if it's hot, because those 7 bottles of water and 2 cokes I drank would have cost me more than I paid for the ticket. Seriously.

Miles: 56.6
Cost: $44.10

Miles to date: 495.4
Cost to date: $172.66

#1C CSULB Japanese Garden

2008-10-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

The third and final stop on the Garden tour is the Japanese Garden at Cal State Long Beach.

The main part of the gardens is the giant koi pond.

And there's also a waterfall! You know now how I love the waterfalls :-)

There is also a meditation room:

And a gigantic zen garden:

And a staple of Feng Shui - the zig-zag bridge. It is believed that negative energy and bad ch'i have trouble navigating corners, so the zig-zag shape prevents the bad ch'i from progressing.

There were several families there, and most of the children spent their time near the koi.

I love Japanese Gardens. They might be my favorite type of garden. Unfortunately, this one is so small, otherwise it would be the clear winner of the three college gardens. However, due to size and options and general atmosphere, I have to give the edge to the UCLA Botanical Gardens. Barely.

Miles: 4.8
Cost: FREE!!

Miles to date: 439.8
Cost to date: $128.56

#1B UCLA Botanical Garden

2008-09-14T21:15:00.001-07:00

Next on my list was Part Two of the Great Garden Debate: the UCLA Botanical Garden.

We had an auspicious beginning when trying to park. I put money in the meter, and this is what came up:

I hoped it wasn't a harbinger of bad things to come. After finding a meter that would take my change, we walked up the path into the garden. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one ... on the right :-)

The gardens are fabulous. It's so easy to get lost in your little world in there. It's so quiet and peaceful. The only
things around are dragonflies:

and squirrels:

This particular squirrel was hilarious. He would stretch himself to reach the nuts farther down the branch and then
bring the nut back to his perch and eat it. He repeated this process about 10 times while we watched, paying
absolutely no mind to the onlookers.
After about 30 minutes of wandering, we came across my favorite place in the gardens ... the waterfall. I could have stayed here all day.

In short, I LOVED these gardens. If they weren't so far away, I would be here all the time.

Miles: 62
Cost: $4 for parking. $2 in the FAIL meter, and $2 in the one that worked

Miles to date: 435
Cost to date: $128.56

#12 Outdoor Concert

2008-08-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

Another event that the Sea Festival includes is the Long Beach Municipal Band Concert Series.

They offer concerts every week throughout the summer in various parks. The one I chose to go to was "Broadway Night" ... for obvious reasons. This concert was held in Marine Stadium, just a few minutes away from my apartment. We got there just in time for the National Anthem, which precedes each concert. The band was set up on stage in the middle of the parking lot!

The park was packed with people, and again it was like a picnic. Everyone around us had chairs, blankets, food and drinks. Some people just to the left of us had a mini table, with bottles of wine and glasses and fruit and cheese.
That's the way to go to one of these concerts! I know better for next time now :-)

The concert lasted about 40 minutes and included a Gershwin medley, a Dance Sequence medley and Stars and
Stripes Forever as the big finish. The sound went out at one point, which reminded us of outdoor Broadway concerts
in New York, because they always has technical difficulties. The band was great, and the conductor gave some
Broadway history before each number. It was very cool, and I definitely have to go to more of these - especially
since next year is the 100th Anniversary of the Municipal Band!

Miles: 3.8
Cost: Free!

Miles to date: 373
Cost to date: $124.56

#11 Point Vicente Lighthouse

2008-08-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

As one of my 25 things in NYC, I went to visit the Little Red Lighthouse. Since California offers so many options for fabulous lighthouses, I knew I wanted to include that on my list here too. The one I chose is the Point Vincente Lighthouse.
Getting there is quite the experience. The drive from Long Beach takes a path along the ocean through San Pedro and Rancho Palos Verdes. The view is amazing, and I had to really focus to keep my eyes on the road instead of the scenery.
The whole set-up is very low-key. Parking is in an area of dirt surrounded by a chain-link fence; the check-in table is
run by teenagers. It's a short path to the lighthouse:

It's not a very tall one, but the stairs are quite steep and narrow and curvy.

Right before the top, there is one last set of stairs that are practically straight up and very, very tiny.

But the view is so worth it!! This is what you can see from the top.

Below is where the horn is located. There is a guard seated about 100 feet away from it keeping people from going near. The sound is incredibly loud, and it sounds every five minutes.

The lighthouse is run under the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard. There are two tiny free-standing structures nearby
that house Coast Guard memorabilia, including flags, miniatures, historical documents and vessel parts. Very cool!

Miles: 37
Cost: Free!

Miles to date: 369.2
Cost to date: $124.56

#10 Outdoor Movie

2008-08-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

Every summer Long Beach has a Sea Festival. All summer long, the city sponsors concerts, movies, contests, classes and other activities. It's all free, and it's a great way to see the city and have fun outside.
One of the things on my list of 25 things in NYC was to see an outdoor movie in Bryant Park. I wanted to do the same on this coast as well.
Alfredo's Beach Club sponsors the summer movies series, and they provide refreshments and the screen and the movie. All I had to do was bring a blanket :-)
The showing I chose to go to was Singin' in the Rain ... because I'm a theatre geek. The showing was at Cherry Beach, which is only 5 minutes away from my apartment. We got there early, and found out there was a raffle sponsored by our ~~crappy~~ local cable company. Right before the showing, they drew the winners ... and I won!!! I got a goodie bag with sunscreen, keychains, water bottles, chapstick, flip-flops, etc. Everyone around me had me take everything out and show them. I got a round of applause from them when my number was called. Very fun!

We were sitting in front of a couple who had never seen the movie before. How is this possible?!?!? Sad, sad
lives. In front of us was a group of college kids, who I was worried about initially. But they turned out to be
theatre geeks as well, and they knew all the songs and dances (and orchestrations!). There were families with
children (yay parents exposing their kids to culture!), older couples, younger couples, groups of friends
... a little bit of everything. Lots of people brought dinner and drinks - it was like a picnic in the sand
... with Gene Kelly!

There's not too much to say about the movie itself, because ... it's Singin' in the Rain! It speaks for itself!! However, I will include this link to my favorite scene in the movie (and my favorite tap number of all time) ... Moses Supposes. I definitely was doing the choreography in the audience along with Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. LOVE!
It was such a great evening ... watching a wonderful movie, just 50 feet away from the ocean. The sky was
perfectly clear, and I could hear the waves crashing on the sand. So cool. I will definitely be going to more
of these in the future.

Miles: 3.6
Cost: FREE!

Miles to date: 332.2
Cost to date: $124.56

#9 Griffith Observatory

2008-08-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Jen still had one more day of her visit, so I asked her if there was anything on my list that appealed to her, and she immediately chose the Griffith Park Observatory. I wanted to plan this visit around sunset, because the Observatory
is in Griffith Park and overlooks the Hills and the Hollywood sign and downtown LA. The view from up there
would surely be incredible.

Because I get uneasy driving through the Hills, I chose to take advantage of the Observatory Shuttle. LA DOT (Department of Transportation) offers the LA Dash (get it? DOT ... DASH ... yeah), which is a cute trolley that takes
us right to the front door of the Observatory. It only cost a quarter per ride (which was the only cost for this night).
As the Dash drove us up to the Observatory, I realized that I made the right decision, because the only
parking up there is on the side of the windy roads ... with traffic coming both ways. No thanks.

Outside the Observatory, on the ground, were circles and plaques representing the orbits of the planets. We celebrated the fact that Pluto is still included :-)
Inside, the first floor is divided into two sections: Hall of the Eye and Hall of the Sky. Between the two is the Central Rotunda, which houses this:

the Foucault Pendulum. This picture shows exactly why it works! You can see that some of the pegs have been
knocked over already. So cool.

Since I've been to the Planetarium in New York, I didn't feel that I needed to see the show here. Also, it was kind of expensive. We went outside to check the progress of the sunset and realized that we had timed the visit perfectly.

Beautiful, right? There were about 15 people around us who stopped what they were doing and sat down on the
wall to watch it. No one made a sound. It was a very cool couple of moments.

After the sunset, we got in line for the telescope. We timed that perfectly as well, because shortly after we got in
line, about 50 people followed us. We waited about 40 minutes before we got into the building that houses the
scope. While we were outside, we got to watch them adjusting the view of the lens to focus on whatever they were
highlighting that night. That was pretty cool. When we reached the door, we saw the screen that showed the view
from the scope ... and it was Jupiter!!! There were four white dots surrounding it, and I asked the girls if
they thought those were some of Jupiter's moons. I was hoping that was the case.

As we climbed the stairs up to scope level, one of the Observatory staff members was spouting out some random
facts about the Park, the Observatory and the sky. He then told us that we'd be seeing Jupiter, FIVE of
it's moons, and dust and clouds on the planet. He was so excited about what he was describing that he made
everyone in the room psyched too. Everyone got to go up to the scope one at a time, and when I got there I
could see EVERYTHING that the staff member had told us to look for. The two stripes (deep dirt/dust
settlements), the clouds, and all five visible moons. So unbelievable.

Here's the view from outside the Observatory. It's not as cool as what we saw in the scope, but it's Jupiter :-)

On our way back down the hill, our Dash trolley had a minor malfunction. The doors would not close. Every time we
hit a bump, the doors would fly open. Our driver kept pulling over to the side of the road, and one of the passengers
would pull the doors back in. It happened so many times that the driver stopped the trolley and called the
dispatch center. The dispatcher was ~~very helpful~~ useless. He told our driver to drive down the
hill and finish her route and then they would figure out how to help her. So the passenger who kept closing the
door decided to just sit on the steps and hold the doors closed. We were all cheering and yelling "MacGyver!" at him.
He loved it. It was a very entertaining and unexpectedly funny end of the day.

I will definitely go back to Observatory again. It's FREE, and it's beautiful. Next time, I will try to coincide my visit with some fabulous celestial event.

Miles: 67.8
Cost: $0.50

Miles to Date: 328.6
Cost to Date: $124.56

#8 Long Beach Museum of Art

2008-08-15T18:09:00.001-07:00

There is so much to love about my city! I live very near to the Long Beach Museum of Art, but I had yet to go in the two years I've been here. There is no excuse for that! So of course, I added it to my list. One of the greatest things about it is the "Free on Fridays" program. Yay free!

Jen was still in town from the movie fun, so she joined Lisey and I for a day of art. We walked (more free! no gas!) along the beach to the Museum, and it was the perfect day for playing outside.
When we arrived at the museum, we were greeted by this:

He was a little disturbing, and we wondered how they neighbors felt, having to look at him every day. Yikes.
The museum is pretty small, and it's currently housing four exhibits, plus a small room of permanent pieces. In the permanent collection room hung two giant Jackson Pollack-inspired paintings. One was blue, and you could probably guess that was my favorite.

The first exhibit was GORD PETERAN: FURNITURE MEETS ITS MAKER. Now I don't know about, but I don't really get excited about furniture art (except the Dali lips couch at the Tate in London ... that was amazing.). However, this furniture was COOL! Some of it was funny, some of it was thought-provoking, but all of it was captivating. My favorite pieces were two gigantic doors. They were paned, and each pane had a different image built on it or etched into it or cut out of it. These doors were practical, having been used in homes in Canada, and they were incredible. Here is a picture of one of them, but it's too small to really see the details. His most famous work is probably this one.

Upstairs we found the Robert Rauschenberg exhibit. This was neat, because it included newspaper clippings from several decades and several states. It was fun to see what was deemed newsworthy years ago.

The next room housed a collection of figurines. I never knew that ceramics could be funny! There was a little alcove that showcased these works, and we thought there should have been an age requirement to go in. The pieces were
all Victorian/Colonial, and some of them were impish and little bit racy (for their time period). They were all
pastoral pieces, with couples or trios around a tree. One series had the same man with three separate women.
In the third piece, the man has his hand on the woman's breast, and she is slapping him across his face. The
next piece showed him alone with his dog, and a collection of shoes he had taken from the various women. Hilarious.

The final collection was The Art of Commerce: William Livingston's Pinhole Photographs of the Port of Long Beach. This was exciting for me, since I've been temping at the Port. I was familiar with the subjects of all of
the pictures. The pinhole effect is really neat in general, and I feel that it was particularly striking with these images.

All in all, not bad for a totally free day :-)

Miles: 3.4
Cost: FREE!

Miles to Date: 260.8
Cost to Date: $124.06

#7 Arclight

2008-08-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

**WARNING** This post contains epic levels of geekery.

I've wanted to see a movie at an Arlight for awhile because it's seems so pamper-y. This summer had no shortage of options of movies I wanted to see, but the one I was looking forward to the most was The X-Files: I Want To Believe.
(I warned you ... I am a geek.) I've been a fan of the show forever, and who better to go with than people I met
(7 years ago - woah) because of the show? Jen flew in from Minneapolis (See? Epic.), Jamie drove up from
San Diego and they both met up with Ally, Lisey and me to indulge in some serious geeking out.

Jamie, Ally, Jen and I went to dinner beforehand at California Vegan. Yes, vegan. You all know I'm a hard core carnivore (technically omnivore, but go with me on this), but Jamie and Ally are vegans, so Jen (a fellow meat-eater) and I braved the world of soy products to spend some time with them. I actually got a dish with tofu in it ... and ate some of it. Jen went the safe route with veggie fried rice. After dinner, we picked up Lisey and headed to Sherman Oaks. We drove through the hills (windy, somewhat nausea-inducing, but very pretty) and watched part 1 of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Ally's video iPod. NPH!
Just as we arrived at the theatre, Kirsten called with her reaction to the movie, having seen it on the East Coast. That got us even more excited to see it, if that was possible. Since it was opening night (midnight showing!), the theatre
was decorated for the premiere. Inside the lobby, they had projections on the ceiling for the movie:

This theatre is crazy. It has assigned seats (with ushers to take you to your seat), a bar, no late seating, fancy bathrooms and an amazing wall of original movie posters. This is upper-class movie-going. The seats were really comfy, and the rows had plenty of leg room for those of us who surpass the 6 foot mark (ok, that's just me). The biggest plus for us was that since there are assigned seats, we did not have to get there super early, which is what you usually have to do for midnight showings. We rolled in about 20 minutes before the movie started. Fabulous.
Here we are, right before we went into the theatre.

To spare you all, I will just say that I loved the movie. I had a great time with the girls, and I'm so glad I got to see it with them.
And I will definitely go back to the Arclight, probably for another midnight showing. It was so nice to have seats together without having to worry about getting there really early and making a mad dash for seats when the theatre opened the doors. The (very small) extra cost for going to this theatre is SO WORTH IT for just that alone.

Miles: 95.8
Cost: $11.50 (which is really only about $1 more than a regular movie here)

Miles to Date: 257.4
Cost to Date: $124.06

#6 Venice Canals

2008-07-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Another hidden gem! Almost everyone I've told about this has said, "I had no idea that was even there!"

Venice, California. Just south of Santa Monica. Most people visit Venice because of the boardwalk - widely known for crazy street performers. I wanted to go for the canals. Yes, canals!

Because, again, I am ~~cheap~~ fiscally aware, we drove around trying to find free parking. We ended up in a pretty good spot, and only two blocks from the canals. You literally walk around a corner and BAM! There's water.
I love everything about this little area - the houses, the bridges, the trees, the kayaks and canoes!, and the people. The denizens of this little neighborhood were so nice to us.
Someday, I want to live here. Specifically one of these two places:

or

Cheryl decided she wanted this one:

We all agreed that we were afraid of this lady: (click on the pic for a good luck at why)

After the canals, we headed for the boardwalk. I was unimpressed. Too many stoners, bad performance artists, and this hard-working woman:

The best part of the boardwalk was this recreation of Van Gogh's Starry Night:

All in all, it was so worth it to go up there. I am definitely going back, but just for canals.

And, you know, someday ... to live :-)

Miles: 58.8
Cost: FREE!!

Miles to Date: 161.6
Cost to Date: $112.56

#5 Grunion Run

2008-07-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to see the Grunion Run ever since I saw the movie Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. Shut up. I know. It's cheese-tastic, but it's fun! Anyway, there is a scene during which a date takes place during the grunion season. I thought it was disgusting to see all of the fish flopping all over each other in massive numbers, but it also fascinated me. The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro offers a program every year to coincide with the run. The staff takes you to exactly where they expect the fish to be, which is fantastic because we had no idea what we were doing.

I convinced Cheryl, Summer and Lisey to go with me, and on the drive out we wondered if we were going to be the
only ~~nerds~~ people there. Right. We got to the Aquarium a little before 9 (the run was
predicted to be at 11:10pm), and this is the line we were greeted with.

They had six different showings of the video explaining the grunion experience, and ours wasn't due to start
for almost an hour, so we wandered around the aquarium. As aquariums go, it wasn't that spectacular, but
for only $5, you can't really complain. There were far too many young, unattended children running around
for our liking, and it took a long time for us to finally head towards the beach.
Here's us, waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting

Guides from the aquarium, armed with large flashlights and microphones, led us down to the water.
There were tons of people already there, cooking on bonfires and just enjoying the beach. (Note for the
future: this is a much better plan.) We had to wait for a while before the fish started showing up.
Apparently loud noises, lights and vibrations discourage the grunion from running. Well, there was probably
over a thousand people there, whispering loudly, shining their flashlights and wandering around trying
to find the best viewing spot. Eventually, though, the grunion did appear. Lucky for me, my height let me see
them before anyone else in my group. None of them believed that I had seen anything until about 20 minutes later.
The shiny, glowing things are actually the fish. (click on the picture to see)

Unfortunately, we only got about 5-10 minutes of watching them before the guides opened up the fishing
time. This is when all the children (you can't fish without a license if you're over 16) ran to catch the
grunion. It was massive chaos, and people were getting shoved and pushed. One lady tripped over a stack
of bonfire longs, while carrying her child. It was madness, so we decided we had seen
enough, and made plans to come back next year, during closed season.

We went pretty late in the season, so the numbers were smaller than I'd hoped for. I didn't get any
really good footage of the grunion, so here is someone else's if you want to see what it's like. Fishies!.
That footage is from the same place we were.
Now I know better for next year: go during closed season (no children); go earlier and stake out
a spot(better views and beach fun); there's no need to repeat the program (free!).

Miles: 11.6
Cost: $5 (which included entry into the Aquarium)

Miles to Date: 102.8
Cost to Date: $112.56

#4 Long Beach East Village Art Walk

2008-06-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

One of the things that was important to me to include in my 30 Things was exploring Long Beach. My little town (which is the 5th largest city in California, FYI) has so much to offer, and most people don't give it the credit it deserves. So - be prepared to learn some fun things about Long Beach over the next few months.

Every month on the second Saturday of the month, Long Beach sponsors the East Village Art Walk. I really wanted to go to one of these because I love art, especially an opportunity to see local art, and because it's free. I love free.

It takes place in a four-block area of downtown Long Beach. There are about 30 booths set up with various local
artists and artisans displaying their works. There was live music (a singer with good lyrics, but a not so great voice);
the worst performance artist of all time (pretending to be a "magician" with backup "dancers"); and many local galleries
with wine, cheese and open doors.
We also found the artist who painted the works hanging in the Coffee Cup Cafe! Very cool. His stuff is amazing - even better close up.

One of my favorite booths was one where the artist was painting live.

Here is my favorite painting from the day. No surprise to anyone, it's blue.

It was a short but fabulous experience. I discovered a few new artists and galleries, and I got to see one of the
hidden jewels in my hidden jewel of a city.

Miles: 2.3
Cost: Free!

Miles to Date: 91.2
Cost to Date: $107.56

Sex and the City - West Coast Style

2008-06-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Like every other female between the ages of 21 and 60 (or older!), I saw the Sex and the City movie opening weekend. As a female (I still don't think of myself as a "woman" ... I'm not there yet) entering her 30s,
this show spoke to me. Not that my life is anything like theirs, but the idea that you can have
close friends throughout your life is very comforting. The show was something that I could enjoy and
discuss with my friends - we all had a shared understanding and experience with these characters.
I have been very fortunate in my life to have amazing friends - in Kansas,
Milwaukee, New York and here in California. The friendship of the four main characters always warms my
heart and at the same time breaks it.
It makes me miss my long distance friends so much.
Luckily, I have some wonderful friends here in SoCal that I got to share the premiere with,
and we made it an extravaganza! It began Friday night with a fabulous dinner arranged by Summer,
which included a salad (corn, black beans, jicama, tomatoes, scallions and parsley), fried bananas
with brown rice, and grilled chicken.
We also had Cuba Libres (Coke, lime and Don Q - rum that Summer brought back from Puerto Rico).
Sherri was house-sitting this weekend, and the house has a fabulous hot tub. We spent the evening enjoying the fabulous food, fabulous company and the fabulous warm water on a cool night. We finished the night with tea and cookies back in the LBC. Perfect evening!
Saturday ~~morning~~ afternoon we took roommate Katie's advice and had brunch at the Coffee Cup Cafe. We thought a brunch was appropriate, because it was a standard event for nearly every episode of SATC. The food was amazing, and I definitely want to come back here for lunch soon. Check out the cool art behind us!

After lunch we had time to watch four episodes to prepare for the movie (basically to catch Summer up, because she hasn't seen too many episodes). It turns out that the episodes Lisey chose to show were PERFECT, because
all four of them were referenced in some way in the movie. Then we headed out to see the movie - instead of Manolos and couture, we went West Coast Style ... flip-flops and jeans.
The movie was everything I had hoped it would be. Storyline wise, I was worried about what they would
do with these relationships that I love. I don't want to spoil anything, but I was ok with how
everything played out. It was also like visiting New York City - and that was hard. I miss it
so so much, and watching it on the big screen was at once familiar and heartbreaking. But it
also had a lot of NYC inside jokes and broadway guest stars! The women behind Lisey and I at
one point said, "I think they're from New York", because we were laughing at things that no
one else in the theatre was. I laughed (a lot!), I cried (a lot!) and I had a wonderful
time with my friends. I loved this movie, and I have to see it again soon.

After the movie, we came back to the apartment and made Cosmopolitans (what is a Sex and the City night
without the signature drink?!) and watched more episodes. It was a perfect weekend, and I really
felt like I was very thirty-something. Maybe I'm going to grow up after all ;-)

#3 Concert at the Hollywood Bowl - R.E.M.

2008-06-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

The next stop on my list is the Hollywood Bowl. The venue is iconic, and I wanted to see a major outdoor concert. R.E.M. is one of my favorite bands, so I had high hopes for this show. I went with Lisey and her dad, who had been waiting a long time to be able to see an R.E.M. concert together.

The only problem is that the Hollywood Bowl is not the most accessible venue. We did some research to find the best option for parking, because everyone told me that it's a nightmare at the Bowl. To avoid steep parking charges (I've mentioned before that I'm ~~cheap~~ thrifty, I decided to park at the nice, safe, unstacked parking structure at Hollywood and Highland. This meant walking almost a mile up a hill to the Bowl, but that turned out the be a good choice. On the walk, we passed over 10 parking lots that cost between $20-$40. Screw that. It was actually a nice walk (gorgeous, perfect weather), and it turned out that a lot of other concert-goers had a similar idea, so we had a lot of company.

Walking through the tunnel into the seating area was very cool. That first glimpse of the white arc-ing stage is awesome. Our seats were pretty good, too.

The first opening act was The National. They were pretty good, but I'd never heard of them before.
Modest Mouse was next. I'm not a huge fan of their music, but they put on a rockin' show.

Finally R.E.M. came out. As usual, they put on an amazing show. I love their new CD, and they played almost the whole thing, plus a great mix of their old stuff.
They had this fantastic light and video show going on behind them.
The sound wasn't so great at the beginning, but it got better. As is custom at the Hollywood Bowl, there was also a lingering scent of marijuana at various points throughout the evening.
I still had a great time, and love love love this band.

R.E.M. has a great official site for tour coverage, and this is the page for the concert I saw. The videos better
illustrate the light and video show that went on upstage.

Overall, fabulous show, but the venue is problematic.

Miles: 33.0 (1.6 miles of which we walked)
Cost: $97.75 ($75 ticket, plus the Ticketmaster fee, $10 parking)

Miles to Date: 88.9
Cost to Date: $107.56

#2. Pink's Hot Dogs

2008-05-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

Our next stop is the famous Pink's Hot Dogs.

This is a hot spot for tourists and locals alike, and it always has a line.

Summer, Lisey and I met up with Frank to indulge in the completely healthy, good for your heart, low-cal feast.

We waited in line for about an hour, which flew by. It was a perfect day, 75* and sunny with a cool breeze. We made the obligatory hot dog jokes, because we're 12 years old, and we took almost the whole time trying to figure out what to order.

These are our dogs, in all their (yummy) nacho cheese-y, onion-y, BACON-y fattening glory! I chose
the Bacon Cheese Chili Dog, which seemed tailor-made for me (minus the chili). It was basically a
BLT on a hot dog. Awesome.

The First Bite. YUM!

The Ladies Who Lunch

Quote of the Day: Frank, "I clearly have the biggest hot dog."

After stuffing our faces, we headed to Pinkberry. For those of you who don't know, Pinkberry is the most amazing place on earth. Frozen yogurt with toppings - it's ColdStone, but healthy. It's seriously addictive, and seriously amazing. We decided to offset the damage to our hearts rendered by Pink's by topping our frozen yogurt with anti-oxidizing berries. Photography is not allowed in the store, so this will have to do:

This was an amazing day, filled with good food and good friends.

Miles: 32.4
Cost: $9.81 (Pink's and Pinkberry)

Miles To Date: 55.9
Cost To Date: $9.81

#1:A USC Rose Garden

2008-05-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

The 30 things begin! Our first stop is the Exposition Park Rose Garden, near USC's campus. This is part 1 of a 3 part "study" of campus gardens.

Lisey and I drove up to USC and because we ~~are cheap~~ wanted exercise, we used street parking a few blocks away and walked. It was a gorgeous day, though a little warm at 85*. After getting lost a few times, I finally took refuge in the air conditioned Museum of Natural History, and a nice volunteer told me where to go.

We spent about two hours walking around the roses (my favorite scent!!), and Lisey took some videos, which will hopefully be posted soon. The flowers were endlessly amazing, and I even got a little tan :-)

Hidden Mickey Rose!

My artistic shot.

Total Miles: 23.5
Total Cost: FREE!

Rock Chalk

2008-04-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hell of a game, boys. Congratulations to the 2008 NCAA National Champions :-)

Thanks for the early birthday present ;-)

2 Years

2008-04-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

Two years ago today I arrived in California. I miss New York City like crazy, but I know that at this point in my life I am supposed to be here.

In the past two years, I have done a lot of things I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do.

I finally have the convertible I've dreamed of since I was 15 years old.

I got to work on the Warner Brothers lot (more than once). Even though I've only done background work so far, it's been an amazing experience getting to play around on these backlots.

I became a huge fan of hockey (Go Ducks!) and I've also gotten really close to some fabulous people! These are my West Coast version of the Sex and the City friends.

And I live down the street from the ocean. When I look out my bedroom window, I see palm trees :-)

Even though money is sometimes tight, and I miss so much about NYC ... I am so happy with my life. Now that I'm finally devoting the time to pursue my dreams, instead of working in a job that I hate, I find that my life is so much more fulfilling. As I approach the big 3-0, I have peace of mind, and joy in spirit. And that is a pretty good place to be.

First Post!

2008-04-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! As all of you know, I'm turning 30 this year. I, unlike most people, am not dreading this birthday. I've never been one to be depressed about age.

For my 25th birthday, I decided to do 25 new and exciting things in New York City. Each experience was something I had never done before, and they were uniquely New York. Since I'm on the other side of the country now, I thought it would be fun to do 30 things in Southern California. This blog will document those events, and any other thoughts I have on facing the big 3-0. Anyone on this coast is welcome to join me on some of my adventures - just let me know if you want in on anything.

I will also be posting any thoughts or situations that arise having to do with this transition into my 30s. Who
knows what they'll be, but I'm ready for them!

Eight months from today, I will greet 30 with open arms and big, fat party. I invite you all to take the ride with me. Hopefully then it won't be so scary when you face the same number.