Our New Neighbors

So it seems we have some new neighbors in our building. They have just started to move in and are really making their presence known. In the short time they've been here we have already heard them singing at all hours of the night. Their belongings are strewn carelessly about the walkway and they are constantly entertaining boisterous guests (the kind that are too annoying to ignore). In fact, one of their little friends almost attacked Bryan yesterday when he stuck his head out the door to investigate the ruckus.

Okay, so our new neighbors not rowdy college kids, they are birds; grey doves to be exact. Let me tell you, these birds may look cute, but in this case, looks are deceiving. Right now they are in the midst of constructing their nest right next to our front door. I guess I understand why they are up in arms; they have to claim their territory and protect the home of their future offspring. Over time I am sure they will get use to us and vice versa. For now though, every time we walk out the front door they give us the evil eye followed by a menacing squawk. We shall see how this goes; hopefully their kids will be cute and make up for thier parent's poor social skills.   

Here are the beginnings of our neighbor’s new beach house. If anything exciting happens, I will post the progress. Ha. Ha.

On an unrelated avian note; these are some cool photos I caught of random birds’ mid-flight. One is a crow in front of Notre Dame in Paris and the other is a crane from our whale watching tour in Newport. Nothing to do with doves, nest building, or neighbors, but bird related nonetheless!

Valentine's Day Excursion

Yesterday we took a short road trip to Newport Beach. It is only about an hour outside LA, but it feels like somewhere completely different. This area of Orange County is what I always imagined a true beach town to feel like. The side we were visiting is really cute and has a nice low key vibe.

Since we've been in LA, we have not really celebrated all holidays to the fullest. One of our resolutions for 2010 was to celebrate each and every holiday and birthday. Whether it is giving a gift, doing something nice for each other, throwing a party or taking a road trip--whatever. We just realized we needed to take more advantage of the days that were meant to be met with jubilation (thus, the Valentines Day whale watching tour).

Funny enough, whales are actually quite romantic mammals. Maybe seeking out these great beasts was more suiting for Valentines than we would have ever thought. I read an article about a book the other day that I really want to read. It's called: The Whale: 500 Days of Blubber. The article mentioned that a fin whale can be heard by its counterpart as far as 3,000 miles away! Whales also often choose one mate for life and (this is the part I really found interesting) they often partake in foreplay before doing the deed!

The whale watching tour was two hours long and we were promised to see some sort of sea creature, or money back guaranteed. The ride started off kind of slow. The first thirty minutes we didn't see much besides beautiful million dollar homes along the coast and the occasional yacht or sailboat. Then out of no where an entire school of dolphins appeared, it was incredible! They came right up to the boat. They must of enjoyed the wake the boat created because the followed us for quite some time. Unfortunately, it all happened so quick, I wasn't able to get any really good pictures of the school as a whole. Bryan and I joked that it would be funny if the group of dolphins was on a human watching tour. Hey, ya never know.

We were nearing the end of the tour and although the dolphins were amazing, we were getting pretty disappointed that we hadn't seen any whales. Just as we were probably less than a mile from the dock, the captain came on over the loud speaker and told us to look to our left. Immediately everyone aboard slung to the left side of the boat. There it was: the backside of an enormous Grey Whale. We watched as his back and blowhole barely skimmed the water, then back down he would go. The size of this guy was truly breathtaking. We followed the whale for awhile. Pretty soon other boats caught on that there was a whale in the area and before we knew it about ten other sail, motor and tour boats were hot on the trail of this whale. We were lucky enough to see him come up for air a couple of more times. He never raised his tail, but seeing the small portion of his back alone, really gave a clear picture of how big he was. HUGE.

The captain came on once more, this time to announce our two hour tour was coming to a close, but he did have one more treat for us. As if they had been told on cue, a group of sea lions sunbathing on a dingy lifted their heads to say hello. I've heard sea lions are really ferocious, looking at them cuddled all together, you would never guess it.

Where is our Snow?!

I can't believe the record-breaking snow in Dallas today! I am kind of sad I am not there to partake in the buidling of snowmen and bad driving. So, in the spirit of the winter weather, I figured I would share some of our snow photos. Well, it did not technically snow here in Santa Monica, but we were able to see the snow capped mountains from our street last week--which was quite beautiful.

A Visitor to LA LA Land!

Last weekend one of my dear friends from college (Randi) was in town for business. She came in a day early to hang out and see LA. It was so nice to have a friend from back home in town to stay with us. Since she was only here for one day we had to cram all the sight-seeing into 24 hours. We took her around to the usual touristy spots; Hollywood, Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier. Venice Beach is a scene! It is full of weirdos, which makes for fantastic people watching. ( To be fair: beyond the weirdos there are also some really cool places to hang out and eat in Venice).

It is always fun to have people in town because it’s like seeing LA again through a fresh set of eyes. This particular time, for some reason, everything seemed extraordinarily dirty. The pollution is constantly noticeable to the naked eye and a lot of buildings, homes and apartment complexes in LA are just old. And, unfortunately there are hundreds of thousands of homeless people (around 254,000--I think), which is obviously heartbreaking, and contributes to the scenery. Not the most appealing aesthetics when all are combined together. (If you have been to LA, I am sure you have seen this for yourself in some shape, form or fashion).

It really made me start thinking about how so much beauty (like the mountains, oceans, roses and palm trees) can coexist with so much grit and despair? I know this is the case in every big city; but last weekend all these things seemed to be really exaggerated. Maybe part of it was missing Texas and friends and therefore only focusing on the negative things in this city; rather than focusing on the good. I am not sure. I guess every city has its ups and downs and at the end of the day it’s what you make of it. Luckily I have a great partner in life and we have really had fun out here and enjoyed all the beautiful things. But at the same time, you can't help but think about how unfair it is that there is so much wealth and so much poverty within blocks of eachother.

As negative as this post may seem, we had a great time! Dirty scenery or not!  Nothing beats catching up, reminiscing and laughing with an old friend. It really makes you so thankful for all those special friendships that have survived through the years. It is crazy to sit and think back on all the things that have changed in 10 years or so and how fast time has gone by and how far you have both come. Where will we be 10 years from now when we are reminiscing on the past 20? Yikes. But, yikes in a good way. Besides, nothing could be as heinous as memories from the college days.  Oh, what fun.

Santa Monica Beach

                                 Kodak Theater, Hollywood                                           

                                                               Chinese Theater, Hollywood