Notes from me to you

my dearest friends,

i hope you all are doing well. i'm still working on getting back to people via-email. know i'm thinking of you all!

things are going well out here.. staying busy! making new friends.. checking out new places. here is a quick re-cap of some highlights:

-Santa Monica beach/pier.. beautiful!!! and also great for people watching!

-we found "the Nook" of Santa Monica!!!!! its a tiny little bar/grill near the Santa Monica pier called Big Dean's Muscle In. its a place for beach-goers to wander into for a cold beer and some fried food. the servers are cool, friendly, goofy, laid-back and not afraid to swear at each other in jest in front of customers. they even wear white and green t-shirts just like at the Nook. their food is cheap, good, fried, and served in little red baskets. water is served from a big water jug. they only have a few beers and wines to choose from. the server recognized the girl i was with who'd been there once! they don't take crap from their customers that offer it. they have the same kind of rude/humorous/vintage signage as the nook. good place....

-new kinds of advertisement that have humored me! planes fly over the coast with banner advertising anything from movies, to TV shows, adult beverages, to baseball games. we even saw a string of four planes just advertising Evan Almighty! another plane used white smoke to spell out "KYLE XY" apparently a new tv series on HBO! Californians also uses human advertising a lot! occasionally in the twin cities you'd see someone standing on grand ave with a sign for a bookstore that was closing, cheap oil changes, etc. that method of obtaining attention of new customers is used a LOT here! every day on my way to work i see this man.. by definition he is "hot (i think he's kinda slimy): good build (and by that i mean extremely buff), super tan (and by that i mean freakishly tan), blonde hair, etc.. the works.. every day he is standing on the street, dressed in a super-hero's uniform and cape, dancing like a freak with a shield of some sort and a radio blasting bad music. i laugh every day. i guess he's a human billboard for a place called west side rentals. i'm starting to wonder if its a rent-a-stripper store! :-/ crazy but funny.. these are just a few examples.. i've seen more super-hero uniforms on more diverse people than i could see in an hour in a comic book store.

-pubs: i drug my co-travel nurses to a pub! i loved it.. they were bored. i'm going to have to make some pub-going friends around here! its an irish pub and all of the servers are irish.. and rude! ha!

-tan: laura has a tan! even after i discovered that SPF 15 is not enough for this girl's hasn't-seen-the-sun-in-a-few-years skin. i lathered up with Consumer Report's top choice of sunblock every hour-and-a-half-ish at the beach and still walked away with a bit-o-burn. oh well.. it really doesn't hurt. i can't imagine how i'd feel sans-sunblock! i still look pasty compared to most!

-california fam. for those of you who don't know.. i have a good friend from college out here who became a part of a "family" made up of some people who are related (and by "some people" i mean some of the coolest, jesus-loving, open, honest, giving, caring, real people i've ever met!), others who work at the church (jill, seth, ingrid, JT all work there), and then other randoms, like me.. and everyone just spends a lot of time together hanging out, helping, talking, celebrating, etc. like a real family. after visiting ingrid 3 times i'd gotten to know the fam pretty well, in fact it was some of the things they said that inspired my move to CA. anyway... i've gotten to spend a little time with everyone so far.. but brandon, who lives in San Diego.. hopefully soon though! its been a blast! big people, little people, mom, sisters, new sisters, food, wine, grill, groceries, lions specials, painting toes, etc.

-GREAT highlight!! 3 of my past co-workers called from work last night and left me the sweetest message. they wanted to know how i was doing! i was able to call back and talk to all three of them.. i almost cried!!! :)

-another fantastic highlight: monster cookies from grandma in the mail!! along with a magnet with a map of iowa on it so i won't "forget my roots." awesome!!!!!!!

-i've been able to connect with a few friends via-phone! that's been wonderful.

i'm getting excited for my first visitor: Mom!!! as i told her.. the weather here is like those few spring or fall days in Iowa/Minnesota where you say, "oh its just perfect today." its like that every day here! no humidity. warm sun, cool coastal breeze. its even a little chilly in the shade sometimes. mom's going to love it, among many other things. she did say she was going to just lay in the back seat of the car while we were driving though.. i thought this a better idea than the eye-cover/mask i was going to make her wear! ha! she has a hard time watching cars zoom by! :) she'll be here for my birthday.. couldn't ask for a better gift! oh the places we'll go! ;-)

ok.. time to throw a load of scrubs in so i have something to wear to work!

hope all is well with each of you. as always, i appreciate you checking in.

love from the coast,

laura