Foot Travels

I've been doing a lot of walking around Santa Monica, and I've found that it's orienting me as well as clearing my mind. Along the way, I've taken several pictures of my surroundings, so I thought I'd share them with you all. Enjoy!

There are lots of interesting plants here. I love stopping to look at them. Most of the pictures here are of plants that I like. This one is like a flower with waxy leaves as petals.

This is a flower from a tree, and it looks like a pine cone is growing from the top of it! It's beautiful. 

I saw this on a walk, and of course I thought of my lovely sister, Chelsea. I love Chelsea, but it wasn't me that etched it into the sidewalk. So many lovable Chelseas, it seems. 

My camera just doesn't do justice to the amazing color of these tiny sidewalk flowers. 

The palm trees on the west coast are MUCH bigger than the ones in Florida. They make me want to stand up taller. 

Mark and I met for lunch last week, and as he turned to go back to work, I stopped to snap a picture of this cool cactus plant. A lady was pushing her baby in a stroller, and I was almost on the ground I was down so low for the picture. She gave me a weird look. Just taking a picture, lady! Gimme a break!

Perks of the job: VIPs at Janelle Monae's private concert

Last night Mark and I enjoyed some perks of his job. There was a concert at Apogee (the company where Mark works), and we were invited for free. This is the studio before the show started. We got VIP access complete with sparkly wristbands and an open bar with beer and wine. 

Here's Mark with Devin, the other intern at Apogee. What a handsome team.

This is the control room at the Apogee studio. Notice the lovely color scheme going on here. All purples, reds and pinks. 

Ready for the show! We got to Janelle Monae perform, and she was amazing. I hadn't heard of her before, but now Mark has bought two of her albums, and we're jamming out to her now! 

Janelle had SO much energy. It was so fun seeing her perform. I asked her at the end if she needed another dancer for her team. She said she'd call me. And then I realized she didn't have my number. Dang! For those of you that know child-Jessica's aspiration to become a Fly Girl, you know how much I'd love to be dancing on stage. Maybe she'll find my number somewhere and call...

This is the after-concert interview. The concert was sponsored by KCRW radio, Santa Monica's local NPR station. I also asked this guy if he needed an assistant. He gave me his card. It's all about connections.

Here's another shot of Mark. I gave him a hair cut yesterday, which we're calling a "bob". It's hard to see because he has a hat on, but I think I did an okay job for my first hair cut. 

And now, two videos! The first is much better and less shaky. The second video is the last song she did, the encore. They were throwing balloons around, too. It was a fun time! I was trying to tap a balloon back into the crowd, and I accidentally hit (very lightly hit) the lady in front of me. I immediately apologized, but she was not happy. I don't think she was really vibing with the show as much as the rest of the crowd, anyway. Geez, lighten up!

Janelle Monae Live 1 from hey jessica on Vimeo.

Janelle Monae Live 2 from hey jessica on Vimeo.

And we're cooking!

    

As I'm sure you can imagine, Mark and I are thrilled to have our cookware with us. Mark cooked for me Wednesday night. Isn't he sweet? He cooked turkey kielbasa with bell pepper, onion, tomato and garlic. We also had a side of black beans. Here's the master at work in our homey kitchen.

We're cooking with fire here! Here's the finished meal, complete with a tasty Heineken Light. Now I'm off to meet Mark for lunch at La Petite Cafe.

Fried update: Last night Mark and I went to eat sushi at Kaido, our favorite spot a few blocks away. A familiar person entered with two friends, and we quickly realized she was a waitress from a cafe we've eaten at a few times. She was very friendly while serving us the other times, and we knew from chatting that she's an artist. We talked with her and her friends before leaving the restaurant last night and exchanged information. Her boyfriend lives here, too, and he's a recording engineer, so it sounds like he and Mark have similar interests. We're going to get together with them soon, if all goes well. Yay, friendships in the making! :)

Making Progress

Here's Mark in our studio! We've got two desks, two chairs, artwork, an easel, instruments, computers and nice speakers. We've got it all! Watch the video below, for a sneak-peek at the studio.

Glimpse at the Studio from hey jessica on Vimeo.

Last, but certainly not least, I'm happy to say my books have a comfy home! This is my bookshelf from IKEA. It's twice the size of my old one, but basically the same model. I love it...

All settled in...sort of...

Well, Mark and I successfully made the long drive across I-40 West without killing each other. Yay! We stopped in Oklahoma City the first night, Albuquerque the second night and Kingman (Arizona) the third night. We arrived to lovely Santa Monica on Thursday around 1 p.m. (Pacific time).

Sorry it took me so long to post pictures! I will post more once all my furniture is set up and everything's in order. Right now I'm sitting on the floor because I'm tired of the chairs and there's no couch. :)

Here's the apartment building from the outside. Basically what you see of the second floor (the top floor) is all ours. The window on the far right is from our dining room area (it's not a separate room, more like a breakfast nook), the window to the left of that one is from our kitchen, the next left window (covered up by the trees) is from the bathroom, and the far left window (also covered by trees) is the "office" or second bedroom. Our bedroom is actually around the corner on the left, behind the office.

If you walk down the walkway on the right in the first picture, you'll come around back. Those stairs take you to our place, which is the door that you can partially see in this picture.

This is the living room, and it's actually bigger than what you see. The front door is on the right, and as you can see we are still assembling/gathering furniture. That desk on the left is mine from IKEA, and it was $25 (and I had a coupon for $25 off, so it was basically free!). The lamp is from IKEA, too, and in the boxes are books and two dining room chairs that are awaiting assembly. :)

This picture is taken from the kitchen looking into the dining area. To the left (out of the picture) is the living room, which leads to the bedrooms and bathroom.

This is the kitchen! I haven't been able to cook yet because my pots and pans, etc., are all in boxes at a friend's house in Miami, but I will get them soon. I'm lucky to have such great friends to help me out. Thanks guys!

Here's the bathroom. The shower-head is detachable, which I like, and there's tons of storage here (in the bathroom and just in general). Our apartment in Miami only had ONE closet, the one in the bedroom for our clothes. This place has four closets and more cabinets and nooks and crannies in the bathroom for storage. I'm loving that!

And last but not least, here's our bedroom. We've actually moved stuff around since I took the picture, so as I said, I will take more soon and post the updates.

So far we have found a local Chinese place that has $5 DINNER take-out (what?!), an Indian restaurant that delivers to us (and is delicious!), a bar within walking distance that has a pool table and yummy fish tacos, and a Mexican restaurant with huge meals and great margaritas.

Mark started his job yesterday, and he's really liking it so far! First days are always hard because there's so much to learn, but I think his second day is going more smoothly and he's getting into his routine. I packed him lunch this morning and sent him off! :)

Love to all from the west coast.

j