Couch Surfing in Costa Mesa/Newport Beach…so fun!

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Barefoot Lovey's Traveloge

Laurel and me at Newport Landing for Taco Thursdays!!!

I had a blast hanging out with Laurel on my couch surfing expedition to Costa Mesa/Newport Beach. She works at NB Yacht Club, but was out of work following shoulder surgery so we had lots of play time.

Although there were many fun adventures the best thing she did for me was introduce me to Cronic Taco. It has taken the place of In and Out Burger as my new favorite California, and most anywhere else, quick food place!!!!! I made her take me back the next day. She didn’t really object so it was much of a force. It is a tiny hole-in-the-wall place. Authentic Mexican food. My new all time favorite comfort food POTATO TACOS! What can be better than mashed potatoes, lots of cheese and tortillas????????????? I say nothing!

We spent one whole day just hanging out at Barnes and Nobel reading and drinking Starbucks. We went to Fashion Island and saw Letters To Juliet (loved it). Then after I spent the day with my friends from Knoxville on Balboa Island we went back to that area for a night out with her friends.

Enjoying the night life in NB

Here we started at Newport Landing Restaurant and Oyster Bar for Taco Thursdays. Met up with a group of her friends from the Yacht Club. Fun. After we had had a couple of drinks we sent to Class of 47. It is a little local hang out where John Wayne used to um drink. They had the funniest bumper stickers all over. Some not really general blog reading but I did really like the one I included on this collage.

The second game of the NBA playoffs were on. All but me and one other man were Laker fans . After the loss I traded my bra for the Celtics shirt of the other fan. He put my bra as a display on the Texas Longhorn horns.

There was lots to see and read on the wall, but I found it very interesting that it is apparently necessary to have a note NOT to sit on the sink. LOL

I walked around and took lots of pictures of stuff around the club. Here are a few cool ones. Oh and of course Cronic Taco a few miles away!

While I was staying at Laurel’s I was reading a status update by my friend the football player and coach Tee Martin about Waffle House and I told her about it. So she insisted we go to Roscoe’s. Famous for chicken and waffles. Together. We did so the morning after.

CHICKEN AND WAFFLES what a concept!

Next post: My day on Balboa Island with my good friends from Knoxville…

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Memorial Day in Manhattan Beach…

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Barefoot Lovey's Traveloge

Playing in Manhattan Beach

I had such a fun memorial day weekend at my Manhattan beach couch surfing hosts. They live right off the ocean. So amazing. Their home is so awesome. Because everyone has to build up it is like an upside down house. You enter through the garage or side yard and go straight to stairs going up. The first floor reached is the bedrooms. My host, Lynn – who was kind enough to pick me up at the place I had been surfing, told me to use her daughter’s bedroom. The bedroom had its own balcony with a winding staircase. Such a comfortable and inviting room.

After I had dropped off my bags I joined Lynn and her husband on the top floor, which is the kitchen and living room. A balcony looking out to the beach off the living room and a wonderful seating area off the kitchen. Their home is such a comfortable and cool place. They, including their grown children, are extremely well-traveled so there are such great artifacts from all over the world. It was a dream. I loved sitting outside on the porch while playing on the computer, listening to the waves crashing and dreaming!! A few hours after I got there they took me with them to a Memorial Day party. So crazy. I have rarely been in such wealthy places. I was a bit awestruck. Food was delicious and the company so nice. Children everywhere enjoying the holiday with us. I did get a stripper pole lesson in the owner, of the party house’s, bedroom. Harder than it looks!

On the way home I played a bit of a “Lookie Lu” in the homes. We went by Hanna Barbera’s home. It is being sold. He died a couple of years ago and his inheritors are selling. Sad actually but very cool to see. This was only one of the many interesting homes. There is one that you can tell has owners straight from Italy. Almost looks like a mausoleum. The gardens are another amazing thing in this area. No real yard room but tons of plants and garden art. They are so adept at using the space they have in such lovely ways.

It was a fun walk on the beach the few blocks to get to the party and we took their service dogs. Lynn not only trains service dogs she also teaches surfing. This is a Renisannce woman for sure. She took me on several walks around Manhattan Beach while I was there and she knew everyone. Was kind enough to make sure I met them all and told them who I was. She is very active in community projects and was a great source of inside tidbits. Lots of fun.

Great Farmer's Market in Manhattan Beach

On the way to the train station we stopped at the Farmer’s Market. I was AMAZED!!! Best one I’ve been to since Europe. WOW!!! And every few stands get together with each other and have a “sample” table of their product. SMART! One taste of the foods and you are hooked. So delicious and all so colorful. Fresh caught fish…everything! The stipulation to having a booth in this market is it has to be locally produced and the proprietor cannot have stores outside of the area even if they also have one in Manhattan Beach.

I was a bit sad to leave this home. It was just a dream for me. Next I couch surfed at my new friend’s home in Costa Mesa…

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Couch Surfing in Redondo Beach…

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Barefoot Lovey's Traveloge

I was so exhausted after leaving the farm in Escondido that I just needed a few days of nothingness to regroup. I definitely got that at my couch-surfing house in Redondo Beach. I was glad to get a ride from one of the other WWOOFer at the farm. He was going to go back to his home in San Fransisco. I was happy to car pool with him, but dang that was a harrowing ride. He sure needs some driving lessons. Especially in California. Anyway I got to Meagan’s house before our agreed upon time so I just dropped my stuff off by her apartment door and went to replenish my clothes at Goodwill. Found lots of good deals. Best finds were two pair of very comfortable yoga pants and a soft zip up sweatshirt.

When I got back to Meagan’s she was there packing for her Memorial Day weekend trip to her mom’s. She was extremely generous in giving me her home for a few days even though she was going to be gone for the first two of them. Affording me the perfect opportunity to do nothing but relax. Great!!

As soon as Meagan left I crawled into bed with a book and read till I fell asleep. The next morning I got up and went for a walk on the greenway with my coffee. Back to the apartment. Read a bit and then did a bit of “thank-you” cleaning, and took a long shower. When I got out of the shower my friend Janet called and said she was going to come up and hang out for a few hours.

When she got there we went to eat at a cute, but way expensive, Italian restaurant. Janet wasn’t feeling good so we ate a bit and then just got the rest to go. When we got back to the studio we just put in the first season of How I Met Your Mother and relaxed. Once Janet left I went back to bed. My life is oh so hard.

The next morning I got up and got some coffee and then headed to the beach via the bus. I didn’t know there was a street fair going on at Hermosa Beach till I got on the bus. Had a great time there. Saw lots of local art and ate lots of local food. A couple of hours later I was getting really sunburned so I went to a local pizza place to have a pitcher of beer and play on the computer. Met a bunch of random locals and had fun. The place was slammed and I think the owner wasn’t really prepared so he was a bit pissy with his workers which was a bit uncomfortable. As was his constant arguing with his wife, but I did see the draw of the place, the staff.

Once I was back at the studio Meagan had come home. She is so sweet. We chatted for a bit and she blew up the air mattress. We made plans to go to breakfast the next day before I left for my next couch surfing place in Manhattan Beach.

The next morning we got up and decided on a local place for breakfast. Nice walk  and fun conversation only to realize that it was Memorial Day and the local places were closed for the holiday. We walked back and got the car and drove to Denny’s. On the walk back we were on the greenway and she explained that the city had put in motion sensors that caused the upcoming street’s pavement lights to flicker to alert oncoming traffic so that the walker/runner/bicyclist didn’t have to stop or slow down. Also there are solar panels on top of poles to power the lights on the path. So cool.

Back at the studio we waited for Lynn, my next host in Manhattan Beach, to pick me up and chatted about all our travels both past and future. She is such a sweet and honest and refreshing person. I am very lucky to have been able to spend time in her home and with her.

My next stop Manhattan Beach…

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La Jolla Beach…..

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Barefoot Lovey's Traveloge

LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!

One of the live-in grounds keepers, Coree, works at a cute sushi restaurant called Sushi on the Rock in La Jolla and was kind enough to let me drive in with her one day when she had a night shift. I was able to get there about 2pm and stay till around 11pm when her husband, Ian, picked me up on his way home from surfing. I went to art galleries, the beach, my first hookah bar and did lots of people watching.

I couldn’t wait to get down to the beach. I had promised Marley that I would take a picture of my feet in the water so that is the first thing I did. I had my feet in the cold water and was adjusting the camera when I went to click the frame I felt a weird rubbery heavy thing slosh over my feet as the wave came in. Startled I looked over after the wave began to recede to see the sweetest jet black baby sealion had come up over my feet and was just a foot away from me. He was adorable!!! I was so excited. He and I stayed side by side for about a half an hour. He taking looks at me and me at him. AMAZING!

After I finally left my new friend I went for a walk along the beach walk way. This section of beach is called Children’s Pool Beach ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Pool_Beach) and has only recently reopened after being closed for years. On the bottom right hand side of the collage at the top of this page is the Lifeguard Station. I thought it was so cute. Many pelicans and seals and sea lions were enjoying the view as much as I was. Played in the tide pools and talked to the crabs.

I just cannot explain how giddy I feel when I am by the ocean. I am and always will be in such awe and wonder there.

After I spent some time at a deli shop, The Living Room, overlooking the water and doing some computer work I went for a walk to see all of the art galleries. La Jolla is known for their art galleries. One of my new all time favorites is The Dr. Seuss Gallery: http://www.drseussart.com/. I got such a quick out of this place. Who knew there was such humor in the man? Okay I guess the world did and does, but there is more humor than the children books we are all so familiar with.

I did visit a few other galleries and all were wonderful. I visited one that had many paintings that depict Dante’s works by a Spanish artist that I thoroughly enjoyed.

After my visit around town I was getting cold. I missed being cold in the summer evening so much while I lived in the never cooling summer evenings of Tennessee.

I went back to The Living Room. Upstairs is a hookah bar. I had never been to one, but had heard a lot about them.Very cool and a bit different. I am adamantly against smoking as anyone who knows me even slightly knows about me. So this den of hookah smoking had never appealed to me. Well what an experience. I enjoyed it. There were groups of people sitting around tables with these hookah.

hookah

There was no awful smell. Actually the opposite. All the air smelled clean and sweet. I was a bit memorized. Ian, the grounds keeper and Coree’s husband, came and picked me up at the hookah bar about mid-night to take me back to the ranch.

About two weeks after this I left the farm to go couch surfing for a couple of weeks. Here is a collage of the hookah bar and one of my last days and going away party at Hidden Valley Ranch (oh yeah and my one and only time of trying a hookah:

Hookah Bar, The Living Room, La Jolla, CA

Last days in Escondido and my sad attempt at Hookahing 😉

Next up, my beach hosting experiences…

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Farm in Enscondido, California

Posted on June 5, 2010 by Barefoot Lovey's Traveloge

My first week at the farm

My first week at my first farm, Hidden Valley Retreat and Spa, was a lesson in perseverance. There is a huge discrepancy in the  proclamations from Hidden Valley on the WWOOFing site & in Host book and what they offer/expect from their WWOOFers.

To begin though I want to say that it is by far one of the prettiest and enchanting pieces of property I’ve ever seen. There are extensive paths throughout the expansive gardens. Old heirloom roses of every variety everywhere. There are herbs, exotic trees, and flowers of all kinds. Benches to sit on and meditate all over. This is the perfect place for being alone with your thoughts and read or paint or just enjoy the view. It was owned and originated with Dr. Bernard Jensen:

Although best known for his work in iridology, Jensen was a noted proponent of a variety of alternative care methods including nature cure, hydrotherapy (such as colon hydrotherapy), fasting, reflexology, color therapy, polarity, glandular balancing, homeopathy, herbology, acupuncture, craniopathy and personology.

He owned three sanitariums, the last being the Hidden Valley Health Ranch in Escondido, California. He said he saw more than 350,000 patients in this life. For many years Jensen maintained an office in Los Angeles where he would see patients. He also saw many patients at his office at the Hidden Valley Health Ranch. The original ranch was more than 100 acres (0.40 km2). When this was sold, he began seeing patients at his office above the original land site. For numbers of years he taught iridology workshops here at the site closer to his home.

The original purpose for this property is close to my heart and my beliefs for self-care & self-awareness. This being the case and this being the philosophy that is purported in their blurb I thought it would be the perfect place for my foray into WWOOFing. I was wrong.

The current owners, who have owned it just over three years, are not involved with the property as a peaceful and organic endeavor but as a commercial enterprise. They know nothing, nor do they strive to learn, about ranching or organic/green practices. They do not look at WWOOFing as an organization for furthering interest in the environment and health of all, but strictly as a way to “advertise” the property for financial gain. There is NO effort in keeping the property organic and running it the way it was intended by Dr. Jensen.The only goal of the new owners is to have it as a money-making venture with as little monetary output as possible.

With that said the way they treat WWOOFers is as a kind of third class citizen. Work and work with no thank you, no down time, no recognition just suspicion. One of the benefits of room &  board is the board part aka  food. They give food to us once a week. Only one meal per days worth. This is not the norm, nor what they say they provide in the Host Book. The property is very far off the beaten path and not where one can just go to get something to eat. Especially someone without a car. They offer pick-ups and drop offs from Escondido proper, San Diego or Oceanside. Another false claim. They had me walking or HITCH HIKING to get back the Sunday before last. That is when I decided I was leaving the farm.

The accommodations are also different from what is told in the Host Book. There the owners have said that we would be housed in the converted barn. Not true. I was in a mobile home (a mobile home would be fine, but not one that would be condemned if anyone with authority were to see that it is housing people) with a bed that sloped downward. Rotten water that only trickled out of the rusted faucets and a toilet that had so much rust that it looked unusable. The heat didn’t work in my room so I was very cold. I was given a space heater that made a horrible and scary sound all night long and smelled horrible. And the whole place was filthy  not dirty FILTH. With all kinds of junk and trash spread through the porch and sides. Enough about the conditions. This is some of the things I accomplished while being there:

Such a beautiful place. I worked so hard. Very proud of myself.

Next post: my adventures in the real world aka beaches and coffee shops during my Hidden Valley time…

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Sadness…Anger…

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Barefoot Lovey's Traveloge

There has been only a few drawbacks to this adventure I am on. But a big one is – not physically being in Knoxville – I miss events and news.

My friends and family are really good at keeping me updated, but of course some things fall through the cracks…

A woman I loved dearly, Lucy Frye, passed away. This was an expected death after a long life and health issues but still I found out by chance in a casual conversation with a reference to her funeral. Hard.

Then Marley lost her first tooth. The beginning of lots of first with her I knew I’d miss. But still we can Skype about it and I get to see it as it is happening due to such amazing advances in technology. Cool.

But with the same technologies, social media, I found out about a devastating event in a life of someone I happen to know and care about.

The ravage beating and murder of Henry Granju. I got up on Tuesday to check my emails and Facebook notices before heading to my next couch-surfing host in Costa Mesa, CA to see the “RIP to Henry” on Facebook. A couple of years ago when I was employed at St John’s Cathedral, I knew Henry as a fun and smart member of the youth group. I immediately called  a few  people I know in Knoxville and was told that Katie had been blogging about Henry since the beginning of his hospitalization. I decided that was the best way to get a full idea of what had happened.

Katie’s Blog, http://mamapundit.com, has the full details of the past several weeks in Katie’s (Henry’s mom) words. I have read it several times and I have not yet been able to process it all in my mind.

HORRID. SCARY. TRAGIC. UNBELIEVABLE.

This coming on the tail end of the total injustice in the Christian/Newsom trials has just left me wondering how we, as Americans, have let our justice system deteriorate to this extent. Where the police department tells the mother of the victim that it’s not sure there is a victim so there isn’t really an investigation going on.

But once Henry actually dies –  not just suffers through pain for 30 some days while the family pray, love, help, wait – and Katie publicly blogs about the unwillingness of the Knoxville police department to investigate and follow-up on the many readily available leads are we seeing them acknowledge and investigate as they should have from the beginning. WHY???????????

We talk about and I agree that we need a complete overhaul of our health care system, but I believe that if we did a thorough and complete overhaul of our judicial system and stopped letting the criminals use the system and the victims pay for crimes against them we would have PLENTY of money for health care for everyone.

I have worked in and with the judicial system since 1994, as a mediator and a paralegal, and have seen many things in that arena that make me sad as an American. We are born of freedom. Freedom is NOT putting the victim on trial to make sure the perpetrator gets a fair trail and punishment! Or in this case charged!

I do not want to use this blog as my pedestal for reform. But I am sad that not only was I not aware of this ongoing tragedy from the beginning so I could pray and give my thoughts to the family and Henry, but also at the way it is being handled within the sheriff’s department.

God bless to the friends and family of Henry Granju and I so hope in my heart for justice for his family and peace and rest for him.

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Weekend with Janet and Chad and their Entourage…

Posted on May 31, 2010 by Barefoot Lovey's Traveloge

Janet and I went to Junior and Senior High School together. We were close friends until our mid-twenties when life and family had us going  in separate directions. We were pregnant with our first-born together and have shared a lot in the way of friends and family. We have only seen each other twice since I moved to TN.

She picked me up at the hotel thinking that I had slept the night in a bath tub. Not sure how we got that wire crossed. Well, actually, I do. I have had nothing but trouble with my cell phone since I came to California. I was told that my plan covered all of USA, but that is not the case. So I have had a problem with hit and miss calls and some people don’t really know if the phone is on or not. So when I sent a message out the message about being stuck in Bellflower she didn’t know how to get in touch with me. I was able, by sitting near a 7 eleven, to get a bit of a connection and I had sent her a message that I could get texts. So, while I was taking a nice leisurely bath at the Quality Inn the morning after I was stranded she sent me a text. Continue reading →

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Bellflower, California…The place I grew up…

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Barefoot Lovey's Traveloge

I still have a hard time with my past. So part of this journey I’m on is to visit where I grew up and see where my emotions are when I do. So far all has been good. I went to Bellflower and to the house I grew up in to see if I could deal with it all in a healthy manner. Continue reading →

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First “Job” in California….

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Barefoot Lovey's Traveloge

So, my first work for room and board job came as a surprised. An awesome surprise, but a surprise none the less. Continue reading →

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