elephant seals are a real thing

Have you ever watched Planet Earth or a special on Discovery Channel/Animal Planet that featured a segment on elephant seals? I bet you thought the same thing I did: "What?!? Those things aren't real. This is some expensive CGI creation trying to grab viewers." Turns out these weird, alien-like seals actually do exist-- and in California, only a few hours north of me!

Dane & I headed north this past weekend to scope out some wedding sites in Big Sur, about 90 miles of the central coastal area of California. Just when we were entering the Big Sur area, we spotted a sign for an elephant seal lookout point. We decided to stop, but didn't have high hopes of actually seeing any seals.  We were very, very wrong!

The elephant seals were staying cool and preventing sunburn by throwing sand onto themselves with their little flippers. It was adorable to see little puffs of sand flying.

[looks like Dane chose to focus on the elephant seals for this photo... :) ]

leaning in

Ah, the quintessential Southern California sunset.

A few weeks ago, Dane & I decided to have a little happy hour in Venice Beach at a place called the Waterfront Cafe. The cafe's patio sits right on the boardwalk, across from the ocean. Great for both the ocean views and the people watching (Venice has to be the USA's premiere people watching location).  Also, the Waterfront Cafe has the most amazing giant hot pretzels served with homemade sweet mustard. I couldn't even snap a photo because we gobbled it up so quickly.

I've been reading the popular book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg recently (she's the COO of Facebook and also worked at Google and for the US Treasury). I wasn't so sure about it at first--as an Anthropology major, I had extensively studied the topic of gender roles in multiple areas of the world, and the idea that girls and boys are raised differently and accept societal roles differently didn't seem groundbreaking to me-- but I'm about halfway through now and can say that she definitely has some great observations about pursuing a career as a woman. My workplace is having a mini-bookclub to discuss Lean In after we're all finished reading it, and I'm excited to share all of my opinions and hear others opinions.

If you think that this book is only applicable to the woman pursing a career in business or technology, I would say that you are dead wrong. I am already applying her lessons not only in my "day job" workplace, but also in my creative career. In fact (although I'm only halfway through Sheryl's book), I'd say that her writing is a great asset to a creative career since the "entry level" of this type of work is basically considered "trying to be a _____".  Although I have performed in many professional plays, I am still seen as "trying to be an actor" unless I continue to work my way up (or around, and Sheryl suggests). We have to lean in and find new ways to grow or our career seemingly doesn't exist.

It seems like everyone is reading the book anyway, but I would say that picking up a copy from the library or bookstore is a good idea, especially if you're a twenty-something like me trying to piece together a career path.

I don't think Lean In was on my mind during this gorgeous sunset, but I'm sure I'll be applying its lessons to both of my careers.

my memory is foggy

One of the perks of living in LA should be the proximity to the beach. So, on a day off when I finally have nothing pressing to do, of course I'm going to ask my beau to come to the beach with me. Especially when it's 86 and sunny, right?

Well, it was 86 and sunny at our place. And about ten blocks from the beach. But about eight blocks away, a thick fog had meandered in on an otherwise perfect day. Not the sunny, jump-in-the-water-to-escape-the-heat conditions I was hoping for.

But we stayed, because it wasn't crowded and the fog made the scenery quite beautiful. I felt like I was in a pastel painting of a shipwreck.

That's the farthest I would go into the icy water.

Luckily, the sky started to clear at around 3:30 and we had a good hour of hot, sweet sunshine to cap off our visit. But I can take plenty of pictures of a sunny beach-- the fog is a rarity!

P.S.--I loved that our fellow beach bum was reading Stephen Hawking (the black book in the bottom left had corner)!