California Gurlzz

I will be the first to admit that I took growing up in California for granted.  In high school, I always thought I would never want to move back.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the weather and the beach, but I felt like too many people around me were too materialistic.  I could not count the kids I knew who were so spoiled it made me nauseous.  Actually, if I were to say that in a grammatically correct fashion, I would say I could not count the kids who were so spoiled that they nauseated me (as my good friend Edward taught me the other day.)

And while I still disagree with being materialistic and spoiling your children (which are two things that my family does not believe in either), I realized once I came to school that I had it FREAKING GOOD in California.  I would not mind in the slightest if I ended up back there someday in the near future.

For one thing, you have the beach.  I'm not a surfer or bodyboarder or kayaker or anything, but the beach is just incredible. I never thought I would miss it as much as I do when I'm at school.

Secondly, the weather is PERFECT.  I know it rains every once in a while and sometimes it can get pretty cold in the mornings, but when my mother tells me that she had to wear running tights that morning because it was in the low-60s, I know she has it pretty good there.  Especially because once it hits the forty degree zone here in Utah, everybody starts breaking out their shorts.

Thirdly, Californians know how to build roads, and how to drive on them.  Utahans do not. Anybody who has driven on I-15 between Payson and American Fork knows what I am talking about.  Why block off 15 miles of freeway lanes when you are only working on 200 yard stretches here and there? I will never understand how anyone could possibly think that was a good idea.

And as for the driving, I know a few perfectly capable Utah drivers, but the vast majority of people seem completely lost. They drive 50 mph in the fast lane, speed up with you when you are trying to change lanes, and don't seem to know that it is OK to turn right on a red as long as you yield first.

Needless to say, I was ready to take a trip back home ASAP after finals ended.  So I packed my bags and grabbed my friend Abby (also from California, but up north) and we headed down for the weekend.

I should probably explain why this post is entitled "California Gurlzz"
Abby and I went to Ecuador together last summer, and we were the only two from California.  One time we just said "California gurlzzz" super obnoxiously and high-fived, and it kind of stuck for the rest of the summer.  We try to control ourselves in public now that we are back in our own country, but every once in a while this old saying still slips out.

 Started out the road trip in the gatormobile (my VW GTI) on Thursday afternoon and drove FOREVER to get to California.  We may or may not have hit up Cafe Rio in St. George.  As much as I hate on Utah, it does still have some good things to offer. Cafe Rio is one of them.

The following day, we hit up the beach (Thousand Steps in Laguna)

We forgot that we had been living in Utah for 8 months and had very pale (and extremely sensitive) skin.  Oops.

Just a liiiiittle bit fried.  High waisted bikini bottoms can give really strange tan lines.

Abby's poor neck 

My poor legs. Notice the very visible hand print on my left leg where I must have accidentally rubbed some sunscreen leftovers.

The next day it was back to the beach with my family.  We went to Aliso Creek beach in Laguna, and there we met some characters.

The European men in extremely tiny speedos who were taking pictures of each other on an iPad

 The woman who came up to the rock where we were sitting and told us we were "beautiful angels" and proceeded to pray aloud and raise her bible to the sky.

Even Dad and little Austy were enjoying the sun that day!

In case you were wondering, we doused ourselves in sunscreen that day and therefore sustained no more third degree sunburns.

Sunday was church with the family, where I reconnected with a lot of people that I hadn't seen in a long time.  It was a delightful experience.

Sunday afternoon, Abby and I had to leave to drive back to Utah.  My roommate, Katie, informed me that she would be opening her mission call Sunday night before we were scheduled to make it back.  I made her promise to call me while she opened it so I could listen over the phone as she announced it.

Here is how that plan turned out.  Abby wanted to hear too so I tried to put my phone on speaker, but then we couldn't hear Katie at all.  Thinking we could plug my phone into the iPod connector and listen over the radio so it was louder, we tried that.  We fumbled around with the cord until we realized it wasn't going to work, and then I finally just grabbed my phone and held it up to my ear just in time to hear joyous yells coming from all of Katie's friends who were in attendance.  This was me on the phone:

Suffice it to say I was PISSED that I didn't hear where she was actually going!  I was screaming into the phone "WAIT KATIE I MISSED IT WHERE ARE YOU GOING????" but to no answer.  When I finally did get a hold of somebody, it was my roommate Jessi who informed me that Katie was going to Japan.  Woo hoo so excited for you Katie Buhler!  While I would rather have you here with me so we can buy flower hats and talk to our cats dogs, I couldn't be happier for you and for the lucky people of Fukuoka, Japan.

By the time the last few hours of the ride rolled around, Abby and I were dying of boredom, so we decided to listen to "Grown Up" by Danny Brown OVER and OVER until we learned all the words.  For those of you who haven't heard it, go have a listen.  It's a winner.

My Abby's favorite line: "Remember how for dinner all we ate was Capt'n Crunch? Now we blow big blunts on the way to brunch."

And these two photos were taken somehow during the drive. They were extremely candid which I still don't understand, but the combination of the two is just extra special.

 Missing my family and the golden state already.

But Utah isn't so bad in the summer.  It really isn't.  Not as good as California, but it'll work.

In other exciting news, I upgraded from the Gatormobile to a Mazda 2!  Isn't she a beaut?

One last thing.  While I was home, I was introduced to a new saying: YOLO- You only live once.  Apparently this saying is old news, but as I haven't been on facebook for the past couple of months and Utah is always behind on the times anyway, I just barely learned about it.  Supposedly Zac Effron has it tattooed on one of his hands and there is a song about it.  This saying is extremely stupid.  Of course you only live once.  My friend Michael always talks about a friend of his who receives "statement compliments."  A statement compliment is something such as "Your hair is parted down the middle today" or "You are wearing sandals!"  People that give out statement compliments are really dumb because they think they are giving a compliment, but all it is is a statement, which means nothing more than saying "It is raining today" or "The sky is blue."  The sky isn't flattered when you call it blue.  YOLO reminds me of a statement compliment.  Yes, you do in fact only live once.  I think it is a way of saying that you are supposed to make the most of your life, but it could also just mean that we are all going to die someday.  What an absurd statement!