Thrill Seeking

In my opinion, a little adventure is a necessary part of life. Wikipedia defines an adventure as : "an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome." Without a sense of adventure life can get boring, mundane, predictable.  A little bit of adrenaline is good for the soul.  It keeps you on your toes.  It keeps you truly living.

That said, there are many ways that one can have an adventure and get the thrill that they are seeking.  As for Mark, he takes the use of the term "adventure" very literally; usually translating to some sort of outdoor expedition. This is definitely an interpretation of adventure that I can get on board with and Mark and I have had lots of great adventures together: ski trips, exploring the Chanel Islands and most recently an Oregon adventure weekend of kayak clamming and waterfall hiking.

Dogs like adventure too.

 

While this type of adventure is awesome and enjoyable, personally, I like to live a life were I can relish in more "everyday adventures."  That was really the whole point of this blog, to track my new adventure of moving across the country on my own and all the sub-adventures that came along with it.  As you may have noticed, the blog has not seen a lot of activity lately.  And it's not because I haven't wanted to write, it's because nothing in my life (aside from the above Mark-ventures) has seemed particularly blog worthy.  What once used to be my LA adventure has become standard. Predictable. Low risk.  The opposite of the Wiki definition above...

Now I know what you are thinking, "Girl!  Get your booty out and do something!  You live in the second biggest city in the nation!"  Sure.  Makes sense.  The real issue is, that I don't want to. Though a bit mundane, I'm content going to the same restaurants with the same friends. Settling into a routine of yoga, hiking, and beach biking.  Sure there are more things I have yet to do in LA, but now that I really understand the whole "LA scene" they don't seem as exciting or unpredictable.  I like my Santa Monica bubble and I prefer to live life repeating things I enjoy instead of experiencing things I'm not really into just to say I've done it.  Lately, my biggest adventures have been in my kitchen which, while enjoyable, are truly safe and thrill less for anyone but me. But if you are interested, you can check out my monthly featured recipes for Cosmo's Spicy Ranch here.

So, where do we go from here?  Is the blog dead? Have I transformed from an active, outgoing, adventure seeker to a passive yogi with a food and wine fetish?  Not a chance (but I do love yoga, food, and wine).  Even though I'm loving my life and routine in Santa Monica, I would be lying if I said I wasn't restless.  I am.  And after having my first Kardashian sighting and feeling my first earthquake in the past month (both more underwhelming then I thought they would be, hence why they do not have their own blog posts) I feel like my LA to-do list is about done.  Or that I'm at least done with it, I'm there. I'm settled. This place is no longer foreign and unique. And once I've completed one challenge, I need to find another.  I thrive off taking risks, embarking on new challenges, and enjoying the ride along the way. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I'm ready for a new adventure. A big one.  Stay tuned folks, I promise it's about to get good :)

Fa La LA-LA Land

Last night, as I drove home from work and up the Lincoln exit ramp off the 10, I noticed a a panhandler, which is pretty typical.  What was atypical was the sign he was holding. It was small and said simply, "Love."  It made me smile and almost give him a dollar.  Almost. I learned in St. Louis that you don't open your car to people on the street... anyway... the point I am actually trying to make is that his sign felt like a perfect way to sum up the holiday season that has just come to a close.

I've officially been in LA for over a year and it's crazy to think about how far I have come in that time. A year ago, I was lamenting the warm, snowless December and trying to navigate my new life.  This year, I was fully embracing the holiday spirit in my new home:

I found a more appropriate place to hang my stocking

I upgraded my tree from last year

And I even added a touch of Mistletoe

 I also embraced typical winter activities with a LA twist, like ice skating in 60 degree weather:

I tried (and kinda failed at...) some new holiday baking ideas:

It was too hard to frost his face...

And I enjoyed a winter bike ride that could only take place in LA:


Manhattan Beach Pier with Christmas Lights

LA in a Day

As I mentioned in my previous post, my sister was out here visiting last week.  Even though she was on spring break, I still had to work all week and even though she was at my house for a total for 7 days, we really only had one full day to hang out together and experience my new city.  Kendall came armed with many things she wanted to do and see all over the city and I had the challenge of figuring out not only how to fit everything in but how to combat traffic to do it.  Miraculously, we managed to have one perfectly crazy LA day with no traffic issues.

After coffee and a light breakfast at home, The Duchess and I took Kendall on a scenic drive up the PCH and through Topanga Canyon to our first stop:

Dash Calabasas

You can take the girl outta the Midwest...

but you can't take the Midwest cooking style out of the girl.  That was blatantly evident at my Super Bowl party last Sunday.  Just to set the stage a bit, let me remind you that I really like football and I really like food.  I particularly enjoy an opportunity to combine them both.  In the past this has led to endevors such as this:

Super Bowl '09 Cardinals v Steelers
Created with the lovely and talented Alison Clark

This year I decided that instead of focusing my efforts on one awesome dish, I would create many dishes, all with an ample aura of awesomeness...

Soooooo I may have gotten super excited and over-cooked for my party... oops?  It wouldn't have been such a bad thing except for the fact that everything I cooked was laden with cheese, carbs and spicyness; definitely not anything you could or should eat for a week straight.  Paula Dean chooses butter, I choose cheese.  Note for the future: people in California have more dietary preferences and healthier eating habits than people in the Midwest.  Again, not such a bad thing except for the fact that it left me with nearly 2 lbs of mac and cheese...

So let's recap.  I'm going to assume that everyone knows how the Super Bowl turned out and knows the major game highlights.  I'm also going to assume that if you don't know, you probably don't care.  Thus, all I will say about the game it that it was watched at my house on my new TV.  The patio bar was stocked with fun beverages and a great time was had by myself and my lovely friends, both new and old, who also helped contribute to the buffet with delicious (and healthier) dishes like salmon and fresh guac.

My ridiculously unhealthy and fairly monochromatic spread was as follows:

Buffalo Chicken Tartlets

Seacrest Sausage Balls
(sigh, don't ask.  The name in Kendall's fault...)

Beer-battered Jalapeno Popper Mac and Cheese

Mom's Taco Dip
(Sorry, I forgot to take a pic.  This is an old pic from a
tailgating attempt at Northwestern Game.  It usually looks better...) 

All of these tasty delights (save for the taco dip, that's a Sale family secret) can be recreated in your own kitchen with the ridiculously easy steps enclosed below. Note: I don't measure, I'm sorry.  I'll try to do my best to give amounts when I can but when in doubt, just start adding a little and then adding more to taste.

Down & Derby

"Red carpet" entry into the Doll Factory

I've never seen the movie "Whip It"- but for those of you who have, Drew Barrymore apparently did her research for the film with the LA Derby Dolls.  Since I haven't seen the movie or a Roller Derby... match? jam perhaps?  contest?  I dunno what you call it...  anyway, with this being my first Roller Derby experience, I didn't really know what to expect.  I knew it was girls on roller skates and I knew that it got physical.  I guess I kinda pictured girls randomly skating around and body checking each other into walls, hockey style.

My foggy conceptions of Roller Derby were clarified on Sunday evening at "Baby Doll Brawl"- a competition for the newest LA Derby Dolls, the ladies of the Fresh Meat program who are training to make one of the 4 home teams.  The Derby Dolls are one of the few banked-tracked derby leagues in the world, most (98%) are flat track and from my research on Wikipedia, banked-track seems way cooler.  One of Steph's friends was actually competing on one of the teams under the pseudonym "Belle Scorcho."  Yeah... so one of the awesome things about derby is that the girls compete under skater names and some of them paint their faces and add some flare to their outfits.  Yep, little bit like pro wrestling, lotta bit awesome.  Speaking of awesome...

Out with a bang

Alright, so you know when you were a kid and you would get a new toy and play with it all day, everyday for like a week and then never again??  I find that as an adult-ish person, I still have this quality though now it mostly applies to workout plans and guys I attempt to date.  I'm also concerned that this may happen to my blog.  So my first 5 posts were all consecutive (*cough* excited child) and then followed by about 5 days of radio silence however, I feel that I have a perfectly good excuse for my lapse: playing in Chicago!

Before I head out to California, I really wanted to make one more visit to the city I love enough to consider one of my three homes (Iowa and Colorado would be the other two) and soak in all of my favorite things.  It seems logical that I should have memories of having fun, knowing my way around a place and spending time with people I love before I'm lost, confused and friendless on the coast.