I'm in love with California. Love, people, love.
Andrea, Brienne's sister, graciously drove me around in her green, convertible Miata and spent the day with me at the Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach. GAH!
I have seen this pier countless times on other photographers' blogs (the pier on Jasmine's blog and Jessica's blog and Becker's blog) and knew that I wanted to visit while I was out here!
I loooved it :D
I love this one...
On the beach they had a very touching memorial for the 4232 soldiers who have given their lives in Iraq. I am so grateful for their sacrifice in defending our country!
I specifically took these carousel ones for my KG (my small group at church) - I miss you guys!
The next few are straight out of ze camera :D
And this is the last shot in Santa Monica. Our next stop Venice!
Abbot Kinney (I honestly don't know who he is and I didn't feel like reading the Wiki page about him) created the town in California to replicate the real Venice in Italy, with rows of canals.
It was adorable! I could have walked around there for hours...
The Venice Boardwalk was pretty sweet, too.
It was really, really windy by the water - but oh baby I didn't mind! It was sunny and warm enough for me!
Beach food!
Right on the beach there was a huuuuge drum circle with about 15 drummers and just a group of people dancing (tourists, locals, everyone!). It was so fun! I'd love to see a group of people in DC start dancing in the middle of the day. Pah, who am I kidding. Only if it was penciled in. "Spontaneous fun - 4:00 pm" haha
I kid, I kid, but I do love how chill, nice and relaxed the West Coast is. On the beach they have this little place set up for artists to paint. People can come whenever they want and paint over whatever they want - the walls and trees are literally inches thick in paint layers! It's pretty cool :D
baBOO!
that just made me smile.
Aaaand, that's all I have for today! Pretty good day, yes? I sure thought so :D
Thank you, again, Andrea, for taking me!
Thank you, God, for making all of this!