El Segundo time I've been to Venice and the Santa Monica Pier

Mural complete with angry Italian woman

This weekend was chock full of good timin' adventures. Saturday I packed my bag for the day and went to Venice where some friends and I checked "see the Venice canals" off my to-do in LA list. It is (kind of) sad to say that a lot of the places and things I want to do in LA come from seeing the movie Valentine's Day (the only movie I went to see in a theater where the fire alarm rang in the middle of it. Got two free movie tickets out of it though!). The canals are beautiful though and I have decided to move there as soon as I can afford it (which is probably never).  

 Took a few pictures of some of the cool houses there. The great thing about LA neighborhoods (especially in Venice) is that you can have one house that looks like its Victorian next to your typical adobe next to something hyper-modern that you might never see again.

After visiting the canals we went to El Segundo Beach further south and hung out by the (weirdly) warm Pacific!

 This was one of my favorites. A smaller house with a corner deck on the top of the roof and a white fence with a beautiful back garden. Lovely.

"There's a place off Ocean Avenue, where I used to sit and talk with you...."

Sunday I was able to spend time with my friend from UVA Kelsey as she was waiting in LA to catch a flight back to VA having been in Irvine, CA for a few days. We fulfilled my self-made quest to visit an old fashioned soda shop (inspired by the Pharmacy in Nashville) in LA. Soda Jerks is located right on the Santa Monica Pier making it a pretty big tourist location but the "freeze" I had, rocky road ice cream blended with fresh made Coke into a milkshake concoction, was so good it would be worth stopping in if I was ever in the area again. Next I have to try the one in Pasadeena! We tried to go to the Camera Obscura but it didn't appear to be open (though times online said it should be...this is my second failed attempt)? If anyone knows how to get in that place please let me know or, better yet, show me! From Santa Monica we went back to my place in Los Feliz and then walked into Hollywood to see the Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, and the Hollywood sign before grabbing some thai food in Thai town and catching Ethiopia win the women's marathon (yay for my friend Caroline)! After taking Kelsey back to the airport I ended the night with a cookie and Breaking Bad. A very good weekend all in all. 

Soda Jerks on the Santa Monica Pier