Fall and Football California Style

We from the South know that fall weather is football weather. Most of my high school Saturdays during football season were spent watching Richard play, which usually involved me getting extremely angry at anyone who said anything bad about him. Aka, me asking a man behind me if he'd ever played quarterback in college and if not, shut it. Also, passively aggressively yelling "GO RICHARD YEAH NUMBER SIX!!!" as loud as I could when the person in front of me would criticize a throw. I was the queen of shaming people. I kept Kelly on her toes (understatement of the year).

ANYWAY. I didn't think I would be seeing many football games out here, but what do you know last night I got to see USC play. It didn't quite hit the intensity of the south, but it was super fun. I'm definitely missing fall weather down South, though.

Addison's full out walking now you guys and she has pink Converse.

Mary Nell and I had another small adventure. (You'll probably be seeing her name a lot since whenever we're together we end up doing crazy stuff.) Long story short, we decided to go to night church, which is at a different location than the morning services. Of course, we got lost (as always) and ended up being 30 minutes late. After, we went to Chinatown to eat with a group of people from church and I'm still not 100% positive where I ended up... I have no idea what was in my food, but whatever it was, it was fabulous. Then we decided we should hit Trader Joes, since there isn't one in Malibu, but before we got there, we saw an ice cream place that was open. Naturally, we pulled a u-turn and jumped in line. I'm like 95% sure there was some sort of alcohol in my ice cream. Welcome to LA.

Random: had dinner last night with a woman who was Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland for a while in her lower 20's. I might or might not have asked her questions about it for 30 minutes.

Differences in Malibu and the South:
1. The interstates are called freeways.
2. Lawyer is pronounced LOYer here. Which I think makes us Southerners right since LAWyers practice LAW. But whatever.
3. Leaves changing. They don't change here in Malibu, but inland they change a little. I'm definitely missing the fall scenery in Knoxville right now. (But let's be honest, the beach doesn't suck.)
4. They don't have Salsaritas or Moes out here. Guys... queso in general isn't a thing. I repeat: queso isn't a thing here. *cue hyperventilation*
5. Seals are everywhere in the ocean - it's so cool they come so close to shore you can see their faces and everything.
6. I've probably mentioned gas prices on here before, but they're so outrageous I might as well put them in every blog.


All of your prayers are so appreciated. I can already see God's hand in so many things that are happening here and at home. I was just telling someone the other day that as upset as I was when my parents moved to Texas, I'm thankful now because they're that much closer than they would have been - just one small example of His constant provision.

Kelly's coming to visit in less than 2 weeks so be mentally preparing for that craziness. It'll probably involve her dragging me to get my hair cut and me making her watch me get my nose pierced. Fun all around.

Peace, love, hootie hoo (in honor of rush at Samford)
Malibu Harbie

Malibu Insider Scoop

So many new developments over the past few days.

First of all, in case you haven't heard, there's been a huge heat wave in the LA area for the past few days and it is HOT. Malibu isn't hit that hard, but instead of the usual mid-upper 70's and breezy, it's in the mid 80's and breezy. Still not terrible. But I was in LA this morning and it got up to 109. ONE HUNDRED AND NINE DEGREES, PEOPLE. That amount of heat + smog = ew.

Second, I just started my new job (if you can even call it that). Basically, what I do is pick up an absolutely precious 12-year-old from school, drop her off at ballet, and head home. And guys this girl is awesome. Super outgoing and friendly, and her mom has the scoop on all things Malibu. I now know the location of Cher's house (which was Beyonce's house before that - yes, BEYONCE). I am also now aware that Julia Roberts and Barbara Streisand live within a mile radius of my house. I think we all know who my new best friend is going to be (hint: starts with J, ends with ulia Roberts).

But I'm pretty sure the best news of all is that I learned to surf. This is not a joke, y'all. My friend Mary Nell, who is basically the source of all my fun adventures, texted me the other day and essentially said, "Free surfing lessons, be here in 30 minutes." For all of you wondering, yes I did stand up, and yes my wipeouts were hilarious. I even bonded with one of the surfing instructors over how funny my face was when I realized I was about to wipe out. To quote him, my expression was "a cross between laughing at yourself and grim acceptance you're about to eat it." I kid you not, that's a direct quote.  For a visual, check out this video. Except I was actually surfing in the actual ocean amongst people who could actually surf. 

Surprising surfing trivia from my brain: 

• Surfboards are heavier than they look
• The waves are bigger than they look
• The undertow here is much stronger than any I've encountered in the South. A couple of times I thought I might be caught in a riptide, but nope. Just the everyday current. 
• IT'S SO FUN (see the text I sent my family below, including a valid question from Rich... Apparently my dumb texts don't phase them anymore. On April Fools Day this year, I texted everyone I was pregnant and my brother texted back that he was too.)

#righteousdude

One of my best friends from Samford, Katie Holthouser, leaves to teach in Spain today (Sept. 18), and our goodbye FaceTime session was, of course, super dramatic. However, we both figured out that the reason neither one of us are too sad about being in different countries is because that's basically the situation we've been in. California = different country. Fact. But anyway, keep her in your prayers as she makes this transition. Follow her blog here. She's fabulous, guys.

Differences between Malibu and the South:

1. The thingies on gas pumps that keep the handle down so you don't have to hold it yourself are different here. I'm not sure how to describe how they work (mainly because I still have no idea), but hear you me: it's a battle to the death and I usually lose. 
2. I'm the only person I've seen who walks around with wet hair. Will this prevent me from going out with my hair wet from now on? No. 
3. Drivers here are mean - the parking lot at the local grocery store is the earth equivalent to the battle for Helms Deep (if you don't get this reference, you should reevaluate everything in your life. Looking at you, Mom). For example, the first week I was here, I had my blinker on for a spot and was probably like 10 feet from it, starting to pull in when a woman jetted in front of me and grabbed it. I didn't know what to do, and I must have looked shocked because the guy in the car next to me flipped her off for me. I politely thanked him afterward - there's a first for everything.
4. I almost ran over a preteen skateboarder today. I realize this isn't California-specific, but the nonchalance with which he sauntered away after our near accident was alarming. It should be noted that I had a green light and he was jaywalking (jay-boarding??), and was almost hit again right after our little rendezvous. 

Still trying to update this as much as possible... Sorry my thoughts are so scattered, but let's be honest, when are they not?

Love to all of you!

XOXO
Malibu Harbie

P.S. Small bonus Addison video for all of you who haven't seen it on my Facebook. 

One Month Down

Hello everyone.

I've officially been here for a month, and I'm absolutely loving it.

I've signed up for an acting class with my friend (and fellow Communications masters student) Bonnie, who is an actual actor. Since this is bound to be one of the most hilarious/embarrassing events of my life, I'll keep you updated. But seriously, how can I be in LA and not take an acting class??
Answer: I can't.

Truly one of the biggest blessings in the past month has been FaceTime. Most of you won't be surprised that I FaceTime with Addison (my niece) at least every other day. Huge shoutout to Amanda (my sister-in-law) for dealing with my incessant requests to FaceTime a 1-year-old, which is even harder than it sounds. Here's a small video of how this usually goes.

I've FaceTimed pretty much everyone I know, including:

• Katie Holthouser, who is about to move to Spain to teach English. Follow her adventures on her blog - she's one of the best and funniest writers I know, so it's bound to be a great read. She hasn't posted anything yet, but she moves in less than a week so stay tuned. 
• Sarah Wright, who's getting her doctorate in Psychology at Southern Miss. She's legit and should have a blog. I'll work on that.
• Claire Mayo, one of my best friends from Knoxville, who is getting her masters in French History (it's more complicated than that, but it's over my head) at NYU. So, yes, we're literally as far away as we could possibly be from each other in the continental United States. *crying*
• Brooke Griffith, another great friend from Knoxville who is an incredibly talented artist and jewelry designer (check out her jewelry here). She spent this past summer interning at URBN, the company that owns Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People. Yes, she's that legit. And you also have her to thank (or hate) for this blog post, because she told me I needed to update it. 
• My parents... enough said. Kelly is so bad at holding the phone still, it makes me nauseated when I'm FaceTiming her. Richard was so distracted by golf today while we were FaceTiming, he asked me when my birthday was. It's fine. 
• Talking to (brother) Richard usually involves me talking his ear off and him making obnoxious faces at me before he figures out I'm screenshotting him. See below. 

#attractive 

I thought I would give a little overview of the girls in my cohort (which basically means first year Communications students). There are only 5 of us, so we bonded extremely fast, and have an absolute blast together.

Bonnie: As mentioned above, Bonnie is an actor who's originally from North Carolina, but moved to LA a few years ago. She and I have an absurd amount of similarities, from our extensive stomach problems to our favorite ice cream flavors. Her boyfriend is Australian, so naturally we make him talk as much as possible. Bonnie is one of those people you just click with and you feel like you've been friends forever. (Now that I think of it, that's how it is with all these girls...) But anyway, you can tell how sweet she is by the fact that she even considered taking a beginners acting class with me.
Mary Nell: As you might have guessed from the double name, Mary Nell is from the South (North Carolina to be exact). Where to even start... Mary Nell has a deep southern accent and outgoing personality that form the perfect storm. And by "perfect storm" I mean that Mary Nell can get anything from anyone for free in 30 seconds flat. I'm not making this up. To list a few things she's gotten in the past 2 weeks: an entire box of pizza, an extra cup of ice cream, and a bottle opener (while we were in class at Pepperdine, a dry campus). And that's just a few. She spent a month this past summer living in the woods with a bunch of kids, teaching them nature stuff. Aka my worst nightmare. Major props for that.
Martha: Oh, Martha. Martha is the only girl in our cohort originally from California. She's super outgoing and loves to laugh. She's Mexican-American, which ties into her research and interests in graduate school in an extremely cool way. I love that she's using her experiences to shape her research. She has one of the most interesting life stories I've ever heard, and she thinks I'm absolutely crazy (get in line, Martha). Martha's always down to hang out with whoever wants to and is one of those people you find yourself chatting with for hours.
Nicole: Nicole is the introvert/traveler of the group. I'm 97% positive that any location in the world you can think of, Nicole has been there. I'm not exaggerating. Nicole is probably the least talkative  of the group (which technically isn't saying a lot - we're talkers), but she always has really interesting things to say, and is highly intelligent. Nicole is also one of those people who seems to know something about everything, so almost literally anything you bring up, she can have an intelligent conversation about. She's also really funny.


Differences I've noticed between Malibu and the South:
1. Surfer-speak. Guys, it's an actual thing here... Here's the main vocabulary I've noticed, including, but not limited to:

• "That's sick" 
• "Yewww" (which apparently means "epic" according to my new surfer friend)
• "Rad"
• "Cowabunga dude" (Ok I'm lying about this one but it's only a matter of time)

2. How people dress. Most of you who know me from college will be genuinely surprised that I've probably only worn a t-shirt and athletic shorts out in public a couple of times. People here are always dressed well, so I dress well. It's also probably because on the off chance I run into Jake Gyllenhaal, I want to be prepared. Step 2: actually wearing makeup. 

3. People are much more forward here, especially guys. 

4. People here aren't "fake" like they are in the South (personality-wise, not physically. That's a whole other ball game). They're very much themselves all the time, and very accepting of who everybody else is. It's refreshing.

6. Pepperdine does not = Samford. I thought maybe since they are both private Christian universities with the reputation of attracting rich kids, they would be pretty similar. Um no. The students here are far wealthier on average than the students at Samford. Also, much more fashionable... no big t shirts and leggings anywhere, although I have seen one sorority jersey (you know those long sleeved huge shirts with writing on the top of the back). 

7. Guys are much more fashionable here... I met a guy the other day who had made the pants he was wearing that day and - trust me - they were cool. 

I've truly had so much fun in this past month. California is everything I thought it would be and more, and it's so fun to see God's hand in every decision and rejection I encountered in the past few years. 

XOXO

Malibu Harbie

P.S. Shoutout to Christian Calegari, one of my Samford professor's sons who just started a blog. He's 7, he's hilarious, and he can sing a mean Jason Aldean song. Trust me go check it out, it'll brighten your day. 

What.

Oh, hey.

I'm just casually sitting here somewhere between 1,400 (Texas) and 2,300 (Tennessee) miles away from my family/everyone I love. I've now lived here for 10 days.

So anyway, I'm sitting here in my apartment in Malibu looking out at the palm trees blowing in the wind and I can't believe it. I am officially an adult. My parents moved me in, helped me furnish my space, and shipped out.

The people here have been so welcoming and kind. I even attended neighborhood bingo night on Thursday and won the prize for having the worst bingo cards (long story). These women are serious about their bingo, and I was the youngest one there by at least 30 years. AKA, my kind of party.

I met a woman who used to sing with many of the greats, like Frank Sinatra.

I met my fellow graduate students, and 4 out of the 5 are from the South (though two of them have lived in L.A. for a few years). After spending the day with them at orientation, I'm even more excited than before about spending the next two years with them.

The 5 ladies in the graduate program at Pepperdine for orientation

I met the man who owns the local farm across the street, and hit the jackpot with the avocados he's selling.

I met a woman who has owned a local dog grooming business for years, and has recently started cremating animals with water, a process called Aquamation, which is more environmentally friendly. Welcome to California.
(Curious how the heck that works? Click Here.)


Differences between the South and Malibu I've determined thus far:
1. I say "y'all" more than I realized. "Y'all" is definitively not a thing here.
2. Everything - I repeat everything - is organic/healthy here. It's amazing.
3. The weather. It's mid-seventies and sunny with a cool breeze year-round. As my dad recently said, "It's like the outside is air-conditioned."
4. The beach. Malibu is 27 miles long and 1 mile wide, so it's almost literally all beach. The closest public beach sits right at the end of my neighborhood, so you can probably guess where I've spent most of my time.
5. L.A. traffic is INSANE. To all of you asking if it's as bad as Atlanta traffic, yes. Just yes. Worse.
6. Air conditioning doesn't exist in my neighborhood. People just open the windows and it serves the same function, and for some reason bugs don't fly in.
7. Every other car is majorly upscale. I'm talking Bentley convertibles, Lamborghinis, G-wagons, etc. All over the place.
8. Everything. Is. Expensive.


I realize this blog has been extremely random and doesn't have much of a flow to it, but it's a culmination of what has been running through my head over the past 10 days. I'm hoping to blog pretty frequently this year, so stay tuned!

Much love to all of you reading this!!
Malibu Harbie

First: Growing Up and Failure

I know everyone and their mother has started a blog, but here I am, joining the party... Reading other people's blogs and navigating through their journeys with them has brought me so much joy that I figured, why the heck shouldn't I do it? So here I sit, watching my third consecutive episode of SVU, preparing to shove my opinions and ADD-induced ramblings on each of you innocent bystanders.  You've been warned.

So, growing up.

It's such an odd concept because it's something we all want to do and dream about ("When I grow up I want to _________"), but the closer we get to it, the more terrifying it seems. As I'm applying to graduate school and about to graduate, I've slowly come to realize that, technically, I'm pretty much a grown up. 

What.

I'm 22 years old and about 8 weeks away from being shoved into the real world whether I like it or not. Why is it so hard for me to grasp that I'm ready for this? I alternate daily from excitement over the vast possibilities I have in my future to terror about leaving my comfortable space here at Samford. 

I think, honestly, the best thing I've done is talk to people in the same position as me. Reading articles about succeeding and hearing "Don't worry, it will all fall into place!" does nothing for me. Sometimes, it's just good to panic with someone who's in the same position as you are. It's therapeutic and a huge relief. 

One of the best books my mom has given me is 101 Secrets For Your Twenties by Paul Angone. My absolute favorite Secret is #25: "Your 20s will produce more failure than you'll choose to remember. The key is, when you fail don't begin calling yourself a failure." I love this. Failure isn't fun; in fact, it can feel humiliating and degrading. But EVERYONE fails. In fact, one of the recurring themes in all of my business classes was that virtually all uber-successful people failed repeatedly before they found what worked. 

Regardless, I find myself terrified of failure. But, as I told my best friend over Skype a couple of weeks ago, it's not the failure itself that's so horrible. It's having to tell people that you've failed. 

It's pride.

Ugh. 

How we handle failure is one of the biggest indicators of maturity (and, therefore, truly growing up). So here I find myself asking the question, "How will I choose to handle the inevitable failures and rejections that I'll encounter in the near and distant future?"

Hopefully with humility and grace. 




 "...For this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down"
-Mary Pickford