Wedding, Hawaii, and Baseball, Mon

EDIT: I'm now realizing that I already posted about Alesa's wedding, but apparently it was just so much fun that it's showing up in two blogs. The good news? More pictures.


Oh hey y'all.

One of my best friends Alesa got married on May 16^th in Knoxville. Tommy got to come with me and we both had a blast. Got boxed out during that bouquet toss, so hold on to your pants, people. (Looking at pictures now has me realizing that I didn't even lift my arms. My bad).

That's me on the far left. Oops.

I’ve always said Tommy and I’s relationship reminds me of Alesa and Kevin, mainly in the way that I’m chatty and have basically no boundaries and Tommy just patiently lets me babble.

All of that to say, it was such a wonderful time being home and spending time with my favorite Knoxville people.

Trying not to trip

Dream team back together. Love you guys.

#romantic

Mom came to visit for about two days before I left for Hawaii, and we basically just had girl time. We actually got to go see a cool Bible exhibit called Passages, which, ironically, had a bunch of replicas of things my mom, had just seen in person in Israel. #KellyWins I always wish I had more time with her, but I had Hawaii to look forward to, so that made leaving her easier than usual. Or at least that’s what I told myself.

Oh, Hawaii. I went on vacation to Maui with the Knapp family and it was SO much fun. It was my first time there, so I was determined to get into the culture and act like a local, which basically means I bought a Hawaiian shirt and hair flower at Walgreens and wore them all week.

I also decided my mantra for the week would be a combination of  “Island time, mon” and “Hawaii, mon”, which is distinctly Jamaican. The Knapps were alternately amused and alarmed at my commitment to my mantras.

#HawaiiMon

We went on zip lining, jet skiing, surfing, and snow cone eating adventures that resulted in a very happy Annie. Zip lining was really cool, especially since all the other zip lining I’ve done on vacations didn’t involve views of the Pacific Ocean and guides who should have their own comedy show.

For those of you who haven’t been to Hawaii, the beach and water actually reminded me a lot of Florida. But there’s more grass near the beach and you’re laying on cabanas on the beach looking at two other islands. And wearing Hawaiian shirts and shell necklaces is semi-acceptable. Aka Hawaii is fun.

Jet skiing - the water looks deceptively calm here

This wasn't posed

He's rethinking our relationship.

What happened after Hawaii, you ask? I took a red eye to a resort in Austin, TX where we celebrated my grandfather’s 75^th birthday.  The important thing you need to know about that weekend was that I got to see Addison and that my father and I had an ongoing competition of who could hog Addison more. Jury’s still out on who won (I did).  The other important thing you need to know is that I don’t remember much else because I was so jet lagged/sleep deprived.

All my favorite girls

My parents have been traveling to the Middle East quite a bit this summer (Israel and Turkey).  Needless to say, that has made me preeettttyyy nervous, but they’ve returned safe both times, so I’m a happy camper.  On a related note, I discovered a few weeks ago that Istanbul is, in fact, a city in Turkey. Not a country.  Geography has never been my strong point.

Cool side note: My dad had been to every continent except Antarctica. Claps for Richard.

My family is currently at the beach in Florida, so you can imagine how bitter I am about missing Addison at the ocean. My family is about to delete me from their lives after all the incessant requests for Addison videos and pictures.

Tommy and I went to a Dodgers game on Tuesday and it was FUN. Contrary to what Thomas said on all his social media posts, he caught the baseball during batting practice, not me. We also got the privilege of watching a large man reach so low over the wall to catch a ball that he fell on his face. Literally, he landed on his face. Cole Hamels (one of the pitchers for the Phillies) just walked over, handed him a ball, patted him on the back, and walked away. Bless.

Tommy and I also got on the jumbotron. No, it wasn’t on the kissing cam. We actually sang like the first 4 lines  of Take Me Out to the Ballgame on camera, so we’re basically famous. Also, Colin Farrell was at the game, so he’s officially set eyes on me. Autographs later.

I have a bunch of friends about to visit me including Molly Taylor (one of my best friends from Knoxville), Jane Alice Moore (one of my best friends from Samford), and Kelsey Drennan (my senior year roommate/soulmate).  There’s no telling what craziness we’re going to get ourselves into, so brace yourselves.

Differences between Malibu and the South

o   Snails are everywhere. For those of you that think stepping on cockroaches is the worst possible thing to happen, you’re wrong. Stepping on snails is worse. And then after you step on a snail, you find like 8 more snails that decide to eat the dead snail. THEY EAT THEIR OWN. #no

o   There aren’t many flying bugs in Malibu, I guess because of the breeze. Can’t say I miss the mosquitos.

o   Famous people like Colin Farrell are casual fans in the stands at sporting events on a random Tuesday

o   Weather is in the mid/upper 70s and sunny all the time with basically no humidity. I ended up chatting with the woman I order contacts from yesterday afternoon and by the end of the conversation I had convinced her to move here. It wasn’t hard.

I love you all and if you're reading this, that means you need to come visit me.

I'm continuously thankful for God's faithfulness in the middle of the uncertainty of grad school, being an adult, and living a couple thousand miles away from my family and friends, and thankful for a God that is quick to forgive my missteps and quick to love me regardless. 

Knoxville, Wedding, and Mark Wahlberg

Hello all.

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written… I got some complaints when I was back in Knoxville this past weekend, so here I am.

Honestly, I don’t even know where to start. So much has happened since February 4^th (the last time I wrote), but I’ll try to cover it.

          I finished my first year of grad school. I’m crazy excited about being halfway through. This past semester involved a lot of questioning and prayer about what I’m doing and what my plans are, but I’m still so thankful to be here and to have the rare opportunity to study something I love with an ocean view.  

       Tommy and I saw Mark Wahlberg driving a minivan. I’m not even sure what to say other than the fact that we couldn’t stop talking about it for the entire day. To give you an idea of how excited we were, we actually saw him while we were driving to spend a day at Universal Studios. The only thing we couldn’t get over being excited about the entire day was seeing Marky Mark in a minivan. And there was a Jurassic Park AND a Jaws ride.

      Last weekend I went home to see one of my best friends, Alesa, get married and it was fabulous. Nothing like going home after a long time of not seeing the people you grew up with. Alesa was beautiful, and I was clueless about wedding etiquette, as per usual. Case in point: I spent the night at Alesa’s house the night before the wedding, and they had cupcakes with fake plastic engagement rings on them. I swiped some icing off of one of them before the ceremony (#wedding etiquette. I’m basically Judith Martin) and put the ring on as a joke. Well, joke’s on me because I completely forgot to take it off.  So for all of you who were confused by the fake-looking engagement ring on my finger, there’s the explanation. Tommy thought it was hilarious. I did not.

Tommy, me, Molly, Josh

Wedding Party 

      Tommy and I had the worst experience flying to and from Knoxville. This involved a surprise night spent in Atlanta during which we stayed in the sketchiest hotel I’ve ever seen. Tommy's room apparently had air conditioning, which was something they seemed to forget to install in my room.  (And this isn’t coming from someone who grew up staying at Fairmonts. If you’ve met my dad, you know how cheap he is. If Embassy Suits didn’t have those free cookies when you walk in, who knows what kind of hotels my dad would have taken us to growing up. Richard: the only thing he loves more than saving money is good food).

     Addison has just gotten cuter. I’m realizing quickly that I’m probably not going to be a good influence because whenever one of her (extremely rare – she’s crazy well-behaved) tantrums happens, I think it’s hilarious and just watch it happen. She’s also hit the stage where she says no to everything except food and fun, which is a stage I’m currently still in, so it’s nice to have some common ground.

Calhouns. Good news: she's too chunky to slip through the railing

#poolday

     Sarah Wright and Katy Flinn came to visit me in March and it was THE BEST. Tommy taught Katy how to surf and she picked it up like a pro. I sat out in the water and for a while, then lost motivation. Sarah Wright didn’t even make it out past knee deep water because every 2-foot-high wave flattened her. Truly one of the most hilarious experiences of my adult life. But it was amazing to have people from Samford back in my life again. Currently working on convincing both of them (and every other friend of mine) to move out here permanently. #futile

Sunset in Santa Monica

     Tommy and I went dunebuggying during my spring break and I discovered his daredevil tendencies are much stronger than my own. The positive (or negative – not sure which one) is that we got to ride in the dune buggy Khloe Kardashian (Kourtney? I get them confused) did the week before.

     My uncle Greg took us out tubing on the lake during which my two cousins, Hannah and Sarah, tried to throw Tommy off of the tube. Considering they combined weigh less than him, this didn’t work. I’m pretty sure he ended up throwing (yes literally throwing) Hannah off of the tube at one point.

We're pros

      Baby boy Harb is doing well, as is Amanda. I can’t wait to meet him and buy him clothes. (This implies that I haven’t bought him clothes already, which I have).



Differences between Malibu and the South

1. Yesterday was the first time anyone has recognized Chi Omega on my sorority t-shirts that I still wear because I’ve totally moved on… Truly after 9 months of living here, you would think that I would run in to someone that has Greek Life knowledge, but alas the South wins this one.
2. Girls don’t wear big t-shirts with athletic shorts here. Like, at all. Leggings and tight tops are more of the casual wear, so I’m working on bringing the trend to the West Coast, much to the disdain of those who interact with me. 
3. Teslas are the Camry of Malibu. They’re everywhere.
4. Women wear denim underwear. I’m being sarcastic…. But their shorts are basically thongs.
5. Tommy and I spent the day at the beach yesterday and it turns out that in California, women’s hats are considered to be men’s hats as well. True story.

#androgynous

     So much love to all of you! Hopefully this summer will bring some good stories. And hopefully those stories involve me getting a job.

        Malibu Harbie

Conan, Ellen, and Kelly

This one is going to be looong people. Gird your loins.

Okay so most of you know Kelly came into town this past weekend and, as usual, we had a blast. But first a few random fun things to share:

I went to a Blake Shelton/Band Perry concert a couple weeks ago and man, did it make me miss the South. It's fun to watch all these Californians trying to look country - they mainly just looked hipster. We got to go to the Band Perry meet-and-greet since my dad knows them, and it was so good just to chat with some people from East Tennessee. We talked about the UT football game I didn't watch for a little while and how sad it was that we lost.

We're BFFs now.

I met/chatted with Aaron Eckhart (two-face in Batman Begins) while eating froyo with (you guessed it) Mary Nell and Martha. Best day ever. I acted so casual while we were talking then completely freaked out when he left.

I was missing fall down south, so Tommy took me to a pumpkin patch with a corn maze. We made it through the corn maze in 7 minutes flat. I guess that's what happens when you navigate one with someone who's good at directions because usually it takes me hours and I end up panicking about never escaping so much I just cheat and go through the cornstalks. We also explored Santa Barbara (where he went to college) and saw Oprah and Jack Johnson's house. So much fun y'all.

There was a pig.

#basic

Ok, so on to Kelly's visit.

No, I didn't get my nose pierced. Yes, she made me get my hair cut.

As most of you probably know from my Facebook, we got to be in the studio audience for both Ellen and Conan. I thought I might give a brief description of how this works, since I had no idea before last weekend.

     For Ellen, we drove down to the Warner Brothers lot and parked in a parking garage. In the parking garage, there is a large area with benches and a ticket booth with Ellen employees walking around helping everyone check in. After you give them your name and ID, you basically sit and wait for 45 minutes to an hour in the garage (which is fine because the weather was nice). When they're ready to take you into Ellen's studio, they guide you in groups across the street to her building and you go through metal detectors and they check your purse. Then you sit in a long hallway lined with pictures of Ellen and famous guests she's had on the show. After that, we were led to a lounge area where you could also purchase Ellen souvenirs - naturally I got a shirt and Kelly got socks...Yes. Socks.
     Once we were in the actual studio audience, we were entertained by some guy who is supposed to get the crowd pumped up for the show. There was a lot of dancing involved - aka Kelly at her prime, and me at my worst. It was such a blast though, guys. Such a blast.

We're a big deal. (No we're not)

They had Ellen water - currently on display on my bookshelves.

     Our Conan experience was pretty different. Our friend Amy (who got us all our tickets and is just all around fabulous) got us green room access. For those of you who don't know what that means, the green room is where the guests and hosts hang out before the show. We saw Andy Richter in boxers and an undershirt getting coffee. Casual. Anyway, the green room was amazing. They had Brookstone massage chairs that Tommy and I basically lived in the whole time we were in there. Unlike Ellen, we were taken to our seats through backstage, so we walked where Conan walks out every day. On to the good part:
     As we're walking up to our seats (which have been roped off for us), we realize the entire studio audience has already been seated. As we're walking up the stairs, I'm feeling like a big shot when suddenly I miss the step in front of me and trip. YES I TRIPPED IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE STUDIO AUDIENCE. There was an audible gasp. Guys. It was almost too funny to be traumatic. Almost.

Pre-trip. So happy and naive. 

We also took the Warner Brother's studio tour which was really fun. We got to see the sets of shows like Pretty Little Liars, Hart of Dixie, Friends, Two and a Half Men, and Big Bang Theory (which was filming while we were there). It's also some anniversary of Batman so they had a huge exhibit on that. Those of you who know me well know I love behind the scenes stuff, so I was thrilled. And I got to sit in Central Perk - like the REAL Central Perk set.

Laser eyes

Realized after the fact that I'm overreacting.

Insert Chandler joke here

Differences between Malibu and the South

• People wear sunglasses inside here and like people don't look at them weird or find it abnormal. The first 2 weeks, every time I saw someone with sunglasses I would follow them to see if they were a celebrity and they never are. Learned that lesson the hard way...
• It's legal here for motorcycles to weave in and out of traffic. It's the most nerve-wracking thing to be driving and have a motorcycle whiz by just inches from your car while you're going 70. 
• Pretty much everyone already has the iPhone 6, including children... Technically I don't know that it's not the same in the South but I'm pretty sure it's not.
• Botox

So much love to every one of you reading this!!

If only Kelly could move in full time. I don't think SoCal could handle us year-round.

XOXO

Malibu Harbie

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