Ever crashed a party...?

Picture to left is Hermosa Beach, south of LA-see below. Tonight I went with a few gal pals to this party at an artsy loft near Venice beach-a party we were invited to by a guy who runs these Cambridge alumni events which one of my friends has gone to and which I went to -a pub night several weeks back. So, even though I have a very loose affiliation with Cambridge, UK, (interviewed there for a postdoc), it still counts, right? We didn't even know who the hosts of the party were but we got spied by a group of Australian women who were also party crashers-lived down the street to came over. I ended up making some friends-they were hilarious-I forgot how much I love Australians and their sense of humor. These gals work for an adventure travel company http://www.intrepidtravel.com/ which is funny b/c my brother and I were just talking about wanting to go to Australia. I realized that there are a ton of companies out there where you can have tours-like roughing it which sound fun. Meanwhile, the gals were getting texts from back home that Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunters, was dead-his heart was pierced with a barb from a stingray while diving underwater-terrible, I've watched his show many times.
Well, we got invited to free champagne Thursdays by our new friends in Venice so it also motivated me to throw a big party soon. I have met alot of new people lately-it's been nice to get out of the work bubble, so I like to mix groups and some of you will laugh, but I am starting an LA book group. It will be co-ed but it could just end up being social hour, one suggestion was to start reading children's lit-so you can tell how seriously committed people will be.

I've continued the online dating thing-had different dates in a space of three days and it's exhausting. I had to go to bed early last night, I was so pooped! Nice guys, not sure if there is an romantic connection but it does get me around LA. This weekend I drove down to Hermosa beach (see photos) as part of this-it's cute-like a small town with low houses, much like Tucson, the beach is nice-the pier is not quite as large as Santa Monica, less shops, but ate lunch overlooking the ocean (not a bad way to live). It was a pleasant date-the guy is a businessman and races cars and does a bunch of competitive sports (sailing, biking, running) so that's neat. We'll see.

For the first time in many years, I won't be working on the labor day holiday. I'm going to garden, maybe bbq, read, b/c I figure that the next few months will be nuts-between preparing for the Neuroscience mtg, writing papers, doing grants, etc might as well enjoy myself!

Julie