E - I - E - I - O: Everybody should have a catchphrase!

Old MacDonald had a farm; E-I-E-I-O

We wanted pizza, so we wandered down to Joe's Pizza on Broadway for a couple slices. Not that we were drunk by a long shot, but after a couple beers, crusty, cheesy pizza seemed just the thing to end the night. 

The little pizza shop isn't anything fancy. It's a little grimy with only two high-top tables and a small counter with stools facing a wall. It's New York style, so thin crusts covered in simple toppings with garlic powder, oregano and crushed red pepper to shake on top. Simple and pure and delightful, especially after a beer or five.

As J pulled out her wallet to pay for her slice, a grizzly man poked his head through the door and hollered. (I say hollered because that's really what he did).

"How much for a slice of pizza?!" He mumbled something seemingly unintelligible after the question.

The man at the counter acted as though this was a regular occurrence. "$3.50!" he hollered back.

The other man walked back outside.

J pulled out another $3.50 and asked for another slice of pepperoni pizza for him. She did it quietly and humbly. And the man behind the counter turned her down. He proceeded to explain they always kept slices around for the homeless. There's no point in throwing extras away when there are so many hungry people around. Then they took a slice out to the man, who was now sitting right outside the open window in the front of the building.

We sat down on the inside next to the open window and began to talk with the man. Without an agenda and without judgment, we learned about him as he chatted with us and ate his pizza.

The unintelligible mumbling following his first question turned out to be his fascinating catchphrase. After every sentence, the man, whose name is Murray, compulsively says, "E-I-E-I-O." As in Old McDonald Had a Farm. "Everybody should have a catchphrase, E-I-E-I-O," he told us as we all ate our slices of pizza. While I don't compulsively end each sentence with a catchphrase, his was so endearing it was hard to fault him for it.

Murray is or at least was a comedian of sorts, and true to his word, his jokes were funny. His eyes were kind, if not tired and a little runny. After his joke, J told him one of her own. He'd apparently heard it before, but I hadn't. I was touched at her confidence and willingness to engage this man in conversation, regardless of obvious lifestyle differences.

We didn't have to buy Murray pizza. But we gave each other the gifts of human kindness and laughter. After all, man can't live on pizza alone.

90 Degrees and More Than Sunny

We are in the middle of a fall heat wave. It's supposed to be 90 degrees in Santa Monica tomorrow.

The thing about this is that I'm ready for boots and scarves and sweaters. The other bummer is that even though it's still summer temperatures, all the fun summer activities, like Concerts on the Pier (pictured) and movies at Hollywood Forever cemetery, are all done for the year.

It's funny how timing plays so much into my attitude. Really when I think about it, it's amazing that we have such sunny days ahead of us. It's beach weather in mid-October, for heaven's sake. But because summer is over, my expectations have shifted and I have to force myself to remember to be grateful it is so nice outside. Beach day, anyone?!

Picnic and wine time for Best Coast's concert beside the pier, Summer 2012

Savoring Santa Monica

Photo by Marissa de la Torre

We are taking a walk alongside the ocean today, my co-workers and I. The summer has just ended, and in April our company offices move inland. After four summers working right next to the beach, with ocean-view happy hours and free beach parking, easy access to scenic paths for evening runs and opportunities for lunchtime power walks, we’ll be moving to a building-laden, concrete-covered area of the city.

I’m doing all I can to not be seriously disappointed about this.

In the meantime, I’m trying to take advantage of our last six months here. So today, we’re walking at lunch. It’s the second time this week we’ll be getting some exercise and de-stressing over the lunch hour, and I will savor every minute of it.

I’ll so miss the area that has become my home away from home, but I’m trying to see the positives. 

No more tourists clogging the streets! No more shopping temptations! Shorter drive to work (taking my current 12-minute commute to 7 minutes. I know, you feel sorry for me.)

But I know I’ll miss the ocean and my close daily proximity to it, as well as all the bars, restaurants and fun events the area has to offer. $12 just for parking that was once company-provided? Blasphemy.

Favorite Santa Monica Memories and Activities

Daytime walks
Farmers Market Wednesdays

Evening runs

Impromptu lunchtime picnics

Summer Concerts on the Pier

Happy hours on rooftops

Kings Head

West 4th and Jane

The Shopping, oh, the shopping

Stopping to Smell the Ocean

Parasailing is not life changing. I waited two years to check it off my life’s to-do list only to finally go for it. And it didn’t change my life. It wasn’t what I expected, although I'm not sure what that was exactly.

Realizing the voucher I’d purchased a year prior was going to soon expire, I set a date and invited my good friend K to join me. I expected a surge of adrenaline, something to throw me out of my comfort zone or to push my limits. Instead, I experienced a comfort, a calmness I didn’t expect. Here I was, strapped to a harness hanging 500 feet above the Pacific Ocean on a beautiful day – maybe even 76 degrees and sunny. I sat next to a dear friend whose presence in my life makes me feel loved and supported. I could see the outlines of the city that has my heart. I wore shorts, psoriasis be damned. And we watched dolphins dance in the water.

I didn’t realize how quiet and peaceful it would be soaring 500 feet above the ocean. I anticipated it to sound windy and scary. Instead, I took a deep breath and I watched and talked with my friend. I recognized how lucky I am. Lucky to be alive. Lucky to have such great friends and to live in an amazing place. I'm lucky to feel happy, even if only just in that moment.

It wasn’t life changing. But it did make me pause. I stopped and existed only in that moment. I shouldn’t need to go parasailing to live in the moment. I can do it any time I like. All I need to do is stop, look around me and take it all in.