Wow- Where did this week go!

Apologies to everyone who messaged me about what I've been up to.... I don't know where this week has gone!

New Apartment
We've moved in to our new apartment!!! Yey! I absolutely love the space. It has exactly what I was hoping for with a big open plan kitchen/ lounge and is big enough for a big dining area too. It's all a bit sparse at present with very little furniture but we have the basics now... table, sofa, TV, and bed! I can't wait for our other bedroom furniture to turn up and all our lovely pictures....

It also has a gym and a pool which I've made use of. In England, I was not a 'gym' person, and I don't particularly like working out in front of other people as I'm very unfit and get really self concious but there's hardly ever any one in the gym in the week, so I've started running a bit. I managed 2 miles on Tuesday and 3 miles and Thursday so I think that's good progress. Although the weather has been fairly temperate and cloudy (apparently I didn't break the weather, but it's always like this near the coast at this time of year and they call it "May Grey"), I got some time by the pool when the sun came out for a few hours....

It's also in a great location. We're only 20 minutes drive from David's work in rush hour, and we're very near Cosco (amazing Pizza!) and "In and Out Burger". There's a "dunkin dougnuts" on the corner which is difficult to resist, and an organic supermarket called "Rainbow Acres" which sells all sorts of organic, vegan and welfare assured food. We're also only 10 minutes from the beach although we're yet to make it down there since we moved.

Lifesavers Horse Rescue Ranch
I went back to the Lifesavers horse ranch last week for another trial day, this time with their current trainer Shauna, who works 2 days a week. We got on very well and she was happy for me to get right in. We haltered the foals for their 2nd ever trim with the farrier, we gave tetanus boosters and wormers to some of the horses and moved some more horses around ready for another delivery. I was extremely please when the next day I got a call asking if I would like to take the position!!!! I really do love it there, even though it's a 90 mile drive each way (!) it just feels like I'm doing something really worthwhile and their whole approach and energy is exactly how I like it! My first official day is tomorrow!

Some of the babies who had a trim...

Mill Creek Ranch Topanga
A friend of a friend, also showed me around a lovely stables in Topanga which is only 30 mins from home. It's what we would call a livery yard in England, but they also have a riding school. The horses range from very expensive grand prix dressage horses to childrens ponies, but everyone was exceptionally friendly and I gave them my CV with the possibility of doing some freelance teaching or holiday cover work... we'll wait and see... 
The set up again, is very different from home, with the horses being stabled without turnout, but they are all fed ad lib 3 times a day with plenty of roughage and all exercised daily. The stables have pipes running along the roof that intermittantly spray a mist of fly spray and water to keep the horses cool and free from flies!

Socialising
We've spent some time with our good friend Josh, who lives here, having drinks in Brentwood on Friday and Dinner in Korea Town on Sunday night. Joshua took us for authentic Korean "hot-pot" which was something completely new to me. Think 'cook your own wagamma' and your half way there. Basically it's all you can eat, and you have a large wok like dish in the middle of the table on a gas burner. You choose 2 types of stock (we got one miso based and one spicy) and then you help yourself to as much of what you want to cook in the broth. Everything from mushrooms, onions, bok choi, spinach, tofu, prawns, squid, won tons, fish balls, lobster, bean sprouts and all different types of noodles. Then if you like meat, you order a platter of various steak, chicken, lamb or pork which come raw and very finely sliced and cooks in the broth in minutes. 

"Hot-pot"

You throw all this in together, cook it up, and share and then at the end your left with an awesome flavoured broth which you soak up with a load of noodles. I loved it! Tiny glasses of rice wine (tastes like watery gin..) made the whole evening a wonderful experience!

New Car
We also bought a car this weekend. Second hand cars here seem extremely expensive, but one of the reasons is, unlike in the UK where you only pay tax on new vehicles, here you pay tax on used cars too! However, the lack of rain means the cars do not get rust or other associated water damage and the dry conditions means engines live a lot longer. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on something I was going to put a lot of miles on, driving out to the desert all the time, so I'm happy with my old Toyota Camrey.... She drives great and I'm pleased we have something as our rental goes back this week.

Meeting my step cousin for the first time
My step cousin, Alison, lives here in Los Angeles, and I'd never met her before, so we arranged to have breakfast this morning. Her father, Ed, who married my Auntie Linda live in France now, but he's originally Dutch and married an American lady from LA and had Alison. Alison grew up in Holland, but moved to LA over ten years ago and it's a lovely feeling knowing you have some family when you move so far away.
She is also the absolutley most lovely person and I can see us spending a lot of time together!

After breakfast selfie!

Peroni
Lastly, and update on Peroni in France. Chloe has been doing and amazing job, looking after my little monkey and the stables are finally up!!! A huge thank you to Mum, Dad, Chloe and Linda for all the effort they've put in organising and manual labour. Peroni and Pedro had their first time in the stables today and enjoyed a munch on some hay. It's great they now have a place to come in in bad or hot weather...

"oooh... this is nice..."

Looking very well and shiny..

"I like my little window!"