California Anniversary at the Getty Center

Exactly one year ago today, I moved to California...

Me circa June 2010

Me (and Becca) circa June 2011.

It is amazing to think about all of the changes that occurred in my life over the course of one year in California.  I am happily employed, volunteering, pursuing my culinary hobbies, meeting new friends, hosting parties, and of course [still] traveling around this beautiful state.  Today was no exception.  Becca and I jetted off to Santa Monica for a visit to the Getty Center.  I wanted to see the exhibit entitled "A Revolutionary Project: From Walker Evans to Now" and Becca just wanted to have a little fun on a Friday.  We hopped in the car and headed over the pass to [un]sunny Santa Monica.

First stop... Whole Foods in Santa Clarita.  Becca had never been and I am addicted to the over priced organic (and amazing) grocery store.  We planned to stock up on picnic food (cheese, wine, bread, olives, fruit, etc.) and take it to the Getty where we would sit under the sun and bask in the beauty of the gardens.  Instead, I left much poorer than I started thanks to the wine and meringues I purchased for home consumption and with tofu (shocker) and broccoli salad from the deli and a pound of cherries from the produce section.  Becca left with caprese salad in tow as well as all sorts of Mediterranean dips.  I believe that I frightened a group of girl scouts as they learned about nutrition with one of my endlessly rambling stories about "when I was a girl scout..."  I found my nerdy girl scout twin (her cousins live in Charlottesville!) and Becca laughed at me as I freaked out the impressionable teenagers.  In sum, our trip to Whole Foods was amazing.

Our plan to bask in the sun failed when we showed up in Santa Monica to a sky full of June gloom.  We ate our lunch under the bougainvillea trees that bloom in the main garden.  It was very romantic.

We visited the Cuba exhibit first.  It was amazing.  I pursued the exhibit because I studied a lot of Walker Evans' work in college.  He compiled a very famous set of photographs that appeared in James Agee's book Now Let us Praise Famous Men about the impact of the Great Depression on the rural South.  Anyways, I wanted to see his work in the exhibit.  The photographs proceeded chronologically through the hall, beginning with Evans' pieces from 1933, moving into pictures by Cubans from the revolution in 1959, and ending with pictures taken by Americans during the last ten years.  The objective is to get the visitor to compare how westerners view Cuba versus how Cubans experienced the infamous Castro takeover.  In sum, I loved it.  Seeing the exhibit made the drive to Santa Monica, totally worth it!

Virginia Beahan
2002
Chromogenic print
34 x 41 in.

We also hit the "Paris: Life and Luxury Exhibit."  It was pretty cool with lots of furniture, dresses, and "stuff" that looked old and sparkly.  After touring the Impressionist paintings, the illuminated manuscripts, and the baroque baby cherub pictures we left to pursue coffee in Santa Monica.  Luckily, we avoided major rush hour traffic by window shopping in Santa Monica for a few hours.  Not a bad way to celebrate my first year of surviving life in California!