Family + Beach = good stuff

I had half of a great weekend (as Sunday was spent cleaning all day, bleech!) My sister Danette and my Mom came into town Friday night and I met them at Farmers Market for some dinner and then we went to my place to chat and crash out so we could get up and head to the beach since the rain was not supposed to start until Sunday. Saturday morning we headed to Redondo Beach after coffee. I figured they have been to all the other beach hangs, Venice, Santa Monica, Newport, Santa Barbara etc. but never to Redondo. It’s such a nice and clean community and closer than Santa Barbara. We hit a coffee shop first and then walked a block to the beach to see the view and decided to drive to the pier we had passed only after we used up our time on the parking meter, so of course we had to shop (part of my master plan, haha). I knew of a place that had always had good deals on jewelry and let’s just say that it’s a family trait to be a jewelry junkie. I would also have to say that my sister is by far the biggest addict and she didn’t put down the jewelry crack pipe all day! 30 minutes left on meter and Danette managed to buy 2 rings and some earrings. I bought her a belated Birthday gift, what else but another ring and earrings! We almost made it out the door when she spotted another pair of earrings she couldn’t live without and then we were on our way to the Redondo Beach Pier.

When I first moved to LA, I couldn’t get enough of the beach and I still love it. I would be skating every weekend and the best path at the time (before they fixed S.M to Venice) was the Manhattan/Redondo/Hermosa skate/bike path. I have never been to the Pier nor do I have any idea when they built it as I pretty much skate from South Venice to Temescal for years now.
We parked at the pier and the moment we walked up the stairs, Danette had spotted a pearl store, the kind where you pick your oyster and they open it to reveal your prize and then you drop a zillion dollars having it put into a setting. I had no idea how much fun this would be as I didn’t do it in Hawaii either time I went and had no idea they did this on the mainland. Where have I been? At first we stood at the counter watching others waiting to pick their oyster but moved on as there was no action. We stopped at the next as there was a guy who you would think just got a royal flush in Vegas. Waving his hands in the air while voicing a woot! We walked over and he had just picked one with a black pearl with an iridescent green cast to it. Nice. His girlfriend was excited and showed us her new pearl earrings and both pearls had come from one oyster! Next the woot guy asked me to pick another one for him. I gave it a shot and he was satisfied as it was a large white one and he had it made into a necklace for his Mom. Awwww. Hey, this is my kinda gambling! Because anyone who knows me knows that I was born and raised in Vegas and that makes me a big loser on the whole gambling thing. Yep, my luck was completely canceled, like Vegas is a big eel skin wallet and I am a credit card. Luck, gone. But not today. Momma needs a new pair of earrings! Danette, being the generous sister and with a (what is this you speak of) savings account, told Mom and I she wanted to give us each a hit on that old jewelry crack pipe. I got chills but had to focus as I sifted through the oysters eyeing each one for a special quality. Which would yield the best specimen? Would it be the skinny black one or the crusty one or the one with a little pink on it’s shell. I picked all three for us and yes I do think it is my new calling, Professional Oyster Picker or POP as we call it in the industry. The first one I picked was for Danette and it had 2 white twins, the second was for Mom and had a black pearl and mine was a big fat white one, nice. We were all pleased and had them set in different forms of pendants. Lovely, but now I was hooked and I had to try my luck again so I had one more go at it, hoping for that giant black pearl like the one in the shop that was for sale at $7,500 and looked like a marble. I held my breath and picked another large white one. Woot! I had it set in a ring and if you see me today I am wearing my prizes and if you want, we can head back to Redondo and I can be your POP and we can search for that elusive black monster pearl, again and again and again….