Moments of sweet, sweet heaven.

I showed up early to Boot Camp this morning -- which was most definitely a first. (You can talk to my dad about how much of a morning person I am.)

But as I walked up and noticed I was the first one there (even before my coach!), I was immediately transported to my junior year in high school.

I had morning swim practice every weekday at 5:30am.  And I can't remember a sweeter feeling than pulling up and seeing the clock said 5:25am.  That meant I had exactly 4 more minutes to lean my seat back and close my eyes.

Heaven.

Splish.

Went to a ridiculous house in Burbank with a pool that melts into infinity off a cliff. It's a friend of my parents and in the email he sent to invite us for dinner it said:  Tell the "kids" to bring their suits, the water is warm and the slide will be on.

For about 2.5 seconds I thought, "Mmph.  I'm not a kid."  But then I thought, "Right, who am I kidding?!"

Then while running up and down the waterfall, over and over...I made a promise with myself to always be a kid.  It's way more fun.  And when I'm 88, I will still not be able to resist playing in a swimming pool.

I like that she apologized first.

I was hanging out in a hotel hot tub today and a guy came over to join us.  He tried to slide in gracefully but ended up knocking over one of our cups and missing a step in the process.  He sort of grinned, apologized and slid across to the other side.


Suddenly, I heard a little voice from behind me, "Um, um I don't want to make you feel bad, but...smoooooth moves, Dad."


I turned to see his 9 year-old daughter with a mouth full of braces smiling at all of us.  So great.

Squeezing in every minute

For whatever reason, there's always pressure to take complete, full advantage of days off.  Perhaps it's just MY pressure, but I always want to use every moment of a day without work.

And today was a success.  Road trip, cannonball contests, WANG, 40oz Bud Ice, Polaroid cameras, roasted corn, playing fetch and an improv show in the Hwood.

Done and done.

Smiling Faces & Flailing Arms

I was huffing and puffing through swim practice tonight trying to focus on ANYTHING other than my arms.  They seemed to be made of lead this evening.

During each breath, looking at the sideline of the pool, I remembered a trick I've used before to make it through a set.  I imagine people in my life running back and forth on the deck screaming and waving me forward -- just like high school swim meets.  My father, my coach, my brother, my friends.  It's fun to go through the list of people in my life and imagine their smiling faces and their flailing arms.  I even throw in perfect strangers, new crushes and unlikely characters.

Now, you can call me a total cheese-ball,  but I feel like this strategy could work for many difficult situations in life.  Imagining people you care about on the sideline, cheering you on...supporting you.

Right?
Cheese-ball indeed.

Humans are cool.

Tonight, we had a team dinner after our water polo tournament in Vegas.  And after a frustrating weekend, two of my favorite ladies and I had some serious comic relief at our end of the table.

The jokes weren't that funny, but there were tears and cheeks hurting and moments where we couldn't breathe.  It was amazing.

I love that humans are capable and almost programmed for just letting it all go and quite simply, laughing their asses off.  There seems to be a breaking point just after reaching the highest level of anger where you dive directly into delirium.  It makes fighting through the frustration so worth it.

Summer, Summer, Summer Time

In Santa Monica, there is a definite hint as to what time of the year it is.

I was in the grocery store today and the three kids in front of me had multi-colored paper bracelets all the way to their elbows.  They represent entry into the Santa Monica Swim Center right down the street.  Kids collect them and they're sort of bragging rights as to how many times you got to swim this summer.

Makes me smile every time.  And also makes me wish I was collecting those bracelets instead of the very similar "I'm over 21 and went to a bar last night" bracelets.

Going under

My roommate and I used to race to be the first to jump in the pool. There's something so amazing about being the first one in to an untouched swimming pool.

You break the perfectly still surface and plunge into pure silence. Your mind becomes suddenly clear and you want nothing more than to hold your breath forever and avoid resurfacing to hear the bubbles and the break of the water and the world.

I was first in tonight. And I held my breath as long as possible as I glided through the silence and took a moment for myself.

Heaven.

It ain't gonna grow legs and put itself away...

I'm not sure if it stems from being a kid and being told what to do, but sometimes I hate putting things away. If you've seen my car, this is all making sense to you now. And for the record, sometimes having an eclectic mix of toys in my car makes for spontaneous fun. So shut it.

Right. So putting things away is especially irksome (yup, I used that word) when I've just busted my ass in the pool. The last thing I want to do is drag 25 meter lane lines back into the pool and fight that pokey metal end-piece to get it hooked to the wall.

Today, after the last goal was scored and I begrudgingly started swimming toward the pile of lane lines, my coach yelled, "No lane lines today. There's a game in the morning, so don't worry about it."

Yessssss. Made my day.

Nights Swimming

Always awesome.

Yea, I'll be sore tomorrow, but...

I literally can barely see the screen because the chlorine destroyed my eyes tonight. But it was amazing to be back in the water.

We gathered a rag tag water polo team to scrimmage against the Michigan State girls team. They showed up in their team suits with their big warm up and their younger, faster arms. And we, in true LA-style, showed up late, barely warmed up and joked how we might drown before the game was over.

But you know what? These old ladies killed it. We actually won the game.

So, hey!...you! Don't be nervous to jump back on the court or back on your bike or back on the field. You can take your 30 or 40 or 50 years of wisdom (and even your bad knees) and beat up on college kids. It's rad.

The workout begins.

Mornings have never been my thing.
Ever.
Just ask my father.

But somehow in highschool, I woke up at 5:30am every morning and got my butt in the pool.

THIS morning -- it was not 5:30am, it was 6:30am. And it was not the pool...but I started a workout regime that I'm hoping to keep for at least 4 weeks.

And sunrise, ocean and Santa Monica...well, it's not a bad combo really. If I could just smell like chlorine when I got home, it would be perfect.

You make me happy when skies are grey.

Went swimming at The Roosevelt tonight surrounded by a bunch of Hollywood peeps who wished they were as cool as us. It was similar to an 8th grade dance. Everyone sitting close to the edge, and dying to get out there, but not wanting to chance looking uncool.

There were fun floaties and innertubes in the water and at some point my friend said, "Hey, watch this. I can make a sunshine come out of my butt."

He slowly leaned back and slightly off his innertube and the yellow, sunshine shaped toy flew out of the water straight at me.

Clearly, that's my sunshine.

Chlorine is a time machine.

A group of perfectly mature, intelligent adults spent about 10 hours playing in the pool today. But when I stopped to look around, everyone's faces and even their mannerisms were closer to a group of 7 year-olds at summer camp.

I watched my friends do handstands, have splash fights and say things like:
"Watch me, watch me!"
{pitter patter, pitter patter.......splash!}
"Did you see that?"

It reminded me of giving "safari tours" on blow up rafts in my pool and then sitting inside, soaking wet, eating hot dogs and watching a quick movie before running back to the pool for a cannonball contest.

I LOVE being in my bathing suit all day. And since we were all the mature adults I mentioned before, we got to stay in as long as we wanted and never had to scream back into the house, "Pleeeaaase Mom...just five more minutes!"

Guess you had to be there.

I'm gonna do it. I'm going to quote John Mayer:
Didn’t have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world with both my eyes

I went to the Montalban Theater tonight to see Michel Gondry talk about his new DVD and then jam with Jon Brion and brief special guest Seth Rogen.
Blah. Blah. Blah.
Hollywood. Hollywood. Hollywood.
I realize I'm a lucky little lady to attend such a glamorous Hollywood affair with such talented people...but you could have too -- it was free.

And after having the guy behind me lean his entire body into me for two songs and the girl next to me use my head as a tripod...I migrated to the back of the crowd gasping for air and some sanity. The view from the back was lots of poofy-haired boys and cameras flailing everywhere. I truly couldn't believe the amount of people desperate to get the best shot to put on Facebook tomorrow. Was anyone REALLY watching?

All of that to say, that sometimes I need to be fully annoyed or frustrated to actually have a sunshine stick out.

On my way home, still sort of annoyed and realzing that I could indeed be "getting old", I pulled up to a stoplight with a homeless guy talking to himself. I was the only person at the light and I gave him a smile as we made eye contact and I quickly looked away. He walked all the way around my car and came back to my window, standing at a sort of respectful, safe distance.

He was motioning something with his hands and asking me a question. I just shook my head no assuming he was asking for money, but he was very persistent. He motioned to the back of my car and started using his fingers spelling out P-O-L....and then mimicked a perfect water polo throw. "Yooou play wat-er po-looo?"

My light turned green and all I could do was give him a huge smile and a nod. And to be quite honest, it was the biggest, most honest smile I'd offered anyone all day.

[In case you're not my mom, I DO play water polo and there's a sticker on the back of my car that MOST people mistake for a volleyball player]

What's yours?

Some people would say fresh cut grass.
Or home baked cookies.
Or the first rain.

One of my favorite smells?
Chlorine on my skin.
It takes me back to high school and flirting on the pool deck, eating plate after plate of pasta and pushing my body to the ultimate limit.

Getting in the pool today was a first step...now I just need to convince myself to do it at least once a week.