Sigh.....
Yes, I googled. Reeeeeeelax. I mean, I knew it was on a beach somewhere, where all the famous people lived. Hello, I'm not dense. But I wanted to know EXACTLY where it was, geographically. Was it Northern California, was it even IN california? LMAO. Was it near Mexico? Stupid as it sounds, I never had to know about this place in my entire life...until now. Never had a reason to. . so why would I?
According to google, Its near LA... Yesssssss! Always wanted to Live in LA! Now I'm sooo close, I thought. Never have I been to those parts of SoCal. The only memories I had of LA at that point, were from childhood. "Los Callejones" aka the streetshops of downtown LA where you could find anything at a bargain. You know, the place where you could buy those Mexican San Marcos blankets we pull out every winter. Joyas, dresses, pinches botas, you name it. But you had to get the hell outta there by 4 pm. Or you would get shot by los cholos. Period. According to my Dad and my Tios. That being said, I couldn't wait to see the LA that we all hear about on TV. The one us ordinary people never get to experience.
Broad Beach Road.
It was such an eyebrow raiser whenever Californians knew what street we lived on. Apparently, its the most desirable residential street in all of Malibu. Ay, chingao. All I was excited about was that Danny DeVito and Steven Spielberg lived there. I jogged our street every evening in hopes of catching a glimpse. After all, what else would they be doing? Making movies? (Ha)
Our house was odd, but beautiful in an artsy way. It was a loft-style home, with bold beachy retro vibes decor. Outside of the kitchen was a large sliding door which led to the backyard- er- 10 feet of sand, a hot tub, then the beach. The motherfucking beach. Our very own private section. I couldn't believe people actually lived like this, The summer consisted of lots and lots of beach days, sand in our hair, sunburns, visiting friends, gossiping with the housekeeper every chance I'd get (pinche raza) It was such an empowering get away... where I didn't have to think about anyone or anything. Just me, myself, and I. I often wondered why the Malibu people never wore nice clothes, heels, wore makeup, or spent time on their demeanor... Ha, silly me. I straightened my hair ONCE that summer- and quickly realized what a waste of time it was. Beach humidity ruined all vanity. So when it came time to actually go into town, for a nice dinner or a movie in Beverly Hills, we all got excited and knew we were finally going to be able to dress up! My favorite thing to do, just like any girl. Elle and I were inseparable. She had missed me so much since I left Vegas, she even named her build-a-bear after me. No one could do her hair but me. No one could tell her bedtime stories, but me. All she wanted was Daniela.
Attending movie premieres in Hollywood and yummy dinners at Spago were such exciting nights. The young friend from the San Francisco birthday party had not only moved to LA with her family as well, but also had a Malibu beach house. But of course. They were our 2nd family that summer. Eventually, someone finally clued me in on who that family actually was. The mother of the privileged girl was the best-selling author of the novels behind the Legally Blonde franchise. Talk about an aha moment 2 years later. Now all the fantastic movie premieres we were invited to made sense. More importantly that summer, I felt like I got my heart back. In a strange cliche way, I found myself again.
By September I had returned home not knowing when or if I would ever return.
By the time Winter approached, I fullfilled a promise to myself to stay in the Fashion scene one way or another while in Utah, even while returning to my former bank job. Can you believe they took me back? Lmao. Working nights and weekends at a fashion retailer would be my way of keeping my foot in that door, atleast for the time being. If I had to have normal jobs, I atleast wanted one of them to be fun- even if it meant 16 hour days. Soon enough, Summer 2008 rolled around. A friend contacted me about working with a local artist who was in need of a wardrobe stylist for upcoming shows. I had never heard of the artist, but agreed to help out. Why not, I love fashion and dressing people. Months and dozens of shows later, we found ourselves on the set of some exciting music videos- where I ofcourse was doing what I loved: dressing everyone. Working closely as the behind the scenes glam girl, who, like-glue, kept everything & everyone put together, pre-show, post-show, and everywhere in between, eventually the partnership grew into something more. We felt invincible. Like we could tackle the world together. But ofcourse, love doesn't always workout, especially in such an environment like the music industry. Something I was all too familiar with. My grandfather and my father were both lifelong musicians. I grew up in the biz and had a strong understanding for the way things worked. That understanding united us, sure, but also scared me from wanting the same life my mother had. People don't realize that behind the scenes, that life is not all its cracked up to be. I learned at a very young age, It is not all glitz and glam. Its all an illusion and the women behind these men in the spotlight have to be extremely strong and tolerate some not-so-fun stuff. By the time Summer 09 approached, my life had been a neverending rollercoaster. Breakups and makeups had me in a fritz. It was not a way of life. I was coming apart at the seams. I just had to get away. FUCK. I lost myself again, I needed to find my happiness amidst all of the heartbreak. A place where I could be alone and could escape what was terrorizing me from within. I knew what I had to do.
A few familiar phone calls later, I found myself booking my flight. Back to my happy place.
Back to Malibu.
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