California dreamin'...

As I write this, the sun is straining to get through a solid white curtain of clouds. It's brighter than it has been in days, and there is the rumor of sunshine and temperatures in the 70's this afternoon. I know I've been a little (and by a little, I mean a lot) obsessed with the weather lately, but I have seriously never experienced three straight weeks of rain before. It was very disconcerting. 

So in celebration of the potential end of dreary, I have found some stories about the Golden State and/or its citizens. I have only been there once - to San Francisco/Stanford for an NCAA women's tennis regional - but I really liked it and plan to go back to San Francisco. Sorry, Mom. Between pit bulls and earthquakes, you just can't win. : )

While Mrs. Obama was in the city by the Bay to promote the President's new national volunteering initiative, Sasha and Malia inaugurated a new cable car with their grandmother. According to msnbc.com, they rode from Nob Hill to Lombard Street, the "crookedest street in the world." 

The San Diego Union-Tribune had a cute little piece on a recent dog surfing competition that was part of the Purina Challenge. Sadly their weather looks like ours, but the story was adorable, with little features on some of the dogs competing in each of the size categories. 

A man who can make an unwashed, eye-liner-wearing pirate hot is certainly something. Turns out actor Johnny Depp is also living proof you can be really, really ridiculously good-looking and a nice person. In Chicago to celebrate the premiere of his latest movie, he and a group of co-stars and other movie people went out to dinner until the wee hours of the morning at a steakhouse. To compensate his waiter for working so late, Depp gave the man a $4000 tip on a $4400 bill (Yahoo! News)

The LA Times has a great, three-page story on Khadijah Williams, a homeless student who used her own initiative and intelligence to get herself a spot at Harvard for the fall. This young woman has an inner strength and drive that people three times her age should admire. To be that self-aware so young and to make the connections between her goals and how to get there is phenomenal. 

(Photo courtesy of the San Diego Union-Tribune)