Feelin' like a "Cal-ee-forn-ya Gurl"

Ha ha! I am in my element. Hippie culture is still alive and well here in ol' Cali. Fashion is totally based on bright colours, loose-fitting tops, flared jeans, tank tops, everything that works in this desert environment.
Only one problem.
I love hippie culture, and I have the long hair and love of everything psychodelic... but hippie styles tend to look terrible on me. And, I cannot find jeans that fit. At all. They are all either WAY too big or slightly too small.
Shopping in the US is really ridiculous. There are so many colours and choices and fashions, and shops are so big and crowded. You just end up feeling clastrophobic after a while.
And, like the song implies, we are totally in the land of bikinis. Try finding a pair of boardshorts that cover your butt. Impossible. I've had to make do with a mini mini made of swim material which is good enough over the bikini I own already. You see, the deal was that Mum would let me get a bikini, but I wasn't allowed to wear it unless I had a pair of boardshorts or something similar over top to make it slightly less risque.
Oh well. Can't win 'em all. I have made out like a bandit on the clothes front, and really can't complain.
But, everything here is so cheap. I was let loose in a book shop and told to go nuts, because here was the place to buy books. Too bloody right. The Hunger Games Boxed Set in Hard Cover, one paperback Romance novel, a Historical Fiction and two Murder Mysteries later... total price? Less than US$50. Pretty sweet, eh? The Hunger Games alone would have been close to NZ$100. I'm stoked. I'm set for reading material for the next... let's see, 7 books, plus the one I brought on the plane.... That'll last me at least a fortnight. (I read fast!)
It was comparitavely cool today, with a nice breeze off the ocean. Of course, me - expecting it to be roasting again - wore my lightest tank top, and was actually quite cold.
Funny thing worth mentioning is that it's odd driving on the right-hand side of the road, mostly because all the buttons and dials are in the right place except for two reversed, and Dad keeps turning on the windshield wipers instead of the indicatiors, which given the state of the climate, is rather amusing.
Um... probably will give you all a laugh to say I got in trouble this morning for playing Pirates of the Caribbean on the piano at full volume and annoying the heck outta the rest of the house. Oops. ^-^
Other "Sherlock"-ish observations from today: Californian teen guys are not at all bad looking. The architecture here is very interesting, as you can see the Mexican influence in the pueblo style. I still really hate pink. It's very summery. Americans speak funny. "Trash can"? Really?
We have plotted pretty much what we're gonna do for the next few days. Tomorrow (Tues) and Thursday will be spent in San Fransico. We'll go to San Fran Park and hire bikes, and there's the Natural History Museum and the Model of the Bays to see. Should be really interesting.
Oops. Bennett's kicking me off the computer so he can use it.
Sincerely, your Cali PI,
Rachel Holmes