Food Love

Chicken cilantro sausage & fontina cheese omelette from Kings Road Cafe in Studio City

Localizing - 6 Man Tournament

The Charlie Saikley Volleyball Tournament is one third Halloween, one third athletic competition and one third weekend-long party. Better known as "The 6 Man," it's an annual tournament that brings in crazy crowds of spectators and really talented volleyball players to the courts just south of Manhattan Beach's pier.

Part of a full weekend of South Bay's International Surf Festival events, the competition starts early Saturday morning. Alex and I headed out to witness the action from the start, and the games were well underway by the time we got to the courts around 930am. What a crazy sight - people dressed in theme with their team names dressed in kilts, as Golden Girls (above), wigs, tutus, capes...you name it.

At the very least, teams wore matching bathing suits or boardshorts. Some went all out - the WWE team had a portable wrestling ring that they would put up around their half of the court, and the Running of the Bulls team actually had a man dressed up in an inflated bull costume.

As someone who highly enjoys themed occasions (or as our friends across the oceans refer to it as "fancy dress"), Saturday was an amusing mix of sport and costume brainstorming. Looking forward to what the teams come up with next year!

Three Things

• Sunny summer West Coast late afternoons = making plans to avoid traffic getting the beach. Sunny summer Atlanta late afternoons = making plans to avoid the line for getting into Sweetwater outings. Both very fun and great in their own special ways.

• Humidity has struck the West, making me wish I could be near a river where I could improve the kayaking skills I learned in April. My friend John took a few of us out to North Carolina where we ran the Lower Green and learned basic wet exits - so much fun!

• July & August are always associated with my IMLP Bootcamp memories. Three summers ago, we were at Junior Bootcamp in Danbury. Two summers ago, Senior Bootcamp at Shanghai. Last summer we all had training at Crotonville before our Graduation in Atlanta. Miss you all!