BELLA DAHL’S CLEAN-UP OF ZUMA BEACH FOR EARTH DAY
What a fun idea, and execution, this event was! I seriously love a day like this one. It was a clean-up of Zuma Beach, hosted by fashion brand Bella Dahl.
First of all, I always love helping the environment. Ecology was my minor in my fourth (and final) college, way before anyone else seemed to care about the planet. And I’m an insane recycler. So I was thrilled to be invited to participate in this pre-Earth Day celebration.
Photo by Karen Salkin.
I had not been all the way up PCH to Zuma in years, so it was extra interesting. And we were blessed with the absolutely perfect weather with which to celebrate Mother Earth—it was sunny, clear, breezy, and just a tad chilly. (But I heard it turned into a “crazy wind tornado” out there after I left, so I was grateful for having multiple events that day, which got me out of there just in time!)
As we were all meeting and greeting each other at the outset, I noticed that a few of the all-female hosting team members were wearing flowy outfits that were spot-on for the occasion. A couple of them had admired my also-perfect shirt for what we were doing, (it had a pic of the globe with “Think Earth” on it,) but I adored their smooth cottony threads even more. When I gushed over them, one of the ladies told me they were all from Bella Dahl, the line whose event this was! So I became an instant fan.
I chatted with one of the executives of the company, Steven Millman, for awhile, and then we all got started on the clean-up.
Some of the early attendees. Photo by Karen Salkin.
I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that Zuma Beach was pretty much debris-free! (My seventh grade teacher, Mr. Stein, always told us to “clean up your debris” at the end of the day. I’ve loved that word since then. And here I was, all these years later, cleaning-up other people’s debris!!!)
The hosts of the event provided disposable gloves and biodegradable plastic bags for us to collect all the beach junk in, but not one of the two dozen of us could fill ours! That gives me hope that either Angelenos aren’t as piggy as they were previously, or that the pandemic did the beaches a favor, or that beach season just hasn’t begun yet. No matter the reasons, the almost-pristine beach did my heart good.
Still, walking in the sand (in my capris and flip-flops,) with the wind in my face, doing the bend-and-snap to check-out every little questionable tidbit, (without one of those long pick-up sticks, by the way,) was hard work. So to spice up the day and reward us for doing it, we were treated to a lovely light luncheon afterwards. It was really delightful, like something you see in a movie. We sat right on the sand, on luscious pillows at a long table under a canopy. It was all so neat-looking, too.
Photo by Karen Salkin.
The fare was a quartet of interesting sandwiches, and the most interesting things—mini charcuterie-and-cheese platters in…stand-up cups!!! They contained cheeses, crackers, salami on sticks, a few pieces of fruit, and the best surprise—a variety of nuts on the bottom! Adorbs.
As if doing good and eating well was not enough, we each left with a much-appreciated goodie bag that contained a beautiful sky blue button-down shirt from the Bella Dahl line, a white “Gilligan” cap, and a couple of colorful woven bracelets, one of which I just had to put on right away!
On an interesting side note, when I was getting dressed that morning, and going through some years-gone-by drawers to find appropriate beach-y attire, I came upon a little nautical neckerchief that I had never donned before. I’ve never worn anything even remotely like it before, (because I’m not in the Navy nor live in Paris,) but it seemed just jauntily perfect for the day. So I tried it out and Mr. X said it looked cute. I was trying to wear it with the confidence I used to have when I pioneered other fun styles, (like Reeboks with fancy dresses, and mismatched earrings,) but I was still questioning my choice. Until Steven handed me the gift bag, which was tied-up with guess what? A square of creamy blue material which is the perfect size to use as a…neckerchief!!! I felt so hip once again!
So all the way around, it was a perf event. Now I can’t wait for the next one because guess what I’ll be rocking—my Bella Dahl shirt and neck thing! Of course. (But I’ll be leaving the clean-up bag and gloves behind. For now.)
And, by the way, to those of you also celebrated, a belated Happy Earth Day!
