Big World, Petite Girl: Murphy Ranch Hike

I am so excited to share my Saturday adventure. 

The boyfriend suggested this great hike that also includes some interesting history. 

Located in Rustic Canyon not far from the Pacific Palisades a little piece of World War II is tucked away in the hills. Take a mile hike up a paved road until you reach the stairs (so many stairs) that will lead down to Murphy Ranch. Once a large compound with a water storage tank, a fuel tank, a bomb shelter, now only a few structures remain scrawled with many layers of graffiti. Murphy Ranch was built in the 1930s by Nazi sympathizers for Nazi activities in the United States. The compound was intended to be self-sustaining for many years until law enforcement seized it in 1941 after the Pearl Harbor attacks. By 1990 the ranch was abandoned and closed. Just last year many structures were demolished as they were deemed unsafe.

Unfortunately when we took the hike to check out the grounds many of the buildings we had heard about were boarded up or knocked down. Although there isn't much left it is still fascinating to see the remnants of what could have been and signs of people that actually lived there. We spent 2 to 3 hours exploring the area, even taking a trail that lead to nowhere. 

Check the pictures below. I highly recommend Murphy Ranch trail, if you're bored on the weekend, need something to do or just like history... Just make sure you do it before they tear down the remaining buildings.

For directions to Murphy Ranch and what trail to follow, these ones proved to be the most helpful:

Thanks to Jeff Hester, creator of this one.

SoCal Hiker: Murphy Ranch - The Nazi Compound in Rustic Canyon

And AllTrails... one of my favorite apps.

AllTrails - Murphy Ranch Trail

Hopefully this will be the first of many in the "Big World, Petite Girl" series. :)

the Life & Styles of a Petite Girl

As you may have noticed I had a change of heart (name) when it came to my blog. I wanted to be a little more specific and hopefully spark some interest with a cute/clever name because let's face it, if it doesn't catch your eye when skimming you won't follow the link to read. Now after blogging inconsistently for a little more than year I feel it needed re-branding... so allow me to reintroduce myself.

Having blogged about life, small adventures and a little bit of beauty I realized I was never going to be a "fashion blogger" I am much more of a lifestyles blogger with some fashion, beauty and random nonsense thrown in there. I wanted to keep "petite" in the name because it's kind of my identifier. I've always been described as the small girl, the short girl, petite girl or whatever other synonym that fits.

So "La Petite Viee" is dead and gone but risen from the ashes like the phoenix is 

the Life & Styles of a Petite Girl. 

New and improved, and hopefully you think so too. I've already impressed myself by posting three times last month - that is a record! Please take the few seconds to subscribe by adding yourself to the email list, it's over there on the left under "Stay Up To Date" or there's Bloglovin' over on the right.

I promise I'll make it worth your while :)

Off the Grid

I have abandoned my blog yet again, though making my way back... again.

 I have since abandoned social media as well, all profiles have been deleted or deactivated - insert shocked emoji here. I was "social media queen" as my friends would lovingly tease. Indeed I liked being constantly connected but it started to feel like more of a distraction from real life. There are times when I miss it.... like when I'm eating and I can't share my delicious looking meal, *wink emoji*. Really though, it's been very freeing not checking my phone a million times a day.

Like breaking any habit it was a little weird the first few days - repetitively pulling out my phone to look at Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. but I've appreciated all the free time I had forgotten I had. Thankfully I enjoy my life enough to where I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

Off the grid with no social media, next step is to move into a tree house!

Let me know your thoughts on social media and giving it up in the comments.

How hard would it be for you to get rid of? Could you, would you do it?

I personally recommend it.

New Year, Same Me - because I'm already freaking fabulous

Welcome to 2016... MY YEAR; or so I've decided. 

Last year was a whirlwind of unexpected change and I'd have to say overall I thoroughly enjoyed the way it all played out. Starting a relationship was probably one of the bigger changes of the year but finding a someone I truly enjoy spending my time with, doing everything and anything together has been really amazing. Turns out he felt the same for me and we moved in together, an even bigger change for a girl who's never had roommates, and that has turned out to be just as amazing. I wasn't actively looking for or expecting it to happen so I love that it did and I love who it happened with. Next big change would be is I abruptly quit my job that I held for a year and a half. It was startling, even to myself, so this is a year of transition. 

I've been trying to think of a non-cliche way to do a "New Years" post but unfortunately I drew a blank so after almost four days of deliberation - here I am. I hate New Years resolutions, I rarely make them but like most at the start of a new year it feels like starting fresh, somewhat with a clean slate. I usually try to give up my vices and attempt to do certain things (like the gym) more consistently. To start, most of the population can't function without coffee while I have a hard time without a kick in the ass from Redbull. I'm officially a week strong without my "wiiinnnggsss" as of today and I've also gone to the gym four out of the last six days - GO ME!

Here's the remainder of my goals I will be working on throughout the year:

- WRITE weekly or every other week (hopefully I'll have interesting things to talk about).
- Experiment with new recipes
- Learn and experiment with my hair and make up
- Read more! I just finished The Good Guy by Dean Koontz and started the Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
- Hike every other week.
- Try to attend/go to more art shows, concerts, sporting events and museums.

As I mentioned this is a year of transition. I will be documenting my transition from dyed black/dark brown hair to my natural dirty blonde color, I'm extremely impatient so I might be helping it along with stripping the dark color. Also, I have shaved the left side of my head for almost four years and in July I made the decision to grow it out. You will be entertained with photos of the outgrowth and what I do to hide it - it resembles the Flash "wing". If you don't know who the Flash is - Google it, you'll laugh. My biggest and nonphysical transition is looking for a new job. I don't want just a job, I want a career where I can I apply my degree that paid thousands of dollars for, I know I probably shouldn't be so picky but I refuse to be one of those people who aren't working in their chosen field or aren't using what they learned. 

All in all, I'm excited for this year. It's the last year before my thirties and I couldn't be happier at this point in my life even with the hardships. Stay tuned for more and share with me what your resolutions and goals for this year are in the comments :)

Lastly, if you're not subscribed to the blog do it now, it will be fun! Also, if you're not following me already on Instagram or Pinterest - you should be! Click the follow buttons @lapetiteviee

Until Next Time,

xx Ashley

New Year's Resolution 2016

 I'm back!!

Or I'm trying to be... I've been gone since June. Life got busy and I lost sight of what I really wanted to be doing and that was writing and sharing here - my own little piece of the blog world.

I'm not big on New Year's Resolutions because the whole "New Year, New Me" thing is utterly ridiculous. I see very few people holding to their resolutions, I generally just aim to grow and be a better person each year. This year I've decided on an actual resolution and it's to start and continue posting in blogs every week; I'm going to start with every other week but I hope to reach once a week before the middle of the year. 

I was talking with my best friend Tana (aka The Styled Society - check her out for some amazing fashion) about being busy and worrying about not having anyone interested in reading what I wrote about... and she's basically told me to "man up" and stop worrying about whether or not anyone is reading it or not; really that's what best friends are for. I've decided to write for myself, I enjoy it and if I'm doing something I enjoy the readers will come. I'm aiming to write something fun and interesting in the New Year.

Until Next Time

xx Ashley

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