LA Living: day one

Gooooood morning  from California! After a long but awesome first day in LA I am now well rested and ready for more explorin’.

After landing at LAX, singing some “Party In the USA” to myself, and reuniting with my best friend David, it was time to be a Los Angeles tourist and tour the Warner Brother’s Studio

Having never been to Warner Brother’s studios it was interesting to see what TV and movie sets actually look like. Everything looks so different in real life compared to the “hollywood magic” that occurs on TV.

Being a huge Friends fan I loved recognizing different set pieces from the show

the street above was used for all out door “new york” scenes in Friends. Didn’t I just leave New York?

this house may look familiar from the scene in Friends when Phoebe goes to visit her father.

this field is where Ross played rugby

this path represents central park when Phoebe runs like a freak

Getting to see actual set pieces from the Friends coffee shop “Central Perk” was  my favorite part of the tour

and of course the infamous couch!

—

Besides obsessing over all things Friends we got to see how Warner Brother’s studios is currently being used and toured the set for “The Big Bang Theory” in order to see how a multi-cam sitcom is taped.

I also loved seeing props used from “The Dark Nights”

much smaller in real life than in the movie

while I didn’t spot any celebrities, I did get to spot Ashton Kutcher’s monster of a trailer. This thing is hugeeeee, so huge I saw a special about it on TLC during the summer

It has a gym! How famous do you gotta be to get a trailer like that?

After touring Warner Brother’s Studio it was time to head back to David’s house to relax a bit. Thanks to lots of caffeine and a 15 minute power nap on the plane I was still energetic despite waking up at 6AM New York time… 3AM California time.

Before dinner it was time to test drive my California car and take on the scary Los Angeles streets. I am a bit terrified of driving here, it’s a car that I’m not used to, driving here is very different from driving in the suburbs and I don’t know my way around yet. I successfully made it to Rite Aid with David to get some toiletries. Granted, Rite Aid is only a 2 minute drive away, but it’s a start!

Dinner was at “Kitchen 24” a restaurant that offers similar comfort food to a diner. I gobbled up my turkey burger, starving since I hadn’t eaten since the plane ride. Back to clean eatin’ and home cooking soon, I swear!

 

We finished the night watching and making judgements about the tv show “The X Factor”.
After that it was definitely bed time for me since I had been up 22 hours— YEEEEESH.

But now I am well rested and ready for day two in Los Angeles. Luckily the gym I am a member of in Manhattan has a super convenient location close to David’s house so I am super excited to workout this morning and then go on a mini adventure to get a few more essential things I need.

—

In the midst of all this California madness I got a bit behind on the challenge

Day 17 Your most embarrassing fitness story 

I honestly can’t think of any specific story, but I will say because I am the fabulous combination of awkward and clumsy I daily embarrass myself at the gym looking like a spazz. During the spring I had a painful arm injury which meant I couldn’t lift my arm very high. This didn’t stop me from taking zumba and other dance fitness classes daily, which meant I was the gal going full out but with only one arm— a very awkward sight.

Day 18 Does Nike’s ‘Greatness’ ad exploit fat people? (http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/13/does-nikes-greatness-ad-featuring-an-obese-boy-exploit-fat-people/>

I can understand the controversy of this ad, but I can also see the good intensions. We see fitness “greatness” as this specific mold– olympians, six pack abs, bulging muscles, etc. This ad is saying no, greatness is also about the desire to become “greater”– fitter, healthier etc. It’s not about already being great, it is about the desire to achieve greatness.

Day 19 What is your favourite fall workout?

Being able to run outside during the day is the best part of the weather getting cooler in New York. During the summer I only ran early in the morning or at dusk since the heat was too intense. Last week it was nice to be able to run in the middle of the day without fear of heat stroke.

Day 20 List your 5 new-to-you healthy food options

1. Overnight oats are my new best friend.

2. Almond milk

3. Quinoa

4. Pancakes that don’t leave you hungry an hour later

5. Asparagus, my new favorite veggie.

—

Alrighty, it’s time to go do more exploring and pray I can find my was around Los Angeles….