Los Angeles: First Few Days

Greetings from Los Angeles, West Hollywood to be exact. I’ve been here a few times to visit since my best friend from college David moved here 6 years ago and sort of lived here for 2 months after college. I like to think of LA as my home away from home and it’s SO nice to be back! While I’m here I’m going to do some “old school blogging” and chat about what I’m doing every day, some class reviews and other fun stuff.

This is my “office” for the next two weeks. I’m still working while I’m here… but hey it’s not too bad since I get to tan while I work.

After arriving Sunday afternoon, David and I got brunch at one of my favorite places, Hugo’s. It’s got a huge menu and a ton of vegan and gluten-free options plus most of their dishes can be made vegan or gluten-free. I opted for the Huevos Rancheros with an egg over easy and dairy-free cheese.

Hit the spot.

After lunch we vegged out for a bit back at home. David had tickets to a basketball game, so I met up with my friend Persia from my Birthright trip and her friend for dinner at Zinque. As the name suggests, it’s a French restaurant but it definitely has California inspired dishes. We all got a version of the Le Bowl which is kind of like a poke bowl, but with arugula, tomatoes, avocados, rice, a spicy mayo sauce, cheese and choice of protein. I ordered it with ahi tuna and no cheese. It was absolutely amazing and surprisingly filling. The waiter told us it’s their most popular dish and I totally understand why.

Unfortunately it was dark by the time we got our food so not the best food photography. But you get the point.

By the time I got back home I was exhausted from waking up at 5:00AM New York time… which was more like 4:00AM with the time change. I got 9+ hours of sleep which is insanely rare for me.

Yesterday morning I went to Training Mate for a workout. I’ve been dying to check out this Aussie “themed” studio since ClassPass launched in Los Angeles almost 2 years ago. I heard the workout is great and the staff is hilarious. All of this was true.

Full review coming later this week, but I had SO much fun and will probably be taking Jimmy’s class again before I head back to New York.

For lunch David and I went to Simple Things. We stumbled upon this adorable sandwich + pie spot a few years ago when another restaurant we wanted to go to was too crowded. It ended up being a great find and we go back every time I’m here. I love the pulled chicken BBQ sandwich, on a pretzel bun.

After lunch went to go see the movie Hello My Name is Doris. It’s really cute, quirky and hilarious. Fun fact, at The Arclight if someone in the theater is texting / using their phone you can get a fee movie ticket. Can this rule please make it’s way to Broadway? It drives me crazy when people take their phone out during shows.

Dinner was sushi and then we hung out for a bit before I was inevitably exhausted. Jet lag is hard, y’all.

Today I went to Studio Lagree. Sebastien Lagree is the brains and dare I say brawn behind the torture device known as the Megaformer. I’ve taken a handful of megaformer classes in NYC and Westchester and they are SO hard. The machine is similar to the Pilates Reformer, but the class is way more difficult. As if the megaformer wasn’t tough enough, Lagree created a new machine, the Supraformer. I’ll do a full review in the next week, but it was only 25 minutes and it was HARD.

And now… I’m back at home base and packing for Disneyland.

Question: Have your ever been to Los Angeles? Anyone else love checking out the fitness scene when their in a new city?