Here are some things I can’t get enough of lately!
Exhale in Santa Monica
I’ve been using ClassPass this year, and I really like it! I’ve been trying different fitness studios around LA, and Exhale is one of my favorites. They offer barre, yoga, and HIIT. It’s located in the Fairmont in Santa Monica, so it puts you in vacation mode when you step in, and the bathrooms are bougie. You don’t have to bring your own yoga mat, and they have all sorts of supplies there (foam rollers, resistance bands, etc.). My favorite instructor is Chelsea, and I’ve been to her barre and HIIT classes. It’s clean, never too crowded, and there’s free parking in the neighborhoods if you don’t mind walking a few blocks, or the public garages are free for the first 90 minutes (classes are 45-60 mins).
Keep It Run Hundred
One day I was finishing up a run on a Tuesday evening and I saw a big group of runners gathered a Veteran’s Memorial Park in Culver City. I got home and found the Keep It Run Hundred Instagram account and decided to go the next week. They do 2-6 mile runs in Culver City on Tuesdays and Inglewood on Thursdays. I also think they sometimes do Marina Del Rey long runs on the weekends. This is a Black-founded running group and its members are predominantly Black, but it is open to everyone! I have been a few times now, and I love the community feeling. It reminds me of high school cross country. Everyone I’ve met has been super nice and the founder, Barack Obutta, makes a point of introducing himself to any new faces every week.
Nick Bare
I am in my exercising era and training to run the Las Vegas Rock N Roll half marathon in February! I was watching some “What I Eat In A Day As a Runner” type videos on YouTube and found Nick Bare’s channel. He is the founder of Bare Performance Nutrition and is an incredible strength and endurance athlete. His YouTube videos are high quality and I’ve watched an embarrassing number of them. I follow him and his wife on Instagram and listen to his podcast and I am now invested in them and their family lol.
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Ross
I won’t lie, it is kind of depressing to go into a Ross because they have Walmart lighting and security guards at the front. I never really go back home in WA, but in Los Angeles, there are Ross stores everywhere. I’m typically a Maxxinista lol, but lately I’ve been finding that Ross is the only store that has good deals these days (and apparently TJ Maxx doesn’t carry running shorts?). I’ve been looking for workout clothes and I’ve found crazy deals on Adidas, Nike, and Underarmour clothing. I’ve even seen Hokas at Ross! Who knew?
Golden Bachelor
If you’re not entertained by this season of Love Is Blind like I am, Golden Bachelor is the move. I have been watching the Bachelor/Bachelorette since elementary school and let me tell you, the Golden Bachelor is the best show to come out of this franchise besides Bachelor Pad (RIP). It is so wholesome!! All the women seem lovely and Gerry the bachelor also seems like a really nice man. It’s only an hour-long episode and a highlight of my week.
Protein hacks
The past few years, I’ve been eating vegetarian at home and only eating meat at restaurants, mostly because I will be darned if I give myself food poisoning from under-cooking meat, the restaurants I go to definitely have better quality meat than what I’d buy myself at the grocery store, and animals are cute. And as The Game Changers documentary on Netflix mentions, if some of the strongest animals on earth like elephants can live off a vegetarian diet, then we don’t need meat to be strong. So, that’s all to say I have to be conscious about getting enough protein. I’ve been mixing my scrambled eggs with cottage cheese and that doubles the protein to 25g of protein (2 eggs @ 6g of protein each + 13g of protein in a ½ cup of cottage cheese). I swear you can’t taste the cottage cheese and somehow the texture of the eggs still seems normal. An easy and somewhat healthy dessert I’ll make is half of single-size Chobani yogurt cup (6g of protein) and a ½ cup of this chocolate chip/almond rocky road mix from Sprouts (6g of protein).
Beli
While I am trying to remove apps from my phone, I did download Beli earlier this year and use it pretty frequently. It’s part Yelp, part Instagram, part Find My Friends. You can rate restaurants you’ve been to, bookmark restaurants you want to go to, and see your friends’ ratings and bookmarks as well. It’s a great way to trap your friends into hanging out with you since you know they want to go to that restaurant too. I’m determined to schedule a dinner with my 8 pals who want to go to Bestia. Shout out to my friend Callie for getting me on it 🙂. Join here!
Michelin Bib Gourmand Restaurants
I found out about Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants on my Europe trip. They don’t have Michelin stars, but they’re restaurants with high quality food without the high price tag. As of writing, there are 53 Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants in Los Angeles. I’ve been to 9 of them (Badmaash, Pijja Palace, Pine & Crane, Jitlada, Jon & Vinny’s, Father’s Office, Pizzana, Tumbi, and Cobi’s) and I am adding the rest to my Beli bookmarks. If you ever wondered why the Michelin tire company started the Michelin Guide, listen to this podcast episode.
1989 (Taylor’s Version) Vault Tracks
Taylor Swift wasn’t allowed to buy her masters back, so she’s been re-releasing her old albums that include new additional songs that she wrote at the time, but didn’t make the cut for the original album. These bonus tracks are “from the vault,” and are therefore known as “vault tracks.” 1989 is not my favorite Taylor Swift album, but her 5 vault songs are absolute bops and rumor has it, they’re about Harry Styles: Slut!, Say Don’t Go, Now That We Don’t Talk, Suburban Legends, and Is It Over Now?
