I had seen the Flower Fields in Carlsbad on Instagram since I was in college at Chapman, but I had never made it down there. For anyone reading who isn’t familiar with Southern California, Carlsbad…
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This post is inspired by Lee Tilghman’s Offline Time Substack. I don’t know much about her, from what I’ve gathered, I think she was a bigger influencer a few years ago and then tried to…
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This year has been slow to ramp up, but March definitely felt busier! R is for Reading I realize I got a ton of reading done at airports last year. I haven’t been on any…
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Earlier this week, the DNA testing company, 23andMe, filed for bankruptcy. I haven’t dug into their financials or done very much research on them, but as a customer myself, it didn’t come as a surprise.…
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I met my bestie, Kat, at the beginning of freshman year at Chapman University. She’s from Pound Ridge, NY and I’m from Bellevue, WA, but we both wanted to major in Public Relations & Advertising…
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Being in your twenties is all about trying to “figure it out” while realizing no one has it figured out. For me right now, that includes how to spend and save money while living in…
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FIRE UPDATE It’s day 11 of LA fires and I’m trying to write a blog post even though I don’t know what to really write about. We are now down to 2 main fires. At…
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Thank you to everyone who’s reached out in the past day and to my friends who have offered me a place to stay if needed. At the moment (1pm on 1/08), there are 4 main…
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New year, new resolutions!! Looking back, I’ve accomplished a lot in the past 6 years of setting New Year’s resolutions (read resolution result blog posts here). I’ve successfully built some really good habits like reading,…
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2024 RESOLUTIONS RESULTS: 5.5/11 I actually forgot that I made some of these resolutions, but that’s what happens when you don’t track them. While I didn’t completely reach all my goals for 2024, I definitely…
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Although I tried another 150 restaurants this year, it was a bit of a struggle to find standout dishes. I had a disappointing trip to NYC in terms of food, and I also went to…
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I can’t believe I surpassed my goal of reading 30 books this year! I credit it to spending less time on social media and also spending a lot of time on airplanes. I didn’t watch…
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I’m not sure if this was a TikTok trend because I don’t have TikTok, but I first heard about a monthly R.E.P.O.R.T. from Ella Henry’s Substack, Gut Feelings. R is for Reading If you’ve been…
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This post is a bit all over the place and probably better suited to Substack but hope you enjoy this mixed bag! My Substack Prediction Have you heard of Substack? I think it’s going to…
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A DEXA scan (also called DXA scan), is short for Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry and it measures the strength and mineral content of the bones in your body. Usually people get them when they’re older…
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If I can avoid traffic, I will gladly drive across LA County. Luckily, my friend Rachel is a morning person, so we scheduled a shoot at 9 am on a Sunday morning in Pasadena. It…
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This covers last week, October 14 – 20, 2024 and I didn’t decide to make this blog post until after I had already meal-prepped and gone to the farmers market. I debated not posting this…
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Mallorca is an island off the east coast of Spain and is just a one-hour flight from Barcelona. I hadn’t heard much about it before, but when my lovely college friends, Orly and Kam, invited…
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For some context, I’m not a professional runner. I’m just a gal who fell into the classic soccer-to-cross-country-pipeline in high school. I sprained some ligaments in my ankle at a soccer tournament the summer before…
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After taking 80 classes over the past two years in Los Angeles, I can say ClassPass is indeed worth the money for me. I started by taking the 14-day free trial in December 2022 (read…
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Here are some things I can’t get enough of lately! *Lively by Laura is a part of several affiliate advertising programs. This means that if you click and/or make a purchase through certain links on…
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If you’re into walking 20,000 steps a day, here’s a 4-day itinerary of what to do in Zurich. My friend, Kat, and I got invited to a wedding in Mallorca, an island off of Spain,…
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The past couple months have been a little funky, and the past week in particular has been anxiety-inducing (more to come on that eventually). During my 10-minute instances of what I am currently calling “soft…
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In between going to Hawaii in July and Seattle in late August, I did a little one-night staycation in San Diego with my roommate, Jordan. We didn’t do too much planning in advance, but everything…
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I’ve been photographing Cayla since college, and I’m obsessed with the way our Pacific Palisades photo shoot came out! Earlier this summer, I was running with a friend by the beach and we looked up…
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This year, my parents invited my sister and I to join them in Hawaii! Growing up in Seattle, I feel like Hawaii is the default vacation destination to escape the rain, so I’ve been lucky…
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My friend, Anica, got bangs this year, and we did a downtown LA photo shoot to document this era! If you live in LA, you know that downtown isn’t really the place to be. It’s…
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I started 26 off in Lyon, France, and it was a great start to what was a great year. I was fully out of my flop era and got to do so much traveling and…
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My friend, Camilla, and I spent 2 days exploring Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. We were on a roll and visited 4 national parks in the first half of 2024 (read my blog posts…
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The hard part can be finding a mentor, but once you find one, then you need to figure out what to talk about and come up with questions to ask your mentor. If you know…
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Hi, I'm Laura Claypool, and I'm so jazzed you're here! I'm a blogger and self-taught photographer seeking adventure, artisanal ice cream, and other experiences that make me feel alive!
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