Reporting Live from Los Angeles

Hello, hello! I interrupt my regularly scheduled programming to bring you this live update from Los Angeles! I promise some time in the near future I will share the post I was planning to feature today – my favorite hashtags for Instagram growth. However, first I want to share some of the photos  I have taken over the past few days while I have been in Southern California.  I am in town for work but decided to fly out to the West Coast early and was graciously hosted by Alyssa of The Runway Chef and her awesome husband, Dave, in Santa Monica for a few days! 

Having been to Los Angeles three times before as a tourist, and twice as an adult, there weren’t an inordinate amount of touristy things on my LaLaLand bucket list but I was so happy to be able to cross a few off. As I mentioned on Instagram after a delicous avocado toast and coffee we headed to the Los Feliz neighborhood home to Mount Hollywood, the Observatory, and the famed Hollywood sign. To be honest, we did not plan our route the best way and ended up hiking down a very large incline to get to the base of what should have been the start of the hike up to the observatory. Then at the advice of some other tourists we took the “low incline” route up the mountain which actually turned to be the steep, high incline path that was practically deserted due to the severity. When we finally reached the summit we were all dripping in sweat, in desperate need of water, and lamenting that we need to be careful what we wish for (we were hoping for a workout). After cooling down we spent time taking in the views of the smoggy downtown, the crystal clear Hollywood sign, and expanse of the art deco observatory.

We then headed back to Santa Monica and after a quick rinse put on bathing suits and walked the mile and the half to the beach – between the hiking and the walking it was no wonder we surpassed 27,000 steps and 11 miles on Saturday!  We stayed until sunset and it was gorgeous and then headed to dinner at a phenomenal Mexican hot spot called Mercado! 

Sunday morning all I wanted was EggSlut and Eggslut is exactly what I got!  I ended up going with the Fairfax sandwich which contained soft scrambled eggs and chives, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions and Sriracha mayo in a warm brioche bun and I added both avocado and bacon.  After enjoying the sandwiches sitting on a cloudy Venice Beach watching the surfers tackle the waves We then headed to the less touristy and to me, more interesting part of Venice.  For a few hours we walked the many blocks up and down Abbot Kinney Boulevard popping in a number of cute shops, enjoying delicious coffee, purchasing a few items, enjoying fresh lemonade, and taking it all in.   

After strolling Venice we headed to the beach for a few hours where we sat on towels and chatted the afternoon away and my second day ended on a high note as I got to see Kier of Kier Couture! We had dinner at the hotspot Misfit and it was so nice to catch up over oysters, rose, and Brussel Sprouts especially as she lives in Florid and I live in NYC! 

Have you ever been to LA?