I promise we did more than just eat in LA, although that was a big part of the trip. So how else did we spend our time?
We spent one afternoon at the Anneneberg Community Beach House, the perfect spot to relax and catch some sun. The Beach House is a public pool and beach, a day pass is just $10 (although space fills up quickly, get there early!).
We had a very funny experience at the pool. It’s a long story but to give you the short version, a security guard was watching a set of chairs for a billionaire who was planning to visit the pool. The guard had to go buy towels so he asked us to watch the empty chairs for 5 minutes in exchange for $100. Easiest money I’ve ever made! Thanks Billionaire for buying us drinks later that night! We also saw Gabby Hoffman at the pool. We wanted to go tell her how much we loved Now & Then but we played it cool.
Another day we did stand up paddle boarding in the marina. We spent an hour on the water leisurely paddling along, so nice!
I went to Orangetheory Fitness two times while in LA. I had been once in NYC and I love the workout. There are studios all over the country so if you’re out of town and looking for an intense hour of fitness, check it out, there’s probably one nearby.
A classic LA activity is hiking Runyan Canyon. Jill and I did this one morning. Hiking is always harder than I expect, especially since I do it so rarely (minus one for NYC). This hike is fun because you can see the Hollywood sign and also can gawk at the mansions along the way (& pick out the one you would buy if you suddenly found millions of dollars).
While in Brentwood we walked through the Brentwood Farmer’s Market. I grabbed an iced almond milk latte and tastes of fresh fruit along the way.
I got to meet up with my friend Sara and her cute lil bebe.
I got to meet up with all my west coast cuzzies & my aunt! Oh look another too-cute-to-handle baby!
And last but not least, we celebrated Julia’s 30th birthday! Julia rang in 30 in style with a private dinner with friends. The space was gorgeous and the food was insanely good. So good that we overate and after dinner had to take a midnight walk around the neighborhood to feel human again.
When you’re 30, you deserve two cakes. Julia had a carrot cake and a vanilla vanilla cake. I do love carrot cake but the vanilla was maybe the best cake I’ve ever had (from Susie Cakes Bakery).
And that was LA! Huge thanks to my host Julia for putting together such an amazing weekend. I used to be pretty anti-LA but now I very much see the appeal. While I’m not moving there, it’s nice to know I have such good friends there that I can visit often!
Click here for Part 1 of the recap, all the eats!
