Thrill Seeking

In my opinion, a little adventure is a necessary part of life. Wikipedia defines an adventure as : "an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome." Without a sense of adventure life can get boring, mundane, predictable.  A little bit of adrenaline is good for the soul.  It keeps you on your toes.  It keeps you truly living.

That said, there are many ways that one can have an adventure and get the thrill that they are seeking.  As for Mark, he takes the use of the term "adventure" very literally; usually translating to some sort of outdoor expedition. This is definitely an interpretation of adventure that I can get on board with and Mark and I have had lots of great adventures together: ski trips, exploring the Chanel Islands and most recently an Oregon adventure weekend of kayak clamming and waterfall hiking.

Dogs like adventure too.

 

While this type of adventure is awesome and enjoyable, personally, I like to live a life were I can relish in more "everyday adventures."  That was really the whole point of this blog, to track my new adventure of moving across the country on my own and all the sub-adventures that came along with it.  As you may have noticed, the blog has not seen a lot of activity lately.  And it's not because I haven't wanted to write, it's because nothing in my life (aside from the above Mark-ventures) has seemed particularly blog worthy.  What once used to be my LA adventure has become standard. Predictable. Low risk.  The opposite of the Wiki definition above...

Now I know what you are thinking, "Girl!  Get your booty out and do something!  You live in the second biggest city in the nation!"  Sure.  Makes sense.  The real issue is, that I don't want to. Though a bit mundane, I'm content going to the same restaurants with the same friends. Settling into a routine of yoga, hiking, and beach biking.  Sure there are more things I have yet to do in LA, but now that I really understand the whole "LA scene" they don't seem as exciting or unpredictable.  I like my Santa Monica bubble and I prefer to live life repeating things I enjoy instead of experiencing things I'm not really into just to say I've done it.  Lately, my biggest adventures have been in my kitchen which, while enjoyable, are truly safe and thrill less for anyone but me. But if you are interested, you can check out my monthly featured recipes for Cosmo's Spicy Ranch here.

So, where do we go from here?  Is the blog dead? Have I transformed from an active, outgoing, adventure seeker to a passive yogi with a food and wine fetish?  Not a chance (but I do love yoga, food, and wine).  Even though I'm loving my life and routine in Santa Monica, I would be lying if I said I wasn't restless.  I am.  And after having my first Kardashian sighting and feeling my first earthquake in the past month (both more underwhelming then I thought they would be, hence why they do not have their own blog posts) I feel like my LA to-do list is about done.  Or that I'm at least done with it, I'm there. I'm settled. This place is no longer foreign and unique. And once I've completed one challenge, I need to find another.  I thrive off taking risks, embarking on new challenges, and enjoying the ride along the way. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I'm ready for a new adventure. A big one.  Stay tuned folks, I promise it's about to get good :)

Mental gymnastics.

I've been struggling with yoga lately. It's definitely my preferred workout of choice, but I'm just not getting out of it what I used to.  I was initially so drawn to yoga because I felt like it did a lot for both my mental and physical health, but recently, going to yoga has seemed like more of an obligation and has felt more stressful to me than relaxing. Probably because I have been so crazy busy this fall... but despite that, I have been trying to sprinkle in some other ways to maintain both my mental and physical health. Here is a look at how I have been trying to keep a balance over the last few months and find time to enjoy the fall (which apparently means random 90 degree days in November here...).

MENTAL HEALTH: Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
As we speak, I am sitting on the couch drinking a glass of wine. And I skipped yoga today. It was rainy, chilly, and I was in a bad mood. The traffic getting to yoga and parking would have been terrible and I wanted nothing more than to feel cozy and cook some comfort food. Shocking I know, that cooking and eating mac and cheese relaxes me. But I needed it tonight. There is just something about dancing around your kitchen, listening to music, and making-up an ingenious culinary creation.  That's right, totally made this up and I am super proud of it.  (The recipe is at the bottom of the blog post for those who are interested.) Then of course, putting on fuzzy socks and eating a bowl of the stuff is pretty divine too.

PHYSICAL HEALTH: Heroes of Hope 5K
As many of you probably know from Facebook, I ran a 5k last Sunday with some girls from my sorority Alumni group to benefit brain tumor research. It was a great day to run on the beach, a bit warm, but really beautiful. This was actually quite a big accomplishment for me. Since breaking my ankle 4 years ago and getting hardware to repair it, I have really struggled to run like I used to. I have had a lot of problems with leg pain and sciatica and have been really frustrated and annoyed with myself and my body.  It was really great to balance running with yoga to train for this and I really focused on not pushing myself too hard, too fast (my main problem post-new ankle). I'm proud to say that I ran the entire 5k in 29:16. My goal was to run it in 30 minutes, so I was spot on. The best part is that I feel great and more pain free than I have felt after running in a really long time.  And all of my wonder friends and family almost doubled my fundraising goal for the race. THANK YOU to everyone that donated.  It means so much to me and of course to those who will benefit from the research that is being funded at all the major hospitals in the LA area.

This adolescent bear is quite proud of me.

LA and I make amends...

So, after getting in a bit of a fight with Los Angeles, I spent sometime getting back to one of the things that made me excited about this city in the first place, nature. Being active and outside has always been somewhat of a reset button for me and a reset was definitely necessary these past few weeks.  I've been traveling a lot lately and I haven't had much time to relax. Any time that I have had in LA has been short and spent trying to cram in friends and events.  Without time to recharge, it's easy to get frustrated. Fortunately, between all of my trips and traveling, I was able to spend some time with nature.

A few weeks ago, my friend Carrie invited me to join a girl she knows from college and her friends to go hiking in Malibu. I've been hiking in Malibu many times, but I had never heard of these so called "moon pools" that we were going to see.  After a bit of a slow start, we made our way up PCH and up into Malibu Creek State Park.

Aside from being an absolutely gorgeous place to spend the day, the park has also been used to film many movies and tv shows, as part of it used to be owned by 20th Century Fox. One of the most well known things to be filmed in the park is the tv show M*A*S*H, and you can actually do a hike to the filming site.

M*A*S*H Site hike from Feb 2012

Greener Grass

Growing up, my childhood was filled with limericks to describe the process in which Winter would morph into Spring:

 "March comes in like a lion, out like a lamb."

"April showers bring May flowers."

In California, these rhymes are essentially useless since seasons as I know them aren't really a thing here.  To me, moving to the beach meant sunny skies and warm to mild (mind you, not hot) temperatures all year round.  Over the past week, I have learned the true meaning of "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."

In the middle of last week, the forecast for the weekend was absolutely thrilling:

I know, right!?

To be fair, this did play out as predicted, however, not in Santa Monica...

LA in a Day

As I mentioned in my previous post, my sister was out here visiting last week.  Even though she was on spring break, I still had to work all week and even though she was at my house for a total for 7 days, we really only had one full day to hang out together and experience my new city.  Kendall came armed with many things she wanted to do and see all over the city and I had the challenge of figuring out not only how to fit everything in but how to combat traffic to do it.  Miraculously, we managed to have one perfectly crazy LA day with no traffic issues.

After coffee and a light breakfast at home, The Duchess and I took Kendall on a scenic drive up the PCH and through Topanga Canyon to our first stop:

Dash Calabasas

Make a list, check it twice...

Soon after I made my trek out West, Gnat gave me a list of things that would make me a true Angeleno and measure my assimilation to the Cali lifestyle.  Since receiving those items, I have accomplished getting stuck in traffic.  That's it.  It's quite clear that I belong here as much as an arctic penguin.

With that said, it's no surprise that Gnat sending me an e-mail link to 150 Things to do in LA a few weeks ago struck fear through to my very core.  I was already sucking at one list and now here was 150 more things for me to suck at.  Awesome.

Soooo... I took a deep breath and prepared to feel overwhelmed and hickish- yet determined to read the entire list and really see what I'm up against out here.  The result- pleasant surprise!  I've actually done a lot of things! And I got some great ideas for new things to try!  For the full list of 150 items, feel free to click the link above.  Otherwise, enjoy my highlights below...

Urban Jungle

Moving from the 3rd largest city in the US to the 2nd largest, I expected that I would be getting more of a lot of things.  More traffic, more smog, more people, more money (earned and spent), more sunshine, more professional basketball teams, more celebrities, more homeless people, and well, you get the picture.  One thing I was not expecting more of was nature.  I was actually expecting to move to a larger city and get less nature to account for the more of everything else.  LA has pleasantly surprised me by being a place that is FULL of natural beauty and outdoorsy activities.  Who knew?