LA Update Part 1

I've been in Los Angeles for 4 days now, and so far it's been great. Jet lag has definitely been a bit of a struggle to deal with (Kuwait is 10 hrs ahead of LA) but other than that, things have been awesome.

I used my jet lag to my advantage and hit the gym around 6 am on Friday. Although the hotel I'm staying at is fabulous, the gym left much to be desired. Still, a few cardio machines, some weights, plus some room to do some ab work and stretch ...those arethe basics, right? Can't complain. Got a great workout done and I started my vacation off feeling fit and strong.

On Saturday instead of doing my cardio in the gym, I hit the pavement and walked 6.5 km. Although Kuwait gets hotter than LA, I don't walk around in that heat for 6.5km! So, the heat definitely got to me. The last 200m was a steady uphill climb and that totally got my legs burning!

I was wiped out on Sunday. The jet lag finally really caught up to me and I slept for around 10 hours! Needless to say, it was a rest day!

Today was awesome. I headed into Tarzana to train at Jean Jacques Machado's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy. It was AMAZING! I was the only girl there. On the drive over to the academy I was really nervous, but once I hit the mats, I was fine. Everyone was so welcoming. The training was challenging. Since I'm still so new to BJJ everyone was sharing techniques and tricks and helping me practice. About one and a half hours on the mat and I was drenched in sweat! I just can't get over how awesome everyone was. Grappling with such advanced jiujitsu practitioners (purpl,brown,and black belts) was a terrific experience!

Ok so that's the exercise front. The food front has been pretty good.

The breakfast buffet at the hotel is 85% healthy so I've been enjoying smoked salmon, poached eggs, and lovely fresh fruit. There have been a few things that I've tried that haven't been diet friendly but overall I'd say I've been eating quite healthily.

Lunches have been fresh salads with either grilled chicken or shrimps.

I've actually only had 1 proper dinner since I've been here. It was at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant. For years I've been wanting to try his beef Wellington -- I finally got the chance. It was divine. It was rather heavy, and even though the puff pastry really does enhance the flavor, after I got a taste of it, I removed it and just ate the meet. It really was a terrific meal.

On Saturday I went to the annual LA Street Food Fest. Just the title alone kinda made me cringe, but I went because a college friend of mine who I had not seen for almost ten years invited me. I went for the company, not the food! It was quite an event to attend! I was amazed (horrified) at the amount of food people were eating. OMG. Thousands of calories!! I actually had no interest in the food, but I did have a cevice, iced watermelon, a vegan tempeh something or the other, my first kale shake, and 1 empanada. All the portions were bite sized or smaller. I might have been the only one who left the festival hungry, but I was totally fine with that. It was great to hang out with some friends. Plus it was my first time going to the Rose Bowl so that was pretty cool!

For some reason I can't upload pix on my iPad so I'll have to do that another time.

Four days in and I'm lovin' LA (and my jeans are still nice and loose). :)

Please excuse any typos. Doing this from my iPad is going to take some getting used to!