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Los Angeles is notorious for really bad traffic. And it just gets exponentially worse during holiday weekends. Everyone gets off work early and gets on the road to get wherever they’re going. I live in “the valley” and don’t really leave my neighborhood much unless I really really have to. I just really hate traffic. But today, I had fun plans that I deemed worth driving over the hill for.

First up was lunch with my mother-in-law who was in town for a New York Los Angeles minute. We grabbed lunch at Chicken Dijon which was really good. I ordered a chicken gyro…without the chicken. hee hee It was lettuce, tomato, onion and tzatziki sauce. Delish!

And then I had yoga plans with the lovely Katherine in Santa Monica. And it took me almost an hour to drive from LAX to the promenade (it’s only 14 miles). And as I was driving down Pacific Coast Highway I was cursing the traffic and the slow red lights, and I looked to my left to see the Ocean. Um, how can I complain when I have gorgeous beaches to look at. It really is fun to live in California, and I really do love it.
 

We did a 75 yoga class that was geared towards beginners, but was still very challenging. This was the first class that I’ve ever taken where I actually felt like I could somewhat keep up. I only went into cat’s pose once. I was dripping sweat by the end. I couldn’t figure out why it was so hot in there. Why don’t they turn the AC on or open a window and let that nice ocean breeze come in? Then I looked up and noticed the HEATERS were on! I never thought in my whole life I’d ever do hot yoga. I. Hate. The. Heat. But it wasn’t that bad.

I did feel quite dehydrated at the end though, so Katherine and I went to Starbucks to grab some refreshments. I got an unsweetened plain iced tea, and wolfed it down in 10 seconds.

For dinner, I kept it light with some Trader Joe’s butternut squash risotto and a spinach salad with a drizzle of honey.

I don’t eat enough protein. It is something I’ve always struggled with. I need to learn more about beans and other non-meat proteins because I do realize I should probably have more.

Enter… my protein packed dessert.

I blended up some skim milk, 1 frozen banana, 1 cup of frozen blueberries, large handful of raw spinach and 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder. It was SO good! I also added in a handful of raw oats too. I LOVED the texture. It really did taste like ice-cream, but still had over 25g of protein. I will definitely be making this again. And no, you can’t taste the spinach.

Even though I’m completely exhausted from this week and did 75 minutes of yoga tonight, I still made myself go out on my daily walk and crank out 3.6 miles in one hour while chatting on the phone with Irving. (I love when we talk on the phone, it makes me feel like we’re dating or something. “you hang up first, no you hang up first… wait, you didn’t hang up”. HAHA, I miss puppy love!)

In three days, I’ve walked over 11 miles and burned over 1,000 calories… just by walking ALONE. I’m really psyched that I’m sticking to this so far.
Here’s to a great three day weekend!