Downtown, Los Angeles

As the weather gets colder here every day, it really makes me miss LA! Even though LA was now about 3-4 months ago, I am going to write a few posts about looking back on it. I miss the warm wind, the sun on your skin, the sun.. in general! No wonder people here lack vitamin D - where are we supposed to get it? I work from 9-5 Monday to Friday, so no hope of getting the sun during the week, and well, as far as the weekend goes, today there is a blizzard out and no hope of seeing the sun.

So, we were really lucky as we got really cheap flights - about 300€ for round flight from Tallinn. This gave us a bigger budget for hotels and we decided to stay a week in Downtown LA and a week at the beach. Staying in downtown area made it easier to visit all other places such as Hollywood and Beverly Hills for example, and for the second week we just rested in Santa Monica and Venice, as we had done all the busy touristy-things the week before.

We flew with American Airlines, which was very friendly, seats were fine and food was actually good! At least going to LA, coming back it wasn't as good. I had pre-ordered a vegan option, and on the flight back they were serving the exact same thing for both vegan and non vegan breakfast - yogurt - with the only difference being that vegan food had pineapple chunks and non vegan had a chocolate muffin.

We knew before that we were going to save as much money as possible and walk as much as we can. But no one walks in LA :) Meaning people did look at us funny as we were dragging our luggage around town! But whatever, it was only about 40 minute walk from the train station to the hotel.

And our hotel! Itself it was fine and the location was good. But, it was so hot - it had no air conditioning and the windows didn't open, so it was impossible to stay at and at night it was even hotter than outside. Later we found out that it was supposed to be haunted! I don't know about you but I never research the hotel I am staying at more than what it says i TripAdvisor or Booking, so we didn't really know to be prepared for that.. But it turned out people had been killed there, people had committed suicides and there is also supposed to be a few ghosts wondering around.. Well, lucky for us we didn't see any, but were more than happy to get out of there as soon as we could, haha!

Everything in LA was so.. American. I know, it's a given, lol. But, it was just so different and yet the same, compared to London. I can't really explain it the best, but for example, the people, they were so vocal about their rights in the smallest places, people were really chatty and friendly, there were homeless people sleeping in tents on the street, there were loads of Mexicans, everything was in two languages- English and Spanish - including information on buses and metro, you had to tip everywhere as it was written on the cheque , there were so many options to choose from in the shops, every food was sugared. But it was awesome.

Our plan was to look around downtown are for the first days and then go to other places. When we actually got there though, it was a heatwave, which meant the temperature had risen to about 40+ degrees! Compared to Estonian weather (where we lacked summer... or have been lacking summer for about 4 years now), this was a big change for us! But we braved the heat and went sightseeing during the hottest days.

So prepare yourself, there will now be about a hundred pictures from Downton, LA :)

M.

Dear 2016,

Wow, have you been a random year!

I don't really even know how to sum it up. So much has happened this year.. and it has been a very challenging year in so many different aspects. In general retrospect it seems like a pretty annoying year and for some reasons even depressing, however the details and some events have probably made it one of the best years in my life. This really shows how in life everything balances out - there is always something good after the bad.

The difficult things taught me to be patient and to rely on myself. It might sound sad, but I think it is a good lesson - only relying on yourself leaves less room for failure, getting hurt and not being able to follow your dreams because of other people. Yes, for example, to plan to travel with someone is great, but you shouldn't count on the other person to 100% have to be there or you can't go. If you want to go, make your dream come true and go. And if others choose to come, that's even better.

I had to change my views on this, as I had to move out of my apartment in the spring, I had to commute 4 hours every day to work, meaning I didn't really get any rest during the summer. This was in addition to some other issues with my family so to say the summer was pretty stressful is an understatement.

But! As they say, let's focus on the good. So, 2016, here's what's happened:

• Working out and healthy eating. It might not be as apparent as I would like it to be, but to those who know, I am always on a diet, lol. But this year I feel I really understood more about eating, eating mindfully, choosing good foods on a general basis. I also enjoyed working out as much as I could, more in the spring/winter and less in the summer, and taking up running, which I plan to do again when it gets warmer. In addition, I also participated in Maijooks, however, for walking not running. But will run in 2017! I lost weight and I am stronger than I was a year ago. I think the biggest breakthrough was realizing that I took me years to get to where I am today and will take time to get to the "perfect" body (for lack of better description). Healthy life is a life not a quick fix - and I feel happy knowing that it is a journey.

• Veganism. Again this year, but I have learnt so much about vegan food and lifestyle! We created the vegan menu for Kroon and I really started to enjoy cooking and creating recipes, which I wasn't as good as before. I has been a great and inspiring journey, which I hope never ends!

• Finally dyed my hair! Okay, this is a small one, but I finally coloured the ends blonde, a really nice ombre hair and got myself princess hair. Very important step this year, for sure.

• Travelling! I did so much travelling this year- from London to Riga, Stockholm and at the end of the year, the best time in my life - to Los Angeles. Words can not describe Los Angeles. It really does deserve it's own post, a blog, something big!

Yes... I could just stay and add about a million more LA pictures, but they really do deserve separate posts!

• Weekend festival. This year I also decided to go to Weekend Festival in Pärnu and I am so happy I did! The vibe there and the live concerts, despite the rain on the second day, it was a really awesome experience!

Looking back at all the things that have happened, I really feel that this year has been a learning year. I didn't want to do new years promises for 2016, because I felt I didn't need the pressure of having to accomplish or do something - I wanted to do things because I wanted to them. I feel that thanks to 2016, I am ready for 2017 to be a year of accomplishments, and to really do more. 

Thank you, 2016,

I am ready for 2017!

M