Fowler Museum: Pascale Marthine Tayou

In case you're looking for something inspiring and funky to see this weekend, and you happen to be near or on the UCLA campus, go check out the World Share: Installations by Pascale Marthine Tayou at the Fowler Museum. Such a cool exhibit! The artist takes every day objects and materials and transforms them into something meaningful.

LA Hikes: Burma Road Trail, Rancho Palos Verdes

Hiking in Los Angeles in general is one of my favorite things. Everyone is friendly and looks at you and smiles or says "hi" as they pass. Usually, everyone's pretty busy or preoccupied with what they're doing to make an effort. But out in the wilderness of Los Angeles, paved trails and all, it's a different atmosphere.

One of my favorite trails in Palos Verdes is the Burma Road Trail. It starts at the southernmost end of Crenshaw Boulevard and offers the most spectacular views.

Aside from the views, the trail never gets boring, no matter how many times I've done it. There are so many trail options that I start to feel like Robert Frost at every turn, asking, "Which path should I take?"

On this day, I ventured out into the LA unknown with my friend Brittney who was visiting from Utah. We're always joking about the difference between a "Maddie hike" and a "Brittney hike." My hike's are usually her nature walks. But this time, it was different. By the time we were ascending back, she was saying how this was definitely the most challenging hike I've taken her on (finally!).

On that cleansing trend

"C" is for "Cleanse" as my co-worker James pointed out.

Three of us got together last Tuesday and by Wednesday morning I was at the Whole Foods in Venice buying some almond milk for breakfast and buying the rest of my juice cleansing dosage for the day.

So we did this juicing thing. You can read more of the specifics far below, but let me tell you something happened in those two days that made me almost forced to eat really basic ingredients the past four days since then or else I started to feel sick.

Fortunately (or unfortunately?) today was my first day eating chocolate again. By choice, but also because I was pretty much Betty White from the "You're not you when you're hungry" Snickers commercial (although it really should be more like "You're not you when you don't have your chocolate fix"). Tuesdays are my stressful work+two classes days and I needed a pick-me-up that my body was used to.

Trust me, I'm not bragging about this. This is far from a Snickers or chocolate endorsement. Part of my New Year's promise to myself was to get away from all that, and really educate myself about what I'm putting into my body, the strategies of food companies, and how our body processes food. Food Babe has been a great resource, but I'll be sure to share some other resources I pick up along the way.

Until then, you've got my juice cleanse kickstarting experience. So back to those specifics if ya really want to know/are thinking of trying it for yourself...

An afternoon at the Getty Center

One of the best things to do in LA (that's free – aside from parking), is visiting the Getty Center.

On a gorgeous sunshiny afternoon, I was able to go with my UCLA Extension class, led by Head Designer of the Getty, Merritt Price. Our focus was looking at the process of putting together an exhibition, which was a different perspective than whenever I've visited before. There's a lot that goes into planning an exhibition including lighting, layout, curator needs, storytelling and concept planning etc. in case you wanted to note these aspects when you visit.

But really, just taking the tram ride up the hill to this place that feels far removed from the busy LA freeway and life below is all you need to understand that this experience goes beyond a quick museum trip. It's a getaway that you could, and should, enjoy all day.

Monthly Inspiration: February

I've been getting so lost in what day, month, year, it is. Almost every moment in my life since I graduated college has somehow culminated into just this last year – 2014 – which I've also referred to as 2013 or 2015 because I've been confusing the numbers. It's all relative anyways right?

The inability to keep years straight might be because of how full my schedule is lately and it's really the last thing I care about getting right – sequencing – even if that means saying something took place in September of 2015 when I haven't actually been to that time yet.

But to keep myself from feeling crazy, and overwhelmed by the goals I've set for myself,  I've been putting this quote into practice, enjoying where I'm currently at, and just trying to take everything one. day. at. a. time. And aside from referencing the wrong year, I'm holding up pretty fantastically well.