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.

Flashback: Warner Brothers VIP Tour

Anything about the above picture look familiar? Well, if you watch Friends, or have recently started binging on it through Netflix, you might realize that that is the one and only Central Perk coffee shop (decorated for Christmas because that's around the time I went). It was honestly my number one reason for going on the WB VIP Tour.  But it turned out to be such a small part of the bigger fun that the tour had to offer.

This tour was on my LA bucket list for about two years. Seriously. After finding out my friend Michael wanted to go too, I realized it was going to be one of those things that we could either schedule and make a priority now or wait another couple years. I'm happy to say we bought the tickets. Although relatively expensive for my budget – $54/person plus parking (that we split) – I really felt that it was worth the money.

The Last Unicorn Tour stopped in Long Beach

About two months ago, when I asked my friend April for one of her favorite quotes, she gave me, among others:

"But I'm always dreaming, even when I'm awake; it is never finished." –The Last Unicorn

And I thought, what is this poeticness? It just has a beautiful tone to it. And thus my dive into everything "The Last Unicorn." It wasn't long before I had the book and read it.

Then, by some weird coincidence of all things magical, there happened to be a movie tour as well. So, of course, April and I got tickets for that. Even better was it took place at the Art Theater in Long Beach, which was built in 1924 and made for this classy movie-going experience. I mean, really, I couldn't have imagined anything better.

Monthly Inspiration: January

This last Christmas, I asked about 28 of my friends and family to provide their favorite quote. It ended up being a really beautiful project because I got to know something about that person I never knew. No two quotes were the same, and each had a different approach and perspective to life.

I'm taking twelve of these 28 to post each month this year, the first being my personal favorite. I heard this quote when I was in a design class about four years ago. The statement comes from Nam June Paik reflecting on the concept of his experimental television design. The original quotes states:

"My experimental television is not always interesting," admits Nam June Paik, "but not always uninteresting: like nature, which is beautiful not because it changes beautifully, but simply because it changes." 

So it's slightly altered from the original, but the concept is still there. I loved this statement so much, and obviously still do. It's a great thing to embrace: the simple truth that change itself is beautiful. How appropriate for the new year, ya? 

Flashback: Palm Springs & Beyond

Every once in a while, I'll showcase a worthwhile previous trip or exploration, and then add it to the guide.

This week, in the theme of Palm Springs/Krystal visit weekends, I've chosen to feature this day trip (even shorter than this last weekend!) where we went beyond Palm Springs and ventured to get photos with the Cabazon dinosaurs, Salvation Mountain, found a Banana Museum, and went hiking in the California drought.

W I L D E R N E S S: Palm Springs & Joshua Tree

After the trek up the snowy/icy mountain path, and a few {graceful} slips to the ground, it was nice to be sitting down – warm again – in the little movie theater on the first floor of the Mountain Station of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.

"Wilderness..." the movie started. And continually attempted to define through multiple people's voices. My friend Krystal, who was the primary reason I came to Palm Springs – to visit, celebrate all the best holidays (both our birthdays, Christmas, New Year's), and have a mini-vacation with – actually enjoyed one of the definition's enough to make it her Instagram caption: "Wilderness... a place to refresh the spirit and revive the weary soul." And it was. A place to refresh that is. Aside from the casual slips and instability of walking with Uggs (I wasn't necessarily prepared for all the snow at the top), it was an absolutely beautiful side of Palm Springs I had never seen before.