Vote!

Don't forget to vote today! I'll admit (sheepishly), it was my first time voting in a midterm election, but I'll try to be better in the future.  There were lots of important races and issues up for election, from the governor's race to random propositions, so I made it a point to make it to the polls.  Only in Santa Monica is the polling place in the living room of a nice mansion on La Mesa Drive, the most exclusive street in Santa Monica.  Voting capped off a busy day of running around.  Jen and I made it to day 2 and classes 3 & 4 of the Lululemon Equinox Challenge.  So far, we've tried Tabata (20 seconds of high intensity training followed by 10 seconds of rest x 8), yoga, Barre Burn and spinning.  Tabata was really hard and a little painful; I gave up in certain spots.  I liked Barre Burn a little more; it was similar to Pop Physique and Bar Method, which I like.  I'm starting to like spinning more and more as well.  We are totally wiped out and sore and achy everywhere.  We'll see how much of this we can keep up!  The free Lululemon headband today at the Barre Burn class made it all worthwhile :).  The Equinox is awesome: huge, fancy new and clean equipment, spacious studios, large and spotless locker room (with Kiehls products).  If it weren't so expensive and far, I'd definitely consider becoming a member.

Free headband! Unfortunately I found out that I don't like the slipless style; the silicone tugs on my hair

Infamous

"To K., Here's one of our star witnesses.  Rod Blagojevich"

Rod Blagojevich was on K's flight to Chicago today (in first class no less) and autographed K's Wall Street Journal for him.  Guy has a sense of humor at least, he signed on Rahm Emanuel's head, chief of staff to Obama, who may be a witness in Blagojevich's upcoming trial.

Cold War on a Hot Day

Yesterday was ridiculously hot in LA, setting all sorts of all-time record heat around town including 113 degrees in downtown LA.  Even Santa Monica reached 106, breaking an all-time record.  We turned on the AC last night for the first time all summer, not surprisingly.  It wasn't forecasted to be so warm earlier in the day, which is why S. and I went for a hike with the dogs in the morning, which in retrospect, was a little crazy.  When we left it was only 80 degrees, but by the time we got back to our car, it was 100 degrees.

We drove up Mandeville Canyon and hiked to the missile radar platform.  It's a very cool spot with awesome views, it's near the top of the Santa Monica mountains and you have a 360 degree view of Los Angeles; you can see the Valley, the eastside, Downtown LA, all the way to the beach.  It's probably about a 2-3 mile hike roundtrip and a little steep in spots.  We brought a lots of water for us and the dogs and made many stops in the shade, but it was quite hot!  We had a nice time though, and the dogs did too; they love being off-leash and I enjoy watching them explore.  We couldn't do much afterward but lounge around and watch lots of cooking shows on tv.

Downtown LA

View of the missile radar site

Observation platform with 360 degree views of LA

My favorite part of hiking; a nice escape from civilization

View towards the Valley

View towards East Valley / Hollywood

Otis trotting off towards the next shady spot

Found it