Hey Hey From L.A.

Greetings from the West Coast!

I’m thrilled to be checking in in a good mood and with happy news. Our travels to L.A. were safe and easy, and yesterday’s photo shoot — though we had to go with our Plan B — was still amazing.

Was I psyched about waking up at 4:30 am yesterday? Not so much. I did not look cute.

The car trip to JFK was easy (love traveling for work and getting to use that car service), the security line was an hour long (no big deal) and the 6-hour flight went by surprisingly fast. I slept for about 2 hours on and off and enjoyed the view from my 15F window seat.

As always, I took entirely too many pictures of the snowy mountains. See:

After we landed, picked up our rental — not an upgrade to a convertible, sadly — and swung by the hotel to change, we set off to grab a quick bite before our 2 pm call time at the photo shoot.

We ended up finding a tiny French cafe amidst all the crazy restaurants in L.A.’s Koreatown. It was delicious! I got three mini sandwiches: ham and cheese, crab and chicken salad. The bread was to die for.

Then it was photo shoot time.

The location we shot at was right in downtown L.A., next to the Staples Center, the Nokia Center and the giant ESPN building. I loved being right in the center of  the L.A. action. It was especially awesome since there was a Lakers game going on at the Staples Center, so the city was buzzing.

The studio was gorgeous. By far the best studio we’ve ever shot at. Check out all the cool sets:

At one point I was so tired and desperately wanted to crawl into that bed.

But I didn’t.

The dancers we shot — seven in total — were so dang talented and I loved working with them.

The shoot wrapped at 10 pm last night. By the time we got back to our hotel and I wearily crawled into bed, I had been awake for nearly 22 hours.

Totally worth it! We got incredible photos and I met some really great people.

Now, with the shoot out of the way, it’s time for an L.A. Play Day!

I’m headed to Santa Monica soon to go on a run. I’d love to cover about 7 miles, but I honestly have no idea what the running paths or sidewalks will be like. Then I’m thinking brunch, shopping and enjoying the sun.

It’s going to be 80 degrees today in L.A.!

On that note, I’m off to explore.

Have a great weekend!