Self-care Sunday

This past week has been a hard one for me. I've been working the night shift from 10pm to 6am which hasn't been easy for me. I feel like I've been walking around like a zombie and my body is working and doing stuff, but my brain in nowhere to be found. The week has just flown past me and I can hardly remember anything I've said or done (great excuse, huh?). I don't understand how some people can do this for a long time. Not only that, I'm on a totally different schedule from the rest of the world and so when others are doing stuff, I'm sleeping and the other way around. Well, at least I know this is only temporary so it's not that bad.

I was able to drag myself out of bed "early" (1pm) on Thursday to go meet up with my sister's best friend, Patisse. She's going to a wedding in a couple of weeks and asked me if I could make her a dress. We tried to look for inspiration and come up with something simple, yet stunning. We found perfect fabrics after a long (long!) time in the fabric store and came up with a lovely design, so that's next on my to-do list!

Fabrics we chose for the dress.

This week's self-pamper day (aka Sunday) was just what I needed. For the longest time now I've had a habit of spending Sunday as a self-care day. It's perfect because I get all the things I don't have time for during the week out of the way and it's just so stress-free and gets me ready for the upcoming week both physically and mentally.

I started the day with a nice breakfast, followed by a Yogalates class.

My morning doesn't start without one of these.

My breakfast: rye bread, egg, kiwi, banana bread and some yoghurt with blueberries, granola & honey.

A new class at my gym called Yogalates, combining Yoga and Pilates. It was really nice.

In the evening my godmother invited me over to paint since she's an artist. It was really relaxing and fun. Later on I stopped at my friend Nina's house. My lazy Sunday ended perfectly when I got home and warmed up our sauna.

At my godmothers house.

She had made us pancakes. So good!

Shower gel and cream I use. I love The Body Shop. The coconut is my favorite.

My favorite shampoo and deep conditioning. I've noticed a huge difference since I started using these.

A basic whole body scrub.

Chocolate & strawberry face mask!

I have a routine of putting coconut oil in my hair & scalp the night before I wash my hair. It conditions my hair and I swear it helps it grow faster, since my ends aren't breaking off.

I can't help but to buy a new one every time I see a color I like...

That all for today. Now I'm off to watch Modern Family and drink some tea, since I don't have to wake up early tomorrow. Nighty night! :)

pic sats.fi

Valentino Pre-Fall 2012

Love it.

vogue.com

Eating out & good restaurants

In L.A., everyone eats out all the time, which is definitely different from Finland where people eat at the house a lot and don't go to restaurants as often. Out here there are so many different types of restaurants and you can find almost any kind of food from all around the world.

I've grown to love certain restaurants out here and recommend them to friends and people who ask me about good restaurants out here. My favorites are Mastro's, Katsuya, Mr. Chow, Chart House, Philippe Chow, Boa and Toast. Some other good ones are Katana, Crustacean's, and Geisha House. Mastro's has the best steaks, sea food appetizers and cocktails, it is my absolute favorite restaurant. Boa has great steak as well. Katsuya, Mr. Chow and Philippe Chow are all Asian-styled restaurants, and really tasty as well. Crustacean's and Geisha House fall in the "Asian"-styled as well. Chart House has great sea food and the locations are right by the beach, so the view is beautiful. Toast is more casual breakfast place, which is a must-see if you visit Los Angeles. All these restaurants have a nice atmosphere, good service and awesome food.

The best shrimp appetizer ever at Mastro's!!!

Steak and asparagus at Mastro's. The food is so filling that there is never room for dessert.

They have delicious cocktails..This one had smoke coming out of it and Finlandia vodka!

This "sushi" appetizer at Crustacean was pretty good, it's a "light", low-card version.

Sea food at Crustacean's.

The chicken satays at Philippe Chow's and Mr Chow's are theee best! A must-have.

Philippe Chow

Kung pao chicken

Beef and broccoli

Chocolate-covered strawberries at Bellagio is Las Vegas...most delicious treats I've ever had.

One of the best Caesar salads I've had..also at Bellagio

View from one of the Chart House locations

"The favorite" from Toast

Egg whites, avocados, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach..so good!

The berry cup from Toast

What I usually make for dinner on the week

Lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, chicken, and a little goat cheese

Caprese..mozzarella, tomato, olive oil and basil

Twenty-four Candles

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST SISTER IN THE WORLD!

My lovely sister is turning 24 today and I'm devastated I'm not there to celebrate it with her. For the longest time I've been trying to come up with something useful to give her cause I hate buying useless crap for people, but it's really hard to come up with anything. I'm more of a DIY kinda person when it comes to gifts so I'm sure she has some idea of what's coming..

Unfortunately it takes about a week for the package to get from Finland to L.A. so she'll get it a little late but better late than never, right?

Sneak peak of one of her gifts..

Working out!

Since I've "cleaned up" my diet, I've also started working out more. The thing I love about SoCal is that working out outside is so easy! For me, gym gets a little boring, so I've been doing hiking outside, yoga and gym. Each week I try to do a couple yoga classes, Santa Monica stairs, which is a lot of stairs to go up and down, Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, which is stairs and a hiking trail, Runyon Canyon, a hiking place with many trails, and the gym to do cardio and some weight lifting. Varying the workouts keeps the body guessing and I've already started seeing results.

In the mornings, before breakfast, I usually do 30 mins cardio at the gym or go to the Baldwin Hills stairs. In the afternoon I prefer a yoga class, especially yoga sculpt which also includes weights in a 90 degree room..super intensive(!), Santa Monica stairs, or Runyon Canyon. I really enjoy the pretty scenery while working out, almost doesn't feel like a workout!

My usual workout places:

View from the trail

Downtown L.A. and Hollywood

"Resting" point

Stairs

The way down the hill

Pretty houses on the hills

Pretty Los Angeles

Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook stairs

On the top of the stairs at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook

The trail going down

Santa Monica stairs

Starting a good workout with Selam

This is one intense workout!

Yoga sculpt is intense...weights and a heated room!