Hey friends! Coming at you from LAX airport. I’m a traveling woman now. I got to the airport 2 hours before my flight, and found out when I arrived that it’s 3 hours delayed. Winning.

Traveling also makes me feel like I have the patience of a 2 year old. Why can’t people figure out those self check-in kiosks?!

I accepted a job with Advanced Bionics, a company that makes cochlear implants. I already thought they were amazing and my favorite cochlear implant company before I started working for them (hello, why I applied for the job), but after spending the last 10 days in California for their National Sales Meeting and new hire orientation, I’m head over heels.

I’ll be a clinical specialist in the Maryland/DC/Virginia/West Virginia territory, but first I have to go through 3 months of intense training all over the place. Next week I get to go to Iowa! It will be just like Los Angeles, I bet.

I didn’t take a ton of food photos while I was here, because I’m already the new person and I didn’t want to draw too much attention to myself. This is also the reason I didn’t wear my peacock prom dress to the Clue themed dinner we had one night. Among other reasons. It’s basically backless. I can’t believe my father let me out of the house in that when I was 16! Moving on.

While I did actually cook one meal while I was here (pasta with assorted grilled things like chicken, eggplant, onion, and roasted red peppers) the majority of the time I was eating out. I spent the weekend with my mom’s friend Lisa in Hermosa Beach, and she pretty much has a dream kitchen/refrigerator/pantry.

Even though this wasn’t technically a “vacation,” I know sometimes it can be tempting to eat like crap and fall out of your routines while you’re away from home. No need!

Here are a few things I did over the past 10 days to keep up with my crazy lady ways.

Hotel breakfast buffets can get you off to a bad start. I had oatmeal every day with some fruit. It was more filling than grabbing a muffin or a pastry, which frankly aren’t that good at hotels. Save your pastries for places that do them right.

I was on my own for dinner a few nights, so I hit up Whole Foods instead of going to a restaurant. Partially because I don’t have enough self-confidence to pull off sitting alone just yet. But also because you can get healthy stuff AND control your portions. I also tried this vegan cookie from WF. Not half bad.

On the days where we had lunch buffets at the hotel or when I went out for lunch, I just tried to balance my protein/veggie/carb proportions. One day I had a craving for Panera. It happens. You all love Panera, just admit it.

Lisa and her husband took me to the Grand Central Market in LA for lunch on Saturday. They were having a BREAD FESTIVAL. Butter aerobics is definitely something I want to try. I ended up eating this chicken salad from Bombo, which I’ll probably try to replicate and share with you. It had all kinds of wonderful things in it.

On to exercise! My life passion. Almost every hotel has a fitness center. Even if it’s tiny and not well stocked, it will suffice for a couple of days. I also packed my resistance tube so that I could do some core exercises in my hotel room. It didn’t really take up any space in my suitcase, and there’s a million things you can do with it.

One day of the National Sales Meeting, they had us do a volunteer activity together, which was creating hiking trails up in the mountains. I got to use my muscles and it was really cool up there. See that trail?! We made that.

YouTube is also great way to find workouts when you’re away from home and in need of something that doesn’t require any equipment. Jumping around burning calories in your hotel room is a wonderful idea. People have done far worse things in hotels, I’m sure.

A lot of gyms and yoga studios also have trial memberships or free first classes. Gold’s Gym is EVERYWHERE and they have a free 7 day trial pass, which is what I ended up doing while I was here. I got to go to Body Pump twice!! They had this great instructor (Sonia) and now we’re besties and Facebook friends.

While I was in Hermosa, Lisa and her husband brought me to their gym for a yoga class which was amazing. It wasn’t even a hot class but I was dripping at the end. I also did a looooong barefoot beach run one day. Not everywhere you travel will have a beach, but running is a good way to find out where the closest restaurants are. I’m being serious.

On Sunday we went hiking in the Portuguese Bend. Lisa insisted on taking photos of me for the blog. It’s not a coincidence that I’m not looking at the camera.

Iowa is going to look like this, too, right?