This month has been all about detoxing - starting the new year with reinvigorated energy and a clean palate. But it seemed that while everyone else was going on cleanses and cleaning out closets, I was being fat and lazy on the beach. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my vacation but my bad habits from the trip really hit me hard when I returned to New York.

I was off to a late start on the January detox and I hate playing catch-up. So, I needed a bit of a boost. For this, I looked for unconventional ways to kickstart my January detox with the remaining time in January.

To kick off, I visited the Russian and Turkish Baths. Sauna and steam rooms are a regular part of many cultures, and the reason seemed clear after I educated myself on their benefits. Not only do sauna visits relieve stress and soothe aches and pains in muscles and joints, saunas flush toxins and cleanse the skin. The contrast between the hot room and cold baths also increases lymph drainage and blood flow in the veins - this help’s the body’s natural detox process. The visit to the sauna also helped me find some much-needed sleep after my serious jetlag after my vacation. I particularly loved the wet saunas and the steam rooms - both helped me get rid of the touch of a cough that I had developed on my flight home.



For my diet, I added a new morning drink to my routine. Now, I try to begin each day with a lemon ginger water. I first came across this simple drink on my vacation where the windy coastal drives made me seriously carsick, and one juice-stand we visited served a variation of this drink under the name “Road Cure”. Ginger is a powerful anti-inflammatory antioxidant, and the preparation following this Lemon Ginger recipe I found is very simple.

More than anything, I wanted to start the new year - and another semester of grad school - with a fresh mind. Between school and working on Just-in-Time, I consume so much information each day that I just need some time to myself to sit in silence and reset my mind. I had been searching the Interwebs for a mental detox solution but wasn’t entirely satisfied with any of the suggestions (make a to-do list, keep track of small successes, have less screen time, etc) until I came across PAUSE, a relaxation app. The elegant and simple mindfulness app removes the noise and distraction of modern-day but asking you to concentrate on one thing - calming down. To this healthy skeptic’s surprise, it’s been very useful and a perfect solution for when I need to sneak in a quick break from the consuming demands of every day.

All images from the good folks at Death to Stock Photo.

• Aveda Inner Light Mineral tinted moisturizer with SPF
• Avene Eau Thermale Mattifying Cleansing Foam
• Simple Revitalizing eye roll-on (for my many flights)
• Netrogena makeup remover cleansing towelettes: the refill pack because it's easy to travel with

In part 3 of this week’s “Learning through the Holidays” mini-series, I wanted to share some of my favorite free sites and tools for learning. As a creative, some of my best - most creative - work comes from brushing up on old skills and picking up new ones. Whether it’s learning calligraphy or food styling, I love picking up new skills along the creative journey.

1. CreativeLive
I remember watching CreativeLive religiously for months at a time back in 2012 - when they offer a few live-streamed classes a month - and raving everyone I knew about it. Looking at CL now, it’s amazing to see how the business has blossomed. Back in the day, the site had only photography-related classes, now it’s an online haven for masterclasses for all creative and business streams. The business model has remained consistent and simple throughout the years: classes are free while they are broadcasted live, and can be purchased for re-watching for a very reasonable fee.

2. SkillShare
Some of my favorite photography classes have been from on Skillshare. In particular, I love the simple and practical tips taught through the short-video format of Skillshare. I’ve already picked up some great food photography styling tips and got a ton of inspiration for my next outdoor hiking trip. If you don’t have a lot of time to spend in front of the laptop, and would rather dive into practical hands-on learning quickly, then Skillshare is the perfect place to learn everything from graphic design and video editing, to calligraphy and hand-drawn maps.

3. Tuts+
I think Tuts+ might be more popular among programmers, and that’s certainly why/how I first came across the site. In an effort to learn some basic HTML coding to improve the layout of my travel blog, I turned to Tuts+ tutorials. I quickly discovered that Tuts+ had a lot more creative courses. I particularly like them for their Design & Illustration tutorials. I thought I couldn’t teach myself Adobe Illustrator until I came across the massive database of classes from Tuts+.

Right about now, all I want to do is curl up on the couch with a warm cup of coco and a nice long read while I wait for relatives to arrive in time for a big holiday gathering. It's no surprise that my go-to reads are all about travel. There's a special spot in my heart for travel magazines - the glossy pages of land far far away, featuring sun-kissed faces, dressed in flannel button-downs and well-worn boots. You'll find these travel magazines on my coffee table:

• Kinfolk
• Cereal Magazine
• Collective Quarterly
• Hearth Magazine

I spend all year lusting after various photography gear, and when the holidays roll around, I like to pick out a photography item for myself, or two. It's not hard to convince myself that although I might not need it, I will love having it. December 25th is less than 10 days away, so here are some last minute gift ideas for those who are looking to treat the photographer in their life.

1. Lima camera strap | $79
2. On a Bags | $369
3. Lomography Diana Mini- 35mm Camera | $52.99
4. Moment Wide Angle Lens ($99.99) | Moment Telephoto Lens ($99.99)
5. Golden Half 135mm Size Camera | $34.38
6. Annual Subscription of Cereal Magazine | $30.21
7. The Outsiders | $41.37 
8. Gift Subscription to Kinfolk Magazine | $60

In true Just-in-Time tradition, I’m bookending the year with a roundup of my favorite trips from 2015. Looking back at this year, I feel strangely fulfilled with everything that’s happened in 2015. It was a productive year, one filled with new opportunities and real progress toward career moves, finishing law school, and learning more about myself.

As usual, I went home to Vancouver Canada for a few weeks to see my family and friends. And I made my usual trips out to the San Francisco Bay Area to visit my second home. Although, I purposely limited international travel this year to concentrate on school and making New York feel more like home, I embarked on a handful of adventures that are of epic proportions.


Birthday in Puerto Rico
I turned 25 this year against the cobble streets of Old San Juan. Puerto Rico is one of my favorite Caribbean getaways, second only to Cuba. This was my first trip to Puerto Rico and I can already see myself returning for a vacation year after year. In particular, I love the fantastic colors of Old San Juan and visiting the lush El Yunque rain forest.



Week-long Hike Through Utah’s National Parks
I’ve always loved the great outdoors, but this year marked the peak of my outdoor adventure enthusiasm. My favorite hiking trip of the year was experiencing the Utah Mighty 5 with Southwest Adventure Tours. I’d been to Utah before to see a few of the national parks, but I didn’t get the chance to spend 5 full days hiking all 5 stunning national parks. My favorite hike is Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park, and my favorite park is, hands down, Bryce Canyon.



Roadtrip through Eastern Canada
For the last two years, Alex and I have been following (and envying) the story of vanlife nomads - they live in campers, driving cross-country and waking up next to beautiful coastal views. After years of research, Alex and I embarked on our first camper van tour. We spent 2 weeks driving across Eastern Canada in our self-built camper van fitted with a small barbecue and customized bed. We began in Toronto Canada, and planned to turn around once we reached Cape Breton, but only to find ourselves so enamored with the experiences that we extended the trip all the way to Newfoundland. Yes, our van broke down once. But we also slept under the stars with no light pollution and no city noise for miles. We ate breakfast while overlooking the Bay of Fundy, and sailed for hours next to beautiful whales.



Making New York Home
I can’t talk about all the places I’ve been in 2015 without talking about making New York home. This is the first full year I’ve lived in New York since moving here in the summer of 2014. Although I initially thought the noisy, polluted, and hurried city would send me running back to California in no time, I feel completely at home here. I can find food from every culture, drink coffee to my heart’s content, and revisit my favorite shops in Harlem. It's also comforting to know that whenever I want to get out of my own neighborhood, I can hop down to cozy West Village, or take the subway to hipster Brooklyn. The beach is a train-ride away and the mountains are just a few hours upstate. In a nutshell, New York gives me a license to be myself.

As I write this (which is usually about a week before blog posts go live), I’m nursing a stress fracture in my left foot. I have to stay off of it for as much as I can over the next few weeks, which puts a serious damper on my running schedule. I don’t have a special routine during the holidays - at least nothing drastic - the key, for me, is to keep everything the same as much as possible. I try to eat the same amount. Workout the same amount. Calories in. Calories out.

My weekly workout schedule is the simple and I don’t pretend that it’s made to a perfect science but this is exactly what I'll be doing to combat that turkey weight:

Monday: Bikram Yoga (90 minutes)
I’ve been practicing Bikram for a year, and while I’m not an advanced yogi, I practice it consistently. My studio recently started offering 75 minute classes, mostly during week day lunch slots, but I've discovered that I simply prefer the 90 minute classes which allow more time between poses and do 2 sets of everything. Bikram is perfect during the holidays because it's a low-impact activity that you can do even when you feel bloated.

Tuesday: Short distance run (4-6 miles)
I can manage 4-6 miles on these short-distance days, and I give myself the leeway to adjust the distance. On a travel day when I don’t have a lot of free time, I run the shorter distance of four miles. During the holidays, I will do my short distance days first thing in the morning. This fasted cardio is perfect to burn the fat.

Wednesday: Short distance run (4-6 miles); weights
Same as Tuesday but I add in the weights. Some days, I switch it up and do weights on the Tuesdays after my run. I have to admit, I really don’t enjoy lifting weights and I do only three basic workouts - deadlift, weighted squats, and benchpress. 3 reps of 12.

Thursday: Rest
I usually need a rest day in the week otherwise my legs won’t be fresh for the longer distance runs at the end of the week. But if I’m feeling ambitious, then I’ll hop on the spin bike for 45 minutes to an hour. This is also a particularly good day to squeeze in an additional workout if I'm feeling bloated over the holidays.

Friday: Long distance pace (8-10 miles)
I’m up to 10 miles on my long-distance days but I’m hoping to get this to 13 miles (a half-marathon) in 2016. I pace myself on these long distance days since my focus for right now is not about speed.

Saturday: Bike (60 minutes); weights
I use the spin bikes at my gym, but it’s not Soulcycle. There’s no Beyonce on full blast, no double tap-back, nor any bright disco lights. I’m on the spin bike going at a consistent difficulty and speed. My main goal is to keep my legs moving at the same pace for the entire time I’m on the bike, and I mimic the pace at which I run for. I bike to build up leg muscle, and specifically the muscle around my knee - the objective is to use spinning to improve my strength for running.

Sunday: Long distance pace (8-10 miles)
Head down, break a sweat. It's another long distance day!

After an all-black outfit, my second go-to travel outfit is an all grey one (it used to be an all white outfit but I found it gravely impractical after a tragic soup accident in an airport lounge). Grey is a casual switch up from an polished all black outfit, and there's something quite "fair isle" about the color that makes it perfect for winter.

• Diane Von Furstenberg Erik cashmere cardigan
• T by Alexander Wang
• Jagger Skinny Jeans
• Mason faux leather-trimmed rabbit-felt fedora
• Buckley Scarf
• Original Achilles Leather sneakers
• Fluffy Fair Isle Tech Gloves

Whether I’m hopping on a long-haul flight, sitting in the car to go to a relative’s house, or just cozied up in front of the TV, the holidays are a perfect time to catch up on all the books I’ve been wanting to read in the past year. Through this curation of holiday reads, you’ll see that I have quite an eclectic taste in books. I’ve catalogued these books by page length and difficulty (i.e. how dense it is to get through). Some of these are books I’ve already read this year, some are recent releases that I want to get to, and some are just old books that I want to re-read. I love reading bibliographies and memories, which you’ll find quite a number of on this list. I also love books that take me away to a destination faraway and situate the characters in a real sense of place.

Short-Haul Travel: Under 3 hours 

• This Is How You Lose Her
• Born Standing Up
• Why Not Me
• Wildflower
• Modern Romance

Mid-Haul Travel: 3-6 hours

• Not My Father’s Son
• Everything I Never Told You
• The Girl on the Train
• Circling the Sun
• The Martian

Long-Haul Travel: 6-12 hours

• The Secret Place
• Avenue of Mysteries
• All the Light We Cannot See
• The GoldFinch
• The Luminaries

First of all - how is it December already?! Yesterday, as I left Duane Reade, the cashier was already wishing me happy holidays.

For me, the holidays mean numerous travel days and many hours spent in the car and in-flight. My travel outfit needs to be versatile and comfortable. My go-to travel outfit is all black - actually, that’s my go to outfit for a casual day too.

• Topshop Longline Wrap-up Coat
• Topshop Funnel Swing Top
• H&M Skinny Jeans
• Kelsi Dagger Brooklyn Leather Tote
• H&M Tube Scarf
• Louise et Cie Chelsea Bootie
• Fownes Brother Knit Cuff Leather Gloves

Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep.

I spend hours awake in bed repeating this over and over in my head. Like millions of Americans, I can’t sleep. For me, sleeplessness comes in waves (3-4 weeks) every 4 or 5 months and manifests in the form of not being able to fall asleep for hours. The frustrating part is that I do everything right to set myself up for proper sleep: I go to bed at roughly the same time every day, I exercise 6 times a week - never close to my bedtime, and I only drink 1 cup of coffee a day (if any at all). Despite all of this, I still experience temporal insomnia. No wonder that insufficient sleep has become a national health problem.

Sometimes, I’m able to pinpoint the cause exactly, whether that’s stress from working and going to school at the same time, or just my hectic travel schedules, like in September when I was flying from NYC to California for 2 days at a time. Last month, I fought and hacked my way out of a long and worrisome bout of sleeplessness that lasted 6 weeks. Feeling every so charged and ready to tackle my sleep problem, I hacked and tweaked my way to a better sleep.

1. Take a warm (not hot) shower 
Although I typically shower in the mornings after my workout, I’ve found that a hot shower or (even better) bath has been able to help me relax and fall asleep easier on at least a handful of occasions. For me, one oddity is that I can't take hot showers before bed - something about the hot water then makes me too hot when I do get into bed and makes me agitated - so I'm particular about the temperature of the water to be just a tad warm.



2. Flux your screen
Bright screens before bed is bad news for falling asleep. If you find yourself needing to continue working and looking at a screen until bedtime, use Flux which adjusts the color of your computer’s display to the time of day - so that your screen gives off a warm tone at night and doesn’t affect your ability to fall asleep after. I have been a long-time user of Flux (3.5 years) and it’s helped my sleep (and my eyes) a lot.

3. Keep a notebook 
More often than not, I find myself laying in bed running through all the things I have to do the next day, the next week, or just eventually. The list gets long when work is busy, I get behind on taking care of this travel blog, or when grad school demands all hit me at once. The first time I had my bout of temporal sleeplessness was in high school, when I found myself still awake at 3 in the morning, thinking about all these things I had to do over and over again. Now I keep a notebook by my bed and make myself write everything down - whether it’s a new creative idea for Just-in-Time, or a handful of action items I forgot to get to that day, jotting things down means I no longer have to hold it all in my head, and gives me permission to release them back into the world.


4. Breathe the 4-7-8
I learned this breathing exercise over the summer and it helped a lot the first week I tried it. The 4-7-8 breathing exercise regulates your breathing and bring a sense of calm. You inhale for 4 counts, hold your breath for 7, and exhale for 8. The long exhale, I find, helps slow your heartbeat and bring you into a state of relaxation.

5. Invest in a mattress
I was hesitant to get a new mattress since there was nothing wrong with my memory foam and I certainly slept fine on it during the nights that I am able to get a proper sleep. Plus, good mattresses are pricey. But Casper has a generous return policy, not to mention the convenient same-day delivery option in NYC, so Alex convinced me to give them a try. To my surprise, Casper feels firmer and has more support than my previous memory foam mattress. I’m typically suspicious of firm mattress since firm often = stiff, but the Casper also retains a comfortable amount of bounce. I no longer wake up with a sore shoulder on the odd night, and on a few mornings, I’ve even noticed that I wake up now in almost the same position that I fell asleep in.

6. Cool your room
This trick helped me combat sleeplessness during this past east coast winter. When you can't fall asleep, every little thing start to bother you, including being too hot under the blanket. Although some people find a warm and cozy room is the best for sleep, I need a cool room to feel at east and just right under the weight of my blanket.

7. Wear earplugs 
On a few occasions, I found myself reaching for my earplugs to block out the noise in my on-campus grad school apartment building (read: a very old NYC building with thin walls). I must've gotten used to wearing earplugs when I go to sleep because I found that keeping earplugs in helped me fall asleep on a few nights even when there weren't any noise that needed to be blocked out.

One color has been dominating catwalks and lookbooks this AW15, and it’s no surprise that fashion trends influence accessory trends - travel accessories included. I’ve been slowly adding more burgundy to my travel wardrobe and wanted to share the travel items I’ve been lusting after.

• H&M Leather Gloves
• Leatherology Deluxe Luggage Tag
• Reason Clothing Beanie
• Tretorn Eva Lag Rain Booties
• Leatherology Large Cosmetic Bag
• Fossil Jacqueline Three-Hand Leather Watch
• Fotostrap Merlot Photo Strap
• Burgundy Kindle Cover
• Topshop Scarf
• Hershel Supply Classic Backpack

I picked out my first pair of Warby Parker glasses a few years ago after learning about the startup from friends in the valley. Back then, I went through 2 home try-on’s (that’s 10 pair of glasses) before landing on a simple and classic Wilkie that has lasted me through the last 2 years - including a prescription change.

I wear my glasses quite often so I’m currently shopping for a second pair to be able to switch them up. Since I last shopped Warby Parker, they’ve added a lot of new styles to their line-up, which makes the home try-ons all the more fun. While I had these glasses with me for 5 days during the home try-on, I photographed them around the apartment to see which ones I liked best - both to wear and to style.

Warby Park's Home Try-On Experience
The home try-on experience is like guilt-free online shopping - you add a bunch of things to your cart and they ship it to you for free. The only kicker is you have to ship everything back in the packaging and order the actual glasses you want separately.

The tough part, for me at least, is always narrowing down the styles I want to try to just 5. I like to try on similar styles, or the same style in a few colors, until I narrow things down to the pair of glasses I want. The rest of the check out process is easy - must like any other checkout process on an e-commerce site. The glasses arrive in a week, and you get to play with them for 5 days until you have to send them back. The glasses that come in the home try-on box are all sample glasses, the lenses do not have any prescription. After you make your final selection and send the samples back, Warby Parker ships your glasses with the correct prescription. The whole thing is hassle-free, and the best part is that you get to have 5 pairs of glasses to play with for a week.

The 5 styles I'm currently trying at home are:

• Haskell in Crystal
• Laurel in Tea Rose Fade
• Burke in Sugar Maple
• Jennings in Whiskey Tortoise
• Bensen in Greystone

Fall is my favorite time to travel - the colors are changing and the air is crisp. I’m hoping to squeeze in a few short trips out of New York this fall, and these are the travel accessories I’m eyeing for my trip.

Friends with Benefits Headphones
A pair of stylish headphones is key for travel. This pair’s gold trimmings caught my eye immediately.

Denik ‘Hide Away’ Softcover Notebook
From trinkets to memories, travelers are collectors. Keep your travel memories in this sweet notebook.

State Bags Smith backpack
A good backpack is a must-have. You need something to take on flights and trains, or even day trips. State Bags have an awesome model - for every backpack sold, STATE bags gives a backpack stocked with school supplies to a child in need.

Marble iPhone Case
I’m crazy about all things marble this season, including this oh so stylish marble iPhone case.

Vince Camuto Square Jacquard Scarf
A big scarf is versatile accessory for fall travel - it can be a scarf, a wrap, or a blanket.

Pebble Time Round
This stylish time-piece is so much more than that: it’ll alert you to the weather and keep you updated with your train/flight/bus schedule.

David & Young Felt Fedora
I have always liked the idea of hats, but always been hesitant to making the purchase as I can’t imagine myself getting enough wear out of it. But this fall, I’m determined to get out of my style comfort zone and invest in a short brim fedora.

Kate Spade Leather Passport Holder
My passport is a wreck - I once dropped it in water and it’s been wrinkled ever since. To make things worse, the custom stamps I’ve been collecting all faded when it dried up. But you can keep your passport safe with the passport holder. Don’t be like me.

Dior 'So Real' Sunglasses
Sunglasses are a must in the fall - the leaves might be changing color but the sun is still out. Stay cool with these beautiful Dior sunglasses.

Today's post is one I initially put off but after the questions kept coming after its continued guest appearance on my Instagram account, I wanted to introduce you to my favorite wearable tech: the Jawbone UP. I have had it for over a year and it is, by far, my most asked about accessory. I did a lot of research when deciding between the Jawbone Up, the Nike Fuel (before its sunset), and the Fitbit, before landing on the Jawbone. No, they did not sponsor this post. But hey, if somebody there wants to give me a shout, I'm all ears.

My most relied upon functionality of the Jawbone UP is its sleep tracker. I don’t sleep particularly well and although I strive for somewhere between 7.5-8.5 hours per night, I often have a very hard time falling asleep once I’m in bed. The sleep tracker helps me visualize my sleep cycle throughout the night and lets me know if I need to adjust my sleep habits. I always pay attention to the time I spend in deep sleep versus light sleep, how long it takes me to fall asleep, and if I had woken up throughout the night.

As for the step-counter, I initially set a goal of 14,000 steps per day and found that I never have trouble meeting it. So overtime, I began to pay less attention to this functionality of the device. I run 4-5 times a week and log about 20 miles, so I didn’t need the device to change my workout routine. But I did like having the step-counting functionality initially since I had ever worn a step-counter before, and didn’t have a good sense of how many steps I took on the average day. It turns out, on most days, I take close to 1000 steps before even leaving the house in the mornings. Who knew?


One of the reasons I chose Jawbone over over devices was its integration with other apps. I love my apps, and the Jawbone integration with Foursquare and Withings serve me particularly well. I’d be reminded to log my meal with every Foursquare checkin, and my Withings bluetooth scale would feed my weight data to the Jawbone so I could map any weight trends with both my sleep and step trends.

Last year, I spent about 2.5 months on the road. Anyone can tell you that keeping your routine is the hardest when you’re traveling. When I’m traveling, I usually abandon all workout routines and any attempt to get a full night’s sleep just goes out the window. Thankfully, Jawbone keeps track of my physical health when I need it the most.

Perhaps because we have a separate heartrate monitor for working out, I never got around to upgrading to the newer Jawbone UP models but they, and the Fitbit HR, are the latest models on the market. Not to mention the Apple Watch launch to heat up the wearable space. As for a potential upgrade, I currently have a wait-and-see approach about my next wearable purchase. In the mean time, I will continue to bask in the regular compliments (and questions) I get about my Jawbone UP 24.