The Week That Held Everything
From dessert-fueled girls’ dinners, pier walks, and perfume launches to heartbreak in Malibu and the sweetest kind of homecoming, this week was a reminder that life can be beautiful, brutal, and full.
Week: 49
Bed Count: 79
Some weeks have a theme.
This week’s theme appears to have been excellent food, long walks, accidental AI immersion, multiple Lagree classes, and the discovery that G and I have now been apart long enough for it to feel mildly absurd.
The weekend kicked off with Ellen, Rebecca, Lisa, Susie, and me having one of those dinners that reminds you why foodie friends are a personality trait worth cultivating.
We went to The Lark and, thankfully, I was in my ideal role for the evening: not planner, not chooser, not decider. Just eater. My strongest skill set.
I really brought a lot to the table. Mostly appetite.
One of the best things we had was the dill pickle popcorn. I know how that sounds. I had questions too. But it was somehow weird and perfect and absolutely delicious. Their fried chicken was also excellent, and because we were with Susie, every dessert on the menu was ordered, which felt both aggressive and exactly right. I ate more dessert this weekend than I have in years and honestly have no regrets. Well let’s be honest, I’m not that evolved so maybe I have a few.
The next morning, we had every intention of taking a workout class, but the universe had other plans. I still managed to use the gym, run on the treadmill, and get outside, which felt productive enough to count as movement and therefore wellness.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, Lisa and I met an adorable bulldog, and that may have been the real workout because I had to physically restrain myself from asking if I could take him home. His owner was lovely, and then his wife showed up with the cutest baby imaginable, which sent me into a full serotonin spiral. Dog plus baby is an extremely dangerous combination. In all reality, Lisa would have taken the dog and I would have taken the baby.
Eventually, Ellen and Rebecca headed out, and then Susie, Lisa, and I made our way back to the mart. Yes, we went back into Clic because apparently we are now regulars and frankly, I support that for us. We had lunch at Merci again because once is simply not enough when something is that good.
The drive back to Manhattan Beach had traffic, which in Los Angeles is not exactly breaking news. But when you are with great people, it somehow becomes less soul crushing and more like an extended mobile hang.
Back at Lisa’s, her husband Andy was in the kitchen making his famous seafood pasta, which honestly deserves its own newsletter. He had gone to the Santa Monica Seafood Market, which I miss deeply. We used to get fish there all the time, including smoked salmon and ahi for poke bowls that made dinner feel easy and vaguely impressive.
Also important, we made a stop at SusieCakes because obviously.
Susie went in and emerged like a dessert hero with frozen cookie dough, which none of us knew existed and now cannot unknow. She also grabbed banana pudding because it was the last day they had it and she was unwilling to let her friends live with that kind of regret. The banana pudding with vanilla wafers nearly took me out. And the fresh baked chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven? Completely uncalled for.
Andy’s seafood pasta was next level. The kind of meal that makes you pause mid bite and stare at the ceiling like you are receiving divine guidance.
From there, the week kept rolling in that strange limbo way that Los Angeles does for me right now, where I am half settled, half in motion, and somehow always either on my way to a workout, a meal, or a meaningful conversation.
I took a class with Lisa at The Studio (MDR) and tried Lindsay’s class for the first time. She has been teaching there forever and it was excellent. She corrected my form on a few moves, which somehow made them both better and dramatically harder. I am always impressed by how a tiny adjustment can make you realize you were not, in fact, doing the move at all. You were just nearby.
In between all the moving and eating, I caught up on work and met my friend Karissa for a sunset walk. We started at the Manhattan Beach Pier, walked to the Redondo Beach Pier, and back, catching the sunset in full dramatic California mode. We talked about life, business, family, and all the things. It was one of those simple moments that sneaks up on you and reminds you that some of the best parts of life are really just walking and talking with someone you adore.
And then, because apparently this season of my life needed a surprise subplot, I entered a full AI rabbit hole.
I do not want to get left behind, so I am leaning in hard. I am watching TikToks, YouTubes, workshops, all of it. I still consider myself an enthusiastic beginner, which is a nice way of saying I know just enough to be dangerous and not enough to explain anything confidently at a dinner party.
My friend Joan, who started Bumo, is absolutely crushing it with AI in both business and life. She has a new product coming out that she vibe coded, which is a sentence that would have sounded fake one year ago and now somehow makes perfect sense. She did a workshop that was maybe one of the most valuable hours I have spent recently. She walked through her tech stack and introduced me to Gamma, Howie, Fyxer, Granola, Coach Matt, which is a recipe, and Manus.
If none of those words mean anything to you, welcome. Same.
But now I am obsessed.
I am literally voice dictating this week’s Substack using Wispr.ai like a woman trying to evolve in real time, which feels both futuristic and slightly unhinged.
That same week, Lisa and I went to an Abundance Collective meeting about investing in AI. Two female VCs, Minnie Ingersoll and Britt Danneman, led the discussion and it was fascinating. Also humbling. If I am being honest, it felt like I had enrolled in Spanish 101 and accidentally wandered into Spanish 301 carrying the wrong textbook and a deeply confused expression.
Still, I took notes. I took pictures of slides. I went home and had Claude help me decode what I had just witnessed.
Net net, our world is changing at a speed that feels both thrilling and mildly rude.
Not everything was tech and treadmills, though.
There were also more walks, because pier based cardio and deep chats are part of my identity.
I went for another walk with my friend Susan down to the Redondo Beach Pier and back, then headed to Lisa’s and got a quick visit with my sister, who was on her way down to San Diego from LA. I got to see her for approximately one nanosecond, which still counts and was lovely.
She had been in LA helping a friend whose life partner died suddenly at 57, which is just devastating. Too many people we know have experienced that kind of heartbreak, and it never stops feeling shocking and unfair.
In the midst of all of that, I somehow made it to yet another class at MDR because when in Rome, apparently you plank.
They were handing out products from Body Firm, including something called Crepe Erase, which is such an aggressively optimistic name that honestly I had to respect it. If you have crepey skin, you are not exactly waking up every day thrilled about it, so the possibility of eradicating it feels exciting.
Andy was also back in action in the kitchen and made the most delicious cod dish. I will link the recipe because it was that good. Truly one of those meals where you immediately start imagining yourself making it at home right up until you remember the amount of chopping involved and lose confidence. Could I do it? Maybe. Would it look as good? Unclear. Would I complain the whole time? Absolutely.
The week also included a presentation about a really cool company, Mother of Invention, that is rethinking the diaper changing process, which is not a sentence I expected to say, but here we are.
When my son was little, I mostly just hoped the Diaper Genie could contain the smell of whatever tiny demon cloud had just emerged from a human the size of a loaf of bread. I never once thought about the changing pad itself, but I do vividly remember having to channel full WrestleMania energy to keep my kid from launching himself off the table mid diaper change.
This founder saw an opportunity there and turned it into something thoughtful and smart that makes diaper changes more about connection and engagement and less about panic and airborne baby limbs. The company is called The Mother of Invention, and they are launching later this year, or maybe early next year. I have zero doubt new moms will be thrilled, and moms with older kids will immediately say, cool cool, where was this when I was in the trenches?
Afterward, Ellen, Lisa, our friend Cara, and I went to lunch at Neighborly, which Ellen’s husband started, and I was extra excited because I have followed What’s Gaby Cookin forever. As if that were not enough, Gaby was actually there having lunch, which felt very on brand for the place and very fun for me.
We ordered the Market Salad, Thomas’s Crispy Chicken Sandwich, and Mamma Alva’s Plate, and every single thing was excellent. And then there was the frozen coconut soft serve sundae, which was delicious.
Ten out of ten. Packed for good reason. It feels like a modern food hall for people who want delicious food and do not enjoy disappointment.
One of the more unexpectedly fun nights of the week took us to Hollywood for dinner at Carmel, which is Israeli, Italian, and Syrian and absolutely delicious. We met Joan, who is the one behind the AI workshop I mentioned earlier, and poor Joan is such a good sport because I think we spent most of dinner peppering her with questions about her company and how she is using AI.
I was fascinated.
She talked about the challenges of getting a team to embrace new tools, the reality that not everyone is willing to evolve at the same speed, and how leaning into AI has allowed the company to streamline things in ways that simply would not have been possible before. The people who are embracing it are embracing it hard, and the results are hard to ignore.
I am just so impressed by what she is building. Truly such a fan. You will definitely be hearing more from me about her and the products she has coming to market.
From there, we headed deeper into Hollywood for Ripley Rader’s fragrance launch, which was every bit as chic and cool as you would hope. Ripley, who is known for making those magical pants that somehow look amazing on everyone, hosted it in her incredible loft filled with art, great energy, and the kind of crowd that makes you briefly wonder if you should be dressing better.
I am not usually much of a fragrance person, but this one smells absolutely delicious, so I am officially intrigued and very willing to become the kind of woman who has a signature scent.
And because apparently I had not yet squeezed enough into one week, I also snuck in one more class at MDR, bringing my total to three.
Look at me, fully in my Lagree era.
Honestly, I am really enjoying it. It is challenging in a way that forces me to focus, slow down, and actually pay attention to what my body is doing, which feels like a useful skill at this stage of life.
Saying goodbye to Lisa was hard, but thankfully it was not really goodbye. More like, see you very soon, because there will definitely be more Lisa in my near future.
From there, I headed up to spend time with Michelle R, and getting two nights with her felt like such a gift. There are some friendships that just feel easy in the best possible way, and Michelle is that for me. We never run out of things to talk about, there is zero effort required, and being together always feels grounding, comforting, and fun all at once. In a week that was already so full, that time with her felt especially sweet.
Michelle’s daughter, who I adore and have known since she was tiny, is now somehow a senior at Claremont McKenna, which feels both impossible and mildly offensive.
She and her friends were putting on a parody of The Wizard of Oz, and when Michelle asked if I wanted to go, the answer was obviously yes. First of all, the chance to see her daughter was enough. But getting to see her in her element, with all of her friends, during this final stretch of college? Absolutely.
She has had the greatest college experience, and I am genuinely sad for her and her friends that it is ending. She has also made the most amazing group of friends from all over the world, which is one of the best parts of college if you ask me.
I actually went to one of the Claremont Colleges in middle school for a week long camp called SuperCamp. One of the things they taught us was how to “speed read,” which sounds impressive, though I cannot say with confidence that I retained that particular life skill. Still, I had a great time and the campus is beautiful.
Michelle and I left Century City around 1:00 thinking that if we headed out early, maybe traffic would be manageable.
Cute.
The joke was fully on us, but honestly, I could be in captivity with Michelle and be just fine. We never run out of things to talk about, and being together is easy.
Michelle and her daughter took me to a great little Mexican place, Petiscos, where I had a delicious birria situation that was technically called a salad but was really more of a tortilla less burrito, which frankly is a category I can support.
Then Michelle and I walked around campus. The kids looked happy. The weather was perfect. Since we had some time to kill, I found a foot spa so we could get foot massages because the flats I was wearing had absolutely declared war on my feet.
The massage was glorious.
I fell asleep.
No regrets.
Then we headed back to her daughter’s apartment and sat with her while she got ready. She was playing Toto #1, and her friend, who was Toto #2, came over and together they transformed into the cutest little dogs I have ever seen.
I cannot say I understood most of the play. It was a parody, there were a lot of inside jokes, and the packed crowd of students seemed to understand every reference.
Nevertheless, I could not stop smiling because these kids were having so much fun, and everyone in the audience was so into it. There is something really special about watching young people fully in their moment, being ridiculous and brilliant and completely alive.
Meanwhile, G’s best friend in the world, well besides me of course, Reed, came to visit him for the weekend, which makes me so happy for both of them.
I saw my friend Kerry for a walk on Saturday morning. Kerry lived a block away from me in the Palisades, and we have logged countless runs and walks together over the years, so it felt really good to catch up with her.
After that, Michelle, Craig, and I grabbed breakfast at Parakeet Cafe. Protein waffles with 45 grams of protein and green eggs? Honestly, yes. Sign me up all day.
From there, we picked up our dear friend Sam and drove to Malibu for a celebration of life for Kate’s husband, Troy.
The service was held at a beautiful church overlooking the ocean, and it was one of those settings that almost feels unfair for such a heartbreaking occasion. The views were stunning. The day was gorgeous. And yet all of us were there because someone deeply loved was gone.
It was honestly such a lovely service, even though the reason for it was devastating.
All five of Troy’s boys, ranging in age from 11 to 28, spoke, and each one shared stories about the way their dad had shaped them. It was impossible not to be moved. I am just so sad they have to grow up with this loss. Troy was truly an exceptional dad. I cannot tell you how many times I walked by their house and saw him outside with the boys, playing basketball, throwing a ball around, riding skateboards, just fully in it with them. His kids were clearly his world. So was Kate.
Kate has been my friend for over a decade, and sitting there listening, I could not help but think about how cruel and disorienting sudden loss is. It brings you to your knees. It rearranges everything in an instant.
After the service, Sam, Michelle, and I grabbed lunch before heading over to Kate’s house. She and her family had not arrived yet because there was a reception at the church afterward, and so many people had shown up. I can only imagine how long that line of love and grief must have been. So many people wanting to hug them, talk to them, tell them stories, tell them they were sorry, tell them how much Troy mattered.
There is something both beautiful and brutal about that part. The way a life can be so clearly reflected in the crowd that gathers when it is over.
Being there with Kate and thinking about her boys hit especially hard for me. Her son Cole is the same age I was when my dad died suddenly, and that fact landed in my chest in a way I cannot quite describe. My heart hurts thinking about the void they now have to learn to live around. It is just too much. Too unfair. Too soon.
And now I am heading back to Denver on an early flight, carrying all of it with me. The sweetness of time with friends. The ache of loss. The reminder that life can feel so full and so fragile at the exact same time.
More than anything, I cannot wait to see Gregg.
People say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I do not think I needed any help in that department. I just know that after a week that held so much joy, sadness, movement, and memory, all I want is to see his face, fall back into our rhythm, and let my nervous system remember what home feels like.