In the book  Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert discusses il bel far niente, which is Italian for “the beauty of doing nothing.”  Following four months of my own personal il bel far niente after getting laid off from beauty PR, I made a bold decision, moving from New York City–where I’ve lived my entire life–to Los Angeles.

Predictably, it’s been quite the transition!

I’m 3,000 miles away from everything I’ve ever known and I’m finding the little things the most daunting.  Where do I get my mani/pedis?  And who will do my blonde highlights?  (Should be a simple question in the land of the blondes, but I’m very particularly about the icy blonde shade I prefer!)

Beauty-wise, my initial impression is that LA is much more laid back than New York–and all the girls look and dress like Lauren Conrad from MTV’s The Hills.  They are thin, tanned and have that perfect California beach hair that I once thought only Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray could achieve.

Another observation?  The women here are a lot thinner.  Big surprise, right?  Welcome to Hollywood! 

I’m not going to lie, moving out here has put some pressure on me to lose the extra weight that I’ve gained recently–but I plan on doing it the healthy way, which, around here, isn’t very hard.  I live super close to Runyon Canyon where I can hike and run (by “run,” I mean briskly walk).  With the produce being cheaper and fresher, it’s been motivating me to eat better.

So far, I’ve spent most of my time on the West Side which consists of the beach towns like Venice and Santa Monica.  This means that I have yet to encounter a night out in Hollywood proper (which just so happens to be where I live).  I’m assuming Hollywood girls will be just as thin…but more plastic.  I’m imagining fake hair, fake nails, fake boobs and some outfits that could be mistaken for beach wear.  Stay tuned for my report on Hollywood because Chateau Marmont is on my list!

Over the next few months I’ll be blogging about my beauty transition from New York City to Los Angeles and I’m really looking forward to spotting some celebs (and of course reporting back to you on how they really look in person).  In the meantime, please email me with any questions or suggestions at Jamie3983@hotmail.com or comment below!