Lets pause on food. For some always-welcome FUN.
This post is filled with fun. Fun for me and fun for you. Ahead, check out my "Week with the ILX" adventure including trapeze-ing in Santa Monica! (Lots of goofy pics of me flying through the ocean air!) Also, enter to win a few awesome giveaway prizes! One reader will win a $100 Whole Foods Gift Card and another reader will win a week-long test drive of their own with the Acura ILX! Fun fun fun...
November. Thanksgiving. Stuffing. Cranberry Sauce. Tofurkey. And oodles and oodles of pumpkin pie. November is the month I love to hate and hate to love. This is the busiest time of the year for a food blogger.
And sometimes I just need a little break from all-things-edible. A getaway. A day off. An adventure. And with any good adventure, I needed a getaway ride to usher me along...
And that is why I was MORE than happy to say "YES!" when Acura offered me a week-long test drive of their 2013 Acura ILX Hybrid. With this posh set of wheels at my fingertips, I was able to get more than enough work done, and manage to squeeze in some fun too.
***$100 gift card winner: Joy S, CA - congrats!***
UPDATE 12/20 - But wait!!!... thanks to the awesome folks over at Acura, you guys get one more chance to WIN!...
$75 Whole Foods Gift Card - SECOND CHANCE DRAWING - ends Christmas Day 12pm PST!!
(Note: Previous entries carry over into the second chance drawing - but check below because a few more entry options have been added - you can earn extra entries by facebooking, tweeting, sharing and etc...)
My Week. My first ever trapeze-flying class was awesome. And those ILX heated seats + cool breeze moon-roof really hit the spot after two hours of flying through the air. Cue the ocean breeze please.
Take a peek at my adventures thanks to the ILX..
Santa Monica Pier. Trapeze Flying. Farmer's Marketing.
Quiet morning in Santa Monica..
Navigation system lead me right to the pier. (I even made a few wrong turns just to test it out and all went well!) It was a weekday so there was actually some parking ON the pier. The view is pretty neat from down there.
Nice car. Beach access. Can I do this everyday please?..
Why I LOVE this car. A few things I found pretty awesome..
Heated seats at the push of a button. HYBRID! This hybrid is fantastic. I drove around all week long and NEVER refilled my gas tank. Super impressive Navigation system is AMAZING! Super reliable. Every time I missed an exit on the crazy LA freeways or missed a turn, it quickly recalculated the directions and I was quickly back on track. Other features I love.. Push button start. Cloth interior comes standard. Great sound system. My model had a moon roof. love those. Plus I felt pretty swanky in this ILX Hybrid. For the price, it really holds its own on the style factor. Automatic everything. Easy to customize my drivers seat positioning.
Santa Monica Pier. Some vintage kiddie rides lining the back alley..
I love watching all the birds down at Santa Monica Pier. Seagulls, pigeons and even a few pelicans..
California beach pigeons. Is this a new thing? I do not remember pigeons when I was a kid. But these pigeons are SMART. Why wander around cold NYC when you can soak in the sunshine at the beach..
I love seagulls. Such personality.
View of the beach homes from the tip of the Pier..
Beaches always make me feel better..
And that was the CALMING portion of my mid-week "Acura ILX" day off! Not for an ADRENALINE RUSH!
Trapeze flying anyone?...
Trapeze-Flying. The most intimidating part is making it up that skinny tall ladder. Then the actual scariest part is when you let go of the trapeze swing and fall to the net. Your stomach jumps into your throat for a few seconds as you freefall..
You get a gorgeous view of the Santa Monica beach all the way to Malibu from the top of the trapeze platform. However, the scary part comes when you have to JUMP off the thing..
Yes, I even have trapeze-ing video. (I look a little bummed at the end because he missed "catching" my arms. But for the record, the second time I tried I completed the trick.)
Totally worth the JUMP. I may be a trapeze-addict now.
Not a bad sight to come back to after a long and endorphin-filled trapeze-flying session!..
Then on the way home, a stock-up trip to Whole Foods..My packed Acura ILX trunk. And the weekend before it was filled with farmer's market goodies..
So if you are looking into buying a new car anytime soon and are a young professional like me, you may want to check out the Acura ILX. I am in love with the HYBRID model.
More info on the Acura ILX below.. (and be sure to enter the giveaway above and gain extra entries by RT-ing this post with the hashtag #WeekWithILX )
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Acura has invited me to test the new ILX and share my honest thoughts through social media. I may receive product, access or content, but all commentary is my own.