Print Your Face With 3D Printing at Staples in Studio City

June 25, 2014 by 14 Comments

Why buy the printer when you can get your face scanned and printed in 3D at Staples in Studio City?

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The future is here (I keep saying that but I guess that’s because it’s true – the things we only fantasized about on Star Trek, like video chat, are becoming real now) and it can be printed in 3D at Staples.

3D printers have been available to consumers for a while, but what consumer really needs one in her house besides the jewelry maker, amirite? I mean, sure you could buy a thousand dollar 3D printer to make doodads for your kids but honestly do you really need another electronic dust collector after the first few weeks of novelty wear off?

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Don’t get me wrong, the doodads are cool. But I have enough plastic crap made in China, I don’t need to make it here.

No. Better to go to Staples to get your cool 3D thing printed out. You couldn’t do it up until now, and you can still only do it in two places in America, and one of them is right near us in Studio City.

3D Printing Services are offered as a pilot program here and in New York City. Staples offers services from concept to delivery. Say your kid wants to design and create something in 3D for a school project, or you want to make a miniature version of yourself and your fiancee for a personalized cake topper. You can go into the design center and work with a pro who will help you create the file, and either print it right then and there or have it done offsite and shipped directly to you.

3D Printing at Staples
12605 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City, CA 91604
More info (including a photo of my friend Deborah checking out the printers!)

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Beat the Heat at Whole Foods Oxnard’s Beer Tasting Party

May 15, 2014 by 17 Comments

In Oxnard, the Whole Foods has a bar inside it made out of an Airstream trailer. Yeah, that’s how they roll. (Or not, since that would jostle the drinks.)

photo from WFMO via Facebook

photo from WFMO via Facebook

The whole store is open, bright, and breezy, but the bar is super cool. When I went there for the store opening, it really was the place to be.

Since then the store has hosted many cool live events, including trivia night inside the little bar. This weekend there will be a special beer tasting featuring Figueroa Mountain Brewery and Margerum Wine Co.

Biere de Menage Release Party
Saturday, May 17 | 6-8 pm
Whole Foods Market Oxnard
650 Town Center Dr
Oxnard, CA 93036
More info on Facebook

Enjoy a sample and join in on the celebration with special food pairings and a festive atmosphere.

I’ve been to enough Whole Foods events now that I can tell you without a doubt that this will be delightful. And it’s Oxnard, so it’s bound to be 10 degrees cooler there.

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What Doesn’t Kill You Makes Your Butt Hurt: a Pure Barre Workout

May 14, 2014 by 26 Comments

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I mean that in the nicest way.

And actually, it was my hamstrings that hurt – a good hurt – for days afterwards.

The lovely people of Pure Barre in Woodland Hills invited me to bring my friends and try one of their classes a few weeks ago. So one balmy spring morning, I and three of my friends (plus one sleepy little guy) drove east of Calabasas (I KNOW!) to check it out.

Pure Barre is in a multi-use building with parking on the roof, and plenty of it. You check in at the front desk and take off your shoes – no shoes on the classroom floor. You must wear socks to keep your feet and ankles warm because they will be working hard!

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Every class has the same general format. There’s a warm-up, a series of exercises for each body part, and then a great stretching cool-down. There are floor exercises, standing exercises, and barre exercises that have nothing to with ballet, really, which is what I had thought before coming into the class.

barre mirror

There are also props – stretchy bands, balls, and hand weights, but all of that is provided so you don’t need to bring any.

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The exercises themselves are small movements. You isolate one muscle, it seems, and then squeeze the heck out of that muscle a bunch of times, then finally relax. It was hard – but not so hard that I felt like I had to give up. I rested plenty of times, but the instructor was always there to encourage me and keep me going.

What this mother of 2 loves is that the class is not bouncy. I like dancing and Zumba and boxing, but all the bouncing in those classes makes me feel like I have to excuse myself, if you know what I mean. I didn’t experience that here at Pure Barre. I got a tough workout that left me sweating and sore, without the worry that I’d have to run out of the room.

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Pure Barre Woodland Hills has a full roster of classes so you can find something to fit your schedule. They sell them in packs or you can pop in for an individually priced class, too.

Pure Barre Woodland Hills
21728 Ventura Blvd.
Woodland Hills, CA 91364 US

Website

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