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| Hiking is one of Karatz' favorite weekend activities |
It has been just over a year since
HEATHER KARATZ was named VP/Legal for Relativity Sports, and her return to L.A. -- she attended law school at UCLA from ’07-09 -- has brought an exciting change of pace from life in N.Y. the past few years. Karatz and her husband,
TEDDY, reside about a half mile from Relativity’s West Hollywood HQ, and the neighborhood offers a wide-ranging mix of shopping, restaurants, celebrity-watching and hiking trails.
TOP CHEF: If I can get out of (the office) before 7:00pm (PT) on Friday, that’s a win. But it’s great because I live so close. Usually, my husband and I will meet at home, and we don’t have any kids, so for us on the weekends it’s really exciting to be able to cook at home and have the time to do that. We’ll open a bottle of wine and just relax at home and try a new recipe. I try to eat fairly healthy, and in California, it’s really easy to get fresh seafood and produce, so I like going to farmers’ markets and just putting together whatever I find.
SCHOOL SPIRIT: I always look forward to the weekend because I love to sleep in, which for me means sleeping past 7:30am. Although I do work on the weekends, I get to work from home and stay in my sweats, which I cherish. This weekend in particular, my schedule has been cleared so I can watch March Madness. It’s my favorite time of year when it comes to watching sports. I think you get a real sense of competition and passion … something you don’t get from the professional leagues. Of course, I’m rooting for my (UCLA) Bruins. I went to Vanderbilt undergrad, and unfortunately I don’t get to cheer on the Commodores in the tournament. But I’m also from Virginia and have a special place in my heart for UVa.
HITTING THE TRAILS: I love the outdoors, and something about the weekends I love is I always go for a hike. I love to exercise and be outside and I don’t really have time during the week, so it’s something I make a priority on the weekends, to enjoy the weather and hike down by the beach or somewhere in the hills. The closest one to the office and where I live is Runyon Canyon, which is in West Hollywood. A lot of celebrities go to it, and it’s always crowded and fun. You can see the Hollywood sign and then also see the beach. There’s another one down by the beach called Temescal Canyon, which is right in the Palisades, and you’re right on the beach staring at the water. There’s nothing more peaceful than that.
PAINT THE TOWN: Saturday is date night. We’re going to pick a new restaurant that we’ll go explore. I like to think I’m a foodie and I like trying new things, but I just went gluten-free like two weeks ago so, I’m trying to figure out some fun place to go. But I love sushi, and in L.A. there’s nothing better -- you get the best. I like to go to these Omakase sushi places where you don’t get to order; they just give you what the freshest stuff. There’s also this new, hot restaurant that opened up by my house and it’s a vegan Mexican concept that has one of the best patios in L.A.
A FAMILY AFFAIR: Sunday morning I sleep in a little bit and love lying in bed watching TiVo. Then maybe I’ll have brunch with some of my family that’s in town and see my nieces and nephews and just spend time with them. We catch up with them (on the weekends) since we don’t see them during the week too often. Sometimes if we want to make it special, we’ll go to the Beverly Hills Hotel and sit by the pool and it’s nice being outside and doing that. We have a lot of family that lives nearby. My husband’s whole family is here and I have some close friends and cousins that also live here. But my parents are still in Virginia so I’m trying to get them to move out here.
TYING UP LOOSE ENDS: I read the newspaper every weekend. I only get the newspaper delivered on the weekend because otherwise it piles up and I catch up on everything from the week. It’s a great activity where I sit outside and just read. It’s nice. Then I have to spend some time on Sunday not only getting work done so I can feel ready going into the week, but also the necessary errands. I go to the farmers’ market, I go to the regular market, I go to CVS and I do all the little things here or there. If I have to go shopping or pick something up, it’s definitely a Sunday chore.
GIVING BACK: One of my New Year’s resolutions was to increase my involvement with charitable organizations. So what I’m trying to do is, since I can’t carve out time during the week, is to really make it a priority on weekends to do charitable work. I’m working with a couple organizations now and will spend some time this weekend at least pursuing the next steps of what I’m going to be doing with each of them.
