It’s that time of year again: New Year’s resolution season! Start the new decade with your sights set on building and sustaining healthy habits.

Once worth a thousand words, a photo, if well-staged in today’s social media orbit, is worth a thousand likes, generating income for people across the globe, including dozens here in Bakersfield.

Getting back to civilian life can be hard for people who have been negatively involved with the law because of the prejudice toward ex-cons, according to Probation Auxiliary County of Kern board member Elaine Morre. Instead of labeling these people as criminals, thugs, delinquents or felons,…

I get a lot of mixed reactions when I tell people how much I like to ride my bike.

“Umoja,” meaning “unity” in Kiswahili, is a community and resource dedicated to strengthening the cultural and educational futures of African-American students. Not only does the program develop students into leaders and role models within their communities, they are each other’s support sys…

No one says they want to be a survivor, unless they have to be one. Survivor is a title Natalie Grumet didn’t expect to carry.

The hype is real — new year, new me. Resolutions tend to create unrealistic illusions that leave us feeling overwhelmed before we even get started. This is why so many people rarely achieve resolutions. You are just putting too much pressure on yourself to resolve a problem.

If you’re looking to change up your routine and bring a whole new sense of fitness into your life, aerial fitness and pole dancing are two nontraditional forms of fitness that help build strength and flexibility.

When you find yourself visiting the Los Angeles area, you can’t help but see some of its vibrant culture scenes throughout the year.

Hi, I’m Anna Marie, the poster child for mental illness. I have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, ADD, ADHD and postpartum depression at various stages in my life and put on medications. All these meds made me worse.

If your goal as we head into a new decade is to finally get in shape, or to just maintain your already active lifestyle, be sure to check out Bakersfield Fit Fest on Jan. 11 at the Kern County Fairgrounds, in Buildings 2 and 3, just inside the main entrance on P Street. This premier event, o…

Dr. James Levine, the author of “Get Up!,” is credited with the saying “Sitting is the new smoking.” And let’s face it, accounting is one of the highest seat-time professions. We sit in our cars to come to work, sit at our desks, then stroll short distances to our cars to drive home.

Pat Mount is a self-professed “plantaholic.”

“Four hugs a day, that’s the minimum. Four hugs a day, not the maximum.”

Good health is a state many people strive for, but to attain good health sometimes requires a journey that follows a complicated and seemingly endless path. When you’re on that path, one of the most powerful assets can be the people you travel with.

While basketball generally gets the most notoriety, it isn’t the only popular high school winter sport.

Chad Drown always knew that he wanted to do something involving hockey when he was finished playing the sport after graduating from high school in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Swimming in duck poop may not seem like the best start to a triathlon, but that is precisely how the first event of the inaugural Bakersfield Triathlon began.

Happy holidays, Bakersfield! I have officially been exploring the town to find all things fantastically foodie for 12 months now and it has been an honor to share my thoughts with ya’ll.

Bakersfield Life Magazine team member Julie Mana-ay Perez is undergoing a fitness journey for January’s “Health and Wellness” issue, where she will transform her lifestyle into a healthy one.

“Where’s my refund?” cried a client last March. We heard this refrain so many times during the 2019 tax season that the phrase begged to be set to music.

Life for Victor Barrera was ordinary. He was working as an IT technician for a company in Shafter and was in a relationship with his hometown sweetheart, Sasha.

They still hear the bell. As much of an anomaly as it is for 12- and 14-year-olds to still believe in Santa Claus these days, our children still do. Perhaps we’ve done too good a job at hiding gifts and keeping up the lore. One year, Jolly St. Nick appeared in a photo by our Christmas tree w…

Guitar Masters rallied up community members to donate $47,000 last year for its annual Christmas concert for Kern County cancer patients. This year, they hope to raise more money to continue making a difference.

Long before the floors of the old Bakersfield Civic Auditorium were frozen over and the Valley Children’s Ice Center became the “coolest place in town,” there was the Bakersfield Ice Arena. Located on 24th Street and facing Highway 99, the facility was the first indoor ice rink in the entire…

In just a few short weeks, 2019 will come to a close. But before the champagne corks pop and we launch into raucous renditions of “Auld Lang Syne,” I encourage you to push the pause button and digest Kern Community Foundation’s Philanthropy Year in Review.

It’s that time again.

For many Bakersfield residents, going to see the Civic Dance Center’s rendition of “The Nutcracker” is an annual tradition.

Many teachers aim to take their careers to the next level. While some would consider transitioning from college to high school as a step backward, Diego Gutierrez Monterrubio saw purpose and fulfillment.

Santa Barbara is perfectly burrowed between the sea and the mountains and has something to offer any visitor. A day trip to the city gives you beaches, coastal escapes and areas of mountainous wilderness. When I think of Santa Barbara, I think of beautiful weather, excellent ocean views, stu…

Santa Claus is the generous, jolly and merry figure that many children look to for gifts during the holiday season. They would never expect a large, tall, stoic and tattooed man to be under the red suit. But under their rough exterior, the motorcyclists who participate in the Bakersfield Toy…

When tragedy strikes, the natural, easy and human response might be to wallow and sulk in pain. April Steward, however, took the pain of her mother’s, Kathy Lynn’s, death in 2016 and turned it into something positive to help her through the grieving process.

In December, when some have visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads, 64-year-old Bakersfield native Roger Upton has dreams of designing the Santa float in the Bakersfield Christmas Parade.

Do you find yourself eating too much and exercising too little during the holiday season? You’re not alone. The holidays can get us off track with our health and fitness goals – but it is avoidable!

The holiday season is supposed to be a joyous time. Advertisements abound with pictures of the “perfect” family surrounding a beautifully decorated dinner table or gathered around a Christmas tree. The message is that this time of year brings only joy and wellness to everyone. Of course, we …

I can already smell the pies, the rolls and the pumpkin spice, which are not always very nice to my thighs. Oh, how the holidays can take over our lives and throw us off track from our goals.

December is a hectic month for most people. On top of normal daily activities involving work and family, the final 31 days of the year are filled with a plethora of holiday-related things like shopping, decorating and parties.

Last summer, I took a trip to the Galapagos Islands, where sustainability is key to the area’s preservation and wildlife survival. During my trip, when I wanted to order a coffee to go from a local shop, I was advised that “to go” was not an option, as they did not use disposable paper or pl…

Michael Girgis was born and raised in Bakersfield – and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

You may have seen us riding around town on the morning of Sept. 29. Mostly old guys on old motorcycles wearing what by most accounts would be considered completely improper attire for motorcycling. Preposterous! At least for today.

“And she loved a little boy very, very much, even more than she loved herself.” – Shel Silverstein

Temblor is known for two things: being independent and using traditional ingredients. What started off as a passion for beer drinking left an inquisitive local wondering how he could push the concept of homebrewing.

Baseball has been an American institution since the mid-1800s and became the country’s first organized professional sport with the founding of the National League in 1876. Beyond the peanuts and Cracker Jacks, there is nothing quite like the excitement of watching your favorite player make a…

A 2003 episode of “The Simpsons” featured a fictional Epcot ride called the “Electric Car of the Future.” The car could speak, proclaiming in a pained voice, “I can’t go very fast or very far.”

A year into Mark Witsoe’s tenure as head of the Kern County Airports Department, he has a lot to be proud of.