Weekend recap in Upstate, NY

i have to say, my weekends lately have been fantastic. and having a 3-day weekend (thank you, MLK) just makes everything about the week exponentially better, doesn’t it? when Tuesday becomes Monday and Monday means an extra day to play, life just seems that much sweeter.

especially when you fill up those three days with all kinds of wonderful.

one of the best parts of spending my weekends upstate is that i pack them with activity and get my exercise in varied forms. rather than sweating it out in a gym all weekend, i’m changing things up and spending more time outdoors, doing things i love…like

snowboarding with the BFF early on Saturday morning at Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts

board: Burton Lux

and a lovely, picturesque walk around Grafton Lake State Park yesterday, which felt a bit like Narnia, all dazzling white and brilliantly serene.

this was my first time at Grafton Lake, and it was truly charming. i’m rather glad i experienced it in the snow for the first time, as most people go in the warm weather, and it was all but deserted.

the lake was entirely frozen over and we walked right across it to the other side, which was an awesome experience (after i got past the fear of cracking through the ice and drowning a horribly freezing death). the woods were beautiful, the lake was snow-covered and fluffy and dotted with ice fishermen, and a soft, quiet snow fell the entire time. it was a shiver of magic right in the midst of everyday life; one of those unexpected experiences that make life seem so pure and good and beautiful just by its sheer simplicity, and you suddenly catch yourself standing in the midst of a perfect moment entirely unawares of how it caught you up so, but infinitely, inexplicably grateful to have stumbled into it and owned it, deep in your soul.

i also got a 5.5 mile treadmill run in on Sunday and spent all Saturday night dancing my little heart out at a Latin night, which is always one of my favorite forms of exercise and ways to spend an evening. i’m pretty sure i sweat more after four hours of dancing than i do after any other form of physical exertion, which is a bit messy, but in the best way possible.

as if all this activity wasn’t enough to keep me buzzing, i also had the amazing experience of watching my best friend in the whole world try on wedding dresses, in the most charming, loveliest of little bridal suites imaginable: DeAnna’s in West Sand Lake.

sometimes, it’s just so much fun to be a girl. 🙂

hope you had fun weekends, friends!

xoxo

Questions:
What’s your fave way to stay active outdoors in the Winter?
Any weekend highlights?

 

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Fun Facts Friday (10/25)

1. Fashion. This morning — this clear, chilly, beautiful late-fall morning — I saw my breath walking to the subway. Welp, apparently the cold weather decided to kick in at a good time, as I’m totally on a Winter wardrobe kick this week. (Those Burton first layers really set me on a roll.)

Yesterday I walked into TJ Maxx (my wallet and I are big fans of that store) and immediately smacked into this little blue number, which was clearly positioned right near the door awaiting for me to adopt it and give it a nice home:

Calvin Klein poly vest with an expansion hood. I barely had to try it on for .4 seconds before I knew I wouldn’t be taking it off very often the next few months. Want a vest, see a vest, buy a vest — boom. And I’m about .000002% excited for cold weather now that I have this guy to go with my (same colored) Urban beanie, which I busted out today for the first time on my early-morning walk to the gym…which means it’s officially not warm in NYC.

Fun little game for you: Anyone want to guess how many days of unwashed/surviving-on -the-wonder-that-is-dry-shampooed hair this is? I hope bet you’d never get it right…

Paradox of the day: I really, really like cold-weather clothes. Just not the cold weather so much.

2. Humor. Today, I’m wearing a zebra-print shirt at work (okay so that doesn’t sound super work appropriate but I swear, Michael Kors can make even zebra appear business-cas), and one of the Latam guys came up to me and said (with his accent in full effect), “Tiger.” Dead serious. So after we all laughed in disbelief, I said, “I’ll give you one more chance to try again…”

This may-or-may-not have been in direct correlation to the massive wine bottle (you know those huge babies that I assumed restaurants kept hanging around solely for display? the ones the size of small children?) he and his team consumed at dinner last night, and which is now a desk icon. Just a possibility.

In other news, I’m thinking of going to teach kindergarten in South America, just to make sure basics like animals and colors are covered. Or maybe of getting some sweet zebra running pants? One or the other.

3. Food. It’s a fact: I’m a notoriously healthy eater. I’m more than sure I can be annoying about it, which is something I have to pay attention to, as friends/boys/dads/brothers don’t really love that attribute. But even in my efforts to eat completely clean, I don’t always feel like I stick to my goals. And when I don’t feel great about myself, I know it’s time to make some changes. This week, I decided to eat only/mainly eat fruits and veggies and a little bit of nuts, with the exception of my daily Quest bar after my morning strength/circuit workouts (need those 20 grams of protein!). I feel great and plan to continue eating as completely clean as possible.

4. Workouts. Here’s my weekly recap, which includes lots of circuit and strength training this week! Feeling that really great sort of sore and definitely happy about how this week’s workouts went:

Monday: Light cardio, followed by an hour-long circuit/boot camp/kettlebell/TRX class with my trainer and 2 other ladies at Mid City Gym.
Tuesday: 5-mile run along the Hudson River path.
Wednesday: Light cardio, followed by an hour-long solo strength training session with my trainer.
Thursday: Hour-long circuit/boot camp/kettlebell session with one other girl (and trainer). This was a really good one.
Friday: rest day (much needed!)

Saturday (tomorrow): Plan is for a 10-mile run along the Hudson. Hoping it’s another clear, beautiful morning.
5. Inspiration. Because you can never have enough reminders of how beautiful life is…and how resilient you are.

Happy Friday, loves!

WILW (10/23): The Fashion Files

Let’s talk some fashion fun this Wednesday, shall we? Mmmmmkay.

1. I know I’ve previously alluded to the Alex and Ani  bangle craze that’s swept the Northeast, and it’s still going strong. Last time I was home, my mom gave me this little guy as a “Congratulations on running your first marathon” gift. She’s the sweetest.

I’m really loving these bangles and have my eye on a few others:

because I can’t get enough of pretty feathers,

because this lil Hermes fleet foot is perfect for runners,

because the name of my game is “all things nautical.” And life is just better on boats/at lakes/by the ocean/in the water.

2. Have you heard of Everlane? If you haven’t, well, you should! This sweet site has a customer-focused mission to eliminate the “middle man” of markup in the production and sale of clothing — so basically, you’re getting close-to wholesale costs. Pretty sweet deal — especially considering their products seem really great. I have the Weekender bag in Olive (and also bought the gray one for my brother), and we both totally dig it:

I really like their Ryan tees too — I’m all about supersoft comfort over here. I used to love to dress up when I first moved to NYC; now, I try to spend as much time in gym clothes and sweat pants as possible. In or out of the apt.

3. Vests. This year, I think I’m on the market for a fun wintry vest. Every time I think of these items, however, I’m thrown back to my 15-year-old self sporting a huge, ridiculous, puffy J. Crew reversible number (black and metallic silver… yeah that’s right) and thinking I was the coolest thing ever. Thank God my fashion style has evolved. And thank God J. Crew has, as well.

I’m feeling these two Burton numbers:

Burton’s jade Starr Vest

and their ultramarine Battery Vest

I think I have to get my hands on one of these pretty soon…it’s getting chillier by the day here in NYC.

4. Bondi Bands. I fell into the indecision trap (story of my life) at the Mohawk Hudson marathon expo when faced with the insanity that was the Bondi Band tables: massive piles of these fun-patterned (or sweat-wicking in non-fun patterned solids) headbands that all us runners dove into. I snagged 3, as they were 3 for $20 (normally $8 a band), including these two (minus the creepy silver heads):

the Ahoy fashion band, which is super cute for both running and days when you don’t want to do your hair (so every moment i’m not at work, basically)

the wicking band in royal blue

I wore the sweat-wicking band during my marathon and I reallllly liked it. They’re super lightweight and totally absorb sweat. Big fan of these babies. Give me a fun headband or trucker hat, and I’ll give you another great reason to put off washing my hair. Sold.

5. Knee-length running socks. Love these guys! I have one similar pair of Under Armour socks that I love to wear running outdoors in the cold weather, and I’m definitely looking to add to my collection this year. Cute, warm, comfortable, and I swear they put some pep in my chilly-run steps.

And we’re over the hump! Let the fun begin. 🙂

Questions:
Favorite clothing items for the cold weather?
Favorite online shopping sites? Please share ’em!

Running in the prettydark and buying snowboard clothes.

This morning, something happened that I’ve sorta been dreading for a couple of weeks now. Granted, it wasn’t as bad as I’d anticipated, but it was a semi-unpleasant foreshadowing of what’s yet to come in the not-so-distant future:

I ran (alone) before the sun came up.

(I swear the sky looks lighter in the pictures than it really was.)

Granted, pre-dawn was lovely, and at least it wasn’t too chilly yet, but still…I wasn’t initially stoked about running in the prettydark, or at least running alone in the prettydark.

Although the city is certainly charming at this time of morning…

This means it’s almost not AutumnSummer anymore. And that’s not super fun. In NYC, we’re used to people being everywhere, and this is one time I’d rather have people around…you know, just to minimize the whole getting stolen probability. Or meeting crazy people brandishing scissors. Those sort of things don’t excite me much.

I took my regular route along the west side path, which is usually dotted with a good number of early-morning runners and bikers like myself…but today, I maybe passed 10 people (being generous) on my 2.5 miles uptown before turning around. Thankfully nobody stole me (phew), but still, it’s more comforting to have more people around at that hour, not to mention a bit of an annoying reminder that I’ll soon be experiencing cold, dark mornings rather than the lovely ones I’ve had these past 6 months or so. Bum.mer.

Nothing like starting Tuesday off with a little running rant, no? But at least I got my 5-miler in, despite some sore legs and nagging hip pain, with a similar pace to my Saturday run.

Post-run thought to self: Must start doing yoga.

And not just because I love the cool pictures of yoga girls — because these hips and hamstrings are screaming to be stretched.

Okay, okay…and maybe because I feel like yoga is this super exclusive elite club with its own vernacular that totally baffles us outsiders. I’ve always been into languages and could use some vocabular spicing.

Pretty sure I can rock child’s pose, cobra, and that mountain stance. Done.

So, remember those Burton first layer leggings I couldn’t get out of my mind? Not only did they come home with me, but this happened as well:

A girl can never have too much Aztec-patterned first layer snowboard gear, especially in New York City. I’m sure I’ll have lots of opportunities to wear these…like lounging in my apartment or for future Monday night Bachelorette viewings. No but seriously, I can’t wait.

And of course this rekindled my fire to work in snowboard retail and retreat to mountain bum life. Nothing like a good trip to SoHo’s Burton store to bring a girl back to her roots. Unfortunately, Burton isn’t hiring any sales people in NYC (weiiiird), which is a bummer, because I feel like it’s a huge market for outdoor Winter sporting gear, no?

A girl can dream. And maybe one day, I’ll work where I get powder days off. 🙂

Question: Snowboard or ski? Or just a fan of the cool gear? Hey, ‘cuz that’s totally okay.

Whatta weekend (& lots of randomness)

Is there anything as magical as Autumn in NY? Seriously, September and October have been flawless gifts from the kindest God who decided we NYC dwellers deserved an amazing, Indian Summer Autumn before the chill sets in. I can’t get enough of these dazzling days.

There’ve been a lot of happy things in my life this past week:

surprise marathon flowers

a “feeling good” paced run along the river only 6 days after my marathon (woot!)

several awesome strength training/boot camp sessions that left me just the right kind of sore and made me thankful I can push myself harder in this area again now that the marathon is behind me…

because I love me some good wall ball throw/squats

and am crazy about these lil munchkins. Except my gyms totally missed the memo on investing in the neon versions. Rest assured that when I open my own gym one day, these babies will be on full display:

That’s a gym gear crush right there.

In non-workout nerd news, I went to a couple of fantastic spots in Midtown on Saturday night. The first was Kimpton’s Ink 48 Hotel in Hell’s Kitchen, a short little strut away from my apartment, which I totally dig. Dinner and drinks at Print., a fabulous, classy farm-to-table restaurant in the hotel, was an absolutely amazing way to start the evening.

I highly recommend the kale salad and the seared branzino — delicious. And the sparkling rose was perfect.

A trip to the hotel’s incredible rooftop lounge, Press, ensued after dinner. This spot is undoubtedly one of my favorites in the city, both for atmosphere and view. It’s sophisticated and classy without being pretentious; it’s intimate and not party-rooftop sceney (at least the few times I’ve gone); it offers breath-taking views of both the Hudson River/Jersey skyline and of Manhattan. It’s an amazing spot for a date, a birthday shindig, or just a girls’ night out. I’m such a fan.

Sunday consisted of an eclectic array of activities that kept me going all day long: a wonderful service at Hillsong NYC (with guest pastor Casey Treat from a mega church in Seattle), bopping around SoHo and Nolita and falling in love with that lower east side area all over again in the sunshine, some studying at a coffee shop, and an end-of-the-weekend paper-writing session. Busy girls are happy girls…isn’t that how it goes? Or maybe that’s just my phone cover talking…

Right now, I’m currently very busy counting down the minutes til I can speedwalk my way back to SoHo after work and get my hands on these sweet digs that I’ve seriously been dreaming of all weekend, since seeing them in Burton’s display window on Friday afternoon:

Must. have. immediately.

Questions, friends!
Best part of your weekend?
Something you’re dying to add to your wardrobe?