weekend warriors

this past weekend, i did all the things. and by all the things, i mean all the things that make my heart so happy & that i wanted my weekend to contain. i couldn’t have asked for it to be any better.

the boy was in town ( ❤ ) so we had all sorts of plans with my friends, because everyone wants to get to know him better and see how amazing he is. totally can’t blame them. 🙂

we met a few of my friends for a drink at the Irish pub/sports bar Feile as soon as he got here on Friday (which is apparently NYC’s #1 Formula 1 bar, in case that tickles your fancy), which draws a pretty active happy hour crowd and wasn’t bad for a bar near Penn Station.

he & i then went to dinner at one of my fave neighborhood Thai places, Room Service. i think i’ve taken every single person i know to this place at one point or another. it’s such a hip, fun, delicious spot, and a must-go if you’re looking for a cute little dinner place in Hell’s Kitchen.

on Saturday we ventured out for a morning run in the sunny, 50 degree December weather (!!!) — 6 miles for me (3 solo, 3 with the boy) before heading down to the West Village for a fabulously fun brunch with some wonderful humans at Bluestone Lane, this darling Australian cafe (to which i certainly plan to return). we took advantage of the gorgeous day and sat outside, reveling in the fact that we were so spoiled to have patio weather in December!

avocado toast w/ poached eggs and rounds of mimosas, for the win.

everyone left full & happy and feeling like we’d found the best little brunch place in all of NYC. seriously, go here. it’s fantastic.

Saturday night we checked off one of my December Bucket List goals by making holiday cocktails (thanks for the recipe, Sarah!) in the form of Spiked Almond Nog.

my friend found Silk’s Almond Nog and brought whiskey, which i rarely drink, but the combo was delicious and i definitely want to make these again. such a perfect (and really light) holiday drink to sip on before heading to a bar on the corner for a friend’s annual charity Christmas party…

where we discovered a holiday photo booth. yassss. i can’t get enough of these homemade party attractions this year and only regret not taking a photo with one of the reindeer names — Vixen & Dancer were reallllly calling to me.

i think i missed the fact that i was supposed to hold the “Kiss Me” sign above my head…whoops. but i still got what i wanted, as a girl should. hey, it’s Christmas. 🙂

Sunday was another fairly warm morning, so i ran 8 lovely miles while the boy slept in, then did 10 minutes of planks and felt like Wonder Woman. total weekend mileage: 14 miles, all outside. i feel good about that & rode that high all the way to another success of a brunch, this time at Georgio’s in Hell’s Kitchen, which was adorably decorated for the holiday season and had a real homey vibe that made me happy.

i haven’t been here in over 5 years and sorely underestimated this place. i sadly forgot to take pictures of our meals because i was starving, but we both had egg dishes (i almost always order eggs benny w/ avocado and tomato, no sauce — if there’s avocado on a menu i will find it) and really, really enjoyed them, and the mimosas are massive and reasonably priced, soooo i have zero complaints about this place. we were a strong 2-2 on the post-run brunch circuit this weekend & i had poached eggs, avocado & mimosas both days, soooo i was about as happy as a girl could be.

in other news, it’s supposed to be 63 degrees here this weekend. i have no idea what is happening in the universe but i’ve decided God really loves NYC this Winter and am basking in this loveliness for as long as we have it. when Winter looks like Spring, life is prettttty darn good.

Tell me something great from your weekend!
Runners: How’d you do this weekend? Still running outside?
Favorite brunch dish?

best weekend with the bro (in Gotham City apparently)

happy Monday!

first of all, time out from life to acknowledge that Loft is having a ridiculous online sale right now. this is one of my fave places to buy cute and professional work clothes, so for those of us not fortunate enough to be snowboard bums/personal trainers/work-from-home artists, this is pretty exciting news, especially for a Monday morning.

and now i’m totally stoked for these blazers to arrive:

so, this past weekend was a fab one for me, as my brother came to visit. we hit up Club Cache on Friday night for some bachata and salsa, which ended up being awesome:  packed, sweaty, good music, some pretty good dancers, and a mind-blowing surprise performance.

so, yeah, about that last one. i almost can’t believe it happened. the world’s most famous bachata couple performed at Cache…and everyone was blown away.

i think it’s safe to say that most people who dance (or really like) bachata have seen their YouTube video, which has over 60 million views and showcases some of the most amaaaazing bachata dancing i’ve ever seen. it’s one of my life goals to learn to dance like this girl…and i’ve probably seen this video 50 times in the past 4 years. it was a huge shock to Ry and i when they performed on Friday night (and definitely motivation to up our dance game!).

the rest of the weekend was spent wandering around some of my fave parts of NYC  (SoHo, the Village(s), and Nolita); a yummy Thai lunch at Room Service, which never disappoints (fun fact: this is the restaurant i’ve frequented more than any other since living here); some Saturday night ping pong at NYC’s sweet ping pong club, Spin; and some healthy doses of sibling chill time, watching movies and drinking wine.

pretty fabulous weekend with my bestest friend, from start to finish.

we discovered a new-to-us wine that we both really liked: Chateau St. Michelle’s (dry) riesling. this was delicious: super light and peachy, and so, so drinkable. i’ve steered clear of rieslings in the past because i’m really not a sweet wine girl, but this one was awesome. i’ll definitely be adding this to the regular rotation.

workouts: i hit the gym every single day last week, so i took Saturday off and got my exercise walking around alllll day (in the 56 degree weather we had…what?!) with Ry, and then i went last night after Ry left for an hour of cardio (ran 2 miles and then did the elliptical) to finish off the week on the right foot. (welp, and to burn off some of the wine, froyo and tortilla chips we inhaled.)

my week (and a day) in workouts:

• Monday: boot camp (kettlebells, TRX, strength circuits with a group of 4)
• Tuesday: 4-mile treadmill run, 20 mins of abs
• Wednesday: 6.5-mile treadmill run
• Thursday: my own hour-long session of interval strength training/circuits (kettlebells, weighted row machine, ball-wall squats, and a whole mess of burpees and pushups and lunges and other plyometrics…fun stuff)
• Friday: 5.5-mile treadmill run and some abs
• Saturday: rest day
• Sunday: 30 mins on the “advanced ellipticals” with all the moving parts; 2-mile run, then incline walking on a treadmill; 5-minute planks

i was also fortunate enough to catch a cameo appearance at Mid-City gym last night, as this guy sauntered in, did a couple of laps around the small gym, apparently found everything to his liking, and sauntered right back out to fight crime in NYC.

in case you can’t tell from my motion shots of him stomping around, that is, in fact, Batman. in full, serious costume, inspecting every corner of the gym. i’ve heard so many stories about this guy (who apparently comes from New Jersey into the city every day) parading around NYC “fighting crime” as though he were actually Batman. welp, i finally saw him, and i can attest — dude means business. cape and all.

hope you guys had wonderful weekends as well, full of people and activities you love!

Questions:
Best part of your weekend?
Siblings? are you close?
Ever seen a superhero (or someone equally interestingly nutty) in real life?

xo