sweat, soup and socializing

Guys, it’s national peanut butter day! Granted every day is peanut butter day in the life of Kayla, but still!

Unfortunately I couldn’t spend all of today hibernating, so my way of dealing with the cold? Sweat, soup and socializing.

First sweat session of the day? 7AM yoga at my favorite studio Yoga Vida. It’s been a while since I took a yoga class, but this morning’s vinyasa class reminded me of how much I love yoga. Recently yoga classes aggravate my old shoulder injury, but I’m hoping that the pain-free class this morning means that there’s a whole lot more yoga in my future.

After yoga class it was time to celebrate national peanut butter with PB on a whole wheat english muffin with honey. Oh wait, that’s what I eat for breakfast every. single. day.

Post english muffin it was time for sweat session #2: a spin class at Flywheels with Jesse Alexander.

I’ve got a few confessions to make.

1. The first time I took a spin class I hated it. Like loathed the entire experience and counted down the minutes to when it would finally be over.

2. Actually, I hated my first 10 or so spin classes.

3. But now, I’m obsessed. I’ve been spinning roughly every other day since I got back to the city.

4. and lastly, I’m a bit of a spin whore and I’ve been spreading my spin love around to various nearby studios. I just love each fancy studio so dang much in it’s own unique way.

So what’s Flywheels special thing? They add a competitive factor and throughout the class you can see how you are doing in comparison to your fellow classmates.

 

Go Kayla! You spun for 17 miles! Sadly, I definitely didn’t burn that many calories because they don’t calculate based on weight. And sadly I was in second to last place for most of the class. womp womp.

But, I must say todays class with Jesse Alexander was pretty freaken awesome.

He had some of the best quotes I’ve ever heard in a fitness class

“this is only 3% of your day”

(isn’t it crazy to think that exercise is only 3% of your day? That means you can totally give it your all during that 3%)

“sexy is an endorphin”

(if you say so 🙂 )

and the real reason he captured my heart? HE PLAYED GREEN DAY. I might’ve had a rather emotional experience when “Wake Me Up When September Ends” came on. The key to winning me over in life? Play Green Day…..

 

any ways. I highly recommend Jesse Alexanders class… even if you’re not a mega Green Day fan like yours truly. His class was definitely one of my favorites because he not only pushes you to keep going, but he also approaches fitness from a mental stand point– its about so much more than losing weight and looking hot.

 

After sweat session #2 I realized that the only appropriate cold weather lunch was soup so I made a pit stop at Agata and Valentina for some fresh soup.

 

Super simple ingredient list? Love it.

1 cup of this stuff + some turkey meatballs = the perfect cold weather lunch.

 

After lunch it was time for the final sweat session of the day: teaching a zumba class for kiddies! Over the past three summers I’ve worked at a day camp as the dance specialist where I choreographed dances for campers ages 3-14 in addition to teaching zumba classes geared towards kids. It’s been awhile since I led a kids zumba class but I forgot how much fun it was. I’m so used to teaching in the sweltering summer heat that I was actually thrilled to be teaching in cold weather.

 

and lastly my day ended with thai food for dinner with some friends from high school. A lot of my friends from high school and sleep away camp are either attending graduate school or working in Manhattan so it’s been great catching up with old friends. My dream in life is to some how make all the people I love in my life move to the city so that I can see them all the time. Not gonna lie, my dream is actually slowly coming soon since so many of my friends are now moving here.

oooof I’m sleeeeepy after all those sweat sessions. Time to rest up because tomorrow I’m attending an all day TRX workshop!

 

questions of the day:

anyone else celebrating national peanut butter day?

what’s your favorite cold weather food?

worth waking up for & breakfast veggies

There are very few exercise classes that will get my butt outta bed and to the fitness studio by 7:15AM.

That class is intenSati. Ever since my first  experience I’ve been hooked. Before I even moved to California I researched nearby classes, excited at the prospect of getting to practice regularly here. At first I was hesitant about the early early class time and trying out a fitness studio rather than my beloved Crunch Gym… but now I am hooked.

And as an added bonus my love of intenSati has led me to a new love, Swerve Studio.

While I love my gym, Swerve is quickly becoming my new fitness home. The studio has thoroughly impressed me with their classes, instructors and vibrant community. For a gal like me who is particularly fond of dance-y fitness classes, this place is heaven. On top of that this place is incredibly welcoming and friendly, something I haven’t felt much being the new girl in town. While it might not be for everyone, this studio offers some great and unique classes and I highly recommend checking it out.

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One of my favorite things about working out early in the morning is that it leaves me the rest of the day to do whatever else I need to do. Obviously last year that was going to my college classes all day, and during the summer it was going to work… but right now it’s great to have the rest of the day to run errands and of course course NASM

An early morning trip to Target to pick up some costume pieces for the awesome halloween costumes my friend David and I will be wearing at Disneyland tomorrow….

[source]

and time to make a delicious breakfast.

I have a few confessions to make: 1) I’m guilty of buying lots of food that I never end up consuming before it goes bad 2) I am terribleee at eating my veggies.

The solution: green monster over night oats. 

I’m not a fan of drinking a smoothie for breakfast– too much liquid with my morning caffeine, but I’ve always been intrigued by the spinach in a smoothie phenomenon. Really, you don’t taste it when you blend it up?

This delicious recipe confirmed that no, you don’t taste the spinach, you just taste awesomeness.

recipe courtesy of oh she glows

• 1 handful of baby spinach
• 1 large ripe banana
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of chia seeds
• 1 cup almond milk (vanilla in my case)
• 1/3 cup of oats
• and I added a spoonful of honey

>>Blend all the ingredients minus the oats. You will freak out and wonder if you will be able to taste the spinach, I assure you, it will all taste yummy in the end 🙂

>> mix the smoothie + oats in a bowl, stick in the freezer over night (or in my case about an hour…)

Top with whatever sounds good and enjoy.

My toppings of choice were a spoonful almond butter (or 3) & a handful of granola.

perfect yummy breakfast post workout AND got me to eat some veggies! My mama will be so proud.

good to the last drop.

Ah now it’s time to quit pracrastinating and head to the library for more studying. I swear, the first 2 chapters were easy peasy and then suddenly WHAM lots of science-y things to learn!

any suggestions for sneaky ways to eat my veggies?

what fitness class is worth waking up super early for?

settling down

It is finally time to settle down.

After feeling like a gypsy living out of my suitcase for the past week, today was the day I finally got to unpack. Usually I loathe unpacking, but today I was giddy to have all my clothing nice and organized.

This weekend the bestie and I roadtripped to San Diego. It was very cool to explore San Diego for the first time.

Highlights included:

-the San Diego Zoo

– seeing the amazing Amanda Palmer in concert with Neil Gaiman as an opening act

– sweating it out in the hotel gym

(…. I took advantage of the empty fitness studio and had a fake solo zumba class. Hey, it beats running on the treadmill)

– enjoying a delicious smoothie – in -a bowl with yummy fruits and granolas from a nearby cafe (I definitely have to replicate this breakfast)

– and of course goofing off with my best friend

I have fallen into my usual trap of maintaining a strict exercise regiment, but totally slacking when it comes to eating healthy. Since arriving in California almost every meal I’ve consumed has been courtesy of some delicious restaurant. Yes, I’ve been eating lots of killer salads, but I also crave homemade foods that I know exactly what ingredients were used.

Today was the day to finally head out to one of the lovely Whole Foods of California and buy some fresh food to eat. Back to my usual eats like overnight oats (which I am so excited to have a batch of in the morning), chicken salad, homemade quesadillas and fresh produce.

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Unfortunately a wrench has been thrown into my California plans because the program I moved out here to participate in was cancelled due to low enrollment. It leaves me a bit freaked, for one this program was supposed to be a great start to pursuing my passion for fitness and becoming a group fitness instructor. I am also freaked because I am bad at doing nothing, I like to feel occupied and busy and like to have tasks I need to accomplish every day.

But this is also an opportunity. Today I took my first dance class since I graduated college. My first tap class since I was in high school. Today I started working on a certification I need for a job I might be doing when I get back to New York. Today I signed up for a trapeze class out here.

I am lucky that my parents are supportive of this opportunity for me to live in California and explore the west coast. Now it’s time to take full advantage of everything Los Angeles can offer me.

 

Day 23 How many hours do you sleep at night?
On a good night I aim for 8. Unfortunately there are periods of my life where this is not possible (aka this summer when 6 hours was the golden number). Thank you, theater school for teaching me how to fight through exhaustion— I don’t recommend it to anyone.

Day 24 Have you ever fallen for a fitness “gimmick”?

I can honestly say I have not, although I do remember this weird ab device that was supposed to remind you to suck in your belly and tighten your core by vibrating. My next door neighbor and I tried this “suck in your belly, tighten your core” method for a whole day. It ended up just giving me a belly ache and no six pack….

Day 25 What is something that you do well?

I have a lot of strength for my size, something that is both a curse and blessing for flying trapeze. I’ve been told I fly with the strength of a male… I take it as a compliment.
Day 26 What is one area of your fitness that you’d like to improve upon?

My flexibility. It has always been my weakness, since the days of dance. There are certain things that certain bodies were not meant to do– my body was meant to be strong, not flexible.

the perfect NYC day

I know it’s still the morning, but I declare today my perfect New York City day. The sun is shining, I’ve already had a great morning, and I have even better plans for the afternoon.

Let’s back it up to last night. After seeing Evita on Broadway I was craving something fresh and juicy… and therefore broke my “no grocery shopping pact” and went to Whole Foods.

Besides picking up some apples and kettlecorn popcorn (I couldn’t resist) I also bought some single serving Vega protein packets to try

I’ve been meaning to try Vega products for awhile, it’s sounds like a great dairy-free protein powder. Has anyone tried out this product? I’m curious what the best way to make a smooth would be. I’m thinking almond milk, frozen banana and a packet would be delicious.

I wasn’t lying when I said my fridge was a sad sight. But look, now there’s at least almond milk in there!

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this morning I woke up bright and early to make my way uptown to Crunch on 83rd street for LaBlast, one of my favorite classes with one of my favorite instructors, Carol. The dance based class reminds me a lot of Zumba, it’s a follow the instructor through intense cardio routines type of formula. In Lablast you do more of a combination– 8 or so mini parts which create a whole dance. In zumba you repeat the same moves during the same parts of the song (for example the chorus is always the same move).

It’s a super fun and sweaty workout for both dancers and non-dancers. It also helps that Carol is an awesome instructor, she has an abundance of energy and a contagious smile. I couldn’t ask for a better way to sweat in the morning.

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after a lovely dance class I was craving my favorite new york breakfast– a bagel from the amazing Bagel Bob’s. I have such a carb addiction…..

I firmly believe though that a little treat and food splurge is okay– I’m all about moderation. Since I’ve been away from NYC and therefore their far superior bagels, I convinced myself I totes deserved that delicious bagel today. Ah, Kayla Reasoning.

Since I try to eat dairy-free as much as possible, I decided to try the tofu-cream cheese. More reasons to love NYC bagels– the bagel places sell tofu-cream cheese as an option.

the verdict?

I love this stuff! The consistency is the same cool creaminess as normal cream cheese. It is less flavorful compared to the dairy stuff, but on tasty, flavorful bagel it definitely does the trick!!!

Next up today I’m going to a trapeze class (number 2 since coming back from injury!!!!) and then the boy comes into the city for the weekend.

and lastly, day 7 of the blog challenge

Day 7 What’s your favourite strength move?

I’ve always loved a good forearm planks.

 

[source]

what’s your favorite strength move?

Day Camp, Week One: A Survival Guide

How to survive working as a dance specialist at a day camp, maintain a healthy lifestyle and also have some fun…

The Food: 
Over the past 3 summers of working at day camp one of the biggest challenges for me has been what to eat. My own dietary restrictions consist of no red meat, fish or pork and as of recently minimal dairy. The camp I work at is peanut and nut free– a horrifying concept for the almost vegetarian and peanut butter addict. So what’s a picky eater to do without a good ole peanut butter sandwich?

Lunch Option #1 of the week: the double salad
+ a baby spinach + strawberry salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Also delicious with peaches. I will be adding quinoa into the salad next week for some protein punch

+ chicken salad consisting of grilled chicken, grapes and a bit of mayo with a few crackers

Lunch options #2 of the week: wrap & hummus combo 

+whole wheat wrap with fresh pesto (it is in fact the besto), grilled chicken and fake dairy-free cheeze

+ hummus with pretzels and carrots for dipping

Lunch #1 and #2 both make for a delicious and filling meal in the middle of the day– absolutely necessary for me when I’m sweating and dancing all day long. I also love that there is minimal prep to be done in the morning. Besides the pesto wrap everything can be pre made and waiting in the fridge.

The Fitness

while a lot of my job is essentially being a zumba instructor all day long in the summer heat, I still wanted to workout this summer and train for the 5k I’m running in August.

This week I did a test run of going to 6:45AM bootcamp 3 days a week and running 1 morning before camp. I found that working out before camp made me more awake and alert in the morning than in previous summers. It was nice to have already accomplished something before I arrived at camp instead of literally rolling out of bed and going to work.

My fitness mantra for the summer is schedule ahead of time, but be flexible. I know what I want to do but I also need to listen to my body since my job is physically demanding. After being out late Wednesday night for a concert (more on that later) I knew that waking up early Thursday was a bad idea– I needed the extra hour of sleep. As the summer goes on, and my body gets a bit more beat up I know it will be incredibly important to listen to how I feel and not push my body.

week 3 of 5k training and going strong!

Motivation this week was provided by the ska inspired workout mix

I cannot think of a song more motivating than LA X to do my final 3 minute run to.

which brings me to:

The Fun

On Wednesday night I went to go see Big D and the Kids Table, Goldfinger and Reel Big Fish in concert.

amazing. While I may be a musical theater loving geek, I adore ska music. Actually, until I was 20 I didn’t listen to much besides musicals but after seeing american idiot I got into green day which eventually got me into ska (not a totally logical path). The summer I was 20 I felt like an “angsty teen” listening to ska and punk music for the first time. Yes, I was a 20 year old angsty teen….

the concert was a workout in it’s own way– pushing and shoving, jumping up and down, dancing— a very sweaty workout.

I do not recommend getting home from manhattan at 1:30AM before working a full day of camp, but let’s be honest, it is so worth being sleepy

Now it is time to enjoy some well deserved peace and relaxation this weekend!

“hear what’s happening, we’re what’s happening”

Tisch Gala 2012

sometimes you feel like you are an arms length away from your dream. Literally.

Last night I performed at the Mariott Marquis in Time Square for the star studded NYU Alums. I sang and danced on stage with actors who I saw on Broadway only a few months ago. Michael Mayer, director of American Idiot and Spring Awakening was lip syncing along with us while we sang “Our Time”.

Sometimes it feels so far away, feeling like you are never going to “make it”, like no one is ever going to pay to listen to you sing.  But last night, it was all only an arms reach away.

new and hopefully improved

hello word press, how are you?

I’m totally clueless about the world of blogging still, but realized that apparently word press is the cool place to make a blog and blogger is not.

Jokes, but now I know, and hopefully can do a lot more cool things on wordpress.

I transferred over all my old posts, but I apologize if the formatting, photos and videos are no longer the same.

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Anyways, so life?

Things I am currently obsessed with:

Sunrise Yoga:

the above is essentially the story of my life. It’s been hanging near the front door to my apartment since November, yet I still made excuse after excuse

I will admit, yoga and my body were not meant to be. My personality and body are both incredibly tight, and lacks the ability to go with the flow. I like things that require me to be strong and intense and don’t do “relaxation” well. Over the years of dancing and trapeze-ing I have slowly but surely destroyed my joints into a popping mess. The worst thing when I take yoga classes? My poor wrists are always screaming in pain. I am not very good at meditating and concentrating on my breath, so I generally spend the whole yoga class counting down the minutes until I can blast green day on my ipod and be the spazzy mess I was meant to be

I don’t know what it is about “Sunrise Yoga” at crunch gym, maybe it is the format– my poor  wrists can handle this class since we do not hold downward dog for a long period of time. the class is only an hour long– I can handle anything for an hour. we move quickly from pose to pose and don’t linger too long, so if I don’t like something, I know it is only temporary.

Maybe its the teacher– Amrit is hilarious. I love how he calls me “little one” and his humorous teaching style.

And maybe it is the fact that it is 7AM and my brain is too asleep to protest and declare hatred of yoga.

I leave crunch feeling energized and super prepare for a day of theater school.

Whatever it is, I have attended TWO yoga classes this week and wish that there was another I could attend at 7AM before next monday. I don’t even know who I am anymore!

Modern Family:

It took me awhile, but I finally hopped on the Modern Family bandwagon last semester and am currently devouring season 2 on DVD. Trust me when I say this show is absolutely hilarious. If i watch one episode, I end up watching 4– it is dangerous.

Almond Milk:

This stuff is like liquid crack. Put it in a bowl of granola? I am in heaven. Because of my recent undiagnosed digestion disorder ( a fancy way of saying I don’t know what is wrong with my belly but it constantly hurts), my mother is concerned that my new love of nuts might be part of the irritation. The fact that granola is semi off limits to me makes a bowl of it with almond milk even more tempting. I can’t win.

the crack of dawn:

man, you can get ALOT done when you wake up at 6:15AM. yeah sure, 6:15 AM sucks.  I am suddenly brought back to my high school days– I go to bed and wake up at the same time I did back then.

It is rough fumbling around my dark apartment, getting dressed, and trying to put contact lenses in my tired eyes, but once I’m at the gym I feel like it is worth it. I love looking at the other people sweating thinking “wow, we are all insane, but therefore more awesome”.

Once I’m done sweating on some days I have a butt ton of time before my first class. This time is GLORIOUS. I learned that Whole Foods AND Trader Joe’s in Union Square are practically empty at 9:30 AM. how awesome. I’ve watched more morning talk shows than is healthy– but I feel oh so well informed about the celebrity world. and I have time to just sit and relax. 6:15 AM ain’t so bad after all.

and of course, zumba:

this isn’t news exactly, but I’ve loved zumba ever since my first “single single, double”.
this weekend was especially zumba filled. While home for the weekend I visited my beloved Club Fit, and my absolutely favorite zumba instructor. It was so lonely without my best friends whom I zumba-ed with a club fit all winter break, but the class was as incredible as I remember.

Sunday my friend Sarah and I participated in a two-hour zumba-thon with the queen of zumba Tanya Beardsley! It was exhausting, pain-inducing and awesome all at once

that's A LOT of people ready to zumba

Before dancing are butts off

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and now it’s almost thursday, which means I get to fly again, and show off my awesome layout

 

 

Kayla

Zuma! at last

I’ve been meaning to take a Zumba class since… well I joined NYSC in Westchester for the summer.
Every week I would peer in while waiting for body conditioning class. While it looked fun, I spent my summer days working as a dance counselor at a day camp. My entire day was cardio dance, jumping up and down, being a motivational dancer and encouraging kiddies to move. I was far more interested in running and weight training when I got to the gym.

I signed up to for a 1 day workshop to become a certified zumba instructor. is it silly to sign up to become a teacher in something I had never done? yeah, but hey I am a dance counselor at camp, I should love it and be good at it!

So today, was finally my day.
Working out at 10AM f is not exactly what I would want on a sunday, but I spent all of last night pumping myself up for finally taking a Zumba class.
I was a bit nervous, I have a background as a dancer with lots of years dancing but very little technique. I always feel embarrassed at these dance classes when I can’t pick things up as fast as I feel I should be able to, and I look like the awkward white girl who should just stick to musical theater.

Doing Zumba at Crunch union square I still did look ridiculously white, I always sweated and had a blast. The hour long class flew by. Basically the class is non-stop dancing for the full hour, following easy to copy dance moves from the instructor, and the moves repeat throughout the songs. The music was a mix of my favorite songs from the summer (Give Me Everything Tonight, obsessed), and latin flavored music. While this isn’t the music I would listen to on my ipod, I could care less and was super into perfecting each dance move. For someone uptight and incredibly stressed out, this was the perfect easy to follow exercise class that I needed in the midst of a crazy week.
The class was packed with people of all ages (as usual in life, I was probably the baby of the crew) and people who were not necessarily dancers, but loved Zumba as a form of cardio. I highly recommend that everyone tries it, its super fun, and honestly about yourself and not judging the people around you. Let yourself go wild, and sweat it out.

I’m already hooked and hope I can attend class again next weekend.

and now its the final week of fall semester, went by incredibly fast. at this time next week I will be home in Westchester.
however, before I am allowed to leave this wonderful city, I have to write an essay, have musical rehearsal every night, go to class every day and do 4 performances of our kickass musical. so close, but so far…