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?

current obsessions

Runyon Canyon

Okay, so maybe I made it clear yesterday how much I adore Runyon Canyon……. but let me reiterate this fact since I’ve been there 4 times this week.

I love that there are multiple trails to take, with varying levels of difficulty, steepness and length.

Yesterday I did an incredibly difficult 2.8 mile route that took me a little over an hour… and according to my heart rate monitor burned 505 calories. these trails are serious!

I had to climb up this bad boy

and make my way down this death trap

it was definitely worth the fear of slipping for the beautiful LA views

Todays route was less of a killer, a much easier paced 3 mile walk in a little under an hour.

and a side note, as a New Yorker I’m kind of obsessed with seeing cactus on the trails

Polar Heart Rate Monitor

I’ve been talking about getting a heart rate monitor forever, yet I have a terrible fear of electronic commitment and never buy the gadgets I say I wanna buy (example 2, the nook. I want that baby so bad but just can’t commit….)

Anywho…. I finally got me a Polar Heart Rate Monitor and I loveee it. Setting it up was relatively easy, and using it each time so far has been super easy.

Test run one: the killer hike at Runyon Yesterday

(not gonna lie, like 20 of those minutes was me gabbing on the phone with my mama….)

Test run two: zumba class this morning

My only complaint is that the chest strap didn’t want to stay in place during zumba and kept slipping down. I feel like the straps can’t be tightened as much as I would like them to be which is surprising considering it’s a female model. I mean, I know I’m petite, but I’m not that petite.

I think it also stayed in place better yesterday while hiking because I was wearing a tight lululemon top that probably held it up, compared to this morning when I was wearing a loose tank top.

Nike + running app

this app has become my new bff for all my mile tracking needs. I used it in New York a few weeks ago to track how long my bike ride was (correct, that is not running, but it still tracked it pretty accurately) and the app has been great for tracking how long my recent runs and hikes have been. I love that every mile it gives you an update about your pace, and it works flawlessly with the music on my iPhone.

the death hike

 

the way less terrifying hike

Amande yogurt

Since cutting out most dairy from my diet there’s a bunch of foods I miss terribly. Cheese for one, god I loved cheese until I realized it did not love my belly. I also love yogurt. So much that I actually ate yogurt every single day during Fall of my Sophomore year for either lunch or dinner. I like to think of those 16 weeks as my yogurt phase… my roommate kept asking me how I could still crave yogurt. Because it’s tasty?

I found me a new yogurt love: Amande Yogurt from Whole Foods

[source]

So far I’ve only tried the coconut flavor, but its delicious. I loved the texture, there were bits of coconut which reminded me up when I would eat coconut flavored everything in Club Med. Yogurt that makes me feel on vacation? What’s not to love. Sprinkled with some granola and fruit and I am one happy lactose sensitive gal. Can’t wait to try the other flavors.

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Any products, apps, etc you are currently obsessed with?

 

Things I am Currently Obsessed with

1. Yoga Vida. I’ve already gushed about this place, but I am still lovin’ the yoga here and reaping the benefits of my free week. Today I took class with Domenic. After blowing my mind with his words of wisdom at the beginning of class, he continued to woop my butt. Most of my yoga experience is with flow classes, but this one was flow on ‘roids— but the perfect of amount of challenge. Before we started he told us how the homeless people in New York are worse off than homeless people anywhere simply because they don’t just need food and shelter, but they need spirituality and love. In New York City it is easy to be desensitized to the homeless and suffering, and quite honestly you have to be or you would never be able to walk from one place to another without crying about how horrible this world is. We can still treat these people with compassion and at least with our hearts send them love and concern.

2. EOS Lip Balm

they look kinda funny and egg shaped, but they are so awesome- delicious, good moister and not too greasy. At first I got weird looks from everyone whenever I took out my lip balm, but now people are saying “OMG I LOVE IT TOO”. My personal fave is the summer fruit.

3. Whole Foods salad bar

A salad and some pasta for under $10 from whole foods? um, you’ve just become more reasons for me to never learn how to cook. I’m lovin’ the options for create your own salad– my combo is spinach, quinoa, carrots, walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette. The pasta is cold pasta with chicken and a light tomato pesto sauce. This meal is so great I’ve had it two days in a row. You know it’s good if I’m willing to fight the rush hour madness at Whole Foods

4. catching up with Broadway. Hey broadway, remember me? We used to spend alotta quality time together! The first half of my semester was super hectic because of the show I was in and am seriously craving Broadway shows after not seeing much. Last week was Peter and the Starcatcher, tonight I saw War Horse (holy amazing puppets), tomorrow is Porgy and Bess, Thursday is Carrier… phewww. that’s a lotta theater, but all shows I really wanted to see. Coming up soon is also Once and the Lyons… and probably a few more before Tony Award season.

5. the help. I know I am totally behind on the craze with “the help”, but I decided to read the book before watching the movie. I started reading it in California and was kind of meh about it, but after the first few chapters it quickly grew on me and now I am loving it. I’m not even done with it and I already highly recommend it. Recently I’ve been reading a bunch of memoir-y, “Eat pray love” kind of books, and I forgot how engrossing a novel can be. the perfect pre-bedtime book.

6. the crack of dawn. first I started going to yoga, now I’m getting used to waking up at 6:15AM? WHO AM I

I was talking to my good friend Annica, who was 1/3 of the fabulous gym-going trio that I was a part of during Winter break, and she too has started waking at the crack of dawn for gym classes. After years of being nocturnal, who would’ve guessed I could start to enjoy this. I love starting off my day with a sweat– it means I accomplished something right away, and I know I will feel much better all day. I love seeing the city so quiet. I love getting to food shop when Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods are practically empty. I love having time to get ready for my school day. By the time I get to school I’m wide awake and energized, and I’m getting really attached to watching Kelly Ripa and Rachel Ray while getting ready.

7. GOING HOME THIS WEEKEND. I am super obsessed with this thought. Passover is secretly my favorite holiday. I say secretly because it’s kind of a weird favorite with the whole not eating bread thing, but I love that my family has incredibly strong traditions for this particular holiday. We always go to Long Island. My grandpa always gets the 6 cousins a gag gift, we practically have assigned seating because we know who always sits next to who. I am excited that this year I will get to spend it with both sides of my family and introduce my boyfriend to both sides’ traditions. I love Passover because it is so specific– you rarely eat that food when it is not Passover, say those prayers and sing those songs, so it holds such memories of Spring time for me which is my favorite time of year.

I am also super excited to go home and spend time with my friends from work. Passover and Easter happening over the same weekend is really working to my advantage. It will be nice to take a mini vacation to the ‘burbs too

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what are your current obsessions?

which less-loved holiday is your favorite to celebrate?