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?

labor day

Happy Labor Day everyone!

Hope you are having a nice last hoorah of summer. I don’t have a barbeque to go to so I’m substituting with a vegan boca burger made on the stove. Not quite the same as a delicious turkey burger hot off a grill…

I spent the majority of yesterday afternoon choreographing and writing down Zumba dances.

I am TERRIBLE at memorizing dances and have to write down every step of choreography I come up with.

Thank god I have a bunch of songs & dances that I know pretty well from classes I’ve attended dozens of times, but I am trying to build my repertoire so when I arrive in California I have a bunch of playlists ready to go. The Zumba instructor DVDs have become my best friend– every month Zumba sends a CD with new songs and every other month they also include a DVD with choreography ideas. Super helpful for a new instructor trying to put together an hours worth of choreography.

I already booked my first “zumba audition” in California. It’s really hard to pick the best 15 minutes worth of dances to showcase myself as an instructor.

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Today is day 3 of Fitness Cheerleaders Blogging Challenge

Day 3 Do you take any vitamins or supplements? If so, which ones and why?

I used to take adult gummy vitamins but haven’t recently. My real reasoning is because they taste good, my health reasoning is because I could probably use the vitamin boost in my diet.

I also take melatonin at night to help me fall asleep. Perhaps it’s the placebo effect making me sleepy, but I swear these things are magical. After struggling with insomnia since I was little, for the first time in my life I can fall asleep easily but I don’t wake up groggy like from other sleep aids.

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Hope everyone has a great labor day!

Kayla [back] in the City [briefly]

after 3 or so week home in the ‘burbs, yesterday I went back to visit my lovely city, apartment, and neighborhood.

it was one of those perfect days that makes me wonder “why the hell did I ever leave the city in the first place”.

first was lunch, courtesy of my new neighborhood grocery store

I’ve been mourning the closing of my nearby d’agastino’s all year. I missed being able to literally run out and get groceries across the street. Agata & Valentina though is an EXCELLENT replacement. The brand new store is gorgeous and stocked with amazing fresh food. I enjoyed a chicken caesar wrap from the cafe. I have a feeling I will be a daily costumer at this new store.

After lunch it was time for a job interview that included getting a smoothie at my favorite restaurant/ cafe Grey Dogs.

Post smoothie I couldn’t resist stopping at a cute food cart to see what they had. The Squeeze was an AMAZING find, and makes me even more depressed that I’m not living in the city this summer. After sampling the coconut granola, I couldn’t resist taking some home.

this stuff is addicting. I couldn’t stop munching on it all afternoon

it is like a crunchy, nutty, pina colada.

I love that you can see the blue skies outside my apartment. My bowls in the city are so much prettier than at home 🙂

After eating lots of granola, it was time for a yoga class at my beloved yoga vida! I felt like a little kid going to Disney World I was so giddy to be back in their beautiful studio with a favorite teacher. Oh Yoga Vida, I miss you, your affordability and your 13 class times a day oh so much! Luckily they now have podcast of their amazing teachers. I haven’t tried it out yet, but will definitely be trying these out soon. While I’m sure it is no substitute for class, listening to a podcast and doing yoga on my back porch seems like a nice alternative.

Sadly it was time to go back to the ‘burbs after my quick visit to the city. I did however get to see a rainbow on the train ride home.

I like to think of it as some good luck and telling me that exciting new things are on their way

—

this morning I continued my recent cooking kick by making dairy free overnight oats courtesy of Peanut Butter Fingers. I’ve recently been trying to cut back on my dairy consumption, I’ve never really loved milk on it’s own and think that it might have been contributing to some stomach pains and ailments I was having during Spring Semester.

I love the concept of overnight oats because they are so simple to make. I tried to make a different recipe during the school year and wasn’t a fan of the final outcome, but this variation was super sweet and tasty.

Before heading to the gym for some Zumba I mixed the ingredients in a tupperware and left it in the fridge.

When I came home I had a refreshing brunch treat waiting for me.

Since I’ve been on a berry kick recently, strawberries and blueberries seemed like the prefect addition to this summer breakfast.

I’m thinking this might be the perfect lunch this summer. The day camp I work at is peanut free, which makes me cry a little every day because I just want a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. It does however encourage me to be creative with my food options. I might finally have something new to add to my day camp lunch rotation.

Tonight will be spent pigging out enjoying hibachi with my work friends from camp, and excellent way to kick off another summer working together.

Wedding Weekend and My Birthday 2.0

I am definitely enjoying a sorta lazy Monday after an action packed weekend with lots of celebrating. It was my cousin’s wedding weekend and Sunday was essentially my birthday, part two 🙂

friday night was spent shivering by a lake for the rehearsal dinner barbeque. Usually I am more than happy to wear a cute dress for any occasion, but it was shockingly cold for June.

somtimes I’m worried that what is fashionable and normal in New York City is a bit too out there for suburbia. Before leaving the house I asked my mama, who dresses less eccentric than I do “pink skinny jeans, too obnoxious, or just obnoxious enough….” my mama approved of the pink skinny jeans. My boyfriend however made fun of me when I purchased them last week. Pshh what does he know about fashion, now I wanna go buy more obnoxious colored jeans.

the bbq was delicious– instead of the typical hot dogs and hamburgers they had mini sliders with pork, lobster or veggie burgers. I only eat chicken and turkey, so generally bbq’s post a problem for me, but I was thrilled to have delicious veggie burger sliders to fill up on. and so a weekend of amazing food and excessive amounts of eating began

saturday morning I returned to yoga after a week long hiatus. Even at 8:30 in the morning it felt GOOD to be back on the mat. Post 22 day yoga challenge I ended up doing yoga for about 27 days in actuality. This past week though ended up being crazier than I anticipated, so my practice has been put on the back burner. It is definitely more difficult to keep up with going to class daily here in the suburbs– it takes about 20 minutes to get to the studio (in the city it takes 2 minutes) and there are only 3 classes a day (in the city I have 10 to choose from each day), but really, excuses are silly. I am hoping once I start my work schedule and an actual summer routine that involves waking up at the same time every day, yoga will be fit into that schedule permanently for the remainder of the summer.

post yoga was zumba class with my favorite teacher here. It is slightly ridiculous, but I treat Zumba like a treat– after a job well done in yoga or boot camp I look forward to Zumba as the dessert. Maybe I’m crazy (or just love dancing around like an idiot).

saturday night was my cousin’s wedding. I love an excuse to dress up all purrty and take pictures with my boy

the outdoor wedding was absolutely beautiful and I had a great night dancing with my family and the boy. Does that also count as a work out this weekend?

Sunday was my birthday 2.0 As you may recall I turned 22 in may. Part of my birthday gift from the boyfriend was tickets to see In the Heights on tour in New Haven

In the Heights is one of my absolute favorite shows. My family first saw it off-broadway in 2007 and new it was gonna be HUGE. It ended up transferring to Broadway in 2008 (my family saw it on Broadway for the first time the night before I turned 18) and went on to win numerous Tony Awards including Best Musical.

I’m not sure exactly what it is about this musical, but after seeing it the night before my 18th birthday I fell in love with the show. It hit close to home that summer, I was traveling Europe for 4 weeks, incredibly homesick and found great comfort listening to this musical that is all about taking pride in your roots and where you are from.

My freshman year of college I ended up seeing the show again…. and again and again and again. As a college student I felt myself connecting even more to the story– one of the main characters discusses her struggles at college and the feeling that she is letting her parents down if she doesn’t succeed. A feeling I felt quite often my freshman year at NYU. Whenever I needed a reminder of why I was majoring in theater and why it was important to continue to work my butt off at college, I needed to see this show. Sadly it closed after a great run in January of my junior year of college. I saw the show 16 times in all on Broadway. It was sad to see one of my favorite shows close on Broadway.

So for my birthday my boyfriend got us tickets to go see the show on tour in Connecticut. For me it was important that he see this show, a show that was such a huge part of my life before I started dating him. I shared my other favorite show American Idiot with him last December, but knew he had to see In the Heights as well. It is like sharing your favorite band with someone you love– it exposes a little part of you that is hard to explain in words.

Our adventure in New Haven began with pizza. Rumor has it New Haven’s pizza is better than New York.

while the pizza was pretty amaaaazing… I’m still a bit of a New York snob.

but seriously, it was goooood pizza.

if you ever find yourself in New Haven you must go to Frank Pepe’s for some awesome pizza.

after stuffing my face with pizza, it was show time!

American Idiot will be in New Haven May 2013? Count me in!

it was such a delight to not only see In the Heights performed on stage for the first time in 1 1/2 years but to also show the experience with the boy. It is easy to remember why my family loved this show when we first saw it in 2007 and when the CD has yet to leave my car in 4 years.

On our way home from New Haven I requested a special pit stop.

back in the day when I worked at sleep away camp there was this legendary smoothie place at the bottom of the hill. During periods off I would walk down the hill for a delicious treat. Everyone at the camp was obsessed with these smoothies.

I haven’t worked at that camp since summer 2007, but my best friend and I have made road trips to the legendary smoothie place since. Yes, we literally drove an hour away just for these smoothies.

summer 2010

Knowing we were pretty close to the legendary smoothie place, I begged for us to make a pit stop on the way home. Who doesn’t love a refreshing smoothie?

lemme tell you, those strawberry sunrise smoothies taste just as good as I remember them. TOTALLY worth the extra driving.

after a long weekend of celebrating the wedding and my birthday, the boy and I enjoyed a nice relaxing evening watching Up for the first time. I think we both might have a new favorite movie it was that good.

phewww, one long tiring weekend, no?

hope you all had a great weekend as well

The Never Ending Vacation

one of the perks of having a full month off between graduating college and starting work? being in a state of never ending vacation. It will be one of the last times in my life where my biggest commitment is going to physical therapy and my biggest concern is planning my life around zumba classes.

Sunday night the boy and I decided to cook a healthy version of mac and cheese. the only big change we made to the recipe was adding more cheddar cheese because the flavor was a bit lacking.

all in all it was pretty good baked mac and cheese, not quite as flavorful as my mom’s usual recipe, but a great healthy alternative

honestly, I think the left overs taste even better than the original….

after we watched Music and Lyrics. I’ve never seen the movie before and it was super sweet, but I was exhausted from the day. At 11PM I couldn’t believe I was falling sleep, I believe it was a sign that my body needed to regroup, so I decided Memorial day would be the perfect day to sleep-in and give myself a break from working out

Monday– after a lovely sleep-in it was time to enjoy the ridiculously hot weather with a pool party at my friends house

greatest app ever

the weather here as been UNREAL, ridiculously hot and humid after lots of cold days. While I am not entirely complaining, it makes pool parties a must to survive the heat.

the original plan for Tuesday was to take a road trip to New Jersey and ride roller coasters at Six Flags Great Adventure. 90 degrees and humid though did not sound like good amusement park weather, so instead we decided to make it a beach day.

before heading out to Connecticut I had my first day of Westchester Adventure Boot Camp! at 9:15AM the heat was already beastly and sun was shining. I’ve never really worked out outside so fighting the natural elements made it a much more challenging workout than if I was in an air conditioned gym. Despite the heat I LOVED boot camp.

I was unsure what exactly the program would be, and I knew that “weight loss” isn’t exactly why I signed up. I wanted something that I could modify with my injury and that wouldn’t be boring. I found my perfect summer workout– every day is something different.

Tuesday was upperbody– lots of push-up variations etc. and doing a short cardio burst in between each exercise. It was one intense and sweaty hour– my post workout iced coffee and shower was well deserved.

and then it was time to journey to the beach! We decided Compo Beach in Westport was a good choice for the day, less than an hour away, and a decent beach. While Long Island has arguably nicer beaches to offer, not having to travel far away or deal with traffic was a good call.

of course no journey would be complete without complications– my friends car overheated within 5 minutes of leaving. Obviously this meant it was a perfect time to take prom-style photos since the boy and I accidently matched.

I swear we didn’t coordinate outfits….

and more photos while we were stranded on the side of the road….

after some help from our parents, we were back on the road in a different car and beach bound!

the beach was definitely the better and cooler option for a hot and humid day….

Wednesday time for boot camp day two! one day a week is kickboxing. I have a bit of kickboxing under my belt, but not much. Squats though? Not my forte. Squats have been absent from my workout routine recently, but wow did we do a lot today. I’m already feeling the soreness in my arms which is just what I paid for!

Post boot camp I tested out one of Peanut Butter Finger’s Protein Pancake Recipes. Oh my god it was heavenly post boot camp. I ate it too fast to take a picture, but I highly recommend this recipe. Perfect way to use up the leftover cottage cheese from my mac and cheese recipe!

the afternoon was spent lounging around– well deserved

Tonight is my favorite zumba class at Club Fit, always my favorite part of the week.

Club Hopping

okay, not that kind of Club Hopping…. I’ve been hopping to different Crunch clubs this week in search of Zumba classes. Unfortunately my arm is still injured, the doctor believes I tore my rotator cuff, and this therefore gives me a limited number of workout options. I’m not much of a runner, and can sometimes motivate myself to get on the treadmill, but I am such a group exercise gal and really prefer that.

And thus, I have done a whole lotta zumba this week because it is a way I know I can get my sweat on and keep my poor right arm safe. Watching me dance must be really hilarious with only my left arm doing full choreography. My dance teacher at college has really enjoyed finding entertainment in my pain.

first up was visting Crunch on 83rd Street, The Upper West Side.

I visited this location during the post-work craziness. This club was very crowded and small. As is true with most Crunch’s, I had to hardcore search for a locker, praying that there was an empty one. As far as equipment goes I couldn’t find an empty treadmill to warm up on. womp womp.

The group fitness studio felt a bit like a dungeon and was hot as well once we started moving. Our 45 minute zumba class legit fogged up the mirror. I have yet to experience something THAT hot at Crunch Union Square. The layout is more functional than Union Square though, you can see the front from any spot during zumba and there was definitely more space.

The members that I talked to for a bit before Zumba were super sweet and had a sense of community, similar to how it feels at Union Square when you start recognizing the same people at the same classes. While this location is a bit cramped, and god that room was HOT, it was so so so worth it for a quality, sweaty zumba class with my favorite NYC teacher.

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and tonight was visiting the new Crunch on 34th Street, in Kips Bay.

I visited the old Kips Bay Crunch location a few times and was AMAZED by how gigantic their group fitness room was. like as big as my high school gymnasium was. Anytime I was there it was also practically empty at a location that to begin with was super spacious.

Recently this Crunch has merged and moved into what used to be a “Club H”. The feel and atmosphere is very similar to various Equinoxes I have visited. It seems that there are still a lot of kinks to be figured out with this new location. There seems to be too much demand and not enough supply.

The locker room, while lovely and pretty looking, had very few empty lockers. The group fitness room was on the small side compared to all other crunches I have visited. I was shocked that I needed a wrist band to get into a Zumba class, but thank god because that room was still packed.

Before class I was easily able to get on a treadmill for a quick warm up. the actual gym didnt’ feel very crowded, but there was a lot of craziness and mayhem surrounding the group fitness classes and Spinning. People seemed very anxious about getting into the classes, and therefore very rude. There was this odd sense of entitlement at this club. While it is beautiful and doesn’t look at all like a typical Crunch, there are a few things that clearly need to be fixed to make it a happy gym going experience for all.

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All in all a gym is a gym. Despite some frustrations at both gyms and being less convenient than my typical Crunch locations, I am happy that my stupid, uncooperative arm and I are still sweating as much as we can.

At Last: Zumba Instructor Training

watch out fitness world, I am now a licensed Zumba Instructor!

Sunday Funday

my first sunday all semester with no plans! What had the possibility of being a boring dreary day instead became

(or the reason why I am not going to be able to move my body tomorrow)

sunday funday begins with some Zumba at Crunch. I haven’t taken a full hour long Zumba class in a while so this was such a treat. Emily’s Sunday morning class was the first zumba class I ever took back in december. It is still by far my favorite class I have taken in the city– I love her playlist, I actually love the fact that she does a lot of the same dances every week so I can really get to know the moves and feel comfortable, the crowd is always really into the class and for me it is the perfect sunday morning fitness class. Hey it gets me up at 8:45AM on the weekend because I know I’m guaranteed to here my absolute favorite song of summer 2011 “Give Me Everything Tonight”

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next was delicious bunch with mama at one of my favorite brunch spots Mirage in the East Village. While their french toast is fabulous, my favorite part is the basket of bread and muffins. More bread with my bread please.

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Sunday Funday continued with a free intenSati class in NYUland. As I have previously written here and here I am OBSESSED  intenSati, a sweat inducing cardio work out that has you saying positive affirmations while exercising. I was thrilled to find out that Wendy Suzuki teaches a FREE (free!) IntenSati class in Palladium, an NYU building located in Union Square. After trying out intenSati during my free week at Equinox, I was super super excited to try out this class that I could take every week.

Once again I was blown away by how powerful this workout is. it is all about INTENTION, what kind of intention are you setting for your workout today. for me personally, speaking the affirmations really helps me get the best work out imaginable, I feel stronger than ever, I want to push myself to my limits, and I feel freaken fabulous. It is hard to describe until you experience it, but the class is really something special.

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after a little homework break (seniors in college still have to do homework?) it was back to Yoga Vida for the final sweat of sunday funday- a flow yoga class. I wasn’t as much a fan of this class as yesterdays, the instructors voice quickly became irritating. I was a bit concerned that he didn’t ask about injuries at the beginning of class– my arm is still not 100% functional so I modify a few poses that require super straight arms standing up. I thought I had finally made amends with downward dog– it used to be the bane of my existence because it seriously pains my wrists (I blame trapeze) and I would cringe every time an instructor told us to “downward dog”. This class had a bit too much d-dog for me and countless chaturangas. The class just didn’t feel as logical as yesterday. While it was still a lovely stretch and relaxing class, it was not my favorite. 

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all in all though, sunday funday was fabulous and topped off with a delicious, carb filled meal of indian food with my parents. Yoga makes me in the mood for chicken korma and nan…..

I think I had quite a few sweet sweaty moments today, how bout you?

Well Equinox, It’s Been Swell

Oh Equinox, I will miss you so. The luxuries, the lovely refrigerated towels post workout, spacious locker rooms, roomy lockers,  intense classes, and surprisingly friendly customers.

Sunday I went back for another “Zen Combat” experience.

Violet Zaki: terrifying, hardcore, hilarious and awesome

The first time around I was a bit terrified, but the second time it was simply an awesome sweat fest. We did the same combination from last time, however I did not find it boring. There were still troubling spots where my brain glitched and couldn’t remember what was next, it still made me sweat buckets, and it still focused me unlike any other class I have taken.

—

Today [Monday] was the final day of my trial membership at Equinox

I started out the day bright and early with PureStrength! taught by Mark Hendricks. The class was a strength and toning based class, but unlike any other I have ever taken. It involved a lot of stretching and using body weight mixed with typical dumbbell exercises and a splash of yoga. It was quite intense for 7:30 in the morning, and while grueling, it was an awesome workout. My legs are currently a tad bit like jelly, and I’m lovin’ in. I continue to be impressed with the unique workouts at Equinox. I really wish I could afford the gym and that it was a tad bit closer to NYU-Land

After sweating it out in Pure Strength I treated myself to a muffin from the cafe followed by Zumba taught by Cindya Davis. Yes, I consider zumba the treat for surviving a scary class. Cindya was a great zumba teacher, keeping the class moving and sweating for the full 60 minutes, but it was not my favorite zumba class. I personally enjoy a mixture of “zumba” songs and popular music from the radio. I also get a more intense workout when the moves are super simple but use a lot of energy. These dance moves were a bit too complex for my liking, despite the fact that I have years of experience dancing. I felt the class lacked structure — there is usually an intense build up, a brief cool down and then another build up. All in all though, I always enjoy a good zumba class, and was happy I decided to attend both classes bright and early this morning.

I finally took at shower at Equinox and was won over by the Kiehls products. I generally hate showering at the gym– I have yet to at crunch union square, and was disturbed by my experience of taking a very public shower at crunch Lafayette and drying myself off with towels that barely covered my butt (I am only 5’2″ and slender, I can’t imagine how anyone remotely taller than me can cover any skin with those towels). Equinox’s showers however offered privacy– a small personal changing area in front of the shower, adequately sized towels, and amazing water pressure. There is nothing like a good shower after sweating for 2 hours.

Leaving Equinox I stopped nearby at “Soy Cafe” to pick up a salad for later in the day. My salad– the autumn one with spinach, goat cheese, apples, grapes and walnuts topped with balsamic vinaigrette was SO GOOD. Seriously, everyone sitting next to me while I was eating it at school was jealous of this awesome salad. It is a good thing I don’t live nearby the Soy Cafe, or I’d be spending all my money there. I seriously need to find a place nearby me in the Village that makes a delicious spinach salad.

 

As I walked from the West Village to my class in NYU-Land, I couldn’t help but feel so content and energized. I never ever ever ever thought I would be that kind of person who would work out first thing in the morning, but the more I do it the more hooked I am. It leaves me so ready to conquer the day and I feel like I already accomplished something that early in the morning. I still despise hearing that alarm at 6:15AM and consider hitting snooze, but I find myself more and more addicted to my morning endorphins. I am currently in tech for my show, which means I spend from 7-11pm in the theater, what is usually prime work out time for old Kayla. Old Kayla wouldn’t get to exercise during tech week, and therefore would be a sad Kayla. New Kayla however will get to work out at the gym every day except Friday. So while waking up early sucks in theory, it rocks in actuality. WHO AM I? and what happened to nocturnal kayla?

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