highlights from LONDON

I am writing the rough draft of this post somewhere above the Labrador Sea en route from London back home to New York.

My family had a great week seeing theater, exploring the city and visiting friends.  We stayed in the St. James area which was perfect for my family– close by to the tube (subway) and it was walking distance to the theater district, Chinatown and Little Italy where my family ate most nights.

I’ve now been to London a few times both with my family and on my own and it’s definitely one of my favorite cities to visit. Our trip wasn’t the most typical since we were more interested in seeing musicals than seeing churches, but we still got to see some great parts of London along the way.

Here are some of my favorite bits of this trip to London and absolute must do’s if you visit:

• Seeing Taboo in Brixton. No joke, one of the main reasons my family decided to go to London was to see my favorite musical Taboo performed live. I originally fell in love with the show 8 years ago when we saw the second to last performance of the Broadway production. It was absolutely thrilling to see my favorite show in London and hear the amazing score live.

In addition to seeing Taboo we also loved the stage adaptation of “Singing in the Rain” and “Let It Be” which used all Beatles music. If you are looking for other musicals to see in London I highly recommend “Les Miserables,” “We Will Rock You” if you’re a fan of the band Queen,  “Wicked” and “Billy Elliot”. Like New York, London has an amazing array of theater to see—one of the reasons I love this city.

• Cruising down the Thames on a “City Cruise”Boat. I highly recommend taking one of the many boats that cruise down the river.

 

• Shopping at Harrods. This store is the mother of all department stores and a must-see for any shopaholic. Other mega department stores to visit: Harvey Nichols and Selfridges.

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• Christmas lights on Regent Street. London during Christmas time is absolutely magical.

(my dad tried marmite, he hated it)

• Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. You’ve never seen a winter themed carnival like this.

 

• Carnaby Street. Unfortunately we weren’t able to visit Carnaby Street during the day when all the stores are open (another must visit for shopaholics) but we still got to see part of the Rolling Stones Exhibit currently on display.

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• The London Eye. This mondo Ferris wheel offers the best view of London. We didn’t go on the London Eye this time around since the whole family has already gone, but it’s definitely a must do!

 

 

As much as I love London, it’s definitely nice to regroup, adjust to the jetlag and come home to my parent’s house for a few days before starting up work again.

Anyone else spend Christmas somewhere fun?

Even in London my family managed to do the typical Jewish tradition and eat Chinese food on Christmas. Unfortunately the Les Miz movie hasn’t been released in England yet or else we would have also gone to the movies 🙂

from the canyon to the sea

Los Angeles and I are having a fabulous love/hate relationship. At moments I love love love love love it here. Like want to transplant my boyfriend, family and Broadway shows here so I can live in California forever.

Other times it is hate. Usually those are the moments when I am stuck in traffic or can’t find parking. At that moment I miss my subways in Manhattan and the epic parking lots of suburbia.

There’s lots of thinking for me to do… where do I want to be this spring? New York or Los Angeles? What do I want to be doing? I change my mind approximately every hour, depending on if I am loving or hating LA at that moment. Decision making is not my strongest suit….

So this week in LA: Santa Monica Pier & Runyon Canyon. Obsessed with both.

Santa Monica Pier

while it was hella hot in West Hollywood earlier this week, it was the perfect breezy weather for  trapeze by the beach!

It was only my third class back after 5 months of injury. While my body is arguably stronger than it has ever been, my right shoulder is still not 100%. When in the air part of me is still a bit worried that one wrong move and I will be back to injuryland

I have a habit of comparing myself then to now. “Well in March I had a better force out”.” In March I caught this trick no problem”.
But this isn’t March, this is 7 months later. I have to keep reminding myself that I am where I am today. 

there is something a million times cooler and more terrifying about flying into the ocean.

I was a giddy child. Between being at the beach and getting to take a trapeze class I was the happiest gal in the world. Whoever decided to put a trapeze rig next to the ocean is my hero.

Runyon Canyon: Hiking

I’ve been dying to go to Runyon Canyon since the first time I visited my friend in California 2 years ago. I finally got the chance this week.

My first Runyon Canyon experience was a sweaty 2 mile hike.

 

 

I can’t even begin to explain how much I loved hiking Runyon, even if trying to run down hill terrified the bejesus outta me. I’ve honestly never seen anything like Runyon, hiking in Westchester is definitely not the same experience. If you ever have the chance to hike Runyon I highly recommend it, the views are absolutely worth it. It is also quite the work out climbing that mountain….

Runyon Canyon: Yoga

Today was my second Runyon Canyon experience– YOGA! This might be the California deal breaker for why it is a million times better than New York: they have donation based (pay what you can) yoga, outside, by the canyon. Um what better place is there to do yoga? No where my friends, no where.

I’ve never done yoga outside. It was distracting, hearing the birds chirping and people walking by on the their too and from Runyon, yet it felt like white noise at the same time. I loved being tickled by wet dewy grass whenever my hand crept off the mat. I loved that the ground was uneven which helped some poses that usually  challenge me, yet totally messed up my balance on other poses.

It reminded my why I fell in love with boot camp and running this summer– there is something amazing about working out outside, it feels so much better to breathe fresh air instead of the BO of the person running on the treadmill next to you.

Runyon Canyon, I’m sold. You are my new favorite place.

Has anyone else done outdoor yoga? Love it or hate it?

What’s your favorite way to work out outside?

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.

LA Living: day one

Gooooood morning  from California! After a long but awesome first day in LA I am now well rested and ready for more explorin’.

After landing at LAX, singing some “Party In the USA” to myself, and reuniting with my best friend David, it was time to be a Los Angeles tourist and tour the Warner Brother’s Studio

Having never been to Warner Brother’s studios it was interesting to see what TV and movie sets actually look like. Everything looks so different in real life compared to the “hollywood magic” that occurs on TV.

Being a huge Friends fan I loved recognizing different set pieces from the show

the street above was used for all out door “new york” scenes in Friends. Didn’t I just leave New York?

this house may look familiar from the scene in Friends when Phoebe goes to visit her father.

this field is where Ross played rugby

this path represents central park when Phoebe runs like a freak

Getting to see actual set pieces from the Friends coffee shop “Central Perk” was  my favorite part of the tour

and of course the infamous couch!

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Besides obsessing over all things Friends we got to see how Warner Brother’s studios is currently being used and toured the set for “The Big Bang Theory” in order to see how a multi-cam sitcom is taped.

I also loved seeing props used from “The Dark Nights”

much smaller in real life than in the movie

while I didn’t spot any celebrities, I did get to spot Ashton Kutcher’s monster of a trailer. This thing is hugeeeee, so huge I saw a special about it on TLC during the summer

It has a gym! How famous do you gotta be to get a trailer like that?

After touring Warner Brother’s Studio it was time to head back to David’s house to relax a bit. Thanks to lots of caffeine and a 15 minute power nap on the plane I was still energetic despite waking up at 6AM New York time… 3AM California time.

Before dinner it was time to test drive my California car and take on the scary Los Angeles streets. I am a bit terrified of driving here, it’s a car that I’m not used to, driving here is very different from driving in the suburbs and I don’t know my way around yet. I successfully made it to Rite Aid with David to get some toiletries. Granted, Rite Aid is only a 2 minute drive away, but it’s a start!

Dinner was at “Kitchen 24” a restaurant that offers similar comfort food to a diner. I gobbled up my turkey burger, starving since I hadn’t eaten since the plane ride. Back to clean eatin’ and home cooking soon, I swear!

 

We finished the night watching and making judgements about the tv show “The X Factor”.
After that it was definitely bed time for me since I had been up 22 hours— YEEEEESH.

But now I am well rested and ready for day two in Los Angeles. Luckily the gym I am a member of in Manhattan has a super convenient location close to David’s house so I am super excited to workout this morning and then go on a mini adventure to get a few more essential things I need.

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In the midst of all this California madness I got a bit behind on the challenge

Day 17 Your most embarrassing fitness story 

I honestly can’t think of any specific story, but I will say because I am the fabulous combination of awkward and clumsy I daily embarrass myself at the gym looking like a spazz. During the spring I had a painful arm injury which meant I couldn’t lift my arm very high. This didn’t stop me from taking zumba and other dance fitness classes daily, which meant I was the gal going full out but with only one arm— a very awkward sight.

Day 18 Does Nike’s ‘Greatness’ ad exploit fat people? (http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/13/does-nikes-greatness-ad-featuring-an-obese-boy-exploit-fat-people/>

I can understand the controversy of this ad, but I can also see the good intensions. We see fitness “greatness” as this specific mold– olympians, six pack abs, bulging muscles, etc. This ad is saying no, greatness is also about the desire to become “greater”– fitter, healthier etc. It’s not about already being great, it is about the desire to achieve greatness.

Day 19 What is your favourite fall workout?

Being able to run outside during the day is the best part of the weather getting cooler in New York. During the summer I only ran early in the morning or at dusk since the heat was too intense. Last week it was nice to be able to run in the middle of the day without fear of heat stroke.

Day 20 List your 5 new-to-you healthy food options

1. Overnight oats are my new best friend.

2. Almond milk

3. Quinoa

4. Pancakes that don’t leave you hungry an hour later

5. Asparagus, my new favorite veggie.

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Alrighty, it’s time to go do more exploring and pray I can find my was around Los Angeles….

California, Here We Come

Today is finally the day.

When I found out about Equinox’s program which trained future group fitness instructors September 2012 seemed like a distant dream– it was only January. September was a whole semester, graduation and summer away.

But now this day is finally here, I am at the airport about to board a flight to Los Angeles, a place I have been numerous times, but this time it’s more than just a spring break or family vacation.

I’ve only ever lived two places- Westchester and New York City. In high school I dreamed of college in a far away, warm location, preferably California or Florida. That dream changed when I got accepted to NYU Tisch, an offer I could not refuse. But a part of me still had warm weather dreams, dreams which became more vivid when I went on vacations to visit my best friend in Los Angeles.

In a few hours I will finally get to call Los Angeles my home. It may be only for 2 months, or it may be longer, but none-the-less it will be my home.

as I walked into the airport with my mama she asked what I was feeling. I said tired, which is accurate at 8AM,
but we both knew I was feeling excited, anxious and nervous like the first day of college.

and so the california adventure begins: 2 months full of fitness, healthy delicious eats, beautiful weather, stunning beaches and Disneyland.

“you can travel the world, but nothing comes close to the golden coast…”

out with the old mac, in with the new mac.

My new computer is up and running! If you ever need to transfer files from an old mac to a new mac, Migration is a life saver. Everything from documents, to photos, to iTunes playlists to bookmarks transferred. I am amazed and so pleased that the process was easier than I anticipated. out with the old, in with the new!

Day 11 Describe your dream fitness vacation

My dream fitness vacation would be to Club Med Cancun, one of my favorite places in the world.

where there is a trapeze rig in my backyard

and a beautiful beach steps from my front door.

My dream fitness vacation would be some place warm, with a beach, a trapeze rig, somewhere beautiful to run, and fun group fitness options at the gym. Having an amazing array of food options is a fabulous bonus 🙂

what’s your dream fitness vacation?