Hello from New York City!
We’ve been go-go-go since the minute I stepped off the plane on Friday.
Since I didn’t arrive at my friend Merri’s apartment in the West Village until around 1 a.m. and we had an early morning workout on the books for Saturday morning, we hung out and chatted until going to bed around 2 a.m.
We were up in the 7 a.m. hour on Saturday to head over to Physique 57 for a workout.
I’ve always wanted to try Physique 57 at a real studio after reading about it in countless magazines, but they currently only have locations in New York and Los Angeles. Fortunately my friends Merri and Ashley were game to try it out when I told them that Kelly Ripa has touted Physique 57 as one of her all-time favorite workouts for building a strong body with long, lean muscles.
We signed up for a beginners class and boy were we glad we did!
The class itself was so tough, but in the best way.
It wasn’t the kind of class that made you feel out of breath, but it was the kind of class that made your muscles scream. It was fast-paced, fun and such a great workout. It challenged my muscles in a totally new way by focusing on small, pulsating movements, lots of squeezing and stabilization.
Merri, Ashley and I looked at each other numerous times during the class, exchanging wide-eyed, knowing looks about how much our muscles were burning!
The class did a lot of leg and core work and push ups. Our instructor, Sarah M., (pictured in the middle of me and Merri below) has a background in dance and the power and flexibility she demonstrated in the class was awesome. You can tell the workout pays off for those who do it regularly.
Come to Ocala!
After the class, we took advantage of their locker rooms and showered, but not before trying out the two-minute barre, which is placed right outside the locker room for class participants to try to work up to hanging on for two minutes non-stop.
Random fun fact: When I was in high school, I actually set my high school’s record for the bent-arm hang. Apparently I can hang onto bars for an oddly long amount of time. Chalk that up to things you never needed to know about me!
After the class, we walked to Dean & Deluca which I have decided may be my favorite store in the entire world. It had the most amazing produce, pastries, desserts and prepared foods. Unreal.
We all got coffees for the road and I opted for a coffee with milk and caramel syrup that was fantastic.
Then it was time to explore! We walked everywhere. I had the best time chatting and exploring with two of my best girlfriends. It was so, so nice to spend time with my favorite girls in such a vibrant city.
We shopped, bought nothing ($$$) and explored until we were hungry for lunch.
We decided to grab lunch at one of Merri’s favorite places in the city, La Esquina.
We began with a pitcher of some fantastic sangria. Gosh, I love sangria and can drink it like juice. Not sure if that’s a good thing.
Cheers!
For my meal, I ordered the fish tacos and they were fantastic! I loved the salsa verde and the flavored mayo on the tacos and that’s saying a lot since I’m normally not a mayonnaise lover.
And the corn? My goodness it was fantastic. It was covered in cheese and tasted incredible.
After lunch we walked around a lot more and took in the city. I’m such a sucker for a cappella music and loved listening to the random a cappella groups singing along the streets.
I hope to pop in again soon with a recap of our night… which was awesome!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Off to dinner for my last sit-down meal in NYC!
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