Spring weather at last! It just makes me want to get out there and run (but we’ll get to that later).

Short shorts season indeed. The ladies at Uplift know what’s up!

Before I forget, let’s recap what will hopefully be my last few cold-weather workouts for the year:
Monday, 3/25: Flybarre (6:45 pm with Todd, 60 min)
Tuesday, 3/26: Rip Ride (7:30 pm with Kira, 60 min) – This class started out kind of rough for me. I got stuck at work really late and didn’t get to Revolve until maybe 10 minutes before the class. I rushed to change and forgot to put my contacts in… fail. My glasses were slipping so badly that I had to take them off during the first spin segment and then run out during the first arms segment to put my contacts on in the lobby. I was a little shaken but fine after that and Kira rocked it as usual!
Wednesday, 3/27: Flybarre (6:45 pm with Amanda, 60 min)
Thursday, 3/28: Flybarre (5:45 pm with Todd, 60 min) – This was a really awesome Thrift Shop-themed class! Lots of Macklemore and Flywheel was collecting donations for Housing Works. I’d planned to follow this one up with Kira’s Rip Ride at 7:30, but got called in to a work event as I was leaving Flywheel. Blah.
Friday, 3/29: Fly 45 (9:30 am with Kari, 45 min) & Flybarre (10:30 am with Kara, 60 min) – I was super excited for my first spin class at Flywheel and my first Flybarre class with Fly’s master instructor Kara! No disappointments here, both classes were amazing and left me wanting more. Just, uhhh, not that day.
Saturday, 3/30: Uplift Cardio (10:30 am with Steph, 55 min) – My first time taking Steph’s class at Uplift! It was crazy hard and I was out of breath the whole time. I almost passed out like five times, which is the sign of a good class.
Sunday, 3/31: Body Ride (12:45 pm with Jason, 45 min) – I stayed out way too late the night before so I was a littttle hungover. Keep in mind that I don’t drink much anymore so hungover for me means a slight headache and being tired (which means not getting the full 7+ hours of sleep that I like to get). Still not the best combination with Revolve’s pulsing sound system… but I survived and felt good after!

Monday, 4/1: Rest
Tuesday, 4/2: Therapy & Rip Ride (7:30 pm with Christianne, 60 min) – This one is up there as one of the best classes I’ve ever been in. I felt so strong after my rest day, the room had great energy, and Christianne really pushed it. It was a really hard class (I was ready to be done after the first spin segment), but I loved every minute of it.
Wednesday, 4/3: Uplift Strength (6:30 pm with Chelsea, 55 min) – Fantastic class and evening spent with some serious inspiring ladies at Uplift! They were celebrating their first anniversary with champagne and treats. More on this one in a future Uplift review post.
Thursday, 4/4: Rest – I was not a happy camper. I’d planned to go to Chaise23 on my Classtivity passport but got stuck at work and totally missed it. Luckily, the folks at Classtivity and Chaise are absolute saints and let me try a class there again.
Friday, 4/5: Pure Barre (6:30 am with Jessica, 60 min) & Real Ride (5:30 pm with Steph, 45 min) – I tried Pure Barre on the Classtivity passport and thought I would love it since I love barre classes. I didn’t feel that challenged throughout the class though and really wanted a lot more after my impromptu rest day the day before. Luckily, Steph’s Body Ride still had some bikes left and I wasn’t too busy at work so I jetted out early to catch her Girl Power Happy Hour. Let’s just say that she had me when she started the class off with “No Scrubs” by TLC and then threw in my request, “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood midway through. I love music I can sing along to!
Saturday, 4/6: Abs & Arms (8:30 am with Amanda, 50 min) & Rip Ride (10:30 am with Kira, 60 min) – I’d planned to go to Kara’s Flybarre class at 8:15 on Saturday, but unfortunately, the PATH train was running late (what else is new). I got there at 8:15 sharp but they’d already given away my mat. Luckily, SLT Soho had a spot left so I didn’t have to waste an early weekend commute to the city! It was a special Abs & Arms class with the proceeds going to S.E.A.K. Foundation. I do not lie when I say I still had trouble sitting up in bed this morning, a full three days later. It hurts so good!
Sunday, 4/7:  Flybarre (10:45 am with Ted, 60 min) & Cardio Chair Express (12:30 pm with Seiji, 40 min) – My first class with Ted at Flybarre! He led a seriously hard class with a lot of new-to-me moves! I especially struggled through the abs portion after my torture session at SLT the day before. I was able to reschedule my Chaise23 class from Thursday for Sunday when a last minute spot opened up. Full review of that studio and the pilates chair to come, but let’s just say that I loved it and have already planned my next two workouts there!

The workout plan for this week!

Monday, 4/8: Rip Ride at Revolve
Tuesday, 4/9: Uplifting Strength
Wednesday, 4/10: Reinvention Chair at Chaise23
Thursday, 4/11: Flybarre
Friday, 4/12: Rest
Saturday, 4/13: Rest
Sunday, 4/14: Rip Ride at Revolve or Rest (depending on how I feel)

As you can see, I’ve planned for more rest this week than I ever usually do. It’s because I’m finally taking care of my hip popping this Thursday.

A little background: My left hip started popping in October last year. I saw an orthopedist for it and she told me to stop running and recommended getting a shot to reduce inflammation. I wanted to try physical therapy first though, so I’ve been going to PT for my hip for the past two months or so. It hasn’t helped at all, which has been disappointing. I’m going to see my doctor this Thursday and expect to get the cortisone shot in my hip to finally reduce the inflammation and stop the popping – hallelujah! I’m excited it’ll finally be gone but also a little nervous. Big needles are not my friend.

Anyway, the last time my doctor suggested the shot, she told me I’d have to rest my hip for about three days after getting it. Hence, REST (aka catch up on Arrested Development time). But I have some grand ole plans for when the rest is over… running! I’ll definitely have to ease back into it since it’s been over seven months (WHOA), but yay! I’m very excited nonetheless.

Also, since I will be on prescribed rest this weekend, I’ve decided to also do a two-day juice cleanse! I’ve been trying to do one for a while, but I normally never want to put exercising on hold for it. The timing is especially perfect because my stomach has been acting up lately and I also haven’t been eating as well. Plus I’ve been excessively snacking on the weekends just because I have free time. Time to do something good for my body and get back on track!

Since I decided last-minute to do this cleanse, my options were somewhat limited. I looked into all the “buzzy” cleanses like Blueprint, Organic Avenue, Cooler Cleanse, etc., but finally settled on Terri, a vegan restaurant in Chelsea. I love their smoothies, juices, and wraps (their buffalo “chicken” wrap is one of my favorite post-workout meals lately!), so I have a good feeling about it. I’ll be writing a full review afterwards!

Terri’s buffalo “chicken” wrap – that’s the stuff.

Yuuuum. I’m sure it’ll be hard to resist some of that Terri deliciousness when I go pick up my cleanse on Saturday morning. Bye for now!

I have two weeks worth of workouts to catch you up on today. Whoops.

Here’s how the last two weeks went:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Revolve Rip Ride (7:30 pm, 60 min)
Wednesday: Barre Fusion (7:45 pm, 60 min) – I really wanted to love this class, but there really wasn’t as much barre as I’d hoped for. I was expecting a pretty typical barre class, with slightly more time spent on stretching and maybe a sun salutation or two but instead it seemed more like a straight vinyasa yoga class to me.
Thursday: Bowchickawowow Flybarre (5:45 pm, 60 min) & Revolve Red Hot Rip Ride (7:30 pm, 60 min) – I normally don’t double up on weekdays but I couldn’t resist this particular day! Two of my favorite classes were doing Valentine’s Day themes. Flybarre had a bowchickawowow class full of sexy music and Rip Ride had a ladies’ only class and playlist. Such a fun day!
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rip Ride (10:30 am, 60 min) & Flybarre (1:15 pm, 60 min)
Sunday: Flybarre (4 pm, 60 min)

Monday: Flybarre (9:30 am, 60 min) & Body Ride (12:30 pm, 45 min) – Can I have every Monday off, please? It’s too fun. The Flybarre class was a blast with Shay, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite Flybarre instructors. She’s so cheery but with a laidback cool vibe. And Christianne’s class after that was incredible too. I was really feeling that day’s music.
Tuesday: Rip Ride (7:30 pm, 60 min)
Wednesday: Body Ride (7 am, 45 min) & Flybarre (6:45 pm, 60 min) – After a lot of back and forth on Jason’s Body Ride on Wednesday morning, I’d decided not to go the night before. But I just so happened to have insomnia that day and woke up at like 6 am so I went and rocked it out. It was an awesome way to finish out my unlimited month at Revolve. I would’ve skipped Flybarre after work but I was already past the free cancel period so I went anyway. I tried a new-to-me instructor this time, Amanda, and she was really upbeat and fun. No regrets.
Thursday: Rest – This is what the title refers to. I reluctantly took this planned rest day, even though I didn’t want to.
Friday: Revolve DJ Ride (7:30 pm, 60 min) – I really liked this ride. They had a live DJ and both Christianne and Kristin were teaching. Both are amazing and it was awesome!
Saturday: Rip Ride (10:30 am, 60 min) & Flybarre (12 pm, 60 min) – Rip Ride was amazing as always. I tried another new-to-me Flybarre instructor, Khori, and she was awesome! The triceps work was especially tough.
Sunday: Flybarre (4 pm, 60 min) – This class is quickly becoming my Sunday afternoon staple. Love it.

Recently, I’ve had a lot of trouble with rest days. As in, I don’t want to take them because my workouts are the perfect form of stress relief and too much fun. Though I really should take more for the sake of my bank account. Those expensive classes really add up.

Anyway, last week, I’d planned to take a rest day on Thursday but I wasn’t too excited about it. What made it even harder to stick to taking my planned rest day was my schedule for that day. My boss and I spent the day recruiting for interns, which meant the day started early and ended early. Usually I’m busy with work so I jump at any chance I get to get to classes during work hours and beat the after-work or before-work crowd. I got home around 3:30, so of course, I was so, so tempted to squeeze in a late afternoon Flybarre class, but ultimately, I decided it would be better to stick to my rest day.

I felt like I was wasting my free time, which annoyed me at the time, but in retrospect, it was a really smart decision. It gave my body time to recover from from my workouts earlier in the week and I felt strong at Revolve’s DJ Ride on Friday night.

My lesson learned for the week: rest days are your friend!

And just to include some color in this post, last night I went to Plataforma in the city for a work dinner and their salad bar is just as unbelievable as people say. For those who haven’t heard of it, it’s a rodizio (Brazilian BBQ) place, but their salad bar is supposedly so great that it even draws vegetarians. Truth!

My little sis is officially a college student! I’ll miss this lil nugget:

Please excuse my super awkward smile.

Here are some photos from her last weekend at home!

My mom who is actually Superwoman makes a feast every night (this is seriously our dinner table almost every single night – no joke).

My dog gets a bandana after every haircut! Cute, right? I guess she’s ok too.

We went to our favorite sushi place, Koo, on Sunday night. My sister had the chicken pad thai with no veggies. Good, but no veg?! Are we related?

Koo Special roll for me. Yum! Loved this, especially the spicy fish.

My mom had the Thai beef with broccoli. Not really my thing, but it was tender and cooked well.

Last but not least, my dear dad had the sushi and sashimi combo. I love that the fish at Koo is always so fresh.

On Monday night, we packed up the car so we could set out bright and early in the morning for Vassar. After a few hours of room-arranging frustration and fervent unpacking, we said bye to Steph and left her at a picnic for new students.

On the way home, we stopped by Woodbury Commons, which is only about an hour or so from Vassar. But we were all starving, so food had to be had before the shopping could start.

I know a lot of people think Applebee’s is low rent and not that great, but it’s a convenient and lowkey favorite of my family. The food’s not the best, but it’s good enough. We’re not snobs or something.

We started with the buffalo chicken wings. I like them spicier but they were good anyway!

My dad ordered the garlic sirloin, which came with a portabello mushroom with spinach on top. I had high hopes for the portabello, but sadly, it was flavorless and limp. The steak itself was well-cooked though.

I actually have really liked Applebee’s salads in the past so I decided to try the fiesta chicken chopped salad. This one was awesome! I loved all the flavors and the dressing was delicious and not too heavy. Not a bad choice at all!

A weeee bit of shopping was done after that.

One more (half)day till the long weekend! Whoohoo! I’ve got plans to go to a wedding on Sunday, but not too much else yet.

Silly Chrysanthe and Angela in a photobooth say hi!

I was up in Boston to visit Chrysanthe and go to #HLS12 this past weekend. I’m still recovering from the lack of sleep a bit, but it was a blast and totally worth it.

I’m not going to do a full recap of the conference because I don’t have a lot of pictures and honestly, there are better places you can find that. But can we talk about my new favorite town to eat in for a second? We went to two restaurants in Cambridge on Friday and Saturday night and both were amazing.

The first was Veggie Galaxy, a vegan diner. It’s adorable!

And they’re apparently well-known for their vegan desserts, which were on display. We both wanted to try the sweet potato carrot cake and tried to save room for it, but there was just no way that was going to happen after our meal.

I had the black bean burger with sundried tomato pesto, portabellos, and goat cheese, which came with a side of lightly dressed arugula and red cabbage slaw. The burger was delicious. I’m talking heaven in my mouth, people. I need to find a way to recreate this at home.

Chrysanthe went for their Harvard Square burger with a black bean patty. It came with tarragon basil pesto, red cabbage slaw, and sweet corn mash.

We finished up the night by going to BerryLine for froyo! I had a small passionfruit with mochi on top. It was basically the perfect night of eating. Let’s just say that I already can’t wait to visit again so that we can recreate this night!

After a day of conferencing and snacking (thanks to all the wonderful HLS sponsors!), we were wiped but not yet hungry. We headed back to C’s place to hang out and then change before going to Thelonious Monkfish, a sushi place that was actually just a few doors down from Veggie Galaxy.

I immediately made my usual chopsticks holder out of the paper they wrapped in.

The girl at the table next to us gave the Sleeping Beauty roll of the restaurant’s Fairy Tale sushi a stellar review, so I was really excited to try it. Chrysanthe and I also decided to split the Rising Sun roll. Not bad, but neither of us realized it had tempura in it, which we’re not a fan of. I thought it would have been better without the tempura.

I absolutely loved the Sleeping Beauty roll. It was delicious and so unique! I’ve never tasted anything like it, but I adored it. Ooh, do I love me some fruity sushi!

Some good eats were enjoyed in Boston, let’s just say that. And don’t think I forgot about posting my Hawaii eats either! That post is on it’s way.