ashleyd /

Weekend Highlights – October 31st, 2016

brooklyn-bridge-park

Happy Halloween! While I am not dressing up this year, I can’t wait for this evening’s Halloween festivities. Our neighborhood, Carroll Gardens, takes Halloween very seriously! Last year we had over 500 kids come by our house. This year, our entire building is going to hang out on the front stoop for an evening of Fall fun while giving out candy. Once we’re done handing out candy my sister-in-law, Meg, is going to hang out while we cook dinner and watch Hocus Pocus together. Since I’m not in an office setting this year, it’s easier to resist the Halloween candy but I am looking forward to a few handfuls of my favorite candy tonight – Reese’s Cups, Candy Corn and Twix! What is your favorite candy? 

Unfortunately, this morning I slept through my alarm. I evidently turned it off at 5:45 when it went off but have no recollection of this. Oops.  Clearly my body needed more sleep after an exhausting work week and an equally exhausting, but fun weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, here are a few highlights from our busy weekend.

Ten Over Ten– By the end of last week, my nails were in horrible condition. I knew I wanted to get a manicure before the wedding festivities started Friday evening but didn’t know when I could squeeze it into the schedule since my meetings ended on Friday just before my hair appointment. Luckily, I found out from a friend that Ten Over Ten Financial District location opens at 8 AM on weekdays. I was able to enjoy a 20-minute manicure including their more natural nail polish lines, TenOverTen and RGB.

Drybar Boerum Hill – You may have seen that I had a less than stellar experience at Drybar Greenwich Village on Friday night. I didn’t get seated until an hour after my appointment and ended up running late for the rehearsal dinner. Since the wedding on Saturday night was black tie, I wanted to have my hair blown out. After exchanging emails with the Drybar team, I gave their new Brooklyn location a try on Saturday. Luckily, Saturday’s experience at Drybar Brooklyn was wonderful! I was seated exactly at my appointment time and my stylist was able to bring my vision to life in just 45-minutes. The new space is bright, airy and as cute and fun as the rest of their locations.

Rent the Runway Success – After years of buying dresses for cocktail and black tie events, I’ve switched to exclusively using RTR for these events. This weekend I rented a knee length, black and gold Shoshanna dress for the rehearsal dinner and then a floor length, black and blue one shoulder Slate & Willow gown for the wedding.  The black and gold dress required a stick on bra which was less than ideal, but I still loved the dress and the fun details. I paired it with nude hose and my favorite black heels.  The floor length gown was one of the most comfortable gowns I’ve worn complete with pockets, side zipper and boning that helped it maintain shape.

rent the runway greta-dress slate-willow-gown

Wedding Festivities – We were lucky to celebrate our friends Scott and Liz this weekend during their rehearsal dinner at Saxon+Parole and then the wedding at La Sirena at the Maritime Hotel. Even though we’ve lived in New York for years, this was actually our first local NYC wedding. After a long work week I was thankful that we didn’t have to travel for the wedding and it was fun to try two new restaurants as part of the celebration. The food at both locations exceeded our expectations! I especially loved La Sirena as a wedding venue since the split room allowed for the ceremony and cocktail hour to take place in one area before the group moved to the family style reception and dancing. They didn’t forget a single detail including a fun photo booth, oyster shucking hostesses during cocktail hour, great music for hours of dancing and even masks and props to transition the party from wedding to Halloween theme at midnight!  It was a glamorous affair as you can tell from these few pictures – such a fun night!

scott-and-liz me-and-bo guys-in-tux

Long Walk through Brooklyn Bridge Park – Even though I slept nine hours Saturday night, I woke up yesterday feeling less than stellar after the wedding festivities. I was craving a run or other sweaty workout, but I knew that due to the humid weather and a nagging hamstring, I should choose another workout or rest. Instead of skipping my workout, I decided to head out for a long walk to enjoy the gorgeous 70 degree NYC weather. I listened to two podcasts while power walking through Brooklyn Heights and through Brooklyn Bridge Park.  I was wearing a giddy smile on my face the entire time. While I wished I could have been running, similar to the other people who were out completing their final long run before the marathon but due to the gorgeous weather and podcast, I still found myself enjoying the power walk.

How was your weekend? 

Share Button
Follow:
ashleyd /

The Last Two Weeks in Workouts

run-views

Two weeks ago, I shared my goal of challenging my body in a healthy way.  Along the way, I learned something about myself.  I really like the feeling that comes with a sweaty workout.  By Friday of last week, 10 days into the challenge, I was craving a good, healthy sweat. Even though my workouts were challenging my muscles, especially those small, pesky ones you remember exist when you’re halfway through the tiny pulses. But even though I was working out each day, I was missing that endorphin high. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not abandoning my goal, as i know it’s a healthy one. But, I want to research and read more as I left every class feeling accomplished and happy, but still felt something was missing by the end of the week.

Therefore, I’ve decided to add one to two sweaty cardio workouts to my weekly workout schedule. Based on how I’m feeling, some weeks this may be spin class or if my legs and glutes are cooperating, it may be a run. I think this will be the perfect complement to the great toning and lengthening workouts I’ve been doing at Bar Method.   Here is a recap of my workouts since that post.  As you can see, it’s been heavy on the Bar Method and light on the Pilates. My goal this week is to mix in at least one run and one Pilates class. I’m hoping to take my first Reformer class this weekend at a new studio, A-Line Pilates!

Tuesday October 11th – Tuesday October 24th, 2016

  • 10/11 – Bar Method Brooklyn Mixed Level with Gina
  • 10/12 – Bar Method Brooklyn Mixed Level with Paige
  • 10/13 – Five mile walk   
  • 10/14 – Bar Method Brooklyn Mixed Level with Steffi
  • 10/15 – Rest Day 
  • 10/16 – NYJL Sweats with Theodora which included 30 minute spin and 30 minutes yoga at Equinox
  • 10/17  – Four miles with Katie 
  • 10/18  – Bar Method Brooklyn Mixed Level Alyssa + 3 miles with along the West Side Highway with the Brooks team
  • 10/19 – Bar Method Brooklyn Mixed Level with Paige 
  • 10/20 – Bar Method Brooklyn Mixed Level with Alyssa  Her peppy personality is a great way to make me forget that the workout she is about do prescribe will leave me quivering, shaking and sweating more than any other instructor. I love her class because I learn something new every time but don’t feel so intimidated that I don’t want to return! 
  • 10/21 – Rest day
  • 10/22 – Long walk in Prospect Park 
  • 10/23 – Bar Method Brooklyn Mixed Level with Steffi 
  • 10/24 – Flywheel with Josh Arden AM + Soul Cycle with Stevie PM  Double workouts are rarely something I do these days but when a friend reminds you that you have a free Soul Cycle class expiring, you high tail it to Soul Cycle for some post-work stress relief. It was an odd combination of spin classes since Josh is one of my favorites and unfortunately, Stevie and I didn’t really jive. The class was only 38 minutes long versus the regular 45 and I didn’t feel challenged. Her class was heavy on the dancing and low on the sprints/climbs but in her defense, it was packed and most people looked like this was their favorite Soul class ever. Guess that’s why their are so many different teacher styles! 

Your turn – What is your favorite low impact workout? 

Share Button
Follow:
ashleyd /

Highlights from the Weekend – October 24th, 2016

Happy Monday!

Bo and I woke up bright and early this morning to make it to Josh Arden’s 7 AM Flywheel class. While my body has enjoyed the lower impact workouts these past two weeks, I’m definitely missing the endorphin rush and sweat I get from cardio. This week I am going to try incorporating 2-3 cardio workouts with my barre classes.

Similar to last week, waking up this morning was easier than normal as Bo and I had another relaxing weekend. In fact, I was in bed reading All The Light We Cannot See by 8:30! Have you guys read this book yet? I’m only 60 pages in but can already tell it is going to a page turner which will keep me occupied on my subway commutes this week. Even though our we enjoyed a relaxed weekend, there are still a few highlights to share with you guys this morning.

fall-in-prospect-park

Going to the movies

The weather in New York yesterday was rainy and blustery, perfect for an afternoon movie date. Our movie of choice, Deepwater Horizon, kept us both interested and entertained. We both remembered hearing about the largest man-made disaster back in 2010 but did not know the details until watching the movie. I thought Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell were perfectly cast in their roles!

Taking a long walk in Prospect Park

Before heading to the movie, Bo and I spent two hours wandering through Prospect Park enjoying the Fall foliage and cool weather.  We covered more than eight miles, meandering through the Prospect Park Farmer’s Market and explored new areas of Prospect Park including the waterfalls. I have really grown to enjoy long walks with friends or family as they provide the perfect venue for catching up and getting some exercise and fresh air.

Cooking 

We spent a lot of time in the kitchen this weekend, cooking Saturday and Sunday dinner as well as preparing healthy snacks and dinners for the week. I’ve been intimidated by kale’s rough texture and strong flavor for ages, but this delicious and easy to make Autumn Kale Salad recipe helped me overcome my fear and fall back in love with this hearty green. I especially love that kale salads keep far longer in the refrigerator, making them perfect make-ahead lunches.

Building our fire pit

As part of my 10 year anniversary with my company, I was able to choose an item from their gift list. While the list included over 100 different things, there were only a few that stood out based on our interests. After a few weeks of debate, I finally ordered a fire pit for our back yard. Perfect for Fall and Winter evenings, this above ground fire pit was a pain to build but has already been so much fun! I can tell that we’ll enjoy it often with our friends and family whether roasting s’mores or just enjoying while sipping a glass of wine.

 

Share Button
Follow: