In a New York Minute…

The last 24 hours have been SO much fun! Really, life is absolutely awesome right now for us and we’ve been lucky to be surrounded by great friends!

Last night we had dinner with the lovely Jess and Jacquie at Gramercy Tavern. Even though we’ve lived three blocks away for over two months we still had not tried this New York institution. In fact, after hearing that Jacquie has a special relationship with this restaurant, we chose to wait until her arrival. It was fabulous as was the company. A thorough review will be coming soon because it is more than deserving. We had a great meal, wonderful laughs, and fun with friends!

IMG_3511   This may be the most adorable restaurant bathroom ever! Yes, those are all fresh flowers! IMG_3528 IMG_3520 Jacquie was able to point us in the right direction when it came to dessert. Clearly we were ready to indulge. Hey, life is about moderation, right?IMG_3514 IMG_3513 Sweet BreadsIMG_3512

Calamari and carrot salad

Saturday

Our good friends Meg and Spencer are spending the weekend with us. This is Spencer’s first trip to New York City so we wanted to ensure we could squeeze as much as possible into his 36 hour trip.

We met this morning at 8:30 because we had places to go and things to see!

First stop: Empire State Building

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Our trip to the Empire State Building was perfect. We got there at 9:30 which meant there were no lines and the staff was still in a great, very friendly mood!

Our next stop was the Mint Rental Car location.

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IMG_3561  Ever seen a car elevator?!IMG_3562

Vroom, vroom! Meg recently had leg surgery which meant her mobility isn’t up to it’s normal levels. Bo and I wanted to make sure that Meg and Spencer were able to see the entire city. We took advantage of a Gilt special this week and purchased a year membership to Mint for $40 which also included a $75 driving credit!

This ended up being a perfect option as it allowed us to navigate the city from the Statue of Liberty views at the Southern most tip IMG_3567 IMG_3565 IMG_3563 all the way to Spanish Harlem! It’s a good thing Bo enjoys driving in the city.

Two hours later we parked the car and quickly dashed across the street for a delicious snack and sightseeing tour.

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After a quick lunch and tour we headed to the Time Square to grab the 7 train to Flushing Meadows. The UGA Alumni Association offered discount tickets to the Braves vs Mets game this afternoon which was a perfect outing for a group of Georgia natives. Furthermore, Spencer is a HUGE Braves fan. Forty minutes later we arrived at Flushing Meadows within steps from the stadium. There were dark clouds in the distance but luckily they held off and game ended up being filled with sunshine.

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Our seats were on the promenade level at Citi Field which meant we had a great view of everything! It’s still weird to see Pepsi signs everywhere after growing up surrounded by Coca Cola.

The best parts of the game included the Braves win and the food! IMG_3581IMG_3582

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The Shake Shack and a Blue Moon makes for a perfect baseball game viewing experience. The Shake Shack fries are worth waiting in line for but the burger didn’t meet expectations. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad at all and tasted very fresh. But, after having it once I don’t think I’d try it again. I do however want to try one of their city locations. I know that restaurants in stadiums and airports are often license locations. Therefore, the quality may not have been equal to one of their main locations.

After an express ride back into the city we ended our night with a perfect sunset at Frying Pan!

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Whole Foods Lunch: Save Money and Waste

Today was a non-stop day starting bright and early.

Unfortunately, my body was trying to send me a message this morning and I slept through my 5:15 wake up call and the 5:30 snooze. Therefore, at 5:45 when I finally woke up I had lost my workout window. I did a quick mini workout in the apartment to wake my body up.

Wake Up Workout

20 pushups, 50 sit ups, 15 pushups, 50 obliques (25 each side), 10 pushups, 1.5 min plank

2 minute high legs

1 minute up chair tricep dips, 1 minute of bicep curls

2 minute jumping jacks

Back stretches

I was alive and awake after this quick workout and put this energy to good use at work. I headed into work 45 minutes early to work on my to do list. As some of you all may remember, I recently changed roles and this has left me a little crazy lately. Luckily, things are finally falling into place.

Breakfast

I balanced my hot oatmeal with some refreshing cool yogurt this morning and LOVED it. Instead of mixing the dry oats with the yogurt I actually cooked the oats first and then added a dollop on top. IMG_3480 Weight Watchers Almond Vanilla Oatmeal, 1/2 c blueberries, 1/4 c Dannon Light N Fit yogurt, 2 Tbsp flax seed, 1 Tbsp maca powder

The morning passed quickly as I was in meetings and had a few deadlines.

Lunch

This weekend I discovered a great, easy way to save money and waste. Each week I buy salad ingredients and then end up taking my lunch half the week and therefore having to throw away produce that have gone to waste. When Bo and I were shopping at Whole Foods Sunday I discovered their prepackaged salads. They are very reasonably priced ($4.99-$6.99) and include healthy dressing, protein, and tons of toppings! Today’s salad was Asian inspired and only cost $4.99!

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I hoped to workout this evening but unfortunately it didn’t happen. Bo and I may have walked to 16 Handles for some cool, delicious, goodness filled with unpictured banana, peanut butter, and vanilla flavors. Other than that we gave into his sushi cravings and ordered the cheapest sushi we’ve found so far. But, Seamless Web users gave it rave reviews. It..was…awesome!

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I enjoyed a rainbow roll and tuna roll. They unfortunately didn’t offer brown rice but their rice vs fish ratio was perfect! I’d definitely order from Yo Sushi again!

I’m looking forward to a great Thursday tomorrow! I have a 4 mile run planned bright and early which will be my longest run since my injury. So far things are going very well in therapy and after this week my sessions will decrease to 1x per week which will include a 30 minute deep tissue massage and 30 minute therapy session. The massage is primarily for my alignment and tight hips. Tomorrow evening I get to hang out with Jes, Jacquie, Rebecca, Theodora, and others at Fit Chick In The City’s awesome Bar Method class.

I can’t wait to give it a try and see some of my favorite bloggers!

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Help Needed

I bought this dress two weeks ago from Nordstrom Rack. I would like to wear it for an upcoming wedding down in Atlanta. What shoes do I wear with it?

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Monday Funday

This has been the best long weekend in ages! It has had the perfect mix of friends, outdoors, indoors, to do lists, and relaxation. In case you missed it, here are the posts!

Crazy Friday and YogaWorks

Extreme Team

Happy Fourth

Today was all about checking off our to-do list. It wasn’t a bad task since there were lots of fun items on it!

Bake vegan macaroons

Workout

Toy Story 3

Organize the fridge

Clean the house

Whole Foods

It’s 8:15 and I’m excited to say we accomplished everything on the to-do list!

As always, we ensured that Whole Foods was the first thing on our to do list as the lines get crazy the later you wait. We were in and out pretty quickly as we had a list put together ahead of time and have leftovers to enjoy tonight. We’ve even gotten in the hang of bringing our own bags which makes it 10x easier! No more breaking paper bags on our walk home!Blog Pictures 2010 455

All of these groceries meant that our tiny fridge had to be organized. This is a weekly task that Bo has down to an art!

Before:

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After

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After that we made a quick lunch before heading out to the movies! We heard great things about Toy Story 3 from our friends and decided that a fun, mindless movie was exactly what we needed on this hot day.

Blog Pictures 2010 456 Blog Pictures 2010 457   The movies always mean a Coca Cola Zero treat! Blog Pictures 2010 459Blog Pictures 2010 460Kettle Baked chips provided the perfect salty crunch in between sandwich bites!

Blog Pictures 2010 458Delicious sandwich made from Whole Foods Sourdough Whole Wheat bread, lettuce, tomato, Annie’s Naturals Honey Mustard, and Whole Foods deli balsamic turkey.

I love using large purses to bring lunch and snacks into the movies. I figure that the movies make enough on ticket prices.

The movie was exactly what we expected though it was a bit shorter. With the extra time we decided to take a stroll around the East Village. It was hot but bearable for two people from South Georgia.

Blog Pictures 2010 462       Cute stores abound throughout this area including a Meg, a boutique sharing my friend’s namesake and a sake specialty store, Sakaya, the size of a normal wine store. 

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We discovered I Coppi Italian restaurant just begging us to return!

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Love the reflection in the window!

We had a blast looking at vintage glasses and clothing though we were surprised by the prices! Most of the clothing was over $50!

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After our hour long walk home, we quickly changed clothes and heading over to Equinox for a swim. We decided to run there, using the camel bak sans water holder, to hold our goggles, caps, and suits. We completed the 1.3 mile run in 99 degree heat in 12 minutes! I had NO back pain.

Unfortunately, upon arriving at Equinox we found out that they have a 6 person maximum for the 3 lane pool. Therefore, there was a line 5 people deep waiting for the pool. We decided to head upstairs and pound out a few more miles instead.

We had an exciting treat that made our miles go by faster. This friendly face was enjoying a run and incline walk workout next to Bo. Actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson arrives at the 27th Annual PaleyFest Presents "Modern Family" on February 26, 2010 in Beverly Hills, California.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson happens to play Mitchell, Bo’s favorite character on Modern Family. I’ve never seen Bo so excited.

I did 2 miles on the treadmill (6.2 pace) before completing my arms and abs workout followed by back stretches.

The last item on the to do list was finished just a minute ago as I took out the last batch of my Vegan Macaroons. Unfortunately, the original winner from Bobbi’s bake sale never received her package I sent last time. I made a double recipe for her tonight and will ship them out tomorrow morning!

According to my taste tester, Bo, these are the best yet! I highly recommend this recipe as it is quick, easy, and never disappoints!

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Blog Pictures 2010 473  Combine dry ingredients and mix.Blog Pictures 2010 474 Combine wet ingredients and mix.

Blog Pictures 2010 476  Mix wet and dry ingredients together.  Blog Pictures 2010 477Shape into balls and then bake on a tin foil lined sheet at 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes.  

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Let cool and then enjoy!

Hope you enjoyed a wonderful long weekend and have a great start to your week! At least a 3 day weekend always means a 4 day week. 🙂

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