Better Late than Never!

Last week, I received an email from Equinox advertising their latest member/guest event, The Breakfast Club.
Jump start your day and enjoy a complimentary workout, heart healthy breakfast and blood pressure testing.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH


EQUINOX FITNESS CLUBS


6:00AM-10:00AM


Fitness is more fun with a partner, so bring a friend along.


Sponsored by: Pom Wonderful, MixmyGranola

I was immediately excited as I’m probably the last health and fitness blogger to sample Pom Juice and MixmyGranola. I’ve seen these brands multiple time on other sites and even in store but haven’t sampled them. In addition, I was hoping to bring a friend to the event to enjoy a morning spin class.

Yesterday’s event did not disappoint! After a fabulous spin class and shower I headed out to the lobby to investigate the goods. There were multiple brands represented: Pom Wonderful, MixmyGranola, and Tea & Honey Store.

Mix My Granola:

For those of you who haven’t sampled this amazing idea before, Mix My Granola prides themselves on allowing consumers to design their own granola from more than 75 healthy and delicious ingredients. In addition, you can also choose from their pre-mixed formulas such as the Equinox mix. Most granolas range from $7-$10 per container. While this is expensive, I think it’s important to keep in mind that you are able to customize it exactly to your palate! I love this site and plan to order something very soon! In addition, their site is VERY user friendly
This brand was giving out small single serving portions of their Equinox braneded “Heart Healthy Granola” mix. This blend included whole rolled oats, crisp rice, honey, cranberries, almond, coconut, and more. I was only able to grab one pack since they were handing them out but it was absolutely delicious! It was the perfect mix-in yesterday when blended with my afternoon snack: Fage 0% and sugar free apricot preserves.
Even better, MixMyGranola has been so kind as to offer Healthy, Happier readers 10% off their order by entering the code: GRANOLA10 at checkout!

The Tea and Honey Store carries a unique assortment of robust and flavorful teas and honeys. Our intimate and vibrant shop in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal strives to provide exotic and delicious teas from across the globe alongside a selection of gourmet, unprocessed honeys.
Along with our own The Tea & Honey Store line of carefully selected organic teas and locally produced honey from the Hamptons Honey Company, we offer a variety of exclusive tea lines from the best tea houses and apiaries in the United States and France.
Yesterday they were handing out different Le Palais Des Thes tea bags. I was able to snag one chai and one The des Sables, a green tea. This green tea was absolutely divine yesterday morning and quickly warmed me up after the 10 block walk in the snow and cold. The flavor is softer than your average green tea due to the citrus infusion. In addition, I highly recommend their honey selection as every Equinox member who sampled it immediately broke out in “ooohs, yumms, and this is amazing” They have a great online shop as well which features their offerings!
For the local NYC readers, I will continue to post events such as this on the blog so you can have the opportunity to try Equinox for free! Until then, I highly suggest trying some of these great brands!
Also, hop on over to www.shapeupnyc.com to join me for a free kettlebell class next week!
 

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Pure Yoga Bliss

What a wonderful day it was! Any day that includes FREE PURE YOGA, girlfriends, new restaurants, and shopping is a great day filled with smiles and laughter!

Almost a month ago, I received an email from Self Magazine advertising their special partnership event at Pure Yoga in NYC. This is what the invite stated:
East Meets West at Pure Yoga

Join SELF and Pure Yoga, New York City’s preeminent studio, for an ah-inspiring return to the authentic styles of yoga. Pure Yoga celebrates its latest location opening with exclusive afternoon access for SELF readers at this luminous, Upper West Side yoga playground.

Enjoy a complimentary signature class*. Choose from Hot Power Yoga, Mat Pilates, Pure Core, Vinyasa or Yoga Basics. Take time to further unwind with a relaxing hand massage, compliments of AVEENO®. Leave fresh and renewed with a sample of the spirited floral fragrance, Pretty Elizabeth Arden.

Saturday, February 6th
Doors open at 11:30 a.m.
Pure Yoga
204 West 77th Street
New York City
Space is Limited. Register for your class today at SELFConnected.com.

I immediately knew that I wanted to give it a try as i’ve heard wonderful things about Pure and had yet to try either of their studios. I quickly forwarded the invite to my girlfriends Lauren and Elizabeth hoping they’d join. We all decided that we’d take advantage of Pure’s space and resources by enjoying the 1pm hot power vinyasa.

After heading into the city early to pick up our bibs for tomorrow’s NYRR 4 miler, I walked a little over a mile through the cold streets crossing through the park towards the Upper West Side. I forgot how much I love walking through the city and taking in all the museums, shops, and people. I saw plenty of runners braving the elements as I crossed through the park and grew excited for tomorrow’s race with Dori, Meghann, Heather, and others!
As soon as I turned the corner at 77th and Amsterdam I knew I was in for a treat. Even the doors of Pure are absolutely gorgeous. Self had a table set up as soon as I entered where I was able to sign in, verify my class schedule, and receive a great swag bag. Today’s bag included a full size Aveeno Calming Moisturizer, a small Aveeno body wash, a 3 day pass to Pure, this month’s Self, a fragrance, and a can of Solixir. I LOVE free goodies especially when they’re related to health and beauty! The first thing I realized was that Pure is a HUGE space especially for a yoga studio. They feature over 100 classes a week in yoga and pilates. There are 8 studios each of which are absolutely beautiful! The whole area is filled with gorgeous bamboo floors, wood carvings, greenery, and calming music. This was definitely a change from last week’s yoga location. You can see a tour of the amazing space by clicking here. The locker room was plenty spacious and featured all the same great amenities as Equinox. After meeting Lauren and Elizabeth in the locker room we headed towards our studio and claimed a place. The studio was warm and inviting with faux candles along the back wall and a raised arch ceiling similar to this picture. (Our studio was half this size though) As soon as we entered we noticed a few things:

-The room was already very hot- probably close to 100 degrees!
-There were no mirrors in the room which was unusual but refreshing.
-The mats were very high quality and a heavier padded mat than one normally receives at a studio.

We explored the lobby area after setting up our mats and found the complimentary hand massages we’d heard about when we signed in. The hand massage, provided by Essential Therapy Massage and Spawas a heavenly 10 minute massage that released the daily stress in our hands, wrists, and forearms through gentle neading and use of pressure points. After the massage we were each presented a $30 gift card towards another treatment at their spa.
At 1pm we entered the class and found that it had filled since we last left. Luckily, they placed a cap on the class so there was plenty of room to practice. Our instructor, Kristi Clark, grew up as a world renowned rythmic gymanst which was immediately clear based on her build and her graceful movement. She asked each of us to focus on the breath, relaxing our muscles, and having fun. This was the only thing I found to be quite odd. During the whole class she kept telling us to laugh and smile. That made me a bit uncomfortable as I can’t always guarantee that i’ll smile through a 100 degree hot yoga class when I’m working my muslces as hard as possible. The class moved very quickly even though there were five novices who admitted this was one of their first classes. She did a wonderful job explaining the positions but also ensuring we were challenged by giving us adjustments and ways to make it more difficult. She also never stopped moving around the studio adjusting each of us. She helped open my hips during the pose and also helped me reach a proper crow pose which i’m proud to say I was able to hold for almost 10 seconds today!
After our class we enjoyed the steam room before changing and stopping to purchase Clean Plates NYC in the Pure store. They were giving out information about this great healthy eating version of Zagat when we entered and Elizabeth and I immediately knew we needed to add it to our collection. It is the only nutritiouns and food critic approved manhattan restaurant guide! It even features information for vegetarians and carnivores. I can’t wait to use this new tool to find a Friday night restaurant next weekend!
We can’t thank Self and Pure Yoga enough for the great day and opportunity! We felt like we’d spent a day at the spa when we left thoroughly relaxed and detoxified from the wonderful yoga class. If the price wasn’t a limiting factor considering I already have an Equinox membership, i’d definitely practice here at least two times a week. Elizabeth and I both wish they featured a class card so you could buy a class package to use over a certain time period. Our studios in Atlanta and Philadelphia each had this option which was great for people who don’t want to live on yoga alone but use it to supplement their other workouts.
We will definitely be back next weekend to use our 3 day class pass during the long President’s Day weekend.
Tommorrow i’ll reveal the winner of the giveaway, review our wonderful lunch spot, and share recap/photos from the NYRR 4 miler and blogger brunch! Now it’s time for sleep 🙂

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Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day and welcome to any new readers who have headed over due to the giveaway!! We’ll see what he has to say but i’m doubtful the North’s winter is over. We’ve only had two snow showers to date in NYC and it would be an odd winter if we didn’t have a late February or March surprise. As much as i’m ready for sunshine and warmth again, I really do love nights curled up on the couch in warm pj’s, a cup of tea, and staying toasty with a blanket and the heat.
AM WORKOUT
This morning I listened to my body and ran instead of spinning. Bo and I both felt like doing our own thing versus spinning. This also allowed us enjoy an extra 25 minutes of sleep. I did a speed workout on the treadmill and then completed Fitnessita’s Week 3 workout for the winter shapeup! My speedworkout looked like this:
Warm-up @ 4.5 5 minutes
6.0  5 minutes
7.5 2 minutes
6.1 5 minutes
7.5 2 minutes
6.2 5 minutes
7.5 2 minutes
6.2 5 minutes
7.5 2 minutes
6.2 2 minutes
4.5 cooldown 5 minutes
I really enjoyed this workout as it kept things changing and pushed me a bit. The Winter Shapeup was great as well and I was able to complete both of these in about 75 minutes!
Breakfast
This morning I decided to take a quick picture of the breakfast i’ve enjoyed at my desk for the last week. It’s pure comfort food!
1 banana
2 Tbsp flax
1/2 c oatmeal
1 Tsp cinnamon
1 Tsp salt
1 Tbsp PB2
Don’t you love that super cute mug? 🙂
Have a great day! Don’t forget to head on over to Missy’s site for her weekly giveaway! I would LOVE to win some TLC!!


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