New York, Storm King Art Center

Activity: Storm King Art Center

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description: Sculpture Garden outside of New York City. Great for a bike ride around the sculptures or a picnic. It is accessible by car or a 1 hour bus from Manhattan Port Authority. The land is 300 contiguous acres  and founded over 50 years ago.

• Storm King Art center details

Weekend Getaway: NYC ladies who luncheon

Activity: Hats, heels, and high tea for friend's birthday

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Website: Crosby Street Hotel

Cost: inexpensive, price depends on what you order

Description:  For a friend's birthday her mom organized a surprise party/girls luncheon with the theme of "hats, heels, and high tea." The theme was perfect for a beautiful afternoon in the open patio/garden area. The tea selection included an entire page of options and the sandwiches were delicious and exactly as you would expect for a high tea. They also offered Champagne and other drinks for the afternoon. 

The hotel was beautiful and perfect for photo shoots.

Recommended: Ladies gathering :)

NYC weekend getaway: Jazz lawn party & Sheep's Meadow

The attendees of the festival

photoshoot with vintage cars

nice stroll

View of Manhattan

Sheep's Meadow

Activity: Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor's Island

Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Website: http://www.jazzagelawnparty.com/ 

Cost: $35-55 pp for General admission. VIP and tables are also available

Details: This is a lawn party where everyone is dressed in 20s theme attire and brings a picnic to listen to jazz. I am not exaggerating when I mean everyone is in costume, so go prepared. 

First you take a ferry to Governor's island which is short ride and only $2 round trip. Then you walk a short bit to get to the party. Arrive early for the best spot or take your changes with a late arrival as we did. 

We had a wonderful meal courtesy of a friend who picked out a buffet of Whole Foods appetizers. I would say the majority of people brought a picnic or had already eaten. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed inside so be prepared to wait in very long lines for any drinks. First you have to buy tickets to the drinks which still did not cut down on the wait time for the second line to cash in the ticket. 

Pro: theme was executed nicely (vintage cars, memorabilia, etc.) and the music was nice.

Cons: lines were long for food, water, and drinks. Preparation is key for a good time.

Recommended: Groups of friends for a day activity

Part 2

Sheep's Meadow- The last picture was taken from a day in Central Park at Sheep's Meadow. A hot and sunny day in Manhattan leads to a craving for nature and the outdoors. The best and most accessible way to find this is with a trip to the park packed with sun screen, water, and of course more picnic snacks.

Montauk weekend getaway: Lobster rolls, boats, & beaches

The lobster roll

Sailing Montauk Mon Tiki

Montauk Lighthouse

Tacombi in Montauk

Activity: Montauk weekend getaway

Rating: 4.2 of 5 stars

Websites:

Food: 

1. The lobster roll
2. Tacombi
3. Ruschmeyer's
4. Gurney's

Activities

1.  Charter Catamaran 
2. Montauk Lighthouse

Cost:

Casual lunches ranged around $14-20 pp at the Lobster roll and Tacombi ($) Rushmeyer's and Gurney's are more expensive meals that vary widely depending on order. We did the fixed price menu with several entrees as a group ($$$).

The catamaran was pretty reasonable for large groups. The lighthouse was fun to explore and free if you only want to wander the outside. Admission inside is $10 per adult and $4 per child with additional parking fee

Details: Montauk is a great getaway from NYC when the weather is nice.

Pros: Montauk is a quaint town with nice restaurants amidst expensive casual bars so there is something for everyone. The boat time and beach were very relaxing.  The lighthouse was picturesque. 

Con: the weather fluctuates greatly and sunny days are not as predictable as one would assume during the summer season. The train to Montauk was over 3 hours, so if you are not driving or coming from a flight to a train the commute can be quite a trek. 

Recommended: young adults that need a break from the city, but not the nightlife. Alternatively. wealthy retired people would find it enjoyable.

Unique work outs that are fun and affordable

SF Surfset at the beach

SF intro to aerial silk

LA anti-gravity aerial yoga

NYC Row house picture repost:@transformingmommy

I am constantly looking for new workouts that are both challenging and achievable. When I signed up for ClassPass I was excited to try new routines. Below is a short story of the most unique work outs I have tried in SF, LA, and NY!

San Francisco

1. Left Coast Sweat: Surfset at the beach: this workout includes a surfboard, two balls and some ropes to tie it together. The surfboard lays on the balls so that when you stand on the board it moves to simulate waves based on your body weight and positioning. I first tried a class in the Marina (Sweat Republic) and enjoyed it. I thought it would be much more fun to do it outdoors the second time. Luckily it was a gorgeous day which made the workout even better.

• Type of exercise: squats, push ups, lower body, plank

• Unique moves: mix of yoga moves and surfing techniques. Think downward dog meets duck dive.

• Length: 1 hour

 2. Aspen Aerials- this was a great class because it was small and the instructor paid a lot of attention to each student. We were all first timers in the class. We started with some warm up exercises on the floor including planks and then moved to the silks where we learned about 6 moves

• Type of exercise: upper and lower body. When done properly: lower body, as a novice: upper body

• Unique moves: mermaid

• Length: 1 hour, 15 min

Los Angeles

1. Coolhotyoga: Antigravity aerial yoa- yes, more circus moves. This one was slightly easier since everyone had their own station to practice with rather than using the silks. 

• Type of exercise: mostly yoga type moves with some opportunities to flip upside down

• Unique moves: chandelier (pictured above)

• Length: 1 hour, 15 minutes

New York

1. Row House- This was the first time I tried a rowing class. It felt very much like a spinning studio with loud music and an instructor yelling commands. I mean that in a good way actually, the instructor did come around to make adjustments. He also made it challenging for the veterans in the group by encouraging us to go faster than our previous time. There is a monitor on the machine that allows you to tell Rows per minute to benchmark your progress. Additional workout benefits of rowing here.

• Type of exercise: upper body mostly but your legs are tired from pushing your weight when done properly

• Unique moves: floor work off the machine was included such as side planks and push ups

• Length: 1 hour

And yes I  have a lot of black sport leggings and white workout shirts :)

Until next time. Stay tuned.

Brooklyn Brewery: winter warm up

In the four years I lived in NYC I had never been to a brewery, including the more famous- Brooklyn Brewery. I had been meaning to cross it off my bucket list before moving, but I didn't get around to it. So on a winter trip to NY I went back to the list of things I missed and Brooklyn Brewery rose to the top.

This winter in NY was particularly long. When it is cold for months it can me tempting to stay indoors and avoid exploring. However, there is no excuse for a missed Saturdaze, the show must go on- rain or shine or sleet. 

In preparation for my trip I looked into a few venues to check out. 

1. Brooklyn Bowl- Bowling/live music venue that has food and beer. This is fun at night when there is a live band so I wanted to hold off on this. It is actually very close to Brooklyn Brewery
2. Brooklyn Boulders- Indoor rock climbing gym in Brooklyn (clearly). This popular place was booked weeks in advance so I did not get a chance to go. Don't worry indoor rock climbing will still happen on another Saturdaze, just you wait!
3. Brooklyn Brewery- This clearly one the day. I had intended to make it in time for the tour, unfortunately I was late and there was a line outside to get in.
4. Wythe hotel- Great views of the city from the roof. So I hear second hand through pictures.

Brooklyn Brewery ended up being the clear winner because it was easy to invite friends to catch up (lots of open space) and I didn't risk the weather. As I mentioned above it would have been great to go on a tour (and I have heard great things), so maybe next time.  I have to say the venue was cool, although as expected it was loud and the lines were long. The tokens did help speed up the process.

I have to say it was good to be back in the BK!

Until next time. Stay tuned.

SantaCan Santacon

SantaCon NYC

SantaCon NYC

Originally December 13, 2014

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero año y Felicidad

This year for SantaCon we celebrated a friend's birthday with a gift exchange, brunch, and in home portraits. NY was where Santacon was first introduced to me so it was only fitting I went back. Typically,  I do not like to dress in a giant full velvet outfit, but when in Rome...

Leading up to Santacon, a friend had the great idea to do a secret santa through Elfster which worked well even though we were not all in the same city. The commentary on the Elfster site and not-so-secret wishlist added some humor to the process. 

Once we were all in town we swapped gifts and stories over brunch then went to a friends apartment as a meeting location before going out on the town ;) While we waited to gather our Santa crew we took a series of silly portraits. My favorite was the picture posted above because it was very clear each person's interpretation of "silly" was very unique. 

2015 Santacons have not been scheduled yet, but the links are below for the overly prepared

• New York

• SF

• Miami

• Other

Until next time. Stay tuned.