Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Up and at 'Em

2 days after Bootcamp my muscles decide it's time to be sore. Every muscle in my body resisted getting out of bed this morning.

During the abs section of our workout Nia told me not to pull on my neck so much, "you might need that someday" she quasi-joked. Today I feel why; the left side of my neck is tender to the touch. Oops.

She gave me a helpful hint though: while doing bicycles think shoulder-to-knee rather than elbow-to-knee. This is also harder on your abs, but I suppose that's the point.

I have some house guests this week and they're staying on the level with the treadmill, so working out at home is out. Looks like I'll have to work some extra walking into my trip to the city tonight.

My friend Steven's in town so me, him, and our friend Laura are going to dinner and then to see American Idiot on Broadway. I can't say that it's a show I would have selected on my own, but it's received good reviews so I'll give it a shot.

Review to follow.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Bootcamp Breakthrough

Last night's bootcamp class, I am pleased to report, went way better than expected.

For starters, it was just me and 4 other women, which was far less intimidating. Apparently we were the only gym-goers with an hour to kill the week before Christmas and I cherished this because I'm sure it's going to be miserable once all of the New Years Resolution people join in.

I arrived (ON TIME!), got my mat and began running in place. Bootcamp is more cardio than body sculpting was, which is good since that's my strong suit, so I would definitely need the water I brought this time.

We shuffled and lunged, lifted weights and passed a medicine ball down the line, and when it came time for abs we were all actually excited because that was the easiest part of the class so far (the woman next to me commented on how she's never thought she'd look forward to doing abs and I agreed).

With the smaller size it was easy to build a rapport with my classmates and I was less self-conscious of how I was doing; I even asked our instructor, Nia, in between "Mountain Climber" sets if I was positioning myself correctly because my back was killing me. She assured me that I was, my body just probably wasn't used to it and I assured her that she was correct.

Bootcamp transitions straight into body sculpting, with a quick aside from Nia that anyone who wasn't staying could leave at that point. As I got up to leave she told me she'd like me to stay and do some extra stretching (I'd confessed over the course of class that I am "new to the gym - is it obvious?" so I'm sure that played a part in her request), which I had not done after body sculpting, and I definitely think it helped. Today I feel a bit sore, but not unable to move.

As I was leaving I thanked her and gave a quick promise of, "I'm going to get better," and I'm confident and excited that I will.

...Yeah, I know, ew, I'm totally one of those gym people right now.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Bootcamp

So far I've tried yoga and body sculpting at the gym. After yoga I felt relaxed and nimble from all of the stretching. After body sculpting I was sore for 2 days, to the extent I couldn't sneeze without wincing, but at least it was the good kind of sore.

The body sculpting instructor was hardcore, she even had on a headset, and I was all sorts of psyched when I started the class. Unfortunately about halfway through she had us break for water, which I had not brought with me, and looked at me with a mixture of pity, disdain, and disbelief and simple said, "you should always bring a water."

During the 2nd half of the class my common sense won out over my pride and I sat out, lest I pass out, for a set of lunges. The instructor almost looked appreciative that I at least had the intelligence to do that. I got right back on the proverbial horse with the next set though.

I almost finished without incident - almost. Unfortunately while we were doing leg lifts with a weight tucked behind our knee I dropped the weight. After it thudded to the ground the instructor simply said "you gotta hold on to those weights" without even looking at me, but obviously knowing which dud had caused the thud.

Tonight I'm trying her bootcamp class. Hopefully I'm less disruptive this time. I'll report back later (or tomorrow if this class kicks my butt like the last one did).

Until then, this is Mjr. Spaz, signing off.

New Project

Everything in life happens for a reason. It's trite, but true. A friendship from the 7th grade led me to the new project I've alluded to and I couldn't be more grateful. At a time in my life when work has been stressful and looking for a new job has yielded no results, because on paper I look like a glorified secretary, I needed a way to relight my spark.

Enter: Moxy Magazine.

From a quick e-mail intro to my awesome publisher, to a dinner meeting in the city, I am now a contributing writer and board member on the project. I'm also hoping to improve upon my editing skills and get some real experience under my belt in that category (outside of grad school workshops).

This month I contributed 2 articles, which are also 2 columns I came up with the idea to include, a "How to" column and a "Top 10."

I have been writing Top 10 lists since High School, it was a fun way to get a laugh out of my friend Joanne and it turned out to be something I had a knack for and really enjoyed, and now I've turned that writing into something fit for a wider audience. I hope you enjoy it.

This blog will still focus on shopping and whatnot, but we all have different sides to us and it's a great feeling to find an outlet for a part of me that had been fading away a bit. It's back now though, in full effect.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

In My Online Absence

While I was on my unintentional blogging break I went to Vegas for a friend's 30th birthday. We stayed at The Hard Rock, where I had never stayed before, and I loved it!

Since The Hard Rock is a boutique hotel it was the perfect place for us to stay. We were a group of about 10 so the small size of the hotel made it easy to meet up at any given point.

We had (2) regular rooms and a suite and they were all really nicely designed; they kept with the rock and roll theme and had fabulous bed linens and great stereos (the suite even had a touch screen stereo that you could hook your ipod up to!).



I particularly enjoyed gambling there because their roulette table was just a $5 minimum bet all day and night. I'm not sure if it was because we were there in the office season or because they're located off the strip, or a combination of the two, but this allowed me to play for quite awhile.

Everyone who worked there was beyond friendly in a chill, relaxed way, rather than an overcompensating customer service way, which I see as a huge plus.


Saturday night we ate at Nobu and there was a plate for every price point and delicious drinks as well. Think kobe beef, sushi, tuna tacos, and even the more basic dishes with chicken looked and smelled amazing.

After dinner we headed up to the suite for a few pre-club cocktails (and a mini photo shoot, my friends crack me up) and then headed down to Vanity, the nightclub at The Hard Rock.

A good friend had been to Vanity over the summer and did not like it, she even went so far as to warn me against it, and I seriously trust her opinion and taste level. Due to this information I went in with low expectations, but I am happy to report that it far exceeded them!

The crowd outside resembled a bunch of Rock of Love rejects, but that's to be expected. I was a happy little fashionista dressed in Gucci H2T, and my friends all looked amazing as well, so I didn't really care about anyone else.


Once inside the design was very cool, very Vegas, total excess. Mirrors, LED lights in waves on the ceiling, velvet seats and an enormous chandelier as the centerpiece. The bathroom was quite literally a vanity with huge mirrors with round light bulbs going up either side and stations to sit and fix your make-up. Cute without being kitsch.

Ladies drank free champagne until midnight so we squeezed a glass in before they cut that off. You cannot be sad while sipping a glass of champagne (or prosecco or cava or any other country's version of sparkling wine for that matter), and I was in a good mood to start, so the night continued to go up from there.

They played a great mix of dance and rock and the crowd was attractive and well dressed (for the most part, that can't keep all the riff raff out) and we danced into the morning before heading back down to the casino to gamble a bit before bed.

Hiatus Explained

It's been quite awhile since I've posted, but with good reason. I've been working on another project that I'm extremely excited about. I'm not going to give you all of the details just yet, but know that there will be an update soon.

There have been quite a few ups and downs lately, but working on a this project has helped me trudge forward in times of difficulty. What I'm contributing to it is all mine and I look forward to sharing it.

The woman running it is even more organized and anal than I am, which I knew was possible, but wasn't sure if it required intensive therapy (it doesn't, she's just fabulous and beyond hardworking). Needless to say, we get along great.

Expect a link to the mystery project to be posted by the end of the week!