Tag Archives: spinning

January Recap

I can’t believe it’s already February! I (mostly) have let blogging get away from me so far in 2017, so I decided to write a post recapping what I’ve been up to so far this year (aka in January). It’s honestly not anything different than what you might expect, but what can I say, I’m fairly predictable. Let’s go.

Cooking

I’ve continued to experiment in the kitchen with fun recipes that both Jeff and I can enjoy. I used this recipe to make some super easy meatball sliders, and made my best round of calzones yet – one buffalo chicken and one Hawaiian. I also made some of the “usual suspects”, like taco salad and tater tot trash dip (on Jeff’s birthday).

Capo’s New Lounge

I already was a fan of Capo in Southie, but last Thursday I had the chance to attend a media event for their new lounge, and I have to say it may be the coolest space I’ve ever seen in Boston!

Picture your grandpa or uncle’s old wood-paneled basement, and you’ll be able to picture Capo’s lounge. The walls are decorated with kitschy decor like taxidermy animals and light-up booze signs. Corners with couches and coffee tables make visitors feel like they are actually hanging out in someone’s home.

Photo Credit: Mike Diskin

Photo Credit: Mike Diskin

Photo Credit: Mike Diskin

Photo Credit: Mike Diskin

And best of all, Capo does not ruin the vibe of this lounge with a DJ. Instead they bring in live music like brass bands, which fits the atmosphere perfectly.

Photo Credit: Mike Diskin

Did I mention the cocktails are fantastic, and that eating in the restaurant upstairs gets you easier access to the lounge downstairs? I know what my game plan is for the upcoming weekends!

#VibeWithATribe

I have been visiting Recycle Studio through ClassPass for awhile now, but was still excited to attend RPR‘s #VibeWithATribe blogger event at the studio this past Saturday. A group of bloggers took a spin class taught by one of my favorite Recycle instructors, John. We followed up our good sweat with bubbles courtesy of Champy and snacks/juice from Pressed.

I received a pretty awesome Recycle gift bag, which has become my new gym bag! Inside were lots of goodies including a gift card from local Boston fitness brand Crane & Lion. I’ve already used it to order a pair of leggings and can’t wait to try them out!

The bag I received (photo courtesy of @Recycle_Studio on Instagram).

The leggings I ordered! They’re on sale right now, FYI.

ClassPass Debate

Speaking of ClassPass, I’m still not sure what I want to do fitness-wise after my next cycle with them ends. Right now I’m getting 20 classes per month for $120, which is a great deal and pretty much the amount of classes I’d want to use in a month. But I’m only getting 20 classes to “ease” me into their new structure of 10 classes per month for $120, which I definitely can’t stick with. I’d need to buy a membership elsewhere to supplement that! Right now a few options I’m looking into are FitReserve, a similar platform to ClassPass that could offer me 20 classes a month (yay!) but at an increased price of $185/month (boo…but still a good deal when you look at price per class). Or if I want to keep my monthly fitness fees the same, I could join Turnstyle for $120/month and get unlimited access to spin and bootcamp classes. The only issue with that is, I really like how platforms like ClassPass and FitReserve give me location flexibility. Turnstyle has a few locations but none of them are as convenient for me as some of the studios on ClassPass/FitReserve, like Charlestown Cycling Club. My head is spinning just as I type this…what’s a class-addicted girl to do?

Wine

I wanted to give a shout-out to a Prosecco I recently discovered. I usually don’t drink Prosecco because it’s too sweet for my palate, but my parents gave me a bottle awhile back and I found it in the fridge this week. I decided to open it when I made our calzones because it would pair well with the spicy buffalo chicken, and was pleasantly surprised by how dry it tasted! Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a champagne girl through and through, but this $10 bottle of Prosecco is more in my price range.

Food, going out, fitness classes, and wine. Yup, I’m pretty sure that this is all standard stuff. Still it was a good January overall (with temps that weren’t TOO frigid – yay!) and I’m excited to see what February brings!

What was the best part of your January?

Any recommendations for what I should do after I leave ClassPass? Has anyone tried FitReserve?

Any recommendations for another cheap, dry sparkling wine?

ClassPass to Cocktails

Oops…I went MIA for awhile there. Sorry about that! Those who follow me on Instagram already know that I just returned from a trip to Orlando, FL with my family and boyfriend. I’ll be posting a vacation recap soon, but it already seems so far away given all that I have coming up in Boston this week!

For awhile now, ClassPass has been taunting me with an intro offer of $19 for two-weeks of unlimited classes. I just have been waiting for a period of time to come along with no trips, even short ones, before I activated those two weeks. Well that time is finally here and I’m already addicted! I’ve been taking more days off from the gym and eating/drinking more than ever simultaneously. This has led to me gaining weight and not feeling good about myself at all. I figured ClassPass would be the motivation I needed to work out each day, and so far I’ve been right. I love researching and finding new classes, or classes that I already know I love but at studios I don’t have memberships to. So far I’ve taken Flywheel and Cyc, and have Recycle Studio, Barry’s Bootcamp, and a kickboxing class lined up for the next few days. I don’t remember the last time I felt this psyched for working out!

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Valentine’s Day Weekend in Boston

Usually I just look at Valentine’s Day as an annoyance, since the holiday makes restaurants extra busy. But this year I actually had a Valentine to celebrate with, and I do love indulging a cheesy holiday when appropriate, so I didn’t mind the crowded restaurants. I just made sure to make a reservation!

Red Hook and Manhattan. (Photo by Jeff)

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Bike, Barre, Row

January came with the opportunity to try several new fitness adventures here in Boston, and that’s really helped me stay fairly on track when it comes to consistent workouts. Today I’m sharing my experiences at Cyc in Back Bay, Barre & Soul in Harvard Square, and Community Rowing in Brighton.

Spin at Cyc Fitness

I’d previously been hesitant to try Cyc because I heard it involved a lot of time spent out in third position, holding onto the handlebars with one hand while keeping a weight in the other. This just isn’t my kind of spin. I like songs with arm action, but nothing too out there. Still, when I was offered some classes as part of the Calories for a Cause program (hate the name, love the support for the Challenged Athletes Foundation), I decided to experience Cyc firsthand and help a good cause at the same time. (For every class I take, $1 is donated.)

Cyc offers complimentary shoe rentals, but I prefer the clips on my own pair!

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New Boston Fitness Finds

This summer I have been taking advantage of various opportunities to try out new-to-me workouts and fitness studios in Boston! Ever since I tried and fell in love with CorePower Yoga Sculpt, I have been feeling more open to spending more time outside of my gym, whether that means trying a completely new workout or doing a workout I already enjoy, but in a different setting.

I purchased a Gilt City deal for five Back Bay Yoga (BBY) classes (just $39!) because my good friend Emily is a HUGE BBY fan. So far I have attended three classes with her and am so glad that I purchased this voucher. I have a long-running history of not counting yoga, even vinyasa, as a “real workout” in my mind. I love CorePower, but it IS a heated bootcamp-style yoga, so it’s pretty easy for me to call it a workout. In the past I have done yoga on a “rest day”, or paired it WITH a cardio workout, because I did not feel it was adequate.

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Trade Em Up Tuesday: Back from ACK

Just wanted to say a quick thank you for your support in response to recovery the Instagram I shared this morning. Your support helps me keep on keepin’ on!

Man, it’s good to be back in Boston. I had fun Friday and Saturday in Nantucket for the Nantucket Wine Festival, but when I woke up Sunday I was so happy that I had an early ferry booked. I wanted to get back home and back to reality! So as you can imagine, I have a few trades for Trade Em Up Tuesday.

I would AND wouldn’t trade…barely having any photos to share from the weekend. I did a lot of Snap story updating, but plain old pictures weren’t really something I was feeling. The would trade is the fact that I continue to have a lot of body image issues when it comes to photos. It probably doesn’t seem like it since I post what many consider to be a lot of pictures, but I probably delete about 10 for every 1 that I like. And taking that many photos would have been exhausting, so I just kind of gave up. I even posted one photo that bothered me so much after the fact that I ended up taking it down. It just wasn’t worth trying to “fake it” at that point.

Comfy roomy dress on point for day one.

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Sweating and Shopping in Chestnut Hill Square

I received the SoulCycle class mentioned in this post free of charge. Opinions of the experience are my own.

I mentioned in Friday’s post that I’d be off to Chestnut Hill Square‘s SoulCycle studio on Saturday for the birthday class of my friend Abbey. I started my outing though doing what I like to call a necessary evil – grocery shopping.

I decided to venture into Wegmans, because I’d heard a lot of magical things about it from other Boston bloggers like Christina and Jen. While I certainly was impressed, and would like to return sometime when I had more time to kill (and a lunch or dinner to buy – holy amazing hot/cold bar!), it was not my ideal choice of grocery chain for a quick, budgeted stop. I saw a ton of items I’d love to have thrown into my basket, including some fun hummus flavors. That’s temptation to someone trying to stick to her grocery list, and only her grocery list! And holy crap, if you want a carb craving, simply walk by their bakery. Its scent made me glad I was about to go to SoulCycle in anticipation of an inevitable Saturday night carb party.

One of the items I coveted…Lemon Dill hummus!

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MIMM: Holiday Cheer!

The winner of my giveaway for a Blue Nile Sterling Silver Branch Necklace is actually the first person who submitted any entries – Shawna! I will be contacting you to get your shipping address. Congrats to all who entered and thank you for the enthusiastic participation!

I had plans this past weekend for not one but two holiday parties. Unfortunately Saturday’s snow resulted in one of them getting cancelled but I still managed to make my weekend full of plenty of marvelous holiday (and overall) cheer.

Be sure to link-up with Katie if you’re participating in Marvelous In My Monday today!

Marvelous is…visiting Kaitlin on Friday! She was kind enough to host me for the evening and showed me a wonderful time. We started with a gift exchange…she got me a set of champagne flutes and a bottle of Prosecco, not to be opened until I move out of my parents’ house and get my own place 😉 my kind of motivation! The booze theme proceeded to carry on throughout the evening.

We went to Total Wine in Norwalk (which only made me more pumped for FL this month because there’s one by our condo) and they were having not one but two wine tastings AND a vodka tasting. Thank you Friday night! I’m worse in liquor stores than most girls are in Target so I walked out with two bottles of late harvest dessert wines, a nip of coffee liqueur, and a really nice Cabernet to share with Kaitlin at the holiday party we planned to attend later. I also ran into a fantastic guy named Latif who overheard me asking an employee if Total Wine carried Cesca Vicent, my favorite red to order at Barcelona. We immediately bonded over our love for Cesca and Barcelona! It was classic.

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