You want to know a sad sight? A box full of microwave single serve popcorn when you just blew up the darned microwave.

What a bummer.

Alanis Morrisette might call it ironic, but I think it’s just bad freakin luck. Ah well.

As you may have guessed it has been an action packed fun filled couple of days with lots of friends, lots of outings and a particularly memorable movie night featuring the new Alice in Wonderland. Well, I suppose you might not have guess ALL that, but seriously, good times. If you were wondering how the movie was I’d have to go with a strong “ok”. Definitely not necessary to plunk 20 bucks on the 3D IMAX version, even though it was by my beloved Tim Burton. In other words, mosey, but definitely don’t run.

Tonight my train, which usually takes about 20 minutes, took well over an hour to get me home. So frustrating as I watched the time tick by and realized I would miss my spin class. Strangly though, work’s been super stressful and by the time I got home the only class option for me was yoga, which turned out to be exactly what I needed to relax and unwind. Isn’t funny how things work out like that?

With such a late class, I wound up eating dinner at 10:30 which consisted of me scarfing a black bean burger with some hummus and sprouts just about as fast as I could inhale it. I was also able to cook up a quick batch of granola so I have something to put in my yogurt. Tomorrow I’m going to get back to the meal cooking thing for lunches the rest of the week. Dining out is delicious, but crazy expensive in the city. Note: today’s sushi lunch was made of yum and I am not complaining.
Time to wind down, read some more of the incredibly addictive “The Help” and get my butt to bed.

Only 4 more days until I pick up my new bike!!

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I’m starting my day out healthy this morning with some “kind of baked” oatmeal. I say “kind of,” because I’m starting with overnight oats, which are technically already cooked. I just happen to have, ahem,  blown up the microwave last week (shhh) so I’m back to heating everything the old fashioned way again, which I think I prefer anyway. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself!

So what I did was toss some cold cooked overnight oats in a small baking dish with some almond butter, flax seed, soy milk, a small hand full of currants, some cinnamon and a little bit of honey on top. I would have added a banana but I’m out!
The mission this week is to make all my meals at home and purchase nothing but some veggies. I need to use some of this random food that’s been accumulating in my fridge. I always feel so guilty throwing it out.

Today it is finally going to be a beautiful day in NYC. I have hot yoga at noon but my plan is to hustle a shower, hop on my bike and take my first pre-spring outdoor ride! I don’t know how far I’ll get as it’s only 40 degrees out there, but even if it’s too cold for riding I’ll grab the camera and go for a really long walk. I’d like to get some pictures up of my beautiful neighborhood, and document the unfurling of spring.

Tonight I’m headed into the city for some more adventure with friends. My goal is to find some place with really good live music tonight, as I’m so ready to get my dance on.

I love the way the city feels right now. People are just starting to crack open their doors and peek apprehensively outside. New York does quite a bit of hibernating in the winter and it’s always amazing to watch as people finally emerge, check the sky and bathe their faces in the sun a little.

Only 8 more days until one of my favorite heralders of the season, daylight savings!

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One of my favorite things about cycling, running, yoga and being active in general is meeting other people that also feel passionate about such things. I mean it’s one thing to ride a bike to the beach on a warm summer weekend morning, but it is exponentially better to do it with some friends. The pic is of my (now old GT) bike and my amazing friend Wendy’s Jamis on a beautiful day last summer.

I’m so excited to be a participant in the Napa Echelon Gran Fondo in May, and an awesome side benefit has been joining a team for the ride and getting an opportunity to connect with other passionate cyclists. A lot of people look at cycling as a solo sport and though, like running it can be done alone, it gets so much more interesting when you add a team, or better yet 20 teams into the mix.

People ask me how I can sit and watch the Tour De France for hours and hours every summer – but to me it’s fascinating. Everything from the technical aspects of drafting to the biological art of eating on the bike, to the social aspects of community amongst riders appeals to me. So many factors uniting to create a complex and consistently interesting sport! How could it not be fun to watch, I wonder?

Why are some people better climbers? How important is cadence? Double or triple chain ring? All of these are questions with so many different answers, or answers that evolve with the level of ones riding. Meeting others that think about and ask these kinds of questions is refreshing and wonderful. All of it makes me so psyched for my new bike and for the spring.

So, although spin classes are still currently in the rotation, it won’t be long now before I roll down the familiar Ocean Parkway, past Coney Island and onward to the beach with some dear friends. And not long after that, a flight to the west coast and a first time ever ride through Napa. So much to look forward to, come on out and join me for a ride.

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First off, the awesome:

I found my new bike!! Beautiful huh? I searched far and wide and for quite some time, but it was only with the help of friends that I found exactly what I was looking for.

It’s a Trek 2.1 WSD (Woman’s Specific Design). This means that with any luck the lower back pain that I often get on longer rides should vastly improve. That’s pretty rad news all around especially since my back really started to bother me towards the end of last season. The old GT has a super long top tube (touring geometry) and I had to lean pretty far forward even in my tallest stance. Not ideal after 3 or 4 hours on the bike let me tell ya.

The new Trek is also black, which is exactly the color I was looking for, but afraid to even say and jinx it. To be honest I’d have taken any color as long as the bike was a good fit, lightweight and sporting decent components.

I don’t actually have the bike for another week or so (it’s being shipped from California), but I’m so excited to get it on the road and start some serious Century training! Spin class is fun, but it’s a very pale comparison to the real thing.

On the not so great note – my snowboarding plans fell through so I’ll be spending another weekend right here in the city. I figure I’ll do a little yoga and maybe have some local adventures with friends. There’s also a bus to a small local slope I might hop on, who knows? I’m going make the best of it and create a beautiful weekend, wherever I wind up.

I’m off to do a little stretching since spin class tonight was once again intense. Have a happy Monday!

P.S. I’m reading The Time Travelers Wife which I heard was kind of a lousy movie. Well, the book is amazing – run don’t walk – I’m completely smitten.

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So I seem to have gotten real busy living all of a sudden. This is not a bad thing!

Between the usual yoga and spin classes 3-4 times a week, and now regular outings on the town with friends I find fewer and fewer evenings are spent relaxing at home.  I’m enjoying the social time but again, balance is necessary and I really think it’s important that I write every day.

I had the most amazing night last night though! In the past 24 hours we’ve gotten nearly 17 inches of snow, which is A LOT no matter where you live I think. The roads are pretty clear now, but the schools closed today and I worked from home.

Anyway, last night, just as this mess was at its peak I was chilling with 3 good friends in midtown at a Broadway show! It was a total surprise, and free due to my friend Amoy’s amazing connections. The play was a new one called Mr. and Mrs. Fitch and it was wonderful.

I think the highlight of the night was that we also got tickets to the reception afterward which featured wine, snacks and a Q&A session with the playwright and the star, none other than John Lithgow. I have to admit I was a little star struck, as he has always been a favorite actor to me. He was as articulate and delightful in person as I had imagined him and it was a true pleasure to get to thank him personally for the show and shake his hand.

Also, to share that experience with some of my favorite ladies made it that much more unforgettable. I was a little too shy to get a picture with him but Amoy was more than willing to get him to sign my playbill. Take a look!

I am probably way too excited by this.

Though I may not be writing as much, its only because I’m soaking up all these amazing opportunities this city has to offer. I mean where else could I hope to have a random Thursday evening like that? Seriously.

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It was another wonderful, crazy, action packed weekend topped off by a delicious brunch in the city and a Sunday night of live Brazilian music, dancing and tons of laughs with a bunch of friends.

To think, I almost didn’t go out last night.  The Brazilian bar was in Williamsburg and the G hasn’t been running weekends in what seems like months. The result of these factors was me having to take 2 buses to get to the bar. After quite a bit of deliberation I finally decided to tough it out and go. I’m so happy I did!

I think it’s almost always like that when I’m sitting comfortably at home, contemplating a quiet evening. If I can just get together the gumption to walk out the door, I’m almost always happy that I did. It’s kind of similar to the payoff with working out, only I’m way more motivated to go to the gym than to go to the bar, go figure.

It’s only a little over a week until I finally get to go snowboarding for the first time in ages (like years!) and I’m over the moon. Tonight I’m breaking out all the old gear and having an official assessment of what I’ve got and what I need. The contacts lenses are ordered and paid for so aside from a possible set of hand warmers and maybe a new pair of gloves I should be New Hampshire ready by weeks end. I worry that my legs might not hold out for the 4 days but hey, if I can make it through these insane spin classes 3 times a week, I think I can handle a couple of days on the board. We shall see, I may be in some serious pain come the end of next week. No worries though, I can’t wait!

Once I’m on the mountain, with the sound of the snow moving under my board I won’t care about a single other thing. The world just shrinks to the sound and the feel of that snow and the wind in my ears. Really there is nothing like it in the world. Wish me luck, I hope I can still ride switch!

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What a treat it is to come home from an incredibly difficult hour long spin class (so hard I almost threw in the towel tonight) to a warm comfy apartment, a delicious dinner and woman’s half pipe Olympic finals. Though the day was super long and kind of arduous, I’m sticking to my training regime and feeling good about it!

It’s funny how you never know how well a workout is gonna go. On my most tired days I often find 3rd and 4th winds and on days when I feel most strong I find myself struggling to complete a class. What I can say is that attitude makes a tremendous difference. When I go in telling myself I feel strong, even when I don’t, I always do better.

I’m planning a snowboarding trip to New Hampshire in a couple of weeks (!!!) and all the pieces to make it happen are in motion. I even got fitted for the dreaded contact lenses yesterday. Since I don’t have too much in the way of good vision or depth perception, contacts are key for me on the slopes.

The good news is that I was able to get them in and out fairly easily and without too many tears or cursings of the vision fates, a feat which used to be a really big problem. My lenses are due in by Wednesday of next week which gives me plenty of time to get better used to them before my trip.

There is nothing in the world quite like spending an entire day on the mountain, and it has really been to long. I also can’t explain how much I’m looking forward to a delicious cold beer while soaking an achy body in a hot tub.Ahh the joys of winter sports, they almost make the winter worth all this freezing cold… Almost.

The days are getting longer though, not too much longer now. A perfect occasion to get in an end of the season trip.

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This morning I woke up with a crazily stiff neck, which bugged me all day long at work. Its days like today that I really could do without having to stare into a computer screen for 8 hours. To cope I took an Aleve, tried not to look to my left and counted the minutes until yoga this evening. Sure enough, after an hour and a half of hot stretching and bending tonight I felt a million times better. Although my neck is still a tad sore I have full mobility again, yay! Yoga truly does feel like the cure to all ills sometimes.

I think this all started last night in spin class. I was tired going in and really pushed myself to make it the entire hour. I think I might have pushed just a little too much, as I am sometimes wont to do. Luckily, tomorrow is my day off (from training) so I’ll have a little time to recoup and let my body heal.  It can be super challenging for me to not push myself when I do anything athletic, I think this is probably something that I should address before the Century ride.

I have an exciting night planned tomorrow that’ll definitely involve some good company, and some woman’s Olympic half pipe, what more to ask from an evening?! Plus, on a similar note, tomorrow I have my appointment to finally get fitted for new contacts. Although you wont see me wearing them in pictures, or out and about around town, they do have one very specific and oh so important purpose. Snowboarding! Once I have the contacts I’ll have no more excuses and can finally, after such a long time get my ride back on.

Today it snowed big beautiful flakes all day long as I worked and though it’s hard to see much from where I sit, the huge pillowy crystals were impossible to miss as they floated down onto the streets of Chelsea. I have to say that even with my stiff neck the snow brought a smile to my face. Who could help but think of snowboarding, and hot chocolate, and general mountain adventures when the world is coated in a fresh layer of wonderful snow?

Well, it’s about time for me to enjoy a cup of tea and get to bed, big day tomorrow!

P.S. The pic is Barrett Christy, old school Olympic snowboarder, huge hero of mine and… I ride her signature board!

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It was a fun filled action packed and surprisingly awesome weekend, which accounts for the complete lack of updates on my part. What can I say, it was a little enlightening too.

I got some feedback from a good friend on the blog. She said that though she loves the recipes, she misses the content and the old school basic purpose of this blog, which was to document my life in NYC. In my effort to share my infatuation with my new apartment, my kitchen and my ability to good decent meals here after a year of not having that luxury, I’ve kind of abandoned the original direction I took in creating this.

I’ve always strived for a healthy lifestyle. Cycling and other physical outdoor sports are a huge part of who I am and have been for as long as I can remember. It made sense to me to incorporate those things into what I write, though admittedly it makes more sense to discuss these things by weaving them into the adventures I have.

So bear with me. The food content will continue, but I think I’ll bring back a little bit of of what inspired all this in the first place too. Not that its really gone anywhere, the content is my life after all. It’s just the editing part that can get kinda tricky. Good news though, I think I’m up for the challenge.

My hour of spin after work was particularly hard tonight, so I think I’ll call it an early one for the sake of missed sleep this weekend. I hope that you’ve had a lovely evening, and that you might find some of the serenity tonight that I am right now as I watch the snow fall outside my window and the the Olympic snowboarders race their way to victory.

Stay tuned for more stories.

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So, without further ado I set about tossing together all kinds of delicious ingredients and made some of the tastiest granola I think I’ve ever had. So easy too!

I’m having some technical camera issues so I’ll have to add pics to this post later but here’s the recipe:

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup raisins

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp veggie oil

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Toss the honey in a medium bowl and into the microwave until it’s nice and runny. The add the oil, brown sugar and vanilla (I was generous with both the honey and vanilla since I love them so much). Mix everything well and add the almonds and oats until everything’s kind of coated, though the oats will still seem pretty dry. Spread onto a well greased non-stick cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes stirring the mix 2 or 3 times while it bakes. When everything is nice and golden brown (and your entire house smells AMAZING it’s ready to go. After it cools for about 10 minutes just toss the mix into a bag with the raisins and shake until everything is distributed well. That’s it!

Now I have granola to put into my yogurt for the next week or so and I can feel really good about it knowing I made it myself, and that it’s filled with healthy goodness and love.

Have a great night everyone!

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