Newsflash: I Crave Structure

Posted on February 3, 2012 by aubrief

Ok so.. for someone in the world, working part time from home is dream come true. Forgive me for sounding ungrateful, but I’m not that person. I like to busy, frantic even. I’m only working collectively, say 15-20 hours per week, and since I only have one class and my thesis is plugging along, well…I have too much time on my hands.

photo borrowed from raywj.com

Frankly, all this free time is making me feel a little listless.

Frankenstein wishes he was busy too

So I’ve decided, if a job & school won’t do it, I’m going to have to schedule myself within an inch of my life. Because let’s be real, if I have four hours to write a blog post, go for a run, take a shower and write a press release it ain’t gonna happen…buuut, if I have 30 mins to write a blog post, 1 hour to go for a run, 30 mins to get dressed and showered and an hour to write a press release, I’ll also manage to write a chapter of my Master’s thesis & knock out some strength training in those four hours. I just need to be structured.

This is totally normal, right?

So part one of this plan is to get up at the same time everyday and workout as if I were super busy. Morning runs and workouts are coming back folks. I’ll let you know how it goes!

January NYC Bloggers Playdate

Posted on February 1, 2012 by aubrief

This past weekend, Keelie of Sweat = Success (it really does, she is living, breathing proof), organized another fabulous NYC Bloggers Playdate! I love getting to know other bloggers and fitness enthusiasts, the ladies who I’ve met at these get togethers are so awesome.

This month, Dasha Libin of Kettlebell Kickboxing hosted us for a class. I’m not going to lie, I took a kettle bell class recently (for the first time) and I was so sore afterwards that I walked down stairs sideways for four days (I wish I was kidding, ask my friends and family), so I was…intimidated. Unfortunately, I love a challenge and am physically incapable of saying no to a free workout (fact).

kettlebells!

Dasha and her co-teachers were 1)fantastic and 2) hot. I don’t know about you, but when I walk into a fitness class and the teacher looks amazing, I want to be doing what she’s doing. They walked us through each of the exercises and corrected our form (SO important and SO often neglected in fitness classes). By the end, I was a sweaty mess who couldn’t wait to come back for more.

The whole gang (photo from Sweat = Success)

If you know me, you would guess that I was very very hungry at this point, and you would be right. Luckily, part of the NYC Blogger Playdate always involves food (let’s be real about why I go)! We headed deep into Chinatown to check out Buddha Bodai, a vegetarian dim sum restaurant. We didn’t know when we started on our journey that we would end up in the midst of the Chinese New Year.

FLAGS! (this one’s for C-Lou)

Dragons! (Also reminded me to be excited about Game of Thrones Season 2)

When we finally made it to the restaurant we were really hungry, but there were about a million and five delicious sounding options on the menu, so deciding was yet another adventure.

serious menus demand serious concentration

In the end I could’t settle on one item (shocking, I know). I split some dumplings with my friend Colleen, rocked a wonton soup & spicy rice noodles with eggplant.

All good things folks, all good things. Finally, full & exhausted, we took a picture (we are bloggers) and called it a day!

From left to right: Keelie (Sweat = Success), Toni (Running, Loving, Living), Ashley (Freckles & Spice), Me, my beautiful friend Colleen, Meredith (Dare You To), and Erika (Shoes Shirts & Other Sh!t)

There were lots more bloggers around for the workout, but alas I do not know them all! If you want to know about the next NYC Blogger Playdate/want to talk about blogging/plan a fun event everyone should go to, let me know!

Finals + Holidays = Sporadic Workouts

Posted on December 14, 2011 by aubrief

While I LOVE the holiday season, I haven’t spent much time enjoying it this year. Unfortunately my finals go up until December 21st, and since the event I’m coordinating at work happens right after the new year, I’m completely slammed at the office. So right now, my average day looks like this:

7:30- wake up
8:30- leave for work
9/9:30- get to work
9:30-5 WORK LIKE CRAZY
5-6pm-travel to class
6-8:30- SO MUCH LEARNING
9/9:30- get home from class
9:30-12- FINAL PROJECTS, STUDY FOR FINAL EXAMS, MORE FINAL PROJECTS
12- Fall alseep on top of my ~~extremely novice~~ architectural model of a theater

Somewhere in all this madness I have to eat, shop for Christmas gifts, and plan my holiday travel. Needless to say, I am not getting much exercise. (As in I am FAILING the 30 for 60 Challenge.) Instead, I’m being careful about what goes into my body, since I know I won’t have the opportunity to sweat it out.

Lucky for me, FAGE Greek yogurt was on sale this weekend, so I’ve got lots of delicious protein to start my days. I’ve been eating a lot of these at my desk:

A whole lot of fruit on the run,

And I’ve allowed myself a couple little pieces of dark chocolate everyday to curb any sweets cravings.

Yum. Normally I’d get sluggish from only working out once or twice a week, but I’m going on week two of a reduced schedule and I’m still feeling pretty good. Here’s hoping I can keep it up until the semester is over and I can get back to this:

My Wild Weekend…of Homework

Posted on December 5, 2011 by aubrief

It’s ~~the holiday~~ finals season over here, and I had one wild weekend preparing for it. I stayed in Friday night just to decompress from the insane week I’ve had, and to get a head start on my weekend itinerary: work on three final project, study for one final exam and write one final exam for my undergrads.

Saturday I was lucky enough to get breakfast with one of my favorite people. I neglected to take pictures, but I had whole wheat french toast with Canadian bacon. It was delicious, and fueled me through several hours of research, but I hit my focus wall and knew it was time for a distraction.

Cooking! This is completely unglamorous, but I make food in bulk over the weekend so I don’t have to during my busy weekdays. Cube up some chicken breast, griddle with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper, and you’ve got a lean protein to add to any meal all week long!

After cooking up the week’s supplies, I still wasn’t ready to head back to the books so I hit the gym. Day 3 of 30 for 60 consisted of 30 minutes of speed drills on the treadmill, followed by 20 minutes of strength training and 10 minutes of stretching.

Dinner was leftover Chinese with some extra veggies thrown in, with a side of homework.

After a looong day of gettin stuff DONE, I was in no shape to go out, but in serious need of a break. I learned something very important at my corner bodega, Stella Artois now comes in a can!

I had one of these suckers and was tucked in bed by midnight. I told you guys, WILD. I would tell you about how thrilling Sunday was, but you probably couldn’t handle all the awesome.

Thank Goodness It’s Friday

Posted on December 3, 2011 by aubrief

Holy Moley you guys. This week kicked my butt. Anyhow, now it’s the weekend I can spend the whole weekend ~~hanging out~~ doing homework. I’ve decided to stay in the Borough of Brooklyn all weekend and to walk everywhere I go. (I’ll let you know how I do!)

Friday is the only weekday that I don’t have grad classes after work, so I often skip my morning workout with the intention of working out in the evening. Want to know how often that actually happens? Yeaa…

I was in no mood to work out so I played Wii Dance instead! Hello 30 minutes of daily exercise (day two of 30 for 60)!

Afterwards, since I am the model of healthy habits, I indulged myself.

Hello mini canoli, chocolate mousse tart and Guinness.

How was your Friday night?

Day One of the 30 for 60 challenge

Posted on December 2, 2011 by aubrief

Brrr, its (finally) cold outside. It’s also December 1st which means the holiday season is upon us. The tree in Rockefeller Center has been lit, the windows of Macy’s are all aglow, and this New Yorker has big plans to pull her fake Christmas tree out of storage tonight. Since the holidays are always hectic, I wanted to put a plan in place to help me stay healthy through the New Year. Since I follow about a zillion fitblogs, I knew I could steal somebody else’s plan to help me stay healthy through the New Year.

Hats off to RunCupcake from Because I Can, who started the 30 for 60 Challenge to help out exercisers like me. The challenge, work out everyday for 30 minutes from December 1-February 1. Since I’m not training for anything, I think a variety of shorter workouts every day will be a great way to fit fitness into my holiday.

Here’s my first 30 for 60 workout:

27 mins- 3 mile run
30 seconds- Mountain Climbers
30 seconds- Marine plank
30 seconds- Side plank right
30 seconds- Side plank left
30 seconds- V sit
30 sit ups

It was a simple mix, but a great way to start the day. I wore my new sport gloves (thanks Mom), since it was only a few degrees above freezing at 7am. They have finger pads that allow you to work a touch screen..clearly this is so exciting I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

What are you doing to keep up your healthy habits this holiday season?

I would like to be this hardcore

Posted on September 24, 2011 by aubrief

You guys, this might be TMI, but I lost my first toenail to running. RIP dear toenail. Luckily, I hung on to it long enough for a new one to start growing in! (Ok now it’s DEFINITELY tmi.) Either way, I’m feeling pretty hard core, but you know what’s REALLY hardcore? This guy, and his “old school” workout:

Category Archives: fitness