Hello from New York City, my friends! Before I get into today’s post, I wanted to say a quick thank you for all your great feedback on Wednesday’s post about potentially mixing up my content/post timing for the blog. I’m so glad to hear you still like the random day to day lifestyle type posts, and if you guys are enjoying what I’m doing, then I’m happy to keep doing it! If I have days where I don’t have much to say, maybe I’ll hold off on posting, but other than that, I’ll keep doing what works. As always, thank you so much for reading – I’m happy you’re here! 🙂
And now – New York fun!
As you guys know, Matt and I are headed to a wedding on Long Island this weekend, and I decided to come up to the city a little early to see friends! It’s been a very fun whirlwind since I arrived on Wednesday evening; I know some of you have been following along over on Instagram. 🙂
On Wednesday night, I met up with two of my UNC grad school friends, Steph and Libby, for dinner and drinks – I didn’t get any photos other than a shot of us, but it was SO great to see them! My long time readers will recognize them from my Chapel Hill adventures. 🙂 I miss getting to see these ladies every day – and the rest of our grad school crew, too!
My skirt and necklace are both Le Tote (<—affiliate link for $25 off your first month, if you’re interested), which I’m still loving!
On Thursday morning, I was up and out the door for a fun fitness adventure! My future sister-in-law Morgana (she’s marrying Matt’s younger brother Drew in a few months) teaches a TRX class at The PE Club, a boutique gym on the Upper East Side, and I’ve been dying to try it. They are on ClassPass, so I was able to switch my location on ClassPass to New York Metro and sign up for classes up here this week – awesome.
I took Morgana’s 8 a.m. “TRX Xtreme Total Body” class – she teaches at 7 and 8 a.m. every weekday. The studio was small and cozy, but clean and bright, which I loved. They also have an area for personal training.
As for the class – it was great! TRX stuff is HARD and my arms were definitely sore after this class. We did a lot of core/butt work, too – would make a great addition to a fellow runner’s weekly routine. Highly recommend checking out her class if you’re in the area!
When Morgana and I were making these plans, she asked if I’d be up to go to her favorite yoga class after taking her class – well sure, why not! So after the TRX fun, we headed over to Exhale Upper East Side a couple blocks away for a nice vinyasa flow. I didn’t get any pictures, but it was a great class – I liked the instructor a lot, and I was able to sign up for this via ClassPass, too – yay!
We showered at Exhale and then went to get food! Morgana took me to nearby Candle Café East, her favorite. I actually had plans to go to Candle Café West that evening, but I figured the menu for dinner would be different enough that it wouldn’t matter!
Candle Café East had a really cute casual vibe, and the menu was amazing – all vegan, healthy, and creative dishes. I ordered the kale salad, which had radicchio, beet, fennel, carrots, apple, and a basil-turmeric dressing. Because I was starved (I had a snack before the TRX class, and then ate a hearty almond butter Perfect Bar in between TRX and yoga, but still), I added grilled tofu (so delicious and smoky), avocado, and a side of quinoa to my order. Give me all the food! 😉 It was delicious – hit the spot. I need to figure out how to recreate that basil turmeric dressing at home…
After lunch, we explored the city a bit on foot! It was so nice to get some one-on-one time with Morgana, and on such a beautiful day, too!
After walking around for awhile and then hopping on the subway, we hit an awesome spot called Juice Generation near Union Square for a snack. I had a beet, apple, ginger, spinach, and turmeric juice, and we shared their gluten free, vegan pumpkin protein muffin. Both were delicious!
After our snack, we checked out the adorable holiday market at Union Square and picked up a bunch of Christmas gifts. This was so cute – reminded me of the holiday markets in Europe! Lots of great local vendors, too.
After saying goodbye to Morgana and getting a little work done, it was time for Candle Café part 2: Candle Café West, with my blogger buddy Gena! I so wish Gena still lived in DC – I miss her! It was great to catch up over more delicious vegan food. This Candle Café was more formal than the East location, and the menu was different, too. Perfect for dinner!
I ordered the Indian Curry Vegetable Cake, which came with was sautéed greens, caramelized onions, kabocha squash, broccoli, red pepper-coconut curry sauce, lemon-date chutney, and sliced almonds. So creative and delicious, too!
For dessert, we shared the raw pear tart with cashew coconut cream and ginger ice cream. This was good, but we both thought the crust could be more interesting/dessert-ish – it was too much like a Larabar (which I love, but not for dessert). The ginger “ice cream” was amazing, though – must have been made from coconut milk!
This morning’s adventure was something I absolutely have to do anytime I’m in New York – a run in Central Park! 🙂
Matt got in late last night, so I left him sleeping while my girl Theodora and I met up for some early morning miles before she headed off to work. So good to catch up with her over our favorite form of fitness! 🙂 Also, yes, I’m wearing a tank top in December. Amazing.
I forgot to put my watch on, but I think we covered about 4 miles. Great way to start the day!
After relaxing for a bit, Matt and I went to get food at one of our old faves: Brooklyn Diner. Sadly when we got seated we discovered they only had a lunch/dinner menu (we like their weekend brunch), but we stuck around anyway. I had a little market plate of sorts – quite good!
Matt and I are finishing up some work now, then going to do a little more wandering around the city before hopping on a train out to Long Island for the rest of the weekend. I’ll be back on Monday with a Long Island recap!
Have a great weekend, my friends!
