Winter Wonderland
I'm having a fit of artistic inspiration tonight. I spent the afternoon wandering around the East Village and dipping into thrift shops in the hopes of finding a decent new purse. I had no luck but found my absolute new favorite cafe/ wine bar. It's on 2nd avenue around 5th street on the West Side of the street. Incidentally, I never caught the name but it's absolutely perfect. Okay, perhaps I want it to be a secret. I started off with a cappuccino and toast with nutella while actually working on my novel. Then realizing I still had about an hour to kill, I ordered a glass of red wine. I sat at the bar next to a French couple, a German guy and surrounded by the Italian wait staff speaking Italian. As if the place wasn't perfect enough, at 6, they put out a display of prosciutto, cheese, bread, salami and olives- a happy hour treat for those drinking wine. I found myself surrounded by interesting, kind, creative people. Quite the perfect date with myself as the storm raged outside.
Post wine bar, I headed to a Polish restaurant further East for a birthday dinner for my all time favorite spin instructor. Despite taking his class for about 3 1/2 years, this was the first time I hung out with him and other spin people outside of class. It was fun and motivating to be around health conscious, athletic people. There's definitely something to be said about having the strength and determination to regularly complete his class and how that translates to the rest of your life. Everyone there seemed intelligent, accomplished and happy.
The journey home was an adventure. By the time we left the restaurant at 10, it was complete madness. I walked three blocks to the bus stop directly into the incoming snow, bonding with fellow New Yorkers over the insanity. Then stood waiting for the bus for ten minutes, another New York bonding experience.. the great equalizer as we all realized waiting for the bus was the only option. And finally, here I am, sitting in the comfort of my apartment, having my third and last glass of wine for the night, about to work on my novel.
Energetic Mood
I'm in an energetic, good mood which means I naturally feel like dancing. My spinning teacher was ridiculous last night. He kept using his microphone battery pack to spank me so I'd go faster. Then at the end of the class, he insisted that I spank him back "harder! harder! harder" in front of a forty person class.
Yup. I officially have my mojo back. Whatever that means. I feel like I'm back to my old self. Errr.. picture below representing my old self? What do you do to regain your mojo?
Crunch Fort Greene
I ventured to Brooklyn for Carl's spin class since I missed last night's. Actually, I've been meaning to check out the gym for while now since it's sort of part of my move decision. As brave as I am when it comes to being thrown into new situations, it takes a big push for me to check out other Crunch gyms- i.e. a familiar face. The first thing I noticed was how predominantly black it was compared to the Manhattan Crunch's I usually go to. Or maybe it was 50-50 and the Manhattan gyms are mostly white. As much as people just assume that all of New York is one big melting pot, there are tons of neighborhoods that are less diverse than my home town. Like the East Village- most people thing it's the eclectic mix of people- and it is.. but it's really mainly middle class to upper middle class white, maybe Indian, maybe Asian.. Upper East Side? Upper West Side? Forget about it. I'd feel nearly out of place in my standby purple skinny Uniqlo pants and gray Converse. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I feel like I've gone backwards in my "surrounded by diversity" department since I've graduated high school.
In conclusion- Carl's class was insanely hard. The class had a good vibe and I can get used to Brooklyn. Maybe I'll even start reading more like a normal person cause I'll have subway time.
I'm Spun
Today's spinning class was one of those classes where I felt like I was going to die within the first five minutes. I don't know if doing 100 push-ups on Saturday somehow effected my legs.. err.. no. That's not it. Or if it was the jumping/ dancing in heels Saturday night to the point where I considered taking off my shoes to walk two blocks. Maybe not. Or if it was my brief workout with the leg press thing before class. Probably. Anyway, I once again entertained the class, but not on purpose. While taking off my spinning sneakers- (the Velcro makes Carl happy- a long running class joke) he pointed out that the boys must be chasing me. Apparently I have that innocent look. Ha! By innocent, does he mean I look like I'm 19 years old. I'm guessing he couldn't harass "chap stick girl" because her man was in class. In other news, this was a nice way to end the day that didn't start off so well. My upstairs neighbor actually STARTED rehearsing or whatever EVIL thing he does with his synthesizer at 11pm at night. Yes, that's right, 11PM. Until around 1am. Even with earplugs in, it still vibrated my bed but not in a good way. Brooklyn here I come.