Philadelphia is the little spoon of New York City

Back on the Bolt bus.  This little trip to New York was a quickie, but we still had a great time.  Lots to recap.

Last night for dinner I went to Les Halles on Park Avenue which is a nice french bistro with Joe and my friends Alli and Erica.  Alli's uncle had recommended it, and it was definitely delicious.  (And I should know because I had a bite of everybody's meals).  Before dinner we enjoyed...

A couple of these...

And this beautiful view

For dinner, Alli and I did splitzies on the quiche of the day (which happened to be tomato and goat cheese ---SUPER good) and salmon in a red wine sauce and shallots over potatoes.  This plate looks like a hot mess because after drinking a few glasses of wine I forgot that I'm a blogger and basically just threw everything together on the plate without making it look nice.  Sorry guys!

We skipped dessert and headed to the bar with some friends.  The bar of the evening was Turtle Bay, and i was a really great time.  Please excuse my haggard looks.  We weren't smart enough to take the pictures early in the night.  Dancing around all night and getting sweaty certainly didn't help the situation either.

obviously the person taking the picture didn't notice it was totally blurry...haha

I don't think we're leaning...that's just the angle obviously.

Today for brunch we hit up Cinema which was around the corner from where we were staying.  I definitely would go back to this place.  I had a lot of trouble deciding on what I wanted to order, but eventually decided on a Croque Monsieur (which would put my version to shame) and tomato soup.  Joe got a breakfast salad with spinach, poached eggs, bacon, potatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  He was being way more behaved healthy wise than me.  After taste testing all of it, I determined that his salad was good, but would be better with a less bland dressing (the balsamic was really bland for some reason).  My sandwich was the best sandwich I've had in a long time, and the tomato soup tasted unbelievably fresh.  Like they just made it while I was sitting there with fresh tomatoes.  Maybe they did?  I plan on trying to recreate the breakfast salad at home this week! 

Then we went and walked around the city!  We hit up canal street and haggled for some goods.  I walked away with knock off Chanel sunglasses and perfume.  Joe got a knock of pair of fresh white Oakleys and 2 ties.  It was a fun little adventure.  

Then it was time for dinner again!  Always running from meal to meal.  For dinner we wanted Italian so we went to a place close to us.  It was called La Giara, and it was alright.  I enjoyed our dinner, but I don't think I'll be returning. 

We started out with 2 salads to split.  The insalata mista and buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes.  The insalata mista honestly sucked.  How do you mess up a salad?  It was really bitter tasting, and we were unsure whether or not there was dressing on it.  If there was you could not taste it one bit.  The mozzarella and tomatoes was good, but for $11 we decided that we didn't need the 3 pieces of cheese.  Maybe we should have skipped the aps.

bread, olives, and bruschetta

secretly deceptive bad salad

yummy but overpriced salad

Then for entrees I had spinach and ricotta raviolis in a sage butter sauce with a little parmesan cheese over it.  These were excellent!  Joe and I split dessert which was crepes coated with chocolate.  Fantastic and nice because we don't ever usually order them. 

After dinner it was time to pack up our bags and head back to the bolt bus where I'm currently blogging from (again).  It was a great and low-key 2 days!  I already can't wait to come back up here!!!  There are also a lot of fun things we want to do here outside in the spring or summer so we will have to plan another trip, maybe this time a full weekend?  Stupid work always has to get in the way.

Didn't hit up the gym today.  Decided I didn't want to have to pay for yesterday and today, and just walked around the city all day for exercise.  Joe and I decided that we love New York, but we also love Philadelphia.  It's not as expensive, a bit smaller, and easier to get around with less complicated public transportation and more parking.  Plus it's our home.  

When you guys go to New York, what is usually on your agenda?

Obviously I cared most about the meals and less touristy stuff this weekend

Until I try, I'll never know...

In New York and happy to be here!!!  Joe and I don't really have any set itinerary while were here which is nice.  Sometimes you over schedule trips, and they end up being more work than fun. 

After arriving at Penn Station via the Bolt bus, we walked about a mile to where we were staying.  It was a very snowy walk and really coming down which was a tad difficult with our bags.  We stopped half way through to break up the walk and grab lunch at Austin's Cafe.  I had a salad with diced tomatoes, red onions, feta, and balsalmic chicken with balsamic vinegarette dressing and a breakfast wrap with spinich, tomatoes, egg, and feta (my dream from this morning came true!).  

blurry picture, sorry guys, but you get the idea..

After we made it to our New York abode, we took in the sites from the skies above.  Check out these super snowy and beautiful shots of New York City! 

I didn't want to waste any time, so I got changed and headed to the New York Sports Club that was close by.  I planned on running anyways, but since it was blizzarding, I decided I'd rather hit up the gym.

(You may be wondering why I'm working out on a weekend trip and not enjoying all this wonderful city has to offer.  Well, here is my new philosophy.  I used to have the mind set of, well I'm on vacation.  Of course I'm going to eat out and lay around, etc.  I'll get back to the grind after vacation.  Fortunately for me, I take a lot of vacations with the family and the boyfriend (which is not something to complain about at all).  Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons I have a problem with constantly gaining and losing weight.  A week away of fatty meals out everyday and minimal exercise (cruises especially are the worst) cause an influx of weight, and then I never really get it off properly.  I finally am starting to figure out that there are no days off to a healthy lifestyle.  I need to try and do my best daily to get regular exercise and eat healthy.  Does this mean no going out to dinner?  No, I can go, but I can choose wisely.  I can get dessert, but it's an indulgence, and it's important not to OVER indulge.  If I know I am having a big dinner out, I eat a smaller and healthier lunch.  I don't have to go to the gym everyday, but maybe I'll walk from location to location instead of taking a cab or subway.  Simple decisions and substitutions like this can greatly influence your health and that whole concept is starting to click for me.  Plus the gym is an hour of my day, and I probably would have spent the hour sitting in the apartment anyways decompressing from the bus ride and walk here.  I just used my hour to decompress in a different way.)

Anyways, I called NYSC before heading over, and they guy at the from desk told me he would give me a good rate of $15 day pass.  When I got there the credit card machines were down, and since I didn't bring my whole purse to the gym to workout, he let me in fo' free!  LOVE free stuff!  Thanks desk guy!

Empty gym

Got the place to myself

I first did the treadmill, 3 miles in just under 33 minutes.  6.0 miles per hour for the first mile, then 5.5 miles per hour for the second 2 miles.  6.0 is a fast, but managable pace for me.  5.5 is more of a comfortable pace.  The good part about treadmills is that it keeps me pacing myself however fast I choose to go.  The bad part is that I get bored and keep wanting to push that big red "abort mission" aka "stop" button.  The last half mile as it kept counting 2.50, 2.51, 2.52 etc., I kept counting down from 50.  It made the time go by faster by saying 49, 48, 47 in my head.  I guess whatever gets the job done right?

After the dreadmill, I did this fancy stair master.  I hate stair masters that are with the 2 hydraulic foot pedals that go up and down (know the ones I'm talking about?)  I can't master those at all.  But this one was just like walking up an escalator.  I did 10 minutes, .75 miles, 34 floors, 83 calories.  Not too shabby for a stair master newbie.

Then I stretched very well (tight calves all the time!) and even found a foam roller and tried out my first foam roll.  Just did a little, but it hurt on my calves.  Hurt in a good way.  

Finished the workout up with some abs!  

- 50 side to sides with the 3 kg medicine ball

- 50 leg raises

- 25 sit ups with the medicine ball

- 90 seconds bicycle (30 seconds fast, then 30 seconds slow, then 30 seconds fast)

- 1 minute plank

Don't mind my haggard appearance, please.

Overall, a great workout.  I'm so happy I went, and now I'm in a fantastic mood.  Those experts are not lying about endorphins; they really do make you happy!  I even listened to a few show tunes since I'm so close to Broadway and all (nerd alert, I know).  Defying Gravity from Wicked is a personal favorite.  It might be corny, but my favorite line is:

"I'm through accepting limits, cause someone says they're so.  Some things I cannot change, but till I try, I'll never know."  

That's my theme lyric of 2011.  I'll never know what I can accomplish unless I try right?  Maybe this exact weekend next year I will be running the Disney World Marathon if I put my mind to it.  It's definitely a goal of mine.  Now I'm off to shower up and take on this city!

For your listening pleasure....