Friday Favorites #15 – randomness on a Saturday!

Please excuse my tardiness on posting about Friday Favorites on a Saturday. Let’s talk about my Friday Favorites but with a twist on the things I really missed being able to do in the last year. And oh by the way, I’m horrible at taking pictures of anything that’s not our baby, so please ignore the lack of pictures in this post.

The Olympics. I love competition and I love the Olympics. It’s been great having coverage on in the background throughout the day. Women’s gymnastics are awesome and of course, swimming. I am also very much looking forward to the track and field events, which started yesterday. By the way, the Women’s 10K race was incredible and so excited that Molly Huddle broke Shalane Flanagan’s American record. Oh and I am with the New Yorker about Women’s Gymnastics deserving better TV coverage.

img_5568Any and all cheeses. Man, I hated asking everywhere I went if the cheeses were pasteurized. Josh and I went out for the first time just the two of us last week for dinner at Bin 14 and it was the first time we just ordered whatever we wanted without concern.

A glass of Riesling. My absolute favorite wine. I never did drink much, only socially, and with constant marathon training over the last couple of years, I was drinking even less. But I really did miss being able to order a drink on occasion.

Smoked salmon with bagel and cream cheese. Yummy! I haven’t had one of these in over 10 months and was so excited to finally be able to eat smoked salmon. Josh makes it best with frozen whole wheat bagels, cream cheese, tomatoes, and of course, smoked salmon.

Stokke MyCarrier Cool, Gaiam Backless Ball Chair and Africa. The combination of these three things have been a savior the last couple of days when our little one would wake up early and not be able to fall back asleep. I carry her with the carrier, either pacing/dancing around the apartment or bouncing on the ball chair while singing Africa. This also keeps my hands free to eat (very carefully that I do not drop anything on her) and of course, type this blog post.

img_5475Can’t wait to run/exercise again. I’m itching to start exercising and running again but will wait until I hopefully receive clearance from the doctors in a week and a half. Did I tell you I brilliantly signed up for the Bronx 10-miler and NYC Marathon? Ha, we’ll see how I do getting back into shape especially in this heat. To inspire my return, I am purchasing a new pair of running shoes. Brooks is having a sale on the Launch 3 in select colors until Sunday! It’s too bad the USA edition is not discounted.

Our families. They deserve more than a mention in a post. We’ve been so fortunate to have our families visit for the birth and afterwards. They have been incredibly helpful and have spoiled us and their granddaughter with so much love, lots of diaper changes, early morning feedings, and extra sleep for Josh and I. We’re so grateful for them.

Hope you have a great weekend with a lot of running, Olympic watching especially the women’s marathon tomorrow, and if you’re in the NYC-area heat wave, that you’re staying cool.

Friday Favorites #13 – Hoboken fitness edition

It’s been a while since I wrote a Friday Favorites blog post, almost 10 months ago when we were in Bermuda. This week’s favorites is all about fitness back in Hoboken especially fitness that is friendly to 34+ weeks pregnant women!

We’ve been back in town for a couple of weeks now and I have finally found my exercise routine and groove. I am fortunate to still be able to exercise (and I use the term loosely as this is very specific to me and is different for everyone) 5-6 days a week this far into the pregnancy.

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Cooler weather means more “rulls” (run/strolls) along the gorgeous Hudson River waterfront. A rull is at least 30 minutes in length and consists of run until it is uncomfortable (which is usually a couple of minutes into the first mile, and longer in the second mile), then switch to walking and then repeat.

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Elliptical machine to the rescue. I am so glad there is a gym in our building even though it is relatively small (i.e. 3 treadmills, yes that is how I measure the size of gyms). However, these days when running isn’t comfortable, I am glad to be able to go on the elliptical for 30 minutes to get some cardio in.

source: Devotion Yoga website

source: Devotion Yoga website

Prenatal yoga at Devotion Yoga. I can’t believe I am actually saying I like yoga. I have a love hate relationship with yoga and I figured now that we were more settled, I should try to find some prenatal classes. I went to my first one this week at Devotion Yoga and absolutely loved it. The instructor went at the perfect pace (especially for someone who is horribly inflexible and very pregnant on top of that) and the facility is huge (for Hoboken) and clean. Also, they offer one week free to new clients, cannot go wrong with this deal.

source: Local Barre website

source: Local Barre website

Local Barre, I love you. I missed Local Barre so much when we were in CT. I missed the instructors, I missed the structure of the classes, and I missed how I knew that they were always very accommodating to pregnant women. The instructors are extremely good about mentioning modifications for anyone in the room who is injured or pregnant and you never feel left out if there is an exercise you cannot do. With that said, the workouts are always tough and I leave feeling like I worked hard in those 60 minutes.

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And with more walks over to Local Barre, it means I can take advantage of all the yummy food options along the way. After all a 20 minute walk totally justifies a donut, right? Okay, well, I only got a donut once in honor of National Donut Day and boy was it yummy (thank you, City of Saints Coffee Roasters). However, I have been more indulgent with stopping at Starbucks or a local coffee shop on my way walk home. And there’s a Farmer’s Market that just started right by our apartment, I have a feeling we will be frequent visitors there.

Happy Friday! Have a wonderful weekend filled with running, exercising, and/or good food!