i love new york

And, as I walked down through Greenwich Village on my lunchbreak to an errand today, I don't know how I could ever leave this city. I love its busy-ness. I love the way there is seemingly no rhyme or reason to streets in the village, I love the storefronts, the employees, the cobblestones, the trees. I love the cold air whipping my hair as I turn a corner, I love people not even noticing me as I literally turn circles in the middle of the street trying to figure out what corner houses my subway stop. I love that there is maddening construction going on in a subway station but that that indescribable feeling success as I pass through the turnstile right as the train pulls up makes any noises, glaring orange construction signs, and seemingly endless netting to keep pedestrians out, is worth all of it and more. I chose to make this city my home less than two years ago. And I have been thrown a lot in the time I've been here. And I thank my lucky stars for that. In its ever-changing nature, this city never changes. Which allows me to continue to grow and explore and be. Thanks for being you, New York.

driving ruins everything...

 I was catching up on Kate's fabulous blog and it put me in SUCH a nostalgic mood to return to California. Yet I just can't imagine having to cope with the driving and the distance between everything again....and I can't really imagine returning to San Diego. Even San Francisco, as much as I love the walkability, the culture, it is the sun that I miss from California....and SF is not known for its weather so much. Maybe if I could be in an awesome part of L.A....I may have to take LA-based friends up on all their insistances and give LA another chance one day to really explore the ins and outs of the city and the different neighborhoods therein. But still there's the driving....so much time needed to be in a car....although there are bus lines...at least for the daily commuting....but still, the price of a car, of insurance, of gas, even if it is just sitting along a curb 5 days out of the week....it's a California necessity.

Yet I miss the California sun - it has it's own light, somehow, and the air has its own thickness and its own quality. The ocean exists differently than these east coast oceans do. Even as springtime sun lights up New York, even as sporadic friends from back home are slowly migrating east, I do so miss those beaches, that salty air, the calmness of the sea. It's the ease with which one can reach the ocean that is different - yet this is because I live in Brooklyn. I live close enough to an ocean - I can take a train and be there within an hour, even on my side of the island there is a body of water which I can walk alongside, but it is not the same thing as going to the beach, plunking down on the sand, and napping in that glorious sun for hours. No, it is not the same thing at all, and even while it is an attainable place to visit on the weekends, it is not a place I can dash off to for an hour here or there. How spoiled I was in my last beachside neighborhood in California!

Anyway, this post really has nothing to do with anything at all except it hit me as being weird that I wonder if I remember the girl I was for 26 years accurately anymore. New York has been so transformative it's crazy....both good and bad I suppose, but pushing me to grow and so I suppose that can only be good, in the grand scheme of things. I guess maybe this post is forcing me, once again, to rectify the fact that you can't go home again...there are always going to be things I'm going to miss from either place. I guess that's the whole point of things, as you grow and make new homes for yourself, there is no longer one single place that exists for you as "home." There will be pieces from any of the homes you've chosen that you will miss whenever you are not there. It's the sort of thing you have to just let wash over you, I suppose. Not the sort of thing you can think about too heavily.

I suppose, if I look at what I'm craving, I'm wishing I could go spend two weeks back in California. I wish I could be on a vacation at the beach, with friends with whom to play, with money to spend ad nauseum, to see California as the vacation destination so many people treat it as. Yet, this is impossible. There are not two weeks to be spent on a vacation trip to California, there is not money to be spent frivolously, there are no friends who could take two weeks off to laze around the beach with me, and there is no way I could get to all the places I would want to see without having to drive. And it is the thought of having to drive my way around the state that makes the whole idea of a trip there go from "relaxing" to "stressful" in one dominant thought. I-would-have-to-drive.

No dice.

Summer is coming to New York. I will have time to relish the heat that remains, hanging in the air, late into the night. I will have time to take myself to the beach, and bake in the sun, even if I have to top off my relaxing seaside day with an hour-long train ride back to the city. I went to the beach here in a car once, and that was sort of wonderful feeling of frivolity - being driven, enjoying the sea air coming in through the window, blowing hair around, drying salt on skin. It felt like I was a little kid again, sun-crisped, sun-drowsy, and utterly relaxed and happy. That day feels quite long ago now, but I guess it's just that little reminder that even in a city that has some of the best public transportation in the country - if not, perhaps, the world - the ability to drive yourself is still a luxury. California or New York, cars are just a part of our entire culture. I just wish I didn't dislike driving oh-so much.

And with that, I end this having-nothing-to-do-with-anything post.

I can't wait for summer....

The beach I frequent most often is Far Rockaway. So this year I may have the following to look forward to on a weekend trip out:

Man #1: I hate Far Rockaway, man. It's crazy there!
Man #2: Yeah, man.
Man #1: Yeah! This one time I was walking down the street in Far Rockaway and I saw a man clinging to the back of a truck, just throwing apples at people!

--A Train

Thanks Overheard In New York, for reminding me how much I love this city. Also, thanks O'Ridge for the Apple Incident over Halloween of 2008. Who would have thought our well-crafted apartments could have been so pummeled by fruit??

gotta love Brooklyn

 {Image via}

As I got out of class last night - way up on 96th street in Manhattan, with drizzling rain still falling in the midst of a cold wind - I couldn't bear the thought of my commute home. I hated that I'd moved as far as Brooklyn, hated that I had to get on a train for half an hour, and make a transfer to boot. It just all felt terribly overwhelming (I know, I know, talk about a First World Problem!). But of course I hoofed it to my stop and continued my way home, what else can ya do, right?

And as I got onto my L train, heading into Brooklyn from the city, I was shocked at how full my train was. At 10 pm there was a slew of people, packed tight as sardines, murmuring amongst themselves, laughing at each other, making space for older people to sit, clearing room for those burdened with bags to unload for a bit. And I was overcome with happiness that these were my neighbors. That all these people in this train, all these people waving at the baby in the stroller, and clearing as much room as possible between them and the person behind them, chuckling at events of the day, were my fellow Brooklynites. They had surely all had just as long a day as I - many of them, probably a much longer one. And they all were just as relieved as I to be heading home, and they were chipper and congenial on their ride there. It really was lovely. And I was once again beyond content that I chose to leave the rush of Manhattan to move across the water.

You're Welcome

I've decided that I'm going to stop recording my workouts and fitness goals here on this blog - that was not was the blog was intended for when I started it, and while transformations and evolutions are normal for things as "living" as blogs, I don't think it really fits with even just the titling of this little gem. I've instead started a fitness-healthy-eating-clean-living-personal-progress-blog here where I will keep all those sorts of "my legs are sore!" posts confined. Just letting you all know, because I know there are specific subsets of people who get as excited about reading about other people's workouts and eating schedules and motivations as I do. :)

Returning to this little blog-o-mine, I will do my darndest to get it back to the things I do for fun around this crazy city of Manhattan. Those fun things have just been a little few and far between as I am juggling work with school with homework with tests with projects, but they will come anew, and I will happily share said good times with you loyal readers when they do!

In the meantime, Happy Tuesday, and enjoy some lovely quotes for the day (or week depending on how busy I get...) from around the web:

i like to move it, move it....

 

I worked legs yesterday - pushed myself to do 25 lb. barbell squats that truly burned as I was working. But this morning? No soreness in my butt at all. Know what that means? I have to squat deeper next time. :)

My inner thighs however? Sore! Good sign! Proving to me that every little bit of work I do, helps. My body is remembering its strength, I can feel it. And it feels goooood! I like feeling strong. I like feeling capable in a physical capacity, not just a mental one.

I took the morning off today - I got to bed too late last night and I have class until late this evening, but I'm thinking it may have been a good thing with how sore my biceps still are, and my inner-legs now are!

I love the feeling of progress. Even if it's not where I anticipated to feel it. :p Happy Thursday all!

back to it!

I've gotten myself back in the gym this week, we've now made it to Day 3 in a row that I've continuously gone. Hey man, baby steps. I'm back on Jamie Eason's LiveFit trainer - back at Phase 1 as I fell off the wagon so horribly at Thanksgiving. And let me just say, the body is amazing. My body remembers. It remembers the strength I used to have, that muscle memory kicks in, and I'm actually feeling my back exercises in the muscles the moves are intended to target. I kid you not, when I was doing the program before my long hiatus, I only ever felt my "back" exercises in my arms. I definitely still felt my triceps burning while I was doing pull-downs, but there is a twinge of soreness in my upper back today. Success!!

So I'm feeling pretty good, as is the case in the first little while of any new resolution. But the thing of it is, this isn't a resolution. This needs to be a lifestyle. So I'm embarking on my journey, to maintain the feelings of happiness and endorphin rushes that working out brings to me, and to maintain the energy and tastiness of consistent clean eating and whole foods. Consistency is the key for me - eating every few hours keeps me from slipping into sleepiness and diving for more coffee. I'm learning my body, and it's proving even more interesting thanks to my classes.

Just had to report in, that I'm back, and feeling better than ever. Happy Wednesday all!