Updates on Life and Stuff

Well hello there.

It's been quite a while since I've posted. It seemed like whenever I had some time to write, I wasn't really motivated to put fingers to keyboard, but when I had ideas for things I wanted to write, work was crazy. Which, to be honest, has been a lot of the past few weeks. I had a massive corporate reorganization I was working on that finally closed on July 1, another deal started heating up almost immediately after, and then I rotated groups (as you do as a first year at my firm) and am in capital markets. Whew.

I've kind of loved the craziness, though! Not when it means I have to miss special events, but keeping busy means that I don't have time to miss Sourabh while he's in LA. Between work, fitting in workouts and trying to see friends on the weekends, these 15 weeks apart have been flying by. But they can't end soon enough!

So, what has been distracting me, other than work (and of course, my awesome NYC friends)?

Uplift

I've gotten a wee bit obsessed with Uplift Studios. I always loved it, but since I'm not going out to dinner frequently with Sourabh right now -- I've actually been cooking quick dinners for myself pretty often! -- I feel like I can justify the cost more. Plus, when I take a summer associate to a class, I can get reimbursed! So, Uplift has been my "thing" this summer.

Not Uplift but taken as I walked home from Uplift...

Since my work hours are so unpredictable I tend not to make weeknight plans, and because Sourabh isn't home when I do get back on weekdays, if I don't go to Uplift, I typically see only my work colleagues all day. And I like those people! However... a break from work people can't hurt, right?

Uplift feels like my Cheers bar. You know, "the place where everyone knows your name"? I love walking in to "hi Jen" and chatting with the instructors and front desk managers. Not to mention the classes kick me in the ass every. single. time. For the first five minutes, I always think to myself, "why are you doing this again?" Then I get into it, push myself, and leave sweaty and happy.

I've been really lucky in that, so far, I've been able to work from home from 6:30/7 AM till 9:30 AM then head to work, which makes it possible for me to take a break from work in the evening and take a 7:30 class now and then before diving back in to the fray that is corporate law. Since my favorite Uplift instructors teach in the evenings, this works out perfectly! (In case you're wondering, my personal faves are Liz B, Tara, Chelsea, Michelle and Kat -- I love Shannon as well, but she never teaches when I can go!)


July 4 Weekend

I'm kind of the worst at taking pictures, especially of food, but Sourabh and I had a pretty great spread of fitness and food over the long weekend. We had lunch at ABC Cocina (chipotle chicken tacos were one of the highlights), got Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream from the pop up in Gotham West Market (INSANELY good ice cream, guys, you need to drop everything and go get a scoop), and ate our way through Smorgasburg like Godzilla tearing through San Francisco/Tokyo/every city he destroys. The highlight at Smorgasburg? Definitely the Thai iced tea popsicle. So good!

On the fitness front, Sourabh tried Flywheel for the first time with me and we also took a stand up paddle boarding lesson with Shannon at the Manhattan Kayak Company. Yes, that's Shannon

I loved stand up paddle boarding. I was completely petrified when I first got on the board. It seemed so shaky and I thought I'd never have the courage to get up on my feet. But when I did? The adrenaline rush was invigorating and the focus I had to use to keep myself balanced meant the whole hour was incredibly meditative. Or as meditative as you can be paddle boarding on the Hudson with tourists looking down at you from the U.S.S. Intrepid. Our big goal was not to fall into the Hudson and we succeeded!

I highly recommend Shannon and the Manhattan Kayak Company. A private lesson was $60 per person for the hour and the instruction we received was stellar -- we did SUP again in Orange County this past weekend and were kind of just tossed out on the boards. It worked out fine but I felt much more confident having more instruction and stellar guidance from Shannon.


Visits to California

Sourabh's firm hosts two amazing events during the summer. One is strictly for summer associates and one is for the whole firm. Since significant others are invited, I got to tag along for free! Who can say no to three day weekends on Catalina Island and at a Ritz Carlton in Orange County? So, once in June and once in July, I've taken a Friday off to fly out there. Thankfully work allowed me to get away both times since I was slightly panicky I'd miss out on seeing Sourabh and enjoying the weekends. Ask my office mate, I might have nearly started crying when I got staffed to something that was originally supposed to sign over the July weekend. But, thanks to the Corporate gods that be, nothing ever signs on its original timeline, and I was saved!

During the June weekend on Catalina Island, we went zip lining, hiked up around the cove that the tiny town of Avalon is situated around, drove a golf cart into the hills and around town and played mini golf.

How gorgeous is Catalina???

In Orange County, we went stand up paddle boarding, hiked seven miles in the Laguna Beach hills, took a few moonlit walks on the beach (#soromantic), played tennis (or rather, I tried to swing at a tennis ball -- I have absolutely no tennis ability), and enjoyed all the other firm-coordinated activities.

I hate that I only get a couple days here and there with Sourabh this summer, but his firm's events have made those visits to CA really special and fun. Plus, I've been able to meet the rest of his summer class and other attorneys at his firm, all of whom have been great to get to know.

I may be ever so slightly, just the tiniest bit missing this...

Training for... Things

Haha so about that whole training for a race thing. While I've been working out a lot, consistent race training has not happened in any way shape or form. Generally my mileage has hovered between, oh, 5-10 miles a week. Sometimes less. Considering that I was training for a marathon this time last year, those numbers are shocking, I know.

But I'm actually very happy with the fitness place I'm in right now. I decided that I wanted my summer priority to be on fun workouts, not on dragging myself out of bed to run.

I enjoy running so much more now when it's a spontaneous early AM run with a friend on the High Line or joining in for a few miles with a marathon-training friend. I do want to get back to training (when temperatures/humidity drop...), but for now, I'm really enjoying this relaxed summer.

It's so nice that I can take a bike ride up to the Little Red Lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge with Theodora instead of forcing myself to run long when I don't feel like it. When I do get back to race training, I think I'll be reinvigorated and ready to grind. (I hope!)

And with that, I think I'll close. Or rather, with this collage of Mason trying to get comfortable one morning, because life is hard: