Summer Streets

NYC Summer Streets is another reason why I love New York in the summer time. Every year for three weekends in August the City shuts down Park Avenue from 72nd Street all the way down to the Brooklyn Bridge. This means no cars! The avenue is instead surrendered to bicyclists, tricyclists, unicyclists (seriously) roller bladers, skateboarders, runners, walkers, young people, old people, children, pets, you name it. Riding down the middle of the street surrounded by all these active people on a beautiful summer day with no cars in site, is like living in an alternate reality. My favorite is when the light turns red, and everybody stops to let the cars cross through. When the light turns green, it's like the Tour de France. I put my head down and pedal as fast as I can to get in the lead.

Este and I were feeling so good, breathing in the fresh air and getting some much-needed excerise. Our downfall came when we hit the Whole Foods-sponsored picnic on block 25. Free food! We dumped our bikes to the side and pushed toddlers and grandmas out of the way to get in line for the free lemon sorbet, cantaloupe salad, yogurt, cheese, iced coffee, carrots, Cliff bars, and smoothies. Really, how harmful can it be if the food is healthy and you're wearing Spandex? Sufficiently stuffed, we had to walk our bikes out of there to give the food some time to digest.

A half block later, we found a free outdoor Zumba class. Young girls were suggestively swinging their butts from side to side and working up a sweat. I wanted to get back to the biking, but Este naturally claimed he needed more time to digest and that this was a good place to take another break.

So maybe it wasn't the greatest workout, but we had a fun time and enjoyed all the festivities. I'm planning to buy some blinders for Este (the kind they give horses) so hopefully next weekend we can make it all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge!

The Hangover

You know it was a good party when several days go by and you are still thinking about the good times you had. You feel fulfilled and are completely content staying home for the rest of the week. You look at pictures and share stories with friends. And after a few days or weeks, you start planning for the next crazy night out. At least that's how it's always been for me.

So that should explain to you why I haven't blogged for many months. I was still recovering from the wedding! Planning a wedding is a full-time job, and for a year, the event was constantly in the back of my mind. And when the big day finally came around, it did not disappoint. In fact, it was the greatest night of my life! Hence my need to detox and recuperate.

I didn't realize just how much time I've spent being a bum, until I was telling a friend the other day that I hadn't worked out since before the wedding. I am just giving myself a little break, I said. But what began as a well-earned treat to myself (a break from the gym, from writing, from organizing the gifts and photos) is now nothing but a way of life. I've read that one in ten brides experience the post-wedding blues, a natural outcome to spending so much time planning for one day. My situation is more like the post-wedding retreat. I am using 2010 to relax and enjoy the married life! Which brings me to statistic number 2- studies show that people who get married are twice as likely to become obese than those who are just dating.

So in an effort to not "let myself go", I'm writing again, and I've created a little group called Blog Watchers to help me stay on track. Shout out to my friend Jamie who just started her Island Girl-Concrete Jungle blog, and to Nitasha and Kat who have recently started writing in their blogs again too. Together, we can do this!

Note: In case you're wondering, I will start my gym schedule in a couple weeks, after I have successfully reinstituted my writing schedule. Don't want to take on too much and risk a relapse!