Hello from New York City!
We’ve been go-go-go since the minute I stepped off the plane on Friday.
Since I didn’t arrive at my friend Merri’s apartment in the West Village until around 1 a.m. and we had an early morning workout on the books for Saturday morning, we hung out and chatted until going to bed around 2 a.m.
We were up in the 7 a.m. hour on Saturday to head over to Physique 57 for a workout.
I’ve always wanted to try Physique 57 at a real studio after reading about it in countless magazines, but they currently only have locations in New York and Los Angeles. Fortunately my friends Merri and Ashley were game to try it out when I told them that Kelly Ripa has touted Physique 57 as one of her all-time favorite workouts for building a strong body with long, lean muscles.
We signed up for a beginners class and boy were we glad we did!
The class itself was so tough, but in the best way.
It wasn’t the kind of class that made you feel out of breath, but it was the kind of class that made your muscles scream. It was fast-paced, fun and such a great workout. It challenged my muscles in a totally new way by focusing on small, pulsating movements, lots of squeezing and stabilization.
Merri, Ashley and I looked at each other numerous times during the class, exchanging wide-eyed, knowing looks about how much our muscles were burning!
The class did a lot of leg and core work and push ups. Our instructor, Sarah M., (pictured in the middle of me and Merri below) has a background in dance and the power and flexibility she demonstrated in the class was awesome. You can tell the workout pays off for those who do it regularly.
Come to Ocala! 
After the class, we took advantage of their locker rooms and showered, but not before trying out the two-minute barre, which is placed right outside the locker room for class participants to try to work up to hanging on for two minutes non-stop.
Random fun fact: When I was in high school, I actually set my high school’s record for the bent-arm hang. Apparently I can hang onto bars for an oddly long amount of time. Chalk that up to things you never needed to know about me!
After the class, we walked to Dean & Deluca which I have decided may be my favorite store in the entire world. It had the most amazing produce, pastries, desserts and prepared foods. Unreal.
We all got coffees for the road and I opted for a coffee with milk and caramel syrup that was fantastic.
Then it was time to explore! We walked everywhere. I had the best time chatting and exploring with two of my best girlfriends. It was so, so nice to spend time with my favorite girls in such a vibrant city.
We shopped, bought nothing ($$$) and explored until we were hungry for lunch.
We decided to grab lunch at one of Merri’s favorite places in the city, La Esquina.
We began with a pitcher of some fantastic sangria. Gosh, I love sangria and can drink it like juice. Not sure if that’s a good thing. 
Cheers!
For my meal, I ordered the fish tacos and they were fantastic! I loved the salsa verde and the flavored mayo on the tacos and that’s saying a lot since I’m normally not a mayonnaise lover.
And the corn? My goodness it was fantastic. It was covered in cheese and tasted incredible.
After lunch we walked around a lot more and took in the city. I’m such a sucker for a cappella music and loved listening to the random a cappella groups singing along the streets.
I hope to pop in again soon with a recap of our night… which was awesome!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Off to dinner for my last sit-down meal in NYC!
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looks like you are having an awesome time! sangria looks so goooooood. i could definitely go for some right now! 😛
looks like a great weekend! nyc is so amazing.. nothing in the world like it!!
I love new classes – especially when you can immediately tell that they are working! And NYC… Love everything about the place. Enjoy your last night!
i have most def seen that group of singers on the subway multiple times…they sure get around! haha
Wow, it looks like you’re having so much fun Julie! I’d love to visit nyc someday…kinda reminds me a lot of SF.
Looks like a great time! I make corn like that in the summer all the time! I think I saw it on a Rachael Ray show awhile back and she called it Cuban corn or something. Delicious!
your friend merri looks just like that actress natasha mcelhone! from that showtime californication
haha! very cool! people actually stop her on the street to tell her that!
showtime show, i meant to say!
It looks like you’re having an amazing time. It’s been a few years since I’ve gone, but I used to go a couple times a year. Do you know if Physique 57 is at all similar to Pure Barre?
Cheese covered corn…stole my heart and possibly clogged it. That looks beyond delicious.
LOL!
Sounds like you are having a GREAT time in NY! That corn looks intense…in a good way :)! And I’m just the same with sangria- the morning after isn’t always as fun :)!
This looks so fun, what a fabulous weekend! I am dying to go to New York and have my fingers crossed I get into the marathon! I can’t wait to hear about the rest of your weekend!
What a cool city!! Makes me want to go someday even more. The restaurant you went to looks so cute – I love the tables!
When I was little, I genuinely hated NYC. It was so big and noisy and overwhelming. But the older I’ve gotten, the more I love and appreciate it—and this post reminded me why!
So fun! I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten at that restaurant before. Everything looks delicious and it looks like you’re having such a great time! Enjoy the Big Apple!
Sounds like a great time! That physique 57 class sounds really tough!
I la-la-LOVE your friends’ black wool coat.. where did she get it?! haha 🙂 Your weekend looks like it was a blast!
My thoughts exactly–love the coat!!
Looks like you’re having an amazing time!! That’s incredible that you could hold the bent-arm hang thing for so long…I prob would fall much sooner haha. And let me just say that you and your friends are gorgeous!!
I just moved out of my Soho apartment last weekend and this makes me miss it! You were right in my neck of the woods. Excited to see where you went to dinner!
so random about the bar thing…but i love it! and physique 57 sounds amazing! i can’t wait til i can physically get my body to move again for stuff like that!
I fell in love with Dean & Deluca during Felicity!! So glad you are having a fun time with your friends!
Glad to see you were enjoying yourself in NYC!
Looks like a blast! Physique 57 sounds awesome, too!
Looks like you are having so much fun in NYC! 🙂 I really like your nail polish color! What are you wearing?
wow! physique 57! Julie, you should teach that!
Glad you had a great time! NYC is so much fun – just the food alone is enough. Those tacos look delicious!
Jealous! I wanna go to NYC!!!!
This isn’t helping my obsession with wanting to visit NYC! 🙂 Glad you had a wonderful time!
Oh that class sounds/looks AWESOME! I love me a hard workout that challenges everything 🙂
I wish that class would come to Chicago!!!
Looks like you had a great time. Physique 57 sounds like an awesome workout. i love all of your boots!!
That class sounds amazing! Great pics 🙂
I’ve always wanted to visit NYC, and this makes me want to go even more! The atmosphere just seems so cool.
You and your gf’s are lookin’ awful pretty, too!
Julie! Dean & Deluca is where Felicity worked on that show!! That’s so cool!
Cafe Habbana does the mayo, La Esquina doesnt… I much prefer La Esquina corn for that reason!!
Little tid-bit about those absolutely amazing corn on the cobs. I’m not positive about La Esquina’s but Cafe Habana in the city does the same style (similar mexican restaurant in new york) and I’ve had it. And it was amazing. However, that stuff that you think is butter/cheese, whichever is actually mayo. Surprise surprise haha.
Cafe Habbana does the mayo, La Esquina doesnt… I much prefer La Esquina corn for that reason!!
Oh good to know!!! Completely agree 🙂
Aww so glad you had a blast in NYC!! 🙂
I’m going up to NYC to visit my twin sister this weekend (she lives in SoHO) 🙂 We always have sooooo much fun going out in the West Village or Lower East Side so reading your recap made me excited for the weekend to get here!!!!!!! I love visiting up there but still don’t know if I can ever live there…I’d miss my mountain runs too much
Ok, I didn’t know that Dean & Deluca was real! I thought it was just a madeup thing on Felicity! Duh. Sometimes I astound myself 🙂
Julie- where did you get your leggings? I am looking for a good thick really black pair- like yours look. Thanks!
Sounds like a great time. I’ve never been to NYC and want to go so badly. It seems like such a great place to visit.
Those fish tacos sound delicious and just my style.
What a fun time!
Looks like you had an awesome time. You’ve made me want to go to NYC again, haven’t been in ages.
Did you just pay a drop in fee at Physique 57?
That corn looks amazing! I wonder how to copy that at home?
La Esqunia looks so good I’m definitely going to have to try it out soon! I would love to try out Physique 57 also… Can you buy single classes?
I set my high school’s record for the bent arm hang too!! It was like 1 min. 20 seconds I think? I wonder if anyone has beat it since?! So funny!
Random but I lovvve the nail polish color you’re rocking!!!! Can you tell me what brand & color it is???