Thursday, January 5, 2012

Soul Cycle


Since moving to NYC I have often come across a trendy little establishment known as Soul Cycle.
In fact, I currently live across the street from one.
I always gawked at the hoards of fit looking men and women going in and out of this mysterious exercise hub.
Call me strange, but I actually quite enjoy working out and it bothered me that all these uber-hip people were doing this workout without me.
I read about it online and looked at the site for months, longing to be a part of their elite club.
The catch...it costs 32 bucks PER CLASS.
That's how much we paid for a MONTH gym membership in Utah.
So, naturally, I figured the weekend my mom came into town would be the perfect time to finally try it out.

We went to a class at 9:30am on a Saturday.
The facilities are immaculate.
If you can imagine what walking into a brand new white iPhone 4S would feel like, this is it.
We first signed in and got our pair of fancy clipless spinning shoes and bottles of smart water (which were free for the first ride but normally cost 5 dollars).
The spin room itself had no windows, floor-to-ceiling mirrors in front, dim lights, and candles burning.
There are so many bikes squeezed into that room they are almost touching each other on all sides.
We were a bit early but slowly the class started filling up until every single bike was taken.
We were glad we were in our lululemon because we surely would have been mocked if we were wearing, say, Nike.
Then the instructor came in....a small, super-toned, brunette named Bethany.
The next 45 minutes are kind of a blur.
When I first heard the class was only 45 minutes long I was like 'What?! Ripoff!'
But I assure you I couldn't have gone 46 minutes.
Bethany was up there screaming 'Faster! Faster!' and directing us like we were bad little children.
She would even get up off her bike and come yell in your face.
Oh and the MUSIC!
It was SO loud! So loud I could feel the bass!
Sweat was pouring off every square inch of my body...and there were no fans!
It was at least 100 degrees in that room.
If you think I'm exaggerating....well, I'm not.
By the end of the class the mirror wall was completely fogged up.
My legs were spinning so fast I thought they were going to fly right off my body.
Just when I thought it couldn't get any more difficult the instructor yelled, "Get out your weights!"
At this point my mom and I turned to each other with an "Are you kidding?" look on our faces.
So not only were my legs completely dead from spinning as fast as they could, my arms were burning like they were on fire.
It was awesome.

Recently I've been going once a week just to feed my addiction and I've realized the wardrobe requirements have changed slightly since the Summer when my mom and I went.
Lulu lemon is still the only acceptable athletic attire, but you must wear chestnut colored Ugg boots and a black puffer coat on top now that it's Winter.
My Wuggs are barely getting me by.
(Wuggs= wannabe Uggs from Costco)
If it's raining, you can wear your Hunter boots but make sure you have your welly socks to go with them.
Ridiculous? Perhaps
Awesome? Duh!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

for your browsing pleasure...


Isn't that hot pink brownstone awesome? It was on the market at one point for 2.3 million. Maybe someday...(via)

One of my favorite blogs does these link posts that always lead to interesting things.
I guess I've been wasting a lot of time online lately because I've come up with a list of my own:

How old are you, really? (for some reason this really freaked me out)

Twin portraits. Unreal! (thx mm)

I'll take a pair in every color, please.

This coat always keeps me warm...I swear I'm sweating even when it's 15 degrees outside like today : (

Speaking of keeping warm...Wouldn't mind one of these Siamese Slankets

I'm usually a chocolate person, but I may have to try this yellow cake  recipe.

The best scent in a pretty jar.

Viral videos of 2011

The latest Essie colors

How to live in New York City

Oh, and for all of you confused friends and family members...Parenthood (the TV show!)

Sunday, January 1, 2012

happy new year

 via
No, we didn't go to times square for the big celebration.
Apparently you have to get there at like 10am on NYE to get a good spot and I wasn't up for standing around for 14 hours.
Maybe next year?
I also heard that once you're in Times Square you can't leave or else you'll lose your spot.
Explain to me the bathroon situation?
No thx.
Anyway...
2011 was a big year for us Baldwins.
Here's a list of words to sum it all up:
school
go cougs
senior year
training
reeses puffs
conference
rubber duckies
team
this.is.it.
ncaas
vegas
cirque du soleil
surgery
graduation
interviews
test
waiting
phone call
packing
yard sale
Russia
goodbye UT
road trip
Chicago
Raleigh
home goods
studying
uhaul
NYC
apartment
humid
men's deoderant
shake shack
hudson
Boston
real jobs
subway
visitors
blow up mattress
parenthood
whole foods
trader joe's
west side hwy
windy
the big apple.


I think that's it.

Here's to 2012!