The Power of Positive Thinking

“Positive thinking is expecting, talking and visualizing with certainty what you want to achieve, as an accomplished fact.”

If you’re lucky, the great thing about living and working out with your best friend is that they can constantly serve as your exercise buddy and/or motivator. Bo and I took yesterday off from a formal workout since we had a greuling 8 mile run in Central Park on Saturday. Today I assumed i’d do 3 miles on the treadmill and some abs but Bo had a different idea.

B: “Are you ready to go for a run? I thought we’d do the bridge and central park.”
A: “That’s far and hard! I figured i’d do an easy 3 today. I think the gym is open.”
B: “If we’re really going to make a change we have to start now. We need to run outside more so we’re not surprised during our races.”

Good call! So I quickly bundled up and headed out the door with my new playlist already blasting. Our plan was to run from our apartment down to the Queensborough Bridge, over the bridge, down 61st street until we hit the park, then a mile and half along the east side of the park which would also include Cat Hill. To be honest, when we left the apartment I assumed that I wouldn’t finish. Our chosen path was filled with one HUGE hill (Queensborough Bridge) and then the hills in the park. I figured that somewhere along the way i’d get tired and turn back. That’s the great thing about having a workout partner. You can’t stop running if someone is 100 feet in front of you turning their head around every 1/4 mile to make sure you’re still there. This run was tough- no questions asked. But, I quickly started a mantra and focused on my breathing. The only bad part about the run was the fact that I was wearing WAY too much clothing. I didn’t realize how warm it was especially in the sun. But, at the end I sweat it through, sang a bit too loud, and smiled in delight when I realized that my 5 miles were done and that i’d actually kept a faster pace than normal- 9:47ish.

I hope you had a great day today regardless of whether you were able to relax and enjoy the holiday or were working hard all day!


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Bar Boulud: Classic French Fare with A Side of Pretention

Bar Boulud is Daniel Boulud’s casual classic French bistro located across from The Lincoln Center in NYC. Daniel Boulud is a famous French chef and restauranter who now has restaurants in NYC, Las Vegas, Vancouver, Beijing, Palm Beach, and Miami.

He opened his first restaurant, and most famous, Daniel, in 1993 after his time as executive chef Le Cirque in NYC. Bo and I have often passed Bar Boulud during our long walks and Columbus Circle ventures and finally decided Friday night that we had to try it! After a work happy hour we wandered up to Lincoln Center around 7:30 in hopes of snagging a seat even though we didn’t have reservations.

We were escorted to the bar area while we waited for a table but after fifteen minutes were told that we could in fact eat at the bar if we wished. This was a perfect option as the bar area offers the full menu, a first hand look at some of the cheeses and chartucerie, and wines. We started the evening with a glass champagne and the Degustation de Charcuterie to share (3 types of pate, charcuterie, condiments, pickles, and mustard) and the escargots persillade (wild burgundy snails garlic and parsley). The pates were amazing though the chicken liver pate was definitely my favorite. The snails were a treat as i’d never tried these before and they were rich and succulent. The parsley added to the flavor against the warm snails especially when paired with the small hushpuppy like potato balls.

Photo from post Classic French Fare with a side of pretention

As for our main meal, we shared a classic French fish dish, local catskills trout, toasted almonds roasted cauliflower brown butter, verjus. This dish was absolutely divine as they used the cauliflower in so many different ways and the fish was perfectly crisp. Bo and I agree that Bar Boulud’s food and wine was absolute perfection. Everything we tasted was seasoned perfectly and bursting with flavor. However, it was all very classicaly prepared which means the flavors weren’t innovated (to be expected at a classic French restaurant) and the service was attentive but a bit pretentious for our liking on a Friday night after a long week. We would definitely go back but we’d probably take friends so we could make our own noise and laughter. This Friday night it was painfully quiet and reserved which was ironic since Zagat warns of the noise levels.

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No 2009 ING Marathon and some amazing giveaways!

Well, similar to Sara’s day so far, Bo and I were greeted with the sad news that we didn’t receive a bib for the 2009 ING Marathon via the lottery this year. But, the good news is we’ll have an automatic entry for 2010 due to our participation in NYRR 9 in 2009 program. At first I was quite sad but then I thought about everything going on over the next 6 months (end current job, start new job, 1 trip to Savannah for fitting/hair and makeup/shower, 1 trip to Atlanta for shower, 1 trip to the shore for bachelorette, 2 trips to my family’s place in VT, and MORE) and realize that this PROBABLY isn’t the best year for the marathon. On top of all that i’m trying to slim down a bit before the wedding. So, instead, i’ve enlisted the help of multiple running gals and am going to begin working on time. I have a 10k coming up next month and i’d LOVE to break out of the 10 min mile rut. Hey, yesterday I made great headway by realizing that YES I CAN jog on a treadmill and chat with a girlfriend! I did have to decrease the speed some but the time flew by during our wonderful conversation!

Get excited because I’ll be announcing our next giveaway this afternoon! But, until then, get exicted because here are some fab giveaways!


Celebrate Sarah’s 200th post with magazines!

-Who needs cake to celebrate a 100th post when you can have BARS??


Yumm I love trying new burgers and i’ve never tried Sunshine!!

Get over to Danica’s Daily: Mr. Krispers ~ the 2 WWP Snappy Chips!!
Get buzzed over at Missy’s site with some awesome new coffee!

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