My Newest Obsession: Soul Cycle

Last night, as part of my new crusade to try new things that I’d ordinarily never attempt, I went to check out New York’s newest exercise obsession, Soul Cycle.  I first heard about it at work because our Editor-in-Chief is beyond obsessed and after four weeks of hearing about it, I decided I needed to see what was so great about it.  So, I signed up and went last night at 19h30 for my first Soul Cycle class.  Grace knew about Soul Cycle from some radio show she listens to that mentions it all the time, but even as I walked up to the studio on the corner 3rd Avenue and 83rd Street, I still didn’t really understand what I was about to partake in, let alone how long it lasted!

It turns out that Soul Cycle is part spinning, part yoga, part weight-lifting, part stretching, and part crunches/push-ups with very high energy music and an equally energetic coach.  It was unlike anything I’ve ever done before.  I should say that for the record, the only exercise I do regularly is running five miles, three times a week and then doing some very basic sit-ups, crunches, etc…  I loathe gyms partly because seeing people bench-pressing my bodyweight while I’ve got the 15lb weights doesn’t help make working-out seem like any fun.  The other reason I avoid gyms the same way I avoid families with small children is because I’m not out to look like David Hasselhoff when he was on Baywatch; I run so that I can continue to eat all of the desserts that I can’t live without and not die before I hit Sixty!  It’s purely for survival and because of said running, I left Italy this May weighing exactly as much as I had when I arrived!  I wish my roommates could have said the same thing.

Soul Cycle was unlike anything I had ever witnessed before.  Before I knew what was happening, I was on a bike in dim-light room filled with a very odd mix of people; a few people my age, but mostly people in their 30s or 40s; there was one woman who looked late 60s-early 70s, but no one older than her.  Our instructor, a man by the name of String, got right into things after a very fast orientation for myself and the other newcomer.  I was in the back row, thinking the fan would be blowing on me directly though I quickly learned that it was above me and so I barely got any air on me during the one hour class.  After the brief rundown of the do’s and don’ts, we were off.

I began like all beginners, like a deer in the headlights, fearing that I should just leave before I make a complete fool of myself.  However, I figured that I should just stick it out and if I don’t like it, then I won’t come back.  By the end, I had sort of figured out all of the different positions we were told to get into throughout our session.  My legs didn’t stop moving the entire time, which was most painful when we simulated riding uphill!  There were times when I thought I would pass out, but String and the extremely upbeat music kept me going right up to the end.

After leaving the studio an hour later, I stood on the corner for a few minutes just trying to grasp what I had just done.  I now get why Richard, my Editor-in-Chief, is obsessed with Soul Cycle; it combines so many different exercises into one and is the perfect thing for someone who doesn’t have the time to do all of these exercises individually.  Despite being kind of expensive ($32 for an hour session), I will definitely be going back a few more times before leaving New York for Charlottesville, where they don’t have Soul Cycle (yet), next Friday!  Plus, starting in November, they reopen the South Beach location, so I’ll be driving down from Palm Beach regularly this winter to get my Soul Cycle fix.  To say the least, I’m hooked!  My only regret is that I didn’t try it earlier.  Now if y’all will excuse me because I need to get to bed now because I’m dead tired, so until next time…

-JD

“Sorry I Couldn’t Make It Tonight. I Had to Take My Mom to the Hospital!”

That line was used on a friend of mine this past Tuesday evening by a “solid eight” girl with whom he was supposed to have dinner.  Yes, it’s tragic that this young lady stood him up, but with a line like that, she is definitely a perfect ten when it comes to having a great excuse!  That is so much better than feigning an illness and I felt it needed to be shared.

Moving on, I have to say that it is so hot here in Virginia Beach that I’m ready to trade in my new Tod’s for a pair of hiking boots and my suitcases for a hiking bag and head to Antarctica because at least it’s cold there!  I’ll probably just end up moving into my freezer for the next 72 hours before I head to Charlottesville, where the high yesterday was 98, though I’m told it felt like 103.  And Wednesday, I was in New York for an interview and it was deathly hot out!

I arrived Tuesday night and went straight to dinner with Andrew after dropping my off my bags.  It didn’t seem that hot out so I decided to walk from the Upper East Side over toward the West Side through Central Park, which is one of my favorite things to do.  I just love being in the park and will find any excuse to spend time there.  By the time I hit the West Side, my shirt was untucked and I felt like Justin on a Thursday night after a few drinks with my shirt unbuttoned nearly all the way; all I was missing were a cigar and one of his fedoras!  I quickly tucked my shirt back in and buttoned-up and headed over to meet Andrew at Boulud Sud.  More importantly that actually getting a reservation there, I beat Andrew!  This never happens because he is always on time so I was very excited, especially since he only lives like two blocks away.

Dinner blew me away!  It’s a mediteranian-inspired restaurant so it has a very light and relaxing feel about it to begin with; the sea-foam greenish color on the wall and the light woods and white marble just kind of made me feel like I was on the Med instantly; the Birkins and the high-pitched voices of their formally-dressed totterers, however, reminded me that we were not on the island of Crete, but instead the island of Manhattan!  To start, Andrew and i split this plate of imported, Spanish ham with olives and grilled bread, which I was great, aside from those olives being a bit too spicy for me.  The bread they served was phenomenal; they were all made fresh and the focaccia with olives on it was just killer in my opinion!  For a main course, Andrew tried the Carpetto Orecchiette, which is a pasta dish that he certainly seemed to enjoy, while I had the Lamb Shoulder Cleopatra, which just would have blown my socks off had I been wearing any!  The sweet potatoes and the sweet potato purée, along with the onions and apricots were so delicious and that lamb shoulder was simply incredible.  In fact, I didn’t even need a knife to cut it now that I think about it.  Plus, when it arrived, the waiters covered it with a white-ceramic tagine instead of a silver cover, which I thought was kind of neat while still keeping with the whole Mediterranean feel of the restaurant (remember, North Africa is on the Med as well).  As an added bonus, I had a glass of the Terre Nere 2009 Etna Rosso, which was made with grapes grown on Mount Etna, which I visited in March.  The volcanic soil in which the grapes are grown give the wine this very smooth and uncomplicated taste to it that didn’t try to overpower the lamb, so I was very satisfied and I’m definitely buying a few bottles (I’ve recently decided to take up wine as a hobby of mine).

Dessert, which in my opinion is the only part of the meal that really matters, was a bit of a problem.  Unlike Café Boulud in Palm Beach where that warm upside down chocolate soufflé has never let me down, Andrew and i failed to find anything that really jumped out at us.  So instead, we decided we would go next door to Daniel Boulud’s new Épicerie Boulud to get dessert because it was basically designed to compete with Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery a few blocks away in the TimeWarner Center, but when we got there at just after 21h0, it was already closed!  One would expect that a place like that across the street from Lincoln Center would be open until at least 23h0, if not later on weekends!  For some horribly stupid reason, however, it’s only open until 20h0.  Instead, we went to our favorite standby, Grom.  This was my first visit to Grom since I was in Siena with mother so y’all can imagine my sticker shock when I realized that a small at Grom has gone up a dollar to $5.25 since last summer!  That didn’t stop me from a cup of melone and fiondente!

After walking around for a bit while we ate our Grom, Andrew took me to see his family’s new apartment on the West Side, which was beautiful, even if it lacked most of its furniture!  I must say that I’m quite jealous of Andrew’s brother William because while mother insisted that my KitchenAid be stainless steel so that it would match all the other appliances in the house, William’s is lime green!  Oh I would kill for that color and since I have to schlep my mixer to Florida in the winter to bake, I might just ask my Jewish Mr. Grinch for a lime green mixer to leave there this Hanukkah.  It was also great getting to see Andrew’s mother, who I love because she’s so nice.  As an added bonus, I got to see photos of Andrew from his youth, which was hysterical!

Wednesday morning saw me rising with the sun so I could go for a walk with “Aunt Faye” (I was also staying with her for the night), which was nice aside from the deathly heat that hit before 9h0!  I then attempted a five-mile run, but had to stop after only three miles because it was simply too hot to continue.  On my way back to her apartment, I stopped at E.A.T. to get some Health Loaf bread as well as the best hamburger buns on earth; they’re brioche hamburger buns and they just put Peperidge Farm to shame.  I also got little brioche rolls, which I use when I make sliders.  While there, Eli himself showed up, which was kind of neat.

By the time my interview finished up around Noon, it was so hot that by the time I reached Barney’s, fourteen blocks from where I had my interview, it was clear that I needed more than a pair of dark jeans!  In fact, (and I know this is disgusting/embarrassing, but we’ll get through it together) I was in such desperate need of a new shirt that I couldn’t even bring myself to take off my blazer since I could only imagine how my shirt looked!  The only problem was that I didn’t plan on needing a new shirt so I had to buy one (so tragic)!  Instead of going to Ralph Lipchitz as usual, I decided to check out that J. Crew on 79th and Madison since it carries a nicer selection than the normal J. Crew line.  I ended up with a shirt that I wouldn’t normally consider to be “my style,” but I’ve decided that I need to shake things up a bit more so why not!  While I was there, though, I overheard this clearly lost father and his fourteen-year-old son telling the salesman that the “tween” needed a tuxedo for one of his friend’s fourteenth birthday party!  Now I know that New York kids, especially New York Prep School kids do things differently from the rest of the world, but you have got to be effing kidding me if you think it’s appropriate for a fourteen-year-old to be having a black tie birthday party!  At that age, it sounds kind of stuffy and boring, though because of its intrigue and fascination, EVERYONE will obviously being attending, so maybe that kid’s on to something.  While I owned a tux of my own at that age, it was only because I had worn it to my Bar Mitzvah party and not because I needed it for a classmate’s fourteenth birthday!

After changing and making myself look like a human being again, I headed down to Union Square to meet Aunt Faye at the Union Square Greenmarket, which takes places every Monday, Wednesday Friday, and Saturday, so I could help her get ready for the dinner she was preparing that evening.  In between getting the seafood and the snow peas, she finished catching me up on what was new in her life.  The Greenmarket is another one of those things I absolutely love because you can get the freshest food that was sometimes picked just the day earlier and have it in your kitchen while its still at its peak.  Plus, everything is so much cheaper than going to a grocery store, so it makes economical sense to go there as well!

After we got back to her apartment, it was time to leave and just as quickly as a I came, I bid farewell to my beloved New York, but not for long since I’ll be back in four short weeks.

Meanwhile, Justin has had some super diva trouble real estate drama down in very much so Hotlando this summer ending with him moving after only being in his apartment for about a week.  He was originally renting a room in an apartment for the summer that he was going to be sharing with some random Canadian woman, but she turned out to be an actual alcoholic (not just a very social drinker) who was also kind of crazy and so he moved into a house of his very own not far from Rollins and so he’ll be living there until he finishes up the Fall semester.  His job at the law offices of Jew, Jew and Jew seems to be going well as he’s loving foreclosing on people who bought houses they couldn’t afford.  Personally, I don’t know why people thought Orlando was the only place they could go for a vacation, but they did.  Personally, I would have picked Cap Ferrat.

In addition to interning with Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin, Andrew has managed to attend the hottest events (literally) thus far this summer in New York.  Last weekend, he went with Nathaniel and Caroline to the Veuve Cliquot Polo Classic on Governor’s Island and to say that I am jealous is a huge understatement!  The three of them also went to see the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, which is not an event I see Andrew voluntarily attending.  When I asked him about it, most of the conversation was spent discussing the movie Whip It, which is about the “sport” that is roller derby.  Plus, he was supposed to spend Thursday night in the park (in actual death heat) at the Black Eyed Peas and Friends Concert 4 NYC to Benefit Robin Hood, but I read that it was canceled due to “inclement weather,” which is a shame because I saw them setting up for it on the Great Lawn while I was walking with Aunt Faye and it looked like it was going to be amazing!

Finally, I’d like to wish an early Happy Twenty-First Birthday to Grace!  She hits the legal drinking age in America on Saturday and I’m so excited, partly because I’ve managed to not tell her what I bought her since March!  Sadly, I’ll be heading to Charlottesville on Saturday, so instead, we’re celebrating tonight.  Grace has also decided to be a good humanitarian (I guess that’s what you call it) and rescued a bird.  I know it was done with the best of intentions, but y’all know that bird must have gone insane when it saw Beatrice, Grace’s stuffed rooster, just standing there in her living room, motionless.  Anyway, I’m off because I have to go bake her birthday cake and pack so until next time…

-JD

Oh, I Had a Lovely Dinner… Until I Threw It Up!

Yes, that’s right; I threw up my $60 dinner from the Standard Grill Monday morning at 5h0!  I’ll get to that in a second because that’s at the end of a long list of things that have happened in the last week.  So to start, Andrew and I LOVED Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.  It was funny, it was sad, it was funny again.  My favorite part was when Joan described her apartment by saying, “This is how Marie Antoinette would have lived if she had had money.”  While many, mother included, believe that Joan’s comedy is “gutter humor,” I find her comedy funny.  The one I hate is that daughter of hers; Melissa brings nothing to the table at all.

Then on Thursday, following a hell day at work since it was my first “going to press” day, I met Andrew at Bloomingdale’s for the opening of the Assouline mini-store and that was something  I could have skipped.  Now, I will take the blame for this one, along with the nasty restaurant we ate at on Friday.  However, part of the reason I schlepped Andrew there was because it would be a chance to see Real Housewives of New York Housewife Kelly Killoren Bensimon in the flesh.  For those of you who don’t know who Ms. Bensimon is, well then you lucky bastards you.  She is a woman whose only claim to fame is that she married Gilles Bensimon (hence she kept her last name following their divorce), which helped open doors for her to do things that don’t require having braincells.  Now, I went to the event with an open mind, hoping that she’d be normal in person; I was wrong.  The woman is crazy!  Plus, no one wanted to take their photo with her, let alone talk to her, so they stuck random people with her to make it look like she was popular when they went to take the photographs.  It was so sad.  But, Andrew saved the night and got us free tickets to see HAIR, which is actually closing on Sunday.  It was my first time seeing the show and his seventeenth time.  I enjoyed the music but could have done without the full-frontal nudity at the end of Act One.

Jean’s niece, Katy came into town Thursday night, so Lily, the house whore, had an extra room in which to spend the night (below is a photo of Lily in her new favorite part of the apartment: my suitcase).  On Friday, while Katy was getting cultural at the Met and Jean was seeing the doctor, I went for my first run in the park, which was so amazing.  Later, I made it to Assouline’s real store in the Plaza to buy Philadelphia Freedom himself a Father’s Day present.  Seeing as my little Ben Franklin hails from Philie just like the real one, and because he LOVES to go on about how “a penny saved is a penny earned” and other Ben Franklin being a tight ass quotes, I thought why not buy a book about the penny, so I did.  It’s called The Penny: A Little History of Luck and it’s published by Assouline in partnership with Cole Haan, little lightening rod’s favorite shoe company.  After that, I headed over to MoMa, where I spent hours just wandering the galleries with all the time in the world.  There was a great Henrie Cartier-Bresson exhibit that showed three hundred of the thousands he took over the time of his career.  It was so amazing and while I stopped myself from buying the $75 book, I couldn’t help myself from buying a postcard.  If y’all are in the city before the end of this week, do go and see the exhibit because it’s truly worth seeing.

So Saturday was fun, until I realized that I don’t own the right socks and way too many miles before realizing that i had huge blisters on the back of my feet because they kept rubbing up against the shoe, so that was painful.  Saturday was spent buying graduation gifts for family friends (so I didn’t have to pay for them) and then on Saturday evening, Jean took me to Tasti D-Lite, her home away from home.  Now I completely get why she loves the place: it’s not pretentious like Grom and each serving (four ounces) only has between seventy and one-hundred calories.  Plus, Jean has the Tasti TreatCard so whenever she uses it, it says, “Do Not Disturb” or “I’m Having a Moment!” on Facebook.  I met Jean’s friend Mimi, and Mimi’s Belgian Shepherd, Isabelle, who enjoyed a very nice walk through the park and a quick visit to Tasti before I was off to have dinner with my friends Maggie, Nate and Andrew at the Standard Grill, which is in the Standard Hotel.  Even though I threw it up (just like a bulimic model), I didn’t plan on donating my New York Strip and share of the chocolate mouse to the toilet.  Having checked with the rest of the group, it turns out I’m the only one who got sick, so it must have been me.  We then went up to the lounge on the top floor of the hotel, which Maggie and I like to call the Boom-Boom Room.  Now, the problem with this place is the bathroom because first of all, there’s a wall of glass so everyone can see you doing your business.  Then, in the urinal area, it’s mirrored and there’s a ruler on the glass so you can measure your ish.  I have photos below.  After dinner and our trip to the freaky bathroom, I dropped the three of them off at Broadway Bares, which is burlesque show featuring Broadway stars.  I went home to Jean, Mimi and Isabelle.  Then, following five blissful hours of sleep, I woke suddenly to feel nauseous.  I rose and ran to the bathroom just in time to see dinner wind up in a toilet.  Then, because I think that it’s over and I’m fine, I go back to bed, wake up two hours later, shower and then around 8h30, I felt dizzy while standing.  Worse, I was supposed to fill in for one of the other interns Monday so that was a nice phone call.  I then slept for the next twelve straight hours!  Plus, the additional ten hours I got after my delivery of soup (thank you, Jean) had me waking up Tuesday morning feeling like a completely new person!  This week, I’ve decided to take things slow as to let my system recover.

Lisa is freezing in the library at UVa, where she’s still hard at work filing books, even though it’s 90 outside.  She wrote a nice little post for the C-Ville.   She also went to some random press announcement last week for something not worth remembering (sorry, it wasn’t).  In a bit of creepy news, I thought I saw Justin on the Shuttle to Times Square from Grand Central on Wednesday.  It was so strange because this guy was rocking a standard Justin outfit (navy blue polo with jeans and the Ray Bans, plus that stupid necklace thing) and so I went to say hi but for the first time ever, I stopped myself when I realized that there was no way in hell that Justin could be in Manhattan on a Wednesday morning because Justin has work, in Cape Cod.  Plus, on further inspection, this Justin look-alike was about fifty to one-hundred pounds lighter, had zero muscles and seemed only remotely pissed off at the world (don’t act like you’re not, Justin).  He’s currently “having a moment” over a vintage movie poster sale at Christie’s happening today, in London (so he’ll be missing it).  In other Justin news, he’s finally getting his driver’s license, just as soon as he takes the driving test.  Finally, Justin is getting a license, now if only he’ll get a car that was made in the last decade and is recognizable to people who don’t get subscriptions to AARP Magazine!  Grace has been busy with school and riding and will be visiting me soon, I hope.  Andrew’s been busy too, working his little tuchus off all day at Second Stage and preparing to leave TimeWarner and head back to Brooklyn… Heights.

Finally tonight, I have a few closing thoughts.  First, I want to tell my roommate pour l’été, Jean, to break a leg with the surgery on Thursday.  Tasti will be here when you get back!  Secondly, I think I found my ultimate fantasy gift: an official state carriage!  Doesn’t everyone need one of those?  Throw in four white stallions and three footmen in wigs and that’s a great ride!  Third, my cousin Kevin is the number two sales associate at the Brookstone in the Columbia Mall in Columbia, Maryland.  The only person in the store to sell more than Kevin last week was the manager.  Here’s the catch: Kevin, is only eighteen and works there PART TIME!  Imagine how much he could sell if he worked there full time.  Y’all, I’m predicting now that by the time he goes back to school, he’ll be manager of store number eleven.  Hell, now I have to start figuring out what I can buy there so I can take advantage of his employee discount!  Fourth, there was a man on my subway Tuesday morning who thought it was perfectly okay that he was not only getting dressed on the subway, but also shaving (electric, because otherwise, that would have been interesting to see)!  I’m sorry but if you can’t get your lazy ass up out of bed in time for work, you may not deserve a job.  Finally tonight, there is poll, regarding dating people who ride the subway with you.  There’s this very attractive girl who rides my express train to Times Square each morning and I’ve seen her on it every morning.  Now, the question tonight is whether or not y’all think it’s okay to ask her out.  I hope to see y’alls responses because this girl is cute.  Anyway, I’m off to bed because some of us have work in the morning.  Until next time…

JD

Lily, the slutty Upper East Side princess

The penis ruler at the urinal on the eighteenth floor of the Standard Hotel.

A bathroom with an audience, just what I’ve always wanted!