NY Aquarium, NY Liberty Game & Weekly Workouts

Hello! I hope you all had a great weekend and are diving into a new week with a smile.

It’s Monday, and one thing I like to do to kick things off on my end is to take a look back at the weekend and share some of the highlights with you. While I spent a lot of time at home this weekend, Scott and I also got out and explored new territories in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

I’ve included a quick recap of last week’s workouts at the bottom, and I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to or loving over the weekends and on the workout front in the comments section, too. Happy Monday!

 

New York Aquarium

Scott and I jumped at the chance to join our friend, Shawn, and his kids at the New York Aquarium on Friday. We planned to leave the Park Slope area early in order to be at the doors when the aquarium opened at 10 a.m.

It’s a quick walk and only about a thirty minute train ride to Coney Island. We made our first visit last weekend, and I know this won’t be our last.

Our group of five arrived right before the summer camp crowds, so we took advantage of the quiet time and observed the different tanks and marine life in Glover’s Reef and Conservation Hall. All of the workers were very welcoming and informative as they shared stories about the animals, and we learned that some are very close to extinction.

Unfortunately, the NY Aquarium experienced heavy flooding and considerable damage back when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012. Since then, they have worked hard to rebuild and are currently constructing a new shark exhibit, underwater viewing tanks, and more.

Touch Tank

visiting the sharks’ temporary home

While I love observing fish, my favorite animals to watch are the mammals. I could look at penguins waddle and sea otters splash and play all day long. After a loop around the property, we ended our morning at the Aquatheater for the Sea Lion show.

It’s always fun to see animals perform tricks and dance around to music! These guys did a great job following their trainers, and were rewarded with more fish than they knew what to do with.

So cute!

You can easily see everything in the NY Aquarium in two hours, at least for now, before the construction of new exhibits is finished. Day passes are $10.75 per person if you purchase tickets online ($11.95 at the gate), and for the locals, you can buy family passes and year-long packages at a discounted price.

The rest of my Friday and Saturday was pretty low-key and can be summarized by cooking, running in the park with Roadie, and researching future business endeavors online. So vague, I know. There’s nothing really to share yet, so don’t get too excited.

Sunday, however, was action-packed. Scott and I left for service at Hillsong NYC around 9 a.m. We met our friends Katlyn and Chris there, and then walked around a bit until we met our friend, Erin, and her boyfriend, Jason, for lunch at Bareburger. (More on that soon … I’m thinking of compiling all of our random restaurant stops into a series of posts down the road!)

After lunch, we walked several blocks until we got to Madison Square Garden for our first WNBA game.

 

New York Liberty Game

Most of you reading this can probably recall that Scott and I have a special connection to the NBA. We met working for the Orlando Magic together, we moved to the Midwest to work for the Detroit Pistons, and now we closely follow the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets as NYC residents!

You could say that being in an arena that houses professional basketball feels like somewhat of a second home so us. We’ve traveled all over the US and different arenas, but Madison Square Garden is the most impressive venue to visit, hands down.

If you’re ever in the area post-NBA season, might I suggest attending a WNBA game? The New York Liberty are currently ranked #1 in the League, and you can score a ticket into the doors for $10!

Things started to heat up in the second half, and it was a really fun time. Our friend scored us some pretty amazing tickets, and we ended up sitting right behind NBA Legend and former Detroit Piston (and Bad Boy), Isiah Thomas.

The Liberty brought it home with a win, and we hope to attend more games in the near future. Thanks for the great time, Shawn!

 

Weekly Workouts

(July 4 – 10th, 2016)

Since keeping a workout journal has helped inspire me to stay motivated and try new things (and since you guys seem to enjoy reading them), I’ve decided to keep sharing my Weekly Workouts for a while.

I am keeping things short and sweet today with more details and reviews of the classes I took (thanks to my ClassPass membership) coming at you soon:

• Monday – Fourth of July – no workout for me!
• Tuesday – 55 min. Pure Barre class
• Wednesday – 50 min. Total Body Tabata Ultimate Fitness class (this was killer!)
• Thursday – REST
• Friday – 4 mile run around the park with Roadie
• Saturday – 4 mile walk around the park with Roadie
• Sunday – REST

It was a relatively light week for lifting weights, so I hope to get more strength training in this week. My parents are coming into town to visit tomorrow (yay!), so it might be a challenge, but we’ll see how I do!

 

» Linking these Weekend Snapshots with Erin and Katie

 

Questions of the Day

• What was one highlight from your weekend?

• What is one thing that you’re looking forward to this week?

 

Something I’m currently looking forward to is meeting up with some girlfriends in the City to watch The Bachelorette tonight. We all bring or order our own dinners (hello, Seamless!) and have a great time catching up while watching and talking about the rose ceremonies and drama. Will you be watching?