#4: The New York Fitness Routine

Since I got to play closer to my comfort zone last week with our Ktown challenge, this week’s was more in Salty’s court – ultimate fitness. And let’s be clear, not just your average jog (as I am comfortable with)...

Week 4 challenge (if you use your imagination, you can find our #4 in our Physique model): complete an intense NYC-stereotypical workout – and by intense…whew, I never felt as out of shape as I did this past week, but talk about motivation!!

Part 1: Early AM Yoga -- so this past week Salty and I woke up at the crack of dawn (mandatory for us as go-getter New Yorkers) and headed to Yoga Vida for a great flow class. Now Salty and I have been going to this studio for the past few weeks and absolutely love it…we’ll have to see if we can still stick it out with the morning practices though...

Level of difficulty: Low to Medium

Part 2:  Physique -- the next morning (again the alarm went off way too early), I struggled through an intense class of at Physique 57’s studio. Now, I was naïve enough to believe Salty when she said I would be fine with not going to a “Beginner” class (this was her fourth class and she hadn’t ever been to a Beginners) but to be honest I didn’t know quite what to expect. As we were jogging down to the Soho studio, I was getting a bit nervous…lo and behold when we got to the class, the faces of those who were waiting were exactly what I had imagined of a stereotypical NYC intense class – no longer my peaceful yogis, but instead think Kelly Ripa and Bethenny Frankel style-hardcore. Not to mention the instructor’s frenetic pace (we literally had 30 seconds to get situated in the room before we leaped into lunges)…and the fact I was the only new person in the class. The instructor’s well-intentioned call-outs of “You can do this!” were just enough to keep me motivated, but teetered on the border of making me want to walk out of the class. While totally unintentional, I think this picture that we had to quickly snap before the next class ran in to claim their territory, captures our individual sentiments after the class (i.e., my confusion and distraught at being the only true beginner in this class and Salty’s more professional form)

Level of difficulty: HARD

Part 3: Then our fitness challenge was completed with a nice New York stroll down the West End Highway and on the highline. One of my go-to forms of exercise...this and Central Park!

Level of difficulty: Easy

According to Sweet....

Best part of this challenge?

Definitely the “zen” feeling after you utter the words “Namaste” after yoga

Worst part of this challenge?

The yelling, the intensity, the uncontrollable shaking of my legs at Physique…but interestingly enough, I think I will give it a go to go back at least once every 2 weeks. I guess the New Yorker in me is ok with the “close to torture” workouts…maybe I’ll even give Soul Cycle or Bar Method a whirl.

Our ultimate fitness challenge: complete. We’ll have to give a status update in a few months on how we hold up on our pact to work out at least 3 times a week. Stay tuned!

#3: The New York Melting Pot

Experiencing the charisma of African American culture last weekend inspired us to take advantage of the NY melting pot and re-discover our own historical heritages.  Naturally, for me, that meant for our third challenge: taking Salty for some Stone Pot Bibimbop and Karaoke, complete with our own private dancing anime performance (don’t ask) while we sang.  Yes, you guessed it, I’m Korean.

If I had to say my favorite things about Korea in a snapshot: a) great food b) karaoke (and obvi KPop…hold the applause) and c) great food (but this time at 4 in the morning at a 24 hour restaurant after a night out on the town). Now, I decided to ease Salty into her first true Korean experience and stick with taking her to one of my favorite restaurants in the heart of NYC’s Ktown (called Wonjo) and then hit up a couple of good hours karaoke-ing (at a place called Gagopa…which means I want to go. And yes my friends, I always want to go karaoke so if you ever need anyone to sing duets with, I am your woman). I wasn’t sure what to expect in how Salty took it…and we also had our second special cameo on this challenge – our old colleague and friend, who worked with both Salty and I down in Peru for a good 4-5 months while we were still in our consulting days. We’ll call her “Trooper” since she still came out with us though she had a 5am flight the next day. Plus, she was a trooper in being our photographer for the challenge!

So to summarize our week #3 challenge (we got creative with our numbers this time ;))...

…Food: tofu bibmbop in hot stone pot—loved it, check! And for me a spicy fish stew (Salty even braved trying kimchi, though she doesn’t love spicy foods)

…Entertainment: never wanting to leave our karaoke room after having way too much fun – check! ( I think “Young, Wild, and Free” was our personal fave, as well as “B!tch” by Meredith Brooks, a true classic. Salty’s raspy voice was perfect for an awesome rendition of Jack Johnson and Wiz Khalifa’s “No Sleep” (the rapping was in particular quite hilarious).

It was a big moment for me to have Salty at the end of the night thank me for opening a whole new part of the city to her…even saying this was one of the most fun nights she’s had in NYC!  Interestingly enough, for so long, I had kept my “Korean-ness” somewhat hidden from my mainly Caucasian friends. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I started to bring my closest friends with me to my house or out to local restaurants for Korean meals,  threw my last year’s birthday party at a Korean karaoke bar back in Atlanta, and I even took one of my best friends with me to Seoul last summer! While Salty and I have known each other at work and had traveled together, I must say this was a great way to build even greater memories and get to understand our own perspectives a bit better. And what’s even more amazing is how perfect this city is to have these “cultural revelations” in…all cultures are welcome, all people can find their “corner” of the city…then it just makes it that much more special when you get the chance to invite your friends to experience it with you. Thanks Salty, thanks Trooper for caring and loving one of my favorite parts of the city with me.

#2: The New York Soul

So we’ll be totally honest – both Salty and I were so excited to complete our challenge to make a “quick buck” this week but ran into two unforeseen issues:

1.  New York City winter finally decided to come around…and the coldest weather hit just recently so the idea of standing outside to try and make a pretty penny was sounding less and less smart…
2.  We had a few people ask if there were legality issues with trying to sell things randomly on the street, so we had to give ourselves more time to look into that (still TBD)

But luckily, we had another challenge on our list (yes we have we have a full spreadsheet of ideas covering all genres, New York boroughs, levels of difficulty….) that was indoors and definitely wasn’t illegal: singing along with a gospel choir at a charismatic African American church. And what better weekend to do that than one honoring the late (and great) Martin Luther King, Jr. and what better place than in the heart of Harlem?

So we’re sorry to disappoint if you were awaiting with bated breath on how we fared in boosting our weekly earnings, but instead Salty, her boyfriend (our first guest star! we can call him "Rebel") and I took the 3-train ride uptown to Harlem (it was my first time-- Salty and Rebel had both been for a delicious meal at Red Rooster before…), decked out in our Sunday finest (including hats!). 

The experience was both what we expected...

• An amazing gospel choir with an unbelievable soprano
• A “liturgical dance” with one female dancer who could be the next Beyonce
• An energy that is truly out of this world (even Salty and I felt inspired  to throw in a few “Amens!”)

…and what we hadn’t expected:

• The “meet and greet” where both Salty and I received endless compliments on our hats, and I’d say literally almost every member of the congregation came and gave us the warmest greetings and hugs (I even got a double kiss on the cheek!)
• Not going to lie…not as many hats as we expected!! We’d seen the movies and had imagined many more, but doesn’t mean we didn’t see some real beauties
• A two and a half hour long service….

So week #2’s challenge (our edited version) is complete! This challenge not only took us to new parts of the city (for me) but also to meet new people (probably the most number of people we’ve hugged or shaken hands with in a single day). And that’s the beauty of this city, really. There are so many cultures, so many points of view but there are places where all of those can come together in a rather beautiful harmony. I now only wish we had a recording of Rebel singing bass, Salty on alto, and me on soprano…talk about harmony!

Next week’s challenge:  The New York Melting Pot...this cultural eye-opener is leading us to our next challenge. To teach each other about our own "motherlands"! Stay tuned...

#1: The New York Lights

Salty and I have both had big years...we both made big moves to New York City-- Salty hailing from the salty West Coast of San Francisco, while I moved up north from being a sweet Georgia Peach for 2 years. We both also made big career moves as we left the world of management consulting (hold the jokes) and forayed into the fashion startup space. A new year, a new city, new job, new friends, and to top it off - a new blog, to pay homage to our new adventures!

Needless to say we are both excited for the next 52 weeks so we decided it was appropriate to undertake a challenge that is beloved by millions of tourists around the world (including King Kong and Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan in the movie Sleepless in Seattle...): to summit the Empire State Building. To add a sentimental gesture as well, we each decided to make a wish as we enter the new year.

Here's to our kick-off of a great year (and I promised not to tease her too much but I just had to let it be known...Salty did get a bit scared of the heights. And I'll admit as well, despite the proper signage I still wasn't convinced the view of "west" was really "west")

And what did we wish for, dear readers? Of course we can't tell you..or else they won't come true! Let's just say we both wished for fortune in life, love, and work -- we'll let you know if they do come true...

Next week's challenge? The New York "quick buck"...yes, yours truly are also on a new salary, so we're going to have to to learn how to be thrifty...

The New York Minute (...or more like the New York Year)

You can call me Sweet, my partner in crime --Salty. We are both mid-twenties, "young ambitious explorers" who have made the official big move to the Big Apple. And as they always say, things here in NYC happen fast...people walk fast, talk fast, buy and sell fast...but the last thing we want to happen is for our first year in the city to pass by too fast without anything to show for it.

Enter 52 in 52: 52 weeks, 52 challenges...our first year in NYC. Now since our cooking skills aren't anywhere near the level of Julie in that movie Julia/Julie where she undergoes a 52-week recipe cooking challenge, our challenges will be broader than just culinary feats. Entertainment, food, social, quintessential New York tourist-y things...we are on the hook to discover and experience all of the best that a "true NYC lifestyle" has to offer.

Every week we will write about our adventures and give you the chance to give us "dares" to complete in ranging levels of difficulty (we do have full-time jobs so ideally want to stay out of too much trouble ;)


...so are you ready? 

"Happy New Year!" has just taken on a whole new meaning...here's Sweet and Salty signing off and toasting to our New York "bucket year."

Watch out for next week's (first!) challenge: "the New York lights": go to the top of Empire State Building and make a wish