Honeymoon Day 4: Fajardo and Vieques

Yes, I've been back from my honeymoon for three months already, but I still fully intend to finish these recaps before forget all the fun details! 

We were up with the sun again. We started the morning so early that it wasn’t quite time for coffee or tea, so we settled for watching the day begin in the rainforest, and catching up on some reading. 

Breakfast was obscenely delicious. An orgy of carbs, sugar and meat. Mystery sausage (maybe a pork and turkey mix with peppers and something else), with platanos and blueberry pancakes. Heaven.

After breakfast, we played around the pool for a bit.

Then we headed into Fajardo- our first stop was the Seven Seas beach. It was beautiful, but DEFINITELY a party beach, and not really our scene.

 We hung around for a while, grabbed some pinchos for lunch, and learned that if we walked along the shallows we’d find the trails to Playa Colora and Playa Escondida. Off we went.

Playa Colora was desserted, and absolutely stunning. The surf was significantly rougher, and it was easy to imagine we were in the middle of nowhere. Perfect.

The water was absolutely divine- crystal clear, slightly cool and choppy enough that Joe could play in the waves.

We swung by Playa Escondida as well (following the trail through the mangrove forest). The current there was INSANELY strong, but the water was relatively calm. You could lay back to float and drift hundreds of feet in a matter of minutes. 

On our way back, we spotted this guy.

After the beach we headed to the Puerto Del Rey Marina in Fajardo to get ready for our trip to the Vieques Bio Bay!

We used East Island Excursions for our tour. Shortly after signing in, we boarded the catamaran for the 45 minute trip to Vieques. 

Vieques is a small island approximately 8 miles from the mainland. 

After arriving on Vieques we hopped into passenger vans and took a scenic drive through the island. We ended up at East Island Excursions' restaurant, where we were served dinner. I went with the chicken and mofongo. Not bad, but not the best (and I LOVE me some mofongo). 

After dinner we were briefed on our trip into the bio bay. We boarded one of the most tight-busted school buses I've ever ridden on, and we were off through the mangrove forest! 

EXCITED!

We switched to an electric catamaran and slowly cruised into the enclosed bay. As we approached, and the concentration of dinoflagellates (the tiny microorganisms that light up when disturbed and make the water appear to glow). Mosquito Bay on Vieques is one of the few bays you can still swim in... It. Was. Magical. The water was perfectly calm and almost identical to the air temperature. As soon as your skin touches the water, it begins to glow. It was like swimming in stardust! As our tour guides had warned us, photographing the biobay was darn near impossible. Even without photo momentos, I will undoubtedly remember swimming in the biobay for the rest of my life. 

Tips from Day 4: 

-Talk to locals- we would have never discovered Playa Colora or Playa Escondida if we hadn't chatted up the friendly pinchos guy!

-When renting a car, pack everything you'll need for the whole day- some of our best experiences came from impromptu stops, and if we hadn't been prepared we wouldn't have had time to veer from our itinerary. 

Getting my mom (kicked) out of rehab!

Thank you all for the well wishes you sent when I requested thoughts and prayers for my mom. They seem to have worked! She's being discharged in a few hours! She has a long road to recovery ahead of her, but she's coming home and that's what we care about!

If you're ever unsure of how quickly a loved one will be released from the hospital, do like my sisters and I do and create enough shenanigans to get the nurses involved. They'll probably kick you out eventually...

My mom's attempts to keep us in line with her giant shoe horn are futile. Please don't be alarmed by how insanely over-developed my glutes look in this picture...

Things started innocently enough with some dramatic posing...

And I squeezed in my workout with the killer 1lb dumbell they had in her room. 

It was really my sister, Courtney, who started it with the claw grabber...

I was innocently stretching at the time...

And then my other sister, Kieren arrived, and we decided we should take my mom for a "jog". Through the halls. 

Which quickly evolved into a race- crutches vs. wheelchair. 

When we finally got kicked out left my mom to rest, Courtney and I headed to Home Depot to pick up some supplies (we need to do some adjustments to my mom's apt to make it more recently-broke-my-hip friendly). 

The shenanigans continued in the shower display section. 

It was getting late...

Which meant Taco Bell time! I haven't had Taco Bell in about 4 years because A- It's not really part of my lifestyle and B- The Taco Bells in NYC are some of the grossest places on the planet... 

But we were starving and there aren't a whole ton of options around, so we hit up the Fresco menu. 

Chicken soft taco, steak soft taco and a bean burrito with no cheese or sour cream. Not bad.

And when we got home, I installed the handheld shower head for my mom, like a domestic champion.

We have a few more adjustments to make this AM and then my mom will be home by 11:30!

WAHOOO!

What are you excited for? Who do you get into the most shenanigans with?

So this one time, I did the Thriller dance...

As a part of my recent bridesmaid duties, I was required to learn the Thriller dance for a flashmob style choreography break at the reception- it was awesome!

Enjoy the video. I'm the bridesmaid in the center between the bride and groom. Thanks to Shawn, who dubbed in the music, because at the reception we had tech issues and had to dance to the youtube video played on someone's phone. As a result, most of us couldn't hear the music... I swear I'm not as lost as I look. :)

Things that keep me going...

Delicious breakfast! Mmmm sunflower butter, red currant jam and a whole wheat english muffin.

Working with my talented students. These photos are from a rehearsal of our adaptation of Pandora's Box- ^Zeus and Hermes arguing. 

Hephaestus creating Pandora.

Miss Keelie telling Zeus to pay attention.

Watching a scene between Zeus and Artemis. 

Working on lines with Pandora and Apollo's understudy.

And FRO-YO before a late night train to come upstate!

What keeps you going?

"Girl Pushups" and my TJ Bounty!

Kids can be lazy. Kids on summer break can be super lazy. Kids on summer break who are taking a 9a dance class can be RIDICULOUSLY lazy. 

I spend a solid twenty minutes at the beginning of each class on warming up and conditioning. I'm not only teaching my students dance, but I'm teaching them how to take care of their bodies. I take this very seriously, and for the most part, that translates. But yesterday morning, as I was warming up with my older students, I decided to throw some pushups into the mix. We went over the importance of good form, and I explained to them that I'd rather see 3 perfect pushups than 30 sloppy ones. We were getting ready to start when a group of girls asked, "Is it ok if we do girl pushups?", followed by a few boys asking, "Can we do girl pushups too?" I stared at them for about ten seconds before they started to protest. "Please?! Why not?!"

Cue motivational teacher lecture and inspirational background music. "No one in this classroom is incapable of doing a proper pushup. Every time you modify or sacrifice the quality of an exercise or stretch to make it easier when you don't actually NEED to, you cheat yourself out of getting better, stronger or more flexible. If you don't want to work, you should not be in my class. I care about you all too much to let you give me anything but 110% effort EVERY. DAY." -End lecture.

And you know what? EVERY student did at least 3 perfect pushups. And though I told them, "Nice job, I'm proud of you," I didn't make a huge deal out of it, because they did their work as it was asked of them, which is what's supposed to happen. I am constantly astounded by how many times I see or hear of other educators  allowing FULLY CAPABLE students to do "girl pushups" or their academic equivalent. If my students learn nothing else from me, may they learn that they must ALWAYS work as hard as they can so they don't cheat themselves out of anything.

Teacher rant: DONE! :)

Hubberoni finally caved to my pleas and picked me up my favorite TJ jams after his show (when I'm working, I spend all day in a 5 mile radius from my home).

 He did well!

 AND he got me FOUR bags of my snack crack, Chili Pineapples! They make you do crazy things, like post the LEAST attractive photo you can manage.

I enjoyed a small scoop of cookies and cream iced cream with a few chocolate chips and a mini spoon of sunflower butter as a bedtime snack. HEAVEN.

What are your TJ staples? Do you have any "girl pushup" stories?

Fitness Profile: Ellen Stein

I'm so excited to introduce you to Ellen Stein, 7 time masters world champion powerlifter, versatile personal trainer, activist and advocate for animal rights and my surrogate mom/ business manager/ publicist. Ellen and I met a few weeks after I was crowned Miss Brooklyn 2009. I was vetting candidates for our personal training sponsor and Ellen was the first on the list. Prior to meeting her I had lost about 35lbs on my own doing mostly cardio and a little strength training, so I was slim, but definitely not fit. I can honestly say that I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into by teaming up with Ellen, but two years later, I fully credit her with igniting my current passion for all things fitness, movement and strength. She's helped me transform both my body and my mentality about fitness and exercise, and I couldn't be more grateful to have her in my life!

What's your fitness background? 

For starters my Dad owned a small health club in Brooklyn so I was exposed early on to the gym lifestyle. I was also a tomboy growing up so I was always a physically active kid. I ran for 15 years -4 NYC Marathons and everything else from the mile to the half marathon-my favorite distance was the 5k. I began pumping iron in 1993 when I joined a local Gold's gym. I started powerlifting and competing a year later.

Describe a typical week of workouts when prepping for a contest.  

I only train 2 days a week-Wednesday & Saturday-Wednesday is my light squat and bench days and heavy deadlifts and Saturday is my heavy squat and bench days. I train RAW on the light days and equipped on the heavy days. I don't do much in the way of assistance work-just pullups, some ab work, and bench assistance work e.g. rack lockouts & board presses...

You have HOW MANY world championship titles?

 7 Masters World titles.

How has your diet evolved since you started lifting? 

I went from being a heavy carbohydrate eater when I was more of a cardio/endurance athlete to a heavy fat and protein diet when I became a lifter. I am a recent vegan and only eat fish and greek yogurt.

What's your current eating plan like?

Lots of veggies, fish, nuts, Greek yogurt, salads, sushi, sweet potatoes.

 What do most people NOT know about Ellen Stein? 

I am not the social butterfly I appear to be-I am actually a loner.

Describe yourself in five words. 

Raw, outspoken, generous, funny, politically-incorrect.

What inspires/ motivates  you? 

People who dedicate their lives to helping animals, my coach Matt Gary & his wife Sioux-z Hartwig-Gary.

What are some common misconceptions you hear about fitness that frustrate you as a personal trainer (from clients, other trainers, the media...etc)?

That crunches give you a 6 pack (my favorite), that you shouldn't squat below parallel, thinking that lifting heavy weights will make you bulky (that one is from female trainees), doing excessive cardio for fat loss.

I only have time to workout 30 mins a day, 4 days a week. What do you recommend I do for general fitness/ wellbeing?

As you have guessed by now, I am a big fan of kettlebells because they provide a completely integrated body workout that doesn't rely on muscle isolation and/or single joint movements. I feel you can get the most bang for your buck when your time is limited and you don't feel like traveling to and from the gym. You can train at home or outdoors with just 1 or 2 kettlebells.

What type of exercises do you do with your clients?

In the beginning I use bodyweight exercises e.g. pushups, pull-ups, all types of lunges, squats and then I add external resistance such as kettlebells, dumbbells, sandbags, medicine balls. I also use the TRX and the ropes. We also bench and deadlift of course!

Ellen does in-home training, outdoor bootcamps, group and semi-private sessions in NYC. She currently trains at Reebok/ Sports Club LA on NYC's Upper East Side. Her current certifications include NASM, ACE, NSCA-CPT, RKC Kettlebell, IKFF Kettlebell, TRX, L.I.F.T. Sandbag and CPR/AED. She's a life-long Brooklynite and lives with her two cats, Leo and Luna. Since 2009, Ellen has been the fitness sponsor and personal trainer of the Miss Brooklyn Organization. She can be contacted at: w8lifter222@aol.com.

Energyyyyyyyyyyyy....

Oyyy... Getting out of bed this morning was NOT easy. Good thing I had some joats and iced coffee waiting for me. Today's joats contained 1/2 c soymilk, 1 c water, 1 tbsp ground flax seed, 1 tbsp chia seeds and vanilla protein. 

 Mmmm... cooling. 

It was a LONG day of teaching- or at least it felt that way, due to my crappy 4 or so hours of sleep. I had my usual DD lunch, which held me over for the rest of the afternoon. 

I was STARVING by the time I arrived at home, so I reheated some leftovers from yesterday's beach BBQ!

My workout schedule has been all out of sorts this week- I'm taking a last minute trip upstate to help my mom transition back home after being in the hospital/ rehab for a few weeks- it'll be nice to get to see her and my sisters and help out with the process, but somehow I never manage to get many decent workouts in while I'm traveling. Luckily I HAVE been getting in some killer "warmups" (aka me making my students work out with me) while teaching this week. 

Something I DO usually squeeze in while away from home are random bouts of bodyweight training. I recently STUMBLED across this article on Zen To Fitness about bodyweight training- I'm a huge fan and this piece sort of breaks it all down. Check it out!