Tag Archives: exhale spa

2012 New York Junior League Winter Ball + An Exhale Spa Giveaway!

I’m just going to recycle my own corny jokes here–I had a ball last night at my Junior League Winter Ball! (2011 post, 2010 post)

The primping was a little more low-key than last year–no make-up done, but I did get nails and hair done.

I was supposed to meet up for the Junior League running group in the morning, but I took one look at the fog and rain in the morning and decided to pass and spend the morning cleaning and organizing my apartment for my upcoming move.

I kept telling myself I’d run on the treadmill instead, but around noon, I realized I had to meet Melissa and Ashley at 1. I went to the little gym in my building, decided to hop on and do intervals, and lasted for all of five minutes, because I was not feeling it in the least. Old Theodora used to lie to herself and still call that a workout, but This Theodora is just laughing at herself and a little bummed she couldn’t get it together yesterday.

I met Melissa and Ashley at my favorite nail place near my apartment for some mani-pedis.

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Sexy Divide by Essie. I don’t see the divide. I think it’s just straight-out sexy.

Lacey came over afterwards, and we ran some errands together before our hair appointments.

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We went to Dry Bar, which is happiness and sunshine in a hair salon. The interior is light, cheery and gorgeously decorated. This place made me so happy.

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So Dry Bar only does blowouts and updos. They give you a little lookbook for you to pick your blowout from. Since my dress was flowy (and I can’t do anything to my hair myself other than straighten it), I wanted something relaxed and sexy, so I went for the “Mai Tai,” which is described as wavy and beachy.

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I was nervous after the Miss Piggy incident on my birthday, so it took me a while to relax, despite the massive glass of wine they gave me. The other awesome thing about Dry Bar? iPhone charging stations at each station. I’d actually never gotten a blowout before my birthday, but if I do ever go for a blowout again, I am totally coming back here.

I LOVED my hair. She dried it and did loose curls with a round brush and then did more loose curls with a curling iron, keeping the ends out so that they were more wavy than curly.

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I hightailed it back to my apartment, speed-applied makeup, walked Bailey and turned around to hightail it up to The Pierre. Since my committee does PR for the league, we had to get there early to greet any press that arrived. Tumblrs, do you recognize Lauren? We’ve been internet friends for years, but finally met recently when our paths crossed through the NYJL.

I’m not going to lie–I’m in love with my dress. I was contemplating just doing Rent the Runway, which is what most of my friends did, but I ended up stopping in the Rent the Runway sample sale the other day and getting this Nicole Miller beauty. Full price: $695. What I paid? $100. Major score.

I spent the next few hours shadowing our president and shuttling her to talk to any members of the press who wanted to talk to her and making sure the photographers got photos of her and our Mistress of Ceremonies, Sade Baderinwa from ABC News.

I’d actually joined my committee a few years ago when I was contemplating a career switch to PR. I have lots of respect for those who do PR well (and, um, less respect for those who don’t), but I learned through this committee it wasn’t something I was interested in full-time. (I do work for a PR firm, but 90% of my job is social media strategy; I only do a little bit of pitching.)

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Shannon, my Junior League other half.

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Lacey, Shannon, Jen and me. (Same crew from 4th of July last year, and some of my BFFs in the city.)

While the Winter Ball is a great party, it’s also one of our biggest fundraisers–usually raising around $500,000 in one night, which goes to fund our community programs. This year’s theme was Moonlight in Marrakesh, and The Pierre was decked out in lush, exotic Moroccan tapestries and lots of bright jewel tones.

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This is about all you get for the inside and decor, sorry. I went from working the event to enjoying it pretty quickly and didn’t take many photos.

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Oh, wait. There’s the program? And some bubbly.

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And…cappuccino?

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Apparently I’m all mature or something, because I managed to wake up without a hangover today, despite the open bar. I knew I wanted to get the run in I missed yesterday, so I tried to refrain from being overserved. Oh, and I guess that late-night pizza must have helped.

I got in a 6-7 mile run (not sure because I accidentally stopped my Garmin at one point) with Laura and then went to a blogger meetup at 16 Handles afterwards, and it was nice to not feel like I was dying from too much champagne.

At the ball, we got swag bags with a bunch of free passes to fitness studios and discounts to other places…

Which brings me to you!

There’s an Exhale pass in there I can’t use–it’s for first-time visitors or those who haven’t visited in the last six months. Well, I went in December (no post about that one, but here’s my review of my first time at Core Fusion), so I can’t use it–and I know I’d stick it in a folder and forget about it a few months from now. So! I have one pass for Exhale that includes:

  • unlimited Core Fusion + yoga classes
  • a $25 gift towards a select spa therapy + 20 percent off any other spa therapies
  • 20 percent off personal training
  • 10 percent off “wellbeing boutique purchases”

Exhale has locations in Atlanta, Boston, Bridgehampton, Chicago, Dallas, L.A., Miami, NYC, Palm Beach and Turks + Caicos–but if you think you might be traveling to one of those places (or if you want to take me to Turks + Caicos), feel free to enter, anyway!

To enter, just leave a comment telling me your favorite nail color or favorite way to wear your hair for special events. (Going for real deep here.) This giveaway will be open until 11:59pm EST on March 6.

 

“It’s a Lady Thing”: Lady Foot Locker Event at Core Fusion

Yeah, yeah, I talk about how being laid off isn’t fun.

And how I’m dying to get back to an office and on a more structured schedule.

But in the meantime, I do love that I can attend daytime blog events.

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This morning, I went over to the Gansevoort Exhale (confusingly enough, it’s on Park Ave, not on Gansevoort) for my first-ever Core Fusion class.

To say I was terrified would be an understatement. I’m in good running shape right now, but my fitness is certainly suffering in other areas. Core Fusion is one of those classes like Physique–lots of slim, buff, bendy girls standing at a ballet barre.

Enter this awkward runner who’s currently nursing some slight runner’s knee and who hasn’t picked up anything heavier than a pint of a carbtastic brew since…September, maybe?

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I walked in, and if I weren’t currently freaking out about my current job situation, I feel like I probably would have been really relaxed in here.

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The event was sponsored by Lady Foot Locker as part of the Glam Media correspondent program, and the swag bag runneth over.

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The swag started with matching outfits–Actra Fitness tops and headbands, Nike sports bras and Adidas crops. I’m super self-conscious of my [carb-loving] stomach, and the outfit was incredibly flattering on said carb-loving stomach. The price tags were still on all of the pieces, and I saw that no piece was more than $35-40, so it’s all affordable, too.

Honestly, the outfit was so cute that I considered wearing it out this afternoon, but ended up just leaving the headband on.

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All matchy. Once they took a bunch of pictures of us in the locker room, we moved into the studio for the class.IMG_0036.JPG
My buddies Melissa and Caitlin were there, and we freaked out together about how our tight runners’ legs would do in this class.

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The studio itself was relatively small, but the floor-to-ceiling windows meant some nice views.

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It also meant the people outside of Starbucks were watching us.

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(We didn’t actually use these, but, ooh, shiny!)

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So I can still lift at least one weight, once. Sweet.

The class itself was actually easier than I thought. It was very similar to Physique and Bar Method in that probably about half of the class is done at a ballet barre and focuses on small movements. We started with some planks and push-ups to warm up, and I pretty much thought then I was going to die and was really nervous about the rest of class. Luckily, the arm portion of class was relatively short, and I was fine once we started using free weights and I didn’t have to lift 130+ pounds of body weight.

After the arms, we moved on to the barre.

[I think. I get exercise amnesia after a hard workout.]

We did lots of little squats and bends, and my legs didn’t quiver too much. I think after nearly four months of marathon training, my quads are just numb.

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Then we got on the ground for some more leg work and some ab work. Usually I get excited when a class moves onto the floor, but the floor portion of barre classes is always really, really hard. It requires a ton of ab and back strength to lift your legs from this position–strength I don’t really have. I made the mistake of telling the instructor, Erin, at the beginning of class that I was really tight from marathon training and every once in a while she would yell, “After this, the marathon will be nothing!” to encourage me. Not embarrassing at all…

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Oh yeah, and there was both a videographer and a regular photographer. In my effort to never be caught with an awkward face in a photo, I smiled every time I saw one of them. Which probably led to even more awkward photos.

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Afterwards, they offered us free 10-minute massages. I apologize to anyone who I may have trampled on my way to the massage table.

After a quick massage, I had to leave in order to make a 1pm appointment, so I missed the luncheon afterwards. I saw on Twitter afterwards that I missed a Kardashian sighting in the hotel. I’m not going to lie–I would have been incredibly amused to see a Kardashian in real-life.

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I dug into the swag bag when I got home, and saw we also got pullovers.

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And Asics cross-trainers!

I was terrified of Core Fusion before, but I can’t wait to try it again after the marathon.

What workouts/classes have you been afraid of trying? Have you tried them yet? (If not, go try them!!)

If you are training for a long race, what sorts of classes do you usually stay away from? What’s your favorite kind of barre class if you’re a barre enthusiast?

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Lady Foot Locker via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Lady Foot Locker.