Senior Spring

senior spring: a quest for happiness, avoiding senioritis, attempting to eat healthy, striving to stay active... and most importantly figuring out what do you do with a BFA in theater
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it's absolutely crazy, Monday was my last first day of school. Aspects of college have gone by so fast, yet other parts feel so long ago-- almost like it wasn't my life because I'm so far removed from it. While a part of me is terrified of the "real world" I have been told horror stories about, this other part of me is so very ready to graduate and be done with college.

All break I answered the dreaded question about what's next. I always feel so self conscious answering that question as if people are judging my dreams and aspirations on the spot. There are a lot of paths and ideas that I currently have and frequently discuss with my parents to make sure I'm not crazy. There are a million things I want to do with my life-- live in a state that is not new york, live somewhere warm, travel, become a certified group fitness trainer, work for a gym, make my broadway debut, get paid to act, get a masters degree.
I am only 21 and honestly, i think I can accomplish a decent amount of the above. At this moment I am just unsure of the order to go about it.

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It's the beginning of a new semester, and my last semester and I've set up some goals for myself and things I want to change in my last semester-- habits I want to instill before the "real world", and things that will hopefully make me far more functional

become one of those people that exercises in the morning
The reasoning behind this is more than just being cruel to myself. No one can schedule a rehearsal or a meeting at 7AM. If i can get one work out in before school, then its okay if something gets in the way after.

So far I am trying super super hard. Monday I don't start class until later, so taking "cardio groove" at 9:30 wasn't a struggle. Tuesday my bed was far too warm and cozy to think of leaving it at 6:15AM. Today I shocked myself and got out of my warm bed at 6:15AM for YOGA... yoga of all exercises. I hate yoga! i hate waking up early! but the combo actually worked-- after taking the hour long yoga class I was super warmed up and ready for my 9AM dance class. I've also felt really awake all day which is shocking considering I left my apartment before the sun was up. It's a start!

keep my apartment stocked with healthy foods
if there are fresh, healthy options for snacks, then I will eat these healthy options. I'm starting off small-- stocked my fridge with apples, hummus, baby spinach, strawberries and yummy salad dressings. I've accepted that I will never feel comfortable cooking, and especially not in my teeny tiny kitchen, but there are simple things I can prepare for myself that are also good for me.

So far I've been on top of thinking about all my meals and making good decisions-- not just resorting to carb heaven for every single meal. Have lots of fruits and hummus in my fridge has made snacking much easier and guilt free.

stop eating peanut butter out of the jar
it's simple, but a thoughtful way to change the way I eat. I can eat peanut butter in a sandwich or with veggies all I want, but no more sticking a spoon in there. So far, so good.

actually stay on top of my work
like all college students, I love to procrastinate, and I particularly love to procrastinate by treating myself to broadway shows and spending the night at the gym taking every fitness class offered. I will do everything in my power to do work before it is done, and memorize things well in advanced for class

read more
the stack of New York Magazine currently littering my kitchen counter needs to be read. Also, the growing list of books I've wanted to read

and lastly blog
I don't know why I'm fascinated by blogs, but I have been for awhile. Over winter break I got addicted to following various fitness and food related blogs. Am I particularly oh so brilliant and fascinating that people need to read about my life? Meh.
but at the very least I want to track my senior spring and my plunge into "the real world". In addition to my self centered reasoning there are other people out there- people who are terrified of their kitchen and raw chicken, people who are obsessed with group fitness class,  people who are addicted to peanut butter, college students trying to stay healthy, and of course musical theater lovers.

to the beginning of the end
end of the beginning.
whatever that means.

Kayla in the Suburbs: What I learned from Winter Break

1. The art of a "staycation"

I heard the words "Oh yeah, we met him at the hot tub the other night" come out of my mouth one night at zumba while I was being introduced to someone. It was then that I realized this winter vacation had truly become a vacation-- despite the frigid new york temperature, lack of palm tree, and sleeping in my childhood bedroom.

I spent the break making the most of the amenities my gym had to offer with my good friends. We swam in the pool, relaxed in the hot tub, sweated in the sauna, and danced to latin music in zumba. Because of this I felt like I was on a staycation. It didn't matter that I was stuck in Wesctchester instead of frying in the sun at Club Med Cancun. I had found that same state of relaxation mixed with activity at my gym.

2. Just Freaken Do It

During the school year it is easy to come up with excuses for why I can't go food shopping-- too tired, I'm holding too many books, its raining, blah blah blah. The same goes for returning phone calls, unpacking, etc.

This break I adopted the philosophy to just freaking do it. If i thought about a task and had time to accomplish it, I had to do it.

Despite how sweaty and tired I was post working out, if I needed to go to the mall, I went to the mall on the way home. If i thought about an email i needed to reply to, instead of marking it as unread I had to reply right then and there.

I hope to keep this going during the school year and put an end to avoiding food shopping and doing laundry 

3. have an overall goal for break, and accomplish it

It is really easy to get in the habit of doing nothing over winter break. Sometimes that is LOVELY, I've definitely spent my previous winter breaks home from college staying up until the sunrise in a friend's basement and then sleeping until 4pm. There is nothing wrong with this, but that is not the kind of break I wanted to have.

I decided to join a gym in Westchester one, because I DO enjoy working out and two, because it would give me purpose. I made it my goal to go to the gym basically every day unless I was out of town (AMERICAN IDIOT UTICA!) or fully booked all day. I even kept this vow while I was in the city and utilized both gym memberships a decent amount this break.

I never have this kind of free time during the school year to take every kind of gym class, and go to the gym consistently, so I am glad that I made working out my absolute priority this break.

4. Make the transition to school easier

I have avoided at all costs reverting to my natural nocturnal state-- staying up all night and sleeping all day, by forcing myself to go to early morning gym classes, and making plans earlier in the day than I normally would have. A year ago I never ever ever would have imagined waking up at 7:30AM to attend aqua zumba ON THE WEEKEND, but because I kept to this go to bed early, wake up early schedule, going back to my early morning schedule at college will be easy peasy. 

5. make it the break you want it to be

so I arguably did nothing this break except hang out at club fit, go to the diner, and other local restaurants, but that is exactly what I wanted this break to be.

I also did a few other things like 

--road trip with my boyfriend to Utica to witness the first ever performance of American Idiot on Tour (and introduce my boyfriend to my true love-- Idiot).

--I made HUGE strides in my newest trapeze trick-- the layout, which is SO CLOSE to being catchable

-- try out pound at crunch!

-- saw Lin Manuel Miranda's newest creation "the alexander hamilton mix tapes" 

-- learned how to solve a rubiks cube (SERIOUSLY!)

-- finally made a work resume (hire me!)

-- started planning out things for fall 2012- researching options and applying to programs

Winter break easily could have become a waste of time and a month of being a slug, but by being productive and having simple goals and aspirations for things to accomplish this break, it turned out to be an awesome, fitness filled month.

Kayla in the Suburbs: Socializing while you Sweat

me and my super tall, wonderful and pink clad gym buddies Sarah & Annica

I'm used to working out alone. As much as I love going to the gym and get obsessed with certain trainers and classes at Crunch, its hard to feel motivated to sweat when I just wanna sit around and watch Modern Family. 

Over this break I experienced for the first time true gym-buddies. Almost every day the three of us pictured above in obnoxious pink, would coordinate what classes we wanted to take (basically zumba, zumba and more zumba). Afterwards we would go out for lunch or dinner, and then sit down for an extremely long time at someone's house, exhausted from our gym-tivs.

I've never had gym buddies before, but I must say it's pretty awesome and I recommend it.

Perks of having gym buddies:

-- Going to the gym can feel like a hassle, and like I'm missing out on plans with my friends. By going to the gym with two of my closest friends, I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything.

-- I'm a bit terrified of swimming and avoid the water at the gym. If i had to pass the deep water class at day camp, I'd probably fail miserably. However, my two gym buddies are certified life guards and enjoy water classes. Going with them encouraged me to go to Aqua Zumba-- a hilarious and awesome variation of my beloved dance class.... And I felt super safe with even more life guards near by.....

-- I'm not a morning person, at all, but making plans to work out at 9AM with friends makes it worthwhile to wake up. There was someone to hold me accountable because I let them down if i decided to sleep in. It was nice when I felt like the only college student awake that early to get text messages from the other two while we got ready for super early morning aqua zumba

-- we soon made all our plans revolve around our favorite gym classes. during the summer we used to go out for dinner with all our friends every wednesday, but our favorite zumba class was on wednesday nights so we had dinner on tuesday instead.

-- we also knew when to split up, we loved taking group fitness classes together, but also knew when to do our own thing. Sometimes they would swim in the lap pool, and i would pretend I could swim in the shallow pool. We worked on different things in the weight room, but generally met up again to go in the hot tub or out to eat after.

-- because we were a mini group, we met other people as well. The first day of zumba we didn't know anyone, but now we've met a bunch of people who are as obsessed as we are.

-- the instructors started to recognize us and give us feedback since we travelled in a pack and were younger than most regulars. 

Sadly, Annica already went back to college in Pennsylvania, and I only have one more day of gym-tivs with Sarah, but we will be back at club fit, making friends with everyone, and being obnoxious soon enough.

I'm surprised actually how awesome of a winter break I've had when it's been pretty low-key and I've barely left New York State. I kept on track with my fitness goals, utilized both my gym memberships, and enjoyed mixing sweating with socializing.

I'm gonna miss having gym buddies and allowing my social life to revolve around Club Fit

Kayla in the 'Burbs: Part one- Gym shopping

How to Gym Shop

I am currently home, in the burbs, for my month long winter break. It's funny, after an exhausting semester at college, I didn't want to come home and sleep until noon every day.
No, I decided to join a gym. well actually another gym.
While it sounds like I have gym ADD, since this is my 4th gym in a year, I learn a little bit more about what I want from a gym, and how it fits into my schedule.

I joined David Barton Gym in Manhattan by accident. My friend and I went in for a tour and were very easily distracted by the pretty lights and club-like feeling. We joined on the spot in May 2010 and froze our memberships until we came back to the city for school in September.
Sadly my friend got mono and never went to the gym, but I tried out everything at this strange strange gym that felt more like a gay club than a place to work out.
I got really into pilates during fall semester. My schedule that semester at college allowed for me to take pilates 3 mornings a week, and I was obsessed. I mixed it in with a bit of cardio here and there.
Spring semester I was back to being a super stressed out drama major and needed my work out to be pounding and stress relieving. I liked to feel badass with all the macho men taking weight training classes like "six pack attack". I also remembered how much I loved dancing for fun in a cardio dance class. I grew to dislike the one dance class offered there though because it felt competitive and show-offy. I get enough of that at theater school. I also have always hated doing hip-hop dances.

During the summer I was home in Westchester and decided to join New York Sports Club. It was conveniently located near the day camp I worked at and near where I got my afternoon starbucks refueling. It was perfect post-camp to take total body conditioning classes at night. This was also where I forced myself to like running and "trained" for my 5k at the end of summer. I went from hating running the mile in high school, to jogging 3.1 miles in yankee stadium at the end of summer.


Back in Manhattan, I was getting sick and tired of the gimmick and attitude at David Barton. While the facility is gorgeous, clean and uncrowded, I disliked the mentality of the clients and workers there. I felt like people treated me like shit and looked down on me, even though I am young and physically fit. Its a pretentious gym. They changed the schedule around so I couldn't take classes with my favorite trainer, and that was the last straw for me.

So I joined Crunch Gym, which has been a great fit for me. As a female obsessed with fitness classes, this is the place to go. there's every kind of class from yoga, spinning, weight training and dancing, offered at all times of the day. The trainers are more down to earth and  "real people", unlike the body builder men at David Barton. I have loved trying out every single class, and taking classes at multiple locations in the city. I do not regret joining this gym. While its more crowded and less glamorous than my previous membership at David Barton, there are significantly more classes being offered that are appealing to me and the clientele and workers are lovely. As a 21 year old female, this is a good work out environment for me, and I look forward to going to various crunch locations and know I will always leave content with the classes I took.

and now, I am home for the holidays, and want to keep up my fitness level.
I shopped around gyms in Northern Westchester, already missing being in manhattan and having 2 crunch gyms 2 blocks away from my apartment.
I decided on Club Fit, while the farther away and more expensive than my previous time at NYSC, it fits what I need for this break. NYSC was great for after camp, offering night classes and convenience to cram into my busy summer schedule of work and hanging out with friends after work.
This break however I was interesting in classes and when I could take them. Instead of working at camp all day and hitting the gym at night, I wanted to work out in the late morning, early afternoon and have the rest of the day to see friends and do whatever I needed to do.
After all my other gym experiences (and also my experience working out at the gym facilities NYU offers me) I have learned that I love work out classes. I recently learned that I love zumba, and I now know that it is a good idea to balance cardio with strength training and mix in some yoga (even though I hate yoga).
while comparing schedules at all the nearby gyms I realized Club Fit was the obvious choice for right now. They offer lots of zumba classes with different teachers, even aqua zumba, and other unique classes for strength training, yoga and spinning during the hours I am looking to work out. and this gym came with the added bonus that my best friend is already a member and looking to work out at the same times I am.

I am very happy with my decision to join Club Fit while I'm home. It has been so much fun to work out with my friends in the morning, and have the whole day to hang out after. and i get to take zumba every day.

So here are my tips when gym shopping
- How far are you willing to drive, walk, travel, take the subway? If it is inconvenient to get to, will you go?
- Does the more expensive gym offer more of what you want?
- All gyms have weights and cardio machines, but are you looking for something special not offered every where? Zumba? a pool? a certain class?
- What time of day will you be working out-- do they offer classes at that time?
- Do you know people who go there and will motivate you to go?
- is there clientele similar to you with similar fitness goals? will you feel intimidated?
- are there new things to try out, like pilates or dancing, that you would never try elsewhere

Joining a gym is expensive and feels impulsive, but if you join knowing you will go and excited for the things your new membership have to offer, its well worth it.
going to the gym should be an exciting break from the rest of life, a place where stress and responsibility take a vacation. with the right gym, and right approach, it feels like that.

Zuma! at last

I've been meaning to take a Zumba class since... well I joined NYSC in Westchester for the summer.
Every week I would peer in while waiting for body conditioning class. While it looked fun, I spent my summer days working as a dance counselor at a day camp. My entire day was cardio dance, jumping up and down, being a motivational dancer and encouraging kiddies to move. I was far more interested in running and weight training when I got to the gym.

I signed up to for a 1 day workshop to become a certified zumba instructor. is it silly to sign up to become a teacher in something I had never done? yeah, but hey I am a dance counselor at camp, I should love it and be good at it!

So today, was finally my day.
Working out at 10AM f is not exactly what I would want on a sunday, but I spent all of last night pumping myself up for finally taking a Zumba class.
I was a bit nervous, I have a background as a dancer with lots of years dancing but very little technique. I always feel embarrassed at these dance classes when I can't pick things up as fast as I feel I should be able to, and I look like the awkward white girl who should just stick to musical theater.

Doing Zumba at Crunch union square I still did look ridiculously white, I always sweated and had a blast. The hour long class flew by. Basically the class is non-stop dancing for the full hour, following easy to copy dance moves from the instructor, and the moves repeat throughout the songs. The music was a mix of my favorite songs from the summer (Give Me Everything Tonight, obsessed), and latin flavored music. While this isn't the music I would listen to on my ipod, I could care less and was super into perfecting each dance move. For someone uptight and incredibly stressed out, this was the perfect easy to follow exercise class that I needed in the midst of a crazy week.
The class was packed with people of all ages (as usual in life, I was probably the baby of the crew) and people who were not necessarily dancers, but loved Zumba as a form of cardio. I highly recommend that everyone tries it, its super fun, and honestly about yourself and not judging the people around you. Let yourself go wild, and sweat it out.

I'm already hooked and hope I can attend class again next weekend.

and now its the final week of fall semester, went by incredibly fast. at this time next week I will be home in Westchester.
however, before I am allowed to leave this wonderful city, I have to write an essay, have musical rehearsal every night, go to class every day and do 4 performances of our kickass musical. so close, but so far...

A Love Letter for Flying Trapeze

I have tried to put into words my love for trapeze on multiple occasions. When I realized that this weird activity I did was more than a phase I even tried to make a theater piece about it.
Its nearly impossible to put into words an activity that I love so much, that has transformed my body and mind, and made my college experience what it is, but here is a lame attempt.

For starters, yes, I do trapeze.

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I actually don't remember much about my first flying experience. I was 4 years old on vacation at Club Med in Ixtapa, Mexico.

Was it love as first fall? Quite the opposite.

I was terrified as any four year old could be. You would think I was still scarred from that experience.

11 years later I decided to take the plunge again, on vacation at another club med resort.

While I was older, and a tiny bit less afraid, I was still far from comfortable, or even remotely good.

I continued to get more comfortable and a little bit less afraid of flying and flew on vacation for the rest of high school

My first ever catch in Cancun, senior year of high school.

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Its hard to describe the sensation, but flying is freeing. While you are up there, you cannot think about anything except for the trick you are doing and what your body needs to do in order to execute that trick.

For a girl that spends a lot of time over thinking and analyzing, I realized that flying was a way I could be free of this overactive brain.

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I flew at Trapeze School New York for the first time at the end of my senior year with a friend from vacation. I had just been accepted to NYU and was thrilled that I would be able to do trapeze while in college.

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it took me until the end of freshmen year at NYU to return, but once I did I was hooked. I went back the next day, and signed up for a 10 week intensive in the fall.

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That first 10 week intensive set in stone my love for trapeze, and introduced me to my best friend Samantha.

during that fall semester I looked forward to every Thursday, learning a new trick, jumping a little bit higher, and learning how to let go.

Its amazing, really, but I find that the critiques I get at theater school about not being able to let go and being tense directly correlates with what happens while flying.

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At the end of that 10 week intensive I had fallen in love with the throbbing hand pain, the chalk and the adrenaline rush so continued to fly weekly.

I began to gain strength-- mentally i had a new sense of what I was capable of as a person, and physically, well my arms and back didn't look to bad either.

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I signed up for more 10 week intensives, and began to meet more and more people, in love with the adrenaline rush. Since arriving at college I have felt out of place, but here I found my clique. Although I am the baby of the Thursday group (I have been a devoted thursday flyer now for over two years), age doesn't matter. job doesn't matter, background doesn't matter. Its about coming together and seeing what we can do. These people are amazing and inspiring

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Thursday is still my favorite night of the week, and when I don't get to fly my week doesn't feel complete. The group has expanded, and all of us have progressed immensely in our skills. We have theme nights where I get to finally live out my college dream of theme parties.

While my college experience at NYU has been less than typical, because I decided to attend this university in manhattan I have been able to pursue my love of flying. 

At trapeze school new york I have found a safe haven where nothing can harm me. No matter how stressed I am, everything is better when I'm covered in chalk.

I am so grateful I decided to come to this college where I can fly weekly.

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My hands may be permanently calloused, my wrist destroyed, and I fractured my pinky on a catcher once, but I freaken love trapeze and i love these people.

So i encourage everyone to face their fears and take the plunge. 

there is nothing more freeing than the sensation of flying.

(and the back muscles rock too)

and unlike in life, there will always be someone there to catch you when you fall. if not, there's always a safety net (my carrie bradshaw moment...)

hot yoga, by accident, and by procrastination.

Its finals season here at NYU...
I love procrastinating by working out-- it is both terrible and wonderful at the same time. Instead of anxiously sitting on facebook thinking about that essay I need to start writing, I put that anxious energy into working out. Its far more productive in the end and when I come back to the work I feel more relaxed.

In the midsts of all this end of year craziness, I promised myself I would work out today to make up for being lazy all weekend with the boy, and not having time yesterday. Despite knowing I had to work on my essay and memorize a monologue and 2 songs for class, going to the gym is also important.

I've been craving yoga for some odd reason... and I don't really like yoga. I always tell myself I like yoga, but then end up going and silently whining to myself all class while my wrists feel like they are going to snap.
But I do like the "yoga-high" i get, and despite wanting to cry during the class, I always leave feeling refreshed and energized. This is exactly what I need right now.
... and it also helps that my package from lululemon arrived today with beautiful new yoga tops.

I decided to try out "Enlightened Yoga" at crunch.
After feeling a bit queazy and dehydrated all day, I wanted to do something that would leave me energized and ready to do a marathon of essay writing in the library, so spinning and weights were out of the question.

Turns out, enlightened yoga is a hot yoga class. I've been meaning to try hot yoga, but have shied away for fear that I will die during the class. Well, there was no turning back

The 90 minute class felt intimidating at first, I was drenched with sweat and my usual wrist problems were horrendous early on.
 My mind did its usual "oh my god I hate yoga, why do I come back dance" for a decent amount of the class.
But then it stopped.
And my body started feeling good. and the oppressive heat started reminding me of vacations in Mexico, and why I applied to almost all warm weather schools for college.

By the end of the 90 minutes I felt accomplished, relaxed and energized. My joints felt amazing, and I was honestly proud of myself for literally enduring the heat instead of giving up mid class. I firmly believe in mind over matter, and the fact that I told myself all class with every breath that I was energizing myself, I was in fact energizing myself.

 While yoga may never be my true love, I think everyone can benefit from what it has to offer. As far as hot yoga goes, I enjoyed it more than I expected to and plan on returning. I'm shocked how great I still feel, almost 6 hours later. I came home and was able to focus on memorizing, and even started writing my final paper in the library after that (with no caffeine, something rare for me)

So I encourage all stressed out college kids to procrastinate with me. even if its for only 30 minutes go on the tread mill, walk around the city, take a yoga class. Do something physical for yourself in the midst of the stress and craziness to alleviate the anxiety.