Fall Retreats Near New York

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Summer is now officially over, meaning it’s time for pumpkin spice lattes, uggs, and football.  Yet you can still get out of town for a nice vacation.  There are plenty of great vacation spots less than a few hours outside of New York, offering busy New Yorkers a quick break from their busy schedules.  And the Northeast is a great place to be during the autumn weather.  Here are a couple places that make for great weekend fall getaways that are easy to reach from the city:

Great Sacandaga Lake, NY: Just west of Saratoga Springs is the Great Sacandaga Lake, a peaceful retreat near the mountains.  The autumn leaves here are something to write home about, and it’s right next to the 6 million-acre Adirondack National Park, offering countless hiking trails.  If you’re a fishing enthusiast, the lake itself is filled with fish.  

Hudson, NY: Located right on the Hudson River is the town of Hudson, a great town designed for New Yorkers to visit on the weekend.  The food here is delicious, and the town is located near several breweries, vineyards, and a distillery.  There’s also excellent hiking nearby at Kaaterskill Falls.  

Northampton, MA: The quirky town of Northampton has just about everything: five different schools nearby, a thriving downtown that’s easy to explore on foot, great food and drink, live music, fall foliage, hiking, and more.  The town features performance venues, a brewery with an award-winning beer garden, and even a cocktail bar made from a converted train tunnel.  There are also state reservations nearby for hiking, even rafting and zip-lining.

Beach Haven, NJ: Once the summer is over, the Jersey Shore becomes a quiet, relaxing getaway.  The town features 24/7 food spots, the Museum of New Jersey Maritime History, and laid-back local bars.  It also serves as a great launching point to explore the rest of Long Beach Island.

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Visiting the Rockaways

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As the Ramones once sang, it’s not hard, not far to reach, we can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach.  While it isn’t as iconic as Coney Island, I would have to say that the Rockaways are far and away the better beach.  It’s actually the only place in New York City with decent surfing!  With the summer winding down, it’s time to get there and soak in those last rays before you have to go back to school, the weather warms up, or both.  Here are some of the great things you can do here:

Shopping:

• Breezy Point Surf Shop: Even if you don’t surf, this store is packed to the gills with all sorts of merchandise such as flip flops, t-shirts, and of course shark-tooth necklaces.
• Off Season: If you’re into a more hip surf experience, then trendy minimalist Off Season, founded by fashion executive Abra Boero, is the place to go, offering designer apparel and large pours of Sangria.  
• Rockaway Beach Surf Shop: This family-run business is a Rockaway institution, and open since 1969, it’s one of the oldest surf shops on the East Coast.  The specialties here are surfboards, skimboards, and boogie boards, and they also offer surf lessons.

Beaches:

• Jacob Riis Park: At the end of the Rockaway peninsula, Jacob Riis Park Beach is a great haven away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of New York City.  Yet it’s also home to a great beach bazaar that offers everything from shopping to volleyball to food to live music.
• Fort Tilden: Located near an old military fort, this ocean-front park features plenty of nature walks.  It’s part of the massive Gateway National Recreation Area that runs through Brooklyn into New Jersey.  
• Rockaway Beach & Boardwalk: In addition to great sand and waves, Rockaway Beach offers seven playgrounds for children.  It’s also a great place to test your surfing skills.

Food & Drink:

• Rippers: Open since 2011, Rippers is one of the spots in Rockaway Beach revitalizing the area.  Offering everything from hot dogs to smoothies to beer funnels to a fun 80s soundtrack, it attracts a large crowd.
• Ship to Shore: Everybody loves to bring alcohol to the beach, and if you do, the Ship to Shore wine shop offers rare and low-cost wines, some of which can’t be found anywhere else.  
• Tacoway Beach: Located inside the Rockaway Beach Surf Club, the kitschy Tacoway Beach serves both alcohol and tacos crafted by chef Andrew Field.  

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Exercising With Your Baby

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When you’re a new mom, finding any time to get anything done, particularly workouts, is difficult indeed.  Luckily, there are plenty of workouts that are easy to do, and you can keep your baby right there with you.  I recently read an article that shared some of these, and I thought I would share them with you all:

Baby dancing: Dancing offers a light cardiovascular workout with all three major muscle groups and improves both your balance and coordination.  Hold your baby to your body and support their head.  Put on some music and dance with your abs drawn in.  Try intervals of slow and moderately fast music to keep your heart rate up.  

Curl-up: Lie face-up on the floor with your knees bent and feet on the ground, like you would do for a sit-up.  Place your baby on or just above your lower belly and hold them securely there.  Then lift your head, neck, and shoulder blades off the floor in two counts, sort of like a miniature sit-up.  Do 20 reps, rest, and then do another set.

Reverse baby curl: This one’s very similar to the curl up, except put your feet up and bring your knees toward your chest, placing your baby on your shins.  Contract your abs and gently tilt your hips up off the floor as your lift your heads and shoulders at the same time, then lower and repeat 20 times.  

Overhead press: Sit cross-legged, holding your baby in front of your chest with your elbows bent.  Straighten your arms upward, pause, then lower your baby.  Do 10 reps, rest, then do two more sets.  

Bench press: Lie faceup on the floor with your knees bent, like with the curl-up.  Hold your baby securely, and bring them close to your chest, with their face touching yours.  Lift your baby up, pause, then lower your baby to the starting position.  Do 10 reps, rest, then do two more sets.  

Pliés: Stand with your feet further than hip-wide apart.  Keep your abs drawn in and bend your knees, lowering your hips and pressing your weight into your heels.  Slowly straighten your legs and return to a standing position.  

Walking lunges: Stand tall, holding your baby against your chest.  Take a large step forward with your right leg and bend both knees.  Push off your back leg and step your feet together.  Repeat with the opposite leg.  

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Ending Your New York Summer Right

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Just as quickly as it began, summer is almost over.  It’s time for your kids to start actually doing their summer reading, get their school supplies, because in less than a month they’ll be back in class.  Yet what are you going to do with that one month left?  If you live in or near New York, there are luckily some great final summer activities you can do before it’s time to go back to school.  Here are a few suggestions, taken from a great post on the blog Brooklynbased:

Alamo Drafthouse: Theaters like the Alamo Drafthouse and Nitehawk, which deliver food and drink to you while you’re watching the movie from the comfort of reclining chairs, have taken Brooklyn by storm.  But it’s easy to spend a lot of money there.  Luckily, the Alamo has “Kids Camp”, with special screenings that offer families an affordable way to watch movies together.  Choose your own ticket price, buy tickets online, and reserve your seats.  100% of the proceeds here go to Camba, which helps families in need.

DeKalb Market Hall: If the food at the Alamo Drafthouse isn’t for you, then the DeKalb Market Hall is located in the same building, and offers a wide array of options from all sorts of popular New York vendors that range from Ample Hills to Katz’s Deli.  If you’d rather not eat out, the market hall also features a surprisingly not-too-crowded Trader Joe’s for you to pick up food.  

Central Park: This Saturday, City Parks Foundation will be putting on their SummerStage Family Day, performing with radio show host Bill Childs.  Just get there early to claim a good spot!  

Robert Mann gallery: Through August 18, the Robert Mann gallery will be hosting an ice cream-themed photo show called “I Scream You Scream”, meant to evoke the feeling of summer.  The show isn’t meant specifically for children, but is still a great stop.  

Melt: The highline is a great spot to take anybody, and if you bring your children, you can take them to Melt on 30th street for a classic ice cream sandwich.  Melt also has a location at Dumbo if you’re in Brooklyn and would prefer to stay there.  

Box Art: Summer is all about making memories, whether it’s putting them in scrapbooks at summer camp or uploading them onto a Facebook album.  Brooklyn-based Box Art Photos will take your favorite photo and create a 5×5 handpainted wooden box with the original photo adhered to the front.  

Puppet shows: If you’d rather your kids experience live entertainment, there’s still time to catch the “Reluctant Dragon” puppet show, based off the 1898 short story by celebrated childrens’ author Kenneth Grahame.  It tells the story of a sonnet-loving dragon who befriends a young boy.  It might be a good idea to read the story to your kids aloud first; the language is dated for sure, but it’s great for putting them to bed.  

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Easy, Equipment-Free Swimming Exercises

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Sometimes it’s easy to forget that New York has got some great public pools across the city and in every borough.  If you’re tired with your regular in-gym workouts, then paying a visit to your local public pool could be a great way to diversify your workout.  Pool workouts often let you work multiple muscles with minimal equipment, and you won’t even sweat!  Since the water provides resistance, you can work your muscles while doing cardio, a win-win situation!  Next time you go to the pool, here are some excellent exercises you can try that require no equipment apart from a swimsuit, based off an article I read online:

Water walking: Start by walking forward and then backward in chest- or waist-high water.  To mix things up, increase and decrease your speed, or walk/jog in place.  

Lunge: Standing near a pool wall for support if necessary, take a large lunge step in a forward direction, but don’t let the forward knee advance past your toes.  Return to a starting position, and then repeat the movement with your other leg.  For side lunges, take similar oversized steps side-to-side.  

Sidestepping: Face the pool wall.  Take 10-20 sideways steps in one direction, and then return to your previous place.

Hip kickers: Stand with the pool wall to one side of your body for support.  Move one leg forward in a kicking motion with your knee straight, then return it to start.  Move that same leg to the side, then return it to the start position.  Then move that same leg behind you and return to start.  

Arm raises: Hold your arms at your sides, then bend your elbows to 90 degrees.  Raise and lower your elbows and arms toward the water surface, while your elbows remain bent to 90 degrees.  Do three sets of 10.  

Push-ups: While standing by the pool side, place your arms shoulder-width apart.  Press weight through your hands, and raise your body up and halfway out of the water, keeping your elbows slightly bent.  Hold this pose for 3 seconds, then slowly lower yourself back into the pool.  

Standing knee lift: Stand against the pool wall with both feet on the floor.  Lift one knee up like you’re marching in place, then straighten it.  Continue to bend and straighten your knee a couple times, then repeat it on your other leg.  Once you’ve mastered that, try it again, but don’t stand against the pool wall.

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Getting Into the Summer Spirit

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Just as you think spring is finally here, looks like it’s now summer!  So to make sure that you get the most out of this season before it’s over, you want to get into that “summer spirit”.  This can often be difficult, especially when work schedules get in the way.  I recently read a post online about some great tips to get into the summer spirit.  Here are just a few of them:

Make a playlist: There are so many great songs that either remind you of or talk about summer.  And the best part is that a few of them are actually good songs!  A good rule of thumb is to find songs that make you feel happy, relaxed and sunshiney.  

Sort your seasonal clothes: As the weather warms up, it’s time to take those summer clothes out from the back of your closet.  Sort through your warm weather clothes and think about what you’re excited to wear.  Keep an eye out for sales that could help you add to your summertime outfit selection as well.  But more on that in a bit…

Get some summer clothing: If you live by the beach, then you’re doing yourself a disservice by not going to beach.  To motivate yourself to visit the beach, one great tip is to get some new summer clothing: a swimsuit, new flip flops, a new shirt, etc.  

Read some “summer books”: Sometimes a good beach book is just the thing to get you in the spirit for the warm weather.  They don’t need to be serious or particularly acclaimed, just something that you’ll enjoy and won’t take a lot of energy to get through.  The summer is about relaxing and enjoying yourself, so read something relaxing.  

Plan a trip: One great thing about New York City is that it’s just around the corner from plenty of great weekend trips with plenty to offer: beach trips to the Jersey Shore or the Hamptons, hiking trips to the Poconos or the Catskills, and that barely scratches the surface.  But you can think bigger than a weekend trip a train ride away: maybe take a week to another part of the country or the world.  If you plan on something, it will get you more excited for the summer.  

Make a fresh outdoor meal: I love to cook, and one of the best parts of the summer is summer meals.  You can do anything from a unique meal to the traditional cookout.  Even in New York, where space is at a premium and a grill is rare at best, you can still make a great meal.

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NYC’s Floating Bars

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As May has started, New Yorkers can rejoice that it’s now officially and permanently warm weather-season for the next few months.  People are emerging from their hibernations and realizing that the weather is finally nice enough to justify going out to the water.  And even if most of New York’s waterways don’t really lend themselves to swimming, you can still find other ways to enjoy the water.  One of the best is a floating bar, which are now reopening for the season.  I recently read a page on TimeOut sharing the opening dates for all of these (most of which have already happened), so I thought I would share some of these spots:

Grand Banks: Docked at Tribeca’s Pier 25, this classy boat epitomizes the swankiness that characterizes the modern Tribeca: classy cocktails, oysters, plenty of heels and of course high prices.  But then again you get what you pay for.

North River Lobster Company: Few things say summer like a lobster roll.  Red Hook Lobster Pound and Luke’s Lobster are great, but you can’t really eat them on a boat.  Luckily, the North River Lobster Company lets you sail around the city for just $10, serving both beer and lobster rolls on deck.

The Brooklyn Barge: Located right next to Transmitter Park, the Brooklyn Barge is still pretty new.  Their 80×30-foot barge boasts a full barge, but the experience bleeds over onto land as well, with picnic-style seating.  The barge offers plenty of other experiences on the water, including scuba and sailing classes, vessel tours and paddle boarding.  

Frying Pan: The Frying Pan got its start as a Coast Guard lightship that sunk off the coast of Maryland.  However, it was salvaged and found new life as one of New York’s most famous boat bars.  That’s admittedly a pretty specific niche, but with its vibrant bar and great atmosphere, even in this field it stands out.  

Willy Wall: Willy Wall is kind of a pain to get to; you need a ferry to get there and requires a ticket to climb on board.  But it’s well worth the extra effort to visit, and is considered by many to be one of New York’s best summer secrets.  

The Crow’s Nest: If you find yourself stuck in the eastern side of Murray Hill, then the Crow’s Nest, set atop a boat-restaurant, should be worth a visit.  Looking over the skyline of Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn, it offers cocktails, burgers and a raw bar.

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Let Trolls Eat Cake!

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To say that the Internet has revolutionized global communication is a redundant understatement.  It allows us to work from home, keep in touch with their college friends across the globe and of course ushered in the art of “trolling”, where people post incendiary comments to garner a response.  It’s become a huge part of the Internet world; the comment threads on any news site or YouTube video are filled to the brim with trolls, and in the most recent season of “South Park” trolling was the center of a season-long story arc.  

Trolling can be harmless, but it can also be a problem.  It’s easy to take a lot of the things that trolls say personally, and it plays a large part in the dark world of cyberbullying.  Twitter has been trying to combat the phenomenon, but trying to stop trolls is a difficult, some would say impossible task.  But I recently read about one service in Brooklyn has come up with a new, innovative method.  

“Troll Cakes” allows you to send trolls a custom cake with their hateful comments written on them.  So far, the venture is pretty new; owner Kat Thek started it not even a month ago with no formal pastry training.  Each “cake” is actually a chocolate chip brownie (as far as I can tell not poisoned) decorated with icing and various toppings.  So far the owner has only sent a handful of cakes, but the business is getting bigger.  The cakes come in a box with a printout of the original comments.  For an extra fee, Thek promises to track down the troll’s address and mail it directly to them, but her methods remain clouded in mystery.  

The company is based in Brooklyn, but they’ll ship anywhere in the US.  Thek even offers a deal where you can deliver your “preferred Trump Tweet” to the White House.  So far, a lot of the cakes have been sent to friends as a joke.  You can send them to trolls, or you can also troll your friends with a cake.  If that sounds like a good idea, you can visit the site!

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Stretches With a Tennis Ball

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Stretching out your lower body after a run is an essential part of your workout routine.  And if it isn’t, then you should make it one!  It offers all sorts of benefits, such as the reduction of tightness in your largest muscle groups, relieving potential pains, correcting muscular imbalances and even improving overall technique.  I recently read a post from the British-based blogger “Fitness On Toast” that shared some specific, unique types of stretches that you can try, each one of which uses a tennis ball.  Take a look!  

Gluteus stretch: Lying on your back, bend your knees and place one foot across your thigh.  Then place a tennis ball under the side of your butt cheek with the leg bent resting on the other thigh.  Move the ball around until you find a sore spot, then hold that position for 5-20 seconds.  Once the tension releases, move the ball to another position.  

Calf stretch: Sit upright on the floor with your back straight.  Place your legs straight out in front of you, and sit with your back against the wall.  Place the ball under the calf, and hold each sore spot for 5-20 seconds before moving onto the next sore spot.  

IT-band stretch: Sit on a flat surface on the ground, placing the outside of your thigh on top of the ball.  Hold your thigh gently in place over the ball and apply a tolerable amount of pressure for roughly 5-20 seconds.  Once you feel that the tension has decreased, move the ball to a lower part of the IT-band (this is a narrow band of muscle running on the outside of the thigh).  Repeat this until tension has decreased.

Hip flexors stretch: Lie face down and place your tennis ball under the front of your hip.  Move the ball around until you find a sore spot, and once you do, hold the ball in that position for 5 to 20 seconds or until tension has decreased. 

Hip stretch: Like on the ground on one side, placing your head under some sort of support (foam box, stack of books, pillow, etc).  Place the ball on the side of your hip, and slowly lean into it until you’ve found a sore spot.  Hold it on the sore spot for a few seconds before moving to another spot.  

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Getting Into the Spring Spirit

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As the flip-flopping weather of February and March comes to an end in New York City, plenty of people around me are getting ready for real spring weather; it’s nice out, the cold dips are less severe and less frequent, and restaurants are bringing out their outdoor tables and chairs for brunches.  Spring is traditionally a time for renewal, a “fresh start” if you will.  You can finally start going outside for your workouts, and it’s a great feeling.  Yet sometimes shaking off that winter “sluggishness” can be a bit of a challenge. In that case, here are some ways to refresh yourself, taken from the blog “Fit Bottomed Girls”:

Deep clean: You’ve heard of “Spring cleaning”, before; while it’s never that fun, it’s also pretty satisfying once you’ve finished it.  Most of us spend a lot of our time indoors during the winter, which means our homes tend to get dirty.  This is the best time to get rid of the dust bunnies under your couch and help you enjoy the warm spring days.  

Purge everything: Piggybacking on the above point, winter holidays bring an abundance of goodies and knicknacks that we may not actually need.  Purging all of the forgotten stuff you don’t need any more will not just give you more room, but also mean that you have less to worry about, move or store.  If you’re having trouble figuring out what you want to get rid of, then ask yourself if something you’re holding onto brings you joy.  If the answer is “no”, then get rid of it.

Grow an herb garden: This might sound a bit cliché, but growing an herb garden is a great spring activity; it offers you an excuse to go outside, connect with nature and get some sun.  It also lets you cultivate spices that can really improve your cooking.  

Unplug: Most of us depend on technology for work, planning or keeping in touch with our high school friends, but often times that technology also serves as a major distraction.  Nonetheless, unplugging for at least

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