CURIOUSER NEW YORK

I never ever used any cellulite treatments, so I don't even know what's out there to address the cellulite 'problem' except for hearing that there are some kind of magic spandex 'body suits' for various parts of the body, which women wear under their dresses to look slimmer and cellulite-free. However, I have never seen them up close and personal, or worn them for that matter. I don't even know if any of the lady friends I have wear them. I just know I don't wear them. But according to this ad by Vichy, which, by the way, is great: women are very concerned about their cellulites: And to tell you the truth - with a great assurance - men are less likely to notice it [cellulite] on the women they like than the women would on themselves. I doubt that men even have the world 'cellulite' in their conversational vocabulary. Have ever you ever heard a guy talking to a guy about the cellulite: "Hey, listen, I was looking at my thigh cellulite ...

I'm not yet done with Stockholm , or with Europe for that matter. Just because I've stayed in Stockholm for only three days, doesn't mean I didn't have enough time to shoot around the area and picture the local lifestyle. I have quite a few photos to share, and for those you know me relatively intimately, know that I have a very special feeling towards biking . I'm a biker myself - not one of those who do marathons or anything, but one of those who uses biking as a lifestyle - biking to work (I did it in LA, SF, and DC) and biking around the city on weekends ( doing it now in NYC )…[ Can't you guess by the name of my blog? ]

I've been always a big, big, huge fan of Stella McCartney - from the very beginning of her fashion career, from her baby steps in the fashion industry.  I remember how many people were skeptical about 'a daughter of the famous Beatle entering the fashion industry' - just as another 'kid from a famous family who has nothing better to do but to be in a fashion designer' . Well, she's proven them all wrong, hasn't she?

Should I say no more that I'm a big fan of biking? Although, recently, I've been spending more time rollerblading.   Nevertheless, whenever I go out to bike and/or rollerblade, I take my camera, because, biking is not just sports and/or fitness, it's got its own style. Or, should I say, the people who bike - they've got their own style of biking. I see very interesting characters: from couple's biking to very professional bikers with a full attire and equipment. I see kids and elderly. I see two-some/three-some bikes that allow to tag the small kids along. I see all sorts of interesting bikers, helmets, baskets, bags, etc... Here's an interesting comparison: a professional biker vs. a casual stylish bike-stroller...

There's a certain serenity to the Hudson (west side) riverfront. It's a certain serenity that takes over all the six senses at once. At least, that's how I feel about it when I spend time either rollerblading, running, sunbathing and/or biking there.  It's a misconception that, when people work out, they do not people-watch and/or notice anything around themselves. As a matter of fact, that's one of the advantages of doing activities outdoors - you work out, but at the same time you are enjoying the fresh air, beautiful serene views and you also see, what's going on with the others in the same space with you. 

It was one nice weather last week(end), when I managed to take my rollerblades for a long ride along the west side of the city, where the urban city meets the Hudson River paradise - the well-renovated riverfront that now bolsters a great array of the places for all kinds of the outdoor activities.  And, yes, even, when I rollerblade, I rollerblade with a photo-camera - [ aka my iPhone camera, as I use it for the music ], because I find it quite amusing - in a very good way - to see what people wear, when they work out: run, bike, walk, skate... And some of them are not even there to work out, per say, but rather... to take a bit of a break from the public transportation and enjoy a ride to/from work on a bike. Who says you can't bike on a job?

Last weekend I finally opened the rollerblading - a.k.a. inline skating - season in New York!  I've been waiting for this moment all winter and early spring because this was going to be my come-back after not having skated in the city for more than six years. 

The Coffee Shop's Lump Crab Avocado Mango Arugula salad... The other day over a brunch at one of my favorite cafes in the city The Coffee Shop - [ remember The Sex and The City's girls' favorite place? ]  with my girlfriend - [we had the same - the yummy Lump Crab Avocado Mango Arugula salad and their signature mixed berry mojitos], we got into talking about, how a lot of women these days are concerned with the designer's brands and labeling themselves up. [ It was easy to do as the perfect outside seating of the Coffee Shop allows for plenty of people-watching... ]

Two days ago I decided to check out my new neighborhood. I took a stroll down west and south to explore the west side of Midtown Manhattan, where I've recently moved to. For days I've been sorrowing over the fact that I no longer live just a few blocks away from my beloved Central Park. The idea of daily runs in the park and bike rides were slowly leaving my mind, as I was succumbing to the idea of having to sign up for a gym membership. Being a notorious Upper East Side girl all my life, it's been quite an adjustment, not to mention the fact that I've spent the first week bugging my UES friends on  how 'strange and displaced' I felt in Midtown Manhattan, now that I'm not only far from my the Park, but that I'm far from some of the 'paths' I've been so used to taking in and about UES, like my favorite runs to Barnes & Noble on the 86th Street & 3rd, Guggenheim Museum, Madison Ave boutiques and gourmet stores, and of cour...

Have you ever tried a juice cleanse?  Apparently there's been a crazy about it. Not that I didn't know about it, it's in every single women's magazine - but I just didn't know it'd become so huge and so populated by the idea of this juice to be the answer to all the toxins in one's body. The juice cleanse has become the must-have remedy for clearing up your...basically everything: your body, your soul, your mind. You might be surprised or not, but I have not tried a juice cleanse. I've been more of a smoothie-kind-of-gal. I was making the smoothies not for cleansing, but for vitamin and protein essentials to take after my jogging, biking, and/or working out sessions. It's been a religious habit of mine to incorporate various greens, veggies and fruit with a touch of Protein powder to see if it'd do any good for my tire-wholesome muscles after a work out - [ Harley Pasternak and David Kirsch , who I respect, staid it should have do...

OK, here's why I'm not gonna post much this weekend - I'm trying to get the last of what's left of the winter. I'm hitting the slops up in Vermont: one day of skiing at the Killington, VT - today, and tomorrow - it's Stratton, VT . I'm excited about both, especially because I don't get to go skiing often, first of all. Second of all - as I got older, I realized that I'm not really a 'winter sports' person, I'm more of a summer sports person. I prefer to be out in the sun in shorts, rollerblading, playing beach volleyball and/or tennis, or going for a jog and/or a bike ride. That's said, I am , actually, excited for this snowy weekend, but mostly because... The huge part of my excitement lays within the fact that aside from skiing, I'm spending this weekend with my friends at a beautiful house with a fire place in the middle of the woods. And waking up to a smell of freshly brewed coffee and a view to die for - i...

Central Park's runners' shadows... I'm sorry, here I go again.... Not a week - [if not a day] - goes by when I don't talk about my adoration for NY Central Park, especially the Central Park Reservoir , but that's because it is not only beautiful, it is also rare, and it is a rather 'odd' forest-y gem in the middle of one of the heaviest urban cities in the world - [excluding Hong Kong and Mumbai, of course] - where one would expect to see no green lands and ponds with various kinds of ducks in it... Moreover, Central Park is, perhaps, the only place - [not counting some small parks and water promenades in the NYC boroughs, like that long beautiful scenic promenade in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn] - where ALL of the New Yorkers can work out at  - any time of the day - and do all kinds of sports, from tennis to rugby... However, one of the things that defines Central Park is... the marathons!

Exercising partners, Central Park/NYC It's been already three days that I haven't been running in the park. It feels like a month though. Here's a thing, once you start running on a daily/regular basis, you feel addicted to the feeling afterwards - this eternal euphoria that runs through your body after a work out that releases all the stress and tiredness from your body. So, when it's not present in your life, you feel lame. At least, that's how I feel...

Central Park Reservoir, NYC I'm loving how NYC became so bike friendly over the last few years that I have been away from the city. When I was leaving NYC, one could only spot take-out food guys on the bikes and casual biking crowds at the Central Park. There were hardly any other people biking in the city-city, while now - [to my greatest pleasant surprise] - so many people venture to bike on a daily basis in the city itself.