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New York City, Day 4

Lunch: Cafe Lalo, the site of the coffee shop scene from You’ve Got Mail. Dave Chappelle: “If you don’t like Kathleen Kelly…you ain’t gon’ like this girl.” We opted for the brunch food here, which was a big mistake — gotta stick with the desserts and coffee. I ordered a Swiss breakfast, which was yogurt, fruit and muesli, along with a half grapefruit. And Emily and Jackson each ordered steamed eggs.

Afternoon: Walked around the American Museum of Natural History. We spent the most time on the 4th floor, in the dinosaur, vertebrate and early mammals exhibits. I’d say it was 50% learning and 50% taking silly pictures with the exhibits. We also had to take a long trek to take a picture with the “dum-dum” (if you’ve seen A Night at the Museum, you’ll know what I’m talking about).

Dinner: Yakitori Totto in the Theater District with Jackson and his friend, Michelle. The food was pretty good, if a little pricey. They primarily served little skewers, like miso eggplant, chicken hearts, asparagus, chicken skin, skirt steak, beef tongue, etc. The hamachi ceviche was pretty good too.

After walking around the museum for 3-4 hours today, I was totally beat before and after dinner. Do New Yorkers even need to exercise? All this walking alone could make me get fit. I did come home and do an ab/core workout out of my Men’s Fitness magazine though.

Today: Cafe Habana and The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in NoLita/SoHo.

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New York City, Day 3

Break day! No big activities today. I signed up for a 2-week trial at a Bally Total Fitness near where we’re staying. It’s a little cramped b/c it’s underground, but it’ll do for the time that I’m here. The good: a bench, treadmills built after 2000, medicine balls, a cord pulley station and new weight machines (lots of back row machines)…none of which I have in my gym back home. The bad: No dumbbells between 15 and 35 lbs (makes it really hard to do bicep curls) and no tricep-extension grip for the cord station. A basketball hoop would have been wishful thinking too!

Emily got a “tui-na” massage and got her nails did, while I hung out at Starbucks and read magazines. Then we shopped at the Time-Warner Whole Foods (CROWDED) and cooked spaghetti for dinner.

For lunch, I discovered a place called The Pump: A Physical Fitness Restaurant. Every thing they serve is without salt or oil and nothing is fried. Most of the foods are high in protein and the breads are all whole-grain. I ordered a chicken pita…it was kind of like a meatball sub with chicken instead of meatballs.

Tomorrow: The Natural History Museum!

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The place we’re staying at in NYC is crazy nice. It’s off 5th Ave., just above the MoMa and has incredible views of the city. It makes enjoying the city a lot easier when you don’t have to crash on someone’s couch or pay $400 a night for a Comfort Inn. New York City, Day 2  Lunch: Bread in SoHo is a cool little place. The interior is all-white and stylish and the music and waitstaff add to the ambience. I had a salad with tuna, avacado, tuna and olives, and Emily had a panani with brie cheese, tomato, prosciutto cotto and dijon mustard. Afternoon: Shopping in SoHo…I wanted to check out this store called Uniqlo that kept getting mentioned in Esquire. It was disappointing though, kind of like a glorified American Apparel. They did have some t-shirts, but I didn’t like any of them. Expected them to have more Japanese stuff. Dinner: Delivery Japanese…ugh. Exercise: Just some pushups, got lazy.

The place we’re staying at in NYC is crazy nice. It’s off 5th Ave., just above the MoMa and has incredible views of the city. It makes enjoying the city a lot easier when you don’t have to crash on someone’s couch or pay $400 a night for a Comfort Inn.

New York City, Day 2 

Lunch: Bread in SoHo is a cool little place. The interior is all-white and stylish and the music and waitstaff add to the ambience. I had a salad with tuna, avacado, tuna and olives, and Emily had a panani with brie cheese, tomato, prosciutto cotto and dijon mustard.

Afternoon: Shopping in SoHo…I wanted to check out this store called Uniqlo that kept getting mentioned in Esquire. It was disappointing though, kind of like a glorified American Apparel. They did have some t-shirts, but I didn’t like any of them. Expected them to have more Japanese stuff.

Dinner: Delivery Japanese…ugh.

Exercise: Just some pushups, got lazy.

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You’re fired!

You’re fired!

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New York City, Day 1

Lunch: Norma’s @ Le Parker Meredian; awesome brunch, every dish we saw whizz by was a sight to behold. Emily had the Wa-Za!…waffles with fruit on the inside and fruit on the outside. I had the Egg White Fritatta with Shrimp and baked tomato and spinach. They serve a The Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata with 10 oz. of Sevruga Caviar for $1000. Below the item on the menu, it says “Norma’s dares you to expense this!” haha.

Afternoon: Hanging out with penguins, seals and red pandas at the Central Park Zoo and bargain shopping at Century 21. Bought 3 dress shirts, a couple of belts and 2 pairs of shoes!

Dinner: Anthony Bourdain’s Brasserie Les Halles. I was really disappointed by this place. After seeing Anthony Bourdain so much on TV, you’d think that anything with his name on it would be nothing short of wonderful. But the service was bad, the lighting was too dark and the food was mediocre. Jackson and Emily had the prime rib for 2 and I ordered the salmon.

Exercise: Worked out at home with some light weights and ankle/wrist weights; did a 10 min workout video haha. Did at least 3-4 hours of walking.

All in all, it was a great first day. Got to check out 2 good restaurants, saw a lot of the city, did a little shopping and got some exercise in. Very well-rounded. I signed up for a 2-week free trial pass at Bally’s Total Fitness, so I’m hoping to hit the gym in the mornings.

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