CLE Events: Balance & Brews

A couple of weeks ago, I attended my very first Balance & Brews event as part of Engage! Cleveland's YP Week. Founded by Melissa Klimo-Major, Balance & Brews combines an hour-long, all-levels yoga class with beer! The events take place in local breweries, and include a brewery tour (if you are so inclined). The classes themselves are really fun-- the unusual location paired with Melissa's humor and playlist make for a fun, low-key experience.

Photo credit: Thanks to Balance and Brews' Facebook page for the two pictures on the top.

Balance & Brews is hosting its first ever yoga weekend retreat in Ohio later this month. I'm not quite ready to commit to a whole weekend yet, but its definitely something I would like to try in the near future. They also have a practice and a pint option, which is exactly what it sounds like. And on July 11th, they are hosting a Balance & Brews practice at Great Lakes Brewing Company, with a portion of the proceeds to benefit Secondhand Mutts. If you recall, I used to serve on the Board of Directors for Secondhand Mutts, and they continue to hold a very special place in my heart, so naturally, I'm signed up to attend!

I love that fun, active events like these are becoming more common-place in Cleveland. I LUUUUURVE a good detox-retox experience! I'm still looking for an event that pairs yoga with a wine/champagne tasting--- maybe someone will create one soon? Or maybe I should partner with someone to create one?

Weekly Weigh In and a SUPER fun weekend

Moment of Truth:
11/11/13: 153 lbs
11/18/13: 152.8 lbs

I know, this is not very exciting, but considering HOW MANY times I ate out last week, I am VERY excited by this. This was my eating out schedule: Tuesday lunch, Tuesday dinner, Wednesday lunch, Thursday dinner, Friday lunch, Friday dinner, Saturday lunch, Saturday dinner, Sunday lunch. And while I made somewhat smart choices, I'm convinced that there is so much salt in restaurant food than the amount I put in my own cooking. How do I know this? My fingers would swell up like fat sausages!!! Hey, a loss is a loss, and while I strive for more, this week, I'll take it.

Friday night, Nick and I went to see Capital Cities and Fitz & The Tantrums at the House of Blues. What an awesome show. Fitz & The Tantrums were absolutely electric-- they had the crowd on their feet dancing and singing!!

In fact, the crowd was so into the show that it was really difficult to get any pictures-- this was the only one I managed to get- the rare quiet moment (ballad) in the show!

Saturday, Nick and I decided to head over to University Circle, and started off our afternoon with a stop at the Cleveland Museum of Art for some lunch. I have to be honest: I absolutely LURVE sitting in that atrium grabbing a bite to eat. It reminds me so much of being in Europe that its honestly a little escape from reality.

Beautiful even on a grey day. Nick staring into the mouth of a dragon. 

After lunch, we headed over to the Museum of Contemporary Art to check out ARTScape. 

I had originally planned to just buy Christmas presents, and while I did that, I also found a piece for me.  You'll have that :)

Saturday night was dinner at the newly opened outpost of Red, The Steakhouse in downtown Cleveland. The space was really nice: dark wood and red lacquered walls, an the food was INCREDIBLE!!

I ordered the tuna steak (top right), simply seared; it was SO SO SO good. Nick ordered the ribeye, and then we finished up with a gigantic creme brûlée (the crust was slightly thicker than normal, and really gave it a nice crunch and caramelized taste).

And now, you have a glimpse of why I only lost 0.2 lbs this week. LOL.

Either way, it was a great week. This week should be better; I'm only scheduled to eat out Monday dinner and Tuesday lunch…. for now.

Happy week all!!

The Movement Factory and a GIVEAWAY!!

If you've noticed my foursquare check-in's lately, you may have noticed that I've been doing a lot of Zumba lately. I tried Zumba over a year ago, and didn't like it. Turned out, it wasn't actually the workout that I didn't like, it was the instructor!! As with so many music-based workout, the instructor is really everything, and now that I've found the right one, I'm all aboard the booty-shaking train!!

So where have I been Zumba-ing? The Movement Factory! Based in Lakewood, I originally discovered The Movement Factory via a groupon that allowed me try out a number of classes for 30 days. My very first Zumba class with Bill, and I was hooked!! Now, if you're worried about your lack of coordination or rhythm, don't be!! While Zumba has some dance elements, it is more of an aerobic dance type workout. You may be a little lost in your first class, but you will definitely pick it up, and if you focus, you may even pick it up by the end of the first class!

Bill is in the red shorts in the top panel. His energy is absolutely contagious!! 

Besides Zumba, I also tried LaBlast, which is based on Dancing With The Stars. Its a slower pace than Zumba, so if you're intimated by trying a Zumba class, LaBlast may be a great place to start.

Since professing my LUUUURVVEEE for The Movement Factory, owner Alyssa was kind enough to sponsor a giveaway for my readers!! She is offering ONE LUCKY READER a 30-day unlimited class, valued at $69, which will give you access to all the following classes for 30 days!

- Co-Ed Yoga Stretch

- ZUMBA

- Pilates Mat

- Vinyasa Yoga

- LaBlast

- Masala Bhangra

- Ladies Booty Camp

- Dance Classes

In addition, The Movement Factory also offers Pilates Springboard and Barre classes, available for an additional fee. In more awesome news, The Movement Factory is expanding its space in October, and will have even MORE class offerings starting next month!!

So here's how you enter (you can do any or ALL of these):

1. Leave a comment letting me know which class you would like to try (1 entry)

2. Follow @TheMvmtFactory on twitter and leave me a comment letting me know you did so (1 entry)

3. Follow The Movement Factory on Facebook and leave me a comment letting me know you did so (1 entry)

4. Tweet "I want to win an unlimited pass to @TheMvmtFactory via @cleshopaholic http://goo.gl/kz39VI" and leave me a comment saying you did so (1 entry for each tweet, you can tweet this once a day!)

5. Update your Facebook Status with "I want to win an unlimited pass to The Movement Factory via cleshopaholic" and leave me a comment saying you did so (1 entry for each update, you can do this once a day). Please make sure you tag The Movement Factory in your update

The winner will be announced on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. 

Good luck!!

Disclosure: I received a 10% discount on my 10-class pass to The Movement Factory as a thank-you for spreading the word about this great gym. Needless to say, I am happy to do it, discount or not, because I LURVE the classes so much!! The Movement Factory has also provided the 30-day unlimited pass valued at $69 for this giveaway. 

Happy Labor Day Weekend

HAPPY FRIDAY!! And HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND!! I am SO looking forward to this 3-day weekend, and although it marks the end of summer fun, I'm not too sad because there's tons of pre-fall and fall fun to be had in the weeks up ahead!!

That said, I am starting off my weekend with a dose of "Om".

Starting at 7 pm, The Rock Hall plays host to a Cleveland celebration in the form of a yoga party. The party is the brain-child of my favorite west side yoga studio Inner Bliss and Eton-Chagrin lululemon store. Best of all, the event is FREE! Additional details on the event are available here. 

Tonight the Rock Hall is going to be a sea of spandex and luon, and I for one, can't wait!!! 

An Evening At Be Studios

WARNING: For all my immature, giggle-prone readers (there is no shame in this, I am one of them), this post has a few #TWSS moments

This past Friday, I joined Anna and her friends at Be Studios, to celebrate her 25th birthday with a lesson in, well, sexy. If you've never been to Be Studios, it an spa and fitness studio on the near West Side of Cleveland, that offers, among other things, pole dancing. FOR FITNESS!!! You can choose to attend a group class, or go the route that Anna went and gather some friends for a private party. The best part of the private party route is that they allow you to bring in alcohol, and lets just say that if this is the very first time you're doing this, a shot or two of tequila really helps you loosen up!!

The pole dance studio is really cute-- 3 well secured poles run across the middle of the room, which is accented with lots of mirrors. 

They also have cute and sexy props on hand-- ridiculously high heels, tutus, corsets....

The view from the other end...

The birthday girl!!!

Our private lesson (9 ladies) was led by our fabulous instructor Peanut. Peanut was very focussed on getting us comfortable in our environment-- the class started with some basics, such as walking sexy. Yes, there is such a thing as a sexy walk. From there, we graduated to some more complicated stuff, including swinging around the pole. IT WAS REALLY REALLY HARD!! First of all, it involves a lot of ab work and upper body, and if you accidentally swing too fast, you might end up either on your ass, or running your thigh/shin into the pole. And it hurts!!!!  The ceiling has all these signatures from those incredibly fit women who managed to shimmy all the way up to the top!! Anna made it up with a boost, I couldn't get any higher than 3 feet. 

Then Peanut took the pole, and showed us how its done......

Seriously, amazing...... She made it look so incredibly easy, and having done the very basics, I can tell you that it was anything but.... 

Not gonna lie, I really want to get a group of girlfriends together and do this again!!!

Have you ever tried pole dancing? What did you think??

Walking For Health

So since the beginning of this month, my work has been trying to encourage its employees to pursue a healthier lifestyle, including working out more. As part of this initiative, they have given us pedometers and we've set up teams for some healthy competition between groups. An "active" person takes 10,000 steps a day, and to be honest, I never gave my activity level much thought until I started wearing the pedometer. I consider myself generally fit; I spin 2-3 times a week and do yoga another 1-2 times a week, and I walk the dogs, so I figured the 10,000 steps would be no problem at all.

Turns out, its harder than it looks!!! I usually walk the dogs for 20-30 minutes in the morning, spend the next 9-ish hours at my desk, with breaks to walk to conference rooms and the printer and the bathroom. All this only amounts to 5,000 or so steps a day!!! To get 10,000 steps, I need to walk for at least an hour and fifteen minutes a day, AND take the long route to the furthest printer at work!!! Needless to say, the pups are going to get lots of walks while I've got this pedometer on!!

Have you ever measured the amount of steps you walk per day? What do you average in your everyday life?

PSYCLE de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!! Hope you had a super fun time, because I certainly did. Although, instead of margaritas and guacamole, I was sweating my behind off at the VERY FIRST RIDE at the newest spin studio in the Cleveland region: PSYCLE. Its so new in fact that the construction isn't even complete. But, we're a dedicated group of spinners, and damn it, we wanted a class with our favorite instructor, the fabulous Ms. Jenn Sommers! PYSCLE is founded by Jenn, her husband Scott, and the a**-kicking Ed Meyer, and in a few weeks, they will have a full roster of classes and instructors available for you to experience.

I will have a more detailed post on PSYCLE early next week, including a CONTEST, so say tuned!!! In the mean time, here are some early preview pics:

Brand new bikes ride oh so smoooooooth

The fabulous JV and soon-to-be PSYCLE instructor Michelle!

I'm seriously so excited about this place! I can't wait to share more details with you. It will CHANGE you.