This morning my stomach woke me at 5 am with discomfort. My stomach is very much like the Capitol — even though it is my birthday, it made sure to remind me that I will never truly be free. Just like the citizens of the Districts in Panem.

Despite that little setback which required a rainy 6 am walk to Duane Reade, I’m feeling much better now and even put on a silk dress. It was on sale at Bloomingdale’s this weekend for 30% off the sale price. The cashier didn’t want to give me the sale price at all and I had to argue with her, and it escalated to another employee telling her she has to honor the price. I know they get commission at Bdales but this woman wasn’t even getting the commission anyway since another woman swooped in while the dress was still in my hand and claimed it for herself.

I celebrated on Saturday night with some of my friends. My only real option to go out happened to be on St Patrick’s Day, a holiday in which I do not partake. The dress I originally wanted to wear had too much green in it, so I refused to even wear that. And for the second year in a row, I happened to celebrate the night before the NYC Half Marathon (which was my very first half marathon on my birthday two years ago) and that weeded a few people out too. Then one of my friends forgot and another hit a motorcycle with her car, so needless to say it was pretty low key. But I am really grateful for the friends who did come because it usually takes my birthday celebration to remind me that I have lots of really great people who care about me.

And who know me very well, as evidenced by my Lululemon gift which I wasted absolutely no time trying on as soon as I got home that night:

The turtle pajamas are not from Lulu. They are from Duane Reade and if you’d like a pair for yourself, you will need to save up five dollars.

The party itself was fun! I got really excited when I saw a map on the wall that clearly said Jersey City. Have I mentioned I am moving there in three weeks? With my boyfriend? No? A post for another time then!

JeRsEy CiTy RePrEsENt! (Do they not do that there? Is it just a Queens thing?)

Anyway, I drank Muddled Cucumber Margaritas all night as evidenced in the photograph below. By the way, that attractive Asian next to me is my former roommate Michelle. Yesterday marked the six-year anniversary of us moving into the 320 square foot apartment with no closets that I still inhabit.

The other photo shows me holding a Louis Vuitton vintage red epileather bag that I got at a thrift shop for $45. I just wanted the world to know.

I got to wear my sexy gold heels too. The last time I wore them was at my brother’s wedding in 2010, and I got those heavily on sale too. The only downside is that they are four inch heels and I never wear heels. I hate being uncomfortable, but thanks to Duane Reade (Duane Reade did not pay me to say all these nice things about them. Rite Aid has better prices. All opinions are entirely my own.) I got these fold up flats for about $7.

You can find them near the turtle pajama section.

As always, I had friends from all different places and times in my life come, which is amazing. My best friend since first grade, my former roommate, my boyfriend, the owner of Refine, Ben from the internet,  my friend from camp/high school/grad school/former job, my friend from middle school and various significant others. A nice turnout considering the odds not being in my favor.

Tonight I’m celebrating be leaving work a little early, taking a Refine class (giving my new Lululemon top a test drive) and then going to dinner with Andy at a Mexican restaurant I’m really excited about because the name sounds like “tushie.”

And that is it for 29.

One of my newer favorite sites, RateYourBurn, interviewed me as part of their “Classhole” series. Yes, that word struck me as  strange and slightly off-putting when I first saw it, but it actually fits in really well with RateYourBurn’s direct, witty, borderline irreverent tone.

If you’re ever looking for a New York City or Boston fitness class review, this site not only reviews tons of classes at countless gyms and studios, they review each instructor as well. The reviews are brutally honest — not just about the class but the instructor’s personality and teaching style as well. That means this is a fantastic resource when looking for classes.

Not only do I enjoy reading reviews of classes and instructors I’ve taken, I also use the site when I’m contemplating trying something new. Just last week I read their review of Grant at FlyWheel to be sure I wanted to take his 6 am spin class. And I did. And it was awesome.

When RateYourBurn loves a class, they really LOVE the class — which makes me want to get myself there as soon as humanly possible. And even though I don’t always agree with their reviews, the fact that they make me want to drop what I’m doing and try a new class means they’re doing something very right.

Anyway, I feel really honored they asked to interview me — especially since their two prior interviews are people I adore, Bianca of MizzFit and Missy of MissyMaintains.

Enjoy!

CLASSHOLE SERIES: INTERVIEW WITH DORI MANELA OF DORISHINYBLOG.COM

When I published my post last week, I expected some backlash, but I can honestly say I did not expect the anger. I really don’t want to harp on this, but I did want to clarify a few points that I don’t think I expressed well last week, if at all:

• I took Core Fusion (and tried numerous other barre classes) regularly for about 10 months, from January, 2010 – November, 2010, at which point my hip injury was diagnosed. I was no longer able to do that type of workout. I’ve been taking Refine Method for about 14 months, from December 2010 – February, 2012, at which point I wrote last week’s post. I know it seems like I jumped from one bandwagon to the next, but I gave it more than a year to see if I could heal, see if I could reclaim my love with the barre. Ultimately, I couldn’t. And I felt that I should share — had a responsibility to share — my own personal reasoning since it was clear I switched, but it wasn’t clear why.
• One commenter mentioned I lack integrity for praising one method so passionately, and now praising another. Another called my reviews fallible. And while all reviews written by human beings are fallible to an extent, I think it is more a reflection on my personality than my integrity. When I love something, I want everyone else to love it too. Or at the very least, to try it for themselves in case they might realize they love it too! I also trust that people will read about my experience, and then make their own decisions on what they’d like to do with that knowledge I shared.
• On that note, all workouts have the potential to be dangerous. The founder of Refine Method (which, like any exercise program, carries that same potential, which is why it has a very small class size) has told me countless times that she doesn’t think running is safe and has seen many injuries from runners who take her classes. I listened to what she said, and I decided that while her points were valid, I still wanted to run a marathon — so I ran a marathon. If you read my blog to learn about fitness classes, I  hope that you can do the same. I’m sharing my experience, but what you  ultimately decide to do should be your own choice.
• I didn’t mean to imply that everyone who takes barre classes will get an injury. I got an injury. One I will have for the rest of my life. I know how I got it, but that doesn’t mean I think you will too. We all have different weaknesses, body types and susceptibilities. But that doesn’t mean that every word I wrote in every post about Core Fusion isn’t true — it is. I expressed my love for the class and how it made me feel at the time; how it got me through major life events; my progress and improvements; my successes and achievements. I captured an entire year of transformation. A year of my life through this exercise method! A couple of people demanded I take down my old content, but my blog is a progression through my life, and I can’t imagine removing so much information about my life just because my opinions have changed. We learn through experience, and I feel fortunate to have that experience archived here.

For a much more clear and eloquent post from someone who made the same switch in exercise methods as I did, please check out Cameo’s follow-up post to mine.

I didn’t want to write this post today. I wasn’t planning to. I was actually going to write, well, a class review actually, but once I started typing a quick note to acknowledge last week’s post it turned into this rambling. So here we are. I don’t think I need to defend myself and that was not my intent here.

I think I feel better now.

I used to like one thing and now I like another. Let’s move on to happier things, like picking a new winner of the ellasport giveaway - the original winner coincidentally just did a giveaway for the same brand on her own blog. Congratulations to j. at kissing-frogs.net! J. likes the yellow Gramercy Park workout tank. I hope she wears it well, it is a fabulous top.

Return to normalcy next week? Yes. See you then kids.