Hi everyone! I have been in San Francisco for the past couple days, and it's been a lot of fun! I even with to an organ recital (he played mostly Bach) at the San Francisco Symphony today, which was a first for me. The organ is such a weird instrument. I can't imagine playing with my hands and feet at the same time lol! It looks crazy! The symphony hall is very pretty though. But every time I go to a classical symphony event, I get worried about their future. Their audience keeps getting older and dying off. It's a real problem for them. It would be interesting to see what they can do to keep this culture alive.
I went up close to the stage afterwards, and took pictures of this weird thing that they use to play the organ:
That was fun though! But considering how big the organ looks, I thought it was going to be a lot louder than it was.
So I am staying at the beautiful Ritz Carlton Residence, which is a members only condo style building that I got hook ups to lol. Basically one of my mom's friends paid Ritz Carlton a lot of money to be a member, and she gives me free stays sometimes. This is actually the second time I've stayed here, and this time I got a 2 bedroom suite. It's quite nice, and the service is top notch! The most important thing to me is of course... the gym! This place has a 2 story gym, with most things I need (wish they had a squat rack lol). So that makes me very happy. In fact, I took pictures of it!
It's two stories - first level is cardio machines, and second level is weigh machines:
They give you these cute little water bottles (also refrigerated ones underneath), fruits, and disposable headphones which is super cool!
That was the first thing I checked out after checking in! Last time I stayed here, the gym was still under construction so they sent everyone to Equinox which is a block or so away.
They also used to have free breakfast every morning, but I guess they found that to not be worth it. So now they just have the room as a lounge where you can hang out. They have public MacBooks, printers, etc. and they hold a lot of free events like wine tasting, fashion shows and stuff like that. They have this awesome espresso machine! It makes a really good latte! I didn't try the booze on top... haha!
Here's what the lounge looks like, and the snacks:
Maybe I went a little crazy, but I also took pictures of one of the bedrooms, the enormous bathroom (!!!) and the kitchen! I stopped there but there is also another bedroom, 2 other bathrooms, living room and dining room. This place is so nice! If you have the opportunity, I'd highly recommend staying here. They bake cookies everyday too which you can get as many as you want when you go in and out of the lobby... I guess that's why they have a nice gym! =)
I wish I could just live here!!! The top levels of the building here are units for sale. But they are very very pricey.
Anyways, so my coach has started me on a "building" phase of my weight training, which started this week. I've been training with him for almost a year now! We've been doing kind of a "leaning out while building a little bit of muscle" phase. But now I am at a point where I can eat more food and really start to build some muscle definition without adding much fat. It is easy to "bulk" if you don't care about gaining fat, but I don't want to do that for obvious reasons, so I'm going the slow way. I think it's worth it though. I've been only doing it for a week so far, but I already feel like I'm getting a little more definition! But then I came to San Francisco and started eating a lot more than I should, so it is now hard to tell my progress. =/ Speaking of eating though.... this morning, we walked over to Chinatown and had really good dim sum at this restaurant called Great Eastern Restaurant, which Obama showed up unannounced to back in 2012. They have a big picture of him posted outside of the restaurant! Way to get all the Asian American Votes... hehe!
I'm going to be really good when I get home next week!
Ok so, as far as my workouts go this week, I had to be at work an hour earlier than usual so I didn't have time to do any cardio. I also pretty much rushed through my weight sessions. Then I made up for my cardio sessions this weekend in San Francisco! So I did get all my workouts in. But next week will be back to normal, and I'm looking forward to that.
Monday 4/21
What I did: Lower body weights. My coach lowered my reps so I'm supposed to increase weights. Yikes.
Tuesday 4/22
What I did: Shoulder & Tri.
Wednesday 4/23
What I did: My weight training program now has an additional day of glute work - it is tagged onto the beginning of my back/bi workout. So this one is now really really tough!
Thursday 4/24
What I did: Legs again!
I wore the Nike Dri Fit Epic Crew as to and from again, because I love it:
Friday 4/25
What I did: Upper body supersets!
Saturday 4/26
What I did: Well, I actually got into San Francisco at almost 10 pm on Friday night. Had a late dinner reservation with some friends at
La Mar again - my favorite restaurant in SF! So I slept in a little and then did 45 minutes of treadmill interval walk on 15% incline before starting my day!
Oh yeah, I stayed at a different hotel (
Hotel Diva in Union Square, actually pretty funky/cool and in a great location within walking distance to everything) on Friday night because the Ritz Carlton was full. So these pictures are taken there, where the entire room is like the same size as my bathroom at the Ritz... lol! At least they have a full length mirror though (none to be found in my suite at the Ritz).
I like the combo of the bra and tank from the back!
Sunday 4/27
What I did: Another 45 minutes of cardio on 15% incline treadmill.
I am SO glad I got this bag, and at such a good deal. It's super cute and the size is perfect!
And that's all for now! It's late here! I am going to bed so I can get up early to workout and explore the city more! I grew up here, so it's not super new to me. But I think it's become much nicer in recent years than when I lived here. I also really appreciate being able to actually wear my jackets and other cold weather gear here! Each time I come back, I wish I could stay longer!