Chicago Christmas Trip

This Christmas, Mark and I visited my hometown of Chicago, after what seemed like a 5 year hiatus.  Usually we visit Mark's family in Seattle over the holidays, but I owed it to my Mom to visit her in Chicago for Christmas this time.

My Chicago trip was a homecoming of sorts. I reunited with 2 high school friends I hadn't seen in over 20 years. I had a stomach ache just stressing about meeting up with them before my trip, because I had no idea what they would be like, and whether or not we still had things in common anymore, or whether or not I would properly remember our shared memories. However, one of my focusses this year (and a New Year's resolution) is to lean into my relationships more, so I forced myself to arrange some meetups. I must stress that it was quite strenuous arranging everyone's schedules. The sound of my iPhone receiving a text messages started to give me heart palpitations and I could feel the stress hormones flooding my veins. But once we set up dates, meeting up became a piece of cake. My 2 friends were a lot like I had remembered, and where my memory faded, they helped fill in the gaps.

It was fun thinking back on our teenaged adventures: like that time Smitha, Yael and I moshed in the rain on a giant muddy plain at Lollapalooza, and got so filthy, that Smitha was not allowed inside her house before being hosed off. Or the many sleepovers at Hanna's house watching cult classics like "Heathers" and discussing the opposite sex. Anyways, resuming our friendships was a piece of cake. In fact, conversation was so interesting, and conversation passed so easily, that I wonder why I can't find friends who are so easy to talk to here in California.

Dinner at Coco Pazzo with (from Left to Right) me, mom, my cousin Janice, her husband Tim, and Mark

One of our favorite things to do in Chicago was visiting Eataly, where you can shop, and eat in a Italian style food hall

Bunuelos at Frontera Grill - a high end Mexican restaurant helmed by celebrity chef Rick Bayless. This was a restaurant that was on Mark's bucket list.

Deep Dish Pizza Part 1: Lou Malnati's. Apparently, while I was living away from Chicago, a new deep dish pizza place came into vogue. I am more used to the heavy, doughy deep dish pizzas made at Giordano's or Pizzeria Uno. Lou Malnati's pizza was different. It features a lighter, crispier, more buttery crust, and the toppings are not as tomatoey. Chicagoans love it.

Deep Dish Pizza Part II: Giordano's -- the deep dish pizza I am accustomed to from my youth

Viennese Coffee and Breakfast served at Julius Meinl

Niketown in Chicago is always on my list of places to shop. Here I am standing in front of a life size poster of Kevin Durant. I literally come up to his waist.

San Soo Gab San is our favorite Korean BBQ place in Chicago. My childhood friend, Hanna and her husband, Andy were able to join as well. Cousin Janice and husband Tim rounded out the group.

Selfie shot mirrored off the Bean

My friend Smitha, recommended that we visit a speakeasy called The Violet Hour on the hipster neighborhood of Wicker Park.

On a dare at the Lincoln Park Zoo, I sat on Santa's lap after I told Smitha I had never sat on Santa's lap before.

At Christmas, we ate one of the specialty panettones we had bought using my Mom's special china 

My friend, Smitha wanted to visit Zoolights-a free Holiday event at the Lincoln Park Zoo where you can walk around and view the animals while enjoying festive holiday lights. Temperatures had dropped to new lows that Chicago hadn't experienced in decades. Nevertheless we put braved the cold.

References

Coco Pazzo

Eataly Chicago

Frontera Grill

Giordano's 

Julius Meinl

Lou Malnati
The Bean at Millennium Park

Niketown Chicago

The Violet Hour

San Soo Gab San

Zoolights at the Lincoln Park Zoo

Tried Reformer Pilates for the first time

I love traveling by myself because I get to try new things I wouldn't necessarily try at home. When I am at home, I'm too cheap to try new things. Travelling tends to free up my wallet some.

Flex Pilates Studio in Chicago

I've been travelling to Chicago a lot recently to deal with family issues, and I have been having a great time discovering workouts that are popular there.  Unlike Mountain View, the Gold Coast area in Chicago has Cross-fit gyms, Yoga studios and Pilates studio on every corner.  The classes are more expensive but there are a greater variety on offer. Many of these studios require logging in and paying for a spot before even stepping foot inside. This seems like a rather high barrier for trying a new class, but somehow this scheme works in Chicago.

One of my favorite studios in Chicago, which I first discovered in June, is Indigo Studio (http://theindigostudio.com). They offer a lot of dance classes with creative names like "Boot Camp Ballerina", and "Thrill from Brazil".  You can read my Yelp review of Indigo Studio here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/indigo-studio-chicago-2.

This week, I decided to branch out and tried Reformer Pilates for the first time. For those of you who are not familiar with Pilates, it's an exercise that emphasizes toning the "core" or abdominal, back and hip muscles. It's popular with dancers, and Hollywood actresses because it purports to give you long, lean muscles. There are two major types of Pilates, (1) Mat Pilates - performed on a yoga mat on the floor, and (2) Pilates requiring Intimidating Equipment that look like torture devices.  One of the most popular types of equipment used is the Reformer, which looks like a Medieval rack. 

I used to do Mat Pilates because it was offered free at my company.  Mat Pilates is also offered at a lot of gyms like 24 Hour Fitness. Even if you have to pay for a Mat Pilates class, it is usually fairly affordable starting for as low as $12-$20 for a class. Reformer Pilates, on the other hand, starts at $40 per session for small group classes  and as much as $75 for a private session.  Class prices are more expensive to adjust for the smaller class sizes and to recoup the cost of the $2000+ equipment. I think the expensive price is why I never bothered to try Reformer Pilates.

I decided that since I was travelling, I would try Reformer Pilates, even though it would lighten up my wallet.  Flex Pilates in Chicago (http://www.flexpilateschicago.com) has rave reviews on Yelp with reviewers reporting that the workouts were very intense and made them sore. Anyways, I tried it, and every muscle in my body was trembling. Not only did my core become sore, but also my back, my butt, my hamstrings, and my arms. I loved it. I think that Reformer Pilates can be a better all over workout than Mat Pilates because your body rests on a frictionless platform and thus you have to work harder to stabilize your body. In addition, whereas in Mat Pilates, you rely on your body weight to create resistance, Reformer Pilates relies on body weight AND springs, so you get more resistance.  

The internet has opposing opinions on whether a beginner should start with Reformer Pilates or Mat Pilates.  Pilates is one of those exercises where if you are not performing it correctly, it won't be as hard, nor give you the same benefits. For example, one of the core principles of Pilates is to suck your belly in and to keep the small of your back imprinting down at all times. This is more challenging because it forces you to engage the deeper Transverse Abdominus muscles rather than the superficial Rectus Abdomens muscles, or "6-pack" muscles.  This encourages a leaner, less bulky look. So, If you do a crunch without using the correct form, I.e. Without sucking your belly in, you would bulk up instead of lean out. I think it might be easier as a beginner to learn correct form on the Reformer than with Mat Pilates due to the greater resistance offered. The greater resistance allows you to better feel the correct muscle engagement.  Also the smaller group sizes or Reformer classes translates into more one on one time with an instructor, which would help the beginner.

All in all, I'm not sure I would shell out $40 on a regular basis to do Reformer Pilates.  I suppose if I were a billionaire, or if I made my living off of my appearance, my opinion might change.  However, I really enjoyed it, and if I ever come across discounted Reformer Pilates on Groupon or whatever, I would definitely jump on the opportunity.