Scenes from my weekend - Birthday

View from Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park

Yoga (1991) by Mark di Suvero

Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture

I've never really been a big birthday person. Maybe it's because my birthday is in the summer and, with most friends away or at camp during the summer, I never really had big birthday celebrations (I don't think?). So, it suited me just fine that my birthday on Saturday was like any other day - swim and gym class with one son and a day at the park with the family. We headed over to Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park - the gorgeous park that starts at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge and wraps it's way around the Brooklyn waterfront. The sculpture in the picture above is by Mark di Suvero and is a 30-foot tall kinetic sculpture installed in partnership with Storm King Art Center. The large I-bean, which is bent into a U-shape, rocks and pivots along the pole and create different shadows and perspectives depending on its position.

On Sunday, we took a drive up to Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture near Tarrytown, about 45 minutes outside of the city. It's a nonprofit farm and education center and operates a 80-acre four-season farm. It runs a number of education programs for children and families but also trains farmers (particularly young farmers) in resilient farming techniques. We've visited with the kids a few times before but I think that this is the first time that they were truly interested in seeing how the farm actually works. We explored the vegetable gardens and greenhouses, visited with the chickens, pigs, sheep, cows and turkeys, and had a picnic in the grass. It's a pretty cool place and I really admire the work that they are doing on broader initiatives to create a healthy and sustainable food system.

The Weekly Chase
Last week, I joined my friend Melissa from Live, Love, & Run in The Weekly Chase - a new project that Melissa is starting to connect bloggers with other bloggers to support each other up as we chase down goals that we want to accomplish for the week. It's super simple to join up. Just head over to Melissa's blog, grab a badge and declare your goals!



I accomplished 2 of my 3 goals for last week.
1. Green Smoothie Challenge: I completed the green smoothie challenge. I'll have more on green smoothies later this week. Thanks Amanda for putting me up to the challenge. I think that I've found a new love.
2. Swim once during the week: This almost didn't happen. For me, one of the hardest things about swimming is actually getting to the pool during lap swim hours which are typically early in the morning or in the evening. I committed to swimming early Thursday morning, but when I arrived at the pool, the pool was closed because the chlorine levels were too high. WHAT??!
What a little extra chlorine?? Luckily, the NYC public pools opened this week and we planned on taking the boys after camp on Friday. So, Ed was kind enough to hang out with the boys while I swam laps. I only swam half an hour and didn't feel great. A combination of being tired, dehydrated and out of swimming shape. But it was good to be back in the pool. 
3. Physical Therapy exercises: I did my exercises 4 out of 7 days - far from every day, which is what I was aiming for. Not good. Frankly, I forget about them. But, I know that I need to keep doing them. As my doctor said to me last week, I still have a long way to go in order to get back to where I started from.
My goals for this week are pretty similar to last week.

1. Swim 1-2 times this week.
2. Go to bed before midnight.
3. Cook a real dinner at least 2 nights this week.
4. Do physical therapy exercises every.single.day + plank

Did you accomplish your goals last week? What are your goals for the week? How do you celebrate your birthday? Did you have a good weekend?