I love how life can become unpredictable in it’s positive ways. Sometimes it’s not predictable in the way you want it to be, and you can’t control that, but you can make the best out of the situation.
Bring on the journey, and the adventures.
Monthly Archives: July 2016
Still on my social media “detox”…
I find I look at my phone less these days now that I’ve deleted my Facebook and Instagram accounts-this is FOR NOW-not forever.
I’ve gotten some really nice emails and texts from people asking me “Are you okay?!?!” Yes I’m perfectly fine.
I actually feel like I’m in the mid 2000’s before MySpace and Friendster were born and people still would talk to each other on the phone and meet up in person.
I’m more active now on Twitter-WorldofRandi and this blog…and I have other projects in the works, so once I go back on social media, it will not go unnoticed.
I dare you to experiment. Log offline for awhile and see what’s around you-see WHO is around you, and that is telling.
Am I the only one….
Lucky to be in California. Pretty grateful…Is it just me, or does anyone else think about the Full House theme when they see The Golden Gate Bridge. Yeah, I’m not the best photographer, but I wanted to take a pic.
Ahhhh….sunshine!
Sometimes I wish I could go back to knowing someone the way I originally met them.
Like, “Oh that’s the guy from the subway I see every Thursday at Starbucks and he gets a grande latte and still uses Sweet and Low…” Then you find out that person judges you for using flavored coffee creamer, and hates animals. Yes, this is a pretty specific description, and all you want to do is think, “I wish I didn’t know that he hated animals and flavored creamer.” But you cannot un-know things once you know them and it goes both ways and I’m sure plenty of people have their opinions on me.
Or the guy on the F train you saw ten years ago and randomly reconnected with so many years later and they ended up being really rude.
The idea of who someone is-and the reality of who they end up being-can go either very good-or very bad-or just disappointing.
When you meet someone on the internet and if you eventually meet them in person-odds are they will never live up to whatever image you may have of them, or maybe they will, you just never know.
There was a man who used to frequent the club I worked at. For almost ten years my co-workers and I tried to get to know him, and he never quite opened up and was friendly, but avoided giving anybody details at all about his life. We all seriously thought he was a spy, or did something for the government. He was THAT secretive and it drove everyone crazy.
I found out that he worked with someone I went to high school with and he it came out that he actually sold some very bizarre type of insurance. A fine respectable job, and that’s great, but the letdown of thinking he was a secret agent for over a decade, to find out that he sold insurance crushed our dreams-in a really superficial way. It was fun to think that he was a spy, all of the mystery and the buildup just went away. Ten years is a long time to put up such a slick and secretive facade, but everyone liked the idea and the mystery of him. We still liked him as a person of course, but it changed things. It was fun not knowing who he really was. Eventually he got very angry when someone asked him for advice about an insurance policy. Then he actually started being really rude to everyone at the club and stopped coming in altogether.
The idea is sometimes better than the reality. It’s hard to be let down. You compartmentalize all of the positive things and then you both let each other down in a way.
And you can not go back to un-knowing someone to the way you originally met them and that sucks for everybody involved.
A handful of people reading this may even think it’s directed to them specifically. If thinking that makes you feel confident and evokes that kind of emotion, then I’ve done my job as a writer to make you feel some kind of slight ego boost.
We Went on a Juice Crawl!
My Latest for The Observer…stay tuned for more fun articles to come!
We went on a Juice Crawl
Forget bar hopping – try the best juices in town instead
Photo: Alyssa Cavosie Photo: Alyssa Cavosie
Abstaining from alcohol is especially hard during the sunny, sociable days of summer. So, casting around for something fun and interesting to do involving selected sips and other people, I signed up for the Summer Solstice Crawl onwww.juicecrawl.com. Boasting of up to 30 different juices in a time a span of three hours, costing between $40-55, including a souvenir mason jar, this was a challenge I had to take. As a health nut too, this seemed the perfect way for me to get my juice on in a social setting.
Meeting up at the Athleta store in the Flatiron district to pre-game with a mini boot camp workout was a fun way to bring us all together. Our small but boisterous of group of eight made our way to our first location, Terri on 23rd street between 6th and 7th. An array of juices had been set up for us on a table presented in plastic Solo cups, the only thing missing was a ping pong ball to engage in a game of juice pong. Before each new “shot” of juice was presented, Crawl creator, Anna Garcia, would announce what the group would be trying next. Surprisingly I felt invigorated after my first few shots of juice, Lady in Red, which contained carrots, beets, pineapple and orange. Then Spice of Life, made with pineapple, apple, mint, and jalepeno for a surprisingly tasty kick. The mood was festive and fun, and everyone was happy to be there, regular crawler, Eve Gottiesman was quick to praise the monthly event.
“It’s something fun to do on a Sunday afternoon, it’s different, healthy and a good way to jump start the work week. It’s a great alternative to going to bars.” Her mother, Barabra Gottiesman, was equally enthusiastic.
“This is such a fun and great idea! I’m ready for some more juice!”
Photo: Alyssa Cavosie Photo: Alyssa Cavosie
After everyone had their fair share of “shots”, the next stop was The Juice Shop on 20th and The Avenue of Americas. Usually steering away from green juices that taste lackluster and not so sweet, we savored shots of a smoothie called Dr Feelgood, containing spinach, parsley, peach, kale and pineapple. I found myself liking the slimy, cool texture and taste. Mr. Almond was the crowd favorite featuring, almond butter, dates, bananas, almond milk. pumpkin spice, vanilla and himalayan salt. So delicious I ordered a full pint of it to go. Loading up on not only juice samples, but hearty cups of veggie pad thai. I felt alert and full of energy on juice alone and ready to take on another boot camp class.
As with many great concepts, the juice crawl developed unintentionally. It was supposed to be a one time event. Garcia was told by her doctor that she was pre-diabetic. Working as a professional trumpet player and a computer coder made it only natural that she spent a lot of sedentary time on the job, it was the wake up call she needed.
“In my family, this was as normal as getting the flu. My diet consisted of hot pockets, Swedish Fish, white bread and pints of Guiness which is sadly healthy for a trumpet player. I needed to something, anything to get healthy.”
Taking her condition seriously considering both her grandfather and father each suffered from three heart attacks a piece, despite their healthy regimes, Garcia knew she needed a remedy and a lifestyle change stat. Only 29 years old at a petite 5’5, she turned to a juice fast to get a jump start.
“It may not work for everyone, but for some reason, worked for me. Maybe it was the fasting, maybe it was a placebo effect, maybe it was the vitamins, but I felt better. Better enough to realize that I needed to change.”
She also wanted to spread the word to her friends, and still be social without pounding down alcoholic beverages.
“I decided to hold an event with juice, which helped me transition to a healthy lifestyle. My first Juice Crawl was with friends on my birthday.” Realizing how much fun it was, and that she could very well be on to something, she went corporate. Now over a year and 21 juice crawls later, there’s no stopping her.
Holding the event once a month, and also having options for private parties, she travels to Brooklyn and Manhattan. Even holding one event where participants went on a night crawl wearing wireless headphones, juicing it up and dancing it out on the street. Garcia makes it clear that the juice crawl is for everyone. “It’s to create a space for people to be social and healthy. I have all types of people who participate, people in recovery, people recovering from a hangover the night before, juice lovers, juice curious, people who love the brands on the crawl and people who have never heard of them.”
Are juice crawls a sign of what’s to come socially when planning a fun night out, that you can actually remember the next morning? Cindy Feinberg, CEO of The Recovery Coach thinks so. “It’s an excellent way to meet healthy minded people, and a great alternative to alcohol.”
The next event is August 7th, celebrating Friendship day, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be one sooner. Garcia consistently books private events, and is considering taking The Juice Crawl nationwide. Tight lipped about franchising, it’s a very realistic possibility, and one that’s going to happen sooner than later. As for her health, Garcia is now in the clear. Given a clean bill of health and swearing by a Vegan diet, she has no intentions of stopping the crawls anytime soon.
“Hundreds of people have been exposed to healthy juice shops and restaurants. Most attendees love it. It’s not anti-alcohol, or even against junk food. It’s just a way for people to taste a lot of different things, and meet new people and have a little fun. It’s also keeping me focused on my health.”
For more information on how to be involved in the next event go tohttp://www.juicecrawl.com
World Of Randi 