The End of USO Route 75 = I'm back and bloggin'!

Pfew. Well guys, its been a while, and I'm so glad to be back!

ICYMI, I took a bit of a blogging hiatus while I was traveling on-and-off as part of USO Route 75. You can read more about that here.

Anyway, all that's important for you to know is that I'm back with PLENTY of stories to share, a bunch of new project ideas/leads and even more plenty of photos and videos to show you. So, get pumped!

Now, the only question is... where do I begin?

Check back next week!

Yogi-tastic Photos from Grip The Mat at A Baked Joint

Can I just start by saying how much I love the name of the DC-based bakery, A Baked Joint? I shot a Grip the Mat Vinyasa to Vino event there a few weeks ago and can still can't get over how amazingly appropriate the place's name is.

Considering the shop's sister store is the beloved Baked & Wired (where I basically lived on Mondays during college), I shouldn't be surprised they chose such a fun name for their second location.

Unlike Baked & Wired, which is small and charming, A Baked Joint is large, airy and has plenty of breathing room for lounging and hosting fun events, like Grip the Mat's yoga events (see what I did there)?

I loved shooting this event although, I'll be the first to admit the low-light situation was super challenging. Hello ISO, nice to meet you.

Maybe I should learn off-camera flash...

Either way. I think the photos turned out okay. Not my best. But acceptable.

Spright Updates on Working Out in the Heat & Summertime Fun

90 degree heat? Check. Watermelon overflowing at the grocery story? Check. Feeling like you live in an oven? Double check.

It's official: the dog days of summer are in full swing here in Washington, D.C. Lucky me.

In all seriousness though, this summer has gone by in a blur. Between traveling to Canada to visit family, visiting with friends, traveling to weddings, its so hard to believe there's only a few more true weeks of summer left before my graduate school classes begin at Georgetown. Sigh.

At least this summer has been very productive for me in terms of Spright.com & USO work -- that's at good thing right?

I'm not going to spoil all the wonderful things I have in the books for you to enjoy on Spright over the next few months (trust me, I have a TON of things coming!), but I will say that one of my stories -- about working out in the heat -- hit the site last week and I couldn't be happier.

I loved that I was able to reach out to my alma mater's own Dr. Todd Miller for advice in writing this story. He really helped me understand all the interesting ways the body adapts to temperature changes without making me feel like I needed to re-take my freshman biology class.

Anyway, here's a little snippet for you to enjoy:

Exercising outside in the summer months can feel a little like self-inflicted torture, especially for those first few workouts. Your face gets red. Your skin gets sweaty. Your breathing gets increasingly labored as you push yourself to finish your final set. Even recovery can seem to be more difficult than it would in cooler months.

However, after a few consecutive days of exercising in the heat, you’ll probably start to notice that dealing with stifling outdoor temperatures while you work out isn’t as difficult for your body as it was a week or two ago — all thanks to process called temperature acclimation. Simply stated, temperature acclimation is an adaptive bodily process the body undergoes to become more tolerant of working, exercising, and living in the heat.

I wanted to learn more about what goes on inside the body during the temperature acclimation process, so I  reached out to Dr. Todd Miller, an associate professor of exercise science at the George Washington University, to talk more about how the body adapts to working out in the heat. Here are the major takeaways from what I found out...

Read more here!

Stay tuned for more fun things to come!

Finding My Balance: SUP Yoga Reviewing for Spright with Ebb + Flow

Okay. You caught me. I haven't updated my blog in a while. I blame laziness and vacation... erm, mostly vacation. But everyone deserves a little break from the interwebs every now and then, right? Anyway, here's a little update, from before I headed off on my wonderful week of vacation in the Canadian Rockies with Mr. Man (I'll talk more about that in another post).

A few weeks ago, I got to spend a wonderful evening reviewing a SUP (stand-up paddleboard) yoga class for Spright.com.

Now, let me be perfectly clear. I had never done regular SUP -- let alone SUP yoga -- before I headed down to the Key Bridge Boathouse to take one of Ebb + Flow's SUP yoga classes a few weeks ago, so I was a little nervous.

Looking back on it now, I probably wouldn't have ever thought to try the class in the first place if it wasn't for the Ebb + Flow founder, Jane Daly. Earlier in 2015, Jane introduced herself to me at a Grip the Mat yoga event, where I was working a Fiterazzi photo-booth. Even though the weather at the time was too chilly for SUP, Jane encouraged me to follow up with her in the summertime and come and try out a class.

So, after a few weeks of seeing all the paddleboarders out on the Potomac, enjoying the warm summer weather, I decided to follow up with Jane and take her up on her offer.

Now, I won't give away too much of my review (you should go read it on Spright!), but I will show you some pictures I took (with just my GoPro 3) and leave you with an excerpt to enjoy.

.... Our class started with stand-up paddleboarding demos to help any SUP newbies in the class (cough, me, cough) feel more comfortable on the water.

Then, once everyone was given their boards, personal floatation devices, anchors, and paddles, we were off, making our way to a small cove of calm water on Theodore Roosevelt Island.

Once we reached the cove, everyone put down their anchors and settled into child’s pose before starting the practice. As the hour passed, we flowed through a series of modified vinyasa moves including downward facing dog, warrior three and, aptly, boat pose....

Read more here!

Side-note: I've got to say, I'm pretty impressed with the quality of my GoPro shots -- for such a little thing, it did a pretty good job. Maybe next time I'll take my Canon out on the water -- or not. It is my non-waterproof baby, after all.

Partying Before Work: Covering Daybreaker's launch in DC for Spright

All the things I read about Daybreaker before going to cover the company's launch in D.C. for Spright left me with a ton of questions.

An event company... that only does early morning events? At nightclubs? During the week? With yoga and no booze? And they're crowded? With people paying to party before 9 A.M.?

Surely, there's catch.

Yet I was wrong. That's really all there is to Daybreaker. There isn't a hidden agenda or catch.

As soon as I entered the venue with my camera, the space was filled with eager Yogis, bending it out with vinyasa lead by Grip the Mat.

After stretching out, people stayed to dance and socialize while enjoying tasty treats and a variety of performers and entertainers.

There were even live musicians thrown into the dance party mix!

Maybe it's the simplicity of a Daybreaker's event that makes it so unique and appealing. Maybe for some people, waking up early, doing yoga, then moving their bodies to dance music and strobe lights while fueling up with coffee and juice is a way to jumpstart their day.

One things for sure, it sure is the total opposite of a typical Wednesday morning.

Want to know more? Check out my full review for Spright.com.