Goat cheese and Nudity

Today was not the most jam packed, crazy/exciting day at work. Thankfully I had two afternoon adventures waiting for me as soon as the computer was shut down.

The first was an after work outing to Noir, the bar in The Charles Hotel in Harvard Square. After reading about their 5-4-3-2-1-0 deal, I had to try it out. The deal runs from 5-7pm, Monday-Thursday. Almost everything on the bar menu is discounted; Flatbreads are $5, Sandwiches $4, Appetizers $3, Salads $2, Desserts $1 and Bar nuts – Free! Only catch is there is a $6 drink minimum, perfect price for my cold glass of pinot grigio.

Noir website – http://noir-bar.com/

With specialty drinks such as the Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential – among others – they really play up their film noir vibe. Surrounded by very soft lighting, music such as Imogen Heap, an old movie projected on the wall and trendy decor, I think this could be a great selection for a first date. Especially if you’re just meeting for drinks. Even if the date doesn’t work out, he didn’t turn out to be Mr. Right, if nothing else, the lighting will make you feel confident and extra beautiful. Always a good thing.

The deal on the food was amazing. We figured since the prices were so deliciously cheap, that the portions would be smaller than a lean cuisine (I’m sorry but they hardly have any food in those!) However, we were wrong. We started with the artichoke and parmesan dip served with French bread which was very tasty and not too heavy. Next I had the baby arugula salad with prosciutto, roasted pears, goat cheese and toasted almonds. I learned today that I am a huge fan of goat cheese, who would have thought? Thank you Noir. After my salad I had the smoked turkey sandwich with bacon, more goat cheese (yum), avocado, and cranberry mayo on cranberry bread. Wasn’t sure about all the cranberries, but hey for $4 I’ll buy it. Let me tell you, that was a well spent $4.

I shouldn’t have even finished everything, but I did, and I liked it. What I liked even more – or what my wallet liked even more – was that the meal only cost me $18 total. Not a bad Tuesday night dinner.

My next adventure came after dinner. I won a free year membership to the women-only gym, Healthworks. I won it on Twitter of all things. [Thank you @BosonTweet! – he is a great one to follow for Bostonians fyi.] I went to their location in Porter Square since I was already out in Harvard Square. I filled out my paperwork, got my ID card and headed to the locker room.

Healthworks website – http://healthworksfitness.com/index.php

I hadn’t thought about how ‘free’ women would feel at a women-only gym until I saw it first hand. Lady, at 8:00 at night I don’t wanna see your vagina, put it away, it’s been a long day. Hey you over there, do you really have to do your hair with your boobs hanging out? Cover up. Who knows, maybe this will help me to not be the weirdo hiding in the corner desperately wanting to go in a stall to change. We’ll see about that…

After all the nakedness, I headed upstairs to work out. I needed to get on a treadmill, I saw one open so I  hopped right on. Before my feet could even get moving a woman tapped me on the shoulder to tell me she signed up for this treadmill. You signed up? Umm there were other treadmills open, but this one was apparently hers. I calmly surrendered my treadmill and looked around for some sort of sign up sheet (I’ve never been to a gym with a sign up sheet, and besides this was my first day at Healthworks, cut me some slack!) I found the sheet, signed up for my personalized treadmill and hopped back on.

While running I noticed a sign saying max time on the cardio machines is 30 minutes. Luckily today my workout consisted of walking 2 miles, running 3 miles and walking another 2 miles (insert sarcasm here.) Not going to take 30 minutes. Great. I decided to rebel and stay on the treadmill the whole time. I’m not gonna lie, I was nervous someone was going to come over and yell at me or something but thankfully they didn’t.

Change is hard. I’m fresh off a breakup with my old gym and need time to heal. Healthworks and I just started out, we’ll get there. By the end of my workout I decided it really is a nice, comfortable environment. It was real busy which made for good people watching. They also have a TON of classes throughout the day which I’m excited to try. Plus, it’s free for a year – can’t really beat that!