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Hello, World! Welcome to the very first edition of Weekend Update. You may be thinking, “Megan, how could you just rip off SNL for your blog name?” Well, the answer is, making up a blog name is hard, even for ChatGPT. I asked it to come up with a name of a lifestyle blog for me and the best it could do was “Megan’s Musings”. Gag. So, here we are.
Since we’re all new here, I’ll let you know what you can expect from Weekend Update. As the name suggests, I will be posting weekly, most likely on Sundays, with a recap of my week. Not only will this force me to leave my house to have content for you all, but it will also serve as a helpful tool in case I ever need to provide an alibi.
Some topics to look out for include reviews of my Pilates classes (as I am now OBSESSED and a certified Pilates Princess), what books I’m reading, what crafts I’m crafting, what TikTok rabbit holes I’m falling down, and really whatever else I feel like telling you.
So, without further ado, let’s get into the first Weekend Update.
Pilates Review
This week was the first week that I had access to my new Unlimited PassportTM membership at Club Pilates (sponsored by my father). I started my Pilates journey with the basic membership that bought me 4 classes a month. Obviously, I wanted more but another issue I had with this level of membership was that I didn’t get the class credits until the first of the month and by then, the first two weeks of classes were pretty much booked. With unlimited, I am never left sitting on the app, watching the classes fill up with my hat in my hand, saying “Please, sir, can I have some credits”. I am now the one taking the classes away from the poors who can’t afford the unlimited membership (again, sponsored by my father).
All’s this to say, because this is my first week with unlimited, the classes were pretty filled up already when I got my hands on my endless stream of credits. So, my classes were not as evenly distributed throughout the week as I would have liked, but it did give me the opportunity to try classes with instructors I usually don’t have.
Tuesday: Reformer Flow 1 with Eileen
Tuesday’s class was a lunch hour class with Eileen, an instructor I had never had before. From the first few moves, I got the sense that Eileen was going to be giving us a more laid-back, slow class which was not what I was wanting that day. Eileen must have read my mind because she picked up the pace real quick. This was one of the first classes that I have actually left sweating through my sports bra. The moves weren’t particularly hard or strenuous, but there was little to no down time in between moves. My favorite instructor tends to wait for everyone to be in position before we start all together. Eileen said “Ready or not, we’re here for five, four…”. We also managed to incorporate the magic circle, the Pilates ball, and the box on the reformer all within the hour so we were really moving and grooving.
My favorite move from this class was a lunge next to the reformer which, after lifting the back leg and leaning into the front, turned into an arabesque. Love that shit.
Despite my practicing at home, I could not do the teaser in class which is frustrating and embarrassing when I’m kicking ass on all the other moves but I can’t do what is basically one single crunch. (If you don’t know what a teaser is). I honestly think it might be a mental block at this point because I can do it easy, peasy on the floor but as soon as I get on the reformer, my abs lose the ability to crunch.
Thursday: Cardio Sculpt 1.5 with Maesy
This was not only my first cardio sculpt class at Club Pilates, but also my first time taking a level 1.5 class. Big mistake. Huge.
I don’t know why I thought I could just stroll in to a level 1.5 cardio class and come out unscathed. When I told Lizzy about how I almost died in a cardio class she was not surprised and reminded me that I get angry with her for walking too fast, so cardio is not my thing. But, I thought, “I’m loving Pilates, maybe I’ll love Pilates cardio as well.” I was wrong.
It was basically laying down jumping, crazy weighted arm movements, and laying down jumping while doing crazy weighted arm movements. I felt like the dumbest girl in school and left the class with my eyes down as to not make eye contact with anyone who just witnessed my flailing attempt.
Maybe I will be back to a cardio class but it will be a level one and it will be after my ego has repaired itself.
Friday: Reformer Flow 1 with Adama Center and Balance 1 with Emily
While I was flailing around in my Thursday cardio class, I got an email saying that my Friday class had been cancelled. WTF. But, after thoroughly embarrassing myself on Thursday, I wanted some redemption and booked the only class that worked for me on Friday – a center and balance class.
This was also the first time I utilized my Passport membership, which means that I can go to any Club Pilates I want, and went to a different studio. I like to get to class early so that I can get my reformer (I have to be on the left side of the room), however, at this CP, there was not a separate lobby so I basically walked in on the class before mine. Very awkward.
Not much to say about the actual class. The instructor was good, I’d like to take a normal reformer class with her, but center and balance is also not for me. It was basically a stretching class. Which, in all honestly, felt nice on my sore muscles and sore ego from the cardio class, but I can stretch at home for free.
So this week, I learned that I should stick with what I know. As our dear Wicked friend, Fiyero says: “Those who don’t try, never look foolish.”
Local Wildlife
On Tuesday, as I was driving in to the apartment complex, I noticed a gray and white tabby cat run across the street heading in the opposite direction of my apartment. I turned to go on home, debated for .2 seconds and whipped a U-turn to follow what could have potentially been my new kitten. As I completed my turn, I caught a quick glimpse of it’s tail as it scurried into the parking lot and under a car. I flipped on my brights and positioned my car to be shining on the row of cars I believed to be harboring the fugitive. I got out, leaving my car door open, hoping that I would be lucky and it would run out into my arms and come home willingly. Although I clearly stated “kitty, kitty” multiple times, it did not come when called. So, I got down on the ground and was peering under the car when I suddenly heard, “Do you need help?” from right behind me.
I took stock of how the situation might look to an outsider: a (gorgeous) 20-something woman laying on the ground, reaching under a car, while her own car sits abandoned with the door wide open behind her at 10:00PM. I quickly explained that I am not crazy but I was simply trying to capture a feral cat and bring it home to raise as my own.
Luckily the woman behind me was not crazy either and explained that there is actually an entire community of stray cats that run around our neighborhood and she has multiple secret spots where she drops food and water off for them. She had been on her way to deliver their dinner under the super-secret-do-not-tell-anyone-the-location abandoned car which I have now named the “Cat Car”. Kathy (the cat lady) told me that this complex had once been condemned and families abandoned their pets when they moved out which explains why there are so many strays.
After some sleuthing, I found that my apartment complex, formerly Shirley-Duke, wasn’t condemned, but it was foreclosed on in 1976 after “life at Shirley Duke had deteriorated. Broken windows, roaches, and hallways littered with beer cans were common complaints” and all tenants were forced to move out so the properties could be renovated. The new community opened in 1978 as Foxchase with upgrades including the balconies. So that explains why our balcony is leaning forward and feels like it is holding on to the building with a few screws and a prayer – it was added on to the building almost 50 years ago. I also found a fun-fact in my sleuthing: my apartment complex opened in 1950 and was advertised as the largest low-rent apartment development in the United States. Hell yeah, we’re low-rent baby!
Once the weather warms up a little bit and I can bear to be outside, I will be taking frequent trips to the Cat Car to drop off treats.
Galentine’s Shindig
Boyfriend Alex spent this weekend in Florida at a show so I was home all by my lonesome. To ensure that I didn’t slip into a deep, dark, lonely depression, I decided to have some of the girls over to keep me company. Lauren and Lizzy came over and we gossiped caught up while painting Valentine’s Day candles and snacking.
After my brief jaunt into the world of drinking, it was so nice to catch up and have a wholesome evening with my girls. Having guests also gave me a reason to break out my brand new Kitchenaid mixer that Boyfriend Alex got me for Christmas. I made my go-to Magnolia Table chocolate chip cookies and tried Sally’s White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Bars which were amazing. I didn’t have enough raspberries for the swirl so I threw in some blackberries which gave it a little extra tartness. I also tried and failed to melt down white chocolate chips and finally gave in and used white chocolate melting candies but it still turned out great! The rasp/blackberry swirl did stain my wooden spoon but it’s giving Valentine’s Day.
Entertainment Weekly
I’m in a reading frenzy lately. It started with my mad dash to finish Iron Flame before the release of Onyx Storm and that put me back on my reading bullshit. This week I finished Onyx Storm and let me tell you this, Rebecca Yarros… I don’t care if you told your kids your spending the summer focusing on them. This is about me now. I will personally babysit your children FOR FREE if you buckle down and get back in that writing room. I NEED MORE. Love, love, love reading a book when it first comes out, especially one as popular as Onyx Storm because it feels like I’m in a bookclub with the entire world. However, I hate, hate, HATE that the next book has not only not been released yet, it hasn’t been written! It doesn’t exist! I can’t even pull a Miranda Priestly and demand my woefully unqualified assistant get me the unreleased manuscript. Jail.
After Onyx Storm, I decided to take a break from fantasy and pick from my two FULL Ikea Billy Book Shelfs of TBR. I picked The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah which is set in Nazi Occupied France during World War II. I’m about halfway through so my full review will probably be next week, but am loving it so far. I will say it’s hard to go from fantasy to historical fiction because I often find myself thinking “just wield your magical powers against those Nazis already.”
This week’s Wednesday movie night with Boyfriend Alex was “Presence”. My movie reviews are basically meaningless because I just love a movie experience (Nicole Kidman was right, heartbreak does feel good in a place like this), so most of my reviews are usually a 10/10. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Enjoyed may be the wrong word as it was pretty distressing in some parts (if you have any experience with sexual assault, be warned) but I really liked it. It was filmed from the POV of the ghost/spirit/presence which I’ve never seen before and I thought was executed really well and I did not see the twist coming at all. I had theories throughout of who the presence was and was completely off. So in my meaningless review, I give it a 10/10 and I hope to see other movies take this approach because I feel like it could have gone a few different ways and still been a great story.
Rant of the Week
I understand that with the fall of print media and the rise of digital media that newspapers need to have a paywall. I get it, I do. They have to make their money somehow. But tell me why, when I tried for the first time in, I don’t know, years? to read one article on The New York Times, it wouldn’t let me without a subscription? Alright, no big deal, I simply found The New York Times’ 36 Questions to Fall in Love on Reddit. But that put a sour taste in my mouth over online journalism.
Then today, in my investigation as to whether or not my apartment complex had previously been condemned, I found an article from the Washington Post that looked very interesting. But AGAIN the article from 1978 was behind a freaking pay wall. Then I happened to glance up at The Washington Post’s tagline: “Democracy Dies in Darkness”. More like ‘DEMOCRACY DIES BEHIND A PAYWALL”, Washington Post.
Give me articles for free or change your tagline, Bezos, you capitalist scum.
In’s and Out’s
In:
Starting each day listening to the full Wicked soundtrack
Lulu Lemon leggings dupes on Amazon
Prozac
Out:
Cardio level 1.5 Pilates classes
Goodreads
Not bringing headphones to a nail appointment
Football
And that concludes the first edition of Weekend Update! My parents are probably the only ones reading this, so thanks, Mom & Dad! I’ll be back next week for the next Weekend Update.
XO,
Making it Megan 
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