Hey friends! A little late but not never Q1 '26 newsletter: even more wedding planning, nagging running injuries, slurp worthy smoothies, a rowdy bachelor party, and NYC museums. Since moving to NYC, Maddie and I are doing tons of exploring; I'll round everything up and share it here.

Wedding Planning

Maddie and I are just got married, technically Q2 but some more planning took place in Q1! Friends and family have been super helpful. Maddie's aunt did our flowers. Another family friend helped with decorations. We hired a day of coordinator! Game changer. She was phenomenal. Shoutout to Kristi!

We had a hiccup initially with the ceremony spot. We were aiming for the giant willow tree at Loose Park but that was all booked up for prom photos. But hey, we did it one better and snagged a permit for the even bigger cottonwood tree at Kessler Park.

At the time of writing and posting, the wedding as already happened and I will share more details about that in my Q2 newsletter!

Here's the tree:

Santa Barbara Bachelor Party

Instead, I can talk about the bachelor party that my brother and friends planned for me. We went to Santa Barbara! In the past few years, I've become a fan of Jeff Shelton, an architect based in SB that's known for colorful, quirky design. One of the properties he designed is now an Airbnb and happened to be available during our dates. We booked the trip around this. Santa Barbara was sort of cool, maybe a little sleepy or at least just a small town but still cool.

We did a Jeff Shelton architecture tour led by a woman who also happens to live in a Jeff Shelton designed space. It was awesome. We went and saw 7 or 8 different buildings and ended with drinks on her terrace. On the other day, we took a ferry to Channel Islands National Park. We did Santa Cruz island as it was closer and had some great hiking trails. It was beautiful and remote and quiet and I'd highly recommend it. The best part was the ferry ride back to Ventura where saw literally hundreds of dolphins. They'd be swimming right up next to the boat and we were 3 feet away from being able to touch them. We also saw a ton of pelicans dive bombing the water for fish. One of the best parts of the trip. So cool.

We didn't get a chance to go tour it but we also came across the Whale House. I want to go back for an event here or to stay here at some point. I'm crying just looking at it.

NYC Museums

It's our first Winter in NYC. Despite it being really cold, it was really fun to explore museums and other indoor activities. A few things we've done:

• New York Sign Museum: It's a 1 hour tour in their space where you learn about the history of signs, specifically of New York. Pretty interesting. Many cool signs. A little out of the way. Worth it!
• Morgan Library: Really cool and highly recommend. The architecture is phenomenal. And they have tons of cool pieces in their collection. They have original sheet music from Mozart! 
• MoMa: I'm not a huge museum guy to be honest but this was still really cool. Picasso's, Monet's, etc. Really busy, was expected. If you can go during the week even better.

Pro tip: If you get a library card, you can get Culture Pass which gets you 2 tickets to most museums in the city for free. Some of them require you to still schedule and make a reservation and limit the amount of Culture Passes that can be redeemed at a given time so plan ahead but you can save some money here!

Smoothie Blurb

The NYC smoothie scene is off the charts! Have had some of the best smoothies of my life here. I'm also enjoying the range. You have fancy, tip top smoothies and you also have super solid no frills bodega smoothies at 1/3 the price. Whatever you're feeling, you can get it. Some highlights:

• Nem's: A "japandi bistro" with some really elegant smoothies, nice recipes and some really fancy 'Aura Smoothies' that I have yet to try because the four options all include greek yogurt and I'm dairy free. I have been twice and have been very pleased both times.
• Juice Haus: Not a place I'd have really sought out as it's inside Padel Haus. Nothing necessarily wrong with this but I just feel like a smoothie spot inside a gym usually isn't the best vibe. But, the smoothies here are top notch! Fancy ass smoothies and one of the best ones I've had this year.
• Pura Vida: I have a special place in my heart for Pura Vida. I have had two of their smoothies. One was their Cymbiotika smoothie which was the most expensive smoothie I've had. Also one of the most beautiful and delicious smoothies I have had. I happened to walk by their new DUMBO location before it opened and reached out. They invited me to the friends and family opening and I'm considering this my first ever smoothie influencer event! Shoutout to Pura Vida Miami!

Boys Just Want to Have Run

My brother and I signed up for our first ever 50 mile trail race in August. It's looking dicey but am still hopeful that we can make it to the starting line. I have been dealing with some nagging hamstring and knee injuries. I will say, I really like my PT and would recommend him. He's very thorough and I have been making progress, it's just slower than I'd like. I have been going to Perfect Stride Physical Therapy. They're 1:1 which is a must. Do not go to a place that is not 1:1! I promise you!

 

I'm a big believer in physical therapy. There was a 3 year period where I didn't run because of a nagging left knee issue. I had seen two physical therapists before finding Spencer at The Fitness Lab in Denver. I love Spencer and if you're in Denver, that is 100% the place to go. He will fix you. In New York, I have Rene at Perfect Stride and he's no Spencer but he is Rene and I do really like him.

Making New Friends

Moving to NYC, Maddie and I had a handful of friends that we already knew. These friends have been incredible to have as we navigate new territory, new routines, etc. They've also invited us to things with their other friends and we've been really lucky that we've been able to meet a good number of people this way.

That being said, making friends as an adult is still hard. People already have their people, their routines, or don't have bandwidth for as much activity in their week. I have been able to meet a lot of new people still by showing up to things consistently. What I mean by this: I'm going to the gym at the same place, the same time almost every day. And now, I'm starting to meet people. It's the same people there every day. I'm going to the neighborhood coffee shop a few times a week (shoutout Nook!). Again, tons of familiar faces and new friends here.

If you're looking to meet more people, show up CONSISTENTLY! I have gone to many one off events and these are very rarely successful. At least not for me. Where I have had the most luck is finding something that I'm interested in and doing that consistently. Ideally 2+ times a week or at least once a week for a while. It often takes seeing someone a few times before things really click. That's my personal experience and looking back, most of my best "new" friends have come from this! Try it!

NYC Central Park Tree Tour

I put together a nearly 2 hour tree tour in Central Park. There are more than 18,000 trees and a couple enormous freak trees that I highly recommend seeing. If you ever want to go on a tree tour, let me know! If you don't want to go on a tour with me but do want to go look at cool trees, here's my Google Maps list of best trees in NYC. Let me know if I'm missing any juicy ones.

NLNY 50K

Shameless plug! The last two years I have organized an endurance challenge called LiverMan 100. This year, it'll be in New York City and will consist of two parts. Part 1 is a tip to tip adventure, taking you 16ish miles from the top of Manhattan to the bottom. Part 2 is a 15ish mile checkpoint race which starts at midnight. You'll be running through the streets of NYC, carving out your own thrilling, unique route. I'm working on finding a few sponsors and brand partners in the fitness, running sphere. If you have any connections, please reach out to me! I'd love to have you there. If you're interested in challenging yourself, looking for a misogi, and/or want to spend time with great people- you will enjoy this. Sign up here.

 

 

Happy Q1! Talk to you soon!

Hi-five,

Ian