Saoko

Times Square in chaos.

By: Gabriela Yareliz

NYC has felt the influx of people for the World Cup. I have seen large clusters of Brazilians, Algerians, French, and Colombian visitors.

I have been listening to Saoko on repeat. It’s all about change and transformation, after all.

Some of the moments collected in the week (culturally and personally):

The Tkachuks Take Florida

Excited for this!!

Brady Tkachuk (my fav Tkachuk bro) has been traded to Florida from Ottawa. The Florida Panthers welcome the red blooded American who was in Canada for too long.

Brady in beast mode.

The Tkachuk brothers chat about it here. I am excited for this. He is self described as heavier, faster and a more physical player. All the things that make him fascinating to watch.

The comments to the breaking news were iconic. My favorite is that the Florida Panthers now have the best of the U.S. and Canada Olympic rosters. Almost. Practically. Yes.

Some comments said we should just give the cup to Florida already. Ha. Call it, they said.

We’ll see how Paul Maurice works his magic.

Brady with the iconic Bill Zito.

Skims Cotton Campaign

Skims tapped Hailey Bieber for its cotton campaign, and it’s iconic. The way Skims campaigns are so on point. Always. It’s something to be studied.

And you know who trains Hailey Bieber for these campaigns? Kirsty Godso of Pyro.

Energy Fusion

I am almost done with The Core’s 21-day Challenge. When I started, I felt the ache and exhaustion in my bones. In my last week, I am feeling different. I feel like I have more energy than I have had in like two years. I am not kidding. And that is better than all the aesthetic marketing out there in the wellness world.

This burst of new-found energy came from a decision to pivot from Pilates-centered workouts. They are great for period days, but I am sort of over it on the reg. I am transitioning into a season of heavy weights and HIIT. Next up is the Pyro summer workouts getting added in. High energy and impact. Going for combustion. (So much sweat guys). Can’t stop, won’t stop.

Maia Henry and Haley Wheeler are launching IT GIRL, next week. Can’t wait to see what that announcement will be.

The Best is Yet to Come

Sometimes, in many aspects of life, we look back and wonder if the best is behind us. It sounds cliché, but we fall into this in subtle and obvious ways.

It can feel nostalgic, sweet, and sometimes, sad. We can take an Eras Tour in our memories. If there is anything I know, it’s that I want this moment and the future to be the best era ever. It will be. It can be. It’s all about what you decide to make it.

Sweating to make it the fullest, most fantastic (and fittest) era of them all. No regress. Only progress.

“Lluvia de estrellas; yo me transformo.” Rosalía

A Notch

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I am quoting Gab Waller quoting someone else— she saw: ‘Due to personal reasons, it’s time to turn things up a fuckin notch’.

If you reflect on your life right now and see all the layers to your current situation— what needs to be taken up a notch?

Tomorrow, we dive head first into summer (officially). What will this new season be focused on? What will it make space for?

I was looking at before and after pictures of my coach. The woman joined a CrossFit team a few years ago and looks 20 years younger than she looked 20 years ago. It was a reminder that one decision can change your life. Your entire life.

Sometimes, that’s what it takes— a decision to take it up a notch.

This Week’s Favorites 06.19.26

By: Gabriela Yareliz

The week is coming to an end. Nothing like a Friday. I continued my The Core 21-day challenge, and I am getting ready to go on a solid morning walk before the sun starts roasting us. I am excited to start Sarah Dessen’s new book!

Spent some time starting to deep clean closets. I found my DVDs of season three of The Wire. I laughed remembering when I thought I would be a public defender in Baltimore. I was interviewing there, and a clinical professor at my law school told me to watch The Wire. I wandered over to an old video store in the Village that no longer exists and got season three for like seven bucks. A gem. Didn’t throw it out.

And to finish my Baltimore story— they ghosted me after my interview. It truly was not meant to be. Ha. There is a Baltimore blog here from that time.

This blog is truly the scrapbook of my brain over time. I want to thank all of you who come back here and read the musings. Hopefully, you get inspired or at least walk away with a chuckle.

My hockey posts have been on fire this week. Hockey is still on the mind. Below are some of my favorites and a fun and insightful interview with winning coach Rod Brind’Amour.

The cinder block thing was so iconic. Such a great storyline.

“I need people to know that health is not nuanced. It is extremely simple and should be treated as such.” Dr. Jenna Lagana

“I can never remember things I didn’t understand in the first place.” Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

“The holiest of all holidays are those kept by ourselves in silence and apart, The secret anniversaries of the heart…” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This adorable Staud bag:

Izzy Utterson

“Teach your daughters financial independence so that they seek a life partner, not a provider. And teach your sons domestic independence so that they seek a beloved partner, not a housekeeper.” Nawal El Saadawi

Permanent Retrograde, Kelly Oxford’s piece: Emily Ratajkowski Found Herself But Where Did She Look? (One of my favorite parts: “And she did leave. That’s true and it’s brave and I’m not taking it from her. But notice how she proves to herself that leaving was right. Not by being content on her own. By being wanted again, faster and hotter than before. That isn’t freedom from the gaze. It’s a promotion inside it. She used to be the wife being looked at. Now she’s the villain being looked at. New costume, same job, and the job is being looked at.”)

Rainier Wylde
The GLWGuide
Via James McCrae

Song of the week:

Familiar Faces

By: Gabriela Yareliz

There are days when I think I see Anthony Bourdain in NYC. There are a lot of men who look like him. Today, I felt like I saw him on 7th while some other man explained to a World Cup tourist that such and such building is the “tallest skyscraper.” It’s not, and I don’t know what kind of bootleg tour they were taking people on. Scams abound in high tourist seasons.

One day, I saw a man who looked like Jeffrey Epstein if he joined witness protection. There are people with “familiar faces”. Is it a blessing or a curse? I guess it depends on who you look like.

Game Six (Category 5)

The Carolina Hurricanes reached category five, and they swept the VGK with no mercy.

By: Gabriela Yareliz

We all underestimated them, but they came ready to grind like a good Southern team. The tarp was off, last night. Yesterday’s win was not luck or circumstance. It was pure grit and systematic grind.

Game six ended with a 3-0 score, and a VGK team that looked chaotic and disjointed. It’s unclear if it was Tort’s decision regarding the lines and keeping Hart in net— many called Torts keeping Hart in as a lapse of judgment or relying on a personal connection from back in the Philly days. Did Tortorella get too sassy? Or did he want it and his team just didn’t want it enough? Were they simply exhausted?

I wasn’t wrong in that this riveting Stanley Cup final was about a comeback. It just wasn’t the comeback I thought (I was wrong there). I still think Tortorella’s rise to the finals was inspiring and quite the story. From sitting out on the sidelines for a bit after getting fired to getting back in the game. It was (and is) an amazing story.

The real comeback kid was Rod Brind’Amour. Twenty years after he won the cup as Carolina’s captain, his team vindicates his coaching with some of the most remarkable comebacks in games in finals history— and games five and six were masterful.

Jordan Staal deserved the 2026 Conn Smythe Trophy (MVP Award). The way he spoke about God and his family was moving. I don’t think I have ever witnessed a Stanley Cup win without a tear in my eye. The release after the intense pressure and intensity of the game is such a joyful event. It’s unadulterated joy. Like, when I see them scream, it’s like the soul says, Yasssss.

I think the most emotional part of the evening, for me, was seeing Sebastian Aho lift the cup and Rod Brind’Amour’s emotion as he hugged that thing like they were old friends who had been kept apart for way too long.

Aho— the brother is a savage, and I am so glad he gets to have his name inscribed on that cup. Brind’Amour was giddy.

Jaccob Slavin said, “You can’t play scared.”

I think Slavin’s quote sums up this Stanley Cup finals series.

When the scoreboard doesn’t look the way you want it to; when you are down four; when people count you out; when the stats aren’t predicting your win; when you have lost repeatedly before— it’s not over until it’s over. Play and play hard until the end. “You can’t play scared.” That’s how you win.

Knicks in Five

Congrats to the Knicks and the City of New York. Yesterday, you could feel the buzz of energy as you walked past certain bars and establishments. (And this was during the day before the game even started).

Via NY Bucketlist

History has been made.

Via GQ

NY sports sometimes feel like they have a crusty old curse on them. Will this open the way for the NY Rangers to win something since Friends was being filmed? Let’s hope the energy is shifting.

Life is not easy here. It is nice to have a win, once in a while. It’s is nice to have celebration over something that isn’t completely unhinged.

I hope the festive feeling lasts.