MMG: A Harrowing Spin Class Tale

plus two book recs + one new podcast rec

Happy Monday!!

If there’s one thing I love, it’s attention — and what better way to ensure I get some than to shock my fans and release a newsletter literally titled Friday Morning at Gail’s on a Monday!?

I was a lil slammed last week, what with turning 31 and then traveling to Fort Lauderdale to watch my very dear friend Mary get married to the love of her life, and I prioritized work tasks over writing this newsletter in time for a Friday AM distro (what a hard worker!!!!). Regardless, I still have a lot to say, so I opted for a little Monday surprise instead. Cheers to flexibility!

• Working Out: Have you ever been to a SoulCyle class? Have you ever been to a SoulCycle class on someone’s birthday? Have you ever been to a SoulCycle class on YOUR OWN birthday!? Until this past Wednesday, I could only answer “yes” to one out of three of those questions. I have a beloved Peloton at home — so while I love the energy of an in-person group spin class and I hit up CycleBar whenever the budget allows, most of my workouts are done at home. I wanted to start my birthday/the year on a positive note, and SoulCycle has a nice birthday deal (ride on your birthday and they’ll put a free class in your account for later), so I opted for an 8:30 a.m. Lady Gaga-themed ride (a dream). What an experience it was! Not only did the instructor ask yell questions at me throughout the ride (“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IMMEDIATELY AFTER THIS!?”), and not only did the woman next to me keep banging her hands on my handlebars in an apparent show of birthday solidarity and joy (!?), but they ended by BRINGING OUT A CANDLE AND A POLAROID CAMERA to capture the tail end of what ended up being one of the most confusing 45-minute increments of my life. The resulting Polaroid is SO funny — I’m sweaty, I’m confused, I’m surprised, I’m overwhelmed. Birthday glowing, I am not. I am so impressed by the instructor’s energy (she was so kind! and so full of life!), and I know there are a lot of people who would love that kind of camaraderie on their birthday — but a bit of a warning would have been nice. Lol.

  • On a cheesy note, something beautiful about turning 31 is that the truly terrible Polaroid picture and my deep in-class awkwardness did not make me spiral. I had a good laugh, I got a great workout in, and I’ll perhaps do my hair better for next year’s picture. Also, I had the realization that the first thing I did on my 21st birthday was go to a morning spin class (at Zyn22 in Fort Worth, Texas, where my love for spinning first began), and I think it’s so cute of myself that 10 years later I still energize and celebrate myself the exact same way. Girlhood!

• Podcasts: Speaking of girlhood, there is literally nothing I love more than girlies yapping. Literally all I ever want to do is talk to my sister, my mom, and my friends, so I love podcasts that essentially capture that energy so I can have girly yap time when everyone is unfortunately busy with their lives and can’t cater to my yapping needs. You might recognize best friends Taryn Delanie Smith and Tiffani Singleton from TikTok, and they recently started a podcast called “We’re Your Girls.” I’M SO OBSESSED. The first time I heard they were starting the pod was through this video (please watch it, it captures their humor so perfectly that it’s basically like a trailer for the show), and I’ve since listened to pretty much every episode. Each one is loosely based on a topic like money, dating, etc., and it genuinely just feels like a funny, friendly chat. So good.

• Books, Part One: My favorite rom-com writer released a new book last week!!!! The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory was my first foray into smut (to be clear, I use that word affectionately and respectfully), and now I’ve read everything she’s ever written. I personally need my smut to have quite a bit of a story (and sometimes that story can involve faeries and woodland creatures, no shame in that game), but Jasmine’s always feel so timely, relevant, and thought-provoking in a really natural way. They’re spicy and readable, and I’m always obsessed with her characters, so Flirting Lessons is officially next on my TBR list.

• Books, Part Two: I’m about halfway through the new Hunger Games prequel and it’s SO good. Sunrise on the Reaping tells the story of Haymitch Abernathy (mentor to Katniss and Peeta and played by Woody Harrelson in the movies) back when he was selected for his own Hunger Games (24 years before Katniss and Peeta), and I’m just so amazed at how Suzanne Collins weaves the storylines together and gives such incredible background to characters we already know. If you liked the Hunger Games books back in the day but haven’t dove into the prequels yet (the other one is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and tells the origin story of President Snow), I can’t recommend it enough. Though my body was physically reading SOTR on a beach chair in Fort Lauderdale at age 31, my soul was reading the newest Hunger Games book at a picnic table at the Great Wolf Lodge, where I read the first one about 17 years ago. I am SO cheesy today.

I hope you have an amazing week! I can’t wait to see the outfits at Monday night’s WNBA draft, and I’m so happy we’re inching towards warmer weather here in Chicago. Cheers!

XO,

Gail

---