Month: September 2014

#BosFIT Review/Recap & Other Weekending Things

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As I mentioned yesterday, the #BosFIT event I attended over the weekend was amazing!!! I kind of knew it would be, because anytime you combine fitness, friends and free stuff, I’m a pretty happy girl, but I have to say that it exceeded my expectations.

Since I knew I had to be up and out relatively early for a Saturday, my Friday night was spent much like this:

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Saturday morning, my sister and I headed to The Club by George Foreman III for the #BosFIT event.

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My gym friend (and most loyal class-goer everrr) Dana won my tickets since Julie ended up buying her own. Another BSC member, Caroline, also bought tickets, so it was fun to workout WITH some members rather than teaching them. My YMCA gym-friend, Steph, was also at the event, so it was a blast!

The event offered 4 classes to everyone and you could pick from Bags and Beats, Boxing Bootcamp, BollyX, Suspension Training, Core Fusion Barre, Barry’s Bootcamp, and Turnstyle Cycle. I think the hardest part of the day was deciding what class to take at what point in the day… ok, that’s a lie. Barry’s for the last session was the hardest part of my day!

My first class was Bags and Beats. George introduced himself and gave us a high level overview of the punches. What I liked about this class was that you were punching to the beat of the music, very similar to how I teach, except it wasn’t cardio like I do. Anyway- we had our hands wrapped and wore boxing gloves and got to it for a bunch of songs. The combos were easy to pick up and I liked that we altered our tempo and added in squats, lunges, push-ups and planks throughout.

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Steph and I tried to do Barry’s next, but it was already full. From there, we tried to do a suspension class, but that was also full (I think if they do it again they should have people sign up for classes before the event rather than on a “first come first serve” basis). We ended up taking a BollyX class, which is similar to Zumba in that it’s a dancing workout, but different in that you’re supposed to “strike a pose” at the end of each song. It was a little weird, but my heart rate was up the whole time and it was fun to dance.

There was a break after this where you could “ask the experts” questions on nutrition and training and things like that. Caroline did a fantastic job moderating the panel- proud of you, girl!

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My sister and I headed to a Turnstyle Cycle class after the speaking session and it.was.awesome!! We were both drenched by the time we left. I really need to get there for a class.

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Steph signed us up for Barry’s as our last workout of the day. Holy moly. I don’t know how I survived! Running at a 12% incline and running backwards and sprinting after 3 other classes was rough, BUT we did it and felt amazing after!!

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Check out this calorie burn for the day- solid start to my Saturday 😉

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All in all, it was such a fantastic event! I loved working out with so many friends and getting to see Caroline in her element.

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Thanks to some pretty sweet swag bags, I get to go BACK to many of the studios who participated in the event.

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Post #BosFIT, I headed to Charlestown to have a late lunch and drinks with Jessi and Amy at Pier 6. Man, it was HOT, but the view was worth it!

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Jessi and I continued to drink throughout the afternoon and evening (her place, Tia’s and then dinner and a glass of wine at Sterling’s) and between that, the sun and being dehydrated from the morning’s workout, I woke up with a wee bit of a headache on Sunday. Whoops! Such a fun night, though.

Sunday was spent cleaning, running errands, grabbing a quick lunch with my sister and then heading to Jessi’s for our first book club meeting.

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Check out that spread! I made 2 Stromboli’s and they came out SO GOOD! Seriously, look at these beauties:

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Anything with ooey, gooey, cheesy goodness cannot be bad in my book! The next book we are reading is Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn- anyone want to participate? If you do, leave a note in the comments. We are meeting on November 2nd and after that date I can put together the questions and discussion topics we went over if you’re interested? Let me know 🙂

I hope you all had a great weekend, too! I hope this one goes by slower than last weekend- I feel like I blinked and it was over.

Questions for you: For those of you who went to #BosFIT, what did you think?? What was your favorite part? Has anyone else been to The Club for a boxing class? What was the best part of your weekend? Did you do fall or summer things? Have you been in a book club before?

 

 

This Week: Workouts, toning it down & things I’m looking forward to

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Good morning and happy Monday! I think I’m still recovering from the weekend… Saturday and night ended up being a little too fun 😉 Before I get into the workouts, I wanted to say THANK YOU for all your kind words after my post last week where I talked about my workout addiction. It’s never easy being honest about that kind of stuff, but I really feel like I’m on a better track now. I noticed last week that I didn’t have the feeling like I normally do about working out as much and as hard as I can. It was a weird feeling to be more relaxed about my workouts and to understand that taking it down a notch won’t make me lose all of the hard work I’ve done, but in fact, it will likely aid in making those gains better. Giving my body rest will allow me to feel rested and energized during my workouts on non-rest days. I know it will take some time to get used to it, but my goal is to give myself TWO rest days a week. Sure, I can go for a walk or do some light yoga, but I want to be able to let my body relax and rest and hopefully have fewer injuries.

So, with that said, let’s talk about the workouts I did do!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- My knee was feeling better, but I still wanted to take it easy. I went to the gym and did 40 minutes of cardio followed by some upper body and core work. I also did push-ups and stability ball crunches throughout the day.

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  • Tuesday- Tuesday was the first intense workout I did in almost a week! I taught my bootcamp and holy moly I was sore for 3 days. To say we did a lot of lunges is an understatement 😉
  • Wednesday- I did 15 minutes on the elliptical before teaching UXF Burn. I didn’t do much of the workout because I was so sore from Tuesday.
  • Thursday- I decided to give running a try. I ended up doing 4 miles at a moderate pace. I went out with the mentality that I would just see how it felt and only go as far as I could while still feeling ok. The 4 miles flew by and I felt great. No pain during or after! And, look at these little 5 week old snuggle bugs that I met… I died a little.

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  • Friday- Rest, besides a 30 minute walk during lunch
  • Saturday- I had a pretty intense day of workouts thanks to the #BosFIT event. I’ll share more on that later, but I did 30 minutes of “Bags and Beats”, 30 minutes of BollyX, 30 minutes of spinning and 30 minutes of Barry’s Bootcamp. Yikes! It was awesome!

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  • Sunday- Another rest day! I wasn’t sore from Saturday, which was kind of surprising, but I knew I had worked my body pretty hard so I gave myself rest.

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I taught my 6am Muscle Work class and did some light cardio after.
  • Tuesday- Teaching my bootcamp
  • Wednesday- Maybe a run or some other cardio before teaching UXF Burn
  • Thursday- Not sure. I’d like to get to a class maybe?
  • Friday- I would love to get in a workout during lunch. RM and I are getting massages after work so I feel like working out before that is a good idea because they can massage my tight muscles.
  • Saturday & Sunday- These may be my rest days this week. RM and I are celebrating our 1 year first date anniversary (can’t believe it’s been that long!) and are supposed to go to the Cape early on Saturday so I think I’ll rest.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

I’m SO looking forward to spending the weekend with RM. Because of our schedules, we haven’t spent a weekend together since my dad’s birthday in mid-August. I miss our weekends together and this one is even more special since we are celebrating our anniversary.

Questions for you: How many rest days do you take a week? What was the best workout you had last week? What are you looking forward to this week?

How’d I do on my Summer 2014 Bucket List?

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Hi there! Happy Friday:) This week flew by for me… anyone else?? Before I get to my bucket list recap, I wanted to share the winner of the #BosFIT ticket. I used random.org to randomly select a winner based off of the comments. Congratulations to Julie!! You get a free ticket to the event. Julie said:

Hey Monique! I’ve been hearing great things around town about this event! Sounds like a fun time and a chance to see what other gyms are like in the Boston area (besides good ol’ BSC)!

Please email me at burpeestobubbly <at>  gmail <.>  com so I can give you the free code. And remember, if you didn’t win, you can still buy a ticket for a crazy good price of $27 here. I can’t wait for the event!

And now… on to the regular post 😉

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Remember how I made a Summer of 2014 “Bucket List”? It seems like it was literally just yesterday that I was making it… the fact that it was about 3 months ago is actually kind of upsetting. Where the heck did the summer go?!

I knew I was likely a little overzealous with the list as I knew I had a jam-packed summer filled with trips, bachelorette parties, birthdays and all that other random stuff you-know-you-have-to-do-but-can’t- remember-what-they-are, but what can I say? I get excited when I think of all the fun things a new season brings. Luckily enough, there’s still plenty of time to continue crossing things off the list before the colder weather creeps in on us.

2014 Summer Bucket List

  1. Go to the beach- I did this lots of times! I went on the Cape over the 4th of July with RM and his sister, I went 3 times during Sheila’s bachelorette weekend, I went a few times at Constitution Beach in East Boston, I went to the beach in Southie with my sister twice, I went to the beach in Maine… I love that!

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2. Have a picnic- RM and I had a picnic at Piers Park one Friday night and it was awesome! It was so fun to get fancy treats to splurge on and bring a blanket and just hang out. We also had a wine picnic with some friends in Chicago!

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3. Go for evening walks- I did this a lot throughout the summer! RM and I went on them about once a week (sometimes not so often) and my sister and I went on a few as well. It’s such a nice way to unwind from the day and catch up with each other.

4. Take a sailing lesson or go on a chartered sailing tour from Piers Park- Did not do this- too lofty of an idea with a summer as busy as mine ended up being!

5. Have outside drinks at KO Pies- Haven’t done this yet, but RM and I are planning to go for our 1 year anniversary next weekend. We did have outdoor drinks at the Intercontinental a lot, so that counts for outdoor drinks.

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6. Do an outdoor bootcamp- Yup! Lots of these. I did one for Sheila’s bachelorette party, I did one at home in Maine, I went to a Barry’s Bootcamp roof deck workout and I started teaching an outdoor bootcamp!

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7. Play mini golf- Didn’t do this, but I did go to the driving range 3 times… that counts for something, right?

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8. Go to an outdoor yoga class (they have them at Piers Park)- Didn’t do this, but did do some yoga over this summer, it just wasn’t outside.

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9. Watch fireworks- Does watching them on TV count? 😉 I did see a few in the distance one night as well.

10. Go to a parade- No parades for me this summer… which I should’ve known since I wasn’t going to Maine for the 4th of July.

11. Visit the SOWA open market for lunch at a lunch truck and to buy locally made/grown food from the vendors- Ugh. I totally forgot this was on my bucket list! Not that I was really around on a Sunday morning with nothing to do, but still. Anyone know when they end? I’d love to get there before the end of the season.

12. See a shooting star- I saw lots of stars in Maine while I was there- may have even been a few shooting ones in there!

13. Have a bondfire- Yup! 2 of these, actually, both times I was in Maine.

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14. Eat S’mores- My mom forgot to buy stuff so no s’mores for me 😦

15. Walk around the North End/Quincy Market- Did this a few times. RM and I went shopping after work once, we got massages at Exhale and puttered around and I got my hair done and walked around.

16. Skip a workout in favor of living spontaneously and grabbing drinks or going to dinner or something like that- I did this on August 5th, according to my notes (so Type A), but I can’t for the life of me remember what I did instead of workout. I did skip a workout after coming home from Chicago, but I grocery shopped and made dinner instead- not nearly as fun!

17. Play a round of golf- Nope. My skills and patience levels aren’t quite there.

18. Go kayaking on the Charles River- No- Didn’t have the time for this.

19. Bring RM to Maine and do a tour of Kennebunkport, Wells and Ogunquit (making sure to stop in a Barnacle Billy’s for Rum Punches!)- Yes! RM and I spent the afternoon at Barnacle Billy’s and it was perfect.

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20. Eat organic and/or locally grown fruit and produce (hopefully mostly from my garden!)- Yes- I bought locally grown fruit and veggies and also had tons from my dad’s garden, as well as some stuff from mine.

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21. Get a grill and have BBQ’s- I did not get a grill… I wanted to, but never seemed to be around to even have time to grill. RM should’ve gotten one! I did go to a lot of BBQs, though.

22. Put away at least $10/week for “fun” savings- I was bad and didn’t do this, although I’ve started saving all of my gym money in a separate place from my other money. I’ve already put away more than the $10/week so that counts.

23. Go on a hike- Didn’t do this- we walked the Marginal Way, but that’s definitely not a hike.

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24. Spend less time on social media and more time being present in whatever I’m doing- I was much better with this! While I was still on social media, I tried to stop being on it past 9pm.

25. Spend lots of time with friends, family and RM… hopefully crossing off things in #’s 1-24 😉 You tell me- I think I did alright!

Although I definitely didn’t get to everything, considering the fact I had so many other things going on, I think I did pretty darn well. It was fun, too, because everything we did stuff RM would be like “we’re crossing things off left and right!” haha. Next summer I am really hoping to slow down a bit, and have some weekends where I’m around or on the Cape more or in Maine more, as that’s where I want to be in the summer!

Questions for you: Did you have a bucket list this summer? Were you able to do a lot of things you had wanted to do? What was something you didn’t get a chance to do?

Tomato, Cucumber, Corn & Spinach Quinoa “Salad”

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Well that’s a mouthful, huh? In an attempt to amp up my boring lunches, a few weeks ago I whipped up a batch of this quinoa dish. I based it off of this Caprese Orzo Salad recipe, but changed quite a few things. What I loved about this dish was that it was filling, super flavorful and chock full of good stuff!

quinoa salad

Ingredients

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  • 1 cup of quinoa
  • 1 cup chopped seedless cucumber
  • 1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
  • Corn from 1 ear of corn
  • 1 big handful of spinach
  • Goat Cheese (I just used maybe a tablespoon?)
  • ½ cup EVOO
  • ¼ cup White wine vinegar (or red wine)
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Few big shakes of crushed red pepper
  • Juice from ½ a lemon

Directions

  1. Cook quinoa according to the back of the package. While that’s cooking, chop up your veggies.

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2. Sautee or wilt the spinach as the quinoa is cooling.

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3. Combine the EVOO, vinegar, S&P, crushed red pepper and lemon juice in a separate bowl.

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4. Once the quinoa has cooled, add the spinach, corn, cucumber, tomato and cheese and mix together. Add in the ‘dressing’ and refrigerate for an hour before serving.

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This dish lasted me throughout the week and I loved eating it alone, on top of my salad and even with some chicken mixed in.

Questions for you: What’s your favorite non-traditional salad? How do you “spice up” your salads?

Introducing #BosFIT: Workouts, advice and swag bags (and a chance for you to go for FREE)

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Good morning! I don’t have a workout for you today, but I DO have a chance for you to attend an awesome workout event this weekend, so I think that counts for something, right?! I feel so fortunate to have been contacted by an event coordinator at Bostinno to introduce me to an AWESOME event they are hosting this weekend. #BosFIT is being held this Saturday from 9-12:30 at The Club- by George Foreman III.

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#BosFIT is THE event to attend if you’re a fitness addict like myself. They’ve got a bunch of 30 minute workouts to try from some of the leading “boutique” studios in the city, including Barry’s Bootcamp, BollyX, The Club by George Foreman III and even more that they haven’t announced yet. On top of that, they are holding panel sessions with some top nutritionists and trainers in the Boston area AND everyone will go home with a pretty sweet swag bag which includes 2 free weeks of classes at Health Yoga Life, a free class at Pursuit Boston and Burn Fitness Studios, a 3 pack of classes at The Club and so much more.

Oh, and did I mention it’s only $27?! That’s the price of going to ONE class at some of Boston’s leading studios.

If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering where the heck you can buy a ticket because the event sounds THAT awesome, right? I’ll help ya out 😉 Head on over to the Eventbrite page to get additional details and to purchase your ticket.

But… it gets even better! I was lucky enough to be given TWO tickets for the event, which means I get to give away one of those tickets to one of you. Cool, right? There are 4 ways to enter:

1. Leave a comment telling me what excites you the most about the event.

2. “Like” Burpees to Bubbly on Facebook

3. Follow Burpees to Bubbly on Twitter

4. Tweet or share details about the even on Twitter or Facebook. Make sure to use the hashtag #BosFIT and also tag @BostInno

Leave a comment for each thing you do- I will pick a winner on Friday morning. I can’t wait to workout with one of you 🙂

I cannot tell you how excited I am for the event this weekend. I love getting a chance to try out a bunch of different classes at different studios in Boston because it gives you a chance to see what you like and don’t like and what ones you’d want to visit for the “real deal”. I can’t wait to see what professionals they are going to have on the various panels AND since we all know I’m a sucker for free swag, that swag bag with all those free class offers is pretty much like Christmas for this girl. I hope to see some of you there- it’s a great way to start your Saturday and #earnyourweekend, like I always like to say.