Good morning! I hope you all had a great weekend 🙂 Mine was really pretty great and I actually took pictures so I thought I’d spend today sharing those with you! But, before I get to that, let’s catch up over the past couple of weeks. I can’t believe we’ve been back from Italy for over 3 weeks- seems like just yesterday we were packing up to go there.

• I’ve been working out outside a lot- whether in the form of running or bootcamp style workouts. With the nicer weather upon us, I just want to be outside as much as possible!

• But, I’m also loving being back in the gym with weights and strength training! Feels so good to leave the gym with jello-feeling everything 🙂

• I’m participating in Neghar Fonooni’s Bikini Rebellion challenge this month and am more than obsessed with it. If you follow me on Instagram, then you’ve probably seen some very personal, “leave it all on the table” types of posts, which has been hard, but also really refreshing.
• We’ve been loving healthy, light meals. In the heat, it’s awesome to throw something together quickly!

• My curly hair is back… BIG and back! I was afraid my curls were going away over the winter, but fear not… it was just the dry weather that made my hair less curly than usual!

• My friend Rachel welcomed the sweetest little boy into the world a few weekends ago. Samuel James is going to be quite the ladies man- I just know it!

• Spending the weekend in Maine with my parents a few weekends ago was exactly what I needed. We chatted, we laughed, we ate delicious food and drank great wine.

• Book club, although a smaller crown than usual, was fun. We read “All The Light We Cannot See” and I LOVED it and was so excited to talk about it! Sangria and fish on the grill and girl talk was just an added bonus 😉

• Girls night at my friend Jess’s gorgeous apartment in the North End with my SMC girls and baby Nora was a perfect way to spend a gorgeous Thursday night. These girls are amazing friends and people and I’m so lucky to have them in my life!

• Friday night, RM and I met up for drinks on the roof deck at Fiore in the North End. My friend Amanda ended up joining us so it was a fun little Friday cocktail hour.

• After Fiore, RM and I decided to grab dinner at Mija in Faneuil Hall since we were both feeling like Mexican. It was perfect.

• Saturday I taught, we looked at an apartment and then I went to the beach with my sister and her friends. I’m not a big beer drinker, but there’s something so perfect about Bud Light Limes at the beach.

• For dinner, RM brought his little Webber grill over and we had some awesome burgers, quinoa caprese salad and corn on the cob. Oh, and Rose 😉 I can’t wait to do more of that this summer!

• Pancake breakfast on Sunday was BACK!

• On Sunday, RM, my sister and I headed up to Newburyport to meet my parents for lunch. We were supposed to go to Michael’s Dockside and eat on the deck, but Mother Nature did not cooperate so I ended up making reservations at Nix’s Newburyport, which we all LOVED! They have a Nix’s in the Hilton Financial District, but I had never been there. Nix’s Newburyport had such a great atmosphere, incredible menu and delicious food and ambiance. If you’re ever in the area, I highly suggest it!

• Once we got back to Boston, I went for a nice 3 mile walk and then laid low the rest of the night.

All in all, it’s been a great couple of weeks, topped off with a perfect weekend! And I can finally delete all these selfies… I should have titled this post “Monique Selfie Dump pt 1″…

Questions for you: What have you been up to lately? Have you read any good books? Do you like to grill? Do you have any weekend traditions?