Month: April 2016

Five on Friday {4.29.16}

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Remember me? I’ve missed you 🙂 I’m popping in quickly to share some things that might be of interest to you before you kick off the weekend!

  • Changing things up- More on this next week, but  at a high level, I’ll be changing things up a bit on B2B going forward. I can’t imagine stopping blogging all together, but I do realize that some things have to change a bit in order for it to work better. BUT, I think it will be great, so I hope you’ll stick along for the ride!
  • Legacy Place’s Spring Cycle for Friendship & Block Party for Best Buddies– This Sunday (May 1st) from 8am to 1pm (rides will be 45 minutes and offered on the hour- so 8-8:45, 9-9:45, etc.), Rev’d Indoor Cycling studio will provide bikes, high-energy instruction and complementary shoes for a killer ride… and a live DJ will be play the perfect music to pump you up and keep you moving! After your spin, you’ll have a chance to do a Yoga Cool Down class hosted by Stil Studio and you’ll receive a sweet swag bag. Each ride is $30, but 100% of that goes to Best Buddies. Lastly, there will be a block party for riders & their guests from 12-1 in The Gardens with refreshments, food samples and games. Sounds awesome, right? If you’re around, sign up quickly because space is limited! I can’t make it, unfortunately, but my girl Sherri will be there, so say “hi” if you go!
  • Girls Night at Barcelona in the South End– Last Saturday night I had a chance to get together with some of my oldest girlfriends in the city and we had such an awesome time! We started at my sister’s apartment for cheese & wine and then went to Barcelona in the South End. Everything was FANTASTIC!!! But even better was getting to chat with some of my favorite ladies.

 

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  • Fasten– Ok, I know there are “Uber-like” companies popping up all the time, but I recently tried Fasten and am totally hooked. I don’t know how they did it, but for me to get from Newton Corner to the Dorchester/Southie line it was $10.81… and then after dinner with the girls I went to get an Uber and it was X1.6 surcharge so I opened up Fasten, ordered a ride and was only charged around $7 for the whole trip from the South End to Newton Corner. I couldn’t believe it!!! And both drivers I had were very nice and professional and had clean cars. I highly suggest using this link to download the app and use their services. You get $15 by using that link/code (code= MO5551) and I get $15- pretty awesome deal if you ask me!

  • BoxFIIT Updates- I finally submitted ALL of my videos for the BoxFIIT certification that I worked on for months and to say it felt great is a huge understatement! Thanks to Nicole’s amazing help, I feel really good about my submission and I CANNOT WAIT to start teaching hopefully both at The Club and at GymIt here in Watertown.

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That does it for me! Gosh, just writing this post solidified how much I LOVE blogging and sharing things with you. I hope all of you have a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow is my bridal shower which is so crazy exciting! Sh*t is getting real now!

Five on Friday {4.22.15}

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Good morning! TGIF. Today’s Five on Friday post is dedicated to sharing some great fitness events going on in and around the Boston area. Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it to any of them, but I’m hoping that some of these may interest you and work for your schedule- so here we go!

  • Reids Run (5K& 10K)–  My friend Meaghan is coordinating efforts again this year for the 2nd annual Reids Run to be held on Sunday May 1, 2016 at 9:00am at the Breakheart Reservation in Saugus, Mass. T-shirts will be offered to the first 150 registered. Registration fees are $25.00 in advance and $30.00 on race day. For more information, please email mharrigan8@gmail.com From their site: Our organization of volunteers is committed to raising awareness and funds to fight the cancers striking adolescents and young adults and has been bringing you Reid’s Ride since 2005. There is also an option for a 10K if that fancies anyone- I love 5K’s and I love running for a good cause so I’m really bummed I will be out of town this weekend!
  • Free Fitbit Events/Workouts- Lucky for you, through the Fitbit Local program, they are going to be hosting a monthly workout over the next three months. Check out their Fitbit Local site for more details and to sign up, but at a high level here are the workouts for April, May and June:
Saturday, April 23 | Bootcamp Blast (Led by Chad Flahive)
SOWA Power Station | 9:15-10am
Saturday, April 23 | Yoga Flow (Led by Cara Gilman)
SOWA Power Station | 10-10:45am
Thursday, May 12 | Bring Your Body Bootcamp (Led by Chad Flahive)
Boston Commons | 6:30 PM
Sunday, June 12 | Run + Yoga (Led by Cara Gilman)
YogaWorks | 5PM
  • New England Yogathon– On Sunday, May 1st from 9am-5pm at Gillette Stadium there will be an incredible yoga event  organized by Yoga Reaches Out. This year the beneficiary is Boston’s Childrens Hospital and all of the additional details about the events (what yoga instructors will be leading sessions and musical guests) as well as registration details can be found on their site, but here is a little more detail that I took from their site: The mission of Yoga Reaches Out is to create seva (selfless service) by raising funds for organizations that impact the health, education, and well-being of children. All participants, by registering, commit to raising a minimum of $250 through sponsorship from friends, family members, and business associates. Great prizes are awarded to those individual yogis who raise the largest amount in personal sponsorship. Together, we will make a difference for this year’s beneficiaries: the Wellness Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and the mission of Yoga Reaches Out! 
  • #EarthRide at Flywheel with ProYo– In honor of Earth Month, ProYo teamed up with Flywheel for an AWESOME way to exercise, refuel and support the Charles River Watershed Association. More detail can be found in the graphic below- I so wish I could go because I love me some Flywheel and I love checking out new-to-me refueling options!

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  • Things making me smile- New shoes- these are from Target and I’m obsessed with the color and style.

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And that’s it- I hope you have a great Friday and a great weekend!

 

 

Wednesday Workout: Jump Rope Tabata & Full Body Circuits

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As part of the BoxFIIT Certification I’m doing, I have to film myself doing all sorts of exercises to validate that I can, in fact, do them (and teach them). Most of the exercises- a combination of boxing moves and strength exercises- pose me little to no trouble because I do them all the time. Goblet squats? Easy. Lunges? Piece of cake. Jabs? Got it. However, over the weekend I had to film myself jumping rope, which is a little more outside of my comfort zone. I don’t feel good at jumping rope and get frustrated because I end up whipping myself with the rope so much.

After filming myself, though, I realized my issue: I don’t practice this enough so it’s no wonder why I struggle with it. We tend to skip things we aren’t good at, right? Which is exactly what I do when it comes to jump roping. But! I’m changing that. I vowed to practice jump roping more frequently to help me get more comfortable with the action of jumping over the rope. Which is precisely where this workout came from! And, I have to say that later in the day RM commented on how I looked like a good jump roper- I smiled and said “thanks! It’s something I’m working on” 😉

Jump Rope Tabata & Full Body Circuits

You’ll want to perform the reps on each leg or arm. If you have any questions on the moves, let me know. A great resource for the Pallof Press and the Waiter/Overhead Carry is my girl Stephanie’s post, which you can check out here: Train Your Core.

I hope you check this out and enjoy it. I loved it, but it could’ve been because I was outside on my patio in the beautiful, warm sunshine-y weather AND I was rocking out to Spotify, which I just recently downloaded. So far, I’m obsessed 🙂

Questions for you: What exercises do you avoid because they’re hard or you don’t feel good at them? 

 

Weekending {Extended Version}: Birthday Celebrations & Marathon Monday

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Good morning! I opted to not blog yesterday as I had the day off and figured a lot of you may also have it off or may even be running the marathon! Between taking my birthday off last week, working from home on Friday and then having yesterday off, I feel like I’ve been on a little vacation, which is pretty awesome. With everything going on these days between wedding planning, the BoxFIIT certification, teaching, blogging, working, etc. I feel like I was running on empty and really needed some time to re-charge the batteries. Granted, the past week has been filled with lots of things, but most didn’t involve work which helped give me that “recharge” I needed.

I’m going to keep my captions short, so enjoy the pictures!

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Birthday yoga!

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Birthday manis/pedis/lunch with my birthday buddy!

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Strong ladies supporting me in class. Not pictured: after class drinks at Gaslight 🙂

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Julian pizza from Max & Leo’s- the birthday girl doesn’t cook on her bday 😉

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Beautiful flowers and prosecco from coworkers who came to my class

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Extra bday flowers from RM

 

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All dolled up! Love the new bag RM got me

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My sister surprised me with a bottle of bubbly at dinner. We went to Committee in the Seaport and everything was unbelievably good- we couldn’t stop raving about how flavorful everything was AND they sent out a birthday treat- I highly suggest checking it out!

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Post kickboxing sweaty selfie.

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Entertaining my parents- I’m so sad that I didn’t get a single photo with them while they were here 😦

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Food shopping

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Pancake breakfast

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Birthday presents from my dad- picnic table, fire pit and a heck of a lot of wood. It was SO nice of them to come down not only to celebrate, but also to bring all of these things to help us have an awesome back yard/patio!

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4miler in gorgeous weather. I wish I could say it was a great run, but my legs felt like lead the entire time and my miles averaged 15-20 seconds slower than usual… BUT… I finished it and it felt great to be outside. Who cares about the mile times!

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Taking advantage of the sun and doing my thank you cards for the bridal shower gifts we’ve received outside. And then I started reading Defending Jacob, which is our new book club book. So far, I’m enjoying it, although it’s crazy that it takes place in Newton!

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Beer at home by myself: a rarity, but the weather encouraged it 😉

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Meal prep for the week: a cauliflower rice & other veggie “stirfry” with a peanut sauce and then a veggie-filled quiche- both have so much flavor!!

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Loving our outdoor patio space! Took my workout outside yesterday morning and it was amazing.

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We walked from the Intercontinental Hotel (where RM parks his car) to the Back Bay and it was so nice strolling through Boston Common’s in the gorgeous weather.

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We were fortunate enough to hang out at the Solas Pub (part of the Lennox Hotel) pretty much right at the Marathon finish line thanks to New Balance- drinks, food, prime spectator location?! Yes, please. So thankful for this opportunity!

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Watching the marathon is always a super emotional and inspiring thing. I love watching everyone who is finishing strong, but I also love how everyone is looking out for each other. The crowds roared even louder when struggling runners were trying to get to the end. Fellow marathoners helped those who were physically too beat to run on their own. Paramedics and EMT’s and all of the other helpers were there to help get people safely over the finish line. It gave me chills soaking all of that in. Such a wonderful experience.

If you made it this far, THANK YOU! I’ll be back tomorrow with a workout… and maybe even a recipe for you this week!

Questions for you: How was your weekend? Did you get outside to enjoy the weather? Did you go to the marathon or did you run the marathon? What do you have planned this week?

30 Favorites from my 30th Year

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Good morning! And happy birthday to my fellow April 14th birthday girls, Jess and Ashley! In honor of my birthday, I thought it would be fun to look back at 30 of my most memorable/favorite moments from my 30th year. While 30 was certainly the best year yet, I feel like 31 will be off to quite the start, too! BTW these are in no particular order- they are just in order of how they came up in my mind.

  1. Engagement (DUH!)- best day in my life thus far
  2. Picking the location & date– felt so good to get this done because we couldn’t do much planning until we did this
  3. RM passing his broker exam- SO proud of my handsome fiance
  4. Finding my wedding dress– I thought this was going to be a stressful day, but it was the best part of my whole wedding planning experience thus far.
  5. Yoga– I did a few weeks of yoga at CorePower and a few one-off classes. Hoping to do more this year
  6. Hosting my family for a Sunday Dinner- It was so fun having my parents and sister over for me to cook for them!
  7. Moving to Watertown with RM– Although a little scary, this was the best move for our relationship. Living together is so awesome
  8. Renovating- OK, this wasn’t really my favorite thing at the time, but shopping for things and picking things out together to create our home was awesome.
  9. Traveling to Dallas and then Minneapolis- I did a few out of state work trips, which is always a nice getaway
  10. Huge 5K PR and coming in 3rd place for my age group- OAKtoberfest 5K was great!
  11. Watching various TV series with RM (Ray Donovan, Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Mad Men)- I’ve never been big into TV, but RM is so he got me hooked on some shows.
  12. Weekends at home (4th of July, after I got engaged, Dad’s bday, Christmas Eve and recently for wedding related things)- I always love escaping the city and spending QT with my parents
  13. Girls lunches- so many of these!! I joke now that I have to designate a whole Saturday afternoon to them because it’s always a 3-4 hour thing.
  14. Friendsgiving/Thanksgiving at my sister’s & RM’s mothers- Friendsgiving at Amy’s brother’s apartment with the girls and their sig. others was a first for us, but something I hope we continue. Getting to spend time with my parents and RM’s family in the same day on Thanksgiving was also great.
  15. Organizing my first blogger event– Together with the owner of Social Restaurant & Bar I organized my first blogger event, which was a huge success!
  16. Book club- Although I may scramble to get the books finished, this is such a fun thing to be a part of.
  17. Engagement Photos– Janelle is the cutest photographer and person ever so it was a blast working with her. Originally I didn’t want these, but I’m so happy we did them because hopefully it got the awkwardness out before the wedding!
  18. Fitness Photos– My first shoot with Janelle- loved the turnout.
  19. Lululemon window performance– Getting the chance to workout in the Lululemon storefront window was pretty freaking awesome.
  20. Wedding planning with mom- To everyone else except my mom (and my sister), I feel so annoying talking about my wedding, so it’s nice to have her/them
  21. Amazing 30th birthday celebrations– My birthday last year was so special thanks to RM, my family and my friends!
  22. Italy Trip- This could’ve filled multiple spots in my favorite highlights- such an amazing trip. I want to go back! {recaps: here, here and here}
  23. Date nights in Italy with RM
  24. Multiple ice creams- I’m so thankful to be marrying a guy who loves sweets as much as I do. On our way home from every Cape weekend we would stop at Sweet Caroline’s and get ice creams. It was my favorite!
  25. Boothbay Harbor– Meredith’s wedding was a great excuse for us to do a getaway weekend. We had a blast!
  26. Cape Weekends with RM- Some of my favorite summer memories are of the two of us at the Craigsville Beach, sipping drinks, listening to music, people watching and chatting.
  27. Foster Fitness– So happy to be a part of this gym- both teaching and getting to classes when I can.
  28. Lifting heavy weight- Long gone are my days of just crazy amounts of cardio. While I still love cardio, I’ve learned to really love getting under the bar to lift heavy shit. I love muscles and I love feeling strong.
  29. BoxFIIT certification- While doing this certification just months before the wedding probably wasn’t the best idea, I’m so happy I’m doing it because I’m learning SO MUCH and can’t wait to start teaching my own classes.
  30. Bikini Rebellion– I’ll let the recap of this post do the talking, but this was one of the best challenges I have ever done. Here’s to loving ourselves- for who we are, rather than hating ourselves for who we are not.

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I had a hard time stopping at just 30 because there were so many wonderful events, celebrations, weekends, etc. over the past year. Thank you to everyone who was a part of them and thank you to everyone who consistently stops by B2B to see what I’ve been up to- this hobby wouldn’t be worth it without all of you.

With that, I’m off to celebrate my birthday: workout, mani/pedi/lunch with Jess and then heading to Wakefield to teach my sweat-KICK class… because even though it’s far away, teaching makes me HAPPY, and that’s what birthdays are all about, right?!