Category: Boston

What’s been up?

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Good morning! Happy Tuesday! I don’t do many “Weekend Recaps” anymore, but considering the past weekend was a really good one filled with lots of different things, I thought I’d share with you 🙂

It had been a long week, so I was more than ready for a vino! We went to Buff’s (surprise, surprise) for dinner after and it was a great way to end the week

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Saturday I had the opportunity to sub TWO classes at EBF Seaport so I ended up getting Dana to sub my YMCA Kickboxing class (thank you!) so I could head to the Seaport. I subbed a BAGSXKICKS and BAGXBEATS and they were both SO fun! I was nervous about the Kicks class since I had never taught it, but I think between having enough BAGS experience and enough kickboxing experience I was able to teach a good class. I also finally got my haircut. My normal hairdresser was not working on Saturday so I had to go back to my old salon, but she did a good job so I was happy with it! After teachin and hair I went to lunch and got my nails done in Southie with my sister and a friend from work and then got home with enough time to relax and finished The Wonder, which was SOOO good- you need to read it if you haven’t! Saturday night, Roberto took me to SRV to celebrate my promotion and Valentine’s Day. This restaurant has been on my list for a while so I’m glad we finally got to try it. It’s a Venetian small plates type of restaurant and everything we tried was great, and I especially loved that they served Aperol Spritz- which is my favorite Italian drink!

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After church on Sunday, Roberto and I headed to the Boston Wine Expo since his friend was gracious enough to give us tickets to. He owns Tre Olive, which I’ve talked about a lot on here! We had a blast at the expo and it was so nice to catch up with the Tre Olive guys- if you are in need of a good foodie gift- check out their site. You can adopt an olive tree for them and they’ll receive tins of olive oil from that tree- it’s very cool! When we got home, I went for a quickie run because the weather was too nice to not get outside, and then I spent the rest of the night cleaning, cooking and watching Cinderella Man with RM.

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Yesterday morning, I headed to EBF #FIDI to take a class “Pre-Opening”  with George as a way to break in the new studio before opening day. It officially opens on Thursday and I couldn’t be more excited to be part of the fun! Catch me on Thursdays (starting this week!) at 6:20pm for BAGSXBEATS- sign up here!

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After class, I went up to Maine after the EBF class and had a great time catching up with my parents. My mom and I went snow shoeing/X-Country skiing on the lake and then around the house before settling down in front of the fire to drink bubbly and hang out. Relaxing, again, is so under-rated 😉

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And here we are, another week! As far as teaching, I think I’m just teaching 2 BAGSXBEATS classes this week- tonight at GymIt in Watertown at 6:30pm and Thursday at FIDI at 6:20pm- come join for the fun!

Lastly, I am hosting another MoveWith class, but this time it’s going to be at the New Balance Flagship Store in Brighton, which I’m SO excited about! It’s on March 29th and DJ Sprino will be there and I’ll have after workout treats from Purity Organics and Larabar (and hopefully more) and everyone will get a 20% discount for shopping! You don’t want to miss this, so grab your friends and sign up here!

Cycle For Survival {Recap}

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Good morning and Happy Friday! Did you guys all brave the snow okay yesterday? I woke up slightly disappointed by the lack of snow, but it didn’t take long for it to start and it just got crazier from there, which made me quickly realize I should’ve just embraced the “calm before the storm”.

Today, though, I wanted to share my experience at Cycle for Survival last weekend. I don’t always do full-blown reviews/recaps on the blog anymore, but this event was so amazing it was surely recap-worthy.

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I was invited to participate in the ride as part of New Balance’s team, which is always such an honor. They were huge sponsors of the event so it was great to get to see so many of my favorite NB people throughout the time I was there. Plus, getting suited up in some new #swag wasn’t so bad either- THANK YOU NB!

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If you’re not familiar with Cycle for Survival, it’s a very large indoor cycling event all over the country benefiting rare cancer (brain, pancreatic, ovarian, and many more) research. 100%  of all donations received go to funding rare cancer studies, clinical trials and research initiatives lead by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. I rode on Saturday at 1pm and before we rode, we heard from special guests, MSK doctors and more, as well as all of the motivation from the Equinox instructors leading us through the workout. I was live-streaming on Instagram and Facebook, which some of you may have seen, but here’s a video clip if you missed it:

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Going into the event, I had heard how great it was, but what I heard didn’t even compare to what it was to actually experience it. The music, the energy, the vibe, the passion, the strength- all of those things were so intense and amazing that I couldn’t help but smile, pedal harder and pedal faster… even with tired legs after teaching earlier that morning 😉 By the end we were all dancing and laughing on our bikes, encouraging our neighbors to keep fighting and giving sweaty high-fives as we finished.

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In sum, it was one HELL of an amazing event and I cannot wait until next year. Thank you New Balance, Equinox and Cycle for Survival for letting me be a part of this fundraiser event!

Still on cloud 9

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Trying something new is always a little scary, right? Fear of the unknown, fear of potential “failure”, fear of doing something incorrectly, etc. And because of this, because of these fears, we often are held back from trying something new. It’s so much easier and more comfortable sticking with something we know, right? I get it. But the thing is- and I’ve talked about this a lot on B2B- always sticking to what we know and are comfortable with leaves little room for change or growth. These things happen when we get a little bit outside of our comfort zone and see all that we are able to do if we just try.

A perfect example of this for me is teaching fitness classes. Over the years I have grown so much as an instructor- whether it’s my cues, my interaction with the participants, the formatting techniques or even my own form, I sometimes feel like a totally different instructor when I first started… which certainly isn’t a bad thing, lol. However, this growth didn’t come from keeping and teaching the same class or classes week after week. In fact, sometimes I think those hold me back from becoming a better and stronger instructor because they allow me to get too comfortable. The classes tend to be mostly regulars so I know exactly what they can and cannot do and often find myself skipping through some of the different cues and introductions that I normally do because these members have been with me for many years and “know the drill” as I like to joke with them.

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And this is exactly why I signed up to teach a class at Janji through MoveWith. While I knew there would be some familiar faces in the crowd, I had a feeling there would be people who were brand new or just newer to my classes, which changes things up drastically with regards to the way I teach/approach the class. I’m brought back to the basics- introducing myself, the class format, explaining some of the exercises in advance, giving more cues, etc. I want to make sure that I am addressing everyone’s potential needs/wants, and because I don’t know specifically what those things are, I need to give lots of variations, options, cues, etc., all with the hope that everyone gets what they want out of the class.

Out of the 14 participants in class last week, only FOUR had taken my classes before, meaning I was essentially teaching to an entirely new group of fighters. I LOVED THIS!!! It challenged me to be the best instructor I could be and I thrived off of their energy as we got to know each other a little better. During the warm up, I worked us through all of the punches, kicks, bodyweight exercises and general lingo I’d be using. I also had them set intentions so that they could have something to work for. Whether it’s to do the burpees, punch stronger or to just finish class, I feel very strongly about setting that intention so you can be fighting for something.

The class went better than I could’ve expected. Everyone was on fire and it absolutely fired me up as well. They were also such good sports when it came to navigating a very crowded room and even worked out down the hallway to get more space- serious dedication if you ask me!

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I left the class feeling so grateful. Grateful to have been able to meet so many people. Grateful for the amazing MoveWith community. Grateful that Janji let us sweat in their awesome space. But most of all, I was grateful for the fact that I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried something new, because without doing that, I would’ve have been able to have such an amazing experience.

I challenge you to think of something that maybe you’ve been avoiding because you’re scared of the unknown associated with that particular thing, and then I want you to think about what it would be like if you tried/did it. If you think there’s any inkling of a chance that it could be a really good thing, then I urge you to try/do it. It might turn out even better than you expect.

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Thank you to MoveWith for creating such a wonderful, strong fitness community- 2017 is off to a great start and I can’t wait to continue to meet more people through hosting more original classes. If you’re in the Boston area, I’m hosting another class on Wednesday, February 8th at 6:30pm at the Janji popup store on Newbury Street. You can sign up here. If you plan on attending, I’d sign up sooner rather than later because space is limited!

Also, I was featured on the MoveWith blog last week- check out this post to see what I had to say: How to put your fears behind you

Five on Friday {9.16.16}

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Hi there! I cannot believe it’s already Friday! And today kickstarts a very long vacation for me, starting tonight with my best friend’s bachelorette weekend in NH and then Sunday with us leaving for our honeymoon. With everything that’s been going on the past few weeks, including working long hours, teaching extra classes, shopping/packing/planning/preparing for our honeymoon, etc., I am MORE than ready to escape for a bit of R&R with my favorite guy.

Since I’m running short on time, let’s get right to the post!

  • Cycle & Sweat Fitness Event for ALS One at Derby Street– This Sunday, there is an awesome event happening at the Derby Street shops in Hingham benefiting ALS ONE.  Cycle & Sweat Fitness will feature nine fitness classes over the course of three hours, held every hour, on the hour, from 9am through 12pm in front of Whole Foods and lululemon at the Derby Street Shoppes. Class choices include spinning with Rev’d Cycling, based in Dedham, yoga with lululemon and ivivva, and cardio boot camp with Mobile Fitness. The first 100 people to register via Eventbrite will receive Cycle & Sweat tanks and swag bags. Classes are $15 each.
  • Sunset Bootcamp Class at ZINC Apartments– This is a FREE fitness event happening on Tuesday, September 20th from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The class will take place on ZINC’s stunning outdoor terrace as the sun sets over Cambridge. The event is free to attend, but space is limited. Please register here. Additional details are here:
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  • Best Dressed– On Wednesday, my friend Lauren hosted an event at Best Dressed in Charlestown. Have you heard of that store? It’s a store version of Rent the Runway, which is so awesome. You can go in, try stuff on and rent what you like for whatever event you have coming up. They had a huge selection, as well as jewelry to rent or buy. More to come on this later, but I had to share a bit about it now because I think it’s a genious idea for a store!!

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  • Travel Reads- I picked up 2 new books to bring on our trip. Have you guys read these (Easter Rising & All Souls)? Apparently they’re about a guy growing up in Southie, so I’m excited to read them!

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  • Honeymoon! Our honeymoon is finally almost here! On Sunday we leave for a 16 day vacation throughout the Amalfi Coast. I’ve gotten so many recommendations from friends who have recently gone (thanks, ladies!!), but if anyone else has any “must do/try/eat” recommendations, feel free to leave a comment on this post. We just booked a couple of excursions, so everything is starting to feel more real. B2B will be very quiet while I’m gone, as I’ve decided to not have any guest posts. I couldn’t add another thing to my plate the past few weeks, but don’t worry- I’ll have lots to share when we get back. I’ll also be keeping my other social media channels active, so feel free to follow along there (burpeestobubbly).

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I’ll talk to you in a few weeks!

Five on Friday {9.9.16}

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Hi, friends! Happy freaking Friday 🙂 I hope you’ve all had a good week- mine started out roughhhh, but turned around a bit by the end of it. We leave for Italy in 9 days and work is absolutely crazy right now so I’m just trying to get through what I can so I can start my vacation without the stress of worrying about what I didn’t finish.

But, let’s talk about more fun things, shall we?

  • Moscow Mules- We received some beautiful monogrammed copper mugs for our wedding (thanks, Jean!), so last weekend we decided to put them to good use by whipping up some Moscow Mules. Neither of us had had one before, but we both enjoyed them! It was a really fun cocktail hour enjoyed on our back patio.

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  • Eating out vs. eating in- Most of the time, RM and I try to eat in the majority of the time. We shop on the weekends for the week, prep a bunch of food to have handy (I bring my lunch every day, too), but last week we kind of went on a eating out bender. Thursday we went to Buff’s (hadn’t been in SO long), Friday we went to Hopsters (again, hadn’t been in SO long) and Saturday we went to The Local in West Newton, because, well #saturdaydatenight. This is very unlike us to go so many days in a row eating out (unless we are on vacation), and while everything was delicious, we decided to eat IN on Saturday night. RM grilled up some veggie and shrimp skewers and I made a nice big salad. There’s something to be said about making your own meals- it felt really good to eat a nice meal like this!

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  • Love Grown Cereal- Confession: I LOVE cereal. I always have, but over the years I’ve tried to clean up my cereal choices (and I’ve gone from eating it daily to just a few times a week- baby steps). Most of the time I have Erewhon & Uncle Sam brands because they have such few ingredients, but they had a sample of Love Grown Power O’s at Whole Foods last weekend and I knew I had to try it out. They’re made out of different legumes, so they are wheat & corn free- something you don’t see often with cereal!

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  • Teaching- I’ve been loading up on classes leading up to our vacation since I know I’ll be going so long without teaching while we are away. While it can be tiresome (yesterday I did 6am and 5:30pm… and 9 hours of work in between), it’s really so rewarding. I love coming up with new workouts and playlists and helping people feel good and feel strong. I’m teaching tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday… and then I’m off for a longggg time, so catch me while you can!

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  • Biking- I can’t thank RM enough for suggesting that we get bikes. We have been having SO MUCH FUN with them. One day last week I rode it all around town to run errands and then Friday night I took it to meet my sister for a drink (RM rode with me which was nice) and then Sunday RM and I covered nearly 25 miles of biking. We rode all the way into the city, brought the bikes on the T to Eastie (RM had to check on one of the units in a building he owns) and then back to Watertown. Midway home, we stopped at Naco Taco in Central Square for a snack and a beer. I used to run by that place weekly and would always be so jealous of everyone there enjoying drinks and food outside so it was nice to get to check it out. We both highly suggest it if you want good tacos and guac- everything was fantastic, and reasonably priced. Oh, and the good part about biking places for drinks is it limits me to just one, since I don’t trust myself operating the bike after any more 😉 #lightweight

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I guess that does it! We have lots to get done this weekend in preparation for our honeymoon, so it’ll be a busy one! There is a Vegetarian Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival at the Arsenal Mall tomorrow which we might try to get to. It starts at 11am and is $10-$45 and guests can enjoy more than 30 craft beers and lots of vegetarian dishes. Sounds pretty cool!

I hope you have a great weekend with whatever you have planned 🙂

Questions for you: What was a good part of your week? What do you have planned this weekend? Do you prefer to bike, walk or drive places? Do you prefer to cook/eat in or eat out? What’s a guilty pleasure of yours?