Weekending: Gardening, Driving Range, Sunsets and Sheila’s Bridal Shower

May 20, 2014May 19, 20142 Comments

You guys. This past weekend was SO FUN! I was, again, surrounded by family and friends and the boy and enjoyed every minute of it.

Friday night, the boy and I headed to Waltham for his home-town friend’s surprise birthday party. It was my first time meeting all of them and they were so friendly and welcoming! We stayed out late- until after 1am, which is unheard of for me. I was the DD, but I still felt off on Saturday morning, which must have been because of the lack of sleep. Totally worth it, though.

I skipped the gym on Saturday since I knew I’d ben working hard with my dad. He was gracious enough to take the time to come down and build me a garden on my back patio- how lucky am I?! Ever since he retired, he started gardening, which has been really fun to be a part of. My garden is about a fraction of the size of his, but I’m still so excited about it. Between lugging about 25 bags of heavy manure, compost mix, mulch and pete moss, as well as wood, I was pretty beat (and secretly loved it- I love physical labor!). It only took us about 2 hours from start to finish which is pretty impressive. We leveled and measured and screwed and shoveled and raked- in other words, we earned our beers after we were done 😉

My dad is going to come back down in a few weeks to do the planting for me. I wouldn’t be able to do this without him, so I’m so thankful that he’s helping me!

After my parents left (my mom went and hung out with my sister in Southie), the boy and I went to Quincy to drive some balls at the Granite Links Golf Course and Driving Range. We planned it perfectly because we finished our bucket of balls just in time to get a cocktail and watch the sun set. Have you guys ever been there? It’s the most beautiful place- it’s up high and everywhere you look it’s gorgeous. They also have an outdoor bar and had live music. We each got a margarita to watch the sunset and agreed it felt like we were on vacation!

By the time we realized it, it was 8pm so we scratched all plans of making dinner and went to the tavern at the course and had dinner there at the bar. Based on the wait and how busy it was, clearly we were not the only ones with that idea. Thankfully I’ve got eyes like a hawk when it comes to nabbing seats at the bar so we were seated in no time. I got the fish tacos which were amazing!

Sunday was a day all about my friend Sheila. She’s getting married in September and her mom had planned a surprise bridal shower for her at the Venezia. It may have been terribly hard to find, but boy was it worth it! The location was right on the water with beautiful views of the city. Being around my girlfriends, drinking cocktails and celebrating is probably one of my favorite things to do.

Everything about this shower was perfect- the location, the decorations, the food… you could clearly tell there was a lot of time and energy spent on making it the most perfect celebration for Sheila. No detail was missed! The food was also fantastic. I went with the Scallops and Lobster and Asparagus Risotto and it did not disappoint. My favorite part, though? The ice cream sundae bar!!! Best idea ever.

All in all, it was such a wonderful afternoon. At this point in our lives, we are all so busy so it’s nice when we have an excuse and an event that brings us together. Jessi and Kelly were missing- we missed you girls!

Can’t wait until the bachelorette party… shenanigans will ensue 😉

And, there you have it. Monday morning clearly came way too fast 😦

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Did you spend any time outside? Do you like to go to the driving range? What’s your “vacation” drink of choice?

Weekending: Dining, drinking & celebrating mom

May 13, 2014May 12, 201412 Comments

Weekends are usually pretty great, but this past weekend was especially great and I think the combination of being surrounded by lots of family and the weather was the reason behind it. I’ve been trying to cut back on weekend recaps because I’m not sure how much you enjoy hearing about my play-by-play weekend adventures, but this one was filled with trying out new restaurants and celebrating someone very special so I figured it was worth sharing 😉

Friday night, I met the boy in Central Square and he brought me to a little hidden gem: Green Street Grill. This little restaurant/bar was tucked away on a street parallel to Mass. Ave right in the heart of Central Square. We were lucky enough to snag 2 seats right at the bar (our favorite) and enjoyed some vino and delicious (gluten free) dishes. I had had a very stressful (but good stress) day and it was so nice to be able to relax, have a few wines and not think about anything for a while.

Saturday morning, my sister and I went to a class at Flywheel and, just as I expected, Ann taught a phenomenal class. I’d love to say that I had a great ride, but for some reason, my legs felt like lead and I just didn’t have it in me to push myself and pedal faster. I wanted to- so badly- but my body had another thing planned. Oh well. It was still fun riding next to my sister and we left there hot yoga sweaty!

After class, we shopped around a bit (I got a new dress for Miami!) and then had lunch at Sonsie. The weather had cleared and we got seats right near the open windows- felt so nice to have warm weather!

I can’t say any of what I ate/drank was healthy, but life is all about balance, right?

Saturday night was date-night. We went to his brother and sister-in-law’s condo in the South End for roof deck cocktails and baby snuggles before having dinner at Stella, which is also in the South End. My friend Jess recommended it and it turns out it’s one of his favorite restaurants, so it was a no brainer to try it out! Even better? They have a whole gluten free menu. We had a drink while waiting for spots at the bar to open up (the Bruins were on. I couldn’t care less, but I wasn’t going to take him away from watching). For dinner, we shared the sausage and broccoli rabe, the arugula salad and the braised short ribs. They split that for us, which was so nice! They also served it atop gluten free penne instead of GF mashed potatoes which was totally fine.

Yum. I can’t wait to go back- I dream of that dish. Okay, not really, but it was SO good.

Sunday was a fun day filled with pampering mom! We were lucky enough to have them agree to come down for the day instead of us going up there since we’ve been a few times in the past month or so. Danielle and I made a pretty delicious brunch, if I do say so. We had an egg casserole (egg, milk, chicken sausage, sautéed peppers and onions, spinach and cheese- so easy, so tasty), warm kale salad (with EVOO and lemon juice as the dressing, craisins, goat cheese, grilled pear and candied pecans), fruit salad and Stonewall Kitchen blueberry muffins.

One of the best parts of the day was the fact we got to spend time on my back patio, soaking up some serious sun!

(terrible picture, but it was all I had!)

My mini patio set is, well, mini, but we squished to make it work.

Yummm. I love brunch food! We had such a nice afternoon drinking wine (mom loves excuses to day drink!) and catching up. My dad is coming down next weekend to help get my garden started and I can’t wait! It will be so nice to have fresh veggies all summer- I’m lucky that he has volunteered to help!

And that about sums it up. Although it was a rather indulgent weekend, there’s nothing better than spending time with the people you love and food/drink indulgences are totally worth it during those times!

Questions for you: Did you get outside to enjoy the weather? What was the best part of your weekend? What did you do to celebrate Mother’s Day? What’s your favorite “hidden gem” restaurant? Do you ever have workouts where your mind wants it but your body doesn’t?

Boston Day of Fun, Pat Green Concert & Easter Weekend in Maine {Recap}

April 22, 2014April 20, 20142 Comments

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, there’s nothing like the feeling of spending a weekend home in Maine. I come back to the city feeling totally re-charged. I love the fast-paced, city life style 95% of the time, but after weeks and weeks of that, it feels really great to come home to Maine for a slower-paced, less busy weekend.

I cannot tell you how amazing it was to have Friday off. I don’t know what my problem was last week, but I had ZERO desire to work. I managed to get through it, but it wasn’t fun! Friday started off with a much-needed hair cut, followed by a sushi lunch with the guy. We had planned to have a “day of fun” in the city since I had the day off and he had a half day.

After lunch, we headed to Copley and did some shopping. I got my watch fixed and he scored big time at J. Crew. We finished the day at The Salty Pig, which would have been better if it wasn’t Good Friday (meaning we could eat meat). But! They had Gluten Free beers and a great music selection, so it was the perfect way to end our day.

That night, I had plans to go to the Pat Green concert at the House of Blues with my sister and some friends. Danielle surprised me with tickets for my birthday and even though I had never heard of him, I was excited to go to a country concert with a fun group of people!

After a very sweaty (per usual) and still fairly packed kickboxing class on Saturday morning, Danielle and I headed north for the rest of the weekend. We met our mom in Kennebunkport for lunch at Federal Jacks, which was delicious! I got the beef and barley soup (so random, but it sounded so good) and the strawberry and goat cheese salad. I knew I had to go try on clothes after lunch so I wanted to keep it on the lighter side.

After shopping around at PJ’s Unique Peek for an outfit to wear in the fashion show next weekend, we headed home to finally see dad! He and I prepped veggies and meat for the BBQ- I cannot tell you how excited I was to have a BBQ!

Danielle and I were in bed and asleep before 10pm… and didn’t wake up until 8:45 on Sunday morning. I haven’t slept that long in who knows when and it was amazing!!! We did Easter baskets, church, brunch and then helped dad clean up the wood on the lawn (for the winter months) Mom and I went for a nice 40 minute walk and then we all had a bonfire until it was time to cook dinner.

We had an absolutely wonderful meal… so good that I think I need to share it with you soon 😉

All in all, it was such a good weekend! From the time I woke up on Friday, to the time I went to bed on Sunday (ahhh, the joys of having a flexible job that allows me to work from home in Maine!), I pretty much had a non-stop smile on. I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life- both family and friends, and getting some solid, uninterrupted family time over the weekend was exactly what I needed after a very hectic March and April.

I hope all of you had a nice Easter celebration (if you celebrate it)!

Questions for you: Have you heard of Pat Green? Do you like going to concerts? What did you do for Easter- was it a small celebration or a big family thing? Were you able to enjoy the nice weather?

Birthday Weekend Celebrations

April 18, 2014April 17, 20144 Comments

Another year of birthday celebrations have come and gone. It’s always a little depressing when something you’ve been looking forward to is over, right? I had total post-party blues on Sunday. Womp, womp.

I started out my birthday weekend with a pancake breakfast- something I never do. My date made up a delicious batch of paleo pumpkin pancakes which were delicious! He also made me a smoothie- I could get used to that!

I worked a bit and then headed to Brighton to get a much-needed manicure and pedicure. It was SO relaxing. I go to Queen Bee nails and absolutely love it. I got a shellac manicure (which includes a paraffin wax) for $25! They also gave me a bottle of lotion for my birthday- so sweet of them.

Saturday morning my sister and I went to a class at Recycle Studio. We were supposed to go to Lindsay’s class, but I was an idiot and we missed it. Luckily there was a class right after it that Lindsay was taking, so they let us just take that class instead.

That afternoon, my parents came down for lunch at Santarpio’s. Although a pizza lunch was probably not the best lunch to have before getting into a tight dress, I enjoyed every bite of it 😉

We came back to my apartment to have bunny cake and open presents. My mom makes me this cake every year- isn’t it the cutest?

I was so happy that my parents made the trip down here. We hadn’t seen them in a long time and I always like when they visit!

Saturday night was my birthday celebration at the Liberty Hotel. So many of my friends came- I couldn’t believe it! I had home friends, college friends, gym friends and other Boston friends I’ve made over the years. It was so good to see everyone!

Thank you so much to everyone for coming out!!

I spent Sunday lunching with my Shapleigh girls, grocery shopping, and checking out all my presents from the weekend. My gym friends Steph, Alice and Jen brought me the nicest present- wine, wine glasses, napkins and a mani/pedi gift cert! I can’t wait to go back and use it. My upstairs neighbor, Lauren, gave me a nice bottle of wine and my other upstairs neighbor, Lisa, gave me the most gorgeous plant! You girls are all the best!

I ended my day with a nice, long walk throughout the parks in Eastie and along the water. It was nice to have some quiet time just for me to reflect on the past year.

Lastly, Monday night, my date took me out to celebrate with me on my actual birthday. We started with cocktails at Trade. I went with a Cosmo and I was very happy with that decision!

We had dinner reservations at Row 34, which I’ve been dying to try. It was a good thing he tried making reservations a week and a half in advance because they were already booked solid (on a Monday!). I called and pulled some birthday strings, though, and got us in. Everything from the atmosphere to the service to the food was outstanding and we thoroughly enjoyed every piece of the experience. I even tried oysters- and liked them! I had the Bucatini and it was SO good. I think he had the bluefish, but I can’t remember… I blame it on the Cosmo’s 😉

We both agreed that we can’t wait to go back!

Thank you, again, to all my friends and family for making my birthday weekend so amazing!! Here’s to 29!

Weekending: Babysitting, Spartan Training, Lunching, Lounging

April 1, 2014April 1, 20149 Comments

Happy Birthday Month to all my April birthday buddies! I can’t believe I am going to be 29 in just 2 weeks. Holy crap. Where the heck does time go?!

I had a relatively quiet weekend last weekend, which was a welcomed change! It was nice to not be under stress to get from one thing to the next, and to have time to relax and get stuff done around my apartment.

Friday night I got to babysit my 2 favorite kiddos. They love making pizza with me, so their mom whipped up some homemade dough and we made the most delicious pizza. It ended up working out well since I can’t eat meat on Fridays anyway!

Saturday started off the best way: with a workout! As I’ve mentioned, I went to a Spartan training workout with a group of gym friends. I’d love to say that I LOVED the workout, but I didn’t. I thought it was really good and left me physically beat, it was too long. I was ready to be done about an hour into it, which I think was because it was fairly repetitive. Read: we did A LOT of burpees, squats, lunges, jumping jacks, running in place and push ups. Like, a lot (I think we did at least 200 burpees- no joke). While those are great exercises, I would’ve liked to have seen a better variety to keep us engaged for the whole time. We did run outside for a bit, which was greatly welcomed since the BC High School gymnasium was SO HOT. Overall, it was a good workout, but I don’t think I’d do one again. It was definitely fun to work out WITH my gym friends, rather than just teaching them 😉

I definitely earned my lunch and bubbly at Lincoln Tavern with my sister! As I mentioned on Instagram, Lincoln has a “Bucket of Bubbly” deal where you get a bottle of Prosecco and 3 mixers (OJ, grapefruit juice and peach puree) for.. wait for it… $24! Even if you don’t finish the bottle (I’m embarrassed to admit we didn’t finish it…), it’s still a better deal than ordering glasses separately. I also enjoyed an asparagus, caramelized onions and cheese omelet.

After lunch, I headed to my date’s apartment (I’m going to call him that rather than “the guy I am dating”… much easier 😉 ) to hang out. We had a nice, quiet night in which included drinking really great wine, cooking/making dinner and watching a movie.

Have you seen the Dallas Buyers Club? We both really enjoyed it. While it was a bit more serious and intense than I usually watch, it was a very interesting story with great acting!

I wanted to share the recipe that we used for our appetizer. My date is gluten and dairy free right now, so he got this really great Paleo recipe book and we made the Tahini sauce.

(he set this up for me to take a photo to put on here- super cute!)

It was a fun treat! He had made homemade sausages a few weeks ago, so we also had some of those with peppers, onions and a side of kale. Delish!

Sunday started out with a workout and then grocery shopping, meal prep, laundry, cleaning and blogging. The gross, rainy weather was perfect for all of these activities! I made a crock pot soup, which was just a bunch of veggies, sweet potatoes and broth/Stubbs’ marinade. I added chicken at the end. Perfect meal for a rainy Sunday!

I also made these amazing bars that Athena posted a while ago. I added in unsweetened coconut flakes and used gluten/dairy free chocolate chips. These things continue to amaze me!

And that’s about it! All around really great weekend.

Questions for you: Do you make your own pizza dough or buy it? Have you done a Spartan race? Have you seen Dallas Buyers Club? If so, what did you think?

Burpees to Bubbly

Because good workouts deserve bubbly rewards!

Category: Dining Out

Weekending: Gardening, Driving Range, Sunsets and Sheila’s Bridal Shower

Weekending: Dining, drinking & celebrating mom

Boston Day of Fun, Pat Green Concert & Easter Weekend in Maine {Recap}

Birthday Weekend Celebrations

Weekending: Babysitting, Spartan Training, Lunching, Lounging

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