Category: Five on Friday

Five on Friday {3.11.16}

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Good morning! TGIF 🙂 I know everyone has been talking about the weather, but I mean, seriously?! I have 3 words for you: Soak. It. In! I hope you’ve all had a great week- mine has been fairly quiet… and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I even had a day where I had nothing planned after work, which hasn’t happened in MONTHS (literally). It was so nice to be able to run some errands and still get home at a reasonable hour.

Let’s talk Friday things, though 🙂

  • Bagged kale- Kale is a serious staple at our house. Both of us eat a ridiculous amount of it, and while it’s easy to cook (we just season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and EVOO and then bake it), we both HATE preparing it when it comes to de-stemming it and washing it. I found this bag of organic pre-washed & cut kale at Whole Foods and decided to try it out. While I still had to pick through the kale pieces to remove stem pieces, I found the whole experience to still be faster than the traditional way and about the same price. Totally loving it!

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  • Veggie Teriyaki Stir Fry– Hummusapien has done it again! I whipped up a batch of her Veggie Teriyaki Stir Fry since we had cooked brown rice (I accidentally ordered it when we ordered sushi last week) and other veggies on hand and, per usual, it’s a huge hit. RM went back for seconds and thirds and couldn’t stop raving about it! We’ve eaten it plain, served over kale and shredded brussels sprouts and beneath an over-easy egg. There’s really no wrong way to eat it. GO MAKE IT!

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  • Box FIIT Certification– I am slowly but surely making my way through this certification. It’s proving to be a much bigger commitment than I really needed to be doing at this point in my life (with wedding planning and a new class on my schedule and everything else), but I’m really learning SO MUCH and am totally enjoying it. I just wish I was able to make more time for it so I could get it done quicker, but I still want to keep blogging and having some time to relax at night so I’m taking it slow.

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  • {Potential Spoiler Alert!!}Breaking Bad– Ok, I know we are WAY late to the party, but we have been plugging away at these episodes and seasons and it gets crazier and crazier. For those of you who watch it, am I the only one who doesn’t like Walt?! We just finished Episode 7 of Season 5 where he killed Mike, who I loved! I was seriously so sad 😦 and he was so mean to Jesse, who I also love. UGH!
  • Soaking up the sun– Wednesday’s weather was just TOO GOOD to not soak up, so instead of running after work/before teaching, I laced up and hit the pavement during my lunch break. I surprised myself with sub 8-minute miles and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the run… it felt so liberating to run in just a tank after so many layered clothing runs!

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And that does it! As for weekend plans, I’m getting together with my SMC girlfriends tonight, teaching tomorrow and then shopping all day with RM. I’m heading home on Sunday to do some serious wedding stuff with my parents.

Questions for you: How has your week been? What do you have planned this weekend? Did you get outside to enjoy the weather this week? Have you found any good new recipes lately? What’s a show you’re loving these days?

Five on Friday {2.26.16}

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Happy Friday, friends! Have you had a good week? Mine has been pretty good- nothing really out of the ordinary, which isn’t a bad thing! It was funny- when I saw my mom last weekend she goes “did you do your ‘Five on Friday’ post this week? I love that!”, which was so sweet. I told her that I had nothing special to share with you guys last week so I just saved it for this week. Here we go!

Recycle Studio’s new South End location– I was able to snag a saddle in their second class at their new location earlier this week. Unfortunately about half of the people didn’t show up for the class (that’s what happens when it’s a free class) so I felt bad for the instructor- it’s so much harder to teach a half full class than it is a fully packed class! She did a great job, though- loved getting to check it out!

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Straight Up Strength- Even fitness instructors get bored with their own workouts, right? Lucky for me, my girl Lauren over at The Fueled Physique created a workout program so I jumped at the chance to sign up for it. I did one of the lower body exercises on Monday and the upper body one on Tuesday and I was SO SORE from them. If you’re looking for something new to spice up your workouts, I’d suggest signing up for her program (check out her site and shoot her an inquiry!).

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Gapfit Line– When I was shopping with my mom and sister last Friday, we popped into Gap Body on a mission for underwear (TMI?) and although I didn’t walk out with any, I did walk out with this amazingly cute top. I can see myself wearing this all the time to and from the gym and even out and about on the weekend. I was lucky I only left with this because as we looked around, I was seriously impressed with their entire athletic line. I definitely plan on going back and getting more stuff.

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Boston Housing Market- RM sent me this article the other day and it absolutely baffled me. It’s amazing how much the housing market in Boston has increased over the past couple of years, but I have to agree with the author that it’s interesting- and frustrating- that they are only tailoring to the wealthy with the “luxury condos”. What about the average people who just want a nice, affordable place to live?

Kittens- You guys. I want a kitten SO BADLY! We’ve been talking about getting one for months and months, but just recently I’ve really been itching for one. I’ve called a few shelters but none of them have any so I thought I’d ask you guys- do you know of any shelters with kittens or anyone who has any? We really want a female. Any help would be appreciated!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Ours is pretty low-key- hoping to go out for sushi tonight and then I’m teaching Saturday morning. Other than that there are some other plans up in the air, but I hope to have lots of time to work on my Box Fiit certification! Whatever you have planned I hope you  have a great time!

 

 

 

Five on Friday {2.12.16}

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Good morning! TGIF 🙂 Have you guys had a good week? Mine has been great- between teaching and a get together with my girlfriends it’s flown right by. Let’s get to some of my favorite things right now.

Five on Friday

1. GALentine’s Book Club Night- Our friend Amy hosted book club this time and in true Amy fashion when it comes to anything holiday/party related, she knocked it out of the park with her decorations and overall festive feel. She and her roommate cooked up a terrific dinner of chicken parm and we had a blast talking about the book (and other random topics) over wine. AND Amy made us all hand-made valentines consisting of a card and a “De-Stress Coconut Oil Body Lotion” which she described as “this tranquil blend of chamomile, lavender and frankincense can help relieve discomforts associated with stress and anxiety”… anyone want to place an order for some? 😉

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2. Cuckoo’s Calling– Speaking of book club, this was the book we read this past time and while it took me a bit to get into it, I ended up really getting hooked. I read the last 150 or so pages in just a few hours! We are reading her sequel next: Silkworm- I can’t wait! We are also reading 5 Love Languages since we’ve got a little extra time until the next meeting. Have any of you read either of these?

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3. Wine Expo– RM and I were trying to decide what to do for V-Day and when my friend mentioned the Wine Expo, I thought that was a great idea. I searched through some old emails and found a promo code which took $10 off the admission price, which was just icing on the cake (VALDAY16 is the code if you’re interested- there is still availability for Sunday). I’ve been to the seminars a few times, but never the full expo so I can’t wait!
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Five on Friday {2.5.16}

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Good morning! TGIF! What a week it’s been- phew! I am so ready for a relaxing weekend… I feel like I’ve been on the go since last Friday. I ended up teaching 4 classes in 3 days, which is something I haven’t done in MONTHS, so it definitely was a shock to my system! They were all great classes, though, so I can’t really complain 🙂 Last night was my first sweat-KICK class at Foster Fitness and it was a total blast. I think there were about 22 fitties who showed up, which was more than I thought there would be! Everyone was pretty new to my style of cardio kickboxing, but they gave it their all and totally killed it. I was one happy/proud instructor 🙂

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Even though that was my highlight of the week, let’s talk about some other high points!

1 & 2: New Coats & Engagement Photos– I know I talked about both of these things in my weekend recap, but I felt as though they were worthy of a spot in my Five on Friday posts, too. I just can’t get over the fact that the blue jacket is a $450 Calvin Klein jacket that I got for $44!! I’m always slacking in the jacket department, so getting these was a step in the right direction for me. I’m in search of a new long down jacket- anyone have any good recommendations for where I could find one? Also, isn’t Janelle fantastic? We are totally loving the photos she look during our engagement photo session- I’ll have a full recap of that including outfit details next week!

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3. Stripping While Sleeping– Ok, not really stripping per say, but I thought it was hilarious as I reached under the blankets at the foot of our bed and found 3 pairs of socks… my feet and hands are always cold so I go to bed with socks on most night. However, I tend to kick them off at some point throughout the night since I am a HOT BOX when I sleep. I wake up sweating more than I’d like to admit, which you’d think would make me go to bed in less clothes, but I’m always freezing when I go to bed so I bundle up and strip later. Weird, right?

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4. Running Outside in 60* February Weather-With today’s weather, it seems like this was years ago! I’m happy I was able to soak up some of the unseasonably warm weather earlier this week during a 4 miler lunch break run.

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5. Dressing Like Spring… in February- Ok, I guess there’s a theme for this post: outfits/fashion and unseasonably warm weather 😉 When I woke up yesterday and saw that it was 55* at 6:30am I took a double take. I’m totally loving this thin sweater from Loft that I picked up last week- paired with my new Lucky skinny jeans, favorite booties and light jacket made for a comfy outfit!

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I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend! Thankfully ours is much more lowkey than last weekend. I have to basically read a 400 page book for book club on Tuesday so that’s definitely what I’ll be doing 😉

Questions for you: What do you have going on this weekend? Were you able to take advantage of the warmer weather this week? Have you found any good shopping deals this week? Do you have any weird habits or things you do when you sleep?

Five on Friday {1.29.16}

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Good morning! I had some of these drafted to post last week, but I ended up getting home later than expected after the blogger event at Social so I didn’t have it in me to break open my computer and finish the post. I’m sure you didn’t lose sleep over it 😉

Are you guys having a good week? I am! As I mentioned on Wednesday, I’ve been focusing on yoga this week and it’s been really great! I’m a little nervous for next week, though, because I’m teaching 4 classes in 3 days- way more of an intense schedule than I had this week! It’s all good, though- I’m excited for all of the events and classes I have lined up 🙂 here’s some noteworthy Friday things for you today:

1. Chromecast- RM finally took the plunge and got us a Chromecast so that we can start streaming Netflix through out TV. Also worth noting, we finally upgraded his subscription to be from receiving DVD’s in the mail (Yes, he was still requesting DVD’s to be sent to him!) to be a streaming subscription. We had already started recording Breaking Bad episodes on our TV so we’ve been watching them there, but once that is done it will be nice to be able to just stream Netflix. Welcome to 2016, Monique & Roberto.

2. Wedding room block/Registry- We’ve received an update on who has booked their rooms for our wedding and it’s SO exciting!! I seriously can’t wait until the big day is finally here. I am also obsessed with our wedding registry. While it was a little stressful and overwhelming at first (what to register for, what do we want/like/need, where to do it, etc.), I’m kind of loving it now. I check it daily and add new things- the worst that can happen is people don’t buy them for us- big deal! I’ll also admit that at first I didn’t think we needed anything, but then I realized that this may be the only time (for a long time) that we are able to start fresh and having matching everything- the Type A in me LOVES this.

3. Trillfit Event on 1/31– Looking for a workout on Sunday? Consider checking out the Trillfit event at the Hotel Commonwealth from 10am-2pm. From their site: TRILLFIT presents BRUNCH + BURN, Boston’s first wellness day party. Join us at Hotel Commonwealth for two high-energy, sweat-inducing workouts, delectable + healthy brunch bites, on-site beauty treatments and more . Celebrate your 2016 resolutions, grab your squad, and get live to a set by TRILLFIT’s own DJ Nick Bishop. 10AM: TRILLyoga with @LadyDork (60 min – *bring your own yoga mat*), 11AM: TRILLfit* with Melisa Valdez (60 min), 12PM – 2PM: Brunch + Day Party. Sounds like a blast, right?

4. Easiest Buffalo Wings– RM’s brother sent him a recipe from Bon Appetite (I think) and we decided to whip them up for the game the other weekend. We usually do wings in the crockpot using RM’s signature honey-garlic recipe he created on his own, but this recipe is WAY easier and faster. Get this- you just bake the wings in the oven at 450* for 35-45 mins, take them out and toss them in a mixture of 2tbsp butter and 1/4 cup sriracha. Could you get any easier? NOPE!

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5. SWEAT-Kick Event 2/4– I’m saving the best for last! If you follow me on social media, I’m sure you’ve seen me advertise the launch event for my first class at Foster Fitness, which is next Thursday at 5:30pm. The gym is in Wakefield and the event is going to be a blast- we will run through some cardio kickboxing combinations, throw in some bootcamp exercises and core work at the end and then refuel with protein shakes and salads from sweetgreen. If you’re interested in coming to the FREE event, please let me know- I would love love love having the support from friendly faces in the crowd!

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And that’s that! I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Tomorrow is a busy one for me/us, so I’m happy to have taken a half day today to hang out with my sister and have some time to amp up for the weekend.

Questions for you: Do you have a Smart TV or Chromecast where you stream Netflix or Hulu? Did you watch Breaking Bad? What was the best part of your week? What are you looking forward to this weekend?