Category: Grocery Shopping

Weekending: October Sunshine

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Hi there! How are you? If you have today off, don’t tell me… not only do I have to work but I have to go INTO the office. Monday’s are usually my WFH day so it’s a very weird start to the week!

Did you guys have a good weekend? Mine was great- a good mix of celebrations, relaxing and productivity. I’m absolutely loving this warm October weather and after a gloomy day on Friday, I tried to soak up as much of the sunshine as possible throughout the weekend.

After work on Friday, I went to my sister’s apartment for vino and pizza. The traffic was TERRIBLE, so it was so nice to be able to relax with drinks and laughter and good convos!

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On Saturday, after kickboxing class, I was able to run some much-needed errands and decided to grab lunch at Panera since I was out. Have you tried their lentil-kale bowls? Pretty good!

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We decided to head into the city in the late afternoon and hit up the new Uniqlo in Faneuil Hall. While it was a big chaotic, I did score this vest for $39 instead of $59! I’ve been wanting a light down vest for a long time and I think I’ll get a lot of use out of this.

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After shopping we stopped in at Back Deck for cocktails and a snack.

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We also stopped at a coffee shop on the way home and they had the most AMAZING sweet potato pumpkin pie macaroons I’ve ever had. We stupidly split this, but I could’ve eaten 5 of them myself!

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The rest of the night was very low-key and looked a lot like this:

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Do any of you watch Ray Donovan? RM had gotten us both hooked on it, which is weird for me considering I hate violence and it’s a very violent show!

Sunday was a perfectly productive day! We had breakfast and then went to Target and Whole Foods before doing some major cleaning and food prep back at home. Also, Whole Foods has the prettiest bouquets- and sometimes you just need to buy yourself flowers 😉

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The weather was too gorgeous to be inside all day so I took a break from house work and cooking and went for a quickie 5K run. The weather was so perfect!

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I made some oat bars, soup and the most delicious stuffed acorn squash- I love going into the week with a whole bunch of good, healthy food!

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Oh, and the BEST part of the weekend? RM’s mother stopped by and gave us our engagement gift, which is something I have literally waited my whole life for:

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The funniest part was that I had been talking about Kitchen Aid mixers all weekend! I can’t wait to put this to good use- she said she loves using hers for her pizza dough, so that means I need to get the recipe AND give it a try 🙂

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Did you get out and enjoy the weather? Did you do anything festive? What’s your favorite kitchen appliance?

Weekending: Barcelona Tapas & Wine Bar, Fitfluential Ambassador news & Dealing with Disappointment

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Well hello there! It’s been a while since I’ve posted a “weekending” post, huh? Since I tried out a new restaurant and have some exciting news to share, I thought today was the perfect day to do it!

On Friday night, I went out to dinner and drinks at Barcelona Wine Bar in the South End with my friend Lindsay and her roommate. Both girls teach at Recycle Studio so it’s always fun to get together with them because we don’t have to feel bad about our conversations revolving around teaching and working out 😉

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Weekending {Extended Version}: Feeling Thankful

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There were a lot of really wonderful things in my life last week and throughout the weekend. I came back to MA on Saturday feeling incredibly thankful for my family, friends, boyfriend and some extra time off.

Wednesday morning I was thankful for being able to head to Maine to work from there for a half day of work and beat the traffic and the snow.

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I was thankful for being able to decline lunch/errand plans with my mom and sister in favor of napping, blogging and getting a start on cocktail hour.

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I was thankful for being able to be surrounded by my family, all 4 of us, for the first time in months! We laughed and ate and drank and it was wonderful.

Thursday morning I felt thankful that my weird headache was gone and had apparently just turned into a little head cold. I was thankful for a relaxing morning in the kitchen with my family & for my sister agreeing to video me for some blog things.

I was thankful for the fact I was able to get my sweat on and feel strong throughout the short, but tough workout.

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I was thankful for snow! And for the fact I was in Maine where 12 inches of snow is much more bearable than it is in Boston.

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I was thankful for bubbly, because it makes everything better 😉

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I was thankful for this beautiful spread of food, none of which I prepared (whoops!).

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I was thankful for being able to sit and watch a movie with my sister.

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I was thankful for being able to go to our friend’s house for games, wine, dessert and laughs. These girls have been in our lives forever and I love them so much! And little Zeke, who is on the MOVE! He even knows how to take a selfie 😉

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Friday morning, I woke up thankful to still be in Maine. I was thankful that my sister wanted to go to the gym with me and I’m thankful that I was able to have a great workout.

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I was thankful for going out to lunch in Kennebunkport with my parents and my sister.

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And on Friday night, I was thankful to be home for another night with my family.

Saturday morning, I was thankful for a quick drive back to Massachusetts and an awesome class at Exhale Spa with my sister and friend Amanda.

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I was thankful for a delicious (and I mean delicious) brunch post-class at Ward 8, consisting of a veggie grilled cheese and lots of bubbly.

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Saturday afternoon/evening, I was thankful for finally getting to see RM! We watched some soccer and decided to stay local for dinner. We saddled up at the bar, enjoyed some drinks, wings & pizza (going out with a bang this week) and were home and in bed nice and early.

Sunday morning, I woke up feeling thankful for not having to rush out of bed, for being able to have a relaxing morning and for having a largely open day ahead. I was thankful for being able to get a Christmas tree with RM- ’tis the season!
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Yes, he is entirely making fun of me.

Sunday night, I was thankful for being able to relax while RM cooked us dinner. On the menu was paleo style sweet and spicey wings, homemade sausage & a fresh salad. I also made some paleo pumpkin banana nut muffins that we’ve been obsessed with lately. It was such a nice, relaxing night- it felt like a Saturday!

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Sunday night was the perfect way to cap off a little extended break. I had been feeling very stressed and overwhelmed prior to the break, but I now feel rest and rejuvenated and ready for the holiday season!

Questions for you: Where did you spend thanksgiving? Did you have a big crowd at dinner? Have you ever been to Kennebunkport? Do you like barre classes? How do you gear up for the week ahead?

Weekending: Local Date Night, Wicked Wine Fest, Homemade Fish Tacos & Sunday Funday

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I loved every part of this past weekend! I took Friday off from work so I could attend MANIA. The day, although long, was amazing! I was able to take so many awesome classes and meet some really great fitness professionals. I’ll do a full recap on that soon.

By the time I got home and showered, I was starvingggg, so RM and I headed to Jeveli’s, which is a local favorite of ours. The prices are cheap, service is good (and funny) and the food is absolutely delicious. It’s a no-frills type of place, but we love sitting at the bar and chatting with the locals. I always get the meatballs because they are so good, and after 4 hours of physical activity, a big bowl of carb-y, meat-y deliciousness was just what I needed!

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After class on Saturday, my sister, Kate and I headed to the South End for a wine tasting at Cyclorama. I went in March and loved it, so jumped on the chance to go to the one this past weekend. Some of my SMC friends were also there and we had a blast walking around, trying various wines… and taking silly pics 😉

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Post wine fest, we made the short walk over to Stephi’s on Tremont for lunch. We were lucky and had a whole room just to ourselves… but, the more I think about it, maybe the rest of the restaurant was lucky we had a whole room to ourselves. You try being reasonably quiet with 8 girls after a 2 hour wine tasting…

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I ended up getting a burger because I was still craving red meat- must have been all the working out!

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Once we finished up, I headed back to East Boston to hang out with RM. We had plans to make fish tacos and they did NOT disappoint! The best part was they were super easy- I’m going to share our “recipe” later the week. They were unbelievable, though!

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My movie snack was a half of a paleo pumpkin banana bread muffin that I made last week. Topped with crunchy almond butter and cinnamon, courtesy of RM, it hit the spot!

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Sunday morning started with some cleaning, some breakfast and then some serious shopping. RM made some zucchini fritters… topped with an over easy egg and it made for a delicious breakfast.

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He’s also taking a stab at making his own yogurt, so we worked on that a little.

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To shop, we headed to Assembly Row since we wanted to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond and figured we could have lunch at Legal on the Mystic. I was getting hangry, so a beer and fish sandwich did the trick to fill me up! I regretted the fried food later that day, though, as it gave me a bad stomach ache 😦 Could’ve also been due to the fact I ate a lot more junk this past weekend than I normally do, including greasy, fried food.

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After we finished up, we shopped around a few more stores before calling it a day. I food shopped then had fun being in the kitchen with my sister. She made a pasta bake and I made an amped up Shepherd’s pie. Both were delicious!

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And that’s about it… before I knew it, I was hopping into bed, utterly exhausted! I love weekends like this, I just wish they could last longer 😦

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Have you been to a wine tasting before?

Weekending: Party, Party, Party!

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Hi there! I know I say this often, but last weekend was SO MUCH FUN! Starting with a gym friends party on Friday night, continuing on to my party and then a Sunday full of errands, laughs and “Sunday Dinner” with RM, it was pretty awesome.

I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy our “gym friend” get togethers. I’ve got a lot of friends from various groups, but my gym friends are a group of girls that get my intense workout mindset, love of trying out new classes, and can relate to my crazy schedule. After the week I had last week, the combination of those things, as well as some amazinggggg (healthy!) food and drinks helped relax me from the week and get me excited for the weekend. The cause for this gym friends party was to celebrate Jen’s birthday. Jen is a huge inspiration for working out and eating healthy- she has lost so much weight over the past couple of months and looks truly fantastic. She has been doing two-a-days and eating healthy and you know what? It’s paid off BIG TIME. I’m so proud of her!

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I made these and they were a big hit!
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I finally slept well on Friday night- I can’t tell you how happy that made me! Kickboxing was a blast- the crowds are back and I loved that I will be there for the next 2 weekends. Burning 531 calories in under an hour is a great way to start the day 🙂

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After my class, I went home and got into full party prep mode. Thankfully my sister was around to help! I made a crockpot chili, we made Stromboli’s and buffalo chicken dip and we had a bunch of veggies, crackers, hummus and some cookies. Oh… and a lot of wine 😉 We were SO LUCKY that the weather was warm and sunny because there certainly wouldn’t have been enough room in my apartment if we were all stuck in there! I loved that it was kind of a random group of people who came… well, random in that there were friends from multiple different groups: gym, college, home, RM’s family… the best part was everyone was having a great time mingling with each other, which makes “hosting” easier 😉 Big thanks to everyone who came- and thanks for the wine, too!

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Sunday was a busy day for RM and me. We woke up and had some healthy pumpkin protein “pancakes” before hitting the road to check out a health food store in Quincy. Good Health was amazing! If you’re in the hunt for a fully stocked healthy food store, you should definitely head to Quincy- they had everything!

From there, we did food shopping at Whole Foods, car shopping and then had Sunday dinner at his brother and sister-in-law’s. It was fun re-hashing the party with them 🙂

I finally got home and sat down to relax around 7:30- and I was definitely in bed before 9 and I loved every minute of it!

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Did you get outside to enjoy the beautiful weather on Saturday? Do you like hosting parties?