This weekend is all about celebrating one of my college girlfriends, Sheila. Sheila is one of the funniest and fun friends and I, along with our other SMC girlfriends cannot wait to shower her with an awesome bachelorette weekend on Nantucket! Here’s a glimpse of all of us throughout the years… enjoy 😉
What are you up to this weekend? Doing anything fun? Going anywhere?
I don’t know about anyone else, but last week was a busy week! Here are some highlights 🙂
While on the Cape, I went for a morning run one day and walk the next- even though it may be tough getting out of bed and actually starting the workout, my day really is so much better when I know I have my workout out of the way!
For lunch, I went with the Fajita Salad which was delicious!
I didn’t get much pictures of the food during the rest of my time on the Cape because I felt awkward whipping out my phone to take pics in front of his family, but I will say everything we had was delicious. My family jokes that we think about the next meal before we’re finished with the current meal and being away with an Italian family who has that same mentality (RM’s parents came over from Italy when they were in their teens/young 20’s) made me feel right at home! His mom was in the kitchen most of the weekend 🙂 Friday night we had a traditional BBQ with cheese burgers, hot dogs, kale, chickpea salad and rice- so good! On Saturday, RM’s mom mad a whole roast chicken meal, which just happens to be one of my favorite meals. Since the weather was crappy, it was the perfect thing!
On Saturday night, RM took all of us out to eat for his aunts birthday. We went to a new place called Villagio at the Regatta and the food did not disappoint. The service was not terrific, but I think they were still working out the kinks there (the restaurant opened on June 24th I think). I went with a seafood stew meal and it was SO good- there was so much seafood in the dish, which is a must in my book!
For a little festive flare on the 4th, RM’s sister’s friend whipped up a batch of some delicious white sangria and I decided to add blueberries and strawberries to it. Drinks with treats in them are just better, right?!
I also made some stars and stripes fruit skewers which, even though people laughed about, were a big hit!
We were only able to get 1 beach day out of the weekend since we decided to get up and go early on Sunday to beat the traffic, but it was a beautiful beach day!
The weekend finished off with a beach afternoon in Eastie with my sister.
And, to kick off the start of a healthy week, I went for a nice 5 mile run and then made a really veggie-filled dinner consisting of some lemon-pepper chicken, baked kale, sautéed zucchini, summer squash and onions and another side of baked Brussels sprouts, sweet potato and onion that I had frozen a while back. I made my zucchini and summer squash similar to this recipe– so easy and delicious!
Such a great weekend! I was happy to be working from home yesterday, though. I thought I loved working from home on Friday’s but it turns out Monday’s are way better- it makes Sunday nights so much better knowing I don’t have to prep for the week!
Questions for you: How did you celebrate the 4th of July? Did you make any festive treats? Where is your favorite beach?
Lastly… I wanted to share these muffins that I made from Fannetastic Food– they were not only a hit with RM and me, but also with his family, who said they don’t usually like “healthy” treats. I had one for breakfast every morning and it was perfect!
And, look how much my garden is growing! There’s definitely an animal that’s stepping around on some of the things, but hopefully once they grow bigger that will stop. Can’t wait to eat from it!
In honor of the upcoming holiday, which is sure to bring about lots of BBQ’s and parties, I wanted to share an absolutely delicious appetizer dish that is most definitely a crowd pleaser. My gym friend, Stephanie, has brought a few variations of this “dip” to a couple of different gym friends parties and I was so happy she agreed to let me share it with all of you!
Stephanie’s Avocado Tomato Corn Feta Dip
Ingredients:
Directions
I mean, how easy is that?! Nothing better than a 1 bowl recipe in my mind- easy clean up!
Big thanks to Stephanie for sharing her recipe with us- I plan on making a batch of this for the 4th!
Questions for you: What’s your favorite party appetizer? Do you have a “go-to” dish that people always request from you? What are you making for the 4th this year?
Hi, friends! In honor of the 4th of July on Friday, I’ve decided to dedicate this post to some fun, 4th of July themed workouts! I am sure there are others who will be traveling for the holiday, and thus not able to get to your normal classes or workouts at the gym (I won’t have equipment and won’t want to dedicate as much time to my workouts when I’m on the Cape!), so I thought it would be helpful to put together a list of quick, efficient, no or little equipment necessary workouts. I’m always on the hunt for new at-home workouts to do, so hopefully we can all benefit from this 🙂
Wednesday Workout: 4th of July Workout!– I made this workout up last year and remember doing it on the 4th of July- I liked it. Star jumps are killer 😉
4th of July Stars & Stripes Workout– I also did this workout last year! While it requires equipment, it’s a great workout
Red, White & Burpee– Definitely trying this!!!
Tone It Up Stars & Stripes Workout– There are 2 workouts in this link and I think I’ll be doing the first one since it doesn’t require equipment!
Fourth of July Firework Workout– Super cute names for the moves in this workout, including some all together new-to-me moves, so I’ll definitely be incorporating some, if not all, of this workout into my weekend!
I am really looking forward to trying out some of these workouts. Sometimes, one of the best motivators for me to get a workout in (and be excited about it) is to find NEW ONES to try! Let me know if you try any of these… or, if you found a good one that you’d think I’d like, please link me to it in the comments!
Cheers to a happy and fit fourth!
Confession: I’ve never really thought of myself as a “Miami” girl. I thought it was too clubby and too flashy for my liking (and, let’s be honest- I don’t stay out past midnight these days!), but I was so wrong! Miami is a place for everyone- there are clubs if you want them, but if you’re looking for a relaxing getaway with delicious food and great hotels, it’s also the place for that!
We stayed at the Surfcomber Hotel, which was right on Collins Ave in the Art Deco District of Miami. This was a perfect place to stay, in our opinion. The rooms were clean, the service and hospitality were awesome, the food was delicious and the drinks were too easy to drink. We were even served a glass of champagne upon arrival… you had me at hello… right?!
Rather than give you a play by play of the weekend, I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking. We spent a lot of time at the hotel’s pool and outdoor bar, but we did venture to the ocean once (and when I say “venture”, I mean walk out of the hotel’s property and onto the sand… it was so close!), which was a nice treat since it felt like bath water and I am used to frigid Maine ocean temps. We didn’t do any excursions and ended up staying close to the hotel since it was such a nice place to be and the food was delicious. We did go for a nice, long walk one afternoon to look at the hotels in the Art Deco area (which is where we stayed), but other than that we just wanted to relax. Not having a plan to get up and go elsewhere was a really nice feeling 🙂
Dining– Since RM and I are both “foodies”, we strategically planned out our dinners based on cuisine; Friday we went with sushi, Saturday we did Italian/American and Sunday we did steak. Lunches were a bit sporadic and we ended up sharing things or drinking juices. Overall, though, I was more than pleased with the food options and quality in Miami.
Doraku– The place was packed, but it was well worth the wait (and everyone we spoke with confirmed that it’s the best sushi place in the area).The rolls we got… and the brownie lava dessert… were to die for. The coconut roll was probably my favorite- I’ve never had a “sweet” type of roll- delish!
Maxine’s– This restaurant was across the street from our hotel so we ventured over there for breakfast on our first morning in Miami. While the food was good, the service was not so good.
Bianca at the Delano– For dinner on Saturday night, we went to the Delano, which is an absolutely beautiful, beautiful hotel. We had drinks out by the pool first and then enjoyed dinner at Bianca, which is mostly outdoor seating (perfect!). I cannot put into words how good the food was, but I’ll just say it was drool-worthy. Totally worth the money if you’re in Miami looking for a nice place. I got the salmon and couldn’t stop raving about it!
The Social Club at the hotel- On Sunday and Monday we ate breakfast at the hotel. They had a really nice menu with some healthy options on it. I had Greek yogurt both days and a lot of fresh fruit- absolutely delicious!
We also did lunch from the restaurant a few times. We shared the cheese burger and salad on our first day, which was probably the least healthy thing we ate the whole trip. We really tried to stick to our usual healthy eating, but when you’re on vacation you have to indulge a little! We also juiced one day for lunch since they had a fresh juice bar (amazing!) and the other day I had a raw kale salad which was so, so good.
And if I didn’t have enough good things to say about the hotel, they had a complementary wine hour every day from 5-6; free- champagne upon arrival and free wine every night!? I told you we picked the right hotel!
Meat Market– Our favorite hotel bartender, Summer, suggested that we go to Meat Market for our steak night. Wow. What a great recommendation! We were able to sit outside and it was the most perfect weather for that. We had gotten an app at Monty’s so we jumped right into the food order: we shared a piece of steak, quinoa and avocado salad and sautéed kale. The steak and kale were delicious, but the quinoa and avocado salad kind of stole the show for me. I’m dying to recreate it!
Drinks- Judging by our pictures, it’s no surprise that we did our fair share of drinking! I mean, can you blame us, though?! Sunny, hot weather, being poolside all day, being on vacation… that’s a perfect recipe for drinking if you ask me 😉 Here are some places that we enjoyed drinks at (other than our hotel, which I mentioned earlier all the drinking we did there!).
Delano- Before our dinner on Saturday night, we went to the Delano a little early to have cocktails (stupidly expensive cocktails) by the pool. How gorgeous is this?! You’ve got to visit the Delano if you go to Miami!
Haven Lounge– After dinner one night we went to Haven for a drink. The restaurant had a really cool vibe to it and a great bar area.
Monty’s– This was a bit of a hike from our hotel (had to take a cab), but one of RM’s coworkers told him we “had to go there”. And, while we didn’t want to go, we ended up being happy we did! They have a HUGE outside bar area/swimming pool/live music area which is perfect for daytime drinking. It also looked to be a big place for boaters to dock for lunch. We had a drink and shrimp cocktail and had a great time people watching.
The Gale Hotel– For our post dinner drink after Meat Market, we stopped in at the Gale hotel, which we both fell in love with. The décor and ambiance were awesome and they have a rooftop pool!
By the time Monday morning rolled around, we both agreed that we were not ready to go home.
The weekend was just so perfect! We had a little bit of crappy weather in the afternoon on Sunday, but since we had massages planned, it didn’t end up being a big deal. Other than that, though, the weather was great (but hot!), the accommodations were great, food and drinks were delicious and the company, well, couldn’t have been any better! I’d say we had a really successful trip together and it’s safe to say we’ve already started thinking about where the next weekend getaway will be!
So, if you’re looking for a nice, long weekend getaway, I really would suggest Miami. It’s easy to get to (short 3 hour direct flight), there are lots of hotels to stay at, the beaches are gorgeous and the food was impressive!
Questions for you: Have you been to Miami? Do you plan your days around your meals? Do you like planned out vacations or ones where you just relax and go with the flow?
Burpees to Bubbly 