Category: Holiday/Special Occasion

Saturday’ing

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Hey Friends! Happy Sunday! I tweeted this morning how happy I was that it was a bright, sunny morning and I am still smiling about that! The temp may not be that warm yet, but the forecast is looking good. I love a Sunday morning where I wake up feeling good (definitely tight from my workouts this week so I am happy today is a rest day! Haha, jk! I just checked my email and saw the that Athena sent us our weekly workouts for the April Arms Challenge so I have some 3-2-1 circuits to do!) and have a fairly open agenda for the day.  All I “have” to do is grocery shop and look for a dress to wear to my birthday party next weekend. Yes!

Thank you all so much for your comments on my post on Friday! It’s definitely a fine line you can cross when working out while you’re sick, so I am happy to see I am not the only one that struggles with it!

Friday night…

I taught my last class at the Allston BSC on Friday night… totally bittersweet:( I sure went out with a bang, though! 21 or 22 people came and it was so nice to see that most of them were my “regulars”.  They all had the kindest words for me after class and I am going to miss them so much!! Hopefully some will come to my Wednesday or Thursday classes at the Central Square BSC!

When I got home, I poured myself a glass of vino (I tweeted Jen to let her know that I was participating in Winesday Wednesday early!) and hung out with Danielle while she made pizza!

010Danielle decided she wanted to make buffalo chicken pizza AND a margarita pizza so I was pumped! I’m all for easy, simple pizzas, but it’s nice to have fancy ones every once in a while!

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Drool-worthy, I know. It tasted even better than it looked! Post dinner, we watched Wednesday’s Nashville episode (anyone else watch this show?! How GOOD were the 2 girls at singing Ho Hey?! I might have cried a little…) and I was in bed by 10:30. I know, I act like I’m 80 years old with my early bed time!

Saturday

Yesterday was a busy, busy Saturday! Between teaching kickboxing and having two birthday parties on the agenda, I was pretty much non-stop all day! Kickboxing was an absolute blast!! Again, I had a huge group of members who like to work HARD. Every instructors dream, right?! I was also happy because Athena came! I had a to sneak a pic after we were done. Please pardon our sweaty, post workout appearance! I was so sweaty yesterday that my hands slipped on the ground when we were doing our last blast of the class (10 burpees to finish off our workout)!

012After class, I rushed home and showered because mom and Colleen and baby Emma were coming down for Rozzie’s 1st birthday party (my mom is obviously a social butterfly and her friends kids have had their own babies- Emma and Rozzie. Love those two to pieces!). I don’t have any pictures of Rozzie’s party, but it was perfectly pink and looked like it was right out of the Etsy homepage:) We did get to hang out with Emma… can you get enough of those cheeks?!

016(We were twinnies with our matching green pants!)

We had to leave Rozzie’s party early because it was Rachel’s birthday! In years past, Rachel and I celebrated our birthday’s together, which was always a blast, but now we celebrate separately which gives each of us our day to shine (We are both ridiculously obnoxious with our birthdays… forcing people to celebrate with us for the whole month!).

021Rachel is the hostess with the mostess and this party was no different! But, let’s be honest, as long as she has made her famous Sangria, the food is just an added bonus!

018Look at the treats!! mmmmm These things are pretty strong, so it was a good thing that we had loads of food!

019And most of you saw these on Instagram… SO good.

013It was so nice to catch up with so many friends and family yesterday! Feeling very  blessed today and know that feeling will stay with me for the rest of the week as it is BIRTHDAY WEEK!!!

Questions for you: How was your weekend so far? Anything fun to share? Do you have a lot of birthdays to celebrate this month, too?

[Dad’s] Pork Pie & [Mom’s] Tomato & Zucchini Casserole

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Hey everyone! How is your week going so far? Anyone else enjoying the #AprilArmsChallenge as much as I am so far? I am still battling a nasty head cold, but trying to push through it and sweat it out when I can!

Today was the first day in probably a month where I was able to come right home after work and I cannot tell you how nice that feeling was. The only problem with coming home early, though, is that I don’t know what to do with “extra” time and am horrible at relaxing.  What’s a girl to do besides pour a big glass of vino and think about what to do to fill the time (please tell me I am not the only one who suffers with relaxing and enjoying free time!)?

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(Recycled Photo, but you get the idea. Tonight was actually red wine. I heard it helps with congestion 😉 )

Dinner didn’t take me much longer than 20 minutes to prepare, but that is because the hard part of the meal was already done thanks to my dad! Both of my parents are 100% French Canadian, so having Tourtiere (aka Pork Pie for the non-Frenchie readers) around Christmas is a big tradition for us. According to every friend and family member who has tried dad’s Tourtiere can attest that he makes the absolute BEST around. Seriously. People pretty much place orders in November. Lucky for you (anyone who might be looking to indulge a little, but as dad said on the phone today “don’t drain the excess liquid. The saltines soak it up. Just have a smaller piece if you’re watching your waist”), he has agreed to share the recipe. It all sounded so familiar since Danielle and I spent a few hours with him right before Christmas making 9 (I think) of them!

pork pie

Dad’s Tourtiere

Note: it’s 1 pound of ground pork per 1/2 pound of onions and 1/2 pound of potatoes. Use this ratio if you plan to make a bigger batch than what is below. He said he usually makes a batch with 10-12 lbs. of pork.

  • 1 lb. ground pork
  • 1/2 lb. onions
  • 1/2 lb. potatoes
  • 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 tsp. Red Hot
  • 1 tsp. All Spice (this is key- you don’t want to add too much of this! A little goes a long way!)
  • 1/2 sleeve crushed Saltine crackers
  • Pie Crust

1. Place the pork and onions in a big pot. Add the Worcestershire and Red Hot and stew until onions are translucent and meat is fully cooked.

2. While pork and onions are stewing, boil your potatoes. When cooked, “smash” them, which means leave the skin on when you mash them. Mix the smashed potatoes into the pork/onion mixture and mix well. Add the All Spice.

3. Crush up 1/2 sleeve of saltine crackers (1/2 sleeve per pound of meat) and add to the meat/onion/potato “pudding” as dad called it (clearly we have different ideas of what “pudding” is). He said this is key to soaking up the excess liquid and helping to keep the pie filling together when slicing and serving.

4. Place the pie crust into a pie dish and spoon in the mixture. Bake at 400* for about 15 minutes (or until the pie crust has browned up).

011(my own mini pork pie that dad sent me home with!)

To accompany the pork pie that I thawed, I wanted to make my favorite veggie dish that my mom makes in the summer: Tomato and Zucchini Casserole.  This is SUPER easy and so tasty!

Tomato & Zucchini Casserole (small version)

  • 1 medium zucchini
  • 2 small tomatoes
  • herbs & seasoning of your choice
  • 1/4-1/2 cup of cheese (can be parmesan or Italian blend or whatever you have on hand

1. Slice up the zucchini and tomatoes.

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2. You’re going to layer these in a small casserole dish. In between each layer, sprinkle in some herbs/seasoning and a sprinkle of cheese. Repeat until you’ve used up all your veggies. Top with extra cheese and microwave for 4-5 minutes to speed up the cooking. Bake at 400* for about 10 minutes to brown everything up!

tomatozucccasserole

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This meal reminded me so much of a meal cooked at home with mom and dad and I loved it!

Questions for you: What meals remind you of home? Do you have any “traditional” meals that your family makes around the holidays?

Easter Recap

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Happy Easter, Burpees to Bubbly readers:) I cannot tell you how sad I was to leave Maine today… a 24 hour trip is just NOT enough!

Did the Easter bunny come to your house? He sure came to ours!

006Mom filled our baskets with some fun treats. I was especially excited about the Greek Yogurt cookbook; I can’t wait to make something from it!

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We all got decked out in our Easter outfits and headed to church. Prior to leaving, my dad came in the house and announced that Easter is so great for parents with 5-year-old girls because they get to see them all dressed in their white Easter dresses. Like, what?! What does that even mean? Haha. Danielle and I were not really sure how to take that, but once he saw us dressed in our non-white Easter dresses, he didn’t seem too disappointed. Random side note ended.

My mom got busy in the kitchen when we got home from church while my dad and sister dealt with insurance stuff and I created a cute “Easter” workout. Confession: I didn’t actually do the workout since today was my rest day, but I think it’s a good one!

Easter WorkoutIf nothing else, the Easter theme is enough to make me smile!

Brunch was absolutely delicious. We all agreed it was one of the best ones we could remember!

011Mimosas, ham, quiche, asparagus, ricotta & asparagus pinwheel (omg delicious. Definitely getting the recipe and making it asap… Mom kept saying how “blog worthy” it was) and delicious fruit! I was so happy that we had leftovers to bring back to MA with us:)

Since Easter usually falls right around my birthday (April 14th), we have started to celebrate my birthday and Easter at the same time. More presents for me! 😉 This year, though, my mom will be heading down to MA next weekend so she wanted to do my presents and cake then, but I did coax her into letting me open one!

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013A few weeks ago my mom had a “girls weekend” trip in North Conway, NH and she picked up both of these things there. The wine is from a local vinyard- I can’t WAIT to try it! And, the glass serving platter is beautiful.

And, with that, Easter and the weekend are over. Whomp, whomp:( Besides my normal teaching schedule, this week is quiet and I am so excited about that! Oh, and tomorrow starts Birthday Month AND the April Arms Challenge. April is going to be SO.MUCH.FUN!

Questions for you: How was your Easter? Did the Easter bunny bring you anything good? What does your week look like?

From MA to ME

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Greetings from my favorite state: Maine! As much as I love my life in Massachusetts, my heart will always be in my home state of Maine, so I love when I have the chance to break away from the fast-paced city life and slllooowww down and hang out in Maine with my parents.

Let’s catch up on Friday before we get to Saturday…

Last time I checked in with you, I was debating on what to do for a workout. I wasn’t feeling great and had had a couple of intense workouts earlier in the week. I thought about just walking or doing nothing, but when Athena suggested that I do the “Deck of Cards” workout (originated by Bob Harper- google it), I was totally peer pressured. I had wanted to do this workout for a while, so I figured that Friday was the best day to do it.

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Yeah, that face totally means “oh, wow. that was killer. #sweatybeastmode”. I picked cardio and core moves since I had just lifted on Thursday (and was teaching UXF later in the day where I knew I’d be doing about 50% of the strength exercises) and let me tell you, when I flipped multiple hearts followed by diamonds, or vice versa, I was cursing. The whole workout, including a 5 minute warm up, only took me about 30 minutes so it is great to do when you’re in a time crunch or traveling. (for those of you unfamiliar with the “deck of cards” workout, you pick and exercise to do for each suit in the deck. When you flip the cards over, that’s what you do for an exercise. Face cards= 10 reps, Aces= 11 reps).

Post workout, I decided that I just HAD to get to Lulu to get that tank that I had been dreaming about.

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Cute, right?! And, I ended up finding a really cute of low-rise (unheard of at Lulu) capri’s on sale for $29!! With my instructor discount, that’s basically free when it comes to Lulu:) Since I “saved” so much money and had extra time on my meter and before class, I treated myself to some frozen yogurt.

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YUM! Great fuel for teaching, right?! 😉 Class went great, though. Wasn’t a huge group, but considering it was Easter weekend I was happy with the turnout. Post class, I grabbed a couple of drinks- and nachos- with a friend and my sister. Yum, again!

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My sister and I called it a relatively early night since I knew I had to teach at 10am today and pack and be ready to head to Maine straight from teaching.

Onto today….

My day started out with an hour cardio kickboxing class at the Oak Square YMCA. For the new readers, I recently dropped my Saturday 9AM TBC class at the Allston BSC for an every-other Saturday Kickboxing class at 10AM at the YMCA.  This class makes my week! Even on Easter weekend, I had 31-32 people in class today and boy did we SWEAT! Perfect start to my weekend of extra glasses of vino (yes, that is possible…I am the “wuss” in my family”) and extra candy.

We had an extra long trip up to Maine due to a shopping stop in Kittery and ice cream stop in Sanford

015Avocado ice cream?! No, thanks! Plus, Shaw’s Ridge is wayyy better than Shain’s anyway (I worked and managed Shaw’s Ridge for 7 summers and had the privilege of working with the BEST group of girls everrrr, so I am biased, but the ice cream quality really is much better).

We finally got home around 4pm and got back in the car with mom to head to our roommate’s mom’s house. My mom and Amy’s mom are best friends and when you take our mom and  my sister, Amy, Sara and Rachel, that makes up the “Shapleigh” girls. Rachel wasn’t there today, but we still had a blast!

EasterOk, how CUTE is Amy’s mom’s centerpiece?! I swear, that is the best use of peeps I have ever seen! I just love these girls so much!

025From L to R: my mom, Chris (Amy and Sara’s mom, me, Amy- our roommate-, Sara- Amy’s sister- Danielle- my sister)

As much as we would’ve loved to have stayed and had fun with them all night, dad was at home waiting for us to eat dinner. I told him I wanted crab cakes, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that he not only had the crab cakes ready for me when I got home, but also had chicken sausage sando’s, veal sando’s, and pea soup. I’m a lucky girl!

We also surprised mom with the coolest thing ever! Mom and dad live off of box wine (they drink A LOT of wine, so it makes more sense to buy by the box) and my sister and I found this “Purse Box Wine” that we knew she’d love.

wine purse

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As for the rest of the night, I’ll likely be in bed early since I’m exhausted! Church in the morning and then a delicious Easter spread!

Questions for you: What are you doing for Easter? Have anything you’re really excited about eating? Did you get in any good workouts this weekend in anticipation of candy indulgence?

’tis a Good Friday, Indeed!

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Hey there! Happy Friday:) Mine is especially happy since I have today off from work! The only downside is that I woke up feeling a little under the weather:( I’ve loaded up on meds and vitamin C, so hopefully I’ll kick this cold thing fast! It’s Easter weekend and I want to be ready to eat loads of candy! (ok, not loads, but you know what I mean).

Did you all like my post on C2 Pilates yesterday? I had lots of new hits on my site, so if any of you are new readers, welcome!

Let’s catch up, shall we?

On Wednesday, I mentioned that I was going to go for a run, and I did just that!

002Obviously this isn’t an “official” PR (personal record), but I’m definitely counting it as my PR! The weather was finally warm enough to run in just these and a long-sleeved top- loved it!

Yesterday was my first day teaching my Thursday double session at the Central Square BSC. It’s always a little tough taking over a class that has a lot of followers for a specific teacher, but I think it went ok! My kickboxing class, as always, was a blast, although I totally had a brain fart when leading on the left side. I am usually pretty good at remembering what we did on the right, but yesterday I couldn’t keep it straight! Luckily my loyal followers picked up my slack:) Needless to say, I left the gym physically exhausted and so sweaty003… and I totally loved it!

I scarfed down some leftovers when I got home and then promptly set up shop on the couch to watch Greys Anatomy! Charlie was my snuggle buddy for a little while.

004As for today… I’ve got lots of things I *want* to do, but I am trying to be easy going and not rush around like a crazy person to get everything done… “trying” being the key word:) So far I have done laundry and changed my sheets, had breakfast, foam rolled (hurts so bad… none of that “hurts to good” crap here. But I NEED to get better at this. Would love some tips on how to be better at it!!)

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and made some cupcakes for easter:)

easter cupcakes(I had to try a bite- cupcakes for breakfast? why not?!)

At my friend Jess’s baby shower, her sister had these adorable party favors for us

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008Since I had an open container of frosting (blogger confession: I LOVE LOVE LOVE frosting. Literally would- and have- eaten it by the spoonful), I decided today was the perfect time to make these cupcakes.

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They were so easy and they came out so cute. Definitely a great party favor (bridal shower, baby shower, birthday party, etc).

Once I publish this post, I plan on doing something physical… might go for a light jog or walk or do a deck of cards workout (google this- it’s a workout created by Bob Harper and Athena and Jen swear by it!). I also want to go to Lululemon to get this tank… I am obsessed.

Anndddd, that’s all I’ve got for now!

Questions for you: What’s on your agenda for today or the weekend? Do you foam roll? Have any good tips for me?

Have a wonderful day:)

Ps- I promise to have a workout for you this weekend:)