Category: Scenes from the Day

Girls Night & Other Weekend Happenings

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What a fun weekend I had! I am loving having some extra free time on the weekends to go out and have fun in Boston, as well as get my apartment more and more settled!

Friday evening, the Shapleigh girls came over for a girls night. I did my best to play “hostess” and set out snacks and drinks.

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Our original plan was to go to Rino’s or Prima e Dopo, but we decided we were having too much fun drinking wine and munching on snacks at my place and didn’t want to leave! So, we ordered pizza which did the trick!

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I’ve lived with all of these ladies at one time or another and we all grew up together (Amy’s sister, Sara, is the last piece of the Shapleigh girls puzzle; she lives in NH so when we go home we make it a point to always get together!) so when we get together, it’s basically like hanging out with 3 sisters. We do stupid stuff like have random dance parties and jump contests. Friday was no different as we had a stretching competition to make fun of Danielle for being so un-flexible!

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Clearly the wine had set in at that point so we called a cab and got ready to head into the city.

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Amy had some friends going to Tia’s so we headed there first. From Tia’s, the plan was to go to The Brahmin, but per usual, the line was crazy long so we hopped over to Red Lantern to have a drink while waiting for the line to go down. I’ve never eaten there, but it’s been on my list of places to go for a while now!

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I think this is where things started to go from casual fun to drunken fun, haha I blame it on Amy’s college friend, Andrew, as he could be a professional partier 😉

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I hadn’t planned on going out and/or drinking wine like it was water, but the nights where you don’t plan on going out and end up going out tend to be the best, right?! Saturday night was no different! Any night with dancing is a good night in my eyes 😉

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Needless to say, I did not feel up to my normal self on Saturday, but I made the best of it! I got new glasses, went to the beach, made pizza, watched half of The Great Gatsby (couldn’t stay awake for the whole thing!) and was in bed by 9:30- regular ol’ crazy Saturday night 😉

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What do you think of my new glasses?? I am totally loving them and it’s fun having something so different than my other 2 pairs! They make me feel smarter, haha.

Sunday I got up and felt so much better so I went for a nice walk to enjoy the weather. I met up with my college friend, Pat, and his wife, Colleen for breakfast at Angelas Café, which is equidistant from both of our apartments. I’m SO excited to have some friends within very close walking distance- it’s going to be so fun 🙂 They also took me for a tour of Eastie and introduced me to another amazing park and ‘must try’ restaurants.

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Beautiful, right?! I’m excited to run there and use the gym that they have in the park- it’s a little area with all sorts of fun things to use as workout tools.

After the tour was complete, I headed back to my apartment to do laundry and hang up pictures and other random new apartment organizing things before my sister came over for a Target and Market Basket run.

I finallllyyy got a normal sized tv! It’s awesome!
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I also got new pillows for my couch! I’m going for a yellow/gray/white color scheme and I found these at Home Goods and couldn’t resist!

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I made Shepherd’s Pie for dinner, which I’ll post for you later this week 🙂

Questions for you: Have you seen the Great Gatsby? What was the best part of your weekend? Do you know of any “must try” restaurants in Eastie that I should add to my list?

Birthday Celebrations & Labor Day Weekend in Maine

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Hi, hi! I hope you all had a nice long weekend! Although mine was fairly busy, it was really fun. Plus, there’s something about being home in Maine that just makes me feel relaxed, even if we are on the go a lot!

Since I had to teach on Saturday morning, I was around on Friday night and able to go out with Athena and her friends and gym friends for her birthday! Athena decided she wanted to go to The Asgard, which is a really fun bar in Cambridge. I had been once, but it was years ago, so I was excited to go back. I wasn’t necessarily excited about making the trek in from East Boston using public transportation, but I’m trying to save money where I can, so I did it! And, in all honesty, door to door was only about 40 minutes, which wasn’t that bad. It was nice to get to hang out with the YMCA gym ladies and also really nice to meet Athena’s friends in person, versus online (Slesh! I’m talking about you! haha)

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It was also nice to be served this ginormous goblet of vino from the bar tender 😉

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I only had 2 drinks while at the bar, but when I woke up on Saturday morning, I felt like I had had much more. I blame the goblet! Regardless, it was fun getting out and meeting new people and celebrating Athena’s birthday!

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After teaching on Saturday, Danielle, Chuck and I headed north. I was dreading lots of traffic on the trip home, but once we got onto 95N, it was smooth sailing and we were home in the normal amount of time. As soon as we walked into the house, we were greeted with LOTS of canning. I got dad a pressure canner and he and my mom have been canning their fresh garden veggies like crazy!

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I think it’s so cool that they are canning all of the veggies they grew so that they can enjoy them throughout the winter months!

For dinner, we made pizza’s on the grill- the best way to enjoy pizza in the summer if you ask me 🙂 It’s hilarious when we all get together in the kitchen; everyone wants to be RIGHT next to each other and everyone wants to run the show. It’s quite the site! Mom filled us up with wine and then we headed out to the barn to cook up the pizzas!

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On a side note, check out the collection of empty wine boxes in the barn:

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Like, really? That is a LOT of really classy vino 😉

The pizza’s were SO GOOD! If you’ve never made pizza on the grill, I suggest doing it.

On Sunday, I went for a nice 3 mile run and then helped dad pull potatoes. Pulling potatoes is no joke. I was actually sore from it on Monday!

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We headed out on Sara and Tim’s boat in the afternoon. I love snuggles with Zeke, but if he could stop growing I wouldn’t be mad. It’s crazy to see how much he has grown already!

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I also enjoyed a few Bud Light Limes (aka, BLL’s). I’m not a big Bud Light person, but there’s something about drinking BLL’s that screams summer!

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After the lake, we headed to the Mahoney’s pool for a BBQ. All I wanted all weekend was a REAL cheeseburger. Luckily, Colleen was manning the grill and cooked me up the best one! I didn’t take any pictures while were there, but the food was phenomenal (per usual). Mom’s peach-raspberry pie stole the show, though. Mom isn’t a big baker, but she nailed this pie recipe. It took serious self-restraint to not eat way more than 1 small piece.

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Would you guys be interested in me getting the recipe and sharing it? Aka, do I have an excuse to make this?? 😉

After the Mahoney’s, Danielle and I headed to my friend, Jason’s new house in Wells. We were seriously on the go on Sunday! We hung out with him and his HUGE (seriously, Maverick is REALLY BIG!) dog for a few drinks before calling it a night.

Monday I woke to crazy rain and thunder and lightning. It’s been a while since I’ve heard a storm that bad! Even though it would have been a good morning to snuggle up in bed, I got up and got in a good workout before heading to meet my friend Caitlin for coffee (iced tea for me- still haven’t had coffee since June!). Mom rewarded my workout with homemade waffles! Totally worth getting up to workout when you’re served waffles when you finish 🙂

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It was so nice meeting up with Caitlin and her little snuggle bug, Tucker. It’s amazing to see how much these babies have grown in just 3 short months!

And, that about sums it up! As always, a weekend in Maine was just what I needed to feel refreshed and relaxed. Even though we were on the go a lot (I also saw my friend Meredith for a short visit on Saturday), I’m happy I got to see everyone!

Questions for you: Did you go away for the long weekend? Do you have a hard time trying to fit it in to visit all your old friends when you go back to your hometown? What’s your favorite weekend breakfast?

Settling in: First weekend in my new place

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I finally feel like I’m starting to get settled in to my new place. It was such a great feeling going into the weekend knowing that I had loads of time to get my “to-do” list in order.

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After work on Friday, I headed back to Somerville since I needed to go back to the Christmas Tree Shop and Home Depot (I should get a frequent shopper card for all these stores. Either that or buy stock in them since I think I’m keeping them in business with my recent purchases). I decided to get my coffee table and end table (that I’ll be using as a TV stand) at the Christmas Tree Shop, not because I was looking for outstanding quality, but more because I don’t want to spend a lot of money on furniture until I buy a home and won’t be moving for a while. At this point, my furniture gets very dinged up every time I move, so it’s not worth buying nice stuff right now.

I also planned on spending the night at my old apartment to hang out with my sister and keep Charlie company until she got home from her week of travel. I had a bunch of things to do at the apartment and near the apartment, so it made sense to stay there! I couldn’t wait to open some wine- it had been a long week!

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Although I contemplated chips and wine as my dinner, I decided to get some real food in my system and made a quesadilla with chicken and peppers and onions. So good and perfect for a quick and easy meal!

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I woke up on Saturday and had extra time before BodyPump, so I finally cleaned my old room. It was really weird seeing it so empty, but Charlie was having a field day with all the extra space!

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Since my sister was going to Country Fest and left at 8am, my plan was to hang around the apartment and keep Charlie company (I know, totally a crazy cat lady move, but I feel bad that he’s been alone so much lately!), however, when I got a text from my friend, Athena, asking if I wanted to join her at Winthrop Beach, I quickly changed my plans, packed up and headed to my apartment to drop everything off and meet her. Winthrop Beach is less than 15 minutes from my apartment and it’s a really nice, quiet beach! We spent a few hours chatting and catching up about all things fitness, work, blogging, etc. It felt great to relax and not feel bad about it!

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When I got home, though, I got into serious productivity mode. I opened a beer and put furniture together and organized my apartment for two solid hours. I couldn’t believe it!

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My place feels SO much better now that I have furniture set up, curtains hung, and closets organized.

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Looks good, right?! To reward myself, I met my friends out at Pier 6 in Charlestown. It used to be Tavern On The Water, but recently opened as Pier 6. I took PT into the city and decided to bring a little road soda, errr, road wine. The ol’ Dasani water bottle trick isn’t hiding anything from anyone, but my mom is convinced it works.

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Although I went to hang out with my friends, I ended up spending the whole night talking to Jean’s niece, Michelle, and her cousin Hilary. I couldn’t believe it when I ran into them, but Michelle is basically the Mayor of Charlestown so I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised to see her on the opening weekend of Pier 6 😉

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These ladies are a blast… I better get that pool invite, Michelle- don’t think I’ve forgotten about that!

Even though I could have chatted with them the entire, time, I did break away to hang out with the birthday girl!

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And, did you know all the fall beers are out?? I’m not really ready for summer to end, but having a sip of this Shipyard reminded me of how much I love fall!

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YUM!! Such a fun night 🙂

I woke up Sunday feeling like I had had a liiiitle too much wine the night before, but felt much better after an English muffin and lots of water! I had very sad looking bananas, so I decided to make some banana bread… with a twist! I’ll post it later this week. So yummy. While the bread was cooking, I tried to get caught up on blogging. I have a number of draft posts for lots of different topics so it was nice to have time to develop those posts a little more.

Around 11, I decided to get out and go for a nice walk. I’m loving the neighborhood near my place! It’s so nice to have a good place to walk/run.

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Danielle came over shortly after I got back and we headed back to Winthrop Beach since the weather was so nice! Couple of hours at the beach was a very nice treat!

And, that about sums up my weekend! Be on the lookout for a recipe or two this week! 🙂

Questions for you: Have you been to Tavern on the Water or Pier 6? What’s your favorite fall beer? What was the best part of your weekend?

Happy Birthday, Mom! (and other random things)

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Today is a very special day as it is Momma Gag’s birthday!!! I’m sure by the time she’s read this blog post, she has already had a day where she’s been spoiled by all of her friends, but she really deserves nothing less! I’m sure most of you regular B2B readers have seen my mom’s comments, which she does on almost every post, and I cannot thank her enough for her continued support in all my crazy adventures (there’s a new one that I’ll be sharing soon!!). I especially appreciate her always being there when I’ve “hit my wall” and call her in tears during the midst of a meltdown… there’s just something about talking to her that makes me feel SO MUCH BETTER! So mom, thank you for always being there for me and for being the cutest, sweetest, most fun mom around!

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(Like mother, like daughter… except I can’t even come close to holding my own around her!)

Anyway! I feel like I have lots of random things I want to share with you, mostly lots of pictures of sweet Emma at her 1st birthday party… gosh I just love that little girl. I headed home after teaching kickboxing on Saturday morning (I know, I know… you all probably think I go home all the time, but I hadn’t been home since the 4th of July! And, I love being home in Maine. Period. End of story:) ) and got caught in ridiculous amounts of traffic. Literally, I couldn’t even believe how much traffic there was. Shouldn’t people have been on the road early on Saturday to get to their vacation spots? Jeesh!

I finally made it to the party and couldn’t wait to snuggle all of my favorite babies! Zeke is literally a baby, not a newborn anymore. He has grown SO MUCH!

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And Sara seriously looks phenomenal. The “mom” thing looks great on her!

Emma was cruising around everywhere and watching her and Rozzie play together made me laugh so hard!

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Playing in buckets of ice… who knew how fun that could be?!

My favorite part was watching Emma go TO TOWN on her birthday cupcake!

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I so wanted to do the exact same thing, but people would have gave me weird looks so I contained myself 😉

After that, I met up with an old friend for dinner. We grabbed sushi and I would show you pictures, but there was really nothing picture-worthy about the food or drinks so I’ll spare you. The whole experience was hilarious, though, because nothing went right. One example, was when I asked the waitress what her favorite roll was (because I always do this when I go to restaurants- I want to know what the staff eats) and she responded “I don’t like fish so I’m not a good one to ask”. Ha! Why are you working at a sushi restaurant, then?! Anyway! Fun dinner other than that 🙂

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day in Maine. Summer without humidity is the most amazing thing! I had Danielle take pictures and videos for me that I used in my burpee post that I posted yesterday and then we went on a nice walk/jog around Shapleigh. It was fun to do that together!

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We spent some of the afternoon at the Mahoney’s pool (my favorite place to spend hot, summer days!) and then grabbed an ice cream before hitting the road. It made me remember how much I love ice cream 🙂

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And, that’s about it for my random musings/weekend catch up!

 

Oh, except for I forgot to tell you that my parents got a new kitten! Renee (little Renny, as we call her) is just the sweetest little girl ever! So fun to play with a kitten instead of a big (fat) cat like Charlie!
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Questions for you: Do you ask servers what their favorite meal is when you go to a restaurant? Have you ever gotten a cake in the face? What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

Color Me Rad 5K

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This past weekend, I ran the Color Me Rad race, which was held out in Brockton, MA. When I first signed up for the race, I didn’t really pay attention to details because if I had, I am not sure I would have signed up for a race out there! Brockton is certainly NOT Boston, but luckily, Lauren’s friend Amy offered to drive us.  Since it had been a crazy busy week for me, I felt completely unprepared for the race for every aspect except for the actual running part. I am typically a very organized (Type A, for sure) person who has all the details and times and locations mapped out and planned for accordingly, but for this race I just didn’t have the time or energy to be on top of it.  Many thanks to Lauren for picking up our race bibs and packets and to Amy for offering to drive!

Friday night I packed my bag, laid out my clothes and sneakers and set my alarm for 6:45 on Saturday morning. Thanks to some blog readers, I learned to wear my crapiest workout clothes (ie: no Lulu and definitely not my newest pair of running sneakers!) and bring a twel for the ride home. My roommate was gracious enough to give me a white tank as I wanted to shamelessly promote my blog decorate it with a “Burpees to Bubbly” note. For putting this together in the car en route to the race, I don’t think it came out half bad!

I deleted the photo by accident and only have a copy from Instagram, but I couldn’t copy and paste it, so click on this link to see it: Color Me Rad Shirt

We got to Brockton just around 8am, which was plenty of time before our 9am heat started. What do you do with extra time before a race? Take pictures, of course! 😉

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It turns out that they were not very strict about runners starting in the specific heat they were assigned to, which was awesome for us since we were there and ready to go much before 9am.  After pre-race necessities were completed (finding safety pins, going to the bathroom, taking pictures), we got in line to start with the 8:30 heat.

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Not long after we started the race, we went through the first color station. This station was throwing powder color at us- look how crazy it is to see all the color floating in the air! Not gonna lie- I was a little weirded out by it!

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I didn’t end up getting much color on me at this station, but it totally got me in the spirit of the color run theme of the race!

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I can’t say that the course of the race was overly scenic or fun; we ran partly through the fair grounds and then around a huge parking lot which actually made for the most boring race course I’ve ever run on. Luckily, there were so many walkers/runners that I was able to do lots of people watching to keep me entertained! Even though the course wasn’t interesting, the race flew by! Before I knew it, we were rounding the last bend and were handed powder color packets to open as we crossed the finish line!

Post race, we had to take the obligatory “after” photos. I didn’t get overly covered in color, but I can’t say I was that mad about it! While we walked to our meeting spot, I checked out some of the vendors. I was pleasantly surprised with how many vendors made an appearance at the race! Naked Juice, Vita Coco, and larabar (just to name a few) were all there so me, being the hoarder that I can be when free stuff is given away, grabbed everything I could grab! 🙂

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After we finished getting our swag, we walked back to the car, tried to remove whatever paint-covered clothing we could and headed back to Boston. I can’t speak for the other girls, but I had a hell of a time getting the color off my skin when I took a shower! I had to use an intense loofa and I am pretty sure I ended up scraping off the first couple layers of my skin in order to finally get the color to come off! No wonder why I got a little bit of a sunburn when I laid out by the pool later that day; I took off all my base tan skin layers! 😉

Overall, I thought this was a really fun race! It was the first race I’ve ever run where there wasn’t a timer set up! For me, being the Type A, numbers-focused person that I am, this was a foreign concept! Why would I run “for fun” rather than trying to get a new PR (personal record)?!

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Well, I quickly realized that it was because this race WAS for fun and that I would look silly going out there and giving it my all. With that being said, I tried to soak it all in and enjoy the experience and I think I did a great job at that! I ran without focusing on my watch to track my speed, without my music to keep me going and without feeling like I had to keep pushing myself since the clock was running. And, you know what? It made for a very enjoyable race!! It was a nice change to go out there with a carefree running attitude and it was fun getting to run with friends! Many thanks to Lauren and Amy for doing the race with me- what’s the next adventure going to be?

Questions for you: Have you ever run a color run? What’s the best “fun run” you’ve ever done? Do you like tracking your time while running or do you prefer running for fun?

I want to sign up for a Spartan or Warrior Dash- has anyone done one of those??? Which would you suggest?