Weekending: It was all about the food

March 22, 2016March 21, 20167 Comments

Hi there! It’s nice to see that the “big” snow storm has already come and gone- don’t get me wrong, I love snow, but at this point I am ready for sunny, warm, spring days!

Did you guys have a good weekend? Ours was great… and included ALL THE FOOD. No, seriously- it was filled with the most delicious eats. Let’s recap- I hope you’re not hungry 😉

Friday night, Liz had some of the gym girls over for a “bar” party. Now, I know what you’re thinking (or at least what I was thinking), it wasn’t an alcohol party, it was a food bar party! There was a taco bar, pizza bar, grilled cheese bar, fruit bar and an ice cream bar. And yes, everything was as amazing as it sounds! It was so great getting to catch up with the girls, especially since a few are also engaged so we did lots of wedding talk. Wedding talk and working out talk pretty much equals my life these days.

On Saturday, it was an extra early weekend wakeup call so that I could get to the gym before we hit the road to go to NH. I was telling Athena that I was really craving a heavy lift sesh. I hadn’t been able to get under the bar all week, so you can imagine my surprise when my Saturday lift felt- dare I say- easy? I felt so strong with my back squats and pushups- it was awesome! And, I didn’t feel the tiniest bit sore the day after so I think I could’ve gone heavier- looking forward to the next time.

After showers and breakfast (RM had pancakes made and waiting for me when I got back from the gym- he’s a keeper!), we swung through Starbucks and hit the road. Since I never finish my drink (Chai Tea Latte with 1/2 the syrup pump), I ordered a kiddie size. it was perfect!

The trip north went smooth and we arrived at the Wentworth before we knew it.

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Five on Friday {3.18.16}

March 18, 2016March 17, 201610 Comments

Good morning! TGIF! This week dragggged on for me for some reason. I attribute it to the weather- the string of gloomy days really got to me. But, today is Friday and that is a very good thing- so here we go!

#Runbold– A fellow blogger reached out to me about a really cool opportunity John Hancock is doing for the marathon this year. They are giving people the opportunity to share a running picture with a powerful word that running means to them and then adding the hashtag #runbold. When you do this, you have a chance to be featured on a marathon banner- pretty cool, right? If you’re interested, head on over here for more details.

Wedding Food Tasting– Tomorrow morning we are heading up to the Wentworth to do our food tasting for our wedding, which, btw is in 108 days!!! It’s a group tasting for all of the 2016 weddings so it will be fun to meet and chat with other people getting married there. Plus, it’ll be nice to have a little weekend getaway!

THIS Rose Bubbly– My friends Amy and Amanda introduced us to this amazing rose bubbly. I’m telling ya- if you like rose and you like bubbly (Sherri- I’m thinking of you!), you must go get this. I found it at Whole Foods in Lynnfield but the girls have found it at the City Target and a liquor store in Ball Square (Somerville). It’s about $15/bottle but it is SO worth it. So delicious and almost too east to drink 😉

Starburst Jellybeans- I’m a sucker for these bad boys and when Walgreens had a sale on them, I couldn’t help pick up a bag. Why are they so good?!

Bags & Kicks- As you know, I’m working on my BoxFIIT certification so my goal is to start getting to more classes. I feel confident in my teaching ability, I just need to get more familiar with the class formats which I think will come pretty easily to me. Nicole taught the class I took and she was fantastic! It was a super hard class, but totally my style. I was able to stay for the second and “shadow” here which was fun. People were very receptive to my cues and help. Can’t wait to teach my own!

And that does it! I hope you have a great end to your work week!

Questions for you: How was your week? Did you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Do you have anything fun planned this weekend? What’s your favorite Easter candy? Do you have a “must try” bubbly?

Weekending: Girls Night, Day Dates & Home To Maine

March 14, 2016March 13, 20167 Comments

Good morning! Blogging here from Maine, which is a nice treat- and a lovely perk of getting to work from home 😉 The weather over the past weekend was so perfect- I couldn’t help but be in a great mood the whole time!

After work on Friday, my friend Stephanie (from work) and I grabbed a quickie drink at the new Gaslight in Lynnfield at the M Street Shops. It was such a great way to end the work week!

From there, I made my way to Somerville for a girls night with my SMC girls. Per usual, we had a great time laughing, snacking on delicious food and drinking my new favorite rose bubbly.

I started Saturday off by teaching another super sweaty cardio kickboxing class- the best way to start my day!

After class, RM and I went into the city for some shopping and lunching- two of my favorite SaturDAY activities. We shared a burger and salad at Abe & Louie’s and everything was fantastic!

From the Back Bay, we headed to Faneuil Hall to hit up a few stores and finished with ice creams… the weather was too good NOT to have an ice cream 😉 (ok, I’m kidding. I never need an excuse to get an ice cream- duh.)

Once we got home, we lounged and binge-watched Breaking Bad until bedtime.

After breakfast on Sunday, I packed up and headed up to Maine. Mom and I met at the Publick House in Springvale for lunch which is always delicious (again, no picture of the food- just the booze. oops).

Since it was so gorgeous, I laced up and went for a 3 miler. Thank God it was beautiful out because the run was hard- so.many.hills!!

After my run, we got to work on centerpieces with a few of my mom’s friends. I wanted a simple look and I think we achieved that! The gold charger is going to be replaced with birch wood for the actual wedding.

I keep looking at it and just love the white flowers! And, my dad had loads of mason jars for me to use so that was easy.

Dinner was a delicious pork chop, sweet potato, broccoli, carrots and green beans. I love being home and having my parents cook for me 🙂

And that about wraps it up! I hope all of you had a great weekend and are kicking off this week with a positive mindset.

Questions for you: What did you do this weekend? Did you get outside to soak up the warm weather? Did you have any good meals? What’s on the agenda for this week? Any workouts you’re looking forward to?

Weekending: Soaking Up The Weather {& a brief wedding update}

February 29, 2016February 28, 201610 Comments

Hello! Happy Monday! I hope all of you were able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather we had in New England this past weekend. Enjoy the highlights!

Friday night sushi from New Ginza in Watertown- this totally hit the spot!

Super energetic class on Saturday morning! And, I loveddd that some of the gym girls came!

RM and I went for a super long walk on Saturday afternoon.

Later that day RM dropped me off at my friend Amy’s brother’s apartment above Boston Chops in the South End and we had a girls night complete with a pretty awesome array of food… and bubbly!

Sunday morning pancakes- enough said.

We went for another long walk after breakfast
I went food shopping and prepped a roast chicken meal to have throughout the week

I also bought myself flowers because when WF has $6 tulips, you don’t pass it up!

I worked on my Box FIIT certification and submitted a few videos which felt good. Mid-afternoon I broke for a run- it was too beautiful not to! 3.75 miler with sub 8-min. splits- the wine and the cheese the night before must’ve been good fuel!

We ended up going to the Chateau in Waltham for dinner and it was fantastic!

Wedding Updates: The Flowers

My friend Jen works at Watertown Main Street Flowers and when she heard I was engaged she said I should stop in to discuss options for the wedding. I had pinned a bunch of options and the owner pulled them up in preparation for our meeting which was great. All along I’ve wanted the details of the wedding to be simple- no wedding colors (hate that), very simplistic decorations and flowers, small wedding party, etc. Therefore, the flowers I pinned were all of the white varietal.

My bouquet will be similar to this, but with green hydrangeas instead of white to add a little color.

My sister’s bouquet will be a variation of this:

and then the guy’s boutonnieres will be this the corsages will be 3 of these flowers.

For the centerpieces, we are going to spray paint mason jars gold and then do a combination of daisies and babies breath to keep with the white theme. Plus, they are super durable flowers and inexpensive 😉 It feels so good have this checked off the list!! I can’t wait!

And that about does it! I hope you all have a great week- check in with you later!

Questions for you: What was something fun you did over the weekend? Did you go out at all? Did you do anything to enjoy the nice weather? Have anything planned this week?

What I Wore: Engagement Photos

February 9, 2016February 12, 20165 Comments

Good morning! Skipping the full weekend recap because I didn’t take many pictures, but here’s the summary: Made pizza and drank bubbly with RM on Friday night. Hit up the gym Saturday morning for an awesome workout, had lunch with friends at Regina’s in Medford, Datenight with RM at The Local in West Newton. Had brunch with friends at The Cottage on Sunday, shopped at Wegmans (still a Whole Foods fan), did a lot of meal prep and LOTs of reading and the two of us had some Super Bowl snacks.

Now, let’s talk about the fun stuff: Fashion 🙂 I am by no means a fashionista. Not even close, actually, but I do like to play around with clothes and outfits and I always love to scroll through fashion blogger posts. So today is my attempt at being a fashion blogger… bear with me 😉

Going into the shoot- and really going into the wedding planning all together- I wanted neutral tones. When I think of neutral, I think of timeless and classy, which is something I’ve always loved when looking at photos of events like a wedding. I set out to go shopping with my sister before the shoot and here’s what I ended up wearing:

Outfit Details

Boots- I got these when I was visiting my sister in Athens, Greece a number of years ago. They were SUPER expensive, but they’ve held up so well they were worth it. It’s funny, I hadn’t worn these boots all season before the shoot!
Jeans- Lucky Outlet at Assembly. They were last year’s version of the same style so I got them for $50
Sweater- Loft, on sale for $20
Necklace- Borrowed this from my friend Amy, but it’s a Lilly necklace.
Watch- Michael Kors

Since we were shooting outside, I knew I needed some nice jackets. Enter: Wilson’s Leather! I’ve share the details before, but I’ll share them again- the white jacket was on sale for $39 from $250 and the blue one was on sale for $44 from $450. I’m totally obsessed with both and love how they looked in the photos. Enjoy!

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