Category: Wine

Weekending: Dining, drinking & celebrating mom

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Weekends are usually pretty great, but this past weekend was especially great and I think the combination of being surrounded by lots of family and the weather was the reason behind it. I’ve been trying to cut back on weekend recaps because I’m not sure how much you enjoy hearing about my play-by-play weekend adventures, but this one was filled with trying out new restaurants and celebrating someone very special so I figured it was worth sharing 😉

Friday night, I met the boy in Central Square and he brought me to a little hidden gem: Green Street Grill. This little restaurant/bar was tucked away on a street parallel to Mass. Ave right in the heart of Central Square. We were lucky enough to snag 2 seats right at the bar (our favorite) and enjoyed some vino and delicious (gluten free) dishes. I had had a very stressful (but good stress) day and it was so nice to be able to relax, have a few wines and not think about anything for a while.

Saturday morning, my sister and I went to a class at Flywheel and, just as I expected, Ann taught a phenomenal class. I’d love to say that I had a great ride, but for some reason, my legs felt like lead and I just didn’t have it in me to push myself and pedal faster. I wanted to- so badly- but my body had another thing planned. Oh well. It was still fun riding next to my sister and we left there hot yoga sweaty!

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After class, we shopped around a bit (I got a new dress for Miami!) and then had lunch at Sonsie. The weather had cleared and we got seats right near the open windows- felt so nice to have warm weather!

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I can’t say any of what I ate/drank was healthy, but life is all about balance, right?

Saturday night was date-night. We went to his brother and sister-in-law’s condo in the South End for roof deck cocktails and baby snuggles before having dinner at Stella, which is also in the South End. My friend Jess recommended it and it turns out it’s one of his favorite restaurants, so it was a no brainer to try it out! Even better? They have a whole gluten free menu. We had a drink while waiting for spots at the bar to open up (the Bruins were on. I couldn’t care less, but I wasn’t going to take him away from watching). For dinner, we shared the sausage and broccoli rabe, the arugula salad and the braised short ribs. They split that for us, which was so nice! They also served it atop gluten free penne instead of GF mashed potatoes which was totally fine.

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Yum. I can’t wait to go back- I dream of that dish. Okay, not really, but it was SO good.

Sunday was a fun day filled with pampering mom! We were lucky enough to have them agree to come down for the day instead of us going up there since we’ve been a few times in the past month or so. Danielle and I made a pretty delicious brunch, if I do say so. We had an egg casserole (egg, milk, chicken sausage, sautéed peppers and onions, spinach and cheese- so easy, so tasty), warm kale salad (with EVOO and lemon juice as the dressing, craisins, goat cheese, grilled pear and candied pecans), fruit salad and Stonewall Kitchen blueberry muffins.

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One of the best parts of the day was the fact we got to spend time on my back patio, soaking up some serious sun!

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(terrible picture, but it was all I had!)

My mini patio set is, well, mini, but we squished to make it work.

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Yummm. I love brunch food! We had such a nice afternoon drinking wine (mom loves excuses to day drink!) and catching up. My dad is coming down next weekend to help get my garden started and I can’t wait! It will be so nice to have fresh veggies all summer- I’m lucky that he has volunteered to help!

And that about sums it up. Although it was a rather indulgent weekend, there’s nothing better than spending time with the people you love and food/drink indulgences are totally worth it during those times!

Questions for you: Did you get outside to enjoy the weather? What was the best part of your weekend? What did you do to celebrate Mother’s Day? What’s your favorite “hidden gem” restaurant? Do you ever have workouts where your mind wants it but your body doesn’t?

This Week: Workouts, weekend recap & things I’m looking forward to {hosting Mother’s Day!}

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Good morning! Happy Cinco de Mayo! Are you doing anything to celebrate tonight? Did you guys have a good weekend? I did! Friday night started on Lisa’s deck. She, Lauren and I all got together for some after work cocktails and snacks- it’s awesome to have girls in the same apartment building that are fun to hang with! Lisa’s view is amazingggg and she made a delicious white sangria- can you tell we are itching for summer to be here? Lauren swung by Angela’s Café and picked up some fresh chips and guac. Have you ever been there? Their Mexican food is absolutely delicious! Thanks for a great start to my Friday night, girls!

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After cocktails with them, I met up with the guy and we headed into the city to meet up with my friend Jessi and her boyfriend for a little double date bowling night at Jillian’s/Lucky Strike. I cannot say I was good (at all), but it was a really fun night regardless!

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Saturday morning, I got up, taught and then pampered myself a little by cashing in the pedicure gift card that I got from my gym friends Alice, Steph and Jen- thanks girls!! I finally had a Saturday where I had nothing “planned”, so I did a little shopping… whoops! Check out these awesome buys 🙂

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That night, the boy and I watched the Derby and he made us dinner. I was asleep on the couch before 10pm… I am so lame.

Sunday morning, he made us pumpkin banana paleo protein pancakes and we went on a walk along Constitution Beach. The rest of the day required lots of computer work, a yoga class and finally a night in the kitchen cooking! All in all, a really great, relaxing weekend, which was so necessary after the craziness over the past couple of months.

Let’s get to workouts, though, shall we? Last week’s workouts were good and I was happy to be able to get some yoga into my life. Every time I do it, I always say I need more of it, but do I do it? No, not usually. Ugh. Anyway!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I taught my 6am muscle class and followed it up with 30 minutes on the elliptical and a little extra core work- Miami is in a month… gotta put in the extra effort 😉
  • Tuesday- I was invited to try a class out at The Handle Bar’s new location in Fenway, so my friend Lisa and I headed there after work. I’ll share more on that experience later!
  • Wednesday- I worked from home and had all intentions of getting up to run before I started work, but it was raining and I just wasn’t feeling it. I kept putting it off and off until I finally saw motivation on Facebook from my friend Jen, saying she had run 4 miles at lunch. That was just what I needed to get my butt out the door to run! 4 miles later, I was feeling so much better! I also taught, but didn’t DO, my UXF Burn class.
  • Thursday- I taught my SHRED and Kickboxing classes. We did my Across the Floor workout in SHRED- love that workout! I lost serious amounts of energy after that class, though. The studio was SO HOT and I had to really dig deep to get energy to make it through my kickboxing class. Hate that.
  • Friday- I did 25 minutes of yoga in my apartment followed by 10 minutes of core work. My shoulders were rather sore on Saturday, just from those 25 minutes of yoga- yikes!
  • Saturday- I taught my kickboxing class at the Oak Square YMCA. It’s crazy how much more energy I have when that is my one and only class to teach!
  • Sunday- The boy and I went for about a 35 minute walk throughout East Boston and along Constitution Beach- it was nice! Later in the day, I went to a yoga class at the East Boston YMCA. While I liked the class and felt like I worked really hard, I could’ve done with it being a 60 or 75 minute class rather than a 90 minute class. Otherwise, I loved it and will likely go back. Running into my upstairs neighbor, Lauren, in the class was an added bonus 🙂

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- My plan today is to get in a strength workout during the day.
  • Tuesday- I have an appointment mid-morning so I decided to take the morning off from work. I’m going to get up and run or do something else before I go to that since I’ll have extra time.
  • Wednesday- Probably running before teaching UXF Burn. Hopefully it will be nice enough for me to run outside!
  • Thursday- Teaching SHRED and Kickboxing- any suggestions for SHRED? Fitness instructors, any good formats for me to try?
  • Friday- Probably a rest day, or maybe some yoga.
  • Saturday- My sister and I have plans to go to the 10am class at Flywheel before running errands to prep for hosting Mother’s Day.
  • Sunday- I’m not sure! Maybe a walk with my mom? Maybe rest?

Things I’m Looking Forward To

There’s not really much going on this week, which is kind of nice! I may get together with some girlfriends on Tuesday night for dinner which would be fun since I haven’t seen them in so long. Other than that, I am excited to host Mother’s Day on Sunday. We have to figure out what we want to make, though- any suggestions? We are doing brunch, so we are thinking we’d like to make some type of fancy egg casserole and fruit salad and potatoes… help!

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Did you watch the Derby? Get outside to enjoy the warmer weather? Do you like to go bowling? Did you have any particularly good workouts last week? What are you looking forward to this week?

Weekending: Babysitting, Spartan Training, Lunching, Lounging

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Happy Birthday Month to all my April birthday buddies! I can’t believe I am going to be 29 in just 2 weeks. Holy crap. Where the heck does time go?!

I had a relatively quiet weekend last weekend, which was a welcomed change! It was nice to not be under stress to get from one thing to the next, and to have time to relax and get stuff done around my apartment.

Friday night I got to babysit my 2 favorite kiddos. They love making pizza with me, so their mom whipped up some homemade dough and we made the most delicious pizza. It ended up working out well since I can’t eat meat on Fridays anyway!

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Saturday started off the best way: with a workout! As I’ve mentioned, I went to a Spartan training workout with a group of gym friends. I’d love to say that I LOVED the workout, but I didn’t. I thought it was really good and left me physically beat, it was too long. I was ready to be done about an hour into it, which I think was because it was fairly repetitive. Read: we did A LOT of burpees, squats, lunges, jumping jacks, running in place and push ups. Like, a lot (I think we did at least 200 burpees- no joke). While those are great exercises, I would’ve liked to have seen a better variety to keep us engaged for the whole time. We did run outside for a bit, which was greatly welcomed since the BC High School gymnasium was SO HOT. Overall, it was a good workout, but I don’t think I’d do one again. It was definitely fun to work out WITH my gym friends, rather than just teaching them 😉

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I definitely earned my lunch and bubbly at Lincoln Tavern with my sister! As I mentioned on Instagram, Lincoln has a “Bucket of Bubbly” deal where you get a bottle of Prosecco and 3 mixers (OJ, grapefruit juice and peach puree) for.. wait for it… $24! Even if you don’t finish the bottle (I’m embarrassed to admit we didn’t finish it…), it’s still a better deal than ordering glasses separately. I also enjoyed an asparagus, caramelized onions and cheese omelet.

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After lunch, I headed to my date’s apartment (I’m going to call him that rather than “the guy I am dating”… much easier 😉 ) to hang out. We had a nice, quiet night in which included drinking really great wine, cooking/making dinner and watching a movie.

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Have you seen the Dallas Buyers Club? We both really enjoyed it. While it was a bit more serious and intense than I usually watch, it was a very interesting story with great acting!

I wanted to share the recipe that we used for our appetizer. My date is gluten and dairy free right now, so he got this really great Paleo recipe book and we made the Tahini sauce.

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(he set this up for me to take a photo to put on here- super cute!)

It was a fun treat! He had made homemade sausages a few weeks ago, so we also had some of those with peppers, onions and a side of kale. Delish!

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Sunday started out with a workout and then grocery shopping, meal prep, laundry, cleaning and blogging. The gross, rainy weather was perfect for all of these activities! I made a crock pot soup, which was just a bunch of veggies, sweet potatoes and broth/Stubbs’ marinade. I added chicken at the end. Perfect meal for a rainy Sunday!

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I also made these amazing bars that Athena posted a while ago. I added in unsweetened coconut flakes and used gluten/dairy free chocolate chips. These things continue to amaze me!

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And that’s about it! All around really great weekend.

Questions for you: Do you make your own pizza dough or buy it? Have you done a Spartan race? Have you seen Dallas Buyers Club? If so, what did you think?

 

Weekending: Quiet night in, Spring Wine Fest, Girls day out

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I love when I have weekends that are a mix of relaxation and fun events- they’re the best right? This past weekend was one of those weekends and it was just what I needed after a busy week, as well as what I needed to prepare for a busy week this week.

Friday night, I headed into the city after I finished work to go to Lindsay’s class at Recycle. I had never been to the studio on Newbury Street, but I was a huge fan!

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Working out on a Friday afternoon was a nice treat!

The rest of my Friday night included wine, a healthy dinner and serious couch lounging, which was exactly what I needed/wanted.

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Spring Wine Fest

A few months ago, my friend Jessi sent out an email telling us about a Spring Wine Fest that she has gone to for a number of years. The tickets at the time were only $19, so clearly that was a no-brainer on my part; sign me up! Drinking wine on a Saturday afternoon with my girlfriends (after teaching an awesome kickboxing class) is probably one of my favorite things do to.

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We had a blast walking around and trying lots of different wines from various wineries. Some of my favorites were Kim Crawford, Wild Horse, Estancia and Simi, although there were so many others that were great, too. I liked going during the day because even though it was still pretty busy (we basically would get a sample then drink it while waiting in another line), there was still room to move and mingle and hang out. They had lots of free food samples, which is key at a wine tasting event 😉

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The lighting in the Cyclorama was amazing- these photos came out so great! Doesn’t hurt that I have pretty friends, either 😉

After a few tastings we were feeling silly enough to jump over to the photo booth. I die a little every time I look at these pictures…

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Look at my head in that second one- it makes no sense!

Our tasting ended at 2:30, so we walked over to Gaslight for a much needed late lunch. I had a Bellini to start and then switched to wine after.

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My sister met us for lunch and she and I shared the Croque Madame and scrambled eggs with a Truffle Oil sauce. Holy yum!

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After lunch, our large group broke up and some went home and others went to The Playwright for a Boston Marathon fundraiser. I was so happy that my friend Meaghan was able to join us!

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Needless to say, after a day of drinking, I was happily home, fed and in bed by 9:30 😉

Sunday was a standard Sunday that consisted of laundry, grocery shopping, visiting my sister, packing and lots of blogging/workout planning. It’s always a little stressful right before I leave for a trip (even if it’s short) because I have to get my blog posts prepped for the time I’m going to be away and I have to make sure that I’m packed correctly (in other words, it takes time to pack smartly vs. just throwing stuff into a suitcase.). I have to say, though, one thing that was really nice was the fact that I didn’t need to cook a big meal or prep for the week. It’s sad how much easier my day felt without that task!

Here’s to a good week!

Questions for you: Do you like to workout on Fridays? What’s your ideal Saturday consist of? Have you ever been to the Wine Fest in the South End?

Weekending: Lots of dining out {again}, girl time, date night & finally taking time to breathe

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This past weekend was another whirl-wind, but it was all super fun stuff so I can’t really complain 🙂

On Friday, my upstairs neighbor, Lisa, and I went into the city for drinks and dinner at Sip Wine Bar.

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I had been once before, but not in a few years, so I was excited to go back! We had to wait a bit for seats at the bar to open up, but that was fine, we had cocktails and lots of catching up to do to pass the time.

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I love Sip because you can have a “sip” of wine, a half glass, whole glass or bottle. After my bubbly, I did a white wine sampler.

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Yummy 🙂 We shared the Ahi Tuna Tacos and the Mushroom Flatbread, both of which were delicious! Seriously, I don’t know if it was the truffle oil on the pizza or what, but I could’ve eaten the whole thing on my own.

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Thanks for such a fun night, Lisa!

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After my going to Pursuit on Saturday morning, I met up with some college friends for lunch at Margarita’s in Medford. Sheila and I were both craving Mexican, so it was the perfect place to go… my wine headache needed chips and salsa. Like, needed them. A margarita didn’t hurt, either 😉

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When I got home, I whipped up a batch of the most delicious gluten free, dairy free oatmeal chocolate coconut pecan no-bake bars!

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Saturday night was date night! We went to Eastern Standard, which is one of my favorite restaurants/bars in Boston. I got all dolled up and even wore contacts- it’s so weird when I don’t wear glasses. I feel like I don’t look like myself at all!

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We scored seats at the bar and enjoyed some cocktails before finally ordering some food. We ordered some shrimp cocktail to start, and I wound up getting the cheese burger. Say, what?! Yeah, I was just graving red meat, but not in the form of steak, so the burger was a great option- it was so good.

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Such a fun night! Sorry I missed you, Steph and Alice 😦

Sunday morning started with much needed yoga, followed by a day to myself. Between my crazy weekends and week days, I really, REALLY needed/wanted a day to myself to catch up on life. Yoga, grocery shopping, meal prep, blogging, workout prep, cleaning and laundry… may not sound that exciting, but it was perfect for me!

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And that about sums it up! This past weekend was a better balance of fun things and relaxing things- I needed that.

Questions for you: Have you been to Sip or Eastern Standard? What was something fun that you did over the weekend? Truffle oil- are you a sucker for it like I am?