Category: Wine

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.

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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?

Feeling Greek

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Good morning and happy Monday! Did everyone have a nice weekend? I think we last left off with me sharing our girls night, right? So fun! After publishing that post yesterday, I got very busy with my “Sunday things,” including a Target run, cooking, baking and going for a nice walk.

017How nice was the weather yesterday?! I couldn’t get over it! And I’ll tell ya, gabbing with mom for 30 minutes of my walk definitely helped to pass the time- thanks mom:)

Feeling Greek

With a name like Monique Gagnon, you might be wondering how on earth I could ever feel Greek, right?  Well, last night my sister was invited to her study abroad program’s 50th anniversary at Vlora Restaurant which is on Boylston Street in the Back Bay, and she invited me to join her.  We dined there a few years ago for Danielle’s birthday because she was missing Greek food (she studied abroad in Athens, Greece in the fall of 2009) and have always wanted to go back, so I obviously jumped at the opportunity!

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026As soon as we walked in, they showed us where to go and gave us the tip to order the Sangria- twist my arm- I LOVE sangria!

021My intentions going into this were to have a couple of apps and then save myself to have dinner at home since I had made a delicious looking veggie sauce and chicken sausage (recipe to come soon!), but after chatting (so nice to meet you, Rebecca) and enjoying some adult beverages, I decided that I should probably just make myself a plate. I mean, I love the food there so my meal at home could definitely wait!

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I had a chicken skewer, some grilled veggies, an Arancini ball (total splurge, but so worth it!), tomato and feta skewers and some goat cheese/honey mixture.  Not pictured were the watermelon and feta bites- holy yum! The most refreshing little treat! Definitely check out their menu because if you like Greek/Mediterranean food, it’s totally drool-worthy!

We got home just after 8:30, meaning we were able to catch Revenge! Anyone else following that? Anyone else think that it’s getting a little twisted now?

Social Media

Are you guys following and “liking” me? If you are- thank you!!! If not, check me out:)

Instagram- @burpeestobubbly

Twitter- @burpeestobubbly

Facebook- facebook.com/burpeestobubbly

I hope everyone has a great Monday! I am working from home which always makes Monday seem a little better. I plan on getting my own workout in this morning/today and then teaching Dynamax at the YMCA.

Questions for you: Are you a fan of Greek food? What’s your favorite non-American style food? Do anything share-worthy over the weekend? I love to hear from you!

Monday, already?

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Hey everyone! Who else feels like the weekend went by way too quickly? Or, maybe some of you are still enjoying your weekend as you may have taken today off (judging by the lack of cars on the road this morning, I think this could be the case for many!). Lucky for me, I followed my tips and kept myself in control yesterday and I’ll tell ya, it was a great feeling going to bed sober and feeling like a normal Sunday night!

Although my sister and I did get a bit of a late start, we did make it over to Southie yesterday to partake in the St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

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Adult bevvies & hydration

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(Keeping it classy… )

Since we were so late, the closest we could get was near the Broadway T stop, which was fine- we didn’t mind walking! If nothing else, it was some spectacular people watching. If you head on over to Tina’s Blog, you can see lots of pictures of the parade (I was bad and didn’t take any). Here’s what I did capture for the day

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013Overall, I had a great day, but next year I would like to have better plans and definitely get there earlier. I’d also like to have the temperature about 20* warmer than it was, but I’m not sure I can do much about that:)

I’ve got a great workout for you, but I’ll save that for another day;)

Questions for you: Anyone else head to Southie for the parade? Extended weekend? What are your workouts this week? I’ll share mine with you tomorrow!

Tips to Stay [Relatively] Healthy on St. Patrick’s Day

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Hey there! Can you believe that tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day? After seeing this delicious treat on my friend Meredith’s blog, I was immediately jealous that I hadn’t thought ahead to do anything creative! Oh well… Maybe I’ll add some green food coloring to my wine or something! For anyone who lives in the Boston area, I am guessing that 80% of you are planning on heading to Southie for the parade. I am embarrassed to say, that in my 5 years of living in the Boston area, I have YET to make it to Southie for their annual parade. Shame on me!

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I announced in class last night that we had to work extra hard since most of us would be partaking in some type of celebrations this weekend. At the end of class, I had a member come up to me and ask if I had any tips or suggestions for what to drink in order to be a little on the healthier side. It got me to thinking that some of you might find it helpful for me to post a couple of tips/suggestions to keep in mind when going into whatever festivity(ies) you may have lined up.

  • Stay Hydrated

We all know that we tend to get dehydrated when drinking alcohol, especially when we are drinking in excess (we forget to drink water when we are drinking since the alcohol makes us think we are not thirsty).  If you hydrate well BEFORE you drink, it will help keep you in better control that day and help lessen the hangover you might have the next day. Also, try to have a glass of water in between every drink… every little helps! I usually try to carry a water bottle with me as a helpful reminder.

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  • Pace Yourself

If you’re going to be drinking all day, you don’t need to pound 4 beers or a couple of glasses of wine in the first half hour you’re there! Try to space out your drinks to 1 drink an hour for the heavier stuff (hard liquor and wine) and maybe 1 beer every 30 mins or so. I have totally been guilty of getting to a party and drinking way too quickly to “catch up” and let me tell you, things never end as well as I want them to when that happens.

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  • Bring Snacks

I generally don’t “forget” to eat, but I’ll admit that when alcohol is involved, sometimes it does slip my mind for a bit (until I sober up a little and want to binge eat on late-night pizza). It’s a good idea to bring a couple of snacks with you to make sure you’re staying fueled and to try to soak up some of the alcohol;) My favorites are Luna bars, goldfish, animal crackers, etc.

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  • Avoid Sugary Drinks

As good as a big margarita or pina colada or other fruity mixed drink may taste, they are PACKED with calories.  Alcohol has enough calories as it is, so I try to avoid those drinks (I’ll always have a margarita at a Mexican restaurant, but limit it to just 1).  I usually stick to wine (I am a total wine-o and order wine even at the bar) or Sangria (you can make it so it’s not too sugary), Champagne or Prosecco (duhhh) or vodka and soda water with a lemon or lime.  These are the best ways I have found to drink, but leave out some of the calories. Personally, beer makes me full and feel gross, so I would rather drink more slowly and drink something that I enjoy. If you like a different type of booze, just make sure your mixers are low or zero calorie because drinking those calories is just silly!

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Have fun!

Even though I try to always be mindful of what I am putting into my body in terms of food and drinks, we all have to let loose and have fun every once in a while without beating ourselves up too much. I always tell myself that if I have an “off” day or get a little heavy-handed with my late night snacks, the next day will be a new day and after a workout and some clean eating, I will be all back to normal.  Afterall, the best hangover cure is a workout!! You may think I am crazy, but trust me on this one, it works! I do feel badly for others around me as I am sure they can probably smell the Chardonnay seeping out of my pores. Sorry;)

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Questions for you: What do you do to try to stay “healthy” when enjoying drinks and partying? What’s your best hangover cure?

NYC in a Flash

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003Within a blink of an eye, my quick work trip to NYC came to an end. I’ll spare you with the details of what I did for work while I was there because I’d much rather talk about the hotel, the food and, of course, the wine!

We stayed at the Andaz Hyatt on Wall Street and I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed! This part of the city was totally flooded just a few months ago (the gentleman checking me in said the water would’ve been up to my knees!), so the fact that they were open was impressive from the start! I am generally not big into the minimalist/modern style, but these rooms were amazing!!

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Everything was sleek and stylish, but I think the best thing of all was the complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. The sure way to my heart is a constant supply of treats:)

The runner-up feature for the room was surely the products and the bath tub/shower combo. I mean, look at that thing! I definitely skipped out on the post dinner drinks in favor of going back to my room to take a tubbie (yes, I said that.). When I grow up, I want this exact tub/shower combo. For sure.

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Dinner, however, was not something to skip over. We ended up going to Harry’s which is right in the heart of the Financial District. My sister was supposed to meet up with me for dinner since she was on site nearby, but unfortunately her flight from Boston was delayed and she had to cancel:( Luckily I had coworkers with me!

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I had a lot of trouble deciding what I was in the mood to eat, but finally decided to go a little on the lighter side. I hadn’t really had any veggies all day (the horror!), so I got a side salad to start and the Short Rib Sliders for my meal. Omgoodness were these good! I don’t tend to gravitate towards beef, but for some reason it was totally calling my name last night. The red onion marmalade and garlic aioli was the perfect addition to these little nugget sliders.

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012Whenever the waiter asks if anyone wants dessert, my line is always “can you please bring a menu so I can just look?”…. probably 7 times out of 10 I end up persuading someone to share something with me. Last night was no exception.

013A “make your own sundae” Ice cream sundae dessert… sign.me.up! There were strawberries, toasted coconut, walnuts, fresh whipped cream and hot fudge- I died and went to ice cream heaven (I only need a couple of bits and am satisfied… that is how I justify having ice cream every day!).

As I mentioned earlier, post dinner, I skipped out on another round of drinks in lieu of taking a bath… great decision on my end, because I was able to get up and do this very sweaty workout

018Perform each move for 60 seconds and do 3 rounds if you have time. I only had time to do 2 full rounds and for the 3rd round, I had to drop to 30 seconds for each move (secretively, I was more than happy with this… I was dead!). Let me know if you try this:)

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After a long day in the office today, I made my way to LGA around 5pm. I totally sound like a loser when I say this, but I LOVE the food/bar at the Delta Shuttle Terminal.  They have this veggie Panini that I am seriously obsessed with. And, what goes better with a veggie sando? Wine, of course.

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And here I am, back in Boston and back to the normal grind. I hope I am done traveling for a bit because I miss my members and my classes:(  Can’t wait to be back for kickboxing tonight (hoping my shoulder holds up).

Questions for you: What’s your favorite thing to find in a hotel room? Airport food- love it or hate it?