Category: Wine

Babies & Bling: A Weekend in Maine

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Good morning! I had planned a trip to Maine prior to our engagement, so it worked out perfectly that we ended up getting engaged right before that. Friday morning, RM and I went down to RI to get my ring sized- he had no idea what size to get so the jeweler told him a 6 is average… I’ve got long, skinny fingers so he had to cut it to a 4.75! Luckily, it fits perfectly now and feels so much better!

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After a quick afternoon in the office, I headed up to Maine and met my mom and a few of her friends at the Back Street Grill- their local Friday night hang out. After a drink, we headed home to see my dad, who was very excited to see me and my new ring! He had made a fish dinner which was delicious.

Saturday I woke up and had breakfast and went to the library to get our new book club book- has anyone read this?

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I busted out a great workout, which I will probably share with you tomorrow, and then helped my dad start building his raised bed gardens for his veggies next year.

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On Saturday afternoon I met up with some of my high school friends, which we don’t do nearly enough these days. All 3 of them have kids and live in Maine/NH so between that and my busy schedule here, it’s hard to align our schedules. We had a delicious lunch at Mill 67 and I was able to have some serious baby snuggle time!

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Eloise is Caitlin’s baby girl and Sam is Rachel’s baby boy. Sara left Zeke at home, but he did come to my parents with her later that day when we had people over to celebrate the engagement. We had champagne and snacks and I got to snuggle another baby- sweet little Paige who is just 2 months old!

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We had such a great time!

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After everyone left, we made a delicious dinner of pork, tomatoes, zucchini and Kale and mashed sweet potatoes. So healthy!

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On Sunday, mom and I got up and went to church and then came home and I continued helping my dad with the raised beds. It was a big job so I was happy I was able to help- plus I love manual labor! I offered to fill the pails with rocks and carry them (farmer’s carry!) and omg it was so heavy. Solid upper body workout 😉

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After lunch we headed out to the “pumpkin patch” that randomly started growing from a loam pile in the back yard. My mom had thrown old pumpkins there last year and this year they were pleasantly surprised with a large pumpkin harvest- 27, to be exact!

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It was really very cool- and saved me a bunch of money 😉 Our front steps are looking festive!

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The rest of my Sunday night was filled with lots of cleaning and blogging before calling it a night. Although it was a busy weekend, it was really fun celebrating with so many great people! Oh, and did you know ice cream helps with stress?! 😉

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Questions for you: What did you do over the weekend? Have you decorated for the fall? Did you go apple picking? Do you get together with your friends from home often?

The Journey Continues… {Spoiler: We are engaged!}

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In case you don’t follow me on Instagram or Facebook, I wanted to share some good news with you:

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That’s right! On Saturday, RM made me the happiest girl alive when he asked me to marry him!

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What started off as a normal Saturday consisting of teaching and getting my hair done, ended as one of the best days of my entire life! Let’s start from the beginning, though. All week we had made plans to go to KO Pies to celebrate our 2 year first date anniversary. The anniversary is actually this weekend, but RM will be away at a golf tournament so we decided to push it up to this past weekend. RM was actually the one to suggest the lunch time outing, which should’ve been the first hint that he had something other planned than just lunch 😉 Nonetheless, even with him continuously bringing up going to KO Pies on the weekend (which, he normally would have forgotten about after the first time it was mentioned since he doesn’t have a strong memory for plans like that 😉 ), I really never thought anything more than just an afternoon hanging out together. I actually joked as we were leaving the house that I couldn’t believe we were actually “on time” and that I got him away from renovations and other work around the house!

We laughed as we thought about how funny/awesome it is to have gone from a landlord/tenant relationship to a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship… little did I know we’d be changing our title soon enough 😉

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After a beer, we decided to order some food: Arugula salad & the Braised Lamb Shank Australian Meat Pie- as a floater (with mashed potatoes, mushy peas and gravy). Everything tasted so good and it was an all around great afternoon.

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We continued to hang out and have drinks- it was too beautiful not to, but after a while I started to get antsy and suggested we start making our next move. I really wanted 2 things: a cookie and to go to Assembly so we could do some shopping for the apartment. He had his typical “but Monique we are having such a good time here- good weather, conversations and drinks!”, but I had my head set and was ready to go so he helped me finish my drink and offered to get settle the tab. As he walked away, I reminded him about the cookie I wanted…

As he came back to the table, he had a funny smile on his face and was holding the cookie in one hand at his chest, almost like you’d hold open a book you were reading. I thought he was just making a joke and “presenting” the cookie to me… that is, until I looked down and saw the most beautiful, shiny ring on top of it. I think the first thing out of my mouth was “omg is this a joke?!”, because it was just so big and beautiful and I really thought he found a fake ring and wanted to play a joke on me. He continued smiling and laughed a little as he told me it was not a joke. I wish I could explain the type of smile and look on his face because as I think back to that moment, it just seemed like the happiest smile ever.

He then continued to say that he has absolutely loved the transitions we’ve made from landlord/tenant to boyfriend/girlfriend and that he wanted to make that next transition and asked what I thought about that and if I would like to marry him (and some other mushy stuff I’ll spare you with!). I didn’t respond for a little bit- not out of hesitation but because I was in such shock that I couldn’t speak! He asked again and I stupidly said “I do!” and realized that wasn’t the right thing to say and corrected myself by saying “yes, I will!”. And then we hugged and kissed and hugged some more until I finally put the ring ON. Oh, my, goodness. It is seriously the most beautiful ring and the exact one I’ve always dreamed of.

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Even though KO Pies was extremely busy, the way the whole thing was executed was very private which I appreciated. I may love being in front of classes and teaching, but when it comes to engagements I like privacy. RM said he was getting nervous about how he was going to do the proposal since it was so busy and I kept letting people share our table, haha. Luckily, my need for a cookie worked in his favor 🙂

From there, we went into the city to get some bubbly for more celebrations! We went to the rooftop bar at the Envoy hotel. On the way, we made all of the obligatory “we are engaged” phone calls- to my parents and my sister first and then his family. My sister won for the most amazing reaction. We facetimed and she was crying and just SO excited. Omg I loved it!

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I literally couldn’t stop smiling!

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After a drink, we decided to go back to our place and pop a bottle of Veuve that we had had in the fridge for a longgg time.

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We grabbed a late dinner at Stellina which is right in Watertown Square. Everything was amazing!

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I literally couldn’t sleep that night because I was so excited and couldn’t stop replaying the whole previous day in my head. I loved when RM finally woke up because he rolled over and asked how his fiancé was doing, which solidified the whole thing! We spent the morning having pancakes and hanging out before I went to get my nails done- totally necessary!

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The weather was gorgeous so we went for a nice long walk along the water. We talked a little about the wedding and both decided we don’t want a long engagement or anything crazy fancy. We just want a simple wedding with our friends and family because that’s what matters the most (oh, and the bubbly and dancing!).

IMG_2613My sister and her boyfriend stopped by later that afternoon before we went to RM’s mom’s house and they brought us champagne and a balloon and a super nice card. They were the first ones we saw and talked about the engagement in person and it was so fun to reminisce and go through the details with them!

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All in all, it was the most perfect day and proposal and I’m going to marry the perfect guy for me. I really feel so lucky and it has been such a fun couple of days. It’s so cute because RM is just as excited about it as I am- he is always asking to show me the ring and calling me his fiancé. Totally adorable. Thank you to everyone for all of your calls, texts and comments over the past couple of days. We feel so blessed to have the love and support of so many wonderful people in our lives.

 

Weekending: Home improvement is hard work!

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Good morning, friends! How was your weekend? This was the first weekend in a really long time where we were around ALL weekend, without many plans, too! It worked out really well since RM and I were really itching to finish home improvement projects and get more unpacked. Living in a half unpacked apartment for 2 weeks has been challenging, to say the least!

For those of you who may not know the whole story, no, we did not buy a home! We are renting a 2 bedroom apartment in a 2-family home that RM’s mother owns (she doesn’t live in it, in case you’re wondering 🙂 )and it really needed some serious updating. To help keep the costs down for his mom, we have taken on projects that we can do: painting, sanding, etc. Ideally, we would’ve done this BEFORE we moved in, but we didn’t want her to go a month without rent so we’ve been living and renovating at the same time. While it hasn’t been terrible, we are both really ready to be done the renovations and be fully settled in!

But, before we got to renovations, let’s talk about the weekend. I met up with RM in the city after work since it was such a gorgeous night (and because I had an appointment in the city at 6pm so it worked out great). We started at Vanderbilt (used to be The Vault) and then decided it was too nice to have drinks inside and went over to Sterling’s because they have a great outdoor patio.

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Once we got home, we decided to walk over to Buff’s Pub since it’s so close AND so good. I got a delicious Gyro-style wrap and RM got their famous wings. Both were delicious!

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After kickboxing on Saturday, I ran a bunch of errands, including a stop at Watertown Main Street Florist, where my friend Jen works on Saturdays. She hooked me up with a beautiful bouquet of fall-esque flowers. Thanks, friend!
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Craving Normalcy

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Hi B2B friends! I’ve missed you! While we are not anywhere near being fully unpacked and settled, we are starting to feel somewhat better than we did last week, that’s for sure! And, we finally have a kitchen sink! Might not sound like much, but washing dishes in the bathroom sink or shower for a week was getting  a little old 😉 (still waiting on the back splash, so excuse that!)

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Our weekend was a mix of unpacking/organizing/renovating, but we did get together with family which is always nice. Friday afternoon my friend Jessi was in the area so she stopped by for some Prosecco. Later, RM’s brother, sister in law and nephew came over for pizza and vino. We got the pizza from Max & Leo’s, which is just a short walk from our apartment. I have to say, East Boston has pretty much nailed the pizza game, but Max & Leo’s may have them beat! This pizza was outstanding!

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Saturday we got up and I went for a 4.5 mile run before we hit the road to spend the day in Maine with some family. My mom had some of her siblings in town which is always fun! We went to the beach in Wells and then went to dinner at Billy’s Chowder House.

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Sunday was spent making a major dent in some renovations- I sanded the pantry- which is quite a workout- and then RM did a layer of primer on the cabinets while I cleaned and primed all the draws.

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It feels so good to make some progress with the rest of our move. While the living room is coming along and the bedrooms are mostly set up, we still have a long way to go until we are fully settled in!

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I’ll say this- moving is stressful to begin with. Moving 2 people with fully furnished apartments into 1 combined apartment is stressful. Doing both of those things AND living a midst a kitchen renovation is stressful X 3 🙂

As I said last week, my goal during this whole move has been to stay calm, understanding and to try and stay up-beat/positive. I’ve only had one minor meltdown, so I think that’s pretty good! I’ve got a lot less stress than RM since he’s not only managing all of the renovation work at our new apartment, but also a complete gut renovation in a unit back in East Boston and getting new tenants into both of our old units. Even though we are both very similar in our abilities to handle stress and change, I feel like staying positive this time around is the least I can do- two of us stomping around frustrated and stressed is just not going to help anyone or anything 😉

All in all, though, even with all the chaos and no sense of normalcy, we’ve been having a lot of fun living together. We’ve both talked about how it feels so good to have one home base that we share. We may be stressed and tired, but at least we are going through it together. Going for a walk to Starbucks in the morning and figuring out where we want to put stuff has been so fun! And, little by little we are making strides towards normalcy- we both like to have food prepped and ways to eat healthy food at home rather than going out, so making it a priority to even have a few key kitchen items unpacked has really helped.

I hope all of you had a great weekend and have a good week! For those of you in the Boston area, I’m subbing for Athena on Tuesday morning at 6am at the Oak Square YMCA- would love to see some familiar faces!! I’m looking for suggestions on what to teach, too!

Questions for you: How do you handle stress? Do you go with the flow or stress over change and lack of normalcy? What did you do this weekend? Have you ever done home renovations?

Weekending: Moving & Labor Day Weekend Edition

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Well, here we are- Labor Day has come and gone. RM and I were talking about how while we can’t believe summer is on its way out, summer actually didn’t feel incredibly short. We didn’t have a lot of weekend plans, weddings or travel this summer so we were able to take advantage of many weekends on the Cape and a few in Maine which was different than last summer. I also don’t remember a time when I went to the beach as much as I did this year. Whether just scooting over to Constitution Beach in East Boston or going to the Cape or Wells Beach in Maine, we did some serious beaching!

Last weekend’s long weekend started on Thursday when it was move day for me. While I don’t like packing and unpacking, the actual physical act of moving doesn’t bother me- I look at it as another workout!

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I had never hired movers before and although I had a slightly argumentative phone call with  the owner at one point, things ended up going very smoothly. Thanks to a recommendation by Stephanie, I hired Secure Movers and was impressed not only with their rates, but also with their speed. We (yes, I helped move boxes down my stairs and into the truck), were able to completely load up the truck, drive to Watertown and unload the truck in just under 2 hours. I call that a success!

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After they left, I spent some time getting the extra bedroom set up, grabbed lunch at the local Whole Foods (and an ice cream at the Market Basket in Chelsea- was totally craving one!) and then headed back to my apartment to clean.

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When all was said and done, I walked over 26K steps and climbed 100 flights of stairs. I honestly don’t remember the last time I felt so physically, mentally and emotionally drained. Even though I am so excited about our move, it was a weird feeling to be moving out of my last “single girl” apartment.

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Thankfully, dinner and wine at Kelly’s Pub (awesome local joint in EB) made me feel muuuuuch better and I slept like a baby that night.

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Friday morning I worked from RM’s apartment for a half day and then fit in a quickie workout, which actually left me sore for a few days! I ran 1.5 miles and then did this tabata workout, which I still really loved! We went to the new apartment to do some stuff and then grabbed dinner at Jeveli’s before heading south for a weekend at the Cape.

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(Ashley P- finally opened the bottle of La Crema that you gave me a long time ago! I always save my “nice” bottles of wine and figured moving was a great time to crack it open!)

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing- both at the house and on the beach! We had a delicious dinner on Saturday night consisting of burgers, hot dogs, chicken, sausage, rice, salad and corn on the cob.

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Sunday morning I fit in another quickie workout: run 1 mile, 4 tabata rounds (squats & lunges, push-ups & jabs, high knees & squat jacks, side dips & standing crunches), run 1 mile. Short and sweet! We attempted a day trip to Martha’s Vinyard, but logistically it didn’t work out so we ended up just heading back to Craigville Beach.

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It was the perfect beach day, but unfortunately I only made it in the water once because I got stung by a jelly fish… TWICE! Hurt so freaking bad! Roberto later got stung on his neck- it was weird! I used to think that going to the beach was such a process: packing the bags, chairs, lotion, lunches, drinks, etc., but this summer we have nailed the process and can get ready and on the beach in no time! For lunch on Sunday and Monday, we opted for “wrapless wraps”- something I think we are going to do a lot more of! Basically, we used the turkey as the “wrap”, then layered cheese, hummus and spinach and rolled it up. I also put rice in mine and Roberto put pickles in his.

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Really enjoyed this “healthier” and “lighter” lunch option!

For dinner, we stopped in at Baxters in Hyannis for a drink and then had dinner at Tugboats.

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Monday morning I went for a 3 mile jog before an earlier beach day.

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We contemplated heading back to Boston early, but the weather was just too perfect to not take advantage of it. One more beach day was well worth the traffic on the way home!

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All in all it was a really fantastic weekend, and perfect timing since last week was stressful and this week likely won’t be much different. I really focused on being present in the moment and soaking in all the goodness that the weekend brought rather than stressing about all that we have to do this week. Such a simple change in perspective really made all the difference in the world. I don’t like living in limbo and chaos, but I’m really working on not having any expectations for the rest of the move and kitchen renovations and just letting things be. If we have to eat out every night- so be it. If we don’t have a kitchen sink for a while and have to wash veggies in the bathroom- it’s only temporary. If I drink wine every night and break my “rule”, who cares! This sort of mentality doesn’t happen naturally for me, but I realize it will make the next few weeks a whole lot better if I do it!

I hope all of you had a great long weekend, too! And for those of you with recent moves, I feel your pain! I’m not sure how much I’ll be blogging this week because on top of moving I am teaching on Wednesday and subbing on Thursday (6:30pm cardio kickboxing- Wellington BSC), but I’ll pop in when I can 🙂

Questions for you: Did you grill this past weekend? Did you go to any Labor Day Parties? Do you prefer the beach, lake or pool? Was this summer busy for you or did you have time to relax?