Weekend in Maine: getting out of dodge

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City life can be so tiring. We are constantly rushing from one thing to the next: plans, work, gym, catching the next T or next stop light… always rushing. While I don’t mind a fast-paced lifestyle most of the time (I like to do things fast. All the time. Maybe that’s why I get so run down!), there’s something to be said about “getting out of dodge”, and for me, that’s heading to Maine for a weekend of complete R&R. Maine living is completely the opposite of Boston living and sometimes that’s exactly what I need.

With that said, after teaching my kickboxing class on Saturday, that’s what I did; made the trek up north, but not without a number of stops on the way. Not being on a timeline is something I don’t do often (or well, for that matter), so it was a nice treat to have the day open for anything I wanted to do!

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side note: how fun are my new pants?! Love them!

I stopped off in Kittery, which, in hindsight was a terrible idea since it was so busy, but I did score some good deals at Banana Republic so I guess that made it worth it?

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New pants that match the suit I bought this summer, 2 new blouses and a new sweater… all for less than $100! The outlet was 50% off. Doesn’t get much better than that! I also stopped off at Lowe’s to get a digital thermostat to help make regulating my heat easier.

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My last stop of the day before going to my parents was the hair dresser. I usually go to a salon in Boston, but as of late, I haven’t been happy with my hair cuts and she has gone up to $65, which I think is outrageous! I decided to get my hair cut in Maine since it’s $26… yes, that is a huge difference. She went a little shorter than I had wanted, but hair grows and I’ve always been more of a short hair person than long hair.

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I wonder how it’s going to look curly… hopefully not too short!

We had a dinner party on Saturday night at my parents, which is always a fun thing. What made it even better was how much bubbly people brought; sometimes I think they do it just for me and “Burpees to Bubbly” 😉

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Have I mentioned how much I love being home?

Sunday consisted of church with both parents (dad doesn’t always go, so it’s a nice treat when he does) and then lots of shopping at Wal Mart, Kohls and Market Basket. I also visited with my friend Meredith, which is always a special treat. She sent me home with ice cream.. the best ice cream!

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Yes, that’s liquor ice cream. Strong liquor ice cream.

We had visitors in the afternoon on Sunday… another one of my favorite parts of going home. I wish people my age did afternoon cocktail hour on Sundays that just consisted of a few cocktails and a few snacks.

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Bubbly and blogging… how fitting.

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Starting sweet Emma off young… her favorite thing at my parents’ house is the plastic wine glass collection. And Longaberger baskets.

For dinner, mom asked what I would want and randomly enough, I requested Beef Burgundy. It’s something I have made before, but likely wouldn’t make again for a while so it was the perfect meal to have her make me. Served with fresh, roasted garden veggies and garlic mashed potatoes (from the garden, too) made for a delicious meal. And, speaking of gardens, look at the last of the tomato crop from my dad’s garden.

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I wanted to have a “guess how many tomatoes” game on B2B, but that would require me counting the tomatoes and there were just too many to do that!

And, that about sums up my weekend. I’m heading back to the city feeling refreshed and ready to attack a few crazy weeks of work travel, parties and teaching. Bring it on!

Questions for you: Where is your favorite outlet shopping? What was the best thing you did last weekend?

Weekly Workouts: Taking Advantage of the Warm Weather

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Hi there! For those of you who have today off… I am jealous! I stayed in Maine last night to have “Sunday Dinner” with my parents which was a nice treat. I figured that there wouldn’t be any traffic heading south this morning since a lot of people probably have today off.

I am hoping that last week was the last burst of warm/hot weather for a while. I’m ready for fall: sweaters, boots, jeans, no humidity… anyone else?

With that said, I did take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather last Monday and went for a nice, long(er… for me, at least) run, some of it along the ocean at Constitution beach in East Boston. I was introduced to this beach last weekend on my second tour of Eastie and I was pleasantly surprised with how nice it was- and the fact that it is only 5 minutes from my apartment.

Other than my long run, the rest of the week was par for the course in terms of workouts. I’ve been taking advantage of the gym at my office on days I want to just focus on weights. It’s not a great gym, but it has all the dumbbells I need, in addition to stability balls and mats- more than enough for me to get a sufficient weight session in. Plus, it’s always empty, which is key. I may love having the attention on me in most areas of my life, but when I’m at the gym working out (not when I’m teaching), I don’t want anyone looking at me, so an empty gym is perfect!

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I ran 4.5 miles after work and then did my Monday Fall into Fitness moves, as well as Saturday’s and Sunday’s since I failed to do them on the day I was supposed to. Whoops.

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  • Tuesday- I did a full body strength workout that looked like this: 4 exercises, 12 reps each, 3 rounds, for upper, lower and abs. I left the gym surprisingly sweaty and very tired!

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  • Wednesday- I ran 3 miles on the treadmill before teaching UXF Burn. My classes have been much busier now that the weather is getting cooler!

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  • Thursday- I taught another timed circuit in SHRED followed by kickboxing.
  • Friday- Rest, besides my Fall Into Fitness move of the day and cleaning.
  • Saturday- Taught a super high energy kickboxing class. There were 30 people and everyone was ON IT and having fun and laughing and laughing at my jokes… It couldn’t have been a more perfect class 🙂
  • Sunday- Another rest day besides walking around while shopping and doing my plank for Fall Into Fitness!

This Week’s Workouts

I’m traveling on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, so my workouts will be a little different from normal. I was supposed to be gone on Thursday, too, so I got a sub for my double, but my trip got cut short so I will be around on Thursday. But, I’m keeping my sub because it will give me a chance to go to my favorite instructor’s kickboxing class to helpfully get some new material. I learned most of my teaching style from this instructor so I’m really excited to go to her class (even though I do feel guilty about missing my classes… I’m sorry!!).

  • Monday- I hope to get some type of full body workout in after work today. Ugh. Wish I had the day off!
  • Tuesday- My flight is at 2:30 so I will work from home in the morning. Before that, I will do something at home. Maybe something similar to this? Although I did FINALLY buy some weights this past weekend. I’m so happy to expand my at-home workout equipment.
  • Wednesday- Something at the hotel. We aren’t staying anywhere nice, so I’m assuming the gym isn’t very good, so it may be a hotel room workout. As long as I sweat, I don’t care what I do 🙂
  • Thursday- Since I already got a sub to teach my double, I’m going to head to the Wellington BSC and go to Katie’s kickboxing class. My members may not like having a sub, but they will like having fresh, new material 🙂
  • Friday- Not sure. Usually Friday is my rest day, but if my workouts were light during the week, I’ll probably do something. I won’t be able to do anything on Sunday since I fly out again for another work trip 😦
  • Saturday- Probably cardio and BodyPump since I don’t have to teach. I would LOVE to sub a class on Saturday if there was one available.
  • Sunday- Nothing. I am going to my friend’s party in NH on Saturday night and will likely spend the night, so I will have to get up early and head back since my flight is at 3ish on Sunday.

Questions for you: Did you take advantage of the warm weather last week? Instructor friends, have you ever gotten a sub for your class to go to another class?

5 Things I’m Looking Forward To This Weekend

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Hey there! Happy freaking Friday! I feel like this week absolutely flew by, anyone else? It wasn’t an extraordinarily busy or exciting week (just a regular ol’ work week, followed by workouts and teaching), but every part about it seemed to be in fast forward. I mean, it’s already October 11th. Yuck!

Anyway! I thought I’d share some things that I’m looking forward to this weekend, because that always gets me in a better mood. Plus, I want to know what you’re looking forward to this weekend, too!

1. Going to the dentist. Yeah, that’s weird, right? I love getting my teeth cleaned and haven’t been to the dentist in an embarrassingly long time (who else ends up skipping dentist appointments all together when/if they have to get rescheduled? That’s totally what happened here!).

2. Heading to Maine tomorrow to spend the weekend hanging out with my parents and escaping from my Boston life for a while. Sometimes a girl just needs to get away!

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3. Foliage and leaf peeping! The drive up to Maine at this time of year is absolutely amazing. I’m going to crank some good tunes and soak it all in.

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4. A little shopping in Kittery on my way north, puttering around some stores in Maine and maybe (hopefully) getting my hair cut. Oh, and enjoying some relaxing time where I can drink wine and maybe even sit by the fireplace… It’s the little things…

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5. Prep some fun posts for the next week and give B2B a little lovin’. I’ve had a few workout post ideas in mind, but haven’t had time to get them actually done, so I hope to do that this weekend!

Your turn! What are you looking forward to this weekend? Where do you go when you need to ‘get out of dodge’?

Sunday dinner & what intimidates me in the kitchen

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If you were to ask me what I would have my mom make me if she could only make me one meal, I would answer without a blink of an eye: Roast chicken with all the fixin’s… “fixin’s” being mashed potato casserole (pretty much the best thing ever), steamed veggies, and loaded stuffing. Really quite simple if you ask me! Just kidding… a roast chicken dinner is a very labor intensive meal, but it is worth every ounce of time put into it.

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With that said, when I looked at the garden care package from my dad and brainstormed what I could do to use up the veggies before the went bad, it came to me: make a roast chicken meal!

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I made my meal just as my mom would, except I bought a roast chicken from Market Basket that was already roasted. I know, I know. Totally a cop-out move, but the truth is, I’m scared to cook a whole roast chicken on my own! Has anyone done that before? They are so big and there are so many “gizzards” that have to come out and how do you know it’s fully cooked?! I could go on and on, but bottom line is that I realized I need to face this silly cooking fear and make a stupid roast chicken start to finish all on my own. I will do it, but maybe when I’m home and can have my parents walk me through it 😉 Baby steps!

Anyway, as I talked with my mom for nearly an hour on Monday, I puttered in the kitchen chopping veggies, peeling and boiling potatoes and preparing the stuffing. The kitchen was an absolute disaster by the time I finished (and I used about every pot, pan and Tupperware container by the end of the night), but it was so worth it once I tried everything!

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I didn’t measure anything, but here’s a quick run down of what I made and what ingredients I used.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

  • 5 small red potatoes, peeled and boiled until soft
  • about a 1/2 cup of 1% milk (They were out of skim, which is what I usually buy, but 1% has been a nice treat!)
  • 1 tbsp. minced garlic
  • salt, pepper, garlic salt
  • 1 tbsp. margarine

Maple Glazed Steamed Carrots and Parsnips

  • cut carrots and parsnips, steam until soft (or whatever consistency you like your cooked veggies to have)
  • 1 tbsp. butter
  • 2-3 tbsp. maple syrup- I used a pecan maple syrup that my sister brought me back after one of her site visits which was perfect!

Loaded Stuffing

  • 1 package of stuffing mix- cook according to the instructions on the box
  • green peppers & onions- maybe 1/2 cup of each? sautéed so that they are already cooked when you add them to the boiling water with the dry stuffing mix.
  • 1/4 cup of craisins to add in with the peppers, onions and stuffing mix. Let everything set for 5 minutes.

Serve everything with gravy, because gravy makes everything better 😉

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It’s a shame I live alone because I still have so many leftovers, 3 days later. I have issues with cooking smaller portions sometimes!

Questions for you: What’s a food or meal that intimidates you or makes you nervous to try? If you could have your parents (or anyone) make you one meal, what would it be?

Wednesday Workout: 30 Minute Total Body Strength Workout

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Hey there! As I mentioned on Monday, I accidentally had a really intense strength workout after work on Tuesday. I went into the day not sure if I would get a chance to workout, or if I had the chance, not sure if I would WANT to workout, but once I got to the gym, I realized I was totally focused and feeling a good workout.

I warmed up with 5 minutes on the rower (I hate rowing, but it’s a really great way to fully warm up your body) before doing the following workout. I was literally in and out of the gym in 30 minutes, including the warm up, so if you have access to weights & a stability ball (not necessary, but it was a big part of what made this workout great) there’s really no excuse not to do this 🙂

30 minute total body strength

I don’t have access to a stability ball often, but every time I do, I remember how much I love using one. Make sure you have the ball against a wall when you do tricep dips, though, I almost had a party foul there 😉 Also, thanks to Athena’s Fall into Fitness challenge, I was reminded of how great lunge/knee lift/hops are for burning out the glute and getting your heart rate up.

Here are some links to the moves in case you’re not familiar with them:

Stability Ball Preacher Curl
Stability Ball Tricep Dips
Stability Ball V-Sit

I’m not sure if it’s because I increased my weights, worked out mindfully and totally focused on each exercise or something else, but this workout left me beat and quite sore the next day.

Questions for you: What’s your favorite gym “tool”? If you could only pick one piece of equipment to workout with, what would it be?