Five on Friday {6.3.16}

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Good morning and happy Friday, friends! Can you believe it’s JUNE already?! Even crazier, is tomorrow will mark the official 30 day count down until the big day. I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself… which is why there are a few wedding-related topics in this post- #sorryimnotsorry 😉

  • Thirst for Wellness: B Strong Bootcamp- Thirst Juice Co. is launching a summer wellness series that I think you’ll all be very interested in. From their Eventbrite page: Our slogan is “Thirst. For Life.” That means many things, including living fully, joyfully, and generously. Wellness is an essential component to living the kind of life we aspire to. You’ve loved our Sip & Learn events, and now we’re rolling them into a broader series of wellness events. For our Thirst for Wellness event series we’re partnering with some of your favorite Boston fitness pros to bring you great workouts with healthful plant-based refreshments.
    What: B Strong Bootcamp is an outdoor HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout led by Trainer Cassie B., that combines intervals of running with bodyweight exercises for a complete total body cardio and strength workout experience. WHEN: Tuesday, June 7, 2016 from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM (EDT). WHERE: Thirst Juice Co. – 44 School Street, Boston, MA 02108All you have to to do is head on over to this page to sign up ($15 is the cost)! Unfortunately I teach on Tuesdays, so I won’t be able to make it which I’m super bummed around!
  • Bags & Beats– The above bullet was a perfect segway into this topic! So far, I’ve taught 4 classes and it gets more and more fun every class! This past week was especially awesome because I had so many familiar faces in the crowd, including my sister, a coworker and her friend and Athena… oh, and some repeats from last which, which is always the best compliment an instructor can get! GF3 paid me a surprise visit halfway through my second class of the night which was a little nerve-wracking, but he seemed pleased so I’ll take that as a good thing! If you’re interested in checking it out, I’m at GymIt in Watertown on Tuesdays at 5:30 and 6:30pm… with the exception of next Tuesday since I have to travel to CA for work 😦

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  • Summer Eats- With the warmer weather upon us, my appetite has been craving all things summer, including the most amazing lobster roll from the Raw Bar near the Popponesset Inn, grilling and loaded salads.

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  • Wedding Songs- We are in full on wedding mode, including figuring out what songs we want the band to play. RM said he thought we should walk in to the reception to the “Marry Me” song by Bruno Mars so I downloaded it the other day and it’s pretty much been on repeat every since! I cannot wait to marry him! Also, do you have any dancing song suggestions you love hearing at the wedding?! Do share!

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  • Monogrammed Jack Rogers– The monogrammed Jack Rogers I ordered for the big day finally came in and I couldn’t be more pleased with how they came out. I got my mom and sister a pair too (they found out about it, so it’s not a surprise) and I think it’s going to be so cute to all have them on when we are getting ready!

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And that does it for me! RM is in Nashville for his bachelor party this weekend- if you’ve ever been and have “must visit” suggestions for me to send to him- let me know! With him gone this weekend it means that I will have time to get {hopefully} some serious wedding stuff done. I have a laundry list of things to do so I hope to be able to really attack that list!

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Questions for you: What was your best workout this week? What’s a song you love to hear at a wedding? Have your eats changed at all with the nicer weather? What is your go-to summer meal? What’s on the agenda for the weekend?

Wednesday Workout: {or lack thereof}

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If you’ve been following B2B for a while, you’re probably pretttttty familiar with my “Wednesday Workout” posts, huh? Nearly every week for the past 3+ years I’ve brought a new workout to you on Wednesdays; sometimes they’re long, sometimes they’re quickies, sometimes they’re bodyweight, sometimes they require a gym, but regardless, I do my very best to share workouts I’ve done and enjoyed with the hopes that you’ll give them a try.

However, it’s been at least a few weeks since I’ve shared any sort of workouts with you, and I’ll be honest with you: it’s felt kinda nice to not have the pressure of creating workouts, doing the workouts, creating a picmonkey graphic and explaining various moves. It’s not that I don’t enjoy doing that, but I just feel like I’ve needed a break from that pressure. As I mentioned on Instagram over the weekend, I’ve been feeling really “blah” about my workouts. I recently started teaching a new-to-me class at GymIt (Bags & Beats) so when I’m not teaching other classes, I’ve been practicing the workouts/combos/using the app/etc. so that I feel comfortable when I’m actually teaching the class.

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And, with the nice weather we’ve been having, I’ve been doing a lot more running and things outside of the gym, meaning I’m not really creating workouts that I could potentially share. Work has been so busy, also meaning I can’t sneak away for a lunch break lifting session… another reason why I haven’t got anything to share with you.

Long story short: my workouts have been kind of boring, inconsistent in terms of having a plan and sometimes non-existent. But you know what? It’s totally ok. Sure, I could come up with some type of workout to share with you, but if I have no passion behind it, I’d just be creating a workout only to have content, not because I wanted to try new things or a new format or anything like that and if that’s the case, I’d rather not share anything with you. Remember my resolution from a few weeks ago? Quality over quantity? I’d rather come to you with a brand spankin new workout that I was really excited about because in turn that would get YOU excited, too, and hopefully enough for you to try it out 😉

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is bear with me. If you come here solely for the workouts, I encourage you to go back to my workouts page page and maybe try some that you haven’t tried before. Or, go back and do one of your favorites from the archives. I promise I’ll get my workout-sharing mojo back, but right now I’ve just got a lot of other things consuming brain space, time and energy so the Wednesday Workout posts might be sparse over the next month or so.

But! The good news is that today I’m starting day 1, week 1 of the “wedding workout plan” that my girl Athena created for me and I think it’s going to be juuuust what I need to get some excitement, consistency and structure back into my workouts. I’m so excited to let someone else be the teacher and me be the student- without having to think about and create my own workout, it makes the whole process so much less work!

Thank you for your patience over the next month leading up to the wedding- you guys are the absolute best and your support really does mean so much to me! Happy hump day, friends! xo

B2B(104of143)

Photo Credit: Janelle Carmela

Bachelorette Party: Recap

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Good morning! I hope you all had a nice weekend. Ours was great: Jeveli’s date night on Friday night, Flywheel class on Saturday morning for me and then a weekend on the cape consisting of lots of sun, sand, vino & seafood.

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Back to the grind this week, though, but I figured starting the week with a recap of my amazing bachelorette weekend was a great way to kick it off! Consider this your warning- it’s a long, picture filled post!

When my sister and I were discussing possible bachelorette options, I really only had a few preferences/requests: not too far away because I didn’t want people to have to spend a ton of money for traveling or have to take time off, I wanted to workout and I wanted to drink vino & wear a tutu 🙂 I can easily say that she- and with the help of my friend, Jessi- not only nailed it in the fact all of those things were included, they far surpassed it with everything else they also included.

Midday on Friday, I packed up my car, picked up my sister and we hit the road to go to Portland, Maine. Everyone else was working full days, but we figured it would be smart to take half days to get up there early to get everything ready. Originally I wanted to rent a house, but they had trouble finding one big enough, close enough to town and affordable enough so we opted to just stay at the Residence Inn in downtown Portland. This was the PERFECT place to stay for my (or any) bachelorette party for a number of reasons:

  • Walking distance to all the good bars/restaurants
  • All rooms have mini kitchenettes so we can store stuff in the fridges
  • All rooms have little living rooms, so people don’t have to hang out on the beds
  • They have suite options- we did a 2 bedroom suite which had 2 separate bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen with a table and a full living room, so we had plenty of space to hang out and relax. We also rented another standard room for 1 night since we had more girls staying on the second night.
  • You don’t have to bring your own sheets/towels
  • Housekeeping
  • Free breakfast, which was awesome- they had a waffle maker, eggs, sausage, cereal, bagels, oatmeal, yogurt, etc. This was a huge cost saver because a few of us would go down and stock up and then we could all enjoy it in the room.
  • Cocktail hour

Basically, it worked out way better than renting a house- I highly suggest it!

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, back to day 1. We stopped at the Market Basket in Biddeford on the way up to get beer/wine/snacks to stock the rooms and fridges. This was another good way to save money! Once we checked in and unpacked, we walked over to Flatbread Pizza which was right on the water- perfect for a sunny afternoon!

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Not long after lunch, a few more friends arrived and we popped some bubbly and hung out until we got dressed to head to dinner at Vignola Cinque Terre, which was an amazing little Italian restaurant. We ended up having the whole upstairs to ourselves, which was good considering the vino was flowing and friends kept arriving. The best surprise of the night/weekend was when my friend Amy showed up- I thought she wasn’t coming because she was going to be in Nashville, but her plans changed and everyone just kept me thinking she couldn’t come to make it a surprise- it was the best! We shared a bunch of different things and everything that came out was absolutely delicious- I highly recommend this restaurant if you’re in Portland.

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We asked our waitress where we should go after and when she mentioned a country bar called Bonfire, it was an obvious choice to go there. We got a beer tower and had fun dancing and singing before calling it a night around midnight. I didn’t want to stay out too late because I knew we had a spin class followed by a day of drinking the next days.

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Saturday morning we headed to Reve Cycling on Forest Ave. Some of my friends who couldn’t stay for 2 nights met us there so it was fun to have the majority of the crowd together! The best part was that Jessi organized to have matching pants made with out initials (my new ones!!) on the leg and then mine said “bride” on the butt. It was such a fun surprise! The class was awesome & challenging, but it flew by. Everyone was so happy that we did it, too. Nothing like starting the day with a good sweat (even if it probably wreaked of wine, lol).

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After the class, we went back to the hotel and started the shower process, which, considering we had 12 girls showering between 3 showers, didn’t take too long!

My mom and her friend Chris came to spend the afternoon with us, so once everyone was there, we walked to Portland Lobster Company for drinks, eats and live music. It was the perfect place to kickoff the afternoon because the food and drinks were great and affordable, there was plenty of outdoor space and it was right on the water.

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The next stop was The Porthole, which was another great outdoor spot on the water. They also had a live band, but we all joked how terrible they were! It didn’t matter, though, the drinks and company most definitely made up for it 🙂

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After a round we decided to make our way back to the hotel to regroup and get ready for the night. The girls also brought me lingerie which was a fun surprise! For dinner, my mom and dad had prepped all of the fixings to make tacos so we didn’t have to worry about dealing with going out to eat for a big group of girls. This was such a good idea, not to mention the food was delicious.

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BTW, if you’re looking for a tutu, my girl Amy is the best at making them- we said her Etsy line should be called “Babies and Brides” because she makes tutu’s for the brides and babies in her life. It was such a fun addition to my outfit for the day!!

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My other friend, Amy, is doing my makeup for the wedding so we did a trial run before we went out. I don’t wear a lot of makeup and she did a great job of making me not look or feel like I had loads on, but still put enough on to look good in pictures.

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Once we were all dolled up, we headed out to Bull Feeney’s, which is a fun bar for live band dancing. We stayed there for a while before heading BACK to the country bar (Bonfire)… what can I say? We love country music! It was livelier on Saturday night and I was even able to have (and win) a dance off- my idea of a solid night 😉

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Late night shenanigans at the hotel most certainly ensued, which was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, these girls made me feel SO special and loved all weekend. Between friends from home & college (and family), I couldn’t have asked for a better group of girls to hang out with.  I couldn’t believe all that they did for me, especially my sister and Jessi- you girls are the absolute best and I am SO LUCKY to have you in my life! Can we do this again soon?! Love to you all!!!

Questions for you: Did you have a bachelorette party? Where did you have it? What types of bars do you like to go to? Have you been to Portland before? What are your favorite stops when you’re there? What’s a must-have on a girls weekend?
 

Five on Friday {5.27.16}

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Good morning and TGIF! I have a few hours of work and then I’m off until Tuesday- amazing! I’m hoping for good weather- I need to work on a tan for the wedding 🙂 Let’s jump right into some highlights going on this week:

  • Yogathon hosted by lululemon- On Saturday, June 5th, lululemon is hosting a 12 Hour “Yogathon” in Honor of Nation Cancer Survivor’s Day at The Street in Chestnut Hill to benefit two organizations devoted to sharing the health benefits of yoga. There are various different classes to choose from, so if this interests you and if you’re around on June 5th, all you need to do to register is make a donation of any amount to bodhi & mind yoga, which offers free one-on-one yoga and meditation practice to women battling breast cancer, and Triyoga Boston, a non-profit organization offering therapeutic yoga classes, using the Yogathon Eventbrite page.
  • Thankful for great friends– If you follow me on social media, I’m sure you know that I had my bachelorette party last weekend. I will do a full recap on it, but for now I’ll just say that I felt SO special, thankful and grateful for having so many wonderful friends in my life. They planned the most amazing weekend, filled with lots of my favorite things and I ended the weekend feeling so humbled by everything everyone did for me.

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  • Bags & Beats @ GymIt- Earlier this week, I taught my first classes at GymIt in Watertown as a result of completing my BoxFIIT certification. I was pretty nervous going into the classes: new gym, new crowd, new class format, new app… after 4 years of mostly teaching at the same gyms to the same crowds, this totally put me out of my comfort zone, but you know what? I think I kinda rocked it! I had big shoes to fill, but I think members were happy with the classes I taught so I’m hoping to grow them over time. If you’re interested in checking it out, I teach on Tuesdays at 5:30 and 6:30pm and the classes are Bags & Beats so we use the heavy bags and do punching combos to the beat of the music mixed with non-boxing exercises. It’s a fun class and Tuesday reminded me that it’s so important to get out of our comfort zone and try new things because sometimes that’s exactly what you need to ignite a new fire within.

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  • Embracing the weather & season- Yesterday I decided to take a rest day. It’s been a long and busy week and I feel like I’m still catching up on sleep/getting back to normal after my bachelorette weekend, so I decided to take a rest day yesterday. I knew I needed this because after my run on Wednesday, I felt abnormally sore and tired. I set my alarm yesterday morning to get up and go for a walk before work, but when my alarm went off I realized I would benefit more from sleep. Listening to our bodies is so important, and somethign I admit I still have to work on, but I was proud of myself yesterday for listening to my body and resting (and enjoying vino after work).

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  • New Workout Plan- With our wedding coming up (38 days from today, to be exact!), I decided that I wanted to spend some time focusing on me when it comes to workouts. Lately I’ve been teaching a lot and have had a lot of other things going on so my own workouts have fallen a bit by the wayside; I still workout 5-6 days a week, but they aren’t as structured or formatted as I’d like them to be in order to see changes I’d like to see. With that said, I reached out to my girl Athena to have her create a month long upper-body focused workout plan for me for the month leading up to my wedding. I am by no means trying to lose weight, but rather I just would like to tone up my upper body and back and see what kinds of changes I can make when I consistently follow a plan. She sent me the workout plan the other day and upon first glance it looks great and I can’t wait to start- sometimes just having a new plan to follow is exactly what you need to get excited about something again!

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And that does it for me! We don’t have a lot planned this weekend which is really nice. I’m hoping to get some sun, sleep and relaxation 🙂

Questions for you: How has your week been? When is the last time you got out of your comfort zone? Do you like to follow structured workout plans? How are you embracing the weather?

Stitch Fix #6 {Review}

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Good morning! I hope you’re having a great week. Mine has been a bit stressful and overwhelming, but thankfully the long weekend is almost here! While I was away for my bachelorette weekend (which, I still need to recap for you!), I received a Stitch Fix delivery- such a fun surprise to come home to. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Stitch Fix, it’s an online personal stylist service where you plug in all of your information when it comes to clothes and style (size, likes, dislikes, etc.) and then they put together a “fix” for you. Each “fix” is $20, but if you keep anything from the fix then the $20 gets subtracted from whatever the price of the item is. While the prices can sometimes be higher than I’d normally spend, sometimes the convenience of having things sent right to your house far outweighs the time it takes to go shopping and look for deals. Plus, it’s fun getting a package containing things you might not otherwise find or look for!

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Even better? When you share your referral code (everyone gets one when they sign up), you get a $25 credit to your account for everyone who signs up using your link. Since I started Stitch Fix, I’ve had a good handful of credits come my way, but recently I realized I had racked up quite a few so I figured it was due time to order myself a box 🙂 I usually wait for special occasions where I suggest specific pieces or ask for a certain style, but this time I just let them do their thing and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how great the fix was! I actually liked everything, but sent a few back because they didn’t fit/look right on me.

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Here’s a review of what my fix included! Pardon my hair- this was post bachelorette party weekend 😉

Pixley Eisenhower Strappy Top- $48- KEEPER

This shirt was so comfy and I could see it being a summer staple- either with shorts (loved it with the shorts they sent in this fix!) or with jeans or even leggings. I liked that the back had a little extra funk to it with the strap at the top and I love how bright the colors are! $48 is a little more than I’d normally spend for a thin, summery shirt like this, but again- convenience factor 🙂

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Skies are Blue Kalyle Peplum Knit Top- $48- Sent back

While I love peplum tops, this one just felt cheap and flimsy. Plus, it didn’t fit well and did nothing for my figure, so back it went!

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Dear John Finnegan Cuffed Short- $58- KEEPER

I really went back and forth on these shorts. Part of me liked them when looking back at photos and when trying them on again, but the other part of me looks back and isn’t sure if I should’ve kept them- do they look too loose/baggy? Do they look too long and boring/like I’m going golfing? Too late to look back on them now- they’re in my drawer! I think I will get use out of them, though, because they are SO comfortable.

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Fate Kathina Sheer Cut Out Knit Top- $48- Sent back

This was a shirt that I really liked when I pulled it out of the box, but when I put it on the fit was all wrong. It felt boxy and shapeless- more like some of the workout tanks I’ve been wearing these days!

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Brixon Ivy James Laser Cut Dress- $78- KEEPER

Ah! This dress! I’ve been looking for more work dresses so I was so excited when I pulled this out of the box. The color, the pattern, the fit… everything was perfect and- despite the price- I had to keep it. I wore it to work and it was so comfortable! BIG fan of this dress 🙂

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There you have it! If you like any of these pieces you can simply “pin” the picture and then send the link of the pin/board to your stitch fix stylist. Don’t forget, if you haven’t signed up for Stitch Fix before, just click on this link to get started!

If you’re looking to see some other fixes I’ve received, check out these posts:

Stitch Fix #1
Stitch Fix #2
Stitch Fix #3
Stitch Fix #4
Stitch Fix #5

Questions for you: Do you do Stitch Fix? Do you do any sort of online delivery thing (maybe Birch Box or something else)? Do you have any events coming up that you’re looking for a new outfit for? Do you like to online shop or shop in person?