Weekending: Soaking Up Family Time

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Good morning! Did you guys have a good weekend? Did you do anything to soak up the spring-like weather? On my end, weekends surrounded by family are always worth recapping, so let’s get to it!  🙂

Friday

My mom took the train into the city to do my bridal shower invitations with my sister so after they were done, I left work early and met them for lunch at Sterling’s. Sauvignon Blanc, kale salad, shopping and lots of mom and girl time was a perfect way to spend a Friday afternoon!

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After mom left, my sister, her bf and RM and I got one more drink before heading home. We had big intentions of getting sushi for dinner, but neither of us ended up wanting to leave the house so we made due with what we had in the fridge and snuggled up for a few episodes of Breaking Bad.

Saturday

I hit the gym for a lifting session before heading to Maine. I hadn’t lifted heavy all week and even though I felt weak, it felt good to get under the bar again for a squat and push focused workout.

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Mid-morning we hit the road to head up to Maine for the night. We met up with everyone (my parents and sister and her bf) at Mill 67 in Sanford for lunch. I didn’t take a single picture (oops!), but the food and beer was great!

The whole reason for our trip to Maine was because my dad wanted to make a Bouillabaisse with/for us. He bought an incredible amount of fish for it including a 13 pound lobster (yes, THIRTEEN POUNDS!), mussels, clams, oysters, scallops, cod, swordfish and salmon. He even made the fish broth himself- it was an incredible.

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In addition to the stew, my dad also made Lamb Wellington which was also delicious.

Sunday

I didn’t take any pictures on Sunday, but it looked something like this: pancake breakfast, driving back to MA, went food shopping, worked on my Box FIIT certification, went for a 5K run and relaxing on the couch. For some reason, I had no desire to do any sort of meal prep so rather than forcing myself to do it, I just let myself relax, watch Grey’s Anatomy and blog. It felt really nice to give myself a break!

I hope you all have a great start to your week!

Questions for you: What was a highlight of your weekend? Did you do anything outside? Did you get any good workouts in? Have any big plans this week? 

 

Quick & Easy Spaghetti w/Clams

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Good morning! If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw me post a sneak peek of this recipe over the weekend. I wanted to share it with you today because it’s SUPER easy and it’s a great Friday night recipe during Lent. RM said he used to make this dish a lot but for one reason or another, hadn’t made it in forever. I’m so glad he did because it was such a treat to eat a dish that is quite different from our “normal” dishes.

We wanted to use the Jovial brand of pasta, but since RM said he couldn’t find it he went with regular old Barilla Gluten Free. You really couldn’t tell it was gluten free! Other than that, you just need some canned clams, EVOO, white wine & lots of garlic and hot pepper flakes.

Spaghetti w.Clams 1

Ingredients

  • Spaghetti/pasta of choice
  • 1 can of chopped clams (we used Bumble Bee), drained, but save the juice
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • Plenty of EVOO (we used our olive oil that we infused with dried hot peppers)
  • 1/4-1/2 cup white wine
  • Plenty of red hot pepper flakes (if you like it spicy! less if you don’t)
  • salt & pepper to taste

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Directions

  1. Boil water for your pasta/spaghetti and eat a pan with EVOO (again, we used red hot pepper infused olive oil that we make and always have on hand). Once the pan is hot, add in your chopped garlic.
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Wednesday Workout: My Favorite Cardio Kickboxing Combos {take 3}

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Good morning! I’ve had “kickboxing combos part 3” on my list of blog posts for a really long time, so I’m happy to finally have this post for you today 🙂 I’ve shared some kickboxing combo’s with you before, but in case you’ve missed them, there they are:

My Favorite Cardio Kickboxing Combos {Take 1}
My Favorite Cardio Kickboxing Combo’s {Take 2}

I’ve got 5 more for you today, so let’s get right to it! If you’re not familiar with the basic punches and kicks, be sure to check out the first post linked above as that goes through all of those. If you’re good with those, then skip right ahead to the combos below!

Jog w/speed bag high & low, 2 knees right and left, squat & kick right & left, burpee

  • Jog in place & do 4 counts of speed bags up by your head and then down by your waist
  • 2 right knees & 2 left knees
  • Squat & kick right, squat & kick left
  • Burpee (or keep with the squat & kicks if burpees don’t feel right for you)

4 Jabs & 2 blocks right and left, 2 knees right & left, 4 high knees & 2 jumping jacks

  • 4 fast jabs to the front with your right arm and then 2 blocks with the right arm while doing 2 boxer hops to the right
  • 4 fast jabs to the front with your left arm and then 2 blocks with the left arm while doing 2 boxer hops to the left
  • 2 knees right and left
  • 4 high knees  and 2 jumping jacks

(PS watch my face at the end when the falling frames scared the crap out of me! You’ll see in the next videos that I am no longer phased by it haha}

4 low speed bags to the right, 4 butt kicks, 4 low speed bags to the left, 4 butt kicks, knee & kick right & left, burpee

  • 4 speed bags by the right hip + 4 butt kicks
  • 4 speed bags by the left hip + 4 butt kicks
  • Knee + kick on the right and left
  • 1 Burpee

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Weekending: Keeping Warm!

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Good morning! I had yesterday off which was such a nice treat, especially after drinking vino all afternoon at the Boston Wine Expo on Sunday 😉 Our weekend was filled with lots of good eats, tasty drinks and plenty of love to keep us warm- let’s recap!

  • A free sweetgreen lunch on Friday was a nice treat 🙂 If you come to my 5:30 sweat-KICK class at Foster Fitness, you can also get a voucher for a free meal at sweetgreens;)

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  • After work drinks at Tony C’s at Assembly Square with some college girlfriends was a fun treat, but coming home to surprise early Valentine’s Day flowers and a delicious spaghetti with clams dinner was even better!

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  • I thought my kickboxing class on Saturday would be quiet because of the weather, long weekend and holiday, but there were still about 40 people who showed up to sweat with me- they killed it!

  • I did a huge grocery haul at Whole Foods after class so we didn’t have to leave for the rest of the day… which must’ve been everyone else’s plan because it was SO BUSY!

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  • I started my Box FIIT certification later that afternoon. I can’t believe how much time and energy George Foreman III put into this certification- it’s so impressive and I can’t wait to be part of the team!

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  • Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies- enough said!

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  • I slow cooked chicken all day to make pulled chicken for taco night… or what was supposed to be taco night! I was prepping the last bits of the meal when we lost power in half of the apartment, including the stove, which meant no tacos for us 😦 While the pizza we ordered was delicious, I was REALLY looking forward to pulled chicken tacos!

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  • Sunday morning we still didn’t have power in half of the apartment so we headed over to RM’s mothers to have our pancakes there. I had all intentions of making cute heart shaped ‘cakes, but these still did the trick!

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  • We bundled up and headed into the city on Sunday afternoon for the Boston Wine Expo. It was such an awesome way to spend a frigidly cold Valentine’s Day!

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  • We also ran into our friends from Tre Olive which was a fun surprise. I’ve posted about them a few times (here and here) so it was great to get to see them. Every time we went to their booth they were slammed, but I did manage to get a photo with them and they were gracious enough to give us quite the goodie bag. Seriously- look at all of the oils they gave us and the fig balsamic which is literally drinkable it’s so tasty. If you’re looking for an interesting gift to give your boss, client, parents, friends who are getting married, etc., Tre Olive has everything you’d need! Their packages make the best gifts.

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  • After the wine expo, we weren’t quite ready to stop having fun so we popped in at Rosa Mexicano for a drink and a snack. So tasty!

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  • For dinner, I was able to make the pulled chicken tacos that I couldn’t make on Saturday. I apparently forgot to take a picture, but they were fantastic!  I sautéed some broccoli slaw and bok choy for the base, topped that with pulled chicken and homemade pineapple salsa and avocado. We had plenty of leftovers so I made us a quesadilla last night- just as good!

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  • I had Monday off so I spent time in the morning filming some cardio kickboxing combinations before heading over to Gymit in Watertown to checkout the new Everybody Fights addition. George has been teaching a bunch of intro classes and luckily I had time in my schedule to take one. It was such a great class- very challenging and let’s face it- you feel like a total badass punching the big bags 😉

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  • And finally, the rest of the day was spent doing more of the certification and doing lots of meal prep! Love starting the week out with lots of healthy food options right at our fingertips.

Did you make it this far? I had more to share than I thought I did! I hope you all have a great week- soak up this warmer weather while you can 🙂

Questions for you: How was your weekend? Did you do any good workouts? Did you do anything for Valentine’s Day? How did you keep warm? Do you prefer quesadilla’s or tacos?

Five on Friday {2.12.16}

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Good morning! TGIF 🙂 Have you guys had a good week? Mine has been great- between teaching and a get together with my girlfriends it’s flown right by. Let’s get to some of my favorite things right now.

Five on Friday

1. GALentine’s Book Club Night- Our friend Amy hosted book club this time and in true Amy fashion when it comes to anything holiday/party related, she knocked it out of the park with her decorations and overall festive feel. She and her roommate cooked up a terrific dinner of chicken parm and we had a blast talking about the book (and other random topics) over wine. AND Amy made us all hand-made valentines consisting of a card and a “De-Stress Coconut Oil Body Lotion” which she described as “this tranquil blend of chamomile, lavender and frankincense can help relieve discomforts associated with stress and anxiety”… anyone want to place an order for some? 😉

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2. Cuckoo’s Calling– Speaking of book club, this was the book we read this past time and while it took me a bit to get into it, I ended up really getting hooked. I read the last 150 or so pages in just a few hours! We are reading her sequel next: Silkworm- I can’t wait! We are also reading 5 Love Languages since we’ve got a little extra time until the next meeting. Have any of you read either of these?

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3. Wine Expo– RM and I were trying to decide what to do for V-Day and when my friend mentioned the Wine Expo, I thought that was a great idea. I searched through some old emails and found a promo code which took $10 off the admission price, which was just icing on the cake (VALDAY16 is the code if you’re interested- there is still availability for Sunday). I’ve been to the seminars a few times, but never the full expo so I can’t wait!
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