Ringing in the New Year (by pictures)

January 3, 2014January 2, 201413 Comments

Remember how I said I was feeling really blah about NYE this year? I think part of the reason I wasn’t hyped up and excited about NYE this year was because my friends weren’t all doing something together. With that said, what I really wanted was to be dating someone and be able to just go somewhere fun for dinner and to ring in the New Year that way. Obviously that wasn’t the case for me (this year), but I am happy to say I pulled myself out of my little “womp, womp” mood and decided that I would go to my friends’ (Christy and Jamie) house party in Exeter, NH.

I wasn’t in the mood to drink (I had a glass of bubbly, though), but I still had a great time catching up with my friends that were there and getting to meet some new people, too. Waking up without a hangover and in my own apartment on New Years Day was ahhhhmazing! Here’s my recap by pictures- enjoy!

Big thanks to Christy and Jamie for throwing a fantastic party!

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For the past handful of years, my sister and I (and whoever else is around) have had a tradition of going out to lunch on New Years Day. We’ve had our fair share of hangovers for these lunches, but this year we were both hangover free- yay! We decided to try someplace new and went to Stephi’s in Southie. We were both totally impressed with the restaurant! It had a great vibe, neat décor and a super tasty menu (and affordable wine and cute guys. True story.). We enjoyed white wine, the black forest ham and brie sandwich and the special of the day: open faced omelet with hollandaise sauce, mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese and asparagus. Yuuu-uuum. We foresee going back for a girls night dinner sometime in the near future!

So, although I wasn’t super amped to go into the new year, I’m feeling really good about it now. In all honesty, your life is what you make of it, so I’m trying to go into this year with a positive outlook and make it a terrific year.

Questions for you: What did you do for NYE this year? How do you manage a hangover? Have you been to Stephi’s?

Happy Birthday, Danielle!

December 7, 20137 Comments

Today is my sisters- gasp- 26th birthday! It’s weird, because I feel like I just turned 26. For those of you who have sisters that you’re close with, I’m sure you totally understand the sister bond. Danielle and I may not get along all the time, but at the end of the day, we are sisters and we always have each others backs.

Last night, we celebrated her birthday and Amy’s birthday with drinks at the Top of the Hub and dinner at Vlora.

We lucked out because the skies cleared and we could see the city!

Nights out with these pretty ladies are my favorite!

What a fun night! It was a treat to get dressed up for fancy drinks at the Top of the Hub and dinner at Vlora never disappoints. If you like Greek/Mediterranean food, I highly suggest going!

Happiest birthdays to you, Danielle (and Amy!). Here’s to a fantastic year!

Questions for you: Have you ever been to the Top of the Hub or Vlora? Where do you go when it’s a special night out?

Beef Burgundy: Sometimes I crave red meat

October 24, 2013October 23, 20136 Comments

Whenever I’m scheduled to go home, my mom always asks me to think about what I would like her to make me for a special meal (I know, I’m spoiled!). Well, as soon as she asked me this question a few weeks ago, I immediately responded with: Beef Burgundy. Sort of a strange request, right? I don’t know why I was craving it, but I was totally in the mood for red meat and hadn’t had beef burgundy in a while so I thought it was a great idea.

Lucky for me, my parents always have every type of meat imaginable in their freezer, so this wasn’t a problem at all! And, for once, I sat back and let my mom do all the cooking. I drank bubbly and blogged, while chatting with her and keeping her company in the kitchen.

I forget the name of the cookbook that she used for the recipe, but I did take a picture of the recipe and instructions since I thought it was good enough to share.

Instead of using egg noodles, I requested that we use potatoes from my dad’s garden and make garlic mashed potatoes (my fav!). We also baked broccoli and had steamed carrots and parsnips.

This meal was absolutely delicious and I’d love to say it was easy, but I have no idea how easy or hard it was to make since mom did everything 😉 Sometimes there’s just nothing better than having wine and a nice meal on a Sunday night, especially when you know you aren’t going into the office the next day 🙂

Thanks for making such a nice meal for me, mom! B2B readers- if you’re looking for a change up to your normal meal rotation, I highly suggest adding this!

Questions for you: If someone offers to make you dinner, what do you usually request? What’s your idea of a perfect dinner? Red meat- fan or not?

Weekend in Maine: getting out of dodge

October 15, 2013October 13, 20136 Comments

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!

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?

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.

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.

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” 😉

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!

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.

Bubbly and blogging… how fitting.

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.

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?

My Apartment is Officially Warm

October 1, 2013September 30, 201315 Comments

I had my housewarming party this past weekend and boy was it fun! There was a great crowd (I think about 20+ people throughout the afternoon), tasty food, lots of wine and festive decorations. Although it’s always a little stressful planning and hosting a party, I really do love it. I wish I could do it more often, but that would be a very costly habit.

After work on Friday I headed to Market Basket to get things for the party. While I was there, I did my weekly grocery shopping so I didn’t have to do it on Sunday. Since MB was not busy at all (shocker- it’s always busy), it was a great choice. I also went to Kappy’s to get some wine and beer. Even though people were bringing their own, I wanted to have some at the start of the party.

I decided I wanted to make Turkey Chili, so I based my recipe loosely off of this recipe, but I added ground turkey into the mix, too. It came out delicious and was a big hit!

I also made some Pumpkin Pecan bars on Friday night and a mini pizza for myself. It was a very busy night!

Saturday was a little crazy in that I had to head to Brighton to teach from 10-11. It was ok, though- I love starting my day with a good sweat and after that I was amped and ready to get my apartment into party mode.

I also went with a country/cowgirl theme, per my friends’ request!

So fun! Not long after everything was ready, people started to show up. Everyone was so sweet and brought me awesome gifts, which I wasn’t expecting at all!

Beautiful candle and decorative napkins (that match my color theme!), awesome knives and the best cutting board everrrrr (seriously, how often do you drop half of the veggies you’ve cut up when you’re trying to transfer them from the board to the pan. this will eliminate that!), 50 Shades of Grey game (so fun!), lots of wine, a gift card, a beautiful Orchid and the fantastic veggies and bread from my dad. I felt so spoiled! Thank you to everyone for bringing me such nice things!

I’ll let my pictures do the rest of the talking, but I will say that it was a great party. I had home friends and family, school friends, gym friends, neighbors (other people living in my building)… a great mix of people! The weather was perfect and we were able to hang out on the patio for a good portion of the day.