Playing Catch-Up

Hi there! It’s been a while since I’ve posted, huh? Last week was one of those weeks where I had really wanted to post at the beginning of the week, but didn’t have time because I was helping RM with some stuff and then by the time that freed up and I had time to blog, I just didn’t feel like it. But, I’m back today and hopefully at least a few more times throughout the week because I missed blogging and missed all of you!

Although last week was busy, it was a good week! I was able to head down to our new office location in Rockland to work for a day, I taught some fun classes, I got in a lot of great workouts and RM and I had a really amazing weekend on the Cape. All in all, no complaints here except for the fact that it’s already Monday again 😉

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Loved having Athena in class last week!

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I had exactly 27 minutes to get in my own workout and get ready to teach my class last week… it’s amazing what you can get done in 20 minutes!

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Congrats to the winner of the giveaway at the class I taught at Legacy Place last week!

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Went to an awesome class at B/Spoke Cape House– I woke up with a not-so-lovely wine headache so it felt good to sweat all of that out!

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On Saturday night, RM and I headed into Hyannis for a change of pace. We went to a little restaurant called Naked Oyster and had some delicious oysters & shrimp, clam chowder, salad and scallops. Everything was fantastic- I highly suggest checking it out if you’re in the area.

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We had two amazingly perfect beach days!

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We came home to a Just Add Cooking delivery and I whipped up one of their meals last night and it was fantastic- more to come on that!

And that about sums up the weekend! As for this week, if you’re looking to sweat with me you have 3 chances:

  • Tonight, 6:30pm “Seaport Sweat” cardio kickboxing on the greenery area outside of Gather & District Hall. It’s free, there’s a live DJ and it’s outside- that combination makes for a great class!
  • Tomorrow night, 6pm Bags & Beats at GymIt in Watertown
  • Saturday, 10am Cardio kickboxing at the Oak Square YMCA

I hope you have a great start to your week- chat with you later!

Questions for you: What’s going on in your life these days? Anything new or exciting? How was your weekend? Did you get to the beach or get any good workouts in? What’s on your agenda this week?

Weekending: Cape Edition

And we are already amidst another week…. can time please slow down?! RM and I escaped to the Cape last weekend and it really was the most perfect weekend from start to finish. The only bad thing was it ending! I was saying to RM on our way back to Boston yesterday that normally I’m OK with weekends and parties and vacations ending because I love my normal day to day life, but for some reason I really didn’t want last weekend to end.

Friday night, we packed up and headed south around 6:45, but not before I packed up some “healthier” weekend treats. I don’t like to travel without some staple food items because they help me stay more on track with the way I like to eat- here are some staples and some splurges, all picked up at the Whole Foods in Lynnfield.

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We hit ZERO traffic heading to the cape which was awesome! Before we knew it, we were saddled up at The Kettle Ho which is just down the road from RM’s family’s house. We had a few drinks and some dinner and called it an early night since RM had a 7:40 tee time on Saturday.

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While RM was golfing, I took advantage of being down on the Cape and took Aly’s class at the B/Spoke Cape House “pop up studio”.

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The class was AWESOME and judging by the crowds and waitlists, this was a great business venture for them. Aly’s class was crazy high energy, the tracks were challenging and I left there literally dripping with sweat.

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Continuing on with my “morning of me”, I treated myself to a post class smoothie and pedicure at the Mashpee Commons.
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This Week: Workouts, New Gig & Things I’m Looking Forward To

Good morning! How was your weekend? I was on the Cape with RM and some of his family (including two adorable little boys!) and although the weather was less than to be desired, we still had a great time. He and I grabbed a quick dinner at Jeveli’s in East Boston before making the trek to the Cape, which was smart because we avoided the 93 South daily traffic nightmare. The rest of the weekend was spent sleeping in (finally!), playing with the babes, drinking (lots of) wine, cooking and playing games- have you played Heads Up? SO FUN! I’ve mastered one of his mom’s ciambotta dishes, so I made that as well as some baked kale. Everything was so good and it was nice to be away from the grinds of the city for a little bit.

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Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- RM and I were still in Chicago, but we both got up for a little gym sesh first thing in the morning. I did 25 minutes on the elliptical before completing a little HIIT workout consisting of 15 exercises of 45 seconds on, 15 seconds rest. It was good!
  • Tuesday- I had all intentions of going to check out a class at a new-to-me gym, but since we got in really late on Monday night- errr Tuesday morning (1am style), I was exhausted and knew that if I wanted to food shop, cook dinner and get to bed at a reasonable hour, the workout had to go. I was very ok with that decision.
  • Wednesday- Since I wasn’t teaching my Thursday night double, I doubled up on Wednesday. The girl who teaches before me on Wednesdays teaches a killer class so it was fun to have my butt kicked. We did A LOT of burpees! I also taught my class after and did probably 75% of the workout.
  • Thursday- I went to a class at a new-to-me gym. It was actually a really good class- we did cardio (kickboxing!), weights and core work.

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  • Friday- I went for a 3.5 mile lunch time run and then did some core work (push-ups, planks, Russian Twists, Side Planks, etc.). I was happily surprised by how good the workout ended up being- all in a lunch break!

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  • Saturday- Mostly a rest day. RM’s sister-in-law wanted to workout with me so we ended up doing about 30 minutes of yoga/pilates/core work/squats in the living room. I was actually pretty sweaty by the time we finished!
  • Sunday- Initially it was going to be another rest day but by 12:30 I was getting antsy and starting to bug RM so he suggested that I go for a run, haha He’s always hell bent on making me rest so the fact that he was encouraging me to run was a nice change… I must have been really annoying 😉

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- By the time this post goes up I will have taught my Monday morning Muscle Work class and done some cardio. I know I always say this, but it’s so true: it sucks getting up but my Monday is so much better when I know my workout is done before 7:30!
  • Tuesday- We have an “all hands” meeting at the Boston Harbor Hotel on Tuesday and Wednesday so I’ll get up before that to get my workout in.
  • Wednesday- I might double up again, but I may just run before I teach UXF Burn.
  • Thursday- Not sure! Might go to that class that I went to last week again. We’ll see.
  • Friday- Probably a rest day.
  • Saturday- I’m subbing a class at the new-to-me gym that I’ve mentioned earlier in this post. It’s called Chisel, which I think is mostly a muscle class. I hope they like me!
  • Sunday- Not sure- maybe another rest day. My parents will be here so my mom may want to walk with me which would be fun.

New Gig

As I’ve mentioned, I may have a new little teaching gig. I know, I know. I just gave up my Thursday double because it was too much and here I am adding more on again. Don’t worry, thoughnothing has been added to my schedule as a permanent class- I’m just on the sub list for now. The best part about the gym is it is literally at the end of the entrance for my new office, so it’s super convenient. It’s an all women’s gym called PUMPS and I love what I know about it so far. I have been to a number of classes and the instructors are great and the member base seems really dedicated. I’m excited about having a new place to workout and meet new people!

Things I’m Looking Forward To

This is a busy week, but I’m excited about it. I get to spend Tuesday and Wednesday at the Boston Harbor Hotel for a work conference with my entire company, which is a great way for me to meet more people. Tuesday night we are going on an Oddessey cruise around Boston Harbor, which is always a good time- I just hope we have good weather. On Thursday night, I am going to my sister’s apartment to make pizza and have wine. We haven’t seen each other in a MONTH, which is unheard of for us so I’m really looking forward to it! And, lastly, and what I’m most looking forward to is the fact that my parents are coming down on Saturday to spend the night! Mom and I are going to get pedicures during the day and then RM will come over and we are going to cook a nice dinner for my parents. I’m going to learn how to make his mom’s sauce- can’t wait for that!

Questions for you: What was the best workout you had last week? How many rest days did you take? Did your weekend plans get ruined because of the weather? What are you most looking forward to this week?

Catching Up: New Hair, Cape Weekend, 4th of July

I don’t know about anyone else, but last week was a busy week! Here are some highlights 🙂

  • New Hair- I got a Living Social deal for highlights so I took advantage of it on Tuesday. She went rather blonde… what do you think?

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  • Morning Workouts- Since I wasn’t teaching ANY kickboxing classes last week, I decided to get up and do something I haven’t done in a long, long time on Thursday morning: kickboxing workout AT HOME. Before I started teaching kickboxing classes, I used to do kickboxing workouts at home fairly often. It’s really the best cardio workout for me! And, it doesn’t require that much space or any equipment- perfect!

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While on the Cape, I went for a morning run one day and walk the next- even though it may be tough getting out of bed and actually starting the workout, my day really is so much better when I know I have my workout out of the way!

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  • Eats & Drinks- Last week wasn’t the healthiest of eats for me, but it was a holiday weekend- can ya blame me?! When I got to the Cape on Thursday I suggested that RM and I go out to lunch so we headed to Mashpee Commons and settled at Bobby Byrne’s. We found an outside spot in the shade which made outdoor dining possible in the crazy heat and humidity. I started with a sangria and RM choose a drink because it was “named after him”… can you guess what it was 😉

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For lunch, I went with the Fajita Salad which was delicious!

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I didn’t get much pictures of the food during the rest of my time on the Cape because I felt awkward whipping out my phone to take pics in front of his family, but I will say everything we had was delicious. My family jokes that we think about the next meal before we’re finished with the current meal and being away with an Italian family who has that same mentality (RM’s parents came over from Italy when they were in their teens/young 20’s) made me feel right at home! His mom was in the kitchen most of the weekend 🙂 Friday night we had a traditional BBQ with cheese burgers, hot dogs, kale, chickpea salad and rice- so good! On Saturday, RM’s mom mad a whole roast chicken meal, which just happens to be one of my favorite meals. Since the weather was crappy, it was the perfect thing!

On Saturday night, RM took all of us out to eat for his aunts birthday. We went to a new place called Villagio at the Regatta and the food did not disappoint. The service was not terrific, but I think they were still working out the kinks there (the restaurant opened on June 24th I think). I went with a seafood stew meal and it was SO good- there was so much seafood in the dish, which is a must in my book!

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For a little festive flare on the 4th, RM’s sister’s friend whipped up a batch of some delicious white sangria and I decided to add blueberries and strawberries to it. Drinks with treats in them are just better, right?!

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I also made some stars and stripes fruit skewers which, even though people laughed about, were a big hit!

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  • Beach and Activities- RM and I played corn hole for a while one day while we were at the Cape. Even though I played some good games, he ultimately ended up winning 5-4… womp.

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We were only able to get 1 beach day out of the weekend since we decided to get up and go early on Sunday to beat the traffic, but it was a beautiful beach day!

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  • Scenes from Maine- I have to say, I really missed being at home in Maine for the 4th with my family much more than I thought I would! There’s just something about going to the parade with everyone and doing a BBQ at the Mahoney’s that feels like the real kick-off to summer. Thankfully, my sister kept me included by sending pics!

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The weekend finished off with a beach afternoon in Eastie with my sister.

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And, to kick off the start of a healthy week, I went for a nice 5 mile run and then made a really veggie-filled dinner consisting of some lemon-pepper chicken, baked kale, sautéed zucchini, summer squash and onions and another side of baked Brussels sprouts, sweet potato and onion that I had frozen a while back. I made my zucchini and summer squash similar to this recipe– so easy and delicious!

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Such a great weekend! I was happy to be working from home yesterday, though. I thought I loved working from home on Friday’s but it turns out Monday’s are way better- it makes Sunday nights so much better knowing I don’t have to prep for the week!

Questions for you: How did you celebrate the 4th of July? Did you make any festive treats? Where is your favorite beach?

Lastly… I wanted to share these muffins that I made from Fannetastic Food– they were not only a hit with RM and me, but also with his family, who said they don’t usually like “healthy” treats. I had one for breakfast every morning and it was perfect!

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And, look how much my garden is growing! There’s definitely an animal that’s stepping around on some of the things, but hopefully once they grow bigger that will stop. Can’t wait to eat from it!

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