Tag: Easter

Weekending: Wedding Update & Double Easter Celebrations

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Good morning! Hopefully by the time this post goes up, I will have already gotten my butt kicked by Eliza at the Watertown GymIt/EBF studio. As part of the Box FIIT certification I’m working on, I’m trying to get as much class experience as I can with other instructors to help better prepare me for when it’s time to start teaching my own classes- eek!!

This past weekend was another good one- lots of family time with both families which is always a nice treat! However, I am looking forward to this weekend since we FINALLY have a weekend with virtually no plans, which hasn’t happened in forever. I have so many general life things that I want to catch up on, so hopefully I’ll be able to get a bunch done!

After work on Friday I went to the Paper Source in Lynnfield to finalize our wedding invitations. I started them online which helped because I went into the store knowing exactly what I wanted and how it looked, but I was also able to work with a super helpful lady who helped me add more text lines and change the layout a bit. They are super simple, but classy- I love them and can’t wait until they come in! Oh, and the best part? All wedding invitations and related things were 20% off, which really helped keep them within my budget.

Once that was done, I picked up a few things at Whole Foods: pizza ingredients for dinner and quiche ingredients for Saturday brunch with my family. I made this quiche which was a big hit.

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The pizza I made for RM and me was also fantastic- the dough from Whole Foods is so good!

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Saturday started off with a sweaty kickboxing class. I don’t know if it’s because I hadn’t worked out in 2 days or if it was because I hadn’t slept well the night before but the class kicked my butt!!

After class we showered up and headed into the city to go to my sister’s apartment for part 1 of our Easter celebrations. So much food, so much wedding talk, so many laughs! I also brought out my biggest of hair for the occasion 😉

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Oh! And my mom washed her vail and brought it down to see if I wanted to use it for our wedding. I think it will be so special having my “something old” (and something borrowed) as her veil. I just need to find a nice comb to attach it to.

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(and yes, I am a giant next to her!}

We stopped at Branch Line for a few drinks on our way home. As good as the drinks are, we REALLY need to get back there for dinner because everything looked and smelled amazing!

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Sunday morning I kicked off the day with a quickie 20 minute bodyweight tabata workout (I’ll share it with you on Wednesday!) and then went to church. I haven’t been to church since we moved, so I figured Easter Sunday was as good a day as any to start. I hope to get back into a more regular church-going schedule.

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When church was over I went food shopping and got wine and flowers for the Easter dinner at RM’s mother’s house. I didn’t get any photos of the food, but it was quite a feast: homemade lasagna (homemade noodles and everything!), grilled lamb, salad, brussels sprouts, potatoes, peppers and so many desserts. My future SIL’s parents came and when her mom walked in with a bunny cake it made me so happy because my mom always made me a bunny cake for my birthday/Easter!

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As much as I didn’t want to food prep when we got home, I knew it would be better if I just got it over with!

And that about does it- the weekend came and went way too quickly, per usual! I hope you all had a great weekend and have a kick ass week!

Questions for you: How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? What did you do for Easter? Did you get any good workouts in? Do you go to church?

Five on Friday {3.27.16}

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Good morning! TGIF, right?! I’ve felt like this week has DRAGGED on, which I can only attribute to teaching late on Tuesday, which isn’t something I tend to do. Oh, and just feeling really off this week. I feel like I’ve been fighting something for a few weeks now, and finally this week I took a day to just rest… which brings me to my first Five on Friday topic…

  • Taking time to rest- If you know me, you know I’m not good at resting. Whether it’s resting from the gym or resting from work or anything else, I’m not good at it. I have one speed: fast- I’m always going-going-going, and while I can sustain that for a while, there always comes a time where I’ve just had enough. All the signs were there, too: I wasn’t recover as quickly from my workouts, I felt achy, irritable, tired, yet not able to sleep well, diet was off, throat started to hurt. Basically, my body is telling me to SLOW THE EFFFF DOWN! So, yesterday I took a day for me. I felt so crappy as Wednesday wore on and pushed it too much in the class I taught so by the time I got home I was pretty miserable. I NEVER call in sick, but I did that yesterday morning and ended up sleeping soundly until after 9am, which also NEVER happens. I spent the day resting, hydrating, reading and blogging and it was glorious. Being go-go-go isn’t a bad thing, but it’s also so important to pump the breaks every once and a while and just do nothing. I needed that!

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  • Lent– For my fellow Catholics out there, today is Good Friday, meaning Lent is coming to an end. In years past I would give something up, but over the past few years I’ve started adding something instead. I added 10 minutes of meditation a few years ago and last year I did a daily gratitude journal, which was a nice way to appreciate all of the positive things in my life. This year, I planned to do the same but lost steam about halfway through. For a second I felt like I failed, but then I remembered that it isn’t about passing or failing. It was just something that wasn’t working for me right now- and that’s ok! I have been good about not eating meat on Fridays, so I’ll focus on that instead 😉
  • New glasses- I finally got a pair of glasses that I really like! I ordered a pair originally that I thought I liked, but when I got them home, I decided they were just not what I wanted. Luckily LensCrafters has a 30 day satisfaction guarantee so I went back and got these bad boys. While they are similar to my Ray Bans in the fact that they are plastic, they have a different shape and color so it makes them still seem new and fun.

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  • Wedding registry gifts– My bridal shower invites went out last week and it’s been so fun checking our registry to see things get checked off the list! AND, we received our first gift the other morning, which was a super fun surprise. Thanks to my SMC girls, we now have a wine fridge and I’m SO excited about it!
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  • Meal Delivery Services- I mentioned earlier this week how I am a brand ambassador for Just Add Cooking and although I plan on recapping everything for you next week, I have to share with you now that I am SO impressed with the company and the meals we’ve received and cooked so far. It has made cooking and dinner FUN by spicing up our normal meals. Stay tuned for some discounts I’m sharing next week.

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And that does it for me! I’m hoping that by the time I wake up today I feel much better and more like myself. As for weekend plans, I’m teaching tomorrow morning and then we are heading to my sister’s apartment for an early Easter celebration with my family. We will head to RM’s mother’s house for Easter dinner with them on Sunday.

What are you guys up to this weekend? Are you celebrating Easter? Do you give anything up for Lent? How has your week been? Do you ever just take time to rest or take a mental health day?

Boston Day of Fun, Pat Green Concert & Easter Weekend in Maine {Recap}

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I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, there’s nothing like the feeling of spending a weekend home in Maine. I come back to the city feeling totally re-charged. I love the fast-paced, city life style 95% of the time, but after weeks and weeks of that, it feels really great to come home to Maine for a slower-paced, less busy weekend.

I cannot tell you how amazing it was to have Friday off. I don’t know what my problem was last week, but I had ZERO desire to work. I managed to get through it, but it wasn’t fun! Friday started off with a much-needed hair cut, followed by a sushi lunch with the guy. We had planned to have a “day of fun” in the city since I had the day off and he had a half day.

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After lunch, we headed to Copley and did some shopping. I got my watch fixed and he scored big time at J. Crew. We finished the day at The Salty Pig, which would have been better if it wasn’t Good Friday (meaning we could eat meat). But! They had Gluten Free beers and a great music selection, so it was the perfect way to end our day.

That night, I had plans to go to the Pat Green concert at the House of Blues with my sister and some friends. Danielle surprised me with tickets for my birthday and even though I had never heard of him, I was excited to go to a country concert with a fun group of people!

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After a very sweaty (per usual) and still fairly packed kickboxing class on Saturday morning, Danielle and I headed north for the rest of the weekend. We met our mom in Kennebunkport for lunch at Federal Jacks, which was delicious! I got the beef and barley soup (so random, but it sounded so good) and the strawberry and goat cheese salad. I knew I had to go try on clothes after lunch so I wanted to keep it on the lighter side.

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After shopping around at PJ’s Unique Peek for an outfit to wear in the fashion show next weekend, we headed home to finally see dad! He and I prepped veggies and meat for the BBQ- I cannot tell you how excited I was to have a BBQ!

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Danielle and I were in bed and asleep before 10pm… and didn’t wake up until 8:45 on Sunday morning. I haven’t slept that long in who knows when and it was amazing!!! We did Easter baskets, church, brunch and then helped dad clean up the wood on the lawn (for the winter months) Mom and I went for a nice 40 minute walk and then we all had a bonfire until it was time to cook dinner.

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We had an absolutely wonderful meal… so good that I think I need to share it with you soon 😉

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All in all, it was such a good weekend! From the time I woke up on Friday, to the time I went to bed on Sunday (ahhh, the joys of having a flexible job that allows me to work from home in Maine!), I pretty much had a non-stop smile on. I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life- both family and friends, and getting some solid, uninterrupted family time over the weekend was exactly what I needed after a very hectic March and April.

I hope all of you had a nice Easter celebration (if you celebrate it)!

Questions for you: Have you heard of Pat Green? Do you like going to concerts? What did you do for Easter- was it a small celebration or a big family thing? Were you able to enjoy the nice weather?

Easter Recap

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Happy Easter, Burpees to Bubbly readers:) I cannot tell you how sad I was to leave Maine today… a 24 hour trip is just NOT enough!

Did the Easter bunny come to your house? He sure came to ours!

006Mom filled our baskets with some fun treats. I was especially excited about the Greek Yogurt cookbook; I can’t wait to make something from it!

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We all got decked out in our Easter outfits and headed to church. Prior to leaving, my dad came in the house and announced that Easter is so great for parents with 5-year-old girls because they get to see them all dressed in their white Easter dresses. Like, what?! What does that even mean? Haha. Danielle and I were not really sure how to take that, but once he saw us dressed in our non-white Easter dresses, he didn’t seem too disappointed. Random side note ended.

My mom got busy in the kitchen when we got home from church while my dad and sister dealt with insurance stuff and I created a cute “Easter” workout. Confession: I didn’t actually do the workout since today was my rest day, but I think it’s a good one!

Easter WorkoutIf nothing else, the Easter theme is enough to make me smile!

Brunch was absolutely delicious. We all agreed it was one of the best ones we could remember!

011Mimosas, ham, quiche, asparagus, ricotta & asparagus pinwheel (omg delicious. Definitely getting the recipe and making it asap… Mom kept saying how “blog worthy” it was) and delicious fruit! I was so happy that we had leftovers to bring back to MA with us:)

Since Easter usually falls right around my birthday (April 14th), we have started to celebrate my birthday and Easter at the same time. More presents for me! 😉 This year, though, my mom will be heading down to MA next weekend so she wanted to do my presents and cake then, but I did coax her into letting me open one!

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013A few weeks ago my mom had a “girls weekend” trip in North Conway, NH and she picked up both of these things there. The wine is from a local vinyard- I can’t WAIT to try it! And, the glass serving platter is beautiful.

And, with that, Easter and the weekend are over. Whomp, whomp:( Besides my normal teaching schedule, this week is quiet and I am so excited about that! Oh, and tomorrow starts Birthday Month AND the April Arms Challenge. April is going to be SO.MUCH.FUN!

Questions for you: How was your Easter? Did the Easter bunny bring you anything good? What does your week look like?

’tis a Good Friday, Indeed!

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Hey there! Happy Friday:) Mine is especially happy since I have today off from work! The only downside is that I woke up feeling a little under the weather:( I’ve loaded up on meds and vitamin C, so hopefully I’ll kick this cold thing fast! It’s Easter weekend and I want to be ready to eat loads of candy! (ok, not loads, but you know what I mean).

Did you all like my post on C2 Pilates yesterday? I had lots of new hits on my site, so if any of you are new readers, welcome!

Let’s catch up, shall we?

On Wednesday, I mentioned that I was going to go for a run, and I did just that!

002Obviously this isn’t an “official” PR (personal record), but I’m definitely counting it as my PR! The weather was finally warm enough to run in just these and a long-sleeved top- loved it!

Yesterday was my first day teaching my Thursday double session at the Central Square BSC. It’s always a little tough taking over a class that has a lot of followers for a specific teacher, but I think it went ok! My kickboxing class, as always, was a blast, although I totally had a brain fart when leading on the left side. I am usually pretty good at remembering what we did on the right, but yesterday I couldn’t keep it straight! Luckily my loyal followers picked up my slack:) Needless to say, I left the gym physically exhausted and so sweaty003… and I totally loved it!

I scarfed down some leftovers when I got home and then promptly set up shop on the couch to watch Greys Anatomy! Charlie was my snuggle buddy for a little while.

004As for today… I’ve got lots of things I *want* to do, but I am trying to be easy going and not rush around like a crazy person to get everything done… “trying” being the key word:) So far I have done laundry and changed my sheets, had breakfast, foam rolled (hurts so bad… none of that “hurts to good” crap here. But I NEED to get better at this. Would love some tips on how to be better at it!!)

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and made some cupcakes for easter:)

easter cupcakes(I had to try a bite- cupcakes for breakfast? why not?!)

At my friend Jess’s baby shower, her sister had these adorable party favors for us

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008Since I had an open container of frosting (blogger confession: I LOVE LOVE LOVE frosting. Literally would- and have- eaten it by the spoonful), I decided today was the perfect time to make these cupcakes.

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They were so easy and they came out so cute. Definitely a great party favor (bridal shower, baby shower, birthday party, etc).

Once I publish this post, I plan on doing something physical… might go for a light jog or walk or do a deck of cards workout (google this- it’s a workout created by Bob Harper and Athena and Jen swear by it!). I also want to go to Lululemon to get this tank… I am obsessed.

Anndddd, that’s all I’ve got for now!

Questions for you: What’s on your agenda for today or the weekend? Do you foam roll? Have any good tips for me?

Have a wonderful day:)

Ps- I promise to have a workout for you this weekend:)