Tag: highlights

30 Favorites from my 30th Year

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Good morning! And happy birthday to my fellow April 14th birthday girls, Jess and Ashley! In honor of my birthday, I thought it would be fun to look back at 30 of my most memorable/favorite moments from my 30th year. While 30 was certainly the best year yet, I feel like 31 will be off to quite the start, too! BTW these are in no particular order- they are just in order of how they came up in my mind.

  1. Engagement (DUH!)- best day in my life thus far
  2. Picking the location & date– felt so good to get this done because we couldn’t do much planning until we did this
  3. RM passing his broker exam- SO proud of my handsome fiance
  4. Finding my wedding dress– I thought this was going to be a stressful day, but it was the best part of my whole wedding planning experience thus far.
  5. Yoga– I did a few weeks of yoga at CorePower and a few one-off classes. Hoping to do more this year
  6. Hosting my family for a Sunday Dinner- It was so fun having my parents and sister over for me to cook for them!
  7. Moving to Watertown with RM– Although a little scary, this was the best move for our relationship. Living together is so awesome
  8. Renovating- OK, this wasn’t really my favorite thing at the time, but shopping for things and picking things out together to create our home was awesome.
  9. Traveling to Dallas and then Minneapolis- I did a few out of state work trips, which is always a nice getaway
  10. Huge 5K PR and coming in 3rd place for my age group- OAKtoberfest 5K was great!
  11. Watching various TV series with RM (Ray Donovan, Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Mad Men)- I’ve never been big into TV, but RM is so he got me hooked on some shows.
  12. Weekends at home (4th of July, after I got engaged, Dad’s bday, Christmas Eve and recently for wedding related things)- I always love escaping the city and spending QT with my parents
  13. Girls lunches- so many of these!! I joke now that I have to designate a whole Saturday afternoon to them because it’s always a 3-4 hour thing.
  14. Friendsgiving/Thanksgiving at my sister’s & RM’s mothers- Friendsgiving at Amy’s brother’s apartment with the girls and their sig. others was a first for us, but something I hope we continue. Getting to spend time with my parents and RM’s family in the same day on Thanksgiving was also great.
  15. Organizing my first blogger event– Together with the owner of Social Restaurant & Bar I organized my first blogger event, which was a huge success!
  16. Book club- Although I may scramble to get the books finished, this is such a fun thing to be a part of.
  17. Engagement Photos– Janelle is the cutest photographer and person ever so it was a blast working with her. Originally I didn’t want these, but I’m so happy we did them because hopefully it got the awkwardness out before the wedding!
  18. Fitness Photos– My first shoot with Janelle- loved the turnout.
  19. Lululemon window performance– Getting the chance to workout in the Lululemon storefront window was pretty freaking awesome.
  20. Wedding planning with mom- To everyone else except my mom (and my sister), I feel so annoying talking about my wedding, so it’s nice to have her/them
  21. Amazing 30th birthday celebrations– My birthday last year was so special thanks to RM, my family and my friends!
  22. Italy Trip- This could’ve filled multiple spots in my favorite highlights- such an amazing trip. I want to go back! {recaps: here, here and here}
  23. Date nights in Italy with RM
  24. Multiple ice creams- I’m so thankful to be marrying a guy who loves sweets as much as I do. On our way home from every Cape weekend we would stop at Sweet Caroline’s and get ice creams. It was my favorite!
  25. Boothbay Harbor– Meredith’s wedding was a great excuse for us to do a getaway weekend. We had a blast!
  26. Cape Weekends with RM- Some of my favorite summer memories are of the two of us at the Craigsville Beach, sipping drinks, listening to music, people watching and chatting.
  27. Foster Fitness– So happy to be a part of this gym- both teaching and getting to classes when I can.
  28. Lifting heavy weight- Long gone are my days of just crazy amounts of cardio. While I still love cardio, I’ve learned to really love getting under the bar to lift heavy shit. I love muscles and I love feeling strong.
  29. BoxFIIT certification- While doing this certification just months before the wedding probably wasn’t the best idea, I’m so happy I’m doing it because I’m learning SO MUCH and can’t wait to start teaching my own classes.
  30. Bikini Rebellion– I’ll let the recap of this post do the talking, but this was one of the best challenges I have ever done. Here’s to loving ourselves- for who we are, rather than hating ourselves for who we are not.

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I had a hard time stopping at just 30 because there were so many wonderful events, celebrations, weekends, etc. over the past year. Thank you to everyone who was a part of them and thank you to everyone who consistently stops by B2B to see what I’ve been up to- this hobby wouldn’t be worth it without all of you.

With that, I’m off to celebrate my birthday: workout, mani/pedi/lunch with Jess and then heading to Wakefield to teach my sweat-KICK class… because even though it’s far away, teaching makes me HAPPY, and that’s what birthdays are all about, right?!

2015: A Year In Review

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Good morning! 2015 has officially come and gone and at this point we are in our first week of 2016- wow! I have to say, though, what a year 2015 was- from work accomplishments to blogger events to the biggest and best thing of the year- getting engaged- 2015 was one for the books. Here are some of my favorite/most memorable memories:

  • Ridiculous amounts of snow– which was fun at first, but got old reallll fast. I will say, though, I think I gained some upper body strength from all the shoveling. And, I will also say that I was happy for the upper body strength I had gained prior to the storms because it made my shoveling job much easier.

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  • Ski trip to Sugarbush– I hadn’t been skiing in nearly 10 years, but I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to keep up with the guys (well, for the most part!)

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  • Snowy Valentines Day- We decided to cancel our plans as soon as we figured out we would likely be snowed in. We ended up walking to Kelly’s Pub for dinner and it was perfect!

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  • San Francisco with some of my college bests- OMG this was an amazing trip and break from the ridiculous winter back in Boston. We did so many things, but most of all it was just nice to be with a few good friends, drinking delicious wine and exploring an amazing city. Recaps are here, here, and here.

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  • Mom & dad came to Boston– My sister gave them a hotel room for the night as their Christmas gift and we had a blast going to 75 Chestnut and then dancing at Whiskey Priest!

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  • Kia’s Bachelorette party & wedding- These were back to back weekend events which were so fun! The bachelorette party was in North Conway and wedding up in Vermont. Loved celebrating these two!

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  • Birthday Celebrations part 1– wine fest & Cinquecento– 30 was a big birthday! And RM, my family and friends made me feel so special! The wine fest was awesome and dinner at Cinquecento was really delicious.

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  • My first SoulCycle class and birthday lunch with my sister is also such a great memory! We had a blast and it was so nice of her to want to do that for my birthday.

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  • Birthday Celebrations part 2-  “surprise” party at Carrie Nation– RM wanted to throw me a real surprise party, but it wasn’t going to work out, so I knew about the date, but I didn’t know any details. He did an amazing job pulling everything off- such a lucky girl!

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  • Italy– a fantastic nearly 2 week vacation. I want to go back! If you missed those posts, you can read them here, here, and here.

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  • Window performance at Lululemon– I loved getting a chance to workout in the window at Lululemon! You can check out the workout here.

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  • Participating in the #bikinirebellion challenge– I did a full recap here, but in short, this was an amazing challenge that really helped change the way I look at myself, working out, etc.

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  • Running my own outdoor bootcamp- This was such a highlight of my year! I hope that it continues to grow throughout the years!

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  • Lots of Cape Cod weekends– we were able to get down to the Cape a lot this past summer which was such a nice way to escape the city for a bit. So many beach days, Big Squeeze Beers & ice creams!

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  • Vermont with my family– Now that my sister and I each have significant others, we don’t do things with just the two of us and our parents very often so it was nice getting a chance to get away and spend some quality time just the 4 of us… not to mention it was in one of my favorite cities and old stomping grounds!

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  • Fitness photo shoot- Getting a chance to work with Janelle of Janelle Carmela Photography for a fitness photo shoot was a blast and I’m so happy with how the photos came out!

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  • Our only summer wedding- Celebrating Meredith and Brandon up in Boothbay Harbor was such a fun way to spend a weekend away!

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  • NBGNO events– I was lucky enough to attend a few NBGNO events this year and it’s always to great to be surrounded by so many empowering women and stories. If you’ve never made it to one of these events, it should absolutely be on your “must try” list for 2016!

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  • Moving into a new apartment with RM– This was a big step for our relationship, but it couldn’t have been a more perfect move for us. As RM said best, it put a sense of calmness on our relationship.

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  • Getting ENGAGED!!! Hands down this was the BEST, MOST AMAZING part of my 2015. RM literally made me the happiest girl alive when he asked me to marry him- it was such a special day and I seriously can’t wait to marry my handsome Italian!

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  • Getting a new 5K PR- I hadn’t run a race in forever so I was a little nervous to run the Oak Square YMCA race, but I ended up getting quite a bit of a PR (23:30 I think was my time?) AND coming in 3rd for my age group.

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  • Getting out of my comfort zone in the gym– I’ve wrote about this a few times here and here), but meeting Meghan and trying out classes at her gym (Foster Fitness) has been such a wonderful part of my fitness journey. She’s pushed me in ways I absolutely needed pushing and I’ve gained so much confidence with regards to heavier lifting!

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  • Book club-This has been something I totally look forward to every couple of months. I’ll admit that even though I love to read, these days my “spare” time is spent blogging, so having an excuse to put the computer down and pick up a book is the best. Plus, I love getting together with my girlfriends to drink wine and eat good food… and yes, we do talk about the book 😉

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  • Friendsgiving- it was our first time doing a “friendsgiving”, but I really hope it’s not our last! I loved another excuse to do the whole Thanksgiving meal thing without the pressure of having to travel or split the holiday.

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  • Thanksgiving in Boston– My sister and her roommate hosted Thanksgiving this year at their apartment in Dorchester so it was fun to be able to see both my family and RM’s family all in the same day without having to travel out of state!

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  • Wedding Dress Shopping– This was probably the best part of planning our wedding! I thought I was not going to enjoy it, but it ended up being such a great experience and I wish I could do it again!

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  • Birthday Celebrations & parties- Between my sister’s birthday, RM’s birthday and Jessi’s Christmas party, December was full of parties!

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  • My amazing classes! My members show up every week, ready for whatever craziness I decide to throw at them and it couldn’t make me happier!

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  •  Cristmas & Christmas Eve- Having RM come up to Maine to join us for our annual Christmas Eve party was such a nice treat! We also had a nice dinner with his family on Christmas day.

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Phew… did you make it this far? I realize that this list is long, but as I said, 2015 was a really great year! And with that, bring it on 2016!

Questions for you: What was the best part of your 2015? What are you looking forward to in 2016?

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

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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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Scenes from Saturday…

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I just got home from day full of errands and wanted to pop in and say hi before I relax for a bit! Here are some scenes from my Saturday!

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1. Jess’s tasting 2. Highlights in process 3. New magenta skinny jeans from Express 4. Finally having time to read 5. New hair! 6. Janet is the best hair stylist! 7. Free product for tweeting while at the salon 8. Car wash- love love love the car wash 9. afternoon pick-me-up 10. Bday card from mom- and you wonder where I get it from?

Tell me… how is your day?