Friday Shares

October 6, 20176 Comments

Hey there! I was looking through my phone and realized there were some (mostly random) things that I wanted to share with you in case you’re interested.

Homemade sausage night – a few weekends ago, RM and I headed over to our friends’ new house in Westwood to make sausage. Sounds random, but it was SO fun! On top of making our own sausage, we made homemade sauce, pasta and even the salad dressing was homemade. We had 2 Kitchen Aid mixers running pretty much non-stop – good thing the vino was flowing well 😉 It was such a fun dinner, especially knowing that we made almost everything we ate. Thanks for having us over, Jessi and Chuck! can’t wait to do it again!

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Cooking Light Mac n Cheese – Last weekend, it was a gross, rainy Saturday and RM and I didn’t feel like going out to dinner since we had gone out the night before. After much debate on what to cook/eat, I remembered this delicious mac n cheese recipe from years ago (2011, to be exact). Luckily, I still had the magazine and with a quick trip to the store, was able to whip it up. We added in our homemade garlic, Parmesan and parsley sausage and it made for SUCH a good dinner! We also used Jovial’s brown rice pasta and you honestly couldn’t tell it wasn’t the “real deal”. We enjoyed leftovers for a few days – definitely recommend this dish next time you’re craving comfort food!

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Apple Crisp – we went apple picking last weekend and I couldn’t WAIT to make apple crisp. I quickly googled a few variations and ended up making this gluten free one, which came out incredible! Seriously so tasty, especially served with Talenti’s Vanilla Bean gelato (our absolute favorite brand).

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Revere Pre & Post Workout – A few weeks ago, I was contacted by someone from Revere, the startup providing plant-based powder formulas derived only from natural, whole foods to help users maximize the results they get from their exercise routines, to see if I’d be interested in trying out their products. I had recently seen a bunch of other fitness professionals sharing things about this product, but, as with any “supplement”, I was skeptical. That is, until I read more about the product and ingredient list. Normally these types of products come laden with ingredients we can’t pronounce, but not Revere! I plan on doing a bigger recap later, but wanted to share a quick bit now. I’ve been using them for a few weeks and totally love them, mostly because the ingredient list is SO clean, but also because they just mix with water (and they give you an awesome bottle to mix it in!). Besides vitamins, the only other ingredients are things like sweet potato, beetroot, green tea, pomegranate and a little sugar, but nothing artificial! If you’re interested in learning more in the meantime, check out their page where you can find all the info. Also,if you like what you see, I will have a discount code for you soon!

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Seaport Sweat – This is just a reminder that Seaport Sweat is continuing through the END of October!! Though it’s getting dark MUCH earlier these days, there are plenty of lights that give it such a nice ambiance 😉

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Lululemon Treats – Speaking of Seaport Sweat, a group of the new Seaport Lulu employees came to my class on Monday and surprised me with this amazing top! I’m seriously so excited because it’s the perfect top to workout in the cooler, but not yet cold, temps. Plus, it’s super cute. Thanks, ladies!!

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Since We Fell – this is our new book club book and so far, I’m absolutely obsessed and cannot put it down. Has anyone read it?

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DC Weekend – Next weekend, RM and I are heading to DC for a little 3 night getaway. We rented an amazing little Airbnb apartment that looks to be in the heart of restaurants and sites, but otherwise have no plans. Anyone have any restaurant or sightseeing suggestions?

And that does it for me! I hope all of you have a great weekend – it’s supposed to be another warm one 🙂

Questions for you: Have you done any fall baking recently? How about any fall activities? What are you reading these days? Have you tried Revere products? Do you use any protein powders or anything before or after a workout?

Five on Friday {5.27.16}

May 27, 2016May 26, 20166 Comments

Good morning and TGIF! I have a few hours of work and then I’m off until Tuesday- amazing! I’m hoping for good weather- I need to work on a tan for the wedding 🙂 Let’s jump right into some highlights going on this week:

Yogathon hosted by lululemon- On Saturday, June 5th, lululemon is hosting a 12 Hour “Yogathon” in Honor of Nation Cancer Survivor’s Day at The Street in Chestnut Hill to benefit two organizations devoted to sharing the health benefits of yoga. There are various different classes to choose from, so if this interests you and if you’re around on June 5th, all you need to do to register is make a donation of any amount to bodhi & mind yoga, which offers free one-on-one yoga and meditation practice to women battling breast cancer, and Triyoga Boston, a non-profit organization offering therapeutic yoga classes, using the Yogathon Eventbrite page.
Thankful for great friends– If you follow me on social media, I’m sure you know that I had my bachelorette party last weekend. I will do a full recap on it, but for now I’ll just say that I felt SO special, thankful and grateful for having so many wonderful friends in my life. They planned the most amazing weekend, filled with lots of my favorite things and I ended the weekend feeling so humbled by everything everyone did for me.

Bags & Beats @ GymIt- Earlier this week, I taught my first classes at GymIt in Watertown as a result of completing my BoxFIIT certification. I was pretty nervous going into the classes: new gym, new crowd, new class format, new app… after 4 years of mostly teaching at the same gyms to the same crowds, this totally put me out of my comfort zone, but you know what? I think I kinda rocked it! I had big shoes to fill, but I think members were happy with the classes I taught so I’m hoping to grow them over time. If you’re interested in checking it out, I teach on Tuesdays at 5:30 and 6:30pm and the classes are Bags & Beats so we use the heavy bags and do punching combos to the beat of the music mixed with non-boxing exercises. It’s a fun class and Tuesday reminded me that it’s so important to get out of our comfort zone and try new things because sometimes that’s exactly what you need to ignite a new fire within.

Embracing the weather & season- Yesterday I decided to take a rest day. It’s been a long and busy week and I feel like I’m still catching up on sleep/getting back to normal after my bachelorette weekend, so I decided to take a rest day yesterday. I knew I needed this because after my run on Wednesday, I felt abnormally sore and tired. I set my alarm yesterday morning to get up and go for a walk before work, but when my alarm went off I realized I would benefit more from sleep. Listening to our bodies is so important, and somethign I admit I still have to work on, but I was proud of myself yesterday for listening to my body and resting (and enjoying vino after work).

New Workout Plan- With our wedding coming up (38 days from today, to be exact!), I decided that I wanted to spend some time focusing on me when it comes to workouts. Lately I’ve been teaching a lot and have had a lot of other things going on so my own workouts have fallen a bit by the wayside; I still workout 5-6 days a week, but they aren’t as structured or formatted as I’d like them to be in order to see changes I’d like to see. With that said, I reached out to my girl Athena to have her create a month long upper-body focused workout plan for me for the month leading up to my wedding. I am by no means trying to lose weight, but rather I just would like to tone up my upper body and back and see what kinds of changes I can make when I consistently follow a plan. She sent me the workout plan the other day and upon first glance it looks great and I can’t wait to start- sometimes just having a new plan to follow is exactly what you need to get excited about something again!

And that does it for me! We don’t have a lot planned this weekend which is really nice. I’m hoping to get some sun, sleep and relaxation 🙂

Questions for you: How has your week been? When is the last time you got out of your comfort zone? Do you like to follow structured workout plans? How are you embracing the weather?

Currently I’m Crushing On {Part IV}

July 30, 2015July 30, 20157 Comments

I go through phases for things I’m loving. Whether it’s fashion, food or fitness, I tend to be really into something for a while and then once I get sick of it, I move on to something new. I’ve share some other things I’ve been crushing on here, here, and here. But it’s time to share some new things I’m loving- most are fashion related, as that is currently something I’m really into- enjoy!

These Lululemon casual pants- I don’t remember what the name of them is, but I got them on super sale and LOVE them! So comfy.

Skinny Jeans and Wedges/flowy tops (Shirt is from a boutique in Kennebunkport, jeans are J. Crew and shoes are Lucky Brand)

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Weekending: Decking it, #StreetSweat workout, Date night & SoulCycle

June 30, 2015June 29, 20154 Comments

Good morning! Lots of fun things to recap from the weekend, so let’s get right to it, shall we?

On Thursday night, RM and I met up to go for a walk after work. We hadn’t seen much of each other over the week so we figured that catching up and getting in some movement was a way to kill two birds with one stone! We love going for walks together and it was such a nice night! Piers Park is so pretty.

After work on Friday, I treated myself to a pedicure. I got a funky mint-green color (forget the name!) and wasn’t sure how I was going to like it but I actually love it!

Once I got home, I poured myself a glass of vino (rose- my fav these days!) and headed out to the back deck to enjoy my little urban oasis. My friend Jess got me this cookbook/entertainment book for my birthday and I’m loving it so far!

Have any of you read it? Not long after I settled in, RM stopped by and joined me for a drink before heading to his place to make fish tacos. We thought we had frozen some corn tortillas, but we were wrong so we enjoyed them sans tortilla. Still delicious!

Saturday I headed over to Chestnut Hill for the #streetsweat workout event lead by MOVE Fitness. In case you missed my initial blog post, check it out here. And don’t forget to enter the giveaway! I’ll pick the winner on Thursday morning. Back to the workout- it was really fun! At first I didn’t think it was going to be my type of challenging, but Ron and Sabrina did such a great job showing more advanced options as well as less advanced options so that everyone felt good during the workout. I ended up working really hard and felt it the next day. We did all sorts of fun things with the heavy sand balls, bands and our own bodyweight.

It was also great to workout with- and meet!- Lexi (Lexi’s Clean Kitchen), Rachel (Healthy-Chicks) and Michelle (Sunshine & Superfoods). Lexi had to leave the workout early to get set up for her table inside Lululemon, but here’s a post-workout pic of Rachel, Michelle and me!

We all headed into Lulu to try out some f the goodies that Lexi brought- 2 words: Holy.Yum! I can’t wait to check out her cookbook when it comes out next year!

(We were also given free samples of Juice Press juice and this one tasted just like a watermelon!)

After the event, I met my friend Jessi in the city for lunch at Granary Tavern and then we swung by our friend Amanda’s apartment in the North End. No pics, but it was such a fun little afternoon! Finally, my Saturday ended with a date night with RM- something we hadn’t done in Boston in forever!

We went to Island Creek Oyster Bar first and enjoyed some drinks and oysters, but ultimately decided we were in the mood for Eastern Standard. It was incredible- even at the prime time in Boston on a Saturday night we found seats at the bar right away at both places. It’s like they were waiting for us 😉 At ES we shared a salad, fried calamari and a lamb sausage pasta bake.

Sunday morning started with a fantastic bunch of healthy pancakes.

After, I met my sister at SoulCycle for the 11:45am class. It was a FULL room and the energy was amazing. It was our first time having a male instructor and I have to say that James L. was amazing!! He was so energetic and motivating and he had some really good dance moves at the front of the room- I would catch myself just watching him a few times!

To end out the weekend, I went to RM’s mom’s house for Sunday dinner and, per usual, it was delicious. I walked in and said it smelled delicious and asked what she cooked and she laughed saying it was sauce, duh. How silly of me!

All in all, despite the weather being less than perfect (ok New England, what’s with these rainy/cloudy weekends and perfect weather during the week?!), it was a really great weekend! Can’t wait to head up to Maine for the 4th this weekend!

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Do you have outdoor space to enjoy in the summer? What’s your ideal “date night”? Do you like male or female instructors better?

Wednesday Workout: Lululemon Window Performance

June 10, 2015June 10, 20153 Comments

Hey guys! Happy Wednesday. I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve done a Wednesday Workout post for you, right?! Today’s is fun because it’s a shortened version of the workout I did in the window at Lululemon over the weekend. Although it was a little awkward doing my workout thang in the window of Lulu on a busy Saturday, the awkwardness went away fairly quickly and I got in my groove- in my happy place.

When coming up with the workout, I knew I didn’t want to include cardio because I A. didn’t want to sweat too much and B. didn’t know how much space I’d have. I ended up sweating a lot because of the lights and exercises, but oh well. that’s just what happens when you work out!

The workout for you today is 20 minutes of the workout I did while I was at Lulu. I was there for an hour and did about 50 minutes of a weight and resistance band focused workout (including warm up), then spent some time playing around with yoga poses. These are what got people to stop and watch me- it was funny!