Weekending {Extended Version}: Birthday Celebrations & Marathon Monday

April 19, 2016April 22, 20168 Comments

Good morning! I opted to not blog yesterday as I had the day off and figured a lot of you may also have it off or may even be running the marathon! Between taking my birthday off last week, working from home on Friday and then having yesterday off, I feel like I’ve been on a little vacation, which is pretty awesome. With everything going on these days between wedding planning, the BoxFIIT certification, teaching, blogging, working, etc. I feel like I was running on empty and really needed some time to re-charge the batteries. Granted, the past week has been filled with lots of things, but most didn’t involve work which helped give me that “recharge” I needed.

I’m going to keep my captions short, so enjoy the pictures!

Birthday yoga!

Birthday manis/pedis/lunch with my birthday buddy!

Strong ladies supporting me in class. Not pictured: after class drinks at Gaslight 🙂

Julian pizza from Max & Leo’s- the birthday girl doesn’t cook on her bday 😉

Beautiful flowers and prosecco from coworkers who came to my class

Extra bday flowers from RM

All dolled up! Love the new bag RM got me

My sister surprised me with a bottle of bubbly at dinner. We went to Committee in the Seaport and everything was unbelievably good- we couldn’t stop raving about how flavorful everything was AND they sent out a birthday treat- I highly suggest checking it out!

Post kickboxing sweaty selfie.

Entertaining my parents- I’m so sad that I didn’t get a single photo with them while they were here 😦

Food shopping

Pancake breakfast

Birthday presents from my dad- picnic table, fire pit and a heck of a lot of wood. It was SO nice of them to come down not only to celebrate, but also to bring all of these things to help us have an awesome back yard/patio!

4miler in gorgeous weather. I wish I could say it was a great run, but my legs felt like lead the entire time and my miles averaged 15-20 seconds slower than usual… BUT… I finished it and it felt great to be outside. Who cares about the mile times!

Taking advantage of the sun and doing my thank you cards for the bridal shower gifts we’ve received outside. And then I started reading Defending Jacob, which is our new book club book. So far, I’m enjoying it, although it’s crazy that it takes place in Newton!

Beer at home by myself: a rarity, but the weather encouraged it 😉

Meal prep for the week: a cauliflower rice & other veggie “stirfry” with a peanut sauce and then a veggie-filled quiche- both have so much flavor!!

Loving our outdoor patio space! Took my workout outside yesterday morning and it was amazing.

We walked from the Intercontinental Hotel (where RM parks his car) to the Back Bay and it was so nice strolling through Boston Common’s in the gorgeous weather.

We were fortunate enough to hang out at the Solas Pub (part of the Lennox Hotel) pretty much right at the Marathon finish line thanks to New Balance- drinks, food, prime spectator location?! Yes, please. So thankful for this opportunity!

Watching the marathon is always a super emotional and inspiring thing. I love watching everyone who is finishing strong, but I also love how everyone is looking out for each other. The crowds roared even louder when struggling runners were trying to get to the end. Fellow marathoners helped those who were physically too beat to run on their own. Paramedics and EMT’s and all of the other helpers were there to help get people safely over the finish line. It gave me chills soaking all of that in. Such a wonderful experience.

If you made it this far, THANK YOU! I’ll be back tomorrow with a workout… and maybe even a recipe for you this week!

Questions for you: How was your weekend? Did you get outside to enjoy the weather? Did you go to the marathon or did you run the marathon? What do you have planned this week?

Weekending: Cape Edition

July 14, 2015July 14, 20158 Comments

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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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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?

Weekending Through Pictures

April 13, 2015April 12, 20159 Comments

What a weekend we had in Boston, right?! The weather was long awaited and it was so great to feel warmth and sunshine and be able to be outside without a jacket on! On top of that, it was part 1 of my birthday weekends and between massages on Friday and a hair cut and mani/pedi on Sunday, I was fully pampered! Enjoy the highlights:)

Friday night we had massages at Exhale Spa and then dinner at Ward 8 with my friend Jessi and her boyfriend.
Saturday I wore my new top from Lulu and taught a super sweaty kickboxing class.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Wicked Wine Fest

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Weekending: Maine Edition {Freeport, Family Wedding & Relaxing}

September 23, 2014September 21, 201410 Comments

Good morning! How’s everyone doing? This past weekend was so nice… and relaxing! After a crazy couple of months, it was so nice to be able to relax, go to bed early and hang out with my parents. Even though our Sunday apple picking lunch picnic plans got cancelled because of the weather, it was still a great weekend. I headed up to Maine on Friday afternoon after work. Starting the trip from my office in Wakefield is so much nicer than starting from Boston! Before going to my parents, I stopped off at Shaw’s Ridge Farm to visit with and congratulate my dear friend Meredith on her recent engagement. We didn’t snap any photos unfortunately, but I’ll tell you… her ring is stunning and she is absolutely beaming! I am so happy for her!

Shortly after 7 I arrived at home. Even though I had just seen my parents the weekend before, I was still so excited to see them. Mom had a glass of wine waiting for me and dad had unloaded all the leftovers from the fridge so I could make myself a plate- I love being home 🙂

This was my dad’s plate. Talk about a lot of stuff!

Friday night was an early night and Saturday morning mom and I did some strengthening exercises for our knees (she has a hurt knee right now, too) before going into town for pedicures.

I decided to wear my hair straight, but with curls from my straightener. I hadn’t done it in a while, but I think it turned out pretty good! I also loved the dress I wore. It was comfortable and warm, which was perfect for the chilly weather on Saturday. I got it at Marshall’s for $20 (it’s a Max Studios dress).

Around noon we headed out. Mom suggested we take road sodas, and I’m not one to say no to her 😉

My parents are Jamie’s god parents so they were invited to the ceremony. The ceremony was held at my aunt and uncles new place on the ocean in Freeport and from what I heard, was beautiful. While they were at that, I shopped around the outlets in Freeport and grabbed a super healthy smoothie before going back to pick them up.

We headed to the reception around 4, which was held at my cousin’s new barn in Falmouth. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see any of the entrances or first dances (everyone was standing around the dance floor and I couldn’t see 😦 ), but from pictures I saw online, it was awesome! Jamie is a collector of all sorts of old things, including vehicles, so he and his new wife, Sheena, were in the cab of the truck and the bridal party was in the back as they made their grand entrance to the reception.

The barn was adorable- so rustic and quaint and just perfect for a Maine reception.

The food was also delicious- and so simple. I think people get too caught up with food and options and apps and main courses when at the end of the day, if you have one thing that’s really good- people will be happy. They had at least 2 huge pigs (whole roasted pigs) for pulled pork, beans, rice, coleslaw, corn bread and salad. Everything was really, really good! And cupcakes for dessert? Yes, please.

It was so nice to a. spend time with my parents at an “outing” and b. spend time with my dad’s side of the family. We don’t get to see each other nearly enough and it’s a shame because they are SO FUN. I was at the “kids” table and we had so many laughs- they all have the Gagnon sense of humor (I do not.) and I laugh so much when I’m with them. While there wasn’t a ton of dancing, we did dance to my cousin’s band that was playing, and it was so cool that he jumped in and played a bunch of songs with them! I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking, but Jaime and Sheena- what a fantastic wedding! I’m so glad I got to be a part of it. Cheers to many more years of happiness, laughter and love.