Tag: run

Weekending: October Sunshine

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Hi there! How are you? If you have today off, don’t tell me… not only do I have to work but I have to go INTO the office. Monday’s are usually my WFH day so it’s a very weird start to the week!

Did you guys have a good weekend? Mine was great- a good mix of celebrations, relaxing and productivity. I’m absolutely loving this warm October weather and after a gloomy day on Friday, I tried to soak up as much of the sunshine as possible throughout the weekend.

After work on Friday, I went to my sister’s apartment for vino and pizza. The traffic was TERRIBLE, so it was so nice to be able to relax with drinks and laughter and good convos!

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On Saturday, after kickboxing class, I was able to run some much-needed errands and decided to grab lunch at Panera since I was out. Have you tried their lentil-kale bowls? Pretty good!

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We decided to head into the city in the late afternoon and hit up the new Uniqlo in Faneuil Hall. While it was a big chaotic, I did score this vest for $39 instead of $59! I’ve been wanting a light down vest for a long time and I think I’ll get a lot of use out of this.

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After shopping we stopped in at Back Deck for cocktails and a snack.

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We also stopped at a coffee shop on the way home and they had the most AMAZING sweet potato pumpkin pie macaroons I’ve ever had. We stupidly split this, but I could’ve eaten 5 of them myself!

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The rest of the night was very low-key and looked a lot like this:

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Do any of you watch Ray Donovan? RM had gotten us both hooked on it, which is weird for me considering I hate violence and it’s a very violent show!

Sunday was a perfectly productive day! We had breakfast and then went to Target and Whole Foods before doing some major cleaning and food prep back at home. Also, Whole Foods has the prettiest bouquets- and sometimes you just need to buy yourself flowers 😉

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The weather was too gorgeous to be inside all day so I took a break from house work and cooking and went for a quickie 5K run. The weather was so perfect!

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I made some oat bars, soup and the most delicious stuffed acorn squash- I love going into the week with a whole bunch of good, healthy food!

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Oh, and the BEST part of the weekend? RM’s mother stopped by and gave us our engagement gift, which is something I have literally waited my whole life for:

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The funniest part was that I had been talking about Kitchen Aid mixers all weekend! I can’t wait to put this to good use- she said she loves using hers for her pizza dough, so that means I need to get the recipe AND give it a try 🙂

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Did you get out and enjoy the weather? Did you do anything festive? What’s your favorite kitchen appliance?

Weekending: A Boston Summer Weekend

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It’s crazy to think that we spent all of last weekend in Boston. I can’t remember the last time we did that during the summer months and even though I had wished we were at the Cape since the weather was so gorgeous, it was so nice just being close to home and not having to deal with summer traffic! Here’s a picture-focused post with the weekend highlights- enjoy!

  • Making good use of time by going for a walk while waiting for my oil to get changed

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  • Beautiful sky on my way to dinner with some friends in the North End

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  • Saturday afternoon at the beach

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  • Dinner and margs at Tico in the Back Bay- absolutely delicious!

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  • To get some movement in on my rest day, I walked to church and then walked to Shaws and the liquor store- it was a heavy walk home!

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  • Delicious fruit salad that I whipped together before going to a pool party

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  • I could get used to this- absolutely gorgeous!

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  • Hazy, hot and humid during my morning 4 miler- so happy to have done it first thing!

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Questions for you: What did you do this weekend? Did you go anywhere or stay local? How did you survive the heat? Do you prefer the beach or pool? 

Weekending Through Pictures

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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.

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I’m Back!

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Well hello, there! Remember me? I used to write a blog fairly consistently…. 😉 I have to say, not blogging at all last week was exactly what I needed. It was so nice to detach myself a bit from social media and taking pictures and things like that. And, now I have so many posts I want to write- luckily I’m off from work this week and will hopefully have time to get them drafted.

How were your holidays? Anything fun planned for New Years Eve? Anyone else off all week? I’ve never had a “staycation”, but so far, I’m totally digging it! Let’s recap over the past week- lots of celebrations between RM’s birthday and Christmas!

To celebrate RM’s actual birthday (I threw him his surprise party a few days earlier), I took him to Eastern Standard, which is one of our favorite places. We snagged two seats at the bar and ordered up some drinks. Not only was it his birthday, but it was also the start of my very long “staycation”.

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We had a delicious meal of a pork dish, steak frites, bone marrow and oysters. Finished off with some birthday bread pudding and we pretty much rolled ourselves out of the restaurant 😉

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We woke up on Christmas Eve and both had a bunch of things to do- he was picking up his new car (so funny we both got new cars right around the same time!) and I had to get my new watch fixed and pack for Maine. I listened to Christmas music the whole way and totally got  in the mood- match that with some bubbly and a Christmas apron and I was full on festive!

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Every Christmas Eve we throw a little party- we make homemade pizza’s, dad makes his tourtiere, people bring lots of food and we drink plenty of bubbly. I didn’t take any photos except for food and one of me- classic- but we had a good crowd!

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Christmas morning we awoke to crappy, rainy weather, but we made the best of it.

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My parents got me some fun things like new rain boots, sweaters, hair products, a Veggetti and some other random things. My sister got me a sick Reebok jump rope, Kate Spade earrings and a 3 month Birch Box subscription- have any of you done that? Roberto totally spoiled me and got me a Michael Kors watch, a Fitbit, perfume and slippers- incredibly thoughtful!

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On Friday, I hit up the gym and did Athena’s Chimney Workout followed by some supersets (will post them for you later!) before calling it a day. Athena- LOVED the workout! Post gym, I picked up RM at the train station and we did a few things before heading to my parents. We exchanged gifts (he got an LL Bean flannel! and he got my parents an Olive Tree adoption- more on that later) and had a delicious Cornish hen dinner.

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We headed back to MA on Saturday and RM and I did some returns in the city, lunch at Granary Tavern and a quiet night in with reading and a movie. Our book club book this month is Unbroken- have you heard of it or read it? I’m not a fan of anything army or military related (I know- sounds crazy, but it scares me), but so far, I’m totally hooked on the book!

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I was able to spend all Sunday at my apartment puttering, putting things away, cleaning and relaxing- it was wonderful! After an unseasonably warm run, RM and I went to Santarpios for dinner. He’s starting the Whole 30 diet/detox on January 1, so we are really living it up until then. I’m planning on doing that diet about 80% of the time.. we’ll see how it goes!

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Andddd phew! If you made it, thank you. I had so many pictures to share! I will be announcing the Happy, Healthy, Fit challenge winners tomorrow- thanks to all of you who participated!! Also on the dock this week is a recap of 2014, looking forward to 2015 and maybe even a workout? I’ve got about 3 or 4 workouts lined up for you 🙂

Questions for you: How were your holidays? What was the best part? Have you read Unbroken? Are you on vacation this week? What are your New Years Eve plans?

 

This Week: Workouts, Flywheel’s Anniversary & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Good morning! I hope everyone had a great weekend. For the first time in far too long, I had a weekend with no scheduled plans. It was fantastic! I also took my 2 rest days of the week on Saturday and Sunday, and although it was nice to know I didn’t have to schedule in a workout, it caused me to go a little stir crazy. I much prefer taking rest days dispersed throughout the week rather than in a row, but since I knew I’d be spending the weekend with RM, I figured I’d just get my workouts out of the way during the week so I could go with the flow over the weekend.

Before I get to my workouts for the week, I wanted to share some really exciting things going on at Flywheel this week. They are celebrating their one year anniversary of the Boston location, which is reason enough to celebrate, right? They’ve got all sorts of really awesome rides this week, including themed rides, live DJ rides and dueling instructor rides. I was invited to take a class and will be going to a class at 5:30 tonight with Christina Lodde, who lead the Barry’s Bootcamp Roof Deck Workout. I’ve heard great things about her spin classes so I’m so excited! If you’ve never been to Flywheel, I definitely suggest checking it out this week. Head to this site to see details on the classes and to sign up.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I taught this workout in my 6am class and then did 15 minutes on the elliptical.
  • Tuesday- I had to cancel my bootcamp since it was pouring, so I headed to one of my favorite instructors classes. The verdict? I loved it! It was a crazy class, consisting of 50 jump squats to start, followed by 13 exercises done for 60 seconds each and then in between each exercise we had 60 seconds to complete 10 strict (chest to ground) burpees. So, yes, we did 130 burpees. Yikes! We finished class with some awesome upper body burners and I left there barely able to hold my gym bag. #holyshakyarms

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  • Wednesday- I ran 3 miles on the treadmill before teaching UXF Burn. I changed up the format a little to somewhat mimic the bootcamp I went to on Tuesday. We only did about 70 strict burpees, but it was still killer. I’ll post it for you this week!
  • Thursday- I was able to reschedule my bootcamp and teach it on Thursday instead. We used the benches and did some suicides and walking lunges and all sorts of good stuff. The best part is that the weather has cooled down so we are able to work super hard without dripping with sweat!
  • Friday- I went to the Lynnfield BSC during lunch and busted out a quick, but good workout. I ran 2 miles then walked the rest to get to 20 minutes before doing some 1 armed KB swings, double armed KB swings, figure 8 KB squats, band walks, torso twists and TRX planks. In and out in 35 minutes and burned over 300 calories. I’ll take it!

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  • Saturday & Sunday- Rest days. RM and I walked a bunch while shopping on Saturday and then we went for a walk on Sunday morning and walked around the city. Active rest days are great 🙂

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I’m going to Flywheel after work tonight- can’t wait!
  • Tuesday- Teaching my bootcamp at 5:30.
  • Wednesday- I have a sub for my UXF Burn class so that I can go to the New Balance Girls Night Out event. This is an extra special one because we are celebrating 25 years of Susan G. Komen and the run will be lead by Sherri D’Allessandro. If you’re interested in joining, sign up here.
  • Thursday- I may hold an “extra” bootcamp class on Thursday.
  • Friday- I think it will be a rest day.
  • Saturday- Finally back at the Oak Square YMCA for my kickboxing class… I haven’t see my members there in so long!!
  • Sunday- Probably my second rest day of the week.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

This is going to be a fitness-filled week, which is always fun. I can’t wait to get back to Flywheel as it’s been a super long time. I’m also really excited to get to go to my first New Balance Girls Night Out event. Athena always raves about these events, so I’m glad I decided to get a sub so I could attend. I think I get to see my friend Jess’s new baby girl on Friday night which would be so awesome!! And, lastly, Saturday I’m cashing in my Groupon for Dry Bar before going to a wedding with RM and his family. I figured it was a great time to use it!

Questions for you: What was the best workout you had last week? Have you attended a New Balance Girls Night out event? What are you looking forward to this week?